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Vietnam War
Starting in 1954 the Northern and Southern half of Vietnam began war. The Northern communist government wanted to take the southern part for themselves. They killed 3 million people 58,000 were Americans and more than half of all those deaths were civilians. -
Credibility Gap
The Credibility gap was time in American history during the Vietnam War when the government was trying to disclose military information to the public. People eventually started to see these small gaps in government and didn’t know whether or not we could trust them. There were multiple cases where government tried to do certain things such as staging a robbery or saying something happened that didn’t. -
Bay Of Pigs Invasion
Fidel Castro came to power by an armed revolt, against the dictator Fulgencio Batista. The goal of the invasion was to overthrow Castro and set up a non-communist government. We set up camps in Guatemala for Guerilla warfare. Shortly after JFK’s inauguration, he initiated the bay of big invasion and after a failed bombing we invaded the island. When we landed we landed to heavy fire and air strikes. When we went to attack again our planes were shot down, and the invasion ended horribly. -
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New Frontier
In the late 1950’s Russia sent a man into space. In response JFK challenged the American public and Government to advance themselves as best they can to one up Russia, by putting man on the moon by then end of the decade. We first sent Alan Shepard into space as the first American in space, the John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth. Then in 1969 we reached our goal and had Neil Armstrong on the moon by the summer of 1969. -
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Berlin Wall
The Berlin wall was a physical division of the city of Berlin. Communism and the Soviet Union controlled East Berlin and East Germany while the United States and their non-communist allies controlled West Berlin and West Germany. The cooperative attitude soon disappeared as competition made it East versus West. As living conditions became distinctly different in the two halves of the country Germany became different, it was apparent that the capitalist side had pulled ahead. -
The End of Rock and Roll
Rock and Roll was a style of music that appeared in 1954 and basically changed the world. It didn't get popular until the 1960s but it rocked everybody from then until around 1963 when it died off in popularity as rock took its place. Music has been completely different since the creation and popularity of Rock and Roll music. The new style of music was brought about by R&B artists like Muddy Waters, Willie Mae Thornton, Joe Turner and Ray Charles while it was sung by mega stars such as Elvis. -
The New Left
In 1964 the New Left movement was a movement made by California college students that challenged their freedom of speech. Throughout other years of this movement, students and young people also tried to localize government more so that they could have more of a say in government. People especially wanted more say in government because of the Vietnam War. This movement was short lived and began to die out in the early 70’s. -
Gender Equality
Gender equality started in the 1970’s, they viewed it as men and women should have the same opportunities and life chances. Gender discrimination is the most widespread form of discrimination and exclusion. There have always been women working to get equal health care, and education. Women also have been working for political equality along with income and participation in jobs. -
Kent State Shooting
4 college students were killed at Kent State University on May 4, 1970. Another 9 were left injured. The Ohio State National Gaurd fired into a crowd of protestors that refused to retreat and abandon the demonstration. Tear gas was used to disperse the students from the already aflame wooden ROTC building. This chased the mob of anti-war protesting students up blanket hill and down onto a practice football field and a parking lot. Rock throwing reached its peak and some Gaurds shot and hit kids. -
SALT I
The Strategic Arms Limitation treaty was the first treaty made by the “Superpowers” to place a limit on the Arms race. This treaty was signed on May 26, 1972, this treaty basically said that they wouldn’t take extra steps in their arms making to conceal them from other countries. They also agreed that they wouldn’t be making tons of defensive weapons such as nuclear warheads or ICBM’s. -
Watergate Scandal
The Watergate scandal is a term used to describe a complicated string of corrupt political events between 1972 and 1974 that had to do with the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. The Watergate Burglar broke into the Deocratic Party's National Committee offices on June 17, 1972. If Frank Wills, a security gaurd, had not been on his toes, the scandal may have never opened up. All in all the burglars were caught and President Nixon resigned after having White House tapes reviewed. -
Three Mile Island "Meltdown"
In the March of 1979 equipment failure due to human error caused one of the Nuclear reactors to overheat. Scientist prevented the plant from melting down, but in that week 100,000 people fled the area for fear of the meltdown. A couple days after the accident, a little bit of radioactive gas was released. Not enough was released that it caused anything to to become radioactive or for any residents to get sick. To this day it is the worst nuclear accident in US history. -
A Conservative Court
Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States. Some Argue that he is responsible for some of our problems today such as Al Qaeda. Although thats not a proven fact, Reagan did create a common breed in the Supreme Court. One half of the Court was moderately conservative while the other half was deep conservatives. The court started to move directly under Reagan, as was shown by some of the court's decisions as it limited student privacy in New Jersey. -
The New Right
The New Right was a combination of Christian religious leaders, conservative business bigwigs that thought that all the labor laws were undermining competitiveness between companies and political fringe groups. With all that people saw moral’s decline and more “crimes” being committed against God. Evangelical leaders unanimously agreed that America was experiencing a moral decline, so they took to the television to try and get people back on track. -
Middle East Policy
On September 22, 1980, Iraqi troops invaded Iran, because Iran had so many people they were able to push the Iraqi troops out of Iran. When the Iranians went to invade Iraq they couldn’t even begin to take it over because of their heavy weaponry. The biggest reason we wanted to help get that war over with was so that we could tap into the oil supply over there. The Middle East held 25% of the world’s oil supply. By being able to get into that supply we could save lots of money on oil and fuel. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was a plan for a flawless ballistic missile defense system. The US planned to use Space, ground-based nuclear X-ray lasers, subatomic particle beams, and computer-guided projectiles fired by electromagnetic rail guns. This crazy, high-tech design was all going to be controlled by one central supercomputer system. The US planned to intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles while they still flew high above the Earth. -
The Reagan Doctrine
The Reagan Doctrine was part of his speech in the State of the Union Address. The Reagan Doctrine basically served as a foundation for freedom fighters around the world. He also said that it was our job to help build democracy throughout the world and support the people fighting for that cause. Throughout Reagan’s time in office he did follow up his doctrine, they weakened one of the governments in the Middle East that wasn’t democratic. Although that worked out many pointless deaths happened. -
Start of the Persian Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War was started by Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein. He ordered an invasion on and the occupation of neighboring country Kuwait in August of 1990. The Arab powers called on the United Nations to help intervene. This called the US into action, the Persian Gulf War had begun. After 42 days of constant attack and fighting, a cease fire was called by US President George H.W. Bush. Much of the Iraqi forces had already surrendered or fled, and things eventually simmered into the Iraq War -
Bill Clinton is Swarn into Office
Bill Clinton started his political career in 1976 when he became the attorney general of Arkansas. Soon after he became the governor of Arkansas and eventually the President in 1992. 6 years later however, he was impeached by the House of Representatives, but was aquitted by the Senate a year later in 1999.
His impeachment was brought about by a scandal with a women interning at the White House. The only up sides of Bill's presidency was the enjoyment of a prospering economy. -
9/11
September 9th, 2001, al Qaeda terrorists take over 4 United States planes and direct them off their route. Flight 77 crashed into the nation's defense center, the Pentagon. Flights 11 and 175 are directed at and crashed into both of the World Trade Center towers, while the third is known as flight 93. Flight 93 was a thwarted plan due to the actions of 40 individuals on the plane. The plane was overtaken by the terrorists shortly after it was ordered to land it was crashed in Northwest PA.
