Ronald Reagan Event Timeline

January 20, 1981

Ronald Reagan (40) Event Timeline 01/20/1981-01/20/1989
11/04/1980	Election Day. Reagan wins 91% of the Electoral College and 51% of the popular vote.
1981
01/20/1981	Inaugural Address
01/20/1981	52 American hostages in Iran released in exchange for ending trade sanctions
01/28/1981	Appoints William J. Casey as CIA Director
02/18/1981	Address to Joint Session of Congress proposing a program for economic recovery.
03/10/1981	Message to Congress proposing budgetary revisions for FY 1982
03/30/1981	John Hinckley Jr attempts to assassinate President Reagan following Reagan’s remarks to the AFL-CIO.
04/11/1981	Reagan leaves the hospital.
04/24/1981	Lifts Soviet grain embargo in order to help America farmers; still condemning the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan.
04/28/1981	Address to Joint Session of Congress on Program for Economic Recovery
05/21/1981	Proposes to Congress a bipartisan effort to fix Social Security
06/05/1981	The US Centers for Disease Control identifies a rare illness that is afflicting primarily gay men.
07/07/1981	Nominates Sandra Day O’Connor, first woman Supreme Court Justice and makes Remarks.
08/03/1981	Remarks on Air Traffic Controllers Strike, after failed negotiations with the federal government. “I must tell those who fail to report for duty this morning they are in violation of the law, and if they do not report for work within 48 hours, they have forfeited their jobs and will be terminated.” Two days later, the FAA begins to fires striking workers.
08/13/1981	Signs Economic Recovery Tax Act
10/02/1981	Announces Strategic Weapons Renewal program. Includes deploying 100 B-1 bombers as soon as possible; completing MX missile program.
10/06/1981	Remarks Announcing the Death of President Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt. Out of concern for Reagan's security, he will not attend Sadat's funeral but is represented by former Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter. On 10/07/1981 by Proclamation, Reagan directs that Sadat be honored by flying the flag at half-staff.
10/09/1981	Remarks to the Initial Meeting of the National Commission on Excellence in Education. "I urge you to help America get back to stressing fundamentals in our schools."
11/18/1981	In Remarks to the National Press Club, discloses that he has sent a handwritten letter to Russian President Brezhnev of Russia in hopes for better relations, affirms his commitment to the Atlantic Alliance. Announces proposed mutual reduction of convention intermediate-range nuclear and strategic forces.
12/16/1981	By Executive Order 12335, Creates National Commission on Social Security reform
12/23/1981	Addresses Nation; welcomes Christmas season and warns Polish government against “waging war on its own people.”
12/27/1981	Releases a Statement condemning Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan
12/29/1981	Imposes sanctions on Poland and the USSR. Says blame lies heavily with Soviet Union.
1982
01/26/1982	Annual State of the Union Address
03/10/1982	By Proclamation, imposes embargo on Libyan oil imports, citing to Libyan support of terrorism
05/31/1982	Announces Negotiations between US and Soviet Union in Geneva
06/08/1982	Addresses UK House of Common, where he remarks that Communism will end up on the “ash heap of history”
06/11/1982	Visits and gives speech in West Berlin
06/29/1982	Signs 25-Year Extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act
06/30/1982	Appoints Committee to investigate Federal waste in government spending, emphasizing the need to “drain the swamp.” This was also known as the Grace Commission.
08/25/1982	Marines arrive in Lebanon to help manage conflict between Israel and Lebanon
09/03/1982	Signs Tax Equity & Fiscal Responsibility Act, which reduced the budget deficit through federal spending cuts and increased taxes
09/03/1982	Appoints Walter B. Wriston as Chairman of Economic Policy Board. Wriston advocated for less of government intervention in banking.
10/15/1982	Signs Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act, allows more risky mortgage lending
1983
01/06/1983	Signs Gas Tax Bill, the first increase in federal gasoline taxes in 23 years, in order to improve the nation’s infrastructure
01/07/1983	Remarks on Signing the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which utilizes deep geologic reserves to dispose of nuclear waste as well as allocating money for nuclear research
01/15/1983	Receives Recommendations of National Commission on Social Security Reform
01/25/1983	Annual State of the Union Address
03/08/1983	Speaks to the National Association of Evangelicals in Orlando Florida; warns against ignoring “the facts of history and the aggressive inpulses of an evil empire.”
03/10/1983	In Proclamation 5030 establishes the Exclusive Economic Zone (extending to a distance of 200 nautical miles) of the United States.
03/23/1983	SIn an Address to the Nation, announces what becomes known as the Strategic Defense Initiative. Asks the scientific community to create a defense system in space that would render nuclear weapons useless
04/18/1983	Terrorist Attack on US embassy in Beirut, kills 17 US foreign service personnel and more than 40 Lebanese.
04/20/1983	Signs Social Security Amendments of 1983; raising the age of retirement and the payroll tax.
04/26/1983	Remarks on Receiving the Final Report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education. The report, "A Nation At Risk," was a strong critique of public schools, particularly highlighting teacher training and compensation. It provoked widespread concern for education reform. (Link to a pdf of "A Nation at Risk.")
05/03/1983	Remarks to the Annual Meeting of the National Rifle Association. Addresses "my fellow members." ". . . we're trying to move forward on another front: to reform the firearms laws which needlessly interfere with the rights of legitimate gun owners like yourselves." Also notes that since taking office "the sale of M-1 rifles to participants and instructors in high-power rifle marksmanship training programs has been increased significantly."
05/17/1983	Remarks on agreement between Lebanon, Israel, and the United States to a phased Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon.
06/18/1983	In a Radio Address to the Nation, nominates Paul Volcker for second term as Federal Reserve Chairman.
08/27/1983	Statement on the 20th Anniversary of the March on Washington. In the last 20 years, great progress has been made."
09/01/1983	Korean Air Flight 007 Shot Down after pilot accidentally flies into Soviet airspace, all 269 passengers are killed. Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union rise dramatically. On 09/05/1983, the President makes this the topic of an Address to the Nation.
10/03/1983	North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms starts a filibuster against a bill that would make the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. a national holiday. But at the same time news is leaked that President Reagan would sign the bill in its current form. Helms ends his filibuster two days later. The bill eventually passes the Senate by a vote of 78-22.
10/23/1983	Suicide bomber drives a truck into US military barracks in Lebanon, killing 241 military personnel.
10/25/1983	United States Invades Grenada, seeks to respond to the request of six other Caribbean nations and to rescue American students living on the island.
10/27/1983	Address to the Nation on events in Lebanon and Grenada.
11/02/1983	Signs Act making the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. a Federal Holiday
12/19/1983	Sends Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld to meet President Saddam Hussein in effort to normalize relations with Iraq.
1984
01/16/1984	Receives the Report of the "Grace Commission" on Cost Control in the Federal Government.
01/25/1984	Annual State of the Union Address
02/08/1984	United States Bombs Syrian Controlled Area in Lebanon, in retaliation for prior Syrian attack.
04/04/1984	Calls for an international ban on chemical weapons following Iraqi use of mustard gas on the Iranians.
04/23/1984	The Department of Health and Human Services announces finding virus that may cause AIDS.
08/30/1984	Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on maiden voyage.
07/17/1984	Signs the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, establishing 21 as the legal drinking age.
07/18/1984	Signs the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984.
08/23/1984	Accepts Republican nomination for a second term as President.
10/15/1984	Signs the Central Intelligence Agency Information Act, which allows the public to view declassified documents.
10/30/1984	Signs the Trade and Tariff Act of 1984, which creates a negotiating authority for both the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement as well as the US-Israel Free Trade agreement.
10/31/1984	Assassination of Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi, the first and only female Prime Minister of India.
11/06/1984	Election Day, Reagan wins 59% of the popular vote and 98% of the electoral vote. Defeats former Vice-President Walter Mondale.
1985
02/06/1985	State of the Union Address.
01/20/1985	Oath of Office administered at the White House by Chief Justice Warren Burger.
01/21/1985	Second Inaugural Address; Delivered from the Rotunda of the Capitol. Inaugural parade cancelled due to bitterly cold weather in Washington, D.C.
02/06/1985	Vetoes Emergency Farm Credit Bill, citing mass increases to the deficit.
03/01/1985	Remarks to the Conservative Political Action Committee. Famous line: “. . . the freedom fighters of Nicaragua. You know the truth about them. You know who they're fighting and why. They are the moral equal of our Founding Fathers and the brave men and women of the French Resistance. We cannot turn away from them, for the struggle here is not right versus left; it is right versus wrong.”
03/11/1985	Gorbachev becomes General Secretary of Soviet Communist Party, giving Americans hope for successful negotiations with a younger leader.
05/01/1985	Issues Executive Order 12513 imposing an embargo on imports from Nicaragua, due to aggressive acts from the Sandinista government and links with the Soviet Union.
05/04/1985	Attends Bonn Economic Summit timed to coincide with 40^th Anniversary of the end of World War II.
05/05/1985	Remarks at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, Germany.
05/05/1985	Remarks at Bitburg Air Base, Germany. Followed a visit to the military cemetery with German war dead including members of the SS. His remarks included this passage: “Well, today freedom-loving people around the world must say: I am a Berliner. I am a Jew in a world still threatened by anti-Semitism. I am an Afghan, and I am a prisoner of the Gulag. I am a refugee in a crowded boat foundering off the coast of Vietnam. I am a Laotian, a Cambodian, a Cuban, and a Miskito Indian in Nicaragua. I, too, am a potential victim of totalitarianism.”
06/14/1985	Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, Hijacks a Flight Bound to Rome, and kills a Navy Seal onboard as well as taking other individuals hostage.
07/13/1985	Cancerous polyp is removed at Bethesda Naval Hospital; during the procedure, George H. W. Bush is acting president.
07/13/1985	Announces planned summit meeting with Gorbachev in November, in Geneva, Switzerland.
09/09/1985	Executive Order 12532 imposes trade sanctions on South Africa.
09/17/1985	In a news conference, in his first public reference to the AIDS Epidemic, Reagan says he has been supporting research on AIDS for more than four years.
11/19/1985 – 11/21/1985	Reagan and Gorbachev Meet At the Geneva Summit. This was the first of several summits between the leaders; the first US/USSR summit since 1979. This session was at the Chateau Fleur d’Eau which featured a very large fireplace. The two leaders were photographed in affable conversation in large easy chairs in front of the fireplace—thus, “the fireside summit.”
11/21/1985	Speech to Joint Session of Congress on Geneva Summit.
12/12/1985	Signs the Gramm Rudman Hollings Balanced Budget Act, requires automatic spending cuts if federal agencies exceed their budget.
1986
01/28/1986	Address to the Nation concerning the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion which killed all seven members on board.
02/04/1986	State of the Union Address to Joint Session of Congress.
02/11/1986	Signs Joint Resolution Designating February 1986 as "National Black (Afro-American) History Month. (100 Stat 6; pdf of Public Law is linked here)
04/16/1986	Report to Congress on 04/14/1986 Air Strike Against Libya, responding to their government sponsorship of terrorist activities.
04/30/1986	White House statement about 04/24/1986 explosion at Chernobyl Power Plant which killed 31 people and spread radiation as far as Sweden.
05/19/1986	Signs Firearm Owner Protection Act which asserted a Second Amendment right to personal firearm ownership; prohibited the sale or possession of a “machinegun.”
05/25/1986	Hands Across America Day, 5 million people form human chain from NYC to Long Beach to raise money to fight poverty.
06/27/1986	The International Court of Justice Rules that the United States Violates International Law by Aiding Contras.
09/26/1986	Vetoes the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, which was intended to encourage South Africa to end apartheid; argues that the Act harms those it intends to help.
10/01/1986	Signs the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, which drastically altered the command structure of the United States military.
10/02/1986	Signs the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 passed over his veto. “Our administration will, nevertheless, implement the law. It must be recognized, however, that this will not solve the serious problems that plague that country.”
10/11/1986 – 10/12/1986	Reagan and Gorbachev Meet at the Reykjavik Summit in Iceland. Talks failed when Reagan refused to compromise on the Strategic Defense Initiative.
10/13/1986	Address to the Nation on Reykjavik Summit.
10/18/1986	Signs Appropriations Act authorizing aid for the Contras (a rebel guerilla group opposing the Sandinista government of Nicaragua ) under certain conditions not to include military advice or training.
10/22/1986	Signs Memorandum certifying that the Contras meet the conditions for aid.
10/22/1986	Signs Tax Reform Act of 1986, lowering the highest tax rate from 50 to 28 percent. “Fair and simpler for most Americans, this is a tax code designed to take us into a future of technological invention and economic achievement, one that will keep America competitive and growing into the 21st century.”
11/03/1986	Iran-Contra Affair becomes publicly known for the first time.
11/04/1986	Midterm Elections: Democrats gain majority in the Senate.
11/06/1986	Signs the Immigration Reform Control Act of 1986, which helped immigrant workers achieve legal status.
11/13/1986	Address to the Nation on Iran Arms and Contra Aid controversy. “We did not—repeat—did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we.”
11/19/1986	Presidential news conference substantially focused on Iran-Contra.
11/25/1986	Announces Review of National Security Council’s role in Iran-Contra Affair. “This report led me to conclude that I was not fully informed on the nature of one of the activities undertaken in connection with this initiative.”
12/01/1986	Remarks at Meeting with Tower Commission Special Review Board.
12/02/1986	Address to the Nation on the Investigation of Iran-Contra. Requests appointment of an independent counsel. “If illegal acts were undertaken, those who did so will be brought to justice.”
1987
01/08/1987	Acknowledges the 10^th Anniversary of Charter 77, a document signed by Czech activists affirming civil rights
01/27/1987	State of the Union Address to Joint Session of Congress.
02/04/1987	Water Quality Control Act Passes Over Reagan’s Veto. Reagan had vetoed the bill on 01/30/1987 saying that “the real issue is the Federal deficit.”
02/26/1987	Tower Commission, an independent investigation into the administration’s sale of weapons to Iran, concludes with report.
02/27/1987	Don Regan resigns as Chief of Staff; Senator Howard Baker named as replacement.
03/04/1987	Address to the Nation on Iran-Contra. “A few months ago I told the American people I did not trade arms for hostages. My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true, but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.”
03/16/1987	By Proclamation 5619, declares the first Women's History Month, pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 20, which he had signed on 03/12/1987 (see Congressional Record p. 5695).
05/17/1987	USS Stark attacked in Persian Gulf (later attributed to Iraq).
05/18/1987	Reagan statement on attack on USS Stark.
06/02/1987	Alan Greenspan nominated as Federal Reserve Chairman after resignation of Paul Volcker.
06/08/1987 – 06/10/1987	Attends G7 Summit in Venice. A series of statements were released on East-West Relations, Terrorism, and the Persian Gulf.
06/12/1987	Visits West Berlin. In speaking at the wall, Reagan says “Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Significant because it increased international pressure on Moscow to fulfill promise of reform.
06/15/1987	Address to the Nation on the Venice Economic Summit.
07/01/1987	Nominates Robert Bork to the Supreme Court to fill the seat of Louis Powell who had resigned 6/26/1987.
07/03/1987	Announces America’s Economic Bill of Rights, financial initiatives styled after the Bill of Rights.
08/12/1987	Address to the Nation on Iran-Contra.
10/19/1987	Stock market crash.
10/23/1987	The Senate failed to confirm Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork by a vote of 42-58.
11/18/1987	Congressional Committee concludes Iran-Contra investigationt, corroborating the Tower report.
12/08/1987-12/10/1987	Washington Summit: Gorbachev and Reagan Sign Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which attempted to eliminate all intermediate missiles from Europe.
12/10/1987	Address to the Nation on the US-Soviet Summit Meeting.
1988
01/02/1988	Signs United States-Canada Free Trade Agreement.
01/25/1988	Annual State of the Union Address.
01/06/1988	Signs Executive Order to Assist the Nicaraguan Democratic Resistance.
01/06/1988	Signs the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987, in order to help farmers facing financial crisis.
05/23/1988	Addresses Citizens of Western Europe.
05/29/1988 – 06/03/1988	Moscow Summit with Gorbachev; Ratification of INF Treaty.
07/01/1988	Signs Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988.
10/13/1988	Signs the Family Support Act, which amends federal laws regarding child support.
10/25/1988	Signs Act creating the Department of Veterans Affairs.
11/08/1988	Election Day; Vice President George H. W. Bush is elected President winning 79% of the electoral vote and 53% of the popular vote. Bush was first sitting Vice President since Martin Van Buren to become President in an election (rather than due to the President’s death or resignation).
11/10/1988	Signs the Undetectable Firearms Act, which makes illegal guns undetectable by metal detectors.
12/08/1988	Final News Conference.
1989
01/03/1989	Proposes Whistleblower Protection Legislation.
01/03/1989	Makes Recommendations Regarding the International Convention and Protocol on Terrorist Acts at Sea.
1/11/1989	Farewell Address to the Nation.

Last edited 07/14/2024

Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan Event Timeline Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/346008

Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan Event Timeline

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