Ronald Reagan Timeline |
| 1981 | His inauguration as 40th President of the United States. The economic policies introduced during the Reagan administration were referred to as Reaganomics |
| 1981 | The Assassination Attempt: The Assassination Attempt occurred on Monday, March 30, 1981, just 69 days into his presidency. |
| | John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on U.S. President Ronald Reagan just outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. |
| | President Ronald Reagan suffered a punctured lung and heavy internal bleeding. |
| | John Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to a psychiatric unit |
| 1981 | The Cold War continued the struggle between communism and democracy. |
| 1983 | The Granada invasion: October 25, 1983 U.S. Marines invaded Grenada, where they resisted heavy anti-aircraft fire and ground attack by Cuban soldiers and laborers building the a 10,000-foot airstrip on Grenada. The President saw the invasion as another step towards ridding the world of Communism |
| 1985 | The Iran-Contra Scandal (1985-1989) aka Irangate was a political scandal in which members of the executive branch sold weapons to Iran and illegally using the profits to fund an army of rebels in Nicaragua. |
| 1985 | Glasnost with the Soviet Union (1985-1991). Glasnost was the policy of public openness and accountability developed by the Soviets under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachov |
| 1987 | The Stark incident in the Gulf War: The USS Stark was a guided-missile frigate that was hit on 17 May 1987, by two Exocet anti-ship missiles fired from an Iraqi aircraft during the Iran - Iraq War |
| 1983 | The Soviet Union accuse the US of violating the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty following the President's announcement of "Star Wars", his Strategic Defense Initiative |
| 1985 | Mikhail Gorbachev assumes the role of Soviet leader and begins to break away from old communist policies. |
| 1987 | The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which is an agreement to remove medium and short-range nuclear missiles, is signed in Washington, D.C. by the President and Mikhail Gorbachev on December 8, 1987 |
| 1988 | End of the Iran-Iraq War with Iran's acceptance of a cease-fire on July 20, 1988 |
| 1989 | The Berlin Wall falls: On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall fall when the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border at will. |
| 1983 | Guion S. Bluford becomes the first black astronaut aboard Challenger on August 30, 1983 |
| 1983 | Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space on the 7th shuttle mission, from June 18-24, 1983 |
| 1981 | The Space Shuttle: Astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen fly space shuttle Columbia, the first winged reusable spacecraft, on its maiden mission on April 12, 1981. Columbia orbits Earth 36 times. |
| 1989 | Ronald Reagan presidency and term in office ends on January 20, 1989. The next US President was George H. W. Bush |
Ronald Reagan Timeline |