-
G.I. Bill
The G.I. Bill was created to help veterans of World War II. It established hospitals, made low-interest mortgages available and granted tuition and expenses for veterans attending college. From 1944 to 1949, nearly 9 million veterans received close to $4 billion from the bill’s unemployment compensation program. The Readjustment Benefits Act of 1966 extended these benefits to all veterans of the armed forces, including those who had served during peacetime. -
Hiroshima
The United States became the first and only nation to use atomic weaponry during wartime when it drops an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Though the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan marked the end of World War II, many believe it was the start of the Cold War. The Hiroshima bomb is believed to be displaying a new weapon of mass destruction to the Soviet Union. By 1949, the Soviets had developed their own atomic bomb and the nuclear arms race in the Cold War began. -
Period: to
Cold War
Marshall Plan, Joseph McCarthy, Space Race, Hiroshima, Apollo 11, Anti-War Movement, Iron Curtain, Berlin Airlift, War Power Resolution Act, Fall of Berlin Wall -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain is not an actual Iron Curtain. The Iron Curtain is a term that was prominent after Winston Churchill’s speech in which he said that an “iron curtain has descended” across Europe. He was referring to the boundary line that divided Europe in two different political areas: Western Europe had political freedom, while Eastern Europe was under communist Soviet rule. The term also symbolized the way in which the Soviet Union blocked its territories from open contact with the West. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan, named after George Marshall is also known as the European Recovery Program, channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. The U.S. gave loans to rebuild and restore faith in capitalism in Western Europe. 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. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Wall was the defining symbol of the Cold War, separating families and keeping the people from jobs and opportunity in the west. In 1948, the Russians closed all highways, railroads and canals to get into West Berlin. They believed this would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies. The U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the Berlin from the air. This effort, known as the “Berlin Airlift,” lasted for more than a year -
Fair Deal
A Fair Deal is what President Harry Truman called his plan. He announced in a speech on January 1949. His Fair Deal recommended that all Americans have health insurance, that the minimum wage be increased, and that by law all Americans be guaranteed equal rights. Congress rejected national health care but they did raise minimum wage. Truman also proposed the Fair Employment Practices Act, which would outlaw racial and religious discrimination in hiring. Congress passed the Employment Act in 1946 -
Joseph McCarthy
During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the thought of communism in the United States and other countries seemed real to many people in the United States. These fears came to define and destroy the era’s political culture. For many Americans, the most enduring symbol of this Red Scare was Senator Joseph P. McCarthy of Wisconsin. Senator McCarthy spent almost five years trying in vain to expose communists and other left-wing loyalty risks in the U.S. government. -
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. -
Period: to
1950s
Elvis Presley, Fair Deal, G.I. Bill, Ike Turner, Little Richard, Beat Generation, Polio Vaccine, Dr. Jonas Salk, Bill Haley and the Comets, Rock N Roll -
Beat Generation
In the 1950s, a new cultural and literary movement staked its claim on the nation’s consciousness. The years immediately after the Second World War saw a wholesale reappraisal of the conventional structures of society. Just as the postwar economic boom was taking hold, students in universities were beginning to question the materialism of their society. The Beat Generation was a product of this questioning.They saw capitalism as destructive to the human spirit and antithetical to social equality -
Ike Turner
R&B legend Ike Turner was born on November 5, 1931, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and grew up playing the blues. An early pioneer of fifties rock and roll, he is most popularly known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s with his then-wife Tina Turner in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. They created several hits in music. The duo's cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" earned them their first and only Grammy Award together in 1971.Turner died of a cocaine overdose on 2007 in California. -
Bill Haley and the Comets
They were an American rock and roll band, founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956, the group placed one single at number one and three more in the Top Ten. Bandleader Bill Haley had previously been a country music performer; after recording a country and western-styled version of "Rocket 88", a rhythm and blues song, he changed musical direction to a new sound which came to be called rock and roll. -
Rock N Roll
A genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 40s and early 50s, from AfricanAmerican musical styles such as gospel, jazz, and rhythm and blues, along with country music. In 1953, Bill Haley and His Comets are the first to hit the pop charts with a true rock N roll song taking their single Crazy Man Crazy to #12. By 1957 rock N roll artists appear regularly on the popular music charts and by 1959 rock N roll records account for 43% of all records sold -
Polio Vaccine
American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine against 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 3k died from the disease.For promising eventually to erase the disease, which is known as “infant paralysis” because it mainly affects children,Dr. Salk was celebrated as the great doctor-benefactor of his time -
Brown V. Board of Education
In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that racially segregated public facilities were legal, so long as the facilities for blacks and whites were equal. Brown v. Board was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson. 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. -
Period: to
Civil Rights
Brown v. Board of Education, Emmett Till, Little Rock 9, Civil Rights Act of 1957, Freedom Rides, March on Washington, "I Have a Dream" Speech, Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez, Black Panther Party -
Little Richard
Born Richard Wayne Penniman on December 5, 1932, in Macon, Georgia, Little Richard helped define the early rock ‘n’ roll era of the 1950s with his driving, flamboyant sound. With his croons, wails and screams, he turned songs like “Tutti-Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally” into huge hits and influenced such bands as the Beatles. Little Richard first recorded in a bluesy vein in 1951, but it was his tenure at Specialty Records beginning in 1955 that made his mark as a rock and roll architect. -
Dr Jonas Salk
American medical researcher and virologist. He discovered and developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. Born in NYC, he attended New York University School of Medicine, later choosing to do medical research. Until 1955, when the Salk vaccine was introduced, polio was considered one of the most frightening public health problems in the world.In the postwar United States annual epidemics were increasingly devastating.The 1952 U.S. epidemic was the worst outbreak in the nation's history -
Emmett Till
While visiting family in Money, Mississippi, 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African American from Chicago, is brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman four days earlier. The white woman’s husband and her brother made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton-gin fan to the bank a 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 -
Space Race
After World War II ended, a new conflict began. Known as the Cold War, this battle was between 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 area for this competition. Each country wanted to proved its technological superiority as well as its military firepower. The race intensified with the launch of Sputnik, the first satellite in space launched by USSR. -
Little Rock 9
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. Their attendance at the school was a test of Brown v. Board of Education. On 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 Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
It was enacted September 9, 1957, a federal voting rights bill, was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Its purpose was to show the federal government's support for racial equality after the US Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Opposition to the Act, included the longest one-person filibuster in US history, limited its immediate impact. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm was the son of a Baptist preacher who was a follower of Marcus Garvey. Malcolm X, an activist and outspoken public voice of the Black Muslim faith, challenged the mainstream civil rights movement and the nonviolent pursuit of integration suggested by Martin Luther King Jr. He urged followers to defend themselves against white aggression “by any means necessary.” Born Malcolm Little, he changed his last name to X to signify his rejection of his “slave” name. -
Anti-War Movement
The movement against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War began small among peace activists and left intellectuals on college campuses and gained national prominence in 1965, after the United States began bombing North Vietnam. Anti-war marches and other protests began. Many protested by burning their draft cards and moving to other countries to avoid going to war. The movement peaked after a succesful attack by the North Vietnamese that proved that war’s end was nowhere in sight -
New Frontier
After squeaking by Richard Nixon in the election of 1960, John F. Kennedy set forth new challenges for the United States. In his inauguration speech, he challenged his fellow Americans to "Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country." In his acceptance speech Kennedy declared, “We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier.” Thereafter the phrase “New Frontier” was associated with his presidential programs. -
Period: to
1960s
Peace Corps, Assassination of JFK, Hippies, Anti-War Movement, Feminism, Daisy Girl Ad, Counter Culture, Lee Harvey Oswald, Great Society, New Frontier -
Freedom Rides
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. They faced beatings and arresting by police along their routes, but the movement drew national attention to their case. -
Peace Corps
On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issues an executive order, establishing the Peace Corps as a new agency within the Department of State. The same day, he sent a message to Congress asking for permanent funding for the agency, which would send trained American men and women to foreign nations to assist in development efforts. During the week after its creation thousands of letters poured into Washington from young Americans hoping to volunteer. -
Hippies
Members during the 1960s and 1970s, of a countercultural movement that rejected the mores of mainstream American life. The movement originated on college campuses in the United States. The name derived from “hip,” a term applied to the Beats of the 1950s. Although the movement arose in part as opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, hippies were often not directly engaged in politics. Hippies felt alienated from middle-class society. -
Cesar Chavez
Mexican-American Cesar Chavez was a prominent union leader and labor organizer. Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962. His union joined with the Agricultural Workers the two organizations later merged to become the United Farm Workers. Stressing nonviolent methods, Chavez drew attention for his causes via boycotts, marches and hunger strikes. He was able to secure raises and improve conditions for farm workers in California, Texas, Arizona and Florida. -
"I Have a Dream" Speech
The “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. at the 1963 March on Washington, remains one of the most famous speeches in history. With references to the country’s Founding Fathers and the Bible, King used universal themes to depict the struggles of African Americans, before closing with an improvised riff on his dreams of equality. The speech was immediately recognized as a highlight of the successful protest, and known as a signature moment of Civil Rights movement. -
Feminism
During the 1960s, influenced and inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, women of all ages began to fight to secure a stronger role in American society. Second-wave feminism is a period of feminist activity and thought that began in the United States in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It quickly spread across the Western world, with an aim to increase equality for women by gaining more than just enfranchisement. -
March on Washingston
One of the largest political rallies in history. The March on Washington was a massive protest march that occurred in August 1963, when some 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Also known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the event aimed to draw attention to continuing challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans a century after emancipation. It was also the occasion of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s now-iconic “I Have A Dream” speech. -
Assassination of JFK
Fatal shooting of John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, as he rode in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. His accused killer was Lee Harvey Oswald, a former U.S. Marine who had embraced Marxism and defected for a time to the Soviet Union. Oswald never stood trial for murder, because, while being transferred after having been taken into custody, he was shot and killed by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner. -
Lee Harvey Oswald
Born on October 18, 1939, in New Orleans, Louisiana, Lee Harvey Oswald eventually joined the U.S. Marines and later defected to the Soviet Union for a period of time. He returned to America with a family, and eventually acquired firearms. Oswald allegedly assassinated President John. F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Oswald would never see a trial for his alleged crimes, while being taken to the county jail, was shot and killed by Jack Ruby, a club owner -
Daisy Girl Ad
In 1964, a 60-second TV ad changed American politics forever. A 3-year-old girl in a simple dress counted as she plucked daisy petals in a sun-dappled field. Her words were supplanted by a mission-control countdown followed by a massive nuclear blast in a classic mushroom shape. The message was clear if only implicit: Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was a maniac who threatened the world’s future. Two months later, President Lyndon Johnson won easily. -
Great Society
The Great Society was a series of policy initiatives, legislation and programs 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. -
Counter Culture
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that spread throughout the US between the early 1960s and the mid-1970s. As the 1960s progressed, widespread social tensions also developed concerning other issues, regarding human sexuality, women's rights, traditional modes of authority, experimentation with psychoactive drugs, and differing interpretations of the American Dream. -
Anti-War Movement
The movement against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War began small among peace activists and left intellectuals on college campuses and gained national prominence in 1965, after the United States began bombing North Vietnam. Anti-war marches and other protests began. Many protested by burning their draft cards and moving to other countries to avoid going to war. The movement peaked after a succesful attack by the North Vietnamese that proved that war’s end was nowhere in sight -
Black Panther Party
A political organization founded in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale to challenge police brutality against the African American community. Dressed in black berets and black leather jackets, the Black Panthers organized armed citizen patrols of U.S. cities. At its peak in 1968, the Black Panther Party had roughly 2,000 members. They founded the Black Panthers in the wake of the assassination of Malcolm X and after police shot and killed an unarmed black teen named Matthew Johnson. -
Apollo 11
The Apollo 11 mission is one of the most significant events of the Space Race between Soviet Union and United States. In 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon. The Apollo 11 mission occurred 8 years after President John Kennedy announced a national goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. After the USSR launched Sputnik the US rushed to develop new technology to win the Space Race. The mission was a great success,and win for the US in the Space Race -
Period: to
1970s
OPEC, Watergate, Environmental Protection Agency, The Moral Majority, Title IX, Endangered Species Act, Iran Hostage Crisis, Roe v. Wade, Federal Election Commission, Three Mile Island -
Environmental Protection Agency
In the wake of concerns of the Earth being polluted, 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.Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate. -
Watergate
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal that occurred in the United States during the early 1970s, following a break-in by five men at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate Hotel. President Richard Nixon's administration's subsequent attempt to cover up its involvement. After the five burglars were caught and the conspiracy was discovered, Watergate was investigated by Congress. Nixon's administration resisted its probes, which led to a constitutional crisis -
Title IX (9)
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces,Title 9 of the Education Amendments of 1972. Title 9 protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance. Title 9 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 assistance -
War Powers Resolution Act
The War Powers Act is a congressional resolution designed to limit the U.S. president’s ability to initiate or escalate military actions abroad. Among other restrictions, the law requires that presidents notify Congress after deploying the armed forces and limits how long units can remain engaged without congressional approval. It was enacted in November 1973 over an executive veto by President Richard M. Nixon. It was enacted to avoid another conflict like the Vietnam War. -
Roe V. Wade
A 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a woman’s legal right to an abortion. The Court ruled, in a 7-2 decision, that a woman’s right to choose an abortion was protected by the privacy rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The legal precedent for the decision was rooted in the 1965 case of Griswold v. Connecticut, which established the right to privacy involving medical procedures. The fight over whether to criminalize abortion has grown fierce in recent years -
OPEC
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a organization, created on 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. For the first decade of its existence, OPEC had little impact on the price of oil, but by the early 1970s an increase in demand and the decline of U.S. oil production gave it more clout. The Arab-dominated OPEC announces a decision to cut oil exports to the United States and other nations that provided military aid to Israel War of October 1973. -
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act (“ESA”) is a federal law that was enacted in 1973 to protect endangered and threatened species from becoming extinct. A species or subspecies is endangered if it is “in danger of extinction through out all or a significant portion of its range.” A threatened species is one that is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future. The ESA also provides for the designation of critical habitat and prohibits the destruction of that habitat. -
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade was a landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a woman’s legal right to an abortion. The Court ruled, in a 7-2 decision, that a woman’s right to choose an abortion was protected by the privacy rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The legal precedent for the decision was rooted in the 1965 case of Griswold v. Connecticut, which established the right to privacy involving medical procedures. -
Federal Election Commission
An independent agency created in 1975 by the U.S. Congress to regulate election campaign finance in the United States. The mission of the FEC is to administer and enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act that governs the financing of federal elections. The FEC has jurisdiction over campaigns for the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, the presidency and the vice presidency. The FEC is composed of six members appointed by the president to confirmation by the U.S. Senate -
The Moral Majority
The Moral Majority was a prominent American political organization associated with the Christian right and Republican Party. It was founded in 1979 by Baptist minister Jerry Falwell.. It played a key role in the mobilization of conservative Christians as a political force and particularly in Republican presidential victories throughout the 1980s. They furthered a conservative and religious agenda, including the allowance of prayer in schools and strict laws against abortion. -
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. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
In 1979, a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking more than 60 American hostages. The immediate cause of this action was President Jimmy Carter’s decision to allow Iran’s Shah to come to the United States for cancer treatment. The students set their hostages free in 1981 444 days after the crisis began and just hours after President Ronald Reagan delivered his inaugural address. Many historians believe that hostage crisis cost Jimmy Carter a second term as president -
Video Head System (VHS)
A standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes. JVC released the first VHS machines in Japan in late 1976, and in the United States in early 1977. Sony's Betamax competed with VHS throughout the late 1970s and into the 1980s. Two of the standards, VHS and Betamax, received the most media exposure. VHS eventually won the war, dominating 60 percent of the North American market by 1980. Optical disc formats later began to offer better quality than analog consumer video tape. -
Period: to
1980s
Election of 1980, AIDS Crisis, Reagan Doctrine, Space Shuttle Program, Music Television: MTV, Video Head System(VHS), Challenger Explosion, Rap Music, Iran Hostage Crisis, Ronald Reagan -
Black Entertainment Television (BET)
The network first aired on January 25, 1980. Its founder, Robert L. Johnson, was a former lobbyist for the cable television industry in the late 1970s. Johnson quickly recognized the dearth of television programming designed for the African American public and created BET to reach that demographic audience. BET premiered in 1980 modestly as a channel that ran two hours of weekly programming in select east coast cities.It ran two hours of weekly programming in select east coast cities -
The Election of 1980
The United States presidential election of 1980 was the 49th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 1980. Republican nominee Ronald Reagan defeated Democrat Jimmy Carter. Due to the rise of conservativism following Reagan's victory, some historians consider the election to be a realigning election that marked the start of the "Reagan Era". Reagan's campaign was aided by Democratic dissatisfaction with Carter, the Iran hostage crisis, and a worsening economy at home -
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan, a former actor and California governor, served as the 40th U.S. president from 1981 to 1989. Seen as one of 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. -
Rap Music
Hip hop as both a musical genre and a culture was formed during the 1970s when block parties became increasingly popular in New York City, particularly among African-American youth residing in the Bronx. The 1980s marked the diversification of hip hop as the genre developed more complex styles. Prior to the 1980s, hip hop music was largely confined within the United States. Popular hip hop artists of the 1980s include Kurtis Blow, Run D.M.C., Beastie Boys, NWA, LL Cool J, etc. -
Space Shuttle Program
The fourth human spacefleet program of NASA began setting records with its first launch on April 12, 1981 and continued to set high marks of achievement and endurance through 30 years of missions. Starting with Columbia and continuing with Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour, the spacecraft has carried people into orbit repeatedly, launched, recovered and repaired satellites, conducted cutting-edge research and built the largest structure in space -
Music Television (MTV)
On August 1, 1981 MTV: Music Television goes on the air for the first time ever, with the words (spoken by one of MTV’s creators, John Lack): “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.” The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” was the first music video to air on the new cable television channel, which initially was available only to households in parts of New Jersey. MTV went on to revolutionize the music industry and become an influential source of pop culture and entertainment in the US -
AIDS Crisis
Up until the 1980s, we do not know how many people were infected with HIV or developed AIDS. HIV was unknown and transmission was not accompanied by noticeable signs or symptoms. The disease AIDS first appeared in the early 1980s, and rapidly became an epidemic among homosexual men. Fear of contracting the disease and discrimination against those with AIDS persisted throughout the 1980s and 1990s, even though the CDC ruled out the possibility of transmitting AIDS through casual contact in 1983. -
Reagan Doctrine
In his State of the Union address, President Ronald Reagan defines some of the key concepts of his foreign policy, establishing what comes to be known as the “Reagan Doctrine.” The doctrine served as the foundation for the Reagan administration’s support of “freedom fighters” around the globe. In action, this policy translated into covertly supporting the Contras in their attacks on the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. -
Iran Contra Affair
A scandal that erupted after the Reagan administration sold weapons to Iran in hopes of freeing American hostages in Lebanon. The money from the sales was used to aid the Contras(anti-Communist insurgents) in Nicaragua, even though Congress had prohibited this assistance.Talk of Reagan's impeachment ended when presidential aides took the blame for the illegal activity.Those acts directly contravened an ongoing US trade embargo with Iran as well as federal legislation limiting aid to the Contras. -
Challenger Explosion
The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The explosion was caused by a faulty seal in the fuel tank. The shuttle program was halted while investigators and officials drew up new safety regulations, but was resumed in 1988 with the flight of the Discovery. This explosion stalled the NASA program for two years. The accident led to a reorganization of NASA's safety and communication systems. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
On the 9th of November, 1989, the Berlin Wall is opened after nearly three decades keeping Berlin's West German enclave from Communist East Germany. Very quickly, the Berlin Wall was flood with people from both sides. Some began chipping at the Berlin Wall with hammers and chisels. There was an impromptu and massive celebration along the Berlin Wall, with people celebrating. After the Berlin Wall came down, East and West Germany reunified into a single German state on October 3, 1990. -
Persian Gulf 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. After 42 days of relentless attacks by the allied coalition in the air and on the ground, U.S. President George H.W. Bush declared a cease-fire on February 28 -
Period: to
1990s
Persian Gulf War, NAFTA, Election of 1992, Bill Clinton, Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy, Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), Lewinsky Affair, World Trade Center Attack 1993, Oprah Winfrey, Black Entertainment Television (BET) -
Election of 1992
The 52nd election was held on Tuesday, November 3, 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. Clinton won a plurality in the popular vote, and a wide Electoral College margin. -
Bill Clinton
The 42nd U.S. president, served in office from 1993 to 2001. Prior to that, the Arkansas native and Democrat was governor of his home state. 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. The House of Representatives impeached Clinton on charges related to a sexual relationship he had with Monica Lewinsky. He was acquitted by the Senate. -
World Trade Center Attack 1993
1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, carried out on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. killed six people and injured more than 1,000. The attack was planned by a group of terrorists including Ramzi Yousef, Mahmud Abouhalima, Mohammad Salameh, Nidal A. Ayyad, Abdul Rahman Yasin, and Ahmed Ajaj. The terrorists fled the area after setting the bomb to explode. -
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy
Was the official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, instituted by the Clinton Administration on February 28, 1994, when Department of Defense Directive 1304.26 issued on December 21, 1993, took effect, lasting until September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. -
Oprah Winfrey
Billionaire media giant and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey is best known for hosting her own internationally popular talk show from 1986 to 2011. From there, she launched her own television network, OWN. In 1994, with talk shows becoming increasingly trashy and exploitative, Winfrey pledged to keep her show free of tabloid topics. Although ratings initially fell, she earned the respect of her viewers and was soon rewarded with an upsurge in popularity. -
NAFTA
Bush, began negotiations with Mexican President Salinas for a trade agreement between the two countries. Before NAFTA, Mexican tariffs on U.S. imports were 250 percent higher than U.S. tariffs on Mexican imports. In 1991, Canada requested a trilateral agreement, which then led to NAFTA.The pact effectively created a free-trade bloc among the three largest countries of North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. -
Lewinsky Affair
The Monica Lewinsky scandal began in the late 1990s, when America was shocked by a political sex scandal involving President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. 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 -
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
Was a United States federal law that, prior to being ruled unconstitutional, defined marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman, and allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states. DOMA had denied same-sex married couples from being recognized as "spouses" for purposes of federal laws, effectively denying them from receiving federal marriage benefits. Did not prevent individual states from recognizing same-sex marriage -
Period: to
Contemporary
Election of 2000, George W. Bush, No Child Left Behind Education Act, Hurricane Katrina Disaster, 9/11 Attacks, 2nd Iraq War, Election 2008, Affordable Care Act (ACA), Sonya Sotomayor -
Election of 2000
The 54th presidential election. It was held on, November 7, 2000. Republican candidate George W. Bush, the Governor of Texas and the eldest son of the 41st President George H.W. Bush, narrowly defeated Democratic Al Gore, the vice president. Initial election returns showed that Gore had won the popular vote, but neither candidate had garnered the 270 electoral votes required to win the presidency.The election hinged on results from the state of Florida. -
George W. Bush
An American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He was also the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000. 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,” He became the fourth person to be elected President while receiving fewer popular votes than his opponent. -
9/11 Attacks
On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the US. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in NYC, 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 U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism. -
No Child Left Behind Education Act
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which passed Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2001 and was signed into law by President George W. Bush on Jan. 8, 2002, is the name for the most recent update to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. Effectively scaled up the federal role in holding schools accountable for student outcomes. A special focus on ensuring that states and schools boost the performance of certain groups of students such as poor and minority children. -
2nd Iraq War
The 2003 invasion of Iraq lasted from 20 March to 1 May 2003 and signalled the start of the Iraq War, which the United States dubbed Operation Iraqi Freedom (prior to 19 March, the mission in Iraq was called "Operation Enduring Freedom", a carry-over from the War in Afghanistan). The invasion consisted of 21 days of major combat operations, in which a combined force of troops from the United States. Overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein. -
Hurricane Katrina Disaster
Early in the morning on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. When the storm made landfall, it had a Category 3 rating on the Hurricane Scale. The storm itself did a great deal of damage, but its aftermath was catastrophic. Massive flooding, and many people charged that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the people affected by the storm. Hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were displaced from their homes -
Barack Obama
On November 4, 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was elected president of the US 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. He is the only President who was born in Hawaii and the only President who was born outside of the contiguous 48 states.He served two terms as the 44 president of the United States. -
Sonia Sotomayor
Nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26 2009, Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in U.S. history. Sonia Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954, in the Bronx borough of New York City. Her desire to be a judge was first inspired by the TV show Perry Mason. She graduated from Yale Law School and passed the bar in 1980. Sotomayor was among the majority in two landmark Supreme Court rulings. nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in August 2009 by a vote of 68 to 31 -
Affordable Care Act
Obamacare, is a US federal statute enacted by the Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The term "Obamacare" was first used by opponents, then reappropriated by supporters, and eventually used by President Obama himself. 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.
