20th Century

By Kevin Molone

  • President William McKinley was assassinated

  • The first Rose Bowl Game was played

  • The Ford Motor Company was formed.

  • The Wright brothers made their first powered flight in the Wright Flyer.

  • Women's suffrage and civil rights activist Susan B. Anthony died.

  • The Hepburn Act was signed into law.

  • The Tillman Act was signed into law.

  • Oklahoma was admitted to the Union, becoming the 46th state.

  • The Ford Model T appeared on the market.

  • The Mann Act was signed into law.

  • The Missouri State Capitol building in Jefferson City, Missouri is entirely destroyed by fire after a bolt of lightning strikes the dome.

  • International Women's Day is celebrated for the first time

  • Opening of first exhibition by Der Blaue Reiter group of painters, in Munich.

  • New Mexico was admitted to the Union, becoming the 47th.

  • January 6 – New Mexico becomes the 47th state of the United States.

  • Arizona was admitted to the Union, becoming the 48th state.

  • Alaska becomes a territory of the United States.

  • The 16th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect income taxes

  • The United States Soccer Federation is formed

  • The Second Balkan War begins.

  • The Underwood Tariff was signed into law.

  • Henry Ford developed the modern assembly line.

  • The first Mother's Day was observed.

  • The Nineteenth Amendment is ratified, granting women the right to vote.

  • Congress passes immigration restrictions, for the first time creating a quota for European immigration to the United States.

  • Congress passes the Fordney-McCumber Tariff

  • The market capitalization of Ford Motor Company exceeds $1 billion.

  • Buster Keaton's comedy classic The General, considered by many to be the greatest silent film ever made, premieres.

  • Aviator Charles Lindbergh completes the first solo transatlantic flight

  • New York Yankees star Babe Ruth hits his 60th home run of the season

  • Herbert Hoover, running on a slogan of "A chicken in every pot, a car in every garage," is elected to the presidency

  • Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie premieres, introducing the world to a new animated character—Mickey Mouse.

  • The Empire State Building opens.

  • Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly alone over the Atlantic Ocean.

  • The Emergency Banking Act is passed.

  • Prohibition comes to an end with the 21st Amendment.

  • Black Sunday" causes 20 massive dust storms.

  • President Roosevelt dedicates Hoover Dam.

  • Jesse Owens wins the first of four Olympic gold medals.

  • The Hindenburg catches on fire and crashes in New Jersey.

  • The Golden Gate Bridge opens in San Francisco.

  • World War II begins.

  • JFK Wins Presidency

  • Peace Corps

  • Kennedy Proposes Moon Program

  • JFK Proposes Big Tax Cuts

  • Kennedy Assassination

  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

  • Johnson Signs Low-Income Housing Bill

  • Man on the Moon

  • Tet Offensive

  • Weatherman Bomb Accident

  • The first Earth Day celebration is held with millions of Americans participating in anti-pollution demonstrations. These demonstrations included school children walking to school instead of riding the bus.

  • Vietnam war moratorium demonstrations across the country

  • A ban on the television advertisement of cigarettes goes into affect in the United States.

  • Sydney: Actor Chips Rafferty dies at 62

  • Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida, expanding the Disney empire to the east coast of the United States.

  • The Watergate crisis begins when four men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. on the same day that Okinawa is returned from U.S. control back to Japan.

  • Alice Springs: Australia's first hijacker dies in a shoot-out at Alice Springs Airport

  • Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigns amid charges of tax evasion and is replaced by the appointment of Gerald R. Ford on October 12.

  • The television show Wheel of Fortune premiers.

  • The cabinet level Energy Department is created by Jimmy Carter.

  • The first balloon, Double Eagle II, to cross the Atlantic Ocean comes to rest in Miserey, France, after one hundred and thirty-seven hours of flight from Presque Isle, Maine.