Timeline of United States history (1990-2009)

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This section of the Timeline of United States history concerns events from 1990 to present.

1990s

• 1990 - Hubble Space Telescope placed in orbit
• 1990 - Iraq invades Kuwait leading to 1991 Gulf War
• 1991 - Gulf War
• 1991 - Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3469 homes and apartments
• 1992 - 1992 Los Angeles riots kill 50-60 people and cause nearly $1 billion damage
• 1992 - 27th Amendment ratified
• 1992 - Hurricane Andrew kills 23 and causes $26.5 billion in damage as it strikes Florida and later Louisiana
• 1992 - U.S. presidential election, 1992
• 1993 - Bill Clinton becomes President
• 1993 - World Trade Center bombing kills 6 and injures at least 1040
• 1993 - Branch Davidians standoff and fire in Waco, Texas
• 1994 - Northridge earthquake kills 57 in Los Angeles area
• 1994 - North American Free Trade Agreement goes into effect
• 1995 - Following the 1994 elections, Republicans gain control of both the House and Senate for the first time since 1955.
• 1995 - 168 killed in Oklahoma City bombing
• 1995 - TWA flight 800 explodes off of Long Island killing all 230 aboard
• 1996 - Khobar Towers bombing leaves 19 U.S. servicemen dead in Saudi Arabia
• 1996 - Centennial Olympic Park bombing at Summer Olympics in Atlanta kills 1 and injures 11
• 1996 - U.S. presidential election, 1996 (Bill Clinton is re-elected)
• 1997 - President Clinton bars federal funding for any research on human cloning.
• 1998 - 224 killed in 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya
• 1999 - EgyptAir Flight 990 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 216 on board.
• 1999 - President Clinton is acquitted in impeachment trial by U.S. Senate

2000s

• 2000 - USS Cole bombing in Yemen
• 2000 - U.S. presidential election, 2000; George W. Bush wins by 537 votes in Florida in contested election.
• 2001 - Democrats gain narrow control of Senate after James Jeffords defects from the Republican Party.
• 2001 - September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon
• 2001 - Invasion of Afghanistan Operation "Enduring Freedom"
• 2002 - Department of Homeland Security created.
• 2002 - U.S. withdraws from Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
• 2003 - Republicans retake narrow control of Senate following 2002 elections.
• 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
• 2003 - Invasion of Iraq Operation "Iraqi Freedom" commences.
• 2004 - Occupation of Iraq, 2003-2004
• 2004 - The 2004 Atlantic hurricane season had numerous unusual occurrences impacting U.S. properties
• 2004 - U.S. presidential election, 2004 (George W. Bush is re-elected).
• 2004 - Republicans solidify control in both houses of Congress.
• 2005 - The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season takes its toll in the Southeast, most notably, Hurricane Katrina became the costliest hurricane of all time.
• 2006 - Democrats retake control of both houses of Congress.
• 2007 - Democrat Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
• 2007 - George W. Bush orders a troop surge which substantially increases the number of troops in that country and ultimately leads to reductions in casualties and major victories for the coalition and Iraqi forces against the insurgency
• 2007 - A student shoots and kills 32 other students and professors in the Virginia Tech massacre before shooting himself. It is the worst mass-shooting in U.S. history and spurs a series of debates on gun control and journalism ethics.
• 2007 - The I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapses, killing 13, bringing to attention the need to rehabilitate the aging U.S. infrastructure system.
• 2007 - Recession officially begins in December.
• 2008 - The Super Tuesday tornado outbreak kills over 60 people and produces $1 billion in damage across Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.
• 2008 - A student kills 5, injures 21, and then kills himself in the Northern Illinois University shooting. After this incident, calls are made for more focus on mental health services and interest grows substantially in the group Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.
• 2008 - Hurricane Ike kills 100 people along the Texas coast, produces $31 billion in damage, and contributes to rising oil prices.
• 2008 - U.S. oil prices hit a record $147 per barrel in the wake of—among other factors—international tensions and the falling dollar vs. the euro.
• 2008 - Global financial crisis in September 2008 begins as the stock market crashes. In response, President Bush signs the revised Emergency Economic Stabilization Act into law to create a 700 billion dollar Treasury fund to purchase failing bank assets.
• 2008 - U.S. presidential election, 2008; Barack Obama elected 44th President of the United States.
• 2009 - Barack Obama is inaugurated as the first African-American President of the United States
• 2009 - The first of a series of Tea Party protests are conducted across the United States, focusing on smaller government, fiscal responsibility, individual freedoms and conservative views of the Constitution.
• 2009 - President Barack Obama obtains Congressional approval for the $787 billion stimulus package, the largest since President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
• 2009 - Pop icon Michael Jackson dies, creating the largest public mourning for an entertainer since the death of Elvis Presley.
• 2009 - Nidal Malik Hasan kills 13 servicemen and injures 30 in the Fort Hood shooting