Starting from the time I was born:

• Ronald Reagan is sworn into office as the 40th US President, 1981
• The first artificial heart is implanted in American Barney Clark, 1982
• The Soviets shoot down Korean Airlines flight 007, 1983
• The Soviet Union boycotts the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, 1984
• Live Aid, a 17-hour rock concert broadcast worldwide from London and Philadelphia, raises $70 million for the starving peoples of Africa, 1985
  • I vaguely remember this, but only because of the song "We Are The World." That song is by far one of the best large-scale musical collaborations in history, in my opinion.
• Japanese video game maker Nintendo introduces its games to America, 1986
  • I remember this because my grandparents used to watch me and my siblings after school and my brother stayed with them while he was sick one day. When I got to their house after school, he was sitting in the living room playing Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt on a brand new Nintendo. This was the first video game I'd ever been allowed to play on my own.
• World Population reaches 5 billion, 1987
• George Bush elected into office, 1988
• The Berlin Wall comes down, symbolically ending the Cold War, 1989
• The Gulf War, 1990-1991
• Bill Clinton elected into office, 1992
• Two LA Police Officers Are Convicted Of Violating Rodney Kings Civil Rights, 1993
• Death of Kurt Cobain, 1994
• Former NFL star, O.J. Simpson, on trial (and acquitted) for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, 1995
• TWA Flight 800 Crashes Into Atlantic Shortly After Takeoff, 230 Die, 1996
• Death of Princess Diana, 1997
• U.S. Strikes on Sudan and Afghanistan, 1998
• President Bill Clinton impeached for sexual misconduct in the White House, 1999
• WTO riots break out in the streets of Seattle, 1999
• Y2K
• Election of George W. Bush as president, 2000
• World Trade Center and Pentagon are attacked by hi-jacked airplanes; The Twin towers fall; Al Quida terrorists suspected, September 11th, 2001
• U.S. and Afghan troops launch Operation Anaconda against remaining al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, 2002
• Declaration of war against Iraq, 2003
• Arnold Schwarzenegger elected as governor of California, 2003
• US transfers sovereignty and control of Iraq back to the Iraq people, 2004
• Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans, Lousiana, 2005
• Saddam Hussein executed, 2006
• The Saffron Protests, 2007
• Barrack Obama elected as the first black President of the USA, 2008
• Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett die on the same day, 2009
• BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, 2010
• Large-scale earthquakes devastate Haiti and Chile; 2010
• Large-scale earthquakes and tsunami waves devastate Japan and cause a nuclear threat, 2011