U.S. Historical Events
Browse significant events throughout history
to see what may have influenced national election results.
2024 National Election
- Start Date: 2024
- End Date: 2028
Results of the presidential election of 2024, won by Donald J. Trump with 312 electoral votes.
2020 National Election
- Start Date: 2020
- End Date: 2024
Results of the presidential election of 2020, won by Joseph R. Biden with 306 electoral votes.
COVID‑19 Pandemic
- Start Date: 2019
- End Date: 2022
The outbreak of the infectious respiratory disease known as COVID-19 triggered one of the deadliest pandemics…
2016 National Election
- Start Date: 2016
- End Date: 2020
Results of the presidential election of 2016, won by Donald J. Trump with 304 electoral votes.
2012 National Election
- Start Date: 2012
- End Date: 2016
Results of the presidential election of 2012, won by Barack H. Obama with 332 electoral votes.
2008 National Election
- Start Date: 2008
- End Date: 2012
Results of the presidential election of 2008, won by Barack H. Obama with 365 electoral votes.
Great Recession
- Start Date: 2007
- End Date: 2009
The Great Recession was a global economic downturn that devastated world financial markets as well as…
2004 National Election
- Start Date: 2004
- End Date: 2008
Results of the presidential election of 2004, won by George W. Bush with 286 electoral votes.
September 11 Attacks
- Date: September 11, 2001
On September 11, 2001, terrorists linked to the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda—founded by Osama bin Laden—hijacked…
2000 National Election
- Start Date: 2000
- End Date: 2004
Results of the presidential election of 2000, won by George W. Bush with 271 electoral votes.
1996 National Election
- Start Date: 1996
- End Date: 2000
Results of the presidential election of 1996, won by William J. Clinton with 379 electoral votes.
1992 National Election
- Start Date: 1992
- End Date: 1996
Results of the presidential election of 1992, won by William J. Clinton with 370 electoral votes.
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
- Date: December 26, 1991
After overthrowing the centuries-old Romanov monarchy, Russia emerged from a civil war in 1921 as the…
1988 National Election
- Start Date: 1988
- End Date: 1992
Results of the presidential election of 1988, won by George Bush with 426 electoral votes.
1984 National Election
- Start Date: 1984
- End Date: 1988
Results of the presidential election of 1984, won by Ronald Reagan with 525 electoral votes.
1980 National Election
- Start Date: 1980
- End Date: 1984
Results of the presidential election of 1980, won by Ronald Reagan with 489 electoral votes.
1976 National Election
- Start Date: 1976
- End Date: 1980
Results of the presidential election of 1976, won by Jimmy Carter with 297 electoral votes.
1972 National Election
- Start Date: 1972
- End Date: 1976
Results of the presidential election of 1972, won by Richard M. Nixon with 520 electoral votes.
Watergate Scandal
- Date: June 17, 1972
The Watergate scandal began early in the morning of June 17, 1972, when several burglars were…
1968 National Election
- Start Date: 1968
- End Date: 1972
Results of the presidential election of 1968, won by Richard M. Nixon with 301 electoral votes.
Voting Rights Act
- Date: August 6, 1965
Voting Rights Act, U.S. legislation (August 6, 1965) that aimed to overcome legal barriers at the…
1964 National Election
- Start Date: 1964
- End Date: 1968
Results of the presidential election of 1964, won by Lyndon B. Johnson with 486 electoral votes.
John F. Kennedy Assassination
- Date: November 22, 1963
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is assassinated in 1963 while traveling through Dallas,…
Cuban Missile Crisis
- Start Date: October 16, 1962
- End Date: October 29, 1962
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a…
1960 National Election
- Start Date: 1960
- End Date: 1964
Results of the presidential election of 1960, won by John F. Kennedy with 303 electoral votes.
1956 National Election
- Start Date: 1956
- End Date: 1960
Results of the presidential election of 1956, won by Dwight D. Eisenhower with 457 electoral votes.
Vietnam War
- Start Date: 1955
- End Date: 1975
The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of…
1952 National Election
- Start Date: 1952
- End Date: 1956
Results of the presidential election of 1952, won by Dwight D. Eisenhower with 442 electoral votes.
Korean War
- Start Date: 1950
- End Date: 1953
The Korean war began on June 25, 1950, when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean…
1948 National Election
- Start Date: 1948
- End Date: 1952
Results of the presidential election of 1948, won by Harry S. Truman with 303 electoral votes.
First Atomic Bomb Test
- Date: July 16, 1945
The atomic bomb and nuclear bombs are powerful weapons that use nuclear reactions as their source…
1944 National Election
- Start Date: 1944
- End Date: 1948
Results of the presidential election of 1944, won by Franklin D. Roosevelt with 432 electoral votes.
D‑Day
- Date: June 6, 1944
D-Day was the name given to the June 6, 1944, invasion of the beaches at Normandy…
1940 National Election
- Start Date: 1940
- End Date: 1944
Results of the presidential election of 1940, won by Franklin D. Roosevelt with 449 electoral votes.
World War 2
- Start Date: 1939
- End Date: 1945
World War II, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history, involved more than 50 nations…
1936 National Election
- Start Date: 1936
- End Date: 1940
Results of the presidential election of 1936, won by Franklin D. Roosevelt with 523 electoral votes.
1932 National Election
- Start Date: 1932
- End Date: 1936
Results of the presidential election of 1932, won by Franklin D. Roosevelt with 472 electoral votes.
Great Depression
- Start Date: 1929
- End Date: 1939
The Great Depression was the worst economic crisis in modern history, lasting from 1929 until the…
1928 National Election
- Start Date: 1928
- End Date: 1932
Results of the presidential election of 1928, won by Herbert C. Hoover with 444 electoral votes.
1924 National Election
- Start Date: 1924
- End Date: 1928
Results of the presidential election of 1924, won by Calvin Coolidge with 382 electoral votes.
1920 National Election
- Start Date: 1920
- End Date: 1924
Results of the presidential election of 1920, won by Warren G. Harding with 404 electoral votes.
19th Amendment
- Date: August 18, 1920
The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted American women the right to vote, a right known as women’s…
1916 National Election
- Start Date: 1916
- End Date: 1920
Results of the presidential election of 1916, won by Woodrow Wilson with 277 electoral votes.
Sinking of Lusitania
- Date: May 7, 1915
A German U-boat torpedoed the British-owned steamship Lusitania, killing 1,195 people including 128 Americans, on May…
World War 1
- Start Date: 1914
- End Date: 1918
World War I, also known as the Great War, started in 1914 after the assassination of…
17th Amendment
- Date: April 8, 1913
Seventeenth Amendment, amendment (1913) to the Constitution of the United States that provided for the direct election of U.S. senators by the voters of…
16th Amendment
- Date: February 25, 1913
Since 1950, individual income taxes have been the primary source of revenue for the U.S. federal…
1912 National Election
- Start Date: 1912
- End Date: 1916
Results of the presidential election of 1912, won by Woodrow Wilson with 435 electoral votes.
1908 National Election
- Start Date: 1908
- End Date: 1912
Results of the presidential election of 1908, won by William H. Taft with 321 electoral votes.
1904 National Election
- Start Date: 1904
- End Date: 1908
Results of the presidential election of 1904, won by Theodore Roosevelt with 336 electoral votes.
1900 National Election
- Start Date: 1900
- End Date: 1904
Results of the presidential election of 1900, won by William McKinley with 292 electoral votes.
Spanish American War
- Start Date: April 21, 1898
- End Date: December 10, 1898
The Spanish-American War was an 1898 conflict between the United States and Spain that ended Spanish…
1896 National Election
- Start Date: 1896
- End Date: 1900
Results of the presidential election of 1896, won by William McKinley with 271 electoral votes.
1892 National Election
- Start Date: 1892
- End Date: 1896
Results of the presidential election of 1892, won by Grover Cleveland with 277 electoral votes.
1888 National Election
- Start Date: 1888
- End Date: 1892
Results of the presidential election of 1888, won by Benjamin Harrison with 233 electoral votes.
1884 National Election
- Start Date: 1884
- End Date: 1888
Results of the presidential election of 1884, won by Grover Cleveland with 219 electoral votes.
1880 National Election
- Start Date: 1880
- End Date: 1884
Results of the presidential election of 1880, won by James A. Garfield with 214 electoral votes.
1876 National Election
- Start Date: 1876
- End Date: 1880
Results of the presidential election of 1876, won by Rutherford B. Hayes with 185 electoral votes.
1872 National Election
- Start Date: 1872
- End Date: 1876
Results of the presidential election of 1872, won by Ulysses S. Grant with 286 electoral votes.
15th Amendment
- Date: February 3, 1870
The 15th Amendment, which sought to protect the voting rights of Black men after the Civil…
1868 National Election
- Start Date: 1868
- End Date: 1872
Results of the presidential election of 1868, won by Ulysses S. Grant with 214 electoral votes.
14th Amendment
- Date: July 9, 1868
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1868, granted citizenship to all persons born…
13th Amendment
- Date: December 6, 1865
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1865 in the aftermath of the Civil…
Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination
- Date: April 14, 1865
On the evening of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer,…
1864 National Election
- Start Date: 1864
- End Date: 1868
Results of the presidential election of 1864, won by Abraham Lincoln with 212 electoral votes.
Civil War
- Start Date: 1861
- End Date: 1865
The Civil War in the United States began in 1861, after decades of simmering tensions between…
1860 National Election
- Start Date: 1860
- End Date: 1864
Results of the presidential election of 1860, won by Abraham Lincoln with 180 electoral votes.
Dred Scott Case
- Date: March 6, 1857
The Dred Scott case, also known as Dred Scott v. Sandford, was a decade-long fight for freedom…
1856 National Election
- Start Date: 1856
- End Date: 1860
Results of the presidential election of 1856, won by James Buchanan with 174 electoral votes.
Whig Party Collapse
- Start Date: 1854
- End Date: 1855
In the mid-19th-century, the two most powerful political parties in the United States were the Democrats and the Whigs.…
Start of the Republican Party
- Date: March 20, 1854
The Republican Party, often called the GOP (short for “Grand Old Party”) is one of two…
1852 National Election
- Start Date: 1852
- End Date: 1856
Results of the presidential election of 1852, won by Franklin Pierce with 254 electoral votes.
1848 National Election
- Start Date: 1848
- End Date: 1852
Results of the presidential election of 1848, won by Zachary Taylor with 163 electoral votes.
Mexican‑American War
- Start Date: 1846
- End Date: 1848
The Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848 marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on…
1844 National Election
- Start Date: 1844
- End Date: 1848
Results of the presidential election of 1848, won by Zachary Taylor with 163 electoral votes.
1840 National Election
- Start Date: 1840
- End Date: 1844
Results of the presidential election of 1840, won by William H. Harrison with 234 electoral votes.
1836 National Election
- Start Date: 1836
- End Date: 1840
Results of the presidential election of 1836, won by Martin Van Buren with 170 electoral votes.
1832 National Election
- Start Date: 1832
- End Date: 1836
Results of the presidential election of 1832, won by Andrew Jackson with 219 electoral votes.
First Democratic National Convention
- Date: May 21, 1832
United States presidential election of 1832, American presidential election held in 1832, in which Democratic incumbent…
1828 National Election
- Start Date: 1828
- End Date: 1832
Results of the presidential election of 1828, won by Andrew Jackson with 178 electoral votes.
1824 National Election
- Start Date: 1824
- End Date: 1828
Results of the presidential election of 1824, won by John Quincy Adams with 84 electoral votes.
1820 National Election
- Start Date: 1820
- End Date: 1824
Results of the presidential election of 1820, won by James Monroe with 231 electoral votes.
1816 National Election
- Start Date: 1816
- End Date: 1820
Results of the presidential election of 1816, won by James Monroe with 183 electoral votes.
1812 National Election
- Start Date: 1812
- End Date: 1816
Results of the presidential election of 1812, won by James Madison with 128 electoral votes.
War of 1812
- Start Date: 1812
- End Date: 1815
In the War of 1812, the United States took on the greatest naval power in the…
1808 National Election
- Start Date: 1808
- End Date: 1812
Results of the presidential election of 1808, won by James Madison with 122 electoral votes.
1804 National Election
- Start Date: 1804
- End Date: 1808
Results of the presidential election of 1804, won by Thomas Jefferson with 162 electoral votes.
12th Amendement
- Date: June 15, 1804
Twelfth Amendment, amendment (1804) to the Constitution of the United States repealing and revising presidential election procedures.
Louisiana Purchase
- Date: April 30, 1803
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought into the United States about 828,000 square miles of territory…
1800 National Election
- Start Date: 1800
- End Date: 1804
Results of the presidential election of 1800, won by Thomas Jefferson with 73 electoral votes.
1796 National Election
- Start Date: 1796
- End Date: 1800
Results of the presidential election of 1796, won by John Adams with 71 electoral votes.
1792 National Election
- Start Date: 1792
- End Date: 1796
Results of the presidential election of 1792, won by George Washington with 132 electoral votes.
1st Amendment
- Date: December 15, 1791
First Amendment, amendment (1791) to the Constitution of the United States that is part of the…
Whiskey Rebellion
- Start Date: 1791
- End Date: 1794
The Whiskey Rebellion was a 1794 uprising of farmers and distillers in western Pennsylvania in protest…
1789 National Election
- Start Date: 1789
- End Date: 1792
Results of the presidential election of 1789, won by George Washington with 69 electoral votes.
Declaration of Independence
- Date: August 2, 1776
The Declaration of Independence was the first formal statement by a nation’s people asserting their right…