Events from the year 2001 in the United States.

Incumbents Federal government President: Bill Clinton (D-Arkansas) (until January 20) George W. Bush (R-Texas) (starting January 20) Vice President: Al Gore (D-Tennessee) (until January 20) Dick Cheney (R-Wyoming) (starting January 20) Chief Justice: William Rehnquist (Virginia) Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) Senate Majority Leader: Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) (until January 3) Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) (January 3–20) Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) (January 20 – June 6) Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) (starting June 6) Congress: 106th (until January 3), 107th (starting January 3)

State governments Governors and lieutenant governors Governors

Lieutenant governors

Events January thumb|right|upright|January 20: George W. Bush becomes the 43rd U.S. president

January 1 – A black monolith measuring tall appears in Seattle's Magnuson Park, placed by an anonymous artist in reference to the monolith from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. January 2 – Sila Calderón becomes the first female governor of US territory Puerto Rico. January 7 – Extreme Championship Wrestling holds its Guilty as Charged pay-per-view event from the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, New York. This is the final ECW event held before the company files for bankruptcy two months later. January 10 – Nevada County shootings: In Nevada County, California, 40-year-old Scott Harlan Thorpe kills three people in a shooting spree. He is later found incompetent to stand trial and declared not guilty by reason of insanity. January 11 – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission approves the merger of America Online and Time Warner to form AOL Time Warner. January 14 – World Championship Wrestling holds its Sin pay-per-view event from the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. January 15 UK children's stop motion animated series Bob the Builder starts its American debut for the first time on Nick Jr. Wikipedia is launched. January 16 President Bill Clinton awards former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt a posthumous Medal of Honor for his service during the Spanish–American War; 11 of Roosevelt's descendants accept on his behalf. A man drives a semi-trailer truck into the side of the California State Capitol building, killing the driver and damaging the building's interior. January 18 – President Bill Clinton delivers his farewell address to the nation. January 20 – George W. Bush is sworn in as the 43rd president of the United States, and Dick Cheney is sworn in as the 46th vice president. January 21 – The World Wrestling Federation holds its Royal Rumble pay-per-view event from the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. January 22–24 – The "Texas Seven", a group of convicts who escaped from the John B. Connally Unit in Texas, are found in Colorado. January 26 – Lacrosse player and coach Diane Whipple is killed by two Presa Canarios named Bane and Hera, owned by her neighbors and attorneys Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel. January 28 – Super Bowl XXXV: The Baltimore Ravens defeat the New York Giants at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa 34–7, winning their first Super Bowl title.

February February 9 – The submarine strikes and sinks the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime-Maru near Hawaii. February 16 – Iraq disarmament crisis: British and U.S. forces carry out bombing raids, attempting to disable Iraq's air defense network. February 18 NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt dies in a last lap crash in the 43rd annual Daytona 500. FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested and charged with spying for Russia for 15 years. World Championship Wrestling holds its SuperBrawl Revenge pay-per-view event from the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. February 19 – An Oklahoma City bombing museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial. February 23 – Isla Vista massacre: In Isla Vista, California, David Attias drives a car into five pedestrians, killing four and critically injuring one. He is later convicted of murder and declared legally insane. February 25 – The World Wrestling Federation holds its No Way Out pay-per-view event from the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada. February 27 – President Bush delivers his first address to the 107th Congress. February 28 – The 6.8 Nisqually earthquake shook the Puget Sound region of western Washington with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), causing 1 death, 400 injuries, and 1 to US$4 billion in losses.

March March – The United States enters the early 2000s recession; the unemployment rate rises to 4.4%. March 18 – World Championship Wrestling holds its pay-per-view event Greed from the Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville, Florida, which turns out to be the company's final pay-per-view event before it is purchased by the World Wrestling Federation days later. March 23 – The World Wrestling Federation purchases its competitor, World Championship Wrestling from AOL Time Warner for $2.5 million, ending the Monday Night War. March 24 – Apple Computer releases the Mac OS X next-generation operating system, with version 10.0. It goes on to be the second-most used desktop operating system with a market share of roughly 10 percent. March 25 – The 73rd Academy Awards, hosted by Steve Martin, are held at Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with Ridley Scott's Gladiator winning five awards out of 12 nominations, including Best Picture. Steven Soderbergh is nominated twice for Best Director, winning for Traffic. The telecast garners 42.9 million viewers. March 28 – The Bush administration withdraws U.S. support for the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on the reduction of greenhouse gases. March 30 – The Fairly OddParents and Invader Zim debuts on Nickelodeon.

April April 1 A Chinese fighter jet collides with a U.S. EP-3E surveillance aircraft, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China. The U.S. crew is detained for 10 days, and the F-8 Chinese pilot goes missing and is presumed dead. The World Wrestling Federation holds WrestleMania X-Seven at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas, drawing a record crowd of 67,925. April 7 – Timothy Thomas, a 19-year-old African-American, is shot by a police officer in Cincinnati, sparking riots in downtown Cincinnati from April 10 to April 12. April 17 – The 2001 Mississippi flag referendum occurred, 64.39% of the population voted to formally adopt the 1894 U.S. state flag over the new 2001 proposed state flag design. April 19 – The multiple Tony Award-winning musical The Producers by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, starring Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick, opens on Broadway at the St. James Theatre. April 21 – The small Kansas town of Hoisington is hit by an F4 tornado, destroying one-third of the city and killing one. April 28 – Soyuz TM-32 lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying the first space tourist, American Dennis Tito. April 29 – The World Wrestling Federation holds its Backlash pay-per-view event from the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois.

May May 6 – Space tourist Dennis Tito returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-31. (Soyuz TM-32 is left docked at the International Space Station as a new lifeboat.) May 18 – Shrek is released in theaters. May 20 – The World Wrestling Federation holds its Judgment Day pay-per-view event from the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California.

June

June 5 – U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords leaves the Republican Party, an act which changes control of the United States Senate from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party. June 5–9 – Tropical Storm Allison produces 36 inches (900 mm) of rain in Houston, Texas, killing 22, damaging the Texas Medical Center, and causing more than US$5 billion of damage. June 7 – The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 is signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush, the first of a series of acts which becomes known as the Bush tax cuts. June 9 – The Colorado Avalanche wins their second Stanley Cup, and Ray Bourque wins his first Cup after a lengthy career. June 11 – In Terre Haute, Indiana, Timothy McVeigh is executed for the Oklahoma City bombing. June 15 Walt Disney Pictures' 41st feature film, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, is released. Though reception is mixed and it performs modestly at the box office, it has since become a cult favorite among fans due in part to the visual influence of comics artist Mike Mignola. The Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2001 NBA Finals in five games for their second consecutive NBA championship. June 19 – A missile hits a soccer field in Tal Afar, Iraq, killing 23 and wounding 11. The Iraqi government claims it was an American-British airstrike; U.S. officials say it was actually an Iraqi missile that malfunctioned. June 20 – Andrea Yates drowns her five children in a bath tub in Houston, Texas.Remembering the sad, shocking Andrea Yates case, 16 years later – HoustonChronicle.com June 24 – The World Wrestling Federation holds its King of the Ring pay-per-view event from the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

July July 9 – The Thirty Mile Fire ignites in Okanogan County, Washington. Four firefighters die while battling the blaze. July 16 – The FBI arrests Dmitry Sklyarov at a convention in Las Vegas, Nevada, for violating a provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). July 18 – In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derailment occurs in a tunnel, sparking a fire that lasts days and virtually shuts down downtown Baltimore. July 22 – The World Wrestling Federation holds its Invasion pay-per-view event from the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.

August August 1 – Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a monument of the Ten Commandments installed in the Rotunda of the Judiciary Building. He is later sued to have it removed, and is eventually removed from office. August 2 – The House of Representatives approves oil exploration in the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. August 5 – Having acquired the Jim Henson Company's interest in the Odyssey cable network the previous year, Crown Media Holdings rebrands Odyssey as the Hallmark Channel, after Crown Media's corporate parent Hallmark Cards. The Hallmark Channel branding continues to this day. August 9 – President Bush announces his limited support for federal funding of research on embryonic stem cells. August 19 – The World Wrestling Federation holds its SummerSlam pay-per-view event from the Compaq Center at San Jose in San Jose, California. August 25 – U.S. singer Aaliyah dies in a plane crash in the Bahamas. August 28 – The U.S. governors of New England agree with the Quebec and Atlantic Canadian premiers to the Climate Change Action Plan 2001.

September

September 1 – The libertarian Free State Project is founded at Yale University. September 2 – Adult Swim, an adult-oriented programming block, debuts on its Turner sister cable channel Cartoon Network. September 4 – Robert Mueller becomes the FBI's director. September 5 – The piece As Slow as Possible, composed by John Cage, begins. It will last 639 years, finishing in the year 2640. September 6 – United States v. Microsoft Corp.: The United States Justice Department announces that it no longer seeks to break up software maker Microsoft, and will instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty. September 10 – Donald Rumsfeld gives a speech regarding $2.3 trillion in Pentagon spending that cannot be accounted for, identifying the bureaucratic processes of the Pentagon as the biggest threat to America.

September 11 – September 11 attacks: Almost 3,000 people are killed in four suicide attacks at the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City (NYC); the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia; and in rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The attack launches the global war on terrorism.