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G. I. Bill
The G. I. Bill of Rights or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 provided for college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans as well as one-year of unemployment compensation. It also provided loans for returning veterans to buy homes and start businesses. -
Iron curtain speech
On March 5, 1946, Sir Winston Churchill visited Westminster College as the Green Lecturer and delivered "Sinews of Peace," a message heard round the world that went down in history as the "Iron Curtain Speech." "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across the continent. -
Period: to
cold war
ok so boom,.,.,. literally but not really -
Truman Doctrine
President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology. Meant to help fight communism around the world.US will "contain" Soviets in Greece and turkey- support free peoples; $400 million to stop them from falling to communism -
Marshall plan
1947, $5.3 billion to Europe to help rebuild post-war; mainly raw materials, food and fuel; underlying purpose of preventing communism; Soviets attempt to imitate with their own Molotov Plan- failure -
HUAC
The House Un-American Activities Committee opens hearings investigating Communist activity in Hollywood. -
Hollywood 10
The House of Representatives issues citations for Contempt of Congress to the Hollywood Ten—John Howard Lawson, Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo. -
Berlin Airlift
At the end of the WW2, U.S., British, and Soviet military forces divided and occupied Germany. Also divided into occupation zones, Berlin was located far inside Soviet-controlled eastern Germany. Airlift in 1948 that supplied food and fuel to citizens of west Berlin when the Russians closed off land access to Berlin -
Fair Deal
Domestic reform proposals of the second Truman administration (1949-53); included civil rights legislation and repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, but only extensions of some New Deal programs were enacted -
Period: to
1950's
The comic Peanuts and Korean war -
Rock 'n' Roll
"crossover" musical style that rose to dominance in the 1950s, merging rhythm and blues with white bluegrass and coutry; featuring a heavy beat and driving rhythm, rock 'n' roll music became a defining feature of 1950s youth culture -
Beatniks
a group that came before hippies of writers who promoted rejection of typical standards and style, drug and sexual experimentation, and rejection of materialism. -
Joseph McCarthy Claims Targets
Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy gives a speech in Wheeling, Virginia, dramatically claiming, "I have in my hand a list of 205 cases of individuals who appear to be either card-carrying members or certainly loyal to the Communist Party" within the United States State Department. -
Beat Generation
a group of American writers who came to prominence in the 1950's, as well as the cultural phenomena that they wrote about. Central elements of "Beat" culture include a rejection of mainstream American values, experimentation with drugs and alternate forms of sexuality, and an interest in Eastern spirituality. (the 1950's) -
Dr. Jonas Salk
First to introduce an effective vaccine against Polio and more importantly distributed free to the public in 1955 -
Television
TV overpowered newspapers, magazines, radios as source of news info and diversion. TV programming created a popular image of american life, also sometimes portrayed less conventional lifestyles. -
Period: to
civil rights
Kim... people are literally dying -
Korean War
Also known as the "forgotten war." First "hot war" of the Cold war. The Korean War began in 1950 when the Soviet-backed North Koreans invaded South Korea before meeting a counter-offensive by UN Forces, dominated by the United States. -
North Korea invades South Korea
This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. 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. -
Eisenhower's election
Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower was the landslide winner, ending a string of Democratic wins that stretched back to 1932. During this time, Cold War tension between the United States and the Soviet Union was at a high level, as was fear of communism in the US, epitomized by the campaign of McCarthyism. -
Polio Vaccine
Introduced by Jonas Salk in 1954 and given out to the public by 1955. It was an inactivated polio vaccine that generates serum antibodies to neutralize the virus in the bloodstream. -
Earl Warren Supreme Court
Court created when Eisenhower appointed the previously conservative Earl Warren as chief justice over William J. Brennan Jr. The court became a vehicle for social change and advocate for individual rights. -
Brown v,. the Board
Topeka board of education denied Linda Brown admittance to an all white school close to her house. Thurgood Marshall argued that a separate but equal violated equal protection clause of the 14th amendment. Warren decided separate educational facilities were inherently unequal. -
Emmett Till
Murdered in 1955 for whistling at a white woman by her husband and his friends. They kidnapped him and brutally killed him. his death led to the American Civil Rights movement. An American Dilemma. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
After Rosa Parks is arrested, MLK rallies the black community to do this. This seriously hurt the bus companies. This lasted more than a year, and ended in '56 when the SC declared segregated buses unconstitutional. -
Elvis Presley
Memphis-born singer whose youth, voice, and sex appeal helped popularize rock 'n' roll in the mid-1950s. Commonly known using only his first name, he was an icon of popular culture, in both music and film -
Little Rock 9
a group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and then attended after the intervention of President Eisenhower, is considered to be one of the most important events in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. we went to central high -
Civil Rights Act 1957
Established a Civil Rights Commission, but had little real effect and was mostly symbolic -
Period: to
1960's
dirty hippies and commies -
new frontier
The campaign program advocated by JFK in the 1960 election. He promised to revitalize the stagnant economy and enact reform legislation in education, health care, and civil rights. John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election to the Democratic National Convention at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the Democratic slogan to inspire America to support him. -
Sit-ins
Started in Greensboro, NC protests by black college students, 1960-1961, who took seats at "whites only" lunch counters and refused to leave until served; in 1960 over 50,000 participated in sit-ins across the South. Their success prompted the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. -
Albert Sabin
Developed an even better, oral vaccine for polio and used it to allow for the eradication of polio. -
Counter Culture
white middle-class youths, called hippies. New Left, against Vietnam War, turned back on America becasue they believed in a society based on peace and love. rock'n'roll, colorful clothes, and the use of drugs, lived in large groups. lived in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbuy district becasue of the avalibility of drugs -
OPEC
An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the production and sale of petroleum. They imposed an embargo on the U.S. in 1973. This caused gas prices to skyrocket and made U.S. inflation grow even higher. -
first televised presidential debate
On this day in 1960, Massachusetts Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy and Republican Vice President Richard M. Nixon face each other in a nationally televised presidential campaign debate. -
Peace Corps
a federal agency created by President Kennedy in 1961 to promote voluntary service by Americans in foreign countries, it provides labor power to help developing countries improve their infrastructire, health care, educational systems, and other aspects of their societies. Part of Kennedy's New Frontier vision, the organization represented an effort by postwar liberals to promote American values and influence through productive exchanges across the world -
Freedom Riders
organized mixed-race groups who rode interstate buses deep into the South to draw attention to and protest racial segregation, beginning in 1961. This effort by northern young people to challenge racism proved a political and public relations success for the Civil Rights Movement -
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, theirs use of LSD -
March on Washington
a large political rally that took place in Washington, D.C. on August 28, 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech advocating racial harmony at the Lincoln Memorial during the march. widely credited as helping lead to the Civil Rights Act (1964) and the National Voting Rights Act (1965). 80% of the marchers were black. a. Philip Randolph. -
Assassination of JFK
In 1963 in Dallas, riding in a parade to drum up support for the upcoming presidential election in 1964, JFK was shot twice by Lee Harvey Oswald and pronounced dead at Parkland hospital. -
Lee Harvey Oswald
Ex-Marine and communist and communist sympathizer who assassianted JFK in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. He was murdered two days later as he was being transferred from one jail to another -
Jack Rudy
This nightclub owner killed Lee Harvey Oswald. Convicted, without a larger conspiracy. At 12:20 p.m., in the basement of the Dallas police station, Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, is shot to death by Jack Ruby, a Dallas nightclub owner. -
Warren Commission
Commission made by LBJ after killing of John F. Kennedy. (Point is to investigate if someone paid for the assassination of Kennedy.) Conclusion is that Oswald killed Kennedy on his own. Commissioner is Chief Justice Warren. -
Great Society
President Johnson called his version of the Democratic reform program the Great Society. In 1965, Congress passed many Great Society measures, including Medicare, civil rights legislation, and federal aid to education. -
Anti- War Movement
The Anti-War Movement was a student protest that started as the Free Speech movement in California and spread around the world. All members of the Anti-War Movement shared an opposition to war in Vietnam and condemned U.S. presence there. They claimed this was violating Vietnam's rights. This movement resulted in growing activism on campuses aimed at social reform etc. Primarily a middle-class movement. -
civil rights act of 1964
Passed by LBJ, outlawed public segregation and discrimination, forbade racial discrimination in the workplace -
assassination of Malcolm X
the former Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X was shot and killed by assassins identified as Black Muslims as he was about to address the Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. -
stonewall riots
In June 1969, police officers raided this Inn, which was a gay nightclub in New York, and began arresting patrons for attending the place. Gay onlookers taunted the police and then attacked them. Someone started a fire in the Inn, almost trapping people inside. This marked the beginning of the gay liberation movement. New organizations also began to rise up, like the Gay Liberation Front, which was founded in New York. -
silent majority
Nixon Administration's term to describe generally content, law-abiding middle-class Americans who supported both the Vietnam War and America's institutions. As a political tool, the concept attempted to make a subtle distinction between believers in "traditional" values and the vocal minority of civil rights agitators, student protesters, counter-culturalists, and other seeming disruptors of the social fabric -
Period: to
1970's
less dirty hippies and more commies -
Nixon's presidency
Elected President in 1968 and 1972 representing the Republican party. He was responsible for getting the United States out of the Vietnam War by using "Vietnamization", which was the withdrawal of 540,000 troops from South Vietnam for an extended period. He was responsible for the Nixon Doctrine. -
stagflation
Name given the economic condition throughout most of the 1970s in which prices rose rapidly (inflation) but without economic growth (stagnation). Unemployment rose along with inflation. In large part, these conditions were the economic consequences of rising oil prices. -
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
A governmental organization signed into law by Richard Nixon in 1970 designed to regulate pollution, emissions, and other factors that negatively influence the natural environment. The creation of the it marked a newfound commitment by the federal government to actively combat environmental risks and was a significant triumph for the environmentalist movement. -
Watergate Scandal
Watergate is a name given to the scandal the Nixon administration committed during the '72 presidential election where hired "goons" into Democrat HQ at Watergate hotel for dirt. This scandal revealed several other dirty plays Nixon's administration did the years leading up to the election and forced him to resign and killed the faith the public had in the government. -
Roe v. Wade
1973 All state laws prohibiting abortions were made unconstitutional based on a woman's right to privacy AND NOW TRUMP WANTS TO TAKE IT AWAY BC WHAT R WOMEN'S RIGHTS AMIRIGHT? -
Heritage Foundation
Conservative ideas; The Heritage Foundation, a public policy that promotes the principles that made America great: free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. -
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA) was signed on December 28, 1973, and provides for the conservation of species that are endangered or threatened throughout all or a significant portion of their range, and the conservation of the ecosystems on which they depend. -
Nixon's Resignation
Rather being impeached, Nixon resigns from office leading to Gerald Ford becoming the next president -
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
Held that the First Amendment prohibits governmental restrictions on independent political expenditures by labor unions and corporations. -
Period: to
1980's
“I am your father.”
“E.T. Phone Home”
“Wax on, wax off.”
“If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles an hour, you’re going to see some serious shit.”
"it's JOHNNY"
"Hey, hey! What's this I see? I thought this was a party. LET'S DANCE!" -
Election of 1980
Ronald Reagan won over Jimmy Carter because of the Iranian hostage crisis and America's stagflation -
A.I.D.S crisis
diagnosed in US in 1981; didn't receive much attention as perceived as a gay mans disease; Falwell said men getting what they deserve; over 32,000 died in a 7 yr period -
Reaganomics
The federal economic polices of the Reagan administration, elected in 1981. These policies combined a monetarist fiscal policy, supply-side tax cuts, and domestic budget cutting. Their goal was to reduce the size of the federal government and stimulate economic growth- -
MTV
Music Television Station that became a cultural happening in the 1980s, which has since been utilized by political groups to reach the youth vote. -
Rap Music
genre of African-American music of the 1980s and 1990s in which rhyming lyrics are chanted to a musical accompaniment -
Sandra Day O'Connor
The first woman to be in the Supreme Court. Appointed by Ronald Regan, O'Connor was an Associate Justice from 1981 until 2006 -
Reagan Doctrine
The US would give overt and covert support for anticommunist and resistance movements in order to roll back Communist expansion -
Iran Contra Affair
scandal that erupted after the Reagan administration sold weapons to Iran in hopes of freeing American hostages in Lebanon; money from the arms sales was used to aid the Contras (anti-Communist insurgents) in Nicaragua, even though Congress had prohibited this assistance. Talk of Reagan's impeachment ended when presidential aides took the blame for the illegal activity. -
Challenger Explosion
The space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds into flight, killing all aboard. The explosion was caused by a faulty seal in the fuel tank. The shuttle program was halted while investigators and officials drew up new safety regulations, but was resumed in 1988 with the flight of the Discovery. -
Period: to
1990's
*nickelodeon original theme song -
Persian Gulf War
after Iraq invaded Kuwait, the US invaded Iraq to liberate Kuwait; Iraq set Kuwait's oil fields on fire so the Americans couldn't gain the oil; this conflict caused the US to set military bases in Saudi Arabia; also called Operation: Desert Storm -
Balkan Crisis
Bosnian Muslims, Serbs, and Croats were killing each other by 10,000s, Clinton eventually was forced to intervene, US led NATO forces launched a massive aerial bombardment of Servia -
Rodney King incident
video footage was taken of the police beating an African american after a 115-mph chase throughout LA ended with him allegedly lunging at on of the officers. He received 56 blows from nightsticks while a dozen other officers stood by and watched. -
Presidential Election of 1992
Democrats chose Bill Clinton and Albert Gore Jr. as his running mate. Republicans chose Bush for another election and J. Danforth Quayle as his running mate. Third candidate Ross Perot added color to the election by getting 19.7 million votes in the election (no electoral votes though), but Clinton won, 370 to 168 in the Electoral College. Democrats also got control of both the House and the Senate. -
World Trade Center Attack (1993)
1993; terrorists drove a truck bomb underneath it and detonated it. The parking garage was gutted, but the buildings stood up until the two planes hit it in 2001 -
North American Free Trade Agreement NAFTA (1994)
established free trade zone between Canada, United States and Mexico, net gain in jobs due to opening of Mexican markets -
"don't ask don't tell" policy
is the common term for the policy about homosexuality in the U.S. military mandated by federal law. The act prohibits any homosexual or bisexual person from disclosing his or her sexual orientation while serving in the United States armed forces. The "don't ask" part of the policy indicates that superiors should not initiate investigation of a service member's orientation in the absence of disallowed behaviors, though mere suspicion of homosexual behavior can cause an investigation. -
Health care reform
The Clinton health care plan was a 1993 healthcare reform package proposed by the administration of President Bill Clinton and closely associated with the chair of the task force devising the plan, Hillary Clinton. Bill Clinton had campaigned heavily on health care in the 1992 election. The task force was created in January 1993, but its own processes were controversial. -
Lewinsky Affair
Monica Lewinsky had an affair with Clinton who denied it under oath, but there was physical evidence; he was impeached for perjury and his resulting political battles kept him from being productive in his final term paving way for the seemingly moral Bush in 2000 -
Welfare Reform
Bill that made reductions in welfare grants and required able welfare recipients to find employment.The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is a United States federal law considered to be a major welfare reform. -
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
Law passed by Republican Congress and signed by Clinton in election year, defining marriage as "between one man and one woman." -
Period: to
contemporary
and here we are -
election of 2000
Vice President Al Gore was the Democratic candidate; Governor George W. Bush of Texas ran for the Republicans.Gore won the popular vote, but the results in Florida were disputed and a recount was ordered byt the Florida courts. In a 5 to 4 decision, the Supreme Court ordered a halt to the recount, giving Bush the victory -
Bush v Gore
The court ruled that manual recounts of presidential ballots in the Nov. 2000 election could not proceed because inconsistent evaluation standards in different counties violated the equal protection clause. In effect, the ruling meant Bush would win election. -
9/11 attacks
Common shorthand for the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, in which 19 militant Islamist men hijacked and crashed four commercial aircraft. Nearly 3000 people were killed in the worst case of domestic terrorism in American history. -
patriot act
After September 11, congress passed a security legislation in order to make the country safer. The Patriot Act gives the authorities enhanced powers, such as looking up library records, to protect the country. -
No Child Left Behind
meant to fix a broken public education system; linked federal money to state action requiring states to have high standards for all students; evaluation of progress was through standardized testing -
2nd Iraq war
conflict in Iraq that consisted of two phases. The first of these was a brief, conventionally fought war in March–April 2003, in which a combined force of troops from the United States and Great Britain (with smaller contingents from several other countries) invaded Iraq and rapidly defeated Iraqi military and paramilitary forces. It was followed by a longer second phase in which a U.S.-led occupation of Iraq was opposed by an insurgency. -
Hurricane Katrina
Considered to be the one crisis of the Bush administrations second term and in is inefficiency to deal with the crisis. It destroyed 80% of New Orleans and more than 1300 people died, while the damages were $150 billion. -
Affordable Care Act
The attempt by the Obama Administration to provide health care insurance to more than 34 million Americans previously without insurance. Health Care cost have increased under Obama Care and millions of Americans are still without insurance. The most controversial parts of the bill is the requirement that Americans must buy insurance or face a penalty. Many people consider this unconstitutional. -
Housing Bubble
Federal Reserve Bank kept interest rates at unprecedented low levels; first to help the economy recover from the bursting of the technology bubble in 2000 and then to enable more Americans to borrow money to purchase homes; housing prices rose rapidly
