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Economics Hundred Year Time Line
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The 2nd Modern Olympic Games
The summer Olympic Games are held in Paris, France. This is the first Olympics where women are allowed to compete. -
President William McKinley Shot
William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States is assassinated by Leon Czolgosz when he is shot at point blank range. He died on September 14th , 1901, eight days after he was shot, from gangrene surrounding his wounds. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the 26th President of the United States on September 14th, 1901. -
The Wright Brothers
Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful man-powered airplane flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The plane weighed 750 pounds and was powered by a 12 horsepower gasoline engine. The craft is referred to as an airship and Orville and Wright were looking for buyers for their machine which was capable of speeds up to 10 mph. -
The Sinking of The Titanic
The "unsinkable" ship Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, losing at least 1,517 lives, making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history. After the Titanic sank, safety regulations were increased to make ships safer, including ensuring enough lifeboats to carry all on board and making ships staff their radios 24 hours a day. -
Ford Implements $5-per-day Program
After the success of the moving assembly line, Henry Ford had another transformative idea: in January 1914, he startled the world by announcing that Ford Motor Company would pay $5 a day to its workers. The pay increase would also be accompanied by a shorter workday (from nine to eight hours). While this rate didn't automatically apply to every worker, it more than doubled the average autoworker's wage. -
America Enters World War I
In late March, Germany sunk four more U.S. merchant ships, and on April 2 President Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany. Four days later, his request was granted. Congress passed a $250 million arms appropriations bill intended to make the United States ready for war. -
Prohibition Begins in the US
Due to some societal issues caused by alcohol, organizations were formed to advocate against the consumption of alcohol. Because of this, the 18th Amendment went into affect, making the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor illegal and beginning Prohibition in the United States. -
The Scopes Trial
John Thomas Scopes, was a high school coach and substitute teacher who had been charged with violating the Butler Act by teaching the theory of evolution in his classes. The Butler Act forbid the teaching of any theory that denied the biblical story of Creationism. By teaching that man had descended from apes, the theory of evolution, Scopes was charged with breaking the law. The trial lasted 8 days and at the end, the jurry found him guilty and the judge fined him $100. -
The Begining of The Great Depression
The Great Depression, an immense tragedy that placed millions of Americans out of work, was the beginning of government involvement in the economy and in society as a whole. After nearly a decade of optimism and prosperity, the United States was thrown into despair on Black Tuesday, the day the stock market crashed and the official beginning of the Great Depression. -
FDR Launches the New Deal
a series of domestic economic programs enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They involved presidential executive orders or laws passed by Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were in response to the Great Depression, and focused on the "3 Rs": Relief, Recovery, and Reform. That is Relief for the unemployed and poor; Recovery of the economy to normal levels; and Reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression. -
Social Security Enacted
A limited form of the Social Security program began, during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term, as a measure to implement "social insurance" during the Great Depression of the 1930s, when poverty rates among senior citizens exceeded 50 percent. The Act was an attempt to limit what were seen as dangers in the modern American life, including old age, poverty, unemployment, and the burdens of widows and fatherless children. -
The Start of World War II
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—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, with more than 100 million people serving in military units from over 30 different countries. In a state of "total war", the major participants placed their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities at the service of the war effort. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japanese launched a surprise air attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After just two hours of bombing, more than 2,400 Americans were dead, 21 ships had either been sunk or damaged, and more than 188 U.S. aircraft destroyed. -
D-Day
During World War II, the Allied powers planned to create a two-front war by continuing the Soviet Union's attack of Nazi-occupied lands from the east and by beginning a new invasion from the west. D-Day was the very first day of this massive amphibious invasion, which brought thousands of ships, tanks, planes, and troops across the English Channel. -
U.S. Drops Atomic Bomb
Together with the United Kingdom and the Republic of China, the United States called for a surrender of Japan in the Potsdam Declaration on 26 July 1945, threatening Japan with "prompt and utter destruction". The Japanese government ignored this ultimatum. American airmen dropped Little Boy on the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, followed by Fat Man over Nagasaki on 9 August. -
President Truman Signs Peace Treaty, Ending WWII
Even though the actual combat of the war ended May 8, 1945 in Europe and September 2, 1945 in the Pacific, the state of war was not lifted off of Japan and Germany in order to give a reason for the necessity of occupation troops in these countries. Once the War Crimes Trials were over, the hostilities were seen as over. -
McDonald's Founded
world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948 they reorganized their business as a hamburger stand using production line principles. Businessman Ray Kroc joined the company as a franchise agent in 1955. -
NASA is Founded
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. -
Martin Luther King Jr. Makes His "I Have a Dream" Speech
Delivered by King on August 28, 1963, in which he called for an end to racism in the United States. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the speech was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. -
Assination of JFK
President, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while riding in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Two days later, Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby during a prisoner transfer. -
First Man on the Moon
As part of the Apollo 11 mission, astronaut Neil Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module (nicknamed Eagle) and stepped out onto the ladder. Once at the bottom of the ladder, Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon and became the very first man on the moon. A few minutes later, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin followed him. -
President Nixon Resigns
The 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974, when he became the only president to resign the office. Nixon had previously served as a Republican U.S. Representative and Senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 196. -
Microsoft Founded
The company was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975. Microsoft is the world's largest software maker measured by revenues.[4] It is also one of the world's most valuable companies. -
First Test-Tube Baby Born
Dr. Robert Edwards, a physiologist at Cambridge University, had been actively working on finding an alternative solution for conception for women with blocked Fallopian tubes. However, even after they found a way to fertilize an egg outside a human body, they continued to have problems replacing the fertilized egg back into a uterus. On November 10, 1977, Lesley Brown underwent the very experimental in vitro ("in glass") fertilization procedure. Lesley Brown delivered a five-pound 12-ounce baby. -
First Woman Appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court
President Ronald Reagan nominated Sandra Day O'Connor to be the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court. On September 21, the United States Senate confirmed O'Connor in a vote of 99 for and zero against. Sandra Day O'Connor was officially sworn in and took her seat on the U.S. Supreme Court on September 25, 1981. -
Space Shuttle Challenger Explodes
the Space Shuttle Challenger launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida. As the world watched on TV, the Challenger soared into the sky and then, shockingly, exploded just 73 seconds after take-off. All seven members of the crew, including social studies teacher Sharon "Christa" McAuliffe, died in the disaster. An investigation of the accident discovered that the O-rings of the right solid rocket booster had malfunctioned. -
"Black Monday"
The day when stock markets around the world crashed, shedding a huge value in a very short time. The crash began in Hong Kong and spread west to Europe, hitting the United States after other markets had already declined by a significant margin. -
Operation Desert Storm
A war waged by a U.N.-authorized Coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. -
World Trade Center Bombing
When a truck bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, NY. The 1,336 lb urea nitrate–hydrogen gas enhanced device was intended to knock the North Tower into the South Tower, bringing both towers down and killing tens of thousands of people. It failed to do so, but did kill six people and injured more than a thousand. -
O.J. Simpson Arrested for Double Murder
Former American football star and actor O. J. Simpson was tried on two counts of murder following the June 1994 deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Lyle Goldman. The case has been described as the most publicized criminal trial in American history. Simpson was acquitted after a lengthy trial that lasted over eight months which was presided over by Judge Lance Ito. -
9/11
Four passenger airliners were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists so they could be flown into buildings in suicide attacks. Two of those planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Within two hours, both towers collapsed with debris and the resulting fires causing partial or complete collapse of all other buildings in the WTC complex. -
Hurricane Katrina
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, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall. At least 1,833 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods, making it the deadliest U.S. hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane; total property damage was estimated at $81 billion. -
First Black President
He began his presidential campaign in 2007, and in 2008, After a close primary campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barak Obama won sufficient delegates in the Democratic Party primaries to receive the presidential nomination. He then defeated Republican nominee John McCain in the general election, and was inaugurated as president.
