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Meet the Barton's

TNG version: 15.0.2

Horace F. Wardwell

Male 1912 - 1987  (75 years)

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Timeline

1613
1689
1766
1842
1919
1995
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   Date  Event(s)
1 1613 
  • 21 Feb 1613—15 Mar 1917: The Romanov Dynasty, the last imperial dynasty to rule Russia, begins when 16 year old Mikhail Romanov is elected as Czar.Russiapedia Hillwood
2 1910 
  • 6 May 1910—20 Jan 1936: George V. Ruler of England 1910-1936. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): 2nd son of Edward VII, married Princess Mary of Teck. Accession, Jan 20, abdication, Dec 10.HistoricUK
3 1912 
4 1913 
  • 2 Feb 1913: Grand Central Terminal opens.GCT PBS
  • 13 May 1913: Igor Sikorsky's Ilya Mourometz, the world's first 4-engine airplane, takes flight.AFMag SA
  • 13 Aug 1913: The first stainless steel is produced.W I R E D QSeals
  • 7 Oct 1913: Ford debuts the assembly line to speed up Model-T production.BI Hemmings
  • 31 Oct 1913: The first transcontinental highway, the Lincoln Highway, is dedicated.DOT ILH
5 1914 
6 1915 
  • 19 Jan 1915: The first air raid against civilian targets takes place when German Zeppelins attack Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn, England.1stWW WHO
  • 27 Mar 1915: Mary Mallon - Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States, is put in her final quarantine at Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island, where she would remain for the rest of her life.PBS AH
  • 7 May 1915: The RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German U-boat.1stWW LoC
  • 17 Aug 1915: Charles F. Kettering, co-founder of DELCO in Dayton, Ohio, is issued a patent for his "engine-starting device".OAC AN
  • 6 Sep 1915: The first military tank rolls off the assembly line.ACA USArmy
7 1916 
  • 11 Feb 1916: Emma Goldman, an American anarchist and feminist, advocate of free speech, the eight-hour work day and birth control, is arrested in New York City before giving a lecture on family planning.LoC PBS
  • 15 Mar 1916: General John Pershing leads an invasion of Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa.1stWW USArmy
  • 24 Apr 1916—29 Apr 1916: Easter Rising - Ireland rises up against British rule and proclaims its independence.B B C IC
  • 6 Jul 1916: "Uncle Sam" is created by James Montgomery Flagg as the cover of Leslie's Weekly.TIME DoD
  • 15 Sep 1916: Tanks are introduced into battle for the first time.SA MotAGI
8 1917 
  • 24 Feb 1917: The Zimmermann Telegram, in which Germany offers United States western territory to Mexico if Mexico declares war on the U. S., is presented to Woodrow Wilson, effectively bringing America into the war.USNA OurDocs
  • 18 May 1917: The U. S. passes the Selective Service Act.NAF USNA
  • 15 Oct 1917: Mata Hari is executed for spying. PBS
  • 6 Nov 1917: The Bolshevik Revolution begins (October 24th, old style calendar).IWM MSU
  • 26 Nov 1917: The National Hockey League is founded.NHL
  • 6 Dec 1917: The Mont-Blanc, a French munitions ship, explodes in Halifax, Nova Scotia harbor after a collision, killing over 1800, injuring 9000 and entirely obliterating parts of the city.SIMag CanGeo
  • 12 Dec 1917: Father Flanagan founds Boys Town.BoysTown
9 1918 
  • 6 Jan 1918: The Bolsheviks take control of the Russian government.UoS UCA
  • 9 Jan 1918: The last battle of the American Indian Wars occurs at the Battle of Bear Valley.RCH BYU
  • Feb 1918—Dec 1920: The Spanish Flu pandemic kills at least 3% of the World's population.VLib npr
  • 21 Feb 1918: The last known Carolina Parakeet dies in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo.Audubon USC
  • 11 Mar 1918: At Fort Riley in Kansas, one of the first cases of what will become known as the Spanish Flu is recorded.WHO ACEP
  • 12 Mar 1918: Moscow becomes the capital of the Soviet state of Russia.BYPLib TASS
  • 19 Mar 1918: Time Zones and Daylight Savings Time are established by the Standard Time Act.POLITICO USDoD
  • 21 Apr 1918: Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, is shot down and killed in the skies over the Somme River in France.PBS CoF
  • 16 May 1918: The Sedition Act of 1918 is passed curtailing the free speech rights of U. S. citizens during time of war.ZEP MTSU
  • 27 Aug 1918: U. S. Army forces trade shots with Mexican troops and their German advisors in the only battle of World War I fought on American soil.BYU Tucson
  • 26 Sep 1918—1 Oct 1918: The Meuse-Argonne Offensive begins.1stWW USArmy
  • 29 Sep 1918: Allied forces break through the Hindenburg Line.NCDCR AWM
  • 8 Oct 1918: Acting Corporal Alvin C. York kills 28 Germans and takes 132 of them as prisoners in the Battle of the Argonne.GWPDA SgtYork
  • 7 Nov 1918: Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard demonstrates tube-launched solid-propellant rockets at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, the forerunners to the bazooka.ESA AFHF
  • 11 Nov 1918: Germany signs the Armistice.GHDI LoC
  • 27 Dec 1918: Greater Poland Uprising - Poles begin their push for independence from Prussian control in the city of Poznań, which quickly spreads.PolandIn PC
10 1919 
  • 15 Jan 1919: A tank of molasses ruptures in Boston's North End killing 21 people - the Great Molasses Flood.MassMoments SIMag
  • 16 Jan 1919: The eighteenth amendment is ratified, Prohibition in the United States begins.LoC NCC
  • 5 Feb 1919: Hollywood stars Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin, along with director D. W. Griffith, get together to form United Artists.CSL WHP
  • 8 May 1919—27 May 1919: The Navy's NC-4 flying boat makes the first successful transatlantic flight.SI A&SMag
  • 4 Jun 1919: The 19th Amendment is passed by Congress giving women the right to vote.OurDocs ZEP
  • 28 Jun 1919: World War I ends.WW1.net USNavy
  • 16 Sep 1919: The American Legion is issued a federal charter by the U. S. Congress.AL ALP224
  • 2 Oct 1919: U. S. President Woodrow Wilson suffers a stroke that will leave him incapacitated until the end of his presidency.PBS JNS
  • 17 Oct 1919: Radio Corporation of America, better known as RCA, is incorporated.LoVA VTInc
11 1920 
  • 24 Jul 1920: The Boston Post runs a story that exposes Charles Ponzi and his financial scheme.MassMoments SIMag
  • 18 Aug 1920: With the passing of the nineteenth amendment, women win the right to vote.USCensus OurDocs
  • 20 Aug 1920: Seven men, including legendary all-around athlete and football star Jim Thorpe, meet to organize a professional football league in Canton, Ohio.OHC DT
  • 12 Oct 1920: Construction begins on the Holland Tunnel.HHM PA
  • 2 Nov 1920: Warren Gamaliel Harding is elected the 29th president of the United States of America. He dies of a heart attack in San Francisco on 2 August 1923. USEA LoC
12 1921 
  • 26 Apr 1921: The first U. S. weather report to be broadcast on the radio is made from station WEW in St. Louis, Missouri.Current MBA
  • 31 May 1921—1 Jun 1921: A white mob attacks residents, homes and businesses in the predominantly black affluent Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma. SIMag TH
  • 21 Jul 1921: Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell demonstrates the ability of aircraft to sink enemy warships.CoF SI
  • 25 Aug 1921—2 Sep 1921: The Battle of Blair Mountain, striking coal miners take on strike breakers and police.WVU CH
13 1922 
  • 11 Jan 1922: Insulin is first used to successfully treat diabetes.MNT WHP
  • 20 Mar 1922: The United States Navy's first aircraft carrier, USS Langley, is commissioned.USNA USDoD
  • 5 Apr 1922: Firestone begins production of the first low-pressure balloon tires in Akron, Ohio.AF Bridgestone
  • 14 Nov 1922: The BBC begins broadcasting from London.B B C
  • 21 Nov 1922: Rebecca Latimer Felton of Georgia takes the oath of office becoming the first woman to serve in the U. S. Senate.USSenate
  • 26 Nov 1922: Howard Carter and Lord Carnavon enter King Tut's tomb.History.com
  • 30 Dec 1922: The Soviet Union is established.LoC MSU
14 1923 
  • 16 Feb 1923: King Tut's tomb is unsealed.NYTimes
  • 12 Mar 1923: The Phonofilm movie process, a sound track added to the movie film, is demonstrated to the press.W I R E D WZ
  • 18 Jun 1923: The first Checker Cab rolls off the assembly line in Kalamazoo, Michigan.AH Hagerty
  • 13 Jul 1923: The Hollywoodland (now just Hollywood) sign is officially dedicated.CAW&P SD
  • 3 Aug 1923: John Calvin Coolidge Jr. becomes the 30th president of the United States of America the day after President Warren G. Harding dies - from 1923 - 1929.Whitehouse LoC
  • 16 Oct 1923: Walt and Roy Disney found the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Hollywood, California.D23 Disney
  • 24 Dec 1923: A U. S. national Christmas tree is lit for the first time.NPS WHHA
15 1925 
  • 19 Jan 1925: The lowest temperature recorded in Maine is -48°F at Van Buren - which has since been broken with a -50°F at Black Bear River on 16 Jan 2009.NetState CC
  • 28 Feb 1925: An earthquake measuring approximately 7 on the Richter scale strikes the Charlevoix-Kamouraska area of eastern Canada.NRCan MM
  • 13 Mar 1925: Tennessee bans the teaching of evolution in all public schools.NIH CERC
  • 25 May 1925: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Darwinian evolution theory.LHL ABAJ
  • 10 Jul 1925: Jury selection begins for the Scopes Monkey Trial.npr MTSU
16 1926 
  • 26 Jan 1926: Television is demonstrated to the public for the first time.HoI TIME
  • 16 Mar 1926: Robert H. Goddard, a physics professor at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, launches the world's first liquid fueled rocket from a field in Auburn, Massachusetts.MassMoments NASA
  • 9 May 1926: Richard Byrd and Floyd Bennett, in a Fokker Trimotor, fly over the North Pole.PBS AFMag
  • 12 May 1926: The Norge, a semi-rigid Italian-built airship, just misses being the first aircraft to fly over the North Pole.NYCGP TH
  • 23 Jun 1926: The first Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is administered.PBS SIMag
  • 31 Oct 1926: Escape artist Harry Houdini dies.tGHH SIMag
17 1927 
  • 7 Jan 1927: The first commercial transoceanic telephone service begins, using radio, between New York and London.EDN USNA
  • 20 May 1927—21 May 1927: Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo transatlantic flight from New York to Paris.MNHS PBS
  • 26 May 1927: After 19 years, production of the Ford Model T ceases.AH HFM
  • 23 Aug 1927: Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti die in the electric chair.ZEP MA
  • 7 Sep 1927: Philo Taylor Farnsworth transmits the first electronic image - television.ThePilot tHoTV
  • 4 Oct 1927: Work begins on Mount Rushmore.History.com
  • 6 Oct 1927: "The Jazz Singer", the first talking movie, premieres.AISH MTV
  • 13 Nov 1927: At midnight, the Holland Tunnel opens to automobile traffic.NYCRoads PANYNJ
  • 21 Nov 1927: Striking coal miners are gunned down by state police in Serene, Colorado, killing six and wounding twenty others.WU CU
18 1928 
  • 13 Jan 1928: The first television sets are installed in Schenectady, New York.MIT RM
  • 18 Sep 1928: The Graf Zeppelin takes off on its maiden flight.Airships WingNet
  • 28 Sep 1928: Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin.NIH PBS
  • 12 Oct 1928: A young polio sufferer at Children's Hospital in Boston becomes the first person to use the iron lung artificial respirator.W I R E D BMag
  • 6 Nov 1928: Herbert Clark Hoover is elected 31st president of the United States of America, 1929 - 1933.USEA
  • 18 Nov 1928: Mickey Mouse makes his silver screen premier in Steamboat Willie.MoMA TIME
19 1929 
  • 8 Aug 1929: The Graf Zeppelin begins its round-the-world flight.WingNet TDiA
  • 29 Oct 1929: The Great Depression in the United States begins with the crash of the stock market, Black Tuesday.TIME BT
20 1930 
  • 18 Feb 1930: Pluto is discovered.Lowell EarthSky
  • 13 Mar 1930: The discovery of the planet Pluto is announced by its discover Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory.APS Lowell
  • 6 Apr 1930: The Twinkie is invented.NPR Trib
  • 21 Apr 1930: 320 inmates die in a fire at the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus, many burning to death when their cell doors are not unlocked.OHC QRFS
  • 12 May 1930: The first planetarium in the U. S., the Adler Planetarium, opens to the public.Adler CCT
  • 15 May 1930: The first female flight attendant takes off.AJC UAHF
  • 24 Jun 1930: Preliminary testing of what will later become Radar begins.I&T GoogleBooks
  • 7 Jul 1930: Construction of the Hoover Dam begins.Tucson CC
  • 9 Aug 1930: Betty Boop makes her first appearance.VN KF
  • 12 Aug 1930: Clarence Birdseye receives a patent for the production of quick-frozen fish.MassMoments npr
  • 20 Aug 1930: W2XCR begins broadcasting from Jersey City, New Jersey, with first demonstration of home reception of television.ET GoogleBooks
  • 8 Sep 1930: 3M rolls out Scotch© Brand Cellulose Tape, later renamed Scotch Transparent Tape.ACS FV
21 1931 
  • 19 Mar 1931: Gambling becomes legal in Nevada.NRA LoA
  • 1 May 1931: The Empire State Building opens.LoC HDC
22 1932 
  • 12 Jan 1932: Hattie Caraway becomes the first women elected to the U. S. Senate.USCongress SIMag
  • 1 Mar 1932: Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the 20-month-old son of the famous aviator and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, is kidnapped during the night.FBI CM
  • 31 Mar 1932: Ford unveils its new flathead V8 engine.AH JJ
  • 28 Apr 1932: A vaccine for yellow fever is introduced.NIH
  • 8 Nov 1932: Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected the 32nd president of the United States of America, 1933 - 1945. He died in office on 12 April 1945.USEA
  • 27 Dec 1932: Radio City Music Hall opens in New York City.LoC NYPAP
23 1933 
  • 5 Jan 1933: Construction begins on the Golden Gate Bridge.SIMag GGB
  • 25 Feb 1933: The USS Ranger, the first purpose-built aircraft carrier, is launched at Newport News, Virginia.NI&SHM USNavy
  • 12 Mar 1933: Franklin Delano Roosevelt's first "fireside chat" is broadcast.npr MC-UVA
  • 6 Jun 1933: The first drive-in movie theater opens in Camden, New Jersey.History.com DIT
  • 10 Jun 1933: The Immigration and Naturalization Service is established.USCitizenship USNA
  • 12 Jul 1933: The first Dymaxion is produced.AH tVN
  • 22 Jul 1933: American aviator Wiley Post lands at Floyd Bennett Field in New York, completing the first solo flight around the world in 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes.A&SMag PopMech
  • 17 Oct 1933: Albert Einstein, his wife, his assistant and his collaberator/assistant arrive in New York harbor aboard the Westernland on his way to Princeton.IRC EDN
  • 24 Oct 1933: Charles Brace Darrow copyrights his Monopoly game.LLG PI
  • 12 Nov 1933: Hugh Gray takes the first photograph of the Loch Ness Monster.Nessie Hoaxes
  • 5 Dec 1933: Prohibition ends.History.com TIME
  • 30 Dec 1933: The lowest temperature in Vermont, -50°F, is recorded at Bloomfield.NetState UVM
24 1934 
  • 29 Jan 1934: The lowest temperature in New Hampshire is -47°F recorded on Mount Washington.NetState WA
  • 12 Apr 1934: The highest surface wind measured anywhere on earth was clocked by the staff of the Mount Washington Observatory at 231 mph.MWOBS WU
  • 23 May 1934: Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are ambushed and killed by police officers in Louisiana ending their crime spree.FBI TXArchive
  • 2 Aug 1934: Adolf Hitler becomes Führer.USHMM JVL
  • 15 Aug 1934: Otis Barton and William Beebe make the first deep sea dive in their Bathysphere.NOAA APS
25 1935 
  • 11 Jan 1935—12 Jan 1935: Amelia Earhart takes off on the first solo flight from Hawaii to California. PBS
  • 24 May 1935: Major League Baseball plays its first night game.SABR NBHoF
  • 2 Jun 1935: Babe Ruth retires.TIME ESPN
  • 16 Jul 1935: The world's first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City.GIZMODO ExpiredMeter
  • 14 Aug 1935: The Social Security Act is passed establishing a system of old-age benefits.SSA OurDocs
  • 15 Aug 1935: The Social Security Act becomes law.OurDocs USNA
  • 17 Dec 1935: The Douglas DC-3, the most successful passenger airliner ever, takes its first flight.A&S AFMag
26 1936 
  • 20 Jan 1936—11 Dec 1936: Edward VIII. Ruler of England 1936. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): Eldest son of George V.HistoricUK
  • 5 Mar 1936: The prototype of the British Supermarine Spitfire flies for the first time.SI Bonhams
  • 21 Mar 1936: Snow melt and ice blocks causes flooding along the Connecticut River Valley saving the worst for Springfield, Massachusetts.MassMoments USNI
  • 7 Jul 1936: Henry F. Phillips receives patents for a new kind of screw and the new screwdriver needed to make it work.W I R E D F-a-P
  • 7 Sep 1936: The last known Tasmanian Tiger dies in captivity.NMA AusGeo
  • 9 Oct 1936: The Hoover Dam begins sending electricity to Los Angeles.LoC W&PA
  • 23 Nov 1936: The first issue of Life Magazine is published.LIFE WHP
  • 11 Dec 1936—6 Feb 1952: George VI. Ruler of England 1936-1952. House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): 2nd son of George V, Duke of York; married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon.HistoricUK
27 1937 
  • 16 Feb 1937: Linear Condensation Polymer, better known as Nylon, is patented by Wallace Carothers of DuPont.SN AH
  • 26 Apr 1937: Nazis test their new air force, destroying the Basque town of Guernica in northern Spain, inspiring the Picasso anti-war painting.Zinn PBS
  • 6 May 1937: The Hindenburg, a rigid airship, explodes while attempting to land at Lakehurst, New Jersey.Airships SIMag
  • 28 May 1937: The Golden Gate Bridge opens to vehicular traffic.GGB PBS
  • 4 Jun 1937: The first shopping cart rolls out at the Humpty Dumpty supermarket in Oklahoma City.W I R E D SI
  • 2 Jul 1937: Amelia Earhart disappears on her quest to be the first person to fly around the world.TIME USNA
  • 21 Dec 1937: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first animated full-length movie, premieres.History.com Disney
  • 22 Dec 1937: The center tube of the Lincoln Tunnel opens to automobile traffic.PANYNJ AH
28 1938 
  • 24 Feb 1938: The first nylon-bristled toothbrushes, the first modern toothbrushes, go on sale.W I R E D SM.UK
  • 6 Apr 1938: DuPont chemist Roy Plunkett accidentally invents Teflon.W I R E D Teflon
  • 21 Sep 1938: The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 slams into Long Island and southern New England.NOAA NEHS
  • 22 Oct 1938: The first xerographic copy is made in a laboratory in Astoria, Queens, New York, the birth of Xerox. SIMag APS
  • 30 Oct 1938: Orson Welles broadcasts "The War of the Worlds," from a New York City studio causing a panic.SIMag WotW.org
  • 16 Nov 1938: Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is first synthesized by Dr. Albert Hofmann.CV PSR
  • 23 Dec 1938: A coelacanth, previously known only from fossil evidence, is caught in the Chalumna River, near East London, South Africa. Nature SD
29 1939 
30 1940 
  • 27 Feb 1940: Carbon-14 is discovered by scientists Martin Kamen and Sam Ruben working at the University of California at Berkeley making it now possible to date once living material.W I R E D BerkLab
  • 15 May 1940: The first McDonald's restaurant opens in San Bernardino, California.RestMag LoC
  • 26 May 1940—4 Jun 1940: British forces begin evacuation of France through Dunkirk.EB TheTelegraph
  • 10 Jul 1940: The Battle of Britain begins.FWR
  • 12 Sep 1940: The Lascaux Cave paintings are discovered.VVD YouTube
  • 27 Sep 1940: Germany, Italy and Japan sign a treaty of mutual assistance - the Tripartite Pact.Avalon WHP
  • 26 Oct 1940: The P-51 Mustang takes its maiden flight with test pilot Vance Breese.MM DW
  • 7 Nov 1940: "Galloping Gertie", the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, collapses due to high winds.WSDOT KIRO7
31 1941 
  • 12 Feb 1941: The first human trials of penicillin begin.Forbes NIH
  • 12 May 1941: The first fully functional, programmable computer is unveiled.W I R E D CHM
  • 9 Jul 1941: The Enigma key is broken.MSN History.com
  • 30 Oct 1941: FDR approves $1 billion in Lend-Lease aid for the USSR.USState JVL
  • 31 Oct 1941: Mt. Rushmore is completed.NPS
  • 1 Dec 1941: The Civil Air Patrol is established.GovInfo CAP
  • 7 Dec 1941: The forces of the Japanese Empire attack the U. S. Fleet while it lies at anchor at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.USNavy NPS
  • 8 Dec 1941: The U. S. declares war on Japan.Avalon USNA
  • 12 Dec 1941: Adolf Hitler personally orders the mass extermination of European Jews during a meeting of Nazi German regional governors in the chancellery.AH.dk SIMag
  • 26 Dec 1941: Thanksgiving is established as the 4th Thursday in November.USNA LoC
32 1942 
  • 14 Jan 1942: FDR orders that "enemy aliens" must register with the government.History.com UCSB
  • 19 Feb 1942: President Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066 resulting in the forcible internment of people of Japanese ancestry. USNA OurDocs
  • 18 Apr 1942: Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle leads an air raid against Tokyo and other Japanese cities in retaliation for the attack on Pearl Harbor.USNavy SIMag
  • 13 Aug 1942: The Manhattan Project begins.AHF NWWIIM
  • 9 Sep 1942: A submarine-based Japanese seaplane fire bombs the Oregon forest.SitOS USDA
  • 21 Sep 1942: The B-29 Superfortress takes its maiden flight.AFHF MoF
  • 28 Nov 1942: A fire at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts kills 492 people.CB BFHS
33 1943 
  • 20 Feb 1943—1952: The Parícutin volcano begins to erupt in Parícutin, Mexico, marking the first time scientists are able to observe the complete life cycle of a volcano. SDSU SIArchives
  • 16 Apr 1943: Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the psychedelic properties of LSD.W I R E D DW
  • 19 Apr 1943—16 May 1943: Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto begin uprising against the Nazis.USHMM JVL
  • 10 Jun 1943: Brothers László and Georg Bíró, Hungarian refugees living in Argentina, patent the ballpoint pen.W I R E D FPN
34 1944 
  • 23 Apr 1944—4 May 1944: Sikorsky's R4 helicopter becomes the first used in a combat role.A&SMag VTOL
  • 6 Jun 1944—7 Jun 1944: D-Day - allied forces begin the invasion of continental Europe.USArmy IWM
  • 6 Jul 1944: A fire in the Ringling Brothers/Barnum and Bailey Circus tent takes 168 lives in Hartford, Connecticut.HCF CTHist
  • 20 Jul 1944: Hitler survives an assassination attempt.UoC JVL
  • 9 Aug 1944: The first poster of Smokey the Bear is created.StB TIME
  • 21 Oct 1944: The first individual kamikaze attack occurs when a Japanese plane attacks HMAS Australia off Leyte Island.RDunn NHSA
  • 25 Oct 1944: Kamikaze are used en masse for the first time against Allied forces in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.NNAM AFMag
  • 12 Nov 1944: Avro Lancasters of the British Royal Air Force sink the German battleship Tirpitz off Håkøya Island near Tromsø, Norway.KBismarck BCM
  • 16 Dec 1944—31 Jan 1945: The Battle of the Bulge, a surprise offensive by the German Army pushes Allied forces back through Belgium and Luxembourg.USArmy PBS
  • 27 Dec 1944: The federal government takes control of Montgomery Ward.UCSB AHC
35 1945 
  • 25 Jan 1945: Fluoridation is introduced to drinking water.W I R E D ADA
  • 12 Apr 1945: Harry S. Truman becomes the 33rd president of the United States of America upon the death of FDR, 1945 - 1953.Whitehouse LoC
  • 1 May 1945: Adolf Hitler commits suicide.JVL tPCfM
  • 5 May 1945: A Japanese balloon bomb kills 6.W I R E D OE
  • 7 May 1945: Germany unconditionally surrenders, effectively ending World War II in Western Europe. Soviet surrender terms were signed the next day.DoD USHMM
  • 8 May 1945: V-E Day is celebrated, Germany is defeated.DoD NWWIIM
  • 16 Jul 1945: "Trinity", the first atomic bomb, explodes in the early morning hours near Alamogordo.B B C DoE
  • 28 Jul 1945: A B-25 Mitchell bomber, flying from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to LaGuardia Airport in New York City, crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 people. NYCR&I npr
  • 30 Jul 1945: The USS Indianapolis is sunk by a Japanese submarine, killing 883 sailors.USSIndianapolis USNavy
  • 6 Aug 1945: The first atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima, Japan.B B C CTBTO
  • 9 Aug 1945: The atomic bomb is dropped on Nagasaki, Japan.OSTI USNA
  • 2 Sep 1945: World War II ends, Japan surrenders to the United States aboard the USS Missouri.CNN WAPO
  • 26 Sep 1945: The first American soldier is killed in Vietnam.History.com ANC
  • 24 Oct 1945: The United Nations is established.UN USState
  • 20 Nov 1945—1 Oct 1946: Nazi officials are put on trial in Nuremburg, Germany.USHMM LoC
  • 5 Dec 1945: U. S. Navy Flight 19, consisting of 5 Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers, disappears in the Bermuda Triangle off the coast of Florida, never to be seen again.Navy NASFM
  • 6 Dec 1945: The microwave oven is invented by Percy Spencer of the Raytheon Corporation.NASA Web+
36 1946 
  • 13 Feb 1946: ENIAC, the first Electrical Numerical Integrator And Calculator, is unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Electronics.KurzweilAI AA
  • 14 Feb 1946: ENIAC, the first large scale, general purpose, digital computer is announced to the public.UPenn CH
  • 22 Feb 1946: Rutgers University Professor Selman A. Waksman announces a second (after penicillin) clinical application of antibiotics - streptomycin against tuberculosis.JC BALLYA
  • 8 Mar 1946: The Bell Model 47 becomes the first helicopter to be certified for civilian use.GoogleBooks TW
  • 16 May 1946: Jack Mullin gives the first public demonstration of a professional quality tape recorder in the U. S..MoB LATimes
  • 6 Jun 1946: The National Basketball Association is founded in New York.NBA NBAHO
  • 5 Jul 1946: The world is introduced to the bikini swimsuit.WAPO CR
  • 8 Aug 1946: The first true intercontinental bomber, the B-36, makes its first flight.SACM FAS
  • 13 Nov 1946: The first man-made snowfall is produced over Mt. Greylock in western Massachusetts.MassMoments NWS
  • 11 Dec 1946: UNICEF is founded.UNICEF History.com
37 1947 
  • 21 Feb 1947: Edwin Land demonstrates his instant camera and film - the Polaroid.SI ACS
  • 16 Apr 1947: The first television zoom lens, the Zoomar lens, is demonstrated by NBC-TV in New York City, allowing close-up and distant camera shots from the same stationary camera, rather than moving the entire camera as had been done previously.TiS BH
  • 16 Apr 1947: A French ship loaded with fertilizer explodes, killing almost 600 people in Texas City, Texas.Chron TSHA
  • 28 Apr 1947: Thor Heyerdahl and Kon-Tiki set sail from Peru on a course for French Polynesia.SIMag K-TBC
  • 11 May 1947: The B.F. Goodrich Co. announces the development of the tubeless tire.History.com DA
  • 6 Jul 1947: The world's most popular assault rifle, the AK-47, begins production.SN W I R E D
  • 7 Jul 1947: The Roswell Incident occurs.Space RAM
  • 8 Jul 1947: The U. S. Army Air Force announces that it had captured a flying saucer.AJ W I R E D
  • 7 Aug 1947: After 101 days, Thor Heyerdahl completes his voyage with Kon-Tiki.MLP AO
  • 18 Sep 1947: The CIA is established through the National Security Act of 1947.HSDL USNA
  • 18 Sep 1947: The United States Air Force is established as the Department of the Air Force, a new agency within the Department of Defense.USAF AFHF
  • 26 Sep 1947: Personnel from the Army Air Forces are transferred from the Department of the Army to the Department of the Air Force.USAF
  • 5 Oct 1947: President Harry Truman makes the first-ever televised presidential address from the White House.History.com
  • 14 Oct 1947: U. S. Air Force Captain Chuck Yeager becomes the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound.USNA Space
  • 20 Oct 1947: The House Un-American Activities Committee opens an investigation of communism in Hollywood.N TIME
  • 24 Nov 1947: The "Hollywood 10" are charged with contempt by the U. S. Congress.ABAJ CUNY
  • 29 Nov 1947: The United Nations votes to partition Palestine.Knesset JCPA
38 1948 
  • 21 Jan 1948: The fleur-de-lis flag becomes the official flag of Québec.CBC QC
  • 30 Jan 1948: Gandhi is assassinated.History.com BP
  • 21 Feb 1948: The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, NASCAR, is incorporated.Hemmings HR
  • 7 Apr 1948: The World Health Organization is established by the United Nations.WHO AJC
  • 14 May 1948: The State of Israel is established.Israel USState
  • 3 Jun 1948: The 200 inch Hale Telescope goes into operation at the Palomar Observatory.NPS UC
  • 21 Jun 1948: Columbia Records introduces the 12" LP (long playing) record.W I R E D 33Audio
  • 30 Jun 1948: Bell Labs holds a press conference to announce their latest invention, the transistor.PBS CHM
  • 28 Nov 1948: The first commercial instant camera, Polaroid Land camera Model 95, goes on sale at the Jordan Marsh department store in Boston.Haaretz TDiTH
  • 24 Dec 1948: The first completely solar heated house, the Peabody house in Dover, Massachusetts, is ready for occupancy.TiS OTD
39 1949 
  • 6 Jan 1949: The first photograph of genes was taken at the University of Southern California by Dr. Daniel Chapin Pease and Dr. Richard Freligh Baker. TiS DE
  • 10 Jan 1949: The 45-rpm record, cheaper and more portable than other record formats, is introduced by RCA.W I R E D CNYNews
  • 26 Feb 1949—2 Mar 1949: The first non-stop round-the-world flight takes place in a Boeing B-50A, the Lucky Lady II, lasting 94 hours and 1 minute.AFMag PBS
  • 4 Apr 1949: NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is founded.USNA Avalon
  • 27 Jul 1949: The world's first jet-propelled airliner, the British De Havilland Comet, makes its maiden test-flight in England.AFMag CoF
  • 3 Aug 1949: The NBA is born.NBA tPG
40 1950 
  • 17 Jan 1950: A group of armed, masked men rob the Brink's depot in Boston, getting away with $2.7 million.FBI NEHS
  • 31 Jan 1950: President Truman announces plans for the U. S. to develop the hydrogen bomb.PBS AHF
  • 14 Mar 1950: The FBI Ten Most Wanted list makes its debut.FBI CMag
  • 19 May 1950: As a munitions barge is being loaded in South Amboy, New Jersey, it explodes, destroying the waterfront and much of the town.Hagley HMdb
  • 25 Jun 1950: Korean War: The United States (as part of the United Nations) and South Korea vs. North Korea and Communist China 1950-1953.PBS USNA
  • 24 Jul 1950: Cape Canaveral launches its first rocket.W I R E D CoF
  • 24 Sep 1950: Black Sunday occurs when smoke from forest fires in western Canada makes its way east, darkening the skies in the eastern United States and Canada and as far away as western Europe.BLM WR
  • 2 Oct 1950: The comic strip Peanuts is first published.TIME GoComics
  • 25 Nov 1950—29 Nov 1950: The "Storm of the Century" strikes the eastern U. S..History.com NOAA
41 1951 
  • 31 Mar 1951: UNIVAC I, the first commercially produced computer, is delivered to the United States Census Bureau.Census ETHW
  • 10 Nov 1951: Mayor M. Leslie Downing of Englewood, New Jersey and Mayor Frank Osborne of Alameda, California make the first direct-dialed, transcontinental telephone call.CSL BH
  • 20 Dec 1951: A nuclear reactor produces useful electricity for the first time. DoE APS
42 1952 
  • 6 Feb 1952: Elizabeth II. Ruler of England 1952-present.House of Windsor (name adopted Jul 17, 1917): Elder daughter of George VI, acceded Feb 6, 1956.HistoricUK
  • 15 Apr 1952: The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress makes its first flight and is still in service today.KAFB Boeing
  • 3 May 1952: The first airplane lands at the North Pole.HC ASN
  • 15 Jul 1952—31 Jul 1952: The first transatlantic helicopter flight begins.RH PP
  • 25 Jul 1952: Puerto Rico becomes a Commonwealth of the United States.tPR USState
  • 20 Sep 1952: Geneticists Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase publish their conclusion that DNA is where life's hereditary data is found.OSU RUP
  • 4 Nov 1952: Dwight David Eisenhower is elected the 34th president of , 1953 - 1961.USEA
43 1953 
  • 28 Feb 1953: At Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University, scientists James D. Watson and Frances H.C. Crick announce that they have determined the chemical structure of DNA.NIH GO
  • 26 Mar 1953: The success of the polio vaccine is announced on the radio.NIH WAPO
  • 29 Apr 1953: The ABC affiliate KECA-TV broadcasts the show Space Patrol in 3-D but it can only be viewed using special polarized lenses.EDN Signals
  • 29 May 1953: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay become the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest. PBS
  • 9 Jun 1953: The Worcester tornado takes 94 lives.NEHS TT
  • 19 Jun 1953: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed after being convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage.SI JWA
  • 26 Jul 1953—1 Jan 1959: Fidel Castro leads a revolt against the United States backed Batista regime.npr LaHabana
  • 27 Jul 1953: The Korean War ends.OurDocs USNA
  • 20 Nov 1953: Piltdown Man is reported to be a hoax in the bulletin of the British Natural History Museum.PBS
  • 30 Dec 1953: The first color televisions go on sale in the U. S..S&V EoaG
44 1954 
  • 21 Jan 1954: The USS Nautilus, the first operational nuclear powered submarine, is launched at Groton, Connecticut.Nautilus USNA
  • 27 Jan 1954: The atomic battery is unveiled.RCA NYTimes
  • 15 Feb 1954: The governments of Canada and the U. S. agree to jointly build a line of radar stations in defense against a possible air Soviet attack, the DEW (Distant Early Warning) line.1370th T&G
  • 18 Feb 1954: The first Church of Scientology is established in Los Angeles based upon the religious philosophy of writer L. Ron Hubbard.EAEC CoS
  • 23 Feb 1954: A group of Pennsylvania school children receive the first injections of the new Salk polio vaccine.History.com TIME
  • 25 Mar 1954: Production of RCA's first commercial color television set begins.W I R E D TVTech
  • 6 Apr 1954: Swanson introduces us to the TV Dinner.GoogleNews TMC
  • 17 May 1954: The United States Supreme Court unanimously rules for school integration in the landmark initiative, Brown v. Board of Education.OurDocs SI
  • 14 Jun 1954: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill inserting the words "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance.tGLIoAH CNY
  • 27 Jun 1954: The world's first nuclear power plant goes online.W I R E D PT
  • 16 Aug 1954: Sports Illustrated makes its debut.SI SHT
  • 24 Aug 1954: U. S. President Eisenhower signs the Communist Control Act into law, making the Communist Party illegal.UCSB IA
  • 11 Sep 1954: The first broadcast of the Miss America pageant occurs.IMDb Tango
  • 29 Sep 1954: The CERN Convention is entered into force.CERN SA
  • 18 Oct 1954: The first transistor radio, the Regency TR1, is introduced to the world.PBS EDN
  • 30 Nov 1954: A meteorite crashes through the roof and strikes a napping Ann Hodges in Sylacauga, Alabama, the only documented injury from an extra-terrestrial object.Space SIMag
  • 23 Dec 1954: The first successful human organ transplant occurs.npr NIH
45 1955 
  • 12 Apr 1955: Jonas Salk announces his polio vaccine to the world.UMich CDC
  • 15 Apr 1955: Ray Kroc opens his first McDonald's restaurant in Chicago, Illinois.CL McDonald's
  • 11 Jun 1955: Disaster occurs at the Le Mans 24 hour race.Hagerty Hemmings
  • 17 Jul 1955: The happiest place on Earth, Disneyland opens.DD T&L
  • 19 Aug 1955: Hurricane Diane becomes the first storm to top $1 billion in damages in the U. S..NEHS NWS
  • 31 Aug 1955: GM demonstrates the first solar-powered car.EEW GMA
  • 1 Dec 1955: Seamstress Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat to a white man and is arrested for violating racial segregation laws.LoC THF
  • 5 Dec 1955: The labor organizations AFL and CIO merge to form one.AFL-CIO SI
46 1956 
  • 29 Jun 1956: The Federal-Aid Highway Act authorizes funding for an interstate highway system.DOT USNA
  • 23 Jul 1956: While gathering data on aerodynamic heating, "Fastest Man Alive", Pete Everest, achieves a speed of Mach 2.87 at 68,000 feet in the Bell X-2 rocket plane setting the world aircraft speed record.NASA ChiTrib
  • 25 Jul 1956: The Stockholm rams the Andrea Doria about 50 miles south of Nantucket.MassMoments CIMM
  • 30 Jul 1956: "In God We Trust" becomes the national motto of the United States of America.Politico USTreasury
  • 13 Sep 1956: IBM introduces the first computer hard disk drive.RN EDN
  • 25 Sep 1956: The first transatlantic telephone is opened for business.CBC A-C
  • 22 Dec 1956: A gorilla named Colo is born at the Columbus Zoo in Ohio - the first gorilla in the world born in captivity.CZ OHC
47 1957 
  • 3 Jan 1957: The Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first battery operated, electric watch, the Ventura.W I R E D VHW
  • 4 Sep 1957: Ford unveils the Edsel.EP AHM
  • 27 Sep 1957—24 Oct 1958: Capelinhos Volcano - a volcano begins erupting off the west coast of Faial, Azores lasting 13 months, causing an economic disaster and forcing a mass migration to the United States.PAJ PM
  • 4 Oct 1957: The Soviet Union successfully launches the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik I.NASA
  • 3 Nov 1957: Laika the dog becomes the first animal launched into orbit.Space NASA
48 1958 
  • 31 Jan 1958: Explorer I, the first U. S. satellite, is launched into earth orbit.NASA SI
  • 5 Feb 1958: A B-47 accidentally drops an unarmed thermonuclear bomb at the mouth of Georgia's Savannah River.npr AA
  • 10 Feb 1958: MIT's Lincoln Laboratory bounces radar waves off Venus from their facility at Millstone Hill in Westford, Massachusetts.NASA Space
  • 17 Mar 1958: Vanguard 1, the first solar-powered satellite, is launched.NASA Space
  • 2 Apr 1958: U. S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower calls for a civilian National Aeronautics and Space Agency to oversee the US space program, NASA.NASA SCD
  • 12 May 1958: NORAD is established.NORAD CAGov
  • 29 Jul 1958: President Eisenhower authorizes creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).DDE-PL NASA
  • 4 Aug 1958: The premier of the Billboard Hot 100.Billboard MEAWW
  • 4 Oct 1958: BOAC begins the first transatlantic jet aircraft passenger service.UA BA
  • 9 Dec 1958: The right-wing John Birch Society is founded.History.com
49 1959 
  • 3 Jan 1959: Alaska becomes a state.ThoughtCo 50States.com
  • 22 Jan 1959: Coors introduces the first aluminum beer can.AlCircle BI
  • 3 Feb 1959: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J. P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) and their pilot, Roger Peterson, are killed in a plane crash in an Iowa corn field.RollingStone VN
  • 6 Feb 1959: Texas Instruments patents the integrated circuit.EarthSky PBS
  • 17 Feb 1959: Vanguard II, the first weather satellite, is launched.SI NASA
  • 22 Feb 1959: The first Daytona 500 is raced, with Lee Petty being declared the winner 3 days later.LoC MMCG
  • 9 Mar 1959: The Barbie doll is introduced at the International Toy Fair in New York.JWA BM
  • 9 Apr 1959: NASA announces its picks for the first U. S. astronauts, known collectively as the "Mercury Seven".NASA Space
  • 8 Jun 1959: Missile Mail - 3,000 pieces of mail are delivered by a cruise missile fired from a U. S. Navy submarine.W I R E D SI
  • 17 Jul 1959: Mary Leakey discovers the earliest hominid fossil at Olduvai Gorge.TIME LF
  • 7 Aug 1959—1 Jul 1961: The United States launches Explorer 6, the first satellite to take and transmit images of the Earth.NASA KSC
  • 21 Aug 1959: Hawaii becomes a state.ThoughtCo 50States.com
  • 14 Sep 1959: The Soviet space probe, Luna 2, becomes the first man-made object to reach another celestial body, crashing onto the Moon.W I R E D NASA
  • 7 Oct 1959: The first photographs of the far side of the Moon are taken by Luna 3.NASA
50 1960 
  • 23 Jan 1960: The bathyscaphe Trieste takes the world\'s deepest dive into the Marianas Trench off the coast of Guam setting a record that stands for 40 years.NHHC EarthSky
  • 22 Mar 1960: Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.PatentYogi LaserAll
  • 1 Apr 1960: The first weather satellite, TIROS-1, goes into orbit.NASA SI
  • 13 Apr 1960: The first navigation satellite, Transit 1b or NavSat, is put into orbit by the U. S. Navy.NPS LAAFB
  • 9 May 1960: The U. S. Food and Drug Administration approves the birth control pill.W I R E D PP
  • 16 May 1960: The laser is demonstrated.SA APS
  • 9 Jul 1960: The U. S. Navy's first nuclear attack submarine, USS Thresher is launched at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.NT USNI
  • 24 Sep 1960: The first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise, is launched in Newport News, Virginia.USNavy VNEC
  • 8 Nov 1960: John Fitzgerald Kennedy is elected 35th president of the United States of America, 1961 - 1963.USEA
51 1961 
  • 22 Jan 1961: The lowest temperature in Connecticut, -32° F, is recorded at Coventry. This tied the record previously set at Falls Village on 16 Feb 1943.NetState CTbtN
  • 25 Jan 1961: John F. Kennedy delivers the first presidential news conference to be broadcast live on television.History.com JFKLib
  • 10 Feb 1961: The Niagara Falls hydroelectric project, the largest water-driven power complex in the world, goes into service.W I R E D WNYC
  • 1 Mar 1961: The Peace Corps is established by executive order.OurDocs JFKLib
  • 12 Apr 1961: Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space.NASA Space
  • 17 Apr 1961—19 Apr 1961: Bay of Pigs Invasion: United States vs Cuba 1961.JFKLib USState
  • 5 May 1961: Alan Shepard, on board the Freedom 7, becomes the first American to journey into space.NASA SIMag
  • 25 May 1961: President John F. Kennedy announces before Congress, the goal of sending an American to the Moon before the end of the decade.NASA JFKLib
  • 7 Aug 1961: Cape Cod National Seashore is created.MassMoments WBUR
  • 22 Sep 1961: The Peace Corps becomes a permanent federal agency.OurDocs JFKLib
  • 29 Nov 1961: Enos becomes the first chimp to orbit the earth.NASA
52 1962 
  • 4 Jan 1962—21 Apr 1964: The first automated train in the United States begins service as part of the New York City subway system and ran until a fire destroyed some of the cars.NYCS RT62
  • 20 Feb 1962: John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth.NASA USNA
  • 2 Mar 1962: Wilt Chamberlain sets the NBA single-game scoring record of 100 points. NBA PennLive
  • 6 May 1962: A ballistic missile with a live nuclear warhead is fired from a U. S. submarine for the first time.npr AHF
  • 27 May 1962: A fire spreads from the town dump to a coal mine under Centralia, Pennsylvania and continues burning today.PennLive Ripley's
  • 12 Jul 1962: The Rolling Stones give their first live performance at the Marquee Club in London.UCR WHP
  • 20 Aug 1962—22 Aug 1962: The first nuclear-powered commercial ship, NS Savannah begins its maiden voyage.SSMaritime NSSavannah
  • 12 Sep 1962: President John F. Kennedy, speaking at Rice University, challenges America to reach the Moon within the decade.NASA USNA
  • 14 Oct 1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis begins.USState AtomArch
  • 15 Oct 1962—28 Oct 1962: The Cuban Missile Crisis; CIA analysts, using photographs taken by a U2 spy plane, discover Soviet missile bases under construction in Cuba.AA GWU
53 1963 
  • 5 Mar 1963: The Hula-Hoop is patented.USPTO History.com
  • 22 Mar 1963: The Beatles' first album is released.TIME TheBeatles
  • 10 Apr 1963: USS Thresher is lost with all hands during deep diving tests.USNavy AL
  • 12 Jun 1963: American civil rights activist Medgar Evers is assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi.ZEP FBI
  • 16 Jun 1963: Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova is launched aboard Vostok 6 becoming the first woman to fly in space.NASA Space
  • 20 Jun 1963: A "hot line" is established between Moscow and Washington.USState ACA
  • 1 Jul 1963: The use of the zip code is implemented by the U. S. Post Service. USPS SI
  • 28 Aug 1963: Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I have a dream" speech.VLib npr
  • 30 Aug 1963: The hotline established between the United States and Soviet Union goes live.VOA SIMag
  • 22 Nov 1963: President John Fitzgerald Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas.JFKLib USNA
  • 22 Nov 1963: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Vice President, is sworn in as the 36th president of the United States of America aboard Air Force One upon the death of President John F. Kennedy, 1963 - 1969. Whitehouse UVA
  • 24 Nov 1963: Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald during a live television broadcast.LoC UNT
  • 17 Dec 1963: The Clean Air Act becomes law.MM USNA
54 1964 
  • 11 Jan 1964: The U. S. Surgeon General declares that cigarette smoking is bad for your health.NIH CDC
  • 7 Feb 1964: The Beatles invade America.PHD TIME
  • 9 Feb 1964: The Beatles appear on the Ed Sullivan Show.ES AP
  • 27 Mar 1964: A great earthquake strikes Anchorage, Alaska.USGS Earth
  • 17 Apr 1964: The Ford Mustang makes its debut.AH AutoMag
  • 2 May 1964: BASIC (an early computer language) is invented by John George Kemeny and Tom Kurtz of Dartmouth College.W I R E D DiTH
  • 2 Jul 1964: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is signed into law prohibiting discrimination based on sex and race and more.USNA DoL
55 1965 
  • 28 Jan 1965: The new maple leaf national flag of Canada is officially proclaimed by Queen Elizabeth II.Canada CMoH
  • 6 Apr 1965: Intelsat I, the first commercial satellite, is launched bringing the world the phrase "Live, via satellite".SN NASA
  • 3 Jun 1965: Astronaut Edward White becomes the first American to walk in space.NASA Space
  • 6 Aug 1965: The Voting Rights Act is signed guaranteeing African Americans the right to vote.OurDocs USNA
  • 9 Nov 1965: The Northeast Blackout of 1965 is caused by human error.SIMag NEHS
  • 30 Nov 1965: Ralph Nader’s “Unsafe at Any Speed” hits the bookstores.Nader SI
  • 15 Dec 1965: Gemini 6, piloted by Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford, pulls within 0.3 meters (1 foot) of Gemini 7, piloted by Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, marking the first time in history that two vehicles had maneuvered to meet in space.SI NASA
56 1966 
  • 13 Jan 1966: Robert C. Weaver is selected to head the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development - the first black presidential cabinet member.NCC BHD
  • 4 Mar 1966: The Beatle's John Lennon, in a statement taken out of context, proclaims they "are more popular than Jesus" causing a worldwide furor.BB BCB
  • 31 Mar 1966: The Soviet Union launches the Luna 10, the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon.NASA Space
  • 30 May 1966: Surveyor I, the first U. S. spacecraft to touchdown on an extraterrestrial body, is launched.NASA SFI
  • 13 Jun 1966: Your Miranda Rights are established by the U. S. Supreme Court.LoC USCourts
  • 1 Jul 1966: Medicare begins taking enrollments.SSA NIH
  • 23 Aug 1966: The first photograph of the Earth from the Moon is taken by the Lunar Orbiter I.NASA Space
57 1967 
  • 14 Jan 1967: Timothy Leary, in his first San Francisco appearance, utters the sound bite of the 60s decade: "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out.".FR FSF
  • 15 Jan 1967: The Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the first Super Bowl.L I F E NFL
  • Aug 1967: Amana introduces the first practical consumer microwave oven.GoogleBooks
  • 30 Aug 1967: Thurgood Marshall becomes the first African American to be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice.USNA SCH
  • 17 Sep 1967: The Who appear on American television for the first time.IMDb RollingStone
  • 3 Oct 1967: U. S. Air Force Colonel William J. "Pete" Knight, piloting the X-15 rocket plane, achieves a world record speed of Mach 6.7.NASA
  • 8 Oct 1967: Ernesto "Ché" Guevara is captured in Bolivia.WAPO PBS
  • 9 Oct 1967: Ernesto "Ché" Guevara is executed by Bolivian soldiers.GWU PBS
  • 20 Oct 1967: A bigfoot is filmed in northern California.OB Forbes
58 1968 
  • 21 Jan 1968: The Battle of Khe Sanh begins.History.com S&S
  • 23 Jan 1968: North Korea attacks and seizes the USS Pueblo in international waters, holding the crew captive for 11 months.NHHC SIMag
  • 31 Jan 1968: The Tet Offensive begins; North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces attack every major city in South Vietnam after declaring a truce.SIMag USArmy
  • 16 Feb 1968: The first 9-1-1 emergency call is made in Haleyville, Alabama.NENA LEM
  • 17 Feb 1968: The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opens.HoopHall ESPN
  • 16 Mar 1968: Members of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division enter the Vietnamese village of My Lai and begin to massacre of over 300 apparently unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderly.PBS SIMag
  • 4 Apr 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee.Stanford WAPO
  • 18 Jul 1968: Noyce and Moore incorporate N M Electronics, soon to become Intel.FU CHM
  • 26 Aug 1968—29 Aug 1968: The Democratic Convention takes place against a backdrop of violence between Vietnam War protesters and Chicago Police.CNN SIMag
  • 14 Oct 1968: The first live telecast from a manned U. S. spacecraft is sent from Apollo 7.NASA MZTV
  • 5 Nov 1968: Richard Milhous Nixon is elected 37th president of the United States of America, 1969 - 1974.USEA
  • 12 Nov 1968: In a unanimous decision, the U. S. Supreme Court rules that the Arkansas statute against the teaching of evolution was to protect a particular religious view, and was therefore unconstitutional.Findlaw Justia
  • 17 Nov 1968: With just 65 seconds left to play, NBC switches off an NFL game between the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets in favor of the movie Heidi.History.com
  • 9 Dec 1968: Douglas C. Engelbart and a group of researchers demonstrate a working computer mouse as part of the NLS - "oN Line System".Stanford SI
59 1969 
  • 2 Mar 1969: The Concorde takes off on its maiden flight.B B C PHYS
  • 22 Jun 1969: The Cuyahoga River catches fire because of its polluted waters.W I R E D OHC
  • 16 Jul 1969: Apollo 11, the first manned mission to land on the Moon, is launched.NASA Space
  • 18 Jul 1969: Ted Kennedy drives his car of a bridge at Chappaquiddick, killing Mary Jo Kopechne.AH SIMag
  • 20 Jul 1969: Neil Armstrong walks on the moon.NASA Space
  • 15 Aug 1969—18 Aug 1969: The Woodstock Music & Art Fair begins. Woodstock BWC
  • 2 Sep 1969: The first node of the ARPANET, the first version of the internet, goes into service.npr W I R E D
  • 5 Oct 1969: Monty Python's Flying Circus is aired for the first time.B B C MontyPython
  • 10 Nov 1969: Sesame Street airs for the first time.TIME SI
  • 12 Nov 1969: Reporter Seymour Hersh breaks a shocking story about a massacre in the South Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai.IP A-H
  • 6 Dec 1969: Tragedy at the Altamont Speedway Free Music Festival brings the 60s to a close.Forbes AMF
60 1970 
  • 22 Jan 1970: Pan Am airlines makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 747.PanAm PM
  • 13 Feb 1970: Black Sabbath releases their self-titled, first album, what many consider to be the first heavy metal band.DisCogs PE
  • 13 Apr 1970: At 10:06 pm EST, an oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 Service Module explodes, crippling the space craft.NASA Space
  • 22 Apr 1970: Happy Earth Day! ED EPA
  • 4 May 1970: Members of the Ohio National Guard fire into a crowd of Kent State University demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine.KSU ABJ
  • 18 Sep 1970: Guitarist Jimi Hendrix dies after collapsing at a party in London.B B C UCR
  • 5 Oct 1970: NET becomes PBS.WNET
  • 17 Nov 1970: The patent for the computer mouse is granted to Doug Engelbart.SU GooglePatents
  • 2 Dec 1970: The Environmental Protection Agency begins operation.EPA NF
  • 15 Dec 1970: Venera 7 lands on Venus and becomes the first spacecraft to transmit data from the surface of any extraterrestrial planet.RPW NASA
61 1971 
  • 25 Jan 1971: All defendants from the Manson Family are found guilty in the Tate-LaBianca murder trial.LAMag LAWS
  • 1 May 1971: Amtrak begins managing the United States passenger rail system.AHS OTOL
  • 30 May 1971: Mariner 9, the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, is launched.NASA Space
  • 13 Jun 1971: The New York Times begins publishing the Pentagon Papers.NYTimes POLITICO
  • 18 Jun 1971: Federal Express Corporation is founded in Little Rock, Arkansas.CH CNN
  • 30 Jun 1971: 3 Russian cosmonauts die in their Soyuz capsule after a valve fails.CoF Space
  • 5 Jul 1971: The 26th amendment is signed lowering the voting age to 18.Gallup SI
  • 31 Jul 1971: Apollo 15 astronauts Dave Scott and James Irwin take the first extraterrestrial ride in the Lunar Rover.A&SMag NASA
  • 10 Oct 1971: London Bridge finally reopens - in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.HavasuNews GoLH
  • 14 Nov 1971: Mariner 9 arrives at Mars.NASA
  • 4 Dec 1971: "Some stupid with a flare gun" during a Frank Zappa concert causes the Montreux Casino to burn down inspiring the music classic Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple.AO npr
62 1972 
  • 17 Jun 1972: Police arrest five men for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel Complex in Washington, D. C.USNA FBI
  • 18 Oct 1972: The Clean Water Act becomes law.Scarce EPA
  • 19 Dec 1972: The last Apollo lunar-landing mission ends.NASA FJ
63 1973 
  • 27 Jan 1973: A peace agreement between the United States and North Vietnam is signed.PBS fold3
  • 27 Feb 1973: The Wounded Knee siege begins and lasts 71 days.ICT USMarshalls
  • 3 Apr 1973: The first cell phone call is made.AARP GWR
  • 14 May 1973: The Skylab space station is launched into orbit by a Saturn V booster.NASA Space
  • 22 May 1973: The computer network standard ethernet is described by Bob Metcalfe of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.W I R E D CHM
  • 25 Aug 1973: The first CAT scan in the United States takes place.W I R E D SMB
  • 10 Oct 1973: U. S. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigns after pleading no contest to income tax evasion.Nation USHouse
  • 17 Oct 1973: OPEC oil embargo begins.C-SPAN MW
64 1974 
  • 2 Jan 1974—28 Nov 1995: Due to the oil shortages and price increases caused by the OPEC embargo, President Nixon signs into law a national speed limit of 55 mph in order to force drivers to conserve fuel.History.com OSTI
  • 29 Mar 1974: The terracotta army of the first Emperor of China is discovered by 3 farmers looking for water.SCMP SIMag
  • 8 Aug 1974: Richard Milhous Nixon announces that he will resign from the office of President of the United States of America.Whitehouse NAF
  • 9 Aug 1974—20 Jan 1975: Gerald Rudolph Ford becomes the 38th president of the United States of America, 1974 - 1977.Whitehouse GRFPL&M
  • 9 Aug 1974: Nixon resigns.NAF Whitehouse
  • 16 Aug 1974: The Ramones play their first public gig at CBGBs.Rhino VP
65 1975 
  • 2 Jan 1975: The Monarch butterfly's overwintering sites are discovered in the Mexican mountains by Ken Brugger and Catalina Aguado.TBR NWF
  • 8 Jan 1975—31 Dec 1980: Ella T. Grasso, the first women elected governor in her own right in the United States, begins serving her term in office.NGA WLHS
  • 4 Apr 1975: Bill Gates and Paul Allen form a new company, Microsoft, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.W I R E D CIOViews
  • 30 Apr 1975: The Fall of Saigon, the United States abandons Vietnam.AFMag TIME
  • 20 Jun 1975: The Talking Heads play their first gig at CBGBs, opening for the Ramones.PunkDiary CA
  • 17 Jul 1975: The Apollo and Soyuz space modules link up in space.NASA SN
  • 30 Jul 1975: Jimmy Hoffa disappears.TIME TMM
  • 2 Aug 1975: The highest temperature in Massachusetts, 107° F, is recorded at Chester and New Bedford.NetState CW
  • 2 Aug 1975: The highest temperature recorded in Rhode Island is 104°F at Providence.NetState CW
  • 11 Oct 1975: Saturday Night Live premiers on NBC.IMDb NBC
66 1976 
  • 1 Apr 1976: Apple Computer is established.AI MO
  • 20 Jul 1976: The Viking 1 Lander touches down on Mars.NASA YouTube
  • 2 Nov 1976: James Earl Carter Jr. is elected the 39th president of the United States of America, 1977 - 1981.USEA
67 1977 
  • 19 Jan 1977: Snow falls in Miami, Florida and the Bahamas (I was in Freeport at the time), the only recorded occurrence in history.MiamiHerald NWS
  • 5 Jun 1977: The first personal computer, the Apple II, goes on sale.W I R E D EDN
  • 19 Jun 1977: The Trans-Alaska Pipeline begins operation.OSTI JPT
  • 11 Jul 1977: The supercomputer CRAY-1A, serial number 3, is delivered to NCAR, the National Center for Atmospheric Research.CISL SketchFab
  • 4 Aug 1977: The U. S. Department of Energy is established.DoE USHouse
  • 23 Aug 1977: The Kremer Prize for the first sustained (mile-long) human-powered flight is claimed by the Gossamer Condor.SI CAOHP
  • 20 Oct 1977: A plane carrying the band Lynyrd Skynyrd runs out of fuel and crashes in Mississippi killing 3 bandmembers.RollingStone AO
68 1978 
  • 18 Jan 1978: The roof of the Hartford Civic Center collapses after accumulating a large amount of snow over a 10 day period.CH Courant
  • 6 Feb 1978—7 Feb 1978: A savage blizzard packing hurricane force winds hits the northeast U. S. with a major impact on Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island dumping up to four feet of snow on many places, paralyzing highways for days and tearing up the coastline.Boston.com MassMoments WWI
  • 27 Jun 1978: The Gillette Company receives a patent for the erasable pen.Justia USPTO
  • 25 Jul 1978: The world's first "test-tube" baby is born.RR WNYC
  • 11 Aug 1978—17 Aug 1978: The first successful transatlantic crossing in a balloon, the Double Eagle II, takes place.SI
  • 18 Nov 1978: Members of the People's Temple commit murder and more than 900 die by mass suicide in the jungle of Guyana.SDSU WRSP
  • 27 Nov 1978: San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk are assassinated by former Supervisor Dan White.npr SFC
69 1979 
  • 28 Mar 1979: A partial core meltdown occurs in the unit-2 nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island.NRC NEI
  • 12 Jun 1979: The Gossamer Albatross becomes the first fully human-powered aircraft to cross the English Channel.AVInc SI
  • 11 Jul 1979: Skylab crashes to Earth.NASA Space
  • 9 Dec 1979: Smallpox is declared eradicated by the WHO.NYAM NIH
70 1980 
  • 22 Feb 1980: The "Miracle on Ice" - The USA men's Olympic hockey team beats the Soviet Union 4-3.LA ESPN
  • 29 Feb 1980: Gordie Howe scores his 800th goal as a Hartford Whaler.BS BiB
  • 8 May 1980: Small Pox is declared eradicated by the World Health Organization.ABA CDC
  • 18 May 1980: Earthquakes trigger a landslide and a cataclysmic eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State.USAF USGS
  • 20 May 1980: In a referendum, Québec votes to secede from Canada. The motion fails to pass.CBC GNB
  • 1 Jun 1980: CNN, the first 24-hour news channel, begins broadcasting.CNN MLRC
  • 7 Jun 1980: The first U. S. solar power plant, located at the Natural Bridge National Monument in Utah, is dedicated.NPS SJC
  • 30 Sep 1980: The specifications for the networking protocol Ethernet are published.kunbus RTA
  • 10 Oct 1980: The Very Large Array (VLA) is dedicated outside of Socorro, New Mexico.AAS Harvard
  • 4 Nov 1980: Ronald Wilson Reagan is elected 40th president of the United States of America, 1981 - 1989.USEA
  • 8 Dec 1980: Former Beatle John Lennon is assassinated in New York City.B B C TIME
71 1981 
  • 12 Jan 1981: The lowest temperature in Massachusetts, -35°, is recorded at Chester.NetState Chester
  • 20 Jan 1981: The Iran hostage crisis ends.USNA WHHA
  • 9 Apr 1981: The complete sequence of the 16,569-base pair human mitochondrial genome is presented in the journal Nature.GoogleBooks SCIRP
  • 5 Jun 1981: The first research into the epidemic AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, is published.CDC HIV
  • 7 Jul 1981: Sandra Day O'Connor is nominated by President Ronald Reagan as a U. S. Supreme Court justice and she will become the first women to hold that position.POLITICO SCOTUS
  • 1 Aug 1981: MTV airs its first broadcast.BCB VH1
  • 12 Aug 1981: The first IBM Personal Computer introduced.IBM ThoughtCo
  • 25 Sep 1981: Sandra Day O'Connor takes her seat as U. S. Supreme Court Justice - the first woman to do so.CULaw SI
72 1982 
  • 8 Jan 1982: AT&T agrees to be broken up.FR Yale
  • 17 Apr 1982: Canada becomes fully independent from Britain.CMoH CA
  • 2 Dec 1982: Barney Clark receives the first permanent artificial heart implant, the Jarvik-7, invented by Robert K. Jarvik.NYTimes SIMag
73 1983 
  • 1 Jan 1983: The Internet evolves from ARPANET.W I R E D IS
  • 20 May 1983: The discovery of the HIV virus that causes AIDS is first published in the journal Science.Science NIH
  • 18 Jun 1983: Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.NASA EarthSky
  • 28 Jun 1983: The northbound deck of I-95's Mianus River bridge collapses killing 3.CTPost GL
  • 23 Oct 1983: U. S. and French military barracks in Beirut are attacked using massive car bombs.MCT USMarines
  • 25 Oct 1983: United States Marines invade Grenada.WHO DemNOW
74 1984 
  • 24 Jan 1984: The Apple Macintosh, the first commercially successful computer to use a graphical interface, is introduced.LowEndMac AI
  • 7 Feb 1984: Astronaut Bruce McCandless becomes the first to perform an untethered spacewalk.NASA SI
  • 11 Apr 1984: Astronauts from the space shuttle Challenger retrieve and repair the Solar Max satellite while in orbit.W I R E D ESA
  • 25 Nov 1984: The song "Do They Know It's Christmas" is recorded in a studio in London.RollingStone TIME
75 1985 
  • 19 Nov 1985: Mikail Gorbachov and Ronald Reagan meet for the first time.POLITICO USState
  • 20 Nov 1985: Microsoft releases its first version of Windows.c|net PC
76 1986 
  • 28 Jan 1986: Just after lift-off, the space shuttle Challenger explodes, killing all aboard.NASA Space
  • 26 Apr 1986: An explosion and fire release large quantities of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.NRC LS
  • 25 May 1986: Hands Across America takes place.ABCNews GoogleMaps
  • 14 Dec 1986—23 Dec 1986: Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, in the Voyager are the first to fly around the world without stopping or refueling.SI NASA
77 1987 
  • 19 Jun 1987: The U. S. Supreme Court strikes down the 1981 Louisiana “Creationism Act” claiming it unconstitutionally endorses religion.Cornell NCSE
  • 3 Jul 1987: In a little over a day, Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand complete the first Atlantic crossing in a hot air balloon.LT GN