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G.I. Bill
Officially the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, the G.I. Bill was created to help veterans of World War II. It established hospitals, made low-interest mortgages available and granted stipends covering tuition and expenses for veterans attending college or trade schools. From 1944 to 1949, nearly 9 million veterans received close to $4 billion from the bill’s unemployment compensation program. -
Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain is a political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and other non-communist areas. It came to prominence after it was used by the former British prime minister Winston Churchill in a speech at Fulton, Missouri, U.S., on March 5, 1946. -
Period: to
Civil Rights
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Period: to
Cold War
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Truman Doctorine
In a dramatic speech to a joint session of Congress, President Harry S. Truman asks for U.S. assistance for Greece and Turkey to forestall communist domination of the two nations, which came to be known as the Truman Doctrine, as the official declaration of the Cold War. In February 1947, the British government informed the United States that it could no longer furnish the economic and military assistance it had been providing to Greece and Turkey since the end of World War II. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. The Marshall Plan successfully sparked economic recovery, meeting its objective of ‘restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole.This plan was named after Secretary of State George C. Marshall -
Berlin Airlift
On June 24, 1948, the Soviet Union blocked all road and rail travel to and from West Berlin. The Soviet action was in response to the refusal of American and British officials to allow Russia more say in the economic future of Germany. The U.S. government was shocked by the provocative Soviet move, and some in President Harry S. Truman’s administration called for a direct military response. Truman ordered a massive airlift of supplies into West Berlin -
Fair Deal
In a reference to Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal policies, Truman announced his plans for domestic policy reforms including national health insurance, public housing, civil rights legislation and federal aid to education. He advocated an increase in the minimum wage, federal assistance to farmers and an extension of Social Security, as well as urging the immediate implementation of anti-discrimination policies in employment. -
2nd Red Scare
As the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States intensified, hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. became known as the Red Scare. The Red Scare led to a range of actions that had a profound and enduring effect on U.S. government and society. Federal employees were analyzed to determine whether they were sufficiently loyal to the government. U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, investigated allegations of subversive elements in the government. -
The Beat Generation
The Beat Generation was a literary and cultural movement that was all about questioning. They saw runaway capitalism as destructive to the human spirit and antithetical to social equality. In addition to their dissatisfaction with consumer culture, the Beats railed against the stifling prudery of their parents’ generation. The Beats stood in opposition to the clean, almost antiseptic formalism of the early twentieth century Modernists. -
Rock n' Roll
The roots of rock and roll lay in African American BLUES and GOSPEL. As the Great Migration brought many African Americans to the cities of the north, the sounds of RHYTHM AND BLUES attracted suburban teens. Due to segregation and racist attitudes, however, none of the greatest artists of the genre could get much airplay.Disc jockey Alan Freed began a rhythm-and-blues show on a Cleveland radio station. Soon the audience grew and grew, and Freed coined the term "rock and roll." -
Period: to
1950's
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Korean War (Forgotten War)
On June 25th, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea’s behalf. This was a war against communism. -
Polio Vaccine
On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio. In 1952–an epidemic year for polio–there were 58,000 new cases reported in the United States, and more than 3,000 died from the disease. Dr. Salk was celebrated as the great doctor-benefactor of his time. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education was one of the cornerstones of the civil rights movement, and helped establish the precedent that “separate-but-equal” education and other services were not, in fact, equal at all. -
Dr. Jonas Salk
On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio. In 1952–an epidemic year for polio–there were 58,000 new cases reported in the United States, and more than 3,000 died from the disease. Dr. Salk was celebrated as the great doctor-benefactor of his time. -
Elvis Presley
Born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis Presley came from very humble beginnings and grew up to become one of the biggest names in rock 'n' roll. By the mid-1950s, he appeared on the radio, television and the silver screen. On August 16, 1977, at age 42, he died of heart failure, which was related to his drug addiction. Since his death, Presley has remained one of the world's most popular music icons. -
Bill Halley and the Comets
In 1954 bandleader Bill Haley and His Comets recorded “Rock Around the Clock,” a rock and roll anthem that stayed at Number One for eight weeks and sold an estimated twenty-five million copies worldwide.If only for the impact of “Rock Around the Clock,” Haley would deserve a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Yet his impact in the early days of rock and roll went well beyond that milestone. -
Earl Warren
Earl Warren was a prominent 20th century leader of American politics and law. Warren secured major reform legislation during his three terms in office. After failing to claim the Republican nomination for the presidency, he was appointed the 14th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1953. The landmark case of his tenure was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka 1954, in which the Court unanimously determined the segregation of schools to be unconstitutional. -
Albert Sabin
The Sabin Vaccine Institute is founded on the legacy and global vision of one of the pre-eminent scientific figures in the history of medicine, Dr. Albert B. Sabin. Best known as the developer of the oral live virus polio vaccine, Dr. Sabin not only dedicated his entire professional career to the elimination of human suffering though his groundbreaking medical advances, he also waged a tireless campaign against poverty and ignorance throughout his lifetime. -
Rosa Parks
By refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus in 1955, black seamstress Rosa Parks helped initiate the civil rights movement in the United States. The leaders of the local black community organized a bus boycott that began the day Parks was convicted of violating the segregation laws. Led by a young Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the boycott lasted more than a year and ended only when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation was unconstitutional. -
Emmett Till Tragedy
While visiting family in Money, Mississippi, 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African American, is brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman. They made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton-gin fan to the bank of the Tallahatchie River and ordered him to take off his clothes. The two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head and then threw his body, tied to the cotton-gin fan with barbed wire, into the river. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a civil-rights protest during which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The boycott took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, and is regarded as the first large-scale U.S. demonstration against segregation. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system. -
Ike Turner
Ike Turner made a string of R&B hits with singer and wife Tina Turner. He struggled with drug addiction and died of an accidental cocaine overdose. In 1956, he met a teenager and singer named Anna Mae Bullock. He married her and helped create her stage persona, Tina Turner. The two became the Ike & Tina Turner Revue and created several R&B hits, including "I Idolize You," "It's Going to Work Out Fine" and "Poor Fool." -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
In 1957, President Eisenhower sent Congress a proposal for civil rights legislation. The result was the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. The new act established the Civil Rights empowered federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote. It also established a federal Civil Rights Commission with authority to investigate discriminatory conditions and recommend corrective measures. -
Space Race
After World War II drew to a close in the mid-20th century, a new conflict began. Known as the Cold War, this battle pitted the world’s two great powers: the democratic, capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union, against each other. Beginning in the late 1950s, space would become another dramatic arena for this competition, as each side sought to prove the superiority of its technology, its military firepower and by extension its political-economic system. -
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine black students who enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students’ entry into the high school. Later that month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school. -
Peace Corps
In 1960, John F. Kennedy, proposed to the University of Michigan, to help the developing countries, by promoting peace. He encouraged them to go to needy countries and give them aid, financially, educationally, and physically. This spurred an evolution in the form of volunteering around the world. Since 1960, 190,000 volunteers have been sent to 139 host countries that are in need of help; currently they are serving in 74 countries. -
New Frontier
The term "New Frontier" refers to the economic and social programs of the presidency of John F. Kennedy. The concept of a "New Frontier" epitomized Kennedy's commitment to renewal and change. He pitched his 1960 presidential campaign as a crusade to bring in a "new generation of leadership, new men to cope with new problems and new opportunities." Kennedy used "the New Frontier" to build on President Theodore Roosevelt's "Square Deal," President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal," -
Counter Culture
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed first in theand the United States (US) and then spread throughout much of the Western world between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s. The aggregate movement gained momentum as the Civil Rights Movement continued to grow, and would later become revolutionary with the expansion of the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam. -
Hippies
During the 1960s and 1970s, of a countercultural movement, known as the Hippies rejected the mainstream American life. The movement originated on college campuses in the United States, although it spread to other countries, including Canada and Britain. The name derived from “hip,” a term applied to the Beats of the 1950s, such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, who were generally considered to be the precursors of hippies. -
LSD
LSD was popularized in the 1960s by individuals such as psychologist Timothy Leary, who encouraged American students to “turn on, tune in, and drop out.” This created an entire counterculture of drug abuse and spread the drug from America to the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. Even today, use of LSD in the United Kingdom is significantly higher than in other parts of the world. The ‘60s counterculture used the drug to escape the problems of society. -
Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
The SNCC, or Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, was a civil-rights group formed to give younger blacks more of a voice in the civil rights movement. The SNCC soon became one of the movement’s more radical branches. Baker encouraged those who formed SNCC to look beyond integration to broader social change and to view King’s principle of nonviolence more as a political tactic than a way of life. -
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1960's
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Freedom Riders
Freedom Riders were groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Rides, bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. Freedom Riders tried to use “whites-only” restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations in Alabama, South Carolina and other Southern states. The groups were confronted by arresting police officers as well as horrific violence from white protesters along their routes. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
President John F. Kennedy announces that U.S. spy planes have discovered Soviet missile bases in Cuba. These missile sites—under construction but nearing completion—housed medium-range missiles capable of striking a number of major cities in the United States, including Washington, D.C. Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine of Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from transporting any more offensive weapons to the island. -
Assassination of JFk
Sitting in a Lincoln convertible, the Kennedys and Connallys waved at the large and enthusiastic crowds gathered along the parade route. As their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 p.m., Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired three shots from the sixth floor, fatally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor Connally. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital at age of 46. -
Warren Commision
A week after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963, his successor, Lyndon Johnson, established a commission to investigate Kennedy’s death. After a nearly yearlong investigation, the commission, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, concluded that alleged gunman Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating America’s 35th president, and that there was no conspiracy, either domestic or international, involved. -
Great Society
The Great Society was an ambitious series of policy initiatives, legislation and programs spearheaded by President Lyndon B. Johnson with the main goals of ending poverty, reducing crime, abolishing inequality and improving the environment. In May 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson laid out his agenda for a “Great Society” during a speech at the University of Michigan. With his eye on re-election that year, Johnson set in motion his Great Society, the largest social reform plan in modern history. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, is considered one of the crowning legislative achievements of the civil rights movement. First proposed by President John F. Kennedy, it survived strong opposition from southern members of Congress and was then signed into law by Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. -
Daisy Girl Ad
On September 7, 1964, President Johnson’s campaign aired the “Daisy Girl Ad.” The commercial begins with a little girl, two-year-old Monique M. Corzilius standing in a meadow with chirping birds, picking the petals of a daisy flower while counting each petal slowly. When she reaches “nine,” an ominous male voice is then heard counting down a missile launch, and as the girl's eyes turn toward something she sees in the sky, the camera zooms in until her pupil fills the screen, blacking it out. -
Anti-War Movement
Anti-war marches and other protests, such as the ones organized by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), attracted a widening base of support over the next three years, peaking in early 1968 after the successful Tet Offensive by North Vietnamese troops proved that war’s end was nowhere in sight. This movement gained national prominence in 1965, after the United States began bombing North Vietnam in earnest. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Voting Rights Act is considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. The offensive was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War. Though U.S. and South Vietnamese forces managed to hold off the attacks, news coverage of the massive offensive shocked the American public and eroded support for the war effort. -
Period: to
1970's
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Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Born in the wake of elevated concern about environmental pollution, EPA was established on December 2, 1970 to consolidate in one agency a variety of federal research, monitoring, standard-setting and enforcement activities to ensure environmental protection. Since its inception, EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people. -
Space Shuttle Program
NASA's space shuttle was unlike any other spacecraft built during the 30 years the program was in operation. Unlike the much smaller capsules of the Apollo era, which launched on the tips of rockets and splashed back into the ocean, the jetliner-size shuttle was designed to streak into space using powerful boosters and return to solid ground as a glider. The craft’s aerodynamic winged shape allowed it to descend through the atmosphere and touch down on a runway, much like a commercial airplan. -
Watergate Scandal
Plumbers were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate complex of buildings in Washington, D.C. The prowlers were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and they had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. Nixon took aggressive steps to cover up the crime afterwards, and in August 1974, Nixon resigned. The Watergate scandal led many Americans to question their leaders and think more critically about the presidency. -
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance. Title IX states that: No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance. -
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
OPEC announces a decision to cut oil exports to the United States and other nations that provided military aid to Israel in the War of October 1973. According to OPEC, exports were to be reduced by 5 percent every month until Israel evacuated the territories occupied in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. In December, a full oil embargo was imposed against the United States and several other countries, prompting a serious energy crisis in the United States and other nations dependent on foreign oil. -
Endangered Species Act
The purpose of the ESA is to protect and recover imperiled species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. It is administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The Service has primary responsibility for terrestrial and freshwater organisms, while the responsibilities of NMFS are mainly marine wildlife such as whales and anadromons fish such as salmon. -
Jimmy Carter's Presidency
As the 39th president of the United States, Jimmy Carter struggled to respond to formidable challenges, including a major energy crisis as well as high inflation and unemployment. In the foreign affairs arena, he reopened U.S. relations with China and made headway with efforts to broker peace in the historic Arab-Israeli conflict, Carter’s diagnosis of the nation’s “crisis of confidence” did little to boost his sagging popularity. Finally, he was defeated by Ronald Reagan in the next election. -
Camp David Accords
Laying the groundwork for a permanent peace agreement between Egypt and Israel after three decades of hostilities, the accords were negotiated during 12 days of intensive talks at President Jimmy Carter’s Camp David retreat in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland. The final peace agreement–the first between Israel and one of its Arab neighbors was signed in March 1979. Sadat and Begin were jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. -
Three-Mile Island
Three Mile Island is the site of a nuclear power plant in south central Pennsylvania. In March 1979, a series of mechanical and human errors at the plant caused the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history, resulting in a partial meltdown that released dangerous radioactive gasses into the atmosphere. Three Mile Island stoked public fears about nuclear power. No new nuclear power plants have been built in the United States since the accident. -
Robert Johnson
Robert L. Johnson, in full Robert Louis Johnson, American businessman, founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), and the first African American majority owner of a major professional sports team in the United States. Johnson is the former majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. He became the first black American billionaire. Johnson's companies have counted among the most prominent African-American businesses in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. -
The Moral Majority
Moral Majority was an American political organization that was founded in 1979 by Jerry Falwell, a religious leader and televangelist, to advance conservative social values.The Moral Majority was formed in response to the social and cultural transformations that occurred in the United States in the 1960s and ’70s. Christian fundamentalists were alarmed by a number of developments that, in their view, threatened to undermine the country’s traditional moral values. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic standoff between Iran and the United States. Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981, after a group of Iranian students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. It stands as the longest hostage crisis in recorded history. -
Period: to
1980's
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Election 1980
The United States presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter and his Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan, as well as Republican Congressman John B. Anderson, who ran as an independent. Reagan, aided by the Iran hostage crisis and a worsening economy at home, won the election in a landslide. For his part, Reagan, the former Governor of California, repeatedly ridiculed Carter, and won a decisive victory. -
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O’Connor was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006, and was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. A moderate conservative, she was known for her dispassionate and meticulously researched opinions. For 24 years, Sandra Day O’Connor was a pioneering force on the Supreme Court and will always be remembered as acting as a sturdy guiding hand in the court’s decisions during those years and serving a swing vote in many important cases. -
Reagan Presidency
Ronald Reagan served as the 40th U.S. president from 1981 to 1989. He later served as the governor of California from 1967 to 1975. Dubbed the Great Communicator, the affable Reagan became a popular two-term president. He cut taxes, increased defense spending, negotiated a nuclear arms reduction agreement with the Soviets and is credited with helping to bring a quicker end to the Cold War. Reagan, who survived a 1981 assassination attempt, died at age 93 after battling Alzheimer’s disease. -
MTV Music Television
Launched on August 1, 1981, the channel originally aired music videos as guided by television personalities known as "video jockeys". At first, MTV's main target demographic was young adults, but today it is primarily teenagers, particularly high school and college students. MTV has toned down its music video programming significantly in recent years, and its programming now consists mainly of original reality, comedy and drama. -
SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative)
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as Star Wars, was a program first initiated on March 23, 1983 under President Ronald Reagan. The intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union. With the tension of the Cold War looming overhead, the Strategic Defense Initiative was the United States’ response to possible nuclear attacks from afar. -
Reagan Doctorine
Reagan began his foreign policy comments with the dramatic pronouncement that, “Freedom is not the sole prerogative of a chosen few; it is the universal right of all God’s children.” America’s “mission” was to “nourish and defend freedom and democracy.” More specifically, Reagan declared that, “We must stand by our democratic allies. The doctrine served as the foundation for the Reagan administration’s support of “freedom fighters” around the globe. -
Iran Contra Affair
The Iran-Contra Affair was a secret U.S. government arms deal that freed some American hostages held in Lebanon but also funded armed conflict in Central America. In addition, the controversial dealmaking and the ensuing political scandal threatened to bring down the presidency of Ronald Reagan. The Democrats passed the Boland Amendment. The amendment was specifically aimed at Nicaragua, where anti-communist Contras were battling the Sandinista communist government. -
Challenger Explosion
The NASA space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after liftoff, bringing a devastating end to the spacecraft’s 10th mission. The disaster claimed the lives of all seven astronauts aboard, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire who would have been the first civilian in space. It was later determined that two rubber O-rings, which had been designed to separate the sections of the rocket booster, had failed due to cold temperatures on the morning of the launch. -
Period: to
1990's
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Persian Gulf War/1st Iraq War
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait in early August 1990. Alarmed by these actions, fellow Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on the United States and other Western nations to intervene. Hussein defied United Nations Security Council demands to withdraw from Kuwait by mid-January 1991, and the Persian Gulf War began with a massive U.S.-led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm. -
Health Care Reform
This was a 1993 health care reform package under the Clinton Administration that required each US citizen and permanent resident alien to become enrolled in a qualified health plan. President Clinton set up a task force led by his wife to come up with a comprehensive plan to provide universal health care along these lines. The Health Care bill was defended by Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell in Congress but was ultimately defeated in 1994 -
Bill Clinton's Presidency
Bill Clinton was the 42nd U.S. president. During Clinton’s time in the White House, America enjoyed an era of peace and prosperity, marked by low unemployment, declining crime rates and a budget surplus. Clinton appointed a number of women and minorities to top government posts. In 1998, the House of Representatives impeached Clinton on charges related to a sexual relationship he had with a White House intern. -
World Trade Center Attcack
On February 26, 1993, at 12:18 p.m., a small cell of terrorists, with links to a local radical mosque and broader Islamist terror networks, detonated about 1,200 pounds of explosives in a rental van in the underground parking garage at the World Trade Center. The terrorists fled the area after setting the bomb to explode. The explosion created a five-story crater in the sub-grade levels of the towers and undermined the floor of an adjoining hotel. -
Election of 1992
The United States presidential election of 1992 had three major candidates: Incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bush; Democrat Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and independent Texas businessman Ross Perot. Bush had alienated much of his conservative base by breaking his 1988 campaign pledge against raising taxes, the economy was in a recession. Clinton won a plurality in the popular vote, and a wide Electoral College margin. -
Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), regarding the service of homosexuals in the military. The term was coined after Bill Clinton in 1993 signed a law, consisting of statute, regulations, and policy memoranda, directing that military personnel “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue, and don’t harass.” When it went into effect on October 1, 1993, the policy theoretically lifted a ban on homosexual service that had been instituted during World War II, though in effect it continued a statutory ban. -
North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
The North American Free Trade Agreement is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Canada. Most economic analyses indicate that NAFTA has been beneficial to the North American economies and the average citizen, but harmed a small minority of workers in industries exposed to trade competition. -
Lewinsky Affair
The Monica Lewinsky scandal was a political sex scandal involving President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern in her early 20s. In 1995, the two began a sexual relationship that continued sporadically until 1997. During that time, Lewinsky was transferred to a job at the Pentagon, where she confided in coworker Linda Tripp about her affair with the president. Tripp went on to secretly tape some of her conversations with Lewinsky. President Clinton then was impeached. -
Welfare Reform
On August 22, President Clinton signed into law "The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996," a welfare reform plan that will dramatically change the nation's system The law contains strong work requirements, a performance bonus to reward states for moving welfare recipients into jobs, state maintenance of effort requirements, comprehensive child support enforcement, and supports for families moving from welfare to work. -
Defense Marriage Act
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), law in force from 1996 to 2013 all benefits to same sex couples and recognition given to opposite-sex couples. Those benefits included more than 1,000 federal protections and privileges, such as the legal recognition of relationships, access to a partner’s employment benefits, rights of inheritance, joint tax returns and tax exemptions, protection from domestic violence, and the right to live together in military or college housing. -
Period: to
Contemporary
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Election of 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush, and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President. Bill Clinton, the President, was vacating the position after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the Twenty-second Amendment. Bush narrowly won the November 7 election, with 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266 (with one elector abstaining in the official tally). -
No Child Left Behind Education
The No Child Left Behind Act authorizes several federal education programs that are administered by the states. Under the law, states are required to test students in reading and math in grades 3–8 and once in high school. All students are expected to meet or exceed state standards in reading and math by 2014. The major focus of No Child Left Behind is to close student achievement gaps by providing all children with a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education. -
George W. Bush's Presidency
George W. Bush, America’s 43rd president, served in office from 2001 to 2009. In 2000, he won the presidency after narrowly defeating Democratic challenger Al Gore. Bush’s time in office was shaped by the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against America. In response to the attacks, he declared a global “war on terrorism,” established the Department of Homeland Security and authorized U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. -
September 11 Attack
On September 11, 2001, 19 Islamic militants hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the U.S. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defined the presidency of George W. Bush. -
PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act, as it is officially known, is an acronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism.” Bush hoped the bipartisan legislation would empower law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent future terrorist attacks on American soil. The law was intended, in Bush’s words, to “enhance the penalties that will fall on terrorists or anyone who helps them.” -
The Great Recession
The Great Recession was a period of general economic decline observed in world markets during the late 2000s and early 2010s. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country. In terms of overall impact, the International Monetary Fund concluded that it was the worst global recession since the Great Depression in the 1930's. The causes of the recession largely originated in the United States, particularly related to the real-estate market. -
Election of 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. Barack Obama, a Senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, a long-time Senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona and Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. Obama became the first African American ever to be elected as president, and Joe Biden became the first Catholic to ever be elected as vice president. -
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act or the stimulus) established a framework for reporting on the use of funding that was awarded as part of the Federal stimulus package. The law directed the creation of Recovery.gov, which gave the public a means to track the spending of Federal stimulus funding. The Recovery Act also formed the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, which set out to monitor the use and reporting of Federal stimulus funds and awards. -
Obama's Presidency
On November 4, 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was elected president of the United States over Senator John McCain of Arizona. Obama became the 44th president, and the first African American to be elected to that office. He was subsequently elected to a second term over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. First elected to the presidency in 2008, he won a second term in 2012. -
Affordable Care Act (ACA) "Obamacare"
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a United States federal statute enacted United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 amendment, it represents the U.S. healthcare system's most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion of coverage since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.
