Timeline

Presidents

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Fun facts

Living Memories

1899
San Francisco
The first ship to shore wireless transmission received in the United States is sent from the San Francisco lightship to a station in the Cliff House restaurant.

California
As a response to some rather scathing depictions of California political life, the State Legislature passes the Cartoon Act to outlaw political cartoons. The law has little effect and is largely ignored.

United States
In February, The Philippine-American war breaks out when Filipino rebels engage occupying US troops.
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1900
San Francisco
Bishop B.W. Arnett, renowned African American teacher, religious leader, and Ohio State Legislator, speaks at San Francisco's Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, urging African Americans to take pride in the color of their skin and to "press forward and take our rightful place in the history of the world."

California
The California State Automobile Association and the Automobile Club of Southern California are founded, promoting and influencing California highway projects.

United States
At the 1900 Democratic National Convention in Kansas City, William Jennings Bryan speaks on "The Paralyzing Influence of Imperialism" in response to U.S. annexation of formerly held Spanish territories.
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1906
San Francisco
The Call-Chronicle-Examiner, a combination of SF's three leading newspapers, describes San Francisco as "a mass of smoldering ruins" after the earthquake and fire destroy the City.

California
In an era known for railroad barons, shady deals, and power brokering, controversy surrounds the Republican state convention as several Supreme Court justices and the gubernatorial candidate are implicated in a bribery scandal.

United States
President Theodore Roosevelt is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating terms which brought the Russo-Japanese War to an end.
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1910
San Francisco
Angel Island opens as an immigration station where predominantly Chinese immigrants are processed. At this "first stop," some immigrants are kept isolated for months at a time.

California
At Dominguez Hills in Southern California, newspaper magnate William R. Hearst sponsors the first ever Air Meet, where pilot Louis Paulhan sets the record for altitude at 4,149 feet.

United States
In a bold political maneuver, the House of Representatives votes against apportioning funds to provide Vice President Sherman with an automobile.
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1921
San Francisco
Silent film comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle is acquitted of all charges arising from the death of actress Virginia Rappe in the star's suite during a party at the St. Francis Hotel.

California
Hollywood's silent films reach new heights with the release of Charlie Chaplin's first full-length feature "The Kid," Chaplin's classic social commentary.

United States
The first ever "play-by-play" broadcast of the World Series is aired by radio station WJZ of Newark, New Jersey. The Giants beat the Yankees five games to three.
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1931
San Francisco
More than ten years after the first proposals to create a symphony hall, opera house, and memorial for the veterans of WWI, construction begins on the War Memorial complex. Puccini's "Tosca" is performed at the October 1932 opening.

California
The Save the Redwoods League has successfully saved more than 13,000 acres of California forest and plays an influential role in bringing about the State Parks Commission.

United States
The Star Spangled Banner becomes the nation's national anthem by an Act of Congress.
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1939
San Francisco
The Golden Gate International Exposition opens on Treasure Island. Among the Fair's special attractions are the Hupp Skylark automobile and the Pan American Airways clipper ship.

California
During the Depression, Governor Olsen promises a "New Deal" for California.

United States
The 1939-1940 New York World's Fair gets under way with a great deal of fanfare but is soon overshadowed by the outbreak of war in Europe.
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1946
San Francisco
With the Charter having been signed in San Francisco the previous year, members of the U.N. inspection tour arrive to consider making the city the United Nation's permanent home.

California
Jobs created by the booming war industry have attracted thousands to California, and the state's population swells.

United States
The Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most highly decorated of WWII, receives a Presidential Unit Citation. President Truman congratulates the unit on defeating "not only the enemy... but prejudice."
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1947 San Francisco
San Franciscans are shocked and dismayed when Mayor Roger Lapham declares that "the city should get rid of the cable cars as soon as possible." Thanks to the tireless lobbying of Friedel Klussman, and her "Citizen's Committee to Save the Cable Cars," the matter is decided in November when the citizens vote to keep the cable cars by an overwhelming majority.

California
With more than 14,000 miles of highway in use and the number of licensed vehicles in California topping 3 million, much-needed freeway construction proceeds.

United States
The Freedom Train, a traveling exhibition showcasing important historical documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation, steams across the country. The exhibit is seen by many.
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1950
San Francisco
The 49ers win only three games in their NFL debut.

California
Richard M. Nixon wins a seat in the U.S. Senate after alleging that his opponent, Helen Douglas, is "pro-communist."

United States
The House and the Senate, concerned over the potential number of representatives, engage in fierce political debates over the adoption of Alaska and Hawaii as states.
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1954
San Francisco
San Francisco becomes the center of national attention as Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe wed in a civil ceremony at City Hall.

California
Billionaire John D. Rockefellor Jr. donates $1 million to the state to help purchase redwood trees in Toulomne county that are slated fordestruction by a lumber company.

United States
Segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine is ruled unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education.
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1957
San Francisco
San Francisco and the Peninsula are shaken by the area's largest earthquake since 1906. Though measuring only 5.3 on the Richter scale, quake damage is recorded throughout the Bay Area.

California
After the close of the baseball season, the Dodgers and the Giants each announce plans to bring professional baseball to the west coast by moving to California.

United States
The President sends Arkansas national guardsmen and regular army troops to Little Rock to help enforce the government's desegregation policy. Six girls and three boys are driven to school every morning in an Army station wagon followed by two jeeps.
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1967
San Francisco
Attended by more than 20,000 people, the first Human Be-In is held at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park.

California
Thousands gather to hear artists such as the Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, and Otis Redding at the Monterey Pop Festival.

United States
Thurgood Marshall becomes the first black man to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
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1968
San Francisco
In an era when much of the nation's attention is focused on San Francisco, Ghiradelli Square and the Cannery are transformed from empty warehouses into San Francisco landmarks in a massive beautification project.

California
Congress approves and President Johnson signs a bill creating Redwood National Park to save hundreds of acres of trees in Northern California. President Johnson calls the act "a monument to the wisdom of our generation."

United States
In separate incidents, the lives of prominent African American leaders and civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are ended tragically and prematurely by assassins' bullets.
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1969
San Francisco
As a protest against the U.S. government's treatment of Native Americans, approximately one hundred American Indians occupy Alcatraz Island in November. The group, composed primarily of American Indian college students, remains for nineteen months before their forced removal.

California
The UC Board of Regents dismisses Angela Davis from her teaching job at UCLA after Davis reveals that she is a member of the Communist Party. Davis is shown overwhelming support by the university's faculty and the Los Angeles Superior Court eventually rules the ban on hiring communists unconstitutional.

United States
Commander of Apollo 11 Neil Armstrong walks on the moon, taking "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
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1975
San Francisco
In February, United Farm Workers activists embark on a 110 mile, week long march from San Francisco to Modesto in support of an ongoing boycott of one of California's major wineries.

California
Television station KNTV in San Jose airs the first condom commercial in broadcast history. The ad is shelved soon after its first airing due to initial viewer response, then revived as a majority of households approve the spot.

United States
In July, NASA closes down the Apollo program and its "throw away" spacecraft in favor of the space shuttle project. The 17th launch of an Apollo ship in July marks the end of an unforgettable era in space exploration.
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1976
San Francisco
The Municipal Railway and other city services are brought to a standstill as the city workers call a general strike.

California
To the relief of farmers, rain in Southern California on Feb. 5 ends the worst West Coast drought in 70 years.

United States
The United States celebrates 200 years of independence from Great Britain.
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1978
San Francisco
In a daring Christmas Eve robbery, a gang of thieves steals Rembrandt's $1 million "Portrait of a Rabbi" from the DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park.

California
With a simple phone call, a man in southern California pulls off the nation's biggest bank heist by engineering a fraudulent wire transfer of $10.2 million from a local bank to his offshore account.

United States
Women's role in the Armed Forces expands as the Defense Department incorporates them into the regular service by eliminating the WAC's, and calling for an end to the ban on service in combat units. The Marine Corps also appoints its first female general.
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1979
San Francisco
President Jimmy Carter attends a San Francisco Opera House benefit for the family of slain San Francisco Mayor George Moscone.

California
In Los Angeles, Clayton Moore, star of the fifties television show "The Lone Ranger," defies a court order prohibiting him from wearing the famous Lone Ranger mask. The ban on the mask came after a legal dispute between Moore and a film company that had purchased the rights to the famous trademark.

United States
In an effort to revitalize the nation's educational system, President Carter creates a Department of Education.
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1986
San Francisco
Herb Caen celebrates 50 years at the chronicle, having been hired in 1936, at the age of 20, as the paper's radio columnist.

California
In the first ever successful helicopter-assisted escape from a federal prison, Ronald J. McIntosh, a minimum security prisoner, hijacks a helicopter and lands it at the federal prison near Pleasanton, where he picks up Samantha Lopez, a prisoner serving 50 years there for bank robbery. The two are caught two weeks later shopping for wedding rings.

United States
The Iran-Contra scandal surfaces when questions are raised about the Reagan administration's role in the release of U.S. hostages held in Iran and the funding of military groups in Central America.
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1989
San Francisco
The San Francisco Bay Area is rocked and ravaged by the magnitude 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake.

California
With up to six inches falling in outlying suburbs, Los Angeles suffers a freak snowstorm in January as a massive cold front that caused record low temperatures in Alaska and Canada spreads south in the U.S.

United States
The late Lucille Ball, and Gen. James Doolittle, known for leading the first U.S. air-strike against Japan in WWII, are the recipients of the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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1993
San Francisco
Dedicated to exhibiting multicultural and experimental art, the Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena Gardens opens.

California
For the first time in twenty years, California's population grows at a slower rate than the rest of the nation.

United States
President Clinton names Janet Reno to head the Department of Justice as Attorney General. Reno is the first woman in the nation's history to be appointed to the post.
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1995
San Francisco
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev invites hundreds of world leaders and businessmen to join him for a five day conference at the Fairmont Hotel to discuss the state of the world. Attendees include George Bush and Margaret Thatcher.

California
In August, classes begin at California State University Monterey Bay, the newest edition to the CSU system.

United States
In November, the federal government shuts down as President Clinton and Congress fail to compromise on the federal budget. For the first time in history, all 369 national monuments, parks, and recreation areas are closed.
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Archived Information. Last modified March 20, 2009, by University Communications