- June 5
- Verizon Wireless announces it will buy mobile phone service provider Alltel for US$28.1 billion. [35]
- June 7
- US Senator Hillary Clinton suspends her campaign to become the Democratic nominee for US president, and asks her supporters to help elect Barack Obama. [57]
- June 12
- Representative Ron Paul of Texas withdraws his candidacy for President of the US. [452.125]
- June 14
- The space shuttle Discovery returns to Earth after a 14-day mission, landing at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Among the returning is Garrett Reisman, after 95 days in space. [105]
- June 15
- In New York City, the Tony Awards are presented. Some winners:
- Best musical revival: Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific;
- Best musical director: Bartlett Sher for Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific;
- Best leading actor in a musical: Paulo Szot in Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific;
- Best scenery: Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific;
- Best costume: Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific;
- Best lighting: Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific;
- Best sound: Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific;
- Best play: August: Osage County;
- Best featured actress: Rondi Reed in August: Osage County;
- Best leading actress: Deanna Dunagan in August: Osage County;
- Best scenic design: August: Osage County;
- Best direction: Anna D. Shapiro for August: Osage County;
- Best actress in a musical: Patti LePone in Gypsy;
- Best featured actor: Boyd Gaines in Gypsy;
- Best featured actress: Laura Benanti in Gypsy;
- Best book of a musical: Mark Stewart for Passing Strange;
- Best original score: Lin-Manuel Miranda for In the Heights;
- Best revival of a play: Boeing-Boeing;
- Lifetime achievement award: Stephen Sondheim.
[35]
- June 16
- California performs its first legally recognized same-sex weddings. [35]
- June 17
- The Boston Celtics win a record 17th NBA championship by defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 in Game Six. [35]
- June 20
- The Janus-2 satellite is launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, atop a Delta-2 rocket. The satellite will be used for measuring the shape of the world's oceans. [57]
- June 26
- The U.S. Senate approves US$161.8 billion in new funds to continue fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the next year. [35]
- The US Supreme Court overturns District of Columbia's handgun ban, asserting that individuals have the right to own guns. [222.38]
- Shares of General Motors Corporation drop to their lowest level since 1955, after Goldman Sachs gives the stock a "sell" rating. [35]
- June 27
- Company founder Bill Gates leaves his full-time executive role at Microsoft, to focus on his philanthropic organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. [35] [310]
- June 30
- US President George Bush signs a US$162 billion war spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan. [105]
- July 1
- The Starbucks coffee company announces it will close an additional 500 stores in the USA, on top of 100 already announced. [222.74]
- July 11
- Crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange hits a record high of US$147.27 per barrel. [105]
- In California, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp takes over mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp, second largest banking failure (US$32 billion in assets) in U.S. history, and the fifth U.S. bank to fail this year. The insurance firm estimates the cost of the failure at between $4 billion and $8 billion. [35] [261.82]
- July 12
- In Monterey, California, Mid America Auctions sells a 1915 Cyclone Board Track Racer motorcycle for a world record US$520,000 at the Inaugural Monterey Motorcycle Auction. [288.8]
- July 13
- US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson unveils an emergency plan to save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, mortgage holders of US$5.2 trillion. [261.15]
- July 14
- American Anheuser-Busch accepts a US$52 billion takeover bid from Belgium-based InBev, creating the world's largest beer maker and placing the U.S. company into foreign hands. The cash offer, once approved by regulators, would be the largest cash transaction in history, and the second-biggest ever foreign takeover of a U.S. company. [35]
- Standard & Poor's 500 stock market index has its worst single day fall since its creation in 1989. [261.82]
- July 15
- The American League takes a 4-3 victory over the National League in the 79th All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium in New York. The 15th inning game was the longest-ever All-Star game, lasting four hours and 50 minutes. [35]
- July 17
- American investment bank Merrill Lynch & Company posts a US$4.89 billion quarterly loss after writing down bad debts, and unveils plans to sell billions of dollars of assets. [35]
- July 18
- Warner Bros. Pictures releases the film The Dark Knight to theaters in the USA and Canada. The film sets a one-day US box office record, generating ticket sales of US$66.4 million on opening day. The opening weekend also sets a record, taking in US$155 million. [35] [105] [196.7]
- July 24
- Ford Motor Company of the USA posts a record US$8.7 billion quarterly loss, due to slumping truck and SUV operations. [35]
- July 28
- Stack's conducts an auction prior to the ANA convention in Baltimore. Some highlights:
- 1795 Capped Bust 13 Leaves gold $10 eagle MS-64 PCGS: US$546,250;
- 1796 Capped Bust No Stars gold $2.50 quarter eagle MS-62 PCGS: US$488,750;
- 1797 Draped Bust Small Eagle 15 Stars half dollar MS-66 NGC: US$1.38 million;
- 1907 Saint-Gaudens Extremely High Relief Roman Numerals $20 double eagle pattern gold PR-58 NGC: US$690,000.
[47.46,64]
- July 29
- Wall Street investment bank and brokerage company Merrill Lynch reports it will take a US$5.7 billion third-quarter writedown due to risky debt. [35]
- Southern California is hit by a 5.4 magnitude earthquake, felt from Los Angeles to San Diego and slightly in Las Vegas. [105]
- July 30
- Heritage Numismatic Auctions sells a 1944-S steel Lincoln cent graded MS-66 by NGC for US$373,450, a record for any small cent. [438.93] [492.50]
- August 1
- General Motors of the USA announces second quarter loss of US$15.5 billion, worst in the company's history. [105]
- August 8
- US home mortgage funder Fannie Mae posts a second-quarter loss of US$2.3 billion, its fourth straight quarter loss, totaling US$9.44 billion over the past year. [35]
- August 13
- At the Beijing Olympics, American swimmer Michael Phelps wins his 10th and 11th career gold medals, in men's 200-metre butterfly and 4x200 freestyle relay in world record 6:58.56). Phelps is now the record holder of most career Olympic gold medals. [35] [105]
- August 15
- Poland signs a deal with the US to host part of its new missile defence shield. The US will install ten interceptor missiles at a base on the Baltic coast, and help strengthen Polish air defences. [57]
- August 17
- Michael Phelps wins his record eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games, in the 4x100 medley relay, in record time of 3:29.34. Phelps now holds the record for most gold medals at an Olympics event. [105] [310]
- August 24
- An aircraft crashes in Guatemala, killing 10, including four Americans on a humanitarian mission. [310]
- August 25
- The US Mint releases the 2008 Alaska state quarter dollar coin to circulation. [435.4] [438.4]
- August 27
- Alberto Gonzales announces his resignation as US attorney general as of September 17. [129]
- At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Illinois senator Barack Obama is nominated as Democratic presidential nominee. [35] [233.6]
- August 29
- The US Mint officially launches the 2008 Alaska State quarter dollar coin at the Alaska State Fair. [445.62]
- In Dayton, Ohio, Senator John McCain announces Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate for election as US President. [438.4]
- September 3
- The CW network in the USA debuts the new 90210 TV Show. [35] [293.43]
- September 5
- Arizona Senator John McCain is nominated as US Presidential candidate for the Republican party, with Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as vice presidential candidate. [35]
- September 7
- American mortgage companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are taken over by the US government, due to their risk to the economy. The two companies account for nearly half of home mortgages in the US. The two firms will be administered by the Federal Housing Finance Agency until their long-term future is decided. Together, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae own or guarantee about US$5.3 trillion of mortgages and have made a combined loss of about US$14 billion in the past year. [57]
- September 10
- Lehman Brothers investment bank of New York posts a record quarterly loss of US$3.9 billion. [35]
- September 12
- A Metrolink train collides head-on into a freight train in Los Angeles, California, killing 25 and injuring 130. [310]
- September 13
- Hurricane Ike hits Galveston, Texas, as Category 2, causing estimated damage of US$27 billion, 3rd costliest in US history. [275.34] [310] [377.19]
- September 14
- A granite memorial stone to Felix Schlag, designer of the Jefferson 5-cent coin, is dedicated at his grave site in Oak Hill Cemetery in Owosso, Michigan. [443.5]
- (to September 16) The Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles Pre-Long Beach auction is held. Some highlights:
- 1796 Liberty Cap cent, MS-66 red and brown PCGS: US$690,000;
- 1933 Indian Head eagle, MS-65 NGC: US$450,000.
[443.76]
- September 15
- 158-year-old American investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc files for bankruptcy protection, becoming the largest U.S. bankruptcy. Lehman's assets total about US$639 billion, leveraged by only US$30 billion of equity. [35] [310]
- American investment bank Merrill Lynch & Company agrees to sell itself to Bank of America Corp, for US$50 billion. Stock in Bank of America drops 21.3 percent, reducing market value by US$33 billion. [35]
- September 16
- The U.S. House of Representatives passes legislation lifting a ban on offshore oil drilling, opening most of the U.S. coastline to exploration. [35]
- The U.S. Federal Reserve Board announces the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will lend up to US$85 billion to the American International Group, and the U.S. government will receive a 79.9 percent equity interest in AIG. [35]
- September 21
- The US Treasury proposes to Congress a fund worth up to US$700 billion of taxpayer money to buy back much of the bad debt held by banks and other financial institutions. [57]
- Jose Molina hits the last home run in the 85-year history of Yankee Stadium in New York, to give the New York Yankees a 7-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles. The stadium will be demolished, replaced by a new US$1.3 billion Yankee Stadium across the way from the exisiting facility. [105]
- September 22
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average removes American International Group from its index, replacing it with Kraft Foods. [227]
- Microsoft unveils plans to spend US$40 billion buying back its shares from investors, the biggest single buy-back plan in history. [57]
- September 24
- TV series Knight Rider debuts in the US. [294.70]
- September 25
- U.S. regulators seize bank Washington Mutual, the biggest bank failure in the nation's history, and sell its assets to JPMorgan Chase & Company for US$1.9 billion. Washington Mutual was the largest savings and loan bank, with $307 billion of assets and $188 billion of deposits. [35]
- September 29
- Wachovia Corp, fourth largest US bank, agrees to sell most of its assets to Citigroup Inc for US$2.16 billion in a deal brokered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. [35]
- The American Federal Reserve announces it will lend a further US$620 billion to other national central banks. [275.73]
- Morgan Stanley sells 21 percent of itself to Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, for US$3 billion, plus a further $6 billion of convertible preferred stock. [35]
- The U.S. House of Representatives votes 228-to-205 to reject a US$700 billion bailout plan for the financial industry. [35] [275.11]
- The Dow Jones industrial average posts its largest point decline ever, 778 points, 6.98 percent of total value. The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index has its worst day since the 1987 crisis with an 8.8 percent drop, or 106.59 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index loses 199.61 points, or 9.14 percent. Latin American stocks tumble 13 percent, their biggest decline in more than a decade. Gold price jumps up, and US crude oil drops $10 to close at US$96.37 per barrel. World stocks, as measured by the MSCI's world index, lose about $1.7 trillion for the day. [35] [57] [105] [227]
- September 30
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounds by 485.21 points (4.68 percent), the third largest one-day point gain. [227]
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