The 20th Century

  • William McKinley's second inauguration

    William McKinley's second inauguration
  • Theodore Roosevelt sworn in for recently assasinated McKinley

    Theodore Roosevelt sworn in for recently assasinated McKinley
  • The first Rose Bowl game was played beetween Stanford University and the University of Michigan

    The first Rose Bowl game was played beetween Stanford University and the University of Michigan
  • The Ford Motor Company was formed

    The Ford Motor Company was formed
  • The first World Series was played between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates

    The first World Series was played between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates
  • Wright brothers make the first controlled, sustained flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

    Wright brothers make the first controlled, sustained flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
  • The Panama Canal Zone was acquired by the US from France for 40 million

    The Panama Canal Zone was acquired by the US from France for 40 million
  • Theodore Roosevelt's second inauguration

    Theodore Roosevelt's second inauguration
  • Women's suffrage and civil rights activist Susan B. Anthony died

    Women's suffrage and civil rights activist Susan B. Anthony died
  • San Francisco earthquake leaves 500 dead or missing and destroys about 4 sq miles of the city

    San Francisco earthquake leaves 500 dead or missing and destroys about 4 sq miles of the city
  • The Hepburn Act was signed into law

    The Hepburn Act was signed into law
  • The FDA (Food and Drug Administration)

    The FDA (Food and Drug Administration)
  • The Tillman Act was signed into law

    The Tillman Act was signed into law
  • Oklahoma becomes a state

    Oklahoma becomes a state
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation created

    Federal Bureau of Investigation created
  • The Ford Model T appeared on the market

    The Ford Model T appeared on the market
  • The NAACP was found by W. E. B. Du Bois

    The NAACP was found by W. E. B. Du Bois
  • William Howard Taft is inaugurated as the 27th president

    William Howard Taft is inaugurated as the 27th president
  • The first redesigned Lincoln Penny was released to the public

    The first redesigned Lincoln Penny was released to the public
  • Boy Scouts of America was created

    Boy Scouts of America was created
  • The first Indianapolis 500 was held

    The first Indianapolis 500 was held
  • New Mexico becomes the 47th state

    New Mexico becomes the 47th state
  • Arizona becomes the 48th state

    Arizona becomes the 48th state
  • The Girl Scouts was created

    The Girl Scouts was created
  • The Titanic crashed in the northern Atlantic ocean

    The Titanic crashed in the northern Atlantic ocean
  • Teddy Roosevelt was shot, but not killed

    Teddy Roosevelt was shot, but not killed
  • Woodrow Wilson wins the 1912 election

    Woodrow Wilson wins the 1912 election
  • the 16th Amendment was established

    the 16th Amendment was established
  • the 17th Amendment was established

    the 17th Amendment was established
  • The Underwood Tarrif was signed

    The Underwood Tarrif was signed
  • Henry Ford established the assembly line

    Henry Ford established the assembly line
  • The Federal Reserve Act was signed

    The Federal Reserve Act was signed
  • The Ludlow Massacre

    The Ludlow Massacre
  • The first Mother's day

    The first Mother's day
  • Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia

    Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
  • Federal Trade Commision was established

    Federal Trade Commision was established
  • The Lusitania was sunk by a German torpedo

    The Lusitania was sunk by a German torpedo
  • The Jones Act was signed into law

    The Jones Act was signed into law
  • Jeanette Rankin becomes the first woman elected into Congress

    Jeanette Rankin becomes the first woman elected into Congress
  • Woodrow Wilson wins a second term

    Woodrow Wilson wins a second term
  • The Smoot-Hawley Tarrif Act was signed

    The Smoot-Hawley Tarrif Act was signed
  • The Empire State Building opened in NYC

    The Empire State Building opened in NYC
  • The Stimson Doctrine was signed

    The Stimson Doctrine was signed
  • The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was signed

    The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was signed
  • The Morris-La Guardia Act was signed

    The Morris-La Guardia Act was signed
  • Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic Ocean

    Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic Ocean
  • FDR becomes president over Herbert Hoover

    FDR becomes president over Herbert Hoover
  • The Twentiath Amendment of the Constituion was signed

  • Chicago mayor was assasinated

  • Prohibition ended

  • John Dillinger was killed

  • The Federal Housing Administration was established

  • The FBI was established

  • The Social Security Act was signed

  • Louisiana senator Huey Long was killed

  • United States v. Butler: The Supreme Court ruled that the processing taxes instituted under the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act were unconstitutional.

  • The Flint Sit-Down Strike began.

  • Hindenburg disaster: The LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire, crashing at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey after departing from Frankfurt, Germany; killing thirty-five passengers and one ground crewman.

  • Orson Welles performed a broadcast of The War of the Worlds.

  • Invasion of Poland (1939): Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

  • U.S. presidential election, 1940: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was reelected to a third term, defeating corporate lawyer Wendell Willkie of Indiana.

  • World War II: Lend-Lease, which supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material, began.

  • The United States declares war on the Empire of Japan, beginning the U.S. entry into World War II.

  • Japanese American internment: Internment and seizure of property began, per Executive Order 9066 issued by President Roosevelt.

  • President Roosevelt signed Executive order 8734; establishing the Office of Price Administration.

  • The Manhattan Project, leading to the development of the first atomic bomb, began.

  • The Broadway musical Oklahoma! opened.

  • The Tehran Conference was held between the "Big Three" Allied leaders of World War II.

  • Normandy Landings (D-Day): The Invasion of Normandy, one of the largest amphibious military assaults in history, began in the Allied Powers broader Operation Overlord; leading to the Liberation of Paris.

  • The Dumbarton Oaks Conference began, starting the first talks between world leaders on the establishment of the United Nations.

  • The Battle of the Bulge, Germany's final major offensive of World War II, began; being the deadliest military battle for the United States during World War II.

  • President Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia; with Vice President Harry S. Truman succeeding him, becoming the 33rd President.

  • Operation Downfall: The United States conducted the only two atomic bombings during a war on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; killing between an estimated 150,000-246,000 people.

  • The Employment Act was signed into law; establishing the Council of Economic Advisers.

  • President Truman signed Executive Order 9808; establishing the President's Committee on Civil Rights.

  • President Truman signed executive order 9835; establishing the Federal Employee Loyalty Program to search out the "infiltration of disloyal persons" in the U.S. Government.

  • The Roswell UFO incident occurred near Roswell, New Mexico.

  • The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was signed in Geneva.

  • Texaco Star Theater, the first top-rated United States network television show, debuted on television.

  • Senator McCarthy created a panel of 205 people to look for communists

  • North Korea invades South Korea

  • Truman sends troops to help South Korea

  • The comic strip Peanuts comes out

  • There was an assasination attempt on Harry Truman

  • The twenty second amendement was created

  • Truman relieved Douglas McCarthur of his duties

  • The ANZUS treaty was signed

  • The Japanese Peace Treaty conference was held in San Francisco

  • The Mutual security act was signed

  • The McCarren-Walter Act was signed

  • Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes president

  • Molecular biologists James Watson and Francis Crick published their paper on the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA.

  • Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed on conspiracy to commit espionage after they were found guilty of giving U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.

  • The Korean Armistice Agreement was signed, ending the Korean War.

  • Tournament of Roses Parade: The parade was the first national color television broadcast.

  • Brown v. Board of Education: The Supreme Court declared that state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students, and denying black children equal educational opportunities, were unconstitutional.

  • Army-McCarthy hearings: Senator McCarthy was nationally discredited after failing to provide credible evidence supporting accusations of communist activity in the U.S. government amid the two months of televised hearings.

  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all-time high of 382.74, the first time it closed above its peak set before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

  • The first successful kidney transplant on a human was performed in Boston.

  • Disneyland opened at Anaheim, California.

  • Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama after refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, inciting the 386-day Montgomery Bus Boycott led by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

  • United States presidential election, 1956: President Dwight D. Eisenhower was reelected to a second term, defeating 1952 Democratic presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson II in the rematch election.

  • Little Rock Integration Crisis: Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed members of the Arkansas National Guard to prevent African-American students from integrating in the Little Rock Central High School.

  • President Eisenhower federalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent members of the 101st Airborne Division to escort the Little Rock Nine to their classrooms in response to Governor Faubus' efforts preventing school desegregation.

  • Space race: The Soviet Union launched Sputnik.

  • The National Defense Education Act was signed into law.

  • The First Grammy Awards was held.

  • Hawaii was admitted to the Union, becoming the 50th state.

  • U-2 incident: A CIA U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over Soviet airspace.

  • The first ever general election debate between presidential candidates was held between Democratic nominee John F. Kennedy and Republican nominee Richard M. Nixon.

  • United States presidential election, 1960: Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy was elected President, defeating Vice President Richard M. Nixon and becoming the youngest person to be elected to the office of the Presidency.

  • The United States broke diplomatic relations with Cuba.

  • Bay of Pigs Invasion: The failed U.S. led invasion and attempted coup d'état of Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro took place.

  • Vietnam War: President Kennedy deployed an additional 400 U.S. military advisors (900 total) to South Vietnam; totaling 3,200 American troops by 1963, and more than 11,000 by mid-1964.

  • John Glenn orbited the Earth.

  • Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, attributed to sparking Second-wave feminism, was published.

  • March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., among other notable civil rights leaders, spoke on the Lincoln Memorial, giving his historic "I Have a Dream" speech at the march that drew over 200,000 demonstrators.

  • President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by a sniper in Dallas, Texas while traveling in an open presidential motorcade with Texas Governor John Connally, who was injured in the incident.

  • British Invasion: The Beatles arrived in the United States.

  • Mississippi civil rights workers' murders: The bodies of three missing civil rights activists, working to register voters as a part of the Freedom Summer, were found near Philadelphia, Mississippi.

  • In a third attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery, 3,200 civil rights demonstrators reached the Alabama State Capitol, where they were joined with a crowd of 25,000, after four days of marching.

  • The Immigration Act of 1965 was signed into law, abolishing the National Origins Formula.

  • Miranda v. Arizona: The Supreme Court ruled that not informing suspects held in custody on their right to counsel and silence violated protection against self incrimination, establishing what later became known as "Miranda Rights".

  • Super Bowl I: In the first Super Bowl took place between the Green Bay Packers and the Kansas City Chiefs.

  • Loving v. Virginia: The Supreme Court overruled the prohibition of interracial marriage.

  • King assassination riots: The assassination of Dr. King prompted mass riots in Chicago, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Kansas City and Louisville; leaving 36 people dead.

  • Apollo 8: The first manned spacecraft to leave Earth's orbit occurred.

  • The Woodstock Festival took place in White Lake, New York, proclaimed as "three days of peace and music", it became one of the defining events representing counterculture movement.

  • President Nixon announces the further withdrawal of 150,000 troops in Vietnam.

  • The first Earth Day was observed.

  • Kent State shootings: Shootings occurred during anti-war, student protests that grew violent, resulting in the deaths of four demonstrators by the Ohio National Guard.

  • The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) began operations, succeeding National Educational Television (NET).

  • The Occupational Safety and Health Act was signed into law, establishing OSHA.

  • Charles Manson is sentenced to death (with his sentence later commuted to life in prison) for his involvement in the Tate-LaBianca murders.

  • The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act was signed into law, banning cigarette advertisements on radio and television and issuing a Surgeon General's warning on tobacco products.

  • Pentagon Papers: The New York Times publishes its first story on the classified 7,000 page Department of Defense study, leaked by study participant Daniel Ellsberg, on the U.S.'s political-military involvement in Vietnam since 1945.

  • New York Times Co. v. United States: The Supreme Court ruled that the Pentagon Papers may be published, rejecting government injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraint.

  • 1972 Nixon visit to China: President Nixon became the first U.S. President to visit the People's Republic of China, marking the end of 25 years of isolation between the U.S. and China.

  • Watergate burglaries: Five men were arrested for the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.

  • Furman v. Georgia: The Supreme Court ruled that application of the death penalty outside of cases of homicide violated protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

  • U.S. presidential election, 1972: President Nixon was reelected to a second term, defeating South Dakota Senator George McGovern.

  • Operation Linebacker II: The final major U.S. bombing campaign in North Vietnam began.

  • Roe v. Wade: The Supreme Court ruled that state laws banning abortion before 24 weeks as unconstitutional.

  • President Richard Nixon becomes the first and only President to resign from office.

  • Executive Order 6102, restricting the private holding of gold within the United States, was lifted.

  • The Church Committee, Chaired by Idaho Senator Frank Church, was established in the aftermath of the Watergate Scandal; investigating the illegal activities of the CIA, NSA and FBI.

  • U.S. presidential election, 1976: Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter was elected President, defeating incumbent Gerald Ford.

  • Elvis Presley, the "King of Rock and Roll", died at his home in Graceland.

  • Jonestown Massacre: The mass-suicide of 909 American citizens who were members of the religious cult the Peoples Temple, led by Jim Jones, occurred in Guyana.

  • White Night Riots: After the lenient sentence of Moscone-Milk assassin Dan White, over 5,000 demonstrators in San Francisco's gay community staged what turned into a violent protest.