2002 in the United States

2002 in the United States
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Events from the year 2002 in the United States.

Incumbents

Federal government

President: George W. Bush (R-Texas)
Vice President: Dick Cheney (R-Wyoming)
Chief Justice: William Rehnquist (originally now residing in from of the U.S. state of Virginia)
Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois)
Senate Majority Leader: Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota)
Congress: 107th

Governors and Lieutenant governors
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Events

January

January 11: Camp X-Ray (Guantanamo)

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

February

File:Salt Lake 2002 torch cu.jpg

February 8 – February 24: The Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City

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

March

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

April

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

May

May 26: I-40 bridge disaster

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

June

June 5 - 14 year-old Elizabeth Smart is kidnapped from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is found nine months later.
June 11 – Antonio Meucci is recognized as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
June 14 – In Karachi, Pakistan, a car bomb in front of the U.S. Consulate kills 12 Pakistanis and injures 50.
June 29 – Vice President Dick Cheney served as Acting President for a few hours, while President George W. Bush under went a colonoscopy

July

July 4 – 2002 Los Angeles International Airport shooting: Egyptian immigrant Hesham Mohamed Hadayet murders 2 and injures 6 before being killed by a security officer. The incident is called an act of terrorism.
July 13 – A lightning strike sets off the Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burns 499,570 acres (2,022 km²).
July 15 – In Washington, D.C., "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to aiding the enemy and possession of explosives during the commission of a felony; Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each charge.
July 21 – Telecommunications giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the largest such filing in United States history.

August

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

September

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

October

October 2
- The Beltway sniper attacks begin with five shootings in Montgomery County, Maryland.
- The Congress of the United States passes a joint resolution, which authorizes the President to use the United States Armed Forces as he deems necessary and appropriate, against Iraq.
October 9 – The Dot-com bubble bear market reaches bottom, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average slips below 7,200.
October 9 – 10 – Congress passes the Iraq Resolution authorizing the Iraq War.^[1]
October 16 – Iraq War Resolution is authorized by a majority of the U.S. Congress.
October 24 – The Beltway sniper attacks, having killed 10 and wounded 3 others, end with the arrest of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo.
October 25 – U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his family, and his staff are killed in a plane accident at Eveleth, Minnesota.
October 27 – The Anaheim Angels defeat the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series to win the title.

November

November 25: The Department of Homeland Security is established

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

December

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

Ongoing

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