2005 in the United States

Incumbents

Federal government

• President: George W. Bush
• Vice President: Dick Cheney
• Chief Justice: William Rehnquist , John Roberts
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dennis Hastert
• Senate Majority Leader: Bill Frist
• Congress: 108th, 109th

  Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events

January

• January 1 – U.S. President George W. Bush delivers a radio address in regards to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami relief efforts on New Year's Day.
• January 3 – U.S. President George W. Bush is joined by former Presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton in the Roosevelt Room as he announces that the two former presidents will be involved with the humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami relief efforts in across the region of South and Southeast Asia.
• January 6 – The Graniteville train disaster kills nine and injures 250 in Graniteville, South Carolina.
• January 12 – Deep Impact is launched from Cape Canaveral by a Delta 2 rocket.
• January 20 – U.S. President George W. Bush begins his second term.
• January 26 – Glendale train crash: Two trains derail, killing 11 and injuring 200, in Glendale, California.

  February

• February 6 – Super Bowl XXXIX: The New England Patriots win their second consecutive Super Bowl title, defeating the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 24–21.
• February 10 – North Korea announces that it possesses nuclear weapons as a protection against the hostility it feels from the United States.
• February 15 – The Internet site YouTube goes online.
• February 16 – The Kyoto Protocol goes into effect, without the support of the United States and Australia.
• February 24 – David Hernandez Arroyo goes on a shooting rampage at the Smith County Courthouse in Tyler, Texas. He kills two, including his ex-wife, and injures four people, before being killed in a police chase.
• February 25 – Wichita, Kansas police apprehend the BTK serial killer Dennis Rader, 31 years after his first murder.
• February 27 – The 77th Academy Awards, hosted by Chris Rock, are held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, with Million Dollar Baby winning Best Picture.

  March

• March 1 – Roper v. Simmons: The Supreme Court of the United States rules the death penalty unconstitutional for juveniles who committed their crimes before the age of 18.
• March 4 – The car of released Italian hostage Giuliana Sgrena is fired on by U.S. soldiers in Iraq, causing the death of one passenger and injuring two more.
• March 11 – Three people, including a judge, are murdered in the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, Georgia; the main suspect, Brian Nichols, surrenders to police the next day.
• March 12 – Terry Ratzmann opens fire during a church sermon in New Berlin, Wisconsin, killing seven and injuring four before taking his own life.
• March 21 – Ten are killed in the Red Lake shootings in Minnesota by teenager Jeffrey Weise, who commits suicide after a shootout with police. It is the worst school shooting since the Columbine High School massacre.
• March 23 – The United States' 11th Circuit Court of Appeals refuses by a vote of 2–1 to stop the euthanasia of Terri Schiavo, who has been in a vegetative state since 1990, by not ordering the reinsertion of her feeding tube.
• March 31 – Terri Schiavo dies at the age of 41 in Pinellas Park, FL.

  April

• April 8 – Fever Pitch, a film starring Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore documenting the Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series run, is released.
• April 9 – Tens of thousands of demonstrators, many of them supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr, march through Baghdad denouncing the U.S. occupation of Iraq, two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and rally in the square where his statue was toppled in 2003.
• April 30 – Newsweek alleges that American interrogators and guards have desecrated the Qur'an in attempts to rattle Islamic detainees.

  May

• May 10 – A hand grenade ostensibly thrown by Vladimir Arutinian lands about 100 feet from United States President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but the explosive malfunctions and does not detonate.
• May 13
• * The United States Department of Defense issues a list of bases to be closed as part of the Base Realignment and Closure process.
• * Serial killer Michael Bruce Ross becomes the first person executed in New England in 45 years.
• May 16 – George Galloway appears before a United States Senate committee, to answer allegations of making money from the Iraqi Oil-for-Food Programme.
• May 31 – W. Mark Felt reveals himself to be the Watergate scandal whistleblower called "Deep Throat."

  June

• June 2 – The construction of Northrop Grumman X–47B, the world's first unmanned surveillance attack aircraft that can operate from both land bases and aircraft carriers, begins.
• June 17 – Because of "quadruple-witching" options and futures expiration, the New York Stock Exchange sees the heaviest first-hour trading on record. 704 million shares are traded between 9:30–10:30 a.m..
• June 24 – A Volna booster rocket carrying the first light sail spacecraft fails 83 seconds after its launch, destroying the spacecraft.
• June 30 – The Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement is passed by the United States.

  July

• July 4
• * The Italy–USA Foundation is established in Rome, Italy.
• * NASA's "Copper bullet" from the Deep Impact spacecraft hits Comet Tempel 1, creating a crater for scientific studies.
• July 10 – Hurricane Dennis strikes near Navarre Beach, Florida as a Category 3 storm. There are 42 direct, 47 indirect dead and $4 billion in damages.
• July 19 – President Bush nominates John Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill a vacancy that would be left by the resignation of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
• July 24 – Lance Armstrong wins a record 7th straight Tour de France before his scheduled retirement. In 2012 he will be disqualified from each of those races and banned from cycling for life for doping offenses by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.
• July 26 – STS–114 launches as the first "Return to Flight" Space Shuttle mission following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.

  August

• August 2 – The Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement is signed into law in the United States.
• August 9 – Space Shuttle Discovery returns to Edwards Air Force Base at 0814 EDT, completing STS–114, "Return to Flight".
• August 12 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched.
• August 23 – Hurricane Katrina forms over the Bahamas.
• August 29–August 30 – At least 1,836 are killed, and severe damage is caused along the U.S. Gulf Coast, as Hurricane Katrina strikes coastal areas from Louisiana to Alabama, and travels up the entire state of Mississippi, affecting most of eastern North America. Katrina becomes the costliest hurricane in US history with $108 billion in damages. The New Orleans Saints football team will play their entire 2005 season on the road due to the effects of the hurricane.

  September

• September – The largest evacuation in Houston takes place as millions evacuate from Hurricane Rita.
• September 1 – Oil prices rise sharply following the economic effects of Hurricane Katrina.
• September 5 – John Roberts is nominated by President George W. Bush for Chief Justice of the United States, replacing William Rehnquist, who had died two days previously.
• September 14–September 16 – The largest UN World Summit in history is held in New York City.
• September 20 – The NFL sees the groundbreaking ceremony for two new stadiums, the Indianapolis Colts' Lucas Oil Stadium and the Dallas Cowboys' temporarily named Cowboys Stadium.
• September 23 – Convicted bank thief and Boricua Popular Army leader, Filiberto Ojeda Ríos, is killed in his home in Hormigueros, Puerto Rico when members of the FBI attempt to serve an arrest warrant.
• September 24
• * Worldwide protests occur against the Iraq War, with over 150,000 protesters in Washington, D.C..
• * Hurricane Rita hits the U.S. Gulf Coast, devastating areas near Beaumont, Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana. The Ninth Ward of New Orleans re-floods since Katrina, and Mississippi and Alabama are also affected. There are 97 dead and $12 billion in damages.
• September 26 – U.S. Army Reservist Lynndie England is convicted by a military jury on six of seven counts, in connection with the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.
• September 28 – United States House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is indicted on charges of criminal conspiracy by a Texas grand jury. After being indicted, DeLay stepped down from his position as Majority Leader. He was the first congressional leader ever to be indicted. Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri took over as acting leader. On November 24, 2010, DeLay was found guilty by a jury in Austin, Texas, of conspiracy to commit money laundering and making an illegal contribution. He was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison and 10 years probation on January 10, 2011.
• September 29 – John Roberts is confirmed and sworn in as the 17th Chief Justice of the United States.

  October

• October 1
• * An Australian photojournalist in Afghanistan, Stephen Dupont, films U.S. soldiers burning two dead Taliban militias' bodies.
• * The United States housing bubble begins to burst, causing home prices to stop rising unexpectedly and begin to decline.
• October 2
• * The first regular-season NFL game played outside of the USA pits the San Francisco 49ers against the Arizona Cardinals at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, Mexico. The Cardinals win by a score of 31–14.
• * A tour boat capsizes on Lake George, New York killing 20 of 47 aboard.
• October 3
• * U.S. President George W. Bush nominates Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court of the United States.
• * St. Tammany Parish schools reopen in Louisiana, just over a month after Hurricane Katrina.
• October 15 – A riot occurs in Toledo, Ohio during a Neo-Nazi rally on racial issues; 114 are arrested.
• October 16 – U.S. helicopters and warplanes bomb two villages near Ramadi in western Iraq, killing about 70 people.
• October 19 – The Houston Astros win their first National League Championship, advancing to their first World Series in franchise history.
• October 24
• *Hurricane Wilma makes landfall in southwestern Florida as a category 3 hurricane. There are 23 direct, 39 indirect dead and $29.1 billion in damages.
• *Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks, who made headlines when she refused to give up her seat a Montgomery bus, dies of natural causes at the age of 92 in Detroit. She becomes the first woman to lie in honor in the United States Capitol rotunda.
• October 25 – The Chicago White Sox defeat the Houston Astros 7-5 in 14 innings in the first World Series game in the State of Texas to extend their lead to 3-0 putting them within win of the Series. The game which takes 5 hours and 41 minutes to complete is the longest postseason game by time.
• October 26
• * The Chicago White Sox beat the Houston Astros in four games to win their first World Series since 1917.
• * The U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 2,000.
• October 27 – After issues arise of her competency to adjudicate United States Constitutional law, Harriet Miers withdraws her name from consideration for the Supreme Court of the United States.
• October 28 – Vice presidential adviser Lewis "Scooter" Libby resigns after being charged with obstruction of justice, perjury and making a false statement in the CIA leak investigation. Libby has been indicted by a federal grand jury concerning the investigation of the leak of the covert identity of Central Intelligence Agency officer Valerie Plame Wilson, her relationship with the CIA being formerly classified information. Libby is indicted on five counts relating to the Plame affair: two of perjury, two of making false statements to federal investigators, and one of obstruction of justice. In the subsequent federal trial, United States v. Libby, the jury convicts Libby on four of the five counts in the indictment and acquits on the second count of making false statements. On June 5, 2007, the presiding trial judge, Reggie B. Walton, sentences Libby to 30 months in federal prison, a fine of $250,000 and two years of supervised release, including 400 hours of community service, and then orders Libby to begin his sentence immediately. On July 2, 2007, when Libby's appeal of Walton's order fails, Bush commutes Libby's 30-month prison sentence, leaving the other parts of his sentence intact. As a consequence of his conviction, Libby's license to practice law is suspended by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in December 2007. On April 3, 2007, the District of Columbia Bar suspends his license to practice law in Washington, D.C., and recommends his disbarment pending his appeal of his conviction. On March 20, 2008, after he drops his appeal, he is disbarred by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, in Washington, D.C., at least until 2012.
• October 31
• * U.S. President George W. Bush nominates Federal Appeals Court Judge Samuel Alito to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
• * Astronomers announce the discovery of two additional moons orbiting the Pluto/Charon system. Subsequently, named Nix and Hydra, the moons have been found in images from the Hubble Space Telescope.

  November

• November 1
• * United States Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and his fellow Democrats force a closed session of the Senate over the Lewis Libby indictment.
• * Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall arrive in the United States for a state visit, their first overseas tour since their marriage.
• November 4 – The U.S. and Uruguay governments sign a Bilateral Investment Treaty.
• November 6 – Evansville Tornado of November 2005: A tornado hits western Kentucky and southwestern Indiana, killing 25 with $92 million in damages.
• November 20 – The Washington Post rebukes journalist Bob Woodward over his conduct in the CIA leak probe.

  December

• December – The unemployment rate falls below 5% for the first time since August 2001; it will remain below 5% until December 2007.
• December 7 – A U.S. Federal Air Marshal fatally shoots Rigoberto Alpizar on a jetway at Miami International Airport in Florida.
• December 8 – Southwest Airlines Flight 1248 overshoots the runway at Chicago Midway Airport, killing a 6-year-old boy and injuring 11 other people.
• December 16 – The 43rd Mersenne prime is found, 2^30,402,457 − 1. It was discovered with the GIMPS project by Dr. Curtis Cooper and Dr. Steven Boone, professors at Central Missouri State University.
• December 20 – 2005 New York City transit strike: New York City's Transport Workers Union Local 100 goes on strike for three days, shutting down all New York City Subway and Bus services.
• December 23 – U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announces the first in an expected series of troop drawdowns following the Iraqi elections.

  Undated

• Ten years after reaching the million mark, the U.S. prison population reaches 2.5 million inmates.

  Ongoing

• War in Afghanistan
• Iraq War

  Births

• March 11 – Riley Ann Sawyers, murder victim
• March 28 – Ella Anderson, actress
• July 25 – Pierce Gagnon, actor
• August 9 – Caylee Anthony, murder victim
• October 7 - Lulu Wilson, actress
• July 12 - Issac Ryan Brown, actor

  Deaths

January

• January 1
• * Shirley Chisholm, American politician, educator and author
• * Eugene J. Martin, American artist
• * Bob Matsui, Japanese-American politician
• January 2
• * Arnold Denker, American chess player
• * Maclyn McCarty, American geneticist
• January 3 – Will Eisner, American cartoonist, writer and entrepreneur
• January 4
• * Guy Davenport, American writer, artist and scholar
• * Robert Heilbroner, American writer
• * Alton Tobey, American artist
• January 7 – Rosemary Kennedy, American socialite
• January 10 – James Forman, American civil rights activist
• January 15 – Ruth Warrick, American singer, actress and political activist
• January 17 – Virginia Mayo, American actress
• January 20 – Roland Frye, theologian and critic
• January 21 – Adrianne Leigh Reynolds, murder victim
• January 23 – Johnny Carson, American television host and comedian
• January 25 – Philip Johnson, American architect

  February

• February 1 – John Vernon, Canadian actor
• February 3 – Ernst Mayr, German-American evolutionary biologist
• February 4 – Ossie Davis, American actor, director, poet, playwright, author and activist
• February 5 – Bob Brannum, American basketball player
• February 6
• * Elbert N. Carvel, politician
• * Merle Kilgore, singer and songwriter
• February 8
• * Mike Bishop, American basketball player
• * George Herman, American journalist
• * Keith Knudsen, American drummer
• * Jimmy Smith, American jazz musician
• February 10 – Arthur Miller, playwright and husband of Marilyn Monroe
• February 11 – Jack L. Chalker, American author and writer
• February 12
• * Brian Kelly, American actor
• * Sammi Smith, American country music singer-songwriter
• February 13 – Nelson Briles, American baseball player
• February 14 – Dick Weber, American boxer
• February 14 – F. M. Busby, American author
• February 20
• * Sandra Dee, actress
• * Hunter S. Thompson, journalist
• February 24 – Hugh Nibley, American scholar and prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints
• February 25 – Ben Bowen, cancer victim

  March

• March 6
• * Hans Bethe, German-born physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
• * Teresa Wright, actress
• March 9 – Chris LeDoux, rodeo performer and singer
• March 13 – Lyn Collins, R&B singer
• March 17 – George F. Kennan, diplomat and political advisor
• March 19 – John DeLorean, car maker
• March 21
• * Bobby Short, pianist and singer
• * Jeff Weise, American teenage mass murderer and spree killer
• March 29
• * Johnnie Cochran, American lawyer
• * Mitch Hedberg, American stand-up comedian
• March 30
• * Robert Creeley, American poet
• * Fred Korematsu, Japanese-American civil rights activist
• March 31 – Terri Schiavo, right-to-die cause célèbre

  April

• April 5 – Jack Keller, songwriter and producer
• April 5 – Saul Bellow, writer
• April 16 – Marla Ruzicka, activist, founder of Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict
• April 19 – Ruth Hussey, actress
• April 26 – Mason Adams, actor

  May

• May 7 – Peter Wallace Rodino, politician
• May 8 – Lloyd Cutler, attorney and Presidential advisor
• May 13 – George Dantzig, mathematician
• May 14 – Jimmy Martin, musician
• May 16 – Eliza Jane Scovill, AIDS victim
• May 17 – Frank Gorshin, American actor, impressionist and comedian
• May 21 – Howard Morris, actor
• May 22 – Thurl Ravenscroft, voice actor
• May 26 – Eddie Albert, actor

  June

• June 4 – Ronald F. Marryott, admiral
• June 6
• * Maurice Rabb Jr., American ophthalmologist
• * Dana Elcar, American actor
• * Anne Bancroft, actress and wife of Mel Brooks
• June 13 – Lane Smith, American actor
• June 20
• * Charles David Keeling, climate scientist
• * Jack Kilby, electronics engineer, Nobel Prize laureate
• June 24 – Paul Winchell, American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, voice artist, humanitarian and inventor
• June 25
• * Domino Harvey, British-American bounty hunter
• * John Fiedler, actor
• June 27 – Shelby Foote, American historian and novelist
• June 28
• * Danny Dietz, American naval officer
• * Erik S. Kristensen, American naval officer
• * Michael P. Murphy, American naval officer
• * Stephen C. Reich, American 160th SOAR officer

  July

• July 1 – Luther Vandross, singer, songwriter and record producer
• July 4
• * June Haver, actress and singer
• * Hank Stram, football coach
• July 5 – James Stockdale, admiral and vice presidential candidate
• July 6
• * Bruno Augenstein, German-American mathematician and physicist
• * L. Patrick Gray, FBI director
• * Ed McBain, screenwriter and crime fiction writer
• July 9 – Kevin Hagen, television actor
• July 11 – Frances Langford, radio and film actress and singer
• July 14 – Joe Harnell, pianist and composer
• July 16 – John Ostrom, paleontologist
• July 18 – William Westmoreland, general
• July 20 – James Doohan, Canadian actor
• July 23 – Myron Floren, accordionist
• July 25 – Ford Rainey, actor
• July 26 – Jack Hirshleifer, economist

  August

• August 1 – John Alevizos, businessman
• August 2 – Jay Hammond, politician
• August 8 – John H. Johnson, businessman and publisher.
• August 9 – Matthew McGrory, screen actor noted for his height
• August 17 – John Norris Bahcall, astrophysicist
• August 21 – Robert Moog, pioneer of electronic music

  September

• September 1 – R.L. Burnside, American blues singer
• September 2 – Bob Denver, American actor
• September 3
• * William Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States.
• * James Rossi, Olympic cyclist.
• September 14 – Robert Wise, American film director
• September 25
• * Don Adams, American actor
• * Urie Bronfenbrenner, Russian-born American professor of psychology

  October

• October 12 – Jack White, journalist and reporter
• October 18 – Bill King, sports broadcaster
• October 22 – Arman, French-American artist
• October 24 – Rosa Parks, civil rights activist
• October 28 – Richard Smalley, chemist and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate

  November

• November 1 – Michael Piller, American screenwriter and producer
• November 4 – Sheree North, American actress, dancer and singer
• November 12 – James Fyfe, criminologist and instructor
• November 13 – Eddie Guerrero, Mexican-American professional wrestler
• November 15 – Adrian Rogers, religious leader
• November 16 – Henry Taube, Canadian-American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• November 18
• * Harold J. Stone, American actor
• * Elias Syriani, Jordanian-born American convicted murderer
• November 24 – Pat Morita, American actor

  December

• December 2
• * Kenneth Lee Boyd, murderer
• * William P. Lawrence, admiral and pilot
• * Nat Mayer Shapiro, painter
• December 10 – Richard Pryor, actor and comedian
• December 14 – Stew Bowers baseball player
• December 20 – Bradford Cannon, Boston plastic surgeon
• December 21 – Elrod Hendricks, baseball player and coach
• December 31
• * Sanora Babb, writer
• * Enrico Di Giuseppe, operatic tenor