2002 in the United States
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Events from the year 2002 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government
- President: George W. Bush (R-Texas)
- Vice President: Dick Cheney (R-Wyoming)
- Chief Justice: William Rehnquist (Wisconsin) [1]
- Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois)
- Senate Majority Leader: Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota)
- Congress: 107th
| Governors and Lieutenant governors |
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Governors2
Lieutenant Governors2
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Events
January
- January 5 – Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old student pilot, crashes a light aircraft into a Tampa, Florida building, evoking fear of a copycat 9/11 terrorist attack.
- January 8 – The No Child Left Behind Act is signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush.
- January 9 – The United States Department of Justice announces it will pursue a criminal investigation of Enron.
- January 11 – The first detainees arrive at Camp X-Ray (Guantanamo).
- January 14 – The asylum case of Adelaide Abankwah is heard in New York.
- January 16
- The United Nations Security Council unanimouly establishes an arms embrago and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the remaining members of the Taliban
- A student shoots six at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia, killing 3.
- January 18 – A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing one.
- January 23 – Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Pakistan, accused of being a CIA agent by his captors.
- January 29 – In his State of the Union Address, President Bush describes North Korea, Iran and Iraq as an "axis of evil".[2]
- January 31 – US special forces deployed in the Philippines in Operation Enduring Freedom - Philippines, part of the War on Terrorism.[2]
February
- February 1 – Kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is murdered in Karachi, Pakistan.
- February 3 – Super Bowl XXXVI: The New England Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams 20–17 in New Orleans.
- February 8 – February 24 – The Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The U.S. wins 10 gold, 13 silver and 11 bronze medals.
- February 12 – The U.S. Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository.
- February 13 – Queen Elizabeth II gives former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani an honorary knighthood.
- February 19 – NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
March
- March 1
- STS-109: Space Shuttle Columbia flies the Hubble Space Telescope service mission, its last before the disastrous STS-107.
- U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins.
- March 12 – In Houston, Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison.
- March 14 – 125 vehicles are involved in a massive pile up on Interstate 75 in Ringgold, Georgia.
- March 19 – US war in Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 1) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities.
- March 21 – In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three others are charged with the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
- March 24 – The 74th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California with the film A Beautiful Mind winning Best Picture.
April
- April 1 – Maryland defeats Indiana 64–52 to win the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.
- April 17 – Four Canadian infantrymen are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two US F-16s.
- April 19 – The Senate defeats President Bush's plan to authorize oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.[2]
- April 27 – The Laughlin, Nevada River Run Riot kills three.
May
- May 10 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
- May 12 – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first U.S. President, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
- May 21 – The US State Department releases a report naming seven state sponsors of terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.
- May 22 – 16th Street Baptist Church bombing: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama convicts Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls.
- May 26 – A barge collides with the Interstate 40 bridge across the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma, killing 14.
June
- June 5 - 14 year-old Elizabeth Smart is kidnapped from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is found nine months later.
- June 11 – Antonio Meucci is recognized as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
- June 14 – In Karachi, Pakistan, a car bomb in front of the U.S. Consulate kills 12 Pakistanis and injures 50.
- June 29 – Vice President Dick Cheney served as Acting President for a few hours, while President George W. Bush under went a colonoscopy
July
- July 4 – 2002 Los Angeles International Airport shooting: Egyptian immigrant Hesham Mohamed Hadayet murders 2 and injures 6 before being killed by a security officer. The incident is called an act of terrorism.
- July 13 – A lightning strike sets off the Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burns 499,570 acres (2,022 km²).
- July 15 – In Washington, D.C., "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to aiding the enemy and possession of explosives during the commission of a felony; Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each charge.
- July 21 – Telecommunications giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the largest such filing in United States history.
August
- August 12 – In Arlington, Virginia, US Airways declares bankruptcy.
September
- September 5 – The Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burned 499,570 acres (2,022 km²), is contained.
- September 12 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush addresses the U.N., and challenges its members to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Iraq, or stand aside as the United States and likeminded nations act.[2]
October
- October 2
- The Beltway sniper attacks begin with five shootings taking place in Montgomery County, Maryland.
- The Congress of the United States passes a joint resolution, which authorizes the President to use the United States Armed Forces as he deems necessary and appropriate, against Iraq.
- October 9 – The Dot-com bubble bear market reaches bottom, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average slips below 7,200.
- October 9 – 10 – Congress passes the Iraq Resolution authorizing the Iraq War.[2]
- October 16 – Iraq War Resolution is authorized by a majority of the U.S. Congress.
- October 24 – The Beltway sniper attacks, having killed 10 and wounded 3 others, end with the arrest of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo.
- October 25 – U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his family, and his staff are killed in a plane accident at Eveleth, Minnesota.
- October 27 – The Anaheim Angels defeat the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series to win the title.
November
- November 2 – The Godless Americans March on Washington brings together 2,000 atheists, freethinkers, and humanists in a mile-long parade down the National Mall.
- November 5 – Republicans gain a majority in the Senate and a larger majority in the House of Representatives following congressional elections.[2]
- November 6 – The U.S. Federal Reserve System drops its primary discount rate by 50 basis points to 0.75%, putting the real interest rate solidly below the inflation rate.
- November 7 – Iran bans the advertising of United States products.
- November 8 – The United Nations passes Resolution 1441 giving Iraqi President Saddam Hussein a final opportunity to cooperate with international weapons inspectors.[2]
- November 16 – A Campaign against Climate Change march takes place in London from Lincoln's Inn Fields, past Esso offices to the United States Embassy.
- November 25 – U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law, establishing the Department of Homeland Security, in the largest U.S. government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947.
December
- December 9 – United Airlines, the second largest airline in the world, files for bankruptcy.
Ongoing
- Iraqi no-fly zones (1991–2003)
- War in Afghanistan (2001–present)
- January 29 – Kortney Nash, actress and model
- February 5 – Davis Cleveland, actor
- February 21 – Prince Michael Jackson II, son of Michael Jackson.
- February 26 – Kendra and Maliyah Herrin, conjoined twins
- April 5 – Somer Thompson, murder victim (d. 2009)
- April 8 – Skai Jackson, actress
- April 11
- Alexa Gerasimovich, actress
- Rebecca Riley, murder victim (d. 2006)
- May 6 – Emily Alyn Lind, actress
- June 25 – Mason Vale Cotton, actor
- September 9 – Kyron Horman, missing person
- September 10 – Chloe Noelle, actress
- September 12 – Maggie Elizabeth Jones, actor
- September 15 – Rhema Marvanne, singer
- September 19 – Jason and Kristopher Simmons actor identical twins
- September 21 – Isabella Blake-Thomas, actress
- October 25 – Johnny Sequoyah, actress
- October 26 – Emma Tiger Schweiger, actress
- October 26 – Harold Stanis, student
- November 13 – Nikki Hahn, actress
- November 14 – Ben Bowen, notable victim (d. 2005)
- December 28 – Kelsey Smith-Briggs, murder victim (d. 2005)
Full date unknown
- Thomas Robinson, actor
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2013) |
- January 8 – Dave Thomas, businessman (b. 1932)
- January 13 – Ted Demme, film and television director and producer (b. 1963)
- January 16
- Bobo Olson, boxer (b. 1928)
- Ron Taylor, actor (b. 1952)
- January 20 – Carrie Hamilton, actress and daughter of Carol Burnett (b. 1963)
- January 22 – Peggy Lee, singer and actress (b. 1920)
- January 23 – Robert Nozick, philosopher (b. 1938)
- January 28 – Dick "Night Train" Lane, American football player (b. 1928)
- February 1
- Irish McCalla, actress (b. 1928)
- Daniel Pearl, journalist and murder victim, died in Karachi, Pakistan (b. 1963)
- February 2 – Danielle van Dam, murder victim (b. 1994)
- February 4 – Helen Dodson Prince, astronomer (b. 1905)
- February 13 – Waylon Jennings, American country singer (b. 1937)
- February 15 – Howard K. Smith, television journalist (b. 1914)
- February 19 – Virginia Hamilton, writer (b. 1936)
- February 20 – Willie Thrower, American football player (b. 1930)
- February 22 – Chuck Jones, animator (b. 1912)
- February 24 – Leo Ornstein, Russian-born American composer and pianist (b. 1892)
- February 26 – Lawrence Tierney, actor (b. 1919)
- February 27 – Mary Stuart, actress (b. 1926)
- March 11 – James Tobin, Nobel economist (b. 1918)
- March 27 – Milton Berle, comedian and actor (b. 1908)
- April 5 – Layne Staley, singer and songwriter (b. 1967)
- April 15 – Byron White, athlete and Supreme Court Justice (b. 1917)
- April 16 – Robert Urich, actor (b. 1946)
- April 18 – Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and wrestler (b. 1938)
- April 25 – Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, rapper, died in La Ceiba, Atlántida, Honduras (b. 1971)
- April 27 – George Alec Effinger, writer (b. 1947)
- April 28 – Ruth Handler, businesswoman (b. 1916)
- May 9 – Dan Devine, American football player and coach (b. 1924)
- May 17 – Dave Berg, cartoonist (b. 1920)
- May 20 – Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist and writer (b. 1941)
- May 23 – Sam Snead, golfer (b. 1912)
- May 24 – Wallace Markfield, writer (b. 1926)
- June 5 – Dee Dee Ramone, songwriter and musician (b. 1951)
- June 10 – John Gotti, murderer and leader of organized crime (b. 1940)
- June 11 – Robbin Crosby, musician (b. 1959)
- June 12 – Bill Blass, fashion designer (b. 1922)
- June 17 – Willie Davenport, track and field athlete (b. 1943)
- June 23 – Logan Tucker, murder victim (b. 1996)
- June 26 – Jay Berwanger, American football player (b. 1914)
- June 29 – Rosemary Clooney, singer and actress, and wife of José Ferrer and mother of Miguel Ferrer (b, 1928)
- July 4 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr., general (b. 1912)
- July 6 – John Frankenheimer, film director (b. 1930)
- July 8 – Ward Kimball, animator (b. 1913)
- July 9 – Rod Steiger, actor and husband of Claire Bloom (b. 1925)
- July 10 – Laurence Janifer, writer (b. 1933)
- July 16 – John Cocke, computer scientist (b. 1925)
- July 19 – Alan Lomax, folklorist and musicologist (b. 1915)
- July 23 – Chaim Potok, writer and rabbi (b. 1929)
- August 5 – Chick Hearn, American basketball announcer (b. 1916)
- August 11 – Galen Rowell, photographer, writer, and climber (b. 1940)
- August 14 – Dave Williams, singer (b. 1972)
- August 15 – Kyle Rote, American football player (b. 1928)
- August 31 – Lionel Hampton, musician (b. 1908)
- September 11 – Johnny Unitas, American football player (b. 1933)
- September 14 – LaWanda Page, comedian and actress (b. 1920)
- September 18 – Bob Hayes, American football player and track and field athlete (b. 1942)
- September 21 – Robert Lull Forward, writer, inventor, and physicist (b. 1932)
- October 9 – Aileen Wuornos, murderer (b. 1956)
- October 10 – Teresa Graves, actress (b. 1948)
- October 12 – Ray Conniff, musician and bandleader (b. 1916)
- October 13 – Stephen Ambrose, historian and biographer (b. 1936)
- October 24 – Harry Hay, British-born American activist (b. 1912)
- October 25 – Paul Wellstone, Senator for Minnesota (b. 1944)
- November 3 – Jonathan Harris, actor (b. 1914)
- November 17 – Milivi Adams, Puerto Rican murder victim (b. 1997)
- November 21 – Hadda Brooks, jazz singer, pianist, and composer (b. 1916)
- November 24 – John Rawls, philosopher (b. 1921)
- November 26 – Verne Winchell, businessman (b. 1915)
- December 6
- Father Philip Berrigan, priest, member of the Plowshares Movement and political activist (b. 1923)
- Charles Rosen, pioneer in artificial intelligence (b. 1927)
- December 9 – Stan Rice, painter and poet (b. 1942)
- December 26 – Herb Ritts, photographer (b. 1952)
See also
References
External links
Media related to 2002 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons
