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Volstead Act
-formally National Prohibition Act, U.S.
- law enacted to provide enforcement for the Eighteenth Amendment
prohibiting the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages -
Census revealed 50% urban population
-1920 census marked the first time in which over 50 percent of the U.S. population was defined as urban -
19th Amendment
-The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied by the United States or by any State on account of sex. -
Harlem Renaissance
-cultural explosion of African American music, art, and literature
-gave African American culture a national platform on an equal footing to other American cultural traditions
-resulted in the emergence of racial pride which led to political movements to rectify racial discrimination. -
Universal Negro Improvement Association (Marcus Garvey)
-organization founded by Marcus Garvey
-dedicated to racial pride, economic self-sufficiency, and the formation of an independent Black nation in Africa. -
Dawes Plan
-plan to stabilize the German currency
-United States loans Germany money which then can pay reparations to England and France -
Immigration Act
-limited the number of immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota. -
Scopes Trial
-John Scopes teach evolution in school, which a recent bill had made illegal.
-viewed as an opportunity to challenge the constitutionality of the bill
-advocate for the legitimacy of Darwin’s theory of evolution -
Transatlantic Flight
-Charles A. Lindbergh completed the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight -
The Jazz Singer
-The first movie with sound
-"talkie" was about the life of famous jazz singer; Al Jolson. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
-Pact of Paris signed with the French Ministry and it ratified by 62 nations.
-made war illegal as a tool of national policy, allowing only defensive war. -
Stock Market Crash
-fall in the prices of stocks due to widespread financial panic.
-caused by stockbrokers who called in the loans they had made to stock investors.
-many people lost their entire life savings as many financial institutions went bankrupt. -
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre
-The murder of seven mob associates.
-between the south side Italians of Al Capone vs. the north side Irish of Bugs moran. -
Bonus Army
-group of World War I veterans
-wanted what the government owed them for their services
-They marched to Washington and set up public camps
-tried to intimidate Congress into paying them, but Hoover had them removed by the army -
“Hundred Days”
-applied to President Roosevelt's first three months in taking office
-FDR had managed to get Congress to pass an unprecedented amount of new legislation that would revolutionize the role of the federal government -
Tennessee Valley Authority
-tackle important problems facing the valley, such as flooding, providing electricity to homes and businesses, and replanting forests. -
Emergency Banking Relief Act
-signed into law by President Roosevelt
-designed to repair the nation's crumbling bank system. -
U.S. off gold standard
-June 5, 1933, the United States went off the gold standard
-monetary system in which currency is backed by gold -
Civilian Conservation Corps
-work relief program
-gave millions of young men employment on environmental projects during the Great Depression. -
Federal Emergency Relief Act
-a grant-making agency authorized to distribute federal aid to the states for relief -
National Industrial Recovery Act
-Roosevelt sought to assist the nation's economic recovery during the Great Depression.
-regulate the industry for fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery -
Public Works Administration
-New Deal U.S. government agency designed to reduce unemployment
-gave money to state and local governments -
Civil Works Administration
-designed to put jobless Americans back to work
-use them on beneficial public projects
-CWA received funding from the Public Works Administration -
Second New Deal
-generated more than eight million new government-financed jobs in a variety of fields.
-had a stronger focus on social reform. -
Social Security Act
-established a system of old-age benefits for workers
-aid for dependent mothers and children, the blind, and the physically handicapped. -
Jesse Owens wins four gold medals
-won four gold medals, in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relay, and the long jump.
-his grandparents had been slaves. -
Neutrality Act (Cash and Carry)
-lifted the arms embargo and put all trade with belligerent nations under the terms of “cash-and-carry.” -
Destroyers for Bases Deal
-The US gave Great Britain fifty aging destroyers. In exchange, the US received ninety-nine-year leases on eight British bases in the Western Hemisphere.
-The US was still at peace, but the United Kingdom was struggling to survive the Battle of Britain and fend off a possible German invasion. -
Lend-Lease Act
-gave Roosevelt virtually unlimited authority to direct material aid to the war effort in Europe without violating the nation's official position of neutrality. -
Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
-drive the United States out of isolation and into World War II,
-end with Japan's surrender after the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -
Midway
-clash between the U.S. Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy
-U.S. Navy’s decisive victory in the air-sea battle and its successful defense of the major base located at Midway Island
-dashed Japan’s hopes of neutralizing the United States as a naval power and effectively turned the tide of World War II in the Pacific. -
Rationing Begins
-government began rationing certain foods
-starting with sugar, Coffee was added to the list, followed by meats, fats, canned fish, cheese, and canned milk -
D-Day
-invasion of France
-Helped to liberate Paris in August, had driven the Germans out of most of France and Belgium by September -
Korematsu v. United States
-strict test for possible racial discrimination
-upheld a restriction on civil liberties -
Yalta Conference
-meeting of three World War II allies: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. -
Potsdam Conference
-last of the Big Three meetings during World War II
-It was attended by Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, the new American president Harry S -
V-E Day (May 9th)
-day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany’s unconditional surrender
-marking the end of World War II in Europe -
V-J Day (August 15th)
-Victory over Japan Day
-Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II,
-bringing the war to an end. -
Iron Curtain Speech
-Speech given by Winston Churchill
-warning of the "iron curtain" of communism that is descending to the west from the USSR and how there must be a division between the free West and communist East -
Truman Doctrine
-established that the United States would provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces -
Marshall Plan
-European Recovery Program
-program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II.
-provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent. -
Containment Policy
-policy using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad.
-policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge its communist sphere of influence -
NATO Formed
-formed in response to the global Soviet threat in the aftermath of World War II. -
China Goes Red
-Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China -
Korean War Begins
-began on June 25, 1950,
-the spread of communism during the Cold War, American containment, and Japanese occupation of Korea during World War II. -
Alger Hiss Convicted
-American government official accused of having spied for the Soviet Union
-Statutes of limitations had expired for espionage, but he was convicted of perjury in connection with this charge -
Rosenberg’s Convicted of Espionage
-court convicted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of conspiracy to commit espionage -
McCarthy Allegations
-Americans were accused of being communists
-results in American losing their jobs and their lives would be ruined -
SEATO Formed
-United States, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan formed the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
-The purpose of the organization was to prevent communism from gaining ground in the region. -
Domino Theory
-Cold War policy
-suggested a communist government in one nation would quickly lead to communist takeovers in neighboring states (each falling like a dominos) -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
-civil rights protest
-African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama,
-to protest segregated seating -
Elvis Presley
-seemed to be everywhere
-on TV, radio, and movie
-showed what a celebrity is during 1950 -
Sputnik I
-successful launched and entered Earth's orbit.
-began the space age
-Soviet Union putting the first human-made object into space -
Berlin Crisis
-Soviet Union sparked a crisis
-by cutting off land access between West Germany and West Berlin -
U-2 Incident
-shooting down of a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union
-caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France.
-U-2 spy plane is shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union. -
Bay of Pigs
-Cuban exiles launched what became a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba.
-the United States was trying to prevent communism from taking hold in the Americas.
-Fidel Castro helped to lead the Cuban Revolution in overthrowing the existing government of Cuba -
Cuban Missile Crisis
-leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a 13-day political and military standoff
-Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey. -
James Meredith (University of Mississippi)
-James Meredith was an African-American man who attempted to enroll at the all-white University of Mississippi
-shot shortly after beginning a lone civil rights march through the South. -
Gideon v. Wainwright
-Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution requires the states to provide defense attorneys to criminal defendants charged with serious offenses who cannot afford lawyers themselves. -
Civil Rights Act
-outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin
-required equal access to public places and employment and enforced desegregation of schools and the right to vote. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
-complex naval event in the Gulf of Tonkin
-authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. -
Great Society
-a legislation that included over 60 programs that ideally worked to help those citizens in need especially those in poverty. -
Miranda v. Arizona
-Supreme Court ruled that unless the defendant has been informed of their right to have an attorney present during questioning and an understanding that anything they say will be held against them. -
Thurgood Marshall
-Thurgood Marshall was an American lawyer and civil rights, activist
-served as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
-Marshall Court -
Tet Offensive
-a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks
-offensive was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War. -
MLK, Jr. Assassinated
-Martin Luther King, Jr. is fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
-civil rights activists and fought for and achieve mandatory equal voting rights in America for blacks and whites. -
My Lai Massacre
-most horrific incidents of violence committed against unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War.
-American soldiers brutally killed people in the village of My Lai -
SALT
-intended to restrain the arms race in strategic ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons. -
Massive Demonstrations Against Vietnam War
-Peace movement leaders opposed the war on moral and economic grounds.
-The North Vietnamese, they argued, were fighting a patriotic war to rid themselves of foreign aggressors. -
Kent State Shooting
-students protesting the bombing of Cambodia by the United States military forces, clashed with Ohio National Guardsmen on the Kent State University campus.
-Guardsmen shot and killed four students
-the Shootings became the focal point of a nation deeply divided by the Vietnam War. -
Nixon Opens Relation with China
-Nixon's visit the People's Republic of China
-the Nixon administration's resumption of harmonious relations between the United States and mainland China after years of diplomatic isolation. -
Nixon Resigns
-Nixon Resigns to avoid impeachment after Watergate scandal -
South Vietnam Falls to Communists
-Saigon, capital of the Republic of Vietnam, falls to Communist troops from North Vietnam, marking the end of the Vietnam War.
-Active U.S. involvement in the conflict had ended, but fighting continued between North and South Vietnam. -
American Hostages in Iran Released
-a group of pro-Ayatollah students smashed the gates and scaled the walls of the American embassy in Tehran.
-they seized 66 hostages, mostly diplomats, and embassy employees.
-After a short period of time, 13 of these hostages were released. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
-Star Wars, proposed U.S. strategic defensive system against potential nuclear attacks from the Soviet Union.
-proposed by President Ronald Reagan in a nationwide television address -
Iran-Contra Arms Deal
-secret U.S. arms deal that traded missiles and other arms to free some Americans held hostage by terrorists in Lebanon
-used funds from the arms deal to support armed conflict in Nicaragua.
-controversial deal, threatened to bring down the presidency of Ronald Reagan. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
-head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. -
Germany Reunified
-marked the end of the Cold War.
-The productivity in East Germany was weakened greatly because of the high unemployment rate -
Operation Desert Storm
-George H. W. Bush announced the start of what would be called Operation Desert Storm
-a military operation to expel occupying Iraqi forces from Kuwait -
Breakup of the USSR
-Gorbachev's allowed elections with a multi-party system and create a presidency for the Soviet Union
-began a slow process of democratization
-destabilized Communist control and contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union.