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The Korean War
Starting in 1950, the Korean War was a result of the affects of the Cold War. The U.S. went to war to stop the communism of Northern Korea from spreading to the South. The fight against communism in Asian countries established fully the stance the U.S. would take to protect smaller countries from the control of The U.S.S.R. or communism.
[https://www.history.com/topics/korean-war] -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War affected America, as Northern Communist Vietnam was fighting with Southern Vietnam. The U.S. got involved due to their perceived "obligation" to stop the spread of communism, however, their involvement was largely protested. Eventually, the U.S. failed and the war ended on April 30th, 1975. [https://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War] -
Little Rock 9
After Brown v Board of Education, desegregation was underway. However, not all of the country agreed with the decision, and mainly southern states tried to fight off the change. In Arkansas, governor Orval Faubus called in the National Guard to stop 9 black students from entering Central High. President Eisenhower then sent federal troops to protect the students from the people around them. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym8rdtq-KBE] -
JFK's Assassination
On November 22, 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while driving through Dallas, Texas. He was in Texas to campaign for his second term, and because the Democrats of Texas were divided over whether to vote for him or not, so they could agree and be united. He was shot in the head and neck, and while the car tried to get to a hospital as soon as possible, he died that day. [https://www.jfklibrary.org/JFK/JFK-in-History/November-22-1963-Death-of-the-President.aspx] -
Protesting the Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was widely debated, and the extensive bombing of Vietnam caused many to jump into action. Many saw it as unnecessary, a proxy war which murdered too many innocent civilians in the country. So, the protesters started out with mainly college students, and spurred a movement across the country. [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/opinion/vietnam-antiwar-movement.html] -
Black Panther Party
When the Black Panthers originally formed, they began as a group which would speak out and stop police brutality. It then gained popularity as it changed into a group which advocated for exemption of African Americans from the draft, arming all African Americans, and releasing all African Americans from jail as well as compensation for the continuous exploitation of black people for centuries.
[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Panther-Party] -
The Rise of Hippies
During the late 1960's, counterculture was on the rise. The years before were filled with routine and "tradition". Hippies were exploring things the generations before deemed as "inappropriate", such as drugs, sex, and other genres of music like rock and roll. This culture was mainly filled with young adults, although not all went against conformity, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1967/09/the-flowering-of-the-hippies/306619/ -
The Moon Landing
The Moon Landing was a momentous occasion not only in American history, but in human history as well. The president at the time, Kennedy, started to invest in space travel as a part of the "Space Race". While the U.S.S.R. got the first man-made object into space, NASA got Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to be the first humans into space. This achievement placed America as the "winner" of the Space Race. [https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11.html] -
Ping Pong Diplomacy
Ping Pong Diplomacy started with a chinese player, Zhuang Zedong, offering a seat to an American player who missed the bus (Glenn Cowan) despite laws forbidding them from speaking. After inviting him and his team to play a championship game of ping pong in China, this lessened tensions between the U.S. and China. That game caused relations with China to grow, and animosity between countries to greatly decrease. [http://www.historyinanhour.com/2011/04/10/ping-pong-diplomacy/] -
Watergate
Robbers were caught in the Watergate Hotel stealing documents and trying to wiretap and bug phones, they were connected to President Nixon himself. Nixon had been trying to cover up all the illegal actions he took to cover up rampant corruption, and Nixon, to boost his re-election campaign, sent men to steal top secret documents from the DNC. He was caught, and eventually resigned before he could be officially impeached on August 9th, 1974. -
HIV/AIDS Outbreak
As the outbreak spread, as drugs and needles were being reused, and as deaths began to increase most of the country was in chaos. At first it was seen as a disease only among gay men, then cases came out of Haiti and it was seen as a "Haitian thing", but the outbreak continued and cases were reported in Europe as well. Eventually, blood tests were administered to check for the diseases. -
Reykjavik Summit
The summit was very important in history, as both nations met to negotiate and control the nuclear weaponry both countries had. Although they did not really come to a real deal, it still opened relations with the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War and caused the tensions to lessen between nations.
