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| Colonial period |
| American Revolution |
| Nineteenth century |
| Twentieth century |
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New Jersey in the 21st century has been deeply affected by terrorism and political controversy.[ citation needed ]
| History of New Jersey |
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| Colonial period |
| American Revolution |
| Nineteenth century |
| Twentieth century |
| Twenty-first century |
New Jersey in the 21st century has been deeply affected by terrorism and political controversy.[ citation needed ]
In the morning of September 11, 2001, hijackers took control of four domestic U.S. commercial airliners. All of the planes crashed, none of them in New Jersey; however, two of them crashed into the two tallest towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, which collapsed within two hours (and was seen from the Gold Coast in New Jersey), and Todd Beamer, of New Jersey, is thought to have played a role in bringing down Flight 93 short of the terrorists' intended target. The destruction of the twin towers could be seen from New Jersey. The official count records 2,986 deaths in the attacks, including around 700 residents of New Jersey. [1] Over 160,000 [2] people were evacuated from the Manhattan area to New Jersey because the subways had been closed down and PATH station had been closed down and were eventually destroyed in the collapse.
After the attack, the World Trade Center station remained closed for two years. The Exchange Place station was also forced to close due to the flooding of the PATH transit tunnel. PATH service to Lower Manhattan was restored in 2003 after the opening of a temporary station on the World Trade Center site. During the intervening time period, transit service to Lower Manhattan was largely provided by the rapid expansion of NY Waterway ferry service.
Many schools in New Jersey closed for the day, evacuated, or were locked-down. The destruction of 30% (28.7 million sq ft) of Lower Manhattan office space accelerated the pre-2001 trend of moving jobs from Lower Manhattan to Midtown and New Jersey. Many questioned whether this loss of jobs and its associated tax base would ever be restored.
Over several weeks in late 2001, seven letters, all bearing a Trenton, New Jersey postmark and containing anthrax bacteria, were mailed to several news media offices and two US Senators, resulting in the deaths of five people and causing twenty-two people to develop anthrax infections. The crime still remains unsolved.
The first set of anthrax letters were postmarked September 18, 2001, exactly one week after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Five letters are believed to have been mailed at this time, to ABC News, CBS News, NBC News and the New York Post , all in New York City; and the National Enquirer at American Media, Inc. (AMI) in Boca Raton, Florida. AMI also publishes a tabloid called Sun where Robert Stevens, the first person who died from the mailings, worked. Only the New York Post and NBC News letters were actually found; the existence of the other three letters is inferred from the pattern of infection. [3] The anthrax found in the New York Post letter is reported to have become damp before being discovered. Scientists examining the anthrax from the New York Post letter said it appeared as a coarse brown granular material looking like Purina Dog Chow.
Two additional anthrax letters, bearing the same Trenton postmark, were dated October 9, three weeks after the first mailing. The letters were addressed to two Democratic Senators, Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Patrick Leahy of Vermont. More potent than the first anthrax letters, the material in the Senate letters was a highly refined dry powder consisting of approximately one gram of nearly pure spores. Some reports described the material in the Senate letters as "weaponized" or "weapons grade" anthrax. The Daschle letter was opened by an aide on October 15, and the government mail service was shut down. The unopened Leahy letter was discovered in an impounded mail bag on November 16. The Leahy letter had been misdirected to the State Department mail annex in Sterling, Virginia, due to a misread Zip code; a postal worker there, David Hose, contracted inhalation anthrax.
Twenty-two people developed anthrax infections, eleven of the life-threatening inhalation variety. Five died of inhalation anthrax. In addition to the death of Robert Stevens in Florida, two died from unknown sources, possibly cross-contamination of mail: Kathy Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant from New York City; and Ottilie Lundgren, a 94-year-old woman from Oxford, Connecticut, who was the final victim. The two remaining deaths were employees of the Brentwood mail facility in Washington, D.C., Thomas Morris Jr. and Joseph Curseen.
Thousands of people took a two-month course of the antibiotic Cipro in an effort to preempt anthrax infections. Associated Press reported that members of Vice President Cheney's staff took Cipro a week before the first anthrax attack.
As of 2006, the investigation seems to have gone cold. Authorities have traveled to four different continents, interviewed more than 8,000 individuals and have issued over 5,000 subpoenas. The number of FBI agents assigned to the case is now 21, ten fewer than a year ago, and the number of postal inspectors investigating the case is nine. [4] [5]
Former Governor James E. McGreevey resigned on November 15, 2004, after charges of pay-to-play and extortion scandals involving the impropriety of the appointment of a homosexual love interest. New Jersey had no Lieutenant Governor position at the time, leaving a vacancy in the office. Senate President Richard Codey served as Acting Governor (then Governor) in McGreevey's place. Jon Corzine was elected Governor of New Jersey on November 8, 2005, and took office on January 17, 2006. On Election Day, November 8, 2005, the voters passed an amendment to the state constitution creating the position of Lieutenant Governor, effective with the 2009 elections. The amendment also provides that in the event of a permanent vacancy in the office of Governor now that Governor Corzine has been sworn in and before the first Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey takes office in 2010, the President of the Senate, followed by the Speaker of the General Assembly, would become Governor (rather than Acting Governor) and will be required to vacate his or her Senate (or Assembly) seat.
After the New Jersey Legislature and Governor Jon Corzine failed to agree on a state budget by the constitutional deadline, the state government shutdown beginning at midnight on July 1, 2006. Operation did not resume until the legislature adopted a budget on July 8.
A bill was passed legalizing Civil unions between homosexual couples, taking effect February 19, 2007. The bill grants all of the same rights as those granted to married heterosexual couples.
Governor Jon Corzine was nearly killed in a car wreck on the Garden State Parkway in Galloway Township in 2007, as he was traveling to a meeting between a Rutgers sports team and radio personality Don Imus. Imus had infamously called the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos", leading to his firing by two communications networks. Imus met with the team at Drumthwacket to apologize, and Governor Corzine attempted to arrive at that meeting from Atlantic City, reaching speeds of at least 91 mph (146 km/h), without wearing a seatbelt. His chauffeur, a New Jersey State Police officer, lost control of the vehicle, seriously injuring the Governor and leading to a new period of acting governorship by Richard Codey while Corzine recuperated.
Chris Christie became governor in 2010 and promoted a number of budget cuts. At around the same time, a controversial television show called Jersey Shore began airing. It features the Jersey Shore and its inhabitants. In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall near Atlantic City and caused devastation throughout the state, particularly at the Jersey Shore. At that time, widespread power outages lasted for days, while other areas were left powerless for over a week. Mantoloking and Seaside Heights were two of the most adversely affected towns by flooding. In 2014, Super Bowl 48 took place at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In 2018, Phil Murphy became governor.
The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The official residence of the governor is Drumthwacket, a mansion located in Princeton, New Jersey. The governor’s office is located inside of the New Jersey State House in Trenton, making New Jersey notable as the executive’s office is located in the same building as the legislature. New Jersey is also notable for being one of the few states in which the governor’s official residence is not located in the state capital.
Donald Thomas DiFrancesco is a retired American politician who served as the 51st governor of New Jersey from 2001 to 2002. He succeeded Christine Todd Whitman after her resignation to become Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. A member of the Republican Party, DiFrancesco previously was President of the New Jersey Senate from 1992 to 2002.
Richard James Codey is an American politician who served as the 53rd governor of New Jersey from 2004 to 2006. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the New Jersey Senate from 1982 to 2024 and as the President of the Senate from 2002 to 2010. He represented the 27th Legislative District, which covered the western portions of Essex County and the southeastern portion of Morris County.
Steven Jay Hatfill is an American pathologist and biological weapons expert. He became the subject of extensive media coverage beginning in mid-2002, when he was a suspect in the 2001 anthrax attacks. His home was repeatedly raided by the FBI, his phone was tapped, and he was extensively surveilled for more than two years; he was also terminated from his job at Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). At a news conference in August 2002, Hatfill denied that he had anything to do with the anthrax letters and said "irresponsible news media coverage based on government leaks" had "destroyed his reputation". He filed a lawsuit in 2003, accusing the FBI agents and Justice Department officials who led the criminal investigation of leaking information about him to the press in violation of the Privacy Act.
An acting governor is a person who acts in the role of governor. In Commonwealth jurisdictions where the governor is a vice-regal position, the role of "acting governor" may be filled by a lieutenant governor or an administrator.
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 8, 2005, in the states of New Jersey and Virginia as well as in the U.S. commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The 2005 New Jersey gubernatorial election was a race to determine the Governor of New Jersey. It was held on November 8, 2005. Democratic Governor Richard Codey, who replaced Governor Jim McGreevey in 2004 after his resignation, did not run for election for a full term of office.
Clayton Lee Waagner is an American convicted bank robber and anti-abortion terrorist. He was born Roger Waagner in North Dakota. He was an escaped fugitive during the spring, summer and fall of 2001 and was the FBI's 467th fugitive to be placed on the Ten Most Wanted list for carjackings, firearms violations, and bank robbery on September 21, 2001. He was placed on the United States Marshals Service Top 15 Fugitives list for sending more than 280 letters that claimed to contain anthrax, which he mailed to Planned Parenthood with return addresses of the Marshals Service and the Secret Service beginning in October 2001. He is currently in prison.
Robert K. "Bob" Stevens was a British-born American photojournalist for the Sun, a subsidiary of American Media, located in Boca Raton, Florida, United States. He was the first journalist killed in the 2001 anthrax attacks when letters containing anthrax were mailed to multiple media outlets in the United States. The anthrax attacks also killed four others in the United States and sickened seventeen others.
The lieutenant governor of New Jersey is an elected constitutional officer in the executive branch of the state government of New Jersey in the United States. The lieutenant governor is the second highest-ranking official in the state government and is elected concurrently on a ticket with the governor for a four-year term. The position itself does not carry any powers or duties other than to be next in the order of succession, but the state constitution requires that the lieutenant governor also be appointed to serve as the head of a cabinet-level department or administrative agency within the governor's administration, other than the position of Attorney General.
Susan Bass Levin is the current President and CEO of Cooper University Health System's Cooper Foundation. Levin is a Democratic Party politician in New Jersey, and previously served as First Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANY/NJ). She also ran for a House seat in 2000. Levin also was Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), serving in the cabinets of Governors Jim McGreevey, Dick Codey, and Jon Corzine beginning in 2002. From 1988 to 2002, Bass Levin was Mayor of the Township of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Virginia Samaras Bauer is an advocate for families of the victims of the September 11 attacks and a government leader in New Jersey. She currently is CFO of a security technology company that develops and markets proprietary software. She serves as Director of the Newmark Group, Inc. which is a publicly traded company operating a full service commercial real estate service business that offers a full time suite of services and products for owners and occupiers across the entire commercial real estate industry. Since 2008 she has served and continues to serve as a Member of Executive Committee on the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Appointed in 2020 by Governor Phil Murphy, she serves as a Director to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
Lucille Davy was the Commissioner of Education in New Jersey. She was named acting commissioner on September 9, 2005, by former Governor of New Jersey Richard Codey. She was named commissioner by Governor Jon Corzine as of July 11, 2006.
Donald Bryan is the former Acting Commissioner of Banking and Insurance in New Jersey. A career employee of his department, served as Director of the Division of Insurance from 1999 to 2006, where he served two separate stints as acting commissioner.
Regena Thomas is the former Secretary of State of New Jersey and a political consultant. She served in the cabinets of former Gov. James McGreevey and former Gov. Richard Codey.
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 6, 2001, in two states and one territory, as well as other statewide offices and members of state legislatures.
Tom Wilson is an American Republican Party leader who served as the chairman of the New Jersey Republican State Committee from 2004 to 2009.
Bruce Edwards Ivins was an American microbiologist, vaccinologist, senior biodefense researcher at the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), Fort Detrick, Maryland, and the person suspected by the FBI of the 2001 anthrax attacks. Ivins died on July 29, 2008, of an overdose of acetaminophen (Tylenol/paracetamol) in a suicide after learning that criminal charges were likely to be filed against him by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for an alleged criminal connection to the attacks.
The 2001 anthrax attacks, also known as Amerithrax, occurred in the United States over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001, one week after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, killing five people and infecting 17 others. Capitol Police Officers and staffers working for Senator Russ Feingold were exposed as well. According to the FBI, the ensuing investigation became "one of the largest and most complex in the history of law enforcement".
The 2003 ricin letters were two ricin-laden letters found on two occasions between October and November 2003. One letter was mailed to the White House and intercepted at a processing facility; another was discovered with no address in South Carolina. A February 2004 ricin incident at the Dirksen Senate Office Building was initially connected to the 2003 letters as well.