 The US and USSR began arms talks in Geneva.
5/8/1981, President Reagan fired 11,359 striking air traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
8/4/1981, Omar Bradley, US senior army officer, died aged 88.
30/3/1981. President Reagan, 70 years old, survived an assassination attempt by John Hinckley. He was wounded, a bullet in the left lung, outside Washington’s Hilton Hotel. The shooter, John Hinckley III, arrested at the spot, had used a .22 calibre shot; had he used a .45 the bullet, which lodged just 3 inches from Reagan’s heart, would have killed him.
22/11/1980, Mae West, American film star in the 1930s, died aged 88.
21/11/1980. The episode of Dallas in which it was revealed who shot JR broke all viewing records.
25/9/1980, Charles Henry Elston, US Representative from Ohio (born 1/1/1891) died.
7/6/1980, American novelist Henry Miller died.
7/5/1980, Paul Geidel, convicted of 2nd degree murder, was released from the Fishkill Correctional Facility (prison) in Beacon, New York, after serving 68 years and 245 days – the longest ever served by a US inmate.
2/2/1980, A 36-hour prison riot began in New Mexico Penitentiary due to overcrowding. 33 inmates died and US$ 25 million damage was done.
25/1/1980, The US ordered the deportation of Beatle Paul McCartney after keeping him in prison for 9 days following the discovery of marijuana in his luggage.
23/1/1980, President Carter initiated the Carter Doctrine – that Middle Eastern oil reserves were of strategic importance to the US and that any attempt by another power to take control in the region would be met by US military action. This Doctrine was adopted by President Reagan, leading to the Gulf War.
19/1/1980, William O Douglas, judge in the US Supreme Court and civil rights defender (born 16/10/1898 in Maine, Minnesota) died.
1/10/1979. The USA handed back control of the Canal Zone to Panama.
18/6/1979. US President Carter and USSR President Brezhnev signed the SALT 2 (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) in Vienna.
8/5/1979, Talcott Parsons, US sociologist, died aged 76.
26/1/1979, Nelson Rockerfeller, Republican politician and vice President to Gerald Ford, died.
3/1/1979, Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton Hotel Group and once married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, died.
1/1/1979. Diplomatic relations were established between China and the USA.
15/12/1978, Cleveland, Ohio, became the first major US city to go into default since the great Depression, under mayor Dennis Kucinich.
3/11/1978. Vietnam and the USA signed a 25-year treaty of friendship and co-operation in economic, scientific and technical endeavours.
7/8/1978, President Jimmy Carter declared a federal emergency at Love Canal.
7/4/1978. US President Carter pulled back from building a neutron bomb.
14/1/1978, Kurt Godel, Austrian-American logician, died aged 71.
13/1/1978, Hubert Humphrey, Vice President to Lyndon Johnson, died.
10/1977, The US Department of Energy was created.
7/9/1977, A treaty between the USA and Panama was signed; the US agreed to give Panama control of the Canal by 2000.
16/8/1977. The rock and roll star Elvis Presley died in Memphis, Tennessee, aged 42. He died in the bathroom of his home although he was actually pronounced dead at 3.30 pm in the emergency room of the Baptist Hospital, Memphis. Overweight, he died of heart failure. He was buried in Memphis on 18/8/1977. He was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, the survivor of twin boys, on 8/1/1935.
26/6/1977. Elvis Presley made his last ever live stage appearance at the Market Square Arena in Indianopolis.
4/6/1977, Two people died during violence on Puerto Rican Day in Chicago.
10/5/1977, American film star Joan Crawford died.
21/1/1977, Jimmy Carter issued a pardon for those who evaded the draft for the Vietnam War.
17/1/1977. The US restored the death penalty, after a ten year suspension, and Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad in Utah.
18/8/1976, In North Korea, at Panmunjom, two US soldiers were killed whilst trying to chop down a tree in the demilitarised zone; the tree had obscured their view.
3/7/1976. The Suprem