With the inauguration of recently-elected President Reagan, Iran frees the 52 American hostages it held for 444 days. They eventually return home to a hero’s welcome. In exchange, the United States agrees to release $8 billion in Iranian assets frozen after the U.S. embassy in Teheran was seized by militant Iranian students.

Elsewhere that year:

• President Reagan, shot and seriously wounded in Washington, recuperates slowly after surgery. His would-be assassin, John W. Hinckley, Jr., is found not guilty by reason of insanity.

• Sandra Day O’Connor begins her term as the first woman justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. She favors the death penalty and the right of women to have abortions.

• In the biggest naturalization ceremony ever held, 9,700 immigrants are sworn in as U.S. citizens at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

• Pope John Paul II is shot and seriously wounded as he greets worshippers in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, Italy. The gunman, a Turkish radical convicted of murder who escaped from prison, receives a life sentence.

• A symphony written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart when he was 9 years old is discovered in a private collection in Germany.

• IBM introduces its model of the personal computer (PC), destined to revolutionize office automation and move corporations away from mainframe computers, a market dominated by IBM. Smaller companies begin to clone the IBM PC.