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Period: to
American History
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USS Main Explodes
USS Main was the United States Navy's second commissioned battleship and the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after the state of Maine. The Maine is best known for her catastrophic loss in Havana Harbor on the evening of 15 February 1898. Sent to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban revolt against Spain, she exploded suddenly without warning and sank quickly, killing nearly three quarters of her crew. It accelerated the approach to a diplomatic impasse between the U.S. and Spain. -
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. It reduces travel time, and makes trading goods easier between countires. The canal opened in 1914. -
WWI
WWI was a global war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. The U.S. got involved after the Zimmerman Note and other events. During the war, the US mobilized over 4,000,000 military personnel and suffered 110,000 deaths, including 43,000 due to the influenza pandemic. The war saw a dramatic expansion of the US government in an effort to harness the war effort and a significant increase in the size of the US military. -
19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920. It gave women the right to vote. -
Stock Market Crash
A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a significant cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic as much as by underlying economic factors. On August 24, 1921, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at a value of 63.9. By September 3, 1929, it had risen more than sixfold, touching 381.2. It would not regain this level for another 25 years. This was the beginning of the Great Depression. -
Social Security Act
The Social Security Act was enacted August 14, 1935, and was a legislative act which created the Social Security system in the United States. By signing this act on August 14, 1935, President Roosevelt became the first president to advocate federal assistance for the elderly. This is still effective today. -
The Rape of Nanking
The Rape of Nankingwas a mass murder and war rape that occurred during the six-week period following the Japanese capture of the city of Nanking, the former capital of the Republic of China, on December 13, 1937 iduring WWII. During this period, hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed soldiers were murdered by soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army. Widespread rape and looting also occurred. Historians and witnesses have estimated that 250,000 to 300,000 people were killed. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack was intended as a preventive action in order to keep the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering with military actions the Empire of Japan was planning. It was the reason the United States got involved in WWII. -
WWII
WWII was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's nations—including all of the great powers. It was focused on a communist, named Adolf Hitler, who wanted world power. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million people serving in military units from over 30 different countries. The U.S. got involved after teh attack on Pearl Harbor, and eventually Hitler was defeated. it brought the U.S. out of the Great Depression. -
Japanese Internment Camps
Japanese American internment was the World War II internment in "War Relocation Camps" of about 110,000 people of Japanese heritage who lived on the Pacific coast of the United States. The U.S. government ordered the interment in 1942, shortly after the Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. It was believed that some of them were spies, and investigations started to find them. No one was proved to be a spy. This was one of the worst decisions the U.S. had made. It was a form of segregation. -
Atomic Bombings
The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II in 1945. The two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date. American airmen dropped Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, followed by Fat Man over Nagasaki on 9 August. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, and the government of South Vietnam. It was the public war, and the U.S. people didn't understand why the U.S. had to be involved in it. They didn't see any reason for the draft. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott, a seminal event in the U.S. civil rights movement, was a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. The campaign lasted from December 1, 1955, when Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person, to December 20, 1956. This led to a U.S.Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws unconstitutional. -
NASA
NASA was established on July 29, 1958 after teh launch of Sputnik. The U.S. got involved in a space race with the Soviet Union afer that launch. NASA has helped discover new things and solve the various mysteries of the universe. -
JFK Assassination
John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. He was fatally shot while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife Nellie, in a presidential motorcade. Kennedy was pronounced dead in the emergency room. There was a 10 month investigation where it was discovered that it was Lee Harvy Oswald that killed him. This was a public murder and impacted many. -
Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader of the African-American civil rights movement and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who became known for his advancement of civil rights by using civil disobedience. He was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, at the age of 39. He was a symbol of civil rights, and his death devastated many. -
First Moon Landing
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first humans, Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Armstrong spent about two and a half hours outside the spacecraft, Aldrin slightly less; and together they collected 47.5 pounds of lunar material for return to Earth. This was the first big success b NASA, and was a vital event in American history. -
Challenger Explodes
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. This led to space flight being taken serious again. It led NASA to take more precautions, to ensure it would never happen again. -
Bill Clinton Impeached
Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on two charges, one of perjury and one of obstruction of justice, on December 19, 1998. He lied under oath, and as a result had to relinqish his status as president. This resulted in the people having difficulty trusting the government. -
War in Afghanistan
The War in Afghanistan refers to the intervention in the Afghan Civil War by the United States and its allies, following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, to dismantle Al-Qaeda, the Islamic terrorist organization led by Osama bin Laden. We are still stationed there today. -
9/11
9/11 was a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks launched by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda upon the United States in New York City and the Washington, D.C. area on September 11, 2001. Four passenger airliners were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists so they could be flown into buildings in suicide attacks. Almost 3,000 people died in the attacks. It changed America and made the U.S. work to stop terrorism. -
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was the deadliest and most destructive Atlantic hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes. There were manditory evacuations issued to New Orleans. Some people listened while other's didn't. The death toll (1,833 people) was partly due to the failure of levees to hold, the location being below sea level, and some residents refusing to evacuate. -
Barack Obama
President Obama is the 44th and current President of the United States, the first African American to hold the office. He began his presidential campaign in 2007, and in 2008. He was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. He broke through the last racial barrier, and is the first African American to become President of the United States. -
Hati Earthquake
An earthquake occured in Hati on January 12, 2010. It was a magnitude 7. By January 24 there were at least 52 after shocks occuring. An estimated three million people were affected by the quake. The highest reliable death count was estimated at 220,000. Haitian government estimates were higher. Many people from Hati came to the United States for supplies and shelter. Children attended school here, and many worked. It affected the U.S. economy, as they tried to offer assistance. -
Japan Tsunami
An earthquake triggered a 9 magnitude tsunami on March 11, 2011. On September 12 2012, a Japanese National Police Agency report confirmed 15,883 deaths, 6,143 injured, and 2,681 people missing across twenty prefectures, as well as 129,225 buildings totally collapsed, with a further 254,204 buildings 'half collapsed', and another 691,766 buildings partially damaged. It had a huge impact on the economy, as they tried to pay for repairs, and find all the missing people. The U.S. provided assistance
