Nowruz, the Persian New Year celebrated by over 300 million people worldwide, including Iranian Americans, begins at the vernal equinox with rituals such as setting up a haft seen table with seven symbolic items.

During the 1970s, American Jewish activists successfully pressured Congress to pass the Jackson-Vanik amendment, linking trade with the Soviet Union to the emigration rights of Russian Jews, thereby influencing American foreign policy and emphasizing human rights over national sovereignty.