Barack Obama is elected. The first African-American to be elected President of the United States, Obama is the 44th person to occupy the Oval Office. He succeeded President George W. Bush and he has been elected to the office twice.

Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. He was the Prime Minister of Israel when he was killed in Tel Aviv by Yigal Amir, an Israel who opposed the role that Rabin played in the Oslo Peace Accords. The Accords were a collection of agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization that set up the process of Palestinian self-determination and created the Palestinian Authority.

Iran Hostage Crisis. The 444-day crisis began when a group of students took over the American Embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostages. The crisis led to a breakdown in American and Iranian diplomatic relations.

US National Security Agency formed. The NSA as it is popularly known is an intelligence organization that is responsible for monitoring and collecting signal intelligence around the world. The agency was preceded by the Armed Forces Security Agency.

First woman governor of a state in the US. Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first and only female governor of the state of Wyoming in the United States. In addition to being the first woman to be ever elected as a state governor in the US, she was also the first female director of the United States Mint.