Ice Hot (Feb. 24): During the Winter Olympics, the youthful American ice hockey team beats the Soviets, the defending champions, in the semifinals and then defeats Finland in the final. The victory electrifies the United States during a time of increasing tensions with the Soviet Union.

Cuba Debacle (April): The Mariel boat lift, an exodus of 125,000 Cubans to Florida, begins after Cuban leader Fidel Castro invites exiles in the United States to retrieve friends and relatives. But when the expatriates arrive in Cuba, they find they also have to transport passengers handpicked by Castro -- many of them criminals or mentally ill. Castro's ploy undercuts U.S. immigration policy. President Carter, reneging on a promise to greet outcasts with open arms, declares the boat lift illegal.

	Carter

Failed Rescue (April 24): A U.S. hostage-rescue mission in Iran ordered by Carter ends in disaster. After three helicopters break down, the mission is aborted. During the withdrawal, one of the remaining helicopters collides with a C-130 transport plane, killing eight soldiers and injuring five.

Rude Awakening (May 18): Dormant since 1857, Mount St. Helens in Washington state erupts, setting off fires, mudslides and floods, and killing nearly 60 people.

Olympic Boycott (July 19): The Summer Olympics open as scheduled in Moscow. But a boycott of the Games over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan keeps athletes from the United States and several other countries from attending.

Abscam (Oct. 2): In its first expulsion since 1861, the House of Representatives expels Rep. Michael Joseph Myers, D-Pa., who was convicted of bribery and conspiracy in connection with a sting operation in which FBI agents posed as Arabs and offered members of Congress cash in return for political favors.

	The Reagans on inauguration day

One for the Gipper (Nov. 4): Ronald Wilson Reagan, 69, is elected as the nation's 40th president. Reagan, a former film actor, TV show host and Republican governor of California, is the oldest president ever elected.

Mystery Solved (Nov. 21): More than half the nation's TV audience tunes in to find out "Who shot J.R.?" That "Dallas" episode became the most-watched program in TV history.

Lennon is Dead (Dec. 8): Former Beatle John Lennon, 40, is fatally shot five times in front of his home in Manhattan by a crazed fan, Mark David Chapman, 25.