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Period: to
Cold war
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House-Select Un-American Activities Committee
Was a committee of the House of Representatives to investigate Americans for communist sympathies. They used this as a way to call citizens and make them testify before a congress, which made it very tense and question about communistic infiltration within the US. It eventually moved to Hollywood actors, directors, and even high-ranking government officials. Change date -
War Powers Resolution Act
Was made to reduce the president's ability to involve the US in an undeclared war. This required the president to report within 48 jours after committing American troops to a foreign conflict. The president is also required to withdraw the troops within 60 days unless congress authorized that they must remain. -
G.I. Bill
President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed this act. It's also known as the Servicemens Readjustment Act. The GI Bill was made to help veterans of World War ll. It provided veterans with an education such as covering the costs of college. It also offered low-interest rates on houses for them. About 9 million veterans got about $4 billion from this bills unemployment compensation program. It is still around today to help veterans -
Period: to
1950's
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Truman Doctrine
This was an American policy established by President Harry S. Truman when Britain informed the US that they could no longer give Greece and Turkey economic and military assistance. Communism was taking over in both places. This came into action with the purpose to stop the spread of communism. The US was committed to give economic and military aid to countries under communistic threat. -
Marshall Plan
This plan was devised by George Marshall with the purpose to help the European economy. This plan restored western European faith in capitalism. America’s role in this plan, made an impact on Europe, spreading American labor, farming, and manufacturing. The spreading of American economic ideas in Western Europe created a more pleasant place for the American investment. The Soviets did not like this plan, they saw it as a way to interfere in the internal affairs of states. -
Fair Deal
Consisted of a set of proposals made by President Harry S. Truman to congress. Adds on to the New Deal. Some of the important proposals included were aid to education, healthcare, public housing, and the repealing of the Taft-Hartley Act. Some of his plans were rejected by the congress. Forced to scale back because if Korea and anti-communist agenda. The Employment Act in 1946 was passed by congress. Truman's success kept most of the New Deal intact. -
Period: to
Civil Rights
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Television
Television was one of the reasons for the Civil Rights because it brought visuals of the violence that was going on. Brought Jim Crow and Southern mistreatment of blacks to rest of the country. Racist violent whites attacking innocent blacks who didn't fight back; bad image portrayed on the South. Changed most of the politics. Commercials and ads were now popular. Many families owned televisions by this time. -
North Korea Invades South Korea
The North was a communist country. In 1949, he persuaded Stalin that he could conquer South Korea. Stalin did not think that America would dare to get involved, so he gave his agreement. Stalin saw a chance to continue the cold war and discomfort America, but at arm's length without directly confronting the Americans. Kim Il Sung also went to see Mao Zedong, to get his agreement. North surprise attacks the south. Truman immediately supports south. -
Ike Turner
Was an American musician, bandleader, and producer. Became popular during the 50's with his rock and roll work while collaborating with his wife "Tina Turner in the Ike and Tine Turner Revenue". -
Bill Haley and the Comets
An American rock and roll band. Consisted of white musicians who brought the genre to the attention of America and the world. Tjey placed many singles in the Top 20 from 1954-1956. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Topeka board of education denied Linda Brown admittance to an all-white school close to her house. Thurgood Marshall argued that a separate but equal violated equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. Warren decided separate educational facilities were inherently unequal. Separate schools, waiting rooms, restrooms now illegal. -
Dr. Jonas Salk
An American researcher who discovered and developed the first polio vaccine. Eradicated polio from the US by 1994. -
Emmett Till Tragedy
Emmett Till traveled to Mississippi from Chicago to visit relatives. He accepted a challenge from his friends to ask a white girl out, Carolyn Bryant. Supposedly he grabbed her by the arm. Four days later her husband and John Milam come to Emmett's relatives house and abduct him. He was shot in the head and the body was found bloated and unrecognizable. He had an open casket funeral so the world could see what the south had done. It outraged African Americans. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
African Americans refusing to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama to protest segregated seating. Rosa Parks refused to give her seat up to a white man. The Women's Political Council issued a calling for a boycott of Montgomery buses. -
Rosa Parks
An activist during the Civil Rights Movement "the first lady of civil rights". In Montgomery, Alabama while seating down on a bus, she refused to give up her seat to a white man who demanded her to get up. Got arrested for civil disobedience of racial segregation laws. Took part of the NAACP. -
Elvis Presley
Makes Rock and Roll a phenomenon. Adopts rhythm and blues from African Americans and melds it with gospel and country. Created his own sexually suggestive dance style "Elvis the Pelvis". Though some of his dance moves offended millions of older Americans. He makes appearances on television. -
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman is an American singer who was an influential figure in music and culture. His music was a foundation for rock and roll. His music also influenced other singers in the rock and roll genre. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Most known for his song "Tutti Frutti". -
Orvaul Faubus
Governor of Arkansas during Little Rock Crisis. Was against the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School. Stopped the segregation because of Eisenhower using federal authority. -
Little Rock 9
A group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School and were rejected from entering this racially segregated school by Orval Faubus who was the governor of Arkansas. Eisenhower intervened and decides to bring in 101st Airborne. Faubus backs down and withdraws the state troopers. The nine students are then admitted and eight of them graduate at the end of the year. -
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Act was in charge of managing US space activity. This was created because of the launching of Sputnik from the Soviet Union, making the US think that the Soviets were going to be capable of sending missiles into America. The US then began a space race against the Soviet Union, it quickly scrambled to develop satellite technology, This also wanted to create a new generation of American scientist and astronauts -
Beat Generation
A movement that consisted of authors, novelists, and poets who were against the American culture and politics in the post-World War ll era. Some of their elements varied from the rejection of American materialism and culture. Rejected homeownership, careers, and marriage. They inspire and lay a foundation for war protests in the later 60's. -
Period: to
1960's
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Sit-Ins
Four African Americans sat a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina and asked for coffee. Service was refused to them and the students sat there quietly and were being threatened and intimidated. This led to the rise of the sit-ins. The purpose of these was to show that violence was part of the white community and people would notice the righteousness of their cause. Restaurants, later on, began to disegregate. -
Chicano Mural Movement
Artists used the walls of buildings, housing projects, school, and churches to show the Mexican American culture. It led to a higher appreciation of Mexican America culture. MEANT TO EDUCATE. -
OPEC
An organization that consisted of countries to agree on a policy for the production and sale of petroleum. They imposed an embargo on the US in 1973 causing gas prices to go high and made the US inflation grow even higher. -
Peace Corps
An organization that trains and sends volunteers to poor nations of the world to be educators, health care workers, agricultural advisers and other jobs. Was sponsored by the US government. -
Bay of Pigs
It was an operation by the CIA to overthrow Fidel Castro by landing 120 Cuban exiled in the Bay of Pigs. Castro had taken control of Cuba through a revolution. It failed because the CIA underestimated the strength of the Cuban armed forces and lacked widespread support from the people of Cuba being. Due to the fail of this operation, Kennedy vows to bring down Castro. -
Albert Sabin
An American medical researcher who developed the oral polio vaccine. This vaccine reduced the number of the polio disease . -
Freedom Rides
Seven blacks and six whites traveled on interstate buses together into deep south. Challenged Southern resistance to SCOTUS cases. African Americans participating in this used whites only restrooms and lunch counters. The group faced violence from whites along the way as well as attention to this cause. Later on the Interstate Commerce Commission prohibited segregation in busses and trains. -
Kennedy's Speech at Rice University
Americans were fearing that the Soviets were beating the nation in the space race. After consulting with NASA, Kennedy stood before congress that “this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out..”. His goal made NASA expand its Space Task Group into Manned Spacecraft Center, which was located in Houston, Tx. Kennedy delivers a speech in Rice football stadium “For space science, like nuclear science and all technology has no conscience of its own." -
Lee Harvey Oswald
This man was part of the US Marines earlier in his life. He assassinated John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas as the president was going down the street. Was also accused of killing a police officer after the death of John F. Kennedy. The Warren Commission came up with the conclusion that Oswald was alone in the assassination of JFK. Later on was shot in Dallas. -
Feminism
Many white women split from the Civil Rights look towards feminism. One of the influences was Betty Friedan who published the book "The Feminine Mystique" which showed that women could do anything that men did. The feminism movement focused on equal treatment, opportunity, and pay. Will introduce new title "Ms" instead of Miss or Mrs. -
Assassination of JFK
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas while he was riding in an open convertible car with his wife and John Connally. As they were passing Texas School Book Depository Building, three shots were fired from the sixth floor by Lee Harvey Oswald. Kennedy later on died at the hospital. -
Warren Commission
Was set up by President Johnson to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy. Kennedy's enemies were on the commission. Came to the conclusion that Oswald acted alone with no one else. Many disbelieve the findings of the commission. People believe it to be a conspiracy from the findings. -
Barry Goldwater
Is a republican Arizona senator who was an opponent to Lyndon B. Johnson in the presidential election of 1964. Attacked the federal income tax, Social Security System, the Tennessee Valley Authority, civil rights legislation, the nuclear test ban treaty, and the Great Society. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
joint resolution in direct response to a minor naval engagement known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. It gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of military force in Southeast Asia. -
Daisy Girl Ad
This was a controversial political advertisement that was on television during the presidential election by the candidate Lyndon B. Johson. The advertisement starts off with a little girl picking the petals of a daisy and counting them. At the number nine, a male voice comes on saying ten at the start of a missile launch countdown. The message of this ad was to say that candidate Barry Goldwater was a threat to the worlds future. -
Jack Ruby
An American who owned a nightclub in Dallas, Texas. He shot Lee Harvey Oswald days after Oswald killed Kennedy. Ruby was charged with murder and got sentenced to death. Later on, his conviction was appealed and was granted a new trial. -
Great Society
Established by democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson with the purpose to get rid of poverty and racial injustices. This reform program passed Medicare, civil rights legislations and federal aid to education -
Ascendancy of Lyndon Johnson
He started off being President John F. Kennedy's vice president. Later on when Kennedy was assassinated he became the 36th President with a vision to build "A Better Great Society". -
Selma March
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference reached Selma, Alabama with the purpose to register black voters in the South. In this march protesters marched from Selma to Montgomery where the country police waited at the end of Edmond Pettus Bridge with clubs and gas. They ordered them to go back, but the protesters just kneeled and prayed. This was streamed on television and whites were cheering as black were beating. Johnson saw this on tv, leading to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. -
Watts Riots
This occurred in Los Angeles, California and was an area with high unemployment, poor schools, and drug use. A black man was arrested for being a suspect of drinking and driving. A crowd of residents were watching the man getting arrested and believed that this arrest was because of race. The Watts community was raged and began riots because of the injustice and for the years of economic and political isolation. A lot of violence was happening like looting stores and beating whites. -
Death of Martin Luther King
Martin Luther King Jr. was in Memphis, Tennessee to give a speech at a local church. King shot talking to someone from the balcony. The man who caused his assassination is James Earl, who shot him from a distance going through his cheek and severed a major artery. He died later on at the hospital. His death caused a lot of anger among the black community. Black protesters rioted throughout the country about 100 cities. -
Silent Majority's Involvement in Politics
Nixon Administration's term to describe generally content, law-abiding middle-class Americans who supported the Vietnam War and America's administration. Also used to make a distinction between believers in traditional values and the minority of civil rights agitators. -
Anti-War Movement
This was a protest that took place in California by students and later spread out in the world. It was made against the war in Vietnam and the presence of the US. They claimed it as violating Vietnam's rights. Led to the increase of activism on campuses. -
Period: to
1970's
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Environmental Protection Agency
Put into effect by Richard Nixon to regulate pollution, emissions, and other bad stuff for the environment. Was a success to the environmentalist movement. -
Equal Rights Amendment
Proposed amendment to the U.S. constitution passed by Congress. Outlawed the discrimination based on gender, was seen as great for womens rights groups. The amendment fell 3 states short of the 38 required for ratification. -
Watergate
A scandal involving an illegal break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices in 1972 by members of President Nixon's reelection campaign staff. Before Congress could vote to impeach Nixon for his participation in covering up the break-in, Nixon resigned from the presidency. -
Heritage Foundation
A research and an educational institute, popularly known as a "think tank," mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional values, and a strong national defense. -
Endangered Species Act
Requires fish and wildlife service to list species of plants and animals that are threatened with extinction. Wildlife was being killed off by industrialization and poison in the enviroment. -
Gerald Ford's Presidency
Was a modest person and distances himself from the elite. Pardon's Nixon for all crimes and adds to distrust people have for Washington DC. Foreign policy includes the forbidding of government employees plotting to assassinate foreign leaders and CIA implicated in 1970's of assassination plots around the world. -
Jimmy Carter's Presidency
Tries to create populist excitement. Pardons 10,000 draft dodgers from the Vietnam Era and allowed them back in. Creates Department of Education bringing American declining schools back. Tries to end recession by increasing government spending and cutting taxes/ Communist Reinvestment required banks to make credit available in poor neihborhoods. -
The Moral Majority
A political group made up of fundamentalist Christians. Although it did not accomplish much, it did show that Americans were starting to worry about the moral fabric of society. -
Period: to
1980's
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Sam Walton's Just In Time Inventory
Found the retail store Walmart and created a chain of stores offering a large variety of products at low prices. Just in time inventory was when products arrive at the precise time in they are needed, computers track inventory, and no needed for large in house stock. -
Election of 1980
This election consisted of Jimmy Carter, democrat and Ronald Reagan, republican. Ronald Reagan defeats Carter in November. -
Reagan Presidency
During his presidency, he came up with the Reaganomics which was made to cut income and corporate taxes to spur the economy and create better jobs; reduction in welfare spending and massively increased defensive spending. Many democrats criticized his ideas. He was also suffered an assassination attack by John Hickley. -
A.I.D.S Crisis
Aids was starting to affect thousands of homosexuals during 1981. Spreads to heterosexual community through blood transfusions -
Sandra Day O'Connor
Was the first female in the Supreme Court Justice. Was nominated by Ronald Reagan. A moderate who sided with the conservative of the court. Sides with liberals and retired in 2006 because of her husbands death. -
Music Television (MTV)
Music television station that became a cultural happening in the 1980s used for music. Became a sensation of the youth growing up watching music videos and also started the careers of some singers. Has been used by political groups to reach the youth vote. -
Strategic Defensive Initiative
Also known as "Star Wars" and was a program under the presidency of Ronald Reagan. The purpose of this was to develop a ballistic missile system to prevent missile attacks from the Soviet Union or other coutries. -
Reagan Doctrine
A policy made by Reagan to support guerilla warfare groups fighting communism, whether or not they had any direct connection to the Soviet Union. -
Iran Contra Affair
Sandinistar, a pro-communist overthrows a pro-American dictator in Nicaragua in 1979. Reagan secretly arms contra and congress finds out. People in Reagans administration continued to illegally support contra. Administration got money by selling weapons to Iran and exchanged for the release of American hostages in Lebanon. -
Challenger Explosion
A space shuttle that exploded because the outer layer broke off, killing 7 astronauts, stalling the NASA program for 2 years. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
During mid-August, the communist government of the German Democratic Republic built a wire and concrete "antifascist" between East and West Berlin with the purpose to -
Period: to
1990's
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World Trade Center Attack
The twin towers were attacked by two jet airliners hijacked by ten terrorists affiliated with al-Qaeda. It also caused the collapse of other structures near by. -
The Internet
The internet served to communicate information. Will start on military bases in the 60's to exchange data. 80's supercomputers allow communication on college campuses. In tens of millions of homes by the late 1990's; America Online. By 1994 there's six million users. -
Lewinsky Affair
Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky had an affair while he was president and she worked in the White House. He denied this under an oath but there was evidence of this affair. He was impeached for perjury and his political battles kept him from being productive. -
Period: to
Contemporary Era
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Election of 2000
This election consisted of Al Gore, a democrat and George W. Bush, a republican Al Gore was Clinton's VP and was an environmentalist and Bush was the governor of Texas and ownership society. This was one of the closest elections in American History. -
Bush v. Gore
This started off in Florida during the presidential election. Gore was to recount due to voting irregularities in three democratic countries. Supreme court halted the decision and Bush ends up winning presidency. -
Patriot Act
This act was passed by President Bush to reinforce neglection of weapons and military equipment in response to the 9/11 attack. It also allowed the FBI to search cell phone data and history for suspected terrorists. -
No Child Left Behind Education Act
This was put into effect by President Bush and was meant to fix the public education system. Linked federal money to state action requiring states to have high standards for all students and evaluation of progress was through standardized testing -
Hurricane Katrina Disaster
A tragic disaster that occurred in New Orleans and was a category 4 hurricane. Left about 1800 deaths and $80 billion worth of property destroyed. Office of Coastal Protection spent $1.5 billion on wetland restoration and $14.3 billion on new defences -
The Great Recession
This was a financial crisis that started in the summer of 2007 and got worse through September 2008. Falling home prices, poor lending habits by banks, risky investments lead to massive foreclosures. The government forced to bail out failing banks, brokerage houses & insurance companies. Bush helps bail out financial institutions with federal money and loans almost $1 trillion to private banks -
Election of 2008
This election consisted of Barack Obama, a democrat and John McCain, a republican. Barack Obama ends up winning the election. What was most significant about this election was that Obama was the first African American to be president. -
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
Was made to create jobs, promote investment, and consumer spending during the recession. No republicans in the House and only three republicans in the Senate voted for this bill. -
Sonia Sotomayor
She was the first Hispanic and third woman justice in the Supreme Court's. Was nominated by the President Barack Obama. -
Affordable Care Act
Obama gets passed reforms for private health insurance and everyone must have insurance otherwise they will be fined. Many liberals are upset it's not a single-payer system like in Europe.
