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Selective Service Act passed
This act was passed on May 18, 1917 and gave the U.S. president the right to draft soldiers. They had to be a male U.S. citizen between the ages of 21 and 30. This act was passed due to the exhaustion expressed by the Allies’ soldiers during WWI. The effect of this gesture allowed the Allies to win the war defeating Germany. It also led to about 24 million men registering for the Army under this act. -
18th Amendment (Ratification Date)
The 18th Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919 prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol. It was ratified due to the increasing thought that alcohol (being drunk) was a threat to the people and nation. Not many people agreed with Prohibition, which led to the rise in bootleggers and speakeasies. This Amendment was eventually repealed by the 21st Amendment. -
Harlem Renaissance
As African Americans moved to northern cities during the Great Migration, new cultural changes were being made. From this movement many great artists, musicians, authors, etc became popular such as Langston Hughes , Louis Armstrong, and Aaron Douglas. The Harlem Renaissance was a big cultural shift for the United States and many changes were made that shaped the nation to be what it is today, while recognizing diversity. The Harlem Renaissance ended around 1935. -
19th Amendment (Ratification Date)
The 19th Amendment was ratified on August 19, 1920 granting women’s suffrage. Many protest led to this moment in history, such as the Seneca Falls Convention. From that day forward, women have been able to vote, run for office, and most importantly gain full, equal civil rights. -
Emergency Quota Act
The Emergency Quota Act was an Act signed into law by President Warren Harding on May 9th, 1921. This Act restricted the number of immigrants to 357,00 per year and set down an immigration quota by 3 percent of the total population of the ethnic group already in the United States. This act was intended to be a temporary measure. -
Sacco and Vanzetti Trial
Sacco and Vanzetti were convicted and sentenced to die due to the murder of a paymaster of a shoe company who was shot and killed. The murders of this crime were said to be two Italian men who escaped with more than $15,000. They carried out their sentence on July 14, 1921. -
Publication of The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald was published on April 10, 1925. This novel represents what the roaring twenties was like in the big city of New York (Long Island). F. Scott Fitzgerald showed the effects of Prohibition, introducing flappers, and the new advanced technologies of the 1920s throughout his novel. Students in high school are still required to read The Great Gatsby. -
John Scopes Trial
A high school science teacher, John Scopes, was arrested for teaching evolution to his students. At the time, this went against the Butler Act which outlaws teaching evolution because it goes against the Bible. On July 10th, 1925 the trial was underway. During this trial, Darrow called Bryan to the stand and was able to discredit his literal interpretation of the Bible. Scopes was found guilty and was fined $100. -
The Jazz Singer
The Jazz Singer was the first American musical film that had synchronized dialogue, released in 1927. It was also the first film with a full soundtrack that includes dialogue. This led to movies/musicals progressing into the way they are today. -
Flight of Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh was the first person to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris in 1927. He took off in The Spirit of St. Louis on May 20, 1927 and arrived in Paris 55 hours later. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Lindbergh continued to fight for his country, as he entered WWII flying on several missions. -
Herbert Hoover elected President
Herbert Hoover became the nation’s 31st president in 1929, the start of the Great Depression. Hoover is faced with a lot of the blame for the economic depression during the 1930s. He believed that if you left the economy alone, then it would bounce back by itself, but that didn’t work and Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932. -
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
On February 14th, 1929, in Chicago, sven members of George “Bugs” Moran’s operation were killed while standing lined up facing a wall of a garage. Around 70 rounds of ammunition was fired and when the police arrived, gang member, Frank Gusenberg, was still alive but the police could not get hmi to tell what had happened. Bugs Moran blamed the killings on Al Capone, but it was never fully connected to Capone. -
Black Tuesday
On October 29, 1929 the stock market crashed completely. This day is known as Black Tuesday. In the previous week, stock prices declined which caused a panic to set in causing a record on 12,894,650 shares to be traded, but the stock market still fell. -
1st election of FDR
Franklin D. Roosevelt was first elected president in 1932. Within his first 100 days, he called for a “New Deal” which consisted of economic reforms to aid people during the Great Depression. He called for all banks to temporarily close in order to inspect them and reopen the ones that met their guidelines. By the end of his first term, the economy improved tremendously. -
Bonus Army
In 1932, thousands of World War I veterans gathered on Washington, D.C. and demanded bonus payment for wartime services to help with the Great Depression. The benefits were voted on by Congress but were not able to be paid until 1945. These veterans set up camps at the Capitol and stayed for weeks participating in protests and riots. A second army returned in May of 1933, but no bonus legislation was passed. -
Hitler Eledted Chancellor of Germany
On January 30th, 1933, Adolf Hitler was named as the chancellor of Germany. Hitler channeled popular discontent with the Weimar government after the war and began to get many supporters to follow his Nazi party. Hitler emerging as chancellor marked a turning point i Germany and his plan was to do away with politics and make Germany a one-party state. Once Hitler gained control, there was little anyone could do to stop him and the second world war was soon approaching. -
FDIC passed
The FDIC was created during the Great Depression by Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was created to help protect banks and help reassure trust in the American banking system. This was established to help Americans with trust issues after the stock market crash of 1929. The FDIC is still in use today including new responsibilities. -
21st Amendment (Ratification Date)
The 21st was ratified on December 5, 1933 repealing the 18th amendment. This ended the prohibition of alcohol. Some states continued the temperance movement, but in 1966 prohibition came to an end. -
Neutrality Act
The Neutrality Act was several laws passed in 1934, 1936, 1937, and 1939 in order to prevent the U.S. being involved in future wars. These laws were created with the effects of WWI on mind. This Act wasn’t very effective due to the U.S. entering WWII and the Vietnam War. -
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
The Securities and Exchange Commission was established in 1934 to regulate the commerce in stocks, bonds, and other securities. Congress passed three major acts creating the commission. The Securities Act required public corporations to register stock sales and make regular financial disclosures while the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 created the commision to regulate exchanges, brokers, and over-the-counter markets. -
National Labor Relations Act
The National Labor Relations Act was enacted in 1935 by Congress to protect the rights of employees and employers. It encouraged collective bargaining, and cut down on certain private sector labor and management practices that harmed the welfare of workers, business, and the United States Economy. -
Social Security Act passed
The Social Security Act was signed into law on August 15, 1935. This act solved the solution to the problems of old-age. It also provided aid to children and citizens with disabilities. This act dissolved the fear of going into poverty upon retirement. -
Hoover Dam Construction
In the early 20th century, the plans for a massive dam on the Arizona- Nevada border was created to tame the Colorado River and to provide hydroelectric power for the southwest. As the dam rose the smooth curved surface was kept free of adornment and the power plant was given a futuristic touch. On September 30th, 1935 Roosevelt commemorated the structure’s completion. -
Hindenburg Disaster
The Hindenburg was the largest dirigible ever built. In the 1930s, the Graf Zeppelin pioneered the first transatlantic air service, and this led to the creation of the Hindenburg, which was larger and carried passengers. On May 3rd, 1937, the Hindenburg left Frankfurt, Germany while carrying 36 passengers and a crew of 61 people. While at Lakehurst, the airship burst into flames and rapidly fell 200 feet down. 35 people lost their lives in the crash and the rest obtain terrible injuries. -
Golden Gate Bridge Completion
After the Gold Rush in 1849, many realized that the land north of San Francisco Bay would increase in value and a plan was needed to create a bridge to get to that land. The Golden Gate is a narrow, 400-foot deep strait that is the mouth of the bay. Engineer Joseph Strauss took on the challenges and a suspension bridge was planned and constructed. The bridge opened on May 27th, 1937 and was the longest bridge in the world at the time. -
Nazi Germany Invades Poland
Adolf Hitler’s first foreign policy was signing a nonaggression pact with Poland in 1934. Following this act, France and Britain followed a foreign policy of appeasement to limit concessions to German demands.. Tensions between Germany and France and Britain lead to Germany invading Poland on September 1st, 1939 in order to gain territory that was taken after World War I. -
Lend-Lease Act signed by FDR
This act was passed in March 1941 allowing the U.S. military to supply other countries arms or other needed defense materials during WWII. This allowed the U.S. to not physically fight in the war, yet help support countries in aid. This helped the Allied powers to hold off the Axis powers for a little longer. -
Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, Japan sent secret fighter planes to surprise attack the military base, Pearl Harbor, killing over 2,400 Americans. Japan attacked the U.S. due to months of negotiating between Washington D.C. and Tokyo about the problems concerning the Japanese invasion in China. Japan had managed to destroy most of Pearl Harbor’s ships and airplanes, but they failed to destroy the onshore facilities. This cause the Navy to quickly make a come back and go to war with Japan. -
FDR's First 100 Days
In an incredibly short amount of time, Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to initiate a series of major actions and reforms that helped relieve the stress of the Great Depression. These actions would later be called the New Deal. During FDR’s first 100 days, mill bills were passed and new relief programs were enabled to help struggling Americans and numerous agencies were created to help as well. -
D-Day
After the German conquest of France in 1940, the Allied Powers saw the opening of a second front in western Europe, and used Operation “Overlord” to take down Nazi Germany. Troops from the Allied Powes landed on the beaches of Normandy, France on June 6th, 1944. D-Day included more that 130,000 allied troops on five beaches. After almost two months of fighting, the Allied troops had poured into northern France and encircled and destroyed much of the German Army. -
Concentration Camps Liberated
After the Allies defeated Germany with the D-Day invasion in France, the troops continued to move across Europe in order to take back more land from Germany. While doing this, these troops came across many concentration camps. These camps were created to imprison many minorities, mainly Jewish, and use them as a workforce to help the war effort. The largest camp, Auschwitz, was liberated in January 1945, the Nazis had forced the prisoners to march westward in death marches. -
Yalta Conference
In February of 1945, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Franklin D. Roosevelt, known as the Big Three, met for the second time during World War II to discuss Germany’s unconditional surrender. During this conference, the leaders decided to divide Germany into four zones of occupation that were run by Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, and France. -
Battle of Iwo Jima
The Battle of Iwo Jima lasted a month when three U.S. marine divisions landed on the island of Iwo Jima and wiped out roughly 23,000 Japanese army and navy troops in February 1945. This battle was caused by the need for the B-29 bombers to find a place to land without returning all the way to the Marianas, and for a escorting base to assist the bombing campaign. It had a long term effect of providing hope/patriotism due to the famous photograph of American soldiers holding up the American Flag. -
FDR's Death
On April 12th, 1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed away. While sitting in the living room with Lucy Mercer and two cousins, Roosevelt suffered from a massive cerebral hemorrhage. Thousands of Americans lined the tracks to bid farewell to Roosevelt while a train carried his coffin to Washington, D.C. from Warm Springs, Georgia. Roosevelt was buried at his family’s home in Hyde Park, New York. -
VE Day
On May 8, 1945, all German troops surrendered to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had invaded German in several cities, weakening their military. This ended the war in Europe. this effect has cause the world to prolong another world war for as long as they can. -
Empire State Building Built
On January 22nd, 1930 excavatio for the Empire State Building began. On March 17th, 1930, with more than 3,000 workers , construction began. Construction of the Empire State Building continued until April 1931, and it became the tallest building in the world. Herbert Hoover officially opened the building on May 1st, 1931. However, on July 28th, 1945 at the end of World War II, an army bomber plane crashed into the 79th floor of the building. -
Hiroshima Atomic Bomb
On August 6, 1945, an American bomber deployed the world’s first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, Japan. 90% of the city was wiped out, including the 80,000 people who were immediately killed. The Manhattan Project brought forth the idea of building and deploying an atomic bomb in Japan. The president agreed to this idea in order to save U.S. soldiers lives. After this attack, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtSt5XZ7fq4 -
Nagasaki Atomic Bomb
August 9th, 1945, am atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan by the United States, resulting in Japan’s surrender. The explosion was devastating and resulted in anywhere from 60,000 to 80,000 deaths. The atomic bomb was a result of the Manhattan Project which was the creation of the bombs by many scientists in stations all over the country. After the bombing of Nagasaki, the emperor of Japan gave his unconditional surrender. -
VJ Day
VJ Day is August 14, 1945. On this day, Japan surrendered to the Allies. The Allies began to drop bombs, including nuclear bombs, on cities in Japan. This led to their surrender. No country has used a nuclear bomb against another country in war ever since World War II. -
United Nationas Established
On October 24th, 1945, the United Nations Charter was ready to be enforced. The United Nations was created to control international conflict and to negotiate peace. The principles of the United Nations was first formulated at the San Francisco Conference which was presided over by FDR, Churchill, and Stalin. A main point in the United Nations was focusing on solving economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems around the world.
