By Danella Le RoyPublished On: December 28, 20246.8 min readTotal Views: 33Daily Views: 6Categories: History ListsTags: Major Anniversaries

Major Anniversaries in US History—2025

January

January 2, 1890: Alice Sanger becomes the first female staffer under President Harrison
January 3, 1945: Gen. MacArthur and Adm. Nimitz took command of all U.S. ground and naval forces.
January 6, 1975: Wheel of Fortune debuts.
January 7, 1955: Marian Anderson becomes the first African American to perform at the Met Opera.
January 8, 1815: Battle of New Orleans.
January 8, 1790: President Washington delivers the first State of the Union.
January 9, 1945: Allied forces land in Luzon, Philippines.
January 10, 1920: League of Nations is created.
January 11, 1935: Amelia Earhart flies from Hawaii to California.
January 15, 1870: The Democratic Donkey debuts.
January 16, 1945: Hitler retreats to his bunker.
January 17, 1945: Soviets capture Warsaw, Poland.
January 19, 1915: First air raid on Britain.
January 20, 1945: President Roosevelt sworn in for his fourth term.
January 26, 1945: Audie Murphy is wounded near the French village of Holtzwihr. It was through this action that Murphy received the Medal of Honor.
January 27, 1945: Auschwitz is liberated.
January 28, 1915: Germans sink an American Merchant ship, the William P. Frye.
January 28, 1915: The Coat Guard Act of 1915 was signed by President Wilson. The Coast Guard credits its creation to August 4, 1790, and effectively celebrates their birthday on August 4, but recognizes January 28 as a significant date.
January 31, 1865: House passes the 13th Amendment.
January 31, 1950: Truman announces the H-Bomb.

February

February 1, 1960: The Greensboro sit-in started when four North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University freshmen, known as the Greensboro Four, sat at the white-only lunch counter at a Woolworth Store in Greensboro, NC.
February 1, 1790: First session of the U.S. Supreme Court.
February 4-11, 1945: Representatives from the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union met in Yalta, Crimea, for the Yalta Conference to discuss the future of Germany and Europe.
February 6, 1985: Reagan Doctrine Announced.
February 7, 1775: Ben Franklin publishes “An Imaginary Speech”.
February 13, 1945: Firebombing of Dresden, Germany by Allied forces.
February 17, 1865: Union Army takes Columbia, SC.
February 19, 1945: The Battle of Iwo Jim begins.
February 21, 1965: Malcolm X assassinated
February 22, 1980: Miracle on Ice–US Hockey Team beats the Soviets, 4-3.
February 23, 1945: Flag raising on Iwo Jima.
February 25, 1870: Hiram Rhodes Revels becomes the first African American sworn into Congress
February 26, 1945: US recapture Corregidor Island from the Japanese.
February 27, 1860: Mathew Brady photographs President Lincoln and is published on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. Lincoln later credited this photograph as part of his success in the election.

March

March 2, 1955: 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refuses to give up her seat on the bus–9 months before Rosa Parks.
March 3, 1820: Missouri Compromise, admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
March 5, 1770: The Boston Massacre.
March 7, 1965: Bloody Sunday March, where roughly 600 protesters planned a march to Montgomery, Alabama, but were met with violence. This day became known as Bloody Sunday.
March 8, 1965: Marines land at Da Nang.
March 9, 1945: Firebombing of Tokyo by United States forces.
March 14, 1950: FBI debuts “10 Most Wanted” list.
March 15, 1820: Maine enters the Union.
March 18, 1925: Tri-State Tornado ripped through Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing almost 700 people.
March 19, 1935: The Harlem Riot of 1935.
March 19, 1865: Battle of Bentonville in North Carolina.
March 21, 1965: March to Washington begins.
March 22, 1765: The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, adding a tax on paper goods to help pay for the British Army stationed in the colonies.
March 27, 1775: Jefferson was elected to the Continental Congress.
March 29, 1945: Patton takes Frankfurt.
March 30, 1870: The 15th Amendment was adopted, granting African-American men the right to vote.
March 30, 1775: King George approves the Restraining Act limiting trade and fishing rights in the New England colonies.
March 30, 1965: Bombing at US Embassy in Saigon when a car bomb explodes outside of the embassy, killing several and injuring hundreds.

April

April 1, 1945: US troops land on Okinawa.
April 3, 1860: The Pony Express Debuts.
April 3, 1865: Confederate Capital, Richmond, is captured.
April 4, 1975: Operation Babylift, which was the mass evacuation of South Vietnamese children to Western countries, began.
April 7, 1945: The Japanese battleship Yamato was sunk by Allied forces.
April 8, 1935: Works Progress Administration established.
April 9, 1865: General Lee surrenders to General Grant, ending the American Civil War.
April 11, 1970: Apollo 13 launches.
April 12, 1945: President Roosevelt dies from a cerebral hemorrhage.
April 14, 1865: President Lincoln is shot at Ford’s Theater.
April 14, 1935: The “Black Sunday” dust storm hits the plains. While much of the 1930s was plagued by dust storms, Black Sunday was among the worst, with over 300 thousand tons of topsoil displaced, blacking out the sky.
April 15, 1865: President Lincoln dies from his wounds.
April 18, 1775: Revere and Dawes ride to warn of the British.
April 19, 1775: The Battle of Lexington and Concord occurred, igniting the American Revolution.
April 22, 1970: The first Earth Day.
April 24, 1800: The Library of Congress was created.
April 26, 1865: John Wilkes Booth is killed in Port Royal, Va.
April 27, 1865: The Battle of Tripoli.
April 27, 1865: The steamship, Sultana, explodes along the Mississippi River.
April 28, 1945: Benito Mussolini is executed.
April 29, 1945: Dachau concentration camp is liberated by American forces.
April 30, 1945: Adolph Hitler commits suicide.
April 30, 1975: The Fall of Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital, ending the Vietnam War.

May

May 1, 1960: Francis Gary Powers is shot down while flying his U-2 plane over the Soviet Union.
May 4, 1970: Kent State Shooting at Kent State University.
May 4, 1865: President Lincoln is laid to rest.
May 7, 1945: Germany surrenders.
May 8, 1945: VE Day.
May 10, 1775: Second Continental Congress convenes.
May 12, 1780: Battle of Charleston, SC.
May 15, 1765: Parliament passed an amendment to the Mutiny Act, the Quartering Act.
May 15, 1800: President Adams moves the US Capital to Washington D.C.
May 18, 1980: Mount St. Helen erupts.
May 23, 1785: Ben Franklin debuts his bifocals.
May 24, 1775: John Hancock becomes President of Congress.
May 25, 1935: Babe Ruth hits his last home run.
May 28, 1830: President Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act.

June

June 2, 1935: Babe Ruth retires.
June 14, 1775: US Army was founded.
June 15, 1775: George Washington elected to lead the Continental Army.
June 17, 1885: The Statue of Liberty arrives.
June 17, 1775: Battle of Bunker Hill.
June 19, 1865: Remaining slaves in Galveston Bay are freed by Union soldiers.
June 20, 1975: Jaws is released.
June 22, 1775: Congress issues Continental Currency.
June 24, 1675: King Philip’s War begins.
June 25, 1950: The Korean War begins.
June 28, 1965: Allied forces attack Viet Cong Zone D, marking the first major offensive in the Vietnam war.

July

July 2, 1865: The Salvation Army founded.
July 3, 1890: Idaho becomes 43rd State.
July 3, 1775: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army.
July 5, 1950: The death of Kenneth R. Shadrick marks the first US fatality in the Korean War.
July 5, 1775: Congress adopts the Olive Branch petition to avoid war between Great Britain and the American colonies.
July 6, 1775: the US Dollar becomes the official currency.
July 7, 1865: Mary Surratt, a co-conspirator in the Lincoln assassination, is executed.
July 8, 1950: Gen. MacArthur named Korean Commander.
July 17, 1955: Disneyland Opens.
July 17, 1945: Representatives from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union meet in Potsdam, Germany, for the Potsdam Conference to discuss peace after WWII.
July 26, 1775: The United States Postal Service is established.
July 29, 1965: 101st Airborne arrive in Vietnam.
July 30, 1945: The USS Indianapolis is torpedoed and sank.
July 31, 1975: Jimmy Hoffa goes missing.

August

August 6, 1945: Hiroshima.
August 6, 1965: President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act.
August 9, 1945: Nagasaki.
August 14, 1945: Japan’s surrender was made public.
August 18, 1590: Roanoke Colony was found deserted.
August 26, 1920: The 19th Amendment was adopted, granting voting rights to women.
August 28, 1955: Emmett Till is murdered in Mississippi.
August 31, 1935: Congress passes the Neutrality Act to prevent U.S. involvement in future wars.

September

September 1, 1775: King George refuses the Olive Branch Petition sent by the American colonies.
September 2, 1945: Japan Surrenders.
September 9, 1850: California becomes 31st State.
September 16 (6) 1620: Mayflower departs England.
September 21, 1780: Benedict Arnold commits treason.
September 25, 1775: Ethan Allen is captured during the Battle of Longue-Pointe.

October

October 1, 1890: Yosemite National Park is established.
October 10, 1845: US Naval Academy opens.
October 12, 1945: Desmond Doss receives the Medal of Honor for his efforts at Okinawa and is the only conscientious objector to receive an MOH.
October 13, 1775: US Navy is established.
October 24, 1945: The United Nations is created.
October 26, 1825: The Erie Canal opens.
October 28. 1965: The St. Louis Gateway Arch is completed.

November

November 1, 1800: President Adams moves into the White House.
November 1, 1765: The Stamp Act goes into effect.
November 6, 1860: Abraham Lincoln is elected President.
November 10, 1775: US Marine Corps established.
November 14, 1960: Ruby Bridges becomes the first African-American student to attend an all-white elementary school.
November 20, 1945: The Nuremberg Trials begin.
November 28, 1925: Grand Ol’ Oprey begins broadcasting.

December

December 1, 1955: Rosa Park sparks a bus boycott.
December 18, 1620: The Mayflower arrived at Plymouth.
December 18, 1865: 13th amendment adopted.
December 21, 1945: General Patton dies from injuries sustained in a car accident.
December 29, 1945: Texas enters the union.

Please email me any anniversaries you think should be considered for this list or any corrections.