Timeline Washington DC
Return to home
Washington DC is about 1/6 the size of Hong Kong.
(SSFC, 10/9/05, Par p.27)
1754
Aug 2, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, French engineer who
designed the layout of Washington, D.C., was born.
(HN, 8/2/98)
1787-1788 The Thomas Mallon historical novel "Two
Moons," published in 2000, was set in Washington DC at this time.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, BR p.6)
1788 Dec 23, Maryland voted to
cede a 100-square-mile area for the seat of the national government;
about two-thirds of the area became the District of Columbia.
(AP, 12/23/97)
1789 Jan 23, Georgetown University
was established by Jesuits in present-day Washington, D.C., as the 1st
US Catholic college.
(AP, 1/23/98)(MC, 1/23/02)
1790 Jul 16, The District of
Columbia was established as the seat of the United States government.
(AP, 7/16/97)
1791 Mar 29, Pres. George
Washington and French architect Pierre Charles L’Enfant examined the a
site along the Potomac River that would become the US capital. Maryland
and Virginia had ceded land to the federal government to form the
District of Columbia. Chosen as the permanent site for the capital of
the United States by Congress in 1790, President Washington was given
the power by Congress to select the exact site—an area ten-miles
square, made up of land given by Virginia and Maryland. Washington
became the official federal capital in 1800. In 2008 Fergus Bordewich
authored “Washington: The Making of the American Capital.”
(HNQ, 8/13/00)(HN, 8/2/98)(WSJ, 8/8/08, p.A13)
1791 Apr 15, Surveyor General
Andrew Ellicott consecrated the southern tip of the triangular District
of Columbia at Jones Point.
(WSJ, 7/25/00, p.A20)
1792 Apr 14, Pres. George
Washington appointed David Rittenhouse, the foremost scientist of
America, the first director of the US Mint at a salary of $2000 per
annum. Rittenhouse was then in feeble health and lived at the northwest
corner of Seventh and Arch Streets, then one of the high places of Old
Philadelphia, where he had an observatory and where he later died and
was first buried.
(www.coinfacts.com/mint_history/mint_history_1792/mint_history_1792.htm)
1792 Jul 31, The foundation-stone
was laid for the US Mint by David Rittenhouse, Esq. The property was
paid for and deeded to the United States of America for a consideration
of $4266.67 on July 18, 1792. The money for the Mint was the first
money appropriated by Congress for a building to be used for a public
purpose.
(www.coinfacts.com/mint_history/mint_history_1792/mint_history_1792.htm)
1792 Oct 13, The cornerstone of
the executive mansion, later known as the White House, was laid during
a ceremony in the District of Columbia.
(AP, 10/13/97)(HN, 10/13/98)
1793 Sep 18, President George
Washington laid the foundation stone for the U.S. Capitol on Jenkins
Hill.
(AP, 9/18/97)(SFC, 7/18/98, p.A15)(HN, 9/18/98)
1800 Jun 4, The White House was
completed and President & Mrs. John Adams moved in. [see Nov 1]
(MC, 6/4/02)
1800 Nov 1, John and Abigail Adams
moved into "the President’s House" in Washington DC. It became known as
the White House during the Roosevelt administration.
(SFEC, 5/7/00, p.T8)(MC, 11/1/01)
1800 Nov 17, The Sixth Congress
(2nd session) convened for the first time in Washington, DC, in the
partially completed Capitol building. Previously, the federal capital
had briefly been in other cities, including New York,
Philadelphia, and Annapolis, Maryland. George Washington- a surveyor by
profession- had been assigned to find a site for a capital city
somewhere along the upper Potomac River, which flows between Maryland
and Virginia. Apparently expecting to become president, Washington
sited the capital at the southernmost possible point, the closest
commute from Mount Vernon, despite the fact that this placed the city
in a swamp called Foggy Bottom.
(HN, 11/17/98)(AP, 11/17/07)
1800 Dec 12, Washington DC was
established as the capital of US.
(MC, 12/12/01)
1801 Feb 27, The District of
Columbia was placed under the jurisdiction of Congress.
(AP, 2/27/98)
1801 Mar 4, Thomas Jefferson was
the first President to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.
(HN, 3/4/98)
1802 May 3,
Washington, D.C., was incorporated as a city, with the mayor appointed
by the president and the council elected by property owners.
(AP, 5/3/97)
1814 Aug 24, 5,000 British troops
under the command of General Robert Ross marched into Washington, D.C.,
after defeating an American force at Bladensburg, Maryland. It was in
retaliation for the American burning of the parliament building in York
(Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada. Meeting no resistance from the
disorganized American forces, the British burned the White House, the
Capitol and almost every public building in the city before a downpour
extinguished the fires. President James Madison and his wife fled from
the advancing enemy, but not before Dolly Madison saved the famous
Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington. This wood engraving of
Washington in flames was printed in London weeks after the event to
celebrate the British victory.
(AP, 8/24/97)(HNPD,
8/24/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bladensburg)
1814 Aug 25, British forces
destroyed the Library of Congress, containing some 3,000 books.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1815 Jan 30, The burned Library of
Congress was reestablished with Jefferson's 6,500 volumes.
(MC, 1/30/02)
1815 Feb, Congress appropriated
funds for the restoration of the White House and hired James Hoban, the
original designer and builder, to do the work.
(SFEC, 7/4/99, Par p.5)
1817 Oct, Pres. and Mrs. James
Monroe moved back into the restored White House.
(SFEC, 7/4/99, Par p.5)
1818 Jan 1, An official reopening
of the White House took place after being repaired from burning by
British during War of 1812.
(SFEC, 7/4/99, Par p.5)(MC, 1/1/02)
1829 Mar 4, An unruly crowd mobbed
the White House during the inaugural reception for President Jackson,
the 7th US President. The event was later depicted by artist Louis S.
Glanzman in his painting “Andrew Jackson’s Inauguration” (1970).
(AP, 3/4/98)(WSJ, 1/17/08, p.W5)
1833 The Washington Monument
Association was formed to build a monument to honor George Washington.
(ON, 3/00, p.9)
1835 Jan 31, Richard Lawrence
misfired at President Andrew Jackson (aka 'Old Hickory') at the White
House. Lawrence fired 2 pistols at Pres. Andrew Jackson during funeral
services for Rep. Warren Davis. Jackson wasn’t hit and Lawrence, who
thought he was the king of England and that Jackson owed him money, was
found to be insane.
(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A6)(HN, 1/31/99)(SFC, 2/5/00, p.B3)
1839 Feb 20, Congress prohibited
dueling in the District of Columbia.
(AP, 2/20/98)
1839 Construction began on the
Gen’l. Post Office Building. It was completed in 1847 under architect
Robert Mills and later became known as the Tariff Building. In 1998 it
was leased by the Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group for conversion
into a 172-room luxury hotel.
(SFC, 4/14/98, p.B2)(SFC, 5/20/02, p.F10)
1842 The 14-room Anderson Cottage
was built. It was used as a home by Pres. Lincoln for 3 summers from
1862-1864.
(SFC, 5/20/02, p.F10)
1844 May 24, Samuel F.B. Morse,
before a crowd of dignitaries in the chambers of the Supreme Court,
tapped out the message, "What hath God wrought?" to his partner in
Baltimore, Alfred Vail. Congress had appropriated $30,000 for the
experimental line built by Ezra Cornell between Washington and
Baltimore. American portrait artist Samuel F.B. Morse developed the
technology for electrical telegraphy in the 1830s, the first
instantaneous form of communication. Using a key to hold open an
electrical circuit for longer or shorter periods, an operator would tap
out a message in a code composed of dots and dashes. Public
demonstrations of the equipment were made in February 1838, but it was
necessary for Morse to secure financial backing to build the first
telegraph line to carry the signal over distance. In 1843, Congress
appropriated the funds for a 37-mile line between Baltimore and
Washington, D.C. After underground telegraph wires proved unsuccessful,
Morse switched to pole wires.
(AP, 5/24/97)(HN, 5/24/98)(HNPD, 2/6/99)(HNQ,
5/27/00)
1846 Aug 10, President James Polk
signed a measure establishing the Smithsonian Institution. The US
Congress chartered the Smithsonian Institution, named after English
scientist James Smithson (1765-1836), whose bequest of $500,000 made it
possible. The Smithsonian Institute was born and Joseph Henry became
its first secretary.
(SFEC, 8/25/96, p.T6)(AP, 8/10/07)
1847 May 1, The cornerstone of the
Smithsonian Institute was laid in Washington, DC. The building was
designed by James Renwick Jr.
(ON, 2/06, p.6)
1848 Jul 4, The Cornerstone of the
Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. was laid by President Polk.
Each state of the union was invited to donate a memorial stone. The
white marble obelisk, which is 555 feet tall and 55 fee square at the
base, was not completed until 1884. The public was admitted to the
monument on October 9, 1888. Architect Robert Mills (1781-1855)
designed the monument.
(ON, 3/00, p.9)(WSJ, 2/16/08, p.W18)
1849 Dec 29, Gas light was
installed in the White House.
(HN, 12/29/98)
1850 Apr, During the debate on the
Compromise of 1850, Senator Henry Foote, a unionist and supporter of
the compromise, drew a pistol on Senator Thomas Hart Benton, an
opponent of the deal. Other senators intervened before Foote could fire.
(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A6)
1850 Sep 20, The slave trade in
Washington, D.C., was abolished as a provision of Henry Clay's
Compromise of 1850. Because each state had its own slavery code when
the District of Columbia was founded in 1800, Washington had adopted
Maryland's laws. Although the 1850 legislation made the slave trade
illegal, slavery itself was still legal. Nevertheless, Washington
became a haven for free blacks. By 1860, free blacks outnumbered slaves
almost four-to-one. President Abraham Lincoln put an end to
Washington's slavery altogether in 1862, freeing about 2,989 African
Americans who were then slaves according to the slavery code.
(HNPD, 9/20/98)(HN, 9/20/98)
1850 The Willard family acquired a
4-story hotel in Washington DC and turned it into the 100-room Willard
Hotel at 1401 Pennsylvania Ave. In 1901 it was replaced by an opulent
389-room Beaux-Arts building. In 1968 it was closed and scheduled for
demolition. In 1986 it re-opened following a $73 million restoration.
(SFC, 1/5/06, p.E4)
1851 Dec 24, Fire devastated the
Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., destroying about 35,000
volumes.
(AP, 12/24/97)
1853 Jan 8, 1st US bronze
equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson was unveiled in Wash. DC. [see Mar
8]
(MC, 1/8/02)
1853 Mar 8, The first bronze
statue of Andrew Jackson was unveiled in Washington, D.C. [see Jan 8]
(HN, 3/8/98)
1854 Mar, A stone, donated by Pope
Pius IX, was stolen from the Washington Monument. Members of the
Know-Nothing Party were suspected.
(ON, 3/00, p.9)
1854 Nov 6, The king of American
march music, John Philip Sousa, was born in Washington, D.C.
(AP, 11/6/97)
1855 Feb 22, The Know-Nothing
Party seized control of the Washington Monument Association and kept
control for 3 years.
(ON, 3/00, p.10)
1856 Representative Preston
Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, used a cane to
attack Senator Charles Sumner, a Republican abolitionist from Mass.
Sumner was beaten unconscious and was unable to resume duties for 3
years. Brooks resigned from his seat but was re-elected.
(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A6)
1858 The original board of the
Washington Monument regained control after the Know-Nothing Party
disbanded due to a split between pro- and anti-slavery factions.
(ON, 3/00, p.10)
1859 Feb 19, Daniel E. Sickles, NY
congressman, was acquitted of murder on grounds of temporary insanity.
This was the 1st time this defense was successfully used. Sickles had
shot and killed Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key, author of
"Star Spangled Banner." He shot Lee, the DC district attorney, in
Lafayette Square for having an affair with his wife. Sickles pleaded
temporary insanity and the sanctity of a man’s home and beat the murder
rap.
(WSJ, 3/29/02, p.W10)(MC, 2/19/02)
1959 Northern and Southern leaders
socialized together for the last time at the Napier Ball in the Willard
Hotel before the start of the US Civil War.
(SFC, 1/5/06, p.E4)
1861 Feb 4, Winfield Scott, US
general-in-chief, decided to relieve Lt. Col. Robert E. Lee as
commander of federal forces in Texas and bring him to Washington DC
where Lee could take command of forces guarding DC.
(ON, 12/05, p.11)
1861 Mar 2, Government Printing
Office in Washington DC purchased its 1st printing plant.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1861 Apr 18, The Kansas Frontier
Guards drilled and set up camp in the East Room of the White House with
the mission to protect President Lincoln from a feared Rebel attack on
Washington. The collection of Kansans in Washington, many office
seekers and politicians, were organized and led by the state's first
senator, James Henry Lane, a friend of the president and former leader
of the Free State movement in Kansas. With Virginia's secession from
the Union on April 17, rumors spread of an impending rebel strike on
Washington. Lane organized the force of 50 men and offered their
service to the War Department, arriving in the White House in the
evening of April 18. As additional Union troops entered the city, the
Frontier Guard was dismissed from the White House on April 19. The
unofficial unit was assigned various positions in the city during the
following week and, in a ceremony attended by the president, was
disbanded on April 25.
(HNQ, 1/7/99)
1861 Oct 23, President Abraham
Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus in Washington, D.C. for all
military-related cases.
(HN, 10/23/98)
1861-1865 The National Museum of Health and Medicine
(NHMH) was founded in Washington DC to advance medical care during the
Civil War.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, p.T10)
1862 Apr 3, A bill was passed to
abolish slavery in Washington, D.C. [see Apr 16]
(HN, 4/3/98)
1862 Apr 13, In the Washington
area volunteers led by Sarah J. Evans paid homage to the graves of
Civil War soldiers. Villagers in Waterloo, NY, held their 1st Memorial
Day service on May 5, 1866. In 1966 Pres. Johnson gave Waterloo, NY,
the distinction of holding the 1st Memorial Day.
(SFC, 5/26/03, p.A2)
1862 Apr 16, President Lincoln
signed a bill, passed on April 3, ending slavery in the District of
Columbia.
(HN, 4/16/98)(AP, 4/16/08)
1862 Jul 29, Confederate spy Belle
Boyd (1844-1900) was arrested and confined at Old Capital Prison in
Washington, DC.
(AH, 6/03,
p.14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Boyd)
1862 Aug 29, Confederate spy Belle
Boyd was released from Old Capital Prison in Washington, DC.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belle_Boyd)
1862 Nov 17, Union General
Burnside marched north out of Washington, D.C. to begin the
Fredericksburg Campaign.
(HN, 11/17/98)
1862 The Washington DC bordello of
Mary Ann Hall at 349 Maryland Ave. was rated at the top of a list of
450 brothels catalogued by the office of the federal provost marshal.
The city had an estimated 5,000 prostitutes, 18 of whom resided at the
3-story brick Hall house.
(SFEC, 4/18/99, p.A24)
1863 Jul 2, Mrs. Lincoln was
thrown from her carriage and spent weeks recovering at the Anderson
Cottage. The seat assembly may have been sabotaged.
(SFC, 5/20/02, p.F10)
1863 Dec 1, Belle Boyd, a
Confederate spy, was released from prison in Washington.
(HN, 12/1/98)
1864 Jul 2, Statuary Hall in US
Capitol was established.
(SC, 7/2/02)
1864 Jul 11, Confederate General
Jubal Early's army arrived in Silver Spring, Maryland, on the outskirts
of Washington, D.C., and began to probe the Union line. Confederate
forces led by Gen. Jubal Early began an invasion of Washington, D.C.,
turning back the next day.
(HT, 3/97, p.66)(AP, 7/11/97)(HN, 7/11/98)
1864 Jul 12, President Abraham
Lincoln became the first standing president to witness a battle as
Union forces repelled Jubal Early's army on the outskirts of
Washington, D.C.
(HN, 7/12/98)
1864 Jul 13, Gen Jubal Early
retreated from the outskirts of Washington back to Shenandoah Valley.
(MC, 7/13/02)
1865 Mar 6, President Lincoln's
2nd Inaugural Ball was held.
(MC, 3/6/02)
1865 Apr 14, On the evening of
Good Friday, just after 10 p.m., Pres. Lincoln was shot and
mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth while attending the comedy "Our
American Cousin" at Ford's Theater in Washington DC. Southern
sympathizer John Wilkes Booth burst into the presidential box and shot
Lincoln behind the ear. Booth shouted out “sic semper tyrannis” (thus
always to tyrants), Virginia’s state motto, after shooting Pres.
Lincoln. He leaped to the stage, breaking his left leg on impact, and
escaped through a side door. Lincoln was carried to a nearby house
where he remained unconscious until his death at 7:22 the following
morning. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who had kept vigil at
Lincoln's bedside, said, "Now he belongs to the ages." As I would not
be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of
democracy.”
(V.D.-H.K.p.277)(AP, 4/14/97)(AP, 4/14/98)(HNPD,
4/14/00)(WSJ, 10/13/06, p.W13)
1865 Apr 14, A 2nd assassin
stabbed the Sec. of State 5 times. George Atzerodt, a 3rd assassin for
the vice president, got cold feet.
(SSFC, 4/8/01, Par p.12)(WSJ, 2/2/05, p.B1)
1865 Apr 15, President Lincoln
died, several hours after he was shot at Ford’s Theater in Washington
by John Wilkes Booth. Andrew Johnson, Vice-President under Lincoln,
became the 17th President (1865-1869) of the US upon the assassination.
The first Mourning Stamp was issued after his assassination, a 15-cent
black commemorative. In 1999 Allen C. Guelzo authored "Abraham Lincoln:
Redeemer President," an intellectual biography. In 2002 William Lee
Miller authored "Lincoln’s Virtues: An Ethical Biography." In 2004
Ronald C. White Jr. authored “The Eloquent President.” In 2005 Doris
Kearns Goodwin authored “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of
Abraham Lincoln.”
(SFEC, 5/31/98, Z1 p.8)(WSJ, 12/29/99, p.A16)(WSJ,
2/8/02, p.W9)(WSJ, 1/20/05,
p.D9)(http://condor.stcloudstate.edu/~brixr01/NYTAPR151865.html)(SSFC,
11/27/05, p.M3)
1865 Apr 21, Abraham Lincoln's
funeral train left Washington.
(HN, 4/21/98)
1865 May 23, The American flag was
flown at full staff over White House for the 1st time since Lincoln was
shot. Union Army's Grand Review began in Washington DC.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1865 Jun 30, Eight alleged
conspirators in assassination of Lincoln were found guilty after
kangaroo court-martial and brutal treatment by military officers.
(MC, 6/30/02)
1865 Jul 7, The trap doors of the
scaffold in the yard of Washington’s Old Penitentiary were sprung, and
Mary Surratt, Lewis Paine, David Herold and George Atzerodt dropped to
their deaths. The four had been convicted of "treasonable conspiracy"
in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and had learned that
they were to be hanged only a day before their execution. Shortly after
1 p.m. the prisoners were led onto the scaffold and prepared for
execution. The props supporting the platform were knocked away at about
2 p.m. Assassin John Wilkes Booth had been killed on April 26, 12 days
after Lincoln’s assassination. Other convicted conspirators—Edman
Spangler, Dr. Samuel Mudd, Samuel Arnold and Michael O’Laughlin—were
imprisoned.
(AP, 7/7/97)(HNPD, 7/7/98)
1867 Jan 8, Legislation gave
suffrage to DC blacks, despite Pres. Johnson's veto.
(MC, 1/8/02)
1867 Mar 2, Howard University,
Washington DC, was incorporated. General Oliver Otis Howard, Union
Civil War commander, co-founded Howard Univ.
(http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/today/nov20.html)(ON,
4/07, p.8)
1867 Mar 29, Congress approved
Lincoln Memorial.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1867 Sep 25, Congress created the
1st all black university, Howard Univ. in Wash DC.
(MC, 9/25/01)
1870 Jun 9, Washington: Pres Grant
met with Sioux chief Red Cloud.
(MC, 6/9/02)
1873 Mar 4, Pres. Ulysses S. Grant
accepted the oath of office, administered by Chief Justice Salmon
Chase, for his 2nd term. At the inauguration ceremony 150 canaries,
whose chirping was to amuse guests, froze to death in their cages.
(SFC, 1/20/09,
p.A7)(www.bartleby.com/124/pres34.html)
1874 Secret Service headquarters
returned to Washington, D.C. after 4 years in NYC.
(http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/history.shtml)
1876 President Ulysses S. Grant
authorized the funds to complete the construction of the Washington
Monument, but without the ornate building and classical statue.
(ON, 3/00, p.10)
1877 Dec 6, The Washington Post
published its 1st edition. It was founded by independent-minded
Democrat Stilson Hutchins.
(www.washpostco.com/history-history-1875.htm)
1879 Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes had
the first White House telephone installed.
(SFC, 2/3/97, p.D1)
1881 May 17, Frederick Douglass
was appointed recorder of deeds for Washington, D.C.
(HN, 5/17/98)
1884 Mar 13, US Congress adopted
Eastern Standard Time for the District of Columbia.
(AP, 3/13/07)
1884 Dec 6, The Washington
Monument was completed by Army engineers 101 years after George
Washington himself approved the location halfway between the proposed
sites of the Capitol and the White House. Construction did not begin on
the 555-foot Egyptian obelisk until July 4, 1848, when a private
citizens' group, the Washington National Monument Society, raised
enough money to begin the project. The original design called for the
familiar obelisk surrounded by a large building with a statue of
Washington driving a Roman chariot on top. Construction was halted in
1854 when the money ran out and for 22 years the monument stood
embarrassingly unfinished, looking, as Mark Twain put it, like "a
factory chimney with the top broken off." In 1876, President Ulysses S.
Grant authorized the funds to complete the construction--but without
the ornate building and classical statue. When the final capstone and
9-inch aluminum pyramid were set in place in 1884, the Washington
Monument was the tallest structure in the world.
(AP, 12/6/97)(HNPD, 12/6/98)(ON, 3/00, p.10)
1885 Feb 21, The Washington
Monument was dedicated by Pres. Chester A. Arthur.
(HN, 2/21/98)(AP, 2/21/98)(ON, 3/00, p.10)
1887 Jun 7, Monotype type-casting
machine was patented by Tolbert Lanston in Wash., DC.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1887 Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs,
architect, oversaw the completion of his Pension Building. The Pension
Bureau oversaw the benefits of the nation’s ex-soldiers.
(AH, 10/01, HT p.28)
1887 The American Graphaphone Co.
was founded in Washington DC. They made a sound producing machine that
was peddle operated and based on work by Alexander Bell that used a
cardboard cylinder coated with a waxy material to hold sounds.
(SFC,11/19/97, Z1 p.7)
1888 Jan 27, National Geographic
Society was founded in Washington, DC. It 1st magazine was published
Oct 1, 1888. In 2004 Robert M. Poole authored “Explorers House:
National Geographic and the World it Made.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Society)(Econ,
10/16/04, p.81)
1888 Oct 9, The Washington
Monument, designed by Robert Mills, was completed and the public was
first admitted. Steam powered elevators carried visitors to the top in
12 minutes. It underwent a $1.5 million renovation in 1998. In 1903
Frederick L. Harvey authored "History of the Washington National
Monument and Washington National Monument Association." In 1995 Craig
and Katherine Doherty authored "The Washington Monument."
(SFC, 5/23/98, p.A3)(ON, 3/00, p.10)(HN, 10/9/00)
1890 Feb, Charles E. Kincaid,
correspondent for the Louisville Times, shot former Representative
William Taulbee, a democrat from Kentucky, at the Capital during an
argument over a scandal involving the lawmaker. Taulbee died ten days
later.
(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A6)
1890 Apr 14, The First
International Conference of American States met in Washington, where
delegates agreed to form the International Union of American Republics,
a forerunner of the Organization of American States.
(AP, 4/14/08)
1890 Aug 8, Daughters of American
Revolution (DAR) organized. [see Oct 11]
(MC, 8/8/02)
1890 Oct 11, The Daughters of the
American Revolution (DAR) was founded in Washington, D.C.
(AP, 10/11/97)
1893 Sep 9, Frances Cleveland,
wife of President Cleveland, gave birth to a daughter, Esther, in the
White House. It was the first time a president's child was born in the
executive mansion.
(AP, 9/9/97)
1894 Apr 29, The Commonweal of
Christ, called Coxey's Army, arrived in Wash, DC, 500 strong to protest
unemployment; Coxey was arrested for trespassing at Capitol.
(MC, 4/29/02)
1895 Feb 11, Georgetown became
part of Wash, DC.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1895 Feb 20, Abolitionist
Frederick Douglass died in Washington, D.C.
(AP, 2/20/98)
1895 Dec 17, Anti-Saloon League of
America was formed in Washington, DC.
(MC, 12/17/01)
1896 Jul 21, Mary Church Terrell
founded the National Association of Colored Women in Washington, D.C.
(HN, 7/21/98)
1897 Feb 17, The US National
Congress of Mothers was founded in Washington, D.C. It later became the
National congress of Parents and Teachers known as the PTA (Parent
Teachers Association).
(USAT, 2/14/97, p.13D)(SFC, 2/22/96, p.A20)(AP,
2/17/98)
1897 Apr 27, Grant's Tomb was
dedicated.
(MC, 4/27/02)
1897 American Telephone &
Telegraph Co. began to use wooden poles when it put up a communication
line from Washington DC to Norfolk, Va.
(WSJ, 3/2/00, p.A1)
1899 Apr 29, Edward Kennedy "Duke"
Ellington (d.1975), jazz composer and musician was born in Washington
D.C. A major influence in jazz, especially the big band sound,
Ellington orchestrated over 1,000 pieces of music during his prolific
career. Although some tunes most associated with Duke Ellington and
‘His Famous Orchestra‘ were written by others (Billy Strayhorn wrote
"Take the A Train"), Ellington capitalized on his outstanding ensemble
by writing pieces emphasizing the talents of individual performers such
as Johnny Hodges and Jimmy Blanton. In addition to big band pieces, he
also wrote for film, ballet and opera.
(HN, 4/4/98)(SFEC, 2/21/99, DB p.32)(AP,
4/29/99)(HNQ, 11/10/00)
1901 Jan 28, Byron Bancroft
Johnson announced that the American League would play the 1901 baseball
season as a major league and would not renew its membership in the
National Agreement. The new league would include Baltimore and
Washington, DC, recently abandoned by the National League. The league
would also invade 4 cities where National League teams existed: Boston,
Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. The 8 charter teams included: the
Baltimore Orioles, Boston Americans, Chicago White Stockings, Cleveland
Blues, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Philadelphia Athletics, and
Washington Senators.
(ON, 6/09,
p.11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_League)
1901 Oct 12, Theodore Roosevelt
renamed the "Executive Mansion," to "The White House."
(HNQ, 6/28/00)(MC, 10/12/01)
1901 Oct 28, Race riots, sparked
by Booker T. Washington's visit to the White House, killed 34.
(HN, 10/28/98)
1901 Nov 27, The Army War College
was established in Washington, D.C.
(AP, 11/27/97)
1901 A statue of Albert Pike,
Confederate brigadier general, was unveiled at 3rd and D Streets NW. It
was erected by the Masons to commemorate Pike's work for Freemasonry.
He is the only Confederate officer to have a statue in Washington, D.C.
The conduct of Indian troops under his command at the Battle of Pea
Ridge eventually led to his forced resignation
(HNQ, 11/12/98)
1901 President Theodore Roosevelt
officially named the Executive Mansion the White House.
(HNQ, 6/28/00)
1902 Jan 28, The Carnegie
Institute was established in Washington, D.C.
(AP, 1/28/98)
1903 Feb 21, The cornerstone laid
for US army war college in Washington, DC.
(MC, 2/21/02)
1906 Feb 17, Alice Lee Roosevelt,
President Theodore Roosevelt's irrepressible eldest daughter, married
Congressman Nicholas Longworth of Ohio in an elaborate White House
ceremony. Heedless of social convention, Alice's behavior routinely
shocked her family and friends. Once the president, when confronted
with another of Alice's escapades, remarked, "I can do one of two
things, I can run the country or control Alice. I cannot do both."
Nevertheless, the world public was captivated with the first daughter,
who seemed to embody the ideal Gay Nineties woman. In spite of its
promising beginning, Alice's 25-year marriage to Longworth was not a
happy one, but Alice reigned as the grande dame of Washington, D.C.
society for another 50 years.
(HNPD, 2/16/99)
1906 Mar 17, President Theodore
Roosevelt first likened crusading journalists to a man with "the
muckrake in his hand" in a speech to the Gridiron Club in Washington,
DC, as he criticized what he saw as the excesses of investigative
journalism.
(AP, 3/17/06)(AP, 3/17/08)
1907 May 1, Kate Smith (d.1986),
singer, was born in Washington, DC.
(AP, 5/1/07)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Smith)
1907 Sep 29, The foundation stone
was laid for Washington National Cathedral, which wasn't fully
completed until 1990.
(AP, 9/29/07)
1907 Oct 27, Union Station in
Washington, D.C., opened.
(AP, 10/27/07)
1903 Dec 8, Samuel P. Langley’s
man-carrying Great Aerodrome collapsed right after takeoff from a
houseboat on the Potomac River.
(www.nasm.si.edu/research/arch/findaids/langley/langley_sec_6.html)
1909 May 1, Walter Reed Hospital
opened in Washington DC as an 80-bed Army medical center. In 2005 it
was scheduled for closure.
(SFC, 8/26/05, p.A13)
1909 Jun 1, Pres. William Howard
Taft touched a key in Washington, DC, sending a signal to Seattle,
opening the Alaska-Yukon Pacific Expo at the Seattle World’s Fair, as
well as a signal to NYC initialing the New York to Seattle Automobile
Race.
(AH, 6/03, p.18)
1912 Mar 27, The first cherry
blossom trees, a gift from Japan, were planted in Washington, D.C.
First Lady Helen Herron Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, wife of the
Japanese ambassador, planted two Yoshina cherry trees on the northern
bank of the Potomac Tidal Basin, near the Jefferson Memorial. The event
was held in celebration of a gift, by the Japanese government, of 3,020
trees to the US government for planting along Washington's Potomac
River.
(HN, 3/27/98)
1913 Mar 3, Ida B. Wells-Barnett
demonstrated for female suffrage in Washington DC.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1914 Houses of prostitution were
banned.
(SFEC, 4/18/99, p.A24)
1915 Feb 12, The cornerstone for
the Lincoln Memorial was laid in Washington, D.C., a year to the day
after groundbreaking.
(AP, 2/12/08)
1915 Jul, A homemade bomb exploded
in the Senate Reception Room. It was placed by Erich Muenter, a former
Harvard professor, who was upset by the private sales of US munitions
to the allies in WW I.
(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A6)
1916 Anton Dilger (1884-1918), an
American educated as a surgeon in Germany, set up a basement laboratory
in Washington DC for cultivating anthrax bacteria and Pseudomonas
mallei to infect horses and cattle destined to supply Allied armies.
German saboteurs disseminated the bacteria. Dilger later moved to
Mexico to help goad Mexico into attacking the US. He died of the
Spanish flu in Madrid. In 2007 Robert Koenig authored “The Fourth
Horseman: One Man’s Mission to Wage the Great War in America.”
(SSFC, 1/14/07, p.M2)
1918 May 14, Sunday baseball
became legal in Wash, DC.
(MC, 5/14/02)
1918 May 15, The U.S. Post Office
and the U.S. Army began regularly scheduled airmail service between
Washington and New York through Philadelphia.
(AP, 5/15/97)(HNPD, 6/15/99)(HNQ, 4/24/01)
1918 Oct 22, The cities of
Baltimore and Washington run out of coffins during the "Spanish
Influenza" epidemic.
(HN, 10/22/00)
1919 Jun 2, There were coordinated
bombings in Washington, DC, and 6 other cities. Militant followers of
anarchist Luigi Galleani were blamed.
(WSJ, 8/18/07,
p.P8)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1919_United_States_anarchist_bombings)
1919 Jul 7, The U.S. Army’s First
Transcontinental Motor Train left Washington, D.C., bound for San
Francisco. The 62-day journey crossed 3,250 miles. In 2002 Peter Davies
authored "American Road," an account of the trip.
(HN, 3/7/01)(WSJ, 7/19/02, p.W9)
1919 Jul 24, A race riot in
Washington, DC, left 6 killed and 100 wounded.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1919 Sep 17, The US saluted Gen.
John J. Pershing and soldiers returning from WWI in a parade up
Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington DC.
(AH, 10/04, p.14)
1921-1924 Woodrow Wilson, who left office in 1921,
lived at 2340 S. St. NW, Washington DC, until his death in 1924. His
house, built in 1915, is now open to the public.
(HNQ, 9/12/00)
1922 Feb 8, President Harding had
a radio installed in the White House.
(AP, 2/8/99)
1922 Mar 23, 1st airplane landed
at the US Capitol in Washington DC.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1922 May 30, The Lincoln Memorial
was dedicated in Washington, D.C., by Chief Justice William Howard Taft
and Robert Todd Lincoln. The Memorial has 48 sculptured festoons above
the columns representing the number of states at the time of
dedication. The 36 Doric columns in the Lincoln Memorial represent the
number of states in the Union at the time of Lincoln’s death in 1865.
The limestone and marble edifice, which is situated at the western end
of the Mall, was designed by Henry Bacon of North Carolina in the style
of a Greek temple. Daniel Chester French co-designed the memorial with
Bacon.
(HNQ, 2/12/00)(WSJ, 5/24/08, p.W12)(AP, 5/30/08)
1922 Jun 27, George Walker,
composer (In Praise of Lillies), was born in Washington, DC.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1922 Aug 12, The home of Frederick
Douglass in Washington, D.C. was dedicated as a memorial.
(HN, 8/12/98)
1922 Oct 3, The 1st facsimile
photo (fax) was sent over city telephone lines in Washington, DC.
(MC, 10/3/01)
1922 The second largest equestrian
statue in the world, located in Washington, D.C., is of General and
later President Ulysses S. Grant. The statue of Grant, sculpted by
Henry Merwin Shrady and dedicated in 1922, stands at head of the
reflecting pool in front of the U.S. Capitol Building. The only
equestrian statue larger is of Victor Emmanuel in Italy.
(HNQ, 11/21/98)
1923 The Freer Gallery in
Washington was established as the nation’s national museum of Asian
art. The center of the collection was amassed by Charles Lang Freer
(1854-1919), a self-made railroad magnate living in Detroit.
(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 11/6/98, p.W10)(WSJ,
12/14/06, p.D6)
1923 The Shriners, the fraternal
Ancient Order of the Mystic Shrine, made a pilgrimage to Washington DC.
(WSJ, 8/11/00, p.W6)
1924 Feb 3, The 28th president of
the United States, Woodrow Wilson, died in Washington at age 68.
(AP, 2/3/97)
1924 Feb 22, Calvin Coolidge
delivered the first presidential radio broadcast from the White House
as he addressed the country over 42 stations.
(AP, 2/22/08)
1924 Apr 23, The U.S. Senate
passed a Soldiers Bonus Bill, but deferred payments to some 4 million
veterans to 1945. Pres. Coolidge vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode
him.
(HN, 4/23/99)(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.B1)
1925 Aug 8, The first national
congress of the Ku Klux Klan opened. 200,000 members marched in
Washington, DC.
(HN, 8/8/98)(MC, 8/8/02)
1925-1926 Edward Christopher Williams (1871-1929),
black playwright, teacher and librarian, published "When Washington Was
in Vogue," a serialized novel in The Messenger, a socialist magazine.
(WSJ, 1/23/04, p.W5)
1927 Apr 7, Secretary of Commerce
Herbert Hoover was on hand for the first inter-city (DC to Manhattan)
transmission by telephone of video imagery. Hoover’s image and voice
were transmitted across telephone lines.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1927_in_television)(AH, 4/07, p.14)
1927 Nov 17, A tornado hit
Washington DC.
(MC, 11/17/01)
1928 Feb 28, Smokey the Bear was
created.
(MC, 2/28/02)
1929 Mar 23, The 1st telephone
installed in White House.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1930 Jun 24, The 1st radar
detection of planes was made at Anacostia, DC.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1930-1950 The NKVD and KGB infiltration in Washington
during this period was documented in the 1998 book "The Haunted Wood"
by Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev.
(WSJ, 1/5/98, p.A20)
1932 May 29, World War I veterans
began arriving in Washington DC to demand cash bonuses they weren’t
scheduled to receive for another 13 years. 17,000 veterans, calling
themselves the Bonus Expeditionary Force, marched on Washington
demanding cash for their bonus certificates. They were led by Walter
Waters, a former sergeant from Portland, Ore.
(TMC, 1994, p.1932)(AP, 5/29/97)(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.B1)
1932 Jun 7, Over 7,000 war
veterans marched on Washington, D.C. demanding their bonuses for
service in WW I.
(HN, 6/7/98)
1932 Jun 14, Representative Edward
Eslick died on the floor of the House of Representatives while pleading
for the passage of the bonus bill for US veterans.
(HN, 6/14/98)
1932 Jun 17, The U.S. Senate
defeated a cash-now bonus bill as some 10,000 veterans massed around
the Capitol.
(HN, 6/17/98)(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.B1)
1932 Jul 28, Under orders from
Pres. Hoover shacks built in the shadow of the nation’s Capitol by
World War I veteran demonstrators were burned. In 1924 Congress had
enacted a law that provided compensation to veterans—those entitled to
more than $50 would receive certificates maturing in 1945. However,
because of the Depression, Congress proposed in 1932 that the
certificates be redeemable immediately, as a bonus. Veterans groups
began to gather in Washington, D.C., to march for their cause. When the
bill was defeated, the veterans (nicknamed the Bonus Expeditionary
Force (BEF), "Bonus Army") refused to leave. Hoover resorted to using
U.S. troops to force them to evacuate. One veteran was killed and 50
veterans and police were injured in the melee. In May 1933, newly
elected President Franklin Roosevelt also opposed the bill, but he
issued an executive order allowing 25,000 veterans to enroll in the
Citizens’ Conservation Corps in lieu of getting bonuses. In 1971 Roger
Daniels authored “The Bonus March.” In 1994 Donald J. Lisio authored
“The President and Protest.”
(AP, 7/28/97)(HNPD, 7/28/98)(WSJ, 11/7/05, p.B1)
1932 Dec, Marlin R.M. Kemmerer
drew a revolver in the Capital House gallery. Rep. Melvin Maas, a
republican from Minn., convinced the man to drop the gun.
(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A6)
1933 Agnes and Eugene Meyer
purchased the Washington Post at a bankruptcy auction.
(USAT, 2/13/97, p.5D)(SFC, 7/18/01, p.A6)
1934 Apr 21, Moe Berg, Senators
catcher (and later US spy), played an AL record 117th consecutive,
errorless game.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1935 Feb 22, All plane flights
over the White House were barred because they disturbed President
Roosevelt's sleep.
(HN, 2/22/98)
1935 Oct 7, The US Supreme court
held its 1st session in its new building designed by Cass Gilbert. It
was built on the site of an old Civil War prison. A new marble frieze
at the Supreme Court included an image of Mohammed. In 1997 a Muslim
group complained because Islamic tradition forbids images of the
prophet.
(WSJ, 3/13/97,
p.A1)(www.supremecourthistory.org)(WSJ, 8/27/03, p.B4)
1936 Mar 6, Marion S. Barry,
(Mayor-D-Wash DC), was born.
(MC, 3/6/02)
c1937 The painting "Dangers of the
Mail" was created by Frank Albert Mechau of Colorado for the display in
the Ariel Rios building of the Federal Triangle complex. The painting
depicted the slaughter of Western settlers by native Indians and was
later claimed as racist.
(SFC, 12/4/00, p.A3)
1938 Dec 15, Groundbreaking
ceremonies for the Jefferson Memorial took place in Washington, D.C.
(AP, 12/15/97)
1939 Apr 2, Marvin P. Gaye Jr,
singer (Sexual Healing), was born in Wash, DC.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1939 Apr 9,
Singer Marian Anderson performed at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington,
D.C., after she was denied the use of Constitution Hall by the
Daughters of the American Revolution.
(AP, 4/9/97)
1939 Oct 17, Frank Capra's
comedy-drama "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" premiered in the nation's
capital.
(AP, 10/17/99)
1939 Nov 15, President Roosevelt
laid the cornerstone of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.
(AP, 11/15/97)
1940 In Washington DC the
Dumbarton Oaks mansion was donated to Harvard Univ.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, p.T10)
1940 Britain’s PM Winston
Churchill sent a handful of young British officers to Washington, DC,
to ingratiate themselves on the social scene and advance the British
cause through good manners. They included Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming and
David Ogilvy. In 2008 Jennet Conant authored “The Irregulars: Roald
Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington.
(WSJ, 9/11/08, p.A13)
1941 Mar 17, The National Gallery
of Art opened in Washington, D.C.
(AP, 3/17/97)(HN, 3/17/98)
1941 Oct 5, former Supreme Court
Justice Louis D. Brandeis, the first Jewish member of the nation's
highest court, died in Washington at age 84.
(AP, 10/5/99)
1941 Dec, David Ben-Gurion
(1886-1973), Israeli leader, traveled to Washington to speak with Pres.
F.D. Roosevelt regarding a Jewish state. He waited for 10 weeks at the
Ambassador Hotel but was refused a meeting.
(http://tinyurl.com/kkvdh)(Econ, 8/5/06, p.28)
1942 Jun 21, President Roosevelt
and Prime Minister Churchill met in Washington, DC.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1943 Apr 13, President Roosevelt
dedicated the Jefferson Memorial. It was designed by John Russell Pope.
(AP, 4/13/97)(HN, 4/13/98)(WSJ, 9/21/00, p.A26)
1943 Jul 21, Edward Herrmann,
actor (Day of the Dolphin, Reds), was born in Wash., DC.
(MC, 7/21/02)
1944 Jun 20, The US Congress
chartered the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
(MC, 6/20/02)
1944 Aug 21, The US, Britain, the
Soviet Union and China opened the Dumbarton Oaks conference in
Washington, D.C. It laid the foundation for the establishment of the
UN.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, p.T10)(AP, 8/21/07)
1945 With the war over 16 million
GIs began reentry to civilian life. Some 406,000 Americans died in WW
II. In 1987 a national war memorial was proposed and in 1993 Congress
approved funding to build it on the Mall in Washington DC.
www.wwiimemorial.com
(TMC, 1994, p.1945)(SFEC, 5/30/99, Par p.16)
1946 Aug 20, Connie Chung (Yu-Hwa)
journalist: CBS Evening News, was born in Washington, DC.
(Internet)
1946 Dec 2, The Protocol to the
International Convention on the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) was signed
was signed in Washington, DC. The International Whaling Commission
(IWC), formed in 1948, prohibited the hunting of gray whales worldwide
when their numbers were down to the thousands. Scientific studies and
the commercial reality of fewer whales led to the implementation of
bans on hunting many whale species such as the humpback whale in 1963
followed in 1965 by a hunting ban on the blue whale (the largest
creature known to have ever existed). The IWC adopted a moratorium on
whaling in 1982. Although the IWC attempted to ban all commercial
whaling in 1986, some countries refused to agree.
(SFEM, 5/7/00,
p.9)(www.iwcoffice.org/commission/convention.htm)(Econ, 5/26/07, p.65)
1947 Jul, Senator John Bricker, a
republican from Ohio, was shot at twice as he entered the Senate
subway. William L. Kaiser, a former Capital police officer, missed 2
times. He had lost money when an Ohio building and loan firm was
liquidated.
(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A6)
1947 Oct 20, Hollywood came under
scrutiny as the House Un-American Activities Committee re-convened in
Washington and opened hearings into alleged Communist influence and
infiltration within the motion picture industry.
(SFEC, 5/18/97, DB p.64)(AP, 10/20/97)
1948 Jul 28, Georgia Engel,
actress (Georgette-Mary Tyler Moore Show), was born in Wash DC.
(SC, 7/28/02)
1948 Sep 10, Mildred Gillars,
accused of being Nazi wartime radio broadcaster "Axis Sally," was
indicted in Washington, D.C., on treason charges. She was later
convicted, and served 12 years in prison.
(AP, 9/10/04)
1950 Aug 27, Charles Fleischer,
comedian (Roger Rabbit), was born in Wash, DC.
(www.hollywood.com/celebs/fulldetail/id/188514)
1950 Nov 1, Two members of a
Puerto Rican nationalist movement tried to force their way into Blair
House in Washington to assassinate President Truman. The attempt
failed, and one of the pair was killed.
(AP, 11/1/97)(HN, 11/1/98)
1950 A rally in Washington DC was
organized to protest racial injustice. The rally led to the formation
of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights by Arnold Aronson, A.
Philip Randolph, and Roy Wilkins.
(SFC, 2/20/98, p.A23)
1951 May 24, Racial segregation in
Washington D.C. restaurants was ruled illegal.
(HN, 5/24/98)
1953 Apr 17, Mickey Mantle hit a
home run in Washington's Griffith Stadium off the Senator's Chuck
Stobbs that was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records as
measuring 565 feet. The distance was later said to have been padded.
(WSJ, 7/9/03, p.A1)
1954 Mar 1, Puerto Rican
nationalists opened fire from the gallery of the U.S. House of
Representatives, wounding five congressmen. In 1998 the granddaughter
of one of the nationalists published a family memoir.
(WUD, 1994, p.1685)(AP, 3/1/98)(NPR, 2/28/98)
1954 Sep 7-8, Integration of
public schools began in Washington DC and Baltimore, Md.
(HN,
9/7/98)(www.courtinfo.ca.gov/presscenter/timeline.htm)
1954 The US Supreme Court in
Berman v Parker approved a slum clearance plan of the government of
Washington DC over the objections of a local department store owner.
(Econ, 2/19/05, p.32)
1954 A World War II memorial to US
Marines was dedicated next to Arlington National Cemetery. It was based
on the Iwo Jima flag raising by 6 Marines, which was captured by AP
photographer Joseph Rosenthal. The photo inspired the sculpture by
Felix de Weldon (d.2003).
(AP, 2/23/98)(SFC, 9/21/00, p.C6)(SFC, 6/14/03,
p.A21)
1955 Herbert Haft (1920-2004),
pharmacist, opened his 1st Dart Drugs in Washington, DC. Over the next
30 years it grew to a chain of 77 stores and then expanded creating
Trak Auto, Crown Books, Shoppers Food Warehouse and Total Beverage. In
1997 Dart accepted $50 million in exchange for leaving the business.
(SFC, 9/3/04, p.B6)
1956 June 9, In Washington, DC,
President Eisenhower underwent surgery for an intestinal blockage. The
operation was a success and doctors assured the nation that the
president will make a full recovery.
(NYT, 6/9/1956, p.1)
1957 Aug 15, The musical "West
Side Story," composed by Leonard Bernstein and based on a concept by
Jerome Robbins, first opened in Washington D.C. The story was by Arthur
Laurents and the lyrics were by Stephen Sondheim.
(SFEM, 5/23/99, p.18)
1957 Oct 17, Britain's Queen
Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited the White House.
(MC, 10/17/01)
1959 Jul 4, A 49-star flag was
raised for the first time at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., in honor
of Alaska which had become the 49th state in the Union on July 7, 1958.
(IB, Internet, 12/7/98)
1959 Apr 14, The Taft Memorial
Bell Tower was dedicated in Washington, D.C.
(HN, 4/14/98)
1960 The Washington Senators, a
baseball team in the American League, moved from Washington, D.C., to
Minnesota at the end of 1960 and became the Minnesota Twins. The next
year, an expansion team, also called the Washington Senators, came to
the nation’s capital. After the 1971 season, those Senators moved to
Texas and became the Texas Rangers. In the 30 years since then,
Washington, D.C., has not had the Senators or any other Major League
baseball team.
(HNQ, 6/29/01)
1961 Mar 29, The 23rd amendment,
allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to vote for president, was
ratified.
(HN, 3/29/98)
1961 May 4, A
group of 13 CORE civil rights activists, dubbed "Freedom Riders" left
Washington, D.C., for New Orleans to challenge racial segregation on
buses and in bus terminals.
(AP, 5/4/97)(HN, 5/4/98)(MC, 5/4/02)
1962 Apr 9, JFK threw out the 1st
ball at Washington's new DC Stadium.
(MC, 4/9/02)
1962 Nov 17, Washington's Dulles
International Airport was dedicated by President Kennedy.
(AP, 11/17/97)
1963 Aug 28, The civil rights
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom drew 200-250,000 demonstrators
and was the occasion for King’s "I Have a Dream" speech in front of the
Lincoln Memorial. It was organized by Bayard Rustin (1912-1987). In
1997 a biography of Rustin by Jervis Anderson was published: "Bayard
Rustin: The Troubles I’ve Seen." The 1997 play "Civil Sex" by Brian
Freeman was based on Rustin’s life. Rev. Thomas Kilgore Jr. (d.1998 at
84) helped organize the march on Washington. Martin Luther King led
marches on Washington and Selma, Alabama. His chief lieutenant was
Andrew Young who in 1996 wrote: "An Easy Burden: The Civil Rights
Movement and the Transformation of America."
(WSJ, 11/6/96, p.A21)(SFEC, 1/26/97 BR, p.4)(WSJ,
1/30/97, p.A14)(AP, 8/28/97)(SFC, 2/7/98, p.21)(HN, 8/28/98)
1963 Aug, Phil Graham, publisher
of the Washington Post, committed suicide. His wife, Katherine Graham
(d.2001), took over as publisher. She published her autobiography in
1997: "Personal History."
(SFEC, 2/9/97, BR p.1)
1964 Feb 11, The Beatles 1st live
appearance in US was in the Washington, DC Coliseum.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1964 Nov 24, Residents of Wash DC
were permitted to vote for the 1st time since 1800.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1965 Apr 17, Students for a
Democratic Society (SDS) held its 1st anti-Vietnam war protest rally in
Washington DC. Daniel Ellsburg helped Patricia Marx tape the event for
public radio.
(SSFC, 10/20/02, p.M1)
1965 Nov 27, 15-25,000
demonstrated in Wash DC against the war in Vietnam.
(MC, 11/27/01)
1965 Blues Alley, a Georgetown
legend, began business and in 1998 was the oldest continuously
operating jazz supper club.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.7R)
1966 Oct 29, The National
Organization for Women was formally organized during a conference in
Washington, D.C.
(AP, 10/29/07)
1966 Apr 9, The statue of Winston
Churchill was dedicated at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.
(HN, 4/9/99)
1967 May 20, A 2-day Spring
Mobilization Conference opened in Washington D.C. The gathering of 700
antiwar activists was called to evaluate the antiwar demonstrations
that had taken place on April 15, 1967 in New York City and San
Francisco. The conference set another antiwar action for the fall of
1967 and created an administrative committee to plan it. That committee
was the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam
(MOBE).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Mobilization_Committee_to_End_the_War_in_Vietnam)
1967 Sep 28, Walter E. Washington
(d.2003) took office as the first mayor of the District of Columbia. He
had been appointed mayor-commissioner by Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson and
won by election in 1974.
(AP, 9/28/97)(SFC, 11/1/03, p.A20)
1967 Oct 21, Tens of thousands of
Vietnam War protesters marched in Washington, D.C. 35,000 people
assembled outside the Pentagon to protest the war in Vietnam.
(TMC, 1994, p.1967)(AP, 10/21/97)
1967 The Watergate (Swissotel
Washington) commercial and residential complex was built.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.C1)
1968 Mar 2, The Poor Peoples'
March on Washington, envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a
means of dramatizing the plight of the poor of all races, got under way.
{USA, Black History}
(www.project1968.com/in-the-news-may-2-1968.html)
1968 Mar 19, Howard University
students in Washington DC staged rallies, protests and a 5-day sit-in,
laying siege to the administration building, shutting down the
university in protest over its ROTC program, and demanding a more
Afrocentric curriculum.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968)
1968 Mar 23, Reverend Walter
Fauntroy became the 1st non-voting congressional delegate from
Washington DC, since Reconstruction.
(www.thehistorymakers.com/timeline/index.asp?string=1968)
1968 Apr 29, Dr. Ralph Abernathy
led The Poor People's Campaign in Washington D.C., less than a month
after the assassination of King. It concluded on June 23. The campaign
was for reforms in welfare, employment and housing policies. Abernathy
was the successor to Rev. Martin Luther King as head of the Southern
Christian Leadership conference.
(HNQ, 1/19/99)
1968 May 12, "March of Poor" under
Rev. Abernathy reached Washington, DC.
(MC, 5/12/02)
1968 Apr 2, The influential
science-fiction film "2001: A Space Odyssey," produced and directed by
Stanley Kubrick, had its world premiere in Washington.
(AP, 4/2/08)
1968 Jun 19, Some 50,000 marched
on Washington, DC, to support the Poor People's Campaign. Rev. Jesse
Jackson preached “I Am Somebody” at Resurrection City, a tent city set
up in front of the White House. In 1971 he turned the speech into a
poem for Sesame Street.
(http://cheyannescampsite.blogspot.com/2008_06_15_archive.html)(SFC,
7/5/96, BR, p.6)(HN, 6/19/98)
1968 Jun 24, "Resurrection City,"
a shantytown constructed as part of the Poor People's March on
Washington, D.C., was closed by authorities.
(AP, 6/24/97)
1968 The Library of Congress
finished its Machine Readable Cataloguing (Marc) pilot project,
which was under the direction of Henriette D. Avram (1919-2006). In
1969 bibliographic records were sent on magnetic tape to libraries
around the country. In 1971 Marc became the national standard fro
electronic cataloguing.
(SFC, 5/4/06, p.B7)
1969 Oct 15, Peace demonstrators
staged activities across the country, including a candlelight march
around the White House, as part of a moratorium against the Vietnam War.
(AP, 10/15/97)
1969 Nov 15, A quarter of a
million protesters staged a peaceful demonstration in Washington, D.C.,
against the Vietnam War.
(AP, 11/15/97)(HN, 11/15/98)
1969 Dec 21, Vince Lombardi
(1913-1970), head coach of the Washington Redskins, coached his last
football game and lost.
(www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/was/1969.htm)
1970 Sep 1, Dr. Hugh Scott of
Washington, D.C., became the first African-American superintendent of
schools in a major U.S. city.
(HN, 9/1/99)
1970 Sep 3, Vince Lombardi (57),
one of Fordham University‘s stalwart linemen known as the "Seven Blocks
of Granite" during his college days, succumbed to cancer in
Washington, D.C. He had recently coached the Washington Redskins to
their first winning season in 14 years. Lombardi had previously coached
the Green Bay Packers to five NFL championships and victories in the
first two Super Bowls. He went to the Washington Redskins in 1969 as
head coach, general manager, and part owner. The team wound up with a
7-5-2 record for the season. In 1999 David Maraniss authored "When
Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi."
(AP, 9/3/97)(WSJ, 10/7/99, p.A28)
1970 Sep 22, President Richard M.
Nixon signed a bill giving the District of Columbia representation in
the U.S. Congress. Pres Nixon requested 1,000 new FBI agents for
college campuses.
(HN, 9/22/98)(http://tinyurl.com/5qrct8)
1971 Mar 1, The Weather
Underground bombed the US Capitol building claiming it to be in protest
of US involvement in Laos. The bomb exploded in a Capitol restroom 30
minutes after a telephone warning. Some $200,000 in damage was caused
with no injuries.
(HNQ,
7/30/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Capitol)(SFC,
7/25/98, p.A6)
1971 Apr 23, In the final event of
Operation Dewey Canyon III, nearly 1,000 Vietnam War veterans threw
their combat ribbons, helmets, and uniforms on the Capitol steps.
(www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryapril.htm)
1971 May 3,
Anti-war protesters calling themselves the Mayday Tribe began four days
of demonstrations in Washington aimed at shutting down the nation's
capital. 13,000 anti-war protesters were arrested in 3 days.
(AP, 5/3/97)(MC, 5/3/02)
1971 Jul 4, A July 4th concert on
the West Lawn of the White House was held and began an annual tradition.
(SSFC, 6/30/02, Par p.30)
1971 Sep 8, The Kennedy Center,
begun in 1964, officially opened in Washington, DC. A performance of
Leonard Bernstein’s Mass was held there three days earlier. The $71
million structure was designed by Edward Durell. The cultural center
was promoted at Kennedy’s request by Roger L. Stevens (1910-1998).
Congress had designated it a national monument to Pres. Kennedy
following his assassination.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_Center_for_the_Performing_Arts)(SFC,
8/27/01, p.E4)
1971 Sep 20, The American League
Ok'd the Washington Senator move to Arlington, where they became the
Texas Rangers.
(WSJ, 4/7/99,
p.B1)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Washington_Senators_season)
1971 Sep 30, The Washington
Senators baseball team played their last game before leaving DC for
Texas.
(WSJ, 4/7/99,
p.B1)(www.sportsecyclopedia.com/al/wastex/senators61.html)
1972 Mar 1, Kathy Boudin and
Bernardine Dohrn, members of the Weathermen, set explosives in the
1st-floor ladies room of the US Capitol building. [See Oct 20,1981]
(WSJ, 11/26/03,
p.A1)(http://hnn.us/articles/1155.html)
1972 Apr 16, The Republic of China
presented to Pandas to the US National Zoo: Hsing-Hsing (d.1999) and
Ling-Ling. Ling-Ling died Sep 30, 1992.
(SFC, 4/16/97, p.C14)(HN, 4/16/98)
1972 May 28, Operatives working
for the Committee to Re-elect the President (CRP) burglarized the
Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Washington, DC,
Watergate office complex.
(http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/museum)
1972 Jun 17, President Nixon's
eventual downfall began when five men were arrested for breaking into
the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate hotel at
1:52 a.m. Carl Schloffler (1945-1996), undercover police officer, made
the arrest. Within hours of the bust G. Gordon Liddy attempted to shred
all related documents. The five burglars were soon linked to Nixon's
Committee for the Re-election of the President (CREEP) and, as
suspicion grew, Nixon conspired to obstruct an FBI investigation of the
incident. Nixon's conversations about the obstruction and subsequent
cover-up had been tape-recorded as part of a secret tape-recording
system revealed to investigators by Nixon's schedule keeper. Jeb
Magruder later wrote "An American Life." The book has been described as
the most accurate description of what happened. Stanley I. Kutler later
authored "The Wars of Watergate." Liddy later asserted that John Dean
was really after a brochure of call-girl pictures kept by DNC secretary
Ida Wells that included a picture of Dean’s girlfriend, Maureen Biner.
(SFC, 4/13/96, p.A-2)(TMC, 1994, p.1972)(SFC,
7/16/96, p.A14)(SFC, 2/1/99, p.A3) (HNPD, 6/17/99)(SFC, 2/4/00,
p.D9)(SFC, 1/31/01, p.A2)
1972 Jun 19, Two days after the
botched Watergate break-in, FBI official W. Mark Felt secretly assured
Bob Woodward that The Washington Post could safely make a connection
between the burglars and a former CIA agent linked to the White House,
E. Howard Hunt. Woodward’s secret source for information became known
as Deep Throat, and Felt’s name was not made public until 2005. In 2006
Mark Felt and John O’Connor authored “A G-Man’s Life: The FBI, Being
“Deep Throat,” and the Struggle for Honor in Washington.”
(http://tinyurl.com/cva26)(SSFC, 5/21/06, p.M3)
1972 Jun 20, Pres. Nixon recorded
on tape information relating to the Jun 16 Watergate break-in. Sections
of the tape were later erased, allegedly accidentally by sec. Rose Mary
Woods. A panel of experts examined the tape to see if the 18-minute gap
was intentional. Richard H. Bolt (d.2002 at 90), acoustic expert at
Bolt, Beranek and Newman, later said that if it was an accident than it
was committed at least 5 time in the 18 minutes.
(SFC, 2/4/02, p.B5)
1972 Oct 11, There was an
attempted prison escape at the Washington DC jail. In 1975 Appellants
Frank Gorham, Jr., and Otis D. Wilkerson were indicted, along with
co-defendants Meltonia Fields and Linda Ewing, on counts of conspiracy,
introducing contraband into a penal institution, armed kidnapping, and
armed robbery, and both appellants were indicted individually on counts
of attempted escape and escape from custody. The charges grew out of
appellants' abortive attempt to escape from the D.C. jail on October
11, 1972, and their successful escape two weeks later.
(http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/523/523.F2d.1088.74-1613.74-1611.html)
1972 Oct 26, The Washington Post
first disclosed that Attorney General of the United States, John
Mitchell, personally controlled a secret fund to finance intelligence
operations against Democrats during the Nixon administration. The money
financed spying and sabotaging Democratic primary campaigns in 1972 and
included activity such as forgery of correspondence, release of false
leaks to the press and seizure of confidential campaign files.
(www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a102672macgregorfund)
1972 Nov 9, The "Trail of Broken
Treaties" caravan, an Indian protest, ended in vandalism and chaos at
the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. The story is told in
the 1996 book "Like A Hurricane, The Indian Movement From Alcatraz to
Wounded Knee" by Paul Chaat Smith and Robert Allen Warrior.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, BR
p.8)(http://siouxme.com/lodge/treaties.html)
1973 Jan 8, The trial of Watergate
burglars began in Washington, DC. In 2006 Andreas Killen authored “1973
Nervous Breakdown: Watergate, Warhol and the Birth of Post-Sixties
America.”
(www.watergate.info/chronology/1973.shtml)(SSFC,
4/16/06, p.M3)
1973 Jan 15, Four of six remaining
Watergate defendants pleaded guilty.
(HN, 1/15/99)
1973 Jan 30, A jury found
Watergate defendants Liddy & McCord guilty on all counts.
(www.watergate.info/chronology/1973.shtml)
1973 Mar 21, Dean told Nixon:
"There is a cancer growing on the Presidency."
(http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/amia-l/2000/01/msg00043.html)
1973 Dec 24, The US Congress
passed the Home rule Act, which allowed residents of Washington DC to
elect a mayor. Walter Washington was elected in 1974.
(WSJ, 10/28/03, p.A1)(Econ, 9/16/06,
p.41)(www.abfa.com/ogc/hrtall.htm)
1973 The Washington DC Eastern
Market was started in a pair of buildings abandoned by the
transportation dept.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.7R)
1974 Feb 17, Henry Kulbaski
(d.2007), White House Secret Service agent, ordered service agents to
shoot down a stolen helicopter that was flying around the White House.
Robert K. Preston (b.1954), a US Army private, suffered superficial
pellet wounds and was taken into custody.
(SSFC, 7/15/07,
p.B7)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_K._Preston)
1974 Feb 22, Samuel Joseph Byck
(1930–1974), an unemployed former tire salesman, attempted to hijack a
plane flying out of Baltimore-Washington International Airport. He
intended to crash into the White House in hopes of killing US President
Richard M. Nixon. Byck killed pilot Fred Jones and a aviation officer
George Neal Ramsburg before he was shot and wounded by gunfire through
the door of a Delta DC-9 airplane. Byck then shot himself in the head.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Byck)
1974 Mar 1, A grand jury in
Washington, DC, concluded that President Nixon was indeed involved in
the Watergate cover-up. 7 people, including former Nixon White
House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman, former Attorney
General John Mitchell and former assistant Attorney General Robert
Mardian, were indicted on charges of conspiring to obstruct justice in
connection with the Watergate break-in. They were convicted the
following January, although Mardian's conviction was later reversed. In
2005 Vanity Fair Magazine revealed that W. Mark Felt (91), former FBI
official, was the Watergate whistleblower Deep Throat, who helped bring
down Pres. Nixon.
(HN, 3/1/98)(AP, 3/1/99)(AP, 6/1/05)
1974 Jul 9, Earl Warren
(83), former California governor and US Chief Justice (1953-68) died in
Washington D.C. In 1997 Ed Cray authored the Warren biography "Chief
Justice."
(AP, 7/9/99)(SFC, 2/28/01, p.A18)
1974 Sep 20, Gail A. Cobb (24), a
member of the Metropolitan Police Force of Washington, D.C., became the
first female police officer to be killed in the line of duty. Cobb was
murdered by a robbery suspect in an underground garage in downtown
Washington.
(http://mpdc.dc.gov/mpdc/cwp/view,a,1231,q,538639.asp)
1974 Nov 5, Walter Washington
(1915-2003) was elected mayor of Washington DC, the 1st black mayor
there in 104 years. He had been appointed mayor-commissioner in 1967.
(WSJ, 10/28/03, p.A1)(www.narpac.org/ITXDCHIS.HTM)
1974 The Hirshborn Museum and
Sculpture Garden in Washington opened.
(SFC, 12/30/99, p.E1)
1976 Sep 21, Chilean exile Orlando
Letelier, one time foreign minister to Chilean President Salvador
Allende, was killed when a bomb exploded in his car in Washington D.C.
He was assassinated by order from Chile by Gen’l. Manuel Contreras,
head of the secret police known as DINA. Ronni Moffitt (25), an
American colleague of Letelier, was also killed. Contreras was
convicted of the order in 1993 and sentenced to a 7-year prison term.
In 2000 Gen. Pinochet was linked to the killing.
(SFC, 6/27/97, p.A14)(SFC, 7/1/99, p.C3)(SFEC,
5/28/00, p.A7)(AP, 9/21/01)
1976 Nov 9, Smokey the Bear (26)
died at the Washington DC National Zoo.
(www.capitanlibrary.org/research/smokey-bear.htm)
1976 The Smithsonian National Air
and Space Museum opened in Washington, DC.
(SFC, 11/26/99, p.A5)
1976 The 100-mile metro system in
Washington DC was completed. Harry Weese (d.1998) Associates of Chicago
did the design work. The Gallery Place metro station opened.
(SFC, 11/4/98, p.C7)(WSJ, 12/16/98, p.B12)
1977 Mar 7, Israeli PM Yitzhak
Rabin met with Pres. Carter in Washington.
(www.jimmycarterlibrary.org/documents/campdavid25/campdavid25_photos.phtml)
1977 Mar 9, About a dozen armed
Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington D.C., killing one
person and taking more than 130 hostages. The siege ended two days
later.
(AP, 3/9/98)
1977 Mar 11, More than 130
hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims were freed after
ambassadors from three Islamic nations joined the negotiations.
(AP, 3/11/98)
1977 Jun 6, The Washington Post
reported that the US had developed a neutron bomb.
(http://piurl.com/5B)
1977 Jul 23, A jury in Washington,
D.C., convicted 12 Hanafi Muslims of charges stemming from the hostage
siege at three buildings the previous March.
(AP, 7/23/98)
1978 Jul 9, Nearly 100,000
demonstrators marched on Wash DC for ERA.
(www.now.org/issues/economic/cea/history.html)
1979 Mar 3, Mustafa Barzani
(b.1903), Iranian Kurd leader (KDP), died in Washington, DC. He was
succeeded by his son Massoud.
(SFC, 9/4/96, A7)(WSJ, 12/20/02,
p.A14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustafa_Barzani)
1979 May 7, An estimated 125,000
people rallied against nuclear power in Washington, DC.
(SFC, 5/7/04, p.F2)
1979 Oct 7, Pope John Paul II
concluded a week-long tour of the United States with a Mass on the Mall
in Washington, DC.
(AP, 10/7/99)
1979 Oct 14, In Washington, DC,
some 100,000 gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and supporters marched in
celebration of gay pride and demanded equal rights for homosexuals
under the law.
(SFC, 10/15/04, p.F13)
1979-1985 Victor Cherkashin served as the KGB chief
at the Soviet embassy in Washington. In 2004 he authored “Spy Handler:
The True Story of the Man Who Recruited Robert Hanssen and Aldrich
Ames.”
(WSJ, 12/30/04, p.D8)
1979-1999 Meg Greenfield (d.1999) served as the
editorial-page editor of the Washington Post. In 2001 her book
"Washington" was published.
(WSJ, 5/3/01, p.A16)
1980 Nov 17, WHHM Television in
Washington, D.C. became the first African American public-broadcasting
television station.
(HN, 11/17/98)
1981 Mar 2, Howard Stern began
broadcasting on WWDC in Washington DC.
(SC, 3/2/02)
1981 Mar 30, John W. Hinckley Jr.
shot and wounded Pres. Ronald Reagan outside a Washington, D.C., hotel.
Press Sec. James Brady took a bullet as did Secret Service agent Tim
McCarthy and District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty.
(SFC, 7/14/96, Par p.2)(HN, 3/30/02)(AP, 3/30/08)
1981 Apr 13, Washington Post
reporter Janet Cooke received a Pulitzer Prize for her feature about an
8-year-old heroin addict named "Jimmy." Cooke relinquished the prize
two days later, admitting she had fabricated the story.
(AP,
4/13/00)(www.museumofhoaxes.com/day/04_17_2001.html)
1981 Apr 15, Janet Cooke said her
Pulitzer award 8-year-old heroin addict story was a lie. The Washington
Post relinquished the Pulitzer Prize over the fabricated story.
(www.museumofhoaxes.com/day/04_17_2001.html)
1981 Aug, Oliver North (b.1943)
was assigned to White House duty as Chief Middle East arms-sales
adviser to Secretary of Defense Casper W. Weinberger. He was fired on
November 25, 1986, for selling arms to Iran, and diverting Iran arms
sales proceeds to the contras.
(www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_02.htm)
1981 Bill Strauss (1947-2007),
Elaina Newport and Jim Aidala founded Capitol Steps, a singing,
satirical troupe in Washington DC. By 2007 the group had recorded 29
albums including “Sixteen Scandals” (1997).
(SFC, 12/26/07, p.B4)
1981 Joseph Rivers (d.1989)
founded the Orphan Foundation of America (OFA) in Washington DC to
improve the quality of life of young people who had been in foster care.
(SFEC,12/14/97, Par p.14)
1981 Metal detectors were
installed at the White House.
(SFC, 11/28/98, p.E4)
1982 Jan 13, An Air Florida 737
crashed into the capital's 14th Street Bridge after takeoff and fell
into the Potomac River, killing 78 people.
(AP, 1/13/98)
1982 Mar 26, Ground was broken in
Washington D.C. for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial designed by Maya Lin
of Yale. It was dedicated Nov 13.
(NG, May 1985, p.554, 557)(AP, 3/26/97)(HN, 3/25/98)
1982 Nov 10, The newly finished
Vietnam Veterans Memorial was opened to its first visitors in
Washington, D.C.
(AP, 11/10/97)
1982 Nov 13, The Vietnam Veterans
Memorial was dedicated after the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund had
chosen Maya Ying Lin's design. Lin was an architecture student at Yale
University when she submitted her proposal for the memorial, to be
built in Washington D.C.'s Constitution Gardens as a tribute to those
who served in the Vietnam War. In her proposal, shown above, Lin
described "a long, polished, black stone wall, emerging from and
receding into the earth," which would include the names of all the
military personnel who had died or remained missing. According to Lin,
"these names, seemingly infinite in number, [would] convey the sense of
overwhelming numbers, while unifying these individuals into a
whole.
(AP, 11/13/97)(HNPD, 11/13/98)
1982 Nov 16, A replica of the
original 1854 "Pope’s Stone," donated by the Vatican, was dedicated at
the Washington Monument. The original from Pope Pius IX, arrived in
October 1853. It was taken by force in 1854 by unknown men. The common
idea is that the men were part of a group called the Know-Nothings.
(www.nps.gov/archive/wamo/memstone_564.htm)
1982 Dec 8, A man demanding an end
to nuclear weapons held the Washington Monument hostage, threatening to
blow it up with explosives he claimed were inside a van. After a
10-hour standoff, Norman D. Mayer was shot dead by police; it turned
out there were no explosives.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Mayer)(AP,
12/8/07)
1982 Dec 9, The Washington, D.C.,
police shot and killed Norman Mayer (b.1916), an American anti-nuclear
weapons activist, 10 hours after he threatened to blow up the
Washington Monument. Police found he had no explosives.
(HN,
12/8/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Mayer)
1983 Nov 7, A bomb exploded on the
2nd floor of the Capitol, causing heavy damage but no injuries. A
caller said the bomb was an action against US aggression in Grenada and
Lebanon.
(SFC, 7/25/98,
p.A6)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_United_States_Senate_bombing)
1984 Nov 9, The Vietnam Veterans
statue, “Three Soldiers” by Frederick Hart (d.1999 at 56), was unveiled
in Washington DC on Veterans Day.
(http://www.440.com/twtd/archives/nov09.html)(SFC,
8/18/99, p.C4)
1986 Jun 23, Tip O'Neill refused
to let Reagan address the House.
(http://www-tech.mit.edu/archives/VOL_106/TECH_V106_S0437_P003.txt)
1987 May 3, The Miami Herald said
its reporters had observed a young woman, later identified as Donna
Rice, spending "Friday night and most of Saturday" at a Washington,
D.C., townhouse belonging to Democratic presidential candidate Gary
Hart.
(AP, 5/3/97)(SFEC, 12/19/99, p.C12)
1987 May 26, Dr. Arthur M. Sackler
(b.1913), physician and philanthropist, died. He donated a large
collection of Asian art housed in the National Museum Sackler Gallery,
which adjoins the Freer in Washington DC.
(WSJ, 11/6/98,
p.W10)(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9001219)
1987 Oct 11, Some 200,000
homosexual rights activists marched through Washington DC to demand
protection from discrimination and more federal money for AIDS research
and treatment. The AIDS Memorial Quilt had its inaugural presentation.
In 2000 Cleve Jones and Jeff Dawson authored "Stitching a Revolution,
The making of an AIDS Activist."
(AP, 10/11/97)(SFEC, 6/18/00, BR p.5)
1987 Nov 12, Heavy snow closed
schools from DC to Maine.
(http://weather.intellicast.com/Almanac/Northeast/November/)
1987 The National Museum of Women
in the Arts was founded in Washington DC. It was the idea of Wilhelmina
Holladay. In 1997 a new $1 million wing was added.
(SFEC,11/9/97, p.A12)
1987 The Carlyle Group was founded
in Washington DC. It had interests with military contractors and ties
to elite DC circles.
(SFC, 3/27/03, p.B1)
1988 Mar 6, The board of trustees
at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., a liberal arts college for
the deaf, selected Elisabeth Zinser, a hearing woman, to be school
president. Outraged students shut down the campus, forcing the
selection of a deaf president, I. King Jordan, instead.
(AP, 3/6/08)
1988 Mar 13, Yielding to student
protests, the board of trustees of Gallaudet University in Washington,
D.C., a liberal arts college for the hearing-impaired, chose I. King
Jordan to become the school's first deaf president, replacing Elisabeth
Ann Zinser, a hearing woman.
(AP, 3/13/98)
1988 Aug 4, US Congress voted
$20,000 to each Japanese-American interned during WW II.
(MC, 8/4/02)
1988 Nov 9, John N. Mitchell
(b.1913), former Attorney General under Pres. Nixon, died in
Washington. He was a major figure in the Watergate scandal and served
19 months at a federal prison in Alabama (1977-1979) for his role in
the scandal. In 2008 James Rosen authored “The Strong Man: John
Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate.”
(AP, 1/19/98)(AP, 11/9/02)(WSJ, 5/24/08, p.W8)
1988 McDonald's opened its
10,000th restaurant in a suburb of DC.
(WSJ, 5/13/99, p.B13)
1989 May 31, US House Speaker Jim
Wright, dogged by questions about his ethics, announced he would
resign. Thomas Foley succeeded him.
(AP, 5/31/99)
1989 May 31, Charles A. Hufnagel
(b.1917), artificial heart valve pioneer, died at his home in
Washington, DC.
(http://tinyurl.com/f5wdx)
1989 May, In Washington DC a
7-year-old boy was raped, stabbed and castrated by a repeat sex
offender. The event gave rise to the nation’s first civil commitment
law for sex offenders.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, p.A8)
1989 Jun 6, In Washington, DC,
Thomas Foley was elected the 49th speaker of the House of
Representatives.
(AP, 6/6/99)
1989 Aug 2, The House of
Representatives voted against including abortion curbs in a spending
bill for the District of Columbia.
(AP, 8/2/99)
1989 Nov 12, Abortion rights
advocates rallied in cities across the country, including Washington,
D.C.
(AP, 11/12/99)
1989 The Save Outdoor Sculpture
(SOS), organization was founded as a non-profit and largely volunteer
organization. It is housed in Washington at the National Institute for
the Conservation of Cultural Property (NIC). The SOS has 15,000 works
entered into its Inventory of American Sculpture.
(Smith., 4/1995, p.140)(http://tinyurl.com/hrt5r)
1990 Jan 18, In an FBI sting,
Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry was arrested for drug possession.
He was later convicted of a misdemeanor.
(AP, 1/18/00)
1990 Apr 28, Anti-abortion
demonstrators marched in Washington D.C.; authorities put the number of
protesters at 200,000, but organizers claimed a turnout of about
700,000.
(AP, 4/28/00)
1990 Jun 19, Opening statements
were presented in the drug and perjury trial of Washington DC Mayor
Marion S. Barry Junior. Barry was later convicted of a single count of
misdemeanor drug possession, and sentenced to six months in prison.
(AP, 6/19/00)
1990 Jun 28, Jurors in the drug
and perjury trial of Washington DC Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr. viewed a
videotape showing Barry smoking crack cocaine during an FBI hotel-room
sting operation. Barry was later convicted of a single count of
misdemeanor drug possession.
(AP, 6/28/00)
1990 Aug 10, Washington DC Mayor
Marion Barry was convicted of a single misdemeanor drug charge and
acquitted on another; the judge declared a mistrial on 12 other counts.
(AP, 8/10/00)
1990 John Williamson (b.1937)
wrote an article that pinned down the features of the “Washington
Consensus.” It described a framework for policy in emerging countries
that was accepted by most mainstream practitioners in the field.
(Econ, 10/7/06,
p.63)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Consensus)
1990 In Washington DC the Rev.
George A. Stallings Jr. and his breakaway African-American Catholic
Congregation, which encouraged the ordination of women and the use of
birth control and abortion, were excommunicated for breaking ties with
the Vatican.
(AP, 5/5/06)
1991 Jan 2, Sharon Pratt Dixon was
sworn in as mayor of Washington, D.C., becoming the first black woman
to head a city of Washington's size and prominence.
(AP, 1/2/98)
1991 Sep 28, The quotable former
District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry was sentenced to six months in
prison for possession of crack (a crystalline form of cocaine).
(http://tinyurl.com/ky3hv)
1991 Oct 26, Former Washington,
D.C., Mayor Marion Barry arrived at a federal correctional institution
in Petersburg, Va., to begin serving a six-month sentence for cocaine
possession.
(AP, 10/26/01)
1991 The Int’l. Campaign to Ban
Land Mines (ICBL) was formed by Jody Williams and fellow activists
during a Thanksgiving dinner. The organization won the 1997 Nobel
Peace.
(SFC, 10/11/97, p.A9)
1992 Jan 26, The Washington
Redskins won Super Bowl XXVI, defeating the Buffalo Bills 37-24.
(AP, 1/26/02)
1992 Apr 23, Marion Berry, former
mayor of Wash DC, was let out of prison.
(www.washtimes.com/metro/20040613-111808-1902r.htm)
1992 Jun, Latrena Denise Pixley,
annoyed with the wailing of her 6-week-old 3rd child, smothered her
with a blanket and tossed her in the trash.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.8)
1992 The Shakespeare Theater moved
to 7th and E streets from its longtime Capital Hill site.
(WSJ, 12/16/98, p.B12)
1992 The TEC-9 semiautomatic
pistol made by Navegar was renamed the TEC-DC9 after DC adopted a law
making gun manufacturers liable for gun deaths.
(SFEC, 5/2/99, p.A11)
1993 Apr 25, Hundreds of thousands
of gay rights activists and their supporters marched in Washington,
D.C., demanding equal rights and freedom from discrimination.
(AP, 4/25/98)
1994 Jul 15, Israel and Jordan
agreed to talks in Wash., DC, on July 25th.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1994 Sep 12, A stolen,
single-engine Cessna crashed into the South Lawn of the White House,
coming to rest against the executive mansion; the pilot, Frank Corder,
was killed.
(AP, 9/12/99)
1994 Oct, The Clintons inaugurated
a sculpture garden at the White House.
(WSJ, 12/1/98, p.A20)
1994 Nov 22, A gunman opened fire
inside the District of Columbia's police headquarters; the ensuing gun
battle left two FBI agents, a city detective and the gunman dead.
(AP, 11/22/99)
1994 Nov 22, Serb fighters in
northwest Bosnia set villages ablaze in response to a retaliatory air
strike by NATO.
(AP, 11/22/99)
1994 Dec 17, Six shots were fired
at the White House by an unidentified gunman.
(AP, 12/17/99)
1995 Jun 25, Warren E. Burger, the
15th chief justice of the United States (1969-86), died in Washington,
D.C., of congestive heart failure at age 87.
(AP, 6/25/97)
1995 Jul 27, The Korean War
Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington by President Clinton and
South Korean President Kim Young-sam.
(AP, 7/27/98)
1995 Oct 16, A vast throng of
black men gathered in Washington D.C. for the "Million Man March," "A
Day of Atonement," led by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Over
800,000 black men attended.
(AP, 10/16/97)(HN, 10/16/98)(MC, 10/16/01)
1995 Oct 28, An 18-wheel truck
plunged over an embankment outside Washington DC and spilled 100
gallons of sulfuric acid onto I-95. The driver, Tom Billings, had
fallen asleep.
(WSJ, 5/6/96, p.B-1)
1995 The Weekly Standard, a
Washington DC opinion magazine, began operations. In 2005 it published
a 1-year sampling of its work.
(WSJ, 9/2/05, p.W10)
1996 Jul 1, Placido Domingo became
artistic director of Washington National Opera (f.1956).
(www.dc-opera.org/aboutcompany/placidodomingo.asp)
1997 Apr 6, Jack Kent Cooke (84),
owner of the Washington Redskins, died. Settlement of his will took 7
years and cost $64 million in professional fees.
(AP, 4/6/98)(WSJ, 7/9/04, p.A1)
1997 Apr 30, President Clinton
reopened the newly renovated Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library
of Congress in Washington, D.C.
(AP, 4/30/98)
1997 May 8, In Washington DC
Jacqueline Thompson (32) gave birth to sextuplets. One was stillborn.
No fertility drugs were used but both she and her husband Linden had a
family history of multiple births.
(SFEC,11/23/97, p.A7)
1997 Jul 6, Mary Mahoney (25),
Emory Evans (25) and Aaron Goodrich (18) were murdered in an apparent
botched robbery at Starbuck's coffee shop in the Georgetown
neighborhood. In 1999 Carl Derek Havord Cooper (29) was charged with
the murders.
(SFC, 3/6/99, p.A3)
1997 Nov 25, Police Chief Larry D.
Soulsby resigned just hours before a police lieutenant roommate was
charged with extorting money from married men who frequented gay bars.
The chief and his lieutenant shared a cut-rate luxury apartment
obtained under false premises.
(SFC,11/26/97, p.A3)
1997 Dec 4, In Washington DC Eric
Butera (31) was robbed and beaten to death while assisting police in an
undercover investigation of a triple murder. In 1999 a court ruled that
the DC police dept. and 4 officers pay Butera's mother $98 million in
damages.
(SFC, 10/21/99, p.A3)
1997 The MCI Center, a sports
arena for the NBA Wizards and NHL Capitals, was completed for $260
million.
(SFC, 5/21/01, p.A3)
1998 Feb 5, Democratic fundraiser
Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie pleaded innocent in Washington to charges he'd
raised illegal donations to buy influence in high places. Trie pleaded
guilty in May 1999 to a felony count and a misdemeanor and was
sentenced later that year to four months' home detention and three
years' probation.
(AP, 2/5/03)
1998 Apr 27, A Pentagon panel said
remains of the Vietnam veteran in the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington
National Cemetery should be exhumed to determine whether they belonged
to Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, as his family believed. The
remains were later positively identified as Blassie's.
(AP, 4/27/03)
1998 May 5, The $816 million, 3.1
million-sq.-ft. Ronald Reagan Federal Building in Washington DC
was dedicated.
(USAT, 5/6/98, p.3A)
1998 May 15, Latia Robinson (7)
took control of a Honda Accord after her father passed out and drove
him safely to a hospital at the beginning of rush hour.
(SFC, 6/20/98, p.A6)
1998 Jul 24, A gunman burst past a
metal detector at the US Capital and killed 2 policemen, officers Jacob
Chestnut and John Gibson, and wounded a visitor. Russell Eugene Weston
Jr. (41) was captured after being shot.
(SFC, 7/25/98, p.A1)
1998 Jul 25, The US Capitol was
reopened, a day after a gunman killed two police officers; a wounded
suspect, Russell E. Weston Junior, was charged with murder. Weston was
later found unfit to stand trial because of paranoid schizophrenia.
Weston refused to take any medications voluntarily. In May 2001, a
federal judge authorized doctors to treat Weston involuntarily. A panel
from a federal appeals court ruled in July 2001 that Weston could be
forced to take the drugs which he was forced to do for 120 days. He
remains incarcerated in a psychiatric center in the federal prison in
Butner, North Carolina.
(AP,
7/25/99)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Capitol_shooting_incident_(1998)#The_suspect)
1998 Oct 1, Gordon and Betty
Moore, announced a $35 million contribution to Conservation Int’l., an
environmental group for biodiversity. The funds would be used for a new
Washington DC Center for Applied Biodiversity Science. Moore was a
co-founder and former chairman of Intel Corp. He donated $12.5 million
to Cambridge Univ. for the most advanced science and technology library
in Europe.
(SFC, 10/2/98, p.B6,D1)
1998 Oct 7, Robert McDonough (76)
donated $30 million to Georgetown Univ. He made his fortune in the
temporary employment business.
(SFC, 10/8/98, p.A3)
1998 Nov, A measure on medical
marijuana was voted upon. Congress held up the ballot count until Sep
1999, when results showed a 69% approval.
(WSJ, 9/21/99, p.B8)
1999 Jan 2, Anthony A. Williams
was inaugurated as mayor of Washington DC and given authority to run
the daily operations of the city.
(SFC, 12/21/98, p.A2)(Econ, 3/4/06, p.31)
1999 Apr 13, The beaver "Big
Daddy" was relocated. He was the 3rd of a family that was removed for
snacking on the Japanese cherry trees in the capital.
(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A3)
1999 Apr, A 32-foot sculpture by
Roy Lichtenstein, "Brushstroke Group," was to be erected in front of
the Corcoran Gallery at 17th St. and New York Ave.
(SFC, 3/8/99, p.A8)
1999 May 22, The 6-acre National
Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden at 7th Ave and Constitution was opened
to the public.
(WSJ, 5/21/99, p.W2)
1999 Jun 5, Some 3,000 protestors
demonstrated outside the Pentagon against the NATO bombing in
Yugoslavia.
(SFEC, 6/6/99, p.A4)
1999 Jun 5, In Washington DC Nancy
Richards-Akers, a popular romance novelist, was shot and killed by her
husband in front of their 2 children. Jeremy R. Akers then killed
himself.
(SFC, 6/7/99, p.A2)
1999 Jun, Cheryl L. Johnson
(1950-2007), a nurse at the Univ. of Michigan, and Susan Bianchi-Sand
were among the co-founders of the United American Nurses union (UAN).
During the week of June 17-20, ANA's House of Delegates (HOD) voted in
Washington, DC, to create the United American Nurses (UAN), a labor
entity within ANA that will further strengthen its labor activities.
(WSJ, 11/10/07, p.A8)(http://tinyurl.com/2tvqo9)
1999 Nov 28, In Washington DC
Hsing Hsing (28) the giant panda died.
(SFC, 11/29/99, p.A2)
1999 Jemal’s Chinatown, a 100,000
square-foot complex of adjoining low-rise Victorian style buildings,
was scheduled for completion. Ethnic restaurants and specialty shops
were to be featured.
(WSJ, 12/16/98, p.B12)
1999 George Washington Univ.
purchased the Howard Johnson Hotel on Virginia Ave. for student
housing.
(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.C5)
1999 The Weston A. Price
Foundation was established in Washington DC to promote traditional
foods such as grass-fed beef and unpasteurized milk.
(WSJ, 9/11/03, p.A1)
2000 Feb 22, Over 200 truckers
gathered in Washington DC to protest high diesel prices.
(SFC, 2/23/00, p.A3)
2000 Feb, The three most common
first names for U.S. presidents have been James, John and William. Six
presidents have been named James: Madison, Monroe, Polk, Buchanan and
Garfield, Carter. Four Johns (Adams, Quincy Adams, Tyler and Kennedy)
and four Williams (McKinley, Harrison, Taft, Clinton) have occupied the
White House.
(HNQ, 2/21/00)
2000 Mar 20, Some 2,000 farmers,
ranchers and rural businessmen converged on Washington to lobby for an
overhaul of farm programs and to strengthen antitrust enforcement on
agribusiness.
(WSJ, 3/21/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 9, Some 10-30 thousand
protesters began gathering in Washington DC for the meeting of the WTO.
They planned to target the World Bank and the IMF. The World Bank’s 181
members accessed some $30 billion annually in loans through 5
institutions: The Int’l. Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(IBRD), the Int’l. Development Assoc. (IDA), the Int’l. Finance Corp.
(IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the
Int’l. Center for settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
(SFEC, 4/9/00, p.A12)
2000 Apr 15, An estimated 600
people were arrested in Washington DC prior to the meeting of the IMF
and World Bank.
(SFEC, 4/16/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 16, In Washington DC
police blocked some 10,000 protesters from disrupting the meetings of
the World Bank and the IMF. Finance ministers and central bankers
issued a statement that pledged to seek greater debt relief for the
poorest countries and to reform the IMF to prevent future financial
crises.
(SFC, 4/17/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 17, The IMF and World
Bank ministers in Washington DC ended their meetings and pledged to
speed debt relief to poor countries and to increase support for
fighting AIDS. Police blocked all protestor attempts to disrupt the
meetings.
(SFC, 4/18/00, p.A1)(AP, 4/17/01)
2000 Apr 24, In Washington DC a
shootout at the National Zoo left 7 children wounded. A 16-year-old
high school student, Antoine B. Jones, the son of a convicted enforcer,
was later arrested. Jones later agreed to plead guilty to 7 felonies.
(WSJ, 4/25/00, p.A1)(SFC, 4/26/00, p.A3)(SFC,
4/27/00, p.A4)(SFC, 10/26/00, p.a12)
2000 Apr 29, Some 1000 gay and
lesbian couples proclaimed their love at the Lincoln Memorial as part
of the events leading to the 4th annual Millennium March the next day.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.A13)
2000 Jun 3, Some 69,000 runners
took part in the Komen Race for the Cure, sponsored by the Susan B.
Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
(SFEC, 6/4/00, p.A2)
2000 Sep 13, The contest for a
Martin Luther King memorial on the national Mall was won by the ROMA
Design Group of SF.
(SFC, 9/14/00, p.A3)
2000 Sep 21, Final approval of the
World War II Memorial on the National Mall was expected. The
neoclassical design was by Friedrich St. Florian.
(WSJ, 9/21/00, p.A26)
2000 Sep 28, A gay, deaf student
at Gallaudet Univ. was beaten to death. Thomas Minch (18) was later
arrested for the death of Eric Franklin Plunkett (19). Minch was
released within 24 hours. In 2002 Joseph M. Mesa Jr. was convicted of
killing and robbing 2 Gallaudet classmates. [See Feb 3, 2001]
(SFC, 10/4/00, p.A2)(SFC, 10/5/00, p.A2)(SFC,
5/22/02, p.A9)
2000 Oct 16, Louis Farrakhan
planned a one million family march in Washington to seek spiritual
strength and political empowerment. Thousands gathered in the National
Mall to celebrate the American family.
(SFC, 10/14/00, p.A3)(SFC, 10/17/00, p.A3)
2000 Afghan cab drivers in
Washington DC began meeting to discuss the poetry of Abdul Qadir Bedil
(1644-1721), Afghanistan Sufi poet, in a program called “An Evening of
Sufism.” In 2004 original members broke off and formed the group “An
Evening With the Dervishes.”
(WSJ, 7/10/06, p.A1)(http://devoted.to/bedil)
2001 Jan 20, George Bush , the 1st
president with an MBA, was inaugurated as the nation’s 43rd president
in Washington DC. The "compassionate conservative" vowed to lead
"through civility, courage, compassion and character."
(SFC, 1/20/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.A1)
2001 Jan 20, Some 25,000
protesters gathered in Washington DC for the inauguration of Pres. Bush
along with some 7,000 police.
(SSFC, 1/21/01, p.A4)
2001 Feb 3, Benjamin Varner, a
freshman at Gallaudet Univ., was found dead with his throat slashed and
face mutilated. Police later arrested Joseph Mesa Jr. (20), a freshman
student from Guam, for the murder of Varner and Eric Plunkett in Sep,
2000. [see Sep 28, 2000]
(SSFC, 2/4/01, p.A10)(SFC, 2/6/01, p.A6)(SFC,
2/14/01, p.A7)
2001 Feb 20, Robert Philip Hanssen
(56), senior FBI agent, was arrested for spying. He had allegedly
passed information to the Russians for 15 years. It was believed that
he had betrayed the construction of a tunnel under the Soviet Embassy
in Washington.
(SFC, 2/21/01, p.A1)(SSFC, 3/4/01, p.A6)
2001 Mar 18, An accident that
injured 17 shut down several heavily traveled highways around
Washington DC for several hours. The Virginia crash involved a Quebec
tour bus, a truck and two cars.
(AP, 3/19/02)
2001 Mar 22, The Pope John Paul II
Cultural Center, designed by Leo Daly, opened near the Basilica of the
National Shrine.
(SSFC, 3/11/01, Par p.19)
2001 Apr 30, Chandra Levy (24), an
intern from Modesto, Ca., was last seen at a health club near her
apartment in Washington, D.C. On July 5 the aunt of Chandra Levy
reported that her niece told her of a relationship with US Rep. Gary
Condit before she disappeared. Levy’s remains were found May 22, 2002,
in Rock Creek Park, Washington DC. In 2009 Ingmar Guandique (27), a
Salvadoran immigrant already serving a 10-year sentence for attacking 2
women in the same park, was charged in her murder.
(SFC, 5/18/01, p.A3)(SFC, 7/6/01, p.A1)(AP,
4/30/02)(SFC, 5/23/02, p.A1)(SFC, 4/23/09, p.A4)
2001 May 28, Pres. Bush signed a
bill ordering the construction of a WW II memorial on the capital Mall.
(SFC, 5/29/01, p.A3)
2001 Jul 17, Katharine Graham,
Pulitzer Prize winner and publisher of the Washington Post, died at age
84 in Boise, Idaho.
(SFC, 7/18/01, p.A6)
2001 Sep 11, 9:38 a.m. American
Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 carrying 64 people, crashed into the
Pentagon in Arlington, Va. It was enroute from Washington DC to
LA.
9:40 a.m. The FAA grounded all domestic flights and
ordered all airborne craft to land immediately.
(SFC, 9/12/01, p.A6,10,12)(WSJ, 9/12/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 29, Some 7,000 people
marched for peace in Washington DC while an estimated 7-10 thousand
marched in San Francisco. They marched to mourn terrorist victims, and
to urge the nation to heal poverty and injustice that fuels global
violence instead of focusing on military revenge.
(SSFC, 9/30/01, p.A3)
2001 Sep 29-30, The annual meeting
of the World Bank and IMF was scheduled to take place in Washington DC.
The meeting was reduced to 2-days due to expected anti-globalization
protests. The meeting was cancelled following the Sep 11 terrorist
attacks.
(SFC, 8/14/01, p.A3)(SSFC, 9/30/01, p.A3)
2001 Oct 4, Reagan National
Airport re-opened.
(SFC, 10/5/01, p.A15)
2001 Oct 7, Herbert L. Block
(b.1910), Washington Post cartoonist, died at age 91. He authored
"Herblock: A Cartoonist’s Life" in 1993.
(SFC, 10/8/01, p.A20)
2001 Oct 16, A wing of the US
Senate building was closed following confirmation that a letter to Sen.
Tom Daschle, D-S.D., carried anthrax. It was later found that the
anthrax contained the additive bentonite to enhance suspension in air.
(SFC, 10/17/01, p.A1)(SFC, 10/25/01, p.A1)(WSJ,
10/26/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 20, Traces of anthrax
were found in a US House of Representatives mail room. This became the
3rd Capital Hill building infected.
(SSFC, 10/21/01, p.A3)
2001 Oct 21, Thomas L. Morris Jr.
(55), a DC postal worker diagnosed with the deadly inhalation form of
anthrax, died. Officials began testing thousands of postal employees.
(SFC, 10/23/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/24/01, p.A1)(AP,
10/22/06)
2001 Oct 22, DC postal worker,
Joseph P. Curseen (47), died from anthrax. .
(SFC, 10/23/01, p.A1)(WSJ, 10/24/01, p.A1)
2001 Oct 23, Traces of anthrax
were found at an off-site facility that handled mail for the White
House.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov 10, Traces of anthrax
were reported in offices of the Hart and Longworth government buildings.
(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.A7)
2002 Apr 19, Protesters gathered
in Washington DC and rallied against US policies in Latin America ahead
of weekend meetings of the IMF and World Bank.
(SFC, 4/20/02, p.A3)
2002 Jul 26, The new Malrite
international spy museum opened.
(SFC, 7/17/02, p.A3)
2002 Jul 29, The Capitol Limited
Amtrak train derailed outside Washington DC and over 100 people were
injured.
(SFC, 7/30/02, p.A4)(AP, 7/29/03)
2002 Aug 30, In Washington, DC,
some 35,000 gathered for the 39th annual meeting of the Islamic Society
of North America.
(SFC, 8/31/02, p.A1)
2002 Sep 27, In Washington DC some
1,500-2,000 activists protested the start of the annual meetings of the
World Bank and IMF. About 650 were arrested.
(SFC, 9/28/02, p.A3)
2002 Sep 28, In Washington DC the
World Bank and IMF agreed to speed efforts to develop a new "sovereign
bankruptcy" procedure for countries in debt crises. Thousands
demonstrated, but only 5 arrests were reported.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.A1,9)
2002 Oct 2, James Martin (55) was
shot to death by a sniper in Wheaton, Md. He was the 1st to die at the
hands of a local serial killer. The next day, five people in the
Washington D.C. area were shot dead, setting off a frantic manhunt.
John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo were later arrested for 10
killings and three woundings; Muhammad has been sentenced to death,
Malvo to life in prison.
(NW, 10/21/02, p.28)(AP, 10/2/07)
2002 Oct 3, Police hunted for a
"skilled shooter" who murdered five random victims over 16 hours with a
high-powered rifle in Montgomery County, Maryland, just a short
distance from Washington DC. A 6th victim was killed in DC. James
Buchanon (39), Premkumar Walekar (54), Sarah Ramos (34), Lori Ann Lewis
Rivera (25) and Pascal Charlot (72) became the 2nd to 6th victims.
(SFC, 10/4/02, p.A3)(SFC, 10/5/02, p.A3)(SSFC,
10/12/02, p.A4)(NW, 10/21/02, p.28)
2003 Feb 26, In Washington
DC war protesters tied up phones, fax machines and computers as part of
a "virtual march."
(SFC, 2/27/03, A14)
2003 Mar 19, Tobacco farmer Dwight
Ware Watson, who'd claimed to be carrying bombs in a tractor and
trailer that he'd driven into a pond on Washington's National Mall,
surrendered after disrupting traffic for two days; there were no
explosives.
(AP, 3/19/04)
2003 Nov 17, John Allen Muhammad
was convicted of two counts of capital murder and masterminding the
2002 sniper attacks in the Washington DC region.
(SFC, 11/18/03, p.A1)(AP, 11/17/08)
2003 Nov 19, The 2-year-old
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) held a banquet at the
Grand Hyatt in Washington DC that cost $461,745 for some 600 honorees
and as many guests.
(SFC, 10/15/04, p.A7)
2003 The $650 Million Washington
Convention Center was scheduled to open.
(WSJ, 12/16/98, p.B12)
2003 Street Sense, a Washington DC
newspaper for the homeless, was founded by Ted Henson (23) and Laura
Thompson Osuri (26). It followed the general business plane of the
North American Street Newspaper Association, a trade group focused on
homelessness.
(WSJ, 6/30/06, p.A1)
2004 Feb 2, A white power
containing Ricin, a deadly poison, was discovered in a mail room near
the office of US Senate majority leader Bill Frist.
(SFC, 2/3/04, p.A3)
2004 Mar 9, John Allen Muhammad
(43) was sentenced to death in Manassas, Va., for his 2002 murder
rampage in the Washington DC area.
(SFC, 3/10/04, p.A3)
2004 Apr 29, A national monument
to the 16 million U.S. men and women who served during World War II
opened to the public in Washington DC. Official dedication was set for
May 29.
(AP, 4/29/04)(SFC, 4/30/04, p.A3)
2004 Jan 2, Independence Air,
formerly known as Atlantic Coast Airlines, began operations at Dulles
Airport. The DC based carrier shut down Jan 5, 2006.
(SFC, 1/3/06, p.E1)
2004 Jun 9-10, The body of Ronald
Reagan arrived in Washington to lie in state in the U.S. Capitol
Rotunda before the 40th president's funeral. Thousands viewed the
flag-draped casket of Pres. Reagan in the Capitol Rotunda of Washington
DC.
(SFC, 6/10/04, A15)(AP, 6/9/05)
2004 Jul 16, PNC Financial, based
in Pennsylvania, agreed to by Riggs National of Washington DC for $779
million. Riggs was fined $25 million in May for violating money
laundering regulations.
(Econ, 7/24/04, p.69)
2004 Oct 24, Cardinal James A.
Hickey (84), former archbishop of Washington, D.C., died.
(AP, 10/24/05)
2004 Nov 10, A gas station in
Washington DC became the first in North America to have a hydrogen
dispensing pump.
(AP, 11/10/04)
2004 Burt Solomon authored “The
Washington Century: Three Families and the Shaping of the Nation’s
Capital.”
(WSJ, 11/18/04, p.D8)
2005 Jan 20, The inauguration
ceremony for Pres. Bush was held in Washington DC. The event was
expected to cost $40 million the administration asked DC to use 11.9
million of its federal homeland security funds to help pay costs.
(SFC, 1/20/05, p.A12)
2005 Feb 1, The Washington DC City
Council approved a bill that requires transporters of ultra hazardous
materials to skirt a 2.2 mile radius around the Capital building.
(WSJ, 2/2/05, p.A4)
2005 Apr 14, Pres. Bush threw out
the 1st pitch at RFK Stadium as the Nationals brought baseball back to
the capital. Washington, DC, had last hosted a major-league game in
September, 1971.
(WSJ, 4/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Sep 23, G7 finance ministers
and central bankers concluded a meeting in Washington and agreed to
meet again in December in London and bid farewell to Chairman Alan
Greenspan.
(AFP, 9/24/05)
2005 Sep 24, The 184-nation
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank opened their annual
meetings in Washington DC. They were ready to act on a breakthrough
deal that would forgive more than $40 billion owed by the poorest
nations.
(AP, 9/24/05)
2005 Oct 15, Thousands gathered in
DC at the National Mall for the Millions More Movement to commemorate
the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March organized by Nation of
Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.
(AP, 10/15/05)
2005 Nov 18, In Washington DC
Michael Scanlon (35) was charged with conspiring with former lobbyist
Jack Abramoff to bribe government officials and bilk millions of
dollars from Indian tribes. In March, 2002, Ohio Rep. Robert Ney agreed
to back legislative language to benefit the Tigua tribe of El Paso,
Texas, a client of Abramoff and Scanlon.
(SFC, 11/19/05, p.A3)
2005 Donald A. Ritchie authored
“Reporting from Washington: The History of the Washington Press Corp.”
(WSJ, 4/12/05, p.D8)
2006 Jan 2, Independence Air,
formerly known as Atlantic Coast Airlines, said it will shut down on
Jan 5. The DC based carrier only began operations Jun 16, 2004.
(SFC, 1/3/06, p.E1)
2006 Jan 8, In Washington DC David
E. Rosenbaum (63), a recently retired journalist for the NY Times, died
from injuries suffered in a robbery on Jan 6. Michael Hamlin (24) and
Percy Jordan Jr. (42) were soon arrested and charged with felony
murder. Both men were convicted of murder. In 2007 Hamlin was sentenced
to 26 years in prison after he pleaded guilty and testified against his
cousin.
(SFC, 1/14/06, p.A3)(SFC, 10/25/06, p.A3)(SFC,
1/4/07, p.A3)
2006 Apr 28, Five member of US
Congress were willingly arrested and led away from the Sudanese Embassy
in plastic handcuffs after protesting the Sudanese government's alleged
role in atrocities in the Darfur region.
(AP, 4/28/06)
2006 Apr 30, Some 100,000 rallied
in Washington DC, SF and other US cities to urge the Bush
administration to take decisive action to stop the genocide in Darfur.
(SFC, 5/1/06, p.A1)
2006 Apr, In Washington DC a
smoking ban passed in 2005 took effect for restaurants and offices.
(SFC, 1/2/07, p.A3)
2006 May 16, Seven
African-American members of the US Congress were arrested at the
Embassy of Sudan, where they were protesting atrocities in that
country's Darfur region.
(AP, 5/17/06)
2006 Jun 20, A Washington DC jury
found former Bush administration official David Safavian guilty of
covering up his dealings with Republican influence-peddler Jack
Abramoff. Safavian was sentenced to 18 months in prison, but the
underlying conviction was thrown out by an appeals court in 2008. In
Dec, 2008, Safavian was convicted of obstructing justice and lying. In
Oct 2009 he was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison.
(AP, 6/20/06)(SFC, 10/17/09, p.A6)
2006 Jun 26, Flooding shut down
much of central Washington DC.
(WSJ, 6/27/06, p.A1)
2006 Jun 27, Washington DC was
scheduled to begin a campaign to screen every resident (14-84) for the
AIDS virus. DC was experiencing the highest rate of new AIDS cases in
the US.
(SSFC, 6/25/06, p.A8)
2006 Jul 9, In Washington DC Alan
Senitt (27), a British volunteer for the potential presidential
campaign of former Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, was killed in the
Georgetown neighborhood by robbers who slashed his throat and tried to
rape his female companion. Within three hours of the attack, police
arrested and charged two men, and two other suspects surrendered a few
hours later. On May 21, 2007, Christopher Piper and Jeffery Rice
pleaded guilty to robbing and killing Alan, and committing other
robberies in the city. They were sentenced August 24, 2007, to 37 and
52 years respectively in prison.
(AP,
7/10/06)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Senitt)
2006 Oct 29, Gallaudet Univ. of
Washington DC, the premier US school for the deaf, voted to terminate
the appointment of incoming president Jane Fernandes following a month
of protests by students and faculty.
(SFC, 10/30/06, p.A3)
2006 Nov 4, Katherine Jefferts
Schori (52) took office at Washington National Cathedral as the 1st
woman to lead the US Episcopal Church and the 1st female to head an
Anglican province. The former bishop of Nevada was elected at the
Episcopal convention in June.
(SSFC, 11/5/06, p.A9)
2006 Nov 13, Groundbreaking
ceremonies were held in Washington DC for a memorial to Martin Luther
King Jr.
(SFC, 11/14/06, p.A1)
2007 Jan 1, In Washington DC a
smoking ban passed in 2005 was extended to bars and nightclubs. The ban
for smoking in restaurants and offices had taken effect in April 2006.
(SFC, 1/2/07, p.A3)
2007 Jan 2, US markets and federal
agencies closed in respect for funeral rites for former Pres. Gerald
Ford. Ford’s body was flown to Michigan for burial following services
in the National Cathedral.
(WSJ, 1/2/06, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/3/06, p.A1)
2007 Jan 4, The 110th Congress
convened with Democrats in control of both the House and Senate for the
first time in a dozen years. "Today we make history. Today we change
the direction of our country," exulted Rep. Nancy Pelosi, poised to
become the first woman speaker in history.
(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 4, The US Federal Trade
Commission fined the marketers of four weight loss pills $25 million
for making false advertising claims ranging from rapid weight loss to
reducing the risk of cancer.
(AP, 1/4/07)
2007 Jan 17, Art Buchwald (81),
columnist and author, died. For over four decades he chronicled the
life and times of Washington DC with an infectious wit and endeared
himself to many with his never-say-die battle with failing kidneys.
(AP, 1/18/07)
2007 Jan 27, In Washington DC tens
of thousands converged on the National Mall to oppose Pres. Bush’s plan
for a troop increase in Iraq. Thousands marched in San Francisco.
(SSFC, 1/28/07, p.A15)
2007 Mar 1, Deborah Palfrey
(1956-2008) of Vallejo, Ca., was indicted in Washington DC for running
a $2 million prostitution ring. She threatened to sell detailed phone
records of her clients to pay for her defense. At least 132 women were
employed by her firm in the Washington area from 1993-2006. On April
15, 2008, Palfrey was convicted of racketeering and other charges.
(SFC, 3/3/07, p.B1)(SFC, 4/16/08, p.A2)
2007 Mar 1, Paul Joyal (53), a US
expert on Russian intelligence, was hit several times as he returned
home in Washington DC. The shooting came four days after Joyal alleged
in a major television network interview that the government of Russian
President Vladimir Putin was involved in the radiation poisoning of a
former KGB agent in London.
(AFP, 3/3/07)
2007 Mar 9, A US appeals court
overturned a District of Columbia handgun ban.
(WSJ, 3/10/07, p.A1)
2007 Jun 25, A Washington DC judge
rejected a lawsuit by Roy Pearson, who sought $54 million for a pair of
pants lost by the Custom Cleaners dry cleaning firm in 2005. Pearson’s
claim had been reduced from $67 million.
(SFC, 6/26/07, p.A3)
2007 Jul 9, US Sen. David Vitter,
R-La., acknowledged that he was on the list of phone records just
released by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the alleged “D.C. Madam.”
(SFC, 7/11/07, p.A6)
2007 Jul 18, NYC and New Jersey
claimed $170.2 million in anti-terrorism funds, LA and Long Beach, Ca.,
claimed $72.6 million, DC claimed $61.7 million, Chicago got $47.3
million, the SF Bay Area got $34.1 million and Houston got $25 million.
(SFC, 7/19/07, p.B3)
2007 Sep 15, Several thousand
anti-war demonstrators marched through downtown Washington, DC,
clashing with police at the foot of the Capitol steps where more than
190 protesters were arrested.
(AP, 9/16/07)
2007 Oct 1, The Shakespeare
Theater Company opened the new Sidney Harman Hall, a 775-seat theater
in downtown Washington, DC.
(Econ, 10/6/07, p.34)
2007 Oct 19,
A team of students from Germany's Technische Universitat
Darmstadt won a weeklong competition on the Washington DC National Mall
for the best, most efficient, and well-designed and -engineered solar
home.
(AP, 10/19/07)
2007 Nov 7, Prosecutors said 2
mid-level DC government employees used phony paperwork to collect more
than $16 million from illegal tax refunds, avoiding detection for at
least three years while issuing more than 40 checks cashed by friends
and family members in on the scam. The total stolen was later raised to
some $30 million. Harriet Walters, the alleged ringleader of the scam,
authorized checks to such fake companies as Bilkemor LLC. In 2008
Walters (51) pleaded guilty to stealing some $48 million. 9 others
pleaded guilty in the scam. Walters faced 15-18 years in prison and was
ordered to pay restitution.
(Econ, 11/24/07,
p.36)(http://tinyurl.com/2o7sj5)(WSJ, 9/17/08, p.A19)
2007 Nov 9, In Washington, DC,
Michael Mukasey, a retired federal judge, was sworn in as the 81st US
Attorney General.
(SFC, 11/10/07, p.A3)
2007 Nov 26, A new report said the
US District of Columbia has the highest rate of AIDS of any city in the
country. An estimated one in 20 residents had HIV and one in 50 had
AIDS.
(SFC, 11/27/07, p.A3)
2007 Dec 17, A US judge ruled that
the White House visitor logs are public, a blow to Pres. Bush, who
didn’t want to disclose visits by religious conservatives.
(WSJ, 12/18/07, p.A1)
2008 Feb 12, Barack Obama won 75%
of the vote in Washington DC, nearly two-thirds in Virginia and
approximately 60% in Maryland. McCain's victory in Virginia was a
relatively close one, the result of an outpouring of religious
conservatives who backed Mike Huckabee.
(AP, 2/13/08)
2008 Apr 28, In Washington truck
drivers honked horns, waved placards and shouted through bullhorns at
the Capitol to protest rising fuel prices they say are hurting their
livelihood.
(AP, 4/29/08)
2008 May 1, Deborah Palfrey
(b.1956), a woman from Vallejo, Ca., known as the “D.C. Madam,” was
found hanged at her mother’s home in Tarpon Springs, Fl. She had been
convicted on April 15 of racketeering and other charges related to a
prostitution ring, whose clients included high profile government
officials.
(SFC, 5/2/08, p.A13)
2008 Jun 13, Tim Russert (58), NBC
News's Washington bureau chief, collapsed and died of a heart attack in
his Washington newsroom.
(AP, 6/14/08)
2008 Sep 10, An internal
government report said US Interior Department employees in Denver and
Washington, who oversaw oil drilling on federal lands, had sex and used
illegal drugs with workers at energy companies where they were
conducting official business.
(AP, 9/11/08)
2008 Oct 27, A Washington DC jury
found Alaska’s Sen. Stevens guilty on seven counts of trying to hide
more than $250,000 in free home renovations and other gifts from a
wealthy oil contractor. Stevens, who first entered the Senate in 1968,
faced Alaska's voters in upcoming elections as a convicted felon. On
April 1, 2009, the US Justice Dept. dropped charges against Stevens,
saying prosecutors’ mistakes forced the move.
(AP, 10/28/08)(WSJ, 4/2/09, p.A1)
2008 Nov 6, The leaders of GM,
Ford and Chrysler came to Capital Hill along with the president of the
UAW to discuss billions of dollars in financial help for the struggling
car industry.
(SFC, 11/7/08, p.C3)
2008 Nov 18, The chief executives
of Detroit’s Big Three automakers appeared before the US Senate Banking
Committee along with the head of the UAW union to plea for financial
aid under the current economic crises.
(WSJ, 11/19/08, p.A1)
2008 Dec 2, The new Washington,
DC, Capitol Visitor Center opened to the public. The 580,000
square-foot structure ended up costing $621 million, over twice the
budgeted amount.
(Econ, 12/20/08, p.53)(www.aoc.gov/cvc/)
2008 Dec 31, SF ended the year
with 98 homicides. In Milwaukee, Wisc., the total number of homicides
dropped 32%, from 105 in 2007 to 71 in 2008, the lowest number since
1985. Detroit had 344 slayings, a 13% drop from the 396 in 2007;
Philadelphia's 332 killings were a 15% drop from the 392 in 2007; and
the 234 homicides in Baltimore were 17% less than the 392 the year
before. Cleveland recorded 102 homicides in 2008, down from a 13-year
high of 134 in 2007. Homicides in New York rose 5.2%, to 522 from 496
the year before. Slayings in Los Angeles were down to 376 in 2008
compared to 400 the prior year. Preliminary data in Chicago showed 508
homicides were reported in 2008, the first time the city had more than
500 murders since 2003 and about 15% more than the 442 homicides
reported in 2007. Washington, D.C., ended 2008 with 186 homicides, up
from 181 in 2007.
(SFC, 1/2/09, p.1)(AP, 1/3/09)
2009 Jan 17, President-elect
Barack Obama rolled into the capital city after pledging to help bring
the nation "a new Declaration of Independence" and promising to rise to
the stern challenges of the times. He kicked off a four-day inaugural
celebration with a daylong rail trip, retracing the path Abraham
Lincoln took in 1861.
(AP, 1/18/09)
2009 Jan 20, In Washington DC some
2 million people packed the National Mall to celebrate the inauguration
of Barack Obama as America's 44th and first black president. “The
Question we ask today is not whether government is too big or too
small, but whether it works.” Obama's new administration ordered all
federal agencies and departments to stop any pending regulations until
they can be reviewed by incoming staff, halting last-minute Bush orders.
(AP, 1/20/09)(Reuters, 1/20/09)(SFC, 1/21/09, p.A8)
2009 Jan 21, President Barack
Obama's first public act in office was to institute new limits on
lobbyists in his White House and to freeze the salaries of high-paid
aides, in a nod to the country's economic turmoil. A judge quickly
granted President Barack Obama's request to suspend the war crimes
trial at Guantanamo of a young Canadian in what may be the beginning of
the end for the Bush administration's system of trying alleged
terrorists. Obama took the oath of office again with Chief Justice John
Roberts to correct the previous day’s initial flub in wording.
(AP, 1/21/09)
2009 Mar 25, Conservation
International, a Washington D.C.-based conservation group, announced
the discovery of over 50 new animal species in a remote, mountainous
region of Papua New Guinea. The group spent the past several months
analyzing more than 600 animal species found during its expedition to
the South Pacific island nation in July and August.
(AP, 3/25/09)
2009 Apr 15, The FBI arrested
Walter Kendall Myers (72) and his wife, Gwendolyn (71), for spying. For
three decades, Myers and his wife had shuffled secrets to their Cuban
contacts. Kendall Myers first worked for the State Department as a
lecturer at the Foreign Service Institute and later as a European
analyst in the department's intelligence arm, the Bureau of
Intelligence and Research, from 2000 until his retirement in October
2007.
(AP, 6/6/09)
2009 Apr 27, Five members of the
US Congress were arrested while protesting the expulsion of aid groups
from Darfur in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, DC. The
included Democratic Reps. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, Jim McGovern of
Massachusetts, John Lewis of Georgia, Donna Edwards of Maryland and
Lynn Woolsey of California.
(AP, 4/27/09)
2009 May 5, The District of
Columbia Council gave final approval to legislation that recognizes
same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. The law became effective on
July 7.
(SFC, 5/6/09, p.A5)(SFC, 7/8/09, p.A4)
2009 Jun 10, James von Brunn (88),
identified as a white supremacist, shot and killed Guard Stephen T.
Johns (39), who prevented his entrance into the US Holocaust Memorial
and Museum in Washington, DC. Security engaged the gunman as soon as he
stepped inside the crowded museum and began shooting. Brunn was shot in
the face by other guards and was later charged with first-degree murder.
(AP, 6/11/09)(SFC, 7/30/09, p.A5)
2009 Jun 22, A Washington DC
Metrorail transit system train plowed into another stopped train,
killing at least seven people and injuring scores of others. It was
part of an aging fleet that federal officials had sought to phase out
because of safety concerns.
(AP, 6/23/09)
2009 Jun 29, Kosovo, a former
province of Serbia, became the 186th member of the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The ceremony was held in Washington,
DC, because the US government is the repository for the 1944 Bretton
Woods agreement that created the post-World War II international
financial system.
(AP, 6/30/09)
2009 Jul 4, Attacks began on more
than two dozen Internet sites in the United States and South Korea and
some were disabled by hackers. South Korea's spy agency later said the
attacks were possibly linked to North Korea. Some of the affected US
government Web sites, such as the Treasury Department, Federal Trade
Commission and Secret Service, were still reporting problems days after
it started during the July 4 holiday.
(Reuters, 7/8/09)(AP, 7/8/09)
2009 Aug 18, Robert Novak (78),
political columnist, died in Washington DC after a battle with brain
cancer that was diagnosed in July 2008. He was a conservative,
pugilistic debater and proud owner of the "Prince of Darkness" moniker,
which he used in his 2007 memoir: "The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years
Reporting in Washington." A column of his in 2003 outed Valerie Plame
as a CIA agent.
(AP, 8/18/09)
2009 Sep 21, Bob Woodward released
an exclusive 66-page report from Gen. Stanley McChrystal to President
Barack Obama about Afghanistan policy, the first major national
security leak and a sure sign that the celebrated Washington Post
reporter has penetrated yet another administration. The report was
presented to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on August 30 and was
being reviewed by the White House, with McChrystal widely expected to
make a formal request to increase the 62,000-strong US force.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090922/pl_politico/27414)(AFP,
9/22/09)
2009 Oct 11, Thousands of gay and
lesbian activists marched from the White House to the Capitol,
demanding that President Barack Obama keep his promises to allow gays
to serve openly in the military and allow same-sex marriages.
(AP, 10/11/09)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = DC
End of file