Events linked across the portfolio.

Jamie Raskin Born in Washington, D.C.

Jamin Ben "Jamie" Raskin was born on December 13, 1962, in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School and became a constitutional-law professor at American University's Washington College of Law. Raskin served in the Maryland State Senate from 2007 to 2016 before winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's 8th Congressional District. He took office in 2017. Raskin became nationally prominent through congressional investigations and constitutional disputes during the presidency of Donald Trump. In 2021, the House selected him as lead impeachment manager for Trump's second impeachment trial following the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Raskin has also held senior Democratic positions on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees. His legislative...

1963

Rand Paul Born in Pittsburgh

Randal Howard Paul was born on January 7, 1963, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The son of physician and congressman Ron Paul, he grew up in Texas and studied at Baylor University before earning a medical degree from Duke University. Paul trained as an ophthalmologist and practiced medicine in Kentucky before entering electoral politics. He won election to the United States Senate from Kentucky in 2010 and took office in 2011. Paul has often combined Republican positions on taxes and regulation with libertarian-oriented arguments concerning privacy, surveillance, foreign military intervention, federal spending, and individual liberty. He sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and has continued to play a visible role in congressional debates over public health, national security, and the scope...

1963

Mike Pompeo Born in Orange, California

Michael Richard Pompeo was born on December 30, 1963, in Orange, California. He graduated first in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1986 and served as a U.S. Army cavalry officer before earning a law degree from Harvard. Pompeo later worked as an attorney and business executive in Kansas. He won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2010 and represented Kansas's 4th District until 2017. President Donald Trump appointed Pompeo director of the Central Intelligence Agency in 2017 and nominated him as secretary of state the following year. Pompeo served as the seventieth U.S. secretary of state from 2018 through January 2021. His tenure included negotiations with North Korea, the U.S. withdrawal...

1964

Kamala Harris Born in Oakland

Kamala Devi Harris was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California. She graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law before beginning a career as a prosecutor. Harris served as San Francisco district attorney from 2004 to 2011 and as California attorney general from 2011 to 2017. She won election to the United States Senate in 2016 and served from 2017 until January 2021. Joe Biden selected Harris as his vice-presidential running mate in 2020, and their victory made her the first woman, first Black American, and first person of South Asian heritage to serve as vice president of the United States. Harris served as the forty-ninth vice president from 2021 to 2025....

1965

Kevin McCarthy Born in Bakersfield

Kevin Owen McCarthy was born on January 26, 1965, in Bakersfield, California. He studied at California State University, Bakersfield, earning bachelor's and master's degrees in business, and worked as a congressional staff member before winning election to the California State Assembly. McCarthy entered the U.S. House of Representatives in 2007 and rose rapidly through Republican leadership, serving as majority whip, majority leader, and minority leader. After Republicans gained a House majority in the 2022 elections, McCarthy was elected Speaker of the House in January 2023 following fifteen ballots. His speakership operated under a narrow Republican majority and was marked by negotiations over federal spending, the debt ceiling, committee assignments, and internal party disputes. On October 3, 2023, the House voted...

1967

Gavin Newsom Born in San Francisco

Gavin Christopher Newsom was born on October 10, 1967, in San Francisco, California. After graduating from Santa Clara University, he became involved in business and San Francisco civic affairs. Mayor Willie Brown appointed him to the city's Parking and Traffic Commission and later to the Board of Supervisors. Newsom was elected mayor of San Francisco in 2003 and served from 2004 to 2011. His decision in 2004 to direct city officials to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples drew national attention, although the marriages were subsequently invalidated by the California Supreme Court at that stage of the legal debate. Newsom served as California's lieutenant governor from 2011 to 2019 and became governor in January 2019. As governor, he has dealt...

1969

Cory Booker Born in Washington, D.C.

Cory Anthony Booker was born on April 27, 1969, in Washington, D.C., and grew up in northern New Jersey. He attended Stanford University, studied at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and earned a law degree from Yale. After working with nonprofit legal organizations, Booker entered Newark politics and won a seat on the city council in 1998. He served as mayor of Newark from 2006 until 2013, focusing his administration on public safety, development, city services, and education while attracting national attention for his hands-on political style. In 2013, Booker won a special election to the United States Senate, becoming the first African American elected to the Senate from New Jersey. He has served on committees dealing...

1969

Raphael Warnock Born in Savannah

Raphael Gamaliel Warnock was born on July 23, 1969, in Savannah, Georgia. Raised in a large family, he attended Morehouse College and later earned graduate degrees from Union Theological Seminary in New York. Warnock built a career as a Baptist minister and became senior pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church in 2005, the congregation historically associated with Martin Luther King Jr. His public work included advocacy on voting rights, health care, poverty, and criminal justice. Warnock entered electoral politics as the Democratic candidate in Georgia's 2020 special U.S. Senate election. He won the January 2021 runoff against incumbent Kelly Loeffler, becoming Georgia's first Black U.S. senator. He won a full six-year term in another runoff election in 2022. Warnock has...

1970

Ted Cruz Born in Calgary

Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz was born on December 22, 1970, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to an American mother and a Cuban-born father. He grew up primarily in Texas, graduated from Princeton University, and earned a law degree from Harvard. Cruz clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist and later held positions in the Federal Trade Commission, Justice Department, and administration of President George W. Bush. He served as solicitor general of Texas from 2003 to 2008 and argued numerous cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Cruz won election to the United States Senate in 2012 and took office in 2013. He became a leading conservative voice in Congress and sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, finishing second...

1971

Marco Rubio Born in Miami

Marco Antonio Rubio was born on May 28, 1971, in Miami, Florida, to Cuban immigrant parents. He studied at the University of Florida and earned a law degree from the University of Miami. Rubio began his political career in local government before winning election to the Florida House of Representatives, where he later served as speaker. In 2010, he won election to the United States Senate and represented Florida from January 2011 until January 2025. Rubio served on committees dealing with foreign relations, intelligence, small business, commerce, and other areas and sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. President Donald Trump nominated Rubio as secretary of state after the 2024 election, and he resigned from the Senate in January 2025...

1971

Mike Lee Born in Mesa, Arizona

Michael Shumway Lee was born on June 4, 1971, in Mesa, Arizona. He grew up partly in Utah and the Washington, D.C., area and earned both an undergraduate degree and a law degree from Brigham Young University. Lee worked as a federal judicial clerk, including for Samuel Alito on the U.S. Court of Appeals and later the Supreme Court. He also served as an assistant U.S. attorney and as counsel to Utah governor Jon Huntsman Jr. Lee won election to the United States Senate from Utah in 2010 and took office in 2011. He has emphasized constitutional interpretation, federalism, limits on federal power, public lands, technology policy, and judicial appointments. Lee has served on several major Senate committees and became...

1974

Marjorie Taylor Greene Born in Milledgeville

Marjorie Taylor Greene was born on May 27, 1974, in Milledgeville, Georgia. She earned a business degree from the University of Georgia and worked as a business owner before entering electoral politics. Greene won election as a Republican to Georgia's 14th Congressional District in 2020 and entered the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2021. She became a nationally prominent conservative political figure and a frequent participant in debates over immigration, federal spending, government investigations, foreign policy, and Republican Party strategy. During the 117th Congress, the House removed her from committee assignments after controversy over earlier public statements and social-media activity; she received committee assignments again in the next Congress. In 2024, she was appointed one of the House managers...

1977

Tom Cotton Born in Dardanelle

Thomas Bryant Cotton was born on May 13, 1977, in Dardanelle, Arkansas. Raised on his family's cattle farm, he graduated from Harvard University and Harvard Law School and briefly practiced law before joining the U.S. Army after the September 11 attacks. Cotton served as an infantry officer, including deployments connected with Iraq and Afghanistan, and later worked as a management consultant. He won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012 and served one term before winning a U.S. Senate seat in 2014. Cotton was reelected in 2020 and became a prominent Republican voice on national security, immigration, China, military policy, criminal justice, and technology. In 2025, Senate Republicans selected him as chair of the Republican Conference, and he...

1978

Ron DeSantis Born in Jacksonville

Ronald Dion DeSantis was born on September 14, 1978, in Jacksonville, Florida. He grew up in Dunedin and attended Yale University before earning a law degree from Harvard. DeSantis entered the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General's Corps and served in assignments that included support for operations in Iraq. He later worked as a federal prosecutor and won election to the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida in 2012. DeSantis resigned from Congress during his successful 2018 campaign for governor and took office in January 2019. As governor, he became a nationally prominent Republican figure through policies and disputes involving education, immigration, public health, abortion, state authority, corporations, and cultural issues. DeSantis sought the Republican presidential nomination in the 2024 election...

1979

Josh Hawley Born in Springdale

Joshua David Hawley was born on December 31, 1979, in Springdale, Arkansas, and was raised primarily in Lexington, Missouri. He graduated from Stanford University and Yale Law School, clerked for federal appellate judge Michael McConnell and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, and later taught law at the University of Missouri. Hawley entered statewide politics as Missouri attorney general, serving from 2017 to 2019. He defeated incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill in the 2018 election and entered the United States Senate in January 2019. Missouri voters reelected him in 2024. In the Senate, Hawley has served on committees dealing with the judiciary, armed services, homeland security, small business, and other matters. He has become a prominent conservative voice on questions...

1989

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Born in the Bronx

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born on October 13, 1989, in the Bronx, New York City. She spent part of her childhood in Yorktown Heights, graduated from Boston University, and worked in community and political organizing before seeking federal office. In 2018, she defeated a long-serving incumbent in the Democratic primary for New York’s 14th Congressional District and then won the general election. Taking office in 2019, she became, at that time, the youngest woman ever elected to the United States Congress. Ocasio-Cortez has become a prominent figure in the Democratic Party’s progressive wing and has advocated policies involving climate change, health care, housing, labor, and economic inequality. She has also served on House committees dealing with financial services, oversight, natural resources,...

Military Other Middle East & North Africa

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US Military Atlas

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1457 BCE

Battle of Megiddo: First Recorded Detailed Ancient Battle

In the mid-15th century BCE, Pharaoh Thutmose III of Egypt faced a coalition of Canaanite vassal states rebelling against Egyptian control in the Levant, led by the king of Kadesh. The Canaanites had gathered near Megiddo, a strategically vital fortress controlling key trade routes. Thutmose III chose the risky narrow Aruna pass to surprise the enemy, leading his army through single file despite objections from his generals. On April 16, 1457 BCE, Egyptian forces launched a dawn attack, routing the Canaanites who fled into the city of Megiddo. The battle, documented in detail on temple walls at Karnak by scribe Tjaneni, marked the first use of composite bows and body counts in recorded history, though the city required a seven-month...

490 BCE

Athenians Defeat Persians at Battle of Marathon

In the early fifth century BCE, the expanding Persian Empire under Darius I sought to punish Athens for supporting a revolt in Ionia and to extend control over Greek city-states. Athenian forces, numbering around 10,000 hoplites aided by Plataeans, faced a larger Persian army that had landed at the plain of Marathon. On the conventionally accepted date of September 12, the Greeks executed a daring flanking maneuver, breaking the Persian lines in a decisive afternoon engagement. The victory prevented immediate Persian subjugation of Greece and boosted Athenian confidence and prestige. Survivors and messengers spread news of the triumph, with the legendary run to Athens later inspiring the modern marathon race.

Military Other Middle East & North Africa

331 BCE

Alexander Defeats Darius at Gaugamela

In the fourth century BCE, the Macedonian king Alexander the Great pursued the conquest of the vast Achaemenid Persian Empire after securing victories in Asia Minor and the Levant. Darius III, the Persian king, assembled a massive army on the plains near Gaugamela in northern Mesopotamia to halt the Macedonian advance. On October 1, 331 BC, Alexander's disciplined forces, employing innovative tactics including a feigned retreat on the right wing and a decisive cavalry charge through the Persian center, routed the larger Persian host despite being heavily outnumbered. Darius fled the battlefield, abandoning his army and royal baggage. The Macedonian victory opened the path to Babylon and Susa, effectively ending organized Persian resistance and marking the collapse of the Achaemenid...

241 BCE

Romans Defeat Carthage at Aegates Islands

In the closing phase of the First Punic War, which had dragged on for over two decades as Rome and Carthage vied for control of Sicily and the western Mediterranean, Roman forces under consul Gaius Lutatius Catulus confronted the Carthaginian fleet near the Aegates Islands off western Sicily. Carthage, facing financial strain and supply issues after years of attrition, dispatched a relief fleet with troops and provisions. On March 10, 241 BC, the Romans achieved a decisive victory by sinking or capturing much of the Carthaginian navy in a battle that exploited superior tactics and weather conditions. The defeat forced Carthage to sue for peace, ceding Sicily to Rome and paying a substantial indemnity. This outcome not only ended the...

217 BCE

Hannibal Ambush Romans at Lake Trasimene

In the midst of the Second Punic War, Carthage under Hannibal had invaded Italy after crossing the Alps the previous year, scoring a victory at the Trebia. Roman forces were divided, with Consul Gaius Flaminius commanding an army in Etruria. On June 21, 217 BCE, Hannibal set a trap along the foggy northern shore of Lake Trasimene, concealing his troops on the surrounding hills. As the Romans marched into the narrow pass in pursuit, the Carthaginians attacked from three sides in a devastating ambush. Flaminius was killed, and nearly the entire Roman force of about 25,000 was destroyed or captured within hours, marking one of the largest ambushes in military history. This catastrophe prompted Rome to appoint Quintus Fabius Maximus...

168 BCE

Romans Defeat Macedonians at Battle of Pydna

In the third century BCE, Rome sought to consolidate power in the eastern Mediterranean after earlier conflicts with Carthage and Greek states. Macedonian King Perseus had rebuilt his army and challenged Roman influence in Greece, prompting the Third Macedonian War. Roman consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus arrived in Greece in 168 BCE with legions trained in flexible tactics. On June 22, the two armies clashed near Pydna in a decisive engagement where the Macedonian phalanx initially held but broke under Roman pressure and terrain disadvantages. Perseus surrendered shortly after, ending the Macedonian monarchy. Rome annexed the kingdom and reorganized the region under its control.

Military Other Middle East & North Africa

146 BCE

Rome Destroys Carthage Ending Third Punic War

The Third Punic War, the final conflict in a century-long struggle between Rome and Carthage for dominance in the western Mediterranean, reached its climax in 146 BCE. After years of siege and blockade that starved the city, Roman forces under Scipio Aemilianus breached Carthage's defenses following intense fighting. The Romans systematically razed the city over six days, killed or enslaved its remaining population of around 50,000, and incorporated the territory as the Roman province of Africa. This outcome followed earlier Punic Wars where Carthage had nearly defeated Rome, notably through Hannibal's campaigns. The destruction eliminated Rome's primary rival and secured its supremacy in the region for centuries to come.

52 BCE

Vercingetorix Surrenders to Caesar at Alesia

In the final years of the Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar pursued a strategy of conquest across Gaul amid resistance from tribal coalitions. Vercingetorix, an Arverni chieftain, united disparate Gallic forces and sought refuge in the fortified settlement of Alesia in eastern Gaul. Caesar responded by constructing an elaborate system of double fortifications, encircling the town to trap the defenders while repelling external relief armies. After weeks of siege and failed breakout attempts, supply shortages and mounting casualties forced the Gallic leaders to negotiate. On or around October 3, 52 BC, Vercingetorix surrendered personally to Caesar, ending major organized resistance. The Roman victory secured control over Gaul and elevated Caesar's political standing in Rome.