United States

History, People, Pictures, Old Postcards and News From the Past

, United States (USA) (American Colonies)

1861 ad

For President and Vice-President
For President: Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi
For Vice-President: Alexander H. Stephens, of... Read MORE...

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1884 Grover Cleveland campaign poster

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Thomas Circle, Washington, D.C.

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Love Lessons from the Lowly

Plain Dealer
Ohio
November 16, 1896

, United States (USA) (American Colonies)

Open Air Courtship

Plain Dealer
Ohio
June 28, 1898

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1898 Free Fairy Calendar

The Ladies' Home Journal
January 1898

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Quaker Oats

The Ladies' Home Journal
February 1898

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Herald Square, New York, New York

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William Jennings Bryan Campaign Poster (1900)

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William McKinley Campaign Poster (1900)

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Times Square, New York City

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1900 advertisement
What Shall We Have for Dessert?
Jell-O

Lewiston Journal
Lewiston, Maine
October 1, 1900

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Washing and Drying the Hair

National Labor Tribune
Pennsylvania
February 1, 1900

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1918 Red Cross ad

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Michigan Ave. Bridge, Chicago, Illinois

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Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, California

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World War II Red Cross ad

1565 - September 8 - Oldest city in the US, St Augustine Fla, established by Spanish Expedition
On September 8, 1565, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés landed on the shore of what is now called Matanzas...
www.americaslibrary.gov - September 8, 1565

1607 - May 14 - Jamestown Was Established
The Virginia Company of England made a daring proposition: sail to the new, mysterious land, which...Read MORE...

1620 - The Mayflower sails from Plymouth, England and after a journey of sixty-six days anchors in Plymouth harbor, and the Pilgrims established a settlement.

www.datesandevents.org/ american-timelines/ 21-massachusetts-history-timeline.htm -

1675 - King Philip's War takes place between Native Americans and New England colonists
In colonial New England, King Philip's War begins when a band of Wampanoag warriors raid the border ...Read MORE...

1692 - March 1 - Salem Witch Trials
In Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, many people believed in and feared witchcraft. Consequently, when ...Read MORE...

1704 - February 29 - French forces from Quebec and Native American forces under the command of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville attacked the village of Deerfield, Massachusetts.
February 29, 1704 - Queen Anne's War - Deerfield Massacre - Major Jean-Baptiste de Rouville and his ...Read MORE...

1753 - The lightning rod is invented (Benjamin Franklin, United States)
Those of our Readers in this and the neighboring Provinces, who may have had an Opportunity of...Read MORE...

(1756 - 1763) Seven Years War - France, Great Britain clashed in Europe and North America; France, Russia, Austria, Saxony, Sweden and Spain sided against Britain, Prussia and Hanover

www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ asia/ russia/ rutimeln.htm -

1764 - British Government issues the Sugar Act
The Sugar Act raised revenues higher than ever before by a new series of taxes on the colonists.
World History, Part Two, Arco Publishing, Inc., New York, 1980

1765 - November - The British government issues the Stamp Act.
First direct British tax on American colonists. Instituted in November, 1765. Every newspaper,...Read MORE...

1770 - March 5 - Boston Massacre
Tensions between the American colonists and the British were already running high in the early...
www.americaslibrary.gov - March 5, 1770

1773 - December 16 - Boston Tea Party
Angry and frustrated at a new tax on tea, American colonists calling themselves the Sons of Liberty ...Read MORE...

1774 - March - The Coercive Acts (called Intolerable Acts by Americans)
The Intolerable Acts was the American Patriots' name for a series of punitive laws passed by the...Read MORE...

1774 - June 1 - Boston Port Bill: British government orders Port of Boston closed

historyorb.com - June 1, 1774

1774 - September 5 - First Continental Congress formed in Philadelphia
The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies that ...Read MORE...

1775 - April 18 - Paul Revere's famous ride
In 1774 and the Spring of 1775 Paul Revere was employed by the Boston Committee of Correspondence...Read MORE...

1775 - April 19 - First shots of Revolutionary War fired in Lexington and Concord.
The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, kicked off the American...Read MORE...

1775 - April 20 - British begin siege of Boston

historyorb.com - April 20, 1775

May 1775 - Second Continental Congress - Philadelphia - plans to form an army.
When the Second Continental Congress came together on May 10, 1775 it was, in effect, a reconvening ...Read MORE...

1775 - May 10 - American Revolution began; Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, along with Benedict Arnold took Fort Ticonderoga.
In the darkness of the night of May 9, 1775, Ethan Allen, along with Benedict Arnold, led a portion ...Read MORE...

  June 14, 1775 - Colonies establish a Continental Army to be headed by George Washington.

June 14, 1775

1775 - June 17 - Battle of Bunker Hill
On June 17, 1775, early in the Revolutionary War (1775-83), the British defeated the Americans at...
www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/battle-of-bunker-hill - June 17, 1775

October 1775 - Continental Navy created

1775 - December 31 - The Battle of Québec was fought on December 31 between the American Continental Army and British defenders of Québec City. It was the first major defeat for the Americans in the Revolutionary War.

December 31, 1775

  1776 - May - 10,000 British and German troops arrive in May and drive the Continental Army out of the province of Québec

May 1, 1776

  1776 - May 2: The American revolution gains support from King Louis XVI of France

May 2, 1776

1776 - July 4 - American Declaration of Independence
TRENTON, July 8.

The declaration of Independence was this day proclaimed here, together with the ...Read MORE...

1776 - September 9 - Congress renames the nation “United States of America”
On this day in 1776, the Continental Congress formally declares the name of the new nation to be...Read MORE...

1776 - December 26 - Washington crosses the Delaware
Famous American victory that began with "Washington Crossing the Delaware." Actually, the whole...
www.socialstudiesforkids.com/wwww/us/trentondef.htm - December 26, 1776

1777 - November 15 - The Articles of Confederation Were Adopted
On November 15, 1777, the second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation and...Read MORE...

December 1777 - June 1778 - The winter at Valley Forge
This Pennsylvania encampment was occupied by the American army from December 1777 to June 1778. The ...Read MORE...

February 6, 1778 - France signed the Treaty of Alliance with the United States.

February 6, 1778

June 1779 - Spain entered Revolutionary War in favor of Americans.

June 1, 1779

1780 - September 25 - Benedict Arnold's plans to cede West Point to the British discovered.

www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/revolutionarywartimeline.htm - September 25, 1780

1781 - October 19 - The British Surrender at Yorktown
America declared its independence in 1776, but it took another five years to win freedom from the...
www.americaslibrary.gov - October 19, 1781

1784 - The bifocal lens is invented (Benjamin Franklin, United States)
"While living in Paris, Franklin hated having to change constantly from reading glasses to distance ...Read MORE...

1784 - January 14 - The Continental Congress Ratified the Treaty of Paris Ending the Revolutionary War
On September 3, 1783, more than a year after the last shots were fired, a peace treaty was drawn up ...Read MORE...

1787 - September 17 - U.S. Constitution ratified
The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met between May and September of 1787 to address the...Read MORE...

1789 - April 30 - George Washington (1732–1799) became 1st President of the United States
On April 30, 1789, in a deep, low voice, George Washington gave his first speech as president of...Read MORE...

1789 - September 29 - Congress Officially Created the U.S. Military
In its very first session, the United States Congress had a lot of decisions to make. One important ...Read MORE...

1790 - July 16 - Washington, D. C. becomes capital of United States
On July 16, 1790, Congress declared the city of Washington in the District of Columbia, the...
www.americaslibrary.gov - July 16, 1790

1791 - December 15 - The Bill of Rights takes effect
The Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, confirming the fundamental...Read MORE...

1792 - New York Stock Exchange founded

www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ nytimeln.htm -

1793 - The cotton gin is invented (Eli Whitney, United States)
"In 1793, Eli Whitney invented a simple machine that influenced the history of the United States....Read MORE...

1797 - March 4 - John Adams (1735-1826) becomes 2nd President of the United States
The presidential election was the first contested election in the United States. When the final...Read MORE...

1801 - March 4 - Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) becomes 3rd President of the United States
On February 17, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was elected president of the United States, but there was...Read MORE...

1803 - October 20 - Louisiana Purchase - The United States doubled its size by purchasing this territory from Spain.
Senate Ratified the Louisiana Purchase Treaty

In the 1800s, in the United States, pioneers and...Read MORE...

1804 - May 14 - Lewis & Clark set out from St Louis for Pacific Coast

historyorb.com - May 14, 1804

  1804 - July 11 - Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr Dueled to the Death
On the morning of July 11, 1804, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr raised their dueling pistols and ...Read MORE...

1805 - November 15 - Lewis and Clark reach Pacific
Nov. 7, 1805 - Camped opposite Pillar Rock, between Brookfield and Dahlia, Washington, west of Jim...Read MORE...

1805 - Treaty of Pressburg formally dissolves the Holy Roman Empire
"The fourth Peace of Pressburg (also known as the Treaty of Pressburg; German: Preßburger Frieden;...Read MORE...

1809 - March 4 - James Madison (1751-1836) becomes 4th President of the United States
In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson as president, defeating Charles C. Pinckney. His wife, Dolley...Read MORE...

1816 - Year without a summer
The year 1816 has been aptly characterized as the year without a summer. Several of the preceding...Read MORE...

1817 - March 4 - James Monroe (1758-1831) becomes 5th President of the United States
Elected president in 1816 over the Federalist Rufus King, and reelected without opposition in 1820, ...Read MORE...

1819 - The Panic of 1819 - A combination of bad banking practices; too much land speculation and competition from Europe caused the United States to enter its first economic depression.
In 1819 a financial panic swept across the country. The growth in trade that followed the War of...Read MORE...

1825 - March 4 - John Quincy Adams (1767-1848) becomes 6th President of the United States
When no presidential candidate received a majority of electoral votes in 1824, Adams, with the...Read MORE...

1825 - October 26 - Erie Canal completed
The work completed. - This is the day, and 10 o'clock the hour, when the first boat from Lake Erie...Read MORE...

1826 - July 4 – Former US Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both die on the 50th Anniversary of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence.
On July 4, 1826, at the age of 90, Adams lay on his deathbed while the country celebrated...Read MORE...

1827 - February 28 – The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad is incorporated, becoming the first railroad in America offering commercial transportation of both people and freight.
On February 28, 1827, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad became the first U.S. railway chartered for...Read MORE...

1829 - March 4 - Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) becomes 7th President of the United States.
As president, Jackson greatly expanded the power and prestige of the presidential office and...Read MORE...

1830 - May 28 – The Indian Removal Act marks the beginning of the forced relocation of five tribes of native Americans, known as Trail of Tears
The Indian Removal Act was a law passed by Congress on May 28, 1830, during the presidency of...Read MORE...

1831 - January 1 - First Abolitionist Newspaper
The first abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator, published in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison

www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ massachusetts.html - January 1, 1831

1836 - The Alamo and Texas Declaration of Independence
In 1836, a small band of Texans fought the Mexican Army from inside an old mission chapel known as...Read MORE...

1837 - March 4 - Martin Van Buren (1782-1862) becomes 8th President of the United States
In 1832, Van Buren became vice president; in 1836, president. The Panic of 1837 overshadowed his...Read MORE...

1837 - The Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major recession...Read MORE...

1839 - January 2 – First photograph of the Moon taken by photographer Louis Daguerre.

www.wikipedia.org - January 2, 1839

1840s - 1880s - The Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was a wagon road stretching 2170 miles from Missouri to Oregon's Willamette...Read MORE...

1840 to 1860s - French-Canadian emigration to the United States
The large number of French-Canadians who crossed the border in the nineteenth century, particularly ...Read MORE...

1841 - March 4 - William Henry Harrison (1773-1841) becomes 9th President of the United States - dies one month after assuming the office.
Nominated for president in 1835 as a military hero whom the conservative politicians hoped to be...Read MORE...

  1841 - March 9 – Amistad: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in the case that the Africans who seized control of the ship had been taken into slavery illegally.

www.wikipedia.org
March 9, 1841

1841 - April 4 - John Tyler (1790-1862) becomes 10th President of the United States.
Elected vice president on the Whig ticket in 1840, Tyler succeeded to the presidency on Harrison's...Read MORE...

1842 - August 9 – The Webster–Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States–Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.
Webster–Ashburton Treaty, (1842), treaty between the U.S. and Great Britain establishing the...Read MORE...

  1843 - March 21 – The world does not end, contrary to the first prediction by American preacher William Miller.
William Miller is perhaps the most famous false prophet in history. In the 1840s he began to preach ...Read MORE...

1844 - May 24 – The first electrical telegram is sent over the telegraph by Samuel F. B. Morse from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. to the B&O Railroad "outer depot" in Baltimore, Maryland, saying "What hath God wrought".
Taken from the Bible, Numbers 23:23, and recorded on a paper tape, the phrase had been suggested to ...Read MORE...

  1844 - October 22 – This second date, predicted by the Millerites for the Second Coming of Jesus, leads to the Great Disappointment.
William Miller is perhaps the most famous false prophet in history. In the 1840s he began to preach ...Read MORE...

1845 - The refrigerator is invented (John Gorrie, United States)
"John Gorrie was born in 1803 and spent most of his childhood in South Carolina. After receiving a...Read MORE...

1845 - March 4 - James K. Polk (1795-1849) becomes 11th President of the United States
When James K. Polk accepted the Democratic Party's nomination for the presidency, he was not very...Read MORE...

1846 - April 25 – Mexican–American War: Open conflict begins over border disputes of Texas' boundaries.
The war, stemming from the United States’ annexation of Texas in 1845 and from a dispute over...Read MORE...

  1847 - July 1 – The United States issues its first postage stamps
POST OFFICE STAMPS. Post-office stamps for the convenience of pre-paying postage are to be issued...Read MORE...

1848 - January 24 – California Gold Rush: James W. Marshall finds gold at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California.
Many people in California figured gold was there, but it was James W. Marshall on January 24, 1848, ...Read MORE...

1848 - February 2 - Mexican–American War formally ends with signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ceding virtually all of what becomes the Southwestern United States to the U.S.

www.wikipedia.org
February 2, 1848

1849 - The safety pin is invented (Walter Hunt, United States)
THE SAFETY PIN.
Interesting Story of Its Inventor, Walter Hunt.

Buffalo Commercial.
John R....Read MORE...

  1849 - February 28 – Regular steamboat service from the west to the east coast of the United States begins with the arrival of the SS California in San Francisco Bay.
The California leaves New York Harbor on October 6, 1848, rounds Cape Horn at the tip of South...Read MORE...

1849 - March 4 - Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) becomes 12th President of the United States. He dies in office after 16 months.
During the revival of the slavery controversy, which was to result in the Compromise of 1850,...Read MORE...

  1849 - March 3 - The United States Congress passes the Gold Coinage Act allowing the minting of gold coins.
GOLD COINS
The following is the bill which passed the House of Representatives, authorizing the...Read MORE...

  1850 - March 19 – American Express is founded by Henry Wells & William Fargo.
AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY.
CAPITAL $150,000.

The American Express Company, having purchased the...Read MORE...

1850 - July 9 - Millard Fillmore (1800-1874) becomes 13th President of the United States
As president, Fillmore associated himself with the pro-Southern Whigs, supporting the Compromise of ...Read MORE...

1851 - June 5 - Uncle Tom's Cabin Appeared in Serial Form
This influential book is often included in lists of "causes of the Civil War" (1861-65). Harriet...Read MORE...

  1851 - November 14 – Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick; or The Whale is published in the U.S. by Harper & Brothers, New York, after being first published on October 18 in London by Richard Bentley, in 3 volumes as The Whale.

www.wikipedia.org
November 14, 1851

1853 - Potato chips are invented (George Crum, United States)
This year is the seventy-fifth anniversary or the potato chip and a resident of Saratoga Springs...Read MORE...

1853 - March 4 - Franklin Pierce (1804-1869) becomes 14th President of the United States
As president, Pierce followed a course of appeasing the South at home and of playing with schemes...Read MORE...

1853 - Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations
Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations was a World's Fair held in 1853 in what is now Bryant...
www.wikipedia.org -

1854 - July - Republican Party formed for abolition of slavery.
It began in a little schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin, in 1854. A small group of dedicated...Read MORE...

1857 - Toilet paper is invented (Joseph Gayetty, United States)
Really a Capital Production!
The celebrity of Gayett's Medicated Paper for the water-closet is...Read MORE...

1857 - March 4 - James Buchanan (1791-1868) becomes 15th President of the United States - the only bachelor to be President.
He was elected president in 1856, defeating John C. Frémont, the Republican candidate, and former...Read MORE...

  1857 - March 6 – Dred Scott v. Sandford: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Blacks are not citizens and slaves can not sue for freedom, driving the country further towards the American Civil War.

www.wikipedia.org
March 6, 1857

  1857 - April 7 - A late season freeze brought snow to every state in the Union. Even as far south as Houston TX the mercury plunged to 21 degrees.

WeatherForYou.com
April 7, 1857

1859 - October 16 – John Brown raids the Harpers Ferry Armory in Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in an unsuccessful bid to spark a general slave rebellion.
Late on the night of October 16, 1859, John Brown and 21 armed followers stole into the town of...
www.americaslibrary.gov - October 16, 1859

1860 - Civil War - On December 20, 1860, a little over a month after Abraham Lincoln had been elected President, South Carolina seceded from the Union. Six more states followed by the spring of 1861.

www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-overview/triggerevents.html
December 20, 1860

1861 - January 21 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis resigns from the United States Senate.
...Mr. Davis, of Mississippi, formally took leave of the Senate in a few eloquent remarks. He...
The Raleigh Register - Raleigh, North Carolina - January 26, 1861

1861 - February 8 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America are formed, comprising the first six break-away States

www.wikipedia.org
February 8, 1861

  1861 - February 9 - THE MAIL TO BE STOPPED.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday, by a vote of 131 to 26, adopted a bill authorizing the...Read MORE...

1861 - March 4 - Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) becomes 16th President of the United States.
Lincoln's inaugural address was stirring. He appealed for the preservation of the Union. To retain...Read MORE...

1861 - Start of U.S. Civil War - April 12, 1861 - Confederate forces fire upon Fort Sumter.
The shelling of the fort was the culmination of a simmering conflict in which a small garrison of...
history1800s.about.com - April 12, 1861

1861 - April 20 - American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.

www.wikipedia.org - April 20, 1861

1861 - October 26 – The Pony Express announces its closure.
ATCHISON - Oct. 19. - Orders have to-day been issued by the President of the Pike's Peak Express...Read MORE...

1861 - November 6 - Jefferson Davis Elected President of the Confederate States of America
On November 6, 1861, Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America. He ...Read MORE...

  1862 - February 1 – American Civil War: Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic is published for the first time in the Atlantic Monthly.

www.wikipedia.org
February 1, 1862

  1862 - May 15 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the U.S. Bureau of Agriculture (later renamed U.S. Department of Agriculture).

www.wikipedia.org
May 15, 1862

  1862 - May 20 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
THE HOMESTEAD ACT - Letters are coming to the post offices in Nebraska, by hundreds, in which...Read MORE...

  1862 - July 1 - The Bureau of Internal Revenue, the forerunner of the Internal Revenue Service, is established in the United States
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs into law the Pacific Railway Acts, authorizing construction of ...Read MORE...

1863 - January 1 - Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation...Read MORE...

1863 - July 1–3 – American Civil War: Battle of Gettysburg – Union forces under George G. Meade turn back a Confederate invasion by Robert E. Lee in the largest battle of the war (28,000 Confederate casualties, 23,000 Union).

www.wikipedia.org - July 3, 1863

1863 - October 3 – President Lincoln proclaims a national Thanksgiving day to be celebrated the final Thursday in November in the United States
A NATIONAL THANKSGIVING
By the President of the United States,
A PROCLAMATION.

WASHINGTON,...Read MORE...

1863 - November 19 – American Civil War: U. S. President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at the military cemetery dedication ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln delivered a short speech at the end of the...
www.americaslibrary.gov - November 19, 1863

1865 - April 15 – Inauguration of Andrew Johnson: President Lincoln dies early this morning from his gunshot wound and Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes the 17th President of the United States.
Johnson became Abraham Lincoln's running mate, despite the fact that he was a Democrat and Lincoln...Read MORE...

1865 - April 9 - Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysees S. Grant at Appomattox Court House.
Harried mercilessly by Federal troops and continually cut off from turning south, Lee headed west,...Read MORE...

1865 - April 14 - Assassination of Abraham Lincoln:
Shortly after 10 p.m. on April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box at...
www.americaslibrary.gov - April 14, 1865

  1865 - May 29 – American Civil War: President of the United States Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation of general amnesty for most citizens of the former Confederacy.

www.wikipedia.org
May 29, 1865

  1865 - July 5 - The U.S. Secret Service is founded.

www.wikipedia.org
July 5, 1865

  1866 - May 16 – The United States Congress approves the minting of a nickel 5-cent coin (nickel), eliminating its predecessor, the half dime.
FIVE CENT COIN.
In the House of Representatives, a few days ago, the following proceedings took...Read MORE...

  1866 - July 25 – The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army (now called "5-star general"); Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to have this rank.
FROM WASHINGTON.
The President Signs the Bill Reviving the Grade of General - General Grant...Read MORE...

1867 - March 30 – Alaska is purchased for $7.2 million from Alexander II of Russia, about 2 cent/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward. The news media call this "Seward's Folly"
U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward signs a treaty with Russia for the purchase of Alaska for ...Read MORE...

1868 - The typewriter is invented (Christopher Latham Sholes, United States)
... In 1867 Mr. C. Latham Sholes, a printer and editor; Mr. Samuel W. Soule, a printer, and Mr....Read MORE...

  1868 - Twenty thousand Norwegians, Danes and Swedes are to arrive in this country this spring, whose destination will be chiefly to the West.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
April 18, 1868

  1868 - From statistics carefully prepared from authentic sources, and reliable as any other public documents, it has been ascertained that the average cost of strong drink for each man, woman, and child in the United States is twenty dollars.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
April 18, 1868

  1868 - October 28 – Thomas Edison applies for his first patent, the electric vote recorder.

www.wikipedia.org
October 28, 1868

  1869 - The New York Sun says: "Four hours of good hard study in the morning is as much as should be required of any child under fourteen years of age, girls especially."

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
January 30, 1869

  1869 - It is estimated that not one-eighth of the people of the United States attend public worship on Sunday.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
January 30, 1869

1869 - March 4 - Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) becomes 18th President of the United States
In 1868, as Republican candidate for president, Grant was elected over the Democrat, Horatio...Read MORE...

1869 - May 10 - The Union and Central Pacific Railroads joined their rails at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory and forged the destiny of a nation. (Golden Spike National Historic Site, Utah)
THE PACIFIC RAILROAD.
The Last Rail Land and the Last Spike Driven.
San Francisco and New York...Read MORE...

  1869 - A young and pretty girl, a little proud of her good looks, had a quarrel with her lover, who reproached her for caring more for beauty than his love.
To prove to him how much she loved him she broke off her four front teeth, and, thus disfigured,...Read MORE...

  1869 - The total amount of sugar now consumed by all nations may be estimated at 2,500,000 tons. America consumes about 530,000 tons.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
October 30, 1869

  1869 - In 1868 there were 2,208 books published in the United States.
107 of them imported in editions. Ninety-one of these were subscription books, and thirteen were...Read MORE...

1870 - A cable dispatch on the 28th says the Pope has issued a special elimination against the Fenians, both in America and Ireland.

St Joseph Herald - Saint Joseph, Michigan - February 5, 1870

  1870 - Whenever you perceive a horse's inclination to rear, separate your reins and prepare for him.
The instant he is about to rise slacken one hand and bend or twist his head with the other, keeping ...Read MORE...

  1870 - Whole-grained Hominy
In a course towel tie up two or three quarts of hard-wood ashes; place in a large iron pot half...Read MORE...

  1870 - June 22 - The U.S. Congress creates the United States Department of Justice.

www.wikipedia.org
June 22, 1870

  1871 - Washing Recipe.
A correspondent furnishes the following to the Western Rural: "For two tubs of clothes, take one...Read MORE...

  1871 - To Fry Sweetbreads.
Let them soak a few minutes in water. Take them out, and wipe them perfectly dry. Do not cut them...Read MORE...

  1871 - To Clean Black Silk and Ribbons
Take an equal quantity of alcohol, molasses and soft-soap. Mix them thoroughly together. Spread the ...Read MORE...

1872 - 'Yellowstone Wonderland' is established as first national park.
March 1 – Yellowstone National Park (once dubbed "Colter's Hell" after John Colter, of the Lewis &...Read MORE...

  1872 - May 4 - The magazine Popular Science is first published in the U.S.

www.wikipedia.org
May 4, 1872

  1874 - November 25 – The United States Greenback Party is established as a political party, made primarily of farmers financially hurt by the Panic of 1873.

www.wikipedia.org
November 25, 1874

1875 - Civil Rights Act of 1875
United States federal law enacted during the Reconstruction Era that guaranteed African Americans...Read MORE...

1876 - March 7 – Alexander Graham Bell is granted a United States patent for an invention he calls the telephone (patent #174,466).
Professor Bell tried his telephone on the telegraph line between Boston and Salem the other day, he ...Read MORE...

1876 - May 10 - Centennial Exhibitiion
May 10, 1876: The Centennial Exhibition opened in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at which Caroline...
The Old Farmer's Almanac www.almanac.com - May 10, 1876

1876 - June 25 – American Indian Wars – Battle of the Little Bighorn:
300 men of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer are wiped ...Read MORE...

1877 - March 4 - Rutherford B. Hayes (1822-1893) becomes 19th President of the United States
On the night of the 1876 presidential election, Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes went to...Read MORE...

1877 - Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record sound, considered Edison's first great invention. Edison demonstrates the device for the first time on November 29.
November 21, 1877
Thomas Edison announces his "talking machine" invention (phonograph), the 1st...Read MORE...

1879 - Incandescent light bulb is invented (Thomas Alva Edison, United States)
Edison still claims that his electric light is a complete success, and says he can now furnish it...Read MORE...

1879 - Cleveland became the world's first city to be lighted electrically in 1879 when Charles Brush successfully demonstrated arc lights on the streets.
www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/ state-history-timeline/ ohio.html


...At five minutes...Read MORE...

1881 - March 4 - James A. Garfield (1831–1881) becomes President of the United States
In 1880, Garfield was elected to the Senate, but instead became the presidential candidate on the...Read MORE...

1881 - The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton.
THE RED CROSS SOCIETY
At a meeting this evening, largely attended by prominent citizens and those...Read MORE...

1881 - September 19 - Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886) becomes President of the United States
In 1880 Arthur was nominated for vice president in the hope of conciliating the followers of Grant...Read MORE...

  1882 - The Standard Oil Trust (monopoly) is secretly created in the United States to control multiple corporations set up by John D. Rockefeller and his associates.

www.wikipedia.org
January 2, 1882

  1883 - October 15 – The Supreme Court of the United States declares part of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 to be unconstitutional, allowing individuals and corporations to discriminate based on race.

www.wikipedia.org
October 15, 1883

1883 - November 18 – U.S. and Canadian railroads institute 5 standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.
UNIFORM TIME

Exactly at noon on Sunday, as has been announced, the new system of uniform time...Read MORE...

1884 - Photographic film is invented (George Eastman, United States)
Photographic.

A certificate was filed yesterday in the county clerk's office showing that the...Read MORE...

1884 - The first gravity roller coaster amusement ride (LeMarcus A. Thompson, United States)
"1884: The first gravity roller coaster designed and built specifically as an amusement ride opens...Read MORE...

1884 - May 1 – The eight-hour workday is first proclaimed by the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions in the United States. This date, called May Day or Labour Day, becomes a holiday recognized in almost every industrialized country.

www.wikipedia.org
May 1, 1884

  1884 - August 10 – A severe earthquake, magnitude 5.5, (intensity VII) occurs off the northeast Atlantic coast of the United States. The area affected extends from central Virginia to southern Maine, and west as far as Cleveland.

www.wikipedia.org
August 10, 1884

1884 - December 6 – The Washington Monument is completed in Washington, D.C., becoming the tallest structure in the world at this date.

www.wikipedia.org - December 6, 1884

1885 - March 4 - Grover Cleveland (1837-1908) becomes 22nd President of the United States
In 1884 Grover Cleveland won the Democratic nomination for president. The campaign contrasted...Read MORE...

1885 - The Statue of Liberty arrives in New York Harbor.
The formal reception of Bartholdi's great statue of "Liberty Enlightening the World" took place at...Read MORE...

1886 - January 29 – Karl Benz patents the first successful gasoline-driven automobile, the Benz Patent Motorwagen (built in 1885).

www.wikipedia.org - January 29, 1886

  1886 - "Lean beefsteak and hot water for seventeen weeks" is the latest diet that such of the world's fat people who wish to get thin are trying.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
March 6, 1886

  1886 - LIBERTY'S LIGHT. The Great Torch of the Goddess We Love. Imposing Ceremonies Attending the Unveiling of the Bartholdi Statue on Liberty Island.
The Colossal Gift of a Sister Republic Gracefully Accepted by an Appreciative People.

The...Read MORE...

1887 - February 2 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, the first Groundhog Day is observed.

www.wikipedia.org - February 2, 1887

  1888 - September 4 – George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film.
Wannamaker's
Philadelphia, Friday, October 26, 1888.
The Kodak Camera is the latest photographic...Read MORE...

  1888 - The Supreme Court of the United States decide on the 29th that the license tax imposed by any State upon commercial travelers from other States is unconstitutional.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
November 3, 1888

  1888 - It was stated on the 31st ult. that the large number of Chinese who were arriving at British Columbia ports from China were not destined to remain in Canada, but were taking this means of smuggling themselves into the United States.

St Joseph Herald
Saint Joseph, Michigan
November 3, 1888

1889 - March 4 - Benjamin Harrison (1833-1901) becomes 23rd President of the United States
In 1888, Benjamin Harrison received the Republican nomination for president on the eighth ballot....Read MORE...

  1890 - June 1 – The United States Census Bureau begins using Herman Hollerith's tabulating machine to tabulate census returns using punched card input,
a landmark in the history of computing hardware. Hollerith's company eventually becomes IBM.
www.wikipedia.org
June 1, 1890

1890 - December 29 - Wounded Knee Massacre occurred - 7th Cavalry killed more than 250 Lakota men, women and children; Sitting Bull killed at Little Eagle; Indian wars ended

www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ sdtimeln.htm - December 29, 1890

1891 - The zipper is invented (Whitcomb L. Judson, United States)
"...the inventor of the first zipper, Whitcomb L. Judson, did his experimentation right here in the ...Read MORE...

1891 - The motion picture camera is invented (Thomas Alva Edison, William K.L. Dickson, United States)
LIGHT AND SOUND UNITED
EDISON OUTDOES HIMSELF IN THE KINETOGRAPH.
It is to Reproduce a Picture of ...Read MORE...

1892 - NO MORE BARGE OFFICE. Immigrants Will Hereafter Land at Ellis Island.
New York, Jan. 1. - Without any ceremony or formal opening the immigration officials of this city...
The Saint Paul Globe - Saint Paul, Minnesota - January 2, 1892

1893 - March 4 - Grover Cleveland (1837–1908) becomes President of the United States

March 4, 1893

1893 - May 1 - World's Columbian Exposition
World's Columbian Exposition is held in Chicago, commemorating the 400th anniversary of European...
www.u-s-history.com/ pages/ h2286.html - May 1, 1893

  1893 - July 1 – U.S. President Grover Cleveland is operated on in secret.
The published stories concerning the health of President Cleveland seem to lack some of the...Read MORE...

  1893 - The United States Supreme Court legally declares the tomato to be a vegetable.
The question whether a tomato is a fruit or vegetable has finally been decided by the Supreme Court ...Read MORE...

1894 - Pullman strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States in the summer of 1894. It...Read MORE...

  1896 - May 18 – Plessy v. Ferguson: The U.S. Supreme Court introduces the "separate but equal" doctrine and upholds racial segregation.

www.wikipedia.org
May 18, 1896

  1896 - December 25 - John Philip Sousa composes his magnum opus, the Stars and Stripes Forever.

www.wikipedia.org
December 25, 1896

1897 - March 4 - William McKinley (1843-1901) becomes 25th President of the United States
With the support of Mark Hanna, a shrewd Cleveland businessman interested in safeguarding tariff...Read MORE...

1897 - September 1 – The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground metro in North America.
in 1897, at 6 am, over 100 people crowded onto the first train to travel through a tunnel under...
massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=254 - September 1, 1897

1898 - U.S. battleship, Maine, blows up in Havana Harbor, Cuba, igniting the Spanish-American war.

The World Almanac of the U.S.A, by Allan Carpenter and Carl Provorse, 1996 -

  1898 - April 5 – Annie Oakley promotes the service of women in combat situations with the United States military.
On this day, she writes a letter to President McKinley "offering the government the services of a...Read MORE...

1898 - April 25 – Spanish-American War: The United States declares war on Spain; the U.S. Congress announces that a state of war has existed since April 21 (later backdating this one more day to April 20).
...On April 11, 1898, President William McKinley asked Congress for authorization to end the...Read MORE...

1898 - December 10 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Spanish-American War.
On December 10, the Treaty of Paris officially ended the Spanish-American War. The once-proud...Read MORE...

  1899 - Voting machines are approved by the U.S. Congress for use in federal elections.
VOTING MACHINES
They May Be Used in National Elections Hereafter.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 15. - Both...Read MORE...

  1899 - September 18 – Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag is registered for copyright as ragtime music enjoys mainstream popularity in the United States.

www.wikipedia.org
September 18, 1899

1900 - March 15 – The Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing the United States currency on the gold standard.
The Gold Standard Act a Law.
Washington, March 15. - The gold standard act passed by congress,...Read MORE...

1900 - June 1 – American temperance agitator Carrie Nation begins her crusade to demolish saloons.
THE KIOWA SALOONS RAIDED.
Mrs. Carrie Nation, of this City, Invaded Six of Them last Thursday....Read MORE...

  December 1900 - What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years
In the future there will be no more city blocks. People will live in the suburbs. They will ride to ...Read MORE...

1901 - January 22 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom dies at age 81, after more than 63 years on the throne, and her son the Prince of Wales formally succeeds her as King Edward VII.

www.wikipedia.org - January 22, 1901

  1901 - February 25 – U.S. Steel is incorporated by industrialist J. P. Morgan as the first billion-dollar corporation.

www.wikipedia.org
February 25, 1901

1901 - September 14 - Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) becomes 26th President of the United States
Assuming the presidency of the assassinated McKinley in 1901, Roosevelt embarked on a wide-ranging...Read MORE...

  1902 - May 20 – Cuba gains independence from the United States.
CUBA'S INDEPENDENCE
THE HOME GOVERNMENT TO TAKE CONTROL ON MAY 20TH
THE PRESIDENT'S...Read MORE...

1903 - Marconi sends and receives the first wireless transatlantic communication
One hundred years ago on Saturday, a young Italian inventor named Guglielmo Marconi stood on a...
Brian Carovillano on January 18, 2003 (www.crn.com) -

1903 - June 16 - Ford Motor Company is incorporated in Detroit, Michigan

June 16, 1903

1903 - October - First World Series
The 1903 World Series was the first modern World Series to be played in Major League Baseball. It...
www.wikipedia.org - October 13, 1903

1903 - December 17 – Orville Wright flies an aircraft with a petrol engine at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in the first documented, successful, controlled, powered, heavier-than-air flight.
THE MACHINE ACTUALLY FLIES
Successful Trial of Kitty Hawk, N.C., of Wright Brother's...
Lewiston Evening Journal - Lewiston, Maine - December 18, 1903

1903 - The first engine-powered airplane is invented (Wilbur & Orville Wright, United States)
LIKE A BIRD AEROPLANE FLIES.
Two Americans Solve Great Problem of Aerial Navigation With a Flying...Read MORE...

1904 - April 30 – The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri (closes December 1).
Ice-cream cones were first served in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition world's fair in St....Read MORE...

1904 - June 28 - U.S. begins construction of Panama Canal
February 23 – For $10 million, the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone...

June...Read MORE...

1906 - April 7 – Mount Vesuvius erupts and devastates Naples.

www.wikipedia.org - April 7, 1906

1906 - August 22 – The first Victor Victrola, a phonographic record player, is manufactured.
Splendid Talking Machine.
The Victor Victrola, a splendid new talking machine, is being exhibited...Read MORE...

1907 - March 2 - Expatriation Act - Any American woman who marries a foreign national, forfeits her citizenship.
... That any American woman who marries a foreigner shall take the nationality of her husband. At...Read MORE...

1908 - The electric washing machine is invented (Alva J. Fisher, United States)
"The first washing machine powered by electricity was invented by Alva J. Fisher in 1908. Fisher...Read MORE...

  1908 - February 18 – Japanese emigration to the United States is forbidden under terms of the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907.

www.wikipedia.org
February 18, 1908

1908 - First Model-T car is produced by Henry Ford (United States)
FORD FACTORY CLEVERNESS
The Ford Motor Company from now until July will manufacture in quantities...Read MORE...

1909 - March 4 - William Howard Taft (1857-1930) becomes 27th President of the United States
When Teddy Roosevelt prepared to retire his presidency, this popular and influential politician...Read MORE...

  1910 - Comet Halley is visible from Earth. It won't be seen again until 1986.
WHEN THE EARTH BORES A HOLE THROUGH THE TAIL OF HALLEY'S COMET
May 18, 1910 Will Be the Biggest...Read MORE...

1912 - April 15 - Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic
At 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912, the British ocean liner Titanic sinks into the North Atlantic Ocean ...Read MORE...

1913 - December 1 - The assembly line is invented (Henry Ford, United States)
"...Henry Ford installs the first moving assembly line for the mass production of an entire...Read MORE...

1913 - The bra is invented (Mary Phelps Jacob, United States)
"... Mary Phelps Jacob, a young New York socialite who became exasperated with the antiquated...Read MORE...

1913 - March 4 - Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) becomes 28th President of the United States
Wilson became the 28th president of the United States, serving two consecutive terms in the White...Read MORE...

1913 - October 31 – The Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across the United States, is dedicated.
MANY STATES TO DEDICATE HIGHWAY
New Route Across Continent Will Be Inaugurated With Many...Read MORE...

1913 - December 23 – The Federal Reserve System is created as the central banking system of the United States by Woodrow Wilson's signature of the Federal Reserve Act.

www.wikipedia.org
December 23, 1913

1914 - Woodrow Wilson signs a Mother's Day proclamation.
GIVES APPROVAL TO MOTHERS' DAY
President Wilson Acts on Joint Resolution of Congress
FLAGS...Read MORE...

1914 - August 1 - World War I begins: Germany declares war on Russia and France and invades Belgium
August 1, 1914 - Germany declares war on Russia. France and Belgium begin full...
www.historyplace.com/ worldhistory/ firstworldwar - August 1, 1914

  1915 - The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of the United States Congress.
PLACE OF BEAUTY IS NEW NATIONAL PARK IN THE ROCKIES

Congress has just set aside 700 square miles ...Read MORE...

1915 - January 25 - First United States coast-to-coast long-distance telephone call,
facilitated by a newly invented vacuum tube amplifier, ceremonially inaugurated by Alexander Graham ...Read MORE...

1915 - May 7 – WWI: Sinking of the RMS Lusitania: British ocean liner RMS Lusitania is sunk by Imperial German Navy U-boat U-20 off the south-west coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 civilians en route from New York to Liverpool.

www.wikipedia.org - May 7, 1915

  1916 - May 20 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting (Boy with Baby Carriage).

www.wikipedia.org
May 20, 1916

1916 - On May 30, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a presidential proclamation establishing a national Flag Day on June 14.

www.americaslibrary.gov
May 30, 1916

1917 - March 2 – The enactment of the Jones Act grants Puerto Ricans United States citizenship.
Citizenship for Porto Ricans.
From the New York Herald.

With the passage of the new government...Read MORE...

1917 - April 6 – WWI: The United States declares war on Germany.
U.S. At War
GERMAN SHIPS ARE SEIZED
HOUSE PASSES WAR BILL BY VOTE 373-50

Washington, April 6 - ...Read MORE...

1917 - June 5 – WWI: Conscription begins in the United States.
AVERAGE MAN HAS A 20 TO 1 CHANCE OF BEING DRAFTED
But He Must Register on Tuesday or Go to...Read MORE...

1918 - March 19 – The United States Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time (DST goes into effect on March 31).
Getting Used to the "Daylight Saving" Time.

"Daylight saving" is now a law, if not a fact, and...Read MORE...

1918 - October 31 – The Hungarian government terminates the personal union with Austria, officially dissolving the Austro-Hungarian empire.

www.wikipedia.org - October 31, 1918

  1919 - February 26 – Grand Canyon National Park: An act of the United States Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park.
GRAND CANYON TO BECOME PARK AFTER FIGHT OF 33 YEARS

The senate bill to make the Grand Canyon a...Read MORE...

1919 - June 4 – Women's rights: The United States Congress approves the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which would guarantee suffrage to women, and sends it to the U.S. states for ratification.
SENATE ADOPTS AMENDMENT FOR SUFFRAGE, 56-25
Congress Puts Votes for Women Up to States for...Read MORE...

1919 - June 28 - The Treaty of Versailles is signed, blaming Germany for World War I and creating a League of Nations
World War I (1914-1918) was finally over. This first global conflict had claimed from 9 million to...Read MORE...

1919 - October 28 – Prohibition in the United States is authorized:
The United States Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Woodrow Wilson's veto....Read MORE...

  1919 - November 9 – Felix the Cat appears in Feline Follies, marking the first cartoon character to become popular.

www.wikipedia.org
November 9, 1919

1920 - January 17 - Prohibition goes into effect on January 17, 1920, under the provisions of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
'Cans' and 'Can'ts' of Amendment
Dry Amendment 'Cans' and 'Can'ts'

Here are some of the things...Read MORE...

1921 - March 4 - Warren G. Harding (1865-1923) becomes 29th President of the United States
When the 1920 convention was deadlocked between Leonard Wood and Frank O. Lowden, Harding became...Read MORE...

  1922 - June 14 – U.S. President Warren G. Harding makes his first speech on the radio.
President Warren G. Harding, while addressing a crowd at the dedication of a memorial site for the...Read MORE...

1923 to 1927 - Television is invented (Vladimir Kosma Zworykin (Russia), Philo Taylor Farnsworth (United States))
...Zworykin had a patent, but Farnsworth had a picture

Zworykin and his television
Zworykin is...Read MORE...

  1923 - March 2 – Time Magazine hits newsstands in the United States for the first time.

www.wikipedia.org
March 2, 1923

  1923 - April 4 – Warner Bros. film studio is formally incorporated in the United States as Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc.

www.wikipedia.org
April 4, 1923

1923 - August 2 - Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) becomes 30th President of the United States
After Warren Harding's death Vice-President Coolidge became President and handled the Washington...Read MORE...

1924 - June 2 - Congress Granted Citizenship to All Native Americans Born in the U.S.
Citizenship Given Indians
- Long Beach Press -

Every native-born Indian in this country is...Read MORE...

  1924 - December 30 – Astronomer Edwin Hubble announces that Andromeda, previously believed to be a nebula, is actually another galaxy, and that the Milky Way is only one of many such galaxies in the universe

www.wikipedia.org
December 30, 1924

  1926 - November 11 – U.S. Route 66 is established.
U.S. Route 66, also known as the Will Rogers Highway, the Main Street of America or the Mother...Read MORE...

  1927 - April 7 – Bell Telephone Co. transmits an image of Herbert Hoover (then the Secretary of Commerce), which becomes the first successful long distance demonstration of television
TELEVISION SEEING OVER PHONES, SUCCEEDS
Hoover Observed in Gotham As He Talks in Capital
That's...Read MORE...

  1927 - May 20–21 – Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo, nonstop transatlantic airplane flight, carried out from New York City to Paris, France, in his single-engined aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis.
PROUD AND HAPPY MOTHER JUST KNEW HE COULD DO IT
DETROIT, Mich., May 21. (AP) - "That's all that...Read MORE...

  1927 - September 18 – The Columbia Phonographic Broadcasting System (later known as CBS) is formed and goes on the air with 47 radio stations.

www.wikipedia.org
September 18, 1927

  1927 - The Jazz Singer debuts as first talking film
Al Jolson's Film Debut in "Jazz Singer" Oct. 6

Warner Brothers will present Al Jolson in "The...Read MORE...

1928 - Sliced bread (bread slicing machine) is invented by Otto Frederick Rohwedder (United States)
"...The first automatically sliced commercial loaves were produced on July 6, 1928, in Chillicothe, ...Read MORE...

  1928 - November 18 – Mickey Mouse appears in Steamboat Willie, the third Mickey Mouse cartoon released, but the first sound film and the first such film to be generally distributed.

Walt Disney Animation Studios' Steamboat Willie (www.youtube.com)
www.wikipedia.org
November 18, 1928

1929 - February 11 - Independent State of Vatican City created by Lateran Treaty
Lateran Concordat of 1929
On February 11th, 1929, an historic treaty was signed between the...
biblelight.net - February 11, 1929

1929 - St Valentine's Day Massacre
Gunmen of Alphonse Capone (1899-1947) murder seven rival Chicago mobsters in the "St. Valentine's...
www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/state-history-timeline/ illinois.html - February 14, 1929

  1929 - February 26 – The Grand Teton National Park is established by the United States Congress.

www.wikipedia.org
February 26, 1929

1929 - March 4 - Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) becomes 31st President of the United States
In the election of 1928, Hoover overwhelmed Gov. Alfred E. Smith of New York, the Democratic...Read MORE...

1929 - October 24–29 – Wall Street Crash of 1929: Three multi-digit percentage drops wipe out more than $30 billion from the New York Stock Exchange (10 times greater than the annual budget of the federal government).
In the 1920s, the stock market was rapidly growing. Many investors hoped to quickly get...
www.americaslibrary.gov - October 29, 1929

1930 - Scotch tape is invented (Richard Drew (3M), United States)
"...Back in the ’20s, Scotch was a synonym for 'cheap.' Richard Drew, a 23-year-old research...Read MORE...

1930 - February 18 - Pluto is discovered
Pluto was discovered at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, by astronomer Clyde W....Read MORE...

  1930 - April 6 - Hostess Twinkies first sold.
Twinkies were invented in Schiller Park, Illinois on April 6, 1930, by James Alexander Dewar, a...Read MORE...

  1930 - April 19 – Warner Bros. in the United States release their first cartoon series called Looney Tunes which runs until 1969.

www.wikipedia.org
April 19, 1930

  1930 - July 7 - Construction begins on the Hoover Dam (originally known as the Boulder Dam)
On July 7, 1930, construction began on the Hoover Dam. President Herbert Hoover was deeply devoted...Read MORE...

1931 - The paper towel is invented (Arthur Scott, United States)
"Arthur Scott, head of [Scott Paper Company], had big trouble. An entire railroad car full of...Read MORE...

1931 - March 3 – The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the United States National anthem.
ANTHEM BILL PASSED
WASHINGTON - March 3 - (AP) - The Senate today passed and sent to the House a...Read MORE...

1931 - May 1 - The Empire State Building Opens
President Herbert Hoover pressed a button in Washington, D.C., and on came the lights in the...
www.americaslibrary.gov - May 1, 1931

  1932 - January 12 – Hattie W. Caraway becomes the first woman elected to the United States Senate.
Hattie Wyatt Caraway served for 14 years in the U.S. Senate and established a number of "firsts,"...Read MORE...

1932 - May 20–May 21 – Amelia Earhart flies from the USA to Derry, Northern Ireland in 14 hours 54 minutes.
Amelia Earhart is First Woman to Fly Atlantic Ocean Alone

New York, May 21. (AP) - Word was...Read MORE...

  1932 - June 6 – The Revenue Act of 1932 is enacted, creating the first gas tax in the United States at 1 cent per US gallon (0.26 ¢/L) sold.

www.wikipedia.org
June 6, 1932

1933 - March 4 - Franklin D. Roosevelt (1822-1945) becomes 32nd President of the United States - The only President to be elected four times.
In 1932, Roosevelt received the Democratic nomination for president and immediately launched a...Read MORE...

1933 - March, The Great Depression: President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a "Bank holiday", closing all United States banks and freezing all financial transactions.
Bank Holiday Causes Flood of Freak News
Church Calls Moratorium; Movies on Credit; Lucky San...Read MORE...

1933 - April 5 - President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a national emergency and issues Executive Order 6102, making it illegal for U.S. citizens to own substantial amounts of monetary gold or bullion.
Issues A New Call For Gold
Roosevelt Orders Return to Federal Reserve Banks of All Amounts over...Read MORE...

1933 - April 19 – The United States officially goes off the gold standard.
U.S. Off the Gold Standard
First Time in Half Century

United States' Action in Leaving Gold...Read MORE...

  1933 - May 27 - New Deal: The Federal Securities Act is signed into law, requiring the registration of securities with the Federal Trade Commission.

www.wikipedia.org
May 27, 1933

1933 - November 8 – New Deal: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million of the unemployed.

www.wikipedia.org
November 8, 1933

1933 - December 5 – The 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution is passed, repealing Prohibition.
Obey Rum Law, F.D.R. Urges
WASHINGTON, Dec. 5. (AP) - President Roosevelt late today signed a...Read MORE...

1934 - The metal beverage can is invented (American Can Co., United States)

1935 - Dust Bowl: The great dust storm in the United States hits eastern New Mexico and Colorado, and western Oklahoma the hardest.
LIFE IN DUST BOWL OF UNITED STATES BEING RULED TODAY BY THREE WORDS - "IF IT RAINS"

By Robert...Read MORE...

1935 - August 14 – United States President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act into law.
Roosevelt Sees New Steps To Social Security For Nation
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15. (AP). - President...Read MORE...

1935 - September 30 - Roosevelt Dedicates Boulder Dam (later to be known as Hoover Dam)
Government Spending Is To Be Ended
Private Industry Mus Now Maintain Recovery Pay Says F.R.

by...Read MORE...

  1935 - November 5 – Parker Brothers releases the board game Monopoly in the United States.

www.wikipedia.org
November 5, 1935

  1936 - May 12 – The Santa Fe railroad in the United States inaugurates the all-Pullman Super Chief passenger train between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California.
NEW SANTA FE DIESEL 'CHIEF' TO START RUN

Limited Begins 39-Hour Dash to Los Angeles From Chicago ...Read MORE...

  1936 - May 30 – Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind is first published.

www.wikipedia.org
May 30, 1936

  1936 - August 14 - 1936 Summer Olympics (Berlin): The United States men's national basketball team wins the first Olympic basketball tournament in the final game over Canada, 19–8.

www.wikipedia.org
August 14, 1936

  1936 - November 23 – The first edition of Life Magazine is published.

www.wikipedia.org
November 23, 1936

1937 - May 6 – Hindenburg disaster:
In the United States, the German airship Hindenburg bursts into flame when mooring to a mast in...
Olean Times Herald - New York - May 7, 1937

  1937 - July 2 - Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappear after taking off from New Guinea during Earhart's attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world.
STARTED JUNE 1 ON WORLD HOP 'JUST FOR FUN'
First Attempt at Hazardous Trip Halted by...Read MORE...

  1937 - July 5 - The canned precooked meat product Spam is introduced by the Hormel company in the United States

www.wikipedia.org
July 5, 1937

  1937 - December 12 - Mae West makes a risque guest appearance on NBC's Chase and Sanborn Hour, which eventually results in her being banned from radio.
Their "Adam and Eve" Rankles
It was innocent fun in the script, and innocuous enough for N.B.C....Read MORE...

  1938 - January 3 – The March of Dimes is established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
"Franklin Delano Roosevelt, an adult victim of polio, founds the National Foundation for Infantile...Read MORE...

  1938 - February 4 - Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first cel-animated feature in motion picture history, is released in the United States following a premiere the previous year.

www.wikipedia.org
February 4, 1938

1938 - October 24 - The minimum wage is established by law in the United States.

www.wikipedia.org
October 24, 1938

1938 - October 27 - Du Pont announces a name for its new synthetic yarn: "nylon".

www.wikipedia.org
October 27, 1938

  1938 - October 30 – Orson Welles' radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is broadcast, causing panic in various parts of the United States.
Martian Men Attack U.S.! Thousands Flee in Panic!! But Twas Only Wells and Welles

By Charles A....Read MORE...

  1938 - November 10 - On the eve of Armistice Day, Kate Smith sings Irving Berlin's God Bless America for the first time on her weekly radio show.

God Bless America, First Radio performance, Armistice Day November 10,...Read MORE...

1939 - April 30 - World's Fair opens in New York City

April 30, 1939

  1939 - May 1 – Batman, created by Bob Kane (and, unofficially, Bill Finger) makes his first appearance in a comic book.

www.wikipedia.org
May 1, 1939

1939 - September 1 - World War II begins: Germany invades Poland

September 1, 1939

1940 - May 10 - Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain

May 10, 1940

  1940 - May 15 - Women's stockings made of nylon are first placed on sale across the United States. Almost five million pairs are bought on this day.
Women Crowd Stores as Nylons Go on Sale
Curious Line Counters Two and Three Deep To Buy and...Read MORE...

1941 - January 13 – All persons born in Puerto Rico since this day are declared U.S. citizens by birth, through U.S. federal law.

www.wikipedia.org
January 13, 1941

  1941 - May 1 - The breakfast cereal Cheerios is introduced as CheeriOats by General Mills.

www.wikipedia.org
May 1, 1941

  1941 - October 23 – Walt Disney's animated film Dumbo is released

www.wikipedia.org
October 23, 1941

1941 - December 7 - Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
Attack on Pearl Harbor: Aircraft flying from Imperial Japanese Navy carriers launch a surprise...
www.americaslibrary.gov - December 7, 1941

1941 - December 8 - WWII: President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his "Infamy Speech"
President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt delivers his "Infamy Speech" to a Joint...Read MORE...

1941 - December 11 - Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. The U.S. responds in kind.

www.wikipedia.org
December 11, 1941

1942 - February 2 – WWII: President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order directing the internment of Japanese Americans and the seizure of their property.
The attack on Pearl Harbor launched a rash of fear about national security, especially on the West...Read MORE...

1942 - June 4–June 7 – WWII: The Battle of Midway: The Japanese naval advance in the Pacific is halted.


Naval History and Heritage Command (www.youtube.com)
June 7, 1942

  1942 - June 5 – The United States declares war on Bulgaria, Hungary & Romania.

www.wikipedia.org
June 5, 1942

  1942 - August 13 - Walt Disney's fifth animated film, Bambi, is released in the United States.

www.wikipedia.org
August 13, 1942

1942 - December 1 – Gasoline rationing begins in the United States.
License Numbers To Be on Coupons

When individuals obtain their basic "A" gasoline rationing...Read MORE...

1943 - February 7 – WWII: In the United States, it is announced that shoe rationing will go into effect in 2 days.
Steps in Rationing Listed

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (AP) - Step forward in your last pair of unrationed ...Read MORE...

1943 - Penicillin first used successfully to treat a patient
PENICILLIN IS NEW ERA IN MEDICINE

Changes Method Of War On Germs; Pales "Glory" Of Sulfa

By...Read MORE...

1944 - Sunscreen is invented (Benjamin Green, United States)

1944 - June 6 - WWII – D-Day:
155,000 Allied troops shipped from England land on the beaches of Normandy in northern France,...Read MORE...

  1944 - August 7 – IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).

www.wikipedia.org
August 7, 1944

  1944 - August 9 – The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time.

www.wikipedia.org
August 9, 1944

  1944 - October 8 – The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet radio show debuts in the United States.

www.wikipedia.org
October 8, 1944

1945 - The atomic bomb is invented (J. Robert Oppenheimer, et al., United States)

  1945 - February 23 - Battle of Iwo Jima: A group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag.

www.wikipedia.org
February 23, 1945

1945 - April 12 - Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) becomes 33rd President of the United States
Elected vice president in 1944, Truman became president upon Roosevelt's sudden death in April 1945 ...Read MORE...

  1945 - July 21 – WWII: President Harry S. Truman approves the order for atomic bombs to be used against Japan

www.wikipedia.org
July 21, 1945

1945 - August 6 – WWII: Atomic bombing of Hiroshima: A United States B-29 Superfortress, the Enola Gay, drops an atomic bomb, codenamed "Little Boy", on Hiroshima, Japan, at 8:15 a.m. (local time).
Blasting of Hiroshima
Atomic Bomb Kills 150,000
...All Living Things Seared To Death, Tokyo...Read MORE...

1945 - August 9 - Atomic bombing of Nagasaki: A United States B-29 Bomber, Bockscar, drops an atomic bomb, codenamed "Fat Man", on Nagasaki, Japan, at 11:02 a.m. (local time).
Another Atomic Bomb Dropped on Enemy City
Important Kyushu City of Nagasaki Struck With 'Good...Read MORE...

1945 - September 2 - World War II ends
WORLD IS AT PEACE
Japan Surrenders Formally, Unconditionally to Allies in Short Ritual; V-J Day...Read MORE...

  1945 - December 4 - U.S. joins United Nations

December 4, 1945

  1946 - January 10 - Project Diana bounces radar waves off the Moon, measuring the exact distance between the Earth and the Moon, and proves that communication is possible between Earth and outer space, effectively opening the space age

www.wikipedia.org
January 10, 1946

1947 - February 25 - The German state of Prussia is officially abolished by the Allied Control Council.

www.wikipedia.org - February 25, 1947

  1947 - May 2 – The movie Miracle on 34th Street, a Christmastime classic, is first shown in theaters.

www.wikipedia.org
May 2, 1947

  1947 - September 9 –A moth lodged in a relay is found to be the cause of a malfunction in the Harvard Mark II electromechanical computer, logged as "First actual case of bug being found."

www.wikipedia.org
September 9, 1947

  1947 - November 6 – The program Meet the Press makes its television debut on the NBC-TV network in the United States.

www.wikipedia.org
November 6, 1947

  1948 - January 5 – Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl).

www.wikipedia.org
January 5, 1948

  1948 - February 21 – The stock car racing organization NASCAR is founded by Bill France, Sr.

www.wikipedia.org
February 21, 1948

1948 - The State of Israel is officially created
On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of...
history.state.gov -

  1948 - June 18 – LP record – Columbia Records introduced its long playing 33 1/3 rpm phonograph format.

www.wikipedia.org
June 18, 1948

1949 - Communists under Mao assume power in China
Mao Zedong proclaims People’s Republic of China

"Naming himself head of state, communist...Read MORE...

1950 - January 31 - President Harry S. Truman orders the development of the hydrogen bomb, in response to the detonation of the Soviet Union's first atomic bomb in 1949

www.wikipedia.org
January 31, 1950

1950 - June 25 - Korean War begins when North Korean forces invade South Korea
Armed forces from communist North Korea smash into South Korea, setting off the Korean War. The...Read MORE...

1950 - September 24-30 - A smoke pall from western Canada forest fires covered much of the eastern U.S.
Daylight was reduced to nighttime darkness in parts of the Northeast. The color of the sun varied...Read MORE...

  1952 - May 3 - The first airplane lands at the geographic North Pole
A ski-modified U.S. Air Force C-47 piloted by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph O. Fletcher of Oklahoma and ...Read MORE...

1953 - Dr. Jonas Salk, University of Pittsburg, announced successful testing of polio vaccine

www.worldatlas.com/ webimage/ countrys/ namerica/ usstates/ patimeln.htm -

1953 - January 20 - Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969) becomes 34th President of the United States
At the Republican convention of 1952 in Chicago, Eisenhower won the presidential nomination on the...Read MORE...

1953 - July 27 - Korean War ends
After three years of a bloody and frustrating war, the United States, the People's Republic of...Read MORE...

1957 - October 4 - USSR launches Sputnik 1 - Space race begins
Russian People Tickled Pink at Success of Their Sputnik

MOSCOW (AP) - The Russian people are...Read MORE...

1958 - NASA formed

1960 - Civil Rights Act of 1960
The Civil Rights Act of 1960 (enacted May 6, 1960) was a United States federal law that established ...Read MORE...

The FDA announces its approval of “The Pill,” the first birth-control drug, 1960

history.com

1961 - Vietnam War officially begins with 900 military advisors landing in Saigon

1961 - January 20 - John F. Kennedy (1917-1963) becomes 35th President of the United States
On November 22, 1963, when he was hardly past his first thousand days in office, John Fitzgerald...Read MORE...

1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 - April 21 - Seattle World's Fair (Century 21 Exposition) opens

www.e-referencedesk.com/ resources/ state-history-timeline/ washington.html - April 21, 1962

1963 - The US passes the first legislation requiring equal pay for equal work, but it would need to be expanded in 1972 to salespeople, executives, administrators, etc.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/aug/11/women-rights-money-timeline-history

1963 - November 22 - American President John F. Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas
On Friday, November 22, 1963, a shockwave ran through the whole nation, followed by grief....
historyorb.com - November 22, 1963

1963 - Novmember 22 - Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) becomes 36th President of the United States following the assassination of John F. Kennedy
At the height of his power as Senate leader, Johnson sought the Democratic nomination for president ...Read MORE...

  1964 - January 23 - The 24th Amendment Ended the Poll Tax
"Imagine that you are finally old enough to vote in your first election. But, do you have enough...Read MORE...

1964 - April 22 - World's Fair opens in New York City

April 22, 1964

1964 - Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act, signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 2, 1964, prohibited discrimination in ...Read MORE...

1965 - Vietnam War - First U.S. ground combat forces arrive in South Vietnam

1968 - Civil Rights Act of 1968
Also known as the Fair Housing Act of 1968
Congress passed the act in an effort to impose a...Read MORE...

1968 - The ATM is invented (Don Wetzel, United States)

1968 - Marin Luther King, Jr. Killed
At 6:05 P.M. on Thursday, 4 April 1968, Martin Luther King was shot dead while standing on a...
kinginstitute.stanford.edu - April 4, 1968

1969 - January 20 - Richard M. Nixon (1913-1994) becomes 37th President of the United States

January 20, 1969

1969 - July 20 - Apollo 11 - Man lands on the moon
AMERICAN FLAG WAVING ON THE MOON
Taken There By Spacemen

SPACE CENTER, Houston (AP) - Two...Read MORE...

1970 - Schultz v Wheaton Glass: a federal appeals court decision makes it illegal for a company to change a job’s title so that they could pay women who held the position less than male workers.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/aug/11/women-rights-money-timeline-history

1970 - April 22 - The First Earth Day
Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin was disturbed that an issue as important as our environment was ...Read MORE...

1970 - Kent State shootings - May 4 - Kent, Ohio

May 4, 1970

1973 - March 29 – The last United States soldier leaves Vietnam.

March 29, 1973

Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974
Equal Credit Opportunity Act passes in the US. Until then, banks required single, widowed or...Read MORE...

1974 - August 9 - Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006) becomes 38th President of the United States after the resignation of Richard M. Nixon

August 9, 1974

Metric Conversion Act of 1975 declared the metric system the preferred method for measurements in the United States.

Sophia Dembling, "Losing the Battle By Inches," Chicago Tribune, October 15, 2006.

1977 - January 20 - Jimmy Carter (1924 - ) becomes 39th President of the United States

January 20, 1977

1977 - Elvis Presley dies, August 16, 1977, in Memphis, Tennessee, USA

August 16, 1977

1978 - The Pregnancy Discrimination Act is passed in the US.
Until the law was put into effect, women could still legally be dismissed from their jobs for...Read MORE...

1979 - Iran hostage crisis begins

1979 - May 4 - Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female prime minister of Great Britain

May 4, 1979

1980 - May 18 - Mount Saint Helens (in Washington State) erupted spewing ash and smoke sixty-three thousand feet into the air. Heavy ash covered the ground to the immediate northwest, and small particles were carried to the Atlantic coast.
WeatherForYou.com

MOUNTAIN ERUPTS; 6 DEAD.

Vancouver, Wash. (UPI) - Mount St. Helens exploded ...Read MORE...

1981 - Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley

1981 - Kirchberg v Feenstra - A husband is told he doesn’t have the right to unilaterally take out a second mortgage on property held jointly with his wife.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/aug/11/women-rights-money-timeline-history

President Ronald Reagan nominates Sandra Day O’Connor to be the first woman on the Supreme Court, 1981

history.com

1981 - Voyager 2 reaches Saturn

1981 - First reported case of AIDS

1981 - Personal Computer introduced

1981 - January 20 - Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) beomes 40th President of the United States

January 20, 1981

1983 - The laptop computer is invented (Radio Shack Corp., United States)

Joan Benoit wins the first women’s Olympic Marathon, 1984
At the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles, Joan Benoit (today known as Joan Benoit Samuelson)...
history.com -

1985 - May 16 - Hole in Ozone layer is discovered by British scientists
The discovery of the annual depletion of ozone above the Antarctic was first announced in a paper...
www.wikipedia.org - May 16, 1985

1986 - Iran-Contra scandal breaks

1986 - Space Shuttle Challenger accident

1989 - January 20 - George H. W. Bush (1924 - ) becomes 41st President of the United States

January 20, 1989

1989 - December 3 - Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George H. W. Bush, declare the Cold War over

onthisday.com
December 3, 1989

1990 - Iraq invades Kuwait, beginning the Persian Gulf War
"At about 2 a.m. local time, Iraqi forces invade Kuwait, Iraq’s tiny, oil-rich neighbor. Kuwait’s...
www.history.com - August 2, 1990

1991 - Gulf War

1991 - U.S. led coalition defeats Iraqi military forces and liberates Kuwait in Operation Desert Storm

1993 - The Family and Medical Leave Act becomes law in the US.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/aug/11/women-rights-money-timeline-history

1993 - January 20 - William J. Clinton (1946 - ) becomes 42nd President of the United States

January 20, 1993

1997 - NASA spacecraft Mars Pathfinder lands on Mars

  Madeleine Albright becomes the first female Secretary of State, 1997
Madeleine Korbel Albright was nominated to be the first woman Secretary of State by President...Read MORE...

2001 - Invasion of Afghanistan Operation "Enduring Freedom"

2001 - January 20 - George W. Bush (1946 - ) becomes 43rd President of the United States

January 20, 2001

2001 - September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks

September 11, 2001

2009 - President Barack Obama signs the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration act, which allows people to sue companies for pay discrimination even if more than six months have passed.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/aug/11/women-rights-money-timeline-history

2009 - January 20 - Barack Obama (1961 - ) becomes 44th President of the United States

January 20, 2009

Hillary Clinton becomes first female presidential nominee of a major party, 2016

history.com