-
Galveston hurricane leaves an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 dead. According to the census, the nation's population numbers nearly 76 million.
-
McKinley's is shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, N.Y.
-
Wright brothers make the first controlled, sustained flight in heavier-than-air aircraft at Kitty
-
-
San Francisco earthquake leaves 500 dead or missing and destroys about 4 sq mi of the city.
-
-
-
World War I: U.S. enters World War I, declaring war on Germany (April 6, 1917) and Austria-Hungary (Dec. 7, 1917) three years after conflict began in 1914
-
-
First long distance telephone service, between New York and San Francisco, is demonstrated.
-
Worldwide influenza epidemic strikes; by 1920, nearly 20 million are dead. In U.S., 500,000 perish.
-
League of Nations meets for the first time; U.S. is not represented.
-
Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as the 29th president
-
President Harding dies suddenly. He is succeeded by his vice president, Calvin Coolidge.
-
-
Congress passes foreign aid bill including the Marshall Plan, which provides for European postwar recovery.
-
-
Cold war conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces on Korean Peninsula.
-
: Prolonged conflict between Communist forces of North Vietnam, backed by China and the USSR, and non-Communist forces of South Vietnam, backed by the United States. President Truman authorizes $15 million in economic and military aid to the French, who are fighting to retain control of French Indochina, including Vietnam. As part of the aid package, Truman also sends 35 military advisers.
-
Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, limiting the president to two terms.
-
-
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech before a crowd of 200,000 during the civil rights march on Washington, DC.
-
The Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.
-
U.S. establishes diplomatic ties with mainland China for the first time since Communist takeover in 1949.
-
Congress holds public hearings in Iran-Contra investigation.
-
George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as the 41st president.
-
President Clinton denies having had a sexual relationship with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky.