1882Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrants from coming to the country for 10 years. Signed by President Chester A. Arthur, the law was one of the most significant restrictions on free immigration in history. It was repealed in 1943.1997A federal judge gave oral formal approval to a $670 million settlement between four drug manufacturers to hemophiliacs who had contracted AIDS from tainted blood between 1978 and 1985.