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Period: 945 to
Civil Rights
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Panama Canal
The Panama Canal was created to have a water passage across the isthmus of Panama to link the Atlantic and Pacific .After the failure of a French construction team in the 1880s, the U.S. commenced building a canal across the Panama isthmus in 1904. Opened in 1914, oversight of the Canal was transferred from the U.S. to Panama in 1999.U.S. helped the Panamanian independence movement, eventually negotiating a deal with the new government in 1903 that gave them rights to the canal zone. -
G.I. Bill
The Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944, also known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided benefits for returning World War II veterans. the goal was to provide immediate rewards for practically all World War II veterans. The act avoided the life insurance policy payout for World War I veterans that caused political turmoil for a decade after that war. Some Benefits included payments of tuition and living expenses to attend high school, college or vocational school, low-cost mortgages. -
Atomic Bomb
The atomic bomb, and nuclear bombs, are powerful weapons that use nuclear reactions as their source of explosive energy. Scientists first developed nuclear weapons technology during World War II. Atomic bombs have been used only twice in war—both times by the United States against Japan at the end of World War II. A period of nuclear proliferation followed that war, and during the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union vied for supremacy in a global nuclear arms race. -
Period: to
Cold War
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Berlin Airlift
Berlin was divided into four sections. In 1948 the Russions-who wanted Berlin all for themselves, closed all highways, railraods and canals from western occupied Germany into western occupied Berlin. They believed this would drive Britain, France and the US out of the city. Instead of retreated from West Berlin, the US decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This was known as the Berlin Airlift and brought 23million + tons of cargo into West Berlin -
Fair Deal
The Fair Deal was an ambitious set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in his January 1949 State of the Union address. More generally the term characterizes the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administration, from 1945 to 1953. It offered new proposals to continue New Deal liberalism, but with the Conservative Coalition controlling Congress, only a few of its major initiatives became law and then only if they had considerable GOP support. -
The Korean War
The Korean war began when 75,000 soldiers from North Korea poured across the 38th parallel. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War between the West and the Soviet Union. Within a month American troops had entered the war on South Korea's behalf. It was a war against the forces of international communism itself. July 1953, the Korean War came to an end. In all, some 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the war. The Korean peninsula is still divided today -
2nd Red Scare
The second Red Scare refers to the fear of communism that permeated American politics, culture, and society from the late 1940s through the 1950s, during the opening phases of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. “McCarthyism” became the label for the tactic of undermining political opponents by making unsubstantiated attacks on their loyalty to the United States.The initial infrastructure for waging war on domestic communism was built during the first Red Scare, with the creation of the FBI . -
Period: to
1950s
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Polio Vaccine
On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announces that he has successfully tested a vaccine against the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio. In 1952 there were 58,000 new cases reported in the United States, and more than 3,000 died from the disease. For promising eventually to eradicate the disease, which is known as “infant paralysis” because it mainly affects children, Dr. Salk was celebrated as the great doctor-benefactor of his time. -
Beat Generation
The Beat Generation was a literary movement started by a group of authors whose work influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. Majority work was published throughout the 1950s. Central elements of Beat culture are rejection of standard narrative values, spiritual quest, exploration of American and Eastern religions, rejection of materialism, explicit portrayals of the human condition, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and sexual liberation and exploration. -
Elvis
Elvis Presley was an American singer and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. His energy and sexually provocative performance style made him enormously popular -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation.This ruling paved the way for integration and was a major victory of the Civil Rights Movement -
TV Shows
1950s TV was led by sitcoms and game shows. Obviously specials were still a big deal and color TV was starting to appear in some households. I Love Lucy enjoyed a magical three year run at the top of the ratings. Game shows like $64,000 Question and The Price is Right were very popular too.But in the late 50s, westerns completely took over. In 1958, eight of the top ten TV shows were westerns.TV specials were very important to spreading the message back then and they attracted huge audiences. -
Rock 'n' Roll
Rock and Roll emerged as musical style in America in the 1950s, Early rock and roll combined elements of blues, jazz and rhythm and blues, and is also influenced by traditional folk music, gospel music, and country and western. In the earliest rock and roll styles, either the piano or saxophone was often the lead instrument, but these instruments were generally replaced or supplemented by guitar in the middle to late 1950s -
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman known as Little Richard, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, and actor. He is known as the architect of Rock & Roll.Little Richard's most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s,when his work laid the foundation for rock and roll.Little Richard has been honored by many institutions. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of its first group of inductees in 1986. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. -
Bill Haley and the Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band, founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981.From late 1954 to late 1956, the group placed nine singles in the Top 20, one of those a number one and three more in the Top Ten. Bandleader Bill Haley had previously been a country music performer; after recording a country and western-styled version of "Rocket 88", a rhythm and blues song, he changed musical direction to a new sound which came to be called rock and roll. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a civil-rights protest where African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The boycott took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, and is regarded as the first large-scale U.S. demonstration against segregation. Four days before the boycott began, Rosa Parks, was arrested and fined for refusing to give her bus seat to a white man. The U.S. Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system. -
Sputnik
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was a 58 cm diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses.Tracking and studying Sputnik 1 from Earth provided scientists with valuable information.This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the Cold War. -
Little Rock 9
The Little Rock Nine were a group of 9 black students who enrolled at Central High School in Arkansas. Their attendance at the school was a test of Brown v. Board of Education. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students’ entry into the high school. Later that month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school. -
Death of MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, and was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m.He was the leader of the Civil Rights Movement who was known for his use of nonviolence. James Earl Ray, a fugitive from the Missouri State Penitentiary, was arrested on June 8, 1968, and charged with the crime. March 10, 1969, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary -
Ho Chi Minh Trail
The Ho Chi Minh Trail was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) through the kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia. The system provided support, in the form of manpower and materiel, to the National Front for the Liberation of South VietnamThe system provided support, in the form of manpower and materiel, to the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, or North Vietnamese Army, during the Vietnam War. -
Ike Turner
Ike Turner was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. An early pioneer of fifties rock and roll, he is most popularly known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s with his then-wife Tina Turner in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue.Turner began playing piano and guitar when he was eight, forming his group, the Kings of Rhythm, as a teenager. His first recording, "Rocket 88", is considered the first rock and roll song -
New Frontier
The New Frontier was John F. Kennedy's plan and slogan to inspire America to support him in the United States presidential election of 1960.. Unemployment benefits were expanded increased, aid was provided to improve housing and transportation,the construction of a national highway system started under Eisenhower, a water pollution control act was passed to protect the country’s rivers and streams. -
Sit-Ins
Sit-Ins were a new tactic for the peaceful activist' strategy. Black college students walked up to a whites-only lunch counter , and asked for coffee. When service was refused, the students sat patiently. Despite threats and intimidation, the students sat quietly and waited to be served. Often the blacks would be jeered and threatened by local customers. Sometimes they would be pelted with food or ketchup. In the event of a physical attack, the student would take the punishment. -
Period: to
1960s
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Peace Corps
In 1960, John F. Kennedy, proposed to help the developing countries, by promoting peace. He encouraged them to go to needy countries and give them aid, financially, educationally, and physically. The Peace Corps is a volunteer program run by the United States government. The mission of the Peace Corps includes providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand American culture, and helping Americans to understand the cultures of other countries. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
In the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba. President Kennedy decided to enact a naval blockade around Cuba and made it clear the U.S. was prepared to use military force if necessary to handle this threat to national security. The U.S. agreed to Nikita Khrushchev’s offer to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for the U.S. not invading Cuba -
Counter Culture
Counter Culture was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon that developed in the United States in the 1960s.. The movement gained momentum as the Civil Rights Movement continued to grow, and would later become revolutionary with the expansion of the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam. These people targeted human sexuality, women's rights, traditional modes of authority, experimentation with psychoactive drugs, and differing interpretations of the American Dream. -
LSD
LSD was used in experiments by psychiatrists through the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. 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 in the United States. While the ‘60s counterculture used the drug to escape the problems of society, the Western intelligence community and the military saw it as a potential chemical weapon. -
Assassination of JFK
John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. in Dallas, Texas while riding in a presidential motorcade in Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was riding with his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and his wife, Nellie, when he was shot. Governor Connally was seriously wounded in the attack. The motorcade rushed to Parkland Memorial Hospital where President Kennedy was pronounced dead about thirty minutes after the shooting -
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was an American Marxist and ex-Marine who assassinated United States President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Government investigations concluded that Oswald shot and killed Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository as the President traveled by motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Oswald was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps and defected to the Soviet Union in October 1959. He moved back to Dallas TX with his Russian wife. -
Warren Commision
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, was established by President Johnson through Executive Order 11130 on November 29, 1963 to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that had taken place in November. It concluded that President Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald and that Oswald acted entirely alone. It also concluded that Jack Ruby also acted alone when he killed Oswald two days later. -
Southern Bloc
The Southern bloc was the electoral voting bloc of the states of the Southern United States for issues that were regarded as particularly important to the interests of Democrats in the southern states. Southern Democrats disenfranchised blacks in every state of the former Confederacy at the turn of the 20th century White primaries were another means that the Democrats used to consolidate their political power, excluding blacks from voting in primaries -
Birmingham March
The Birmingham March was a movement organized in early 1963 by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to bring attention to the integration efforts of African Americans in Birmingham, Alabama. Led by Martin Luther King Jr., and others, the campaign of nonviolent direct action culminated in widely publicized confrontations between young black students and white civic authorities, and eventually led the municipal government to change the city's discrimination laws. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington was a massive protest march that occurred in August 1963, when some 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Also known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the event aimed to draw attention to continuing challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans a century after emancipation. It was also the occasion of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s now-iconic “I Have A Dream” speech. -
Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer was a 1964 voter registration drive sponsored by civil rights organizations such as the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. It was aimed at increasing black voter registration in Mississippi, the Freedom Summer workers included black and white volunteers. The Ku Klux Klan, police and state and local authorities carried out a series of violent attacks against the activists, including arson, beatings, false arrest and the murder of at least three people. -
Daisy Girl Ad
The Daisy Girl Ad was a controversial political advertisement aired on television during the 1964 United States presidential election by president Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign. It is considered to be an important factor in Johnson's landslide victory over Barry Goldwater and an important turning point in political and advertising history. It remains one of the most controversial political advertisements ever made. The advertisement shows a girl in a meadow that is wiped out by nuclear missile -
Hippies
The Hippy Movement was a counter cultural movement that rejected the mores of mainstream American life. The movement originated on college campuses in the United States. The name derived from “hip,” a term applied to the Beatniks of the 1950s, such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, who were generally considered to be the precursors of hippies. The group arose in part as opposition to the US involvement in the Vietnam War. The express free love and peace. -
Selma March
The Selma march occurred in 1965 in Alabama, a Southern state with very racist policies. It was an effort to register black voters in the South, protesters marched 54 miles from Selma to the capital of Montgomery. They dealt with deadly violence from local authorities and white groups. The media documented the march and protestorsy achieved their goal of reaching Montgomery. The march raised awareness of the difficulties faced by black voters, and the need for a national Voting Rights Act. -
Anti-war Movement
Opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War began in 1964 on various college campuses in the U.S. and increased as the war grew deadlier. In 1967 a coalition of antiwar activists formed the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam which organized several large anti-war demonstrations between the late-1960s and 1972. Counter-cultural songs, organizations, plays and other literary works encouraged a spirit of nonconformism, peace, and anti-establishmentarianism. -
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two humans on the Moon. Mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American, landed the lunar module Eagle on July 20, 1969. The primary objective of Apollo 11 was to complete a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961: perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy into an initial Earth-orbit of 114 by 116 miles. -
Period: to
1970s
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Richard Nixon Presidency
Richard Nixon, the 37th president, is best remembered as the only president to resign from office. Nixon stepped down halfway through his second term, rather than face impeachment because of illegal activities in the Watergate scandal. Nixon’s achievements included forging diplomatic ties with China and the Soviet Union, and withdrawing U.S. troops from an unpopular war in Vietnam. However, Nixon’s involvement in Watergate tarnished his legacy and deepened American cynicism about government. -
Space Shuttle Program
In 1972 Nixon launches the Space Shuttle Program. On this day in presidential history, Richard Nixon signs a bill authorizing $5.5 million in funding to develop a space shuttle. The space shuttle represented a giant leap in the technology of space travel. Designed to function more like a “reusable” airplane than a one-use-only rocket, the shuttle allowed NASA scientists more time in space with which to conduct space-related research. NASA launched Columbia, the first space shuttle, in 1981. -
Title IX
On this day in 1972, Title IX of the education amendments of 1972 is 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 level–in short, nearly all schools–must provide fair and equal treatment of the sexes in all areas, including athletics. -
Equal Rights Amendment
On March 22, 1972 the Equal Rights Amendment is passed by the U.S. Senate and sent to the states for ratification.the Equal Rights Amendment was to provide for the legal equality of the sexes and prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex. More than four decades later, the revival of feminism in the late 1960s spurred its introduction into Congress. However a conservative ideology eroded support for the Equal Rights Amendment, which failed to achieve ratification by three-fourths of the states. -
Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis Schlafly was an American constitutional lawyer and conservative political activist. She was known for staunchly conservative social and political views, anti feminism, opposition to legal abortion, and her successful campaign against ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Schlafly has been a national leader of the conservative movement since the publication of her best-selling book, A Choice Not An Echo. She has been a leader of the pro-family movement since 1972. -
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
The Watergate scandal began on June 17, 1972, when "plumbers" were arrested in the Democratic National Committee office, located in the Watergate Hotel. The plumbers were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and they had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. Nixon tried to cover up the crime afterwards, and in August 1974, after his role was was revealed, Nixon resigned. The Watergate scandal led many Americans to question their leaders. -
Roe V. Wade
Roe v. Wade was a landmark legal decision issued on January 22, 1973, in which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas statute banning abortion, effectively legalizing the procedure across the United States. The court held that a woman’s right to an abortion was implicit in the right to privacy protected by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Prior to Roe v. Wade, abortion had been illegal throughout much of the country since the late 19th century. -
Gerald Ford
America’s 38th president, Gerald Ford took office on August 9, 1974, following the resignation of President Richard Nixon, who left the White House in disgrace over the Watergate scandal. Ford became the first unelected president in the nation’s history. A Republican congressman from Michigan, Ford had been appointed vice president less than a year earlier by President Nixon. He is credited with helping to restore public confidence in government after the disillusionment of the Watergate era. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini stormed the U.S. Embassy in Iran, taking 60+ American hostages. This was because of President Carter’s decision to allow Iran’s Shah, to come to the United States for cancer treatment. It was a way for the student revolutionaries to declare a break with Iran’s past and an end to American interference in its affairs. The hostages were set free just hours after President Ronald Reagan delivered his inaugural address. -
Three mile Island
Three Mile Island is the site of a nuclear power plant in south central Pennsylvania. In March 1979, a series of mechanical and human errors at the plant caused the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history, resulting in a partial meltdown that released dangerous radioactive gasses into the atmosphere. Three Mile Island stoked public fears about nuclear power. No new nuclear power plants have been built in the United States since the accident. -
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O’Connor was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006, and was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. A moderate conservative, she was known for her dispassionate and meticulously researched opinions. For 24 years, Sandra Day O’Connor was a pioneering force on the Supreme Court and will always 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. -
Video Head System
The VHS system is a standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes. Developed by Victor Company of Japan in the early 1970s, it was released in Japan in late 1976 and in the United States in 1977. VHS emerged as the dominant home video format in tape media. VHS machines pull the tape out from the cassette shell and wrap it around thehead drum which rotates at 1500 rpm for PAL, one complete rotation of the head corresponding to one video frame. -
Reagonomics
Reaganomics refers to the economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. Reagan's economic policy were to reduce the growth of government spending, reduce the federal income tax and capital gains tax, reduce government regulation, and tighten the money supply in order to reduce inflation. During Reagan's presidency, the national debt almost tripled and the U.S. went from being the world's largest creditor nation to the world's largest debtor in under eight years -
Period: to
1980s
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MTV
MTV is an American cable and satellite television channel owned by Viacom Media Networks and headquartered in New York City MTV was launched on August 1, 1981, the channel originally aired music videos as guided by television personalities known as "video jockeys" .At first, MTV's main target demographic was young adults, but today it is primarily teenagers, particularly high school and college students. MTV now consists mainly of original reality, comedy and drama programming -
A.I.D.S. Crisis
In the 1980s, the outbreak of HIV and AIDS swept across the United States and rest of the world, though the disease originated decades earlier.Though the CDC discovered all major routes of the disease’s transmission as well as that female partners of AIDS-positive men could be infected in 1983, the public considered AIDS a gay disease. It was even called the “gay plague” for many years after. -
Reagan Presidency
Ronald Reagan’s first term in office was marked by a massive buildup of U.S. weapons and troops, as well as an escalation of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Key to his administration’s foreign policy initiatives was the Reagan Doctrine, under which America provided aid to anticommunist movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 1983, Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a plan to develop space-based weapons to protect America from attacks by Soviet nuclear missiles. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
In an address to the nation, President Ronald Reagan proposes that the United States embark on a program to develop antimissile 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 controversial Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Reagan made nuclear arms control one of the keynotes of his administration. Reagan shared this idea with the Soviets so they would spend lots of time and money on it -
Oprah Winfrey
In 1980, Robert L. Johnson founded BET. Perhaps the most amazing phenomenon, was the rise of Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey got her start in television news before taking over a morning talk show in Chicago in 1984. Two years later, she launched her own nationally syndicated talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which would go on to become the highest–rated in TV history. Winfrey turned her talk show success into a one–woman empire including acting, television production and publishing. -
Challenger Explosion
The NASA space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, 73 seconds after liftoff. The killed all seven astronauts aboard, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher who would have been the first civilian in space. Two rubber O-rings, 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. -
Iran Contra Affair
The Iran-Contra Affair was a secret U.S. government arms deal that freed some American hostages held in Lebanon but also funded armed conflict in Central America. Democrats passed the Boland Amendment, which restricted the activities of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Department of Defense (DoD) in foreign conflicts.The amendment was specifically aimed at Nicaragua, where anti-communist Contras were battling the Sandinista communist government. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was a political, military and ideological barrier separating the former Soviet bloc and the West prior to the decline of communism that followed the political events in eastern Europe in 1989. It was the boundary diving Europe into two separate areas from the end of WWII in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991, meant to seal of the Soviet Union and its allied from open contact with non-communist areas. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to end across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party announced a change in his city's relations with the West. Starting at midnight, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders. That night crowds swarmed the wall. Many crossed into West Berlin, while others began to chip away at the wall . To this day, the Berlin Wall is one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War. -
Period: to
1990s
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Persian Gulf War
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion Kuwait in August 1990. Fellow Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on the United States and other Western nations to intervene. Hussein defied United Nations Security Council demands to withdraw from Kuwait by mid-January 1991, and the Persian Gulf War began with a massive U.S.-led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm. After 42 days of attacks in the air and on the ground President Bush declared a cease-fire on February 28. -
Rodney King Incident
A jury in Simi Valley, LA acquits four police officers who had been charged with using excessive force in arresting black motorist Rodney King a year earlier. The announcement of the verdict, which enraged the black community, prompted the L.A. riots, which spread quickly throughout much of the city. It wasn’t until three days later that the riots ended. after the verdict was announced that afternoon, protesters took to the streets, engaging in random acts of violence. -
The Election of 1992
The United States presidential election of 1992 was the 52nd quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1992. Democratic Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas defeated incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bush, independent businessman Ross Perot of Texas, and a number of minor candidates. Bush had alienated many of the conservatives in his party by breaking his 1988 campaign pledge against raising taxes -
Ross Perot
Henry Ross Perot is an American business magnate and former politician. As the founder of Electronic Data Systems, he became a billionaire. He ran an independent presidential campaign in 1992 and a third party campaign in 1996, establishing the Reform Party in the latter election. Both campaigns were among the strongest presidential showings by a third party or independent candidate in U.S. history.Perot strongly opposed the Gulf War and ratification of the North American Free Trade Agreement. -
World Trade Center Attaack
On Febuary 26 a bomb explodes in a parking garage of the World Trade Center, leaving a crater 60 feet wide and causing the collapse of several steel-reinforced concrete floors in the vicinity of the blast. Although the terrorist bomb failed to critically damage the main structure of the skyscrapers, six people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured. The World Trade Center suffered more than $500 million in damage. After the attack, authorities evacuated 50,000 people from the buildings. -
Dont Ask Dont Tell
"Don't ask, don't tell" (DADT) was the official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, instituted by the Clinton Administration on February 28, 1994. lasting until September 20, 2011. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. -
NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Clinton said he hoped the agreement would encourage other nations to work toward a broader world-trade pact. NAFTA, a trade pact between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, eliminated virtually all tariffs and trade restrictions between the three nations. The pact, which took effect on January 1, 1994, created the world’s largest free-trade zone. -
Defense of Marriage Act
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a law that defined marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman, and allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states. It was overruled on June 26, 2015 by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. This ruling cited the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause, concluding that a denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples is unconstitutional. -
Lewinsky Affair
The Lewinsky Affair was sex scandal involving President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. In 1995, they began a sexual relationship that continued until 1997. Lewinsky transferred to a job at the Pentagon, where she told Linda Tripp about the affair. Tripp secretly taped some of her conversations. Clinton denied the relationship before admitting to “inappropriate intimate physical contact” with Lewinsky. The President was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice. -
Bush v. Gore
In his 2000 presidential campaign, Gore won the Democratic presidential nomination after facing down an early challenge from former Senator Bill Bradley. Gore chose Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut as his running mate, the first Orthodox Jew ever to be named on the ticket for a major national party. Gore won the popular vote, but conceded defeat to Republican George W. Bush after five weeks of complex legal argument over the voting procedure in the presidential election. -
Election of 2000
Vice President Al Gore presides over a joint session of Congress that certifies George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 election. In one of the closest Presidential elections in U.S. history, George W. Bush was finally declared the winner more then five weeks after the election due to the disputed Florida ballots. Gore became the third Presidential candidate to win the popular vote but lose the election after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to halt Florida’s manual recount. -
Period: to
Contemporary
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PATRIOT ACT
The Patriot Act is a than 300-page document passed by Congress with bipartisan support and signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001, just weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States. The legislation was passed improve the abilities of U.S. law enforcement to detect and deter terrorism. The act’s official title is, “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism,” or USA-PATRIOT. -
9/11 Attacks
On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic part of the extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in NY City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the attacks, which triggered U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism. -
No Child Left Behind
The No Child Left Behind Act authorizes several federal education programs that are administered by the states. The law is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Under the 2002 law, states are required to test students in reading and math in grades 3–8 and once in high school. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act into law -
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey was born in the rural town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, on January 29, 1954. In 1976, Winfrey moved to Baltimore, where she hosted a hit television chat show, People Are Talking. Afterward, she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show. She later became the host of her own, wildly popular program, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired for 25 seasons, from 1986 to 2011. That same year, Winfrey launched her own TV network, the Oprah Winfrey Network. -
Housing Bubble
A housing bubble is an increase in housing prices due to demand and speculation. Housing bubbles usually begin with an increase in demand and a lack of supply which takes an extended period of time to replenish and increase. The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates in response to the end of the technology surge, encouraging investors to purchase real estate, causing another "bubble" and increased housing prices. (inflation) -
2nd Iraq War
President Bush and his advisors built much of their case for war on the idea that, dictator Saddam Hussein, possessed or was in the process of building weapons of mass destruction. After an intense manhunt, U.S. soldiers found Saddam Hussein hiding in a six-to-eight-foot deep hole, nine miles outside his hometown of Tikrit. November 6, 2006, Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. -
Barack Obama
On November 4, 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was elected president of the United States over Senator John McCain of Arizona. Obama became the 44th president, and the first African American to be elected to that office. He was subsequently elected to a second term over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Obama was born in Hawaii in 1961. As a state senator, Obama notably went on record as an early opponent of President George W. Bush’s push to war with Iraq. -
John McCain
John McCain was born in Coco Solo, Panama and first entered the public spotlight as a Navy fighter pilot during the Vietnam War. Taken prisoner after his plane was shot down, he suffered five and a half years of torture and confinement before his release in 1973. In 1986, he began his long tenure as the U.S. senator from Arizona, a position he holds to this day. McCain ran for president on the Republican ticket in 2008, losing to Democrat Barack Obama in the general election.
