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| 1989 |
January 11: In his farewell address, Reagan states: "They called it the Reagan revolution. Well, I’ll accept that, but for me it always seemed more like the great rediscovery, a rediscovery of our values and our common sense."
January 20: George Bush is inaugurated; Ronald and Nancy Reagan fly to California. Reagan leaves office with the highest approval rating of any president since Franklin Roosevelt.
March: Soviet citizens are allowed to vote in nationwide elections for the first time. The following month, newly elected President Gorbachev announces that the U.S.S.R. will become democratic.
April-June: Pro-democracy student protests are held in Tiananmen Square in China. Confrontations between students and police turn deadly after the Communist government declares martial law.
June: Lech Walesa is elected president of Poland. Shortly thereafter, the Eastern European Soviet Bloc countries -- Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Rumania -- also forsake communism for democracy.
November: The Berlin Wall, physically separating East Germany from West Germany is opened.
Reagan is awarded honorary knighthood (Knights Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath) by Queen Elizabeth II. He also publishes his life story, "An American Life." |
| 1990 |
February: The Marxist Sandinistas are voted out of power in Nicaragua.
Gorbachev wins the Nobel Peace Prize. |
| 1991 |
November 4: The Reagan Library and Museum, located in Simi Valley, California., is dedicated. It is the only presidential library in California, and only one of ten in the country.
December 15: Mikhail Gorbachev dissolves the Soviet Union. |
| 1992 |
July 24: Reagan is questioned for one day after former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger is subpoenaed in the ongoing Iran-Contra trial. Reagan's poor memory is evident during questioning; not only is he unable to recall facts and figures, it is difficult for him to name his Secretary of State.
November: Democrat Bill Clinton defeats incumbent Republican George Bush. |
| 1993 |
After recurring episodes of confusion and forgetfulness, Reagan flies to the Mayo Clinic for tests. Doctors there diagnose him as having Alzheimer's Disease. |
| 1994 |
February 6: At his 83rd birthday tribute, Reagan falters publicly.
November 5: Reagan addresses a letter to the American people in which he discloses that he is suffering from Alzheimer's Disease. He no longer appears in public.
November: Republicans win the House of Representatives for first time in history. |
| 1998 |
February 4: The Senate passes a hotly contested proposal to rename Washington National Airport Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Opposing Democrats believed the renaming, which would involve increased government spending as well as federal involvement in an airport run by local authorities, was not in keeping with Reagan's politics or spirit. |
| 2000 |
February 4: Reagan celebrates his 89th birthday. The press widely reports that his physical deterioration has escalated, and he is unable to recognize anyone except Nancy. |
| 2004 |
June 5: Ronald Reagan dies peacefully at his home in California. At age 93, he is the longest-lived president in American history. |
