2003 in the United States

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

yp1=2000
yp2=2001
yp3=2002
year=2003
ya1=2004
ya2=2005
ya3=2006
dp3=1970s
dp2=1980s
dp1=1990s
d=2000s
da=0
dn1=2010s
dn2=2020s
dn3=2030s
Events from the year 2003 in the United States.

=Political incumbents=

*President - George W. 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 - Sky marshals introduced on US airlines in an attempt to prevent hijackings.cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=653–656]
* February 1 - "STS-107": Space Shuttle "Columbia" disintegrates over Texas upon re-entry, killing all 7 astronauts onboard.
* March 20 - The US-led Iraq War begins.
* April 3–April 12 - Iraq War: US forces defeat the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Republican Guard in the Battle of Baghdad.
* April 13
** Iraq War: Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit falls to US forces.
** President George W. Bush accuses Syria of possessing chemical weapons.
* April 29 - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld confirms that US troops will be withdrawn from Saudi Arabia where they have been stationed since the 1991 Gulf War.
* May 1 - President Bush declares an end to the Iraq War, but attacks on coalition troops continue.
* May 28 - President Bush authorizes $350 billion worth of tax cuts over 10 years.
* June 26 - A senior Department of State chemical and biological weapons expert testifies to the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee that he was pressured to modify intelligence reports about Iraq.
* September 7 - President Bush announces a request for $87 billion from Congress for military operations in Afganistan and Iraq.
* September 17 - President Bush concedes there is no evidence linking Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
* November 20 - Iraq War: End of Operation Iron Hammer, an attempt to end the Iraq insurgency.
* December 13 - Iraq War: End of Operation Red Dawn resulting in the capture of Saddam Hussein in Tikrit.

Deaths

* January 3 - Sid Gillman, football coach (born 1911)
* January 11 - Richard Simmons, actor (born 1913)
* January 12 - Dean Amadon, ornithologist (born 1912)
* January 15 - Doris Fisher, singer-songwriter (born 1915)
* January 17 - Richard Crenna, actor (born 1926)
* January 20 - Al Hirschfeld, cartoonist (born 1903)
* January 23 - Nell Carter, singer and actress (born 1948)
* January 29 - Frank Moss, politician (born 1911)
* February 1 - crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-107::: Michael P. Anderson, astronaut (born 1959):: David M. Brown, astronaut (born 1956):: Kalpana Chawla, astronaut (born 1961):: Laurel Clark, astronaut (born 1961):: Rick Husband, astronaut (born 1957):: William McCool, astronaut (born 1961)
* February 2 - Lou Harrison, composer (born 1917)
* February 10
** Edgar de Evia, photographer (born 1910)
** Ron Ziegler, president Richard Nixon's White House Press Secretary (born 1939)
** "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig, professional wrestler (born 1959)
* February 16 - Eleanor "Sis" Daley, wife of Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley (born 1907)
* February 19 - Johnny PayCheck, singer (born 1938)
* February 20 - Orville Freeman, politician (born 1918)
* February 27 - Fred Rogers, children's television host (born 1928)
* March 2 - Hank Ballard, musician (born 1927)
* March 12 - Lynne Thigpen, actress (born 1948)
* March 22 - Milton G. Henschel, Jehovah's Witnesses leader (born 1920)
* March 26 - Daniel Patrick Moynihan, politician (born 1926)
* April 17
** Robert Atkins, nutritionist (born 1930)
** Paul Getty, American-born philanthropist (born 1932)
** Earl King, musician (born 1934)
* April 20 - Ruth Hale, playwright and actress (born 1908)
* April 21 - Nina Simone, singer (born 1933)
* April 26 - Peter Stone, writer (born 1930)
* May 1 - Elizabeth Hulette, wrestling manager and valet (born 1960)
* May 3 - Suzy Parker, actress (born 1932)
* May 9 - Russell B. Long, politician (born 1918)
* May 14 - Robert Stack, actor (born 1919)
* May 15 - June Carter Cash, singer (born 1929)
* May 26 - Kathleen Winsor, writer (born 1919)
* May 28 - Martha Scott, actress (born 1912)
* June 2
** Burke Marshall, lawyer and politician (born 1922)
** "Classy" Freddy Blassie, professional wrestler and manager (born 1918)
* June 6 - Ken Grimwood, writer (born 1944)
* June 10 - Donald Regan, Treasury Secretary (born 1918)
* June 11 - David Brinkley, television reporter (born 1920)
* June 12 - Gregory Peck, actor (born 1916)
* June 14 - Jimmy Knepper, musician (born 1927)
* June 18 - Larry Doby, baseball player (born 1923)
* June 21 - Leon Uris, writer (born 1924)
* June 23 - Maynard Jackson, mayor of Atlanta, Georgia (born 1938)
* June 25 - Lester Maddox, politician (born 1915)
* June 26 - Strom Thurmond, politician (born 1902)
* June 29 - Katharine Hepburn, actress (born 1907)
* June 30 - Buddy Hackett, comedian and actor (born 1924)
* July 1 - Herbie Mann, jazz flutist (born 1930)
* July 4 - Barry White, singer (born 1944)
* July 7 - Buddy Ebsen, actor (born 1908)
* July 12 - Benny Carter, musician (born 1907)
* July 15 - Tex Schramm, football team president and general manager (born 1920)
* July 16 - Carol Shields, American-born writer (born 1935)
* July 17 - Rosalyn Tureck, pianist and harpsichordist (born 1914)
* July 30 - Sam Phillips, record producer (born 1923)
* August 4 - Frederick Chapman Robbins, pediatrician and virologist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)
* August 9 - Gregory Hines, dancer and actor (born 1946)
* August 23 - Bobby Bonds, baseball player (born 1946)
* August 28 - Brian Douglas Wells, criminal (born 1956)
* August 30 - Charles Bronson, actor (born 1921)
* September 1 - John Gould, humorist, essayist, and columnist (born 1908)
* September 6 - Harry Goz, actor (born 1932)
* September 7 - Warren Zevon, singer (born 1947)
* September 9 - Larry Hovis, actor (born 1936)
* September 11 - John Ritter, actor (born 1948)
* September 12 - Johnny Cash, singer and guitarist (born 1932)
* September 13 - Frank O'Bannon, politician (born 1930)
* September 14 - John Serry, Sr., musician (born 1915)
* September 17 - Sheb Wooley, actor and singer (born 1921)
* September 22 - Gordon Jump, actor (born 1932)
* September 25 - George Plimpton, writer and actor (born 1927)
* September 27 - Donald O'Connor, actor, singer, and dancer (born 1925)
* September 28 - Althea Gibson, tennis player (born 1927)
* October 3
** William Steig, cartoonist (born 1907)
** Timothy Treadwell, Environmentalist
* October 5 - Neil Postman, educator, media theorist, and cultural critic (born 1931)
* October 7 - Ellen Cannon Reed, witch and author (born 1943)
* October 10 - Eugene Istomin, pianist (born 1925)
* October 12 - Willie Shoemaker, jockey (born 1931)
* October 20 - Jack Elam, actor (born 1918)
* October 21
** Fred Berry, actor (born 1951)
** Elliott Smith, musician (born 1969)
* October 22 - Tony Renna, race car driver (born 1976)
* October 25 - Robert Strassburg, composer (born 1915)
* October 29 - Hal Clement, writer (born 1922)
* October 31 - Richard Neustadt, political historian (born 1919)
* November 3 - Spider Jorgensen, baseball player and coach (born 1919)
* November 5
** Bobby Hatfield, singer (The Righteous Brothers) (born 1940)
** Dorothy Fay, actress (born 1915)
* November 9 - Art Carney, actor (born 1918)
* November 10 - Irv Kupcinet, columnist and television personality (murdered) (born 1912)
* November 12
** Jonathan Brandis, actor (suicide) (born 1976)
** Penny Singleton, actress (born 1908)
* November 13 - Kellie Waymire, actress (born 1967)
* November 14 - Gene Anthony Ray, actor (born 1962)
* November 15 - Dorothy Loudon, actress (born 1933)
* November 18 - Michael Kamen, composer (born 1948)
* November 20 - Jim Siedow, actor (born 1920)
* November 26 - Soulja Slim, rapper (born 1977)
* November 30 - Gertrude Ederle, swimmer (born 1906)
* December 4 - Iggy Katona, race car driver (born 1916)
* December 7
** Carl F. H. Henry, theologian and publisher (born 1913)
** Azie Taylor Morton, U.S. Treasurer (born 1936)
* December 9 - Paul Simon, U.S. Senator from Illinois (born 1928)
* December 13 - William Roth, U.S. Senator from Delaware (born 1921)
* December 14 - Jeanne Crain, actress (born 1925)
* December 15 - George Fisher, political cartoonist (born 1923)
* December 16 - Gary Stewart, singer (suicide) (born 1945)
* December 17 - Otto Graham, football player (born 1921)
* December 19 - Hope Lange, actress (born 1941)
* December 22 - Dave Dudley, singer (born 1928)
* December 29 - Earl Hindman, actor (born 1942)
* December 30 - John Gregory Dunne, writer (born 1932)

References