Regional Fun Facts

1900

• The population of the U.S. was 76,094,000
  
• The president was William McKinley
  
• The unemployment rate was 5%
  
• The Nobel Peace Prize was won by German physicist, Max Planck for his formulation of an energy theory, laying the groundwork for the quantum theory of modern physics
  

1901

• The population of the U.S. was 77,585,000
  
• President William McKinley was assassinated and Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as president.
  
• The unemployment rate was 4%
  
• Queen Victoria died
  
• The Boxer Rebellion ended
  
• J.P. Morgan created U.S. Steel
  

1902

• The population of the U.S. was 79,163,000
  
• The president was Theodore Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.7%
  
• Enrico Caruso made his first gramophone recording
  
• The Aswan Dam was completed
  
• Cuba gained their indpendence from Spain
  

1903

• The population of the U.S. was 80,632,000
  
• The president was Theodore Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.9%
  
• Henry Ford organized Ford Motor Company
  
• The first transcontinental trip by automobile took place form San Francisco to New York, it took 52 days.
  
• Boston won the World Series
  
• The Wright Brothers flew their first successful flight at Kitty Hawk
  

1904

• The population of the U.S. was 82,166,000
  
• The president was Theodore Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.4%
  
• The New York City subway opened
  
• The U.S. began construction of the Panama Canal
  
• The first flat disk phonograph was introduced
  

1905

• The population of the U.S. was 83,822,000
  
• The president was Theodore Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.3%
  
• The Russian Revolution began
  
• The New York Giants won the World Series
  
• Albert Einstein first proposed his Theory of Relativity
  

1906

• The population of the U.S. was 85,450,000
  
• The president was Theodore Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 1.7%
  
• Finland was the first European country to give women the vote
  
• More than 500 people were killed in the San Francisco earthquake
  
• Roosevelt sails to the Panama Canal, the first time any president travels outside
  the country while in office.
  

1907

• The population of the U.S. was 87,008,000
  
• The president was Theodore Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 2.8%
  
• The Chicago Cubs won the World Series
  
• Florinz Ziefeld introduced the Ziegfeld Follies
  
• The first Cubist exhibition was held in Paris
  

1908

• The population of the U.S. was 88,710,000
  
• The president was Theodore Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 8%
  
• The Chicago Cubs won the World Series
  
• Petroleum production first started in the Middle East
  
• Henry Ford developed the first Model T which sold for $850
  

1909

• The population of the U.S. was 90,490,000
  
• The president was William Taft
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.1%
  
• The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, was founded and first led by W.E.B. DuBois
  
• Pittsburgh won the Wold Series
  

1910

• The population of the U.S. was 92,407,000
  
• The president was William Taft
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.9%
  
• Japan annexed Korea
  
• The Boy Scouts of America were incorporated
  
• Philadelphia won the World Series
  
• Thomas Edison introduced the kinetophone which made talkies a reality
  
• Halley's comet was first observed photographically

1911

• The population of the U.S. was 93,863,000
  
• The president was William Taft
  
• The unemployment rate was 6.7%
  
• Ronald Amundsen was the first man to reach the South Pole
  
• Philadelphia won the World Series
  
• British physicist, Ernest Rutherford, discovered the structure of the atom
  
• The first feature film was released, "Enoch Arden"

1912

• The population of the U.S. was 95,335,000
  
• The president was William Taft
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.6%
  
• The Titantic sunk on it's maiden voyage killing over 1500 people
  
• The Balkan Wars began
  
• William Randolph Hearst began to acquire his media empire
  
• Boston won the World Series
  

1913

• The population of the U.S. was 97,225,000
  
• The president was Woodrow Wilson
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.3%
  
• The Suffragettes demonstrated in London and in Washington DC
  
• The Sixteenth Amendment was adopted, Income Tax became a reality
  
• Philadelphia won the World Series
  
• The first crossword puzzle appeared in the "New York World"
  
• Henry Ford developed the first moving assembly line.

1914

• The population of the U.S. was 99,111,000
  
• The president was Woodrow Wilson
  
• The unemployment rate was 7.9%
  
• World War 1 began
  
• The Panama Canal officially opened
  
• Boston won the World Series
  
• Charlie Chaplin played the "Little Tramp" his most famous role
  
• George Washington Carver began experimenting with peanuts as new cash crop in the south

1915

• The population of the U.S. was 100,546,000
  
• The president was Woodrow Wilson
  
• The unemployment rate was 8.5%
  
• The British ocean liner, the Lusitania, was sunk by a German sub, 1195 died
  
• The 1,000,000,000 Ford rolled off the assembly line
  
• Boston won the World Series
  
• The Germans first used posion gas as a weapon
  

1916

• The population of the U.S. was 101,961,000
  
• The president was Woodrow Wilson
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.1%
  
• The Battle of Verdun was fought
  
• Jeanette Rankin, from Montana, became the first woman to serve in Congress
  
• Boston won the World Series
  
• Charlie Chaplin earned an unprecedented $10,000 a week
  
• Albert Einstein completes his Theory of Relativity
  

1917

• The population of the U.S. was 103,268,000
  
• The president was Woodrow Wilson
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.6%
  
• The U.S. declared war on Germany and the first combat troops arrive in France
  
• Mata Hari was convicted and executed as a German spy
  
• The Chicago White Sox won the World Series
  

1918

• The population of the U.S. was 103,208,000
  
• The president was Woodrow Wilson
  
• The unemployment rate was 1.4%
  
• Russian revolutionaries executed the former czar and his family
  
• Boston won the World Series
  
• Daylight Savings Time first went into effect
  
• The German Kaiser abdicated
  

1919

• The population of the U.S. was 104,514,000
  
• The president was Woodrow Wilson
  
• The unemployment rate was 1.4%
  
• Prohibition was adopted
  
• The Versalles Treaty was signed by the Allies and Germany
  
• Cincinnati won the World Series
  
• Dial telephones were introduced
  
• Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity was confirmed
  

1920

• The population of the U.S. was 106,461,000
  
• The president was Woodrow Wilson
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.2%
  
• The Nineteenth Amendment, Women's Suffrage was ratified
  
• Cleveland won the World Series
  
• The first radio broadcast was aired
  
• Speakeasies replaced saloons as the center of social activity

1921

• The population of the U.S. was 108,538,000
  
• The president was Warren Harding
  
• The unemployment rate was 11.7%
  
• World War I ended
  
• The first burial at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was held
  
• The New York Giants won the World Series
  
• "The Sheik" debuted starring Rudolph Valentino

1922

• The population of the U.S. was 110,049,000
  
• The president was Warren Harding
  
• The unemployment rate was 6.7%
  
• Mussolini marched on Rome
  
• The Lincoln Memorial was dedicated
  
• The New York Giants won the World Series
  
• Insulin was isolated and used for treating diabetes

1923

• The population of the U.S. was 111,947,000
  
• The president was Warren Harding
  
• The unemployment rate was 2.4%
  
• An earthquake destroyed one third of Tokyo
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• Harlem's Cotton Club opened featuring all black performers
  
• Time Magazine debuted
  
• Rin Tin Tin became film's first canine star

1924

• The population of the U.S. was 114,109,000
  
• The president was Calvin Coolidge
  
• The unemployment rate was 5%
  
• Lenin died and Stalin won the power struggle
  
• The Teapot Dome Scandal rocks Washington DC
  
• Walt Disney created the first cartoon, "Alice in Wonderland"
  
• The first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held in New York

1925

• The population of the U.S. was 115,829,000
  
• The president was Calvin Coolidge
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.2%
  
• John Logie Baird transmitted the first human features by television
  
• Hitler published "Mein Kampf"
  
• Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first woman governor in Wyoming
  
• John Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution
  
• Al Capone took over the Chicago bootlegging racket
  
• Pittsburgh won the World Series

1926

• The population of the U.S. was 117,397,000
  
• The president was Calvin Coolidge
  
• The unemployment rate was 1.8%
  
• Richard Byrd flew to the North Pole and back
  
• St. Louis won the World Series
  
• NBC, National Broadcasting Company, was established
  
• Robert Goddard fired the first liquid fuel rocket
  
• Automobile antifreeze allowed people to use their cars year round

1927

• The population of the U.S. was 119,035,000
  
• The president was Calvin Coolidge
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.3%
  
• Trotsky was expelled from the Russian Communist Party
  
• Lindbergh flew the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight
  
• The Holland Tunnel opened
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• Belgian astrophysicist, Georges Lemaitre, proposed the Big Bang Theory

1928

• The population of the U.S. was 120,509,000
  
• The president was Calvin Coolidge
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.2%
  
• Stalin introduced his first Five Year Plan imposing collectivism on agriculture
  
• Oscar DePriest was elected the first black representative from a northern state
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• General Electric introduced a television with a 3" X 4" screen
  
• The first Academy Awards were held and the winner was "Wings"
  
• Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin

1929

• The population of the U.S. was 121,767,000
  
• The president was Herbert Hoover
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.2%
  
• The first large scale Jewish-Arab violence ocurred in Jerusalem
  
• The Vatican City was established as an independent state
  
• The St. Valentine massacre occurred
  
• The stock market crashed marking the beginning of the Great Depression
  
• Philadelphia won the World Series
  
• Penicillin was first used to fight infection
  
• The Academy Award went to "Broadway Melody"

1930

• The population of the U.S. was 123,076,741
  
• The president was Herbert Hoover
  
• The unemployment rate was 8.9%
  
• The Nazis gained in the German elections
  
• Unemployment soared prompting the Commission for Unemployment Relief
  
• Philadelphia won the World Series
  
• Astronomers discovered the planet Pluto
  
• Vannevar Bush built the "differential analyzer," the first analog computer
  
• The Academy Award went to "All Quiet on the Western Front"

1931

• The population of the U.S. was 124,039,648
  
• The president was Herbert Hoover
  
• The unemployment rate was 16.3%
  
• Al Capone was sentenced to prison for tax evasion
  
• "Star Spangled Banner" becomes the official national anthem
  
• The Empire State Building was completed
  
• There were 30,000 televisions in the U.S. and 9,000 were in New York City
  
• Frigidaire made the refrigerator safe for household use
  
• The electron microscope was developed
  
• The Academy Award went to "Cimarron"

1932

• The population of the U.S. was 124,840,471
  
• The president was Herbert Hoover
  
• The unemployment rate was 24.1%
  
• Charles Lindbergh's baby son was kidnapped
  
• Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic solo
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City
  
• Physicists, Sir John Douglas Cockcroft and Ernest Walton, split the atom for the first time
  
• The Academy Award went to "Grand Hotel"

1933

• The population of the U.S. was 125,578,763
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 25.2%
  
• Hitler became the German Chancellor
  
• Germany and Japan withdrew from the League of Nations
  
• Roosevelt launched his New Deal
  
• Prohibition was repealed
  
• The New York Giants won the World Series
  
• The Academy Award went to "Cavalcade"

1934

• The population of the U.S. was 126,373,773
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 22%
  
• Hitler became the Fuhrer when the chancellorship and presidency united
  
• The Dionne sisters were born, the first quintuplets to survive beyond infancy
  
• Bonnie and Clyde were killed in a shoot out
  
• St. Louis won the World Series
  
• The Academy Award went to "It Happened One Night"
  

1935

• The population of the U.S. was 127,250,232
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 20.1%
  
• The Nazis repudiated the Versailles Treaty and Mussolini invaded Ethiopia
  
• The Gallup Poll began to predict the outcome of presidential elections
  
• Detroit won the World Series
  
• A DuPont chemist created nylon
  
• Aircraft detecting radar was pioneered
  
• The Academy Award went to "Mutiny on the Bounty"

1936

• The population of the U.S. was 128,053,180
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 16.9%
  
• The Spanish Civil War began
  
• The BBC debuted as the world's first TV service with three hours of programming each day
  
• Boulder Dam was completed
  
• The first successful helicopter flight was made
  
• The first artificial heart was developed
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Great Ziegfeld"

1937

• The population of the U.S. was 128,824,829
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 14.3%
  
• Italy withdrew from the League of Nations and Japan invaded China
  
• The dirigible, "Hindenburg" exploded in New Jersey killing 36
  
• Amelia Earhart disappeared over the Pacific while on a round the world flight
  
• Glenn Miller's band debuted
  
• The Golden Gate Bridge was completed
  
• Frank Lloyd Wright built "Fallingwater"
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Life of Emile Zola"

1938

• The population of the U.S. was 129,824,939
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 19%
  
• Hitler marched into Austria
  
• Orson Welles broadcast the "War of the Worlds"
  
• The Fair Labor Standards Act was enacted which established the minimum wage
  
• Teflon was developed at DuPont
  
• George and Ladislaw Biro invented the ballpoint pen
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• The Academy Award went to "You Can't Take It With You"

1939

• The population of the U.S. was 130,879,718
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 17.2%
  
• Germany invaded Poland, World War II began
  
• Roosevelt claimed the U.S. neutrality
  
• The Department of Agriculture started the first food stamp program
  
• Einstein wrote a letter to Roosevelt suggesting the possibility of using uranium to initiate a nuclear chain reaction
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• The Academy Award went to "Gone With The Wind"

1940

• The population of the U.S. was 132,122,446
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 14.6%
  
• Winston Churchill became the British Prime Minister
  
• The Selective Service Act was signed, starting the military draft
  
• The first Social Security check was paid out
  
• The Pennsylvania Turnpike opened, the first super highway
  
• The first MacDonald hamburger stand opened in California
  
• Plasma was discovered to be a substitute for whole blood in transfusions
  
• Cincinnati won the World Series
  
• The Academy Award went to "Rebecca"

1941

• The population of the U.S. was 133,402,471
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 9.9%
  
• The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor
  
• Germany attacked the Balkans and Russia
  
• Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act, giving the president the power to sell, lend, or lease war supplies to other nations
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• The Academy Award went to "How Green Was My Valley"

1942

• The population of the U.S. was 134,859,553
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.7%
  
• More than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry were moved to relocation centers
  
• The women's military services were established
  
• Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, the first HMO, began
  
• St. Louis won the World Series
  
• Bing Crosby released "White Christmas"
  
• The U.S. established the Manhattan Project in an effort to design and build an atomic bomb
  
• The Academy Award went to "Mrs. Miniver"

1943

• The population of the U.S. was 136,739,353
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 1.9%
  
• Mussolini was deposed
  
• Withholding tax on wages was introduced
  
• The Pentagon was completed
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• Doctors began to use the PAP test to detect cervical cancer
  
• The Academy Award went to "Casablanca"

1944

• The population of the U.S. was 138,397,345
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 1.2%
  
• The Allies invaded Normandy, D-Day
  
• Ann Frank's family was sent to a concentration camp
  
• The GI Bill of Rights was passed
  
• St. Louis won the World Series
  
• DNA was isolated by Oswald Avery
  
• The Academy Award went to "Going My Way"

1945

• The population of the U.S. was 139,928,165
  
• The president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt
  
• The unemployment rate was 1.9%
  
• Hitler committed suicide and Germany surrendered
  
• The U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
  
• Japan surrendered
  
• FDR died and Truman assumed office
  
• Detroit won the World Series
  
• Grand Rapids, MI was the first community to fluoridate it's water supply
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Lost Weekend"

1946

• The population of the U.S. was 141,388,566
  
• The president was Harry Truman
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.9%
  
• The first meeting of the United Nation's General Assembly was held
  
• The League of Nations was dissolved
  
• Benjamin Spock's childcare classic was published
  
• St. Louis won the World Series
  
• The Cannes Film Festival debuted
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Best Years of Our Lives"

1947

• The population of the U.S. was 144,126,071
  
• The president was Harry Truman
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.9%
  
• The Marshall Plan was proposed for European economic recovery
  
• The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered
  
• The Hollywood Black List was created
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• "Meet the Press" debuted
  
• The microwave oven was invented
  
• Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier
  
• The Academy Award went to "Gentlemen's Agreement"

1948

• The population of the U.S. was 146,631,302
  
• The president was Harry Truman
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.9%
  
• The Berlin Airlift was begun
  
• Communists seized power in Czechoslovakia
  
• Truman ended racial segregation in the U.S. military
  
• Cleveland won the World Series
  
• The World Health Organization was established
  
• The Academy Award went to "Hamlet"

1949

• The population of the U.S. was 149,188,130
  
• The president was Harry Truman
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.8%
  
• NATO, North American Treaty Organization, was established
  
• People's Republic of China was formally proclaimed
  
• Britain recognized the independence of the Republic of Ireland
  
• The U.S. recognized the state of Israel
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• The first Emmy Awards were handed out
  
• The Academy Award went to "All The King's Men"

1950

• The population of the U.S. was 152,271,417
  
• The president was Harry Truman
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.9%
  
• The Korean War began
  
• Truman ordered the development of the hydrogen bomb
  
• The Era of McCarthyism began
  
• The first successful kidney transplant was performed
  
• Charles Schulz introduced "Peanuts"
  
• The first xerox machine was produced
  
• The Academy Award went to "All About Eve"

1951

• The population of the U.S. was 154,877,889
  
• The president was Harry Truman
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.3%
  
• The Japanese peace treaty was signed in San Francisco
  
• The 22nd Amendment was ratified, limiting the president to two terms
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• The colored television was introduced in the U.S.
  
• The term "rock 'n' roll" was first introduced
  
• The first nuclear power plant was built
  
• The Academy Award went to "An American in Paris"

1952

• The population of the U.S. was 157,552,740
  
• The president was Harry Truman
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.3%
  
• Elizabeth became Queen of England
  
• The "Today Show" debuted
  
• Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Greatest Show On Earth"

1953

• The population of the U.S. was 160,184,192
  
• The president was Dwight Eisenhower
  
• The unemployment rate was 3%
  
• Stalin died
  
• The Korean armistice was signed
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• The first issue of "TV Guide" was published
  
• Edmond Hillary climbed Mt. Everest
  
• The first successful open heart surgery was performed
  
• The Academy Award went to "From Here To Eternity"

1954

• The population of the U.S. was 163,025,854
  
• The president was Dwight Eisenhower
  
• The unemployment rate was 2.9%
  
• Nasser became premier of Egypt
  
• The Geneva Conference convened to bring peace to Vietnam
  
• The Supreme Court bans racial segregation in public schools
  
• The New York Giants won the World Series
  
• The USS Nautilus was the first atomic submarine commissioned
  
• The Academy Award went to "On The Waterfront"

1955

• The population of the U.S. was 165,931,202
  
• The president was Dwight Eisenhower
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.5%
  
• Winston Churchill resigned
  
• West Germany became a sovereign state
  
• Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of the bus, breaking the segregated seating law
  
• The Brooklyn Dodgers won the World Series
  
• James Dean died in a car accident
  
• The Academy Award went to "Marty"

1956

• The population of the U.S. was 168,903,031
  
• The president was Dwight Eisenhower
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.4%
  
• Soviet troops and tanks crushed an uprising in Hungary
  
• The U.S. tests a hydrogen bomb
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• Elvis Presley emerges as one of the world's first rock stars
  
• The DNA molecule is first photographed
  
• The Academy Award went to "Around the World in 80 Days"

1957

• The population of the U.S. was 171,984,130
  
• The president was Dwight Eisenhower
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.1%
  
• Russia launched Sputnik, the first earth orbiting satellite
  
• The "Little Rock Nine" integrated an Arkansas high school
  
• Milwaukee won the World Series
  
• The pacemaker was invented
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Bridge on the River Kwai"

1958

• The population of the U.S. was 174,881,904
  
• The president was Dwight Eisenhower
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.3%
  
• Charles de Gaulle became the French premier and then the French president
  
• Khrushchev became premier of the Soviet Union
  
• Elvis Presley was inducted into the army
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• The first transatlantic jet passenger service was established
  
• NASA initiates Project Mercury aimed at putting a man in space
  
• The Academy Award went to "Gigi"

1959

• The population of the U.S. was 177,829,628
  
• The president was Dwight Eisenhower
  
• The unemployment rate was 6.8%
  
• Fidel Castro assumed power in Cuba
  
• Alaska and Hawaii became states
  
• The St. Lawrence Seaway opened
  
• The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series
  
• The first Grammy Award ceremony was held
  
• The Academy Award went to "Ben-Hur"

1960

• The population of the U.S. was 180,671,158
  
• The president was Dwight Eisenhower
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.5%
  
• A U.S. spy plane was shot down over Russia
  
• John Kennedy and Richard Nixon participated in the first televised debates
  
• Pittsburgh won the World Series
  
• The first working laser was built
  
• Echo 1, the first communication satellite, and Tiros 1, the first weather satellite, were launched
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Apartment"

1961

• The population of the U.S. was 183,691,481
  
• The president was John Kennedy
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.5%
  
• The U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Cuba
  
• East Germany erected the Berlin Wall
  
• Alan Shephard was the first U.S. astronaut
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• Russia puts the first man in orbit
  
• The Academy Award went to "West Side Story"

1962

• The population of the U.S. was 186,537,737
  
• The president was John Kennedy
  
• The unemployment rate was 6.7%
  
• The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred and Russia backed down
  
• Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council
  
• James Meredith became the first African-American to register at the University of Mississippi
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• Marilyn Monroe died of a drug overdose
  
• John Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth
  
• The Academy Award went to "Lawrence of Arabia"

1963

• The population of the U.S. was 189,241,798
  
• The president was John Kennedy
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.5%
  
• Pope John XXIII died and was succeeded by Pope Paul VI
  
• Michael De Bakey implanted the first artificial heart
  
• The Supreme Court ruled no prayer in public schools
  
• Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I have a dream" speech at the "March on Washington" civil rights rally
  
• President Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas
  
• Jack Ruby murdered Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV
  
• The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series
  
• The Academy Award went to "Tom Jones"

1964

• The population of the U.S. was 191,888,791
  
• The president was Lyndon Johnson
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.7%
  
• Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa
  
• Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
  
• Khrushchev was deposed
  
• Three civil rights workers were murdered in Mississippi
  
• St. Louis won the World Series
  
• The Beatles first appeared on the "Ed Sullivan" show
  
• The Surgeon General affirmed that cigarette smoking causes cancer
  
• The Academy Award went to "My Fair Lady"

1965

• The population of the U.S. was 194,302,963
  
• The president was Lyndon Johnson
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.2%
  
• The first U.S. combat troops arrived in Vietnam
  
• Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Selma, Alabama in a demonstration for voter registration
  
• Malcolm X was shot to death
  
• The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series
  
• The Big Bang Theory was confirmed
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Sound of Music"

1966

• The population of the U.S. was 196,560,338
  
• The president was Lyndon Johnson
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.5%
  
• India suffered their worst famine in twenty years
  
• Medicare began
  
• Blacks rioted for six days in the Watts area of Los Angeles
  
• The Supreme Court decided Miranda vs Arizona protecting the rights of the accused
  
• Baltimore won the World Series
  
• The first "Star Trek" episode was aired
  
• The FDA declared "the Pill" to be safe for human use
  
• The Academy Award went to "A Man for All Seasons"

1967

• The population of the U.S. was 198,712,056
  
• The president was Lyndon Johnson
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.8%
  
• Israeli and Arab forces battled in the Six Day War
  
• There was racial violence in Detroit
  
• Thurgood Marshall was sworn in as the first African-American justice
  
• St. Louis won the World Series
  
• Congress created PBS, the Public Broadcast System
  
• Dr. Christian Banard performed the first successful heart transplant
  
• The Academy Award went to "In the Heat of the Night"

1968

• The population of the U.S. was 200,706,052
  
• The president was Lyndon Johnson
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.8%
  
• North Vietnam launched the TET offensive, a turning point in the war
  
• Lyndon Johnson announced that he would not seek or accept renomination
  
• Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee
  
• Robert Kennedy was assassinated in Los Angeles
  
• Detroit won the World Series
  
• "60 Minutes" debuted
  
• Amniocentesis was developed
  
• The Academy Award went to "Oliver"

1969

• The population of the U.S. was 202,676,946
  
• The president was Richard Nixon
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.6%
  
• The U.S., the USSR, and 100 other countries signed the nuclear nonproliferation treaty
  
• It was the beginning of the Gay Rights Movement
  
• Teddy Kennedy drives off the bridge in Chappaquidick killing his passenger
  
• Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon
  
• The New York Mets won the World Series
  
• The first in vitro fertilization of a human egg was performed
  
• The Academy Award went to "Midnight Cowboy"

1970

• The population of the U.S. was 205,052,174
  
• The president was Richard Nixon
  
• The unemployment rate was 3.5%
  
• U.S. troops invaded Cambodia
  
• Four students were slain by the National Guard at Kent State during a war protest
  
• The Senate repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
  
• Baltimore won the World Series
  
• The Beatles disbanded
  
• IBM produced the first floppy disk
  
• Bar codes were introduced for retail and industrial use in England
  
• The Academy Award went to "Patton"

1971

• The population of the U.S. was 207,660,677
  
• The president was Richard Nixon
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.9%
  
• Nixon ended the U.S. trade embargo against China
  
• The Supreme Court ruled that busing may be ordered to achieve desegregation
  
• The 26th Amendment was ratified, lowering the voting age to 18
  
• Pittsburgh won the World Series
  
• The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opened in Washington DC
  
• J.C. Penney died
  
• The Academy Award went to "The French Connection"

1972

• The population of the U.S. was 209,896,021
  
• The president was Richard Nixon
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.9%
  
• Eleven Israeli athletes are killed at the Munich Olympics by Arab terrorists
  
• Nixon ordered the "Christmas bombing" of North Vietnam
  
• The Watergate scandal started to unfold
  
• Oakland won the World Series
  
• Ms. Magazine debuted
  
• Atari introduced Pong, the first video game
  
• E-mail was introduced
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Godfather"

1973

• The population of the U.S. was 211,908,788
  
• The president was Richard Nixon
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.6%
  
• A ceasefire was signed ending the American involvement in Vietnam
  
• OPEC hiked oil prices tremendously
  
• Spiro Agnew resigned as vice president and then pled guilty to tax evasion
  
• Nixon accepted responsibility, but not blame, for Watergate
  
• The Supreme Court ruled on Roe v Wade
  
• Oakland won the World Series
  
• Pablo Picasso died
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Sting"

1974

• The population of the U.S. was 213,853,928
  
• The president was Richard Nixon
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.9%
  
• Nixon and Brezhnev met in Moscow to discuss arms limitations
  
• Patricia Hearst was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army
  
• Nixon announced his resignation, and Gerald Ford was sworn in as president
  
• Ford granted Nixon a "full, free and absolute pardon"
  
• Oakland won the World Series
  
• People Magazine debuted
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Godfather Part II"

1975

• The population of the U.S. was 215,973,199
  
• The president was Gerald Ford
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.6%
  
• Saigon was surrendered and Americans were evacuated, thus ending the war
  
• Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft took off for the first U.S.-Soviet link-up in space
  
• Cincinnati won the World Series
  
• "Saturday Nite Live" premiered
  
• The VCR was developed in Japan
  
• The Academy Award went to "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"

1976

• The population of the U.S. was 218,035,164
  
• The president was Gerald Ford
  
• The unemployment rate was 8.5%
  
• The nation celebrated the Bicentennial
  
• The Supreme Court ruled that African-Americans and other minorities were entitled to retroactive job seniority
  
• Cincinnati won the World Series
  
• The SST started regular flights
  
• The Academy Award went to "Rocky"

1977

• The population of the U.S. was 220,239,425
  
• The president was Jimmy Carter
  
• The unemployment rate was 7.7%
  
• The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty was signed by 15 countries
  
• The first woman Episcopal priest was ordained
  
• Carter pardoned the Vietnam draft evaders
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• Elvis Presley died
  
• The Academy Award went to "Annie Hall"

1978

• The population of the U.S. was 222,584,545
  
• The president was Jimmy Carter
  
• The unemployment rate was 7.1%
  
• Pope Paul VI died, the new Pope, John Paul I, died unexpectedly 34 days in office, and Pope John Paul II succeeded him
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• Sony introduced the Walkman
  
• The first "test tube" baby was born in London
  
• Three men made the first successful transatlantic balloon flight
  
• Norman Rockwell died
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Deer Hunter"

1979

• The population of the U.S. was 225,055,487
  
• The president was Jimmy Carter
  
• The unemployment rate was 6.1%
  
• The Shah left Iran, and the Ayatollah took over
  
• Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister
  
• Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy and held Americans hostage
  
• There was a nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island, PA
  
• Pittsburgh won the World Series
  
• The first rap hit was released by the Sugar Hill Gang
  
• John Wayne died
  
• The Academy Award went to "Kramer vs Kramer"

1980

• The population of the U.S. was 227,224,681
  
• The president was Jimmy Carter
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.8%
  
• The Iran Hostage Crisis continued
  
• The Iran-Iraq war began
  
• Philadelphia won the World Series
  
• John Lennon of the Beatles was shot and killed
  
• Ted Turner launched CNN
  
• Alfred Hitchcock died
  
• The Academy Award went to "Ordinary People"

1981

• The population of the U.S. was 229,465,714
  
• The president was Ronald Reagan
  
• The unemployment rate was 7.1%
  
• Iran freed the 52 American hostages
  
• Pope John Paul II was wounded by a gunman
  
• Ronald Reagan was wounded by a gunman
  
• Sandra Day O'Connor was the first woman nominated for the Supreme Court
  
• The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series
  
• MTV went on the air
  
• AIDS was first identified
  
• IBM introduced the first personal computer
  
• The Academy Award went to "Chariots of Fire"

1982

• The population of the U.S. was 231,664,458
  
• The president was Ronald Reagan
  
• The unemployment rate was 7.6%
  
• Princess Grace died in a car accident
  
• The Equal Rights Amendment failed ratification
  
• St. Louis won the World Series
  
• John Belushi died of a drug overdose
  
• The space shuttle Columbia made its first mission
  
• The MRI was introduced in England
  
• The Academy Award went to "Gandhi"

1983

• The population of the U.S. was 233,791,994
  
• The president was Ronald Reagan
  
• The unemployment rate was 9.7%
  
• A terrorist explosion killed 237 Marines in Beirut
  
• The space shuttle Challenger made a successful maiden voyage
  
• Sally Ride was the first woman astronaut in space
  
• Baltimore won the World Series
  
• "Crack" cocaine was developed in the Bahamas and soon appeared in the U.S.
  
• Motorola was authorized to begin testing cellular phone service in Chicago
  
• The Academy Award went to "Terms of Endearment"

1984

• The population of the U.S. was 235,824,902
  
• The president was Ronald Reagan
  
• The unemployment rate was 9.6%
  
• Italy and the Vatican agreed to end Catholicism as the state religion
  
• Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, was assassinated
  
• Toxic gas leaked from a Union Carbide plant in India killing over 2,000
  
• Detroit won the World Series
  
• Apple introduced the first user friendly Macintosh personal computer
  
• The Academy Award went to "Amadeus"

1985

• The population of the U.S. was 237,923,795
  
• The president was Ronald Reagan
  
• The unemployment rate was 7.5%
  
• Kansas City won the World Series
  
• Rock Hudson died of AIDS
  
• Madonna launched her first road show
  
• British scientists reported the opening of an enormous hole in the earth's ozone layer over Antarctica
  
• The Academy Award went to "Out of Africa"

1986

• The population of the U.S. was 240,132,887
  
• The president was Ronald Reagan
  
• The unemployment rate was 7.2%
  
• There was a major nuclear accident at a Soviet Union Chernobyl power plant
  
• The space shuttle Challenger exploded after the launch
  
• William Rhenquist was approved as Chief Justice
  
• The New York Mets won the World Series
  
• Fox became the fourth television network
  
• Nintendo video games were introduced
  
• The Academy Award went to "Platoon"

1987

• The population of the U.S. was 242,288,918
  
• The president was Ronald Reagan
  
• The unemployment rate was 7%
  
• The Supreme Court ruled that Rotary Clubs must admit women
  
• The Iran-Contra operation was being investigated
  
• Minnesota won the World Series
  
• AZT was approved by the FDA for the treatment of AIDS
  
• Andy Warhol died
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Last Emperor"

1988

• The population of the U.S. was 244,498,982
  
• The president was Ronald Reagan
  
• The unemployment rate was 6.2%
  
• The U.S. and Canada reached a free trade agreement
  
• The Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series
  
• 98% of all U.S. households have a least one television set
  
• NASA scientists warn Congress of the dangers of Global Warming
  
• The Academy Award went to "Rain Man"

1989

• The population of the U.S. was 246,819,230
  
• The president was George Bush
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.5%
  
• Chinese students took over Tiananmen Square for a rally for democracy
  
• Gorbachev was named Soviet President
  
• The Berlin Wall was opened to the West
  
• A ruptured tanker spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound
  
• Colin Powell is the first black Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
  
• Oakland won the World Series
  
• The first world wide web server and browser were developed
  
• The Academy Award went to "Driving Miss Daisy"

1990

• The population of the U.S. was 249,438,712
  
• The president was George Bush
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.3%
  
• The Communist Party relinquished sole power of the Soviet government
  
• South Africa freed Nelson Mandela after 27-1/2 years of imprisonment
  
• The Western Alliance ended the Cold War
  
• Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait setting off the Persian Gulf War
  
• East and West Germany united
  
• Cincinnati won the World Series
  
• The Hubble Space Telescope was launched
  
• The Academy Award went to "Dances With Wolves"

1991

• The population of the U.S. was 252,127,402
  
• The president was George Bush
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.6%
  
• A cease-fire ended the Persian Gulf War
  
• Boris Yeltsin became the first freely elected president of the Russian Republic
  
• Minnesota won the World Series
  
• The first cholera epidemic in over a century sickened 100,000 and killed over 700 in South America
  
• The Academy Award went to "The Silence of the Lambs"

1992

• The population of the U.S. was 254,994,517
  
• The president was George Bush
  
• The unemployment rate was 6.8%
  
• The U.S. lifted trade sanctions against China
  
• U.S. forces left the Philippines after nearly a century of military presence
  
• The North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, was signed
  
• Bush pardoned the government officials involved in the Iran-Contra Affair
  
• Toronto won the World Series
  
• The Academy Award went to "Unforgiven"

1993

• The population of the U.S. was 257,746,103
  
• The president was Bill Clinton
  
• The unemployment rate was 7.5%
  
• Clinton agreed to a compromise on the military's ban on homosexuals
  
• U.S. agents were blamed in the Waco, Texas siege
  
• Terrorists bombed the World Trade Center
  
• Toronto won the World Series
  
• The first human was cloned and then destroyed
  
• The Academy Award went to "Schindler's List"

1994

• The population of the U.S. was 260,289,237
  
• The president was Bill Clinton
  
• The unemployment rate was 6.9%
  
• The Irish Republican Army declared a cease-fire in Northern Ireland
  
• Clinton was accused of sexual harassment that occurred while governor of Arkansas
  
• O.J. Simpson was arrested for the murder of his wife
  
• Major League baseball players went on strike; there was no World Series
  
• Calves were cloned in the U.S.
  
• Richard Nixon died
  
• The Academy Award went to "Forrest Gump"

1995

• The population of the U.S. was 262,764,948
  
• The president was Bill Clinton
  
• The unemployment rate was 6.1%
  
• The Russian space station, Mir, greeted the first American astronaut
  
• Terrorists blew up the Oklahoma City federal building
  
• O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of the murder of his wife
  
• The Million Man March drew hundreds of thousands of black men to Washington
  
• Atlanta won the World Series
  
• The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opened in Cleveland
  
• The Academy Award went to "Braveheart"

1996

• The population of the U.S. was 265,189,794
  
• The president was Bill Clinton
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.6%
  
• The U.S. budget crisis forced the shutdown of the government
  
• Clinton signed the line item veto bill
  
• Madeleine Albright was appointed as the first female Secretary of State
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• Ella Fitzgerald died
  
• The Academy Award went to "The English Patient"

1997

• The population of the U.S. was 267,743,595
  
• The president was Bill Clinton
  
• The unemployment rate was 5.4%
  
• Hong Kong returned to China rule
  
• The Florida Marlins won the World Series
  
• Ellen DeGeneris became the first openly gay woman with a sitcom
  
• Jacques Cousteau died
  
• The Academy Award went to "Titanic"

1998

• The population of the U.S. was 270,298,524
• The president was Bill Clinton
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.9%
  
• European countries agreed to one single currency, the euro
  
• Russia fought to avert financial collapse
  
• Clinton outlined the first balanced budget in 30 years
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• Frank Sinatra died
  
• John Glenn returned to orbit at the age of 77 on the space shuttle Discovery
  
• The Academy Award went to "Shakespeare in Love"

1999

• The population of the U.S. was 272,690,813
  
• The president was Bill Clinton
  
• The unemployment rate was 4.5%
  
• War erupted in Kosovo
  
• An earthquake killed more than 15,600 in Turkey
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• John Kennedy Jr. and his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy were killed in an airplane crash
  
• Doctors performed the first human hand transplant in the U.S.
  
• Joe DiMaggio died
  
• The Academy Award went to "American Beauty"

2000

• The population of the U.S. was 281,421,906
  
• The president was Bill Clinton
  
• The New York Yankees won the World Series
  
• The Academy Award went to "Gladiator"