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Date |
Event(s) |
1 | 1944 | - 1944: Allies invade Normandy on D-Day (June 6). G.I. Bill of Rights enacted. Bretton Woods Conference creates International Monetary Fund and World Bank (July 1–22). Dumbarton Oaks Conference—U.S., British Commonwealth, and USSR propose establishment of United Nations (Aug. 21–Oct. 7). Battle of the Bulge (Dec. 16). Woody Guthrie records “This Land is Your Land.” Gunnar Myrdal's An American Dilemma.
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2 | 1947 | - 1947: Mobile phones first invented. Although cell phones were not sold commercially until 1983, AT&T came up with the idea way back.
Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley invent the transistor.
Earl Silas Tupper patented the Tupperware seal.
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3 | 1949 | |
4 | 1950 | - 31 Jan 1950: Truman orders development of hydrogen bomb
- Jun 1950: North Korean Communist forces invade South Korea (June 25).
UN calls for cease-fire and asks UN members to assist South Korea (June 27). Truman orders U.S. forces into Korea (June 27). North Koreans capture Seoul (June 28). Gen. Douglas MacArthur designated commander of unified UN forces (July 8). Pusan Beachhead—UN forces counterattack and capture Seoul (Aug.–Sept.), capture Pyongyang, North Korean capital (Oct.). Chinese Communists enter war (Oct. 26), force UN retreat toward 38th parallel (Dec.)
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5 | 1951 | - Mar 1951: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg sentenced to death for passing atomic secrets to Russians (March).
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6 | 1952 | - 1952: Edward Teller and team build the hydrogen bomb.
- 6 Feb 1952: George VI dies; his daughter becomes Elizabeth II
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7 | 1953 | |
8 | 1954 | |
9 | 1956 | - 1956: Rosa Parks refuses to sit at the back of the bus. Martin Luther King, Jr., leads black boycott of Montgomery, Ala., bus system (Dec. 1);
desegregated service begins Dec. 21, 1956. AFL and CIO become one organization—AFL-CIO (Dec. 5). Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof wins Pulitzer.
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10 | 1957 | |
11 | 1960 | - 1960: There are 900 U.S. military advisers in South Vietnam.
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12 | 1961 | - 1961: Alan B. Shepard, Jr., rockets 116.5 miles up in 302-mile trip (May 5).
Virgil Grissom becomes second American astronaut, making 118-mile-high, 303-mile-long rocket flight over Atlantic (July 21). Gherman Stepanovich Titov is launched in Soviet spaceship Vostok II: makes 17 1/2 orbits in 25 hours, covering 434,960 miles before landing safely (Aug. 6). East Germans erect Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin to halt flood of refugees (Aug. 13).
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13 | 1962 | - 20 Feb 1962: John Herschel Glenn Jr.,born July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio,is a former astronaut and U.S. politician who became the first American to orbit the Earth on the Mercury 6 space mission , and later, United States Senator. Glenn began his career as a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program, NASA's original astronaut group. He orbited the Earth aboard Friendship 7 in 1962. After retiring from NASA, he ran as a Democrat and represented the state of Ohio in the United States Senate from 1974 to 1999.
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14 | 1963 | - 1963: Michael E. De Bakey implants artificial heart in human for first time at Houston hospital; plastic device functions and patient lives for four days (April 21).
Pope John XXIII dies (June 3)—succeeded June 21 by Cardinal Montini, who becomes Paul VI. U.S. Supreme Court rules no locality may require recitation of Lord's Prayer or Bible verses in public schools (June 17).
- 22 Nov 1963: President Kennedy shot and killed by sniper in Dallas, Tex. Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president same day (Nov. 22). Lee Harvey Oswald, accused assassin of President Kennedy, is shot and killed by Jack Ruby, Dallas nightclub owner (Nov. 24). Kenya achieves independence. Betty Friedan publishes The Feminine Mystique. There are 15,000 U.S. military advisers in South Vietnam.
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15 | 1965 | - 1 Jul 1965: Medicare, senior citizens' government medical assistance program, begins
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16 | 1968 | - 1968: The computer mouse invented by Douglas Engelbart.
The first computer with integrated circuits made.
Robert Dennard invented RAM (random access memory).
- 1968: North Korea seizes U.S. Navy ship Pueblo; holds 83 on board as spies (Jan. 23).
Tet offensive, turning point in Vietnam war (Jan.–Feb.). My Lai massacre (March 16). President Johnson announces he will not seek or accept presidential renomination (March 31). Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader, is slain in Memphis (April 4)—James Earl Ray, indicted in murder, captured in London on June 8. In 1969 Ray pleads guilty and is sentenced to 99 years. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy is shot and critically wounded in Los Angeles hotel after winning California primary (June 5)—dies June 6. Sirhan B. Sirhan convicted 1969.
- 4 Jun 1968: Life sentence meted out to Terry Nichols, convicted in Oklahoma City bombing fatal to 168
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17 | 1969 | - 1969: Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated 37th president of the U.S. (Jan. 20).
Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins—take man's first walk on moon (July 20). Sen. Edward M. Kennedy pleads guilty to leaving scene of fatal accident at Chappaquiddick, Mass. (July 18), in which Mary Jo Kopechne was drowned—gets two-month suspended sentence (July 25). Woodstock Festival (Aug. 15–17). Sesame Street debuts. Internet (ARPA) goes online.
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18 | 1970 | |
19 | 1971 | |
20 | 1974 | - 1974: House Judiciary Committee adopts three articles of impeachment charging President Nixon with obstruction of justice, failure to uphold laws, and refusal to produce material subpoenaed by the committee (July 30).
Richard M. Nixon announces he will resign the next day, the first president to do so (Aug. 8). Vice President Gerald R. Ford of Michigan is sworn in as 38th president of the U.S. (Aug. 9). Ford grants “full, free, and absolute pardon” to ex-president Nixon (Sept. 8).
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21 | 1975 | - 1975: Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge take over Cambodia (April). American merchant ship Mayaguez, seized by Cambodian forces, is rescued in operation by U.S. Navy and Marines, 38 of whom are killed (May 15).
Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft take off for U.S.-Soviet link-up in space (July 15). President Ford escapes assassination attempt in Sacramento, Calif. (Sept. 5). President Ford escapes second assassination attempt in 17 days (Sept. 22).
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22 | 1977 | - 1977: MRI - Magnetic resonance imaging invented by Raymond V. Damadian.
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23 | 1978 | - 1978: Pope Paul VI, dead at 80, mourned (Aug. 6);
New Pope, John Paul I, 65, dies unexpectedly after 34 days in office (Sept. 28); He is succeeded by Karol Cardinal Wojtyla of Poland as John Paul II (Oct. 16).
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24 | 1980 | - 4 Nov 1980: Ronald Reagan elected president in Republican sweep
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25 | 1981 | - 1981: President Reagan wounded by gunman, with press secretary and two law-enforcement officers (March 30). Pope John Paul II wounded by gunman (May 14). Reagan nominates Judge Sandra Day O'Connor, 51, of Arizona, as first woman on Supreme Court (July 7).
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26 | 1982 | - 2 Dec 1982: Permanent artificial heart implanted in human for first time in Dr. Barney B. Clark, 61, at University of Utah Medical Center in Salt Lake City
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27 | 1983 | - 18 Jun 1983: Sally K. Ride, 32, first U.S. woman astronaut in space as a crew member aboard space shuttle Challenger
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28 | 1987 | - 21 Dec 1987: Pan-Am 747 explodes from terrorist bomb and crashes in Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 aboard and 11 on ground.
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29 | 1990 | |
30 | 1991 | - 3 Apr 1991: Cease-fire ends Persian Gulf War; UN forces are victorious
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31 | 1994 | - 18 Jun 1994: O. J. Simpson arrested in killings of wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and friend, Ronald Goldman.
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32 | 1995 | - Apr 1995: Scores killed as terrorist's car bomb blows up block-long Oklahoma City federal building (April 19);
Timothy McVeigh, 27, Army veteran, arrested as suspect (April 21); authorities seek second suspect, link right-wing paramilitary groups to bombing (April 22).
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33 | 1998 | |
34 | 1999 | - 16 Jul 1999: Two Colo. students go on shooting spree in Columbine High School, killing 15, including themselves.
John F. Kennedy, Jr., wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette killed in plane crash off coast of Martha's Vineyard
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35 | 2000 | - 2000: George Bush is elected in one of the closest Presidential elections in U.S. history, when the Supreme Court voted to end a recount on the grounds that differing standards in different counties constituted an equal protection violation and that no new recount with uniform standards could be conducted
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36 | 2001 | - 11 Sep 2001: U.S. attacked on September 11 in terrorist bombings.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, four American airliners were hijacked by nineteen men armed with box cutters and knives. Two airplanes were crashed into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and the last crashed 80 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
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37 | 2003 | - 1 Feb 2003:
Space shuttle Columbia explodes, killing all 7 astronauts
- 20 Mar 2003: The 2003 "liberation" of Iraq by the Britain, United States and other countries began on March 20, 2003. The invasion launched the Iraq War.
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38 | 2005 | |
39 | 2007 | |
40 | 2008 | - 4 Nov 2008: The first African American, Barack Obama, was elected 44th president of the US in the 56th Presidental of the United States.
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