Events: S

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• S&P settlement with the Justice Department, 3 February 2015 3 Feb 2015S&P paid $1.375 billion to the Justice Department and 19 states and the District of Columbia, and agreed a statement of facts.
• Sackler family civil settlement (2020) 21 Oct 2020Sackler family members agreed on 21 October 2020 to pay $225 million to resolve the Justice Department’s False Claims Act allegations.
• Sale of Bear Stearns 16 Mar 2008Bear Stearns ran short of cash in March 2008 and was sold to JPMorgan Chase.
• Sale of the Carnegie Steel Company and formation of U.S. Steel 1901The 1901 purchase of the Carnegie Steel Company by J. P. Morgan's syndicate, which became the core of the United States Steel Corporation.
• Sand Creek massacre 29 Nov 1864Attack of 29 November 1864 by Colorado troops on a Cheyenne and Arapaho camp.
• Sapiro v. Ford 1925 – Jul 1927Libel suit by Aaron Sapiro against Henry Ford: filed 1925, tried in Detroit from March 1927, ended in a mistrial and a settlement in July 1927.
• Saturday Night Massacre 20 Oct 1973The dismissal of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox on 20 October 1973, and the departures of the two officials who would not do it.
• Saudi Arabia cuts relations with the Taliban 25 Sep 2001On 25 September 2001 Saudi Arabia cut all relations with the Taliban government; the UAE had done so over the weekend.
• Saudi royal court lunch and U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum, 13 May 2025 13 May 2025CEOs including Elon Musk and Larry Fink joined President Trump at the Saudi royal court in Riyadh and were listed as speakers at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum.
• Search for Mihdhar and Hazmi, August 2001 21 Aug 2001 – 11 Sep 2001In August 2001 the CIA and FBI began looking for two men the CIA had tracked in 2000.
• SEC v. Citigroup Global Markets 19 Oct 2011 – 4 Jun 2014Case in which Judge Rakoff refused in 2011 to approve a settlement made without admissions; the Second Circuit vacated his order in 2014.
• SEC v. Drexel Burnham Lambert 1988 – 1 Dec 1993SEC suit of 1988, after Ivan Boesky’s revelations, that ended with Drexel and Michael Milken enjoined and made to disgorge $350 million and $400 million.
• SEC v. Jarkesy 27 Jun 2024Supreme Court ruling of 27 June 2024 that a defendant facing SEC civil penalties for securities fraud is entitled to a jury trial.
• SEC v. Texas Gulf Sulphur 13 Aug 1968Second Circuit ruling of 13 August 1968 on insiders who traded before drilling results were public.
• Second Intifada 29 Sep 2000 –Fighting that began after riots on 28 September 2000.
• Second World War 1939–1945Global war of 1939 to 1945.
• Section 177 Agreement, 1986 1986The agreement under the 1986 Compact in which the U.S. accepted responsibility for compensation for the Marshall Islands tests and put in $150 million.
• Seize Control of the FDA (1988) 11 Oct 1988ACT UP's protest at the FDA's headquarters on 11 October 1988, demanding faster approval of AIDS drugs.
• Seizure of opium at Canton, 1839 1839In 1839 at Canton, opium held by foreign merchants was surrendered to Commissioner Lin and destroyed; the treaty of 1842 says the British merchants and superintendent had been imprisoned and threatened with death.
• Seizure of the P2 lists at Castiglion Fibocchi 17 Mar 1981Search of Licio Gelli's offices ordered by Milan judges, 17 March 1981.
• Seizure of Union Banking Corporation, 1942 Oct 1942The Alien Property Custodian vested the stock of Union Banking Corporation in October 1942 under Vesting Order 248.
• Senate committee vote on the HONEST Act, July 2025 30 Jul 2025On 30 July 2025 the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee advanced Josh Hawley’s HONEST Act, which would ban members of Congress, the president and vice president from trading stocks, by 8 to 7.
• Senate Finance Committee hearing on Vioxx (2004) 18 Nov 2004The 18 November 2004 hearing at which FDA scientist David Graham testified on Vioxx and the agency.
• Senate Finance Committee’s 2008 questions to 136 colleges 24 Jan 2008 – May 2008Letters from the Senate Finance Committee’s chairman and ranking member to every college with an endowment of $500 million or more.
• Senate hearing on credit rating agencies, 23 April 2010 23 Apr 2010The Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held the third of its hearings on the crisis, with Moody’s and S&P as its case histories.
• Senate hearing on infant formula in developing nations 23 May 1978Hearing of 23 May 1978 before the Senate Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research, chaired by Edward Kennedy.
• Senate hearing on the SEC’s failure to identify the Madoff Ponzi scheme 10 Sep 2009Hearing of 10 September 2009, ten days after the SEC inspector general’s report.
• Senate hearing on the SEC’s response to concerns about Stanford 22 Sep 2010Hearing of 22 September 2010, on the SEC inspector general’s Stanford report.
• Senate hearing on Valeant, April 2016 27 Apr 2016Hearing of the Senate Special Committee on Aging on Valeant's price rises on four old drugs.
• Senate hearings on ITT and Chile, 1973 16–29 Mar 1973Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearings on ITT and U.S. government activities in Chile, opened in executive session on 16 March 1973.
• Senate vote on the Stop Insider Trading Act, September 2026 30 Sep 2026On 30 September 2026 a Senate motion to proceed to the Stop Insider Trading Act failed 53 to 47, seven short of the 60 votes needed.
• Senators’ stock sales before the market fell, early 2020 Jan–May 2020Stock sales reported by Senators Richard Burr, Jim Inhofe and Kelly Loeffler, and by Dianne Feinstein’s husband, in the weeks before the coronavirus sent markets down. All four denied wrongdoing. The Justice Department closed its inquiries, and the SEC ended its Burr inquiry with no action.
• Settlement of Jews in Poland-Lithuania 1264–1500Growth of Jewish communities in Poland and Lithuania from the 13th century, under charters from dukes and kings.
• Settlement, permits and demolitions in the West Bank 1967 –Settlement growth, movement restrictions and demolitions as the ICJ, B'Tselem and OCHA record them, and Israel's stated security reasons.
• Shooting down of the presidential plane, 6 April 1994 6 Apr 1994A missile brought down the plane carrying the Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi as it came in to land at Kigali; who fired is not established by any court read here.
• Siege of Yorktown 28 Sep 1781 – 19 Oct 1781Last major battle of the American Revolution in North America, ending in the British surrender on 19 October 1781.
• Silver found at Potosí 1545–1547Silver mining began in earnest at Cerro Rico above Potosí in the mid-1540s: Acosta, through Markham, says April 1545; Cieza says 1546 in Markham's English and 1547 in a modern Spanish edition.
• Sinclair's station purchases and local news 2017–2023Local television stations bought by Sinclair in 2017, studied by Martin and McCrain.
• Sinking of the Titanic 15 Apr 1912Loss of the White Star liner Titanic on 15 April 1912, investigated by a U.S. Senate subcommittee.
• Sinking of the USS Maine 15 Feb 1898The U.S. battleship exploded in Havana harbor on 15 February 1898.
• Smallpox at Fort Clark, 1837 Jun–Oct 1837The 1837 smallpox epidemic on the upper Missouri, which killed about nine in ten Mandans.
• Smallpox in Mexico, 1520 1520–1521A smallpox epidemic spread through central Mexico in 1520 and after; the Spanish and Nahua accounts both record it.
• Smallpox-hospital blankets given at Fort Pitt, 1763 24 Jun 1763On 24 June 1763 Fort Pitt personnel gave two Delaware envoys blankets and a handkerchief from the smallpox hospital; account books show the British military sanctioned and paid for it.
• Snyder v. United States 26 Jun 2024U.S. Supreme Court case of 26 June 2024 holding that a federal law covers bribes, not gratuities, to state and local officials.
• South Africa v. Israel (ICJ) 29 Dec 2023 –Case at the ICJ under the Genocide Convention, filed 29 December 2023; the merits are undecided.
• Soviet famine of 1930–33 1930–1934The famines that followed forced collectivisation in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russian regions and elsewhere; authors put the Union-wide toll between 5.5 and 14 million.
• Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 25 Dec 1979Soviet troops took control of Kabul at the end of December 1979.
• Soviet nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk 29 Aug 1949 – 19 Oct 1989Four hundred and fifty-six Soviet nuclear tests in eastern Kazakhstan between 29 August 1949 and 19 October 1989.
• Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan 15 May 1988 – 15 Feb 1989The pull-out of Soviet forces from Afghanistan, May 1988 to 15 February 1989, ending a war begun in December 1979.
• Space Race 1957–1975Cold War competition in spaceflight between the United States and the Soviet Union.
• Special session on gasoline prices 5 Dec 2022 – Mar 2023Special session of the California Legislature convened by the governor on 5 December 2022; it passed SB X1-2.
• SpeechNow.org v. FEC 26 Mar 2010Decision of the full D.C. Circuit on 26 March 2010 that individuals may give without limit to a group that only makes independent expenditures.
• Standard Oil and the war in Europe, 1939–1941 1939–1941What Standard Oil of New Jersey did with its German ties after war began in Europe and before the U.S. entered it, as the Senate heard it in 1942.
• Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States 1911U.S. Supreme Court case of 1911 that upheld the breakup of Standard Oil.
• Standard Oil fine of 1907 3 Aug 1907A U.S. court fined Standard Oil of Indiana $29,240,000 for taking a rate lower than the published one. The judgment was reversed in 1908.
• Standard Oil–I. G. Farben agreements of 1929 9 Nov 1929Agreements of 9 November 1929 between I. G. Farben and Standard Oil of New Jersey dividing fields and sharing patents.
• Stanford International Bank fraud Feb 2009Collapse of Allen Stanford’s companies in 2009, after the SEC’s Fort Worth office had examined them four times between 1997 and 2004.
• Stanford's license to Google 2005Stanford's license of search technology to Google, paid partly in Google equity, which Stanford sold in 2005 for $336 million.
• State Department cable on terrorism finance, December 2009 30 Dec 2009A secret cable of 30 December 2009 asking U.S. diplomats in the Gulf and Pakistan to press governments on terrorism finance.
• State dinner for Xi Jinping, 24 September 2026 24 Sep 2026White House state dinner for China’s president; the invitee list released by the White House included Larry Fink and Elon Musk.
• State of the Union address, 28 January 2003 28 Jan 2003Address in which President Bush said the British government had learned Iraq sought uranium from Africa.
• States adopt the Common Core standardsThe state-by-state adoption of shared school standards in math and English from about 2010.
• STD experiments in Guatemala Jul 1946 – Dec 1948U.S. Public Health Service research in Guatemala, 1946-48, that intentionally exposed people to syphilis, gonorrhea and chancroid.
• Stephen Buyer insider-trading case 2018 – Jun 2026Case over trades in Sprint and Navigant Consulting shares in 2018 and 2019: a jury conviction in 2023, a 22-month sentence, an upheld conviction, a rejected Supreme Court appeal in May 2026 and a pardon in June 2026.
• Storming of the Bastille 14 Jul 1789Attack by the Paris crowd on the royal fortress-prison on 14 July 1789.
• Strasbourg massacre, 1349 14 Feb 1349Burning of Jews at Strasbourg on 14 February 1349, by the chronicler’s count about two thousand.
• Strategic and Policy Forum meeting of 3 February 2017 3 Feb 2017The forum’s meeting with President Trump in the State Dining Room, where Larry Fink and Elon Musk each introduced themselves.
• Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (district court, 2019) 30 Sep 2019Federal trial court’s findings on Harvard’s admissions, issued 30 September 2019.
• Sugar Research Foundation Project 226 1965–1967The Sugar Research Foundation’s first heart disease research project, a literature review published in 1967.
• Surgeon General’s ad hoc committee on tetraethyl lead, 1959 8 Jan 1959 – 30 Mar 1959Public Health Service committee that considered a rise in the amount of tetraethyl lead in gasoline above the 3 cc per gallon the industry kept to.
• Surgeon General’s conference on tetraethyl lead, 1925 20 May 1925Conference called by the Surgeon General in Washington to ask whether tetraethyl lead gasoline was a public health question.
• Surgeon General’s report on smoking, 1964 11 Jan 1964The report of the Surgeon General’s advisory committee, released on 11 January 1964, that judged cigarette smoking a cause of lung cancer in men.
• Surrender of Japan 15 Aug 1945Japan surrendered in August 1945, ending the Second World War.