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Home My WebLink About1976-2005 (b) American Mile THE AMERICAN MILEHistorical Events1976 -2025InternationalNationalStateCombined Local1976July 4 1976 -United States Bicentennial (200th anniversary) (BH) (1) Spring – C.S. Charter change approved to return to the ward election system; proved ambiguous and costly (JC) (2) September – C.S. Council accepts comprehensive city plan (JC) (3) Oct 4 -Texas A&M University celebrates its 100th anniversary. (JS)1977(1) James Earl Carter, Jr. began term as 39th U.S. President (2) July 28 1977 -First oil through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System reaches Valdez, Alaska (3) September 21 1977 -Nuclear-proliferation pact, curbing spread of nuclear weapons, is signed by 15 countries including the United States and USSR. Sept -First class of 32 students enroll at TAMU Medical School. (JC)1978(1) April – C.S. citizens vote to reinstate at-large election system (2) March 21 -C.E. Pat Olsen Baseball Stadium dedicated. (JS)1979November 4 1979 -Iran hostage crisis begins: 3,000 Iranian radicals, mostly students, invade the United States embassy in Tehran and take 90 hostages (63 of whom are American). They demand that the United States send the former shah back to Iran to stand trial. --BHJanuary 1 1979 -Sino-American relations: United States and the People's Republic of China establish diplomatic relations (BH) (1) City of C.S. buys land for proposed industrial park (JC) (2) Melanie Zentgraf, a female member of the Corps of Cadets, leads a class action lawsuit to integrate women into several elite Corps organizations and honor companies. The case will last five years and will result in the integration of all Corps organizations. (JS) 3/31/20081:46 PMCopy of Amer Mile Sum 1976-2005 (b) 1980Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington State killing 57 and causing $3 billion in damage (BH)(1) 1980 Census reports Brazos Co population is 93,588. (JS) (2) 1980 Census reports Bryan's population is 44,337. (JS) (3) 1980 Census reports College Station's population is 37,272 (JS) (4) College Station Industrial Development Foundation established to seek high tech, electronic, and research firms. (JC)1981(1) Ronald Wilson Reagan began term as 40th U.S. President (2) First flight with John Young and Robert Crippin of space shuttle Columbia the first airplane-like craft to land from orbit for reuse. (3) U.S. President Ronald Reagan appoints the first female US Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'ConnorTwo more water wells completed in C.S. giving the city its first independent water supply (JC)1982 At the University of Utah, 61-year-old retired dentist Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart (he lived for 112 days with the device) (BH) (1) Post Oak Mall opens in C.S (2) C.S. Community Center opens in old A&M Consolidated High School. (3) The Big Event began when six Aggies cleaned a local cemetery. (JS)1983Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space on the Space Shuttle Challenger (BH)Texas A&M Student Government established "The Big Event," an annual one-day student service project benefitting the A&M community that has continued for two decades. (JC)1984(1) While in orbit around the earth, Navy Captain Bruce McCandless becomes the first human being to fly untethered in space when he exits the U.S. space shuttle Challenger and maneuvers freely using a rocket pack of his own design (BH) (2) Ronald Reagan re-elected president (JY)All TAMU Corps organizations are opened to women (JS) 3/31/20081:46 PMCopy of Amer Mile Sum 1976-2005 (b) 1985The first .com domain name, symbolics.com, is registered by the Symbolics corporation. However, in this early stage of the rollout of domain names, .edu domains, for educational institutions, still predominate over the commercial .com ones (BH)1986Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrates 73 seconds after launch, killing its crew of six astronauts and the schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. (BH)1987The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 2,000 for the first time gaining 8.30 to close at 2,002.25. (BH)1988 The Research Annex at the old Bryan Air Base designated as the Texas A&M Riverside Campus. (JS)1989(1) George Herbert Walker Bush began term as 41st U.S. President (2) Douglas Wilder wins the governor's seat in Virginia and becomes the first elected African American governor in the United States (BH)19901991Texas A&M selected as the site for the George Bush Presidential Library (JS)1992(1) 08/12 1992 -After 14 months of negotiations, the U.S., Mexico and Canada announced in Washington that they had concluded the North American Free Trade Agreement, which would create the world's largest trading bloc. (2) 02/01 1992 -Meeting in Washington D.C., President George Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin declare an official end to the Cold War. (BH) Bonfire moved from Duncan Field to the polo fields near the intersection of Texas Avenue and University Drive. (JS) 3/31/20081:46 PMCopy of Amer Mile Sum 1976-2005 (b) 1993(1) William Jefferson Clinton began term as 42nd U.S. President (2) Kary B. Mullis received the Nobel prize in Chemistry (shared with Michael Smith) for his invention of the method of polymerase chain reaction that enhanced DNA techniqes tremendously. (DS)Kay Bailey Hutchinson becomes first woman t o serve as U.S. Senator from Texas (KE)1994North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect (BH)(1) Brooke Leslie is the first woman elected TAMU Student Body President.(JS) (2) Ground breaking ceremony for the George Bush Presidential Library Center. (JS)1995Bombing of Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. 168 people, including 8 Federal Marshals and 19 children, were killed. Timothy McVeigh and one of his accomplices, Terry Nichols set off the bomb. (BH)1996Bill Clinton is re-elected President of the United States (JS)1997Madeleine Albright becomes the first female secretary of state after confirmation by the United States Senate.(BH) Dedication of the G.Bush Pres Libr Center (Pres Libr & Museum, Bush School of Govt & Public Service,Dept of Political Sci, Dept of Econ & Internat'l Ctr). (JC)1998Space Shuttle Discovery blasts-off with 77-year old John Glenn on board, making him the oldest person to go into space. He became the first American to orbit Earth on Tuesday, February 20, 1962. (BH)1999For the first time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark at 10,006.78. (BH) Bonfire stack collapses. Eleven students and one former student died and 27 students were injured. (JC) 3/31/20081:46 PMCopy of Amer Mile Sum 1976-2005 (b) 2000 (1) 2000 Census reports Brazos Co population is 152,415.(JS) (2) 2000 Census reports Bryan's population is 65,660. (JS) (3) 2000 Census reports College Station's population is 67,890. (JS)2001(1) George Walker Bush began term as 43rd U.S. President (2) September 11, 2001 -Almost 3,000 killed in the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania. (BH) 2002(1) March 1 2002 -U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins. (2) November 25, 2002 -US President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law, establishing the Department of Homeland Security in the largest U.S. government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947 (the Senate passed the bill 90-9 on November 19). (BH)Texas A&M University President Ray Bowen announces that there will be no Bonfire in 2002, (JS)2003(1) February 1 2003 -The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon reentry, killing all seven astronauts onboard. (2) March 19 2003 -First American bombs dropped on Baghdad, Iraq. President Saddam Hussein and his sons do not comply with President Bush's 48 hour mandate demanding their exit from Iraq. (BH) (3) The U.S. Census Bureau reported that Hispanics had surpassed Blacks as the largest minority group. (BH) 3/31/20081:46 PMCopy of Amer Mile Sum 1976-2005 (b) 2004 Presidential elections: George W Bush wins a second term (JY)2005At least 1,417 are killed, and severe damage is caused along the U.S. Gulf Coast, as Hurricane Katrina strikes the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama coastal areas. Within hours, levees give way and New Orleans is flooded. (BH)20062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 3/31/20081:46 PMCopy of Amer Mile Sum 1976-2005 (b)