American Cinema of the 2000s: Themes and Variations

Timeline

ix T I M E L I N E The 2000s ■■■■■■■■■■ 2000 22 APRIL In a predawn raid, federal agents seize six-year-old Elián González from his relatives’ home in Miami, Florida, and fly him to his Cuban father in Washington, D.C., ending one of the most publicized custody battles in U.S. history. 5 JUNE 405 The Movie, the first short film widely distributed on the Internet, is released. 6–8 SEPTEMBER World leaders attend the Millennium Summit at the United Nations. 7 NOVEMBER Hillary Rodham Clinton is elected to the U.S. Senate, becoming the first First Lady of the United States to win public office. 13 DECEMBER Bush v. Gore: The U.S. Supreme Court stops the Florida recount, effectively giving the state, and the presidency, to George W. Bush. ■■■■■■■■■■ 2001 1 JANUARY A black monolith measuring approximately nine feet tall appears in Seattle’s Magnuson Park, placed by an anonymous artist in reference to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. 11 JANUARY The U.S. Federal Trade Commission approves the merger of America Online and TimeWarner to form AOL TimeWarner. 20 JANUARY George W. Bush succeeds Bill Clinton, becoming the 43rd president of the United States. 11 JUNE In Terre Haute, Indiana, Timothy McVeigh is executed for the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. 2 JULY The world’s first self-contained artificial heart is implanted in Robert Tools at Jewish Hospital in Louisville. 11 SEPTEMBER Almost 3,000 are killed in attacks at the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crash into the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers, American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93 crashes into a grassland in Shanksville. 18 SEPTEMBER The 2001 anthrax attacks commence as letters containing anthrax spores are mailed from Princeton, New Jersey, to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, the New York Post, and the National Enquirer. Twenty-two people are exposed; five die. 23 OCTOBER Apple Inc. launches the iPod. 26 OCTOBER In response to threats of terrorism, President Bush signs the Patriot Act into law, increasing the powers of law enforcement to search private records and monitor communication networks. ■■■■■■■■■■ 2002 8 JANUARY The No Child Left Behind Act, which mandates standards and testing as part of educational reform, becomes federal law. 1 FEBRUARY Kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is murdered in Karachi, Pakistan. 1 MARCH The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan begins in the eastern part of the country with Operation Anaconda. 7 MAY Gay Canadian teenager Marc Hall is granted a court injunction ordering that he be allowed to attend his high school prom with his boyfriend. 22 MAY A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. 1 JULY The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Crimes committed on or after this date may be prosecuted by the court. ■■■■■■■■■■ 2003 1 FEBRUARY At the conclusion of the STS-107 mission, the space shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts on board. 12 MARCH The World Health Organization (WHO) issues a global alert on severe acute respiratory syndrome. 20 MARCH Land troops from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland invade Iraq. 9 APRIL U.S. forces seize control of Baghdad, ending the regime of Saddam Hussein. 24 OCTOBER The Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic travel to a close, at least for the time being. x TIMELINE — THE 2000s 17 NOVEMBER Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger is sworn in as governor of California following the recall of the incumbent governor. 13 DECEMBER Saddam Hussein is captured in Tikrit by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. ■■■■■■■■■■ 2004 3 FEBRUARY The CIA admits that there was no imminent threat from weapons of mass destruction before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 4 FEBRUARY Facebook is founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 12 MAY An American civilian contractor in Iraq, Nick Berg, is shown on a web-distributed video being decapitated by a group allegedly linked to al-Qaeda. 17 MAY Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage in compliance with a ruling from the...