← a year earlier · day before · day after · a year later →

The United States on January 4, 1981

Who held every office, how Congress and the Court were made up, and what happened within a week. Diff this day against today →

President
Carter
James Earl Carter D · since Jan 20, 1977
Senate
35 D · 31 R
66 senators · 97th Congress
House
—
0 representatives
Supreme Court
7 R · 2 D
9 justices by appointing party
Union
50 states
26 amendments in force
Unemployment
7.2%
Dec 1980 · $1 then ≈ $3.90 today
Public debt
$908B
as of Sep 30, 1980
1981-01-04/executiveThe administration
President James Earl Carter D
since Jan 20, 1977
Vice President Walter Frederick Mondale D
Secretary of Defense Harold Brown D
since Jan 21, 1977
Secretary of Agriculture Robert Bergland D
since Jan 23, 1977
Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus D
since Jan 23, 1977
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Douglas M. Costle D
since Mar 7, 1977
Director of Central Intelligence Stansfield Turner D
since Mar 9, 1977
Director of the Office of Management and Budget James T. McIntyre D
since Sep 24, 1977
Secretary of the Treasury G. William Miller D
since Aug 6, 1979
Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti D
since Aug 16, 1979
Secretary of Energy Charles Duncan, Jr. D
since Aug 24, 1979
Ambassador to the United Nations Donald McHenry D
since Sep 23, 1979
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Moon Landrieu D
since Sep 24, 1979
Secretary of Transportation Neil Goldschmidt D
since Sep 24, 1979
Secretary of Education Shirley M. Hufstedler D
since Nov 30, 1979
Secretary of Health and Human Services Patricia Harris D
since May 4, 1980
Secretary of State Edmund Muskie D
since May 8, 1980
White House Chief of Staff Jack Watson D
since Jun 11, 1980
1981-01-04/congress97th Congress
Senate · 35 D · 31 R
Howell Thomas Heflin (Democrat, AL)David Hampton Pryor (Democrat, AR)Dennis Webster DeConcini (Democrat, AZ)Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Democrat, DE)Lawton Mainor Chiles Jr. (Democrat, FL)Samuel Augustus Nunn (Democrat, GA)Spark Masayuki Matsunaga (Democrat, HI)Walter Darlington Huddleston (Democrat, KY)John Bennett Johnston Jr. (Democrat, LA)Edward M. Kennedy (Democrat, MA)Paul Efthemios Tsongas (Democrat, MA)Paul S. Sarbanes (Democrat, MD)George John Mitchell (Democrat, ME)Donald Wayne Riegle Jr. (Democrat, MI)Carl Levin (Democrat, MI)John Cornelius Stennis (Democrat, MS)John Melcher (Democrat, MT)Max Baucus (Democrat, MT)Quentin Northrup Burdick (Democrat, ND)Edward Zorinsky (Democrat, NE)J. James Exon (Democrat, NE)Harrison Arlington Williams Jr. (Democrat, NJ)William Warren Bradley (Democrat, NJ)Howard Walter Cannon (Democrat, NV)Daniel Patrick Moynihan (Democrat, NY)Howard Morton Metzenbaum (Democrat, OH)David Lyle Boren (Democrat, OK)Claiborne de Borda Pell (Democrat, RI)James Ralph Sasser (Democrat, TN)Lloyd Millard Bentsen Jr. (Democrat, TX)Henry Martin Jackson (Democrat, WA)William Proxmire (Democrat, WI)Robert C. Byrd (Democrat, WV)Jennings Randolph (Democrat, WV)Harry Flood Byrd Jr. (Independent, VA)Ted F. Stevens (Republican, AK)Samuel Ichiye Hayakawa (Republican, CA)William Lester Armstrong (Republican, CO)Lowell Palmer Weicker Jr. (Republican, CT)William V. Roth Jr. (Republican, DE)Roger William Jepsen (Republican, IA)James Albertus McClure (Republican, ID)Charles Harting Percy (Republican, IL)Richard G. Lugar (Republican, IN)Nancy Landon Kassebaum (Republican, KS)William Sebastian Cohen (Republican, ME)David Ferdinand Durenberger (Republican, MN)Rudolph Eli Boschwitz (Republican, MN)John Claggett Danforth (Republican, MO)Thad Cochran (Republican, MS)Jesse Helms (Republican, NC)Gordon John Humphrey (Republican, NH)Harrison Hagan Schmitt (Republican, NM)Pete V. Domenici (Republican, NM)Mark Odom Hatfield (Republican, OR)Henry John Heinz III (Republican, PA)John Hubbard Chafee (Republican, RI)J. Strom Thurmond (Republican, SC)Larry Lee Pressler (Republican, SD)Howard Henry Baker Jr. (Republican, TN)John Goodwin Tower (Republican, TX)Orrin G. Hatch (Republican, UT)John W. Warner (Republican, VA)Robert Theodore Stafford (Republican, VT)Malcolm Wallop (Republican, WY)Alan Kooi Simpson (Republican, WY)
House ·
1981-01-04/supreme-courtThe bench
William Joseph Brennan, Jr. R
Associate Justice · appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower · since Mar 21, 1957
Potter Stewart R
Associate Justice · appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower · since May 7, 1959
Byron Raymond White D
Associate Justice · appointed by John F. Kennedy · since Apr 12, 1962
Thurgood Marshall D
Associate Justice · appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson · since Aug 30, 1967
Warren Earl Burger R
Chief Justice · appointed by Richard M. Nixon · since Jun 23, 1969
Harry Andrew Blackmun R
Associate Justice · appointed by Richard M. Nixon · since May 14, 1970
Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. R
Associate Justice · appointed by Richard M. Nixon · since Dec 9, 1971
William Hubbs Rehnquist R
Associate Justice · appointed by Richard M. Nixon · since Dec 15, 1971
John Paul Stevens R
Associate Justice · appointed by Gerald Ford · since Dec 17, 1975
1981-01-04/weekWithin a week · Dec 28, 1980 – Jan 11, 1981
Law A bill to modify the boundary of the Cibola National Forest in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes.
Dec 28, 1980 · Pub. L. 96-602
Law An act to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 to simplify private foundation return and reporting requirements, and for other purposes.
Dec 28, 1980 · Pub. L. 96-603
Law State and Local Fiscal Assistance Act Amendments of 1980
Dec 28, 1980 · Pub. L. 96-604
Law Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1980
Dec 28, 1980 · Pub. L. 96-605
Law A bill to amend the International Claims Settlement Act of 1949 to allow recovery by United States nationals for losses incurred in Vietnam.
Dec 28, 1980 · Pub. L. 96-606
Law National Trails System Act Amendments of 1980
Dec 28, 1980 · Pub. L. 96-607
Law A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 to waive in certain cases the residency requirements for deductions or exclusions of individuals living abroad, to allow the tax-free rollover of certain distributions from money purchase pension plans, and for other purposes.
Dec 28, 1980 · Pub. L. 96-608
Law An act to provide for the temporary suspension of certain duties, to extend certain existing suspensions of duties, and for other purposes.
Dec 28, 1980 · Pub. L. 96-609
Law National Visitor Center Emergency Repair Act of 1980
Dec 28, 1980 · Pub. L. 96-610
Law Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act of 1980
Dec 28, 1980 · Pub. L. 96-611
Law An act to provide for the establishment of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and for other purposes.
Dec 28, 1980 · Pub. L. 96-612
Law A bill to make certain miscellaneous changes in the tax laws.
Dec 28, 1980 · Pub. L. 96-613
Agency + Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Dec 31, 1980 · sub_agency
Agency − United States Travel Service
Jan 1, 1981 · sub_agency
Agency − Office of Economic Opportunity
Jan 1, 1981 · other
Agency + Defense Criminal Investigative Service
Jan 1, 1981 · other
Agency + Human Nutrition Information Service
Jan 1, 1981 · other
Agency + Office of Workers' Compensation Programs
Jan 1, 1981 · sub_agency
Agency + United States Travel and Tourism Administration
Jan 1, 1981 · sub_agency
Agency + Veterans' Employment and Training Service
Jan 1, 1981 · sub_agency
Agency + White House Television Office
Jan 1, 1981 · other

Each office is shown as it stood at the end of the day. Cabinet records come from Wikidata and have gaps for some historical offices.