events USA

7/5/2021, A cyberiattack by a group called Darkside shut down the crucial Colonial oil pipeline taking petrol from Texas to supply the east coast of the USA. The pipeline was down for several days, causing motorists to panic-buy fuel.

13/1/2021, After a Senate vote, President Trump became the first US President to be impeached twice. This second impeachment was based on his alleged incitement of the Capitol Hill rioters of 6/1/2021.

6/1/2021, In Washington DC, USA, a mob of several thousand Republican Trump supporters stormed into the Capitol Buildings and occupied them for several hours. They were protesting that the 2020 Presidential Election result, in which Democrat Joe Biden, won, had been falsified.

25/5/2020, In Minneapolis, a Black man, George Floyd, bought some cigarettes at a shop and paid with a US$ 20 note. The shopkeeper accused Mr Floyd of passing a counterfeit note; Mr Floyd refused to return the cigarettes. The shopkeeper called the police. The police handcuffed Mr Floyd, then knelt on his neck; he died of suffocation. This event started a series of �Black Lives Matter� marches and demonstrations that spread across the entire USA and several European countries. A minority of the demonstrators also looted shops and caused property damage. In Bristol a statue of the slave trader and local philanthropist Edward Colston was pulled from its plinth in Bristol UK and thrown in the harbour. There were concerns that demonstrators were not social-distancing and would spread a further wave of Covid-19.

22/3/2019, Robert Mueller completed his report on Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election.

26/2/2019, The longest US Government shutdown in history, 35 days, ended as President Trump backed down before

opposition in (Democrat-controlled) Congress in a dispute over funding� for a �wall� (or, steel barrier) to keep out migrants on the Mexican border. However Trump later declared an �emergency� so as to try and secure funding for the barrier by alternative means, by using emergency powers to take funding from other areas of government.

11/1/2019, The USA began to pull its forces out of Syria. Russia, ally of Syrian President Assad, welcomed the news, as Assad appeared to have won the Syrian Civil War. There were concerns that the US move could allow ISIS to regroup, or expose the Kurds to attacks from Turkey.

1/1/2019, In the USA, President Trump�s measure to raise tariffs on US$ 250 billion of Chinese imports from 10% to 25% came into effect.

8/5/2018, President Trump of the US unilaterally pulled out of the Iran Nuclear Deal, arranged by his predecessor President Obama, under which Iran received financial aid in return for curbing its nuclear missiles programme.

2/10/2017, Early in the morning, a gunman opened fire in Las Vegas. Shooting from the Mandalay Bay Hotel, he killed 58 and injured over 500. He shot himself dead as policed closed in. The gunman was initially alleged to be ISIS related but in fact there was no link to any terrorist organisation. The motive remains unknown.

27/1/2017, President Trump of the US issued a controversial executive order instituting a temporary travel ban on the entry of people to the US from seven mainly-Muslim countries. The ban was challenged and overturned in the US Courts.

12/6/2016, An Islamist gunman, Omar Mateen, entered a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and killed 50 people. It was the worst massacre in recent US history.

7/12/2015, Donald Trump, contender for the Republican Presidential nomination, called for a ban on all Muslims entering the US, after an Islamic gunman shot 14 dead in San Bernardino, California, whilst the conflict with ISIS was still ongoing. There were widespread protests at his comments, and over 550,000 people in the UK signed a petition to ban him from Britain.

21/8/2015, Britain and Iran re-opened their embassies in each other�s capitals. This followed a nuclear agreement between Iran and the USA organised by US President Obama (but not yet ratified by US Congress).

15/4/2013, The Boston Marathon race was hit by two bombs, killing 3 and injuring 284.

17/9/2012, Occupy Wall Street protests began in the USA

16/8/2012, Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks,� was officially given political asylum by Ecuador.

4/4/2011, In the US, Barack Obama announced his intention to stand for re-election for a second term.

28/11/2010, Wikileaks released over 250,000 American diplomatic cables, of which 100,000 which were �secret� or �confidential�.

19/9/2010, The BP oil well, Deepwater Horizon, was capped after spilling millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

25/7/2010, Wikileaks released 90,000 covert and classified documents relating to the US occupation of Afghanistan, 2004-2010.

20/4/2010, The Deepwater Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, killing 11 workers. Major oil pollution ensued.

27/1/2010, J D Salinger, reclusive author of �Catcher in the Rye�, died aged 91.

25/9/2009, Senator Edward Kennedy died, aged 77.

25/6/2009, The American entertainer Michael Jackson died (born 29/8/1958).

18/11/2008, Heads of the big three US car manufacturers asked the US government for assistance during the ongoing Credit Crunch.� They said their companies were important as job providers.

16/4/2007, Student Cho Seung Hui went on a shooting rampage at Virginia Tech University, killing 32 staff and students. Cho then shot himself.

26/4/2006, Construction of the Freedom Tower in New York began. It was on the site of the Twin Towers destroyed in the 9-11 attacks in 2001.

2/12/2005, Kenneth Boyd became the 1,000^th person to be executed in the USA since capital punishment was re-introduced in 1976.

29/8/2005, Hurricane Katrina hit the southern and south �east states of the USA, with winds of up to 175 mph, severely damaging an area as big as Great Britain. New Orleans was particularly badly hit. The city of 500,000 people sits around 1 metre below sea level, due to subsidence associated with the growth of the Mississippi delta, and was flooded, in some areas several metres deep, when the levees protecting the city from Lake Pontchartrain to the north gave way. Several thousand people died. There were allegations that the maintenance of the levees had been cut back to help fund the fighting in Iraq, and that National Guardsmen who could have helped evacuate the victims and restore law and order were away in Iraq. A week after the floods, there was almost no food or potable water, and disease and looting, along with rapes and murder, were rampant. People likened the situation to a Third World disaster, right in America itself.

28/8/2005, The Mayor of New Orleans, Ray Nagin, ordered the evacuation of the city as Hurricane Katrina loomed.

22/8/2005, The Atlanta bomber, Eric Rudolph (born 19/9/1966), was sentenced to four life terms without parole.

7/1/2005, Rosemary Kennedy, eldest daughter of US President Kennedy, died (born 13/9/1918).

15/11/2004, General Colin Powell resigned as US Secretary of State. President Bush nominated national security advisor Condoleezza� Rice as his successor.

22/7/2004, In the US the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks published its final report on the 9-11 attacks. There was, it said, a failure of imagination, anticipation and policy.

2/3/2004, US Senator John Kerry won the nomination for the Democrat Party�s Presidential candidate after winning 9 out of 10 State primary and caucus elections.

24/3/2004, In the US, Richard Clarke, former deputy national security advisor, testified before the National Commission on Terrorist attacks, which was established by the US Congress to investigate the intelligence failures which contributed to the 9-11 attacks. He stated that the US Government was distracted from Al-Quaeda by the question of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

18/11/2003, US President Bush visited Prime Minister Tony Blair of the UK; there were ongoing protests against the US war on Iraq.

14/8/2003, Across the N.E. USA and Canada, nine States (Ontario, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Vermont) lost power when one power station became overloaded and shut down, creating a domino effect across the outdated electricity distribution system.

17/4/2003, John Paul Getty, oil magnate, died aged 84.

5/11/2002, US Congressional elections gave a majority to the Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives.

19/4/2002, US Congress rejected President Bush�s proposals to authorise oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

2/8/2001, Under pressure from US President Bush, the House of Representatives voted to authorise oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, despite protests from indigenous Americans that this would jeopardise their existence as a nation.

23/12/2001, The �shoe bomber�, Richard Reid, attempted to blow up an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami, by setting off explosives hidden in his shoe, but was overpowered by the other passengers.

4/10/2001, The first anthrax attack occurred on a US government office, sent through the post.� More anthrax arrived in the post on 9/10/2001.

9-11 Terrorist Attacks

29/1/2002, US President Bush denounced the �Axis of Evil� � the states of Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.

7/10/2001. Following the September 11, 2001 attack on the USA, missile attacks began on Afghanistan, prior to US invasion. President George Bush announced the start of Operation Enduring Freedom, to root out Al Quaeda

20/9/2001, President Bush declared a �War on Terror�.

17/9/2001. The US Stock market re-opened after the 9-11 attacks.

See also Islam and Middle East and Iraq for events following �9-11� attacks

11/9/2001, The World Trade Centre in New York was hit by two planes, bringing both its twin towers down. A third plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, and a fourth crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside after failing to reach perhaps Camp David or the White House. Casualties were approximately 5,000. All four planes had been hijacked by Muslim extremist suicide squads, but on the fourth plane, passengers retook control from the hijackers. Osama Bin Laden, head of the Al-Quaeda terrorist organisation, and based in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, was swiftly blamed.

Click here for image from Financial Times, UK, September 11 2001. Interesting symbolism relating to the NY attacks a few hours later.

6/8/2001, President Bush was warned that Osama Bin Laden was planning a strike against the US and that this might involve hijacking of aircraft.

7/6/1999, In the USA, the FBI placed Osama bin Laden on its �Ten Most Wanted� list and offered a US$ 5 million reward for his capture.

11/6/2001, In the US, Timothy McVeigh was executed for the Oklahoma City bombing.

16/11/2000, Bill Clinton became the first US President to visit Vietnam.

8/11/2000, (1) In the controversial US Presidential Elections, Republican George W Bush defeated Democrat Vice President� Al Gore but the final result was delayed for over a month because of a disputed vote count in Florida. The Florida State Governor, Jebb Bush, ruled that about 4,000 votes from poorer districts could not be counted as the holes in the voting papers had not been completely punched through. This decision favoured his brother, George Bush. The US Supreme Court upheld this decision on 13/12/2001. It was later found that if these 4,000 votes had been included, Democrat Al; Gore would have won the State and hence the Presidency.

(2) Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to the US Senate

24/7/2000, A concert planned for Central Park, New York, was cancelled due to the threat of West Nile virus, carried by mosquitoes and birds. The virus had been detected in new York in 1999 and appeared to have persisted over-winter.

30/11/1999, In Seattle, a large-scale protest by the anti-globalisation movement caught the authorities unaware and forced the cancellation on a WTO meeting.

4/1999, President Clinton considered housing Kosovan refugees at Guantanamo bay, but the idea was scrapped.

20/4/1999, US teenagers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold took two submachine guns to Columbine High School, for an attack planned for Hitler�s birthday. 15 children were killed or injured before the two killed themselves.

22/3/1999, Jack Kevorkian, pro-euthanasia doctor, went on trial for murder in Pontiac, Michigan.� He was later convicted of second-degree murder.

President Clintom impeached over Monica Lewinsky, acquitted.

8/3/1999. Monica Lewisnky arrived in Britain for a book-signing tour, beginning at Harrods.

12/2/1999, President Clinton was acquitted at his impeachment trial.

7/1/1999, The impeachment trial of US President Bill Clinton began in Washington DC

18/12/1998, In the US, the House of Representatives voted to impeach President Clinton.

19/11/1998, The US Senate began impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair.� President Clinton was impeached on 19/12/1998.

11/9/1998, In the US, the Starr Report into the Monica Lewinsky affair concluded that President Clinton had committed 11 impeachable offences.

5/10/1998, The US Congressional Committee debated whether to impeach president Clinton overt the Monica Lewinsky affair, over allegations he had abused power and tampered with witnesses.

17/8/1998, President Bill Clinton gave evidence to a Grand Jury about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. He admitted to �inappropriate physical contact� with Monica Lewinsky and apologised for misleading people, including his wife.

21/1/1998, US President Clinton denied he had any sexual relationship with 24-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Rumours had circulated in the Press of an 18-month affair in 1995. There were allegations that Clinton had asked Lewinsky to lie under oath and deny any affair with him.

4/5/1998, Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, received 4 life sentences.

3/4/1996, Theodore Kaczynski, a former mathematics professor, was arrested and charged with being the Unabomber. Overall he was reckoned to have committed 16 bombings, killing 23. His motive was to persuade the world of the unsustainability of modern technology as a threat to the planet.

15/1/1998, Five cigarette manufacturers agreed a settlement with the State of Texas for US$ 7.25 billion in compensation for the treatment costs of tobacco-related diseases. This was the largest payment in history. However this settlement was dwarfed on 20/11/1998 by a settlement of US$206 billion by the 4 largest US tobacco firms to agree claims by all US States.

Timothy McVeigh bombing

15/8/1997, Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to die by lethal injection. He had killed 168 people.

2/6/1997, Timothy McVeigh was convicted on 15 charges of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Alfred P Murragh building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.� On 13/6/1997 he was sentenced to death.

19/4/1995. A car bomb in Oklahoma City killed 168 including 12 children. The bomb hidden in a truck contained 4,000 lb of explosive and blew up in front of the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building, where the Federal ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) was housed, and also a children�s nursery. Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of the bombing.

24/10/1996, Rioting in Florida after a Black youth, Tyron Lewis, was shot dead by police.

27/7/1996, A nail bomb exploded at the Atlanta Olympics, killing two people and injuring over 100.

11/6/1996, A damning US Senate report on the Whitewater Affair accused Hillary Clinton of complicity in a� fraudulent land deal in Arkansas in the 1980s.

28/5/1996, Jim and Susan McDougal, former business associates of President Clinton, were found guilty� of fraud and conspiracy in the Whitewater scandal, involving property deals in Arkansas.

16/10/1995, The Million Man March was held in Washington DC.� It was conceived by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

11/5/1995, In New York City, 170 nations agreed to extend the nuclear non-proliferation treaty indefinitely, without conditions.

24/3/1995. The House of Representatives, USA, passed welfare reforms denying state benefits to immigrants, unmarried mothers, and those who refused to work.

28/12/1994, James Woolsey, director of the CIA, resigned after allegations that the organisation was vulnerable to double agents.

OJ Simpson chase and trial

3/10/1995, Former American football star OJ Simpson was acquitted of the murder of his wife

24/1/1995, The trial of former US football star OJ Simpson, for the murder of his wife, began.

17/6/1994, Friday (+17,937) A car driven by former football star OJ Simpson was chased by helicopters through Los Angeles. Simpson was later charged with murder.

USA global trade agreements

8/12/1994, US President Clinton signed for the USA to agree to the Uruguay Round of the GATT trade liberalisation agreement, This replaced GATT by the WTO in 1995.

1/1/1994, The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into force.

17/11/1993. The US Congress voted for NAFTA.

8/11/1994. The Republicans gained control of the US Congress.

24/3/1994, Allegations made in US Congress that President Clinton and his wife behaved improperly in dealings with the Whitewater Development Corporation. Later on this was to prove electorally damaging to President Clinton.

3/2/1994, US President Clinton lifted trade sanctions against Vietnam; In December 1992 President Bush had allowed US companies to open offices in Vietnam but the embargo meant they could not yet trade there.

21/1/1994, In the USA Lorena Bobbitt was cleared of malicious wounding after cutting off her husband�s penis.

15/1/1994, In a Virginia, USA, Court, Lorena Bobbitt said she could not remember the moment she cut off her husband�s penis, after an alleged rape by him; she leaded temporary insanity. The member was successfully reattached by surgeons.

3/10/1993, US troops fought large-scale land battles with local militiamen in Mogadishu, Somalia.

23/8/1993, US Police� raided singer Michael Jackson�s home after a 13-year old boy made allegations of child abuse.

19/4/1993. The siege at Waco, Texas, ended after 51 days. On 28/2/1993 the Branch Davidian sect, led by David Koresh, was visited by US Federal Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms personnel to arrest Koresh for suspected firearms offences. Sect members opened fire, killing four Federal Agents and injuring a dozen more. US government troops and armoured cars surrounded the sect�s ranch. On 19 April the wooden compound was set alight by cult members as troops fired tear gas into the buildings. 86 people, including David Koresh and 17 children, died.

18/3/1993, Kenneth E Boulding, US economist and activist, died (born 1910).

26/2/1993. Bomb exploded beneath World Trade Centre, New York. Six were killed and hundreds injured when a bomb exploded� in an underground car park, planted by Muslim fundamentalists.

4/12/1992. US troops landed in Somalia. Rival warlord�s factions were causing chaos on Somali capital Mogadishu and hundreds of thousands were starving in the countryside. The US sent 28,000 troops to help relief efforts, codenamed �Restore Hope�.

11/8/1992. The biggest shopping mall in the USA opened in Minnesota. It had over 300 stores, covering 4.2 million square feet.

28/5/1992. The US prison population reached a record high of 823,414. One in three was being held for a drugs-related offence.

5/4/1992. Samuel Moore Walton, born 29/3/1918, founder of Wal-Mart, died.

26/3/1992. Mike Tyson was sentenced to 10 years in jail after being found guilty of rape.

US peace dividend, defence cuts

13/5/1993, The USA decided to discontinue the Strategic Defence Initiative (SDI), also known as �Star Wars�.

29/1/1992, US President Bush announced a US$50 package of defence cuts, as part of the peace dividend�.

31/7/1991, Presidents Gorbachev (USSR) and Bush (USA) signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, START 1. However the Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991, before the Treaty was ratified. A START II Treaty was subsequently signed and ratified.

15/3/1991, Albania and the USA restored diplomatic relations after a gap of 52 years.

12/12/1990, US President George Bush agreed to send US$ 1,000 million food aid to the Soviet Union.

30/11/1990, US President George Bush proposed a US-Iraq meeting to avoid war.

21/11/1990. A declaration of the end of the Cold War was signed in Paris.

15/11/1990, President Bush signed the Clean Air Act 1990.

5/8/1990. 200 US Marines arrived in Liberia to rescue US citizens caught in the civil war there.

23/5/1990, Rocky Graziano, US middle-weight champion boxer, died

15/4/1990, Greta Garbo died in New York, after some 50 years of living a reclusive life after her 1940s Hollywood fame.

26/1/1990, Lewis Mumford, US historian (born 19/10/1895) died.

Noriega arrested

16/11/1990, Manuel Noriega claimed the US had denied him a fair trial.

3/1/1990, Noriega surrendered to US law enforcement; he was flown to Miami and indicted on drugs charges.

30/12/1989, The US and the Vatican were negotiating over ending the refuge of ex-dictator Manuel Noriega, who had fled to the Vatican Embassy in Panama City to avoid capture and extradition to the USA. At one stage the US lost patience and played rock music at full volume outside the Embassy continuously from loudspeakers erected by the US forces.

24/12/1989, Deposed Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega gave himself up to the Papal Nuncio in Panama City, having dodged US troops trying to capture him.

21/12/1989. The USA invaded Panama and ousted General Noriega. Noriega sought refuge in the Vatican Mission, where he remained until 3/1/1990. He then surrendered to US forces.

12/12/1989, New York heiress Leona Helmsley was fined US$ 7 million and sentenced to 4 years prison for tax evasion. She had said �only little people pay taxes�.

14/9/1989, US performed a nuclear test at Nevada.

14/6/1989, Ronald Reagan was given a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth.

20/4/1989, A gun turret on US battleship Iowa exploded, killing 47 sailors.

12/4/1989, Abbie Hoiffman, US political activist, died.

14/3/1989, In the USA, the Bush administration announced a ban on the import of semi-automatic assault rifles.

23/2/1989, The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee rejected, 11�9, President Bush's nomination of John Tower for Secretary of Defense.

22/2/1989, Death of Aldo Jacuzzi, American manufacturer of the eponymous baths.

20/1/1989. George Herbert Walker Bush was sworn in as 41^st US President.

Iran-Contra affair

5/7/1989, In the US, Colonel Oliver North was fined US$ 150,000 and given a suspended prison sentence for his role in the Iran-Contra affair.

24/3/1989, US Congress agreed to renew a US$ 40 million aid programme for the Right-wing Contra rebels fighting the Sandinista Government in Nicaragua. Funding ceased due to the Iran-Contra scandal.

3/3/1989, Robert McFarlane was fined $20,000, plus two years� probation, for his role in the Iran-Contra affair.

30/12/1988, In the USA, Colonel Oliver North subpoenaed Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush to testify in the Iran-Contra trial.

3/2/1988, In the USA, the Democrat-controlled House of Democrats rejected President Reagan�s request for US$36.25 million to support the Nicaraguan Contras.

29/9/1987,� John M Poindexter resigned from the US Navy over the Iran-Contra affair.

3/8/1987, The US Irangate hearings ended.

5/5/1987, In the USA, Congressional hearings began into the Iran-Contra Affair.

25/11/1986. US Vice-Admiral Pointdexter and Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North were dismissed from the Security Council after revelations that money from arms sales to Iran had been channelled to Nicaraguan Contra guerrillas. Weapons were covertly sold to Iran to secure the release of 7 US hostages held by pro-Hezbollah groups in Lebanon, and the profits from the sales diverted to back Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

4/5/1983, President Reagan affirmed his backing for the Right-wing Contras in their battle against the Sandinistas.

200^th anniversary State celebrations

4/3/1991, Vermont celebrated the 200th anniversary of its statehood.

29/5/1990, Rhode Island celebrated the 200th anniversary of its statehood.

21/11/1989, North Carolina celebrated the 200^th anniversary of its statehood.

26/7/1988, New York celebrated the 200^th anniversary of its statehood.

25/6/1988, Virginia celebrated the 200^th anniversary of its statehood.

21/6/1988, New Hampshire celebrated the 200^th anniversary of its statehood.

23/5/1988, South Carolina celebrated the 200^th anniversary of its statehood.

6/2/1988, Massachusetts celebrated the 200^th anniversary of its statehood.

9/1/1988, Connecticut celebrated the 200^th anniversary of its statehood.

2/1/1988, Georgia celebrated the 200^th anniversary of its statehood.

18/12/1987� New Jersey celebrated the 200^th anniversary of its statehood.

12/12/1987, Pennsylvania celebrated the 200^th anniversary of its statehood.

7/12/1987, Delaware celebrated the 200^th anniversary of its statehood.

7/5/1988, Boston saw the first meeting of people who claimed to have been abducted by aliens.

8/12/1987. Gorbachev and Reagan signed an arms reduction treaty, to eliminate medium range nuclear missiles from Europe.

8/4/1987, Francis C Denebrink, US naval officer, died aged 90

31/3/1987, In the �Baby M� case, the US Supreme Court denied parental rights to surrogate mothers.

19/2/1987, The US lifted sanctions on Poland.

11/2/1987, The US tested an atom bomb in Nevada.

4/11/1986. Democrats won control of the US Senate.

15/4/1986. The USA launched air strikes against Libya, in retaliation for Libya�s alleged support of terrorism, and a bombing in a Berlin nightclub. Libya had also fired two missiles at the US radar base on Lampedusa; both missed. Benghazi and Tripoli were bombed, killing at least 100 people, including Gaddaffi�s 15-month-old adopted daughter, Hanna. The departure of the US planes from British airfields caused widespread protests in the UK. On 17/4/1986 two British hostages in Lebanon were killed in retaliation for the US raids.

8/4/1986, Clint Eastwood was elected Mayor of his native city, Carmel, California.

27/2/1986, The United States Senate allowed its debates to be televised on a trial basis.

25/1/1985, In a case that divided American society, New York subway vigilante Bernard Goetze (born 7 November 1947) was told by a Grand Jury that he would not face charged of murder for shooting four Black youths at close range on 22 December 1984; he would be tried for illegal possession of handguns. Goetze served 8 months of a 1-year sentence on the handgun charge; one of his victims, rendered a quadriplegic by the shooting, was awarded US$ 43 million in a civil judgement against Goetze.

2/11/1984, Velma Barfield became the first woman to be executed in the USA since 1962.

26/7/1984, G H Gallup, US survey pioneer, died aged 82.

21/7/1984. The man who popularised jogging, James J Fixx, had a heart attack and died whilst out running in Vermont, aged 52.

1/5/1984, Reagan concluded a visit to China.

25/10/1983. 2,000 US Marines invaded Grenada to restore order after, on 19/10/1983, Grenada�s army had murdered the Prime Minister (Maurice Bishop) and taken power. Britain opposed the US invasion. The US said it had saved Grenada from becoming a Soviet-Cuban colony.

22/10/1983, The announcement by Washington that Pershing II and Cruise Missiles were to be deployed in Europe precipitated large anti-nuclear demonstrations in Britain, Germany and Italy.

23/3/1983. President Reagan proposed his �Star Wars� missile defence system, calling the Soviet Union an �evil empire�.

4/2/1983, US President Reagan condemned the violence associated with a strike of truck drivers.

2/2/1983. The US and USSR began START (Strategic Arms Reduction Talks) in Geneva.

7/12/1982, The first execution by lethal injection was carried out in the USA, in Texas, on Charles Books Jr.

2/11/1982, Democrats made large gains in US mid-term elections. The Republicans retained control of the Senate.

12/6/1982, 800,000 marched for peace in New York City.

7/6/1982, Graceland, the mansion in Memphis, Tennessee where Elvis Presley lived until his death in 1977, was opened to the public.

5/5/1982, Secretary Janet Smith in the computer science department at Vanderbilt University was injured when she opened a package from the Unabomber.

13/1/1982, An Air Florida jet crashed into the frozen Potomac River near the White House, killing 78.

30/11/1981. The US and USSR began arms talks in Geneva.

5/8/1981, President Reagan fired 11,359 striking air traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.

8/4/1981, Omar Bradley, US senior army officer, died aged 88.

30/3/1981. President Reagan, 70 years old, survived an assassination attempt by John Hinckley. He was wounded, a bullet in the left lung, outside Washington�s Hilton Hotel. The shooter, John Hinckley III, arrested at the spot, had used a .22 calibre shot; had he used a .45 the bullet, which lodged just 3 inches from Reagan�s heart, would have killed him.

22/11/1980, Mae West, American film star in the 1930s, died aged 88.

21/11/1980. The episode of Dallas in which it was revealed who shot JR broke all viewing records.

25/9/1980, Charles Henry Elston, US Representative from Ohio (born 1/1/1891) died.

7/6/1980, American novelist Henry Miller died.

7/5/1980, Paul Geidel, convicted of 2^nd degree murder, was released from the Fishkill Correctional Facility (prison) in Beacon, New York, after serving 68 years and 245 days � the longest ever served by a US inmate.

2/2/1980, A 36-hour prison riot began in New Mexico Penitentiary due to overcrowding. 33 inmates died and US$ 25 million damage was done.

25/1/1980, The US ordered the deportation of Beatle Paul McCartney after keeping him in prison for 9 days following the discovery of marijuana in his luggage.

23/1/1980, President Carter initiated the Carter Doctrine � that Middle Eastern oil reserves were of strategic importance to the US and that any attempt by another power to take control in the region would be met by US military action. This Doctrine was adopted by President Reagan, leading to the Gulf War.

19/1/1980, William O Douglas, judge in the US Supreme Court and civil rights defender (born 16/10/1898 in Maine, Minnesota) died.

1/10/1979. The USA handed back control of the Canal Zone to Panama.

18/6/1979. US President Carter and USSR President Brezhnev signed the SALT 2 (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) in Vienna.

8/5/1979, Talcott Parsons, US sociologist, died aged 76.

26/1/1979, Nelson Rockerfeller, Republican politician and vice President to Gerald Ford, died.

3/1/1979, Conrad Hilton, founder of the Hilton Hotel Group and once married to Zsa Zsa Gabor, died.

1/1/1979. Diplomatic relations were established between China and the USA.

15/12/1978, Cleveland, Ohio, became the first major US city to go into default since the great Depression, under mayor Dennis Kucinich.

3/11/1978. Vietnam and the USA signed a 25-year treaty of friendship and co-operation in economic, scientific and technical endeavours.

7/8/1978, President Jimmy Carter declared a federal emergency at Love Canal.

7/4/1978. US President Carter pulled back from building a neutron bomb.

14/1/1978, Kurt Godel, Austrian-American logician, died aged 71.

13/1/1978, Hubert Humphrey, Vice President to Lyndon Johnson, died.

10/1977, The US Department of Energy was created.

7/9/1977, A treaty between the USA and Panama was signed; the US agreed to give Panama control of the Canal by 2000.

16/8/1977. The rock and roll star Elvis Presley died in Memphis, Tennessee, aged 42. He died in the bathroom of his home although he was actually pronounced dead at 3.30 pm in the emergency room of the Baptist Hospital, Memphis. Overweight, he died of heart failure. He was buried in Memphis on 18/8/1977. He was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, the survivor of twin boys, on 8/1/1935.

26/6/1977. Elvis Presley made his last ever live stage appearance at the Market Square Arena in Indianopolis.

4/6/1977, Two people died during violence on� Puerto Rican Day in Chicago.

10/5/1977, American film star Joan Crawford died.

21/1/1977, Jimmy Carter issued a pardon for those who evaded the draft for the Vietnam War.

17/1/1977. The US restored the death penalty, after a ten year suspension, and Gary Gilmore was executed by firing squad in Utah.

18/8/1976, In North Korea, at Panmunjom, two US soldiers were killed whilst trying to chop down a tree in the demilitarised zone; the tree had obscured their view.

3/7/1976. The Supreme Court of the USA, in the case of Gregg vs. Georgia, ruled that the death penalty was not cruel or unusual punishment and was constitutionally acceptable.

6/6/1976, Paul Getty, American oil tycoon, reputed to be the richest man on earth, died aged 83, at his home, Sutton Place, outside London. He was worth around US$ 4 billion.

5/4/1976. The multi-millionaire Howard Hughes died on his private jet going to a hospital at Houston, Texas leaving a fortune of US$ 2,000 million. He was aged 71.

25/5/1978, The Unabomber set off his first bomb, in the security section of Northwestern University, USA.

23/2/1975, In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time began two months early in the USA.

14/1/1975, The House Committee on Internal Security (formerly HUAC, House Committee on Un-American Activities) was formally terminated on January 14, 1975, the day of the opening of the 94th Congress. The Committee's files and staff were transferred on that day to the House Judiciary Committee.

6/1/1975, Burton K. Wheeler, 92, U.S. Senator, died.

Watergate scandal 1971-75

14/3/1975, Presidential aide Fred de la Rue was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for his part on the Watergate cover up.

28/2/1975. The Watergate scandal continued as 3 Nixon aides were sentenced for their role.

21/2/1975. Those convicted of offences in the Watergate affair received sentences of between 30 months and 8 years.

1/1/1975, In the USA, aides of President Nixon, H R Haldeman, John D Erlichman and John H Mitchell were found guilty of Watergate offences. On 21/2/1975 they were sentenced to between 2 � and 8 years in prison.

8/9/1974, President Nixon�s successor, Gerald Ford, issued Nixon an unconditional pardon for any crimes committed whilst in office.

9/8/1974. Gerald Ford sworn in as the 38th President of the USA.� He succeeded Richard Nixon, who had resigned over Watergate, hence Ford became the first President not chosen by the US people in an election.

8/8/1974. Richard Nixon announced his resignation as US President after his implication in the Watergate scandal. President Ford granted a pardon to Nixon for any offences he might have committed in the Watergate affair.� Nixon was the first American President to resign. See 9/5/1974. President Gerald Ford took office as the 38^th president. He was the first person not to have been elected by ballot to the Presidency or Vice Presidency.

5/8/1974. President Nixon admitted his complicity in the Watergate affair. See 27/7/1974 and 8/8/1974.

27/7/1974.� A Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Nixon for obstructing justice in the Watergate affair.

12/7/1974, the US John Erlichman, former Director of Domestic Affairs at the White House, was found guilty of lying over the Watergate tapes.

9/5/1974. Impeachment proceedings were opened against President Nixon � see 2/3/1974 and 8/8/1974.

2/3/1974. A USA Grand Jury decided Richard Nixon was involved in the Watergate cover up see 9/5/1974.

1/3/1974. 7 of President Nixon�s advisors were arrested over charges to obstruct justice in the Watergate investigation.

9/11/1973. Six Watergate burglars jailed in the US.

1/11/1973.. The Watergate Tapes case continued with President Richard Nixon in Washington.

20/10/1973, Sixteen impeachment orders were raised in the US House of Representatives after President Nixon ordered the removal from office of a special prosecutor who had refused to do a deal over the Watergate tapes, see 16/7/1973 and 27/7/1974.

12/10/1973, The US Court of Appeals ordered Richard Nixon to hand over the Watergate Tapes.

23/10/1973, The US House of Representatives ordered a judicial committee to consider the evidence for impeaching President Nixon.

16/7/1973, A former White House aide revealed that all conversations in the White House had been recorded, at President Nixon�s request, see 25/6/1973. Nixon flouted several subsequent court orders to release the tapes, see 20/10/1973.

25/6/1973, US President Nixon�s former legal counsel, John Dean, gave evidence at the Ervin Committee that directly contradicted Nixon�s statement regarding Watergate that he had made on 22/5/1973, see also 16/7/1973.

22/5/1973, President Nixon admitted concealing evidence of wrongdoing regarding Watergate (see 17/5/1973 and 25//6/1973), but denied knowing of the burglary before it took place.

17/5/1973. US Senate hearings over Watergate began. See 30/1/1973 and 22/5/1973.

7/5/1973, The Pulitzer Prize was awarded to journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, for exposing the Watergate Scandal.

30/4/1973. 4 of Nixon�s aides resigned over Watergate.

18/4/1973, Nixon told Haldemann, a White House aide, to destroy the Watergate tapes. Had he done so, Nixon would probably have avoided having to resign.

17/4/1973, President Nixon dropped the ban on White House staff appearing before Senate Committee hearings on Watergate.

16/4/1973. Criminal indictments were expected to be issued against senior members of President Nixon�s staff over the Watergate affair.

30/1/1973, G Gordon and James McCord were convicted of burglary, wire-tapping, and attempted bugging of the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Building in Washington. The men were part of the Campaign to Re Elect the President (CREEP) campaign (President Nixon). See 17/6/1972 and 17/5/1973.

15/9/1972, Seven men were indicted in Washington over the Watergate burglary on 17/6/1972.� They were charged with burglary, wiretapping and conspiracy. Five of the seven were arrested at the scene, attempting to install bugging devices. All seven were members of the Republican committee to re-elect President Nixon.

17/6/1972. American biggest political scandal, Watergate, began when five burglars were caught breaking into the offices of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate office complex, Washington DC, with photographic and surveillance equipment. See 30/1/1973.

14/2/1971, President Richard Nixon installed a secret taping system in the White House. It was on this system that the Watergate tapes were recorded.

3/4/1974, President Nixon agreed to pay US$ 432,787 outstanding income tax.

17/3/1974, The Arab oil embargo, imposed om the US in 1973 in retaliation for US support for Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, was lifted.

4/2/1974, Heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped.

14/12/1973. John Paul Getty II was freed by kidnappers after his grandfather paid a US$ 750,000 ransom.

10/10/1973, US Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges.

15/7/1973. Paul Getty III was kidnapped

26/10/1973, US President Nixon considered an attack on the Soviet Union, after hearing that the USSR was arming Arab nations in the Middle East.

4/5/1973, The Sears Tower in Chicago, then the world�s tallest office building at 1,454 feet and 110 storeys was �topped out� when the highest storey was completed.

23/4/1973, Henry Kissinger, head of the US National Security Council, called for a new �Atlantic Charter� governing relations between the US, Europe and Japan.

28/3/1973, Marlon Brando refused an Oscar because of Hollywood�s abuses of the American Indians.

28/2/1973, US Indians took hostages at Wounded Knee. They challenged the US Government to �repeat the massacre of Sioux Indians� that happened there over 80 years earlier.

13/2/1973, The USA devalued the Dollar by 10%, causing the price of gold to rise to US$42.22.

29/1/1973, The USA�s balance of payments deficit for 1972 was estimated at US$ 6 � 7 billion; the Dollar collapsed.

26/11/1973, The Getty family agreed to pay US$ 1 million in ransom for their kidnapped son Paul, whose ear had been posted to them.

1972, USA and USSR signed Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty

3/10/1972, The US and USSR signed SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) accords, limiting submarine based and land based missiles.

29/5/1972. Brezhnev and Nixon signed SALT-2 (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty).

22/5/1972. US President Richard Nixon arrived in Moscow, the first visit to the Soviet Union by an American President.

26/9/1972. President Nixon opened the Museum of Immigration, at the base of the Statue of Liberty, New York.

8/7/1972, US President Nixon announced that the USSR was to buy US$ 750 million worth of US grain over the next 3 years.

29/6/1972. The US Supreme Court abolished the death penalty.

15/5/1972, George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, was shot and injured by a White assailant, Arthur Bremer, aged 21. Wallace, known for his racist and segregationist policies (see 2/9/1963), was campaigning for the Democratic Party�s Presidential nomination.

2/5./1972, J Edgar Hoover, American founder of and head of the FBI, died in Washington DC.

21/2/1972, US President Nixon landed in China to forge links with Prime Minister� Chou En Lai and Chairman Mao Tse Tung. China still objected to US support for the Taiwan regime.

US involvement in Vietnam, Cambodia, 1961-75

For more events of Vietnam War see South East Asia

30/4/1975. Saigon surrendered to the North Vietnamese, so ending the 15-year Vietnam War. This had been the longest conflict of the 20th century.

29/4/1975. A US helicopter evacuated Americans and a few lucky Vietnamese from the roof of the US Embassy in Saigon to a nearby US warship a day before Saigon fell to the Vietcong. The picture of the helicopter evacuation became an iconic symbol of US humiliation in Vietnam.

25/4/1975, The Australian Embassy in Saigon, South Vietnam, shut as North Vietnamese forces closed in.

23/4/1975, US President Ford announced that US involvement in Vietnam was to end. US forces began the final evacuation of personnel from Saigon by aeroplane, see 28 and 29/4/1973.

7/1/1975, North Vietnamese forces captured the southern province of Phuoc Long (see 29/3/1973). There was no reaction from the US. On 10/3/1975 North Vietnam captured the strategic town of Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands. Within four days South Vietnam decided to abandon the entire Central Highlands to concentrate on the defence of Saigon. This strategic withdrawal became a rout, woith hundreds of thousands of cicilians, and fleeing soldiers, clogging the roads as the Communists advanced. By 1/4/1975 half of South Vietnam was occupied by the North and the South Vietnamese army was disintegrating. US Congress had no intention of further aid to the South; they did not even intend to organise an evacuation of US citizens and pro-US Vietnamese, instead hoping to persuade the North to stop short of total conquest and accept a coalition government in Saigon.� President Thieu of South Vietnam resigned on 28/4/1975 and was replaced by the neutralist General Duong Van Minh. By then North Vietnamese forces were in the suburbs of Saigon. A few fortunate personnel were evacuated from the roof of the US Embassy by helicopter (see 29/4/1975).� However in the last-minute chaos nobody thought to destroy the records of South Vietnamese who had supported the US. On 30/4/1975 a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon and a soldier raised the North Vietnamese flag. Then the event was repeated for the benefit of TV cameras who had missed the original. Meanwhile in Cambodia the Khmer Rouge had entered Phnom Penh and begub deporting hundreds of thousands of its population to the killing fields. The defeat of the US was total and complete.

5/1/1975, The Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, came under siege by Khmer Rouge forces (led by Pol Pot), despite heavy US military aid to the Cambodian leader, Lon Nol.

31/7/1973, US Congress voted to cut off funds for US military action anywhere in Indochina.

16/4/1973. US bombing raids resumed on Laos.

29/3/1973, US pulled its last troops out of South Vietnam. The quadrupling of oil prices by OPEC worsened the finances of the USA. Nixon was in trouble with Watergate and Congress reasserted its power over US foreign policy. The War Powers Resolution of November 1973 removed the President�s power to make war without prior Congressional approval, nullifying Nixon�s promise to send troops to support South Vietnam if the Communists threatened again. In 1974 Congress slashed the budget for the war in Vietnam. US influence also declined in Cambodia, where extensive bombing had disrupted society and promoted the growth of the Communist Khmer Rouge, backed by Prince Sihanouk. Many Cambodians regarded Sihanouk as their legitimate leader, and by 1974 Sihanouk�s US-backed replacement, General Lon Nol, controlled just one third of Cambodia. In Laos an extensive bombing campaign to destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a network of routes used to supply the Communist Vietcong, simply resulted in the strengthening of the Pathet Lao, the Laotian Communists. Throughout 1974 the North Vietnamese quietly built up strength in the border regions of South Vietnam, and on 7/1/1975 they captured the South Vietnamese province of Phuoc Long.

21/2/1973, A ceasefire agreement was signed in Vientiane, capital of Laos, between the Pathet Lao Communist guerrillas and the Lao Government.� By now the Communists occupied much of Laos.� See 2/12/1975.

12/2/1973, The first group of American POWs was released from North Vietnam.

27/1//1973. The war in Vietnam ended, as President Nixon signed the ceasefire agreement in Paris. One million combatants had been killed. The last US troops left Vietnam on 29/3/1972. This was just days before the Watergate scandal erupted. US astronauts were preparing for the launch of Skylab. However fighting later continued between North and South Vietnam, see 30/4/1975.

15/1/1973. Bombing of North Vietnam halted by Nixon, as he ordered a ceasefire. This followed an intensive US bombing campaign of Hanoi over Christmas 1972, in which a hospital was destroyed and 1,600 civilians killed as 36,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the city, leaving much of it in ruins. US Congress was hostile to further bombing raids.

18/12/1972. Heavy bombing of Hanoi by US B-52s.

22/11/1972. The first US B-52 bomber was shot down over Vietnam.

28/6/1972, US President Nixon announced that no more draftees would be sent to Vietnam.

15/4/1972, US bombers made heavy raids on North Vietnam.

30/3/1972, North Vietnam launched a major attack on the South. On 15/4/1972 the US made heavy bombing raids on North Vietnam. North Vietnam abandoned guerrilla tactics and launched a major conventional invasion, with tanks and heavy artillery. The South Vietnamese city of Quang Tri fell on 1/5/1972 and South Vietnam seemed to have lost the war. However the US responded with massive air power and smart bombs. North Vietnamese forces were driven back to the dividing line and Hanoi proposed peace talks in October 1972. Under domestic pressure to end US involvement in Vietnam, Nixon could not refuse this offer.

For more events of Vietnam War see South East Asia

26/12/1971. The US resumed bombing of North Vietnam.

7/4/1971, US President Nixon promised to withdraw 100,000 troops from Vietnam by Christmas.

13/2/1971, South Vietnamese troops, with US airctaft and artillery backing, entered Laos.

29/4/1971, US combat deaths in Vietnam now exceeded 45,000.

31/12/1970, US Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution (see 7/8/1964), thereby denying President Nixon any further authority to widen the Vietnam War. Nixon, however, ordered further offensives. See 27/1/1973.

29/9/1970, The U.S. Congress gave President Richard Nixon authority to sell arms to Israel.

7/9/1970, In the USA, a Labor Day rally calling for an end to US involvement in the Vietnam War was attended by a number of high-profile speakers including actors Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland.

29/6/1970, US troops completed their withdrawal from Cambodia.

9/5/1970, Protests in Washington DC, USA, against US intervention in Cambodia.

4/5/1970. 4 students were shot dead at Kent State University, Ohio. There had been a wave of campus protests over the entry of US troops into Cambodia. On 4/5/1970 between 1,500 and 3,000 students gathered on the campus at Kent University, contravening an order by Ohio State Governor banning all protests, peaceful or otherwise. At about midday, the National Guard began to use tear gas to break up the demonstration. Some of the students picked up the canisters and hurled them back, and also threw stones. The Guardsmen then opened fire without warning, killing two male and two female students who were not actually involved in the demonstration.

12/11/1969, News of the My Lai massacre (see 16/3/1968) of civilians, by US troops in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, was finally broken to a news reporter, Sy Hersh. The news helped raise further anti-war sentiment in the USA.

15/10/1969, The biggest anti-Vietnam-War demonstration to date took place in America. The war so far had cost the USA the lives of 40,000 servicemen, over 8 years.

16/9/1969. President Nixon announced the withdrawal of a further 36,000 troops from Vietnam by mid-December.

12/9/1969. President Nixon continued B52 bombing raids on Vietnam.

8/6/1969. President Nixon announced that 25,000 US troops would be withdrawn from Vietnam by the end of August.

31/10/1968. President Johnson of the USA ordered a total halt to US bombing of North Vietnam.

27/10/1968, Violent anti-Vietnam war protests outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London.

10/5/1968. Peace talks began between the USA and North Vietnam in Paris. The talks failed because North Vietnam wanted the country unified under the Vietcong, whilst the United States wanted North Vietnam to withdraw from the South which would remain an independent state. Eventually the North agreed to Southern independence and the US agreed not to demand the withdrawal of Communist forces from the North. However the North was to invade the South two years later as US forces withdrew from the South.

7/4/1968, US President Johnson ordered a slowdown in the bombing of North Vietnam.

17/3/1968, Violent anti-Vietnam War demonstrations outside the US Embassy in London.

17/3/1968, Violent anti-Vietnam War demonstrations outside the US Embassy in London. 25,000 Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC) marchers fought with police. The VSC, which wanted a victory for North Vietnam, had been organised by the Trotskyist International Marxist Group, whose members included Pat Jordan, Tariq Ali and David Horowitz.

16/3/1968. The My Lai massacre; US soldiers massacred over 500 Vietnamese civilians in a raid on hamlets in Son My district, where Communist Vietcong rebels were suspected to be hiding out. US forces believed that 250 Vietcong guerrillas were hiding in My Lai and that all civilians would have left for market. As the 30 US troops went in under the command of Lieutenant William Calley they threw grenades and deployed flamethrowers on the thatched roof huts; it was soon clear that only women, children and the elderly were present. There was no counter fire. However a �contagion of slaughter� had set in and the rape and murder continued. Senior US army officials turned a blind eye to the event; only five people were ever court-martialled, with just one, Lieutenant Calley, found guilty. He was sentenced to life imprisonment but served 3 � years before release on parole. This event turned many civilians within the US against the Vietnam War.

12/9/1967. Governor Reagan called for an escalation of the Vietnam War.

15/4/1967. 100,000 protested against the Vietnam War in New York.

4/4/1967, Martin Luther King denounced the Vietnam War.

10/3/1967. The US bombed industrial targets in North Vietnam.

26/2/1967, The US stepped up the Vietnam war with an attack on the Vietcong HQ.

For more events of Vietnam War see South East Asia

26/10/1966. US President Johnson visited US troops in Vietnam.

5/7/1966. Dozens of captured USA airmen in the Vietnam War were paraded through the streets of Hanoi to shouts of �death to the American air pirates�.

3/7/1966. Anti-Vietnam war protests outside the US Embassy, London.

23/3/1966. In New York, 20,000 people marched down Fifth Avenue demanding an end to the Vietnam War.

17/10/1965. Anti-Vietnam War protests in the UK and USA.

28/7/1965. US President Lyndon Johnson sent a further 50,000 ground troops to Vietnam. The US now had 175,000 troops in Vietnam.

29/6/1965, The first US military ground action began in Vietnam.

23/4/1965. Heavy US air raids on North Vietnam.

17/4/1965, US students protested against US bombing in Vietnam.

4/4/1965. US jets shot down by North Vietnam.

22/12/1961, James Davis became the first US casualty of the war in Vietnam.

11/5/1961, US President Kennedy sent 400 Special Forces troops to conduct covert anti-Communist operations in North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

10/12/1971, The John Sinclair Freedom Rally is held at the University of Michigan. Performers included John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

12/10/1971, Dean Acheson, US statesman, died aged 78.

25/9/1971, Hugo LaFayette Black, US Supreme Court judge who upheld civil rights, died (born 1886).

30/6/1971. The 26^th amendment to the US constitution was passed, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.

17/6/1971, Disneyland admitted its 100-millionth visitor, Valerie Suldo of New Jersey.

25/4/1971, 200,000 protested in Washington DC against the Vietnam War. 12,000 protestors were arrested over the following week.

10/2/1971, An earthquake, 6.6 on the Richter Scale, hit Los Angeles, killing 64 people.

3/2/1971, Andrew Truxal, US academic, died aged 71.

15/8/1969. The famous American rock festival, Woodstock, began. It was attended by 400,000.

18/7/1969. Senator Edward Kennedy crashed his car into the Chappaquidick River on the east coast of the USA. Kennedy escaped but his companion Mary Jo Kopechne drowned. Kennedy didn�t report the incident for ten hours and was found guilty of leaving the scene of an accident.

11/6/1969, John Llewellyn Lewis, US Trades Union leader (born 2/12/1880 in Lucas, Iowa), died.

28/2/1969, Dwight D Eisenhower, US statesman, died aged 78.

23/2/1969, President Nixon of the USA began a tour of European capitals.

22/2/1969. President Nixon arrived in Britain for talks with Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

22/12/1968, The captain and crew of the Pueblo were released by the North Koreans at Panmunjom.

1/7/1968. The USA and the USSR signed the Non-Proliferation treaty regarding nuclear weapons (see 5/8/1963). This bound its signatories not to transfer nuclear weapons or knowledge to non-nuclear countries. This was a recognition that both the USA and the USSR had interests in not assisting China to become nuclear.

26/6/1968, Earl Warren announced his resignation as Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.

5/6/1968. A Jordanian-Arab called Sirhan Bishara Sirhan shot Robert Kennedy, US Senator (born 1925), in the Hotel Ambassador, Los Angeles. Kennedy, younger brother of President Kennedy, died 25 hours later. Sirhan was arrested. He was protesting against Kennedy�s outspoken support for Israel, on the first anniversary of the Six Day War.

30/4/1968, Frankie Lymon, US pop star, died of a heroin overdose.

16/2/1968, The first 911 emergency phone service was inaugurated in the USA, at Haleyville, Alabama. It was free; other phone calls cost 10 cents.

23/1/1968, The USS Pueblo, an intelligence ship, and its 89 man crew was seized by North Koreans in the Sea of Japan.

28/8/1967, Death of Charles Darrow, US inventor of the board game Monopoly.

26/3/1967. 10,000 hippies held a rally in New York's Central Park.

18/2/1967, Robert Oppenheiner, American scientist who developed the US atom bomb, died in Princeton, New Jersey.

3/1/1967, Jack Ruby, who shot Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President Kennedy, died of natural causes at a Dallas hospital. Mr Ruby was awaiting the retrial of his murder case.

1966, The Department of Transportation was created, and began operations in 1967.

15/12/1966, Walt Disney, US film producer and leader in animation, died.

1/8/1966, In Austin, USA, Charles Whitman shot dead 12 people at Texas University before being shot dead himself by policemen.

7/4/1966, The US recovered an atom bomb that had been accidentally dropped into the Atlantic ocean after a mid-air collision.

20/2/1966, Chester Nimitz, American General and Pacific Fleet Commander in World War II, died in San Francisco, four days before his 81^st birthday.

9/11/1965. A transmission relay in New York City failed, sparking a domino effect that led to a blackout across New York State, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New England, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, and parts of Pennsylvania and Ontario.

10/9/1965, Yale University published a map showing that the Vikings discovered America in the 11^th century.

9/9/1965, The Department of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUD) was established in the USA

11/6/1965, President Johnson declared that the promotion of learning the English language should be a major policy in American foreign aid, and directed the Peace Corps, the United States Agency for International Development and other organizations to encourage the such study, in what was viewed as elevating "the status of English as an international language.

1964, In the USA the Food Stamp Act expanded food aid for the poor.

27/9/1964, The Warren Report was published, stating that Lee Harvey Oswald alone was responsible for the assassination of President Kennedy. Conspiracy theorists were not satisfied.

18/7/1964, Race riots in Harlem, New York; start of the �ghetto revolts�.

1/7/1964, Roscoe Pound, US legal scholar, died aged 93.

10/6/1964, The U.S. Senate voted closure of the Civil Rights Bill after a 75-day filibuster.

21/5/1964, US President Lyndon Johnson spoike of his vision of a �Great Society�. He intended to redistribute wealth, improve civil rights and healthcare, whilst maintaininhg a thriving economy.

5/4/1964, Douglas MacArthur, American General and commander in the Pacific during World War Two, died in Washington DC aged 84.

27/3/1964, Powerful earthquake, magnitude 9.2, hit Alaska, 139 died.

14/3/1964. Jack Ruby, aged 52, was found guilty in Dallas of killing Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged assassin of President Kennedy (see 22/11/1963). He was sentenced to death but died of a blood clot on the lung in 1967.

8/2/1964, The Beatles began their first US tour.

7/2/1964, 25,000 fans gathered at Kennedy Airport to greet the Beatles on their first visit to America.

13/1/1964. The Beatles entered the US Charts at no. 45 with I Wanna Hold Your Hand.

8/1/1964, In the US, President Johnson proposed a reduction in defence spending.

11/12/1963, In Los Angeles, Frank Sinatra Jr was set free after his father paid kidnappers a US$ 240,000 ransom.

24/11/1963, Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President Kennedy, was himself shot dead by Jack Ruby.

31/8/1963, The �hot line�, linking the Kremlin and the White House, went into operation.

5/8/1963. President Kennedy signed a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in Washington. This treaty forbade testing in the atmosphere, outer space, or underwater, and was aimed at preventing other nations than the USA or USSR developing nuclear weapons. However to allow America and Russia to develop their nuclear weapons, underground testing was allowed under this treaty (see 1/7/1968).

26/6/1963. President Kennedy made his famous �Ich bin ein Berliner� speech. He meant to say �I am a Berliner�, to indicate US support for the freedom of West Germany. However what he actually said translated as �I am a doughnut�.

20/6/1963. The White House and the Kremlin agreed to set up a �hot line�.

9/4/1963, Winston Churchill was given honorary US citizenship.

6/4/1963, Anglo-US Polaris weapons agreement signed.

18/3/1963, In the USA, in Gideon v Wainwright, the Supreme Court required the State to appoint defence counsel if the defendant could not afford a private lawyer.

1962, The Baker v Carr case , in the US Supreme Court; the Court ruled that state electoral districts must contain approximately equal numbers of voters. This ended rural domination of state legislatures.

21/12/1962, The US agreed to sell Polaris missiles to the UK.

18/12/1962, PM Harold MacMillan of the UK and President Kennedy of the USA concluded the Nassau Agreement, at Nassau, Bahamas.� This allowed the US navy to provide Polaris missiles for the Royal Navy, normally operating under NATO command.� This Anglo-US collaboration was resented by General De Gaulle of France, who saw it as proof that Britain was not sufficiently European.� Within a month De Gaulle had vetoed UK membership of the EEC, see 14/1/1963.

5/12/1962, US diplomat Dean Acheson said Britain was 'played out'.

5/11/1962, In the US, elections left Democrats in control of both Houses.

18/10/1961. A work by Henri Matisse attracted big crowds in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Only after 116,000 people had seen it over 46 days did someone notice it was hung upside-down.

1/3/1961, US President Kennedy formed the Peace Corps, a group of volunteers to work in less-developed countries.

27/1/1961, Zachary Space, US politician, was born.

26/9/1960, The first US Presidential debate to be televised, between Nixon and Kennedy. Millions watched.

21/8/1960, David B Steinman, US bridge engineer, died aged 74.

15/7/1960, In Los Angeles, Kennedy accepted the Democratic Party nomination for President.

21/6/1960, Kate Brown, Governor of Oregon� from 2015, was born.

USA Cold War strategy 1950-61

5/9/1961, The USA announced it would resume underground nuclear tests.

5/6/1961, The US Supreme Court ruled that the Communist Party must register as a foreign-dominated organisation. On 17/6/1961 the US Communist Party refused to comply with this ruling.

12/7/1960, President Khrushchev of the USSR asserted that the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 was no longer valid; this would legitimate Soviet interference in the Caribbean. On 14/7/1960 the US confirmed that the Monroe Doctrine was still in operation.

26/5/1960, At the United Nations in New York, U.S. Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. displayed a hand-carved replica of the Great Seal of the United States that had been presented by the Soviets as a gift to the American ambassador in Moscow, and the listening device that had been discovered inside "right under the beak of the eagle".

24/5/1960, The USA launched the Midas-2 satellite. Weighing over 2.5 tonnes, its purpose was to test the feasibility of a satellite system to give early warning of any ballistic missile attack on the USA.

19/1/1960, President Eisenhower of the USA signed a Treaty of Mutual Co-operation and Security with Japan in Washington. This confirmed Japan as an integral member of the anti-Communist alliance.

17/2/1960, Martin Luther King was arrested in the USA.

1959, Click here for image of Washington DC urban sprawl 1949-59. See also related image London 1932.

16/11/1959. The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music opened on Broadway, New York.

16/10/1959, George Marshall, US soldier and politician who formulated the Marshall Plan to aid post-War Europe, died in Washington DC.

9/6/1959. The USA launched its first ballistic missile submarine, the George Washington.

24/5/1959, John Foster Dulles (born 1888), US Secretary of State until his resignation due to ill-health in April 1959, died from cancer. He was chief spokesperson for US President Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919. He believed in a robust �brinkmanship� approach to Soviet threats, reinforcing NATO and creating SEATO. He did not get on with UK Prime Minister Anthony Eden, disagreeing in particular with the UK�s policy over Suez. He opposed the Anglo-French invasion of Egypt in late 1956, and sometimes failed to anticipate Arab nationalist reactions to external intervention.

4/11/1958, In the USA, Democrats won the mid-term elections, gaining 62 seats in the Senate (Republicans 34 seats). The Democrats gained 281 seats in the� House of Representatives (Republicans 153 seats).

31/5/1958, The Kremlin and Washington agreed to hold talks on a ban on atmospheric atom bomb tests.

3/5/1958, President Eisenhower proposed a demilitarised Antarctic.

24/3/1958. Elvis Presley was sworn in as a US private. He was paid $78 as a regular. He had been given a 60-day deferment to make the film �King Creole�.

18/10/1957, Queen Elizabeth II met US President Eisenhower; the first visit by a British monarch to the White House.

30/8/1957, US senator Strom Thurmond spoke for 24hrs 27m against civil rights.

31/5/1957, American playwright Arthur Miller was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to name other writers as communists. Miller confessed his own communist sympathies but said his conscience would not let him finger others; the judge praised his motives but he could still face a year in jail.

7/5/1957 Eliot Ness, the FBI agent who headed the investigation of Al Capone in Chicago, died.

7/3/1957, The United States Congress approved the Eisenhower Doctrine.

5/1/1957, In the USA, President Eisenhower announced the Eisenhower Doctrine; that the US will protect the independence of Middle Eastern States, fearing that the USSR was behind Arab nationalist movements.

1956, President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aid Highway Act, to create a US-wide network of freeways.

25/9/1956, Transatlantic telephone cable between the UK and the USA became operational.

3/8/1956, The name of Bedloe�s Island, site of the Statue of Liberty, was changed to Liberty Island, on the approval of President Eisenhower.

14/8/1955, The US schooner Levin J. Marvel capsized and sank in Chesapeake Bay with the loss of 12 of the 24 people on board.

3/3/1955, Katharine Drexel, US philanthropist, teacher and Roman Catholic saint, died aged 96.

24/1/1955, Because of increasing tensions between China and Formosa (Taiwan), US President Eisenhower asked Congress for authority to protect Formosa; it was granted within four days by 409 votes to 3 in the House of Representatives.

McCarthyism censured

2/5/1957. Senator Joe McCarthy, Republican, died of liver disease. He was most remembered for his �witch-hunts� against suspected Communists. See 2/12/1954.

2/12/1954, The US Senate voted to condemn McCarthy for abuse of proceedings, see 25/2/1954 and 2/5/1957.

30/6/1954, Senator McCarthy was censured by the US Senate. He had gone too far by accusing the US Army of harbouring Communist spies.

15/6/1954, Senator John McCarthy�s committee labelled Robert Oppenheimer, inventor of the atom bomb, a security risk because he opposed development of the Hydrogen Bomb.

9/6/1954, Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army., accused McCarthy of bad faith and zealotry during investigations as to whether Communists had infiltrated the US Army. McCarthy�s position was rapidly becoming untenable.

22/4/1954, A committee headed by Senator John McCarthy, the �Permanent Investigations Sub-Committee�, began hearings into an alleged Communist spy ring at Fort Monmouth. McCarthy�s methods started alarming hs collaegues.

25/2/1954, President Eisenhower censured McCarthy (see 9/2/1950) for his bullying tactics. See 2/12/1954.

12/11/1954, The immigration centre at Ellis Island, New York, closed. 15 million migrants into the US had been processed through here since 1892.

25/10/1954, In the US, meetings of the Cabinet were televised for the first time.

20/7/1954. The Geneva Agreement ended hostilities between North and South Korea.

12/7/1954, US Vice President Richard Nixon announced the construction of a network of Interstate Highways which would enable drivers to cross the USA without encountering a single crossroads or traffic light. They would also be useful as part of a defensive network, and to provide rapid exits from cities in the event of war.

10/7/1954, US President Eisenhower signed Public Law 480, the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, better known as PL-480. This facilitated the export of grain to US-aligned governments that were facing threats from Leftist agencies, either internal rebels or intimidation from a Soviet-aligned State next door. PL-480 could be used to keep recalcitrant allies, those possibly sliding towards Communism, in line. For example in 1965 US President Johnson shifted the renewal of PL-480 food aid to India from an annual to a� monthly basis, threatening India with withdrawal of food aid as India�s President Shastri expressed disapproval of US bombing in Vietnam. However if Shastri abandoned Nehru�s ideas of land distribution to Indian peasants then India would receive US agricultural technology, enhancing food yields.

10/6/1954, Charles Adams, US statesman (born 2/8/1866) died.

4/5/1954, Doug Jones, US politician, was born.

7/4/1954, The USA announced that, in conjunction with Canada, it would set up a chain of almost 100 radar stations along a 3,000 mile line at the 55th parallel. On 27/9/1954 a second chain of radfar stations was announced above the Arctic Circle to warn of enemy aircraft approaching from Russia across the North Pole. This was the Distant Early Warning Line, of DEW; within a few years it was obsolete because missiles would be delivered by rockets not planes.

8/3/1954, The US and Japan signed a mutual defence pact.

18/2/1954 John Travolta, American film actor, was born in Englewood, New York State.

10/10/1953. President Eisenhower of the USA signed a treaty with South Korea promising military aid if North Korea attacked.

31/7/1953, Robert Taft, US Conservative politician, died aged 63.

11/4/1953, The US Department of Health and Human Services was established.

5/2/1953, Walt Disney�s film Peter Pan went on general release.

2/12/1952, US President Eisenhower visited Korea.

31/10/1952, The USA exploded the first hydrogen bomb at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific. The bomb was equivalent to 5 to 7 megatons (million tons of TNT) and left a hole a mile in diameter and 175 feet deep. A 5 megaton bomb would devastate about 150 square miles by blast and subject about 800 square miles to searing heat. See 9/9/2003.

25/10/1952, The USA blocked the entry of China to the United Nations for the third year running. See 25/10/1971.

24/10/1952, In the US, Eisenhower described Korea as �the burial place of twenty thousand Americans� and promised that if he was elected President he would end the Korean War. Meanwhile the United Nations remained deadlocked over the issue of the return of North Korean prisoners of War. The USSR and China wanted them all returned to North Korea, but some PoWs insisted they had been forcibly drafted into the North Korean forces and wanted to settle in South Korea.

24/7/1952, Charles Copeland, US educationalist, died in Massachusetts.

27/6/1952. The USA lifted its ban on immigration from Africa and Asia.

25/6/1952, In the US the Immigration Bill was passed, despite Resident Truman�s veto and a Democrat majority of ten in the Senate. This Bill established immigration quotas by nationality, something Truman considered racist.

2/6/1952, In Youngstown vs Sawyer, the US Supreme Court ruled that President Truman had gone beyond his powers in ordering the State seizure of the steel industry during a strike.

8/4/1952, In the USA, President Truman ordered the State seizure of the steel industry in response to a strike. The output of the steel mills was considered vital for the US forces fighting in Korea. The strike ended in 2/5/1952, but the seizure continued until after the Supreme Court decision of 2/6/1952..

29/3/1952, In the USA, President Truman announced he would not be standing for the elections that year.

27/2/1952, The United Nations Building in New York saw its first session.

1/11/1951, The US tested an atom bomb over the Nevada desert.

5/10/1951, The US House of representatives approved the US$ 56.9 billion Armed Forces appropriation Bill.

8/9/1951, The San Francisco Treaty of Friendship between the US and Japan was signed.

19/7/1951, Severe flooding hit Kansas and Missouri. 41 died and 200,000 were made homeless.

Fear of Communism; McCarthyism

20/6/1953, The Jewish funeral service of Ethel and Julius Rosenburg was held at Brooklyn (see 19/6/1953). The estimated 10,500 who attended were supportive of the Rosenburgs, who were seen as resisters of American imperialism.

19/6/1953. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg went to the electric chair in Sing Sing prison, 30 miles north of New York, guilty of spying for the USSR. They were the first US civilians to be executed for espionage. They had been condemned on 30/3/1951. Sing Sing prison was built between 1825 and 1828, and took its name from the local village. However the village soon changed its native-American derived name to Ossining to avoid association with the prison.

17/4/1953, The actor Charlie Chaplin announced he would never return to the USA, where he was wanted for back taxes and suspected of being a Communist sympathiser.

19/9/1952, The comedian Charlie Chaplin was labelled �subversive� by Right-wingers in the USA.

9/7/1951, Dashiell Hammett, author of The Maltese Falcon, was jailed for 6 months for contempt of court after refusing to give testimony that would have helped trace Communists accused of conspiring against the US.

30/3/1951. In the USA, the Rosenbergs (Julius and Ethel), were sentenced to death, having been found guilty of passing atomic secrets to the Russians on 29/3/1951.. They were executed on 19/6/1953.

23/9/1950, The US passed the McCarran Act, which set up the Subversive Activities Control Board. All Communist individuals and organisations had to be registered, and no current of former member of s Communist of Fascist organisation could enter the USA. The Board was abolished in 1973.

22/2/1950, In the USA, 205 members of the State Department were accused of being Communists by Senator Joe McCarthy.

9/2/1950. In the USA, Joseph McCarthy launched an anti-Communist crusade. He claimed he knew the names of 250 Communists employed within the State Department.� See 25/2/1954.

US involvement in the Korean War

10/7/1951, Ceasefire talks between North and South Korea began.

15/6/1951, The Korean front line between Northern and Southern forces was stabilised at around the 38^th parallel, where it had been originally. See 10/7/1951.

11/4/1951. General MacArthur was relieved of his command by President Truman, after disagreeing over the conduct of the Korean War.� MacArthur wanted to carry the war over into Communist China, and bomb Chinese bases in Manchuria.� MacArthur returned to a heroes welcome in Washington, but did not realise his hopes of nomination for the US Presidential elections.

14/3/1951. US troops recaptured Seoul.

25/1/1951, UN forces halted the advance of the North Koreans and counterattacked.

1/1/1951, Chinese and North Korean forces advanced through UN lines and captured Seoul.

28/12/1950. Chinese forces in Korea crossed the 38^th parallel.

28/11/1950. China entered the Korean War; 200,000 troops entered Korea across the Yalu River. UN troops were forced back south again. On 28/12/1950 Chinese forces crossed the 38^th parallel. The West had ignored Chinese threats to intervene if US forces crossed north of the 38^th parallel.

24/11/1950, South Korean forces began an offensive in the Yalu Valley; China planned intervention to support the North,

19/10/1950. US and South Korean forces captured Pyongyang, during the Korean War.

9/10/1950. US forces, having reached the 38^th parallel, the old intra-Korean border, at the end of September, now crossed into North Korea. Warnings from the Indian Prime Minister, Nehru, that this might provoke Chinese intervention were ignored (see 28/11/1950).

1/10/1950, South Korean forces recrossed the 38^th parallel.

26/9/1950. US forces recaptured Seoul.

15/9/1950. UN forces landed behind enemy lines at Inchon, North Korea. The South Korean capital, Seoul, was retaken by the end of September 1950.

1/9/1950. North Korean forces crossed the Naktong River.

26/7/1950, Britain decided to send troops to Korea.

8/7/1950, US General MacArthur took over UN forces in Korea.

2/7/1950, American troops landed in South Korea.

29/6/1950, South Korean forces retook Seoul.

28/6/1950, British Royal navy ships joined the US forces in South Korea.

27/6/1950. North Korean forces took Seoul. British forces joined the war in Korea.

26/6/1950, US President Truman sent US forces to support South Korea.

25/6/1950. Start of the Korean War. North Korea invaded the South, crossing the 38^th parallel, which was the border.

26/5/1951, Lincoln Ellsworth, American Arctic and Antarctic explorer, and scientist, died.

2/4/1951, NATO Allied Command Europe came into being.

1950, The Defense Production Act was passed, allowing public corporations to borrow from the US Treasury if national security was at stake.

13/12/1950. Marshall Aid to Britain stopped.

7/11/1950, In US elections, the Republicans gained 30 seats in the House of Representatives.

1/11/1950, �Puerto Rican nationalists Griselio Torresola and Oscar Collazo attempted to assassinate President Harry S Truman. Torresola was killed during the attack, but Collazo was captured. Collazo served 29 years in a federal prison, being released in 1979. Don Pedro Albizu Campos also served many years in a federal prison in Atlanta, for seditious conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government in Puerto Rico

12/9/1950, Louis A Johnson resigned as US Secretary of Defence. He was succeeded by George Marshall.

19/7/1950. President Truman asked the US Congress for a big rise in military spending.

22/1/1950, In the USA, Alger Hiss, former advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt, was convicted of perjury for denying contacts to Soviet agents. Hiss had liaised with Chambers, editor of Time Magazine and a Communist agent. A previous trial of Hiss ended in a hung jury; this day he received 5 years in prison. Senator McCarthy used this case to allege that the US State Department was riddled with Communist agents.

31/1/1950. President Truman told US scientists to make an H-Bomb.

17/9/1949, The first meeting of NATO was held.

24/8/1949, The North Atlantic Treaty, NATO, came into force.

9/5/1949. Billy Joel, American singer and songwriter, was born in the Bronx, New York.

4/4/1949. The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington. NATO was set up on 18/3/1949, by Britain and seven other European countries. Denmark had agreed to join on 25/3/1949. Eleven countries signed in total.

20/2/1949, Ivana Trump, US socialite was born.

9/2/1949, US actor Robert Mitchum was jailed for 2 months for smoking marijuana.

7/1/1949, Marshall was succeeded by Acheson as US Secretary of State.

16/11/1948, US President Truman refused to participate in talks with the Soviets on the future of Berlin until the blockade was lifted.

15/10/1948, US President Gerald Ford married widow Elizabeth Bloomer Warren.

23/9/1948, 12,000 people attended a rally of the American Communist Party at Madison Square Garden.

2/9/1948, Christa McAuliffe, US� teacher who died in the Challenger space shuttle disaster in 1986, was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

2/8/1948, Alger Hiss testified in the US McCarthy anti-Communist hearings, using the phrase �Reds under the bed�.

15/7/1948. John Pershing, commander of the US Army in France in World War One, nicknamed �Black Jack�, died in Washington DC.

30/4/1948, The Organisation of American States was set up. The agreement, covering all 21 of the republics in the Americas, was signed at Bogota, Colombia. The fourteenth state ratified the treaty on 13/12/1951, thereby formally legally validating the treaty.

19/4/1948, The USA tested a plutonium bomb at Eniwetok Atoll.

31/3/1948. (1) US Congress passed the Marshall Aid Bill.. On 3/4/1948 President Truman signed the Economic Assistance Act, putting in effect Marshall aid for 16 countries in war-torn Europe. The first aid shipments to Europe left the USA on 5/4/1948.

(2) Al Gore, US Vice President under Bill Clinton, noted for his strong pro-environmental stance, was born.

15/3/1948. US coal miners went on strike for better pensions.

1947, In the US, the Department of Defense was established by the National Security Act of 1947. The Department of war and the Department of tte Navy, which had both existed since 1789, were merged. Until 1949 the new agency was known as the National Military Establishment,

5/10/1947. In the US, President Truman urged Americans to give up meat on Tuesdays and poultry and eggs on Thursday to aid Europe.

18/9/1947, The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was founded, under the 1947 National Security Act. Created by President Truman, it was a response to the Cold war with the Soviet Union.

5/6/1947. US Secretary of State George Marshall announced the Marshall Plan to help Europe recover from near� bankruptcy following the War.� See 16/4/1947.

8/5/1947. In the USA, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began investigating alleged Communist links in the Hollywood movie industry.

16/4/1947, (1) The phrase �Cold War� was first used, in a speech by Bernard Baruch in Columbia, South Carolina, when the US Congress was discussing the �Truman Doctrine�.� This was a doctrine of checking further Communist expansion into Europe by giving economic and military aid to governments threatened by communist subversion.� This was followed within 2 months by the Marshall Plan (5/6/1947).

(2) Ammonium nitrate stored aboard the freighter Grandcamp exploded in Texas City Port, killing 752.

12/3/1947, US President Truman spoke of a Cold War (see 5/3/1946) against Communism. He instituted the �Truman Doctrine�, whereby the US would give military and economic access to any countries deemed to be under Soviet threat, such as Greece or Turkey.

27/2/1947, In the USA, Donald Acheson outlined, in the State Department, what was to become known as the Truman Doctrine, aimed at containing Soviet expansion.

21/2/1947. The world�s first soap opera, �A woman to remember�, began on USA television.

4/2/1947, US politician Dan Quayle was born

25/1/1947, Al Capone, American gangster and leader of organised crime in Chicago during the Prohibition era, died aged 48 due to a major brain haemorrhage, virtually penniless. In 1931 he was jailed for 11 years income tax evasion; he was released from Alcatraz in 1939, suffering from syphilis and prematurely aged.

For prisons click here

7/1/1947, George Marshall was appointed US Secretary of State.

5/12/1946. New York was chosen as the permanent site of the UN.

5/11/1946, In the US, Republicans gained control of Congress.

23/10/1946, The first New York meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organisation took place.

28/7/1946, Howard C. Petersen, US Assistant Secretary of War, announced that, in addition to deaths in combat, 131,028 American and Filipino citizens, mostly civilians, had died "as a result of war crimes" from December 7, 1941 until the end of World War II.

23/7/1946, The last German prisoners of war in the United States were released, as 1,385 POWs were placed on the ship General Yates, following detention at Camp Shanks in New York. In all, there had been 375,000 German prisoners kept in the US at the end of World War II.

13/7/1946, The US House of Representatives approved a loan to Europe.

4/7/1946. The Philippines was granted independence from the USA.� Manual Roxas was elected as the first President.

17/6/1946, Barry Manilow, American singer and songwriter, was born in New York City.

12/6/1946, John H. Bankhead II, U.S. Senator for Alabama since 1931, died aged 73

18/4/1946. The League of Nations was formally dissolved, after the United Nations had been set up on 24/10/1945. See 26/6/1945.

5/3/1946. Winston Churchill referred to an �Iron Curtain� descending across Europe, in a speech at Fulton, USA. The first public acknowledgement that the Cold War had begun. See 12/3/1947.

10/2/1946, The first �GI brides� arrived in the USA to live with their new partners. When US servicemen were stationed in the UK, British males complained they were �overpaid, oversexed, and over here�. Many British women became engaged or married to them. Now the GI brides assembled at camps in Hampshire, to be shipped over to the USA aboard the Queen Mary.

29/1/1946, Harry L Hopkins, US government social administrator, died aged 56.

19/1/1946, Dolly Parton, American Country and Western singer, was born in Sevierville, Tennessee.

10/1/1946, The League of Nations was officially dissolved, after 26 years, and replaced by the United Nations.

21/12/1945, US General Patton was killed in a road accident whilst commanding the 5^th US Army in West Germany.

6/12/1945, U.S. General George C. Marshall testified at the Pearl Harbour inquiry that he did not anticipate the attack but that an "alert" defence would have prevented all but "limited harm�.

5/12/1945. Five US Navy bombers on a training flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, disappeared over the area later known as the Bermuda Triangle, with 27 crew. When radio contact with the 5 planes was lost, a 6^th plane was sent to search for them; it too disappeared without trace.

2/12/1945, The Arab world began a general boycott of Israel, to geographically isolate the country. The boycott was to cover not just companies trading with Israel or with Israeli companies but also companies doing business with these companies. In 1977 the US, under President Carter, declared it illegal for US companies to participate in this boycott. In the 1990s Israel insisted upon the dismantling of the boycott, which was estimated to have cost the country some US$ 40 billion, as part of the Peace Process. In 2001, however, the Arab League�s Boycott Office resumed activities as part of its support for the Palestinians during the Intifada.

24/10/1945. The United Nations Charter came into force, see 18/4/1946.

15/9/1945, Japan was occupied by Allied forces under General MacArthur.� See 28/4/1952, and 14/8/1945.

12/9/1945, An estimate of War casualties reckoned that Britain had lost 420,000 members of the armed forces; the US had lost 292,000, and the USSR, 13 million. German loss of military men was put at 3.9 million, Japan�s at 2.6 million. British civilian casualties from air raids were set at 60,000, with 860,000 severely injured.

8/9/1945. The USA and USSR agreed to divide the Korean Peninsula.

4/9/1945, The Japanese garrison on Wake Island formally surrendered to the USA, see 23/12/1941..

2/9/1945, Formal surrender of Japan, see 14/8/1945. The Japanese Chief of Staff, General Yoshijiro Umezo, signed the surrender document on board the USS Missouri, in front of General McArthur.

28/8/1945. US troops landed in Japan.

20/8/1945, The US terminated the Lend Lease Act, as hostilities had ceased� Passed by US Congress in 1941, it offered help to the UK, under attack from the Nazis.� However US aid to Europe continued under the Marshall Plan.

14/8/1945. Japan surrendered unconditionally. This marked the end of World War II. VJ day was officially celebrated on the following day, the 15^th August. The Japanese surrender was officially accepted by General Douglas MacArthur on the US aircraft carrier Missouri on 2/9/1945.

10/8/1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan announced he was prepared to surrender unconditionally. The US cancelled plans to drop two further atoms bombs, scheduled for 13 and 16 August.

9/8/1945 The second atomic bomb was dropped, on Nagasaki. 40,000 were killed here.� The intended target, Kokura, was obscured by cloud.

6/8/1945. The first atomic bomb was dropped, on Hiroshima, Japan, from the B29 bomber Enola Gay. At 8.15 in the morning a nuclear chain reaction in the bomb built up a temperature of several million degrees centigrade. In 0.1 milliseconds a fireball at 300,000 degrees centigrade was created, and this expanded to 250 yards in diameter one second after detonation. The mushroom cloud reached 23,000 feet into the sky. 78,000 of the city�s population of 300,000 was killed, some instantaneously, by the blast, some later by the firestorm that the bomb created, and another 90,000 injured, many seriously.

4/8/1945, The US dropped leaflets over Hiroshima, warning that their city was to be obliterated.

29/7/1945, Japan rejected a US ultimatum to surrender. The US estimated that 1 million Allied casualties would ensue from a land invasion of Japan.

16/7/1945. The atom bomb, produced at Los Alamos, was tested at Alamogordo airbase in the desert of New Mexico. See 8/3/1950.

25/6/1945. The Charter for the United Nations was drawn up in San Francisco, and signed by 50 countries. This was the successor to the League of Nations. See 18/4/1946.

22/6/1945. US troops captured Okinawa.

8/5/1945. VE Day. The Second World War officially ended in Europe, at one minute past midnight. Field Marshall Keitel signed the final capitulation.

5/5/1945. Elsie Mitchell and the five children she was looking after were killed in Oregon by a Japanese balloon bomb.� They ware the only people killed in enemy action on the US mainland during World War Two.

25/4/1945, US and Soviet forces met on the Elbe near Torgau.

24/4/1945, Himmler offered to surrender the German Reich to the governments of Great Britain and the USA.

19/4/1945, US forces took Leipzig; the city was later handed to the Soviet sector, East Germany.

18/4/1945, US troops under General Patton entered Czechoslovakia.

17/4/1945. US troops captured the Buchenwald concentration camp.

1/4/1945, The Battle of Okinawa began as US troops landed on the island. US victory came 83 days later.

23/3/1945. The US 2^nd Army crossed the Rhine. By 20/4/1945 British troops had advanced 200 miles into Germany.

16/3/1945, Iwo Jima was totally occupied by US forces; 4,590 US soldiers were killed, out of a force of 30,000 attacking 23,000 Japanese who were heavily dug in with underground bunkers. See 19/2/1945. Iwo Jima, just 750 miles from Tokyo, could now be used as a base to bomb some 66 Japanese cities in an attempt to force a Japanese surrender.

4/3/1945, US General McArthur returned to the Philippines, fulfilling a promise that �we shall return� he made in 1942 when advancing Japanese troops forced him to flee on a torpedo boat.

19/2/1945, US forces began the invasion of Iwo Jima, see 16/3/1945.

16/2/1945. (1) US Air Force began heavy raids on Tokyo.

(2) The US took Bataan, Philippines.

4/2/1945. The Yalta Conference between the Allied leaders Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill opened in the Crimea. This conference concluded on 11/2/1945. Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin all had very different aims. Roosevelt wanted to disengage US troops from Europe to defeat Japan. Stalin wanted to extend Soviet influence as far west into Europe as possible. Stalin got to occupy eastern Poland, as agreed in Tehran on 28/11/1943. Churchill wanted to build a democracy from the ruins of Germany. The ailing Roosevelt trusted Stalin�s assurance that he would work to build a �peaceful and democratic world�. The West insisted that Greece be given a western-style democracy, but otherwise all of eastern Europe fell under the Soviet sphere. Stalin also gained Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands in return for a war effort against Japan that was never made. Yalta set the world order for the next 45 years.

3/2/1945. (-94) The US recaptured Manila, which had fallen to the Japanese on 2/1/1942. Manila was not totally cleared of Japanese soldiers till 24/2/1945.

9/1/1945. Luzon in the Philippines was taken by the US from the Japanese.

4/1/1945, Severe Kamikaze attacks on US ships.

3/1/1945, The Dies Committee (see 26/5/1938), formed to monitor activities by Nazis and Communists within the USA, was given permanent status as the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

See also China/Japan/Korea for World War Two in Pacific

22/12/1944, An American unit was surrounded at Bastogne by the German advance in the Battle of the Bulge.� The unit held out until relieved on 26/12/1944. Inside Bastogne, General Anthony C McAuliffe received a message from the besieging Germans inviting him to surrender; his reply, scrawled on the surrender invite, was one word� -�NUTS�.

25/11/1944, The first Kamikaze (divine wind) suicidal attacks were made by Japanese pilots on US ships.

24/11/1944. US planes bombed Tokyo, for the first time since 18/4/1942.

27/10/1944, The Japanese fleet suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, effectively ending its role as a fighting force.� This was the world�s largest naval battle, which began on 22/10/1944, involving a total of 231 ships and 1996 aircraft.

20/10/1944. General Mac Arthur returned to the Philippines as liberator with 250,000 troops, fulfilling a promise ha made when his forces retreated from the Japanese.

7/10/1944, The Dumbarton Oaks Conference ended.

21/8/1944, Meetings began at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington DC, on starting the Charter of the United Nations.� These meetings ended on 7/10/1944.

21/7/1944, Guam, in the western Pacific, was liberated by US Marines.� It had been under Japanese occupation since December 1941.

20/7/1944. Tbe USA began to retake the island of Guam from the Japanese.

19/7/1944, Leghorn retaken by American forces.

26/6/1944, Naval fighting between the USA and Japan off the Marianas Islands.

19/6/1944, The USA took Saipan.� It took over three weeks to defeat the Japanese, at a cost of 3,000 Americans dead and 17,000 wounded; 27,000 Japanese also died.� The US did not attempt to capture all Pacific islands in their path to Japan, only selected ones, leaving other heavily-armed islands to �wither on the vine�.� The Japanese fought fiercely and had no fear of death; many �Banzai�-charged the US soldiers, led by officers wielding swords.

13/6/1944. Fifteen US warships bombarded Saipan with 165,000 shells. Saipan, with Tinian (see 1/8/1944), was a small Pacific island halfway between Australia and Japan, occupied by the Japanese. 8,000 US marines landed on Saipan on 15/6/1944; Japanese troops hid in caves but were attacked with flame throwers. On 7/7/1944 3,000 cornered Japanese troops, along with hundreds of civilians jumped to their death rather than surrender.

8/5/1944, Eisenhower settled on 5, 6, or 7 June as date for the D-Day landings

24/4/1944. The Japanese evacuated New Guinea as US troops landed.

29/2/1944. US troops landed at Los Negros in the Admiralty Islands.

15/2/1944, The US cleared the Solomon Islands of Japanese forces.

14/2/1944, Carl Bernstein, the journalist who exposed the Watergate scandal along with Bob Woodward, was born.

16/1/1944, General Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe.

1943, The Pentagon was completed to house the offices of the US Department of War (see 1947).

17/12/1943, US President Roosevelt repealed the Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1882 and 1902, and signed the Chinese Act. This made Chinese residents of the US eligible for naturalisation, and allowed an annual immigration of 105 Chinese.

28//11/1943. The main Allied leaders, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, all met in Tehran. Co-ordinating the Normandy landings with a Russian attack on the eastern front was discussed, also a Russian attack on Japan, and a post-war United Nations Organisation. All agreed that the USSR could have eastern Poland as far west as the Curzon line, and Poland would be compensated with lands in eastern Germany. This was confirmed at the Yalta Conference of 4 � 11 February 1945.

23/11/1943. US forces retook Makin in the Gilbert Islands.

3/11/1943. US miners ended a 6 month strike.

9/6/1943, US Congress approved the Pay as You Go scheme for deducting income tax from salaries.

1/6/1943, The close of the Hot Springs Conference (opened 18/5/1943); the Allies discussed World War Two.

26/5/1943, Edsel Ford, president of the Ford Motor Company from 1919, died.

14/5/1943, Jules Gabriel Fisher, Louisiana State Senator, died (born 15/4/1874).

1/4/1943. The rationing of meats, fats, and cheese began in the USA.

13/3/1943, J P Morgan Jnr, US financier, died aged 75.

9/3/1943. Bobby Fischer, chess champion, was born in Chicago. He took the world title from Boris Spassky in 1972.

9/2/1943. The USA reported that Japanese resistance in Guadacanal and the Solomon Islands had ceased.

15/1/1943. The Pentagon, built to house the US Defence Department, opened in Arlington, Virginia, on the Potomac River.

14/1/1943. Churchill, de Gaulle, and Roosevelt met at Casablanca. They demanded the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers.� Plans were made for the invasion of Sicily increased US bombing of Germany, and the transfer of British forces to the far east once Germany was defeated.

28/11/1942, 492 died in a fire at Cocoanut Grove nightclub, Boston, USA.

10/11/1942, William Crozet, US artillery expert, died.

17/6/1942, President Roosevelt met with Winston Churchill in Washington to discuss war production and military strategy.

8/6/1942. (1) Battle of Midway Island (4-8 June). The Japanese withdrew after 4 days of shelling. See 27/5/1942. The Japanese ability to mount strategic attacks in the Pacific was effectively ended. The US lost 500 men, the Japanese lost 3,500 men.

(2) Churchill arrived in Washington for talks with Roosevelt.

7/6/1942, The US aircraft carrier Yorktown was sunk by the Japanese at Midway Island.

6/6/1942, The US and Japan both lost one destroyer each at Midway.

5/6/1942, Japanese Admiral Yamamoto realised the surprise factor had failed and ordered a withdrawal from Midway.

3/6/1942, The Japanese launched a diversionary attack on the Aleutians but did not draw US forces away from Midway.

2/6/1942, Task forces 16 and 17 rendezvous 350 miles north east of Midway.

30/5/1942, US Task Force 17 set sail from Pearl Harbour to join Task force 16 against the Japanese at Midway Island,

29/5/1942. Bing Crosby recorded the bestseller White Christmas for the soundtrack of the film Holiday Inn.

28/5/1942, US Task Force 16 sailed to intercept the Japanese fleet bound for Midway Island.

27/5/1942, A Japanese fleet left Japan on operation M.1, the capture of Midway Island. They hope to repeat the surprise factor of Pearl Harbour; however the US had cracked the Japanese radio codes and were ready, see 8/6/1942

18/4/1942, US planes bombed Tokyo and other Japanese cities; the �Doolittle Raids�. See 24/11/1944.

21/3/1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This established the War Relocation Authority, to move Japanese in the US away from the west coast. Some 110,000 Japanese in the US were interned in WRA camps, although most of the 150,000 Japanese in Hawaii were not interned.

3/3/1942, The USA declared the West Coast a military area and evacuated some 100,000 civilians.

24/2/1942, Joe Lieberman, US politician, was born.

23/2/1942, Lend Lease was made reciprocal between the USA and Britain.

10/2/1942, American bandleader Glen Miller was presented with a gold record of his popular tune �Chattanooga Choo Choo�; the tune was the first to hit one million sales.

27/1/1942, Jacqueline Cochrane, US aviatrix, flew a US bomber to the UK, for raids against Germany.

26/1/1942, American troops landed in Northern Ireland.

25/1/1942, Siam (Thailand) declared war on Britain and the USA.� The USA did not declare war on Siam.� Many Thai sympathised with the Allied side.

17/1/1942, Muhammad Ali, American boxer, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, as Cassius Clay.

23/12/1941, Wake Island (US territory) surrendered to the Japanese, see 4/9/1945.

11/12/1941. Hitler declared war on the USA, as did Italy, even though he had not yet conquered Russia or invaded Britain. The USA declared war on Germany and Italy.

See also China/Japan/Korea for World War Two in Pacific

See also France-Germany (from 1/1/1870) for main events of World War Two in Europe

8/12/1941. Britain and the USA declared war on Japan. Costa Rica, El Salvador, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic also declared war on Japan, and China declared war on all the Axis powers. Britain declared war on Finland, Rumania, and Hungary.� Siam (Thailand) agreed to the passage of Japanese forces through its territory to attack British Malaya.

7/12/1941. Japanese attack on the USA fleet in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. Pearl Harbour was taken entirely by surprise and within 2 hours 360 Japanese warplanes had destroyed 5 battleships, 14 smaller craft, and 200 aircraft. 2,400 people, many of them civilians, were killed. However the Japanese failed to find and destroy America�s all-important aircraft carriers, both of which were away on manoeuvres. The Japanese force then turned west to strike the British in the East Indies, Australia, and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). The US Congress met to declare war in emergency session on 8/12/1941,

�much to the relief of Britain.

6/12/1941. Roosevelt appealed to Hirohito to avoid a war with the USA.

1/12/1941. The Japanese Emperor ratified the decision to go to war with the USA.

3/11/1941. President Roosevelt was warned by the US Ambasador to Tokyo of a possible Japanese attack on the USA.

11/10/1941, The Japanese Government approved plans for an attack on Pearl Harbour.

26/9/1941, The US proclaimed an embargo on steel and scrap iron exports to Japan, with effect from 16/10/1941.

9/9/1941, Churchill met Roosevelt in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland.

26/7/1941, Britain and the USA froze Japanese assets.

10/4/1941. The USA sent troops to Greenland to protect arms supply lines from the USA to Britain.

22/3/1941, The Grand Coulee Dam, on the Columbia River, Washington State, began operating.

11/3/1941. In the USA, the Lend Lease Bill became law. In May 1940 Churchill had asked President Roosevelt for both arms and financial assistance in the war, which the USA was not to enter as a combatant until Pearl Harbour on 7/12/1941. Roosevelt was sympathetic to the British cause but had three obstacles to face. 1) Congress was isolationist, and Roosevelt did not wish to do anything to jeopardise his re-election prospects before November 1940. 2) The neutrality Act had to be amended to allow Britain and France to purchase arms for cash; this was done in November 1939. 3) The Johnson Act, 1934, forbade loans to any country defaulting on its loans, and Britain had still not paid back money it borrowed during World War One. In May 1940 Roosevelt authorised Congress to release from ordnance stores 500,000 WW1 rifles and 900 75mm field guns. In September 1940 Roosevelt provided Britain with 50 old destroyers in return for 99 year leases on British islands in the Caribbean and Newfoundland. In December 1940 Churchill requested American protection of Atlantic convoys and financial assistance to purchase further American arms. Roosevelt was advised that Britain had less than US$2 billion to meet arms purchases of US$ 5billion. Roosevelt coined the term �lend lease�, on the analogy of a neighbour who lends his hose if the house is on fire.

6/3/1941. Gutzon Borglum, American sculptor noted for his work on the Mount Rushmore heads of Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt, died.

30/1/1941, Dick Cheney, US Vice-President, was born.

6/1/1941. Roosevelt sent the Lend Lease Bill to Congress. Congress agreed the Bill on 11/3/1941.

4/1/1941. The German-born actress Marlene Dietrich became a US citizen.

17/12/1940, US President Franklin Roosevelt proposed �Lend Lease� for Britain.

7/11/1940. Britain, the USA, and Australia agreed on the defence of the Pacific.

16/10/1940, The first lottery to select US citizens for the military draft began; 158 were drawn this day.

27/9/1940. Imperial Japan signed a 10-year military and economic alliance with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. This was greatly disturbing to both the USSR and the USA; Japan and Russia had been enemies since the 1905 war, and Hitler�s alliance with Russia, signed in 1939,� was looking more uncertain.. The USA now realised that entering the war on the side of the Allies would now entail a war in the Pacific.

20/7/1940. The first singles charts were published in the US journal Billboard.

15/5/1940. Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time, in America. In New York. Alone, 72,000 pairs were sold in the first eight hours.

26/2/1940, The United States Air Defense Command was created, to provide co-ordinated air defence for the USA.

7/2/1940, Disney�s film Pinocchio was given a gala premiere in New York.

8/12/1939, As the UK began a naval blockade of Germany, the US protested at restrictions on international free trade.

23/11/1939, In the USA, Thanksgiving Day was now celebrated this Thursday, the 4th Thursday in the month, rather than the 30th,� the last Thursday as previous years. The retail lobby had persuaded President Roosevelt to make the change so as to lengthen the Christmas Shopping season by a week.

4/11/1939. President Roosevelt announced he would amend the Neutrality Act to allow Britain and France to buy arms from the USA. Roosevelt hoped this would avoid direct US involvement in the war.

18/10/1939, Lee Harvey Oswald, American assassin, was born in New Orleans.

13/10/1939, Hitler made an unsuccessful attempt to persuade US President Roosevelt to mediate a peace between Germany, France and Britain.

5/9/1939. President Roosevelt declared the USA neutral in World War Two.

2/8/1939, Albert Einstein wrote to US President Franklin D Roosevelt urging him to commit to research into the possibility of atomic bombs.

28/7/1939, William James Mayo, US surgeon and co-founder of the Mayo Clinic, died aged 78.

30/4/1939, The World Fair in New York opened. It was opened by President Franklin D Roosevelt, who became the first US President to appear on TV, as NBC began their TV news service this day.

14/4/1939, John Steinbeck�s The Grapes of Wrath was published.

1/4/1939, The USA recognised Franco�s government in Spain.

31/10/1938. A radio broadcast of H G Well�s War of the Worlds caused widespread panic because of its vivid realism. The adaptation of the play carried a warning that it was not for real but this warning was not broadcast until 40 minutes after the play had begun. Terrified Americans packed the roads, hid in cellars, loaded guns, and wrapped their heads in wet towels to protect themselves against Martian poison gas. The event proved both the power of mass media and the American capacity for hysteria.

26/5/1938, The Dies Committee was established by the US House of Representatives. Named after its Chairman, Martin Dies, its remit was to investigate �Un-American� activities by Nazis and Communists within the USA. See 3/1/1945.

5/4/1937, Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, was born.

22/1/1937, In the USA, the Ohio River flooded, killing 16 and making 150,000 homeless.

6/1/1937, In the USA, President Roosevelt forbade shipments of arms to either side in Spain.

1936, In the US, the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) was established. Riral telephone lines were also developed by the REA from 1949.

30/12/1936, Striking workers in the USA closed 7 General Motors plants.

12/11/1936, The San Francisco�Oakland Bay Bridge opened.

29/2/1936. President Roosevelt signed a second neutrality bill, banning loans to countries at war.

4/1/1936, The first pop music chart was compiled, based on record sales published in New York in The Billboard.

10/9/1035, Huey Pierce Long, Louisiana politician, was shot dead in Baton Rouge.� He had opposed �lying newspapers� and got the Louisiana legislature to impose a tax on any newspaper with a circulation of over 20,000.

31/8/1935, In the USA, President Roosevelt banned arms sales to warring countries.

14/8/1935. President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Bill, introducing welfare for the old, sick, and unemployed.

10/6/1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in the United States by Bill Wilson and Dr Robert Smith.

21/5/1935, Death of Jane Addams (born 6/9/1860). She founded Hull House, a mission to help poor immigrants in the US. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 for her efforts to promote pacifism after World War One.

6/3/1935, Oliver Wendell Jr, US Supreme Court Justice, died in Washington DC.

16/2/1935, Sonny Bono, US Congressman, was born.

8/1/1935. Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, the surviving brother of twins.

8/9/1934, The luxury liner Morro Castle caught fire off New Jersey, killing 134.

22/8/1934, Norman Schwarzkopf, US General, was born.

20/8/1934. The USA joined the International Labour Organisation.

7/8/1934, A US Appeal Court upheld a judge�s ruling to allow James Joyce�s work, Ulysses, to be sold in the USA.

22/7/1934, Bank robber John Dillinger was killed in an FBI ambush in Chicago.

9/6/1934. Donald Duck was created, in Walt Disney�s cartoon The Little Wise Hen. Walt Disney was born in Chicago on 5/12/1901.

23/5/1934. Bank robbers Bonnie Parker (23) and Clyde Barrow (25) were shot dead in an ambush by Texas rangers near Gibland, Alabama. Clyde met Bonnie in the caf� where she worked. She chose a life of excitement, drama, and danger, when she married the convict Clyde. She drove his getaway car as he robbed banks. A total of 12 people had died in their raids across the south western USA over the past 4 years. In 1930 Clyde was arrested but he escaped with Bonnie�s help and returned to bank robbery. After the death of the pair, people paid to see their bodies in the State morgue.

17/5/1934, Cass Gilbert, the US architect who designed many of New York�s skyscrapers, including the Woolworth Building, died.

26/4/1934, US railway companies averted a strike by reaching a settlement to gradually roll back the 10% pay cut imposed on the workers two years earlier.

18/4/1934. The first launderette opened in Fort Worth, Texas, by J F Cantrell. It was called a washeteria.

25/3/1934, The threatened US car workers' strike was averted when the Roosevelt administration created a National Automotive Labor Board to help resolve disputes

24/3/1934. The USA promised it would grant independence to the Philippines.

5/2/1934, Rioting broke out in the streets of New York over the cab driver strike as strikers fought with police and burned independent cabs.

16/11/1933, The USA established diplomatic relations with the USSR for the first time since the Russian Revolution.

7/11/1933, LaGuardia was elected Mayor of New York; he served until 1045.

31/10/1933, The carvings of the four heads of Presidents at Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, was completed.

30/9/1933, US President Franklin D Roosevelt announced the US$ 700 million New Deal for the poor.

25/6/1933, James Meredith, US civil rights activist, was born.

6/6/1933. The first drive � in cinema opened in Camden, New Jersey, with room for 400 cars.

27/5/1933, The �Century of World Progress� Fair opened in Chicago.

22/5/1933. President Roosevelt appointed Harry Hopkins as the administrator of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration. This was to give aid and work to the destitute in the USA as the 1930s Depression deepened. 29/10/1929 was the date of the Wall Street Crash.

24/4/1933, Felix Adler, US educationalist (born 13/8/1851) died.

20/3/1933, Guisepope Zangara, who attempted to murder US President-elect Roosevelt in February, was executed.

12/3/1933, In the US, President Roosevelt made the first of his �fireside chats� by radio to the people. He assured people that the banks were safe for depositing savings.

9/3/1933, In the US, the holding of gold bullion by private citizens was made illegal by the Emergency Banking Relief Act. This was a measure to ensure that all gold in the US was available to back the US Dollar during the Depression.

4/3/1933. President Franklin D Roosevelt was inaugurated in the USA. In the midst of the Depression, with banks closing, he said �We have nothing to fear but fear itself�.

23/1/1933, The US, under the 20th Amendment, moved the Inauguration Day of its Presidents from 4 March to 23 January. The aim was to reduce the �lame duck� period of an outgoing President.

7/9/1932, J Paul Getty II, US philanthropist, was born.

9/7/1932. King Camp Gillette, American inventor of the safety razor and blade, died.

16/7/1932, Rioting broke out in front of the White House by members of the Bonus Army who still refused to leave the capital. Contrary to tradition, President Hoover did not attend the final day of the 72nd Congress before adjourning until December due to safety concerns.

12/5/1932, The body of the kidnapped infant son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh was found, less than 8km from his home 8in New Jersey.

1/3/1932, The 20-month old son of Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped from the nursery of their home in Hopwell, New Jersey. He was found dead on 12/5/1932. Bruno Hauptmann was convicted of the crime and electrocuted.

8/3/1932. Franklin D. Roosevelt won the New Hampshire presidential primary

7/3/1932, 5,000 unemployed workers laid off by the Ford Motor Company marched through Detroit to demand relief payments. As the unarmed crowd got near Gate 4 of the River Rouge Ford Plant at Dearborn, armed police and security giards stormed out of the plant and fired on the workers, killing five.

22/2/1932. Edward Kennedy, American senator and younger brother of President Kennedy, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts.

13/11/1931, The Whitney Museum of American Art opened in New York City.

24/10/1931. Al Capone, 32, Chicago gang boss of the Prohibition era, was jailed for 11 years for tax evasion. He was also fined US$80,000. He was released in 1939 and died on 25/1/1947 of a brain haemorrhage.

1/10/1931, The Waldorf Astoria, on Park Avenue, New York, opened.� It was the world�s largest commercial hotel building.

17/9/1931. 33 1/3 rpm LP records were released in the USA.� They were demonstrated at the Savoy Plaza Hotel, New York.

31/7/1931, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, home of the Cleveland Indians, opened.� It was the largest baseball stadium in the world.

22/6/1931. In The USA, President Hoover suggested that German war reparations be suspended for a year to stimulate world trade.

19/3/1931, Indigestion aid Alka-Seltzer went on sale in the USA.

18/3/1931, The US company Schick Inc started to manufacture electric razors.

3/3/1931. The song, �The Star Spangled Banner�, became the American National Anthem.

30/12/1930, The Colonial National Monument in Virginia was proclaimed by President Hoover.

27/6/1930, Ross Perot, US politician, was born.

6/12/1929, US marines were sent to Haiti to quell a revolt there.

3/12/1929, President Hoover delivered his first State of the Union speech to Congress.

23/9/1929, The $1.5 million, 21,000-seat St. Louis Arena opened.

28/7/1929, Jacqueline Onassis, widow of President Kennedy, was born in Southampton, New York State, as Jacqueline Lee Bouvier.

14/2/1929. The St Valentines Day Massacre took place in Chicago. Seven members of Bugsy Moran�s gang were machine-gunned to death by a rival gang.

13/1/1929, Wyatt Earp, American lawman and hero of the OK Corral, died peacefully aged 81.

1928, Roosevelt, future US President, was elected Governor of New York.

7/12/1928, Noam Chomsky, US social scientist, was born.

19/9/1928. The first cartoon talking picture, Walt Disney�s Steamboat Willie, with Mickey Mouse (originally called Mortimer Mouse), was shown in New York.

6/7/1928, The first all-talking feature film, Lights of New York, was presented at The Sound Theatre, New York.

13/3/1928, In Los Angeles, 450 died when a dam burst.

21/1/1928, George Washington Goethals, American, chief engineer of the Panama Canal, died.

3/1/1928, US troops went to Nicaragua to fight the Sandinistas.

7/8/1927, The Peace Bridge opened between Canada and the USA.

21/1/1927, Telly Savalas, American film actor who played �Kojak�, was born in Garden City, New York.

19/6/1925, Bank robber Everett Bridgewater and two accomplices were arrested in Indianapolis, Indiana.

3/6/1926, Allan Ginsberg, US poet, was born.

13/1/1929, Wyatt Earp, American lawman and hero of the OK Corral, died peacefully aged 81.

10/10/1925, James Buchanan Duke, US industrialist, (born in Durham, North Carolina, 23/12/1856) died in New York.

26/7/1925, William Jennings Bryan, US Democratic Party orator and prosecutor in the Scopes �Monkey Trial�, born 19/3/1860 in Salem, Illinois, died in Dayton, Tennessee.

3/6/1925, Tony Curtis, US actor, was born.

26/5/1925, George Adams, US historian (born 3/6/1851) died.

31/3/1925, The Philadelphia Daily News began publication.

27/11/1924, The first Macy�s Thanksgiving Parade was held in New York City.

26/5/1924. The US cut immigration quotas from an annual 3% of the number of that nationality already in the US (enacted 1921) to 2%, and excluded Japanese citizens entirely. Japan protested.

13/4/1924, Calvin Coolidge was nominated as US Presidential candidate by the Republican Party

10/4/1924. The first crossword puzzle book was published in New York.

3/9/1923, The US recognised the Mexican government.

27/5/1923. Henry Kissinger, American Secretary of State, was born in Furth, Germany. Kissinger shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Le Duc Thuo for their part in ending the Vietnam War.

19/4/1923, The Yankee Stadium, new York, opened.

3/3/1923. The US magazine Time was first published. Republican-leaning, the magazine was to condense the news for time-pressed Americans, and could be distributed by rail in a country with no true national newspaper.

13/1/1923, The US Senate agreed to take in 25,000 Armenian orphans.

10/1/1923, The last US troops left Germany.

22/12/1922, New York�s last horse-drawn fire engine was taken out of ervice.

7/11/1922. In US Congressional elections, the Republican majority was reduced.

10/9/1922, Bernard Bailyn, US historian, was born.

15/8/1922, End of a coal strike in the USA (began 1/4/1922).

20/3/1922. President Harding recalled US troops from the Rhineland.

4/3/1922, In the USA the �Teapot Dome� scandal emerged. Secretary of the Interior Albert B Fall resigned as a Senate Committee investigated alleged unlawful leasing of Government oil reserves and other matters. In 1929 Fall was sentenced to 1 year in prison, also fined.

6/2/1922, The Limitation of Armaments Conference at Washington ended.

22/12/1921, US Congress set aside US$ 20 million for food aid to starving children in the USSR.

12/11/1921, The Limitation of Armaments Conference began in Washington.

10/11/1921, The US Marine Corps was founded.

25/8/1921. Peace treaty (Treaty of Berlin) signed between Germany and the USA.

11/8/1921, Alex Hailey, US author of Roots, was born.

19/5/1921. The USA introduced quotas for immigration, setting these at 3% of the each nationality in the US as it was in 1910. This favoured the British, Irish, Scandinavians, and Germans, and worked against the southern Europeans and Asians. The measure was backed by organised labour, worried about unemployment, by reformers worried about the poverty and slums in the US, and by those who felt that the Asian races were inferior to Europeans.

12/4/1921, US President Harding rejected joining the League of Nations.

10/12/1920, Woodrow Wilson and Leon Bourgeois were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

7/12/1920, US President Woodrow Wilson made his State of the Union speech.

9/11/1920, Philip Hodge, US engineer, was born.

16/10/1920, US Marines killed the Haitian rebel leader.

16/9/1920, A bomb exploded at the JP Morgan bank, killing 30 and injuring 100.

26/8/1920. Under the 19^th Amendment, women received the vote in the USA.

5/7/1920, In the US, the Democratic Convention nominated James M Cox for Presidency and F D Roosevelt for Vice-Presidency.

12/3/1920, Edward P. McCabe, African-American land agent who sought to make the Oklahoma Territory into a majority black state, died aged 69.

16/1/1920. Prohibition began in the USA (18^th Amendment), and the sale, manufacture, or involvement with alcohol was banned.

See also Morals and Fashion for more details on Prohibition.

5/1/1920. Radio Corporation of America was formed for world-wide broadcasting.

27/11/1919. A large meteor landed in Lake Michigan.

11/11/1919, Death of Andrew Carnegie, US steel magnate and philanthropist. Born in Dunfermline, Scotland, on 25/11/1835, his family moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when Andrew was 13. \he gave considerable sums to education and set-up the Carnegie Endowment for International Pece.

13/10/1919. Dock strike in New York.

2/10/1919, US President Wilson suffered a massive stroke, leaving his left side paralysed.

22/9/1919. Major steel strike in the USA.

9/9/1919, Boston, USA, police went on strike over low pay. Just 427 of the former 1,544 man force remained on duty, and crime soared. The militia were called in and the strikers sacked.

11/8/1919, Andrew Carnegie died aged 83 at his Berkshire Hills, Massachusetts, mansion. Out of his fortune, he had given away US$ 350 million in philanthropic donations.

15/1/1919, A tank containing 8.7 million litres of warm molasses in Boston, USA, burst. A 5-metre high wave of molasses swept through the docks area at 60 mph, wrecking buildings. 21 people were killed and 150 injured. Many died as the molasses cooled and became more viscous, suffocating its victims.

4/6/1918, Charles Warren Fairbanks, US statesman, died in Indianapolis, Indiana (born 11/5/1852 in Ohio).

12/5/1918, Julius Rosenberg was born (see 19/6/1953).

19/3/1918, US Congress passed the Standard Time Act making the 4 US time zones official.

Anti-Communism starts in USA

2/1/1920. Major US crackdown on suspected Communists began. The �Palmer Raids� in over 30 cities across the USA resulted in the arrest of almost 3,000 anarchists, communists and other radicals. These raids were the idea of Attorney-General A Mitchell Palmer. The raids were controversial; some protested at the disregard for civil liberties, but some on the Right wanted those detained to be executed. Palmer himself, a Democrat, lost the Presidential nomination� in late 1920 but maintained he had foiled a Bolshevik plot to overthrow the US Government.

31/8/1919. The US Communist Party was founded.

11/2/1919, The Overman Committee was set up in the US, and played a crucial role in constructing image of the Red Radical Soviet� threat to the US. It was a precursor to the HUAC (House Committee of Un-American Activities).

15/8/1918. The US severed diplomatic relations with the Bolshevik government of Russia.

USA enters the Great War, after attacks on its shipping

19/3/1920. The US Senate refused to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, and the US refused to join the League of Nations.

15/3/1919, Delegates from the American Expeditionary Force founded the American Legion Organisation of Veterans, to support veteran�s welfare.

3/2/1919, US President Woodrow Wilson attended the first meeting of the League of Nations in Paris.

14/12/1918, President Woodrow Wilson arrived in Paris for peace talks.

Post-War initiatives

11/11/1918. Armistice Day. World War One ended. Fighting ceased on the Western Front, and Austro-Hungary signed an armistice with the Allies. See 29/9/1918.� Church bells rang out across Britain in celebration. The Allies had not expected such a sudden collapse of Germany; in September 1918 they were planning campaigns for 1919. However General Ludendorff was shaken by the sudden Allied advance (see 8/8/1918) and begged Kaiser Wilhelm to seek an armistice immediately. The Armistice was signed in Marshal Foch�s railway carriage, near Compiegne.� Warsaw became the capital of a restored Polish State. The armistice required Germany to relinquish 5,000 heavy guns, 30,000 machine guns, 2,000 aircraft, all U-boats, 5,000 locomotives,� 150,000 wagons and 5,000 lorries. The surface fleet was to be interned (see 21/11/1918), the Allies were to occupy the Rhineland, and the blockade of German ports would continue. World War One cost 9 million lives, with a further 27 million injured. Britain alone had lost 750,000 men, and a further 200,000 from the Empire, with another 1.5 million seriously injured. The War had cost the Allies an estimated US$ 126 billion, and the Central Powers a further US$ 60 billion. Britons now celebrated, and wages rose, although higher food prices eroded some of those gains. Women, at least those over 30, finally had the vote, and smoking, gambling and movies boomed, with Charlie Chaplin as movie star.

The US was the greatest beneficiary of the War. US losses amounted to 53,000 men, a small number compared to 8,500,000 casualties of the European combatants. US industry had become more efficient, and key sectors such as chemicals had learned to do without Europe; the US aviation industry had been transformed. Economically, The US had needed European capital before 1914; by 1918 Europe owed the US some US$ 10,000 million.

29/9/1918. Allied troops captured part of the Hindenburg Line. Ludendorff called for an armistice to avert a� catastrophe for Germany. Negotiations opened with President Woodrow Wilson of the USA on 4/10/1918 but fighting continued till 11/11/1918.

8/4/1918, Betty Ford, US President Ford�s wife, was born.

12/2/1918, In New York, all Broadway theatres closed so as to save coal for the US War effort.

21/1/1918, The New York Philharmonic Orchestra banned all performances of works composed by living Germans.

7/12/1917. The USA declared war on Austria.

4/8/1917. The US said avoiding conscription could be punished with execution.

15/7/1917, US Congress passed the Espionage Act. Section 1� introduced heavy penalties, of up to 20 years in prison, for anyone causing insubordination or disloyalty in the armed forces, or obstructing recruitment; 2,000 prosecutions were brought under this measure. The Act also empowered the US Postmaster to exclude from the mail any material in violation of Section 1.

27/6/1917. American troops arrived in France to fight with the Allies.� The American expeditionary force was commanded by General John Pershing.

15/6/1917, The US passed the Espionage Act, under which persons could be fined or imprisoned for hindering the war effort; the Federal Government took control of the US railways.

See France-Germany for main events of World War One

18/5/1917. The US introduced conscription under the Selective Service Act. This required every male aged 21 to 31 to register for the draft on 6/6/1917. Local Boards would select half a million men for military service..

3/5/1917, US destroyers arrived to join the British navy.

24/4/1917, In the US the Liberty Loan Act authorised the issue of War Bonds.

20/4/1917. The US broke off relations with Turkey.

6/4/1917. The USA declared war against Germany, with a declaration signed by President Woodrow Wilson. This followed the revealing by the British on 1/3/1917 of the Zimmerman Telegram, a missive from Germany to Mexico urging it to declare war on the USA and recover its lost territories. The German Foreign Minister, Arthur Zimmerman, had sent a coded telegram to the German Ambassador in Mexico offering an alliance against the US, in which Mexico would recover its territories of New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. British naval intelligence intercepted and decoded the message and passed it to President Wilson. American shipping bound for Britain had also been attacked by German submarines.

The Germans did not believe that the US could raise and equip an effective army quickly enough to make a difference in Europe, and that even if they did, it could not be transported across a submarine-infested ocean. They seriously underestimated the determination and resources of the US.

Meanwhile this day the King and Queen of England attended a Thanksgiving service at St Pauls Cathedral for the US�s entry into the �war for freedom�.

2/4/1917, US President Wilson asked the US Congress to pass a resolution to declare war on Germany.

26/2/1917. News of the sinking of the Cunard liner Laconia by German U-boats reached capitol Hill just as Congress was debating measures to protect US shipping from the growing menace of U boats in the Atrlantic. Earlier in February 1917� a US ship, the Housatonic was sunk, making a total of 134 neutral ships destroyed by the Germans in the last 3 weeks. The US navy was already mounting patrols to protect its ships in the Atlantic.

7/2/1917. All US citizens in Germany were held as hostages.

See France-Germany for main events of World War One

3/2/1917. The USA broke off relations with Germany.

31/1/1917. Germany announced a policy of unrestricted naval warfare. All ships, passenger or cargo, found by Germans could now be sunk without warning. This was a calculated risk by Germany because it was bound to involve US shipping being sunk, and would therefore bring the USA in against Germany. But Germany reckoned on the inevitability of the USA entering the war against here soon anyway, and believed she could win the war before this happened. The German Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Von Holtzendorff, presented a memo to the Kaiser saying that if 600,000 tons of Allied shipping could be sunk each month, within five months Britain would have to surrender. In fact, in the worst month, April 1917, German U-boats sank 869,103 tons of shipping, 373 ships. The British adopted a convoy system, despite fears that a convoy�s speed was limited to that of the slowest ship. The Navy had feared it had too few destroyers for this job but then realised that it had enough if only ocean-going ships, not cross-Channel traffic, was guarded.

Meanwhile the British navy deployed Q-ships, gunships disguised as merchant ships which lured U-boats to the surface then opened their gun hatches at the last moment. The first trial convoy ran from Gibraltar on 10/5/1917. The convoy system worked; of 26,604 vessels convoyed in 1917, only 147 were sunk. Meanwhile the Germans lost 65 of their 139 U-boats. Meanwhile Allied shipping blockaded German trade, creating shortages of tea and coffee, but more seriously, fertiliser shortages too. In the final German land offensive of 1918, advancing German troops discovered their privations were not being endured by the enemy, and German morale fell.

2/7/1917, Race riots in Illinois, 75 Black people were killed.

9/3/1917, Dante Fascell, American politician (U.S. House of Representatives from Florida) was born in Bridgehampton, New York (d. 1998).

8/3/1917. US marines landed in Cuba to help the civil authorities.

2/3/1917. The US Congress passed the Jones Act, making Puerto Rico a US territory.

20/2/1917, The USA bought the Dutch West Indies.

5/2/1917, Immigrants to the US were now required to pass a literacy test. This law, inspired by the Immigration Restriction League founded in 1894, had been vetoed by US President Wilson, but was passed by Congress anyway. Those fleeing religious persecution were exempted, which allowed more Russian Jews to enter.

29/1/1917. Congress passed the Immigration Act (or, Asiatic Barred Zone Act), requiring all immigrants to know at least 30 words of English and banning all Asian migrants except Japanese. This followed on from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, banning further immigration from China. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1917 for further details.

1916, The US introduced its first tax on inherited wealth, an �estate tax�.

1/12/1916, The lights of the Statue of Liberty were turned on by President Wilson.

3/7/1916, Hetty Green, the wealthiest women in the USA died aged 80, leaving a fortune of US$ 100 million.

15/6/1916, In the US, the Democratic Convention nominated President Wilson as presidential candidate.

10/6/1916, In the US, the Republican Convention nominated Charles E Hughes as presidential candidate.

3/6/1916, US Congress established the Reserve Officers Training Corps for officer training in colleges.

29/3/1916, Eugene McCarthy, US Senator, was born.

15/3/1916. The US mounted a punitive raid into Mexico in revenge for the raids of Pancho Villa into New Mexico on 9/3/1916.

28/9/1915. Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg was born (see 19/6/1953).

US prepares for World War One, maintains neutrality despite Lusitania attack

7/5/1915. The Lusitania, captained by William Thomas Turner, was torpedoed. 1,400 people drowned 8 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, near Cork. 128 Americans were among the 1,208 casualties, including friends of President Woodrow Wilson and the millionaire yachtsman Alfred Vanderbilt, as the ship made its way back to Liverpool on a voyage from New York. America condemned the torpedoing of the ship by a German submarine as an act of piracy and this brought the USA into the War.

The 30,000 tonne Lusitania had sailed from New York on 1/5/1915. She carried 1,257 passengers, including 128 Americans; 702 crew; and an estimated 3 stowaways. Her cargo list, later a source of controversy, included small arms cartridges, uncharged shrapnel shells, cheese, furs, and, oddly, 205 barrels of oysters. The Germans later claimed the �oysters� were actually heavy munitions whose explosion had doomed the ship. However there was no second explosion after the torpedo hit; there were no heavy munitions and rifle rounds burned harmlessly, like firecrackers, and did not explode.

Cunard had shut down the Lusitania�s fourth boiler room to save on coal but even at the reduced maximum speed of 21 knots it was reckoned she could outrun any German U-boat. Passengers ignored warnings from the German Embassy published in the New York Press not to cross the Atlantic under a belligerent flag, and the lifeboat drills on board were palpably inadequate. The Lusitania had plenty of lifeboats but most were unlaunchable because the ship listed heavily as water poured through lower deck portholes, opened for air despite orders to close them.� She sank within 18 minutes of being hit.

The sinking of the Lusitania deepened American hostility towards Germany but President Woodrow Wilson�s administration was split between the hawks and doves, and it was another 2 years before America entered the war.

See France-Germany for main events of World War One

20/4/1915. President Wilson declared the USA to be strictly neutral in the Great War.

31/7/1914. The New York stock exchange closed with the outbreak of World War One.

Panama Canal completed

15/8/1914, The 40-mile long Panama Canal opened; construction work had begun on 4/7/1914. The first ship to pass through the canal, this day, was the SS Ancon.

17/11/1913. The steamship Louise became the first ship through the Panama Canal.

10/10/1913. The Panama Canal was completed.

15/3/1915, US soldiers under General Pershing entered Mexico to hunt down the revolutionary Pancho Villa.

28/1/1915, The US Coastguard was founded at Washington DC.

8/5/1914, The US Congress officially recognised Mothers� Day, setting it as the second Sunday in May thereafter.

21/4/1914, US troops occupied the Mexican city of Vera Cruz to prevent German weaponry reaching the Mexican military.

20/4/1914, US National Guard troops shot dead 3 striking mine workers, along with 2 women and 13 children, in Colorado.

1913, The United States Department of Labor was created, to promote the welfare of US workers.

1913, The Woolworth Building, designed by Cass Gilbert, was completed. Until 1930 it was the highest skyscraper in the city.

24/12/1913, The Italian Hall Disaster. A stampede at the Italian Hall in Calumet, Michigan killed 73 people (59 of them children) during a Christmas Eve celebration for over 400 striking miners and their families. An unknown person had yelled "Fire!" (even though there wasn't one). Speculation included the theory that an anti-union ally of mine management had yelled out the false alarm in order to disrupt the party.

23/12/1913, The Federal Reserve, the Central Banking system of the USA, was established.

14/5/1913, The Rockefeller Foundation was established, by US industrialist James Rockefeller.

8/4/1913, The 17^th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. This provided for the election of US Senators by direct popular vote, so ending the �millionaire�s club� that had dominated the US Senate.

31/3/1913, New York�s Ellis Island, where new migrants were processed, received a record 6,745 admissions.

27/3/1913, The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled unanimously in Futrell v. Oldham that Junius Futrell was the Governor of Arkansas, after Futrell and former President William Kavanaugh Oldham had both claimed the office

25/2/1913. In the USA, Federal income tax was introduced. By the 16^th Amendment the US Government was authorised to raise a tax of between 1% and 6% on incomes of more than US$ 4,000 (US$ 3,000 for bachelors) without having to share this tax revenue between the States of the Union according to their population.

3/2/1913. In the USA, the 16^th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified. This authorised the imposition of income tax.

1912, US President Taft passed an Act stipulating how the US flag should look (see 1818). It then had 48 stars.

2/11/1912, An explosion on the battleship USS Vermont near Norfolk, Virginia killed 2 and injured 4.

14/10/1912. President Roosevelt was shot and seriously wounded by a demented man in Milwaukee.

5/8/1912, In Chicago, the Progressive Party, nicknamed the "Bull Moose" Party to rival the Republican elephant and Democrat donkey, called itself to order as its founding convention opened at noon.

23/6/1912, A bridge over the Niagara Falls collapsed, killing 47.

22/6/1912, William Taft was nominated for a 2nd term as President.

12/4/1912, Clara Barton (born 25/12/1812 near Oxford, Massachusetts) died at Glen Echo, Maryland. She founded the American Red Cross in 1881, having worked in Europe with the Red Cross there to alleviate the suffering caused by the Franco-Prussian War.

14/2/1912. Arizona became the 48^th State of the USA.

6/1/1912. New Mexico became the 47^th State of the USA.

3/11/1911, Death of Norman Jay Colman, the first US Secretary of Agriculture (born 16/5/1827).

27/5/1911, Hubert Humphrey, US politician, was born (died 1978).

23/5/1911, The New York Public Library opened on 5th Avenue.

15/5/1911, After a long legal battle the US Supreme Court ordered that Standard Oil be broken up into 34 smaller companies, including Mobil Oil, Chevron and Exxon. Standard Oil had become a huge monopoly through trust agreements signed by its leader John D Rockerfeller in 1882, that gave it control over 75% of US refining capacity, 90% of US pipelines, and 15% of creude oil products. Standard Oil also had interests in gas, copper, iron, steel, shipping, banks, and railroad companies. The State of Ohio challenged this monopoly in Court , and in 1890 US Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, giving the Federal US Government the power to regulate corporate trusts that extended across State boundaries, In the 1904 Presidential Election Theodore Roosevelt began a trust-busting campaign, culminating in the 1911 Supreme Court decision against Standard Oil.

25/4/1911, Jack Ruby, killer of Lee Harvey Oswald, was born.

13/3/1911, L Ron Hubbard, US science fiction writer who founded the scientologists, was born.

17/2/1911, The city of Lakewood, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, was incorporated.

25/1/1911. US troops were sent to Rio Grande in the Mexican Civil War.

1/10/1910, Bonnie Parker, US outlaw of the Bonnie and Clyde duo, was born in Rowena, Texas.

30/9/1910, US terrorist J.B. McNamara planted a time bomb in a passage beneath the headquarters of the Los Angeles Times newspaper, with 16 sticks of dynamite set to explode after working hours. Two other bombs were placed outside the homes of the Times owner and the secretary of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association. The bomb outside the Times building detonated shortly after 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, triggering an explosion of natural gas lines and setting a fire that killed 20 newspaper employees.

6/7/1910, The city of Redmond, Oregon, was incorporated.

3/7/1910, Esau Jenkins, African-American educator was born (died 1972).

19/6/1910. Fathers Day was instituted in the USA.

18/6/1910, The city of Glendale, Arizona, was incorporated.

25/2/1910, Millicent Fenwick, US diplomat, was born.

16/12/1909, US marines forced the resignation of President Jose Zelaya of Nicaragua.

22/8/1909, 5 US workers died in steel industry riots.

24/3/1909, Clyde Barrow, one of the Bonnie and Clyde outlaws, was born in Toledo, Texas.

14/11/1908, Joseph McCarthy, US politician and lawyer noted for his purge against Communists, was born in Grand Chute, Wisconsin.

14/10/1908, George Harold Brown, US engineer, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

12/8/1908, The Model T Ford began rolling off the production line. Priced at US$ 825, the cost was kept low by mass production using standardised parts. Instead of one man assembling an entire car, each worker preformed just one task as the car moved along a conveyor belt. By this production line method, the time to assemble a car was cut from 14 hours to 2. To motivate his workforce, Henry Ford raised wages from US$ 2.34 for a 9 hour day to US$ 5 for an 8 hour day. Productivity improvements meant Ford could reduce the car�s price to US$ 300. Over 15 million Model Ts were built and by the time production ceased in 1927 half the cars in the US were Fords.

4/8/1908, William Boyd Allison, US legislator, died in Dubuque, Iowa (born 2/3/1829 in Perry, Ohio).

26/7/1908. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, was established in Washington DC. Before this date the US Department of Justice often called on Secret Service �operatives� to help in its investigations. These operatives were well trained and dedicated but expensive. They reported not to the Attorney General but to the chief of the Secret Service. Bonaparte created a special agents force, to report not to the chief of the Secret Service but to the Chief Examiner, Stanley Finch, later head of the FBI. This force of 34 agents later became a permanent part of the Department of Justice.

2/7/1908, Thurgood Marshall, US lawyer, was born (died 1993)

10/5/1908. Mothers Day was first celebrated in the USA.

21/3/1908, Abraham Maslow, US psychologist, was born (died 1970).

US� migration policy

24/2/1908. Japan and the USA agreed to limit Japanese migration to the US. President Roosevelt was concerned at working-class migration into the US following an influx of Chinese coolies. Chinese migration began to fall from its peak of 107,000 a year; Japanese migration only began more recently and in 1900 there were only 25,000 Japanese in the whole of the USA.

17/4/1907, A record all time high of 11,747 immigrants arrived at Ellis Island, New York, this day.

14/3/1907, The US President forbade Japanese labourers from entering the USA.

16/12/1907, The US sent a fleet of 16 battleships on a round-the-world tour, to demonstrate the military might of the USA.

23/11/1907, The Rockefeller institute was founded, with a US$ 2.5 million gift from John Rockefeller.

16/11/1907. Oklahoma was admitted as the 46^th State of the USA.

15/10/1907, The US town of Fontanet was almost totally destroyed when its gunpowder factory exploded.

1/3/1907, The New York Salvation Army Bureau set up a suicide counselling service.

Panama Canal

5/1/1909. The Colombian Government formally recognised Panamanian independence.

26/2/1907. President Roosevelt put the US army in charge of building the Panama Canal.

26/11/1906, US President Theodore Roosevelt returned to the USA from Central America, becoming the first American President to travel abroad whilst in office. On his 17-day trip aboard the US battleship Louisiana he visited Puerto Rico then went on to Panama to see how the construction of the Panama Canal was progressing.

4/7/1904. Work began on the 40 mile-long Panama Canal.� It opened on 15/8/1914.

18/11/1903, Panama granted the canal strip to US, by treaty ratified on 26/2/1904.

3/11/1903. Panama revolted and declared itself independent from Colombia. On 6/11/1903 the US recognised Panamanian independence. On 12/8/1903 the Colombian Senate had rejected US plans for a canal at Panama. On 18/11/1903 the US and Panama signed a treaty to build the Canal. See 22/1/1903.� On 2/11/1903 the US sent three warships to Panama.

12/8/1903, The Colombian Senate rejected US plans for a Canal at Panama, see 3/11/1903.

14/3/1903. The US Senate ratified construction of the Panama Canal.

22/1/1903. The USA and Colombia signed a treaty to allow construction of the Panama Canal. See 3/11/1903.

28/6/1902, The USA authorised the construction of the Panama Canal.

18/1/1902. A US Commission chose Panama as the site for a new canal.

24/1/1907, Alexander Russell Alger, US soldier and politician (born 27/2/1836 in Lafayette, Ohio) died in Washington DC.

9/10/1906. Death of Joseph Glidden in the USA; he invented barbed wire.��

22/6/1906, US President Roosevelt sued John D Rockerfeller�s Standard Oil Company for operating a monopoly. See 15/5/1911.

18/4/1906. Major earthquake hit San Francisco. Over 1,000 people were killed and large fires threatened upmarket homes on Nob Hill, after the water mains were destroyed in the quake. Overall, 3,000 acres of the city were devastated. The fire did more damage than the quake, it took 3 days to bring the blaze under control and 490 blocks were destroyed.

21/3/1906, John D Rockefeller III, billionaire philanthropist, was born.

17/2/1906, Alice Roosevelt, daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, married Ohio Congressman Nicholas Longworth.

24/12/1905, The US industrialist Howard Hughes was born.

11/12/1905, Edward Atkinson, US economist, died in Boston (born 10/2/1827 in Brookline, Massachusetts).

19/6/1905. The world�s first all motion picture cinema opened in Pittsburgh. For 10 cents admission there was a film, Poor But Honest, followed by The Baffled Burglar, accompanied by a melody on the� harp by Madame Durocher.

28/4/1905, Fitzhugh Lee, US cavalry General, died (born 19/11/1835).

17/3/1905, Joseph Hawley, US politician, died (born 31/10/1826).

28/2/1905, George Boutwell, US statesman, died in Groton, Massachusetts (born in Brookline, Massachusetts 28/1/1818).

23/2/1905, The Rotary Club was founded by Paul Harris and others, in offices in Dearborn, Chicago.

18/2/1905, Jay Cooke, US financier, died (born 10/8/1821).

10/2/1905. The state of Wisconsin passed a tax on bachelors aged over 30.

1904, The US Forestry Service was created, out of the Department of Agriculture, by President Roosevelt.

1/12/1904, The Great World Fair, at St Louis, USA, closed, having had millions of visitors from all over the world.

4/10/1904, Death of French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, designer of the Statue of Liberty.

30/9/1904, George Hoar, US politician, died (born 29/8/1836).

3/6/1904, Robert Keep, US educator, died (born 26/4/1844).

23/5/1904, Introduction of cheap steerage rates encouraged migration from Europe to the USA.

30/4/1904, The St Louis Exhibition opened.

22/4/1904. Robert Oppenheimer, American scientist who developed the US atomic bomb at Los Alamos, was born in New York City.

22/3/1904. In the USA, the Daily Illustrated Mirror carried the world�s first colour picture in a newspaper.

15/2/1904, Marcus Hanna, US politician, died (born 24/9/1837).

7/2/1904. A major fire destroyed much of the centre of Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

4/1/1904, The US Supreme Court ruled that Puerto Ricans could enter the US freely, but were not entitled to US citizenship.

2/1/1904, James Longstreet, US Confederate soldier, died (born 8/2/1821).

30/12/1903, Major fire at a Chicago theatre, 602 killed in a panic stampede for the exit.

22/7/1903, Cassius Clay, US politician, died (born 19/10/1818).

4/7/1903, President Roosevelt of the USA inaugurated the Pacific Communications Cable with a global message.

22/4/1903, The new New York Stock Exchange opened at 18 Broad Street.

21/3/1903, In the US, the grievances that caused the 1902 miners� strike were resolved with a 10% pay rise and shorter working day, The mine owners, however, refused to recognise the United Mine Workers Union.

3/3/1903. The USA passed a bill to limit immigration and ban �undesirables�.

15/2/1903, The first teddy bear was sold from Michtom�s candy store, New York. The origin of teddy bears was that in 1902 on a hunting trip by President Theodore Roosevelt, his assistants tied a bear to a tree so he could shoot it; Roosevelt refused such unsporting conduct and set the bear free instead.

5/2/1903, Henry Dawes, US lawyer, died (born 30/10/1816).

1902, (see also Prisons) Death of John Peter Atgeld (born 1847), who was a prison reformer ahead of his time. A German-born lawyer in Chicago, he was concerned about how the poor found it difficult to access justice. He was elected Governor of Illinois in 1892 and succeeded in passing laws regulating child labour and loosening the monopolies enjoyed by railways and tramways companies. He pardoned three anarchists imprisoned since 1886, and condemned President Cleveland for sending in troops to disrupt a railway strike. However he was then vilified by the press as a �Illinois Jacobin� and was defeated when seeking re-election in 1896.

31/12/1902, In� a test of the Monroe doctrine, British and German naval ships seized the Venezuelan navy and shelled a fort in Caracas, to enforce payment for property seized without compensation during the 1899 revolution. The US pressurised the two countries to end the blockade and refer the matter to the international court in The Hague.

15/10/1902, US President Roosevelt threatened to send in troops to end a miner�s strike.

15/9/1902, Horace Gray, US jurist, died (born 24/3/1828).

26/7/1902, Charles Adams, US historian (born 24/1/1835) died.

20/7/1902, John MacKay, US industrialist, died (born 28/11/1831).

20/5/1902, Cuba gained dependence, from US military rule, see 1/1/1899.

11/5/1902, Charles Collis, US soldier, died aged 64.

7/5/1902, The U.S. House of Representatives began consideration of statehood for the U.S. territories of Oklahoma, Arizona and New Mexico.

3/3/1902, In the USA, the Supreme Court banned dealing in �financial futures�.

16/2/1902, George Carter Needham, US evangelist, died aged 56.

2/12/1901, In the Insular Case, the US Supreme Court ruled that Puerto Ricans and inhabitants of other US overseas territories are US Nationals, but not US citizens, as the US Constitution only applied to areas incorporated by Congress.

30/11/1901, In the USA, Christmas tree lights were developed by the Edison Electric Company.

18/11/1901. US journalist and statistician George Gallup was born in Jefferson, Iowa.

29/10/1901, Anarchist Leon Czolgosz was executed by electrocution for assassinating US President McKinley

26/10/1901, William Holland, US abolitionist, died aged 87.

25/10/1901, A serious fire killed 19 people and left another 12 badly injured in Philadelphia, USA. The fire began in the 8-floor Hu8nt & Wilkinson furniture company and spread to three other buildings. The conflagration began in the basement and spread up the lift shaft.

24/10/1901, Ann Edson Taylor rode over the Niagara Falls in a padded barrel, and lived to tell the tale.

12/10/1901, President Theodore Roosevelt renamed the Executive Mansion as The White House.

10/9/1901, US anarchist Emma Goldman was arrested for her part on the plot to kill President McKinley.

3/9/1901, Theodore Roosevelt, then Vice-President of the USA, spoke the phrase �speak softly and carry a big stick�. Meaning use diplomatic negotiations but have military back up if needed. This became known as �big stick diplomacy�.

6/8/1901, The town of Lawton, Oklahoma, came into being as the United States Land Office began auctioning lots divided from a 320-acre townsite located near the U.S. Army's Fort Sill.

29/7/1901, The Socialist Party of America was founded at Indianapolis.

17/7/1901, Daniel Butterfield, US soldier, died (born 1831).

4/7/1901, US Republican, Taft, was appointed Governor of the Philippines. replacing a former military government with civilian rule. He announced an amnesty for all former rebels who took an oath of allegiance to the USA.

21/5/1901, Fitz-John Porter, US soldier (born 31/8/1822) died.

25/2/1901, �Zeppo� Marx, the youngest of the Marx Brothers, who became their agent, was born in New York City as Herbert.

24/2/1901, After 53 ballots without any single candidate attaining a majority, the legislature of Oregon elected former Senator John H. Mitchell to be one of its two United States Senators.

8/2/1901, Benjamin Prentiss, US Major General who had distinguished himself at the Battle of Shiloh, died aged 81.

10/1/1901, Major oil discovery in Texas, USA. The salt dome of Spindletop had been suspected of containing oil since 1865; this day oil was struck; a gush of oil 6 inches wide rose over 200 feet, and was visible for over 10 miles. The population of nearby Beaumont rapidly rose from 10,000 to over 50,000, as oil production at Spindletop reached 100,000 barrels per day. Oil production in the area lasted until 1950.

27/11/1900, Cushman Davis, US politician, died (born 16/6/1838).

20/9/1900, John McClernand, US soldier, died (born 30/5/1812)

8/9/1900, Over 5,000 were killed when a hurricane hit Galveston, Texas.

5/7/1900, Henry Barnard, US educationalist, died in Hartford, Connecticut born in Hartford, Connecticut 24/1/1811).

21/6/1900, In the US, the Republican Party Convention renominated McKinley for Presidency and Theodore Roosevelt for vice-Presidency.

9/5/1900, Striking tramway workers in St Louis, USA, blew up a tramcar.

16/4/1900. The world�s first book of stamps was issued, in the USA.

8/4/1900, In the first major event associated with the introduction of Buddhism to the United States, Buddha's birthday was celebrated in an elaborate ceremony in San Francisco. The Buddhist mission had begun its outreach to European-Americans in weekly lectures beginning on January 4.

5/2/1900, Adlai Stevenson, US politician, was born (died 1965).

27/1/1900, Hyman Rickover, US Admiral was born in Mak�w Mazowiecki, Poland (died 1986)

4/1/1900, Jacob Cox, US General, died (born 27/10/1828).

2/1/1900. New York�s first electric omnibus began operating.

23/12/1899, Dorman Eaton, US lawyer, died (born 27/6/1823).

22/12/1899, Dwight Moody, US evangelist, died (born 5/2/1837).

2/12/1899. In Washington, the USA, Britain, and Germany signed a treaty dividing the Samoan Islands between the USA and Germany.

21/11/1899, Garrett Hobart, US Vice-President, died (born 3/6/1844).

5/10/1899, James Harlan, US politician, died (born 26/8/1820).

9/4/1899, Stephen Field, US jurist, died (born 4/11/1816).

6/9/1899. The US Secretary of State, John Hay, embarked on an �open door� policy towards China. He also urged the European powers, and Japan, to respect China�s territorial integrity and pursue a policy of free trade with China.

31/7/1899, Daniel Brinton, US archaeologist, died (born 30/5/1837).

1/7/1899, The first juvenile court sat, at Cork County Court, Chicago.

26/6/1889, Simon Cameron, US politician, died (born 8/3/1799).

24/5/1889, Laura Bridgman, US blind deaf mute, died (born 21/12/1829).

18/3/1899, Othniel Charles Marsh, US palaeontologist, died in new Haven, Connecticut.

17/1/1899, Al Capone, American gangster who operated in Chicago, was born in Naples, Italy.

19/11/1898, Don Carlos Buell, US soldier, died (born 23/3/1818).

28/9/1898, Thomas Bayard, US statesman, died in Dedham, Massachusett (born in Wilmington, Delaware, 29/10/1828).

US battle for the Philippines, 1898-1899 See also Philippines for more details of the Philippine independence struggle against the USA

24/11/1899. US forces finally captured Luzon in the Philippines after nine months of jungle warfare. The US was awarded the Philippines in 1898 but found it hard to subdue the territory. Insurrectionist leader Emilio Aguinaldo wanted independence and declared the Malolos Republic in 1898. Aguinaldo continued a guerrilla war from the mountains.

4/2/1899, A rebellion against US rule broke out on the Philippines. The US had backed General Emilio Aguinaldo against Spanish colonial rule (see 10/12/1898), but instead of independence the Philippines came under US rule.

1/1/1899, The official date on which US military rule succeeded Spanish rule of Cuba.

12/12/1898, The Treaty of Paris ended the US-Spanish war.

10/12/1898, The war between Spain and the USA ended. The USA acquired Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and. for a US$20 million indemnity, the Philippines. See 4/2/1899.

18/10/1898, The USA took formal possession of Puerto Rico from Spain.

13/8/1898, US forces captured Manila, capital of the Philippines.

28/7/1898, Puerto Rico surrendered to US forces.

3/7/1898, The US navy destroyed a Spanish fleet attempting to escape the US blockade on the port of Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.� On 5/7/1898 US forces captured Santiago itself.

20/6/1898, The US navy seized the island of Guam.

1/5/1898, US forces under George Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay, Philippines.

24/4/1898, The United States declared war on Spain as a result of the sinking of the battleship Maine in Havana harbour on 15 February 1898. Fighting began in the Philippine Islands at the Battle of Manila Bay on 1 May 1898, where Commodore George Dewey destroyed a Spanish fleet. The war ended when the USA and Spain signed a peace treaty in Paris on 10 December 1898. As a result Spain lost control over the remains of its empire, including Cuba.

20/4/1898, The US demanded the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Cuba.

15/2/1898, The US warship Maine blew up in Havana harbour, Cuba.� Spanish sabotage was suspected.� The USA declared war on Spain on 24/4/1898.

27/3/1898, Gloria Swanson, American silent-film star, was born.

1/1/1898. The boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, Richmond, Manhattan, and The Bronx united to form Greater New York.

22/2/1897, Darius Couch, US soldier, died (born 23/7/1822).

19/2/1897. The Women�s Institute organisation was founded at Stoney Creek in Ontario by Mrs Hoodless. The first W I meeting was on 25/9/1897. The W I idea was brought to England by a Mrs Watt during World War One.

13/1/1897, Mr and Mrs Bradley Martin, members of New York�s �top 400�, threw an extremely extravagant party in which the ballroom of the Waldorf Astoria was made into a replica of Versailles. This event, in the face of an economic recession, attracted much criticism in the popular press, and the Martins fled to England.

26/6/1896. The world�s first permanent cinema opened in New Orleans; admission was 10 cents. Britain�s first cinema opened in Islington on 5/8/1901, and charged between 6d and 3s for entry. However by World War One most cinemas were only charging 3d or 6d. The first drive in cinema opened on 6/6/1933 in Camden, New Jersey, and could hold 400 cars.

22/6/1896, Benjamin Bristol, US politician, died (born 20/6/1832).

26/5/1896, In the USA, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shares index was first published.

5/5/1896, Silas Adams, US politician died (born 1839)

4/1/1896. Utah became the 45^th State of the USA.

17/12/1895. Relations between the US and Britain were under severe strain because of a border dispute between Guiana and Venezuela.

26/8/1895. A hydroelectric plant designed by Nikola Tesla and built by Westinghouse opened at Niagara Falls.

28/5/1895, Walter Gresham, US statesman, died (born 28/5/1895).

24/5/1895, Hugh McCulloch, US financier, died (born 7/12/1808).

31/1/1895, Ebenezer Hoar, US politician, died (born 21/2/1816).

1/1/1895, J Edgar Hoover, American criminologist and founder of the FBI, was born in Washington DC.

14/12/1894. Eugene Debs, President of the American Railway Union, was jailed for 6 months for ignoring an injunction to end the Pullman strike. The strike began on 11/5/1894 when the Pullman Company reduced wages but did not cut rents for workers living in company housing.� The strike turned violent with riots and burning or railroad cars. Attorney-General Richard Olney obtained an injunction to end the strike on the grounds it was obstructing the mail, and when this was ignored federal troops arrived in Chicago to enforce the court order. By 10/7/1894 the strike was broken.

22/11/1894. The USA and Japan signed a commercial treaty.

7/10/1894. Andrew Curtin, US politician, died (born 22/4/1817).

1/5/1894. David Coxey, who led a march of 100,000 unemployed to the capital, Washington, to demand economic reform, was arrested.

13/4/1894, David Field, US lawyer, died (born 13/2/1805).

28/3/1894, George Curtis, US lawyer, died (born 28/11/1812).

2/3/1894, Jubal Anderson Early, US Confederate General (born 3/11/1816 in Franklin County, Virginia) died in Lynchburg, Virginia.

3/1/1894, Elizabeth Peabody, American educator and founder in 1960 of the first kindergarten in the US, died aged 89.

26/1/1893, Abner Doubleday, US soldier, died (born 26/6/1819).

11/1/1893, Benjamin Butler, US politician, died (born 5/11/1818).

11/5/1893, Samuel Armstrong, US soldier and philanthropist, died in Hampton, Virginia (born 30/1/1839 in Maui, Hawaii).

5/5/1893, Panic selling hit the New York Stock exchange. In the ensuing crash, some 500 banks and 15,000 companies went bankrupt.

20/2/1893, Pierre Beauregard, American Confederate General, died.

27/1/1893, James Blaine, US statesman, died in Washington DC (born in Pennsylvania 31/1/1830).

15/12/1892, Paul Getty, US oil tycoon, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

2/12/1892, Jay Gould, US financier, died (born 27/5/1836).

17/8/1892, Mae West, US film actress, was born in Brooklyn, New York.� She was the daughter of a boxer.

30/3/1892, Roger Mills, US politician, was born.

US restricts immigration, especially from China

1902.The Chinese Exclusion Act was extended to include those of Oriental origin from Hawaii and the Philippines, and such exclusion was made permanent.

17/3/1894, The USA and China signed a Chinese Exclusion Treaty, whereby China consented to the exclusion of Chinese labourers from migration to the USA. This year the US established an Immigration Bureau, and a group of Boston citizens formed an Immigration Restriction League, which campaigned for literacy tests for immigrants to the US. This was aimed against Chinese, Slavs and Latin-Americans.

5/5/1892, US Congress passed the Geary Chinese Exclusion Act, extending all restrictions on Chinese immigration to the USA for another 10 years, and requiring all existing Chinese immigrants to register or face deportation.

1/1/1892, New York opened an immigration office on Ellis Island to cope with the flood of immigrants to the USA.

Many were fleeing political and religious persecution in Russia and Central Europe. Named after Samuel Ellis, who owned the island in the 1770s, the new facility replaced older cramped facilities at The Battery on Manhattan Island.

3/3/1891, US Congress voted to establish a US Office of Superintendent of Immigration.

1/10/1888, In an attempt to curb Chinese immigration, US Congress ruled that any Chinese

worker who had left the USA could not return again.

4/7/1891, Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President of the USA, died (born 27/8/1809).

7/4/1891, Phineas T Barnum, American circus showman, died aged 80.

21/3/1891, Joseph Johnston, US Confederate General, died.

4/3/1891, US Congress passed the Copyright Act, to protect authors, composers and artists.

14/2/1891, William Sherman, Union Army commander in the American Civil War, died in New York City.

17/1/1891, George Bancroft, US politician, died in Washington (born in Worcester, Massachusetts 3/10/1800).

7/1/1891, Charles Devens, US lawyer, died (born 4/4/1820).

24/11/1890, August Belmont, US financier, died in New York (born in Prussia 8/12/1816).

6/8/1890, In New York�s Auburn prison, the electric chair was used for the first time on the murderer William Kemmler. This method of execution was attacked as constituting �cruel and unusual punishment� but was upheld in the US State and Federal Courts. By 1906 115 murderers had been executed by �electrothanasia�, and the method was had also adopted by the US States of Ohio (1896), Massachusetts (1898), New Jersey (1906), Virginia (1908) and North Carolina (1910).

13/7/1890, John Fremont, explorer of the US Midwest, died (21/1/1813).

10/7/1890, Wyoming was admitted as the 44^th State of the USA.

3/7/1890, Idaho became the 43^rd State of the Union.

2/7/1890, The US government passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, banning trade monopolies. With more than 90% of the US oil trade in the hands of the Rockerfeller family, and sugar, wheat, and alcohol prices also governed by mysterious �trusts�, the US government felt that these trusts threatened the economic structure of the USA. A judge, Mr Justice Harlan, said that these trusts were another form of slavery, as capital became concentrated in the hands of a few.

1/6/1890, The US Census Bureau began using Herman Hollerith�s tabulating machine to count census returns.� Hollerith�s company eventually became IBM.

14/4/1890, The Pan-American Union was established at the first International Congress of American States.

28/3/1890, Washington State University was established in Pullman, Washington.

8/3/1890, North Dakota State University was founded in Fargo, North Dakota.

11/11/1889. Washington became the 42^nd State of the Union.

8/11/1889, Montana became the 41^st State of the Union.

2/11/1889, North and South Dakota became the 39^th and 40^th States of the Union.

24/9/1889, Daniel Hill, US Confederate soldier, died (born 11/7/1821).

3/6/1889, The first �long-distance� electric power transmission line in the US was completed.� It ran 14 miles from a generator at Williamette Falls to downtown Portland, Oregon.

22/4/1889, The great land rush in the US, see 2/5/1890.

22/3/1889, Stanley Matthews, US jurist, died (born 21/7/1824).

8/3/1889, John Ericsson, Swedish-US inventor and engineer, died in New York City (born in Langbanshyttan, Sweden, 31/7/1803).

22/2/1889, US President Grover Cleveland signed a Bill admitting North and South Dakota, Montana, and Washington, as US States.

25/10/1888, Richard Byrd, US naval officer and polar explorer, was born in Winchester, Virginia.

9/10/1888, The 555-foot high white marble Washington Monument was opened.� It was designed by Robert Mills.

18/4/1888, Roscoe Conkling, US lawyer and politician, died in New York City (born 30/10/1829 in Albany, New York).

4/3/1888, Amos Alcott, US educationalist, born 29/11/1799, died.

25/12/1887, Conrad Hilton, American hotelier, was born in San Antonio, New Mexico.

23/11/1887, Violence erupted in a sugar cane workers strike in Louisiana, and at least 20 Black people were killed.

8/11/1887, John Henry Holliday, US gunfighter, died.

8/3/1887, Henry Beecher, US preacher, died in Brooklyn (born in Litchfield, Connecticut 24/6/1813).

21/2/1887, James Geddes, US soldier, died (born 19/3/1827).

26/12/1886, John Logan, US politician, died.

21/11/1886, Charles Adams, US diplomat (born 18/8/1807 in Boston) died in Boston.

28/10/1886, The Statue of Liberty in New York was unveiled by President Grover Cleveland.� It was presented by France to mark the 100^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and designed by the French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi; it took more than nine years to complete.

31/8/1886, Earthquake hit Charleston, USA. .27 were killed and 90% of the city�s buildings were damaged, with US$5 million incurred. However the city soon recovered.

22/8/1886, Amos Lawrence, US philanthropist, died (born 31/7/1814).

28/5/1886, John Bartlett, US historian, died in Providence (born in Providence, Rhode Island 23/10/1805).

20/5/1885, Frederick Frelinghuysen, US statesman, died (born 4/8/1817).

4/5/1886, The Haymarket Square Riot in Chicago. A bomb exploded at a trades union rally, killing 7 policemen and injuring 70 other people. Four people were executed by the State of Illinois, and the incident greatly eroded public support for the trades union movement.

1/5/1886, Over 100,00 workers across the USA went on strike for an 8 hour day. A bomb thrown by Anarchists in Chicago on 4/5/1886 killed 7 police and strikers and injured 60 more. The perpetrator was never found but a judge ruled that seven who had incited the event were as guilty and sentenced them to death. One committed suicide, four were executed, and two had their sentences commuted.

9/2/1886, Winfield Hancock, US General, died (born 14/2/1824).

14/11/1885, Horace Chaflin, US merchant, died (born 18/12/1811).

10/9/1885, The town of Stafford, Kansas, was officially incorporated as such. The boundaries of Stafford County were fixed by the US legislature in 1868, and was named in honour of Lewis Stafford, a Civil War soldier who was killed ion the Battle of Young�s Point. For several years the county had no permanent settlers, but was inhabited by buffalo hunters, cowboys, and surveyors. The first permanent inhabitants arrived in May 1874. Early industries included the gathering of buffalo hides and bones left by earlier settlers; buffalo bones fetched US$3-US$9 a ton. Many of the first houses were made of earth, or sod, hence the first town here was called �Sod-Town�, renamed Stafford in 1885.

23/7/1885, Ulysses Grant, American commander of the Union Army, Republican politician and 18^th President from 1869 to 1877, died of cancer in Mount McGregor, near Saratoga, New York State.

19/6/1885. The Statue of Liberty arrived in New York from France. The statue was dedicated to the US-France friendship on 28/10/1886 by President Cleveland. The Statue was 300 foot high, of a woman holding a tablet with the date 4 July 1776 on it. The 225 ton structure made of hand-hammered copper sheet on a steel frame was assembled in France then dismantled and shipped to the USA.

4/5/1885, Irvin McDowell, US soldier, died (born 15/10/1818).

24/2/1885, Chester Nimitz, American admiral and commander in the Pacific during World War II, was born in Fredericksburg, Texas.

13/1/1885, Schuyler Colfax, US politician, died (born 23/3/1823).

16/6/1884, The first purpose-built roller coaster, the Switchback railway, opened at Coney Island, New York.

4/7/1884, The Statue of Liberty was formally presented to US Minister Morton by Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps.

21/5/1884, The Statue of Liberty was completed. Work on it was begun in 1874 by Auguste Bartholdi, in Paris.

21/3/1884, Ezra Abbot, US scholar of the Bible, died in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

27/12/1883, Andrew Humphreys, US soldier, died (born 2/11/1810).

23/10/1883, The Metropolitan Opera House in New York opened.

4/4/1883, Death of Peter Cooper, US inventor and steam locomotive designer (born 12/2/1791).

14/2/1883, Edwin Morgan, US politician, died (born 8/2/1811).

16/1/1883, The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act in the USA instituted a more meritocratic system of recruitment to the Civil Service, replacing the former �spoils� system.

1882, The US passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, to halt Chinese immigration into the USA. See 29/1/1917.

30/6/1882, Charles Guiteau, who shot and killed US President James Garfield on 6/7/1881, was hanged.

3/4/1882, Jesse James, US outlaw, died.

26/10/1881, The gunfight at the OK Corral, Arizona, took place between Doc Holliday and Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp and the Clantons and McLaurys.

13/9/1881, Ambrose Burnside, US soldier, died (born 23/5/1824).

3/8/1881, William George Fargo, co-founder of the Wells Fargo Express in 1852, died aged 65.

4/7/1881, The outlaw William H Bonney, or Billy the Kid, born 23/11/1859, was shot dead in New Mexico by lawman Pat Garrett. He reputedly killed his first man before he was a teenager.

31/12/1880, George Marshal, US general and politician who originated the Marshal Plan for the post World War Two reconstruction of Europe, was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

27/11/1880, George Crittenden, US soldier, died (born 20/3/1812).

1/6/1880, The first public telephone call box was installed, in New Haven, Connecticut.

8/3/1880. President Hayes of America declared that the USA will have jurisdiction over any canal built across Panama.

26/1/1880, Douglas MacArthur, American military commander in the south-west Pacific in World War Two, was born near Little Rock, Arkansas.

8/11/1879, Margaret Eaton, acquaintance of US President Jackson, died (born 1796).

1/11/1879, Zachariah Chandler, US politician, died (born 10/12/1813)

13/10/1879, Henry Carey, US economist, died (born 15/12/1793).

30/8/1879, John Hood, US soldier, died (born 1831)

26/6/1879, Henry Richard Anderson, US soldier, died in Beaufort, South Carolina (born 7/10/1821 in South Carolina).

21/4/1879, John Dix, US politician, died (born 24/7/1798).

9/3/1879, Elihu Burritt, US philanthropist, died (born 8/12/1810)

2/1/1879, Caleb Cushing, US statesman, died at Newburyport, |Massachusetts.

10/12/1878, Henry Wells, partner of William Fargo, died.

4/10/1878, The first Chinese Embassy in the USA opened, in Washington DC.

12/6/1878, Benjamin Bonneville, US military engineer and explorer, died in Foret Smith, Arkansas. An extinct glacial lake which once covered NW Utah is named in his honour.

28/1/1878, America�s first commercial telephone switchboard exchange opened in New Haven, Connecticut.

1/11/1877, Oliver Morton, US politician, died (born 4/8/1823).

29/10/1877, Nathan Forrest, US Confederate General, died (born 13/7/1821).

8/4/1877, William Muhlenberg, US philanthropist, died (born 16/9/1796).

27/9/1876, Braxton Bragg, US soldier, died in Galveston, Texas (born in North Carolina 22/3/1817).

2/8/1876, Death of Wild Bill Hickok, Marshall of Kansas City, who gunned down many outlaws; he was shot in the back this day.

1/8/1876, Colorado became the 38^th State of the USA.

10/2/1876, Reverdy Johnson, US politician, died (born 21/5/1796).

9/1/1876, Samuel Howe, US philanthropist, died (born 10/11/1801).

2/10/1875, San Francisco�s Palace Hotel opened.

10/6/1875, Duff Green, US politician, died (born 15/8/1791).

17/5/1875, The Kentucky Derby horse race, USA, was first run.

17/12/1874, William Cushing, US naval officer, died (born 4/11/1842).

9/12/1874, Ezra Cornell, US industrialist who founded Cornell University in Ithaca, died.

7/12/1874, Race riots in Vicksburg, Mississippi, 75 Black people were killed.

17/9/1874, The White League rioted against the Black Government in New Orleans,USA.

15/9/1874, Benjamin Curtis, US jurist, died (born 4/11/1809).

15/4/1874, Jules Gabriel Fisher, Louisiana State Senator, was born (died 14/5/1943).

29/1/1874, John D Rockefeller, US entrepreneur, was born.

23/12/1873, Sarah Grimke, US social reformer, died (born 6/11/1792).

19/11/1873, John Hale, US politician, died (born 31/3/1806).

9/10/1873, Charles Walgreen, US entrepreneur who founded Walgreens, was born.

7/5/1873, Salmon Chase, US jurist, died (born 13/1/1808).

6/5/1873, John Brodhead, US historical scholar, died (born 2/1/1814).

13/4/1873, In the USA, the Colefax Massacre occurred when 300 armed White men clashed with militant African-Americans over a disputed local election result in Louisiana. Over 100 African Americans were killed.

4/3/1873, The New York Daily Graphic became the world�s first illustrated daily newspaper.

1/2/1873, Matthew Maury, US naval officer, died (born 24/1/1806).

5/12/1872, The Marie Celeste was spotted drifting, crewless, in the Atlantic near The Azores, and was boarded by the crew of the Dei Gratia. The 206 ton Marie Celeste had left New York on 7/11/1872, captained by Benjamin Briggs, with his wife, daughter and eight crew on its way to Genoa, with a cargo of 1,700 barrels of alcohol, which was found intact. The lifeboat was missing but the captain�s table was set for a meal that was never eaten.

9/11/1872, A great fire broke out in the commercial district of Boston, USA, on the Saturday night. It burned until Sunday 10^th, and destroyed 767 buildings filled with merchandise. 14 lives and an estimated US$75million of goods were lost. Very little residential property was lost and the commercial district was soon rebuilt with better buildings and straighter roads.

7/11/1872, The 282 ton brigantine Marie Celeste set sail from New York on her ill-fated journey.

6/11/1872, George Meade, US soldier, died.

25/9/1872, Peter Cartwright, US Methodist preacher, died (born 1/9/1785).

9/4/1872, Erastus Corning, US politician and industrialist, died (born 14/12/1994).

25/1/1872, Richard Ewell, US soldier, died (born 2/2/1817).

6/1/1872, James Fisk, US financier, was shot and killed (born 1/4/1834).

26/10/1871, Thomas Ewing, US politician, died (born 28/12/1789).

17/10/1871, Death of Sylvester Mowry (born 17/1/1833). He was a miner and land speculator who promoted the establishment of the Arizona Territory.

11/10/1871, The Great Fire of Chicago ended.

8/10/1871, The Great Fire of Chicago started, killing 300 people. 90,000 were made homeless and US$ 200 million damage was done.� The fire ended on 11/10/1871; it was supposedly started in Mrs O�Leary�s barn in De Koven Street, by a cow upsetting a lantern. Four square miles of the city were destroyed, as a long spell of dry weather had made buildings tinder-dry.

11/7/1871, In New York City the ferryboat SS Westfield exploded, killing 104 people. Her boiler was severely corroded, but safety standards remained lax.

28/4/1871, James Mason, US politician, died (born 3/11/1798).

20/4/1871, In the US, the Klu Klux Klan Act outlawed paramilitary organisations such as the Klu Klux Klan.

24/12/1870, Albert Barnes, US theologian, died in Philadelphia (born in Rome, New York State, 1/12/1798).

12/10/1870, Robert E Lee, US Confederate General during the Civil War, died in Lexington, Virginia.

17/8/1870, Mount Rainier, Washington, was first successfully climbed.

14/7/1870, David Farragut, US naval hero of the Civil War, died in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

12/7/1870, John Dahlgreen, US Admiral, died.

22/6/1870, The US Department of Justice was established.

23/2/1870, Anson Burlingame, US statesman, died (born 14/11/1820).

9/2/1870, The United States weather service was published.

3/2/1870, In the US, the Fifteenth Amendment gave every US citizen, regardless of race, the right to vote.

10/9/1869, John Bell, US politician, died (born near Nashville, Tennessee 15/2/1797).

6/9/1869, William Fessenden, US politician, died (born 16/10/1806).

13/7/1869, Anti-Chinese-labourer riots in San Francisco.

10/5/1869, The first railroad across the USA from east to west, 1,776 miles long, was completed after three years work at a ceremony west of Ogden, in Utah. The Union Pacific Line finally met with the Central Pacific Line. Both companies raced to lay as much track as possible as they converged, spurred on by government payments of US$16,000 per mile, more for mountainous areas. A golden spike was driven in at Promontory Point, Utah, where the railways met. Travel time between New York and San Francisco was slashed from 3 months to 8 days.

8/4/1869, Harvey Cushing, US surgeon, was born.

7/11/1868, Royal Samuel Copeland, US politician, was born in Michigan.

3/11/1868, Ulysses S Grant, ultimate commander of the Union armies in the Civil War, was elected President of the USA.

9/10/1868, Howell Cobb, US politician, died (born 7/9/1815).

24/8/1868, George J Adler, US lexicographer (born 1821) died.

28/7/1868, The USA and China signed the Burlingame Treaty at Washington DC, defining mutual rights of migration between the two countries.

25/7/1868, President Johnson signed an Act creating the territory of Wyoming.

9/7/1868, The US passed the Fourteenth Amendment, during the period of �reconstruction� following the conclusion of the Civil War. It guaranteed equality before the law for Black and White people alike, specifically including ex-slaves here, and prohibited any State from �abridging their privileges� or� denying them �equal protection of the laws�. However, due to the fact that corporations are also �persons� before the law, the 14^th Amendment began to be used for purposes it was not intended for. The 14^th Amendment was used to shield companies from government regulation, and even, before the 1950s, to justify racial discrimination because it contained the words �separate but equal�. Later, in the 1980s, it was still being used to block so-called �positive discrimination� in favour of racial minorities.

23/5/1868, Kit Carson, US soldier and fur trapper who did much to open up the West to White settlers, died (born 24/12/1809).

13/3/1868, First impeachment trial of a US President. Andrew Johnson was accused of illegally removing a federal office holder. He was found not guilty and remained in office until the end of his term.

25/2/1868, Andrew Johnson, 17^th US President 1865-69, was impeached.

30/10/1867, John Albion Andrew, US politician, died in Boston (born 31/5/1818 in Windham, Maine).

28/8/1867, The Midway Islands, in the Pacific Ocean, were claimed for the US by Captain Reynolds.

29/7/1867, Charles Anthon, US classicist, died in New York (born 19/11/1797 in New York City).

1/3/1867, Nebraska became the 37^th State of the Union.

11/7/1866, James Lane, US politician, died.

13/4/1866, Butch Cassidy, American outlaw, was born.

4/3/1866, Alexander Campbell, US religious leader, died (born 12/9/1788).

12/2/1866. Invoking the Monroe Doctrine, the USA called for the withdrawal of French troops from Mexico. Maximilian, having failed to secure recognition of his regime from the US, now sought help from Napoleon III and the Pope, but his cause was hopeless.

25/12/1865, The Union stockyards at Chicago opened, on 345 acres of reclaimed swampland SW of the city. The shutdown of the Mississippi River as a trade route due to the US Civil War meant that Chicago replaced Cincinnati, Louisville and St Louis as the nation�s meat packing centre, along with the railways now serving Chicago. The new stockyards could hold 10,000 cattle and 100,000 hogs.

26/10/1865, Benjamin Guggenheim, US businessman, was born

27/4/1865, In the US, the paddle steamer Sultana exploded on the Mississippi River, killing 1,600 people on board.

End of slavery in the USA/ Klu Klux Klan founded

24/12/1865, The Klu Klux Klan was founded in the US by six men in Pulaski, Tennessee.

18/12/1865. Slavery was officially abolished in the USA with the ratification of the 13^th Amendment, signed on 1/2/1865. See 16/6/1858. The slave trade to the United States had been prohibited in 1807 but slavery continued in the southern States as the cotton trade grew. The publication of Harriet Beecher�s Uncle Tom�s Cabin in 1852 convinced many of the evils of slavery but Northerners were still reluctant to back a full abolitionist policy. But they did not wish to see slavery spread from the South either and this led to the American Civil War of 1861-65 after the election of Abraham Lincoln as president. Slaves were freed in areas joining the Northern side and in all areas after the 13^th Amendment was passed.

Assassination of President Lincoln

8/7/1865. Four of the conspirators involved in the murder of President Lincoln (see 15/4/1865) were hanged. Another three were sentenced to life imprisonment.

26/4/1865, John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln, died of a bullet wound incurred whilst resisting arrest in a burning barn on a farm near Bowling Green, Virginia.

14/4/1865. President Lincoln was shot by an assassin. He died the following day, 15/4/1865.The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, a failed actor, was himself shot dead on 26/4/1865. He had entered the Box Seven of Ford�s Theatre and shot the President in the back of the head with a single bullet. The audience was laughing, and few heard the shot. Booth then slashed at a soldier who rushed him, jumped on stage and shouted �Thus always to tyrants � the South is avenged�. Booth managed to escape the theatre, but was tracked down by police and federal agents. President Lincoln was buried on 4/5/1865 at Springfield, Illinois, where he began his legal career and where he married. See 8/7/1865.

Last stages of American Civil War. Confederates lose their last port and their capital

1/5/1867. The Confederate leader Jefferson Davies walked out of a Virginia courtroom, free after 2 years in prison. But he still faced treason charges, as well as involvement in the assassination of President Lincoln.

6/6/1865, USA civil war southern supporter William Quantrill, born 1837,, died from wounds sustained whilst trying to escape from Unionist soldiers.

26/5/1865. The Confederate Army under General Kirby Smith surrendered in Texas, fully ending the American Civil War.

10/5/1865. Jefferson Davies, Confederate President of the USA, was taken prisoner by Union forces in the American Civil War.

9/4/1865. The American Civil War ended when General Robert E Lee surrendered his Confederate army to General Ulysses S Grant at the Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The 27,000-strong Confederate army was effectively beaten but was seeking to gain access to a railway which could have taken them south to join with General Johnson�s forces in North Carolina. But Union forces blocked this move. The Confederate soldiers were allowed to keep their horses and small arms, on condition that they did not take up arms against the North again. This surrender effectively ended a conflict that had set brother against brother, and taken over half a million lives.

6/4/1865, The Battle of Sailor's Creek was fought near Farmville, Virginia, as part of the Appomattox Campaign, near the end of the American Civil War. The Confederates were defeated.

5/4/1865, Union troops destroyed the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia.

3/4/1865, Battle at Namozine Church, Virginia (Appomattox Campaign)

2/4/1865, Grant broke through at Petersburg, forcing the Confederates to abandon Richmond.

13/3/1865, During the American Civil War, the Confederates passed a law allowing African Americans to enlist in their army. Whilst their freedom was not explicitly promised, their being armed made them effectively free.

2/3/1865, President Lincoln rejected Confederate attempts to negotiate, demanding unconditional surrender.

22/2/1865, Wilmington, the last Confederate port, fell to the Union forces.

17/2/1865, Confederate troops abandoned Charleston. Sherman�s forces occupied Columbia, South Carolina.

6/2/1865, Robert E Lee became Commander of the Confederate forces in America.

1/2/1865, President Abraham Lincoln signed a Resolution proposing the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing slavery in the USA.

21/1/1865, Sherman left Savannah, starting an advance through the Carolinas.

24/12/1864, General Sherman captured Savannah, Georgia, from the Confederates.

1/12/1864, George Dallas, US statesman, died (born 10/7/1792).

15/11/1864, General Sherman set out on his march to Savannah, leaving Atlanta a ruin so the Confederates could not use it. He destroyed all arsenals, public buildings, machine shops, and depots, having evacuated all civilians.

31/10/1864, Nevada became the 36^th State of the Union.

20/10/1864, Charles Lowell, US soldier, died (born 2/1/1835)

19/10/1864, At the Battle of Cedar Creek, in the American Civil War, General Sheridan defeated the Confederates.

For the Saint Albans (Vermont) riad this day, see Canada.

24/9/1864, Joshua Bates, US financier, died in London (born in Weymouth, Massachusetts 10/10/1788).

19/9/1864, Sheridan repulsed Early at the Battle of Winchester, Virginia.

4/9/1864, John Morgan, US Confederate soldier, died (born 1/6/1825).

2/9/1864, Sherman took Atlanta, then marched across Georgia towards Savannah.

17/8/1864, Eight crewmen on the Confederate submarine HL Hunley sank the Union warship Housatonic with an explosive charge, killing five Northern sailors. This was the first time a submarine had sunk an enemy ship in wartime. The Hunley surfaced to signal success to shore with a blue light, then resubmerged. She never resurfaced.

7/8/1864, Philip Sheridan replaced Hunter.

5/8/1864, A Federal fleet under David Farragut won the Battle of Mobile Bay.

28/7/1864, At the Second Battle of Atlanta, the South under General Hood was again defeated.

22/7/1864, General Sherman defeated� Southern troops under General John Bell Hood, aged 33, at the Battle of Atlanta.

12/7/1864, Federal forces defending Washington DC repulsed Early.

5/7/1864, Early invaded Maryland, aiming at Washington DC.

27/6/1864, Battle of Kenesaw Mountains, Georgia. Confederate troops defeated Sherman�s forces, killing 2,000 of them to losses of only 270 of themselves.

18/6/1864, The USS Kearsarge, captained by John Wilmslow, sank the British built warship Alabama, a Confederate ship, off Cherbourg.

15/6/1864, Arlington Cemetery, the site of the unknown soldier, was established near Washington.

5/6/1864, Battle of Wilderness; Unionist victory.

3/6/1864, Battle of Cold Harbor. Fought in Virginia during the American Civil War, General Ulysses S Grant�s Unionist forces suffered heavy losses, 12,000 men, in an ill-judged attack on General Robert E Lee�s well-defended Confederate position. Although a Confederate victory, this battle served to maintain the Unionist strategy of maintaining unremitting pressure on the South..

23/5/1864, Battle of North Anna; Confederate victory.

21/5/1864, The Battle of Spottsylvania Courthouse ended.

19/5/1864, David Hunter replaced Sigel as Union Commander in the Shenandoah Valley.

15/5/1864, Battle of Drewry�s Bluff; Confederate victory.

11/5/1864, Battle of Yellow Tavern; Unionist victory.

7/5/1864, Sherman launched a campaign against Joseph Johnston in Georgia.

9/3/1864, General Ulyssses Grant was made Commander in Chief of the Union forces in the American Civil War.

2/3/1864, US President Lincoln rejected Confederate General Lee�s call for peace talks, demanding surrender.

23/11/1863, The Battle of Chattanooga in the American Civil War. The Confederates under Bragg were heavily defeated.

19/11/1863. Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, at the dedication of the military cemetery at Gettysburg. He said �government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth�.

2/11/1863, US President Lincoln was invited to make a speech at the dedication of the new cemetery at Gettysburg. Jefferson Davis visited Charleston and publicly stated that he believed the city would not fall.

17/10/1863, US Secretary of War Edwin Stanton boarded a train in Indianapolis, with orders for him to assume command of the Military Division of the Mississippi.

3/10/1863. President Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November to be a national holiday of Thanksgiving.

19/9/1863, The Battle of Chickamauga in the American Civil War. Confederate forces under Bragg won, but at a cost of over 2,000 dead and 14,600 wounded.

13/9/1863, Cyrus Adler, US historian (died 1940) was born.

26/8/1863, John Floyd, US politician, died (born 1/6/1807)

21/8/1863, The Quantrill raid, on Lawrence, Kansas.

11/7/1863, Conscription began for the Unionist Army in the US Civil war. Draft riots broke out in New York and other cities; 1,200 people were killed.

4/7/1863, Confederate forces under General Joseph Pemberton surrendered unconditionally to Federal troops who had besieged Vicksburg since May. This effectively split Confederate territory in two.

3/7/1863, The Battle of Gettysburg,, Pennsylvania, in the American Civil War, ended with the Confederate Army under General Robert E Lee routed and over 50,000 dead or wounded.� The Union victory was under General Meade

1/7/1863, The Battle of Gettysburg began. It ended on 3/7/1863 with a Unionist victory, although both sides lost heavily (Unionists, 23,000; Confederates, 25,000). With his defeat at Gettysburg, General Lee retreated having lost any hopes of foreign support for his cause.

20/6/1863, West Virginia became the 35^th State to join the Union.

3/6/1863, Lee began a campaign into Pennsylvania, partly to relieve pressure on his army in Virginia. This led to the Battle of Gettysburg, 1/7/1863.

10/5/1863, US General Stonewall Jackson died (born 21/1/1824).

6/5/1863, Lee (Confederate) defeated Hooker (Unionist) at the Battle of Chancellorsville.

3/5/1863, Despite a Confederate victory, their best General, Stonewall Jackson, was seriously injured. This day his arm was amputated; on 10/5/1863 he died of pneumonia.

30/4/1863, General Lee learnt of Hooker�s flanking manoeuvre and sent most of his forces to counter it, under Stonewall Jackson.

29/4/1863, Federal troops crossed the Rappahannock River below Fredericksburg to hold Lee�s forces in place whilst the flanking manoeuvre was completed.

27/4/1863, Hooker launched a flanking movement against Robert E Lee�s Army of Northern Virginia at Fredericksburg.

2/4/1863, Bread riots in Richmond, Virginia, as women protested at food shortages and high prices.

3/3/1863, President Lincoln signed the Conscription Act, compelling US citizens to report for duty in the Civil War or pay US$300. This would bolster the army and top up the war coffers.

26/1/1863, Joseph Hooker replaced Ambrose Burnside as Commander of the Army of the Potomac.

2/1/1863, The Battle of Stones River ended with Confederate forces under Braxton Bragg withdrawing from Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

13/12/1862, At the Battle of Fredericksburg in the American Civil War, Lee�s Confederate forces defeated� Major General Burnside�s soldiers, who were attempting to capture the town of Fredericksburg, despite being heavily outnumbered.

26/10/1862, McClellan crossed from Maryland into Virginia.

22/9/1862, In a deliberate attempt to cause social disruption in the Confederacy, President Lincoln proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the South from 1/1/1863.

17/9/1862, Battle of Antietam, in the American Civil War. Although technically a Confederate victory, both sides suffered major casualties and the Union cause gained enough credibility to issue their Emancipation Proclamation. In particular Lee�s Confederate forces could not now invade the North and had to retreat back into Virginia.

4/9/1862, Lee invaded Maryland. McClellan pursued him.

2/9/1862, Lincoln removed Pope from command after his defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run, and placed McClellan in charge of all Federal troops in the Washington area.

1/9/1862, Philip Kearny, US soldier, died (born 2/6/1815).

30/8/1862, At the second Battle of Bull Run, Virginia,Union forces under Pope were defeated by� Confederate forces under Lee, helped by Jackson.

3/8/1862, Lincoln recalled McClellan�s army. Lee launched an offensive in northern Virginia.

1/7/1862, Battle of Malvern Mill; Unionist victory.

27/6/1862, Battle of Gaine�s Mill; Confederate victory.

26/6/1862, Battle of Mechanicsville; Unionist victory.

9/6/1862, Battle of Port Republic; Confederate victory.

8/6/1862, Battle of Cross Keys; Confederate victory.

6/6/1862, Turner Ashby, US cavalry leader, died in a cavalry fight in Harrisonburg, Virginia (born 1824 in Virginia).

31/5/1862, In the US Civil War, Federal troops withdrew from the area between the James and York Rivers, after suffering heavy losses.

25/5/1862, Battle of Winchester; Confederate victory.

20/5/1862, The Homestead Act was voted in by US Congress. It Specified that any US citizen, or alien wishing to become a citizen, could have free, apart from a US$ 10 registration fee, 160 acres of Western land provided they made certain improvements and lived there for 5 years.

8/5/1862, Battle of McDowell; Confederate victory.

2/5/1862, Union forces occupied Baton Rouge.

1/5/1862, Union forces occupied New Orleans.

28/4/1862, Union naval forces led by Flag Officer David Farragut captured New Orleans.

15/4/1862, Nashville, Tennessee, became the first Confederate capital to fall to Union forces.

7/4/1862, In the American Civil War, the Federal Army under Grant defeated the Confederates under General Joseph Johnson, on the second day of the Battle of Shiloh, near the Tennessee River.

6/4/1862, The Battle of Shiloh began.

23/3/1862, Unionists defeated the Confederates at the Battle of Kernstown.

17/3/1862, McClellan�s Army of the Potomac began its campaign against Richmond.

14/3/1862, William Meade, US Bishop, died (born 11/11/1789).

9/3/1862, The first battle between iron-clad ships took place in the American Civil War. Merrymack was forced to retreat by the Union ship Monitor. This blocked Confederate access to New York, and gave the Unionists command of the sea. The Monitor was the first ship to be fitted with a revolving gun turret allowing her to fire at any target regardless of direction and after 1862 all combat ships were fitted with this turret.

4/3/1862, Confederate forces under Henry Sibley took Santa Fe.

1/3/1862, Stonewall Jackson received orders to prevent Federal forces in the Shenandoah Valley from advancing westward through gaps in the Blue Ridge Mountains and threatening Richmond, Virginia.

25/2/1862, �Greenbacks�, American banknotes, were first issued during the Civil War by Abraham Lincoln.

8/11/1861, The Unionist warship San Jacinto removed Confederate Commissioners from the British mailship Trent.

7/11/1861, Union forces won a major victory over the Confederates at Port Royal, South Carolina.

24/10/1861, The Pony Express Mail Service in America, running from St Joseph in Missouri to Sacramento in California, ended after operating for just over 18 months.� The Transcontinental telegraph line across the USA was completed.

21/10/1861, Unionist forces were defeated at the Battle of Ball�s Bluff.

2/10/1861, At the Battle of Bulls Bluff, on the Potomac River, the Unionists were defeated.

20/9/1861, The Battle of Lexington.

19/8/1861, The passport system was introduced in the USA.

16/8/1861, President Lincoln barred all commerce with the Confederacy.

10/8/1861, Union forces under General Nathaniel Lyon were defeated at Wilson�s Creek, Missouri.

21/7/1861, The first thrust by Unionist forces towards the Confederate capital at Richmond was repulsed at the first Battle of Bull Run.

18/7/1861, Skirmish at Blackburn�s Ford, Virginia.

14/7/1861, Nathan Appleton, US politician, died in Boston (born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire, 6/10/1779).

10/6/1861, Battle of Big Bethel, Virginia.

American Civil War gets underway, Initial successes for Confederates; Britain neutral

8/6/1861, Tennessee became the 11th State to leave the Union.

3/6/1861, Stephen Douglas, US statesman, died (born 23/4/1813).

24/5/1861, Federal troops crossed the River Potomac and occupied Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia.

13/5/1861, Britain declared its neutrality in the American Civil War.

20/4/1861, During the American Civil War, Colonel Robert E Lee resigned from the US Army when his home State of Virginia left the Union and joined the Confederates. He became Major-General of the Virginia forces.

17/4/1861, Virginia voted to secede from the United States, after the Battle of Fort Sumter and Abraham Lincoln's call for volunteers.

15/4/1861, President Lincoln called up 75,000 militiamen for 3 months.

19/4/1861, The first casualties of the American Civil War. An angry secessionist mob attacked troops headed for the US capital.

14/4/1861, The Battle of Fort Sumter ended. Confederates captured the fort.

12/4/1861, The American Civil War began between the 23 northern states and the 11 southern states. The Confederates fired shots on Fort Sumter. See 26/5/1865, end of Civil War. On 20/12/1860 South Carolina had seceded from the Union and between 9/1/1861 and 1/2/1861 six other states also seceded, mainly over the slavery issue. They set up the Confederate states.

Governor Pickens sent commissioners to Washington to claim possession of all US property in his state, including the forts on Charleston harbour. The northern, Union, forces meanwhile covertly abandoned Fort Moultrie, untenable against a land attack, and reinforced their position at Fort Sumter, on 26/12/1860. President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated at Washington on 4/3/1861. Lincoln faced the dilemma that seven slave states had seceded but eight remained in the Union. Any attempt at coercion would push these eight, apart possibly from Delaware, into the Confederacy. Many in the North favoured �letting the wayward sisters depart in peace�, and did not want war. The South was less averse to war because it believed the other slave states would rally to its aid. The South, outnumbered 2 to 1 in manpower and 30 to 1 in availability of arms, needed overseas aid to win.

Lincoln�s inaugural speech was really addressed to the slave states still in the Union, but sounded like a declaration of war to the Confederacy in the South. Lincoln determined to relieve Sumter, which might be starved into surrender by the Confederates. The Confederacy wanted war to galvanise its citizens, a considerable minority of whom had opposed secession. The bombardment of Sumter continued from 4.30am. on the 12 April until the afternoon of the 13 April, when it surrendered. The fall of Sumter �set the heather afire� in the North, and the Civil War was underway.

4/3/1861, President Abraham Lincoln, in his inaugural address as US President, promised to uphold the Union but also to� preserve slavery in areas where it existed.

11/2/1861, The USA unanimously passed a resolution guaranteeing non-interference with slavery in any State

8/2/1861, The Confederate States united to fight the American Civil War, and chose Jefferson Davis as provisional President.

4/2/1861, Delegates from the seven Southern Confederate US States met in Montgomery to draft a separate Constitution. They were alarmed at President Lincoln�s overwhelming victocy in the rapidly-industrialising North, and his opposition to slavery.

See also Slavery

20/12/1860. South Carolina seceded from the USA.

29/1/1861, Kansas became the 34^th State of the Union.

1860, The US songwriter Dan Emmett �I wish I was in the land of the dixes�; referring to the banknotes issued by the Citizen�s Bank of Louisiana, which used both English and French on its notes, so the 10$ notes were stamped �dix�, and became known as dixes. Emmett�s line became corrupted to �I wish I was in the land of Dixie�.

31/10/1860, Juliette Low, founder in the USA of the Girl Scouts, was born.

13/9/1860, John Pershing, commander of US forces in France in World War One, was born in Linn County, Missouri.

19/3/1860, William Bryan, US political leader, was born.

6/3/1860. The Republican politician Abraham Lincoln made a campaign speech defending the right to strike.

28/1/1860, Joseph Addison Alexander, US scholar (born 24/4/1809 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) died in Princeton.

10/1/1860. The first major factory accident in the USA. A textiles factory collapsed in St Lawrence, Massachusetts, killing 77 people.

1859, Boston�s Public Garden was established, 108 acres.

25/12/1858, James Gadsden, US diplomat, died (born 15/5/1788).

23/11/1859, Billy the Kid, or William Bonney, was shot dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett.

3/10/1859, John Mason, US politician, died (born 18/4/1799).

14/2/1859. Oregon became the 33^rd State of the USA.

1858, Central Park in New York opened to the public, although it was not completed until 1863.

9/11/1858, The New York Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert.

29/7/1858, US diplomat Townsend Harris persuaded Japan to grant further trade privileges to the USA.

13/7/1858, US anthropologist Robert Culin was born in Philadelphia (died 8/4/1929).

16/6/1858. In a speech at Springfield, Illinois, US Senate candidate Abraham Lincoln said the slavery issue had to be addressed. He declared �a house divided against itself cannot stand�.

11/5/1858. Minnesota became the 32^nd State of the USA.

7/10/1857, Louis McLane, US politician, died (born 28/5/1786).

18/4/1857, Clarence Darrow, US attorney famous for h9s part in the Scopes �Monkey Trial�, was born.

23/12/1856, James Buchanan Duke, US industrialist, was born in Durham, North Carolina (died 10/10/1925 in New York).

22/12/1856, Frank B Kellogg, US politician, was born.

2/11/1856, Samuel Hoar, US lawyer, died (born 18/5/1778)

9/11/1856, John Clayton, US politician, died (born 24/7/1796).

2/9/1856, Jeremiah Jenks, US economist, was born.

18/8/1855, Abbott Lawrence, US statesman, died (born 16/12/1792).

4/7/1855. New York became the 13^th state to ban the production or sale of alcoholic beverages. For more on Prohinition see Morals-Punishment.

26/10/1854, US entrepreneur CW Post was born.

5/7/1854, In America, the Republican Party was officially founded.

30/5/1854, US Congress adopted the Kansas-Nebraska Act, nullifying the Missouri Compromise.

See also Race Equality, end of slavery

13/4/1854, Richard Ely, US economist, was born.

31/3/1854, The USA and Japan signed the Treaty of Kanagawa, opening up the Japanese ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade.

28/2/1854, The United States Republican Party was formed, in Ripon, Wisconsin.��

1/2/1854, New York�s Astor Libraty opened, with 80,000 books.

30/12/1853, The Gadsden Purchase was agreed with Mexico. The USA paid Mexico US$10 million, and received a tract of land south of the Gila River. This was arranged by James Gadsden, aged 65.

14/7/1853, The first US World Fair opened in New York. The event was modelled on London�s 1851 Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace.

8/7/1853, US Commodore Matthew Perry steamed into Japan�s Edo Bay (now Tokyo) with his �black ships� and demanded that the country open up to US trade. He backed up his demand with cannon fire. For 250 years Japan had been a feudal state run by the Tokugawa shoguns.

4/5/1853, Philander Knox, US politician, was born.

31/12/1852, Henry Carter Adams, US economist, was born.

29/6/1852, Henry Clay, US politician, died (born 12/4/1777).

28/12/1851, Perry Belmont, US politician, was born in New York.

24/12/1851, Large fire at the Library of Congress, Washington DC, USA. 35,000 books were destroyed, including most of Thomas Jefferson;�s personal collection, acquired in 1815.

22/10/1851, Archibald Alexander, US Presbyterian clergyman, died in Princeton, New Jersey (born 17/4/1772 in Virginia).

18/9/1851, The New York Times was first published.� It was founded by Henry Jarvis Raymond.

5/9/1851, Thomas Gallaudet, US educator of the deaf and dumb, died (born 10/12/1787).

14/8/1851, Doc Holliday, US Western gunfighter, was born.

13/8/1851, Felix Adler, US educationalist (died 24/4/1933) was born.

3/6/1851, George Adams, US historian (died 26/5/1925) was born.

19/4/1850, The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty between the USA and UK was signed. It was an agreement on the terms for building a canal across Nicaragua; under this treaty, neither party would exercise exclusive control over such a canal or fortify it. The US and the UK each had territorial interests in Central America, and were suspicious of each other�s activities in the region. Ultimately this Treaty was superseded by a similar neutralisation policy regarding the Panama Canal under the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty of 1902.

15/2/1850, Albert Cummins, US politician, was born (died 30/7/1926).

18/1/1850, Seth Low, US politician, was born.

12/8/1849, Albert Gallatin, US statesman, died (born 29/1/1761).

10/5/1849, In New York, 22 died and 56 were injured as troops fired on anti-British riots sparked by Irish gangs. The mob, armed with bricks and clubs, had gathered outside the Astor Place Opera House to revile the British actor Charles Macready, who had scorned the vulgarity of Americans.

5/3/1849, The US Departmwent of the Interior was created, to administer the large areas added to the US by the Louisiana Purchase and the Oregon Territories. It became custodian of the nations�s resources.

24/6/1848, Brooks Adams, US historian, (died 13/2/1927) was born.

29/5/1848, Wisconsin became the 30^th State of the Union.

29/3/1848, John Jacob Astor, US fur merchant and philanthropist, died in New York City (born 17/7/1763 in Walldorf, Germany).

19/3/1848, Wyatt Earp, American law enforcer, was born in Monmouth, Illinois.

2/2/1848. Mexico finally collapsed after nearly 2 years of war with the USA, in which 13,000 US soldiers were killed. Under the Treaty of Hidalgo, signed at Vera Cruz, Mexico surrendered Texas, New Mexico, and California for a payment of US$15million. The size of the USA was thus increased by nearly a third. The Mexicans feared US occupation of their own country and had no money left to fund the war.

1847, The southern portion of the District of Columbia (see 1790, 1801), south of the Potomac River and neglected by Washington DC including Alexandria City, voted to return to Virgina State.

14/9/1847. US troops stormed and captured Mexico City, ending the US war with Mexico. With US forces capturing Texas, New Mexico and California, Mexico lost a third of its territory.

5/9/1847. Jesse James, American outlaw, was born near Kansas City. With his elder brother, Frank, he led the first gang to carry out train robberies.

10/7/1847, The first Chinese migrants arrived in the USA. They came on the ship� Kee Ying, from Canton (Guangzhou).

See also Mexico C:\Users\BAD ROBOT\Desktop\myweb4\images\000SouthCentrAmeric.htmfor Mexican War 1846-48

18/4/1847, US troops under General Winfield Scott defeated Mexican forces under Santa Anna at Cerro Gordo.

12/4/1847, During the war between the USA and Mexico (1846-1848), this day US General Winfield Scott met the first serious resistance to his advance on Mexico City.

23/2/1847, US forces under General Zachary Taylor defeated the Mexicans under Santa Anna at Buena Vista. The US had ambitions to occupy the entire North American continent (the Manifest Destiny), including possibly Mexico itself. The US had taken what is now New Mexico and California (Upper California to Mexico).

26/1/1847, John Clark, US economist, was born.

28/12/1846. Iowa was admitted as the 29^th (non-slave) State of the USA.

25/12/1846. US troops defeated the Mexicans near Las Cruces, virtually completing the conquest of New Mexico.

12/12/1846. The USA and Colombia agreed to grant the USA transit rights on the narrow isthmus of Panama between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

10/8/1846, The Smithsonian Institute was founded in Washington DC; it was established by a bequest from the British scientist James Smithson.

15/6/1846. Britain agreed with the USA that Oregon was US territory. All land west of the Rockies and below the 49^th parallel was to be US territory.

5/7/1846, Joseph Foraker, US politician, was born.

14/6/1846, The start of the Black Bear revolt against Mexican rule in California. Settlers in the Sacramento Valley demanded in independent republic.

13/5/1846. The USA declared war on Mexico. US Congress authorised US$ 10 million to fund the war and to recruit 50,000 troops. Mexican troops had crossed the Rio Grande into US territory (Texas), sparking the war.

26/2/1846, Buffalo Bill, American Army Scout and showman, was born on a farm in Scott County, Iowa, as William Frederick Cody.

13/1/1846, US troops were directed to advance to the Rio Grande, in anticipation of the failure of negotiations with Mexico.

1845, The US Naval Academy was founded in Annapolis, Maryland.

29/12/1845, Texas became the 28^th State of the Union.

29/3/1845, The UK and France laid proposals before Mexico, that Texas should become independent but should not seek to ally with any other country; they were concerned about the rapid growth of the US (see 1/3/1845).

28/3/1845. Mexico severed relations with the USA following America�s ratification of the annexation of Texas on 1/3/1845, after an almost unanimous vote in favour by the Texas electorate. On 29./12/1845 Texas became the 28^th state of the USA.

1/3/1845, US President Tyler approved the decision to annex Texas to the United States, just three days before the accession of President James K Polk. Both the UK and France were now concerned at the great expansion of the USA. See 29/3/1845.

3/6/1844, Garrett Hobart, US Vice-President, was born (died 21/11/1899).

26/4/1844, Robert Keep, US educator, was born (died 3/6/1904).

7/3/1844, Anthony Comstock, US moralist, was born in Connecticut (died 21/9/1913 in New York).

24/11/1843, Richard Croker, US politician, was born.

29/8/1843, David Hill, US politician, was born (died 30/10/1910).

20/6/1843, Hugh Legare, US statesman, died (born 2/1/1797).

28/5/1843, Noah Webster, American lexicographer who first compiled Webster�s Dictionary in 1828, died in New Haven, Connecticut aged 84.

22/5/1843, The first wagon train, with over 1,000 people, left Missouri for Oregon. Travellers believed that paradisiacal conditions awaited them. Some 700 reached Oregon alive.

1/4/1843, John Armstrong, US soldier and politician (born 25/11/1758 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania) died in Red Hook, New York.

13/2/1843, Isaac Hull, US Commodore, died (born 9/3/1775).

11/1/1843, Francis Scott Key, the American lawyer and poet who wrote the words of the US national anthem The Star Spangled Banner in 1814, died.

See also Mexico for events with USA at this time

4/11/1842, Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd, member of a slave-owning family in Kentucky.

9/8/1842, The USA and Britain settled a dispute over the US-Canada border in the Maine region.��

2/1/1842, The first wire suspension bridge in the USA opened, spanning the Schuykill River near Philadelphia.

6/11/1841, Nelson Aldrich, US politician, was born in Foster, Rhode Island.

10/4/1841, The New York Tribune was first published.

8/3/1841, Oliver Wendell Jr, US Supreme Court Justice, was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

See https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/teaching-american-history-ancient-maps--353110427005679672/

for map of growth of the USA.

15/1/1841, Charles Briggs, US scholar, was born.

1840, From New York to Boston took 6 hours by train, or an overnight steamer journey; cost of the journey was 7 US$. From New York to Philadelphia by train and ferry took 6 � hours, down from 3 days in 1817. However if the Delaware river froze over the journey time was longer as passengers had to walk across the ice rather than use the ferry.

6/8/1840, Adolph Bandelier, US archaeologist, was born in Bern, Switzerland.

27/2/1840, Isaac Chauncey, US naval commander, died (born 20/2/1772).

9/2/1840, William Sampson, US naval commander, was born (died 6/5/1902).

8/8/1839, Nelson Miles, US soldier, was born.

8/7/1839, John D Rockerfeller, American philanthropist, was born in Richford, New York State.

26/6/1839, Simon Brute, US prelate, died (born 20/3/1779).

30/1/1839, Samuel Armstrong, US US soldier and philanthropist, was born in Maui, Hawaii (died 11/5/1893 in Hampton, Virginia).

8/10/1838, John Hay, US statesman, was born (died 1/7/1905).

11/9/1838, John Ireland, US Catholic priest, was born.

1/9/1838, William Clark, US explorer, died (born 1/8/1770).

4/7/1838, The territory of Iowa was established, with Robert Lucas as governor.

16/6/1838, Cushman Davis, US politician, was born (died 17/11/1900).

10/5/1838, John Wilkes Booth, American actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln, was born in Baltimore, Maryland.

1837, Atlanta, Georgia, was founded as a railhead.

26/12/1837, George Dewey, US naval officer, was born.

25/11/1837, Andrew Carnegie, US industrialist and philanthropist, was born in Dunfermline, Scotland.

24/9/1837, Marcus Hanna, US politician, was born (died 15/2/1904).

29/6/1837, Nathaniel Macon, US politician, died (born 17/12/1758).

30/5/1837, Daniel Brinton, US archaeologist, was born (died 31/7/1899).

17/4/1837, John Morgan, US financier, was born.

18/3/1837, Grover Cleveland, Democrat, and twice US President, was born in Caldwell, New Jersey, the son of a Presbyterian Minister.

5/2/1837, Dwight Moody, US evangelist, was born (died 22/12/1899).

26/1/1837. Michigan became the 26^th State of the USA.

7/12/1836, Stephen Austin, US pioneer, died.

Texas breaks away from Mexico; not admitted to the USA

25/8/1837. The Government in Washington refused to admit Texas to the Union. The US was anxious to maintain its neutrality in the dispute between Texas and Mexico, and did not want to, therefore, take the step of admitting one of the belligerents to the Union.

3/3/1837. On his last day in office, President Jackson recognised the Lone Star Republic of Texas.

22/10/1836, Sam Houston was sworn in as President of Texas.

21/4/1836. The Texan Army led by General Sam Houston inflicted a crushing defeat on the Mexicans, at the battle of� San Jacinto, and took General Santa Anna prisoner.

6/3/1836, The siege of the Alamo ended.

2/3/1836. Texas was proclaimed a republic, by a group of 59 citizens, independent of Mexico.

23/2/1836. The Mexican Army, with 5,000 soldiers, under Antonio de Lopez Santa Anna, laid siege to the Alamo, a fortified mission station defended by 187 Texans, in San Antonio, Texas. Santa Anna had invaded Texas after Texas had declared itself independent of the USA and elected its own President. The Mexicans captured the Alamo on 6/3/1836, slaughtering all 187 defenders. Deaths included William Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davey Crockett. Only 2 women survived, who had sheltered behind the sacristy. The Mexicans told one of them, Susanna Dickinson, a blacksmith�s wife, to pass the message on to other Texans that further fighting was hopeless.

2/10/1835, Texan-Americans started their campaign for independence from Mexico by starting an armed rebellion against the government of Antonio de Santa Anna in the town of Gonzales. Americans had settled the area from 1825, when Texas was largely undeveloped and there was little interference from the Mexican Government. However the current administration was changing Mexico from a federation of states into a centralised state.

27/3/1835, Texan rebels were massacred by the Mexican Army at Gohad.

14/9/1836, Aaron Burr, US politician, died (born 6/2/1756).

2/7/1836, US Congress passed an Act approving the founding of Dubuque, Iowa.

16/6/1836, Wesley Merriitt, US soldier, was born.

15/6/1836, Arkansas became the 25^th State of the Union.

27/5/1836, Jay Gould, US financier, was born (died 2/12/1892).

23/5/1836, Edward :Livingston, US jurist, died (born 26/5/1764)

4/3/1836, John Lowell, US founder of the Lowell Institute, died.

27/2/1836, Alexander Russell Alger, US soldier and politician (died 14/1/1907 in Washington DC) was born Lafayette, Ohio.

19/11/1835, Fitzhugh Lee, US cavalry General, was born (died 28/4/1905).

18/8/1835, Marshall Field, US merchant and philanthropist, was born (died 16/1/1906).

6/7/1835, John Marshall, US jurist, died (born 24/9/1755).

31/1/1835, An assassination attempt on US President Andrew Jackson failed when the gun of Richard Lawson, house painter, jammed twice. Lawrence claimed to be the rightful heir to the British throne.

2/1/1835, Charles Lowell, US soldier, was born (died 20/10/1864).

15/9/1834, William Crawford, US statesman, died (born 24/2/1771).

23/4/1834, Chauncey Depew, US politician, was born.

1/4/1834, James Fisk, US financier, was born (killed 6/1/1872).

20/3/1834, Charles William Eliot, US educator, was born in Boston, Massachusetts (died in� Maine, 22/8/1926).

29/1/1834, Workers constructing the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (started 1828) rioted. President Jackson ordered Secretary of War James Cass to send in Federal troops to restore order.

6/12/1833, John Mosby, US soldier, was born.

22/9/1833, Stephen Lee, US Confederate General, was born (died 28/5/1908).

28/7/1833, William Bainbridge, US naval commodore, died (born in Princeton, New Jersey, 7/5/1774).

1/6/1833, John Harlan, US jurist, was born.

24/5/1833, Brooklyn Bridge in New York was opened.

14/5/1833, James Donald Cameron, US politician, was born.

11/2/1833, Melville Fuller, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, was born (died 1910).

26/1/1833, Newton Bliss, US politician, was born in Fall River, Massachusetts.

1832, The US Army daily liquor ration was abolished.

13/7/1832, An expedition led by Henry Schoolcraft discovered the source of the Mississippi River.

26/6/1832, Mexico began to assert a more authoritarian rule over the US colonists in its territory of Texas. On this day the US colonists rebelled, and captured the Mexican Army fort of Velasco.

20/6/1832, Benjamin Bristol, US politician, was born (died 22/6/1896).

1/5/1832, Captain Benjamin de Bourneville started on a 3-year expedition to explore the Rocky Mountains.

25/1/1832, The State of Virginia rejected the abolition of slavery.

24/1/1832, Joseph Choate, US lawyer, was born.

17/1/1832, Henry Baird, US historian, was born (died in New York City, 11/11/1906).

26/12/1831, Stephen Girard, US financier and philanthropist, died (born 20/5/1750).

See also Mexico for events with USA at this time

28/11/1831, John MacKay, US industrialist, was born (died 20/7/1902).

22/4/1831, Alexander McCook, US soldier, was born.

21/4/1831, Texans defeated the Mexicans at the Battle of San Jacinto.

5/9/1830, Francis William Allen, US classical scholar, was born in Northborough, Massachusetts (died December 1889).

31/1/1830, James Blaine, US statesman, was born in Pennsylvania (died in Washington DC 27/1/1893).

21/12/1829, Laura Bridgman, US blind deaf mute, was born (died24/5/1889).

5/10/1829, Chester A Arthur, 21st US president, was born.

30/10/1829, Roscoe Conkling, US politician, was born (died 18/4/1888).

22/9/1829, William Belknap, US politician, was born in Newburgh, New York (died in Washington DC 13/10/1890).

27/6/1829, James Smithson, British scientist whose bequest established the Smithsonian Institute at Washington to encourage scientific research, died in Genoa.

17/5/1829, John Jay, US statesman, died (born 12/12/1745).

15/5/1829, US Congress declared the slave trade to be piracy.

2/3/1829, William Boyd Allison, US legislator, was born in Perry, Ohio (died in Dubuque, Iowa, 4/8/1908).

29/10/1828, Thomas Bayard, US statesman, was born in Wilmington, Delaware (died in Dedham, Massachusetts, 28/9/1898).

27/10/1828, Jacob Cox, US General, was born (died 4/1/1900).

8/9/1828, Joshua Chamberlain, US soldier, was born.

9/5/1828, Charles Cramp, US shipbuilder, was born

21/4/1828, The American Dictionary of the English language was published. This both standardised American English and put cultural difference between it and British English.

24/3/1828, Horace Gray, US jurist, was born (died 15/9/1902).

24/2/1828, US soldier Jacob Brown died (born 9/5/1775)

11/2/1828, De Witt Clinton, US politician, died (born 2/3/1760).

1/2/1828, George Edmunds, US politician, was born.

29/4/1827, Rufus King, US politician, died (born 24/3/1755)

19/3/1827, James Geddes, US soldier, was born (died 21/2/1887).

10/2/1827, Edward Atkinson, US economist, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts (died in Boston 11/12/1905).

3/12/1826, George McClellan, US soldier, was born (died 29/10/1885).

31/10/1826, Joseph Hawley, US politician, was born (died 17/3/1905).

29/8/1826, George Hoar, US politician, was born (died 30/9/1904).

10/7/1826, Luther Martin, US lawyer, died (born 19/2/1748).

19/6/1826, Charles Brace, US philanthropist, was born I Litchfield, Connecticut (died in Campfer, Tirol, 11/8/1890).

26/10/1825, The Erie Canal, linking New York with the Great Lakes via Niagara and the Hudson River, begun 4/7/1817, was completed. Influenced by Governor DeWitt Clinton the New York state legislature agreed to fund the US$ 7 million project. The canal, 363 miles long, 40 foot wide, 4 foot deep, with 82 locks, would make New York the principal port of America.

1/6/1825, John Morgan, US Confederate soldier, was born (died 4/9/1864).

21/7/1824, Stanley Matthews, US jurist, was born (died 22/3/1889).

23/5/1824, Ambrose Burnside, US soldier, was born (died 13/9/1881).

16/5/1824, Levi Morton, US politician, was born.

14/2/1824, Winfield Hancock, US General, was born (died 9/2/1886).

2/12/1823, President Monroe of the USA declared that no part of the Americas is now �res nullius�, or open to further European colonisation, although existing European influences would be tolerated. This was the basis of the Monroe Doctrine.

4/8/1823, Oliver Morton, US politician, was born (died 1/11/1877).

3/8/1823, Thomas Meagher, US soldier, was born (died 1/7/1867)

28/7/1823, Manasseh Cutler, US statesman, died (born 13/5/1742).

27/6/1823, Dorman Eaton, US lawyer, was born (died 23/12/1899).

5/6/1823, George Angell, US philanthropist, was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts (died 16/3/1909 in Boston).

18/4/1823, George Cabot, US politician, died (born 16/12/1751)

1/4/1823, Simon Buckner, US soldier and politician, was born.

23/3/1823, Schuyler Colfax, US politician, was born (died 13/1/1885).

27/2/1823, William Franklin, US Federal General in the Civil War, was born (died 8/3/1903).

31/7/1822, Abram Hewitt, US politician, was born (died 18/1/1903).

23/7/1822, Darius Couch, US soldier, was born (died 12/2/1897).

18/7/1822, Theodore Dwight, US jurist, was born (died 28/6/1892).

27/4/1822, Ulysses Grant, General in the Union Army, Democrat, and 18^th President, was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio, the son of a tanner.

24/10/1821, Elias Boudinot, US revolutionary leader, died in Burlington, New Jersey (born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2/5/1740).

7/10/1821, Henry Richard Anderson, US soldier, was born in South Carolina (died 26/6/1879 in Beaufort, South Carolina).

10/8/1821, Missouri became the 24^th State of the Union.

13/7/1821, Nathan Forrest, US Confederate General, was� born (died 29/10/1877).

12/7/1821, Daniel Hill, US Confederate soldier, was born (died 24/9/1889).

8/2/1821, James Longstreet, US Confederate soldier, was born (died 2/1/1904).

21/1/1821, John Breckinbridge, US soldier and political leader, was born (died 17/5/1875).

14/11/1820, Anson Burlingame, US statesman, was born (died 23/2/1870).

26/9/1820, Death of US frontiersman Daniel Boone. He explored the Kentucky area.

26/8/1820, James Harlan, US politician, was born (died 5/10/1899).

23/5/1820, James Eads, US engineer, was born (died 8/3/1887).

15/5/1820, Congress in the USA designated the slave trade as a form of piracy.

4/4/1820, Charles Devens, US lawyer, was born (died 7/1/1891).

22/3/1820, Stephen Decatur, US naval commander, died (born 5/1/1779).

15/3/1820, Congress reached a compromise on the slavery issue by admitting Maine (23^rd state of the Union) to the Union as a free state and Missouri as a slave state. This measure was to keep the number of slave and non-slave states equal.

9/3/1820, The USA passed the Land Act, paving the way for westward expansion by rich land speculators.

8/2/1820, General William Sherman, American Union Army commander during the Civil War, was born in Lancaster, Ohio.

1819, The US concluded a treaty with Spain substituting the River Sabine (present day boundary between Louisiana and Texas) for the Rio Grande as boundary between them. Spain/Mexico thereby gained the right to govern what is now Texas.

14/12/1819, Alabama became the 22^nd State of the USA.

14/9/1819, Henry Hunt, US soldier, was born (died 11/2/1889).

26/6/1819, Abner Doubleday, US soldier, was born (died 26/1/1893).

28/4/1819, Ezra Abbot, US scholar of the Bible, was born in Jackson, Maine.

21/4/1819, Oliver Evans, US industrialist, died (born 1755).

1/3/1819, Alexander Bell, US educationalist, was born (died 1905).

1818, With the number of US States growing, the US passed the Third Flag Act (see 1794), returning to the original thirteen stripes, with an extra star for each new State. The exact pattern of the stars was still variable, see 1912.

3/12/1818, Illinois became the 21^st State of the USA.

5/11/1818, Benjamin Butler, US politician, was born (died 11/1/1893).

28/10/1818, Abigail Adams, US First Lady, was born.

20/10/1818, The USA and Britain agreed the border between the USA and Canada to be the 49^th parallel.

15/10/1818, Irvin McDowell, US soldier, was born (died 4/5/1885).

23/8/1818, The first steamship service began on the Great Lakes, North America.

14/7/1818, Nathaniel Lyon, US soldier, was born (died 10/8/1861).

31/5/1818, John Albion Andrew, US politician, was born in Windham, Maine (died 30/10/1867 in Boston).

28/5/1818, Pierre Beauregard, US soldier, was born near New Orleans (died in New Orleans 20/2/1893).

20/5/1818, William Fargo, co-founder of the freight carrier Wells Fargo, was born.

10/5/1818, Paul Revere, who made the famous ride from Charlestown to Lexington to warn US militia of British troops, died aged 83 in Boston, Massachusetts.

25/3/1818, Henry Lee, US General, died (born 29/1/1756).

23/3/1818, Don Carlos Buell, US soldier, was born (died 19/11/1898).

13/2/1818, George Clarke, US frontiersman, died (born 19/11/1752).

6/2/1818, William Maxwell Evarts, US statesman, was born in Boston, Massachusetts (died 28/2/1901 in New York City).

28/1/1818, George Boutwell, US statesman, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts (died in Groton, Massachusetts, 28/2/1905).

10/12/1817, Mississippi became the 20^th State of the USA.

16/8/1817, Henry Davis, US politician, was born (died 30/12/1865).

10/8/1817, Francis Lowell, US cotton industrialist, died (born 7/4/1775).

4/8/1817, Frederick Frelinghuysen, US statesman, was born (died 20/5/1885).

16/6/1817, Alexander Dallas, US statesman, died (born 21/6/1759).

22/4/1817, Andrew Curtin, US politician, was born (died 7/10/1894).

22/3/1817, Braxton Bragg, US soldier, was born in North Carolina (died in Galveston, Texas, 27/9/1876).

2/2/1817, Richard Ewell, US soldier, was born (died 25/1/1872).

11/12/1816, Indiana became the 19^th State of the USA.

8/12/1816, August Belmont, US financier, was born in Prussia (died in New York 24/11/1890).

6/11/1816, Gouverneur Morris, US statesman, died (born 31/1/1752).

4/11/1816, Stephen Field, US jurist, was born (died 9/4/1899).

3/11/1816, Jubal Early, US soldier, was born (died 2/3/1894).

30/10/1816, Henry Dawes, US lawyer, was born (died 5/2/1903).

5/4/1816, Samuel Miller, US jurist, was born (died 13/10/1890).

31/3/1816, Francis Asbury, US clergyman, died in Spottsylvania, Virginia.

21/2/1816, Ebenezer Hoar, US politician, was born (died 31/1/1895).

30/1/1816, Nathaniel Banks, US politician, was born in Waltham, Massachusetts (died in Waltham, 1/9/1894).

10/11/1815, William Hardee, US soldier, was born (died 6/11/1873).

30/10/1815, Andrew Jackson Downing, US landscape gardener (died in Yonkers, New York, 28/7/1852) was born in Newburgh, New York.

7/9/1815, Howell Cobb, US politician, was born (died 9/10/1868).

30/6/1815, Faced with US threats to bombard Algeirs, the Dey agreed to cease piracy and release US prisoners.

2/6/1815, Philip Kearny, US soldier, was born (died 1/9/1862).

3/3/1815, The USA, angered by piracy in the Mediterranean, authorised hostility against the Bey of Algiers.

8/1/1815, The British, led by General Sir Edward Pakenham, were defeated at New Orleans by the Americans led by Andrew Jackson. This was the last battle Britain fought against the USA. See 24/12/1814.

24/12/1814, The Americans and British signed a truce, The Treaty of Ghent ending their war. The British returned all territory seized from the USA. However it took a month for this news to reach America, the USA heard the news on 11/1/1815, just after the battle at New Orleans (see 8/1/1815).

23/12/1814, A British advance towards New Orleans was repulsed by the Americans.

23/11/1814, Elbridge Gerry, US statesman, died (born 17/7/1744).

13/11/1814, Joseph Hooker, US General, was born (died 31/10/1879).

13/9/1814. British troops made an unsuccessful attack on Baltimore. During the battle, the American composer Francis Scott Key wrote a patriotic song called �The Star Spangled Banner�.

11/9/1814. US forces led by President Madison routed the British fleet on Lake Champlain.

24/8/1814. 4,000 British troops under General Ross invaded Washington and set fire to the White House and the Capitol. Both were rebuilt and enlarged.

31/7/1814, Amos Lawrence, US philanthropist, was born (died 22/8/1886).

2/1/1814, John Brodhead, US historical scholar, was born (died 6/5/1873)

10/12/1813, Zachariah Chandler, US politician, was born (died 1/11/1879).

16/11/1813, A British naval blockade, under Admiral Warren, began blockading US ports.

10/9/1813. The British fleet on Lake Erie was destroyed by American warships.

7/9/1813, The term �Uncle Sam� was coined by a newspaper in Troy, New York, to describe the United States.

24/6/1813, Henry Beecher, US preacher, was born in Litchfield, Connecticut (died in Brooklyn 8/3/1887).

23/4/1813, Stephen Douglas, US statesman, was born (died 3/6/1861).

26/2/1813, Robert Livingston, US statesman, died (born 27/11/1746).

24/2/1813. The British warship Peacock was sunk off Guyana by the USA.

22/1/1813. British forces defeated the Americans who were planning an attack on Fort Detroit.

21/1/1813, John Fremont, explorer of the US Midwest, was born (died 13/7/1890).

28/11/1812, George Curtis, US lawyer, was born (died 28/3/1894).

23/11/1812. Demoralised by a tactical error, which saw two columns of USA forces attacking each other, the USA withdrew its forces south from Canada for the winter.

25/10/1812, The USS President captured the British ship HMS Macedonian in a ballet west of the Canary Islands.

17/10/1812, Naval battle between the Wasp and the Frolic

16/10/1812. British forces defeated the US army at Queenstown, near the Niagara Falls. The Americans were attempting to cross into Canada to eliminate it from the war with Britain.

10/9/1812, At the Battle of Lake Erie, US ships defeated a British naval force.

18/6/1812. War broke out between Britain and the USA. The USA was angered at Britain�s trade restrictions against Napoleon, which were hampering American trade with Europe, and with the British Navy stopping USA ships and press ganging their crews to serve for the British Navy.� The American Congress voted narrowly for war with Britain.

30/5/1812, John McClernand, US soldier, was born (died 20/9/1900)

30/4/1812, Louisiana became the 18^th State of the Union.

20/4/1812, George Clinton, US political leader, died (born 26/7/1739).

4/4/1812. The territory of Orleans became the 18^th state of the USA, to be known as Louisiana.

20/3/1812, George Crittenden, US soldier, was born (died 27/11/1880).

1811, The grid plan street pattern of New York was begun, to provide orderly expansion beyond the random pattern of the oldest streets. However it was anticipated that industry would concentrate on the shores of Manhattan Island, so more east-west streets were built (to facilitate commuting to work) and fewer north-south avenues were built. However the enormous growth of the city has resulted in greater demand for north-south travel.

18/12/1811, Horace Chaflin, US merchant, was born (died 14/11/1885).

6/12/1811, A severe earthquake hit the Mississippi Valley. This was a geological animaly,being far from any known plate boundary.

11/10/1811, The first steam-powered ferry began operations between New York and Hoboken, new Jersey.

19/6/1811, Samuel Chase, US jurist, died (born 17/4/1741).

1/6/1811, William Eaton, US soldier, died (born 23/2/1764).

25/4/1811, Francis Dana, US jurist, died (born 13/6/1743).

8/2/1811, Edwin Morgan, US politician, was born (died 14/2/1883).

24/1/1811, Henry Barnard, US educationalist, was born in Hartford, Connecticut (died in Hartford, Connecticut 5/7/1900).

8/12/1810, Elihu Burritt, US philanthropist, was born (died 9/3/1879).

2/11/1810. President Madison re-established freedom of trade with France, after assurances that European ports would be open to American trade.

27/10/1810. President Madison of the USA sends troops to claim the western part of West Florida after a rebellion there against Spanish rule.

19/10/1810, Cassius Clay, US politician, was born (died 22/7/1903).

14/4/1810, Justin Morrill, US politician, was born.

10/1/1810, Jeremiah Black, US statesman, was born in Pennsylvania (died in Pennsylvania 19/8/1883).

24/12/1809, Kit Carson, US soldier and fur trapper who did much to open up the West to White settlers, was born in Kentucky (died 23/5/1868).

13/11/1809, John Dahlgren, US naval commander, was born (died 12/7/1870)

4/11/1809, Benjamin Curtis, US jurist, was born (died 15/9/1874).

11/10/1809, Meriwether Lewis, explorer of the US Midwest, died (born 18/8/1774).

27/8/1809, Hannibal Hamlin, Vice-President of the USA, was born (died 4/7/1891).

7/12/1808, Hugh McCulloch, US financier, was born (died 24/5/1895).

3/8/1808, Hamilton Fish, US politician, was born (died 7/9/1983).

8/6/1809, Thomas Paine, American revolutionary, died.

24/4/1809, Joseph Addison Alexander, US scholar (died 28/1/1860 in Princeton) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

21/4/1809, Robert Hunter, US statesman, was born (died 18/7/1887).

4/7/1808, Ames Fisher, US statesman, died (born 9/4/1878 in Dedham, Massachusetts).

18/5/1808, Jacob Albright, US clergyman, died 18/5/1808 in Muhlbach, Pennsylvania (born 1/5/1759 near Pottstown, Pennsylvania).

13/1/1808, Salmon Chase, US jurist, was born (died 7/5/1873).

27/11/1807, Oliver Ellsworth, US politician, died (born 19/4/1745).

2/7/1807, US President Jefferson closed all US ports to British warships.

1/6/1807, John Floyd, US politician, was born (died 26/8/1863)

26/3/1807, H W Longfellow (Henry Wadsworth), American poet, was born in Portland, Maine.

19/1/1807, Robert E Lee, American Confederate Commander in Chief, was born in Stratford, Virginia.

26/10/1806, Timothy Dexter, US merchant, died (born 22/2/1747).

25/10/1806, Henry Knox, US General, died (born 25/7/1750).

16/10/1806, William Fessenden, US politician, was born (died 6/9/1869).

12/9/1806, Andrew Foote, US Admiral, was born (died 26/6/1863).

10/4/1806, Horatio Gates, US General, died (born 1728).

31/3/1806, John Hale, US politician, was born (died 19/12/1873).

24/1/1806, Matthew Maury, US naval officer, was born (died 1/2/1873).

7/11/1805,� 18 months after they set out from St Louis, Captain Merriwether Lewis and William Clark reached the Pacific coast of Oregon. The expedition, backed by President Jefferson, was to open up a trade route to the Pacific.

23/10/1805, John Bartlett, US historian, was born in Providence, Rhode Island (died in Providence 28/5/1886).

27/9/1805, William Moultrie, US soldier, died (born 23/11/1730).

20/2/1805, Angelina Grimke, US social reformer, was born (died 26/10/1879).

13/2/1805, David Field, US lawyer, was born (died 13/4/1894).

12/7/1804, Alexander Hamilton, US statesman, died (born 11/1/1757).

21/10/1803, The Louisiana Purchase was ratified.

2/10/1803, Samuel Adams, US Revolutionary statesman, died.

30/4/1803, The USA purchased Louisiana from France. The deal was completed by President Thomas Jefferson, and worked out at just under 3 cents per acre. This area of 831,000 square miles doubled the size of the USA, and was bought for $15 million. French Foreign Minister Talleyrand offered the land unexpectedly. The USA had been keen to buy this land, concerned about the prospect of Napoleonic territory on their doorstep, but until now France had been reluctant to sell.

1/3/1803, Ohio became the 17^th State of the USA.

3/2/1803, Albert Johnston, Confederate General in the US Civil War, was born.

6/7/1802, Daniel Morgan, US soldier, died.

6/5/1802, John Lowell, US jurist, died (born 17/6/1743).

4/4/1802, Dorothea Dix, US philanthropist, was born (died 17/7/1887).

16/3/1802, The United States Military Academy at West Point, New York State, was founded.

1801, The District of Columbia was officially incorporated (see 1790), and its residents could not now vote for their former State legislatures. See also 1847.

10/11/1801, Samuel Howe, US philanthropist, was born (died 9/1/1876).

17/7/1801, A squadron of the US Navy under Richard Dale was blockading Tripoli in protest at pirate attacks on US shipping.

5/7/1801, David Farragut, US naval hero of the Civil War, was born in Tennessee.

14/6/1801, Benedict Arnold, US soldier, died in London, England (born in Norwich, Connecticut, 14/1/1741).

16/5/1801, William H Seward, USA, who bought Alaska for 2 cents an acre, was born.

14/5/1801, Pasha Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli declared war on the USA.

3/10/1800, George Bancroft, US politician, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts (died in Washington 17/1/1891).

9/5/1800, John Brown, US campaigner for the abolition of slavery, was born (died 2/12/1859).

21/3/1800, William Blount, US politician, died in Knoxville (born in North Carolina 26/3/1749).

7/2/1800, Millard Fillmore, 13^th US President, was born (died 8/3/1874).

20/1/1800, Thomas Mifflin, US politician, died (born 10/1/1744).

17/1/1800, Caleb Cushing, US statesman, was born in Massachusetts.

1/10/1799, Rufus Choate, US lawyer, was born (died 13/7/1859).

18/4/1799, John Mason, US politician, was born (died� 3/10/1859).

8/3/1799, Simon Cameron, US politician, was born (died 26/6/1889).

9/2/1799, The US navy clashed with French forces.

1/12/1798, Albert Barnes, US theologian, was born in Rome, New York State (died in Philadelphia 24/12/1870).

3/11/1798, James Mason, US policiticn, was born (died 28/4/1871).

24/7/1798, John Dix, US politician, was born (died 21/4/1879).

19/11/1797, Charles Anthon, US classicist, was born in New York City (died in New York, 29/7/1867).

15/2/1797, John Bell, US politician, was born neat Nashville, Tennessee (died 10/9/1869).

2/1/1797, Hugh Legare, US statesman, was born (died 20/6/1843).

16/9/1796, William Muhlenberg, US philanthropist, was born (died 8/4/1877).

24/7/1796, John Clayton, US politician, was born (died 9/11/1856).

21/5/1796, Reverdy Johnson, US politician, was born (died 10/2/1876).

2/11/1795, James Polk, American Democrat and 11^th President, was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.

27/2/1795, Francis Marion, US soldier, died.

1794, The US passed the Flag Act, stipulating that for each new State that joined, another star and stripe would be added to the US flag. See 1818.

14/12/1794, Erastus Corning, US politician and industrialist, was born (died 9/4/1872).

29/7/1794, Thomas Corwin, US politician, was born.

19/6/1794, Richard Lee, US statesman, died (born 20/1/1732).

27/3/1794, The US Navy was officially created. Before this day the American Congress had only fitted out civilian ships for hostilities as required, but now it was decided a permanent navy was necessary.

15/12/1793, Henry Charles Carey, US economist, was born (died 1879).

28/10/1793, Eliphalet Remington, US arms manufacturer, was born.

8/10/1793, John Hancock, US politician, the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence, died.

18/9/1793, The cornerstone of the north section of the Capitol Building, Washington DC, was laid by President Washington.

22/4/1793, US President Washington issued a Declaration of Neutrality in the Napoleonic War. Hamilton wanted him to support the British but Jefferson wanted him to support the French.

5/4/1793, William Thornton�s plans for the building of the Capitol, Washington DC, were accepted.

2/3/1793, Sam Houston, American soldier and first President of Texas, was born.

16/12/1792, Abbott Lawrence, US statesman, was born (died 18/8/1855).

12/12/1792, Arthur Lee, US diplomat, died (born 20/12/1740).

8/12/1792, Henry Laurens, US statesman, died (born 24/2/1724).

13/10/1792, The cornerstone of the US President�s official residence, The White House in Washington DC, designed by James Hoban, was laid.

7/10/1792, George Mason, US statesman, died.

5/8/1792 , Lord North, British Conservative and Prime Minister from 1770-82, died. His indecision led to Britain�s loss of its North American colonies.

4/8/1792, John Burgoyne, British General who had to surrender at Saratoga in 1777 in the War of American Independence to American General Gates, died.

18/7/1792, John Jones, US naval� officer, died (born 6/7/1747).

10/7/1792, George Dallas, US statesman, was born (died 1/12/1864).

10/11/1791, Robert Hayne, US politician, was born (died 24/9/1839).

15/8/1791, Duff Green, US politician, was born (died 10/6/1875).

21/12/1790, American industrialist Samuel Slater opened the first cotton mill in the USA. The mill had 250 spindles and was powered by water, using a child labour force. Slater had been apprenticed to William Arkwright, from whom he learnt the textiles trade.

5 New States constituted, 1789-96

1/6/1796, Tennessee became the 16^th State of the USA.

1/6/1792, Kentucky became the 15^th State of the Union.

4/3/1791. Vermont became the 14^th State of the USA.

29/5/1790, Rhode Island became the 13^th State of the Union; it is the smallest State in the USA.

21/11/1789, North Carolina became the 12^th State of the Union.

US Governance and legal developments 1788-92

2/4/1792. The Mint of the United States was established at Philadelphia, then the national capital.� The US mint struck its first silver dollars.

1791, The US passed the Fifth Amendment. This protects against self-incrimmination, but during the Cold War anti-Communist investigations �taking the fifth� became virtually an admission of guilt.

15/12/1791, The US Bill of Rights was ratified by all the states, Virginia being the last State to sign. The US passed the First Amendment which protected free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom to petition the Government.

5/7/1791. The first British Ambassador to the US, George Hammonds, was appointed.

1790, The Revenue Marine, now the US Coastguard, was established, to curtail smuggling.

1/8/1790. The first census in the USA revealed a population of nearly 4 million.

16/7/1790, Washington DC was established as the seat of US Federal government. It was originally a diamond shape incorporating land from both Virginia and Matryland, from the north and south of the USA. Residents could vote for both Congress (Washington) and the State legislatures of either Virginia or Maryland, depending on whether they lived south or north of the River Potomac. The Disctrict of Columbia was not yet officially incorporated. However see 1801 and 1847.

9/6/1790, The Philadelphia Spelling Book, by John Barry, became the first book to be copyrighted in the USA.

10/4/1790, The US Congress inaugurated the American patent system.

1/2/1790, The US Supreme Court held its first meeting

8/1/1790, George Washington gave the first State of the Union Address.

2/9/1789, The US Department of the Treasury was established.

12/3/1789, The United States Post Office was established.

4/3/1789, The Constitution of the United States came into force. The first US Congress was held in New York with 59 members, each representing a district of some 30,000 people.

7/1/1789. The first national elections were held in the USA, and George Washington was elected President.

13/9/1788. New York became the Federal capital of the new United States of America. See 16/7/1790.

17/4/1790. Benjamin Franklin died in Philadelphia, aged 84. He invented the life-saving lightning conductor. He was determined to pursue Puritan aims to the benefit of the common good. He also helped draft the Declaration of Independence.

28/12/1789, Thomas Ewing, US politician, was born (died 26/10/1871).

26/11/1789. Thanksgiving was celebrated across America for the first time.� In 1621 the indigenous Americans had taught early Plymouth settlers how to tap the maple trees for sap and how to plant the Indian corn. The harvest was very successful and the Pilgrims found they had enough food to see them through the winter. The Pilgrim Governor William Bradford proclaimed a Day of Thanksgiving to be shared by all colonists and invited the Indians to join them for three days. During the American Revolution of the late 1770s, a Day of National Thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress and was celebrated nationwide in 1789. Since then each President has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, usually designating the fourth Thursday in November as the holiday.

11/11/1789, William Meade, US Bishop, was born (died 14/3/1862).

23/9/1789, Silas Deane, US diplomat, died (born 24/12/1737).

27/7/1789, Thomas Jefferson was made head of the new US Department of Foreign Affairs.

11/2/1789, Ethan Allen, US soldier, died in Burlington, Vermont (born 10/1/1739 in Litchfield, Connecticut).

10/10/1788, Joshua Bates, US financier, was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts (died in London 24/9/1864).

5/7/1788, Mather Byles, US clergyman unpopular for his pro-Royalist views, died (born 26/3/1706).

First 11 States constituted 1787-88

26/7/1788. New York became the 11^th State of the Union.

25/6/1788, Virginia became the 10^th State of the Union.

21/6/1788 New Hampshire became the 9^th State of the Union.

23/5/1788, South Carolina became the 8^th State of the Union.

28/4/1788, Maryland became the 7^th State of the Union.

21/3/1788. A major fire destroyed nearly all of New Orleans, USA.

6/2/1788, Massachusetts became the 6^th State of the Union.

9/1/1788, Connecticut became the 5^th State of the Union.

2/1/1788, Georgia became the 4^th State of the Union.

18/12/1787, New Jersey became the 3^rd State of the Union.

12/12/1787, Pennsylvania became the 2^nd State of the Union.

7/12/1787, Delaware, the Diamond or First State, achieved Statehood.

US Constitution set up 1786-87

17/9/1787, The constitution of the United States of America was signed.

15/9/1787, George Mason, a plantation owner from Virginia, called for an amendment to the draft US Constitution. To avoid the Federal government becoming oppressive, he called for a clause whereby if twonthirds of the States wished, Congress would have to agree to a convention to discuss the proposed government change o