2002 in the United States

2002 in the United States
Decades:	1980s 1990s – 2000s – 2010s 2020s
Years:	1999 2000 2001 – 2002 – 2003 2004 2005
Flag
50 stars (1960 – present)
Timeline of United States history History of the United States (1991–present)

Events from the year 2002 in the United States.

Incumbents

• President: George W. Bush (Republican)
• Vice President: Dick Cheney (Republican)
• Chief Justice: William Rehnquist
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois)
• Senate Majority Leader: Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota)
• Congress: 107th

Events

January

• January 5 – Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old student pilot, crashes a light aircraft into a Tampa, Florida building, evoking fear of a copycat 9/11 terrorist attack.
• January 8 – The No Child Left Behind Act is signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush.
• January 9 – The United States Department of Justice announces it will pursue a criminal investigation of Enron.
• January 11 – The first detainees arrive at Camp X-Ray (Guantanamo).
• January 14 – The asylum case of Adelaide Abankwah is heard in New York.
• January 16 – A student shoots six at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia, killing 3.
• January 18 – A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing one.
• January 23 – Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Pakistan, accused of being a CIA agent by his captors.
• January 29 – In his State of the Union Address, President Bush describes North Korea, Iran and Iraq as an "Axis of evil".^[1]
• January 31 – US special forces deployed in the Philippines in Operation Enduring Freedom - Philippines, part of the War on Terrorism.^[1]

February

• February 1 – Kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is murdered in Karachi, Pakistan.
• February 3 – Super Bowl XXXVI: The New England Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams 20–17 in New Orleans.
• February 8–February 24 – The Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The United States win 10 gold, 13 silver and 11 bronze medals.
• February 12 – The U.S. Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository.
• February 13 – Queen Elizabeth gives former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani an honorary knighthood.
• February 19 – NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

March

• March 1 – STS-109: Space Shuttle Columbia flies the Hubble Space Telescope service mission, its last before STS-107.
• March 1 – U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins.
• March 12 – In Houston, Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison.
• March 14 – 125 vehicles are involved in a massive pile up on Interstate 75 in Ringgold, Georgia.
• March 19 – US war in Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 1) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities.
• March 21 – In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three others are charged with the kidnapping and killing of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
• March 24 – The 74th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California with the film A Beautiful Mind winning Best Picture.

April

• April 1 – Maryland defeats Indiana 64–52 to win the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.
• April 17 – Four Canadian infantrymen are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two US F-16s.
• April 19 – The Senate defeats President Bush's plan to authorize oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.^[1]
• April 27 – The Laughlin, Nevada River Run Riot kills three.

May

• May 10 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
• May 12 – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first U.S. President, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
• May 21 – The US State Department releases a report naming seven state sponsors of terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria.
• May 22 – 16th Street Baptist Church bombing: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls.
• May 26 – A barge collides with the Interstate 40 bridge across the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma, killing 14.

June

• June 11 – Antonio Meucci is recognized as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
• June 14 – In Karachi, Pakistan, a car bomb in front of the U.S. Consulate kills 12 Pakistanis and injures 50.

July

• July 13 – A lightning strike sets off the Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burns 499,570 acres (2,022 km²).
• July 15 – In Washington, D.C., "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to aiding the enemy and possession of explosives during the commission of a felony; Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each charge.
• July 21 – Telecommunications giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the largest such filing in United States history.

August

• August 12 – In Arlington, Virginia, US Airways declares bankruptcy.

September

• September 5 – The Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burned 499,570 acres (2,022 km²), is contained.
• September 12 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush addresses the U.N., and challenges its members to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Iraq, or stand aside as the United States and likeminded nations act.^[1]

October

• October 2 – The Beltway sniper attacks begin with five shootings in Montgomery County, Maryland.

 *– The Congress of the United States passes a joint resolution, which authorizes the President to use the United States Armed Forces as he deems necessary and appropriate, against Iraq.

• October 9 – The Dot-com bubble bear market reaches bottom, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average slips below 7,200.
• October 9–October 10 – Congress passes the Iraq Resolution authorizing the Iraq War.^[1]
• October 16 – Iraq War Resolution is authorized by a majority of the U.S. Congress.
• October 24 – The Beltway sniper attacks, having killed 10 and wounded 3 others, end with the arrest of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo.
• October 25 – U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his family, and his staff are killed in a plane accident at Eveleth, Minnesota.
• October 27 – The Anaheim Angels defeat the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series to win the title.

November

• November 2 – The Godless Americans March on Washington brings together 2,000 atheists, freethinkers, and humanists in a mile-long parade down the National Mall.
• November 5 – Republicans gain a majority in the Senate and a larger majority in the House of Representatives following congressional elections.^[1]
• November 6 – The U.S. Federal Reserve System drops its primary discount rate by 50 basis points to 0.75%, putting the real interest rate solidly below the inflation rate.
• November 7 – Iran bans the advertising of United States products.
• November 8 – The United Nations passes Resolution 1441 giving Iraqi President Saddam Hussein a final opportunity to cooperate with international weapons inspectors.^[1]
• November 16 – A Campaign against Climate Change march takes place in London from Lincoln's Inn Fields, past Esso offices to the United States Embassy.
• November 25 – U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law, establishing the Department of Homeland Security, in the largest U.S. government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947.

December

• December 9 – United Airlines, the second largest airline in the world, files for bankruptcy.

Ongoing

• Iraqi no-fly zones (1991–2003)
• War in Afghanistan (2001–present)

Births

Deaths

References

External links

Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:2002_in_the_United_States 2002 in the United States] at Wikimedia Commons

Years in the United States (1776-present) Years in the United States of America 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012