2004 in the United States
Events from the year 2004 in the United States.
Incumbents
Events
January
February
March
April
May
June
- June 1 – The 2004 Atlantic hurricane season begins.
- June 3 – Central Intelligence Agency director George Tenet tenders his resignation, citing "personal reasons". John E. McLaughlin, CIA Deputy Director, becomes the acting Director until a permanent Director is chosen and confirmed by Congress.
- June 4 – Marvin Heemeyer destroys many local buildings with a home-made tank in Granby, Colorado.
- June 5 – Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, dies at his home in Bel-Air, California at the age of 93. A six-day state funeral follows after his death.
- June 8 – The G8 Summit takes place over the next 2 days on Sea Island, in Georgia, United States.
- June 11 – The national funeral service for former U.S. president Ronald Reagan is held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
- June 11 – Terry Nichols is spared the death penalty by an Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, exactly three years after his co-defendant, Timothy McVeigh, was executed for his role in the bombing.
- June 16 – The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (or "9/11 Commission") issues an initial report of its findings.
- June 21 – In Mojave, California, SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
- June 28 – The U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq transfers sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.
- June 28 – Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains collide in a rural area outside of San Antonio, Texas; 40 cars are derailed, including one chlorine car. Three people die, another 50 people are hospitalized because of exposure to the gas.
July
August
September
- September 3 – Hurricane Frances makes landfall in Florida. After killing two people in the Bahamas, Hurricane Frances killed ten people in Florida, two in Georgia and one in South Carolina.
- September 8 – In the "Rathergate" affair, the first Internet posts appear, pointing out that documents claimed by CBS News to be typewritten memos from the early 1970s appear instead to have been produced using modern word processing systems.
- September 13 – The U.S. Assault Weapons Ban expires.
- September 16 – Hurricane Ivan strikes Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a Category 3 storm, killing 25 in Alabama and Florida, becoming the third-costliest hurricane in American history at the time.
- September 23 – Tropical Storm Ivan, having come around and reformed in the Gulf of Mexico, makes its final landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, to little effect. In total, the storm kills 92 people.
- September 23 – Mount St. Helens became active again.
- September 24 – Major League Baseball announces that the Montreal Expos will move to Washington D.C. in 2005.
- September 25 – Hurricane Jeanne makes landfall near Port Saint Lucie, Florida, near the location Hurricane Frances hit two weeks earlier. Jeanne kills over 3,030, mostly in Haiti.
- September 29 – In Mojave, California, the first Ansari X-Prize flight takes place of SpaceShipOne, which is competing with a number of spacecraft (including Canada's Da Vinci Project, claimed to be its closest rival) and goes on to win the prize on October 4.
- September 30 – First debate of the U.S. presidential election, 2004.
October
- October 5 – Vice Presidential debate of the U.S. presidential election, 2004 between the candidates, Dick Cheney and John Edwards.
- October 8 – Second debate of the U.S. presidential election, 2004.
- October 13 – Third debate of the U.S. presidential election, 2004.
- October 16 – The New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox 19–8 in Game 3 of Major League Baseball's American League Championship Series. The game, which pushes the Yankees to a 3–0 series lead, sets a record for longest nine-inning baseball game.
- October 20 – Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 crashes in Missouri, killing 13 people, and injuring two.
- October 25 – Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King receive the Congressional Gold Medal.
- October 27 – The Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time since 1918, breaking the Curse of the Bambino.
- October 29 – A videotape of Osama Bin Laden speaking airs on Arabic TV, in which he threatens terrorist attacks on the USA, and taunts the President, George W. Bush, over the September 11 Terrorist attacks.
November
December
- December 3 – The Colombian government extradites Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, one of the most powerful drug dealers in the world, arrested in 1995 and 2003, to the United States.
- December 6 – Terrorists attack the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing several people.
- December 8 – The biggest Chinese PC producer Lenovo announces its plan to purchase IBM's global PC business, making it the third largest world PC maker after Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
- December 21 – Iraqi insurgents attack a U.S. military base in the city of Mosul, killing 22 people.
- December 23 – Second Battle of Fallujah: US-UK-Iraqi forces defeat the remaining Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah.
- December 31 – Simón Trinidad, high-profile FARC leader, is extradited to the United States, following the second extradition of a high drug dealer in a month and in 2004.
Ongoing
Births
Deaths
- January 23 – Bob Keeshan, actor, starred as Captain Kangaroo (b. 1927)
- January 27 – Jack Paar, Tonight Show host (b. 1918)
- April 22 – Pat Tillman, NFL player, Army Ranger (b. 1976)
- April 24 – Estée Lauder, cosmetics products pioneer (b. 1906)
- May 9 – Alan King, comedian, actor (b. 1927)
- May 17 – Tony Randall, television actor (The Odd Couple) (b. 1920)
- May 29 – Archibald Cox, Watergate special prosecutor (b. 1912)
- June 5 – Ronald Reagan, actor, Governor of California, 40th President of the United States (b. 1911)
- June 10 – Ray Charles, musician (b. 1930)
- July 1 – Marlon Brando, actor (b. 1924)
- August 6 – Rick James, funk singer (b. 1948)
- August 8 – Fay Wray, King Kong actress (b. 1907)
- August 26 – Laura Branigan, pop singer (b. 1957)
- August 30 – Fred Lawrence Whipple, astronomer (b. 1906)
- October 4 – Gordon Cooper, one of the Mercury Seven astronauts (b. 1927)
- October 5 – Rodney Dangerfield, comic, actor (b. 1921)
- October 10 – Christopher Reeve, actor, activist (b. 1952)
- October 16 – Pierre Salinger, White House Press Secretary, newsman (b. 1925)
- November 7 – Howard Keel, actor, singer (b. 1919)
- November 13 – Ol' Dirty Bastard (Russell Jones), rapper (b. 1968)
- November 19 - Jesse Koochin (b. 1998)
- November 29 – John Drew Barrymore, actor (b. 1932)
- December 26 – Reggie White, NFL player (b. 1961)
- December 28 – Jerry Orbach, actor (b. 1935)
External links
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