Timeline of United States history (1970–89)

1970s

1970 — Kent State and Jackson State shootings occur during student protests which grow violent.

1970 — The first Earth Day is observed.

1970 — Environmental Protection Agency created

1970 — American Top 40, hosted by radio personality Casey Kasem, becomes the first successful nationally syndicated radio program featuring a weekly countdown.

1970 — The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) begins operations, succeeding National Educational Television (NET).

1970 – Singer-songwriter-guitarist-musician Jimi Hendrix dies of a drug overdose at the age of 27.

1970 – Singer Janis Joplin dies of a drug overdose at the age of 27.

1970 — The Occupational Safety and Health Act, or OSHA, is signed into law.

1971 – Singer Jim Morrison dies of a drug overdose at the age of 27.

1971 — President Richard Nixon ends the United States Gold standard monetary policy known as the Nixon Shock

1971 — A ban on radio and television cigarette advertisements goes into effect in the United States

1971 — The landmark situation comedy, All in the Family, premieres on CBS.

1971 — 26th Amendment ratified, allowing 18-year-olds to vote.

1971 — In New York Times Co. v. United States, The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Pentagon Papers may be published, rejecting government injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraint.

1972 — President Richard Nixon visits China, an important step in formally normalizing relations between the United States and China.

1972 — Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty signed with USSR

1972 — Watergate scandal: Five men arrested for the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C.

1972 — U.S. presidential election, 1972 (President Nixon re-elected)

1972 — Apollo 17 flies to the Moon, and becomes the last manned mission there (as of 2015)

1973 — Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling overturns state laws against abortion

1973 — Paris Peace Accords ends direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War

1973 — The Senate Watergate hearings begin, highlighted by Fred Thompson's discovery of Nixon's secret tapes

1973 — Skylab launched as the USA's first space station

1973 — Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigns in disgrace as part of a plea bargain. Congressman Gerald R. Ford of Michigan becomes the first person to be appointed Vice President under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution

1973 — Watergate scandal: President Nixon fires three Attorneys General over disposition of the secret tapes and the actions of the Special Prosecutor.

1973–1974 — The United States is affected by the Arab Oil Embargo; gasoline prices skyrocket as supplies of gasoline and heating oil are in short supply. In response, Daylight Savings Time is started in January (nearly four months earlier than usual), and the national speed limit is lowered to 55 mph.

1974 — The 1974 Super Outbreak, the second-largest series of tornadoes in history (at 148), hits 13 U.S. states and one Canadian province; 315 people are killed and more than 5,000 are injured.

1974 — Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves breaks Babe Ruth's home run record by hitting his 715th career home run.

1974 — Watergate scandal: The House Judiciary Committee votes to impeach the President

1974 — President Nixon resigns, becoming the first (and as of 2015, the only) President to step down. Vice president Ford becomes President. Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York becomes the second person to be appointed Vice President under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution

1974 — Watergate scandal: Ford pardons Nixon for any crimes he may have committed against the United States while President, believing it to be in the "best interests of the country"

1974 — Restrictions removed on holding private gold within the United States

1975 — Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins.

1975 — Fall of Saigon

1975 — Bill Gates founds Microsoft, which in time will dominate the home computer operating system market.

1975 — The Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, where an American Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock in orbit, marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.

1975 — President Ford survives two assassination attempts in a 17-day time span.

1975 — The television series Wheel of Fortune and Saturday Night Live premiere on NBC.

1975 — Sony's Betamax becomes the first commercially successful home video recording unit

1976 — The Copyright Act of 1976 makes sweeping changes to United States copyright law

1976 — Americans celebrate the Bicentennial

1976 — U.S. presidential election, 1976 (Jimmy Carter of Georgia defeats President Ford)

1977 — Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as President

1977 — The first home personal computer, Commodore PET, released for retail sale

1977 — The television miniseries Roots is aired on ABC, to critical acclaim and gaining record audiences

1977 — The New York City blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours, resulting in looting and other disorder

1977 — Elvis Presley, the king of rock and roll dies in his home in Graceland at age 42. 75,000 fans lined the streets of Memphis for this funeral

1977 — Atari 2600 becomes the first successful home video game system, popularizes the use of microprocessor based hardware and cartridges containing game code

1978 — Volkswagen becomes the second (after Rolls-Royce) non-American automobile manufacturer to open a plant in the United States, commencing production of the Rabbit

1978 — Camp David Accords, where Menachem Begin (Israel) and Anwar Sadat (Egypt) begin the peace process at Camp David, Maryland.

1978 — Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act signed into law, adjusting the government's economic goals to include full employment, growth in production, price stability, and balance of trade and budget

1978 — The Senate votes to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999

1978 — Harvey Milk is assassinated by Dan White in San Francisco on November 27.

1979 — Three Mile Island nuclear accident, which is America's most serious nuclear power plant accident in its history.

1979 — Iran hostage crisis begins. In the aftermath, a second energy crisis develops, tripling the price of oil and sending gasoline prices over $1 per gallon for the first time.

1979 — American Airlines Flight 191 crashes after takeoff from O'Hare International Airport killing all 271 aboard and 2 on the ground, making it the deadliest aviation incident on U.S. soil

1979 — Facing bankruptcy, Chrysler receives government loan guarantees upon the request of CEO Lee Iacocca to help revive the company

1980s

1980 — U.S. boycotts Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, also announces grain embargo against the Soviet Union with the support of the European Commission.

1980 — Refugee Act, which reformed United States immigration law and admitted refugees on systematic basis for humanitarian reasons

1980 — Mount St. Helens eruption in Washington kills 57

1980 — U.S. presidential election, 1980

1980 — John Lennon assassinated

1981 — Ronald Reagan becomes President, inaugurated on the same day Iran releases hostages

1981 — Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley

1981 — Kemp-Roth Tax Cut

1981 — MTV signs on, becoming the first 24-hour cable network dedicated to airing music videos.

1981 — A hotel walkway collapses in Kansas City, Missouri, killing 114 and injuring over 200; it was the deadliest structural collapse to occur in the United States until 9/11.

1981 — The Space Shuttle Columbia is launched, marking America's first return to space since 1975

1981 — Sandra Day O'Connor becomes first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court

1981–1982 — The killing of 7-year-old Adam Walsh (1981), and the disappearance of Johnny Gosch, a 12-year-old newspaper carrier from Des Moines, Iowa (1982), raise awareness of missing children cases in the United States.

1983 — 241 U.S. Marines killed by suicide bomb in Lebanon

1983 — United States invades Grenada

1983 — Chrysler unveils its minivans — the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager (as 1984 models) — to the public

1984 — Most of Eastern Bloc boycotts Summer Olympics in Los Angeles

1984 — U.S. presidential election, 1984 (Ronald Reagan is re-elected)

1984 — The drug problem intensifies as crack (a smokable form of cocaine) is first introduced into the Los Angeles area

1984 — Awareness of child sexual abuse by pedophiles raised through high-profile media coverage on programs such as 60 Minutes and 20/20.

1985 — Bernhard Goetz is indicted in New York on charges of attempted murder after shooting four young men whom he claimed were intent on mugging him

1985 — Professional wrestling hits the mainstream with the World Wrestling Federation's first WrestleMania and the debut of Saturday Night's Main Event, and the WWF's flagship star, Hulk Hogan, becoming a cultural icon.

1985 — World awareness of famine in Third World countries spark "We Are the World" and Live Aid. Also, awareness of AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is raised with the death of actor Rock Hudson.

1985 — Country music singer Willie Nelson organizes the first Farm Aid, to raise money for family farmers facing financial crisis

1985 — The Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable (as 1986 models), Nintendo Entertainment System are released to the public.

1986 — Iran-Contra scandal breaks

1986 — Space Shuttle Challenger accident, killing all seven aboard (including school teacher Christa McAuliffe) and grounding the nation's space program for 2½ years.

1986 — Tax Reform Act of 1986

1986 — Gramm Rudman Hollings Balanced Budget Act

1986 — Marshall Islands become independent

1986 — Fox Broadcasting Company launched, becomes the first network since DuMont to offer nightly programming

1987 — Assorted scandals involve popular televangelists, including Jim Bakker, Oral Roberts and Jimmy Swaggart.

1987 — During a visit to Berlin, Germany, President Reagan challenges Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!" (referring to the Berlin Wall).

1987 — Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 22.6% in single session on Black Monday

1987 — Dennis Conner onboard "Stars & Stripes" returns the America's Cup to America.

1987 — The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C. President Reagan and Soviet Premier Gorbachev.

1988 — Drunk driving awareness raised after a drunk driver's car crashes into a church bus near Carrollton, Kentucky, killing 27.

1988 — Severe droughts and massive heat wave grip the Midwest and Rocky Mountain states. The crisis reaches its peak with the Yellowstone fires of 1988.

1988 — Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, becomes the last Major League Baseball park to add lights for night games.

1988 — Discovery launched as first post-Challenger space shuttle flight

1988 — U.S. presidential election, 1988 (Vice president George H. W. Bush is elected)

1988 — Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty goes into effect

1989 — George H. W. Bush inaugurated as President.

1989 — Time, Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger, forming Time Warner.

1989 — Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound

1989 — Awareness of stalking is raised with the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer by an obsessed fan

1989 — Hurricane Hugo strikes the East Coast, causing $7 billion in damage.

1989 — Loma Prieta earthquake kills 63 in greater San Francisco Bay Area

1989 — President Bush declares a "War on Drugs."

1989 — The animated comedy The Simpsons debuts

1989 — President Bush and Soviet Premier Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between their nations may be coming to an end. Symbolic elsewhere around the world was the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany