On January 23, 1968, the USS Pueblo, a Navy intelligence vessel,
was  engaged in a routine surveillance of the North Korean coast
when it is intercepted by North Korean patrol boats. According to
U.S. reports, the Pueblo was in international waters almost 16
miles from shore, but the North Koreans turned their guns on
the lightly armed vessel and demanded its surrender.

The Pueblo was boarded and taken to Wonson. There, the 83-man
crew was bound and blindfolded and transported to Pyongyang,
where they were charged with spying within North Korea’s 12-
mile territorial limit and imprisoned. It was the biggest crisis in
two years of increased tension and minor skirmishes between
the United States and North Korea.

The crew of USS Pueblo at a press conference in North
Korea in 1968. (Korea News Service via AP Images)

TIM MAGUIRE

President Ronald Reagan, wife Nancy and Chief Justice
Warren Burger during the 1981 oath of office ceremony.

On January 20, 1981, minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration
as the 40th president of the United States (above) the 52 U.S.
captives held at the U.S. embassy in Teheran, Iran (above)
were released, ending the 444-day Iran Hostage Crisis.

On November 4, 1979, the crisis began when militant Iranian
students, outraged that the U.S. government had allowed the
ousted shah of Iran to travel to New York City for medical
treatment, seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran.

On October 10, 1985, the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille
Lauro reached a dramatic climax when U.S. Navy F-14 fighters intercepted an Egyptian airliner attempting to fly the Palestinian
hijackers to freedom and force the jet to land at a NATO base in Sigonella, Sicily. American and Italian troops surrounded the plane,
and the terrorists were taken into Italian custody.

On October 7, four heavily armed Palestinian terrorists hijacked
the Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of
Alexandria, Egypt. Some 320 crewmembers and 80 passengers,
including 11 Americans, were taken hostage. 

Identifying themselves as members of the Palestine Liberation
Front, a Palestinian splinter group–the gunmen demanded the
release of 50 Palestinian militants imprisoned in Israel. If their
demands were not met, they threatened to blow up the ship and
kill all the Americans and British passengers on board.

The Achille Lauro cruise ship leaves Egypt’s Port Said harbor after being released from terrorist hijackers.

TIM MAGUIRE