-
Born in Dubuque at Mercy Hospital.
-
The first Earth Day celebration is held with millions of American participating in anti-pollution demonstrations. These demonstrations included school children walking to school instead of riding the bus.
-
Four students from Kent State University in Ohio were killed and nine wounded by National Guardsmen during a protest against the Vietnam War spread into Cambodia.
-
A ban on the television advertisement of cigarettes goes into affect in the United States.
-
Disney world in Orlando, Florida opens.
-
The Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.
-
The United States and Vietnam sign a peace treaty, ending the Vietnam War.
-
The announcement of the military draft ending also occurred on this date. The last U.S. military troops would leave the war zone on March 29.
-
Oil imports from Arab oil-producing nations are banned to the United States after the start of the Arab-Israeli war, creating the 1973 energy crisis.
-
Microsoft becomes a registered trademark, one year after its name for microcomputer software is first mentioned by Bill Gates to Paul Allen in a letter.
-
Fifteen nations, including the United States and the Soviet Union, sign a nuclear-proliferation pact, slowing the spread of nuclear weapons around the world.
-
The American Pioneer Eleven passes the planet Saturn, becoming the first spacecraft to visit the ringed planet, albeit at a distance of 21,000 kilometers.
-
The Camp David Peace Agreement between Israel and Egypt is formulated in twelve days of secret negotiations at the Camp David retreat of the President.
-
The Iran Hostage Crisis begins when sixty-three Americans are among ninety hostages taken at the American embassy in Tehran by three thousand militant student followers of Ayatollah Khomeini, who demand that the former shah return to Iran to stand trial.
-
President Reagan is shot in the chest by John Hinckley, Jr.
-
Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in as the first woman Supreme Court justice.
-
Late Night with David Letterman premieres on NBC.
-
Canada gets a new constitution when Queen Elizabeth II signs the Constitution Act in Ottawa.
-
Winter of 83, dad was 14 and shot a 4 point whitetail deer.
-
Space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members. It is the worst accident in the history of the U.S. space program.
-
U.S. bombs military bases in Libya in effort to deter terrorist strikes on American targets (April 14)
-
Michael Jackson is paid $15 million to become a sponsor for Pepsi, the biggest sponsorship deal of its kind to date.
-
The fall of the Berlin wall caught the world by surprise. For months, East Germany's beleaguered communist rulers had tried in vain to silence a growing opposition movement and stem the tide of people pouring out of the country.
-
The Gulf War was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.
-
The United States and Russia sign a treaty officially ending the Cold War.
-
Eighteen U.S. soldiers are killed in ambush by Somali militiamen in Mogadishu.
-
President Clinton signs North American Free Trade Agreement into law.
-
At 7:08 a.m. a 7lb 3oz. baby boy was brought into this world.
-
Two men part a truck with bombs outside of a Government office and daycare, and blew up the truck and the buildings.
-
President Clinton sends first 8,000 of 20,000 U.S. troops to Bosnia for 12-month peacekeeping mission.
-
At 8:49 a.m. a 7lb 1oz. baby girl was brought into this world.
-
U.S. launches missile attacks on targets in Sudan and Afghanistan following terrorist attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
-
She was 73 when she died from lung problem.
-
NATO begins launching air strikes against Yugoslavia
-
He was 77 and died from congestive heart failure.
-
Two hijacked jetliners ram twin towers of World Trade Center in worst terrorist attack against U.S.; a third hijacked plane flies into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashes in rural Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people die in the attacks.
-
Space shuttle Columbia explodes upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts on board.
-
Hurricane Katrina wreaks catastrophic damage on Mississippi and Louisiana; 80% of New Orleans is flooded.
-
In 2008 the flood of the Cedar River wiped out hundreds pf peoples homes.
-
-
The entire span of an interstate bridge broke into sections and collapsed into the Mississippi River during evening bumper-to-bumper traffic. Concrete and twisted metal crashed into the water. 9 dead 60 injured.
-
Male student kills two in a Virginia Tech dorm. Two hours later, he kills 30 more in a classroom building before committing suicide. The shooting rampage is the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others are wounded.
