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← 2001 2000 1999 2002 in the United States → 2003 2004 2005
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	History of the United States (1991–2008) Timeline of United States history (1990–2009) List of years in the United States

Events from the year 2002 in the United States.

• President: George W. Bush (R-Texas)
• Vice President: Dick Cheney (R-Wyoming)
• Chief Justice: William Rehnquist (Virginia) ^[1]
• Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois)
• Senate Majority Leader: Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota)
• Congress: 107th

• January 5 – Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old student pilot, crashes a light aircraft into a building in Tampa, Florida, evoking fear of a copycat 9/11 terrorist attack.
• January 6 – The Boston Globe publishes a story detailing the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston sex abuse scandal.
• January 8 – The No Child Left Behind Act is signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush.
• January 9 – The United States Department of Justice announces it will pursue a criminal investigation of Enron.
• January 11 – The first detainees arrive at Camp X-Ray (Guantanamo).
• January 13 – President Bush chokes on a pretzel and faints briefly.^[2]
• January 14 – The asylum case of Adelaide Abankwah is heard in New York.
• January 16
  • The United Nations Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda and the remaining members of the Taliban.
  • A student shoots six at the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia, killing 3.
• January 18 – A Canadian Pacific Railway train carrying anhydrous ammonia derails outside of Minot, North Dakota, killing one.
• January 21 – Cyberchase premieres on PBS Kids.
• January 23 – The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl is kidnapped in Pakistan, accused of being a CIA agent by his captors.
• January 29 – In his State of the Union Address, President Bush describes North Korea, Iran and Iraq as an "axis of evil".^[3]
• January 31 – U.S. special forces are deployed in the Philippines in Operation Enduring Freedom – Philippines, part of the War on Terror.^[3]

• February 1 – Kidnapped reporter Daniel Pearl of The Wall Street Journal is murdered in Karachi, Pakistan.
• February 3 – Super Bowl XXXVI: The New England Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams 20–17 in New Orleans.
• February 8–24 – The Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The U.S. wins 10 gold, 13 silver and 11 bronze medals.
• February 12 – The U.S. Secretary of Energy makes the decision that Yucca Mountain is suitable to be the United States' nuclear repository.
• February 13 – Queen Elizabeth II gives former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani an honorary knighthood.
• February 19 – NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe begins to map the surface of Mars using its thermal emission imaging system.

• March 1
  • STS-109: Space Shuttle Columbia flies the Hubble Space Telescope service mission, its last before the disastrous STS-107.
  • U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: In eastern Afghanistan, Operation Anaconda begins.
• March 12 – In Houston, Texas, Andrea Yates is found guilty of drowning her five children on June 20, 2001. She is later sentenced to life in prison.
• March 14 – 125 vehicles are involved in a massive pile up on Interstate 75 in Ringgold, Georgia.
• March 15 – Ice Age is released in theaters.
• March 19 – US war in Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 1) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters, with 11 allied troop fatalities.
• March 21 – In Pakistan, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and three others are charged with the kidnapping and killing of The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
• March 24 – The 74th Academy Awards, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg, are held at Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, with Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind winning four awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film ties with Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in award wins, while the latter leads the nominations with 13. The telecast garners over 41.8 million viewers.
• March – Layalina Productions, Inc. non-profit public diplomacy initiative is inaugurated.^[4]

• April 1 – Maryland defeats Indiana 64–52 to win the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia.
• April 17 – Four Canadian infantrymen are killed in Afghanistan by friendly fire from two US F-16s.
• April 19 – The Senate defeats President Bush's plan to authorize oil exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.^[3]
• April 27 – The Laughlin, Nevada River Run Riot kills three.

• May 1 – Nicktoons TV (renamed Nicktoons in 2003, then in 2009) launches in the United States.
• May 3 – Spider-Man is released in theaters as the first film in the Spider-Man trilogy.
• May 10 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for selling American secrets to Moscow for $1.4 million in cash and diamonds.
• May 12 – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first U.S. president, in or out of office, to visit the island since Castro's 1959 revolution.
• May 16 – Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones is released in theaters.
• May 21 – The State Department releases a report naming seven state sponsors of terrorism: Iran, Iraq, Cuba, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
• May 22
  • 16th Street Baptist Church bombing: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama convicts Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls.
  • Police in Washington, D.C. announce that the skeletal remains of Federal Bureau of Prisons intern Chandra Levy, who has been missing for a year, have been found in Rock Creek Park.
• May 26 – I-40 bridge disaster: A barge collides with the Interstate 40 bridge across the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma, killing 14.

• June 5 – 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart is kidnapped from her bedroom in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is rescued nine months later.
• June 11
  • The first episode of American Idol airs.
  • Antonio Meucci is recognized as the first inventor of the telephone by the United States Congress.
• June 14 – In Karachi, Pakistan, a car bomb in front of the U.S. Consulate kills 12 Pakistanis and injures 50.
• June 21 – Walt Disney Pictures' 42nd feature film, Lilo & Stitch, is released to positive reviews and box-office success.
• June 29 – Vice President Dick Cheney serves as acting president for a few hours while President George W. Bush undergoes a colonoscopy procedure under sedation.

• July 4 – 2002 Los Angeles International Airport shooting: Egyptian immigrant Hesham Mohamed Hadayet kills two and injures six before being killed by a security officer. The incident is called an act of terrorism.
• July 13 – A lightning strike sets off the Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burns 499,570 acres (2,022 km²).
• July 15 – In Washington, D.C., "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to aiding the enemy and possession of explosives during the commission of a felony; Lindh agrees to serve 10 years in prison for each charge.
• July 21 – Telecommunications giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the largest such filing in United States history.
• July 24 – Congressman James Traficant of Ohio is expelled from the House of Representatives by a vote of 420–1 following his ten felony convictions.

• August 12 – In Arlington, Virginia, US Airways declares bankruptcy.

• September 2 – Liberty's Kids premieres on PBS Kids.
• September 4 – Kelly Clarkson wins the first American Idol competition.
• September 5 – The Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which burned 499,570 acres (2,022 km²), is contained.
• September 7 – The Fox Network's Fox Kids block (which had been on the air since 1990) airs for the final time. It was replaced the following week (on September 14) by the 4Kids-programmed FoxBox.^[5]
• September 11 – Thousands of people in New York City and across the nation attend ceremonies as the United States commemorates the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
• September 12 – Iraq disarmament crisis: U.S. President George W. Bush addresses the U.N., and challenges its members to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Iraq, or stand aside as the United States and likeminded nations act.^[3]
• September 14 – Major upheavals take place on Saturday mornings, as the four major networks change their programming on this day. Fox, having sold Fox Kids Worldwide to The Walt Disney Company the previous year, ends Fox Kids and sells its airtime to 4Kids Entertainment, who begin programming a new children's programming block as the Fox Box. Disney, meanwhile, having acquired the Fox Kids brand, ends Disney's One Saturday Morning on ABC and renamed ABC Kids. CBS, whose then-corporate sibling Nickelodeon programs its lineup, rebrands its Nick Jr. on CBS block as Nick on CBS and refocuses it on children 2–11 years old, while NBC signs a contract with Discovery Networks to air a programming strand called Discovery Kids on NBC (a spinoff of a former digital cable channel Discovery Kids), which replaces the teen-oriented block TNBC.^[5][6]

• October 2
  • The Beltway sniper attacks begin with five shootings taking place in Montgomery County, Maryland.
  • The Congress of the United States passes a joint resolution, which authorizes the President to use the United States Armed Forces as he deems necessary and appropriate, against Iraq.
• October 9 – The Dot-com bubble bear market reaches bottom, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average slips below 7,200.
• October 9–10 – Congress passes the Iraq Resolution authorizing the Iraq War.^[3]
• October 16 – The Iraq War Resolution is authorized by a majority of the U.S. Congress.
• October 24 – The Beltway sniper attacks end with the arrest of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo. The pair killed 10 people and wounded three others in the Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area in this series of attacks; they had killed seven other people in prior attacks.
• October 25 – U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his family, and his staff are killed in a plane accident at Eveleth, Minnesota.
• October 27 – The Anaheim Angels defeat the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the 2002 World Series to win the title.

• November 2 – The Godless Americans March on Washington brings together 2,000 atheists, freethinkers, agnostics, and humanists in a mile-long parade down the National Mall.
• November 3 – The 7.9 M_w  Denali earthquake shakes the Alaska Interior with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing one injury and $20–56 million in losses.
• November 5 – Republicans gain a majority in the Senate and a larger majority in the House of Representatives following congressional elections.^[3]
• November 6 – The U.S. Federal Reserve System drops its primary discount rate by 25 basis points to 0.75%, putting the real interest rate solidly below the inflation rate.
• November 7 – Iran bans the advertising of United States products.
• November 8 – The United Nations passes Resolution 1441 giving Iraqi President Saddam Hussein a final opportunity to cooperate with international weapons inspectors.^[3]
• November 12 – Toxicologist Kristin Rossum is convicted of the 2000 murder of her husband Gregory de Viller in San Diego. Rossum had poisoned her victim using fentanyl, passing off the crime as a suicide.^[7]
• November 16 – A Campaign against Climate Change march takes place in London from Lincoln's Inn Fields, past Esso offices to the United States Embassy.
• November 25 – U.S. President George W. Bush signs the Homeland Security Act into law, establishing the Department of Homeland Security. It was the largest U.S. government reorganization since the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947.
• November 27 – Walt Disney Pictures' 43rd feature film, Treasure Planet, is released to positive reception, but turns outs to be a rare box office bomb from the studio.

• December 9 – United Airlines, the second largest airline in the world, files for bankruptcy.^[8]
• December 13 – President George W. Bush announces a smallpox vaccination program for military personnel, as well as for civilian healthcare and emergency workers to protect against bioterrorism risks. He announces that the public will not be called up for shots until 2004 at the earliest.^[9]
• December 21 – President Bush receives his smallpox vaccine.^[10]

• Iraqi no-fly zones (1991–2003)^[11]
• War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)

• January 10 – Laken Riley, murder victim (d. 2024)
• January 20 – Michael Barbieri, actor
• January 22 – Caitlin Clark, basketball player
• January 25 – Lil Mosey, rapper

• February 5 – Davis Cleveland, actor
• February 13 – Sophia Lillis, actress
• February 21 – Marcus & Martinus, Norwegian dance-pop duo
• February 26 – Kendra and Maliyah Herrin, conjoined twins

• March 4 – Jacob Hopkins, actor
• March 15 – Sam McCarthy, actor

• April 6 – Andrea Botez, chess player
• April 8
  • Skai Jackson, actress
  • Ken San Jose, Filipino-American dancer
• April 10 – Ava Michelle, actress, dancer, and model
• April 16 – Sadie Sink, actress
• April 18 – Noah Thompson, singer
• April 19 – Loren Gray, social media personality
• April 24 – Skylar Stecker, singer and actress
• April 25 – Eitan Bernath, social media personality

• May 6
  • Emily Alyn Lind, actress
  • Angel Reese, basketball player
• May 9 – Cree Cicchino, actress
• May 15 – Chase Hudson, social media influencer
• May 20 – Trinity Rodman, Soccer player

• June 2 – Madison Hu, actress
• June 3 – Eva Bella, voice of young Elsa in the Disney movie Frozen
• June 25 –
  • Tamir Rice, African-American boy killed by police (d. 2014)
  • Benson Boone, American singer
• June 26 – Chandler Smith, race car driver
• June 29 – Marlhy Murphy, musician, actress and media personality

• July 24 – Benjamin Flores Jr., actor and rapper
• July 31 – Abi Carter, singer^[12]

• August 1 – Oona Laurence, actress
• August 6 – Nessa Barrett, singer
• August 9 – Wan Kuzri Wan Kamal, Malaysian soccer player
• August 16 – Talia Ryder, actress
• August 19 – Brighton Sharbino, actress
• August 26 – Lil Tecca, rapper

• September 6 – Asher Angel, actor
• September 8 – Gaten Matarazzo, actor
• September 15 – Rhema Marvanne, singer
• September 27 – Jenna Ortega, actress
• September 30 – Maddie Ziegler, dancer

• October 2 – Jacob Sartorius, singer
• October 6 – Rio Mangini, actor
• October 15 – Malu Trevejo, Cuban-American social media personality
• October 16 – Madison Wolfe, actress
• October 25 – Johnny Sequoyah, actress
• October 26 – Emma Schweiger, actress

• November 1 – NLE Choppa, rapper
• November 11 – Lesandro Guzman-Feliz, murder victim (d. 2018)
• November 12 – Paolo Banchero, American-Italian basketball player^[13]
• November 13 – Nikki Hahn, actress
• November 13 – Giovanni Reyna, soccer player^[14]
• November 14 – Ben Bowen, notable victim (d. 2005)
• November 20 – Madisyn Shipman, actress^[15]
• November 26 – Baylee Littrell, singer
• November 30 – Emily Skinner, child actress

• December 30 – Bugha, esports athlete

• January 1
  • Carol Ohmart, actress (b. 1927)
  • Julia Phillips, movie producer (b. 1944)
• January 3 – Miki Dora, surfer (b. 1934)
• January 4 – Nathan Chapman, soldier (b. 1970)
• January 6 – John W. Reynolds Jr., politician and jurist (b. 1921)
• January 7
  • Mighty Igor, wrestler (b. 1931)
  • Avery Schreiber, actor and comedian (b. 1935)
• January 8 – Dave Thomas, businessman (b. 1932)
• January 9 – K. William Stinson, politician (b. 1930)
• January 10 – John Buscema, comic book artist (b. 1927)
• January 12
  • Ernest Pintoff, animator (b. 1931)
  • Cyrus Vance, lawyer and Secretary of State (b. 1917)
• January 13 – Ted Demme, film and television director and producer (b. 1963)
• January 14 – Edith Bouvier Beale, socialite (b. 1917)^[16]
• January 15 – Michael Bilandic, politician, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)
• January 16
  • Bobo Olson, boxer (b. 1928)
  • Ron Taylor, actor (b. 1952)
• January 18 – Marilyn Harris, writer (b. 1931)
• January 20 – Carrie Hamilton, actress and daughter of Carol Burnett (b. 1963)
• January 21 – Peggy Lee, singer, songwriter, and actress (b. 1920)
• January 22 –Stanley Marcus, businessman and author (b. 1905)
• January 23 – Robert Nozick, philosopher (b. 1938)
• January 25 – Rudolph B. Davila, Army officer (b. 1916)
• January 28 – Dick "Night Train" Lane, American football player (b. 1928)

• February 1
  • Irish McCalla, actress (b. 1928)
  • Daniel Pearl, journalist and murder victim, died in Karachi, Pakistan (b. 1963)
• February 2 – Paul Baloff, singer (b. 1960)
• February 4 – Helen Dodson Prince, astronomer (b. 1905)
• February 6 – Guy Stockwell, actor (b. 1933)
• February 7
  • Elisa Bridges, actress and model (b. 1973)
  • Ellen Demming, actress (b. 1922)
• February 8 – Nick Brignola, jazz musician (b. 1936)
• February 9 – Fred Gehrke, football player (b. 1918)
• February 10
  • Jim Spencer, baseball player (b. 1947)
  • Dave Van Ronk, folk musician (b. 1936)
  • Vernon A. Walters, Army officer and a diplomat (b. 1917)
• February 11 – George Kasem, politician (b. 1919)
• February 13 – Waylon Jennings, American country singer (b. 1937)
• February 15 – Howard K. Smith, television journalist (b. 1914)
• February 18 – Jack Lambert, actor (b. 1920)
• February 19 – Virginia Hamilton, writer (b. 1936)
• February 20 – Willie Thrower, American football player (b. 1930)
• February 22 – Chuck Jones, animator (b. 1912)
• February 24
  • Leo Ornstein, Russian-born American composer and pianist (b. 1892)
  • Mel Stewart, actor, director, and musician (b. 1929)
• February 26 – Lawrence Tierney, actor (b. 1919)
• February 27 – Mary Stuart, actress (b. 1926)

• March 1 – C. Farris Bryant, politician (b. 1914)
• March 3 – Al Pollard, football player (b. 1928)
• March 5 – Howard Cannon, politician (b. 1912)
• March 7 – Mickey Haslin, baseball player (b. 1909)
• March 9 – Irene Worth, actress (b. 1916)
• March 11 – James Tobin, Nobel economist (b. 1918)
• March 15 – Sylvester Weaver, television executive (b. 1908)
• March 17 – Rosetta LeNoire, actress (b. 1911)
• March 23 – Eileen Farrell, soprano (b. 1920)
• March 26 – Randy Castillo, musician (b. 1950)
• March 27
  • Milton Berle, comedian and actor (b. 1908)
  • Dudley Moore, actor, comedian, and musician (b. 1935)
  • Billy Wilder, Austrian-born director (b. 1905)

• April 5 – Layne Staley, singer and songwriter (b. 1967)
• April 7 – John Agar, actor (b. 1921)^[17]
• April 14 – Arthur W. Coats Jr., California politician (b. 1914)^[18]
• April 15 – Byron White, athlete and Supreme Court Justice (b. 1917)
• April 16 – Robert Urich, actor (b. 1946)
• April 18 – Wahoo McDaniel, American football player and wrestler (b. 1938)
• April 22 – Linda Lovelace, American pornographic actress (b. 1949)
• April 25 – Lisa Lopes, rapper, died in La Ceiba, Atlántida, Honduras (b. 1971)
• April 27
  • George Alec Effinger, writer (b. 1947)
  • Ruth Handler, businesswoman (b. 1916)

• May 9 – Dan Devine, American football player and coach (b. 1924)
• May 6 – Otis Blackwell, songwriter (b. 1931)
• May 11 – Joseph Bonanno, mafioso (b. 1905 in Italy)
• May 16 – Big Dick Dudley, professional wrestler (b. 1968)
• May 17 – Dave Berg, cartoonist (b. 1920)
• May 20 – Stephen Jay Gould, paleontologist and writer (b. 1941)
• May 23 – Sam Snead, golfer (b. 1912)
• May 24
  • Susie Garrett, actress (b. 1929)
  • Wallace Markfield, writer (b. 1926)
• May 28 – David Parker Ray, kidnapper and serial killer (b. 1939)^[19]

• June 5 – Dee Dee Ramone, songwriter and musician (b. 1951)
• June 6 – Robbin Crosby, guitarist (b. 1959)
• June 10
  • Maury Travis, serial killer (b. 1965)
  • John Gotti, murderer and leader of organized crime (b. 1940)
• June 11 – Robbin Crosby, musician (b. 1959)
• June 12 – Bill Blass, fashion designer (b. 1922)^[20]
• June 17 – Willie Davenport, track and field athlete (b. 1943)
• June 22
  • Darryl Kile, baseball player (b. 1968)
  • Eppie Lederer, journalist and radio host (b. 1918)
• June 23 – Logan Tucker, murder victim (b. 1996)
• June 26 – Jay Berwanger, American football player (b. 1914)
• June 27 – John Entwistle, English musician (b. 1944)
• June 29 – Rosemary Clooney, singer and actress, and wife of José Ferrer and mother of Miguel Ferrer (b, 1928)

• July 2 – Ray Brown, American bassist (b. 1926)
• July 4 – Benjamin O. Davis Jr., general (b. 1912)
• July 5 – Ted Williams, baseball player (b. 1918)
• July 6 – John Frankenheimer, film director (b. 1930)
• July 8 – Ward Kimball, animator (b. 1913)
• July 9 – Rod Steiger, actor and husband of Claire Bloom (b. 1925)
• July 10 – Laurence Janifer, writer (b. 1933)
• July 16 – John Cocke, computer scientist (b. 1925)
• July 19 – Alan Lomax, folklorist and musicologist (b. 1915)
• July 23 – Chaim Potok, writer and rabbi (b. 1929)

• August 5
  • Josh Ryan Evans, American actor (b. 1982)
  • Chick Hearn, American basketball announcer (b. 1916)
• August 11 – Galen Rowell, American photographer, writer, and climber (b. 1940)
• August 14 – Dave Williams, American musician (b. 1972)
• August 15 – Kyle Rote, American football player (b. 1928)
• August 16 – Jeff Corey, American actor (b. 1914)
• August 23 – Hoyt Wilhem, baseball player (b. 1922)
• August 31
  • Lionel Hampton, American musician (b. 1908)
  • Martin Kamen, American chemist (b. 1913)

• September 3 – Ted Ross, American actor (b. 1934)
• September 4 – Jerome Biffle, American athlete (b. 1928)
• September 5 – David Todd Wilkinson, American cosmologist (b. 1935)
• September 7 – Erma Franklin, American singer (b. 1938)
• September 11
  • Kim Hunter, American actress (b. 1922)
  • Johnny Unitas, American football player (b. 1933)
• September 14
  • LaWanda Page, comedian and actress (b. 1920)
  • Paul Williams, saxophonist (b. 1915)
• September 18 – Bob Hayes, American football player and track and field athlete (b. 1942)
• September 21 – Robert L. Forward, writer, inventor, and physicist (b. 1932)
• September 22 – Mickey Newbury, American singer-songwriter (b. 1940)
• September 24 – Mike Webster, football player (b. 1952)
• September 28 – Whitney Blake, actress and director (b. 1926)

• October 3 – Bruce Paltrow, television and film director and producer (b. 1943)

• c. October 5 – Jay R. Smith, American actor and comedian (b. 1915)
• October 9 – Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer (b. 1956)
• October 10 – Teresa Graves, American actress and comedian (b. 1948)
• October 12 – Ray Conniff, musician and bandleader (b. 1916)
• October 13 – Stephen Ambrose, American historian and biographer (b. 1936)
• October 17 – Aileen Riggin, American swimmer and diver (b. 1906)
• October 18 – Kam Fong Chun, American actor (b. 1918)
• October 23
  • Adolph Green, American lyricist and playwright (b. 1914)
  • Richard Helms, American CIA director (b. 1913)
• October 24
  • Harry Hay, British-born American activist (b. 1912)
  • Peggy Moran, actress (b. 1918)
• October 25 – Paul Wellstone, American politician (b. 1944)
• October 28 – Margaret Booth, American film editor (b. 1898)
• October 30 – Jam Master Jay, American Hip-Hop DJ (b. 1965)

• November 3 – Jonathan Harris, actor (b. 1914)
• November 9 – Merlin Santana, actor (b. 1976)
• November 14 – Eddie Bracken, actor (b. 1915)
• November 15 – Roberta Leighton, drag racer
• November 18 – James Coburn, actor (b. 1928)
• November 21 – Hadda Brooks, jazz singer, pianist, and composer (b. 1916)
• November 24 – John Rawls, philosopher (b. 1921)
• November 27 – Billie Bird, actress and comedian (b. 1908)
• November 26 – Verne Winchell, businessman (b. 1915)

• December 1 – Dave McNally, baseball player (b. 1942)
• December 2 – Mal Waldron, jazz pianist, composer, and arranger (b. 1925)
• December 3 – Glenn Quinn, Irish actor (b. 1970)
• December 5 – Roone Arledge, sports and news broadcasting executive (b. 1931)
• December 6
  • Father Philip Berrigan, priest, member of the Plowshares Movement and political activist (b. 1923)
  • Charles Rosen, pioneer in artificial intelligence (b. 1927)
• December 9 – Stan Rice, painter and poet (b. 1942)
• December 26 – Herb Ritts, photographer (b. 1952)
• December 27 – George Roy Hill, film director (b. 1921)

• Galen Schlosser, American architect^[21]

• 2002 in American soccer
• 2002 in American television
• List of American films of 2002
• Timeline of United States history (1990–2009)

• Media related to 2002 in the United States at Wikimedia Commons