President Ford survived two assassination attempts.

Microsoft became a registered trademark by entrepreneur and inventor Bill Gates.

The Supreme Court ruled in Gregg vs. Georgia that the death penalty “is not inherently cruel or unusual”, overturning a ban that had been in place for ten years.

Georgia Democrat Jimmie Carter elected 39^th President of the United States.

Apple Computer incorporated.

The United States transferred ownership of the Panama Canal to the nation of Panama, thus potentially changing the dynamics of security in the region.

Garfield makes his debut, eventually becoming the most widely syndicated comic strip in the world

President Carter signs a bill making it legal to brew beer at home. Samuel Adams would be proud!

President Carter established the Department of Education, previously a state prerogative according to the Constitution.

The United States Embassy in Tehran, Iran, encouraged by the new cleric-dictator Imam Khomeini, overrun by radical Iranians, taking ninety hostages, most of them Americans.

The United States government bailed out from bankruptcy, the auto-maker Chrysler.

California Republican Ronald Reagan, elected 40^th President of the United States.

The Iranian hostage crisis ended with their release on the day of President Reagan’s inauguration.

President Ronald Reagan shot in the chest in an attempted assassination, by John Hinckly. He undergoes emergency surgery and survives with humor intact.

Sandra Day O’Connor became the first female Supreme Court Justice.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial unveiled in Washington D. C. Although controversial in artist and design, the powerful emotional impact of the wall containing all the names of the Americans killed in the Vietnam War became an accepted and beloved symbol of sacrifice.

Korean Airlines Flight 007 was shot down by Russian jets over the Kamchatka Peninsula, killing all aboard, including Congressman Larry MacDonald of Georgia, the most outspoken Conservative and anti-communist in the Congress.

President Reagan signed a bill making the third Monday in January a national holiday in remembrance of the death of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

United States armed forces mounted a mission to rescue medical students trapped in Granada. They defeat the Cuban and Granadan communist forces and seized the island.

Ronald Reagan reelected in a landslide, carrying 49 out of 50 states.

President Regan met with Prime Minister Gorbachev of the Soviet Union for the first time.

United States Space Shuttle, Challenger, broke up in flight, killing all aboard, including civilian school teacher.

Clandestine support given to anti-communist forces in Nicaragua by the United States government, and the connection to activities relating to Iran, scandalized Reagan foreign policy, the so-called arms for hostages deal.

“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!”

On a visit to Berlin, President Reagan called for Soviet Premier Gorbachev to destroy the Berlin Wall and reunite East and West Germany.

The Democratic-dominated Senate rejected the Reagan nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court, making it clear that candidates who accepted original intent will not get past the Senate.

Texas Republican George H. W. Bush carried forty states and the election, running on a good economy and with the blessing of the popular President Reagan.

President Bush banned “assault weapons.”

The Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska was the largest oil tanker disaster in history and the litigation lasted for years.