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 1950-1969 1970-present History of the United States