The 75th Anniversary

Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes president and starts his New Deal program to combat deepening depression (1933); Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin begins a bloody purge of Communist Party officials (1934); the Social Security Act is passed, setting up a system of benefits for aged and disabled Americans (1935); Amelia Earhart, noted aviator, disappears on a flight across the Pacific Ocean (1937); World War II begins as Hitler invades Poland. France and Britain declare war on Germany (1939)

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Roosevelt becomes the first American president ever elected to a third term, defeating Republican Wendell Willkie (1940); Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, bringing the United States into World War II (1941); U.S. and British troops invadeEurope at Normandy and drive across France (1944); America drops the first atomic bomb on Japan; Japan surrenders unconditionally on August 14 (1945); Republicans score a landslide victory, winning control of both the House and Senate for the first time since 1928 (1946); Russians blockade Berlin, and western allies organize an airlift to supply the city (1948); A Soviet atomic explosion ends the U.S. monopoly on the A-bomb (1949)

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The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by Communist North Korea (1950); Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes the first Republican elected president since 1928 (1952); Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed after their conviction for stealing U.S. atomic secrets for Russia (1953); the Senate adopts a resolution condemning Sen. Joseph McCarthy for unethical conduct, obstructing the work of the Senate, and impairing its dignity (1954); an antipolio vaccine is developed by Jonas Salk (1955); Soviets launch the first satellite, called Sputnik I (1957); Fidel Castro and his radical rebels oust President Fulgencio Batista and seize power in Cuba (1959)

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John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, defeats Republican Richard M. Nixon and becomes the youngest man and first Roman Catholic elected president (1960); an American U-2 spy plane is shot down over Russia (1960); the American-backed invasion of Cuba ends in disaster at the Bay of Pigs (1961); President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald (1963); the Civil Rights Act is passed in a year marked by riots, violence, and demonstrations (1964); antiwar demonstrations grow as U.S. troops in Vietnam are increased and casualties mount (1966); Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. are assassinated (1968)

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Publication of the leaked "Pentagon papers" on the Vietnam War stirs a security-vs.-free-press storm (1971); President Richard Nixon becomes the first American head of state to visit China, ending a 22-year gap in Sino-American relations (1972); the Watergate scandal climaxes with the resignation of President Nixon while facing an impeachment threat, and Vice President Gerald R. Ford ascends to the presidency (1974); the Vietnam War ends with the fall of South Vietnam and Cambodia to the communists (1975); the world's first test-tube baby is born in England (1978); Iranian militants seize the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and take 65 Americans hostage (1979)

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Mt. St. Helens erupts in Washington, killing at least 65 people (1980); a Republican sweep puts Ronald Reagan in the White House and gives Republicans the majority in the Senate for the first time since 1954 (1980); President Ronald Reagan is shot but survives (1981); the worst economic recession since the 1930s sends U.S. unemployment soaring above 10 percent (1982); the space shuttle Challenger explodes above the Atlantic Ocean just moments after take-off, killing all seven crew members on board (1985); the Berlin Wall falls, ending 28 years of partition between East and West Berlin (1989)

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The Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Air Force invade Kuwait, accusing the latter of stealing Iraqi oil. Several western countries impose economic sanctions (1990); the Gulf War begins; U.S. forces drive Iraq out of Kuwait but leave leader Saddam Hussein in power (1991); Apartheid ends in South Africa, and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela is elected president (1994); Dolly, a ewe, is cloned from an adult somatic cell (1997); the Kosovo War begins between Serbian military forces and ethnic Albanians, resulting in the deaths of at least 12,000 (1998); an impeachment trial for President Bill Clinton begins (1998)

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The U.S. Supreme Court ends the Florida recount and allows officials to certify George W. Bush as the winner of the state, effectively handing him the presidency (2000); terrorists hijacking airplanes attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing more than 3,000 people. (2001) A U.S.-led military coalition invades Iraq in a campaign of "shock and awe," quickly defeating the Iraqi military but inciting enduring sectarian conflict (2003); fighting breaks out in Darfur between Arab militias and Sudanese rebels, leading to genocide (2003); Democrats take control of both houses of Congress for the first time in a dozen years (2006); former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in Rawalpindi while campaigning (2007)

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