Timeline of United States history (1970-present)

This section of the Timeline of United States history concerns events from 1970 to the present.

Table of contents

1 1970s 2 1980s 3 1990s 4 2000s

1970s

• 1970 - Environmental Protection Agency enacted
• 1971 - 26th Amendment ratified
• 1972 - U.S. presidential election, 1972 (including Watergate burglary)
• 1973 - Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling over-turns state laws against abortion
• 1973 - Skylab, USA's first space station launched
• 1974 - Richard Nixon resigns Presidency over Watergate
• 1974 - Gerald R. Ford becomes President (by succession rather than election)
• 1976 - U.S. presidential election, 1976
• 1977 - Jimmy Carter becomes President
• 1978 - Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act
• 1978 - Camp David Accords (1978)
• 1979 - Three Mile Island nuclear accident
• 1979 - Iran hostage crisis begins

1980s

• 1980 - Refugee Act
• 1980 - Mount St Helens eruption in Washington kills 57
• 1980 - U.S boycotts Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
• 1980 - U.S. presidential election, 1980
• 1981 - Ronald Reagan becomes President (Iran releases hostages)
• 1981 - Kemp-Roth Tax Cut
• 1983 - 241 U.S. Marines killed by suicide bomb in Lebanon
• 1983 - United States invades Grenada
• 1984 - Most of Eastern Bloc boycotts Summer Olympics in Los Angeles
• 1984 - U.S. presidential election, 1984 (Ronald Reagan is re-elected)
• 1986 - Space Shuttle Challenger accident
• 1986 - Tax Reform Act of 1986
• 1986 - Gramm Rudman Hollings Balanced Budget Act
• 1987 - Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 22.6% in single session on Black Monday
• 1988 - Discovery launched as first post-Challenger space shuttle flight
• 1988 - U.S. presidential election, 1988
• 1989 - George H. W. Bush becomes President
• 1989 - Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound

1990s

• 1990 - Hubble Space Telescope placed in orbit
• 1990 - Iraq invades Kuwait leading to 1991 Gulf War
• 1990 - Loma Prieta earthquake kills 63 in greater San Francisco Bay Area
• 1991 - Gulf War
• 1991 - Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3469 homes and apartments
• 1992 - Los Angeles Riots kill 50-60 people and causes nearly $1 billion damage
• 1992 - 27th Amendment ratified
• 1992 - Hurricane Andrew kills 23 and causes $26.5 billion in damage as it strikes Florida and later Louisiana
• 1992 - U.S. presidential election, 1992
• 1993 - Bill Clinton becomes President
• 1993 - World Trade Center bombing kills 6 and injures at least 1040
• 1993 - Branch Davidians standoff and fire in Waco, Texas
• 1994 - Northridge earthquake kills 57 in Los Angeles area
• 1995 - Following the 1994 elections, Republicans gain control of both the House and Senate for the first time since 1955.
• 1995 - 168 killed in Oklahoma City bombing
• 1995 - TWA flight 800 explodes off of Long Island killing all 230 aboard
• 1996 - Khobar Towers bombing leaves 19 U.S. servicemen dead in Saudi Arabia
• 1996 - Centennial Olympic Park bombing at Summer Olympics in Atlanta kills 1 and injures 11
• 1996 - U.S. presidential election, 1996 (Bill Clinton is re-elected)
• 1997 - President Clinton bars federal funding for any research on human cloning.
• 1998 - 224 killed in 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya
• 1999 - President Clinton is acquitted in impeachment trial by U.S. Senate

2000s

• 2000 - USS Cole bombing in Yemen
• 2000 - U.S. presidential election, 2000
• 2001 - George W. Bush becomes President
• 2001 - Democrats gain narrow control of Senate after James Jeffords defects from Republicans
• 2001 - September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon
• 2001 - Invasion of Afghanistan
• 2002 - Department of Homeland Security enacted
• 2003 - Republicans retake narrow control of Senate following 2002 elections
• 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
• 2003 - Invasion of Iraq

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1950-1969

1970-present History of the United States

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