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Panama Canal
The United States built the Panama Canal to have a quicker passage to the Pacific from the Atlantic and vice versa. It cost $400,000,000 to build. Colombians would not let Americans build the canal, but then with the assistance of the United States a Panamanian Revolution occurred. The new ruling people allowed the United States to build the canal. -
Warren Burger Supreme Court
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1969 to 1986, he was responsible for bringing the Court somewhat back to the right after the Earl Warren years. He presided over major cases involving abortion, affirmative action, the death penalty, and school desegregation. -
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. This bill ha help more than millions of returning veterans find jobs and provide for their family. -
Period: to
Cold War
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Iron Curtain
After World War 2, Winston Churchill came to the United States to delivered a speech at Westminster College. During the speech, he praised the United States and wanted to create a “special relationship” with the English speaking country. He also talks about the “Iron Curtain” spread over Eastern Europe, separating the Western Hemisphere apart from the Eastern Hemisphere. This speech was the announcement of the Cold War - the rivalry between capitalism and communism society. -
West Berlin Supplies
Berlin is now divided up in East and West, Soviet have the east while the Allies have the west. An agency called the Kommandatura and the Allies begin their “Operation VITTLES” to help out Berlin with cargos of foods and supplies. This airlift went on for more than a year and more than 2.3 million tons of cargo was dropped into East Berlin during the time period. This were important to the West Berlin because with out this, many would died from starvation. -
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
1950s
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Rock 'n Roll
Genre of popular music that fused black rhythm and blues with white bluegrass and country styles, crossing the cultural divide that had separated black and white musical traditions. -
Televison
TV overpowered newspapers, magazines, radios as source of news info and diversion. TV advertising meant a vast market for new fashions/ products. TV programming created a popular image of american life: white, middle class, suburban, with traditional gender roles. also sometimes portrayed less conventional lifestyles. Oppressed/less fortunate people could see the way everyone else lived - contributed to sense of powerlessness and isolation. -
Alger and Ethel Rosenberg
Alger and Ethel Rosenberg was put on trial for selling nuclear secrets to the Russians. At the New York Southern District federal court, the couple defended the father and son team of Emanuel and Alexander Bloch. Roy Cohn was also involved with this case; Cohn was best known for his association with Senator Joseph McCarthy. In the end, the Couple was both prosecuted This event is important because the HUAAC activities in searching for communists increase significantly after the trial. -
Dr. Jonas Salk
Salk was an American biologist and physician best known for the research and development of a killed-virus polio vaccine. While researching and developing a vaccine for polio, an infection disease caused by a virus that lives in the throat and intestinal tract, Salk injected himself, his wife and his three sons. Salk announced the success of the initial human tests to a national radio audience on March 26, 1953. -
38th Parallel Establishment
As the North and South are still fighting for the Korean War, advisers from both side were willing to accept the 38th parallel boundary as a way to end this war. A line was drawn on the 38-degree latitude that gave the South an extra 1,500 square miles of territory and created a 2 miles wide demilitarized zone (DMZ) that still exist today. The line the United States create hope to bring peace, only divide the the peninsula up even more. -
Earl Warren Supreme Court
controversial Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1953-1969); he led the Court in far-reaching racial, social, and political rulings, including school desegregation and protecting rights of persons accused of crimes; presided over the Brown v. the Board of Education case. -
Brown v. Board of Education
The 1954 supreme court decision holding that school segregation in Topeka, Kansas, was inherently unconstitutional because it violated the 14th amendment's guarantee of equal protection. this case marked the end of legal segregation in the us. -
Period: to
Civil Rights
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Elvis Presley
Memphis-born singer whose youth, voice, and sex appeal helped popularize rock 'n' roll in the mid-1950s, the music was heavily drawn from black rhythm and blues traditions. Commonly known using only his first name, he was an icon of popular culture, in both music and film. Elvis was the important because it help the whites became more aware of the black culture and "steal" many more music from them. -
Polio Vaccine
Polio crippled and killed millions worldwide, and the successful vaccine virtually eliminated the scourge caused. Generates serum antibodies to neutralize the virus in the bloodstream. Jonas Salk an American doctor invented the polio vaccine in 1953 and announced safe on April 12, 1955. -
Albert Sabin
Best known as the developer of the oral live virus polio vaccine, Dr. Sabin not only dedicated his entire professional career to the elimination of human suffering though his groundbreaking medical advances, he also waged a tireless campaign against poverty and ignorance throughout his lifetime. On October 6, 1956 Sabin announced that his live-virus polio vaccine is ready for mass testing. -
Orval Faubus
He was the governor of Arkansas during the time of the Little Rock Crisis. He attempted to block the integration of the school by using the national guard, leading to a confrontation with the Eisenhower and ultimately integration of the school. -
Little Rock Nine
9 black students enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, testing the Supreme Court ruling that declared desegregation in public schools. Mandated that all public schools be integrated. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus called in the state National Guard to bar the black students’ entry into the school. In response Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the “Little Rock Nine” into the school. -
Sputnik
The world’s first every artificial satellite was launch at 10:29 pm in Moscow. It has a diameter of 22 inches and it had a complete orbit once every hour and 36 minutes. The United States is now doomed with fear of the Soviets taking over space technology. The satellite was soon deteriorated and burn up in space. Sputnik was important to history because it help both the United States and Soviet further improving their space technologies for the “Space Race”. -
LSD
LSD is one of the most potent, mood-changing chemicals. It is manufactured from lysergic acid, which is found in the ergot fungus that grows on rye and other grains.It is produced in crystal form in illegal laboratories, mainly in the United States. These crystals are converted to a liquid for distribution. It is odorless, colorless, and has a slightly bitter taste. -
Chicano Mural Movement
Began in the 1960s in Mexican-American barrios throughout the Southwest. Artists began using the walls of city buildings, housing projects, schools, and churches to depict Mexican-American culture. -
Period: to
1960s
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Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
Cartel comprising Middle Eastern states and Venezuela first organized in 1960. OPEC aimed to control access to and prices of oil, wresting power from Western oil companies and investors. In the process, it gradually strengthened the hand of non-Western powers on the world stage. -
The Kennedy and Nixon Debate
Television may well have tipped the scales. Nixon agreed to meet Kennedy in four so-called debates. The contestants crossed words in millions of living rooms before audiences estimated at 60 million or more. Nobody "won" the debates. But Kennedy at least held his own and did not suffer by comparison with the more "experienced" Nixon. The debates demonstrated the importance of image in a television age. -
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. -
Bay of Pigs
Fidel Castro’s guerilla group overthrew General Fulgencio Batista. This made the American people more nervous than ever. Early 1960s, President Eisenhower recruited 1,400 Cuban to interfere with Castro, it ended up in a disaster because the lack of support. The incident was an embarrassment and lead Castro pleading for Soviet aid.This is important both the United States and the Soviet because this there were a possible World War 3, but fortunately that did not happen. -
Kennedy's Speech at Rice University
Fear were taken over the American because the launch of Sputnik. President Kenny visited Rice University to give a speech about launching a space mission for mankind to go to the moon. He promised the people he will complete this man on the moon mission within “this decade” and there will be more mission to come. This speech marks the Americans’ spirit of wanting to win over the Soviet Union at the “Space Race”, also increasing of space technology research. -
Feminism
This refers to the 1960s Women's Liberation Movement that campaigned for equal rights particularly in America on issues such as employment, marital relationships, sexual orientation and for social and economic rights in addition to the more basic rights they had won during first-wave. -
"I Have A Dream" Speech
A public speech delivered by Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King Jr. during the march on Washington for jobs and freedom. He wanted to put an end to racism in the United States and also called for civil and economic rights. His main purpose of his speech is to remind America of the struggles of the Blacks in America and to demand equality. -
Lee Harvey Oswald
Ex-Marine and communist and communist sympathizer who assassinated 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 Ruby
Oswald was brought to the basement of the Dallas police headquarters on his way to a more secure county jail. As Oswald came into the room, Jack Ruby emerged from the crowd and fatally wounded him with a single shot . Ruby, who was immediately detained, claimed that rage at Kennedy’s murder was the motive for his action. Some called him a hero, but he was nonetheless charged with first-degree murder. -
Warren Commission
Was established on November 29, 1963, by Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the assassination of JFK on November 22, 1963. Its 888-page final report was presented to Johnson on September 24, 1964. It concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the killing of Kennedy, officer J.D. Tippit and that Jack Ruby acted alone in the murder of Oswald. The Commission's findings have since proven controversial and been both challenged and supported by later studies. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
This act made racial, religious, and sex discrimination by employers illegal and gave the government the power to enforce all laws governing civil rights, including desegregation of schools and public places. -
The 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. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
Invalidated the use of any test or device to deny the vote and authorized federal examiners to register voters in states that had disenfranchised blacks; as more blacks became politically active and elected black representatives, it brought jobs, contracts, and facilities and services for the black community, encouraging greater social equality and decreasing the wealth and education gap -
Watts Riot
The Watts Riot was a civil disturbance in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles from August 11 to 17, 1965. The six-day riot resulted in 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, 3,438 arrests, and over $40 million in property damage. It was the most severe riot in the city's history until the Los Angeles riots of 1992 -
Hippies
believed in anti-materalism, free use of drugs, they had a casual attitude toward sex and anti-conformity, (1960s) practiced free love and took drugs, flocked to San Francisco- low rent/interracial, they lived in communal "crash pads", smoked marijuana and took LSD, sexual revolution, new counter culture, Protestors who influenced US involvement in Vietnam. -
Ike Turner
Ike Turner was first known for their late-1960s and early-1970s recordings and their soul revue. Prior to that, Ike was well established as a seminal figure in the early years of rock & roll as both a performer and talent scout. He overtly sexual performers in rock. Ike and his wife recordings rarely captured the intensity of their live performances; in fact, their only gold album and one of their two highest charting is a live album. -
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. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a military offensive launched by 70,000 Vietcong and the PAVN, coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities in S. Vietnam. Although Americans and the S. Vietnamese were defeated, it showed that the PAVN and Vietcong would continue to fight. Their attack caused American public to doubt final victory in Vietnam. As the attacks marked a turning point in the Vietnam War and the beginning of the slow, painful American withdrawal from the region. -
Death of Martin Luther King JR.
On the night of April 3, King gave a speech at the Mason Temple Church in Memphis.Just after 6 p.m. the following day, King was standing on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel, where he and associates were staying, when a sniper’s bullet struck him in the neck. He was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, at the age of 39. -
Stonewall Riot
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. -
Apollo 11
The Apollo 11 was the results of 8 years after the announcement of President Kennedy’s goal of landing on the moon by the end of the decade. The mission took 8 days complete and finally at 4:17 pm the astronauts landed on the moon and 6 hours 30 minutes later, Neil Armstrong became the first man step on moon. This event is important to history because it prove that not thing is impossible to the United States and there is way more out in the universe for everyone to explore. -
Period: to
1970s
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Environmental Protection Agency
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. -
E-mail
Ray Tomlinson is credited with inventing email in 1972. He picked the @ symbol from the computer keyboard to denote sending messages from one computer to another. So then, for anyone using Internet standards, it was simply a matter of nominating name-of-the-user@name-of-the-computer. Internet pioneer Jon Postel, who we will hear more of later, was one of the first users of the new system. It certainly was, and it has lasted to this day. -
Title IX
A part of the Education Amendments which prohibited sex discrimination in any educational programs or activities that are funded by the federal government. -
Roe v. Wade
Legalized abortion and is at the center of the current controversy between "pro-life" and "pro-choice" advocates. The Court ruled that a woman has the right to an abortion without interference from the government in the first trimester of pregnancy, contending that it is part of her "right to privacy." The Court maintained that right to privacy is not absolute, however, and granted states the right to intervene in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. -
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. -
Cell Phone
The first handheld mobile phone was demonstrated by John F. Mitchell and Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing c. 4.4 lbs (2 kg). In 1983, the DynaTAC 8000x was the first commercially available handheld mobile phone -
Endangered Species Act
Identifies threatened and endangered species in the US, and puts their protection ahead of economic considerations, protected threshold and endangered species and directed the FWS to prepare recovery plans; Richard Nixon, Enacted in 1973. Recognizes the value of species habitat. Authorizes designation of critical habitat and calls for recovery plans for listed species. Legislation designed to protect species in danger of extinction. -
Personal Computer
The first was launched by Apple, called Apple II. IBM later interned the market and dominated. The result was thousands of jobs, some in the manufacturing of computers and hardware. -
Jimmy Carter
President of the United States who was a peanut farmer and former governor of Georgia, he defeated Gerald Ford in 1976. As President, he arranged the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel in 1978 but saw his foreign policy legacy tarnished by the Iranian Revolution and hostage crisis in 1979. Domestically, he tried to rally the American spirit in the face of economic decline, but was unable to stop the rapid increase in inflation. -
Video Head System (VHS)
The VHS videocassette format is introduced in North America at a press conference before the Consumer Electronics Show starts in Chicago. It was VHS vs. Betamax. VHS, or Video Home System, was based on an open standard developed by JVC in 1976. The format allowed longer playtime and faster rewinding and fast-forwarding. JVC showed a two-hour tape that was so compact, Popular Science called it “smaller, in fact, than some audio cassette decks.” -
Iran Hostage Crisis
The 444 days in which American embassy workers were held captive by Iranian.The crisis began when revolutionaries stormed the American embassy, demanding that the United States return the shah to Iran for trial. The episode was marked by botched diplomacy and failed rescue attempts by the Carter Administration. After permanently damaging relations between the two countries, the crisis ended with the hostage's release the day Ronald Reagan became president -
Period: to
1980s
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Ronald Reagan
First elected president in 1980 and elected again in 1984. He ran on a campaign based on the common man and "populist" ideas. Iran released hostages on his Inauguration Day in 1980. He developed Reagannomics. He cut out many welfare and public works programs. He used the Strategic Defense Initiative to avoid conflict. His meetings with Gorbachev were the first steps to ending the Cold War. He was also responsible for the Iran-contra Affair which bought hostages with guns. -
Reaganomics
Reaganomics policy based on the theory that allowing companies the opportunity to make profits, and encouraging investment, will stimulate the economy and lead to higher standards of living for everyone. Argued that tax cuts can be used stimulate economic growth. Move money into the hands of the people and they will invest, thus creating prosperity. -
MTV (Music Television)
MTV founded Aug, 1 1981, was 24/7 stream of music videos. In the 1980s, MTV was instrumental in promoting the careers of performers such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince and Duran Duran, whose videos played in heavy rotation. MTV went on to revolutionize the music industry and become an influential source of pop culture and entertainment in the United States and other parts of the world, including Europe, Asia and Latin America, which all have MTV-branded channels. -
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. -
Internet
Began as the government funded Arpanet in 1963. Increased rapidly after being released from the government, and upon the advent of the personal computer. The World Wide Web made publishing and accessing data from the Internet more organized. -
Reagan Doctrine
The doctrine served as the foundation for the Reagan administration’s support of “freedom fighters” around the globe.America’s “mission” was to “nourish and defend freedom and democracy.” Reagan declared that, “We must stand by our democratic allies. And we must not break faith with those who are risking their live, to defy Soviet-supported aggression and secure rights which have been ours from birth. He concluded, “Support for freedom fighters is self-defense.” -
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
On January 28, 1986, the American shuttle orbiter Challenger broke up 73 seconds after liftoff, bringing a devastating end to the spacecraft’s 10th mission It was later determined that two rubber O-rings, which had been designed to separate the sections of the rocket booster, had failed due to cold temperatures on the morning of the launch. The tragedy and its aftermath received extensive media coverage and prompted NASA to temporarily suspend all shuttle missions. -
George H.W. Bush
Forty-first president of the United States. A former congressman, diplomat, businessman, Republican party chairman, and director the CIA, Bush served for eight years as Reagan's vice president before being elected President in 1988. As president, he oversaw the end of the Cold War and the revitalization of the American military in the Persian Gulf War. He faced a severe economic recession late in his term that severely damaged his popularity, and he lost his bid for reelection in 1992. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
As the Cold War began to slow down, the spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party announced starting at midnight that day, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country’s borders. Soon the wall was gone and Berlin was united for the first time since 1945. The reunification of East and West Germany was made one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The fall of the Berlin Wall mark the significant end of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. -
Period: to
1990s
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Persian Gulf War
After Iraq leader Saddam Hussein ordered invasion and occupation of the neighboring country Kuwait in early August 1990. The US invaded Iraq to liberate Kuwait, Iraq set Kuwait's oil fields on fire so the Americans couldn't gain the oil. Hussein defied United Nations Security Council demands to withdraw from Kuwait by mid-January 1991 this conflict caused the US to set military bases in Saudi Arabia, also called Operation Desert Storm -
Bill Clinton
Entered off in January 1993, as the first democratic president since Jimmy Carter and a self-proclaimed activist. He had a very domestic agenda. When in office he had a lot of controversial appointments. When a longtime friend, Vince Foster, committed suicide it sparked an escalating inquiry into some banking and real estate ventures involving the president and his wife in the early 1980s. This became known as the Whitewater affair. -
Don't ask, don't tell Policy
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 or from speaking about any homosexual relationships, including marriages or other familial attributes. -
North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement took effect Jan.1st, 1994, creating a free-trade area between the US, Canada, and Mexico; provides for the tariff-free movement of goods and products, financial services, telecommunications, investment, and patent protection within and between the signatories -
Period: to
Contemporary
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Ross Perot
He rose as a significant third party candidate. A tech-company billionaire who spent his own money campaigning, he ran on one main issue: the U.S. must get the debt under control--he caused the split votes letting Democrats win. -
Bush v. Gore
This case ruled in favor of Bush by saying that recounting the votes in certain counties of Florida was unconstitutional because of equal protection of the law; Gore's wish to make the process as simple and painless as possible backfired. -
9/11 Attack
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. -
Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act
Law passed due to 9/11 attacks; sought to prevent further terrorist attacks by allowing greater government access to electronic communications and other information; criticized by some as violating civil liberties. -
No Child Left Behind Education Act
An education bill created and signed by the George W. Bush administration. Designed to increase accountability standards for primary and secondary schools, the law authorized several federal programs to monitor those standards and increased choices for parents in selecting schools for their children. The program was highly controversial, in large part because it linked results on standardized to federal funding for schools and school districts. -
2nd Iraq War
Saddam Hussain was accused of having stockpiles of weapons os mass destruction. President George W Bush convinced the congress to declare war on the dictator in 2003. Within a few weeks the dictator was overthrown but an insurgent war started that lasted until 2011. -
Hurricane Katrina Disaster
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. When the storm had a Category 3 rating 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. Hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were displaced from their homes, and experts estimate that Katrina caused more than $100 billion in damage. -
Barack Obama
Forty-forth president of the United States, and first African American elected to that office. A lawyer and community organizer in Chicago, Obama served in the Illinois State Senate before being elected to the U.S. senate in 2004. After a protracted primary election campaign against Senator Hillary Clinton, Obama sealed the Democratic Party's nomination and defeated Senator John McCain on November 4, 2008. -
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
ARRA, intended to create jobs and promote investment and consumer spending during the recession that followed the financial collapse in 2008. No Republicans in the House and only 3 Republicans in the Senate voted for this bill, arguing against the massive growth in federal spending. -
Affordable Care Act
A US federal statute signed into law by Obama on March 23, 2010. Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act amendment, it represents the most significant regulatory overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. It was enacted to increase the quality and affordability of health insurance, lower the uninsured rate by expanding public and private insurance coverage, and reduce the costs of healthcare for individuals and the government -
Undoing of DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act)
Section 3 of the Act was struck down in 2013 (United States v. Windsor), DOMA, in conjunction with other statutes, had barred same-sex married couples from being recognized as "spouses" for purposes of federal laws, effectively barring them from receiving federal marriage benefits. DOMA's passage did not prevent individual states from recognizing same-sex marriage, but it imposed constraints on the benefits received by all legally married same-sex couples.
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