2004

Events from the year 2004 in the United States.
==Incumbents==
===Federal Government===
* President: George W. Bush (R-TX)
* Vice President: Dick Cheney (R-WY)
* Chief Justice: William Rehnquist (WI)
* Speaker of the House of Representatives: Dennis Hastert (R-IL)
* Senate Majority Leader: Bill Frist (R-TN)
* Congress: 108th
==Events==
===January===
* January 4 – NASA's MER-A (Spirit) lands on Mars at 04:35 UTC.
* January 19
** U.S. Senator John Kerry (D-MA) wins the Iowa Democratic caucus. Former Vermont Governor Howard Dean's concession speech ends with a lively but controversial scream.
** Children's television series Boohbah (made by Ragdoll Productions who also made Teletubbies) begins its first ever television premiere in the U.S. on PBS KIDS.
* January 24 – NASA's MER-B (Opportunity) lands on Mars at 05:05 UTC.
* January 28 – At a hearing of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, it is revealed that the September 11, 2001, terrorists used Mace (a brand of tear gas) or pepper spray in overpowering the flight crew of American Airlines Flight 11.
===February===
* February 1 – Super Bowl XXXVIII: The New England Patriots defeat the Carolina Panthers 32–29 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.
* February 3 – The CIA admits that there was no imminent threat from weapons of mass destruction before the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
* February 4 – The social network Facebook launches.
* February 12 – Same sex marriage in the United States: The City and County of San Francisco begins issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as an act of civil disobedience.
* February 14 – Jetix is introduced on Toon Disney and ABC Family, making it the first trade-name to be introduced as an anime-based block.
* February 26 – The United States lifts a ban on travel to Libya, ending travel restrictions to the nation that had lasted for 23 years.
* February 29 – The 76th Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal, are held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, with Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King winning a record-tying 11 Oscars (tied with 1959's Ben-Hur and 1997's Titanic), including Best Picture and Best Director. The film also breaks the record tied by 1958's Gigi and 1987's The Last Emperor for the largest sweep for a single film in Oscar history. The telecast garners nearly 43.6 million viewers, making it the most-watched broadcast since 2000.
===March===
* March 2
** NASA announces that the Mars rover MER-B (Opportunity) has confirmed that its landing area was once drenched in water.
** John Kerry effectively clinches the 2004 Democratic Party presidential nomination by winning nine out of 10 "Super Tuesday" primaries and caucuses.
* March 12 – Marcus Wesson is arrested in Fresno, California after killing nine family members. Wesson had built a cult around his family and had molested and "married" several of his daughters. He was sentenced to death in 2005.
* March 31 – Four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA are killed and their bodies mutilated after being ambushed in Fallujah, Iraq.
===April===
* April 2 – Walt Disney Pictures' 45th feature film, Home on the Range, is released to mixed reviews and middling box office numbers. It is the studio's last traditionally-animated film until 2009's The Princess and the Frog.
* April 22 – Pat Tillman, a former NFL player who enlisted in the U.S. Army, is killed by friendly fire in eastern Afghanistan. The U.S. military does not reveal this to the public until weeks later, after initially saying he was killed by enemy combatants.
* April 28 – Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse is revealed on the television show 60 Minutes II.
* April 29 – The last Oldsmobile rolls off of the assembly line.
===May===
* May 1 – Emergence of cicada Brood X (Brood 10) begins in the eastern United States.
* May 4 – A WNBC helicopter crashes in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. This event is covered by rival station WABC-TV.
* May 6 – The final episode of Friends airs on NBC, drawing an estimated 66 million viewers in North America. Advertisers pay $2 million for 30 second ads.
* May 8 – Would-be "Saudi Princess" Antoinette Millard surfaces in New York City, claiming that muggers had stolen jewels worth of $262,000 from her (she later proves to be an impostor).
* May 12 – An American civilian contractor in Iraq, Nick Berg, is shown being decapitated by a group allegedly linked to al-Qaeda on an Internet-distributed video. They state it is retaliation for the abuse at Abu Ghraib prison.
* May 13 – The final episode of Frasier airs on NBC. The episode was viewed by 33.7 million people, being the 11th most-watched series finale and the 7th most watched from NBC.
* May 14 – Lynn Turner is convicted of the 1995 murder of her husband Glenn Turner by poisoning him with anti-freeze. She is also accused of the murder of her second husband, Randy Thompson.
* May 17 – Massachusetts legalizes same-sex marriage in compliance with a ruling from the state's Supreme Court ruling in the case of Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.
* May 26 – Terry Nichols is convicted by an Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
* May 29 – Dedication of the National World War II Memorial takes place in Washington, D.C.
===June===
* June 3 – Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet tenders his resignation, citing "personal reasons". John E. McLaughlin, CIA Deputy Director, becomes the acting director until a permanent director is chosen and confirmed by Congress.
* June 4 – Marvin Heemeyer destroys many local buildings with a home-made tank in Granby, Colorado.
* June 5 – Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, dies at his home in Bel-Air, California, at the age of 93. A six-day state funeral follows after his death.
* June 9 – The G8 Summit takes place on Sea Island, in Georgia, United States.
* June 11
** The national funeral service for Ronald Reagan is held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
** Terry Nichols is spared the death penalty by an Oklahoma state court on murder charges stemming from the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, exactly three years after his co-defendant, Timothy McVeigh, was executed for his role in the bombing.
* June 16 – The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (or "9/11 Commission") issues an initial report of its findings.
* June 21 – In Mojave, California, SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
* June 28
** The U.S.-led coalition occupying Iraq transfers sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government.
** Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe trains collide in a rural area outside of San Antonio, Texas; 40 cars are derailed, including one chlorine car. Three people die, another 50 people are hospitalized because of exposure to the gas.
* June 30 – Spider-Man 2 is released in theaters.
===July===
* July 4 – A symbolic cornerstone is laid for the re-construction of One World Trade Center in New York City.
* July 25 – Lance Armstrong wins a record 6th consecutive Tour de France cycling title.
* July 26 – The Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts nominates John Kerry for U.S. president and John Edwards for vice president. Future President Barack Obama delivers the keynote address.
* July 31 – "The Last Dispatch" concert is played as a reunion concert with the band Dispatch on the Hatch Shell in Boston; 110,000 people attend, making it the single largest gathering in independent music industry history.
===August===
* August 3
** The Statue of Liberty reopens after security improvements.
** NASA's MESSENGER is launched (it was captured into Mercury's orbit on March 18, 2011).
* August 12 – New Jersey Governor James McGreevey announces that he is "a gay American" and will resign effective November 15, 2004.
* August 13 – Hurricane Charley kills 27 people in Florida, after killing four in Cuba and one in Jamaica. Charley makes landfall near Cayo Costa, Florida as a Category 4 hurricane. Charley is the most intense hurricane to strike the United States since Hurricane Andrew in 1992.
* August 13 – The United States compete at the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, and win 36 gold, 39 silver and 27 bronze medals.
* August 19 – Google becomes a publicly traded company via initial public offering.
* August 29 – Around 200,000 protesters demonstrate in New York City against President George W. Bush and his government, ahead of the Republican National Convention.
* August 30 – U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are re-nominated at the Republican National Convention in New York City.
===September===
* September 3 – Hurricane Frances makes landfall in Florida. After killing two people in the Bahamas, Hurricane Frances kills 10 people in Florida, two in Georgia and one in South Carolina.
* September 4 – Thomas & Friends comes to PBS KIDS as a stand-alone program with Michael Brandon taking over as the narrator.
* September 8 – In the "Rathergate" affair, the first Internet posts appear pointing out that documents claimed by CBS News to be typewritten memos from the early 1970s appear instead to have been produced using modern word processing systems.
* September 13 – The U.S. Federal Assault Weapons Ban expires.
* September 16 – Hurricane Ivan strikes Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a Category 3 storm, killing 25 in Alabama and Florida, becoming the third-costliest hurricane in American history at the time.
* September 23
** Tropical Storm Ivan, having come around and reformed in the Gulf of Mexico, makes its final landfall near Cameron, Louisiana, to little effect. In total, the storm kills 92 people.
** Mount St. Helens becomes active again.
* September 24 – Major League Baseball announces that the Montreal Expos will move to Washington D.C. in 2005.
* September 25 – Hurricane Jeanne makes landfall near Port Saint Lucie, Florida, near the location Hurricane Frances hit two weeks earlier. Jeanne kills over 3,030, mostly in Haiti.
* September 28 – The redesigned $50 bill is released, containing many of the same security features as its recently released $20 counterpart.
* September 29 – In Mojave, California, the first Ansari X-Prize flight takes place of SpaceShipOne, which is competing with a number of spacecraft (including Canada's Da Vinci Project, claimed to be its closest rival) and goes on to win the prize on October 4.
* September 30 – First debate of the U.S. presidential election, 2004.
===October===
* October 5 – Vice Presidential debate of the U.S. presidential election, 2004 between candidates Dick Cheney and John Edwards.
* October 8 – Second debate of the U.S. presidential election, 2004.
* October 11 – PBS Kids debuts a programming block targeted at children aged 6–10 entitled PBS Kids Go!, with new shows Maya & Miguel and an Arthur spinoff, Postcards from Buster, debuting on this day with Arthur moving to PBS Kids Go! from PBS Kids.
* October 13 – Third debate of the U.S. presidential election, 2004.
* October 16 – The New York Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox by a score of 19–8 in Game 3 of Major League Baseball's American League Championship Series. The game, which pushes the Yankees to a 3–0 series lead, sets a record for longest nine-inning major league game. The Red Sox, however, rally to win the series in seven games.
* October 18 – Jimmy Wales and Angela Beesley Starling founds Fandom, Inc.
* October 20
** Corporate Airlines Flight 5966 crashes in Missouri, killing 13 people and injuring two.
** The Boston Red Sox defeat the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the ALCS to advance to the World Series after being down 3–0 in the series.
* October 25 – Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King receive the Congressional Gold Medal.
* October 27 – The Boston Red Sox win the World Series for the first time since 1918, breaking the Curse of the Bambino.
* October 29 – A videotape of Osama bin Laden speaking airs on Arabic TV, in which he threatens terrorist attacks on the United States and taunts President George W. Bush over the September 11 terrorist attacks.
===November===
* November 2
** The 2004 United States presidential election is held. The United States re-elects George W. Bush of the Republican Party to a second term as President of the United States, defeating John Kerry.
** 11 American states ban gay marriage.
* November 5 – Pixar Animation Studios' sixth feature film, The Incredibles, is released in theaters.
* November 7 – Second Battle of Fallujah: U.S. Forces launch a major assault on the Iraqi town of Fallujah, in an effort to rid the area of insurgents before the Iraqi elections in January.
* November 14 – United States Secretary of State Colin Powell submits his resignation. He is replaced by Condoleezza Rice after her confirmation by the United States Congress.
* November 16 – NASA's hypersonic Scramjet breaks a record by reaching a velocity of about 7,000 mph in an unmanned experimental flight. It obtains a speed of Mach 9.6, almost 10 times the speed of sound.
* November 19 – The NBA's Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons engage in a brawl that involves fans and players after the game is called with 45.9 seconds left in the game. The incident gets (then) Pacer Ron Artest suspended for the remainder of the season.
* November 30
** John Green and Charlie Haddad, who were involved in the Pacers-Pistons brawl on November 19, are banned from attending Pistons home games for life.
** Ken Jennings loses to Nancy Zerg, ending his 74-game winning streak on Jeopardy!.
===December===
* December 2 – Brian Williams replaces Tom Brokaw as weeknight anchor for NBC Nightly News.
* December 3 – The Colombian government extradites Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, one of the most powerful drug dealers in the world, arrested in 1995 and 2003, to the United States.
* December 6 – Terrorists attack the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing several people.
* December 8
** The biggest Chinese PC producer Lenovo announces its plan to purchase IBM's global PC business, making it the world's third largest PC producer after Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
** Former Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott is murdered on stage by gunman Nathan Gale in Columbus, Ohio. Gale kills three others before being shot dead by police.
* December 16 – 23-year-old pregnant woman Bobbie Jo Stinnett is found murdered in her home in Skidmore, Missouri. Her unborn baby has been cut out of her womb and is missing.
* December 21 – Iraqi insurgents attack a U.S. military base in the city of Mosul, killing 22 people.
* December 23 – Second Battle of Fallujah: US-UK-Iraqi forces defeat the remaining Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah.
* December 26
** 35 Americans are among the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in across the region of South and Southeast Asia. There were fatalities in 14 countries, including India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.
** U.S. President George W. Bush issues a statement expressing his condolences to those who lost loved ones during the tsunami.
* December 29 – U.S. President George W. Bush speaks out publicly about the deaths caused by the 9.1 magnitude earthquake and tsunami in Indian Ocean and answers questions at the Prairie Chapel Ranch.
* December 31
** U.S. President George W. Bush announces his committing of $350 million to support relief efforts for the "disaster around the Indian Ocean".
** Simón Trinidad, high-profile FARC leader, is extradited to the United States.
==Memoriam==
===January===
* January 1 – Elma Lewis, arts educator (aged 82; Boston, MA, USA)
* January 2 – Lynn Cartwright, actress (aged 76; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* January 3 – David Lipschultz, journalist (aged 33; Aspen, CO, USA)
* January 5 – Tug McGraw, baseball player (aged 59; Brentwood, TN, USA)
* January 6 – Francesco Scavullo, photographer (aged 82; New York City, NY, USA)
* January 8 – John A. Gambling, radio host (aged 73; Venice, FL, USA)
* January 11 – Spalding Gray, actor and screenwriter (aged 62; New York City, NY, USA)
* January 12 – Randy VanWarmer, singer-songwriter (aged 48; Seattle, WA, USA)
* January 13
** Phillip Crosby, singer (aged 69; Woodland Hills, CA, USA)
** Mike Goliat, baseball player (aged 82; Seven Hills, OH, USA)
* January 14
** Uta Hagen, actress (aged 84; Manhattan, NY, USA)
** Ron O'Neal, actor, director, and screenwriter (aged 66; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* January 17 – Carlton R. Sickles, lawyer and politician (aged 82; Bethesda, MD, USA)
* January 19 – Harry E. Claiborne, lawyer and judge (aged 86; Las Vegas, NV, USA)
* January 22 – Ann Miller, dancer and actress (aged 80; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* January 23 – Bob Keeshan, actor, clown and television producer (aged 76; Windsor, VT, USA)
* January 27 – Jack Paar, comedian and television host (aged 85; Greenwich, CT, USA)
* January 28 – Joe Viterelli, actor (aged 66; Las Vegas, NV, USA)
* January 29 – Ed Sciaky, Philadelphia broadcaster and disk jockey (aged 55; Manhattan, NY, USA)
* January 30 – Scott Walker, professional boxer (aged 34; Apache Junction, AZ, USA)
===February===
* February 3
** Jason Raize, actor and activist (aged 28; Yass, Australia)
** Cornelius Bumpus, jazz musician (aged 58; Sioux City, IA, USA)
* February 4 – Johnny Leartice Robinson, murderer (aged 51; Raiford, FL, USA)
* February 5 – Thomas Hinman Moorer, navy admiral (aged 91; Bethesda, MD, USA)
* February 10 – Paul Ilyinsky, politician (aged 76; Palm Beach, FL, USA)
* February 11 – Tony Pope, voice actor (aged 56; Burbank, CA, USA)
* February 13 – Ted Tappe, baseball player (aged 73; Yakima, WA, USA)
* February 15 – Jan Miner, actress (aged 86; Bethel, CT, USA)
* February 16 – Doris Troy, singer (aged 67; Las Vegas, NV, USA)
* February 22 – Andy Seminick, baseball player, coach and manager (aged 83; Palm Bay, FL, USA)
* February 24
** Ernest Burke, baseball player (aged 79; Baltimore, MD, USA)
** John Randolph, actor (aged 88; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* February 27 – Paul Sweezy, economist and editor (aged 93; Larchmont, NY, USA)
* February 28 – Daniel J. Boorstin, historian and Librarian of Congress (aged 89; Washington, DC, USA)
===March===
* March 2 – Mercedes McCambridge, actress (aged 87; La Jolla, CA, USA)
* March 3 – Cecily Adams, actress (aged 46; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* March 6 – Frances Dee, actress (aged 94; Norwalk, CT, USA)
* March 7 – Paul Winfield, actor (aged 64; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* March 8
** Tichi Wilkerson Kassel, film personality and publisher (aged 77; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
** Robert Pastorelli, actor (aged 49; Hollywood Hills, CA, USA)
* March 11 – Philip Arthur Fisher, stock investor (aged 96; San Mateo, CA, USA)
* March 16 – Brian Bianchini, model (aged 25; San Francisco, CA, USA)
* March 18 – Gene Bearden, baseball player (aged 83; Alexander City, AL, USA)
* March 21 – Robert Snyder, documentary filmmaker (aged 88; Pacific Palisades, CA, USA)
* March 25 – Jan Berry, musician (aged 62; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* March 26
** J. Edward Roush, politician (aged 83; Huntington, IN, USA)
** Jan Sterling, actress (aged 82; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* March 27 – Adán Sánchez, singer (aged 19; Sinaloa, Mexico)
===April===
* April 1
** Aaron Bank, colonel, founded the U.S. Army Special Forces (aged 101; Dana Point, CA, USA)
** Carrie Snodgress, actress (aged 58; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* April 2 – Harold A. Fidler, Associate Director of the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (aged 93; Oakland, CA, USA)
* April 4 – George Bamberger, baseball player and manager (aged 80; North Redington Beach, FL, USA)
* April 9 – Harry Babbitt, singer (aged 90; Aliso Viejo, CA, USA)
* April 11 – Hy Gotkin, basketball player (aged 81; Delray Beach, FL, USA)
* April 16 – Wilmot N. Hess, physicist (aged 77; Berkeley, CA, USA)
* April 19 – Jim Cantalupo, businessman (aged 60; Orlando, FL, USA)
* April 20 – Al Stiller, cyclist (aged 80; Boulder, CO, USA)
* April 22
** Jason Dunham, marine (aged 22; Bethesda, MD, USA)
** Pat Tillman, American football player and soldier killed in action (aged 27; Spera, Afghanistan)
* April 24 – Estée Lauder, businesswoman (aged 95; New York City, NY, USA)
* April 26 – Hubert Selby Jr., writer (aged 75; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
===May===
* May 1 – Nelson Gidding, screenwriter (aged 84; Santa Monica, CA, USA)
* May 2 – Moe Burtschy, baseball player (aged 82; Cincinnati, OH, USA)
* May 6 – Barney Kessel, jazz guitarist (aged 80; San Diego, CA, USA)
* May 7 – Nicholas Berg, businessman (aged 26; Baghdad, Iraq)
* May 9 – Alan King, comedian and actor (aged 76; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 12 – Alexander Skutch, naturalist and writer (aged 99; San Isidro de El General, Costa Rica)
* May 14 – Charlotte Benkner, supercentenarian (aged 114; Youngstown, OH, USA)
* May 15 – William H. Hinton, farmer and writer (aged 85; Concord, MA, USA)
* May 16 – Billy Stone, American football player (aged 78; Peoria, IL, USA)
* May 17 – Tony Randall, actor, comedian, producer, and director (aged 84; New York City, NY, USA)
* May 18 – Elvin Jones, jazz drummer (aged 76; Englewood, NJ, USA)
* May 19 – Jack Eckerd, businessman (aged 91; Clearwater, FL, USA)
* May 21 – Gene Wood, television personality (aged 78; Boston, MA, USA)
* May 22 – Richard Biggs, actor (aged 44; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* May 23 – Trudy Marshall, actress (aged 84; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* May 28 – Irene Manning, actress and singer (aged 91; San Carlos, CA, USA)
* May 29 – Archibald Cox, 31st United States Solicitor General from 1961 to 1965 (aged 92; Brooksville, ME, USA)
===June===
* June 1 – William Manchester, historian (aged 82; Middletown, CT, USA)
* June 3 – Morris Schappes, educator, writer, political activist, historian, and magazine editor (aged 97; New York City, NY, USA)
* June 4 – Steve Lacy, jazz soprano saxophonist (aged 69; Boston, MA, USA)
* June 5 – Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989 (aged 93; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* June 6 – Riley Fox, murder victim (aged 3; Wilmington, IL, USA)
* June 7 – Joseph L. Doob, mathematician (aged 94; Urbana, IL, USA)
* June 9 – Rosey Brown, American football player (aged 71; Columbus, NJ, USA)
* June 10 – Ray Charles, singer and musician (aged 73; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
* June 13
** Dorothy Lavinia Brown, surgeon, legislator, and teacher (aged 90; Nashville, TN, USA)
** Danny Dark, voice announcer (aged 65; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
** Dick Durrance, alpine ski racer (aged 89; Carbondale, CO, USA)
* June 16 – Herman Goldstine, mathematician and computer scientist (aged 90; Bryn Mawr, PA, USA)
* June 22
** Bob Bemer, computer scientist (aged 84; Possum Kingdom Lake, TX, USA)
** Thomas Gold, astrophysicist (aged 84; Ithaca, NY, USA)
** Mattie Stepanek, poet (aged 13; Washington, DC, USA)
* June 27 – George Patton IV, U.S. Army General (aged 80; South Hamilton, MA, USA)
* June 30 – Chris Alcaide, actor (aged 80; Palm Springs, CA, USA)
===July===
* July 1 – Marlon Brando, actor (aged 80; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* July 5 – Rodger Ward, race car driver (aged 83; Anaheim, CA, USA)
* July 6 – Eric Douglas, actor (aged 46; New York City, NY, USA)
* July 8 – Albert Francis Capone, son of Al Capone (aged 85; Cool, FL, USA)
* July 9 – Isabel Sanford, actress (aged 86; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* July 12 – Jeff Morris, actor (aged 69; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* July 16 – Charles Sweeney, WWII pilot (aged 84; Boston, MA, USA)
* July 21
** Jerry Goldsmith, composer (aged 75; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
** Edward B. Lewis, Nobel geneticist (aged 86; Pasadena, CA, USA)
* July 28 – Eugene Roche, actor (aged 75; Encino, CA, USA)
* July 31 – Virginia Grey, actress (aged 87; Woodland Hills, CA, USA)
===August===
* August 1
** Philip Abelson, American Nobel physicist (aged 91; Bethesda, MD, USA)
** Alex Scott, notable victim and philanthropist (aged 8; Wynnewood, PA, USA)
* August 6 – Rick James, musician (aged 56; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* August 8 – Fay Wray, Canadian-American actress (aged 96; New York City, NY, USA)
* August 13 – Julia Child, chef, author and television host (aged 91; Montecito, CA, USA)
* August 18 – Elmer Bernstein, composer (aged 82; Ojai, CA, USA)
* August 26 – Laura Branigan, singer (aged 52; East Quogue, NY, USA)
* August 30 – Fred Lawrence Whipple, astronomer (aged 97; Cambridge, MA, USA)
===September===
* September 2
** Bob O. Evans, IBM computer scientist (aged 77; Hillsborough, CA, USA)
** Vonda Phelps, child actress (aged 89; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* September 5 – Steve Wayne, actor (aged 84; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* September 15 – Johnny Ramone, guitarist (aged 55; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* September 18 – Russ Meyer, director and photographer (aged 82; Hollywood Hills, CA, USA)
* September 19 – Skeeter Davis, country music singer-songwriter (aged 72; Nashville, TN, USA)
* September 22 – Ray Traylor Jr., professional wrestler (aged 41; Dallas, GA, USA)
===October===
* October 1 – Richard Avedon, photographer (aged 81; San Antonio, TX, USA)
* October 3 – Janet Leigh, actress (aged 77; Beverly Hills, CA, USA)
* October 4 – Gordon Cooper, aeronautical engineer, test pilot and astronaut (aged 77; Ventura, CA, USA)
* October 5 – Rodney Dangerfield, comedian and actor (aged 82; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
* October 10 – Christopher Reeve, actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, writer and activist (aged 52; Mount Kisco, NY, USA)
* October 16 – Pierre Salinger, politician, and television journalist (aged 79; Cavaillon, France)
* October 17 – Julius Harris, actor (aged 81; Woodland Hills, CA, USA)
* October 26 – Helen Elsie Austin, attorney (aged 96; San Antonio, TX, USA)
===November===
* November 1 – Mac Dre, rapper (aged 34; Kansas City, MO, USA)
* November 7 – Howard Keel, actor and singer (aged 85; Palm Desert, CA, USA)
* November 9 – Iris Chang, journalist (aged 36; Santa Clara County, CA, USA)
* November 13
** Thomas M. Foglietta, lawyer and politician, United States Ambassador to Italy (aged 75; Philadelphia, PA, USA)
** Ol' Dirty Bastard, rapper (aged 35; New York City, NY, USA)
* November 18 – Robert Bacher, physicist (aged 99; Montecito, CA, USA)
* November 19 – Jesse Koochin, notable euthanasia victim (aged 6; Salt Lake City, UT, USA)
* November 20 – Ancel Keys, nutritionist (aged 100; Minneapolis, MN, USA)
* November 29 – John Drew Barrymore, actor (aged 72; Los Angeles, CA, USA)
===December===
* December 4 – Ron Williamson, baseball player wrongly convicted of rape and murder (aged 51; Norman, OK, USA)
* December 8 – Darrell Lance Abbott, musician, songwriter and murder victim (aged 38; Columbus, OH, USA)
* December 18 – Srully Blotnick, author and journalist (aged 63; Cambridge, MA, USA)
* December 19 – Herbert C. Brown, English-born Nobel chemist (aged 92; Lafayette, IN, USA)
* December 26 – Reggie White, American football player (aged 43; Cornelius, NC, USA)
* December 28
** Jerry Orbach, actor and singer (aged 69; Manhattan, NY, USA)
** Susan Sontag, writer and activist (aged 71; New York City, NY, USA)
* December 29 – Julius Axelrod, biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (aged 92; Bethesda, MD, USA)
* December 30 – Artie Shaw, musician (aged 94; Thousand Oaks, CA, USA)
==External links==
* 2004 in the United States
Category:United States History: Volume 23