1870s in The United States - 20th Century

20th Century

U.S. presidential election, 2000: Incumbent Texas Governor George W. Bushwon by 537 votes in Florida in a highly contested election against the incumbent Vice President Al Gore.

Year Date Event
1901 September 14 William McKinley (the 25th President) was assassinated.
September 14 Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 26th President of the United States.
November 18 The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty was signed.
U.S. Steel was founded by John Pierpont Morgan.
1902 The Drago Doctrine was announced.
Rose Bowl (game): The first Rose Bowl was played.
The Newlands Reclamation Act was passed.
1903 The movie The Great Train Robbery opened.
The Ford Motor Company was formed.
October 1 World Series: The first World Series was played.
The Elkins Act was passed.
The practice of Big Stick Diplomacy began.
The Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty was passed.
The Hay-Herran Treaty was passed.
The Department of Commerce and Labor was created.
The Wright brothers made their first powered flight in the Wright Flyer.
1904 The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine was issued.
The Panama Canal Zone was acquired.
1905 Niagara Falls conference: The conference took place.
The Industrial Workers of the World was founded.
1906 Susan B. Anthony died.
Algeciras Conference: The Conference was held.
The Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act were passed.
The Hepburn Act was passed.
Roosevelt negotiated the Treaty of Portsmouth.
1906 San Francisco earthquake: An earthquake occurred.
1907 Oklahoma became a state.
The Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 was signed.
Monongah Mining Disaster: A coal mine exploded in Monongah, West Virginia, killing at least 361.
1908 The Ford Model T appeared on the market.
The Root-Takahira agreement was reached.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation was established.
The Aldrich Vreeland Act was passed.
1909 The penny was changed to the Abraham Lincoln design.
William Howard Taft became President.
Robert Peary claimed to have reached the North Pole.
The NAACP was founded by W. E. B. Du Bois.
The Payne-Aldrich tariff was passed.
Taft implemented Dollar Diplomacy.
Pinchot-Ballinger controversy: The controversy took place.
1910 The Boy Scouts of America was chartered.
The Mann-Elkins Act was passed.
The Mann Act was passed.
1911 The Supreme Court broke up Standard Oil.
Indianapolis 500: The first Indianapolis 500 was staged and won by Ray Harroun.
1912 The RMS Titanic sank.
New Mexico and Arizona became states.
Girl Scouts of the USA was started by Juliette Gordon Low.
Roosevelt was shot, but not killed, while campaigning for the Bull Moose Party.
1913 Woodrow Wilson became President.
The Federal Reserve Act was passed.
The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing an income tax, was passed.
Philippine-American War: The war ended.
Armory Show: The show opened in New York City, introducing American and European modern art to the American public.
The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing direct election of Senators, was passed.
The Underwood tariff was passed.
Henry Ford developed the modern assembly line.
1914 World War I: The war began in Europe.
Mother's Day was established as a national holiday.
The Federal Trade Commission was created.
The Clayton Antitrust Act was passed.
An alliance of the ABC Powers began.
1915 The movie The Birth of a Nation opened.
The RMS Lusitania was sunk.
1916 The United States acquired the Virgin Islands.
Jeannette Rankin was elected to the Congress.
Louis Brandeis was appointed to the Supreme Court.
The Adamson Railway Labor Act was passed.
The Federal Farm Loan Act was passed.
The Jones Act (Philippines) was passed.
1917 The Zimmermann telegram was published.
World War I: The United States entered the war.
The Lansing-Ishii Agreement was signed.
The U.S. Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark.
First Red Scare: The scare, marked by a widespread fear of Bolshevism and anarchism, began.
1918 World War I: Wilson's Fourteen Points, which assured citizens that the war was being fought for a moral cause and for postwar peace in Europe, was issued.
1919 World War I: The Treaty of Versailles ended the war.
The United States Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations.
The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing prohibition of alcohol, was passed.
Black Sox Scandal: The scandal occurred.
1920 The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting women the right to vote, was passed.
Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested.
The first radio broadcasts were made, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Detroit, Michigan.
The Volstead Act was passed.
The Esch-Cummins Act was passed.
First Red Scare: The scare ended.
1921 Warren G. Harding became President.
Washington Disarmament Conference of 1921: The conference was held.
The Emergency Quota Act was passed.
1922 The Fordney-McCumber tariff was passed.
1923 Harding died; Calvin Coolidge succeeded him.
Teapot Dome Scandal: The scandal took place.
1924 The Immigration Act Basic Law was passed.
J. Edgar Hoover was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation.
1925 Scopes trial: A trial found that the teaching of evolution in the classroom "does not violate church and state or state religion laws but instead, merely prohibits the teaching of evolution on the grounds of intellectual disagreement."
Nellie Tayloe Ross was elected Governor of Wyoming.
WSM first broadcast the Grand Ole Opry.
1926 The broadcast network NBC was founded.
1927 Sacco and Vanzetti were executed.
Charles Lindbergh made the first trans-Atlantic flight.
The Jazz Singer, the first motion picture with sound, was released.
United States citizenship was granted to the inhabitants of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The radio network Columbia Broadcasting System (later CBS) was founded.
1928 Disney's animated feature Steamboat Willie, featuring Mickey Mouse, opened.
The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed.
Amelia Earhart flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
1929 Herbert Hoover became President.
St. Valentine's Day massacre: The massacre took place.
The Immigration Act was passed.
Wall Street Crash of 1929: The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted a record 68 points.
The Museum of Modern Art opened to the public in New York City.
American Samoa officially became a United States territory.
1930 The Motion Picture Production Code, a set of industry censorship guidelines, was written; systematic enforcement did not start until mid-1934.
Frozen vegetables packaged by Clarence Birdseye went on sale.
1931 The Empire State Building opened in New York City.
Japanese invasion of Manchuria: The invasion took place.
The Whitney Museum of American Art opened to the public in New York City.
1932 The Stimson Doctrine was published.
The Norris-La Guardia Act was passed.
Influential artist and teacher Hans Hofmann emigrated to the United States from Germany.
The Bonus Army marched on Washington, D.C.
The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was established.
Ford Motor Company introduced the Model B with a V-8 engine.
1933 The Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution, moving the beginning and end of the terms of elected federal officials to January 20, was passed.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in as the 32nd President of the United States.
Great Depression: Roosevelt introduced the New Deal, focusing the "3 Rs" of relief, recovery and reform.
The Agricultural Adjustment Act, Civil Works Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, Farm Credit Administration, Home Owners Loan Corporation, Tennessee Valley Authority, Public Works Administration, National Industrial Recovery Act were all established or brought into force.
Giuseppe Zangara assassinated Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in an attempt on Roosevelt's life.
Frances Perkins was appointed United States Secretary of Labor.
The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, ending prohibition, was passed.
1934 The Glass–Steagall Act was passed.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was established.
Dust Bowl: The Dust Bowl, characterized by severe drought and heat waves in the Great Plains, began.
The Federal Housing Administration was established.
The Johnson Act was passed.
The Philippine Commonwealth was established.
The Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act was passed.
The Tydings-McDuffie Act was passed.
John Dillinger was killed.
The Indian Reorganization Act was passed.
The Share the Wealth society was founded by Huey Long.
1935 The Works Progress Administration was established.
The FBI was established, with J. Edgar Hoover as its first director.
The Neutrality Acts of 1930s were passed.
The Motor Carrier Act was passed.
The Social Security Act was passed.
A decision was reached in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States.
The National Labor Relations Act was passed.
Long was assassinated.
The Congress of Industrial Organizations was formed.
Alcoholics Anonymous was founded.
The Revenue Act of 1935 was passed.
1936 The Robinson-Patman Act was passed.
Life magazine published its first issue.
A decision was reached in United States v. Butler, which ruled that the processing taxes instituted under the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act were unconstitutional.
The Second London Naval Treaty was signed.
1937 The Neutrality Acts of 1930s were passed.

Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became the first full length animated film.
Hindenburg disaster: The disaster killed thirty-five people.
Panay incident: A Japanese attack was made on the United States Navy gunboat USS Panay while it was anchored in the Yangtze River outside of Nanjing.
The Golden Gate Bridge was completed in San Francisco.
1938 The Wheeler-Lea Act was passed.
The Fair Labor Standards Act was passed.
Orson Welles performed a broadcast of The War of the Worlds.
1939 The Hatch Act, aimed at corrupt political practices, was passed, preventing federal civil servants from campaigning.
Invasion of Poland (1939): Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
A cash and carry policy was proposed to replace the Neutrality Acts.
1939 New York World's Fair: Roosevelt gave a speech that was broadcast on television.
1940 The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, establishing the draft, was passed.
The Smith Act was passed.
Oldsmobile introduced the automatic transmission.
The cartoon characters Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry debuted.
Billboard magazine published its first music popularity chart.
U.S. presidential election, 1940: Franklin Delano Roosevelt won reelection to a third term.
1941 NBC began television broadcasts.
World War II: Lend-Lease, which supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material, began.
Attack on Pearl Harbor: The attack took place.
World War II: The Atlantic Charter was drafted by Britain and the United States to serve as a blueprint for the postwar world.
1942 Japanese American internment: Internment and seizure of property began, per an executive order issued by Roosevelt.
Automobile production in the United States for private consumers was halted.
The film Casablanca was released.
The Office of Price Administration was established.
Cocoanut Grove fire: A fire killed 492 people.
The Congress of Racial Equality was established.
The Revenue Act of 1942 was passed.
The Commonwealth of the Philippines was conquered by Japanese forces.
1943 The Office of Price Administration was established.
Race riots took place in Detroit, Michigan.
Cairo Conference: A conference was held.
Casablanca Conference: A conference was held.
Tehran Conference: A conference was held.
1944 Dumbarton Oaks Conference: A conference was held.
The G.I. Bill was passed.
Normandy landings: The landings took place.
United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference: A conference took place.
Battle of the Bulge: The battle took place.
U.S. presidential election, 1944: Roosevelt won reelection to a fourth term.
1945 Yalta Conference: A conference was held.
Battle of Okinawa: The battle took place.
United Nations Conference on International Organization: The United Nations was established.
Nationwide labor strikes were held due to inflation.
April 12 Roosevelt died; Harry S. Truman becomes the 33rd President.
End of World War II in Europe: Germany surrendered.
Potsdam Conference: The conference was held.
Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The United Nations was founded, replacing the League of Nations.
Nuremberg Trials: The trials began.
Automobile production in the United States for private consumers resumed.
Benjamin Spock's The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care was published.
The Employment Act was passed.
The United States Atomic Energy Act of 1946 was passed.
The President's Committee on Civil Rights was established.
The Philippines regained independence from the United States.
1947 The Presidential Succession Act was passed.
The Taft Hartley Act was passed.
Roswell UFO incident: The incident took place.
The National Security Act of 1947 was passed.
The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was signed.
The Marshall Plan came into force.
The Polaroid camera was invented.
The Truman Doctrine was declared, establishing "the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."
The Federal Employee Loyalty Program was instituted.
Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball.
Studebaker introduce a post-war automobile model.
Jackson Pollock begins painting his most famous series of paintings in Easthampton, New York.
1948 Texaco Star Theater, starring Milton Berle, debuted on telebision.
Berlin Blockade: The blockade took place.
U.S. presidential election, 1948: Truman was reelected.
Harry S. Truman desegregated the armed forces.
The Selective Service Act of 1948 was passed.
The Organization of American States was established.
Alger Hiss was tried.
1949 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed.
In China, Communists under Mao Zedong forced the Kuomintang government of Chiang Kai-shek to retreat to Taiwan.
The Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb.
The Department of War became the Department of Defense.
Germany was divided into East Germany and West Germany.
Truman introduced the unsuccessful Fair Deal.
Nuremberg Trials: The trials ended.
1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy came to power.
The McCarran Internal Security Act was passed.
Korean War: The war began.
The comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz, was first published.
NBC first aired Broadway Open House a late-night comedy, variety, talk show.
Truman assassination attempt: Two Puerto Rican nationals attempted to assassinate Truman while he stayed at Blair House.
1951 The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing term limits for President, was passed.
The Mutual Security Act was passed.
April 11 Harry S. Truman fires General Douglas MacArthur for his comments about using nuclear weapons on China.
Japanese Peace Treaty Conference: The conference was broadcast live on television in San Francisco, California.
The newsmagazine and documentary series See It Now, hosted by Edward R. Murrow, began to be broadcast.
1952 The Today Show, hosted by Dave Garroway, debuted on NBC.
The ANZUS Treaty entered into force.
The McCarran-Walter Act was passed.
United States presidential election, 1952: Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected.
1953 January 20 Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the 34th President of the United States.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed.
An armistice was reached in Korea.
Operation Ajax: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi returned to power in CIA-orchestrated coup.
1954 Tournament of Roses Parade: The tournament was televised nationally in color.
McCarthy was discredited in the Army-McCarthy hearings.
Operation PBSUCCESS: The CIA organized the overthrow of Guatemala's democratically elected President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán.
The Saint Lawrence Seaway Act, authorizing the construction of the system of locks, canals and channels that permit ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, was approved.
In its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court declared that state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students, and denying black children equal educational opportunities, were unconstitutional.
The United States became a member of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
Geneva Conference (1954): A conference was held where the United States attempted to find a way to unify Korea and restore peace in Indochina.
Eisenhower sent the United States Navy to respond to a siege laid by China against Quemoy and the Matsu Islands.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all-time high of 382.74.
NBC debuted The Tonight Show, hosted by Steve Allen.
1955 Ray Kroc opened a McDonald's fast food restaurant.
Montgomery Bus Boycott: Rosa Parks incited the boycott.
The AFL and the CIO merged into America's largest labor union.
The Warsaw Pact was signed, establishing a mutual defense arrangement subscribed to by eight Communist states in Eastern Europe, including the Soviet Union.
Disneyland opened at Anaheim, California.
Jonas Salk developed a polio vaccine.
The rock and roll hit "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets topped the Billboard magazine pop charts.
Actor James Dean was killed in a highway collision on his way to a racetrack in Salinas, California.
1956 The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which would provide for the construction of 41,000 miles of the Interstate Highway System over a 20-year period, was passed.
Hungarian Revolution of 1956: The United States refused to support the revolution.
Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Marilyn Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller.
Jackson Pollock died in a car crash in Springs, New York.
United States presidential election, 1956: Dwight D. Eisenhower was reelected.
1957 The Eisenhower Doctrine, wherein a country could request American economic assistance or military aid if threatened by outside armed aggression, was proclaimed.
The Civil Rights Act of 1957, primarily a voting rights bill, was passed.
Space race: The Soviet Union launched Sputnik.
The Shippingport Atomic Power Station went into service.
Schools were desegregated in Little Rock, Arkansas.
1958 The National Defense Education Act was passed.
NASA was formed.
Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit.
1959 The NBC western Bonanza was first broadcast in color.
Cuban Revolution: The revolution took place.
The Landrum-Griffin Act, which regulated labor unions' internal affairs and their officials' relationships with employers, became law. [Alaska became the 49th state.
[Hawaii became the fiftieth state.
1960 U-2 incident: A CIA U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over Soviet airspace.
Greensboro sit-ins: Sit-ins, sparked by the refusal of four African American college students to move from a segregated lunch counter, took place..
The Civil Rights Act of 1960, establishing federal inspection of local voter registration polls and penalties for those attempting to obstruct the right to vote, was passed.
The National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam was formed.
United States presidential election, 1960: John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States.
1961 The United States broke diplomatic relations with Cuba.
Dwight D. Eisenhower gives a farewell address which warned of the "military–industrial complex".
January 20 John F. Kennedy becomes the 35th President of the United States.
The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted electors to the District of Columbia, was passed.
The Peace Corps was established.
The Alliance for Progress was founded.
Bay of Pigs Invasion: The invasion took place.
Alan Shepard piloted the Freedom 7 capsule to become the first American in space.
A United States embargo against Cuba came into force.
Berlin Crisis of 1961: The crisis took place.
Vietnam War: The war began with the landing of nine hundred military advisors in Saigon.
OPEC was formed.
1962 The Trade Expansion Act was passed.
John Glenn orbited the Earth.
Cuban Missile Crisis A nuclear confrontation took place between the United States and the Soviet Union.
A decision was reached in Baker v. Carr which enabled federal courts to intervene in and to decide reapportionment cases.
A decision in Engel v. Vitale determined that it was unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and require its recitation in public schools.
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was founded.
Marilyn Monroe died of an apparent overdose from acute barbiturate poisoning at age thirty-six.
1963 Bob Dylan and Columbia Records released his second studio album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
The Atomic Test Ban Treaty was signed.
March on Washington: Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the "I have a dream" speech.
Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique was published.
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas; Lyndon B. Johnson became President.
1964 British Invasion: The Beatles arrived in the United States.
Tonkin Gulf incident: The incident occurred.
The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax, was passed.
Johnson proposed the Great Society, a set of social reforms aimed at the elimination of poverty and racial injustice.
The Economic Opportunity Act was passed.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing both segregation and major forms of discrimination against blacks and women, was passed.
Riots occurred in the Panama Canal Zone.
United States presidential election, 1964
1965 Vietnam War: Johnson escalated United States military involvement in the war.
March Against the Vietnam War: SDS and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) led the first of several anti-war marches in Washington, D.C., with about twenty-five thousand protesters.
The Immigration Act of 1965 was passed.
The Voting Rights Act was passed.
Medicaid and Medicare were established.
The Higher Education Act of 1965 was passed.
Malcolm X, an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist, was assassinated in Harlem, New York.
Watts Riot: Riots began in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles which would last six days.
1966 The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was established.
The Department of Transportation was created
The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was passed.
A decision in Miranda v. Arizona established "Miranda rights" for suspects.
The feminist group the National Organization for Women (NOW) was formed.
NBC, CBS and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) introduce full color lineups to their prime-time schedules.
Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali declared himself a conscientious objector and refused to go to war.
1967 Super Bowl I: In the first Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10.
1967 Detroit riot: A race riot occurred.
Summer of Love: The Summer of Love took place..
The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing succession to the Presidency and procedures for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, was passed.
American Samoa became self-governing under a new Constitution.
January 3 Jack Ruby died of a pulmonary embolism, secondary to bronchogenic carcinoma, at Parkland Hospital, where Oswald had died and where President Kennedy had been pronounced dead after his assassination.
1968 King was assassinated.
Tet Offensive: The National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam launched an offensive.
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was passed.
Shirley Chisholm was elected to Congress.
1968 Chicago riots: Police clashed with anti-war protesters in Chicago.
The United States signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated while leaving The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California by Sirhan Sirhan.
United States presidential election, 1968: Richard Nixon was elected President.
1969 Nixon was inaugurated as President.
Vietnamization: Vietnamization began.
Stonewall riots: Riots took place in New York City which would mark the start of the modern gay rights movement in the United States.
Chappaquiddick incident: Senator Edward M. Kennedy drove off a bridge on his way home from a party on Chappaquiddick Island, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.
Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
Woodstock Festival: A music and culture festival took place in White Lake, New York.
Warren E. Burger was appointed Chief Justice of the United States, replacing Earl Warren.
The United States bombed North Vietnamese positions in Cambodia and Laos.
Sesame Street premiered on National Educational Television.
1970 Kent State shootings: Shootings occurred during student protests which grew violent.
The first Earth Day was observed.
The Environmental Protection Agency was created.
American Top 40, hosted by radio personality Casey Kasem, which featured a weekly countdown, premiered.
The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) began operations, succeeding National Educational Television (NET).
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) was signed into law.
1971 Nixon Shock: Nixon ended the United States gold standard.
A ban on radio and television cigarette advertisements went into effect.
The landmark situation comedy All in the Family premiered on CBS.
The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, allowing eighteen-year-olds to vote.
In New York Times Co. v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that the Pentagon Papers may be published, rejecting government injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraint.
1972 1972 Nixon visit to China: Nixon visited China, marking the beginning of normalized relations between the two nations.
The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was signed with the Soviet Union.
Watergate scandal: Five men were arrested for the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.
U.S. presidential election, 1972: Nixon was reelected.
Apollo 17: A manned mission was taken to the Moon.
1973 Vietnam War: The Paris Peace Accords ended direct United States involvement in the war.
In a ruling in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court overturned state laws against abortion.
The United States Senate Watergate Committee began to hold hearings.
The space station Skylab was launched.
Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in disgrace as part of a plea bargain and was replaced by Congressman Gerald Ford of Michigan under the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Watergate scandal: Nixon fired three Attorneys General over the disposition of secret tapes and the actions of the Special Prosecutor.
1973 oil crisis: A crisis, wherein gasoline prices skyrocketed in response to reduced supply of gasoline and heating oil, began.
1974 Super Outbreak: An outbreak of tornadoes hit thirteen states and killed 315 people.
Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves broke Babe Ruth's home run record by hitting his 715th career home run.
Watergate scandal: The House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Nixon.
Nixon resigned. Ford succeeded him as President.
Watergate scandal: Ford pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed against the United States while President, believing it to be in the "best interests of the country"
Restrictions were removed on holding private gold within the United States.
1973 oil crisis: The crisis ended.
1975 The construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System began.
Fall of Saigon: Saigon fell.
Bill Gates founded Microsoft.
Apollo–Soyuz Test Project: A United States Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft docked in orbit.
Ford survived an assassination attempt.
The television series Wheel of Fortune and Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC.
Sony's Betamax, a home video recording unit, became commercially available.
1976 The Copyright Act of 1976 was passed, leading to sweeping changes in United States copyright law.
United States Bicentennial: Americans celebrated the United States bicentennial.
U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter of Georgia defeated Ford.
1977 Carter was inaugurated as President.
A home personal computer, the Commodore PET, was released for retail sale.
The television miniseries Roots aired on ABC.
New York City blackout of 1977: A twenty-five hour blackout, resulting in looting and other disorder, took place.
Elvis Presley died at his home in Graceland.
The video game console Atari 2600 went into production.
1978 Volkswagen opened a plant in the United States.
The Camp David Accords (1978) were signed by Menachem Begin of Israel and Anwar Sadat of Egypt at Camp David.
The Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act was signed into law, adjusting the government's economic goals to include full employment, growth in production, price stability, and balance of trade and budget.
The Senate voted to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999
November 27 Harvey Milk was assassinated by Dan White in San Francisco.
1979 A nuclear accident took place at Three Mile Island.
Iran hostage crisis: The crisis began.
American Airlines Flight 191: A flight crashed after takeoff from O'Hare International Airport, killing all 271 aboard and two on the ground.
Facing bankruptcy, Chrysler received government loan guarantees on the request of CEO Lee Iacocca to help revive the company.
1980 The Refugee Act, which reformed United States immigration law and admitted refugees on a systematic basis for humanitarian reasons, was passed.
1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens: The eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington killed fifty-seven.
U.S. presidential election, 1980: Ronald Reagan Is elected President.
Summer Olympics: The United States boycotted the Olympics, which were held in Moscow.
John Lennon was assassinated.
1981 Ronald Reagan becames President.
John Hinckley attempted to assassinate Reagan.
The Kemp-Roth Tax Cut was passed.
MTV, a 24-hour cable network dedicated to airing music videos, was launched.
Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: A hotel walkway collapsed in Kansas City, Missouri, killing 114 and injuring over two hundred.
The Space Shuttle Columbia was launched.
Sandra Day O'Connor was appointed to the Supreme Court.
Murder of Adam Walsh: 7-year-old Adam Walsh was murdered.
1983 241 Marines were killed by suicide bomb in Lebanon.
The United States invaded Grenada.
Chrysler unveiled two minivans, the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager, to the public.
1984 Summer Olympics: Most of the Eastern Bloc boycotted the Olympics, held in Los Angeles.
U.S. presidential election, 1984 Reagan was reelected.
Crack was first introduced into the Los Angeles area.
60 Minutes and 20/20 began to raise awareness of child sexual abuse by pedophiles.
1985 Bernhard Goetz was indicted in New York on charges of attempted murder after shooting four young men he claimed were intent on mugging him.
WrestleMania (1985): WrestleMania debuted.
Live Aid: A concert raised world awareness of famine in Third World countries.
Farm Aid: Country music singer Willie Nelson organized a concert to raise money for family farmers facing financial crisis.
The Ford Taurus, Mercury Sable and Nintendo Entertainment System were released to the public.
1986 Iran–Contra affair: A scandal broke.
The explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger killed all seven aboard, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe.
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was passed.
The Gramm Rudman Hollings Balanced Budget Act was passed.
The Marshall Islands became independent.
The Fox Broadcasting Company, which offered nightly programming, was launched.
1987 Jim Bakker was embroiled in scandal.
During a visit to Berlin, President Reagan challenged Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall," referring to the Berlin Wall.
Black Monday (1987): The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 23% in a single session.
America's Cup: Dennis Conner, onboard "Stars & Stripes," returned the Cup to the United States.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. by Reagan and Gorbachev.
1988 Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driver crashed into a church bus near Carrollton, Kentucky, killing twenty-seven.
Yellowstone fires of 1988: Fires took place.
Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois added lights for night games.
The Space Shuttle Discovery was launched.
U.S. presidential election, 1988: Vice President George H. W. Bush was elected.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty went into effect.
1989 Bush was inaugurated as President.
TIME and Warner Communications announced plans for a merger.
Exxon Valdez oil spill: An oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound.
Actress Rebecca Schaeffer was murdered by an obsessed fan.
Hurricane Hugo: A hurricane struck the East Coast, causing $7 billion in damage.
Loma Prieta earthquake: An earthquake killed sixty-three in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
Bush declared a "War on Drugs."
The animated comedy The Simpsons debuted.
Cold War: Bush and Gorbachev released statements indicating that the war may be coming to an end.
1990 The Hubble Space Telescope was launched during a mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery.
Gulf War: Iraq invaded Kuwait.
1991 Gulf War: A war was waged in the Middle East, by a United Nations-authorized coalition force from thirty-four nations led by Britain and the United States, against Iraq.
Supreme Court candidate Clarence Thomas and former aide Anita Hill were interviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding sexual harassment allegations by Hill.
Cold War: The Soviet Union dissolved, ending the war.
1992 1992 Los Angeles riots: Riots in Los Angeles, spurred by the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the beating of Rodney King, took place which resulted in over fifty deaths and $1 billion in damage.
The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting changes to Congressmen's salaries from taking effect until after an election of Representatives, was passed.
United States presidential election, 1992 Bill Clinton defeated Bush.
Hurricane Andrew: A Category 5 hurricane killed sixty-five people and caused $26 billion in damage to Florida and other areas of the Gulf Coast.
1993 A truck Bomb exploded in the parking garage under the World Trade Center in New York City, killing six people and injuring thousands.
A standoff and fire in Waco, Texas involving the Branch Davidians resulted in the deaths of seventy-six people including their leader, David Koresh.
1993 Storm of the Century: A storm struck the Eastern Seaboard, bringing blizzard conditions and severe weather which killed three hundred people and caused $6 billion in damage.
Great Flood of 1993: Massive flooding along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers killed fifty people and devastated the Midwest with $15 billion in damage.
President Clinton signed the Don't ask, don't tell policy into law, prohibiting openly gay or bisexual people from serving in the military.
1994 The North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect.
1994 Northridge earthquake: An earthquake killed seventy-two and injured nine thousand in the Los Angeles area and caused $20 billion in damage.
1995 United States elections, 1994: Republicans gained control of both the House and Senate.
Oklahoma City bombing: A bombing killed 168 and wounded eight hundred.
Retired professional football player O. J. Simpson was acquitted of two charges of first-degree murder in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman.
1995 Chicago heat wave: A heat wave killed 750 in Chicago.
United States federal government shutdown of 1995 and 1996: A budget crisis caused the federal government to shut down.
1996 North American blizzard of 1996: A snowstorm along the East Coast killed 150 people and caused $3 billion in damage.
TWA Flight 800: A flight exploded off Long Island killing all 230 aboard.
Khobar Towers bombing: A bombing left nineteen American servicemen dead in Saudi Arabia.
Centennial Olympic Park bombing: A bombing in Atlanta killed one and injured 111.
U.S. presidential election, 1996: Clinton was reelected.
United States federal government shutdown of 1995 and 1996: The shutdown ended.
1997 Clinton barred federal funding for any research on human cloning.
Sparked by a global economic crisis scare, the Dow Jones Industrial Average followed world markets and plummeted 554.26, or 7.18%, to 7,161.15.
Des Moines, Iowa resident Bobbi McCaughey gave birth to live septuplets.
1998 Former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones accuses Clinton of sexual harassment.
Lewinsky scandal: Clinton was accused of having a sexual relationship with 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.
1998 U.S. embassy bombings: 224 were killed in bombings in Tanzania and Kenya.
Gay college student Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered near the University of Wyoming.
1999 Dennis Hastert of Illinois becomes Speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 10,006.78.
Two teenage students murdered 13 other students and teachers at Columbine High School.
1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak: A violent tornado outbreak in Oklahoma killed fifty people and produced a tornado which caused $1 billion in damage.
EgyptAir Flight 990: The first officer deliberately crashed a plane south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing 217.
Along with the rest of the world, the United States prepared for the possible effects of the Y2K bug in computers, which was feared destined to cause computers to become inoperable and wreak havoc.
2000 USS Cole bombing: The USS Cole (DDG-76) was bombed in Yemeni waters, killing seventeen United States Navy sailors.

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Famous quotes containing the word century:

    “Before printing was discovered, a century was equal to a thousand years.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)