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Note:
Any events with their year of occurrence included in the title did not actually occur on the exact month/day of which they are listed under. -
1915: Rebirth of Ku Klux Klan
Most popular in the Midwest and South, the Klan was xenophobic and anti-foreign, anti-Catholic, anti-black, anti-Jewish, anti-Communist, etc. It opposed prostitution, adultery, gambling, and alcohol and comprised of Protestant Anglo-Saxons. "The sacredness of our Sabbath, of our homes, of chastity, and finally even of our right to teach our own children in our own schools fundamental facts and truths..." - Hiram Wesley Evans, imperial wizard of KKK -
Period: to
(1917-1920) First Red Scare
A period of fear of socialism and political radicalism in which Americans expressed anti-foreign and anti-union sentiment. "I believe we should place [the reds] all on a ship of stone, with sails of lead, and that their first stopping place should be hell." - Arthur Guy Empey, author-soldier -
WWI Ends
Germany surrenders -
Treaty of Versailles
Ended the state of war between Germany and Allies and forced Germany to disarm, make significant territorial concessions, and pay reparations to the Allies. Included the Covenant for the League of Nations. Never ratified by United States -
League of Nations
An international organization which Woodrow Wilson believed would promote peace and cooperation between nations. Never joined by the United States. -
Presidential Election of 1920
Warren G. Harding's election defeated the Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations and resulted in "a return to normalcy". -
Emergency Quota Act
restricted the number of immigrants admitted from any country annually to 3% of the number of residents from that same country living in the United States as of the U.S. Census of 1910 -
Knox-Porter Resolution
officially ended United States involvement in WWI -
Five Power Treaty
Disarmament: Limited battleship tonnage to 5:5:3 for the US, Britain, and Japan, respectively. Restricted aircraft carriers. US and Britian must also refrain from fortifying their Far East possessions. -
Fordney–McCumber Tariff
raised tariffs on dutiable imported goods to about 38.5% -
Immigration Act
limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States as of the 1890 census. Aimed at southern and eastern Europeans and banned Asians, such as the Japanese -
Dawes Plan
proposed by the Dawes Committee, chaired by Charles G. Dawes
attempted to address WWI debt repayment by rescheduling German debt payments and allowed Americans to make private loans to Germany, which would then be paid to the Allies, which would then be paid to the Americans. -
1928: Kellogg-Briand Pact
a.k.a Pact of Paris, by secretary of state Frank B. Kellogg
tried to outlaw war, but had an exception: "defensive" wars were permitted. -
Period: to
Great Depression
The deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the Western industrialized world: consumer spending and investment dropped, there were steep declines in industrial output and unemployment when companies failed.
"For the last eight years I was employed as a Pullman conductor. Since September, 1930, they have given me seven months part-time work. Today I am an object of charity... My small, weak, and frail wife and two children are suffering." - man wrote to a newspaper -
Hawley-Smoot Traiff
bill that raised the average duty of international goods to about 60%, highest peacetime protective tariff -
Japan invades Manchuria (Chinese province)
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Stimson Doctrine
to China and Japan: declared that the United States would not recognize any territory acquired by force -
Period: to
New Deal:Hundred Days Congress
In the first 100 days of Franklin Roosevelt's administration, Congress passed every request Roosevelt asked, and passed a few programs (such as the FDIC to insure bank accounts) that he opposed. -
Hitler becomes dictator of Germany
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London Economic Conference
meeting of representatives from 66 nations. Its purpose was to win agreement on measures to fight global depression, revive international trade, and stabilize currency exchange rates.
Fell apart when Roosevelt denounced currency stabilization. -
Recognition of Soviet Union
Franklin Roosevelt and Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Maxim Litvinov's negotiations at Washington D.C. -
Tydings-McDuffie Act or Philippine Independence Act
established process for the Philippine colony to become independent in 1946 (12 year transition period).
The US gave up their army bases in the Philippines. -
Johnson Debt Default Act
prohibited foreign nations in default from borrowing futher from the United States -
Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
authorized President to negotiate tariff reductions between the United States and separate nations (especially Latin American countries) -
Marines leave Haiti
President Franklin D. Roosevelt reaffirmed an August 1933 disengagement agreement. The last contingent of US Marines departed on August 15, 1934. -
Japan terminates Washington Naval Treaty
Japanese government gave formal notice that it intended to terminate the treaty
accelerates construction of battleships, aircraft carriers, and other arms -
Period: to
Second New Deal
second stage of FDR's New Deal legislation, sought to redistribute wealth, income and power in favor of the poor, the old, farmers and labor unions -
First Neutrality Act
imposed an embargo on trading arms/war materials with parties in a war
American could not legally travel on bellligerent ships -
Neutrality Act of 1936
renewed the 1935 Neutrality Act
forbade all loans or credits to warring nations -
Hitler occupies the Rhineland
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Period: to
Spanish Civil War
rebels led by fascist Francisco Franco with aid of Mussolini and Hitler
American "Abraham Lincoln Brigade" fought for the Republican/Loyalist side, backed by the Soviet Union "If we crush Fascism here we'll save our people in America, and in other parts of the world from the vicious persecution, wholesale imprisonment, and slaughter which the Jewish people...are suffering under Hitler's Fascist heels." - Canute Frankson, African American member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade -
Neutrality Act of 1937
included the provisions of the earlier acts without expiration date
included Civil Wars
U.S. ships prohibited from transporting passengers or articles to belligerents and U.S. citizens were forbidden from traveling on ships of belligerent nations "cash-and-carry" provision: permit the sale of materials and supplies to belligerents in Europe as long as they paid immediately with cash and carried them on non-American ships -
USS Panay incident
Japan attacks and sinks the USS Panay while it was anchored in the Yangtze River outside Nanking -
Hitler annexes Austria
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Munich Agreement
settlement permitting Nazi Germany's annexation of portions of Czechoslovakia along the country's borders mainly inhabited by German speakers ("Sudetenland")
failed to halt Hitler's expansion.
'My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts." Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister -
Hitler occupies Czechoslovakia
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Rome-Berlin Axis
Pact of Steel: established political/military alliance between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany -
German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact.
Germany and Soviet Union agree to take no military action against each other for the next 10 years -
Neutrality Act of 1939
Extended the 1937 Neutrality Act to include arms and war materials -
France surrenders to Nazi Germany
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Havana Conference
in which the United States agreed to share with its neighbors the responsibility of protecting the Monroe Doctrine -- protect Latin American countries from German aggression -
Japanese Embargo
banned trade of steel, scrap, oil, gasoline to Japan -
Selective Training and Service Act
US first peacetime conscription act
men 21 and under 36 register for draft -
Presidentail Election of 1940
Franklin D. Roosevelt re-elected for his 3rd term -
Lend-Lease Bill
the United States supplied France, the UK, China, and later the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, and military equipment
arms would be returned to the US when the war was ended -
Hitler invades Soviet Union
FDR sent military supplies and billions of dollars to aid the USSR -
Atlantic Conference
FDR and Churchill discuss their respective war aims for the Second World War and to outline a postwar international system -
Atlantic Charter
joint declaration released by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
eight “common principles”
not to seek territorial expansion;
to seek the liberalization of international trade;
to establish freedom of the seas, and international labor, economic, and welfare standards.
to support the restoration of self-governments for all countries that had been occupied during the war and allow all peoples to choose their own form of government -
Repeal of 1939 Neutrality Act
merchant vessels were allowed to be armed and to carry cargoes to belligerent nations, esp. Britain -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japanese bombs Pearl harbor, damaging most battleships
killed thousands of people -
Congress Declares War on Japan
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Germany and Italy declare war on US
