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He accuses army officials, members of the media, and other public figures of being Communists during highly publicized hearings.
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Declares that racial segregation in schools is unconstitutional.
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Eisenhower's second inauguration. -
He ordered units of U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division to escort nine Black students, nicknamed the "Little Rock Nine," into the previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.
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Explorer I, first American satellite, was launched.
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Alaska becomes the 49th state.
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Hawaii becomes the 50th.
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U.S. severs diplomatic relations with Cuba During the Cold War.
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John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th president. -
Kennedy hoped the invasion would help the United States seize the initiative in the Cold War. Instead it turned out to be a humiliating disaster. Prior to the assault, an air strike by B-26 bombers on Cuba’s main airfields on 15 April failed to destroy all of Castro’s air force.
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Seven African Americans and six white volunteers sponsored by the Committee on Racial Equality—the so-called Freedom Riders—travel on buses through the South in order to protest racially segregated interstate bus facilities.
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Lt Col. John Glenn becomes first U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth. -
President Kennedy denounces Soviet Union for secretly installing missile bases on Cuba and initiates a naval blockade of the island. -
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers his ―I Have a Dream‖ speech before a crowd of 200,000 during the civil rights march on Washington, DC. -
President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Tx. (Nov. 22). He is succeeded in office by his vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson.
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President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act.
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In his annual state of the Union address, President Johnson proposes his Great Society program.
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L. Johnson's second inauguration. -
State troopers attack peaceful demonstrators led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., as they try to cross bridge in Selma, Ala. -
President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discriminatory voting practices.
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In six days of rioting in Watts, a black section of Los Angeles, 35 people are killed and 883 injured.
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Miranda v. Arizona: Landmark Supreme Court decision further defines due process clause of Fourteenth Amendment and establishes Miranda rights (June 13).
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Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, outlining the procedures for filling vacancies in the presidency and vice presidency (Feb. 10
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Martin Luther King Jr was fatally shot while standing on the balcony outside his second-story room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
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Sen. Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles, Calif.
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Richard Nixon is inaugurated as the 37th president. -
Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr., become the first men to land on the Moon. -
Four students are shot to death by National Guardsmen during an antiwar protest at Kent State University
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Nixon makes historic visit to Communist China.
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U.S. and Soviet Union sign strategic arms control agreement known as SALT I.
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Five men, all employees of Nixon's reelection campaign, are caught breaking into rival Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, DC (June 17).
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Nixon's second inauguration.
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Roe v. Wade: Landmark Supreme Court decision legalizes abortion in first trimester of pregnancy. -
Senate Select Committee begins televised hearings to investigate Watergate cover-up (May 17–Aug. 7).
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Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigns over charges of corruption and income tax evasion.
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President Nixon nominates Gerald R. Ford as vice president. -
Ford is confirmed by Congress and sworn in. He is the first vice president to succeed to the office under the terms laid out by the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.
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House Judiciary Committee recommends to full House that Nixon be impeached on grounds of obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress (July 27–30).
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Nixon resigns; he is succeeded in office by his vice president, Gerald Ford.
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In a controversial executive action, President Gerald Ford pardons his disgraced predecessor Richard M. Nixon for any crimes he may have committed or participated in while in office. Ford later defended this action before the House Judiciary Committee, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal.
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Five former Nixon aides go on trial for their involvement in the Watergate cover-up; H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, and John Mitchell eventually serve time in prison.
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Nelson Rockefeller is confirmed and sworn in as Vice President. -
Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as the 39th president. -
President Carter signs treaty agreeing to turn control of Panama Canal over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999.
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President Carter meets with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin at Camp David. -
Sadat and Begin sign Camp David Accord, ending 30-year conflict between Egypt and Israel. -
U.S. establishes diplomatic ties with mainland China for the first time since Communist takeover in 1949.
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Malfunction at Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania causes near meltdown.
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Panama takes control of the Canal Zone, formerly administered by U.S..
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Iranian students storm U.S. embassy in Teheran and hold 66 people hostage (Nov. 4); 13 of the hostages are released (Nov. 19–20)
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President Carter announces that U.S. athletes will not attend Summer Olympics in Moscow unless Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan.
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FBI's undercover bribery investigation, code named Abscam, implicates a U.S. senator, seven members of the House, and 31 other public officials.
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U.S. mission to rescue hostages in Iran is aborted after a helicopter and cargo plane collide at the staging site in a remote part of Iran and 8 servicemen are killed.
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Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th president. -
U.S. hostages held in Iran are released after 444 days in captivity.
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President Reagan is shot in the chest by John Hinckley, Jr.. -
Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in as the first woman Supreme Court justice. -
Deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution passes without the necessary votes.
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U.S. invades Caribbean island of Grenada after a coup by Marxist faction in the government.
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Reagan's second inauguration.
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Iran-Contra scandal breaks when White House is forced to reveal secret arms-for- hostages deals.
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Space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members. -
It is the worst accident in the history of the U.S. space program. U.S. bombs military bases in Libya in effort to deter terrorist strikes on American targets.
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In a speech in Berlin, President Reagan challenges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to ―tear down this wall and open Eastern Europe to political and economic reform.
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Congress holds public hearings in Iran-Contra investigation(May 5–Aug. 3).
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Reagan and Gorbachev sign INF treaty, the first arms-control agreement to reduce the superpowers' nuclear weapons (Dec. 8). -
George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as the 41st president. -
Oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground in Prince William Sound, spilling more than 10 million gallons of oil.
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It is the largest oil spill in U.S. history. President Bush signs legislation to provide for federal bailout of nearly 800 insolvent savings and loan institutions.
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U.S. forces invade Panama in an attempt to capture Gen. Manuel Noriega, who previously had been indicted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges.
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