Important events in the US history - Assignment Example

Important Events in the US History The attempt on the life of US President Ronald Reagan is one of the most important events in the country’s history over the past 33 years. The incident happened on March 30, 1981, barely three months into Ronald’s first term office. While walking out of a function at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., the president, his spokesman James Brady and two police officers, Jerry Parr and Thomas Delahanty were fired upon by John Hinckley, Jr. In August 2014, spokesman James Brady died of head injuries related to the attack.

President Reagan had his chest and the lower right limb hit by bullets. He also suffered injuries to his lung, which triggered heavy hemorrhage, but swift medical intervention saved his life. After the incident, no official invocation of a succession plan happened despite the fact that Secretary of State Alexander Haig made a controversial announcement that he was in charge of state affairs because Vice President George Bush was away from Washington. Hinckley was discharged on insanity grounds.

The attempted assassination of the president resulted in major reform of the country’s gun laws following the passage of the Brady Law. The statute named after James Brady limits gun issuing to individuals without any criminal history and to those who are sane by imposing clearance duration of five days. Election of Barack Obama The second historic event in the US history is the election of Senator Barack Obama in November 2008 as President of the US (BBC News 1). Obama became the first US President with African American roots.

His subsequent election for a second and final term over ex-Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in 2012, symbolized tremendous steps made by Blacks to vie for influential political offices in the country after many decades of discrimination by the mainstream whites. The fact that blacks had been: unfairly segregated in schools before 1950s; denied voting rights and the opportunity to field candidates for elective posts; targeted by assassination such as of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the 1960s; and limited to their own units within the security forces became history after the country settled for the black president (BBC News 1).

Since the election President Obama into office, blacks and by extension members of other minority communities have developed a feeling of belonging in the country. Killing Osama bin Laden Lastly, following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the US, which claimed more than 3,000 lives of innocent Americans, the killing of the chief architect of the terror on May 1, 2011 was a significant event in the US history (BBC News 1). American military officers killed al-Qaida commander Osama bin Laden in his home in Abbottabad, Pakistan following a decade-long hunt for him.

Intelligence reports showed that bin Laden was also behind many deadly terrorist attacks on US interests, including the mid-1998 bombing of the American consulates in Tanzania and Kenya. After almost a year of intelligence gathering, the Central Intelligence Agency tracked bin Laden to the compound and kept watch on him with sophisticated technology. And when the day came, a team of American Special Forces were sent in to get him; they did not disappoint. President Obama said the development was a significant event in the country’s history of war against terrorism.

Works CitedBBC News. “United States of America timeline: A chronology of key events.” British Broadcasting News, 10 Jan. 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2014. < http://news.bbc.co.uk/> Rawhide Down. “The near assassination of Ronald Reagan.” Rawhide Down, 2011. Web 5 Dec. 2014.