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Civil Rights
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Cold War
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Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was a political, military, and ideological barrier created by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself from its european allies from non-communist areas. The restrictions and the rigidity of the Iron Curtain were somewhat reduced in the years following Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953, although the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 restored them. During the Cold War the Iron Curtain extended to the airwaves. The Iron curtain was an example of communism. -
2nd Red Scare
As the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States intensified, causing hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. The Red Scare led to a range of actions that had an enduring effect on U.S. government and society. Federal employees were questioned to determine whether they were sufficiently and generously loyal to the government. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, investigated allegations of subversive elements in the government and the Hollywood film industry. -
The Marshall Plan
Americans perceived the plan as a generous subvention to Europe contrary to the Soviet Union who viewed the Marshall Plan as an attempt to interfere in the internal affairs of other states and refused to participate. The Marshall Plan channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe after World War II The Marshall Plan successfully sparked economic recovery, meeting its objective of ‘restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of Europe as a whole. -
Stalin closes the border
After World War II, the Allies divided Germany into a Soviet, American, British and a French-occupied zone. Berlin was located in the Soviet zone, but it was also divided into 4 sections. The Russians,who wanted Berlin all for themselves,closed all transportation from western Germany into western Berlin. They believed this would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually drive the other countries out of the city for good. . -
G.I. Bill
The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act or the G.I. Bill was created to help veterans of World War II. It made hospitals, made low-interest mortgages available and covered tuition and expenses for veterans attending college. Nearly 9 million veterans received close to $4 billion from the bill’s unemployment compensation program. The education and training provisions existed until 1956, while the Veterans’ Administration offered insured loans until 1962. The G.I bill extended these benefits. -
Beat Generation
Beat movement, was an American social and literary movement centered in the bohemian artist communities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York City’s. Its adherents, self-styled as “beat” and expressed their alienation from conventional, or “square,” society by adopting an almost uniform style of seedy dress, manners, and “hip” vocabulary borrowed from jazz musicians. They advocated personal release, purification, and sensory awareness that might be induced by drugs, jazz or sex. -
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1950's
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Korean War
The Korean War began when soldiers from the North Korean Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Communist Republic of Korea to the north and the Democratic Republic of Korea to the south. By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea’s behalf. As far as American officials were concerned, it was a war against the forces of international communism itself. Finally, in July 1953, the Korean War came to an end. The Korean peninsula is still divided today. -
Ike Turner
Ike Turner grew up playing the blues. In 1956, he met Tina Turner who he married and helped create her stage persona. The two became the Ike & Tina Turner Revue and created several R&B hits. The duo's cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" earned them their first and only Grammy Award together in 1971. Their last hit together was "Nutbush City Limits," written by Tina and released in 1973. Turner died of a cocaine overdose on December 12, 2007, in San Marcos, California. -
Earl Warren Supreme Court
Earl Warren was a prominent 20th century leader of American politics and law. After failing to claim the Republican nomination for the presidency, he was appointed the 14th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1953. The landmark case of his tenure was Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Court determined the segregation of schools to be unconstitutional. The Warren Court also sought electoral reforms, equality in criminal justice and the defense of human rights. -
Fair Deal
Fair Deal created domestic reform programs which was the basic of which he had outlined. In his first postwar message to Congress that year, Truman had called for expanded social security, new wages, hours, public-housing legislation, and a Fair Act that would prevent racial or religious discrimination in hiring. Congress paid little heed to the proposals.IN the end the fair deal raised the minimum wage, promoted slum clearance, and extended old-age benefits to an additional 10,000,000 people. -
Polio Vaccine
Polio is a disease that has affected humanity throughout history. It attacks the nervous system and can cause varying degrees of paralysis. American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announced on a national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine. In 1954, clinical trials using the Salk vaccine and a placebo began on nearly two million American schoolchildren. In April 1955, it was announced that the vaccine was effective and safe, and a nationwide inoculation campaign began. -
Bill haley and the comets
Bill Haley was an American singer and songwriter considered by some to be the father of rock and roll. Following time as a disc jockey, Haley realized the growing teen population would change popular music, so he moved his band towards a big beat. Bill Haley and His Comets signed with Decca Records and recorded "Rock Around the Clock", the first of many hits. Bill Haley is wildly known for his hit recorded "rock around the clock" which reached number 18 on the billboard charts in 1954. -
Brown v Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education was one of the cornerstones of the civil rights movement in the 21st century. It helped establish the precedent that “separate-but-equal” education and other services were not, in fact, equal at all. It denounced the case Plessy v. Ferguson which stated separate but equal okay. -
Little Richard
Little Richard id known for his flamboyant performances, and hit songs from the mid-1950s which were defining moments in the development of rock ‘n’ roll. 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. He turned songs like “Tutti-Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally” into huge hits and influenced such bands as the Beatles. Many of his songs were later stole by white artists. -
Emmett Till Tragedy
The murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 brought nationwide attention to the racial violence and injustice prevalent in Mississippi. While visiting his relatives in Mississippi, Till went to the Bryant store with his cousins, and may have whistled at Carolyn Bryant. Her husband and brother-in-law, J.W. Milam, kidnapped and brutally murdered Till, dumping his body in a River. The murder trial gained national attention on civil rights. Decades later Bryant admitted Till didn't whistle at her. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a long and costly conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam. The conflict was intensified by the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people were killed in the War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians. Opposition to the war in the United States left Americans bitterly divided even after the end. Communist forces ended the war by seizing control of South Vietnam in 1975. -
Montgomery bus boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a civil-rights protest which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The boycott is regarded as the first large-scale demonstration against segregation. Four days before the boycott began, Rosa Parks was arrested and fined for refusing to yield her bus seat to a white man. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system and MLK emerged as a prominent leader of the movement. -
Elvis
Elvis Presley was an American singer who is often refereed to as the King of Rock `n Roll.Although, he stole his songs from black artists like most white people at the time. In 1954, Presley began his singing career with Sun Records in Memphis. He gave a record to his mother as a birthday present.The founder of Sun Records and an assistant heard the recording, then asked him to fill in for a missing ballad singer in 1954. Presley died in his bathroom suite at Graceland mansion, he was only 42. -
Eisenhower Interstates System
President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act which created a 41,000-mile “National System of Interstate and Defense Highways” that would, according to Eisenhower, eliminate unsafe roads, inefficient routes, traffic jams and most importantly in case of atomic attack on our key cities, the road would permit quick evacuation of target areas For all of these reasons, the law declared that the construction of an elaborate expressway system was “essential to the national interest.” -
The Space Race
After World War II, a new conflict began. This battle pitted the world’s two great powers, capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union against each other. In the late 1950's, space would become another dramatic arena for this competition, as each side sought to prove the superiority of its political-economic system. Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit. Sputnik’s launch came as a surprise to most Americans -
Albert Sabin
Albert Bruce Sabin was Polish American physician and microbiologist. He is best known for developing the oral polio vaccine. He was also known for his research in the fields of human viral diseases, such as cancer. Sabin proposed that administered orally, would provide immunity over a longer period of time than an injected virus. By 1957 the effectiveness of the new vaccine on children was conclusively demonstrated and the oral polio vaccine was approved for use in the United States in 1960. -
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock 9 were a group of nine black students who enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Their attendance at the school was a test of Brown v. Board of Education, a ruling that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. On the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus blocked the black students’ entry into the high school. Later, President Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock 9 into the school. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Pres. Eisenhower signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Originally proposed by Attorney General Brownell, the Act marked the first occasion since Reconstruction that the fed. gov. undertook significant legislative action to protect civil rights.It included a number of important provisions for the protection of voting rights. It established the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department, and empowered fed. officials to prosecute individuals that denied another citizen's right to vote. -
NASA
Congress passed legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Admin, an agency responsible for coordinating America’s activities in space. It was created in response to the Soviets launch of Sputnik. A satellite that orbited the earth in 98 minutes. The Sputnik launch caught Americans by surprise and fears that the Soviets might be capable of sending missiles to America. The United States was the forefront of technology and soon began developing a response, starting the space race. -
Politics (Nixon, Kennedy)
In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon squared off in the first televised presidential debates in American history. The Kennedy-Nixon debates not only had a major impact on the election’s outcome, but ushered in a new era in which crafting a public image and taking advantage of media exposure became essential ingredients of a successful political campaign. They also heralded the central role television has continued to play in the democratic process. Although this was more about looks. -
The New Frontier
The new frontier was associated with the Kennedy administration. The term was first used in Kennedy's acceptance speech in 1960 presidential election for the democratic national convention in Los Angeles, California. It soon became the Democratic slogan that lit the way for his presidential career and allowed many Americans to support him. His views were to eradicate poverty and to win the space race against the Soviet Union. Unemployment benefits, housing and transportation also improved. -
Chicano Mural Movement
The Chicano mural movement began with Mexican-American barrios throughout the Southwest. Artists began using the walls of city buildings, housing projects, schools, and churches to depict Mexican-American culture. Chicano muralist has been linked to Colombian peoples of the Americas, who recorded their rituals and history on the walls of their pyramids, and Mexican revolutionary-era painters, such as José Clemente Orozco, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaros Siqueiro are famously known. -
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1960's
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Peace Corps
President John F. Kennedy issued an Executive Order known as the Peace Corps which was a new agency within the Department of State. The same day, he asked Congress for permanent funding for the agency, which would send trained American men and women to foreign nations to assist in development efforts. The main purpose of the peace corps is to promote world peace and friendship. The Peace Corps captured the imagination of the U.S. public with young Americans jumping at the chance to volunteer. -
Bay of Pigs
Cuban nationalist Fidel Castro attacked Havana and overthrew the nations president. For the next two years, officials at the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency attempted to push Castro from power. In return the CIA launched: a full-scale invasion of Cuba by 1,400 American-trained Cubans who had fled their homes when Castro took over. However, the invasion did not go well: The US was badly outnumbered by Castro’s troops, and surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting. -
I Have a Dream Speech
The “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered by Martin Luther King, Jr. was before a crowd of 250,000 people at the March on Washington, remains one of the most famous speeches in history. King used universal themes to depict the struggles of African Americans, before closing with an improvised riff on his dreams of equality. The speech was immediately recognized as successful protest, and is one of the signature moments of the civil rights movement and most important speech of the 20th century. -
Assassination of JKF
John F. Kennedy was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. in Dallas, Texas while riding in a presidential motorcade. Kennedy was riding with his wife, Texas Governor John Connolly and his wife when he was fatally shot. The motorcade was rushed to the Hospital where Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes after the shooting. JFK was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald and was arrested about 70 minutes after the initial shooting. Oswald was charged with the murder of Kennedy -
Warren Commission
A week after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, his successor, Lyndon Johnson established a commission to investigate Kennedy’s death. After a nearly yearlong investigation, the commission, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren concluded that alleged gunman Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating the president,and that there was no international, involved. Despite its seemingly firm conclusions, the report proved controversial and failed to silence conspiracy theories. -
Southern Bloc
The term southern bloc refers to a group of southern Democratic representatives and senators who united with Republicans to advance shared legislative interests, principally to prevent federal involvement in race relations in the U.S. South. This happened due to Kennedy aliening his political views with freedom riders protesting racial bus segregation causing a major political hit. The Johnson passing the civil rights act was the last string for southerners turning them into the southern bloc. -
Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater was a U.S. senator from Arizona and Republican presidential candidate in 1964. He was elected to the Phoenix city council in 1949, and in 1952 he narrowly won election to the U.S. Senate. He was reelected in 1958 by a large majority. A conservative Republican, he called for a harsher diplomatic stance toward the Soviet Union, opposed arms-control negotiations with that country, and charged the Democrats with creating a quasi-socialist state at home. One of the most conservative. -
Counter Culture
A counterculture was a subculture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, often in opposition to mainstream cultural mores. The countercultural movement expresses the aspirations of a specific population during a well-defined era. When Oppositional forces reach critical mass, countercultures can trigger dramatic cultural changes. Prominent examples of countercultures is the Beat Generation usually associated with the hippie subculture. -
Great Society
The Great Society was a collection series of policy initiatives, legislation and programs spearheaded by President Lyndon B. Johnson with the main goals of ending poverty, reducing crime, abolishing inequality and improving the environment. President Lyndon B. Johnson laid out his agenda for a “Great Society” during a speech at the University of Michigan. With his eye on re-election that year, Johnson set in motion his Great Society, the largest social reform plan in modern history. -
Daisy Girl Ad
A 60-second TV ad changed American politics forever. A 3-year-old girl in a simple dress counted as she plucked daisy petals in a sun-dappled field. Her words were supplanted by a mission-control countdown followed by a massive nuclear blast. The message was clear: Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was a genocidal maniac who threatened the world’s future and emphasized the atomic bomb. Two months later, President Lyndon B. Johnson won easily, and the emotional political attack ad was made. -
Anti-War Movement
The movement against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War began small among peace activists and leftist intellectuals on college campuses. It gained national prominence in 1965, after the United States began bombing North Vietnam in earnest. Anti-war marches and other protests, such as the ones organized by Students attracted a wide base of support over the next 3 years, peaking in early 1968 after the successful Tet Offensive by North Vietnamese troops proved that war’s end was nowhere in sight. -
Death of MLK
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee it was an event that sent shock waves around the world. As a Baptist minister and founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, King led the civil rights movement since the mid-1950s, using a combination of speeches and nonviolent protests to fight segregation and achieve civil-rights advances for African Americans. His assassination led to an outpouring of anger among black Americans, as well as national mourning. -
Stonewall Riot
In the early hours of the day, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village in New York City. The raid sparked a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughly hauled employees and patrons out of the bar, leading to six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement outside the bar, in neighboring streets and Christopher Park. The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world. -
Warren burger Supreme Court
Warren Burger was the 15th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and was nominated by Nixon. He didn't fulfill Nixon's desire to reverse Warren Court decisions on brown v board of education. Burger's court upheld the Miranda decision, and Burger voted with the majority in the court's landmark decision in the case, Roe v. Wade, establishing women's right to have abortions. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988. Over Burger's 13 years he was conservative on most issues. -
Period: to
1970's
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Nixon's Presidency
Richard Nixon was the 37th U.S. president, is best remembered as the only president ever to resign from office. Nixon stepped down halfway through his 2nd term, rather than face impeachment over his efforts to cover up illegal activities associated with the Watergate scandal. As president, Nixon’s achievements included ending diplomatic ties with China and the Soviet Union, and taking U.S. troops from an unpopular war in Vietnam. However, Nixon’s involvement in Watergate tarnished his legacy. -
Watergate
The Watergate scandal began when several burglars were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee,in the Watergate complex of buildings in Washington, D.C. The burglars were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and they had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. Nixon took aggressive steps to cover up the crime afterwards,and Nixon resigned. The Watergate scandal lead many Americans to question their leaders and think more of politics. -
Title IX
Before Title IX, few opportunities existed for female athletes and got treated the complete opposite of male athletes. Title IX is one of the education amendments of enacted into law. Title IX prohibits federally funded educational institutions from discriminating against students or employees based on sex. As a result of Title IX, any school that receives any federal money from the elementary to university must provide fair and equal treatment of the sexes in all areas, including athletics. -
Endangered Species Act
Congress passed the Endangered Species Preservation Act which provides a listing of native animal species as endangered and giving them protection. The Departments of Interior, Agriculture, and Defense were to seeking protection for listed species to preserve their habitats. The Act also authorized the Service to acquire land as habitat for endangered species. Congress amended the Act to provide additional protection to species in danger of "worldwide extinction" by prohibiting sale in the U.S. -
Roe v Wade
In roe v Wade the court ruled in a 7-2 decision, that a woman’s right to choose an abortion was protected by the privacy rights guaranteed by the 14th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. The legal precedent for the decision was rooted in the case of Griswold v. Connecticut, which established the right to privacy involving medical procedures. In fact, for most of the country’s first 100 years, abortion as we know it today was not only not a criminal offense, it was also not considered immoral. -
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation is an American conservative public policy based in Washington, D.C. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies were taken from Heritage's policy study. Heritage has since continued to have a significant influence in U.S. public policy making, and is considered to be one of the most influential conservative research organizations in the United States. The Foundation started in 1973. -
Jimmy Carter Presidency
Jimmy Carter was the 39th president of the United States. His presidency included a major energy crisis as well as high inflation and unemployment. In the foreign affairs he reopened U.S. relations with China and made efforts to broker peace in the Arab-Israeli conflict, but was damaged late in his term by a hostage crisis in Iran. Carter’s diagnosis of the nation’s did little to boost his sagging popularity, and in 1980 he was soundly defeated in the general election by Ronald Reagan. -
Camp David Accords
Camp David Accords is an agreement between Israel and Egypt that led in the following year to a peace treaty between those 2 countries, the first such treaty between Israel and any of its Arab neighbors. Made by U.S. Pres. Jimmy Carter between Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian Pres.The agreements became known as the Camp David Accords because the negotiations took place at the U.S. presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland. They were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1978. -
Moral Majority
Reverend Jerry Falwell formed the Moral Majority, a civic advocacy and political action group. The name was meant to project strength by highlighting and validating the numerical supremacy of ordinary Americans, especially in rural areas and religious communities. Particular concern were secular, individualistic, liberal movements and their impact on private life, popular culture, and public policy. The members of the Moral Majority frequently perceived the modern lifestyle as promiscuous. -
Period: to
1980s
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Election of 1980
The United States presidential election of 1980 was between Democrat Jimmy Carter and Republican Ronald Reagan, as well as Republican Congressman John B. Anderson, who ran as an independent. Reagan won the election in a landslide. Carter, after winning the Democratic nomination attacked Reagan as a dangerous right-wing radical. Because of this Reagan repeatedly ridiculed Carter, and won a decisive victory giving Republicans control of the United States Senate for the first time in 28 years. -
AIDS Crisis
It is believed that aids began in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the 1920s and was transferred from chimpanzees. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the outbreak of HIV and AIDS swept across the United States and rest of the world. Today, more than 70 million people have been infected with HIV and about 35 million have died from AIDS since the start of the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization. The disease is a virus that attacks the immune system and is transferred sexually. -
Reaganomics
After the 1980 presidential election “Reagan Democrats.” provided millions of crucial votes for the Republican candidate, Ronald Reagan. Reagan won 51 percent of the votes and carried all but 5 states and the District of Columbia. Once a Hollywood actor, his outwardly reassuring disposition and optimistic style appealed to many Americans. The economic policies of the former president Reagan, associated especially with the reduction of taxes and the promotion of unrestricted free-market activity. -
Space Shuttle Program
NASA's space shuttle flew 135 missions they helped construct the International Space Station and inspired generations. NASA's space shuttle fleet began setting records with its first launch and continued to set high marks of achievement through 30 years of missions. Starting with Columbia the spacecraft has carried people into orbit repeatedly, launched, recovered and conducted cutting-edge research and built the largest structure in space. The space shuttle mission ended July 21, 2011 -
MTV
MTV stands for Music Television and it went on the air for the first time ever, with the words “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll.” A music video was the first to air on the new cable television channel, which initially was available only to households in parts of New Jersey. MTV went on to revolutionize the music industry and become an influential source of pop culture and entertainment in the US and other parts of the world, including Europe, Asia and Latin America, all MTV-branded channels -
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O’Connor was a justice of the Supreme Court and was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. A moderate conservative, she was known for her dispassionate researched opinions. Sandra Day O’Connor was a judge for 24 years and force on the Supreme Court and will be remembered as acting as a sturdy guiding hand in the court’s decisions during those years and serving a swing vote in many important cases. In 2009 President Obama honored her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. -
SDI
President Ronald Reagan proposes that the United States embark on a program to develop laser technology that would make the country nearly impervious to attack by nuclear missiles. Reagan’s speech marked the beginning of what came to be known as the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Despite his theory Reagan made nuclear arms control one of the keynotes of his administration. However, talks with the Soviets were stalled over issues of what kind of weapons should be controlled. -
Reagan Doctrine
President Ronald Reagan defines the key concepts of his foreign policy, establishing the Reagan Doctrine. The doctrine became the foundation for the Reagan administration’s support of freedom fighters around the globe. Reagan administration laid the foundation for its program of military assistance to “freedom fighters.” In action, the policy translated into covertly supporting the Contras in their attacks on the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. During his farewell address he claimed success/ -
Iran Contra Affair
The Iran-Contra Affair was a trading action not approved of by the United States Congress. It began President Ronald Reagan's administration supplied weapons to Iran who was an american enemy in hopes of securing the release of American hostages held by terrorists loyal to Iran's leader. The U.S. took millions of dollars from the weapons sale and routed them with guns to the "contra" in Nicaragua. The "Contras" were the armed opponents of Nicaragua's National Reconstruction. -
Challenger Explosion
The NASA space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after liftoff, bringing a devastating end to the spacecraft’s 10th mission. The disaster claimed the lives of all seven astronauts aboard, including a teacher from New Hampshire who would have been the first civilian in space. It was later determined that 2 parts had failed due to cold temperatures the morning of the launch. The aftermath received extensive media coverage and prompted NASA to temporarily suspend all shuttle missions. -
Period: to
1990s
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Persian Gulf War/1st Gulf War
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of Kuwait. Fellow Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on the United States and other Western nations to intervene. Hussein denied United Nations request to withdraw from Kuwait and the Persian Gulf War began with a massive U.S. air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm. After 42 days of relentless attacks by the allied coalition in the air and on the ground, U.S. President George H.W. Bush declared a cease-fire. -
Rodney King Incident
Rodney King was caught by the Los Angeles police after a high-speed chase. The officers pulled him out of the car and beat him brutally, while catching 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. However, a white jury acquitted the officers, sparking the violent 1992 Los Angeles riots. Two decades after the riots, King told CNN that he had forgiven the officers. -
Ross Perrot
Ross Perot is best known as one of the most successful third-party candidates in American history. He formed his own company, Electronic Data Systems, which he sold to General Motors in 1984 for over a $billion. In 1992, Perot ran as an independent candidate for the U.S. presidency, winning nearly 19 percent of the popular vote. He ran again in 1996. The Reform Party, which he founded in 1995, gradually established its autonomy from him. Perot wrote several books that became several popular. -
Election of 1992
The presidential election of 1992 had three major candidate, (Rep) President George H. W. Bush; (Dem) Bill Clinton, and (ind) Ross Perot. Bush campaign pledge against raising taxes, the economy was in a recession, and Bush's perceived greatest strength, foreign policy, was regarded as much less important following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Middle East after the defeat of Iraq in the Gulf War. Clinton won a plurality in the popular vote, and a wide Electoral College margin. -
Bill Clinton Presidency
Bill Clinton was the 42nd U.S. president. He was also an Arkansas native and Democrat governor. During Clinton’s presidency, America enjoyed an era of peace and prosperity, low unemployment, declining crime rates and a budget surplus. Clinton appointed a number of women and minorities to top government posts, including Janet Reno, the first female U.S. attorney general. In 1998, Clinton was impeached on charges of sexual relationship with a White House intern. He was acquitted by the Senate. -
World trade Center Attacks
Terrorists drove a rental van into a parking garage under the World Trade Center’s twin towers and lit bomb stuffed inside. 6 people died and more than 1,000 were injured in the explosion. It carved out a crater several stories deep and sent smoke into the upper reaches of the building. At the time, it was one of the worst terrorist attacks ever to occur on U.S. soil. it would eventually be overshadowed by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, when airplanes crashed into the twin towers. -
NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Clinton said he hoped the agreement would encourage other nations to work toward a world-trade pact. A trade pact between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, eliminated virtually all tariffs and trade restrictions between the three nations. The passage of NAFTA was one of Clinton’s 1st major victories as the first Democratic president in 12 years–though the movement for free trade in North America. -
Welfare Reform
During President Bill Clinton’s first term in office, America wanted a welfare reform of some sort. The answer came when Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. Clinton had promised as much during his 1st run for the White House in 1992, coming out of a recession that had led a number of households receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children. 81% of respondents believed that the system already in place discouraged needy people from finding work. -
Defense of Marriage Act
DOMA deals with authority given to the states, and says, No state, shall be required to give any public record, respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other state, or tribe, or a right to claim arising from such relationship. The second section provides a federal definition of marriage as institution between one man and one woman, with the word spouse referring only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife. -
Lewinsky Affair
The Lewinsky affair began in the 1990s, involving President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. The two began a sexual relationship that continued until 1997. During that time, Lewinsky confided in coworker Linda Tripp about her affair and Tripp went on to secretly tape some of her conversations with Lewinsky. When news of the affair became public, Clinton denied the relationship before admitting, The Pres was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice, but was acquitted. -
Period: to
Contemporary
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Election of 2000
The US residential election of 2000 was between (Rep) candidate George W. Bush, and (Dem) candidate Al Gore. Bill Clinton was leaving the position after serving two terms allowed. Bush narrowly won the election, with 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266. The election was noteworthy for a controversy the unusual event of the winning candidate having received fewer popular votes than the runner-up. It was a close election and only the 4th election the electoral vote did not reflect the popular vote. -
Bush v Gore
On December 8, 2000 the Florida Supreme Court ordered that the Court in Leon County count by hand 9000 contested ballots from. It also ordered that every county in Florida must immediately begin manually recounting all ballots which did not indicate a vote for president because there were enough contested ballots to replace the outcome of the election in doubt. On December 9 the U.S. Supreme Court granted review and issued the stay of the Bush presidency. It heard oral argument two days later. -
9/11
On September 11, 2001, associates 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 in New York City, a third hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defined the presidency of George W. Bush. -
PATRIOT ACT
The Patriot Act is an anti-terrorism law drawn up in response to the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.The law was intended to enhance the penalties that will fall on terrorists or anyone who helps them. The act increased intelligence agencies’ ability to share information and lifted restrictions on communications surveillance. Law enforcement officials were given broader mandates to fight financial smuggling and money laundering schemes that funded terrorists. -
No Child Left Behind
The purpose is to ensure that students in public schools achieve important learning goals while being educated in safe classrooms by well-prepared teachers.To increase student achievement, the law requires that school districts assume responsibility for all students reaching 100% student passing levels within 12 years on testing important academic content. It requires schools to close academic gaps between economically advantaged students and students who are from different economic backgrounds. -
2nd Iraq War
Iraq War was a conflict in Iraq that consisted of two phases. The first of these was a briefly fought war in which a combined force of troops from the United States and Great Britain invaded Iraq and rapidly defeated Iraqi military and paramilitary forces. It was followed by a second phase in a U.S. led occupation of Iraq. After violence began to decline in 2007, the United States gradually reduced its military presence in Iraq, formally completing its withdrawal in December 2011. -
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. When the storm made landfall, it was a Category 3 and 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 worse. It led to massive flooding, and many people charged that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the people affected by the storm. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced from their homes. -
The Great Recession
The Great Recession was a global economic downturn that devastated world financial markets as well as the banking and housing industries. The crisis led to increases in home mortgage foreclosures worldwide and caused millions of people to lose their life savings, their jobs and their homes. It’s generally considered to be the longest period of economic decline since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Great Recession was most pronounced in the United States and in Western Europe. -
Election of 2008
(Dem) Barack Obama defeated (Rep) John McCain. There were several unique aspects of the 2008 election. The election was the first in which an African American was elected President. It was the first time the Republican Party nominated a woman for Vice President (Sarah Palin). Additionally, it was the first election in which both major parties nominated candidates who were born outside of the contiguous United States. Voter turnout for the 2008 election was the highest in at least 40 years. -
Sonya Sotomayor
Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She is the first justice of Hispanic descent and the first Latina. Sotomayor was born in the Bronx of New York City. She graduated from Yale Law School and passed the bar in 1980. She became a U.S. District Court Judge in 1992 and was elevated to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 1998. In 2009, she was confirmed as the first Latina Supreme Court justice in U.S. history and was appointed by Obama.
