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Dwight D. Eisenhower as President
Dwight D. Eisenhower, or "Ike," had served his time before Presidency as a World War 2 general. During his time as President, he obtained a truce in Korea and worked incessantly during his two terms to ease the tensions of the Cold War.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/dwightdeisenhower
Picture: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/dwight_d_eisenhower/ -
Brown v. Board of Education(1954)
The Brown v. Board of Education(1954) case challenged the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896 declaring segregated facilities unconstitutional. Although the decision did not succeed in fully desegregating schools in the United States, it put the Constitution on the side of racial equality.
Picture and Link: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html -
Emmet Till Murdered
14-year-old African American Emmet Brown whistled at a white woman working in a Mississippi grocery store. This prompted her husband and his half-brother to abduct, beat and shoot Till and throw his body in a river. An open-casket funeral and news pictures of his disfigured face swarmed worldwide news.
Link: http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/emmetttill.html
Pic: http://blogs.clarionledger.com/jmitchell/2013/03/29/nearly-60-years-on-ghosts-of-emmett-till-still-emerging/ -
Rosa Parks Arrested
On December 1, 1955, 42 year old Rosa Parks was taking the Montgomery Bus home from work. She was sitting just behind the 10 seats reserved for whites. When the white section was filled and a white man asked for her seat, she silently refused to give it up. She was then arrested and her silent revolt sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Link: http://www.thehenryford.org/exhibits/rosaparks/story.asp
Pic: http://all-that-is-interesting.com/rosa-parks-mug-shot -
Little rock Crisis, 1957
On September 3, 1957, the "Little Rock Nine" went to attend their first day of school and were greeted by an angry mob determined to stop integration. Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus sent in the Arkansas National Guard to stop the Little Rock Nine from entering. 17 days later, the President sent in paratroopers to protect the students.
Link: http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/little-rock-crisis-1957
Pic: http://1957timecapsule.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/september-4-1957-the-crisis-in-little-rock/ -
John F. Kennedy as President
John F. Kennedy's short term as President saw history unfold before his eyes in only two years. From the Civil Rights, to the closest the world has ever come to nuclear warfare during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy left his mark on society as the youngest President ever elected.
Link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnfkennedy
Pic: http://airows.com/airows-icon-john-f-kennedy/john-f-kennedy/ -
March on Washington
On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 Americans gathered in Washington, D.C., for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. On the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech calling for racial equality and justice.
Link: http://www.history.com/topics/march-on-washington
Pic: Personally taken from DC during Spring Break -
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing
On September 15, a bomb exploded before Sunday morning services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four young girls were killed and many other people were injured. This bombing helped draw attention towards the fight for Civil Rights especially because of the four young
girls killed.
Link: http://www.history.com/topics/birmingham-church-bombing
Pic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Street_Baptist_Church_bombing -
Lyndon B. Johnson as President
Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as President after Kennedy's assassination. He strived to create a "Great Society," and used the "Johnson Treatment"-bullying people to get what he wanted. However, Johnson was unpopular with the war in Vietnam after which led to his downfall.
Link: Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006
Pic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyndon_B._Johnson -
President Kennedy Assassinated
Shortly after 12:00 pm on November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. Bullets struck the president's neck and head by assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. V.P. Lyndon Johnson would be sworn in later that afternoon.
http://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/November-22-1963-Death-of-the-President.aspx
Pic:http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2007/06/bugliosi_qa -
The Murder of Civil Rights Workers
James E. Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were found dead after a 6 week investigation in Philadelphia, Mississippi. They were working to register Black voters and investigate the burning of a black church. They were arrested and then released at night to the KKK who brutally murdered them.
Link and Pic: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmjustice4.html -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The Act was first proposed by President Kennedy, and then signed into law by President Johnson.
Link: http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/
Pic: http://politic365.com/2011/07/01/marching-towards-equality-remembering-the-civil-rights-act-of-1964/ -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was the response to the Tonkin Incident on August 2, 1964 when two USS destroyers were attacked by Vietnamese. President Johnson then gave the Senate a resolution that authorized him to take "all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."
Link: http://www.history.com/topics/gulf-of-tonkin-resolution
Pic: http://ows.edb.utexas.edu/site/lindseys-site/gulf-tonkin-
background-information -
Malcolm X Assassinated
While delivering a speech on February 21, 1965, "Malcolm X" was assassinated by 3 gun wielding men who rushed the stage. As a Civil Rights leader, "Malcolm X(he changed his name after converting to Islam)" insisted that violence was sometimes necessary for self-defense and in the fight against discrimination.
Link: http://www.newsinhistory.com/blog/malcolm-x-assassinated
Pic: http://www.colostate.edu/orgs/MSA/find_more/m_x.html -
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) banned racial discrimination in voting practices by the federal government as well as by state and local governments. Passed by President Johnson on August 6, 1965, the VRA is often held up as the most effective Civil Rights law ever enacted.
Link: http://www.civilrights.org/voting-rights/vra/
Pic: http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/02/23/172697429/states-take-sides-as-court-revisits-voting-rights-act -
The Tet Offensive
On January 31, 1968, some 70,000 North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces launched the Tet Offensive- a series of attacks on South Vietnam. Though U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the Communist attacks, news coverage of the offensive shocked and dismayed the American public.
Link: http://www.history.com/topics/tet-offensive
Pic: http://www.thephoblographer.com/2013/02/01/this-week-in-photography-history-eddie-adams-pulitzer-winning-image-was-captured/ -
Richard M. Nixon as President
As President, Richard M. Nixon succeeded in ending American fighting in Viet Nam, improved relations with the U.S.S.R. and China, created revenue sharing, the end of the draft, new anticrime laws, and a broad environmental program. But the Watergate scandal ultimately led to his resignation.
Link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/richardnixon
Pic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon -
The Watergate Scandal
Early in the morning of June 17, 1972, several burglars were arrested in the Watergate building in Washington, D.C. The burgalars were in relations to Richard Nixon's political campaign reelection and trying to steal secret documents. In August 1974, after his role in the Watergate had been revealed, the president resigned.
Link: http://www.history.com/topics/watergate
Pic: http://themoderatevoice.com/179803/watergates-lessons-washed-away-guest-voice/ -
Gerald R. Ford as President
Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as President after Nixon resigned.The President acted to curb the trend toward Government intervention and acted vigorously to maintain U. S. power after the collapse of Cambodia and South Vietnam.
Link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/geraldford
Pic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford -
The Saigon Airlift
U.S. Marines and Air Force helicopters, flying from carriers off-shore, begin a massive airlift. In 18 hours, over 1,000 American civilians and almost 7,000 South Vietnamese refugees are flown out of Saigon. In 15 years, nearly a million NVA and Vietcong troops and a quarter of a million South Vietnamese soldiers have died.
Link: http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/index4.html
Pic: http://www.wepsite.de/fall_of_saigon(ignominious%20airlift).htm
