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Iran Hostage Crisis
This new state of affairs is best symbolized by the 444-day hostage crisis at the US Embassy in Tehran. On November 4, 1979, students broke through the gates of the compound and took most of the staff hostage. Six who had evaded capture were rescued by a Canadian-American effort in early 1980. -
Ronald Reagan is Shot
On March 30, 1981, US President Ronald Reagan, who was then only two months into his term, was shot in the lung by John Hinckley, Jr. as he left a speaking engagement in Washington D.C. Several people were injured, most gravely press secretary Jim Brady, who was wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life. The attack represents the last assassination attempt in which a US President was injured. -
President Reagan ends US arms embargo against Guatemala
Jan 8, 1983 The Reagan Administration today lifted the five-year-old embargo on arms sales to Guatemala because of what it said were ''significant steps'' taken by the Government to end human rights abuses. in promoting respect for human rights, President Rios Montt has taken significant steps in this area,'' John. -
President Reagan formally announces he will seek a 2nd term
He was the first president since Dwight D. Eisenhower to serve two full terms, after a succession of five prior presidents did not. Although he had planned an active post-presidency. -
President Reagan bans import of South African Krugerrands to the USA
Reagan Bans Imports of S. Africa Krugerrand. President Reagan on Tuesday banned imports of Krugerrands, formally denying South Africa its most lucrative market for the gold coins while satisfying a key demand of lawmakers pressing to punish the white-run Pretoria government for its racial policies -
US President Reagan proclaims a war on drugs Anti-Drug Abuse Act
Then, driven by the 1986 cocaine overdose of black basketball star Len Bias, Reagan was able to pass the Anti-Drug Abuse Act through Congress. This legislation appropriated an additional $1.7 billion to fund the War on Drugs. More importantly, it established 29 new, mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses.The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 was a law of the War on Drugs passed by the U.S. Congress. -
US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty eliminating medium range nuclear missiles
US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty on 8 December 1987. -
Francois Mitterrand elected President of France
21st President of France -
Soviets Leave Afghanistan
For ten years the Soviet Union was mired in a war in Afghanistan, from 1979 to 1989. So difficult was this war that it is often referred to as Soviet Union's Vietnam. In 1978 Afghanistan experienced a coup which brought to power a communist regime - the brutality of this regime led to open rebellion by the following year, precipitating the Soviet intervention and their coup in December 1979. -
President Mikhail Gorbachev sends Red Troops into the Soviet republic of Azerbaijan
Gorbachev dispatched 11,000 Soviet troops to quiet the situation, and the United States government supported his action as a humanitarian response to the killings and terror. -
US Congress gives George H. W. Bush authority to wage war against Iraq
Jan 13, 1991 A divided and solemn Congress yesterday granted President Bush the authority to wage war against Iraq and. in the Persian Gulf, the Senate voted 52 to 47 to give Bush the authority. Those decisions came after both houses of Congress rejected. Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Maine) and others. -
US President George H. W. Bush orders Coast Guard to intercept boats with Haitian refugees
During a refugee crisis that began in 1991, the US Coast Guard began to collect Haitian. The US had well established methods of intercepting, jailing, and. The number of Haitian refugees fleeing the country by boat escalated to new levels after. George H. W. Bush administration opted to continue the policy. -
n Moscow, the Start II arms reduction treaty is signed by George H. W. Bush (USA) and Boris Yeltsin (Russia)
START II (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and Russia on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. It was signed by United States President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin -
President Bill Clinton lifts US trade embargo against Vietnam
The U.S. embargo on Vietnam was eventually lifted in February 1994. Formal normalization of U.S.-Vietnam diplomatic relations took place in 1995, followed by booming trade volumes between the two countries in the subsequent years. -
Dayton Agreement
By 1995 the conflict had reached a military stalemate. The Bosnian capital Sarajevo had been under the longest siege of a capital city in the history of modern warfare (1,425 days). NATO had intervened against Serbian positions beginning in 1995, which proved decisive in bringing the different sides to the negotiating table. They met in Dayton, Ohio, from November 1 to 21, 1995, with a deal agreed, to be signed formally in Paris the next month. -
Osama bin Laden issues message
Osama bin Laden issues message entitled 'A declaration of War against the Americans occupying the land of the two holy places' -
Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in a road tunnel in Paris
In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died in hospital after being injured in a car crash in a road tunnel in Paris, France. Her partner, Dodi Fayed, and their driver, Henri Paul, were pronounced dead at the scene. Their bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, survived serious injuries. -
Impeachment Trial of Bill Clinton
n 1998 an extraordinary scene was enveloping American politics. President Bill Clinton, having previously admitted to having an affair with White House staffer Monica Lewinsky in 1995-6, was being impeached by the Congress on charges of obstructing justice and perjury. his denial of that affair, before subsequently admitting it. Starr contended that Clinton had lied under oath when he denied having an affair with Lewinsky during a sworn deposition. -
US President Bill Clinton acquitted by the Senate in his impeachment trial
A trial in the Senate began in January 1999, with Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding. On February 12, Clinton was acquitted on both counts as neither received the necessary two-thirds majority vote of the senators present for conviction and removal from office – in this instance 67. -
43rd U.S. President
George Walker Bush is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. -
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001.An estimated 2,606 people who were in the World Trade Center and on the ground perished in the attacks on and the subsequent collapse of the towers.
