Timeline
(D) = Democrat; (R) = Republican
August 2007. Deputy chief of staff and senior adviser Karl Rove, and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales both resign under pressure for separate incidents involving illicitly punishing critics of Republican President George W. Bush’s Iraq policy. January 2007. Democrats take over key positions in Congress (the bicameral federal legislature) and begin moves to counter President Bush’s Iraq policy. November 2006. Democrats gain 27 seats in the 435-seat House of Representatives (the lower house), taking control of both houses of Congress. August 2005. The Bush administration reportedly bungles its response to the destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. January 2005. President Bush is inaugurated for a second term after defeating Senator John Kerry in close elections in November 2004. May 2004. The Bush administration is hit with revelations of abuse of prisoners by US guards at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. February 2004. Democratic caucuses are held. Massachusetts Senator John Kerry on appears likely to gain the Democratic nomination. March 2003. The USA invades Iraq for the second time in 12 years, with a narrower coalition of foreign allies. September 2001. A series of suicide terrorist attacks are launched against targets in New York City and Washington DC. November 2000. Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee (D) loses the election to Texas Governor George W. Bush (R) after a controversial recount of Florida’s votes that takes two months to resolve. January 1997. US President Bill Clinton (D) is re-elected. The former Arkansas governor’s second inaugural speech shows a more centrist bent than his first. December 1996. Clinton is re-elected and appoints a new cabinet. October 1996. Presidential candidates Clinton and adversary Senator Bob Dole (R) of Kansas hold public debates. September 1996. Third-party candidate Ross Perot (Reform Party) of Texas is excluded from debates that will pit Clinton against Bob Dole. September 1993. Clinton fails to win Congressional approval for a major domestic reform initiative on health care. November 1992. Clinton defeats incumbent President George H. Bush (R) to become 42nd president. July 1992. Clinton is chosen as presidential candidate at the Democratic national convention. November 1988. George H. Bush (R) defeats Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis (D) in the general election and becomes the 41st president.April 1988. Super Tuesday (March 8, 1988) marks the first time Southern states group together their primaries to maximise the region's role in the selection process. November 1984. Former California Governor Ronald Reagan (R) defeatsMinnesota Senator and former Vice President Walter Mondale (D) and is re-elected president in a landslide victory, gaining 49 of 50 states. November 1980. Reagan is elected president by 10 percentage points in the popular vote, and by a 489-to-49 electoral-vote margin over Jimmy Carter (D). Carter's popularity is damaged by his mismanagement of the Iran hostage crisis and there is a resurgence of support for the Republican Party. August 1980. Republicans choose Reagan and Democrats choose incumbent president Jimmy Carter as presidential candidates. November 1976. Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter (D) defeats incumbent President Gerald Ford (R). October 1976. Carter is nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate. November 1972. Richard Nixon (R) prevails over Senator George McGovern (D) in a historic landslide victory. August 1972. McGovern is nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate on platform of ending the Vietnam War. January 1969. Nixon gives inaugural speech after winning the presidency, defeating outgoing vice president Hubert Humphrey (D). April 1968. Former Texas Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson (D) refuses to run for president in 1968 in large part because of the Vietnam War and in part because he fared worse than expected in the New Hampshire primaries. November 1964. Johnson wins a landslide victory against Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater (R). October 1964. At the Democratic national convention, Johnson defeats Humphrey, then chooses him as running mate. November 1963. President John F. Kennedy (D) is assassinated in Dallas, Texas, by a sniper. Lyndon Johnson is sworn in as president. November 1960. Kennedy wins a narrow victory over Nixon. August 1960. Incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon (R) wins the Republican nomination to run for president. August 1960. Kennedy gains the nomination at the Democratic national convention for the 1960 elections, after defeating Minnesotan Senator Hubert Humphrey. July 1952. The Republican national convention elects General Dwight D. Eisenhower as presidential candidate and Californian Richard Nixon as his running mate. July 1952. Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson is elected as the Democratic candidate to oppose General Eisenhower in the 1952 elections. President Harry S. Truman (D) declines to run. November 1948. Truman defeats New York Governor Thomas Dewey (R) in a surprise victory in the presidential election by a very slim margin. September 1948. South Carolina Governor J. Strom Thurmond runs for president on a pro-South, anti-racial integration platform as the candidate of a splinter group from the Democratic Party. April 1945. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D) of New York dies in the midst of his fourth term after holding office for 12 years. Truman assumes the presidency. November 1944. Roosevelt wins a fourth term as president having defeated Thomas Dewey by a margin of 432 to 99 electoral votes. Soon afterwards a law is passed limiting presidents to two terms of office. July 1944. The Democratic Party nominates Roosevelt to run for a fourth term; he accepts, citing the necessity in time of war. November 1940. Roosevelt wins a third term, decisively defeating Republican Wendell Wilkie of Indiana. September 1940. Erstwhile Democrat Wendell Wilkie of Indiana switches sides to run as a Republican presidential candidate on a pro-business platform. November 1932. Roosevelt is elected president, defeating incumbent President Herbert Hoover (R).
