In 1881, the American Red Cross was established. In 1924, 14-year-old Bobby Franks was kidnapped and murdered by two Chicago college students, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who were seeking to commit the "perfect crime." In 1979, former San Francisco city supervisor Dan White was convicted of manslaughter in the deaths of Mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk. In 2014, the National September 11 Museum opened to the public.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744), poet; Henri Rousseau (1844-1910), artist; Fats Waller (1904-43), pianist/songwriter; Raymond Burr (1917-93), actor; Andrei Sakharov (1921-89), physicist/Russian dissident; Al Franken (1951- ), politician/comedian; Laurence "Mr. T" Tureaud (1952- ), actor; Lisa Edelstein (1966- ), actress; The Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace) (1972-97), rapper; Gotye (1980- ), singer/songwriter; Josh Hamilton (1981- ), baseball player; Andrew Miller (1985- ), baseball player

In 1977, Seattle Slew won the Preakness Stakes, the second victory in what would be a Triple Crown-winning series.

Within one month of the January 2010 earthquake that devastated Haiti, the American Red Cross had raised $255 million for the relief and recovery effort.

"Histories are more full of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends." – Alexander Pope