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Y2K Fiasco
t the change of the century, people were very afraid the the world was going to end due to computer software only encompassing the set two digits to 19. People felt that the crash of the internet would stop all businesses and cause trade and financing, or basically anything online to come to a complete stand still. Ultimately nothing happened except a software update. -
Hanging Chads
The 2000 elections came with a revamp on how votes were cast. It turned to an electric machine that would hole punch next to the candidate the voter wanted. The problem was that the machine messed up and made the results inconclusive, leading to a hand count of the ballots. Eventually Gore stepped out of the running. -
Bush v Gore
The state of Florida deemed the winner to be Bush. Gore filed for a court case to recount the votes by hand. Florida came to a verdict to recount with a 5 to 4 vote. -
Enron Scandal
The Enron Scandal eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation. Enron was an American energy based company in Houston, Texas. The “Scandal” came from $30 million in self dealings from the Chief Financial Officer, and $700 million of net earnings disappearing. -
Bush/Gore Race
In the 2000 election race, George W. Bush and Al Gore ran against each other. The race was so close and the results were very inconclusive due to the hanging Chad fiasco in Florida. The government had to go through and hand count all of the ballots for the state of Florida Bush ended up winning after Gore conceded. -
Bush Inaugurated to POTUS
Bush was the 43rd president of the United States. His Vice President was Dick Cheney. Bush took his oath at the white house. -
Timothy McVeigh put to death
In 1995, Timothy McVeigh and a partner bombed Oklahoma city with a van. In 1997, McVeigh was sentence to death for the murder of 168 people. He was sentenced to death via lethal injection. -
9/11 Terror Attacks
On September 11 2001, four US airplanes were hijacked by a terrorist group called Al Qaeda. Two of which were crashed into the world trade centers in New York. One of the planes was flown into the pentagon and the 4th was taken over by the passengers and flown into a field in Pennsylvania -
Patriot Act
An act signed by George W Bush. It was supposed to deter terrorism in the Us. It was a formed after the 9/11 attack on the world trade centers. It's full name is “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act”. -
Hunt For Osama Bin laden
Osama Bin Laden was the al-Qaeda leader that set into motion the 9/11 bombings. In 2002, Americans and CIA searched for Osama anywhere they could in Afghanistan. Osama had avoided our intelligence agencies for years and it wasn't until 2010 that finally found and killed Osama Bin Laden. -
North Korea Admits to testing Nuclear Weapons
During a meeting between high-ranking United States officials and North Korea, North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Suk Ju admitted to Pyongyang having a uranium-enrichment program. The admission, which the United States made public on October 16, 2002, indicated that Pyongyang had violated several key nonproliferation agreements, and because of this, raised concerns worldwide. -
Capture of Saddam Hussein
The American Military conducted an operation known as “Operation Red Dawn”. In the town of ad-Dawr, Iraq, the operation commenced, leading to capture of the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. The capture of Iraq’s president was very favorable for us in the Iraq war. -
Shuttle Columbia Explodes
The space shuttle “Columbia” disintegrated upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, killing all 7 crew members. NASA spent a lot of their time investigating what happened and they came under much scrutiny in congress as well as the media. -
War in Iraq Begins
The US invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003 and that lasted till may 1, 2003. The goal was to over throw the government of Saddam Hussein, who was using chemical warfare on his own people. The war lasted 8 years later on December 18, 2011. -
NATO Admits Countries From the Former USSR
NATO admitted Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia into their organization. Ivanov pushed this idea as an action against terrorism. There was much controversy over this and both Russia and the U.S. didn't exactly know what to do. -
Former President Reagan Dies
Former President Ronald Reagan died after suffering from Alzheimer's disease for nearly a decade. America held a 7-day state funeral in his honor. Reagan was only 69 years old at his time of death. -
Kerry Bush Election
George W. Bush faced off against Democratic candidate John Kerry. Bush was already popular due to the previous events of 9/11 and his policies. Bush ended up winning against Kerry by a little more than half the popular vote. -
SE Asian Tsunami
On December 26, a massive underwater earthquake took place off the coast of Indonesia.The earthquake had a magnitude of 9.3, making it the second biggest earthquake in history. Over 230,000 people were killed. -
Death of Pope John Paul
Pope John Paul II died. John Paul was a very passionate pope who held unwavering opposition to communism and war. He had been previously shot by a Turkish extremist in his later days and his wound had finally gotten to him. -
Election of Pope Benedict XVI
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected the new pope. He chose the name Pope Benedict XVI, and called himself a “simple, humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard.” Pope Benedict XVI was elected by 115 of his fellow cardinals. -
Hurricane Katrina Hits New Orleans
In August of 2005, one of the biggest hurricanes in history hit New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane caused over 70 billion dollars worth of damage. Roughly 1,460 people died and thousands more were injured. -
Hurricane Rita Hits Texas
Not long after Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita crashed through the gulf. Rita was a category 3 hurricane. It caused 18.5 billion dollars of damage and 125 fatalities. -
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi was the first women to become a speaker of the house. She narrowly beat Harry Britt for the position. She was in office from January 3, 2003 to January 3, 2007 -
First "Bailouts" Begin
The United States began to go through a recession during 2007 and 2008. Big businesses start to declare bankruptcy because they can't afford to keep going. The US started to pay off the businesses debts saving America from falling into its second great depressions -
Obama's Inaugeration
Obama ran and won against Mitt Romney. He was the first African american President. He was a Democrat. -
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
It was signed into effect by President Obama. It was put into place to stimulate the economy. It provided an increase in social welfare. -
Affordable Care Act
It is an health care reform. It is also known as Obamacare because he is the person who signed it into affect. It was designed to lower the cost of health cared in general.
