Timeline of Homeland Security Events and Milestones
The Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 is signed. “The CIA was created under the National Security Act of 1947. […] Two years later, President Truman signed the Central Intelligence Agency Act, which authorized CIA to secretly fund intelligence operations and conduct personnel actions outside of standard US Government procedures.” —…
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Docked in Texas City, TX, the S.S. Grandcamp, loaded with a cargo 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, suddenly and mysteriously caught fire. After failed attempts to extinguish the flames, the cargo exploded, launching the cargo 2,000-3,000 feet in the air and causing a 15-foot tidal wave. The shock could…
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Six Japanese carriers launched 181 planes carrying torpedo bombers, dive bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters. Only 30 minutes later 170 more aircraft launched their attack on the Harbor. The attack was intended to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with Japanese military actions, but spurred the U.S. into war…
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Following in the wake of the Homestead Act, settlers began populating and farming on the Great Plains, planting an abundance of dry-land wheat to try and keep up with demand. Beginning in 1930 and lasting for nearly a decade, the Great Plains suffered a severe drought that would only further…
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A category 4 hurricane struck the Palm Beach area of Florida bringing storm surges as high as 20 feet crashing into the barrier islands. The storm would rage over Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Lake Worth, Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Pompano Beach, and Lake Okeechobee. With the high death toll,…
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The Tulsa Race Massacre, also known as the Tusla Race Riots, began with an incident that took place on May 30, 1921, in which Dick Rowland, a young black teenager, entered an elevator at the Drexel office building. The elevator operator, a young white woman named Sarah Page, screamed during…
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A man driving a cart pulled by horse, parked in front of the U.S. Assay Office across from the J. P. Morgan building in the heart of Wall Street, before leaving and disappearing into the crowd. Only minutes later, a bomb exploded, devastating the area. A number of people would…
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In the spring of 1918, the first wave of the influenza epidemic struck in military camps in Kansas and throughout the U.S., but was generally mild. Those who contracted the flu usually recovered after several days of typical flu-like symptoms. However, when the second wave hit in the autumn of…
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An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 struck San Francisco, CA. Violent shocks lasted approximately 40-60 seconds and was felt from southern Oregon to the south of Los Angeles and inland as far as Central Nevada. Fires that resulted from broken gas mains raged for three days, and the pipeline…
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September 8, 1900: A category 4 hurricane ripped through the port city of Galveston, Texas with winds over 135 miles per hour. Storm surges rose 15 feet and completely devastated the prosperous and, at the time, one of the biggest cities in Texas, with over 40,000 inhabitants. Galveston would go…
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A forest fire that was allegedly started by railroad workers who were clearing land for tracks, swept through northeast Wisconsin. Within an hour of the fire striking, the city of Peshtigo, WI was gone. A number of factors were attributed to the raging fire, including a prolonged drought and a…
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An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the region of San Francisco Bay. It lasted for more than 40 seconds and is considered one of the most destructive earthquakes in California’s history, regardless of the sparse population of the time. Shaking could be felt as far as Nevada, and…
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A magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck on the San Andreas Fault from near Parkfield to approximately 300 km away near Wrightwood. The quake could be felt from Marysville to San Diego, and east to Las Vegas, with strong shaking lasting from one to three minutes.—(USGS) Date of event: January 9, 1857 Impact:…
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The 1811-1812 New Madrid Sequence consisted of three large earthquakes: A Magnitude 7.5 earthquake that struck on December 15, 1811; a magnitude 7.3 that struck on January 23, 1812; and a magnitude 7.5 that struck on February 7, 1812. Following the earthquakes, hundreds of aftershocks were felt in 1813. There…
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