William Osterheldt (1889 - 1969)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during William's lifetime.

In 1889, in the year that William Osterheldt was born, on February 22nd, President Cleveland signed a bill allowing North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington to become states. North and South Dakota became the 39th and 40th states on November 2nd, Montana became the 41st state on November 8th, and Washington became the 42nd state on November 11th.

In 1898, when he was just 9 years old, magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company controlled 84% of the oil and pipelines in the United States. Rockefeller grew Standard Oil through the merger of several other small oil companies throughout the U.S., creating a monopoly.

In 1941, William was 52 years old when on December 7th, the Japanese attacked the military base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The surprise aerial attack damaged 8 U.S. battleships (6 later returned to service), including the USS Arizona, and destroyed 188 aircraft. 2,402 American citizens died and 1,178 wounded were wounded. On December 8th, the U.S. declared war on Japan and on December 11th, Germany and Italy (allies of Japan) declared war on the United States. World War II was in full swing.

In 1951, by the time he was 62 years old, on February 27th, the 22nd Amendment to the US Constitution (which limited the number of terms a president may serve to two) was ratified by 36 states, making it a part of the U.S. Constitution. The Amendment was both a reaction to the 4 term Roosevelt presidency and also the recognition of a long-standing tradition in American politics.

In 1969, in the year of William Osterheldt's passing, one hundred countries, along with the United States and the Soviet Union signed the nuclear nonproliferation treaty (NPT). It called for stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and the goal of nuclear disarmament.