- The US Presidential election of the "hanging chad" occurred. (2000) The controversial Presidential election decision between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush ended up being addressed by the US Supreme Court in December in the Bush v. Gore case. The issue surrounded voting irregularities in Florida and how the 25 electoral votes from that state would be decided. One of the more memorable issues had to do either with voter errors or machine errors that left the paper ballots with "hanging chads" that weren't punched through, making it difficult to ascertain the voter's true intention. Bush won the election, which was the closest race since the election of 1876 between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden. This election also made Bush the fourth president in US history to win the electorate vote without winning the popular vote.
- US President Franklin D. Roosevelt made history yet again by being elected to a fourth term. (1944) Just four years before, President Roosevelt had made US history by being elected to a third term. He won this election with more votes than any candidate since President Abraham Lincoln. He died in office in April, 1945 from a cerebral hemorrhage. In 1947, the US Congress passed the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution, limiting the Presidential office to two terms.
- An elephant was used for the first time to symbolize the US Republican Party. (1874) Thomas Nast, a cartoonist for Harper's Weekly drew the cartoon. Nast also is credited with the creation of the donkey as a symbol of the US Democratic Party and the image of Uncle Sam that represents the United States.
- The world's first Internet radio show was broadcast. (1994) Students working at WXYC at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill broadcast the station's radio signal over the Internet and were the first in the world to do so.
- Hillary Clinton became the first First Lady to be elected to public office. (2000) Clinton won the New York Senate seat. She served until January 21, 2009, when she was appointed as the 67th US Secretary of State.
- The first airfreight shipment was sent. (1910) The Wright Brothers flew a delivery shipment for Max Moorehouse, a retail store owner, to Columbus, Ohio, from Dayton, Ohio.
- The Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 was approved. (1967) The act, signed by US President Lyndon B. Johnson, established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was responsible for later creating the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR).
- The first woman was elected to the US Congress. (1916) Jeannette Rankin was elected as the Republican representative in Montana. She was later elected to a second term as well.
- Iran banned US product advertising. (2002) The ban came as a reaction to US support in Israel. US President Bush also had included Iran among the terrorist countries he referred to as the "Axis of Evil."
- The "1983 United State Senate Bombing" occurred. (1983) An anonymous phone called notified the White House authorities that a bomb had been placed close to the Senate chamber by the "Armed Resistance Unit" and was set to explode. The Senate chamber was empty at the time, and nobody was injured. The bomb did, however, cause about $250,000 US Dollars in damage. Six "Resistance Conspiracy" members were arrested for the bombing five years later.
