by tyler | Dec 18, 2023 | CNN, us
Here’s a selected list of White House intrusions and security breaches.
The White House grounds include 18 acres of land. That and the adjacent 52-acre Ellipse to the south belong to President’s Park, a national park.
The Secret Service is in charge of White House security.
According to the White House Historical Society, US President Thomas Jefferson was the first to put a fence around the White House. Over the years, the fence has been updated and fortified, with the wrought-iron fences of the 19th century having been replaced in the 1930s by a steel fence with tall bronze spears atop it. Most of the fence is currently about six feet six inches tall, and is undergoing an eight-phase replacement with an approximately 13 foot tall fence which began in July 2019.
Security became especially tighter during World War II. After a truck-bomb attack on the US Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983, low concrete walls were put up around the White House. Bollards – sturdy, vertical posts that can stop vehicles – were added a few years later.
“Security incidents occur frequently,” according to a 2015 House of Representatives report. Data from the Secret Service included in the report show that there were 104 security breaches or attempted breaches between April 2005 and April 15, 2015.
April 13, 1912 – On his second attempt to enter the White House to see President William Howard Taft, Michael Winter makes it several feet inside the front door before being noticed.
September 26, 1963 – Doyle Allen Hicks rams his pickup truck through the gates and drives up to within 25 feet of the North Portico main entrance. When stopped, he tells guards that he must see the president, because communists are taking over his state, North Carolina.
February 17, 1974 – Robert K. Preston, an Army private, steals a helicopter from Fort Meade, Maryland. He hovers over the Washington Monument and White House grounds before leading two state police helicopters on an aerial chase around Maryland and Washington, DC. After more than an hour, Preston heads back to the White House, according to a state police officer. Officers shoot at the helicopter, forcing Preston to land. He reportedly was upset about flunking out of flight school.
February 22, 1974 – Samuel Joseph Byck tries to hijack a Delta passenger jet at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, with the plan to crash it into the White House. He forces his way on to the plane, killing an airport policeman and the copilot. Byck is killed by police before takeoff.
December 25, 1974 – Marshall Fields crashes his automobile through the Northwest Gate and drives it close to the North Portico. He threatens to blow himself up with explosives he has strapped to his body, which later turn out to be flares. After four hours of negotiation, Fields surrenders to officials.
November 26, 1975 – Gerald Gainous Jr. makes his way over the fence, hides for two hours on the grounds undetected and is able to get within five feet of Susan Ford, President Gerald Ford’s daughter. Gainous jumps the fence three more times within the next year.
July 25, 1976 – Chester Plummer Jr. climbs over the White House fence carrying a metal pipe and starts running toward the White House. A guard chases him, yelling at him to stop. When he doesn’t, the guard shoots and kills him. Plummer’s motive is not discovered.
October 1978 – A barefoot man wearing a karate uniform and carrying a Bible with a knife hidden inside, scales the White House fence. He slashes two officers before White House guards are able to subdue him. The suspect, Anthony Henry, reportedly wanted to convince President Jimmy Carter to remove the phrase “In God We Trust” from US currency.
January 20, 1985 – Robert Latta, a meter-reader from Denver, follows the Marine Band into the White House before President Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration ceremony. Latta wanders around the mansion for about 15 minutes before being arrested in the dining room.
September 12, 1994 – A man flying a stolen Cessna plane enters the prohibited airspace around the White House and crashes on the lawn just south of the Executive Mansion. The pilot, identified as Frank Eugene Corder, dies in the crash.
October 29, 1994 – Francisco Martin Duran, armed with a semiautomatic rifle, fires at least 29 rounds at the White House from the sidewalk on Pennsylvania Avenue. Duran is later convicted of attempting to kill President Bill Clinton.
May 23, 1995 – Leland W. Modjeski is shot by the Secret Service after climbing over a security fence and running toward the White House with a handgun that was later determined to be unloaded.
February 7, 2001 – Robert Pickett, an accountant who was fired from the IRS in the 1980s, fires shots outside the White House. Secret Service agents shoot him in the leg after a standoff lasting more than 10 minutes at the White House fence. President George W. Bush was not endangered, White House officials say later.
January 18, 2005 – Lowell Timmers, of Cedar Springs, Michigan, threatens to blow up his van in front on the White House, two days before Bush’s second inauguration, saying he has an explosive substance in the vehicle. The FBI, Secret Service and other authorities evacuate nearby buildings and shut down several blocks. Four hours pass before Timmers, who had demanded that his son-in-law be released from jail, surrenders.
April 9, 2006 – Brian Lee Patterson from New Mexico jumps the White House fence and makes it well inside the grounds before being stopped. It is the fourth time he has jumped the fence.
November 24, 2009 – A publicity-seeking Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, sneak into a White House dinner. The uninvited guests finesse their way through a security checkpoint staffed by uniformed Secret Service officers, according to congressional testimony by the agency’s director Mark Sullivan. Sullivan apologizes for the breach, saying agents violated protocol by allowing the Salahis to enter without verifying that they were on the guest list.
November 11, 2011 – A gunman fires an assault rifle at the White House, hitting the residential wing of the building at least seven times. Secret Service supervisors fail to recognize the danger, dismissing the gunfire as a gang-related shootout rather than an attack on the White House, according to the Washington Post. Four days later, a housekeeper and a White House usher spot bullet holes in the residence. Five days after the shooting, the gunman, Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez is arrested at a Pennsylvania hotel. In 2014, Ortega-Hernandez is sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.
October 3, 2013 – An unarmed woman is shot and killed by a Secret Service agent and a Capitol police officer after she drives toward a security checkpoint near the White House, hits a barricade and speeds away. The woman is a 34-year-old mother battling postpartum depression, according to her sister. Her one-year-old daughter, seated in the back of the car during the chase, is unharmed.
September 11, 2014 – A man wearing Pokemon gear and carrying a plush doll of the character Pikachu makes it over the White House fence and onto the north lawn, where he is apprehended. He is later identified as Jeffrey Grossman.
September 19, 2014 – After jumping the White House fence, 42-year-old Omar Gonzalez, of Copperas Cove, Texas, gets through the North Portico doors with a three-and-a-half-inch folding knife in his pants pocket, according to the Secret Service. In early accounts of the incident, the Secret Service claims the intruder didn’t get past the portico doors. Days later, the Washington Post reveals the man had actually made his way past the front entrance, through the main hall and into the East Room, where he was apprehended.
October 22, 2014 – Dominic Adesanya, 23, of Bel Air, Maryland, jumps the White House fence and barely makes it onto the lawn before he is subdued as he fights off two police dogs, according to the Secret Service. Adesanya, who suffers from mental health problems, had been arrested in a previous White House breach, his father later says.
January 26, 2015 – The Secret Service locks down the White House shortly after 3 a.m. after an officer spots a drone flying above the White House grounds before crashing on the southeast side of the complex. An employee of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a government entity with mapping and national security duties, later calls the Secret Service and admits that he was operating the drone for fun.
April 19, 2015 – Jerome R. Hunt, of Hayward, California, climbs the fence on the south side of the White House complex while carrying a suspicious package, later deemed harmless, and is cornered by security dogs.
November 26, 2015 – The Secret Service stops a man draped in an American flag after he jumps a White House fence during a Thanksgiving celebration at the executive mansion.
April 1, 2016 – A man tosses a backpack over the north fence and then jumps over, himself, and is immediately arrested. His name is not released to the public.
March 10, 2017 – A man carrying a backpack with mace and a letter for President Donald Trump makes it onto the grounds and roams for more than 15 minutes before he is discovered and arrested by a Secret Service officer near the south entrance. The suspect, identified in court records as Jonathan T. Tran, 26, of California, tells the agency’s officers that he was there to see the president.
March 21, 2017 – Marci Anderson Wahl of Everett, Washington, jumps a fence on the south side but gets stuck. Officers find her hanging by her shoelaces, which were “caught on top of the fence,” according to a police report. Wahl is arrested two more times within the next week, near the Treasury Building and in Lafayette Park.
by tyler | Dec 18, 2023 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the life of Ted Cruz, Republican senator from Texas and former 2016 presidential candidate.
Birth date: December 22, 1970
Birth place: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Birth name: Rafael Edward Cruz
Father: Rafael Cruz, pastor
Mother: Eleanor Darragh, computer programmer
Marriage: Heidi (Nelson) Cruz (2001-present)
Children: Caroline and Catherine
Education: Princeton University, B.A. in Public Policy, 1992; Harvard Law School, J.D., 1995
Religion: Southern Baptist
His father, Rafael Cruz, left Cuba as a teenager in 1957 amid the nation’s revolution. During the Cuban revolution, Rafael Cruz sided with Fidel Castro against dictator Fulgencio Batista, but later became a critic of Castro.
While at Harvard Law School, Cruz was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and founder of the Harvard Latino Law Review.
First Hispanic US Senator from Texas.
Was a dual citizen of Canada and the United States until he renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014.
1996-1997 – Clerks for US Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
1997-1999 – Attorney with the Washington, DC-based law firm Cooper, Carvin & Rosenthal.
1999-2000 – Domestic policy adviser during George W. Bush’s first presidential campaign.
2001 – Associate Deputy Attorney General at the Department of Justice.
2001-2003 – Director of the Office of Policy Planning, with the Federal Trade Commission.
2003-2008 – Solicitor General of Texas. He is the first Hispanic to hold the position. He is also the longest serving solicitor general in Texas’ history.
2004-2009 – Adjunct law professor at the University of Texas School of Law.
2008-2012 – Attorney with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Houston.
May 29, 2012 – Wins enough votes in the Texas GOP senatorial primary to force a runoff.
July 31, 2012 – Defeats Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst in the runoff election for the Republican Senate nomination, by a vote of 57% to 43%.
November 6, 2012 – Elected US senator from Texas by defeating Democrat Paul Sadler, 56% to 41%.
November 14, 2012 – Named vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
January 3, 2013 – Sworn in as the 34th US senator from Texas.
September 24, 2013 – Reads Dr. Seuss’s “Green Eggs and Ham” as a bedtime story for his children during a 21-hour speech aimed at derailing President Barack Obama’s health care reform law.
June 2014 – His spokeswoman confirms that Cruz has renounced his Canadian citizenship, and is no longer a dual citizen of Canada and the United States.
March 23, 2015 – Cruz announces his candidacy for president in a 30-second video message posted on Twitter shortly after midnight. Later in the day he announces he is running for president during a speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.
July 15, 2015 – A New York Times spokesperson confirms that Cruz’s memoir will appear on the New York Times’ bestseller list, a week after the newspaper rejected it as a bestseller because sales were allegedly inflated by “bulk purchases.” Cruz’s book “A Time for Truth” was published on June 30.
April 27, 2016 – Cruz formally names Carly Fiorina as his vice presidential running mate – a last-ditch move to regain momentum after being mathematically eliminated from winning the GOP presidential nomination outright.
May 3, 2016 – Cruz announces he is suspending his presidential bid after losing the Indiana primary.
May 10, 2016 – Ending speculation about whether he would take a break from Congress to prep for another presidential run in 2020, Cruz announces that he will campaign to keep his Senate seat in 2018.
September 23, 2016 – Cruz endorses Donald Trump for the presidency, surprising many after a contentious primary filled with nasty personal attacks and Cruz’s dramatic snub of Trump at the Republican National Convention, where he pointedly refused to endorse the nominee.
November 6, 2018 – Cruz defeats Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke 50.9% to 48.3% in the race for Senate in Texas, holding off the progressive online fundraising sensation.
March 15, 2019 – A watchdog group discloses that Cruz’s campaign has been fined $35,000 by the Federal Election Commission for failing to accurately report more than $1 million in loans that helped underwrite his first Senate bid in 2012.
July 13, 2020 – China announces sanctions against US officials, including Cruz, in retaliation for measures revealed on July 9 by the US Treasury Department over Beijing’s alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
January 6, 2021 – Cruz objects to Arizona’s Electoral College results during the joint session of Congress.
February 17, 2021 – Cruz travels to Cancun, Mexico, for vacation as a winter disaster in his home state leaves millions without power or water. He later says the trip “was obviously a mistake” and that “in hindsight I wouldn’t have done it.”
September 30, 2021 – The Supreme Court agrees to hear a case concerning Cruz’s 2018 campaign and consider regulations that limit money that committees can raise after the election to reimburse loans made before the election. On May 16, 2022, the Supreme Court rules in favor of Cruz. The court says that a federal cap on candidates using political contributions after an election to recoup personal loans made to their campaign is unconstitutional.
by tyler | Dec 18, 2023 | CNN, us
Whether you’re hoping to do something more meaningful with your kids than just hitting the mall, or if you’re just looking for some gifts that give back, here are some ideas that could bring more joy this holiday season.
Gathering friends or family together to assemble a gift box for a needy recipient could be a new, purposeful holiday tradition that you start this year.
Kynd Kits are an activity for the whole family. You choose a cause or group of people important to you, and then request the corresponding kit.
Each kit will contain items specifically requested by people in those groups. You assemble the pieces together, write a card, then send it off. Among the recipients you can choose from this year: the homeless, victims of domestic violence, senior citizens, LGBTQ people and foster children.
If your family would like to help a foster child this holiday season, Together We Rise is helping kids without permanent homes by providing colorful bags to tote their items around in. (Many foster kids lug their worldly possessions around in trash bags.) They send you a panel to decorate, that you then send back. They attach each artwork panel to a duffel bag, which is stuffed with a teddy bear, a blanket, a hygiene kit and a coloring book.
A family art project can brighten up the walls of a long-term care facility. The Foundation for Hospital Art will send you a kit, complete with pre-drawn canvases and art supplies. You color it in, create one panel of your own design and send it back with the pre-addressed UPS label.
If you can knit or crochet, consider helping Knots of Love. You could knit a beanie to support a patient going through chemotherapy or a blanket to warm a baby in the NICU.
The Salvation Army’s “Angel Tree” program is online again this year, making it easy to shop for a child in need. Just enter your zip code, add the requested items from their registry to your cart, and the Salvation Army does the rest.
For your caffeine-loving friends, why not send them bird-friendly coffee? These coffee beans are grown under a forest canopy that provides a habitat for birds – important since the North American bird population has decreased by almost three billion birds since 1970.
And if you want to spend your money at a local bookstore but don’t want to leave the house, consider buying from bookshop.org. They partner with independent book sellers across the country to send your dollars to stores that really need it.
If you want to support Black-owned businesses this Christmas (or any time of year) the website and app https://www.supportblackowned.com/ helps you find shops and services all over the US.
The EatOkra app helps you find Black-owned restaurants and food services (buying a gift card helps keep small eateries in business).
You can also search Instagram by using the hashtag #SupportBlackBusiness.
Finally, many larger retailers are giving back this season. If you just want a name-brand gift sure to wow a picky tween or teen, many stores and brands partner with charities to give back over the holiday season.
Some companies even make it a yearlong mission to do good.
If you are looking for a present for someone worried about the environment, Patagonia gives a portion of all profits to environmental causes.
Ivory Ella donates up to 50% of its profits to charities helping elephants, including Save the Elephants.
Sock company Bombas donates a pair of socks to a needy person, for every pair sold.
And what Christmas stocking couldn’t use a fuzzy pencil case and some unicorn-themed erasers? Yoobi sells colorful pens, pencils and stationery, and for every item purchased, they donate a school supply to a child in need.
by tyler | Dec 5, 2023 | CNN, us
Here is a look at the life of tennis great Chris Evert, who won at least one Grand Slam singles championship 13 years in a row (1974-1986).
Birth date: December 21, 1954
Birth place: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Birth name: Christine Marie Evert
Father: James “Jimmy” Evert, pro tennis instructor
Mother: Colette (Thompson) Evert
Marriages: Greg Norman (2008-2009, divorced); Andy Mill (1988-2006, divorced); John Lloyd (1979-1987, divorced)
Children: with Andy Mill: Colton, Nicholas and Alexander
By age 14, she was the number one nationally ranked player in the Girls’ 14-under Division.
At 15, she beat the number one ranked player in the world at the time, Margaret Court.
Holds the highest winning percentage, male or female, in “Open Era” tennis history (.900).
Her rivalry with Martina Navratilova began in 1973 and lasted until 1988, and has been called the greatest in sports history. They faced each other in 14 major finals.
Ranked number one in the world for seven years: 1974-1978, 1980 and 1981.
Holds 157 singles titles.
In 52 of 56 Grand Slam tournaments over the course of her career, she reached at least the semifinals.
Holds 18 Grand Slam singles titles and three Grand Slam doubles titles, two of which are with Navratilova.
1971 – At 16 she reaches the US Open semifinals, losing to Billie Jean King.
December 21, 1972 – Turns professional on her eighteenth birthday.
1973 – Announces her engagement to men’s tennis star Jimmy Connors. They end their engagement in 1974.
March 22, 1973 – Faces Navratilova on the court for the first time, beginning a long lived professional rivalry and personal friendship. Evert defeats Navratilova (7-6, 6-3).
1974 – Wins the French Open, her first Grand Slam title.
November 1975 – Signs with the World Team Tennis (WTT) Phoenix Racquets.
1976 – Sports Illustrated names her “Sportswoman of the Year.”
1976 – Becomes the first female athlete to earn $1 million in career prize money.
January 1980 – Announces she will take an indefinite leave after fulfilling her upcoming tennis commitments, and plans to travel with her husband, John Lloyd.
May 7, 1980 – Five months after announcing her plans to take a break from tennis, she competes in the first round of the Italian Open. Evert defeats unseeded Adriana Vilagran of Argentina 6-0, 6-1.
1982 – Simon and Schuster publishes her autobiography “Chrissie: My Own Story.”
1983-1991 – President of Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
April 1985 – The Women’s Sports Foundation names her the “Greatest Woman Athlete in the Last 25 Years.”
1988 – Member of the US Olympic team.
September 1989 – Retires from professional tennis after the US Open tournament after her defeat in the quarterfinals by Zina Garrison.
November 11, 1989 – Becomes the first female athlete ever to host “Saturday Night Live.”
1989 – Launches Chris Evert Charities, Inc. to fight substance abuse and children born into drug addiction.
1990-2003 – Analyst with NBC Sports.
January 1991 – President George H.W. Bush appoints her to serve as a board member of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
July 16, 1995 – Becomes a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. She is only the fourth player to be elected unanimously.
1996 – Opens the Evert Tennis Academy with her father, Jimmy, and brother, John.
1999 – ESPN honors her as one of the “Top 50 Athletes of the 20th Century.”
March 2001-2013 – Publisher of Tennis magazine.
2011-present – Commentator and analyst for ESPN.
November 2014 – Launches her tennis wear line, “Chrissie by Tail.”
July 11, 2015 – Stars as herself in the HBO tennis mockumentary, “7 Days in Hell.”
January 8, 2019 – The United States Tennis Association announces Evert has been appointed Chairwoman of the USTA Foundation’s Board of Directors.
January 14, 2022 – Announces she has been diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer.
May 9, 2022 – Announces that she has completed her sixth and final chemotherapy session to treat stage 1 ovarian cancer.
by tyler | Dec 4, 2023 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the life of award-winning actress, singer and dancer Rita Moreno.
Birth date: December 11, 1931
Birth place: Humacao, Puerto Rico; raised in New York, New York
Birth name: Rosita Dolores Alverio
Father: Paco Alverio, a farmer
Mother: Rosa Maria Alverio, a garment worker
Marriage: Leonard Gordon (June 18, 1965-June 30, 2010, his death)
Children: Fernanda Luisa (October 28, 1966)
Her parents divorced, and she and her mother moved to New York. Her mother later married Edward Moreno.
First began speaking English when she entered elementary school.
She was the first Latina actress to win an Academy Award. She also has six Emmy nominations and two wins, a Grammy and a Tony.
She is one of an elite few known as EGOT winners. They have all won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.
Believing Judy Garland would win the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Judgment at Nuremberg,” Moreno did not prepare a speech. Upon winning for her role in “West Side Story,” she said, “I can’t believe it! Good Lord! I leave you with that.”
Her late husband, Leonard Gordon, was also her manager and a retired cardiologist.
1935 – Moves to New York from Puerto Rico with her mother.
November 13-17, 1945 – Broadway debut in the play “Skydrift.”
1949 – Moreno is offered a seven-year contract with MGM by studio head, Louis B. Mayer.
1950 – Film debut in “So Young So Bad.”
1961 – Attempts suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills in the home of then-boyfriend Marlon Brando.
1962 – Wins the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for “West Side Story.”
1972 – Wins a Grammy Award, with Bill Cosby, for Best Recording for Children for “The Electric Company.”
1975 – Wins a Tony Award for Best Actress, Supporting or Featured (Dramatic) for “The Ritz.”
1977 – Wins an Emmy Award for Outstanding Continuing or Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in Variety or Music for “The Muppet Show,” and becomes an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) winner.
1978 – Wins an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series for “The Rockford Files.”
July 20, 1995 – The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce presents Moreno with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Blvd.
June 23, 2004 – Is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President George W. Bush.
February 25, 2010 – President Barack Obama presents her with the 2009 National Arts Medal at a White House ceremony.
2011 – Tours the country in her one-woman show “Life without Makeup.”
January 20, 2013 – Ushering in President Obama’s second term, she appears with Chita Rivera, Eva Longoria and many others at the Latino Inaugural 2013; In Performance at the Kennedy Center.
March 5, 2013 – Her autobiography, “Rita Moreno: A Memoir,” is published.
June 2013 – Is inducted into the Great American Songbook Hall of Fame.
January 18, 2014 – Is presented with the Screen Actor’s Guild Life Achievement Award.
December 6, 2015 – Is a Kennedy Center Honors recipient.
November 27, 2018 – It is announced that Moreno will join the cast of Steven Spielberg’s remake of the film “West Side Story.”
July 29, 2019 – PBS announces that a documentary titled “Rita Moreno: The Girl Who Decided to Go For It,” will air as part of the PBS American Masters series in 2020.
June 18, 2021 – The documentary “Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It” premiers in theaters.
by tyler | Dec 4, 2023 | CNN, us
Here’s a look at the life of activist and award-winning actress Jane Fonda.
Birth date: December 21, 1937
Birth place: New York, New York
Birth name: Lady Jayne Seymour Fonda
Father: Henry Fonda, actor
Mother: Frances Ford Seymour (Brokaw) Fonda, socialite
Marriages: Ted Turner (December 21, 1991-May 22, 2001, divorced); Tom Hayden (January 20, 1973-1990, divorced); Roger Vadim (August 14, 1965-January 16, 1973, divorced)
Children: with Tom Hayden: Troy Garity (July 7, 1973); with Roger Vadim: Vanessa (September 28, 1968)
Education: Attended Vassar College, 1956-1958
She is a member of a distinguished acting family, daughter of actor Henry Fonda, sister of actor and director Peter Fonda, aunt to actress Bridget Fonda and mother to actor Troy Garity and documentary filmmaker Vanessa Vadim.
Her mother’s family can be traced back to Jane Seymour, third wife of Henry VIII. Jane’s mother, Frances Ford Seymour, died by suicide when Jane was 12.
In 1980, 14-year-old Mary Luana Williams from Oakland, California, the daughter of an incarcerated member of the Black Panthers, came to live with Fonda in Santa Monica, California. Never formally adopting her, Mary is still considered to be Jane’s daughter. In 2010, Mary reconnected with her birth family for the first time in 30 years.
Fonda began her fitness empire in 1979 with the aerobic studio, “Jane Fonda’s Workout.” The studio launched a workout book and VHS tapes and later DVDs.
Nominated for seven Academy Awards and won two.
Nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards and won one.
Nominated for two Tony awards.
1954 – First appears on stage in the play “The Country Girl,” at the Community House in Omaha, Nebraska.
1959 – Professional model appearing on the cover of Vogue and other magazines.
April 6, 1960 – Her first film, “Tall Story,” is released.
October 10, 1968 – “Barbarella,” starring Fonda and directed by her husband Roger Vadim, is released.
1970 – Activist work begins, first with involvement in Native American causes and later to what she calls her “GI Movement.”
1971-1972 – “The FTA Show,” an anti-war USO-type show starring Fonda, Donald Sutherland, and many others, opens near Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and later tours to military bases in southeast Asia.
April 10, 1972 – Wins an Academy Award for Best Actress for “Klute.”
July 7, 1972 – Travels to North Vietnam for two weeks. During her visit she meets and poses for pictures with the Viet Cong at an anti-aircraft gun site. She also meets with American POWs and denounces “US imperialism” on Viet Cong radio. This trip earns her the nickname “Hanoi Jane.”
1976 – Co-founds the Campaign for Economic Democracy with husband Tom Hayden.
1977-1991 – Owns and operates Laurel Springs Ranch, a performing arts summer camp for children of all socioeconomic backgrounds.
April 9, 1979 – Wins an Academy Award for Best Actress for “Coming Home.”
December 4, 1981 – “On Golden Pond,” the only film starring both Fonda and her father, is released.
August 12, 1982 – Her father, Henry Fonda dies.
September 23, 1984 – Wins an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special for “The Dollmaker.”
June 17, 1988 – On ABC’s “20/20” Fonda apologizes for her actions in 1972. “I would like to say something, not just to the Vietnam veterans in New England, but … to men who were in Vietnam, who … I hurt, or whose pain I caused to be deepened, because of the things that I said or did. I … feel I owe them an apology.”
1994 – Is named Goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Populations Fund.
1995 – Establishes the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention.
December 2000 – Emory University in Atlanta establishes the “Jane Fonda Center” with an initial gift from Fonda herself. The Center’s mission is to disseminate information that may help reduce risks associated with adolescent reproduction, body image and burgeoning sexuality.
2001 – Publicly reveals she has become a Christian.
2001 – Returns to the stage in the play “The Vagina Monologues.”
April 2005 – Fonda’s memoir, “My Life So Far,” is published.
May 13, 2005 – Fonda’s first movie in 15 years, “Monster-in-Law,” opens.
May 2007 – Receives a special Palme d’Or award for career achievement at the Cannes Film Festival.
April 27, 2013 – Fonda puts her hand and footprint in cement next to her father’s outside the Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Henry Fonda’s were left there on July 24, 1942.
August 16, 2013 – “The Butler” premieres. Fonda portrays former first lady Nancy Reagan.
March 4, 2014 – Random House publishes Fonda’s book “Being a Teen: Everything Teen Girls & Boys Should Know About Relationships, Sex, Love, Health, Identity & More.”
June 5, 2014 – The American Film Institute presents Fonda with the 42nd AFI Life Achievement Award.
May 8, 2015 – “Grace and Frankie,” a Netflix series starring Fonda and Lily Tomlin, premieres.
December 1, 2016 – Time magazine publishes an op-ed by Fonda about the Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
January 15, 2018 – Reveals in an interview that her doctor removed a cancerous growth from her lower lip.
September 24, 2018 – “Jane Fonda in Five Acts,” a documentary, premieres on HBO.
May 30, 2019 – The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) announces Fonda will receive the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film at the 2019 British Academy Britannia Awards. The ceremony will take place on October 25, 2019.
October 11-December 20, 2019 – Arrested five times at the US Capitol during climate change protests. Fonda says she moved to Washington for four months and plans to get arrested every Friday to raise awareness about the climate crisis. She calls the protests “Fire Drill Fridays.”
September 8, 2020 – “What Can I Do?: My Path from Climate Despair to Action,” is published.
February 28, 2021 – Receives the Cecil B. DeMille award for lifetime achievement at the 78th Annual Golden Globe Awards.
September 2, 2022 – Fonda announces she has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and has begun chemotherapy treatment.
December 15, 2022 – In a blog post titled, ‘Best Birthday Present Ever,” Fonda announces that her cancer is now in remission.
