1974 NIXON RESIGNS:  In July, the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives votes three articles of impeachment against Richard Nixon.  The charges:  obstructing justice, using federal agencies to deprive citizens of their rights, and defiance of Congress and Nixon chooses to resign instead in August. 1975 SOUTH VIETNAM SURRENDERS:  On April 30, the president of South Vietnam agrees to an unconditional surrender to the North 1976 VIETNAM REUNITED:  North and South Vietnam are officially combined with Hanoi as the capital. 1977 CARTER’S HUMAN RIGHTS POLICY: In line with administration policies, the U.S. warns the U.S.S.R. that its attempts to silence Nobel Prize-winning physicist Andrei Sakharov violate “accepted international standards.” NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY: The United States, Soviet Union, and 13 other countries sign a nuclear non-proliferation treaty, aimed at discouraging the international sale of nuclear weapons technology 1979 SALT II: President Carter and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev sign a new arms limitation treaty.  They treaty caps six years of negotiations. 1980 US BOYCOTTS OLYMPICS: In protest of the Soviet aggresion in Afghanastan. 1981 IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS:  The Americans held hostage in Teheran are released after 444 days in captivity 1982 FALKLANDS ISLANDS WAR:  President Reagan announces that the U.S. will back Great Britain in the Falklands Islands War.  The U.S.S.R. and Cuba back Argentina. 1983 STAR WARS:  President Reagan urges development of a new defense system capable of destroying Soviet missiles in space.  This Strategic Defense Initiative is called “Star Wars” by the media. KOREAN PLANE SHOT DOWN:  Korean Air Lines Flight 007, from New York to Seoul, is shot down in Soviet airspace.  There are no survivors, Soviets admit a week later to “stopping” the plane 1984 OLYMPICS: hosted by the United States in Los Angeles; the Soviet team doesn’t attend 1985 MIKHAIL GORBACHEV: comes to power as the new Soviet leader after President Konstantin Chernenko dies REAGAN DOCTRINE: President Reagan announces that the Unites States will actively and openly back rebellions against pro-Soviet regimes in Third World countries

Timeline/Glossary