In American history, there have been a ton of major events that have happened.

Each one
of those events have shaped our country into what it is today. After the attack on September 11,
2021, America changed tremendously for the good of the country. Since then we have had a
huge change with how our government runs.
Osama bin Laden was the mastermind behind the attack on September 11, 2001. He then
went into hiding for a little over ten years. The United States had forces looking for him along
the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In 2004, bin Laden released a videotape message where he
claimed responsibility for the attack on 9/11. This message was released a week before the 2004
presidential election. After this message was released, he would periodically release new
messages. In 2009, bin Laden challenged Barack Obama to continue the fight against al-Qaeda.
The U.S forces “eventually found bin Laden living in a secure compound in Abbottabad (Osama
bin Laden, 2021).” On May 2, 2011, a small U.S force transported by helicopters raided the
compound. This raid was the cause of bin Laden’s death. Hours after confirming the DNA of the
body, Obama announced the death of bin Laden on TV. “Several days after Obama’s
announcement, al-Qaeda released a statement publicly acknowledging bin Laden’s death and
vowing revenge (Osama bin Laden, 2021).”
Hurricane Sandy was a huge devastating disaster to hit the United States. This hurricane
“affected 24 states and all of the eastern seaboard (Hurricane Sandy Fun Facts, 2021).” The
damage costed roughly around 78.7 billion dollars. Putting it at the fourth costliest US storm. Of
course, coming after Hurricane Katrina, Harvey and Maria. Hurricane Sandy took over one
hundred lives. Ranging from the Caribbean to the United States and Canada. After this disaster
happened, Americans came together to help families, friends, neighbors. “First responders
navigated dangerous conditions to rescue individuals in need (Hurricane Sandy Fun Facts,
2021).” The American Red Cross mobilized more than one thousand disaster workers all around
the coast. While the local Red Cross provided shelters for those in need. The Salvation Army
used dozens of mobile feeding units to serve meals to thousands. They worked with local
emergency management officials to determine where help was needed the most. The National
Guard was prepared for the hurricane to hit before the arrival. They worked with other state
forces, and active duty military personnel to prepare for Sandy. They gathered information, used
new command structures and used specialized units. The Coast Guard did search and rescue on
land. They also controlled traffic, debris removal, route clearance, distributed food and water,
and many other operations.
Throughout history, same sex marriages have been illegal and looked down on. “By one
vote, the court rules that same-sex marriage cannot be banned in the United States and that all
same-sex marriages must be recognized nationwide, finally granting same-sex couples equal
rights to heterosexual couples under the law (Same-ex Marriage is made Legal Nationwide with
Obergefell v. Hodges Decision, 2020).” American culture started to grow and accept new ideas,
homosexuality slowly became more accepted. For many years, same-sex marriages were illegal
in many states. In 2003 Massachusetts became the first state to make same-sex marriage legal. In
2011, Obama instructed the Justice Department to stop defending DOMA. DOMA is the Defense
of Marriage Act that was signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996. This act prohibited the
recognition of same-sex marriages at the federal level. In 2015, the court ruled 5-4 in favor of the
plaintiffs. This stating that both bans on same-sex marriages and bans on recognizing same-sex
marriages were unconstitutional in the case of Obergefell versus Hodges.
 A major devastation in the United States was the shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. This
shooting happened on October 1, 2017. There was a country music festival happening that
weekend. On the final night, a shooter killed fifty-eight people and injuring over 800 people.
This massacre was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history at the time, taking only ten
minutes. The shooter, Stephen Paddock fired into the crowd from the Mandalay Bay hotel on the
Las Vegas strip. He fired into the crowd at 10:05 p.m. using an arsenal of twenty-three guns.
Twelve of those “guns were upgraded with a bump stock, making the gun a semi-automatic in a
rapid succession (Gunman open fires on Las Vegas Concert Crowd, wounding hundreds and
killing 58, 2017).” He was able to fire more than 1,100 rounds of ammunition. Paddock was
found an hour later in his suite with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head. This massacre
created a huge argument in America about gun control. Many Americans believe there need to be
stricter rules about owning a gun. They also believe that it needs to be harder to obtain these
weapons as well. Today this is still a worry for many people. Although there have been many
laws created for gun control, people can still obtain them. As time passes by, there becomes
regulations when trying to obtain a firearm. It is illegal to completely get rid of firearms due to
the 2nd Amendment but having safer and stricter regulations for when trying to obtain them, may
prevent some shootings.
For a while the United States has had military involvement in the Korean peninsula. The
United States today “nearly twenty nine thousand troops deployed in South Korea (North Korea
Crisis, 2021).” This is under the terms of the Mutual Defense Treaty between the United States
and the Republic of Korea. In July of 2017, North Korea “conducted its first successful test of an
intercontinental ballistic missile (North Korea Crisis, 2021).” The next test was three weeks later
they tested another ICBM, it is believed that this could reach the continental United States. In
2017, North Korea conducted the sixth nuclear weapons test. With the increase of missile tests
done by the North Koreans, the United States placed an anti missile system in South Korea. The
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system is located in Seongju region. This is “one hundred
and fifty-five miles from the northern border (North Korea Crisis, 2021).” The leader of North
Korea, Kim Jong-un, is willing to provoke the West. He shows aggressive behavior. His
incitement’s have included firing rockets across the South Korea border in 2015, cyber hacking
the U.S. Sony Pictures in 2014, and other provoking acts. Kim Jong-un is a concern to the United
States, since he claims that North Korean weapons can now reach the U.S. Not just the U.S
territories, but mainland as well. After the cyberattack, the United States really started to focus
on cyber security more.
Lastly, in December of 2019, the first outbreak of COVID-19 occurred in Wuhan, China.
The World Health Organization activates the incident management system. This is three levels
including county office, regional office and headquarters. In January of 2020, the CDC begin
screening passengers on direct and connecting flights from China. These screenings are for
flights at San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles. They also planned to “expand
screenings to major airports (COVID-19 Timeline, 2021).” In Washington state on January 20,
2020, the CDC confirmed the first U.S. COVID-19 case. A few days after, the World Health
Organization confirms that human to human contact spreads the coronavirus. “On March 11,
2020, the World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a pandemic (COVID-19 Timeline,
2020).” A few days after coronavirus was declared a pandemic, the CDC issues a “no sail
order.” This order calls for all ships in waters to cease activity to the U.S. One day later the
United States begins to shut down to prevent the spread. In April, the United States excels Italy
with deaths caused by COVID. Later in the year, the CDC announces the end of the no sail order
for ships. Late 2020 and beginning 2021, the vaccinations started to be available to public. This
is a major event happening to the U.S. Although there have been many pandemics, this pandemic
has so many different variations. Each strand is different, it affects every person differently.
 Resources

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Bucci, S. (2013). After Hurricane Sandy: Time to learn and implement the lessons in
preparedness, response, and resilience. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved December 15,
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