Events from the year 2002 in the United States.
Incumbents
Federal government President: George W. Bush (R-Texas) Vice President: Dick Cheney (R-Wyoming) Chief Justice: William Rehnquist (Virginia) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) Senate Majority Leader: Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) Congress: 107th
State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors
Lieutenant governors
Events
January
January 5 – Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old student pilot, crashes a light aircraft into a building in Tampa, Florida, evoking fear of a copycat 9/11 terrorist attack. January 6 – The Boston Globe publishes a story detailing the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston sex abuse scandal. January 8 – The No Child Left Behind Act is signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush. January 9 – The United States Department of Justice announces it will pursue a criminal investigation of Enron. January 11 – The first detainees arrive at Camp X-Ray (Guantanamo). January 13 – President Bush chokes on a pretzel and faints briefly. January 14 – The asylum case of Adelaide Abankwah is heard in New York. January 16 The United Nations Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the remaining members of the Taliban. A student shoots six at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia, killing 3. January 18 – A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing one. January 20 – The World Wrestling Federation holds its Royal Rumble pay-per-view event from the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. January 21 – Cyberchase premieres on PBS Kids. January 23 – The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Pakistan, accused of being a CIA agent by his captors. January 29 – In his State of the Union Address, President Bush describes North Korea, Iran and Iraq as an "axis of evil". January 31 – U.S. special forces are deployed in the Philippines in Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines, part of the war on terror.
February
February 1 – Kidnapped reporter Daniel Pearl of The Wall Street Journal is murdered in Karachi, Pakistan. February 3 – Super Bowl XXXVI: The New England Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams 20–17 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans to win their first Super Bowl title. February 8–24 – The Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The United States wins 10 gold, 13 silver and 11 bronze medals. February 12 – The U.S. Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository. February 13 – Queen Elizabeth II gives former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani an honorary knighthood. February 15 — 23-year-old Janet Danahey, sets fire to the Campus Walk Apartments building in Greensboro, North Carolina, as a prank against her ex-boyfriend. The fire would kill 4 and injury 6 of his neighbors. She is later sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. February 17 – The World Wrestling Federation holds its No Way Out pay-per-view event from the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. February 19 – NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.
March March 1 STS-109: Space Shuttle Columbia flies the Hubble Space Telescope service mission, its last before the disastrous STS-107. U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins. March 12 – In Houston, Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison. March 14 – 125 vehicles are involved in a massive pile up on Interstate 75 in Ringgold, Georgia. March 15 – Ice Age is released in theaters. March 19 – US war in Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 1) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities. March 21 – In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three others are charged with the kidnapping and killing of The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. March 24 – The 74th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, with Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind winning four awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film ties with Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in award wins, while the latter leads the nominations with 13. The telecast garners over 41.8 million viewers. March – Layalina Productions, Inc. non-profit public diplomacy initiative is inaugurated.Ali Jafaar, "'Road' to understanding" Variety, March 23, 2007
April April 1 – Maryland defeats Indiana 64–52 to win the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. April 17 – Four Canadian infantrymen are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two US F-16s. April 19 – The Senate defeats President Bush's plan to authorize oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. April 21 – The World Wrestling Federation holds its Backlash pay-per-view event from the Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri. April 27 – The Laughlin, Nevada River Run Riot kills three.
May
May 1 – Nicktoons TV (renamed Nicktoons in 2003, then in 2009) launches in the United States. May 3 – Spider-Man is released in theaters as the first film in the Spider-Man trilogy. May 10 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds. May 12 – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first U.S. president, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution. May 16 – Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is released in theaters. May 19 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds its Judgment Day pay-per-view event from the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tennessee. May 21 – The State Department releases a report naming seven state sponsors of terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. May 22 16th Street Baptist Church bombing: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama convicts Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls. Police in Washington, D.C. announce that the skeletal remains of Federal Bureau of Prisons intern Chandra Levy, who has been missing for a year, have been found in Rock Creek Park. May 26 – I-40 bridge disaster: A barge collides with the Interstate 40 bridge across the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma, killing 14.
June June 5 – 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart is kidnapped from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is rescued nine months later. June 11 The first episode of American Idol airs. Antonio Meucci is recognized as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress. June 12 – The Los Angeles Lakers sweep the New Jersey Nets in the 2002 NBA Finals to win their third consecutive NBA championship. June 14 – In Karachi, Pakistan, a car bomb in front of the U.S. Consulate kills 12 Pakistanis and injures 50. June 21 – Walt Disney Pictures' 42nd feature film, Lilo & Stitch, is released to positive reviews and box-office success. June 23 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds its King of the Ring pay-per-view event from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. June 29 – Vice President Dick Cheney serves as acting president from 7:09 am to 9:24 am EST, while President George W. Bush undergoes a colonoscopy procedure under sedation.
July July 4 – 2002 Los Angeles International Airport shooting: Egyptian immigrant Hesham Mohamed Hadayet kills two and injures six before being killed by a security officer. The incident is called an act of terrorism. July 13 – A lightning strike sets off the Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burns 499,570 acres (2,022 km2). July 15 – In Washington, D.C., "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to aiding the enemy and possession of explosives during the commission of a felony; Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each charge. July 20 – The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius debuts on Nickelodeon. July 21 Telecommunications giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the largest such filing in United States history. World Wrestling Entertainment holds its Vengeance pay-per-view event from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan. July 24 – Congressman James Traficant of Ohio is expelled from the House of Representatives by a vote of 420–1 following his ten felony convictions.
August August 12 – In Arlington, Virginia, US Airways declares bankruptcy. August 25 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds its SummerSlam pay-per-view event from the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York.
September September 2 – Liberty's Kids premieres on PBS Kids. September 4 – Kelly Clarkson wins the first American Idol competition. September 5 – The Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burned 499,570 acres (2,022 km2), is contained. September 7 – The Fox Network's Fox Kids block (which had been on the air since 1990) airs for the final time. It was replaced the following week (on September 14) by the 4Kids-programmed FoxBox. September 11 – Thousands of people in New York City and across the nation attend ceremonies as the United States commemorates the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. September 12 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush addresses the U.N., and challenges its members to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Iraq, or stand aside as the United States and likeminded nations act. September 14 – Major upheavals take place on Saturday mornings, as the four major networks change their programming on this day. Fox, having sold Fox Kids Worldwide to The Walt Disney Company the previous year, ends Fox Kids and sells its airtime to 4Kids Entertainment, who begin programming a new children's programming block as the Fox Box. Disney, meanwhile, having acquired the Fox Kids brand, ends Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC and renamed ABC Kids. CBS, whose then-corporate sibling Nickelodeon programs its lineup, rebrands its Nick Jr. on CBS block as Nick on CBS and refocuses it on children 2–11 years old, while NBC signs a contract with Discovery Networks to air a programming strand called Discovery Kids on NBC (a spinoff of a former digital cable channel Discovery Kids), which replaces the teen-oriented block TNBC. September 22 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds its Unforgiven pay-per-view event from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
October October 2 The Beltway sniper attacks begin with five shootings taking place in Montgomery County, Maryland. The Congress of the United States passes a joint resolution, which authorizes the President to use the United States Armed Forces as he deems necessary and appropriate, against Iraq. October 9 – The Dot-com bubble downward market reaches bottom, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average slips below 7,200. October 9–10 – Congress passes the Iraq Resolution authorizing the Iraq War. October 16 – The Iraq War Resolution is authorized by a majority of the U.S. Congress. October 20 – World Wrestling Entertainment holds its No Mercy pay-per-view event from the Alltel Arena in North Little Rock, Arkansas. October 24 – The Beltway sniper attacks end with the arrest of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo. The pair killed 10 people and wounded three others in the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area in this series of attacks; they had killed seven other people in prior attacks. October 25 – U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his family, and his staff are killed in a plane accident at Eveleth, Minnesota.