-
George Washington gets elected
George Washington is elected into office as a Federalist -
Period: to
Timeline of U.S. Presidents
History of U.S. Presidents -
Period: to
George Washington's Presidency
Party: None -
Bill of Rights
First 10 Amendments of United States Constitution. -
Whiskey Rebellion
In 1794, farmers in Pennsylvania rebelled against Hamilton's excise tax on whiskey, and several federal officers were killed in the riots caused by their attempts to serve arrest warrants on the offenders. In October, 1794, the army, led by Washington, put down the rebellion. The incident showed that the new government under the Constitution could react swiftly and effectively to such a problem, in contrast to the inability of the government under the Articles of Confederation to deal with Shay' -
Period: to
John Adams
Party: Federalist -
Alien and Sedition Acts
the alien act allowed the exportation of any alien believed to be a threat to national security and during times of war; sedition act made it a criminal offense to plot against the government -oppressed people's first amendment rights -
XYZ Affair
A diplomatic incident when made public in 1798, nearly involved the United States and France in war The incident ended the Franco-American treaty and resulted in the undeclared war between the two countries and prompted the build up of the U.S. Navy. -
Period: to
Thomas Jefferson's presidency
Party: Democratic-Republican -
Marbury V. Madison
Supreme Court Case ruled by John Marshall; William Marbury sued for his commision as a judge because he had been promised a job by Adams but refused by Jefferson; ruling: Marshall claims that Supreme Court cannot rule on the case and ruled earlier Judiciary Act of 1789 unconstitutional; established judicial review -
Louisana Purchase
U.S. acquisition of the Louisiana territory from France in 1803 for $15 million. The purchase secured American control of the Mississippi river and doubled the size of the nation. -
Embargo Act
stopped the exports of American goods and prohibited American ships from leaving for foreign posts which ended trade with foreign countries for the purposeof forcing Britain and France to end the blockade; although it hurt America's economy in short term, it benefited American's production of manufactured goods -
Period: to
James Madison's presidency
Party: Democratic-Republican -
War of 1812
A war between the U.S. and Great Britain caused by American outrage over the impressment of American sailors by the British, the British seizure of American ships, and British aid to the Indians attacking the Americans on the western frontier. Also, a war against Britain gave the U.S. an excuse to seize the British northwest posts and to annex Florida from Britain's ally Spain, and possibly even to seize Canada from Britain. The War Hawks (young westerners led by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun) -
American System
an economic regime pioneered by Henry Clay which created a high tariff to support internal improvements such as road-building. This approach was intended to allow the United States to grow and prosper by themselves This would eventually help America industrialize and become an economic power. -
Period: to
James Monroe's presidency
Party: Democratic-Republican -
Missouri Compromise
The issue was that Missouri wanted to join the Union as a slave state, therefore unbalancing the Union so there would be more slave states then free states. The compromise set it up so that Maine joined as a free state and Missouri joined as a slave state. Congress also made a line across the southern border of Missouri saying except for the state of Missouri, all states north of that line must be free states or states without slavery. -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was a proclamation issued by President James Monroe (1817-1825) to European nations stating that their colonization of the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as aggressive and provoke a US response. In return, the US would not interfere in European affairs. The Doctrine was made mainly for national security and to protect US business interests. However, the Doctrine was not always adhered to by European nations. Spain's occupation of Cuba was a great violation of the Doctrine -
Period: to
John Quincy Adam's presidency
Party: Democratic-Republican -
Tarrif of Abominations
Raised the tariff on imported manufactured goods. The tariff protected the North but harmed the South. The South claimed that it was discriminatory and unconstitutional -
Period: to
Andrew Jackson's Presidency
Party: Democratic -
Indian Removal Act
Passed in 1830, authorized Andrew Jackson to negotiate land-exchange treaties with tribes living east of the Mississippi. The treaties enacted under this act's provisions paved the way for the reluctant—and often forcible—emigration of tens of thousands of American Indians to the West. -
Tariff of 1832
The Tariff of 1832 was a protectionist tariff in the United States. It was passed as a reduced tariff to remedy the conflict created by the tariff of 1828, but it was still deemed unsatisfactory by southerners and other groups hurt by high tariff rates. Southern opposition to this tariff and its predecessor, the Tariff of Abominations, caused the Nullification Crisis involving South Carolina. The tariff was later lowered to pacify these objections. -
Period: to
Martin Van Buren's Presidency
Party: Democratic -
Panic of 1837
When Jackson was president, many state banks received government money that had been withdrawn from the Bank of the U.S. These banks issued paper money and financed wild speculation, especially in federal lands. Jackson issued the Specie Circular to force the payment for federal lands with gold or silver. Many state banks collapsed as a result. A panic ensued (1837). Bank of the U.S. failed, cotton prices fell, businesses went bankrupt, and there was widespread unemployment and distress. It was -
Trail of Tears
the forced removal of the Cherokee to Oklahoma in the winter 1838-1839; many died along the way -
Period: to
William Henry Harrison's presidency
Party: Whig -
Period: to
John Tyler's Presidency
Party: Whig -
First Telegraph Line
The first telegraph line in the United States is completed between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore -
Annexation of Texas
U.S. made Texas a state in 1845. Joint resolution - both houses of Congress supported annexation under Tyler, and he signed the bill shortly before leaving office. -
Period: to
James K. Polk's presidency
Party: Democratic -
Texas becomes a slave state
Texas is admitted as a slave state, making it the twenty-eighth state in the Union -
U.S. - Mexican War
(1846-1848) armed conflict between America and Mexico over annexation of Texas which Mexico still considered theirs despite of the Texas revolution in 1836. Captured Mexico City forcing Mexico to the sale of its northern territories to US. Polk completed goal of territorial expansion of US to pacific coast. Resulted in Mexican cession in exchange for 15 million. -
Oregon Treaty
1846 between England and the US- signed in DC. Treaty brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute by settling US and British claims to the Oregon country. Negotiated by Buchanan who at the time was secretary of state. Set at 49th parallel exception of Vancouver Island. Washington territory formed from it in 1853. -
Seneca Falls Convention
Site of the first modern women's right convention. At the gathering, Elizabeth Cady Staton read a Declaration of Sentiment listing the many discriminations against women, and adopted eleven resolutions, one of which called for women's suffrage. -
Period: to
Zachary Taylor's Presidency
Party: Whig -
Harriet Tubman Escapes
Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and becomes one of the most effective and celebrated members of the Underground Railroad. -
Zachary Taylor Dies
Zachary Taylor dies of “cholera morbus,” making him the second President to die in office and vaulting Vice President Millard Fillmore into the White House -
Period: to
Millard Fillmore's presidency
Party: Know Nothing -
Compromise of 1850
package of five bills sent in September 1850. It defused a four year confrontation between the southern slave states and the northern Free states following the Mexican American War. Drafted by Whig Henry Clay and brokered by Democrat Stephen Douglas it temporarily avoided secession or civil war at the time and it quieted a sectional conflict for 4 years. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin is published. It becomes one of the most influential works to stir anti-slavery sentiments. -
Period: to
Franklin Pierce's presidency
Party: Democratic -
Gadsden Purchase
Gadsden Purchase treaty is signed; U.S. acquires border territory from Mexico for $10 million. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
This Act set up Kansas and Nebraska as states. Each state would use popular sovereignty to decide what to do about slavery. People who were pro-slavery and antislavery moved to Kansas, but some antislavery settlers were against the Act. This began guerrilla warfare. -
Period: to
James Bucanan's Presidency
Party: Democratic -
Dred Scott v. Supreme Court
A Missouri slave sued for his freedom, claiming that his four year stay in the northern portion of the Louisiana Territory made free land by the Missouri Compromise had made him a free man. The U.S, Supreme Court decided he couldn't sue in federal court because he was property, not a citizen. -
Freeport Doctrine
The Freeport Doctrine occurred in Freeport, Illinois during the debates of Lincoln and Douglas for senator. This was a question that Lincoln asked Douglas that made Douglas answer in such a way that the South would know that he was not truly supporting them. -
Harpers Ferry
Occurred in October of 1859. John Brown of Kansas attempted to create a major revolt among the slaves. He wanted to ride down the river and provide the slaves with arms from the North, but he failed to get the slaves organized. Brown was captured. The effects of Harper's Ferry Raid were as such: the South saw the act as one of treason and were encouraged to separate from the North, and Brown became a martyr to the northern abolitionist cause. -
South Carolina secedes
South Carolina secedes from the Union -
Jefferson Davis
Confederate States of America is established. Jefferson Davis is elected president -
Period: to
Abraham Lincoln's presidency
Party: Republican -
Civil War breaks out
Civil War: Conflict between the North (the Union) and the South (the Confederacy) over the expansion of slavery into western states. Confederates attack Ft. Sumter in Charleston, S.C., marking the start of the war -
Emancipation Proclamation
After victory of Antietam Lincoln announces on the first of 1863 all slaves in the rebelling states would be free. AIM: injure confederacy, threaten its property, heighten its dread, hurt its morale. -
Homestead Act
Homestead Act becomes law, allowing settlers to claim land (160 acres) after they have lived on it for five years. -
Battle of Gettysburg
July 1863 largest battle in the Western Hemisphere, after three days of fighting Lee retreats, 23,000 union casualties and 28,000 confed casualties. -hurt Southern hopes of victory on Northern soil -
Gettysburg Address
Abraham Lincoln's oft-quoted speech, delivered at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg battlefield. In the address, Lincoln framed the war as a means to uphold the values of liberty. -
Sherman's March
Union General William Tecumseh Sherman's destructive march through Georgia. -an early instance of "total war," purposely targeting basic physical and organizational structures and civilian property to diminish morale and undercut the Confederate war effort. -
Civil War Ends.
Appomattox Courthouse, site where Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant in April 1865 after almost a year of brutal fighting throughout Virginia in the "Wilderness Campaign." -
Lincoln's Assisanted
In Ford's Theater, April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, -
Period: to
Andrew Johnson's Presidency
Party: Democratic -
U.S. acquires Russia
U.S. acquires Alaska from Russia for the sum of $7.2 million -
President Johnson is impeached
he intentionally violates Tenure Act because it was set upt to get him impeached by firing Secretary of War Edwin Stantin, at the Trial his lawyer says his only crime is opposing Congress, 12 democrats and 7 republicans vote him "not guilty", so he escaped impeachment by one vote -
14th Amendment
made "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" citizens of the country, the constitutional amendment adopted after the Civil War that states, "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." -
Period: to
Ulysses S. Grant's presidency
Party:Republican -
First transcontinental railroad complete
Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads are joined at Promontory, Utah, creating first transcontinental railroad -
15th Amendment
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. -
Credit Mobilier Scandal
The 1867-1868 scandal in which Union Pacific executives formed their own railroad construction company, then hired and overpaid themselves to build their own railroad -
Battle of Little Big Horn
When gold was discovered in the Black Hills Indian Reservation in South Dakota, whites invaded the Indians' lands and drove them on the warpath. The war culminated in June 1876, when Colonel George A. Custer and all his men were killed by Sioux Indians at the Battle of Little Bighorn (Custer's Last Stand) in southern Montana. -
Period: to
Rutherford B. Hayes presidency
Party: Republican -
First Telephone Line
The first telephone line is built from Boston to Somerville, Mass.; the following year, President Hayes has the first telephone installed in the White House. -
Period: to
James Garfield Presidency
Party: Republican -
Garfield shot
President Garfield is shot in Washington by Charles Julius Guiteau, a deranged, disappointed office seeker. -
Garfield Dies
James Garfield dies from blood poisoning and complications after surgeons search endlessly to find the lost bullet in his back, lodged in his pancreas. Vice President Chester A. Arthur becomes the twenty-first President of the United States The assassin, Guiteau, will be hanged on June 30, 1882. -
Period: to
Chester Arthur's presidency
Party: Republican -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Denied any additional Chinese laborers to enter the country while allowing students and merchants to immigrate. -
Standard Time Established
The United States participates in an international conference establishing standard time. -
Period: to
Grover Cleveland's Presidency
Party: Democratic -
Statue of Liberty
Cleveland recommends to Congress that the nation accept France's gift of the Statue of Liberty. The gift commemorates the alliance between the two countries during the Revolutionary War. The statue will be placed on Liberty Island, adjacent to Ellis Island off the New Jersey coast. Ellis Island will serve as a welcoming center for the soaring number of immigrants to New York City -
American Federation of Labor
Labor union founded in 1886 and led by Samuel Gompers. Included only skilled workers. It strove to help workers get better wages, hours, and working conditions. They used the walkout and the boycott. This caused the Knights of Labor to lose many participants -
Dawes Act
1887, dismantled American Indian tribes, set up individuals as family heads with 160 acres, tried to make rugged individualists out of the Indians, attempt to assimilate the Indian population into that of the American -
Period: to
Benjamin Harrison Presidency
Party: Republican -
NAWSA is founded
Led by a Anna Howard Shaw, a Boston social worker; and Carrie Chapman Catt, a journalist from Iowa, the NAWSA was a group of suffragists who exceeded 2 million in membership in 1917. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
This act banned any formations that would restrict trade, not distinguishing between bad and good trusts. The act was a hamper on worker unions, but it showed that the government was slowly moving away from laissez faire ideals. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
A group of white Christian reformist tried to bring Christian beliefs on to the Indians. Fearing the Ghost Dance American troops were called to go with the reformist. While camped outside of an Indian reservation a gun was fired and the troops stormed the reservation killing Indian men women and children. -
Period: to
Grover Cleveland's second presidency
Party: Democratic -
American Railway Union
--organized by socialist, Eugene V. Debs --ordered no violence -broken by Pullman strike -
Plessy v. Ferguson
the court case in which the Supreme Court validated the South's segregationist social order; ruled that "separate but equal" facilities were constitutional under the "equal protection" clause in the Fourteenth Amendment; in reality the quality of African American life was grotesquely unequal to that of whites -
Period: to
William McKinley
Party: Republican -
USS Maine
The battleship that blew up in Havana, Cuba, and ultimately started the Spanish-American War of 1898. -
Hawaii
U.S. annexes Hawaii by an act of Congress -
Spanish-American War Ends
Spain gives up control of Cuba, which becomes an independent republic, and cedes Puerto Rico, Guam, and (for $20 million) the Philippines to the U.S. -
Galveston Hurricane
Galveston, Texas- Catergory 4 hurricane comes through wiping out 6,000 to 8,000 lives. -
William McKinely is shot
Leon Czolgosz shoots McKinley in the stomach while the President shakes hands at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. Czolgosz, an anarchist, admitted to the shooting, and he expressed no remorse for his actions. -
William McKinley dies
President McKinley dies from his wounds as the result of complications due to gangrene, and Vice President Theodore Roosevelt takes the oath of office to become the twenty-sixth President of the United States -
Period: to
Theodore Roosevelt's presidency
Party: Republican/Progressive -
Meat Inspection Act
Passed in 1906 largely in reaction to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, the law set strict standards of cleanliness in the meatpacking industry. -
Model-T
Ford introduces the “Model T” automobile, which costs $850, making Henry Ford's mass-produced cars available to the average wage earner. -
Period: to
William Howard Taft's presidency
Party: Repulbican -
Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act
Taft signs the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, which establishes a Tariff Board and reduces the tariff. -
Panama Canal Act
Taft signs the Panama Canal Act, which exempts American coastwise shipping from paying tolls when transiting the Panama Canal. Many Americans, as well as Britons, consider this a violation of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1901 -
Period: to
Woodrow Wilson's presidency
Party: Democratic -
17th Amendment
Passed in 1913, this amendment to the Constitution calls for the direct election of senators by the voters instead of their election by state legislatures. -
World War I
The United States enters World War I, declaring war on Germany and Austria-Hungary -
World War I Ends
three years after conflict began in 1914. Armistice ending World War I is signed. -
18th Amendment
Prohibited the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages. -
19th Amendment
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution extended the right to vote to women in federal or state elections. -
Period: to
William G. Harding's presidency
Party: Republican -
William Howard Taft becomes a Supreme Court Justice
Harding appoints former President William Howard Taft as chief justice of the Supreme Court. -
Harding dies
President Warren Harding died in San Francisco, California, while on a speaking tour. His death was most likely due to a heart attack. -
Period: to
Calvin Coolidge's presidency
Party: Republican -
Scopes Trial
a highly publicized trial where John Thomas Scopes violated a Tennessee state law by teaching evolution in high school. Scopes was prosecuted by William Jennings Bryan and defended by Clarence Darrow; Scopes was convicted but the verdict was later. Displayed the fundamentalism prevalent in rural areas at the time -
Charles Lindbergh
Charles A. Lindbergh completes the first transatlantic flight, traversing the distance from New York to Paris in his monoplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, in less than thirty-four hours. A year later, Amelia Earhart will become the first woman to make the flight -
Period: to
Herbert Hoover's Presidency
Party: Republican -
Black Tuesday
This date signaled a selling frenzy on Wall Street--days before stock prices had plunged to desperate levels. Investors were willing to sell their shares for pennies on the dollar or were simply holding on to the worthless certificates. Marked the start of the Great Depression. -
Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act
highest tariff in U.S. history. It raised duties on agricultural and manufactured imports. It may have contributed to the spread of international economic depression -
Period: to
Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency
Party: Democratic -
Fireside Chat
FDR delivers his first “fireside chat” radio address to the nation -
21st Amendment
Repeal of Eighteenth Amendment; state and local prohibition no longer required by law. -
Works Progress Adminstration
Congress created this in 1935 as an agency that gave jobs to people who needed them. They worked on bridges, roads, and buildings. They spent 11 billion dollars and gave almost 9 million people jobs. It was one of the New Deal Agencies. -
Social Security Act
Social Security Act of 1935 created a federal insurance program based on the automatic collection of taxes from employees and employers throughout people's working careers. They would receive this money in a monthly pension when they reached the age of 65. The unemployed, disabled, and mothers with dependent children would also receive this money. -
Fair Labor Standards Act
FLSA, Federal Law that established certain minimum requirements for employee's hours, wages, premium overtime, and payroll records. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
Japan attacks Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines -
U.S. Declares war on Japan
The U.S. is furious about the Pearl Harbor bombings. FDR declares war on Japan -
Battle of Midway
In this battle the US destroyed Japanese aircraft carriers and ended Japanese offensive in the Pacific Theater; turning point -
D-Day
Allies crossed the English Channel and landed in Normandy, France. The largest land-sea-air operation in history launched to liberate Europe. -
Yalta Conference
FDR, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta. Russia agreed to declare war on Japan after the surrender of Germany and in return FDR and Churchill promised the USSR concession in Manchuria and the territories that it had lost in the Russo-Japanese War -
FDR Dies
Died of a stroke on April 12, 1945, weeks before the end of WWII -
Period: to
Harry S. Truman's presidency
Party: Democratic -
V-E Day
Victory in Europe day, Germany surrendered -
Potsdam Conference
meeting between Stalin, Churchill, and Truman to discuss post-WWII; compromise: each side would take reparations from its own occupation zone, divided up Germany, created Council of Foreign Ministers; marked the end of wartime alliance -
Hiroshima
The US warned Japan that it had weapons of mass destruction. The Japanese were warned to surrender or suffer the consequences. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6,, 1945. 100,00 people died within seconds and thounsands for within the next five days. -
Nagasaki
U.S. drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki -
Japan Surrenders
Japan agrees to unconditional surrender -
V-J Day
Victory in Japan, treaty signed on U.S.S. Missouri. -
United Nations
international body formed to bring nations into dialogue in hopes of preventing further world wars; much like the former League of Nations in ambition, it was more realistic in recognizing the authority of the Big Five Powers in keeping peace in the world, thus guaranting veto power to all permant members of its Security Council (Britian, China, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States) -
Marshall Plan
massive transfer of aid money to help rebuild postwar Western Europe, intended to bolster capitalist and democratic governments and prevent domestic communist groups from riding poverty and misery to power; was first announced by Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947 -
NATO Established
military alliance of Western European powers and the United States and Canada established to defend against the common threat from the Soviet Union, marking a giant stride forward for European unity and American internationalism -
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico becomes a commonwealth of the U.S. -
Period: to
Dwight D. Eisenhower's Presidency
Party: Republican -
McCarthyism
Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy accuses army officials, members of the media, and other public figures of being Communists during highly publicized hearings -
Brown V. Board of Education
Topeka board of education denied Linda Brown admittance to an all white school close to her house. Thurgood Marshall argued that a separate but equal violated equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. Warren decided separate educational facilities were inherently unequal. -
Little Rock Nine
President sends federal troops to Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., to enforce integration of black students -
Explorer I
first American satellite, is launched. -
Alaska
Alaska becomes 49th state -
Period: to
John F. Kennedy's Presidency
Party: Democratic -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
U.S. Invasion in Cuba fails. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
President Kennedy denounces Soviet Union for secretly installing missile bases on Cuba and initiates a naval blockade of the island -
I Have a Dream
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 . -
JFK assassinated
President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas -
Period: to
Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency
Party: Democratic -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Passed by LBJ, outlawed public segregation and discrimination, forbade racial discrimination in the workplace. -
Vietnam War Starts
U.S. planes begin bombing raids of North Vietnam -
25th Amendment
If the president dies, resigns, or is impeached, the VP will become president.
If the VP office is vacant, the president will nominate a VP, who will take office after a majority vote in House and Senate.
If the president is disable, the VP will serve for him.
Procedure for disqualifying or requalifying president established. -
MLK is assassinated.
Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated at a Memphis hotel. James Earl Ray, white man who resented the increasing black influence in society. King's murder set off a new round of riots across the country, while both blacks and whites mourned the tragic death of a charismatic leader. -
Period: to
Richard Nixon's presidency
Party:Republican -
Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr.
First men on the moon. -
Cambodia
U.S. troops invade Cambodia -
Watergate Scandal
A scandal which exposed lies and involvement in the Watergate case of burglary of the national Democratic party headquarters; wrapped up Nixon and the White House in a lot of scandal. -
Vietnam War ends
Representatives of North and South Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and the U.S. sign a cease-fire agreement in Paris. -
Period: to
Gerald Ford's presidency
Party: Republican -
Nixon Resigns
Nixon resigns; he is succeeded in office by his vice president, Gerald Ford. -
Nixon is pardoned
Nixon is granted an unconditional pardon by President Ford -
Privacy Act of 1974
Ford signs the Privacy Act of 1974, ensuring the right of Americans to individual privacy. -
Period: to
Jummy Carter's presidency
Party: Democratic -
Panama
President Carter signs treaty agreeing to turn control of Panama Canal over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999. -
Summer Olympics
President Carter announces that U.S. athletes will not attend Summer Olympics in Moscow unless Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan. -
Period: to
Ronald Reagan's presidency
Party: Republican -
President Reagan is shot
President Reagan is shot in the chest by John Hinckley, Jr. -
First woman Supreme court justice
Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in as the first woman Supreme Court justice -
Challenger
Space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members (Jan. 28). It is the worst accident in the history of the U.S. space program. -
Tear Down this wall
In a speech in Berlin, President Reagan challenges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” and open Eastern Europe to political and economic reform -
INF Treaty
Reagan and Gorbachev sign INF treaty, the first arms-control agreement to reduce the superpowers' nuclear weapons. -
Period: to
George H.W. Bush's presidency
Party: Republican -
Exxon Valdez
Oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground in Prince William Sound, spilling more than 10 million gallons of oil. It is the largest oil spill in U.S. history. -
Period: to
Persian Gulf War
after Iraq invaded Kuwait, the US invaded Iraq to liberate Kuwait; Iraq set Kuwait's oil fields on fire so the Americans couldn't gain the oil; this conflict caused the US to set military bases in Saudi Arabia; also called Operation: Desert Storm -
Period: to
Bill Clinton's presidency
Party: Democratic -
Oklahoma City Bombing
Bombing of federal office building in Oklahoma City kills 168 people -
Clinton denies affair
President Clinton denies having had a sexual relationship with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. -
Clinton is impeached
House of Representatives votes to impeach President Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. -
Columbine High School Shooting
School shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., leaves 14 students (including the 2 shooters) and 1 teacher dead and 23 others wounded. -
Period: to
George W. Bush's presidency
Party: Republican -
9/11 Attack
Two hijacked jetliners ram twin towers of World Trade Center in worst terrorist attack against U.S.; a third hijacked plane flies into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashes in rural Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people die in the attacks. -
The Mastermind
U.S. and Britain launch air attacks against targets in Afghanistan after Taliban government fails to hand over Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks -
Iraq War begins
The 8:00 p.m. deadline for Hussein to leave Iraq passes. At 10:15 p.m., Bush addresses the nation and informs the American people that the United States is at war with Iraq -
VT Shooting
Male student kills two in a Virginia Tech dorm. Two hours later, he kills 30 more in a classroom building before committing suicide. The shooting rampage is the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others are wounded. -
Period: to
Barack Obama's presidency
Party: Democratic -
All secret prisons are closed
President Obama signs executive orders closing all secret prisons and detention camps run by the CIA, including the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, and banning coercive interrogation methods -
Tuscon Shooting
Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords is among 17 shot by a gunman who opened fire on the congresswoman's constituent meeting outside a local grocery store. The gunman, who police identify as Jared Lee Loughner, is apprehended -
Barack Obama is reelected
Barack Obama is reelected to a second term.
