2003 in the United States
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Events from the year 2003 in the United States.
Contents |
[edit] Political incumbents
- President - George W. Bush
- Vice President - Dick Cheney
- Senate Majority Leader - Tom Daschle
- Secretary of State - Colin Powell
- Secretary of Defense - Donald Rumsfeld
- Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives - Dennis Hastert
[edit] Events
- January - Sky marshals introduced on US airlines in an attempt to prevent hijackings.[1]
- February 1 - STS-107: Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates over Texas upon re-entry, killing all 7 astronauts onboard.[1]
- March 20 - The US-led Iraq War begins.[1]
- April 3–April 12 - Iraq War: US forces defeat the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Republican Guard in the Battle of Baghdad.
- April 13
- Iraq War: Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit falls to US forces.
- President George W. Bush accuses Syria of possessing chemical weapons.[1]
- April 29 - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld confirms that US troops will be withdrawn from Saudi Arabia where they have been stationed since the 1991 Gulf War.[1]
- May 1 - President Bush declares an end to the Iraq War, but attacks on coalition troops continue.[1]
- May 28 - President Bush authorizes $350 billion worth of tax cuts over 10 years.[1]
- June 26 - A senior Department of State chemical and biological weapons expert testifies to the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee that he was pressured to modify intelligence reports about Iraq.[1]
- September 7 - President Bush announces a request for $87 billion from Congress for military operations in Afganistan and Iraq.[1]
- September 17 - President Bush concedes there is no evidence linking Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to the September 11, 2001 attacks.[1]
- November 20 - Iraq War: End of Operation Iron Hammer, an attempt to end the Iraq insurgency.[1]
- December 13 - Iraq War: End of Operation Red Dawn resulting in the capture of Saddam Hussein in Tikrit.[1]
[edit] Unknown dates
- US Census Bureau announces that with 37 million, Hispanics constitute the largest minority in the USA (compared with 36 million African Americans).
[edit] Deaths
- January 3 - Sid Gillman, football coach (born 1911)
- January 11 - Richard Simmons, actor (born 1913)
- January 12 - Dean Amadon, ornithologist (born 1912)
- January 15 - Doris Fisher, singer-songwriter (born 1915)
- January 17 - Richard Crenna, actor (born 1926)
- January 20 - Al Hirschfeld, cartoonist (born 1903)
- January 23 - Nell Carter, singer and actress (born 1948)
- January 29 - Frank Moss, politician (born 1911)
- February 1 - crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-107:
-
- Michael P. Anderson, astronaut (born 1959)
- David M. Brown, astronaut (born 1956)
- Kalpana Chawla, astronaut (born 1961)
- Laurel Clark, astronaut (born 1961)
- Rick Husband, astronaut (born 1957)
- William McCool, astronaut (born 1961)
- February 2 - Lou Harrison, composer (born 1917)
- February 10
- Edgar de Evia, photographer (born 1910)
- Ron Ziegler, president Richard Nixon's White House Press Secretary (born 1939)
- "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, professional wrestler (born 1959)
- February 16 - Eleanor "Sis" Daley, wife of Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley (born 1907)
- February 19 - Johnny PayCheck, singer (born 1938)
- February 20 - Orville Freeman, politician (born 1918)
- February 27 - Fred Rogers, children's television host (born 1928)
- March 2 - Hank Ballard, musician (born 1927)
- March 12 - Lynne Thigpen, actress (born 1948)
- March 22 - Milton G. Henschel, Jehovah's Witnesses leader (born 1920)
- March 26 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, politician (born 1926)
- April 17
- Robert Atkins, nutritionist (born 1930)
- Paul Getty, American-born philanthropist (born 1932)
- Earl King, musician (born 1934)
- April 20 - Ruth Hale, playwright and actress (born 1908)
- April 21 - Nina Simone, singer (born 1933)
- April 26 - Peter Stone, writer (born 1930)
- May 1 - Elizabeth Hulette, wrestling manager and valet (born 1960)
- May 3 - Suzy Parker, actress (born 1932)
- May 9 - Russell B. Long, politician (born 1918)
- May 14 - Robert Stack, actor (born 1919)
- May 15 - June Carter Cash, singer (born 1929)
- May 26 - Kathleen Winsor, writer (born 1919)
- May 28 - Martha Scott, actress (born 1912)
- June 2
- Burke Marshall, lawyer and politician (born 1922)
- "Classy" Freddy Blassie, professional wrestler and manager (born 1918)
- June 6 - Ken Grimwood, writer (born 1944)
- June 10 - Donald Regan, Treasury Secretary (born 1918)
- June 11 - David Brinkley, television reporter (born 1920)
- June 12 - Gregory Peck, actor (born 1916)
- June 14 - Jimmy Knepper, musician (born 1927)
- June 18 - Larry Doby, baseball player (born 1923)
- June 21 - Leon Uris, writer (born 1924)
- June 23 - Maynard Jackson, mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (born 1938)
- June 25 - Lester Maddox, politician (born 1915)
- June 26 - Strom Thurmond, politician (born 1902)
- June 29 - Katharine Hepburn, actress (born 1907)
- June 30 - Buddy Hackett, comedian and actor (born 1924)
- July 1 - Herbie Mann, jazz flutist (born 1930)
- July 4 - Barry White, singer (born 1944)
- July 7 - Buddy Ebsen, actor (born 1908)
- July 12 - Benny Carter, musician (born 1907)
- July 15 - Tex Schramm, football team president and general manager (born 1920)
- July 16 - Carol Shields, American-born writer (born 1935)
- July 17 - Rosalyn Tureck, pianist and harpsichordist (born 1914)
- July 30 - Sam Phillips, record producer (born 1923)
- August 4 - Frederick Chapman Robbins, pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)
- August 9 - Gregory Hines, dancer and actor (born 1946)
- August 23 - Bobby Bonds, baseball player (born 1946)
- August 28 - Brian Douglas Wells, criminal (born 1956)
- August 30 - Charles Bronson, actor (born 1921)
- September 1 - John Gould, humorist, essayist, and columnist (born 1908)
- September 6 - Harry Goz, actor (born 1932)
- September 7 - Warren Zevon, singer (born 1947)
- September 9 - Larry Hovis, actor (born 1936)
- September 11 - John Ritter, actor (born 1948)
- September 12 - Johnny Cash, singer and guitarist (born 1932)
- September 13 - Frank O'Bannon, politician (born 1930)
- September 14 - John Serry, Sr., musician (born 1915)
- September 17 - Sheb Wooley, actor and singer (born 1921)
- September 22 - Gordon Jump, actor (born 1932)
- September 25 - George Plimpton, writer and actor (born 1927)
- September 27 - Donald O'Connor, actor, singer, and dancer (born 1925)
- September 28 - Althea Gibson, tennis player (born 1927)
- October 3
- William Steig, cartoonist (born 1907)
- Timothy Treadwell, Environmentalist
- October 5 - Neil Postman, educator, media theorist, and cultural critic (born 1931)
- October 7 - Ellen Cannon Reed, witch and author (born 1943)
- October 10 - Eugene Istomin, pianist (born 1925)
- October 12 - Willie Shoemaker, jockey (born 1931)
- October 20 - Jack Elam, actor (born 1918)
- October 21
- Fred Berry, actor (born 1951)
- Elliott Smith, musician (born 1969)
- October 22 - Tony Renna, race car driver (born 1976)
- October 25 - Robert Strassburg, composer (born 1915)
- October 29 - Hal Clement, writer (born 1922)
- October 31 - Richard Neustadt, political historian (born 1919)
- November 3 - Spider Jorgensen, baseball player and coach (born 1919)
- November 5
- Bobby Hatfield, singer (The Righteous Brothers) (born 1940)
- Dorothy Fay, actress (born 1915)
- November 9 - Art Carney, actor (born 1918)
- November 10 - Irv Kupcinet, columnist and television personality (murdered) (born 1912)
- November 12
- Jonathan Brandis, actor (suicide) (born 1976)
- Penny Singleton, actress (born 1908)
- November 13 - Kellie Waymire, actress (born 1967)
- November 14 - Gene Anthony Ray, actor (born 1962)
- November 15 - Dorothy Loudon, actress (born 1933)
- November 18 - Michael Kamen, composer (born 1948)
- November 20 - Jim Siedow, actor (born 1920)
- November 26 - Soulja Slim, rapper (born 1977)
- November 30 - Gertrude Ederle, swimmer (born 1906)
- December 4 - Iggy Katona, race car driver (born 1916)
- December 7
- Carl F. H. Henry, theologian and publisher (born 1913)
- Azie Taylor Morton, U.S. Treasurer (born 1936)
- December 9 - Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois (born 1928)
- December 13 - William Roth, U.S. Senator from Delaware (born 1921)
- December 14 - Jeanne Crain, actress (born 1925)
- December 15 - George Fisher, political cartoonist (born 1923)
- December 16 - Gary Stewart, singer (suicide) (born 1945)
- December 17 - Otto Graham, football player (born 1921)
- December 19 - Hope Lange, actress (born 1941)
- December 22 - Dave Dudley, singer (born 1928)
- December 29 - Earl Hindman, actor (born 1942)
- December 30 - John Gregory Dunne, writer (born 1932)
