Events from the year 2001 in the United States .
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(May 2023 )
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Federal government
Bill Clinton (D -Arkansas ) (until January 20)
George W. Bush (R -Texas ) (starting January 20)
Al Gore (D -Tennessee ) (until January 20)
Dick Cheney (R -Wyoming ) (starting January 20)
Trent Lott (R -Mississippi ) (until January 3)
Tom Daschle (D -South Dakota ) (January 3–20)
Trent Lott (R -Mississippi ) (January 20 – June 6)
Tom Daschle (D -South Dakota ) (starting June 6)
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Governors and lieutenant governors
Governors
Governor of Alabama : Don Siegelman (Democratic )
Governor of Alaska : Tony Knowles (Democratic )
Governor of Arizona : Jane Dee Hull (Republican )
Governor of Arkansas : Mike Huckabee (Republican )
Governor of California : Gray Davis (Democratic )
Governor of Colorado : Bill Owens (Republican )
Governor of Connecticut : John G. Rowland (Republican )
Governor of Delaware : Thomas R. Carper (Democratic ) (until January 3), Ruth Ann Minner (Democratic ) (starting January 3)
Governor of Florida : Jeb Bush (Republican )
Governor of Georgia : Roy Barnes (Democratic )
Governor of Hawaii : Ben Cayetano (Democratic )
Governor of Idaho : Dirk Kempthorne (Republican )
Governor of Illinois : George Ryan (Republican )
Governor of Indiana : Frank O'Bannon (Democratic )
Governor of Iowa : Tom Vilsack (Democratic )
Governor of Kansas : Bill Graves (Republican )
Governor of Kentucky : Paul E. Patton (Democratic )
Governor of Louisiana : Murphy J. Foster, Jr. (Republican )
Governor of Maine : Angus King (Independent )
Governor of Maryland : Parris N. Glendening (Democratic )
Governor of Massachusetts : Paul Cellucci (Republican ) (until April 10), Jane Swift (Republican ) (starting April 10)
Governor of Michigan : John Engler (Republican )
Governor of Minnesota : Jesse Ventura (Independence )
Governor of Mississippi : Ronnie Musgrove (Democratic )
Governor of Missouri : Roger B. Wilson (Democratic ) (until January 8), Bob Holden (Democratic ) (starting January 8)
Governor of Montana : Marc Racicot (Republican ) (until January 1), Judy Martz (Republican ) (starting January 1)
Governor of Nebraska : Mike Johanns (Republican )
Governor of Nevada : Kenny Guinn (Republican )
Governor of New Hampshire : Jeanne Shaheen (Democratic )
Governor of New Jersey : Christine Todd Whitman (Republican ) (until January 31), Donald DiFrancesco (Republican ) (starting January 31)
Governor of New Mexico : Gary Johnson (Republican )
Governor of New York : George Pataki (Republican )
Governor of North Carolina : Jim Hunt (Democratic ) (until January 6), Mike Easley (Democratic ) (starting January 6)
Governor of North Dakota : John Hoeven (Republican )
Governor of Ohio : Bob Taft (Republican )
Governor of Oklahoma : Frank Keating (Republican )
Governor of Oregon : John Kitzhaber (Democratic )
Governor of Pennsylvania : Tom Ridge (Republican ) (until October 5), Mark S. Schweiker (Republican ) (starting October 5)
Governor of Rhode Island : Lincoln C. Almond (Republican )
Governor of South Carolina : Jim Hodges (Democratic )
Governor of South Dakota : William J. Janklow (Republican )
Governor of Tennessee : Don Sundquist (Republican )
Governor of Texas : Rick Perry (Republican )
Governor of Utah : Mike Leavitt (Republican )
Governor of Vermont : Howard Dean (Democratic )
Governor of Virginia : Jim Gilmore (Republican )
Governor of Washington : Gary Locke (Democratic )
Governor of West Virginia : Cecil H. Underwood (Republican ) (until January 15), Bob Wise (Democratic ) (starting January 15)
Governor of Wisconsin : Tommy Thompson (Republican ) (until February 1), Scott McCallum (Republican ) (starting February 1)
Governor of Wyoming : Jim Geringer (Republican )
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January
January 20: George W. Bush becomes the 43rd U.S. president
January 20: Dick Cheney becomes the 46th U.S. vice president
April
April 1 – A Chinese fighter jet collides with a U.S. EP-3E surveillance aircraft, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Hainan , China. The U.S. crew is detained for 10 days, and the F-8 Chinese pilot goes missing and is presumed dead.
April 7 – Timothy Thomas , a 19-year-old African-American, is shot by a police officer in Cincinnati , sparking riots in downtown Cincinnati from April 10 to April 12.
April 17 – The 2001 Mississippi flag referendum occurred, 64.39% of the population voted to formally adopt the 1894 U.S. state flag over the new 2001 proposed state flag design .
April 19 – The multiple Tony Award-winning musical The Producers by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, opens on Broadway at the St. James Theatre.
April 21 – The small Kansas town of Hoisington is hit by an F4 tornado, destroying one-third of the city and killing one.
April 28 – Soyuz TM-32 lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome , carrying the first space tourist , American Dennis Tito .
June
June 5 – 9 : Flooding in Houston from Tropical Storm Allison
June 5 – U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords leaves the Republican Party , an act which changes control of the United States Senate from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party .
June 5 – 9 – Tropical Storm Allison produces 36 inches (900 mm) of rain in Houston , Texas, killing 22, damaging the Texas Medical Center , and causing more than US$5 billion of damage.[7]
June 7 – The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 is signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush, the first of a series of acts which becomes known as the Bush tax cuts .
June 9 – The Colorado Avalanche wins their second Stanley Cup , and Ray Bourque wins his first Cup after a lengthy career.
June 11 – In Terre Haute, Indiana , Timothy McVeigh is executed for the Oklahoma City bombing .
June 15 – Walt Disney Pictures ' 41st feature film, Atlantis: The Lost Empire , is released. Though reception is mixed and it performs modestly at the box office, it has since become a cult favorite among fans due in part to the visual influence of comics artist Mike Mignola .
June 19 – A missile hits a soccer field in Tal Afar , Iraq , killing 23 and wounding 11. The Iraqi government claims it was an American-British airstrike; U.S. officials say it was actually an Iraqi missile that malfunctioned.[8]
June 20 – Andrea Yates drowns her five children in a bath tub in Houston , Texas .[9]
September
September 11 : 9/11 attacks
New York fire department personnel examining a smashed New York City police car, during 9/11.
September 11 – 9/11 attacks : Almost 3,000 people are killed in four suicide attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City ; the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia ; and in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania .[6] The attack launches the global War on Terrorism .
September 15 – The Queen Isabella Causeway in Texas collapses after being hit by a tugboat, killing eight.
September 17 – The New York Stock Exchange reopens for trading after the September 11 attacks , the longest closure since the Great Depression .
September 18 – The 2001 anthrax attacks commence as letters containing anthrax spores are mailed from Princeton, New Jersey , to ABC News , CBS News , NBC News , the New York Post , and the National Enquirer . Twenty-two people in total are exposed, with five resulting fatalities.[12]
September 20 – President Bush delivers a speech to a joint session of Congress , announcing the investigation into the September 11 attacks .[13]
September 21 – America: A Tribute to Heroes is broadcast by over 35 network and cable channels, raising over $200 million for the victims of the September 11 attacks .
November
November 1 – The New York Yankees defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series to tie the series at 2 in the first World Series game to be played in the month of November . Derek Jeter's walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th earns him the nickname "Mr. November".
November 2 – Pixar Animation Studios ' fourth feature film, Monsters, Inc. , is released in theaters.
November 4 – The Arizona Diamondbacks defeat the New York Yankees in seven games to win their first world series.
November 5 – Andrew Bagby is murdered in Keystone State Park , Pennsylvania by his former partner Shirley Jane Turner. While awaiting trial and extraction from Canada, she gained custody of the couple's son who she then also murdered. The deaths later became the basis for the 2008 documentary Dear Zachary .[15]
November 12 – In New York City , American Airlines Flight 587 , headed to the Dominican Republic , crashes in Queens just minutes after takeoff from the John F. Kennedy International Airport , killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.
November 13 – War on Terror : In the first such act since World War II , U.S. President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts against the United States.
November 16 – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone , directed by Chris Columbus is released in theaters as the first film of the Harry Potter film series.
November 18 – Nintendo releases the Nintendo Gamecube in North America.
November 29 – English musician, singer, songwriter, music and film producer, and former Beatle George Harrison dies of lung cancer in Los Angeles .
November 30 – Gary Ridgway , a.k.a. The Green River Killer, is arrested outside the truck factory where he had worked in Renton, Washington. His arrest marks the end of one of the longest running homicide investigations in US history.
January
Ray Walston
Virginia O'Brien
January 1 – Ray Walston , actor (b. 1914 )
January 2 – William P. Rogers , politician (b. 1913 )
January 4 – Les Brown , jazz musician (b. 1912 )
January 5 – Nancy Parsons , actress (b. 1942 )
January 6 – Gene Taylor , media personality (b. 1947 )
January 8 – Edwin Etherington , writer, lawyer, and civil rights advocate (b. 1924 )
January 10 – John G. Schmitz , politician (b. 1930 )
January 11
January 12
January 15 – Bob Braun , actor (b. 1929 )
January 16
January 17 – Gregory Corso , poet (b. 1930 )
January 19 – Maxine Mesinger , newspaper columnist (b. 1925 )
January 21
January 22
January 23 – Jack McDuff , jazz organist and bandleader (b. 1926 )
January 26
January 28
January 29 – Frances Bible , American operatic mezzo-soprano (b. 1919 )
January 30 – Joseph Ransohoff , neurosurgeon (b. 1915 )
January 31 – Gordon R. Dickson , science fiction writer (b. 1923 )
February
Dale Earnhardt
Stanley Kramer
February 4 – J. J. Johnson , jazz musician (b. 1924 )
February 6 – Arthur W. Hummel Jr. , diplomat (b. 1920 )
February 7 – Dale Evans , actress, wife of Roy Rogers (b. 1912 )
February 8 – Arlene Eisenberg , author (b. 1934 )
February 9 – Herbert A. Simon , Nobel award-winning economist (b. 1916 )
February 10
February 13 – Victor Veysey , American politician (b. 1915 )
February 15
February 16
February 17
February 18
February 19 – Stanley Kramer , director (b. 1913 )
February 20 – Rosemary DeCamp , actress (b. 1910 )
February 22 – John Fahey , finger-style guitarist (b. 1939 )
February 23 – Anthony Giacalone , organized crime figure (b. 1919 )
February 24 – Phil Collier , sports writer (b. 1925 )
March
Ann Sothern
John Phillips
March 1
March 2 – Lonnie Glosson , musician (b. 1908 )
March 4
March 8 – Edward Winter , actor (b. 1937 )
March 10 – Michael Elkins , broadcaster and journalist (b. 1917 )
March 12
March 13 – Walter Dukes , basketball player (b. 1930 )
March 15
March 18 – John Phillips , American singer, guitarist, songwriter and promoter (b. 1935 )
March 21 – Billy Ray Smith, Sr. , football player (b. 1934 )
March 22 – William Hanna , animator (b. 1910 )
March 26 – Brenda Helser , Olympic swimmer (b. 1924 )
March 28
March 31 – Clifford Shull , Nobel physicist (b. 1915 )
April
Joey Ramone
April 1 – Jo-Jo Moore , baseball player (b. 1908 )
April 2 – Jennifer Syme , murder victim (b. 1972 )
April 4 – Ed Roth , artist, cartoonist, illustrator, pinstriper and custom car designer and builder (b. 1932 )
April 6 – Charles Pettigrew , singer (b. 1963 )
April 7
April 8
April 9 – Willie Stargell , American baseball player, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame (b. 1940 )
April 10 – Richard Evans Schultes , American ethnobotanist (b. 1915 )
April 11 – Sandy Bull , folk musician and composer (b. 1941 )
April 15 – Joey Ramone , musician (b. 1951 )
April 16 – Michael Ritchie , filmmaker (b. 1938 )
April 19 – Egor Popov , Russian-born American civil engineer. (b. 1912 )
April 21 – Jack Haley Jr. , director, producer and writer (b. 1933 )
April 24 – Leon Sullivan , minister and activist (b. 1922 )
April 27 – Charlie Applewhite , singer and radio host (b. 1932 )
April 28 – Precious Doe , murder victim (b. 1997 )
June
Anthony Quinn
Jack Lemmon
June 1 – Hank Ketcham , cartoonist, creator of Dennis the Menace (b. 1920 )
June 2 – Imogene Coca , actress (b. 1908 )
June 3 – Anthony Quinn , actor (b. 1915 )
June 4 – John Hartford , musician and composer (b. 1937 )[35]
June 10 – Mike Mentzer , bodybuilder (b. 1951 )[36]
June 11 – Timothy McVeigh , domestic terrorist (b. 1968 )[37]
June 17 – Donald J. Cram , Nobel chemist (b. 1919 )[38]
June 21
June 22 – George Evans , cartoonist and illustrator (b. 1920 )
June 24 – William H. Sewell , sociologist (b. 1909 )
June 26 – John F. Yardley , aeronautical engineer (b. 1925 )
June 27 – Jack Lemmon , actor (b. 1925 )
June 28 – Mortimer J. Adler , philosopher (b. 1902 )
June 30
August
August 3 – Christopher Hewett , English actor (b. 1921 )
August 4 – Lorenzo Music , writer, producer, and voice actor (b. 1937 )
August 8
August 10 – Lou Boudreau , baseball player (b. 1917 )
August 14 – Earl Anthony , professional bowler (b. 1938 )
August 19 – Betty Everett , R&B and soul singer (b. 1939 )
August 23 – Kathleen Freeman , actress (b. 1919 )[41]
August 24 – George Benson (b. 1919 )
August 25
August 30 – Julie Bishop , film and television actress (b. 1914 )
August 31 – Crash Davis , American professional baseball player (b. 1919 )
September
At least 3,000 people died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, including but not limited to:
Todd Beamer , American airline passenger, United Airlines Flight 93 (b. 1969 )
Berry Berenson , actress and photographer. Passenger of American Airlines Flight 11 (b. 1947 )
Carolyn Beug , American filmmaker and video producer. Passenger of American Airlines Flight 11 (b. 1952 )
Bill Biggart , photojournalist (b. 1947 )
Mark Bingham , American airline passenger, United Airlines Flight 93 (b. 1970 )
Ronald Paul Bucca , American fire marshal (b. 1953 )
Charles Burlingame , airline pilot, American Airlines Flight 77 (b. 1949 )
Tom Burnett , American airline passenger, United Airlines Flight 93 (b. 1963 )
William E. Caswell , American physicist. Passenger of American Airlines Flight 77 (b. 1947 )
Kevin Cosgrove , business executive (b. 1955 )
Welles Crowther , investment banker (b. 1977 )
William M. Feehan , Deputy fire commissioner (b. 1929 )
Wilson Flagg , Rear Admiral (b. 1938 )
Peter J. Ganci Jr. , Chief of the Fire Department of New York (b. 1946 )
Barbara Olson , lawyer and media personality (b. 1955 )
David Angell , producer (b. 1946 )
Jeremy Glick , American airline passenger, United Airlines Flight 93 (b. 1970 )
Lauren Grandcolas , American author. Passenger of United Airlines Flight 93 (b. 1962 )
Nezam Hafiz , American cricketer (b. 1969 )
Mohammad Salman Hamdani , American research technician (b. 1977 )
LeRoy Homer Jr. , American airline pilot, United Airlines Flight 93 (b. 1965 )
Charles Edward Jones , American astronaut. Passenger of American Airlines Flight 11 (b. 1953 )
Mychal Judge , Chaplain of the Fire Department of New York (b. 1933 )
Neil David Levin , executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (b. 1954 )
Daniel M. Lewin , co-founder of Akamai Technologies. Passenger of American Airlines Flight 11 (b. 1970 )
Eamon McEneaney , American lacrosse player (b. 1954 )
Timothy Maude , Lieutenant General, U.S. Army (b. 1947 )
John Ogonowski , American pilot, American Airlines Flight 11 (b. 1948 )
John P. O'Neill , Counterterrorism expert (b. 1952 )
Betty Ong , American flight attendant, American Airlines Flight 11 (b. 1956 )
Orio Palmer , American firefighter (b. 1956)
Dominick Pezzulo , American police officer (b. 1965 )
Sneha Anne Philip , American physician, presumed to have been a victim of the attacks (b. 1970 )
Rick Rescorla , World Trade Center security chief for Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter (b. 1939 )
Michael Richards , Jamaican-born American sculptor (b. 1963)
Victor Saracini , American pilot, United Airlines Flight 175 (b. 1978 )
Abraham Zelmanowitz , American computer programmer (b. 1945 )
Madeline Amy Sweeney , flight attendant, American Airlines Flight 11 (b. 1965 )
September 13 – Dorothy McGuire , actress (b. 1916 )
September 15
September 22 – Isaac Stern , violinist (b. 1920 )
September 25
September 29 – Gloria Foster , American actress (b. 1933 )[43]
November
George Harrison
November 5 – Milton William Cooper , American author and radio host (b. 1943 )
November 6 – John Simon White , Austrian-born American opera director. (b. 1940)
November 7 – Bobby Bass , stunt performer (b. 1936 )
November 10 – Ken Kesey , American author (b. 1935 )
November 11 – Frederick Allen , politician (b. 1914 )
November 13 – Panama Francis , American swing jazz drummer (b. 1918 )
November 17
November 21 – Fritz Herzog , German-born American mathematician (b. 1903)
November 22 – Mary Kay Ash , American businesswoman (b. 1918 )
November 29 – George Harrison , English guitarist, lead guitarist of the Beatles (b. 1943 )
Security . Cahners Publishing Company. 2007. p. 80.
Baugess, James S.; DeBolt, Abbe Allen (2012). Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture Volume 1 . Santa Barbara: Greenwood. p. 260. ISBN 978-0-31332-945-6 .
Bergan, Ronald (27 August 2001). "Kathleen Freeman" . The Guardian . Retrieved 7 September 2023 .