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Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer, musician, and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". To form this musical style, he fused the country-western music of the South with the rhythm and blues of African Americans and the pop music that dominated the radio and recording industries. -
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Civil Rights
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The G.I. Bill
Servicemen's Readjustment Act (1944) and was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22, 1944, this act, also known as the GI Bill, provided veterans of the Second World War funds for college education, unemployment insurance, and housing. It established hospitals, made low-interest mortgages available and granted stipends covering tuition and expenses for veterans attending college or trade schools. -
The Beat Generation
The term beat generation was coined by Jack Kerouac in a conversation with writer John Clellon Holmes in 1948. Holmes wrote in his journal on December 10, 1948, that says the 'generation of furtive.'' Beat poetry evolved during the 1940s in both New York City and on the west coast, although San Francisco became the heart of the movement in the early 1950s. The end of World War II left poets like Allen Ginsberg and Gregory Corso questioning mainstream politics and culture. -
The 2nd Red Scare
As the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States intensified in the late 1940s and early 1950s, hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. became known as the Red Scare. The climate of fear and repression linked to the Red Scare finally began to ease by the late 1950s. This led to a national witch hunt for suspected communist supporters, which was known as McCarthyism. -
Hiroshima
President Harry S. Truman, warned by some of his advisers that any attempt to invade Japan would result in horrific American casualties, ordered that the new weapon be used to bring the war to a speedy end. On August 6, 1945, the American bomber Enola Gay dropped a five-ton bomb over the Japanese city of Hiroshima. The devastation led to Japan's unconditional surrender and brought an end to World War II. -
The Fair Deal
Put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in his January 1949 State of the Union address. More generally the term characterizes the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administration, from 1945 to 1953. The Fair Deal recommended that all Americans have health insurance, that the minimum wage (the lowest amount of money per hour that someone can be paid) be increased, and that, by law, all Americans be guaranteed equal rights. -
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Contemporary
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Cold War
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The Iron Curtain
In 1946, Winston Churchill gave a speech in which he declared that Russia had built an "Iron Curtain" separating eastern Europe from western Europe. Churchill meant that the Soviet Union had separated the eastern European countries from the west so that no one knew what was going on behind the “curtain.” This symbolized the ideological conflict and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold war in 1991. -
The Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine, 1947. With the Truman Doctrine, President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. President Harry S. Truman asks for U.S. assistance for Greece and Turkey to forestall communist domination of the two nations. as the official declaration of the Cold War. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan had two interrelated goals. The Plan was intended to improve the economic situations of the countries of Western Europe, rebuilding the allied countries of Europe after World War II and, at the same time, to discourage them from embracing communism. Participating countries included Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey. -
The Berlin Airlift
As a result of the Soviet blockade, the people of West Berlin were left without food, clothing, or medical supplies. Some U.S. officials pushed for an aggressive response to the Soviet efforts, and a plan to airlift supplies to West Berlin was made. By spring 1949, it was clear that the Soviet blockade of West Berlin had failed. It had not persuaded West Berliners to reject their allies in the West, nor had it prevented the creation of a unified West German state. -
Korean War (The Forgotten War)
North Korea, that area of the Korean peninsula north of the 38th parallel became Communist, while South Korea was the province of a nationalist, anti-communist government. The North supported by the Soviet Union and China, invaded South Korea, which was supported by the United States. Korea has been called a “forgotten war” since at least October 1951 when U.S. News & World Report gave it that moniker. In reality, though, Americans never think about it at all. -
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The 1950s
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The Bill Haley and the Comets
Haley was credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets having had a million-selling hits such as "Rock Around the Clock", "See You Later, Alligator", "Shake, Rattle and Roll", "Rocket 88", "Skinny Minnie", and "Razzle Dazzle". They would become popular and very well known for their success in the most entertaining music style of the time "Rock and Roll". -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v Board was an important United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously (9–0) that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which prohibits the states from denying equal protection of the laws to any person within their jurisdictions. -
Earl Warren Supreme Court
He was an American jurist and politician who served as the 30th Governor of California (1943–1953) and later the 14th Chief Justice of the United States (1953–1969). In his time as Chief Justice he made decisions during the years like holding segregation policies in public schools (Brown v. Board of Education). The decisions he made furthering racial equality and were the catalyst for the civil rights protests of the 1950s and 1960s. -
The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. President Dwight D. Eisenhower promised American support to his government to ensure a non-communist Vietnam. Following through on that commitment, American aid to South Vietnam began as early as in January, 1955. -
Dr. Jonas Salk
Salk was an American medical researcher and virologist. He discovered and developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. In 1947, Salk took a position at University of Pittsburgh, where he began conducting research on polio, also known as infantile paralysis. By 1951, Salk had determined that there were three distinct types of polio viruses and was able to develop a "killed virus" vaccine for the disease. -
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. In 1955 Richard hooked up with Specialty Records producer Art Rupe, who’d been hunting for a piano-pounding front-man to lead a group of musicians in New Orleans. 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. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
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 was a year long mass protest from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, and is regarded as the first large-scale U.S. demonstration against segregation. Which ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional. -
The Space Race
President John F. Kennedy began a dramatic expansion of the U.S. space program and committed the nation to the ambitious goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik, and the space race was on. Fearful of Soviet military control of space, the Americans quickly ready a rocket. The success of Sputnik had a major impact on the Cold War and the United States. -
Little Rock 9
Little Rock 9 was a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Governor Orval Faubus, who ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling at Central High School. Central High was an all white school. -
The New Frontier
The term New Frontier was used by liberal Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election. It was also a slogan that described his goals and policies. Kennedy maintained that, like the Americans of the frontier in the nineteenth century, Americans of the twentieth century had to rise to new challenges, like landing the first man on the moon. -
OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)
an intergovernmental organization of 14 nations as of May 2017, founded in 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela), and headquartered since 1965 in Vienna. OPEC is a group consisting of 12 of the world's major oil-exporting nations. OPEC was founded in 1960 to coordinate the petroleum policies of its members, and to provide member states with technical and economic aid. -
Politics (Nixon, Kennedy)
Whether or not the debates cost Nixon the presidency, they were a major turning point in the 1960 race, and in the history of television. Televised debates have become a permanent feature of the American political landscape, helping to shape the outcomes of both primary and general elections. During the presidential debates, on the radio, most thought that it was Nixon that won, but on television people say Kennedy won. -
Counter Culture
Counter Culture was a period when long‐held values and norms of behavior seemed to break down, particularly among the young. Many college‐age men and women became political activists and were the driving force behind the civil rights and antiwar movements. During the 1960s and 1970s, Hippies were part of a countercultural movement that rejected the mores of mainstream American life. and the movement originated on college campuses in the United States. -
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. LSD continued until the United States officially banned the drug in 1967. -
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The 1960s
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Albert Sabin
was a Polish American medical researcher, best known for developing the oral polio vaccine which has played a key role in nearly eradicating the disease. polio vaccine that is taken by mouth and contains the three serotypes of poliovirus in a weakened, live state — called also Sabin oral vaccine; compare Salk vaccine. This would later replace the first polio vaccine made by Salk, and came into commercial use in 1961. -
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. They had three goals: (1) to help the train men and women; (2) to help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served; and (3) to help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
In October 1962 President John F. Kennedy was informed of a U-2 spy-plane's discovery of Soviet nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba. It happened when the Soviet Union (USSR) began building missile sites in Cuba in 1962. Together with the earlier Berlin Blockade, this crisis is seen as one of the most important confrontations of the Cold War. It may have been the moment when the Cold War came closest to a nuclear war. -
Cesar Chavez
Cesar Chavez is best known for his efforts to gain better working conditions for the thousands of workers who labored on farms for low wages and under severe conditions. Chavez and his United Farm Workers union battled California grape growers by holding nonviolent protests. Chavez made people aware of the struggles of farm workers for better pay and safer working conditions. He succeeded through nonviolent tactics (boycotts, pickets, and strikes). -
Dolores Huerta
She was an American labor leader and civil rights activist who along with Cesar Chavez, founded the first successful farm workers union in the country the National Farm workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers. She also worked to improve social and economic conditions for farm workers and to fight discrimination. To further her cause, she created the Agricultural Workers Association. -
The Birmingham Bombing
September 15, 1963 - A bomb blast at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, kills four African-American girls during church services. Injuring at least 14 other people in the explosion, including Sarah Collins, the 12-year-old sister of Addie Mae Collins, who lost an eye. Former Ku Klux Klansman Thomas Blanton, was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder for the bombing of an Alabama church killing four black girls. -
Assassination of JFK
By the fall of 1963, President John F. Kennedy and his political advisers were preparing for the next presidential campaign. On November 22, President Kennedy was fatally shot while riding in an open-car motorcade through the streets of downtown Dallas, by Lee Harvey Oswald. He would later be chased by officers through a movie theater where he was caught and arrested. Harvey would later be killed by Jack Ruby. -
The Warren Commission
Johnson established the President’s Commission, and they would be responsible for the investigation of the Assassination of President Kennedy. The commission was led by Chief Justice Warren, a former governor of California who was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1953. The commission also included two U.S. senators, two U.S. representatives, a former CIA director and a former World Bank president. -
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was an American politician, businessman, and author who was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona, and the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States in 1964, challenge incumbent Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson. After losing the election, Goldwater ran for the senate again and won, serving from 1969 until his retirement in 1987. Barry Goldwater died at his home in Paradise Valley, Arizona, on May 19, 1998. -
The Anti-War Movement
Protests against the Vietnam War took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The protests were part of a movement in opposition to the Vietnam War and took place mainly in the United States. Anti-war activists work through protest means to attempt to pressure a government to put an end to a particular war or conflict. Students organized by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), attracted a widening base of support over the next three years. -
The Great Society
President Lydon B. Johnson proposed an expansion in the federal government's role in domestic policy.a prosperous nation that had overcome racial divisions. First announced this program during his State of the Union address in 1964. He outlined a series of domestic programs that he promised would eliminate poverty and inequality in the United States. As a result the portion of Americans living below the poverty line dropped from 22.2 percent to 12.6 percent. -
Lester Maddox
A populist Democrat, Maddox came to prominence as a staunch segregationist when he refused to serve black customers in his Atlanta restaurant, in defiance of the Civil Rights Act. He later served as Lieutenant Governor during the time that Jimmy Carter was Governor. Maddox was completely against integration, that he would go to the lengths of closing down his restaurant, just so that he could avoid the problem altogether -
Watts Riots
The riot took place in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles from August 11 to 16, 1965, and was started when an African-American motorist was pulled over on suspicion of reckless driving, most saw as racism and this upset many. Martin Luther King Jr. and President Johnson discuss the implications of the recent Watts Riots. The intensity and violence of Watts had been a shock to much of the nation and to LBJ in particular. -
The Selma March
Martin Luther King led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators to the steps of the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, after a 5-day, 54-mile march from Selma, Alabama, When state troopers met the demonstrators at the edge of the city by the Edmund Pettus Bridge, that day became known as "Bloody Sunday" and it's called this because local lawmen attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas and drove them back into Selma. -
The Black Panther Party
African American revolutionary party, founded in 1966 in Oakland, California, by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. The party's original purpose was to patrol African American neighborhoods to protect residents from acts of police brutality. The Panthers practiced militant self-defense of minority communities against the U.S. government, and fought to establish revolutionary socialism through mass organizing and community based programs. -
Nixon’s Presidency
Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974, when he became the only president to resign. because of the Watergate scandal. Nixon's also had pronouncements that the war was ending proved premature. In April 1970, he expanded the war by ordering U.S. and South Vietnamese troops to attack communist sanctuaries in Cambodia. ... Although Nixon did continue to decrease American troop strength in South Vietnam, the fighting continued. -
Stagflation
Stagflation is an economic cycle in which there is a high rate of both inflation and stagnation. Inflation occurs when the general level of prices in an economy increases. Stagnation occurs when the production of goods and services in an economy slows down or even starts to decline. Economic growth is weak, which results in rising unemployment that eventually reaches double-digits. The easy-money policies of the American central bank, which were designed to generate full employment. -
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The 1970s
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Ike Turner
Born on November 5, 1931, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and grew up playing the blues. 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." Turner died of a cocaine overdose on December 12, 2007, in San Marcos, California. -
Watergate
The Watergate scandal happened when United States President Richard Nixon, a Republican, was tied to a crime in which former FBI and CIA agents broke into the offices of the Democratic Party and George McGovern (the Presidential candidate). Nixon's helpers listened to phone lines and secret papers were stolen. President Gerald Ford granted his predecessor Richard Nixon a full and unconditional pardon for any crimes he might have committed against the United States while president. -
Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis Schlafly was an American writer and political activist who was best known for her opposition to the women's movement and especially the Equal Rights Amendment. Schlafly became an outspoken opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) during the 1970s as the organizer of the "STOP ERA" campaign. In 1972, when Schlafly began her campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment, it had already been ratified by 28 of the required 38 states. -
The Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress on March 22, 1972 and sent to the states for ratification. In order to be added to the Constitution, it needed approval by legislatures in three-fourths (38) of the 50 states. ERA stated in the United States Constitution a guarantee of equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex; it seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment, and other matters. -
Roe v. Wade
In the Roe v Wade case, the court recognized for the first time that the constitutional right to privacy “is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy” . Roe has come to be known as the case that legalized abortion nationwide. This case would reach the Supreme Court after "Jane Roe" as she referred to herself had already conceived the child, and thus she would give it up for adoption. -
The Camp David Accords
On September 17, 1978, The Camp David Accord were signed by President Jimmy Carter, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, established a framework for a historic peace treaty concluded between Israel and Egypt in March 1979. This would one of President Carter's attempts to improve foreign relation, and better the tensions between these bickering countries and nations. -
The Three-Mile Island
In 1979 at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in USA a cooling malfunction caused part of the core to melt in the #2 reactor. The TMI-2 reactor was destroyed. Some radioactive gas was released a couple of days after the accident, but not enough to cause any dose above background levels to local residents. This was the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history. -
Robert Johnson
That boy-child was Robert Johnson, an itinerant blues singer and guitarist who lived from 1911 to 1938. He recorded 29 songs between 1936 and '37 for the American Record Corporation, which released eleven 78rpm records on their Vocalion label during Johnson¹s lifetime, and one after his death. Johnson founded Black Entertainment Television (BET) in 1979 with his wife, Sheila. He became the first African-American billionaire -
The Election of 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. Ronald Reagan won the election by a huge landslide (winning 49 out of 50 states). This election received the highest electoral votes towards any presidential nominee in American history. -
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The 1980s
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Reagonomics
Reaganomics is a popular term used to refer to the economic policies of Ronald Reagan, which called for widespread tax cuts, decreased social spending, increased military spending and the deregulation of domestic markets. The four pillars of Reagan's economic policy were to reduce the growth of government spending, reduce the federal income tax and capital gains tax, reduce government regulation, and tighten the money supply in order to reduce inflation. -
Satellite Entertainment
The astronauts' deaths were due to the loss of Challenger, which was caused by an external tank explosion: the space shuttle broke apart because gasses in the external fuel tank mixed, exploded, and tore the space shuttle apart. The external fuel tank exploded after a rocket booster came loose and ruptured the tank. Francis R. Scobee,Michael J. Smith, Ronald McNair, Mission, Ellison Onizuka,Judith Resnik, Gregory Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe all died in the accident. -
The Iran Hostage Crisis
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. minutes after the presidency had passed from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan. The hostages were placed on a plane in Tehran as Reagan delivered his inaugural address. -
Sandra Day O’Connor
Born in El Paso, Texas, on March 26, 1930, Sandra Day O'Connor was elected to two terms in the Arizona state senate. In 1981 Ronald Reagan nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court. She received unanimous Senate approval, and made history as the first woman justice to serve on the nation's highest court. O'Connor in her many accomplishments would receive the presidential medal of freedom, and still alive today. -
The Space Shuttle Program
It launched satellites and served as an orbiting science laboratory. Its crews repaired and improved other spacecraft, such as the Hubble Space Telescope. The shuttle also flew missions for the military. On its later missions, the space shuttle was mostly used to work on the International Space Station. The total cost of the actual 30-year service life of the shuttle program through 2011, adjusted for inflation, was $196 billion. -
The A.I.D.S. Crisis
The first cases of what would later become known as AIDS were reported in the United States in June of 1981. Today, there are more than 1.1 million people living with HIV and more than 700,000 people with AIDS have died since the beginning of the epidemic. but was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters in young gay men in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco in 1981. Treatment of HIV/AIDS is primarily via education programs to help people avoid infection. -
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) “Star Wars”
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. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons -
The Reagan Doctrine
The Reagan Doctrine was implemented by the United States under the Reagan Administration to overwhelm the global influence of the Soviet Union in an attempt to end the Cold War. In his 1985 state of the union address, President Reagan pledged his support for anti-Communist revolutions in what would become known as the "Reagan Doctrine." In Afghanistan, the United States was already providing aid to anti-Soviet freedom fighters, ultimately, helping to force Soviet troops to withdraw. -
The Iran Contra Affair
The Iran–Contra affair, also referred to as Irangate, Contragate or the Iran–Contra scandal, was a political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administration. On this day in 1986, President Ronald Reagan went on national television to explain and, in part, defend — the secret sale of arms to Iran despite a U.S. arms embargo. This is all apart of what Reagan referred to as "Reaganomics" -
Oprah Winfrey
She is a woman who came from an abusive childhood and has become an influential television host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. When Oprah wants to make a change, she stands up for what she believes in. Oprah Winfrey is a hero to me because she is selfless and dedicated. became a self-made millionaire in 1986 at age 32. In 2003, she became the first black woman billionaire in history at age 49. -
The Persian Gulf War / 1st Iraq War
Persian Gulf War, also called Gulf War, international conflict that was triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990.Egypt and several other Arab 34 nations joined the anti-Iraq coalition led by the U.S. and contributed forces to the military buildup, known as Operation Desert Shield. The lead up to the war began with the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 which was met with immediate economic sanctions by the United Nations against Iraq. -
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The 1990s
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The Rodney King Incident
Born on April 2, 1965, in Sacramento, California, Rodney Glen King was an African American who became a symbol of racial tension in America, after his beating by Los Angeles police officers. The officers pulled him out of the car and beat him brutally, while George Holliday caught it all on videotape. The four L.A.P.D. officers involved were indicted on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and excessive use of force by a police officer. -
The 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. The most recent third party initiative was the candidacy of Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996. In 1992, Perot, in running against then-President George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, received 19 percent of the vote, which seemed to help Bill Clinton win the election. -
The Lewinsky Affair
On Friday, February 26, 1993, Ramzi Yousef and a Jordanian friend, Eyad Ismoil, drove a yellow Ryder van into Lower Manhattan, and pulled into the public parking garage beneath the World Trade Center around noon. They parked on the underground B-2 level. They would then plant a 1,300-pound nitrate-hydrogen gas enhanced bomb also stuffed with cyanide into the parking garage below the World Trade Center in Manhattan. -
The Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy
President Bill Clinton announced the military's policy on gay service members on July 19, 1993. The discriminatory "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on gay and lesbian service members is officially in the dustbin of history, prohibiting those in the military who were openly gay to serve.. For 17 years, the law prohibited qualified gay and lesbian Americans from serving in the armed forces and sent a message that discrimination was acceptable. -
The Bill Clinton Presidency
In 1978 Clinton became the youngest governor in the country when he was elected governor of Arkansas, and several years later The presidency of Bill Clinton began at noon EST on January 20, 1993, when Bill Clinton was inaugurated as 42nd President of the United States, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat, took office following a decisive victory over Republican incumbent President George H. W. -
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
NAFTA was created to liberate the trade between Canada, Mexico and the United States, stimulate economic growth and give the NAFTA countries equal access to each other's markets.NAFTA's Impact on U.S. Workers. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NATFA) was the door through which American workers were shoved into the neoliberal global labor market. NAFTA affected U.S. workers in four principal ways. First, it caused the loss of some 700,000 jobs as production moved to Mexico. -
Lionel Sosa
The Independent Counsel was investigating President Bill Clinton over his affair with 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Through meticulous reporting with well-placed sources inside the White House and hours of conversations with Lewinsky confidante Linda Tripp, Isikoff had the story of a lifetime. Tripp even offered to hand him the case’s most infamous, and damning, bit of evidence. Clinton would deny the whole thing, but the evidence was overwhelming. -
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is a federal law that denies federal recognition of same-sex marriages and authorizes states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages licensed in other states. It was overruled on June 26, 2015 by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. referred to as "a deprivation of the liberty of the person protected by the Fifth Amendment." and thus was overturned. -
The 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. The election hinged on results from the state of Florida, where the vote was so close as to mandate a recount. The outcome of the election was ultimately decided by the US Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore. -
The 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 United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center 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. -
The PATRIOT ACT
an acronym for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. The 107th act passed by Congress, which would result in the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Interfere and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA PATRIOT Act) on October 26, 2001 in response to the terrorist attacks on September 11 of that same year. -
The 2nd Iraq War
In 2003, the United States, along with coalition forces primarily from the United Kingdom, initiates war on Iraq. Just after explosions began to rock Baghdad, Iraq’s capital, U.S. President George W. Bush announced in a televised address. President Bush and his advisors built much of their case for war on the idea that Iraq, under dictator Saddam Hussein, possessed or was in the process of building weapons of mass destruction. -
The 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, it brought sustained winds of 100–140 miles per hour–and stretched some 400 miles across. The storm itself did a great deal of damage, but its aftermath was catastrophic. Levee breaches led to massive flooding, and many people said that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the people affected by the storm. -
The Great Recession
The Great Recession which officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009 began with the bursting of an 8 trillion dollar housing bubble. The resulting loss of wealth led to sharp cutbacks in consumer spending. Major causes recession include: International trade imbalances and lax lending standards contributing to high levels of developed country household debt and real-estate bubbles that have since burst; U.S. government housing policies, -
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is an economic stimulus bill created to help the United States economy recover from an economic downturn that began in late 2007. According to ARRA's statement of purpose, it was developed to: To preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery. It was a stimulus package enacted by the 111th U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in February 2009. -
The Election of 2008
Barack Obama's victory and the 2008 presidential election in general is one for the history books. Barack Obama is the first African-American ever to be elected president of the United States. 2. Joe Biden is the first Roman Catholic ever to serve as vice president. Vice President Dick Cheney chose not to run for president. On March 4, 2008, John McCain became the Republican presumptive presidential nominee. -
The First Hispanic SCOTUS judge - Sonya Sotomayor
After being scouted by President Obama, he commissioned Sotomayor on the day of her confirmation; Sotomayor was sworn in on August 8, 2009, by Chief Justice John Roberts. Sotomayor is the first Hispanic to serve on the Supreme Court. She is recognized as a somewhat controversial and outspoken candidate whose words are sometimes misinterpreted yet she is distinguished for her many years of judicial service. -
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) “Obamacare”
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), and generally referred to as Obamacare, is the landmark health reform legislation passed by the 111th Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010. It offering health insurance at prices discounted through tax credits. These subsidized plans, sold in the exchanges, must provide 10 “essential benefits,” including emergency care, hospitalization and prescription drugs.
