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KKK - Ku Klux Klan emerged again reopening door for bigoted groups.
Forrest Gump was named after Nathan Bedford Forrest who was a leader of the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK was a group that used violence against immigrants, attacked saloons and opposed the union. They recruited members by giving them criminal rights. -
Ho Chi Minh founder of the communist party
Forrest Gump learns how to play ping pong real well while recovering from an injury in the war. He goes to China to play and they reference that it has been a long time since an American went to China probably since it is a communist country and it showed the flag for Ho Chi Minh. President Lyndon B Johnson did not want communism to spread so he called for peace talks. Also, the Geneva Accords in 1954 called for an end to all the fighting. -
Vietnam War started
Forrest Gump enlisted in the army and fought in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam war lasted a long time, until 1975 (so 20 years). There was alot of violence, talks of peace, Christmas bombings, etc. There were 58,000 Americans killed and 303,000 wounded. -
Little Rock Nine - a group of nine black students tried to get into an all-white school
Forrest Gump went to college in Alabama and he was in a crowd with two black students who wanted to go to his school, but Wallace was trying to prevent them. This was like the crisis in LIttle Rock. There was resistance to school desegregation. Besides segregation there was a lot of discrimination with the African Americans. The school ended up shutting down rather than integrating. -
Election of 1960 - John F. Kennedy vs. Richard Nixon
Forrest meets President John F Kennedy in Washington D.C. for a football award. John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960. Kennedy was an organized and wealthy young war hero. -
John F Kennedy was assassinated
In the movie it talks about John F Kennedy's assassination and also his brother Robert in a hotel kitchen. John F Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas on November 22, 1963. -
Protests against the Vietnam War
Forrest was at a protest and was asked about his time in Vietnam. He told them he did not like the war because his friend Bubba died. There were many marches and teach-ins in the anti war movement. There were two groups (camps) of people. The Doves were against the war and the Hawks were for the war in Vietnam. -
Black Panther Party founded to fight police brutality in ghettos.
Forrest and Jenny are at a Black Panther Party. The Black Panthers are against the war and Johnson and they are yelling at Forrest who is dressed in his army uniform. The Black Panthers do good things for the African Americans like set up social programs, breakfast programs and health clinics. They -
Nixon resigns because of Watergate scandal
Forrest was at the White House and President Nixon lets him stay at a nice hotel called Watergate. Forrest is having trouble sleeping and sees two suspicious men on their balcony with flashlights. It was as if Forrest was letting people know about the Watergate scandal. Nixon resigned and then Ford became president. -
Ronald Reagan elected president
In the movie they show Ronald Reagan on TV and his assassination attempt from John Hinckley. Reaganomics was something we learned about. It included budget cuts to certain programs, and tax cuts. The middle class was left alone and benefited from Reaganomics.
