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William McKinley
McKinley led the nation to victory in the Spanish–American War, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry, and maintained the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of inflationary proposals. McKinley's administration ended with his assassination in September 1901, but his presidency began a period of over a third of a century dominated by the Republican Party. -
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1900-2012
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Theodore Roosevelt
He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Progressive Party of 1912. Before becoming President, he held offices at the city, state, and federal levels. Roosevelt's achievements as a naturalist, explorer, hunter, author, and soldier are as much a part of his fame as any office he held. -
Cadillac Automobile Company Founded
Cadillac was formed from the remnants of the Henry Ford Company when Henry Ford departed. The company reformed as the Cadillac Automobile Company. Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing and the Cadillac Automobile Company merged in 1905. The Cadillac automobile was named after the 17th-century French explorer Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, who founded Detroit in 1701. -
First Cross-Country Auto Trip
It was done in a Cleveland-made Winton automobile. Dr. H. Nelson Jackson was the man to complete this task. He went from San Francisco to New York City in 50 days. -
Wright Brothers First Flight at Kitty Hawk
The flight lasted for six minutes. This was also the only time the brothers flew together. -
Louisiana Purchase Exposition
This was informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair. It was held to celebrate the centennial of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. -
Ford Introduces Model-T
It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile. The Ford Model T was named the world's most influential car of the 20th century in an international poll. -
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William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States. He is the only person to have served in both offices, and along with James Polk, one of two presidents to have also headed another branch of the federal government. -
Mona Lisa Is Stolen
The painting was stolen right off the wall of the Louvre. The crime was inconceivable and the police had no leads. The Mona Lisa turned up in Italy two years later. -
Oreo Cookies First Introduced
Nabisco had a new idea for a cookie - two chocolate disks with a creme filling in between. The first Oreo cookie looked very similar to the Oreo cookie of today, with only a slight difference in the design on the chocolate disks. -
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Woodrow Wilson
A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913. Running against Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party candidate Theodore Roosevelt and Republican candidate William Howard Taft, Wilson was elected President as a Democrat in 1912. -
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World War 1
More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of great technological advances in firepower without corresponding advances in mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history. -
Archduke Ferdinand is Assassinated
The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's south-Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Greater Serbia or a Yugoslavia. The assassins' motives were consistent with the movement that later became known as Young Bosnia. Serbian military officers stood behind the attack. -
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Russian Revolution
This war led to the creation of the Soviet Union. -
First Pulitzer Prize is Awarded
Newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer gave money in his will to Columbia University to launch a journalism school and establish the Prize. $250,000 was allocated to the prize and scholarships. He specified "four awards in journalism, four in letters and drama, one in education, and four traveling scholarships -
Russian Czar Nicholas II and His Family are Killed
The royal family was awakened around 2:00 am, told to dress, and led down into a half-basement room at the back of the Ipatiev house. The pretext for this move was the family's safety—that anti-Bolshevik forces were approaching Yekaterinburg, and the house might be fired upon. -
Prohibition Begins in the U.S.
In the 19th century, many people, especially women, blamed many of society's problems upon alcohol. By the beginning of the 20th century, many states had already created state laws banning alcohol. -
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Warren G. Harding
A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential self-made newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate (1899–1903), as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio (1904–1906) and as a U.S. Senator (1915–1921). He was also the first incumbent United States Senator and the first newspaper publisher to be elected President. -
Tomb of King Tut Is Discovered
Howard Carter was progressing on his final season when he made the discovery. One of Howard Carter's workmen found a hidden step near the base of the tomb of Rameses VI. Carter had discovered an unknown ancient Egyptian tomb, that had lain nearly undisturbed for over 3,000 years. Pharoah Tutankhamun, the boy king, was found within his nearly intact tomb. -
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Calvin Coolidge
A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor. His conduct during the Boston Police Strike of 1919 thrust him into the national spotlight and gave him a reputation as a man of decisive action. Soon after, he was elected as the 29th Vice President in and succeeded to the Presidency upon the sudden death of Warren G. Harding. Elected in his own right in 1924. -
The First Assassination Attempt on Mussolini
No one noticed Violet Gibson, a small Irish woman with a long history of mental illness, standing among the crowd, just feet from Mussolini. Once Mussolini was in his car, 50-year-old Gibson raised her revolver and pointed it at Mussolini's head. She then fired at nearly point-blank range. -
Babe Ruth Makes Home-Run Record
He is known as the Home Run King and the Sultan of Swat because of his powerful and effective swing. Throughout the 1927 season, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig competed for who was going to end the season with the most home runs.
The competition lasted until September, when both men reached their 45th home run of the season. Then, unexpectedly, Gehrig slowed down. Babe ended the season with 60 home runs. -
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Herbert Hoover
Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s, he promoted partnerships between government and business under the rubric "economic modernization". In the presidential election of 1928, Hoover easily won the Republican nomination, He was one of only two Presidents to have been elected without previous electoral experience or high military rank. He won the election by a landslide. -
Stock Market Crashed
By early 1929, interest in the stock market reached a fevered pitch. The upward swing in the summer of 1929 convinced many that the high stock prices were going to remain high.
Then panic struck on Black Thursday, October 24, 1929. Prices began to plummet. Although there was rally in the afternoon, investors had become frightened. Massive number of people were trying to sell their stocks and nearly no one was buying. -
Empire State Building Completed
In its time it was the tallest building in the world - standing at 1,250 feet tall. This building not only became an icon of New York City, it became a symbol of twentieth century man's attempts to achieve the impossible. -
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
He was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war. The only American president elected to more than two terms, he facilitated a durable coalition that realigned American politics for decades. FDR's persistent optimism and activism contributed to a renewal of the national spirit, reflecting his victory over paralytic illness. -
Prohibition Ends In the US
It ended with the ratification of the 21st Amendment. Many people called prohibition the "noble experiment" and debates continue over whether or not making alcohol illegal made society any safer. -
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Spanish Civil War
Conservative Nationalists won and overthrew the democratically elected government. -
The Hindenburg Disaster
After a three-day trip across the Atlantic from Frankfurt, Germany to New Jersey, the Hindenburg (a large, rigid airship) was in the process of landing when it broke into flames at 7:25 p.m. Within 34 seconds, the entire airship was consumed by fire. -
The Night of Broken Glass
SS Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels announced a government-sactioned pogrom against Jews. In Germany and Austria that night mobs beat, raped, arrested, and murdered Jews. The mobs also ransacked Jewish-owned stores and burned down synagogues. Firefighters and other government officials stood by and watched the destruction. The brutality of the night has caused many to consider this the beginning of the Holocaust. -
First Commercial Flight Over the Atlantic
Pan American finally inaugurated the world's first transatlantic passenger service on June 28, 1939, between New York and Marseilles. -
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World War 2
It was the most widespread war in history. There was a mass death of civilians, which included the Holocaust and the only use of nuclear weapons in warfare. There were 50 million to over 70 million fatalities during this war. -
Leon Trotsky Assassinated
Trotsky was sitting at his desk in his study, helping Ramon Mercader edit an article. Mercader waited until Trotsky started to read the article, then snuck up behind Trotsky and slammed a mountaineering ice pick into Trotsky's skull. Trotsky fought back and even remained standing long enough to say his murderer's name to those coming to his aid. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
After just two hours of bombing, more than 2,400 Americans were dead, 21 ships had either been sunk or damaged, and more than 188 U.S. aircraft destroyed. The attack at Pearl Harbor outraged Americans so much that the U.S. abandoned its policy of isolationism and declared war on Japan the following day -- officially bringing the United States into World War II. -
Anne Frank Goes Into Hiding
The Frank family had planned to go into hiding on July 16, 1942, they decided to leave immediately so that Margot would not have to be deported to a "work camp." The Frank family arrived safely at the Secret Annex, located in Otto Frank's business at 263 Prinsengracht in Amsterdam. Eight people were hiding in the Secret Annex in Amsterdam until August 4, 1944 when they were discovered and arrested. -
D-Day
During World War II, the Allied powers planned to create a two-front war by continuing the Soviet Union's attack of Nazi-occupied lands from the east and by beginning a new invasion from the west. the United States and the United Kingdom, and others began the long-awaited attack from the west, the Normandy Invasion. The invasion also known as D-Day, was the very first day of this massive amphibious invasion, which brought thousands of ships, tanks, planes, and troops across the English Channel. -
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Harry S. Truman
Truman, in sharp contrast to the imperious Roosevelt who kept personal control of all major decisions, was a folksy, unassuming president who relied on his cabinet. His approval ratings in the polls started out very high, then steadily sank until he was one of the most unpopular men to leave the White House. Popular and scholarly assessments of his presidency eventually became more positive after his retirement from politics. -
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Cold War
Named so because there was barely any fighting. -
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First Indochina War
Nationalism grew until World War II provided a break in French control. -
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Arab-Israeli War
It was fought between the State of Israel and a military coalition of Arab states and Palestinian Arab forces, the first in a series of wars in the continuing Arab–Israeli conflict. -
NATO is Established
The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe. -
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Korean War
The war was between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The Korean War was primarily the result of the political division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. -
Color TV Introduced
CBS broadcasted the very first commercial color TV program. Unfortunately, nearly no one could watch it on their black-and-white televisions. It wasn't until the 1960s that the public began buying color TVs in earnest and in the 1970s the American public finally started purchasing more color TV sets than black-and-white ones. -
Joseph Stalin Dies
Stalin dies at the age of 74, and was embalmed.Officially, the cause of death was listed as a cerebral hemorrhage. His body was preserved in Lenin's Mausoleum but was removed and buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis. It has been suggested that Stalin was assassinated. In 2003, Russian and American historians announced their view that Stalin ingested warfarin, a powerful rat poison causing hemorrhagic stroke. Warfarin is a plausible weapon of murder. No one my ever know what happened to him. -
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Dwight D. Eisenhower
He had previously been a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II, and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe; he had responsibility for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45, from the Western Front. Eisenhower's two terms were peaceful ones for the most part and saw considerable economic prosperity except for a sharp recession in 1958–59. -
First organ transplant
At the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, a special kidney transpant case would succeed and teach medicine a great deal by confirming Medawar's results. Richard and Ronald Herrick were identical twins, but Richard was dying of kidney disease. Ronald donated one of his kidneys, and it was successfully transplanted into Richard. Because they were identical twins, the organ did not appear foreign to Richard's body, which did not reject it. -
Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Bus Seat
Rosa Parks, a 42-year-old African-American seamstress, refused to give up her seat to a white man while riding on a city bus in Montgomery, Alabama. For doing this, Rosa Parks was arrested and fined for breaking the laws of segregation. Rosa Parks' refusal to leave her seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and is considered the beginning of the modern Civil Rights Movement. -
NASA is Founded
Formed as a result of the Sputnik crisis of confidence, NASA inherited the earlier National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and other government organizations, and almost immediately began working on options for human space flight. -
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John F. Kennedy
He served in the U.S. Senate from 1953 until 1960. Kennedy defeated Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the 1960 presidential election. At the age of 43 he was the second-youngest President, and the first president born in the 20th century. Kennedy is the only president to have won a Pulitzer Prize. Events during his presidency included the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Space Race. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, in Dallas. Today, Kennedy continues to rank highly in public opinion. -
Berlin Wall is Built
Just past midnight East German soldiers and construction workers headed to the border of West and East Berlin. the workers quickly constructed a barrier made of concrete posts and barbed wire along the border. When Berliners woke up they found themselves stuck on whichever side of the border they had fallen asleep on. For nearly three decades, East Germans would be kept behind this barrier. -
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Lyndon Johnson
He is one of only four people who served in all four elected federal offices of the United States: Representative, Senator, Vice President, and President. After campaigning unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 1960, Johnson was asked by JFK to be his running mate for the 1960 presidential election. Johnson succeeded to the presidency following the assassination of JFK in 1963, completed the rest of Kennedy's term and was elected President in his own right. -
John F. Kennedy is Assassinated
The 35th President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was fatally shot while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Texas governor John Connally, and the latter's wife Nellie, in a Presidential motorcade. Kennedy is the most recent of the four Presidents who were assassinated. He followed Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield and William McKinley, all of them fatally shot. -
US Sends Troops To Vietnam
In response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident of August 2 and 4, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson, per the authority given to him by Congress in the subsequent Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, decided to escalate the Vietnam Conflict by sending U.S. ground troops to Vietnam. 3,500 U.S. Marines landed near Da Nang in South Vietnam. -
Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination
Civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was hit by a sniper's bullet. King had been standing on the balcony in front of his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The .30-caliber rifle bullet entered King's right cheek, traveled through his neck, and finally stopped at his shoulder blade. King was immediately taken to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. James Earl Ray was arrested, but many people believe he was innocent. -
Robert F. Kennedy is Assassinated
In Los Angeles, California, after winning the California and South Dakota primary elections for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States, Kennedy was shot as he walked through the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel and died in the Good Samaritan Hospital twenty-six hours later. Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian immigrant, was convicted of Kennedy's murder and is serving a life sentence for the crime. -
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Richard Nixon
The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States. He waged an unsuccessful presidential campaign in 1960, narrowly losing to John F. Kennedy, and lost a race for Governor of California in 1962. In 1968, he ran again for the presidency and was elected.Although Nixon initially escalated the war in Vietnam, he subsequently ended US involvement in 1973. He was reelected in 1972. -
Kent State Shootings
On April 30, 1970, President Nixon announced during a televised speech to the nation that American forces had invaded Cambodia.In response to Nixon's announcement of a new invasion, students across the United States began to protest. All of these protests led up to the deadly interaction between Kent State students and the National Guard. -
Terrorists Attack at the Olympic Games in Munich
Eight members of the Palestinian terrorist organization, Black September, snuck into the Olympic Village at the XXth Olympic Games which were held in Munich, Germany. The Black September members raided the building housing the Israeli athletes. Two Israeli athletes were killed during the raid and nine others were taken hostage. The rescue attempt failed and all nine of the Israeli hostages were killed during the shoot-out. -
Terracotta Army Discovered in China
Three farmers were drilling holes in the hopes of finding water to dig wells when they came upon some ancient terracotta pottery shards. It didn't take long for news of this discovery to spread and by July a Chinese archaeological team began excavating the site. What they discovered was the 2200-year-old remains of a life-sized, terracotta army which had been buried with Qin Shihuangdi, the man who had united the varied provinces of China and thus became the very first emperor of China. -
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Gerald Ford
when he became President upon Richard Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974, he became the only President of the United States who was never elected President nor Vice-President by the Electoral College. Before ascending to the vice-presidency, Ford served nearly 25 years as the Representative from Michigan's 5th congressional district, eight of them as the Republican Minority Leader. He lived longer than any other U.S. president, living 93 years and 165 days. -
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Jimmy Carter
He was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office. Before he became President, Carter served as a U.S. Naval officer, was a peanut farmer, served two terms as a Georgia State Senator and one as Governor of Georgia. Throughout his career, Carter strongly emphasized human rights. After leaving office, Carter and his wife founded the Carter Center, a nongovernmental, non-profit organization that works to advance human rights. -
Elvis is Found Dead
Presley was scheduled to fly out of Memphis on the evening of August 16, 1977, to begin another tour. That afternoon, Alden discovered him unresponsive on his bathroom floor. Attempts to revive him failed, and death was officially pronounced at 3:30 pm at Baptist Memorial Hospital. -
Jonestown Massacre
Peoples Temple cult leader Jim Jones instructed his followers to commit "revolutionary suicide" by drinking cyanide-laced fruit punch. At the Jonestown compound in Guyana, 912 Peoples Temple members (276 of whom were children) drank the punch and died. Jim Jones died the same day from a gunshot wound to the head. -
Eruption of Mt St Helens
Though Mt. St. Helens is approximately 40,000-years old, it is considered a relatively young, active volcano. Most people during the 20th century, saw a picturesque backdrop rather than a potentially deadly volcano. Thus, not fearing an eruption, many people built houses around the base of the volcano. The eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980 was the worst volcanic disaster in U.S. history. Mt. St. Helens is now only 8,363-feet tall, 1,314-feet shorter than it was before the explosion. -
Assassination Attempt on U.S. President Reagan
25-year-old John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on U.S. President Ronald Reagan just outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. President Reagan was hit by one bullet, which punctured his lung. Three others were also injured in the shooting. -
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Ronald Reagan
Prior to his presidency, he was the 33rd Governor of California and a radio, film and television actor. As president, Reagan implemented sweeping new political and economic initiatives. Reagan left office in 1989. In 1994, the former president disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier in the year; he died at the age of 93. He ranks highly in public opinion polls and is credited for generating an ideological renaissance on the American political right. -
Wedding of Lady Diana and Prince Charles
Lady Diana Spencer (20 years old) married Prince Charles (32 years old) at St. Paul's Cathedral. Their wedding was large, extravagant, and wondrous. It was the wedding of the decade. Nearly 3,500 people attended personally, 600,000 people lined the streets of London hoping to catch a peek, and approximately 750 million people from around the world watched it on television. -
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Falklands War
This war was between Argentina and the United Kingdom. The conflict resulted from the long-standing dispute over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, which lie in the South Atlantic, east of Argentina. -
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Invasion of Grenada
It was a United States-led invasion. It was controversial due to charges of American imperialism, Cold War politics, the involvement of Cuba, the unstable state of the Grenadian government, and Grenada's status as a Commonwealth realm. -
Wreck of the Titanic Found
The fundamental problem was the sheer difficulty of finding and reaching a wreck that lies over 12,000 feet below the surface, in a location where the water pressure is over 6,500 pounds per square inch. A number of expeditions were mounted to find Titanic but failed. In 1985 a Franco-American expedition succeeded. They discovered that it had split apart before sinking to the seabed. The separated bow and stern sections lie about a third of a mile apart off the coast of Newfoundland. -
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George H.W. Bush
He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States, a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence. He is the most recent president to have been a World War II veteran. Foreign policy drove the Bush presidency; military operations were conducted in Panama and the Persian Gulf at a time of world change; the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the Soviet Union dissolved two years later. In the wake of economic concerns, he lost the 1992 presidential election. -
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
East German government official Günter Schabowski stated during a press conference that travel through the border to the West was open. People who heard the broadcast were shocked. They went to the border to see if it was true. The border guards, who had no explicit instructions as to what to do, let them through. As the news spread on both sides of the Wall, huge numbers of people flocked to the Berlin Wall and celebrated -
Hubble Telescope Launched Into Space
Hubble's orbit outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere allows it to take extremely sharp images with almost no background light. Hubble's Ultra-Deep Field image, for instance, is the most detailed visible-light image ever made of the universe's most distant objects. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe. -
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Gulf War
The Gulf War, was a war waged by a UN-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. -
World Trade Center Bombed
A truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower (Tower One) into the South Tower (Tower Two), bringing both towers down It failed to do so, but did kill six people and injured more than a thousand. In 1994, four men were convicted of carrying out the bombing. In November 1997, two more were convicted. -
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Bill Clinton
He took office at the end of the Cold War. Clinton has been described as a New Democrat. Many of his policies have been attributed to a centrist Third Way philosophy of governance. As president, Clinton presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history. Later, he was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice in a scandal involving a White House intern, but was acquitted by the U.S. Senate and served his complete term of office. -
Nelson Mandela Elected President of South Africa
He served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the first ever to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before being elected President, Mandela was a militant anti-apartheid activist, and the leader and co-founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress. In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life. Mandela went on to serve 27 years in prison. -
Princess Diana Dies in Car Crash
Princess Diana died after being involved in a car accident. Diana was with her boyfriend, bodyguard, and chauffer when the car crashed into a pillar of the tunnel under the Pont de l'Alma bridge in Paris while fleeing from paparazzi. Dodi Al Fayed and Henri Paul were pronounced dead at the scene. Diana had suffered major injuries, including to her head and chest. Diana died on the operating table. Trevor, though severely injured, survived. -
JFK Jr. Dies in Plane Accident
Kennedy along with his wife Carolyn and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette were reported missing when the Piper Saratoga II HP he was piloting failed to arrive at its planned destination after Kennedy checked in with the FAA Tower at the Martha's Vineyard Airport in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts. A search commenced more than 15 hours later to locate the trio, ending on July 21 when their bodies were discovered and returned to land.He was an American socialite, magazine publisher, lawyer, and pilot. -
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George W. Bush Jr.
Bush was elected President as the Republican candidate, defeating Vice President Al Gore in the Electoral College. A series of terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bush's first term as president. In response, Bush announced the War on Terror, which included the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. Bush promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, and social security reform. Bush successfully ran for re-election in 2004. -
9/11
That morning, 19 terrorists from the Islamist militant group Al-Qaeda hijacked four passenger jets. The hijackers intentionally piloted two of those planes, into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centers. Both towers collapsed within two hours. The hijackers also intentionally crashed into the Pentagon and intended to pilot the fourth hijacked jet to D.C. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks. -
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War on Terror
The campaign was waged against al-Qaeda and other militant organizations with the purpose of eliminating them. -
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Afghanistan War
The primary driver of the invasion was the September 11 attacks on the United States, with the stated goal of dismantling the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and ending its use of Afghanistan as a base. Aslo it would remove the Taliban regime from power and create a viable democratic state. -
Columbia Shuttle Disaster
Shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission the shuttle disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana during re-entry, resulting in the death of all seven crew members. The cause was damage sustained during launch when a piece of foam insulation the size of a small briefcase broke off from the Space Shuttle external.The debris struck the leading edge of the left wing, damaging the Shuttle's thermal protection system, which is needed for re-entry. -
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Iraq War
U.S and the UK claimed Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction and they posed a threat to security. Others accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of harboring and supporting al-Qaeda, Other proclaimed reasons for the invasion included Iraq's financial support for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, Iraqi government human rights abuses, and an effort to spread democracy to the country. -
Hurricane Katrina
She was the deadliest and most destructive Atlantic hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall. At least 1,836 people died in the actual hurricane and in the subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since 1928 Okeechobee; total property damage was estimated at $81 billion. -
Virginia Tech Shooting
Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 people and wounded 17 others in two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, before committing suicide. (Another 6 people were injured escaping from classroom windows.) The massacre is the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in U.S. history. It was also the worst act of mass murder on college students since Syracuse University lost 36 students in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. -
President Obama Is Elected
The 44th and current President of the U.S. is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. -
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Barack Obama
He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois. Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. As president, Obama ended the war in Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan,and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. Obama also has done a number of domestic policy initiatives. He will run for reelection in 2012. -
Haiti Earthquake
The earthquake caused major damage in Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other settlements in the region. It was a catastrophic 7.0 earthquake, with an epicenter near the town of Léogâne, west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian government reported that an estimated 316,000 people had died, 300,000 had been injured and 1,000,000 made homeless. The government of Haiti also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,00 -
Osama Bin Laden Is Killed
The former head of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda known for the September 11 attacks, was killed in Pakistan shortly after 1 am local time by DEVGRU/SEAL Team 6, a United States special operations military unit. The operation, Operation Neptune Spear, was ordered by United States President Barack Obama. Bin Laden's killing was generally favorably received by U.S. public opinion; was welcomed by a large number of governments. Al-Qaeda confirmed the death, vowing to avenge the killing. -
Retirement of the Space Shuttle Program
The retirement of NASA's Space Shuttle fleet took place from March to July 2011. Discovery was the first of the three active space shuttles to be retired, completing its final mission on March 9, 2011; Space Shuttle Endeavour did so on June 1. The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of Atlantis on July 21, 2011, bringing about the end of the 30-year Space Shuttle program. -
SOPA Blackout
Dozens of websites went dark in protest of two bills in Congress that are designed to stop copyright infringement on the Web. The bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, are backed by Hollywood but are anathema to many of the biggest voices on the Web, including Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. the government is seeking the ability to shut down access to foreign sites that it determines are "facilitating the commission" of copyright infringement. -
London 2012 Summer Olympics
The planned 2012 Summer Olympics will make London the first city to have hosted the modern Games of three Olympiads. London is the only city in the United Kingdom to have ever hosted the Olympics. No city in the UK has hosted the Winter Olympic Games. British participation in Olympic events, both as a competitor and as a host, is the responsibility of the British Olympic Association.
