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Roaring 20s
The 20s were an age of dramatic social and political change. for the first time,more Americans lived in cities than on farms.The nations total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929. -
Prohibition
The 18th amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1919, had banned the manufacture and sale of "intoxicating liquors," and at 12 a.m. on January 16, 1920, the federal Volestead Act closed every tavern, bar and saloon in the United States. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s. It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. Economic historians usuallly attribute the start of the great depression to the sudden devasting collaspe of U.S. stock market prices on October 29, 1929, known as Black tuesday. -
Unemployment rises in the U.S.
Over 3.2 million Americans are unemployed, more than twice as many in October 1929. President Herbert Hoover says that the worst of the financial crisis will be over within 60 days. -
New deal
President Roosevelt establishes the New Deal, a response to the Great Depression, and focusing on what historians call the "3rs": relief, recovery, and reform. -
21st Amendment
Prohibition was banned in the U.S. starting in January 1920. It did little to prevent americans from drinking and Prohibition ends when the 21st Amendment is ratified on December 5, 1933 -
World War II
world war II begins, Hitler orders Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland. Two days later, France and England declare war on Germany, beginning World War II -
Japanese Bombed Pearl Harbor
the japanese launched a surprise air attack on the U.S. naval base at the 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 then 188 U.S. aircraft destroyed. The U.S. declared war on Japan the next day. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of the Midway is fought at Midway Islands in the Pacific with the Japanese fleet encountering its first major defeat of the war against the United States military. As the Battle of Midway comes to an end on June 7, Japan invades the Aleutian Islands, the first invasion of American soil in 128 years. -
D-Day
The Normandy Invasion, D-Day, occurs when one hundred and fifty-five thousand Allied troops, including American forces and those of eleven other Allied nations (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, and the United Kingdom) land in France. Allied soldiers stormed the beaches of France to begin the World War II invasion of Europe that would lead to the liberation of Paris. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine is announced to the U.S. Congress. When passed it would grant $400 million in aid to Greece and Turkey to battle Communist terrorism. President Harry S. Truman implements the act on May 22. -
NATO
NATO, the North American Treaty Organization, is formed by the United States, Canada, and ten Western European nations (Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, United Kingdom). The treaty stated that any attack against one nation would be considered an attack against them all. -
Korean War
The Korean War begins its three year conflict when troops of North Korea, backed with Soviet weaponry, invade South Korea. This act leads to U.S. involvement when two days later, the United States Air Force and Navy are ordered by President Truman to the peninsula. On June 30, ground forces and air strikes are approved against North Korea. -
Racial segregation
Racial segregation in public schools is declared unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in Brown vs. the Board of Education. The ruling of the court stated that racial segregation violated the 14th Amendment's clause that guaranteed equal protection. The Monroe School in Topeka, Kansas had segregated Linda Brown in its classes. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba is repulsed by Cuban forces in an attempt by Cuban exiles under the direction of the United States government to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crises begins. In response to the Soviet Union building offensive missiles in Cuba, President John F. Kennedy orders a naval and air blockade of military equipment to the island. An agreement is eventually reached with Soviet Premier Khrushchev on the removal of the missiles, ending the potential conflict after thirty-eight days, in what many think was the closest the Cold War came to breaking into armed conflict. -
The Tonkin Resolution
The Tonkin Resolution is passed by the United States Congress, authorizing broad powers to the president to take action in Vietnam after North Vietnamese boats had attacked two United States destroyers five days earlier. -
Voting Acts Right of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Two significant portions of the act; the outlawing of the requirement of potential voters to take a literacy test in order to qualify and the provision of federal registration of voters in areas with less than 50% of all voters registered. -
Kent State University
Four students from Kent State University in Ohio were killed and nine wounded by National Guardsmen during a protest against the Vietnam War spread into Cambodia -
Watergate Crisis
The Watergate crisis begins when four men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. on the same day that Okinawa is returned from U.S. control back to Japan. -
Resignation of President Nixon
President Richard M. Nixon resigns the office of the presidency, avoiding the impeachment process and admitting his role in the Watergate affair. He was replaced by Vice President Gerald R. Ford, who, on September 8, 1974, pardoned Nixon for his role. Nixon was the first president to ever resign from office. -
The Iran Hostage Crisis
The Iran Hostage Crisis begins when sixty-three Americans are among ninety hostages taken at the American embassy in Tehran by three thousand militant student followers of Ayatollah Khomeini, who demand that the former shah return to Iran to stand trial. -
The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall, after thirty-eight years of restricting traffic between the East and West German sides of the city, begins to crumble when German citizens are allowed to travel freely between East and West Germany for the first time. One day later, the influx of crowds around and onto the wall begin to dismantle it, thus ending its existence -
World Trade Organization
The World Trade Organization (WTO) is created, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) formed from a series of post-war treaties on trade. The World Trade Organization is more highly structured than the previous GATT and counted seventy-six nations among its members in 1995. -
Asian tsunami
The southeast Asian tsunami occurs following a 9.3 Richter scale earthquake in the Indian Ocean. Two hundred and ninety thousand people die from Sri Lanka to Indonesia, creating one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies in history. A worldwide relief effort, led by the United States and many other nations, is mobilized to assist. -
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast, inundating the city of New Orleans with water from Lake Pontchartrain when the levees that maintain the below sea level city break. Over one thousand three hundred people perish from Alabama to Louisiana in one of the worst natural disasters to strike the United States. -
First African American President
Barack Obama takes the oath of office for President of the United States, becoming the first African-American president in the history of the nation. The Democratic Senator from Illinois comes into the office on a message of Change. The city of Washington, D.C. hosts more than one million visitors to the inauguration, covering the National Mall in a way reminiscent of the Civil Rights March of Martin Luther King forty-six years earlier.
