President Richard Nixon becomes the first President to visit the People's Republic of China since its 1949 formation. One year earlier, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger made a top-secret diplomatic trip to China. These diplomatic trips ended decades of American non-recognition, lifted the trade embargoes, and brought about the normalization of Sino-American relations.
Civil Rights leader Malcolm X is assassinated by members of the Nation of Islam while giving a speech New York City's Audubon Ballroom. He had left the Nation of Islam a year earlier following a series of disagreements with its leader, Elijah Muhammad.
CIA agent Aldrich Ames is arrested for espionage after a decade of spying for the Soviet Union. Ames, a career CIA employee, had betrayed several American and Soviet agents who were executed based on Ames' reports. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison following a deal to avoid the death penalty.
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