2002 in the United States

yearbox
in?= in the United States
cp=20th Century
c=21st century
cf=22nd century

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yp2=2000
yp3=2001
year=2002
ya1=2003
ya2=2004
ya3=2005
dp3=1970s
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dp1=1990s
d=2000s
da=0
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dn2=2020s
dn3=2030s
Events from the year 2002 in the United States.

=Political incumbents=

*President - George Walker 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

Events

* January 29 - In his State of the Union Address, President Bush describes North Korea, Iran and Iraq as an "Axis of evil".cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=650–652]
* January 31 - US special forces deployed in the Philippines in Operation Enduring Freedom - Philippines, part of the War on Terrorism.
* February 8–February 24 - The Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The United States win 10 gold, 13 silver and 11 bronze medals.
* April 19 - The Senate defeats President Bush's plan to authorize oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
* 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.
* October 9–October 10 - Congress passes the Iraq Resolution authorizing the Iraq War.
* November 5 - Republicans gain a majority in the Senate and a larger majority in the House of Representatives following congressional elections.
* November 8 - The United Nations passes Resolution 1441 giving Iraqi President Saddam Hussein a final opportunity to cooperate with international weapons inspectors.

Deaths

* January 13 - Ted Demme, film and television director (born 1963)
* January 16
** Bobo Olson, boxer (born 1928)
** Ron Taylor, actor (born 1952)
* January 20 - Carrie Hamilton, actress (born 1963)
* January 22 - Peggy Lee, singer and actress (born 1920)
* January 23 - Robert Nozick, philosopher (born 1938)
* January 28 - Dick "Night Train" Lane, football player (born 1928)
* February 1 - Irish McCalla, actress (born 1928)
* February 2 - Danielle Van Dam, murder victim (born 1994)
* February 15 - Howard K. Smith, television journalist (born 1914)
* February 19 - Virginia Hamilton, writer (born 1936)
* February 20 - Willie Thrower, football player (born 1930)
* February 22 - Chuck Jones, animator (born 1912)
* February 24 - Leo Ornstein, composer and pianist (born 1892)
* February 26 - Lawrence Tierney, actor (born 1919)
* February 27 - Mary Stuart, actress (born 1926)
* March 11 - James Tobin, economist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1918)
* March 27 - Milton Berle, comedian and actor (born 1908)
* April 5 - Layne Staley, singer (Alice in Chains) (born 1967)
* April 15 - Byron White, athlete and Supreme Court Justice (born 1917)
* April 16 - Robert Urich, actor (cancer) (born 1946)
* April 18 - Wahoo McDaniel, football player and wrestler (born 1938)
* April 25 - Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, rapper (TLC) (born 1971)
* April 27 - George Alec Effinger, author (born 1947)
* April 28 - Ruth Handler, toy manufacturer (born 1916)
* May 20 - Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist and author (born 1941)
* May 23 - Sam Snead, golfer (born 1912)
* May 24 - Wallace Markfield, writer (born 1926)
* June 5 - Dee Dee Ramone, bassist (The Ramones) (born 1952)
* June 10 - John Gotti, gangster (born 1940)
* June 11 - Robbin Crosby, guitarist (Ratt) (AIDS) (born 1959)
* June 12 - Bill Blass, fashion designer (born 1922)
* June 17 - Willie Davenport, athlete (born 1943)
* June 26 - Jay Berwanger, football player (born 1914)
* June 29 - Rosemary Clooney, singer and actress (born 1928)
* July 5 - Benjamin O. Davis Jr., general (born 1993)
* July 6 - John Frankenheimer, film director (born 1930)
* July 8 - Ward Kimball, animator (born 1913)
* July 9
** Laurence Janifer, writer (born 1933)
** Rod Steiger, actor (born 1925)
* July 16 - John Cocke, computer scientist (born 1925)
* July 19 - Alan Lomax, folklorist and musicologist (born 1970)
* July 23 - Chaim Potok, author and rabbi (born 1929)
* August 5 - Chick Hearn, basketball announcer (born 1916)
* August 11 - Galen Rowell, photographer, writer, and climber (plane crash) (born 1940)
* August 14 - Dave Williams, singer (Drowning Pool) (born 1972)
* August 15 - Kyle Rote, football player and coach (born 1928)
* August 31 - Lionel Hampton, musician (born 1908)
* September 11 - Johnny Unitas, football player (born 1933)
* September 18 - Bob Hayes, athlete (born 1942)
* September 21 - Robert Lull Forward, author and physicist (born 1932)
* October 9 - Aileen Wournos, serial killer (born 1956)
* October 10 - Teresa Graves, actress (born 1948)
* October 12 - Ray Conniff, musician and bandleader (born 1916)
* October 13 - Stephen Ambrose, historian and biographer (born 1936)
* October 24 - Harry Hay, activist (born 1912)
* October 25 - Paul Wellstone, Senator from Minnesota (born 1944)
* November 21 - Hadda Brooks, jazz singer, pianist, and composer (born 1916)
* November 24 - John Rawls, political theorist (born 1921)
* November 26 - Verne Winchell, doughnut entrepreneur (born 1915)
* December 6
** Father Philip Berrigan, priest and political activist (born 1923)
** Charles Rosen, pianist and pioneer in artificial intelligence (born 1927)
* December 9 - Stan Rice, painter and poet (born 1942)

References