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20th Century
(Top Posts - History
- 040101)
1900
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century1/html/frame1.htm
Excerpt: "LYNCHING LAW (Jan. 20): Rep. George H. White of
North Carolina, the last black man elected during the Reconstruc-
tion era, introduces a U.S. House bill to make lynching a federal
crime. It never gets out of committee. In 1900, 115 lynchings are
recorded."
---
1901
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century1/html/frame2.htm
Excerpt: "FIRST NOBEL PRIZES (Dec. 10): The king of Sweden
and the Norwegian Nobel Committee award the first Nobel Prizes.
The awards, according to the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred
Nobel, who invented dynamite and made a fortune in explosives,
'should be annually made to those who, during the preceding year,
shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.' Among the
first winners is Wilhelm Roentgen of Germany for his discovery
of X-rays."
---
1902
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century1/html/frame3.htm
Excerpt: "ROOSEVELT BATTLES RACISM (Nov. 27): Presi-
dent Roosevelt says that a man's color or race is no bar to service
in public office. Roosevelt is responding to Southern critics re-
garding his recent appointment of a black man to the post of
Collector of the Port of Charleston."
---
1903
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century1/html/frame4.htm
Excerpt: "BROTHERS TAKE OFF (Dec. 17): On a blustery day
near Kill Devil Hill at Kitty Hawk, N.C., Orville and Wilbur Wright
astound onlookers by demonstrating manned flight in a heavier-
than-air, mechanically propelled airplane."
---
1904
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century1/html/frame5.htm
Excerpt: "RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR (Feb. 8): Japanese naval
forces launch a stunning nighttime attack against the Russian fleet
off Port Arthur in southern Manchuria. The attack is the start of
the biggest war thus far in history -- the first in which armored
battleships, self-propelled torpedoes, land mines, quick-firing
artillery and modern machine guns will be used. Japan follows
up its sneak attack with a declaration of war."
---
1905
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century1/html/frame6.htm
Excerpt: "The world becomes infinitely more complicated in 1905
when an obscure 26-year-old patent clerk in Bern, Switzerland,
publishes his musings in the German physics journal Annalen der
Physik. The clerk, Albert Einstein, sets out in the article 'a simple
and consistent theory of the electrodynamics of moving bodies.'
He introduces history's most famous equation, E=mc2 (energy
equals mass times the speed of light squared). 'I have no special
gift,' Einstein says later. 'I am only passionately curious.' "
---
1906
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century1/html/frame7.htm
Excerpt: "WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE (March 7): Finland becomes
the first country to give women the vote, decreeing universal suf-
frage for citizens over 24."
---
1907
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century1/html/frame8.htm
Excerpt: "Mass Immigration - As part of the biggest mass move-
ment in history, a million immigrants land in the United States in
1905, another million in 1906, and more than a million and a quar-
ter in the peak year of 1907."
---
1908
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century1/html/frame9.htm
Excerpt: "MONSTER METEOR (June 30): At 7:17 a.m, a myster-
ious fireball hurtles across the sky and explodes in the atmosphere
about 4 miles above a remote area of Siberia called Tunguska. The
explosion, with a power later estimated at between 10 and 20 mega-
tons of TNT, flattens and burns 850 square miles of forest and kills
hundreds of reindeer. The only known human casualty is a reindeer
herder at a camp about 20 miles from ground zero."
---
1909
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century1/html/frame10.htm
Excerpt: "GERONIMO DIES (Feb. 17): Apache chief Geronimo,
who led raids against white settlers off and on from 1858 until his
last surrender in 1886, dies of pneumonia at Fort Sill, Okla. In his
later years, Geronimo became a symbol of the noble savage and
an international celebrity, attending the St. Louis World's Fair in
1904 and the inauguration of President Theodore Roosevelt in
1905. Just before his death, Geronimo remarked, 'Now there are
very few of us left.' "
---
1910
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century2/html/frame1.htm
Excerpt: "EARLY TALKIE (Aug. 27): Thomas Edison unveils his
latest invention, talking motion pictures. The device is called a 'kine-
tophone,' combining the sound of a phonograph with the images of
a motion picture camera. His vision is to have a talking motion pic-
ture played in theaters in two years."
---
1911
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century2/html/frame2.htm
Excerpt: "SWEATSHOP BLAZE (March 25): During working
hours at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York City, a fire
breaks out on the ground floor, and workers upstairs are trapped.
Most of the 146 people who die are women earning $1 for a
10-hour workday."
---
1912
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century2/html/frame3.htm
Excerpt: "TITANIC TRAGEDY (April 15): First reports of the
Titanic's encounter with an iceberg in the North Atlantic underplay
the magnitude of the event. As the tragic tale unfolds, a waiting
world learns that more than 1,500 people perished in the frigid
Atlantic as the great ship slid into the deep. Only 711 people
-- mostly women and children -- survive. The 46,328-ton Titanic,
the largest, most sumptuously appointed ship ever to put to sea,
did not carry enough lifeboats for even half its 2,224 passengers
and crew. The sinking of the "unsinkable" ship becomes a meta-
phor for the frailty of human existence and the limitations of tech-
nology."
---
1913
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century2/html/frame4.htm
Excerpt: "THE BIG DITCH (Oct. 10): President Woodrow Wil-
son pushes a button in Washington to detonate 8 tons of dynamite,
opening the last segment of the Panama Canal and allowing the
waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to rush together. Nick-
named 'The Big Ditch,' it officially opens for business on April
15, 1914. The United States spent $352 million to build the canal,
which required excavations totaling 262 million cubic yards.
There is also a cost in blood: thousands of construction workers
lost their lives to disease or accidents."
---
1914
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century2/html/frame5.htm
Excerpt: "WAR IS BREWING: The major European powers, en-
tangled in alliances, are lurching toward a global conflict that will
bring about the collapse of empires and a profound realignment of
world power. On one side is the Triple Entente, comprising Britain,
France and Russia; the alliance will eventually include Serbia, Bel-
gium, Italy and Japan. On the other is a coalition called the Central
Powers: Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman
Empire and Bulgaria. The Balkans, long a theater of local conflict,
are a powder keg that will spark a worldwide conflagration, the
first global conflict in history."
---
1915
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century2/html/frame6.htm
Excerpt: "LONG DISTANCE CALL (Jan. 25): With newspaper
reporters poised to record every word, Alexander Graham Bell in
New York and assistant Thomas Watson in San Francisco pick up
telephone instruments and begin the first public transcontinental
telephone conversation. At 4:30 p.m., the inventor of the telephone
establishes the connection and says: 'Hoy, hoy, Mr. Watson, are
you there? Do you hear me?' 'Yes, Mr. Bell, I hear you perfectly.
Do you hear me well?' Watson responds."
---
1916
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century2/html/frame7.htm
Excerpt: "REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM FIGHT (Oct. 16): The
first birth control clinic in the United States is opened at 46 Amboy
St. in Brooklyn, N.Y., by Margaret Sanger. Police raid the clinic,
and Sanger is jailed for 30 days. She founds the New York Birth
Control League after her release and begins publication of the
Birth Control Review."
---
1917
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century2/html/frame8.htm
Excerpt: "PROHIBITION (Dec. 18): The 18th Amendment, outlaw-
ing the transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages, is approved
by U.S. Congress and submitted to the states for ratification. It is
the only constitutional amendment to have a time limit for ratifica-
tion -- seven years -- and the only one to be repealed."
---
1918
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century2/html/frame9.htm
Excerpt: "DEADLY FLU: Influenza spreads across Asia and war-
ravaged Europe to the Americas. The Spanish Influenza pandemic
eventually kills 20 million people, including 500,000 Americans."
---
1919
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century2/html/frame10.htm
Excerpt: "GERMANY PAYS (June 28): The Treaty of Versailles
formally ends World War I. Under the treaty, Germany must pay
about $40 billion in war reparations and surrender large areas to
a new Polish nation and France. The treaty's severity would ulti-
mately help facilitate the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1930s Germany."
---
1920
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century3/html/frame1.htm
Excerpt: "On Jan. 16, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitu-
tion takes effect, banning the sale, possession, consumption and
commercial production of beer, wine and hard liquor. Almost as
soon as the taps officially run dry, illegal alcohol begins to flow
through a network of speak-easies. Gangsters take over the boot-
legging industry, then turn to gambling, loan-sharking and 'protec-
tion.' Repeal of Prohibition will come in 1933, but not before
organized crime grows so powerful that mobs control whole
cities and their governments."
---
1921
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century3/html/frame2.htm
Excerpt: "PIONEERING PILOT (June 15): After seven months of
instruction by French and German aviators, Bessie Coleman receives
a pilot's certificate from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale in
Paris. She is the first black woman to become a licensed pilot and the
first person of any race or gender to receive an international pilot's
license, allowing her to fly in any part of the world."
---
1922
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century3/html/frame3.htm
Excerpt: "MARCH AGAINST LYNCHING (June 14): In a silent march
in Washington, blacks from every state demonstrate their support for a
bill to make lynching a federal crime. The measure passes in the House
but fails in the Senate. There are 57 reported lynchings in 1922."
---
1923
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century3/html/frame4.htm
Excerpt: "Henry Luce and Briton Hadden establish a journalistic
institution on March 3, 1923, with publication of the first issue of
Time magazine. It compresses a week's worth of world happenings
into 28 pages, minus six pages of advertising sold at giveaway rates.
The first edition hits the newsstands at 15 cents per copy."
---
1924
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century3/html/frame5.htm
Excerpt: "LENIN'S LIFE ENDS (Jan. 21): In the Soviet Union,
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin dies at age 54. Lenin, the first Communist
head of state and mastermind of the Russian Revolution, laid the
groundwork for a dictatorship that will later be perfected by a
former seminary student turned political thug, Josef Stalin."
---
1925
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century3/html/frame6.htm
Excerpt: "SEEDS OF THE HOLOCAUST: A new book by Adolf
Hitler hits the streets in Munich. In it, he expounds his unoriginal
but incendiary views on German nationalism, race and communism.
Hitler calls his book 'Four and a Half Years of Struggle against Lies,
Stupidity, and Cowardice.' Friends suggest a shorter title, 'Mein
Kampf' (My Struggle)."
---
1926
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century3/html/frame7.htm
Excerpt: "IT'S ROCKET SCIENCE (March 16): Robert H. God-
dard, a 43-year-old physics instructor at Clark University in Wor-
cester, Mass., meets two assistants in a frozen farm field and
detonates the world's first liquid-fuel (oxygen and gasoline) rocket.
It flies 184 feet away, attaining an altitude of 41 feet and a top speed
of 64 mph before landing in a cabbage patch. It is hardly a journey
into the cosmos, but it is a milestone for rocket science. Recognized
as the father of American rocketry, Goddard will not live to see the
space age he helped launch."
---
1927
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century3/html/frame8.htm
Excerpt: "Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., a shy, lanky air-mail
pilot, makes a journey from obscurity to worldwide celebrity
during two momentous days in May 1927. The 25-year-old avi-
ator flies nonstop -- and solo -- from New York to Paris in a
silver monoplane named the Spirit of St. Louis, in honor of his
financial backers from that Midwest city. He becomes Time mag-
azine's first Man of the Year."
---
1928
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century3/html/frame9.htm
Excerpt: "Penicillin, a Magic Bullet - Scottish physician Alexander
Fleming is intrigued by the observation that most wounded soldiers
die of infection rather than the wounds themselves. His research at
St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London focuses on how to
kill the deadly bacteria. Penicillin, the landmark discovery he reports
without fanfare in September 1928, will become the wonder drug
of World War II. Fleming will be knighted in 1944 and will share
the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1945."
---
1929
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century3/html/frame10.htm
Excerpt: "EXPANDING SPACE: Scientist Edwin Hubble publishes
a report that confirms the universe is expanding. From a state-of-the-
art telescope in California, Hubble had measured the spectrum shifts
of starlight over a period of time. He found that an apparent shrinking
Milky Way galaxy actually was an expanding universe."
---
1930
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century4/html/frame1.htm
Excerpt: "Enduring Conflict (October 5): A congress of Balkan
states opens to promote cooperation in the long-embattled region."
---
1931
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century4/html/frame2.htm
Excerpt: "Going Up (May 1): The Empire State Building opens on
the site formerly occupied by the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel at Fifth
Avenue and 34th Street. At 102 stories and 1,250 feet, it will be
the tallest building in the world for more than 40 years."
---
1932
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century4/html/frame3.htm
Excerpt: "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?: As the Great Depres-
sion drags into its third full year in 1932, the statistics are as bleak
as the faces of the people standing in bread lines across a demor-
alized nation. The average weekly wage falls to $17, down from
$28 in 1929. More than 1,600 U.S. banks fail, nearly 20,000 busi-
nesses go bankrupt and the number of suicides is reported at
21,000."
---
1933
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century4/html/frame4.htm
Excerpt: "Prohibition Prohibited (Dec. 5): Americans toast the end
of Prohibition with the ratification of the 21st Amendment, which
repeals the 1920 constitutional amendment prohibiting the manu-
facture and sale of liquor. Anheuser-Busch marks the occasion
by dispatching its newly introduced team of Clydesdale horses
to deliver a case of beer to repeal-supporter President Franklin D.
Roosevelt."
---
1934
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century4/html/frame5.htm
Excerpt: "Bonnie & Clyde - During a wave of criminality that sweeps
the United States in the 1930s, few desperadoes cut a more swash-
buckling legend than Clyde Barrow and his partner, lover and soul
mate, Bonnie Parker. In two years, Bonnie and Clyde rob small-town
banks, gas stations and luncheonettes, never getting more than $3,500
in a single heist. But they kill at least a dozen people, including nine
lawmen. The end comes the morning of May 23, 1934, when Bonnie
and Clyde drive into a trap and die in a fusillade of 167 bullets. She
is 23; he is 25. Their bodies and their tan Ford V-8 sedan are put on
display, and thousands of gawkers turn out."
---
1935
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century4/html/frame6.htm
Excerpt: "The Dust Bowl - It starts with the hot, dry summer of
1931, followed by rainless, scorching summers throughout much
of the decade. Howling prairie winds whip up, and about 100 mil-
lion acres of the Southern Plains -- a circle encompassing the pan-
handles of Texas and Oklahoma, western Kansas and eastern
Colorado and New Mexico -- become a wasteland dubbed the
Dust Bowl. The worst of the dust storms comes on Black Sunday,
April 14, 1935. About a quarter of the farm families abandon their
homesteads, pile their belongings onto jalopies and head toward
California. The exodus will be chronicled in John Steinbeck's clas-
sic 1939 novel 'The Grapes of Wrath.' "
---
1936
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century4/html/frame7.htm
Excerpt: "South Rises Again - 'Gone With the Wind' by Margaret
Mitchell is published on June 30. The popular novel about life in
Atlanta during and after the Civil War is destined to become a
motion picture blockbuster."
---
1937
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century4/html/frame8.htm
Excerpt: "Rooting Out Weed (Aug. 2): Marijuana is outlawed in
the United States."
---
1938
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century4/html/frame9.htm
Excerpt: "Kristallnacht (Nov. 9): Nazis go on a rampage in Berlin,
smashing the windows, or 'kristal,' of stores owned by Jews. The
action on this 'Night of Broken Glass' ignites a pogrom in which
more than 90 Jews are killed at random and between 20,000 and
30,000 are sent to concentration camps."
---
1939
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century4/html/frame10.htm
Excerpt: "Blitzkrieg (Sept. 1): A scant two decades after the guns
fell silent to end the First World War, Europe is once again a field
of battle. Germany is once again a protagonist, attacking a poorly
equipped Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, in a blitzkrieg -- a 'lightning war.'
The stage has been set for the invasion of Poland by a nonaggres-
sion pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, signed Aug. 23.
Britain will declare war on Germany on Sept. 3. France's declara-
tion comes two days later. Warsaw falls Sept. 27. With the swas-
tika waving on flagpoles in Vienna, Prague and Warsaw, World
War II has begun."
---
1940
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century5/html/frame1.htm
Excerpt: "Victory at All Costs (May 13): In his 'blood, toil, tears
and sweat' address, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
makes clear his nation's objective in the war against Germany:
'Victory; victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory
however long and hard the road may be: for without victory,
there is no survival.' "
---
1941
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century5/html/frame2.htm
Excerpt: "A Date Which Will Live in Infamy (Dec. 7): 'Yesterday,
December 7, 1941 -- a date which will live in infamy -- the United
States was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air
forces of the Empire of Japan,' President Franklin D. Roosevelt
tells Congress."
---
1942
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century5/html/frame3.htm
Excerpt: "Behind Barbed Wire (Feb. 20): President Franklin D.
Roosevelt authorizes internment of Japanese-Americans on the
West Coast."
---
1943
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century5/html/frame4.htm
Excerpt: "Ghetto Uprising (April 19): On the feast of Passover,
a desperate remnant of Polish Jewry -- about 1,500 starving men
and women of the Warsaw Ghetto organized into commando
units -- take on the German army with pistols, grenades, Molotov
cocktails, two or three light machine guns and their wits. The
rebels hold out nearly a month, killing several hundred Germans
in the futile struggle."
---
1944
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century5/html/frame5.htm
Excerpt: "D-Day - In the pre-dawn hours of June 6, an assault
code-named Operation Overlord -- to be known forever as
D-Day -- is launched from the sea. It is carried out by a force
of 176,000 men, 2,000 ships, 4,000 landing craft and 11,000
aircraft. U.S., British and Canadian troops land on Normandy
beaches code-named Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno and Sword.
Despite the bombardment, Americans encounter resistance at
Omaha Beach and incur about 3,000 casualties in the first day
of fighting. But by day's end, 155,000 men are ashore in France
to begin retaking the continent from Germany's Third Reich."
---
1945
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century5/html/frame6.htm
Excerpt 1 of 2: "Human Agony (Jan. 26-27): Soviet forces liberate
Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps in southwest Poland.
Abandoned by the Nazis, Russians find only a few sickly survivors
amid the sprawling death camp complex. Thousands of camp in-
mates had been put on a forced death march toward Germany be-
fore the Soviets arrived. As Allied forces liberate more and more
concentration camps, the magnitude of the Nazi plan to exterminate
Jews and other 'undesirables' begins to fully emerge."
Excerpt 2 of 2: "Dawn of Atomic Age - With a blinding flash and
a roiling black cloud of dust and debris that resembles an immense
mushroom, a new weapon called 'the atomic bomb' unleashes its
fury on Hiroshima, Japan, the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. President
Harry S. Truman warns the Japanese that 'if they do not accept
our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the sky the likes
of which has never been seen on this Earth.' Japan does not re-
spond. So, three days after the first bomb, another atomic bomb
falls on Nagasaki. The two bombs virtually destroy the two cities,
kill an estimated 120,000 people outright and force Japan to capi-
tulate."
---
1946
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century5/html/frame7.htm
Excerpt: "First Computer (Feb. 14): ENIAC, the Electronic Numer-
ical Integrator and Computer, is unveiled by the War Department.
The first general-purpose computer is 10 feet tall, weighs 60,000
pounds and has 18,000 vacuum tubes."
---
1947
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century5/html/frame8.htm
Excerpt: "Religious Conflict (Aug. 15): The British Raj is replaced
by independent India and Pakistan. But the dawn of freedom for
400 million people is darkened by an unprecedented wave of
violence. Hindus and Sikhs are driven from Muslim Pakistan,
and Hindus and Sikhs force out Muslims from predominantly
Hindu India. Among 10 million people uprooted, about a million
will die."
---
1948
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century5/html/frame9.htm
Excerpt: "Struggle for Independence (May 14): With the British
withdrawal from Palestine, Jews proclaim independence for the
new state of Israel and install David Ben-Gurion as prime minister.
Neighboring Arab countries invade Israel the next day. By the end
of 1948, the fledgling republic establishes firm military control
over a substantial portion of Palestine."
---
1949
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century5/html/frame10.htm
Excerpt: "Red Storm (Oct. 1): After four years of civil war, Com-
munist forces led by Mao Tse-tung emerge victorious in China.
In a speech at Tiananmen Square in Bejing, Mao proclaims the
establishment of the People's Republic of China. Defeated nation-
alist forces under Chiang Kai-shek take refuge on Taiwan."
---
1950
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century6/html/frame1.htm
Excerpt: "McCarthy Era (Feb 9): A relatively unknown U.S. sena-
tor touches off a firestorm of fear when he claims that communist
agents have infiltrated the government and hold crucial positions.
Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wis., soon holds hearings to prove his
allegations and "McCarthyism" becomes a household word. A
Senate panel in July concludes his accusations have no foundation.
His tirades will end in December 1954, when his fellow senators
censure him for misconduct."
---
1951
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century6/html/frame2.htm
Excerpt: "Truman vs. MacArthur (April 11): President Truman
fires Gen. Douglas MacArthur as supreme commander of Allied
forces in the Pacific and orders him to return home in the midst
of the Korean War. The Chicago Tribune and a host of other
newspapers demand the impeachment and conviction of the
president, calling him 'unfit, morally and mentally, for his high
office.' Truman also is booed in public and hanged in effigy
for his actions against MacArthur, a hero to many Americans."
---
1952
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century6/html/frame3.htm
Excerpt: "Big Blow Up (Nov. 1): The U.S. Atomic Energy Com-
mission explodes the first hydrogen, or nuclear-fusion, bomb, at
the Eniwetok proving grounds in the Pacific Ocean."
---
1953
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century6/html/frame4.htm
Excerpt: "Sex Sells - Hugh Hefner, 27, sets off fireworks in the
magazine industry with the first issue of Playboy in 1953. It fea-
tures Marilyn Monroe on the cover and as the "Sweetheart of the
Month" centerfold. (The term changes to playmate thereafter.)"
---
1954
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century6/html/frame5.htm
Excerpt: "The King - On July 5, a 19-year-old truck driver from
Tupelo, Miss., named Elvis Aron Presley brings his guitar to
Sun Studios, where the owner has finally agreed to allow him
a recording session. The recording made that day, 'That's All
Right,' launches the Elvis phenomenon, thanks to a boost by
Memphis disc jockey Dewey Phillips."
---
1955
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century6/html/frame6.htm
Excerpt: "Dramatic Death (Sept. 30): Actor James Dean, 24, dies
instantly when his Porsche Spyder skids off a road near Paso Ro-
bles, Calif., and smashes into a telephone pole. Four days after
his death, Warner Bros. releases, on schedule, 'Rebel Without
a Cause,' director Nicholas Ray's drama of juvenile delinquency."
---
1956
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century6/html/frame7.htm
Excerpt: "Denouncing Stalin (February): In a four-hour diatribe
delivered before the 20th Communist Party Congress in Moscow,
Josef Stalin's successor, Nikita Khrushchev, denounces 'the cult
of the individual' and attacks his former boss for his 'intolerance,
his brutality, his abuse of power.' Ever so briefly, the party's iron
grip will ease. In the next year, an estimated 8 million people will
be released from the gulag work camp system and thousands of
purged Communist Party members will be 'rehabilitated.' "
---
1957
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century6/html/frame8.htm
Excerpt:"Sputnik - For the first time in human history, an artificial
satellite is dispatched to orbit the Earth. The 184-pound aluminum
sphere, smaller than a basketball, circles the globe every 98 min-
utes, emitting ominous 'beeps' and transmitting data to its Earth
masters. Trouble is, those masters are in the Soviet Union. The
Oct. 4 launch causes no end of worry for Americans in the para-
noid Cold War world."
---
1958
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century6/html/frame9.htm
Excerpt: "No Great Leap (May 23): Dissatisfied by his country's
standing in the economic world order, Mao Tse-tung launches
China on a 'Great Leap Forward.' Millions of peasants are
organized into about 24,000 rural 'people's communes.' The
program appears successful at first, but waste and mismanage-
ment lead to disappointing results. Historians will later estimate
that 20 million or more Chinese died in the resulting famine."
---
1959
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century6/html/frame10.htm
Excerpt: "Castro's Cuba (Jan. 1): Led by a fiery 32-year-old
lawyer named Fidel Castro, rebels known as 'the bearded ones'
seize power in Cuba after two years of civil war. Dictator Ful-
gencio Batista resigns after seven years in power and flees to
Miami."
---
1960
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century7/html/frame1.htm
Excerpt: "The Pill - A sexual revolution is about to erupt in this
new, tumultuous decade, and science makes it possible. In 1960,
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves the world's
first effective oral contraceptive."
---
1961
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century7/html/frame2.htm
Excerpt: "TV Wasteland (May 9): The chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission, Newton Minow, issues an
indictment of TV programming: 'You will see a vast wasteland:
a procession of game shows, violence, audience participation
shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families
... blood and thunder ... mayhem, violence, sadism, murder ...
private eyes, more violence, and cartoons .. and, endlessly,
commercials ... .' "
---
1962
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century7/html/frame3.htm
Excerpt: "13 Days of Fear (Sept. 30): The nuclear genie nearly
escapes from the bottle during October's Cuban missile crisis,
as the United States and the Soviet Union teeter on the brink of
war."
---
1963
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century7/html/frame4.htm
Excerpt: "Camelot's Last Day - On Nov. 22, President Kennedy
is shot about 12:15 Central Time as his black Lincoln convertible
swings down a Dallas street in front of the Texas School Book
Depository. The ensuing hours and days are filled with shock,
confusion and panic. The president is pronounced dead at 1 p.m.
By 1:45, police arrest a 24-year-old school book depository
employee named Lee Harvey Oswald in a movie theater, where
he has fled after the shooting of a police officer. Two days later,
as millions watch on TV, Oswald is fatally shot by nightclub
owner Jack Ruby. Police had been moving Oswald, a Marine
veteran who has spent time in the Soviet Union, to safer quarters.
Conspiracy theories will surround the assassination for decades
to come."
---
1964
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century7/html/frame5.htm
Excerpt: "British Invasion - It's the most raucous British invasion
since the War of 1812. But instead of torching the White House,
these four Britons plunder the hearts of gaggles of screeching
young females in 1964. The invasion begins on a blustery Feb. 7,
when about 3,000 teens, mostly girls, converge on New York's
Kennedy International Airport to greet the Liverpool pop group
called the Beatles. The thick-thatched foursome -- Paul McCartney,
Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison -- become instant
celebrities. Their appearance on Ed Sullivan's variety show brings
the highest ratings in TV history. They sell 2.5 million albums in
less than a month and pack every stadium and concert hall they
play."
---
1965
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century7/html/frame6.htm
Excerpt: "Miniskirts - A crowd sits in stunned silence as dozens
of models parade up and down a fashion show ramp wearing
white boots and skirts with hemlines 4 inches above the knee,
created by French designer Andre Courreges. With the mini-
skirt's debut, the sexual revolution prepares to go into over-
drive."
---
1966
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century7/html/frame7.htm
Excerpt: "Final Frontier (Sept. 9): A new television program
boldly goeswhere no TV show has ever gone before. 'Star Trek'
premieres on NBC. The hourlong sci-fi show follows the exploits
of Capt. James T. Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise on
their five-year mission to seek out strange new worlds. The series
will last only three years but creates legions of loyal followers and
becomes a cult classic."
---
1967
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century7/html/frame8.htm
Excerpt: "Biafra Nightmare (May): A conflict between Nigerian
forces and rebels fighting to establish a Biafran state in eastern
Nigeria leads to catastrophe. Nigerian troops blockade the region,
and Biafrans soon begin to starve. More than 1 million Biafrans
will die of starvation by the time rebels give up their cause in
1970."
---
1968
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century7/html/frame9.htm
Excerpt (1 of 2): "Blow to Civil Rights (April 4): Martin Luther
King Jr., 39-year-old prophet of non-violence and racial brother-
hood, is gunned down in Memphis on the second-floor balcony
of the Lorraine Motel. The assassination triggers rioting in more
than 100 communities, resulting in 46 deaths. Illinois-born James
Earl Ray, a white man, is arrested June 8 in London as he is about
to fly to Belgium."
Excerpt (2 of 2):"Another Assassination (June 5): The nation is
rocked by the shooting of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles
on the night he wins the California primary in his quest for the
Democratic presidential nomination. As Kennedy fights for his
life, the assailant is identified as Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, 24, a
Palestinian-American protesting American support of Israel.
Kennedy dies early June 6."
---
1969
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century7/html/frame10.htm
Excerpt:"A Man on the Moon -Throughout the world on a won-
drous July Sunday, people gather around radios and TV screens,
waiting -- with a sense of awe -- for what is arguably the most sig-
nificant event of the 20th century: The human species is setting
foot on a world beyond its own. At 4:17 p.m. Eastern Time on
July 20, the four spindly legs of the lunar module, named Eagle,
touch down on the powdery surface of the moon. The words
sound tinny and muffled after a journey across the vastness of
space, but they are electrifying. 'Houston, Tranquility Base here,'
says Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong. "The Eagle has
landed." People on Earth whoop and cheer -- or weep -- filled
with pride and wonder. At 10:56, Armstrong puts the first human
footprint on the moon. 'That's one small step for man, one giant
leap for mankind.' "
---
1970
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century8/html/frame1.htm
Excerpt: "Campus Unrest: Rarely have Americans been so div-
ided as in 1970 over the war in Vietnam. But the galvanizing
event in this turbulent year is President Nixon's announcement
April 30 that U.S. troops have entered Cambodia to destroy
Viet Cong and North Vietnamese 'headquarters' and 'sanc-
tuaries.' The announcement sparks demonstrations at colleges
and universities across the nation. May 4: A confrontation be-
tween National Guard troops and about 1,000 demonstrators
at Kent State University in Ohio results in the deaths of four
students."
- - -
1971
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century8/html/frame2.htm
Excerpt: "Murderous 'Family' (March 29): Charles Manson and
three female members of his 'family' are sentenced to death for
the murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others in 1969."
- - -
1972
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century8/html/frame3.htm
Excerpt: "Executions Get the Ax (June 29): The U.S. Supreme
Court rules that capital punishment is 'cruel and unusual punish-
ment' and is unconstitutional."
- - -
1973
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century8/html/frame4.htm
Excerpt: "Roe vs. Wade (Jan. 22): Launching an emotional debate
over abortion, the Supreme Court rules that personal privacy rights
are 'broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or
not to terminate her pregnancy.' The Roe vs. Wade decision invali-
dates abortion statutes in 46 states."
- - -
1974
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century8/html/frame5.htm
Excerpt: "President Resigns (Aug. 8): The Watergate scandal
climaxes when President Nixon announces in a televised address
that he will resign the presidency at noon the next day."
- - -
1975
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century8/html/frame6.htm
Excerpt 1 of 2: "Fall of Saigon (April 29): Just after dusk, 11 U.S.
Marines are plucked from the roof of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon
in an emergency helicopter airlift. They are the last American sol-
diers to be evacuated from the South Vietnamese capital after the
most divisive war in U.S. history. Shortly after noon the next day,
Viet Cong tanks rumble into Saigon and a North Vietnamese flag
is raised over the presidential palace. The South Vietnamese sur-
render to the North, ending the Vietnam War after three decades
of strife. The final death toll of the war is roughly 1.3 million Viet-
namese and more than 56,000 Americans. The Americans' $141
billion effort to stop communism in Southeast Asia is a bust."
Excerpt 2 of 2: "PC Power: Harvard dropout Bill Gates, 19, and
childhood pal Paul Allen, 22, found Microsoft."
- - -
1976
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century8/html/frame7.htm
Excerpt 1 of 2: "Death Penalty Returns (July 2): Reversing a 1972
decision, the Supreme Court rules that the death penalty is not
inherently cruel and unusual punishment. The high court finds by
a vote of 7-2 that death is a constitutionally acceptable form of
punishment, at least for murder."
Excerpt 2 of 2: "Moguls in the Making (April 1): Steve Jobs
and Steve Wozniak help start the age of personal computing by
forming Apple Computer Co."
- - -
1977
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century8/html/frame8.htm
Excerpt:"The King Is Dead (Aug 16): Millions of fans are plunged
into mourning by the death of 42-year-old Elvis Aaron Presley,
'The King' of rock 'n' roll for two decades."
- - -
1978
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century8/html/frame9.htm
Excerpt 1 of 2: "Mass Suicide (Nov. 18): In the jungle of Guyana,
a flamboyant, charismatic cult leader named James Warren 'Jim'
Jones engineers the assassination of a visiting California congress-
man and four members of his entourage, the mass suicide by cya-
nide-laced Kool-Aid of 913 of his People's Temple followers, and
his own death by self-inflicted gunshot."
Excerpt 2 of 2: "The Killing Fields (December): With the invasion
of Cambodia by neighboring Vietnam, the full horror of the three
years of genocide by the ultranationalist Khmer Rouge begins to
emerge. Mass graves, huge piles of skulls and other human bones,
and the accounts of eyewitnesses who escaped the terror of the
killing fields provide a detailed picture of the three years of geno-
cide. The number of dead is estimated at between 1 million and
3 million."
- - -
1979
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century8/html/frame10.htm
Excerpt: "Evangelists start making a play for political power when
Jerry Falwell forms the Moral Majority, saying, 'This country is
fed up with radical causes, fed up with the unisex movement, fed
up with the departure from basics, from decency, from the philoso-
phy of the monogamous home.' His goal is to push for legislation
with the backing of a large voting bloc of Christian conservatives.
'Get them saved, baptized and registered,' he tells his staff. It won't
be long before the religious right has enormous influence over the
Republican Party. Critics questioning the group's tactics tell Amer-
icans that the Moral Majority is neither moral nor a majority."
- - -
1980
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century9/html/frame1.htm
Excerpt 1 of 2: "Rude Awakening (May 18): Dormant since 1857,
Mount St. Helens in Washington state erupts, setting off fires,
mudslides and floods, and killing nearly 60 people."
Excerpt 2 of 2: "Lennon is Dead (Dec. 8): Former Beatle John
Lennon, 40, is fatally shot five times in front of his home in Man-
hattan by a crazed fan, Mark David Chapman, 25."
- - -
1981
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century9/html/frame2.htm
Excerpt: "New Plague (June 5): The official announcement of what
will become known as the AIDS epidemic appears in the Morbidity
and Mortality Weekly Report, issued by the Centers for Disease
Control. It reports five cases of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia
among homosexual men in Los Angeles. A month later, The New
York Times reports that 41 young men, most of them gay, have
contracted Kaposi's sarcoma. The disease, usually not fatal, has
quickly killed eight of the men. Doctors initially call the disease
'gay-related immunodeficiency' (GRID). But its spread to other
groups leads to a broader term -- acquired immune deficiency
syndrome, or AIDS."
- - -
1982
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century9/html/frame3.htm
Excerpt: "Tylenol Scare (Oct. 5): Tylenol recalls 264,000 bottles
of the pain reliever after seven people die after taking capsules
laced with cyanide. The killer is never found."
- - -
1983
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century9/html/frame4.htm
Excerpt: "Massacre of Marines (Oct. 23): The U.S. Marine head-
quarters in Beirut is destroyed when a truck blows up outside the
building. The driver of the truck is killed in the blast, which takes
the lives of 241 Marine and Navy personnel who are in Lebanon
as part of a peacekeeping force."
- - -
1984
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century9/html/frame5.htm
Excerpt: "Blow to Apartheid (Dec. 10): Anglican Bishop Des-
mond Tutu receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo for his non-
violent efforts to end apartheid in South Africa."
- - -
1985
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century9/html/frame6.htm
Excerpt: "Last Soviet Leader (March 11): Mikhail Sergeyevich
Gorbachev is elevated to the Soviet Union's highest post. Gorba-
chev promises to revitalize the Soviet bureaucracy, but instead
he unleashes forces that will bring down the Soviet Union and
shake the world's political order."
- - -
1986
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century9/html/frame7.htm
Excerpt: "Challenger Explosion (Jan. 28): It is bitterly cold by
Florida standards. Icicles hang from the gantry adjoining the
shuttle Challenger on its launch pad at the Kennedy Space Cen-
ter. The crew includes a high school teacher, Christa McAuliffe,
who is to become the first typical citizen to travel in space. After
a two-hour delay to allow the ice to melt, the launch proceeds.
For the first minute, it looks like every other launch. Then, after
73 seconds, disaster."
- - -
1987
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century9/html/frame8.htm
Excerpt: "Trapped Toddler: An 18-month-old girl tumbles into
a 22-foot-deep well in her back yard in Midland, Texas. Jessica
McClure remains trapped for 58 hours. Baby Jessica captures
the hearts of worried Americans -- crying for her mother and
singing Winnie-the-Pooh songs -- until paramedic Steve Forbes
emerges with the tiny bundle in his arms."
- - -
1988
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century9/html/frame9.htm
Excerpt: "Terror in the Sky (Dec. 22): Pan Am Flight 103 erupts
into a fireball. The blazing Boeing 747 jetliner comes crashing
down on Lockerbie, Scotland. All 259 people aboard the plane
die. Eleven are killed on the ground. Within a week, investigators
pin the explosion on a bomb. Several terrorist organizations are
suspected."
- - -
1989
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century9/html/frame10.htm
Excerpt: "Protest on the Square (June 3): The Chinese army rolls
into Tiananmen Square to break up a pro-democracy demonstra-
tion that started in April. The gathering had begun with students
asking for political reform, but the crowd swelled to 2 million.
After martial law is imposed, the crowd thins. But several thou-
sand students remain when they are attacked with automatic
weapons and tanks. The death toll is estimated at 2,500."
---
1990
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century10/html/frame1.htm
Excerpt: "Desert Storm (Aug. 2) Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
invades and occupies the oil-rich Persian Gulf emirate of Kuwait.
The United States and Britain quickly dispatch ground, air and
naval forces to the region. On Jan. 16, a U.S.-led coalition of
28 nations launches an aerial assault. Operation Desert Shield
becomes Operation Desert Storm. On Feb. 25, the ground war
begins in earnest. Three days later, the war ends as U.S. troops
take Kuwait City and Bush declares that the tiny oil state has
been liberated. Bush vows that it will not become another Viet-
nam, and once Kuwait is captured, there is no military advance
into Iraq. Hussein remains in power and will continue to be a
nemesis to the United States and its allies as the century nears
its end."
- - -
1991
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century10/html/frame2.htm
Excerpt: "(Aug. 19): Hard-liners frustrated by Soviet President
Mikhail Gorbachev's democratic reforms attempt a coup. As
troops surround the Russian Parliament building in Moscow,
thousands gather to show support for the republic's govern-
ment. Clambering atop a tank, Russian President Boris Yeltsin
calls the takeover unconstitutional. Two days later, the coup
collapses and Gorbachev returns. But his power is diminished
and he resigns. On Christmas Day, the Soviet Union is dis-
banded, effectively ending the Cold War."
- - -
1992
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century10/html/frame3.htm
Excerpt: "L.A. Riots (May 2): Violence erupts in Los Angeles after
an all-white jury acquits four white police officers of beating black
motorist Rodney King. At least 58 people are killed and thousands
injured. Property damage estimates run as high as $1 billion."
- - -
1993
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century10/html/frame4.htm
Excerpt: "Cult Inferno (April 19): Federal agents advise religious
cult leader David Koresh and his 95 followers that tear gas will
be used against them unless they surrender. In February, the
77-acre Branch Davidian compound east of Waco, Texas, had
become the center of attention when Davidians fired upon fed-
eral agents raiding the complex. At dawn, 51 days after the gun-
battle, an armored vehicle smashes through a front wall of the
compound. Tear gas is later employed. At 12:15 p.m., flames
and smoke begin to pour from the compound. Only nine cult
members survive the inferno."
- - -
1994
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century10/html/frame5.htm
Excerpt: "Chunnel Opening (May 6): England's Queen Elizabeth II
and French President Francois Mitterrand officially christen the
$15 billion Channel Tunnel, which connects England to the Euro-
pean continent via an underwater passageway."
- - -
1995
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century10/html/frame6.htm
Excerpt: "Terror in the Heartland (April 19): Oklahoma City be-
comes the site of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history. At
9:02 a.m., a homemade bomb placed in a rented truck explodes
outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, killing 168 people
and injuring 500. Two days later, federal authorities pick up sus-
pect Timothy J. McVeigh, 27, a decorated Army veteran who
served in the Persian Gulf War. They say McVeigh was angered
by the 1993 government raid on the Branch Davidian compound
near Waco. The Oklahoma City attack comes on the second
anniversary of the fiery end of the Waco siege."
- - -
1996
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century10/html/frame7.htm
Excerpt: "Signs of Life (Aug. 6): NASA scientists report that a
meteorite originating on Mars and found in Antarctica harbors
what they believe to be compelling signs of a 'primitive form
of microscopic life.' "
- - -
1997
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century10/html/frame8.htm
Excerpt: "Comet Cult (March 26): With the Hale-Bopp comet
at its closest point to Earth, 39 members of the Heaven's Gate
religious cult commit suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. The
members believed that the comet was trailed by an alien space-
ship that would take them to a higher plane of existence."
- - -
1998
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century10/html/frame9.htm
Excerpt: "Battling a Giant (May 18): The federal government files
a sweeping antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. In November
1999, a federal judge will rule that Microsoft is a monopoly that
has abused its dominance of the computer industry to stifle inno-
vation and competition."
- - -
1999
http://www.nandotimes.com/nt/images/century/century10/html/frame10.htm
Excerpt: "Mass Murders: Even as the homicide rate is dropping
by the end of the decade, some experts believe there has been
an uptick in the category of mass shootings in the workplace
and schools. 'It's not that these guys are spontaneous. They
don't suddenly explode,' said criminologist Jack Levin, dir-
ector of the Brudnick Center on Violence at Boston's North-
eastern University. 'The truth is these are usually cold-blooded
executions. The killer typically sees himself as a victim of injus-
tice who wants to get even.' As the decade closes, the body
count mounts."
- - -
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