250 Most Impactful Moments in American History

175: Bleeding Kansas escalates as anti and pro slavery forces take up arms in the Wakarusa War 

174: Amelia Earhart disappears after taking off from New Guinea 

173: The FBI raids a compound in Waco, Texas led by cult leader David Koresh. A fire breaks out during the raid killing 76 Branch Davidian members including at least 20 children ft Retired FBI Special Agent and former HRT Operator, Charlie Rasner 

172: The US fails in its Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba resulting in the expansion of power of the Castro regime ft. Author of The Brilliant Disaster: JFK, Castro, and America's Doomed Invasion of Cuba's Bay of Pigs, Jim Rasenberger 

171: Spanish-American War: Theodore Roosevelt leads his Rough Riders in a cavalry charge up San Juan Hill
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180: President Eisenhower in his farewell address warns against the power of a "military industrial complex" ft. Founding Director of the Eisenhower Institute and Author of How Ike Led, Susan Eisenhower

179: The Donner Party becomes snowbound

 

178: Riots break out in Los Angeles following the not guilty verdict in the Rodney King case. 63 people were killed 12k people arrested and $1B worth of damage.  ft. Former Attorney General and Founding Partner at Torridon Law PLLC, Bill Barr

177: President Truman implements the Truman Doctrine, pledging US support to democracies against authoritarianism.

 

176: Sandra Day O'Connor is confirmed as the first female justice of the Supreme Court
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185: Samuel Colt receives a patent for his revolver

 

184: The Missouri Compromise becomes law: admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state

 

183: 2000 Presidential Election ends in controversy with numerous lawsuits in the state of Florida and ending with a 5-4 Supreme Court decision. George Bush defeats Al Gore for the Presidency ft. FOX News Contributor and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove

 

182: President Grant signs the Ku Klux Klan Act empowering forces to combat the group

 

181: Thomas Edison announces the invention of the phonograph which he later demonstrates ft. Research Professor;  Director and General Editor of the Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers, Paul Israel
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190: Apple CEO Steve Jobs announces the first iPhone ft. former Senior Vice President of Apple Computer, & author of best-selling books The Steve Jobs Way, & Leading Apple with Steve Jobs, Jay Elliot  

189: Simultaneous bombings at US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania kill 224 and injure 4,500. The bombings are attributed to the al Qaeda terror network led by Osama bin Laden

188: Pharmacist Dr. John Stith Pemberton invents and begins advertising a beverage that will be known as Coca-Cola

187: The Freedom Riders begin bus rides into the South to test the 1960 Boynton decision, a bus is later firebombed and another has all riders arrested for disturbing the peace ft. Author and Photographer of Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders, Eric Etheridge

186: A fire breaks out in the Apollo 1 spacecraft during a launch pad test killing astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee
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195: Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger

 

194: George Eastman founds the Eastman Kodak Company

 

193:The Empire State Building is completed displacing the Chrysler Building as the world's tallest ft. Architectural Historian & Author, Anthony W. Robins 

 

192: Radical abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on the Harper's Ferry Armory. The raid is ended by troops led by General Robert E. Lee. ft. Distinguished Professor of American Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, David S. Reynolds 

 

191: The U.S. enters the United Nations
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