Post WWII

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    Rock 'n' Roll

    It is a popular music genre that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s.
  • G.I. Bill

    G.I. Bill
    This bill was created to help veterans of World War II. It established hospitals, made low-interest mortgages available and granted stipends covering tuition and expenses for veterans attending college or trade schools.
  • Iron Curtain

    Iron Curtain
    The Iron Curtain was the ideological conflict and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolized efforts by the Soviet Union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the west and non-Soviet-controlled areas.
  • Little Boy

    Little Boy
    This was the first atomic bomb to be used in warfare. This bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima during WWII.
  • Hiroshima

    Hiroshima
    The United States dropped its first atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. The bomb was known as "Little Boy".
  • Fat Man

    Fat Man
    This was the second of the only two nuclear weapons ever used. This bomb detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki.
  • Marshall Plan

    Marshall Plan
    This was an American initiative to aid Europe, in which the United States gave $13 billion in economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948.
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    Berlin Airlift

    At the end of the Second World War, 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.
  • Fair Deal

    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.
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    Beat Generation

    In American in the 1950s, a new cultural and literary movement staked its claim on the nation’s consciousness. The Beat Generation was never a large movement in terms of sheer numbers, but in influence and cultural status they were more visible than any other competing aesthetic.
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    Television

    The television gave Americans access to many things through TV. They were able to watch the presidential debate, news, and even order things by just watching the television.
  • Ike Turner

    Ike Turner
    Izear Luster "Ike" Turner, Jr. was an American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. An early pioneer of fifties rock and roll.
  • Bill Haley and the Comets

    Bill Haley and the Comets
    William John Clifton "Bill" Haley was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-selling hits. They were popular in the 1950s.
  • Little Richard

    Little Richard
    An influential figure in popular music and culture for more than six decades, Little Richard's most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his dynamic music and charismatic showmanship laid the foundation for rock and roll. His music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk.
  • North Korea invades South Korea

    North Korea invades South Korea
    When Soviet and Americans withdrew the North Korean forces invaded the South.
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    China comes into the Korean War

    MacArthur's troops were hit by surprise and decimated when Chinese Communists troops began attacking his forces.
  • Alger & Ethel Rosenberg

    Alger & Ethel Rosenberg
    They were a married couple convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage in 1951. This was a controversial espionage case of the Cold War.
  • Polio Vaccine

    Polio Vaccine
    This vaccine was successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis. An epidemic took over and killed over 3,000 from the disease.
  • Brown v. Board of Education

    Brown v. Board of Education
    This case 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.
  • Emmett Till Tragedy

    Emmett Till Tragedy
    His murder sparked the Civil Rights Movement. Also the unfair ruling of the court case.
  • Montgomery Bus Boycott

    Montgomery Bus Boycott
    When Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus in Montgomery, it sparked the American Civil Rights movement of the 20th century.
  • Hydrogen Bomb

    Hydrogen Bomb
    The United States used the first hydrogen bomb. They drop it on over the small island of Namu in the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
  • Elvis

    Elvis
    This was probably the closest time in which Elvis Presley became the icon of Rock 'n' Roll. During this time Presley was very popular and was the icon of Rock 'n' Roll.
  • Little Rock 9

    Little Rock 9
    The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas.
  • Civil Rights Act of 1957

    Civil Rights Act of 1957
    This bill focuses on voting rights, it was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress.
  • Sputnik

    Sputnik
    This was the first artificial Earth satellite. This event triggered the Space Race.
  • Feminism

    Feminism
    Feminism is a range of movements and ideologies that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve equal political, economic, cultural, personal, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. A feminist advocates or supports the rights and equality of women
  • Hippies

    Hippies
    A hippie is a member of a subculture that was originally a youth movement that started in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world.
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    Counter Culture

    Counter Culture is a subculture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, often in opposition to mainstream cultural mores.
  • LSD

    LSD
    LSD was first synthesized on November 16, 1938 by the Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann in the Sandoz (now Novartis) laboratories in Basel, Switzerland. It was not until five years later on April 16, 1943, that the psychedelic properties were found.
  • Earl Warren Supreme Court

    Earl Warren Supreme Court
    Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren was a former California governor who also headed the commission that investigated the JFK assassination.
  • New Frontier

    New Frontier
    The term New Frontier was used by liberal, Democratic presidential candidate 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.
  • Peace Corps

    Peace Corps
    The stated 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.
  • Assassination of JFK

    Assassination of JFK
    John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated on November 22, 1963 at 12:30 p.m Central Standard Time in Dallas, Texas while riding in a motorcade in Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was fatally shot by Lee Harvey Oswald while he was riding with his wife, Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife, Nellie, in a presidential motorcade.
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    Great Society

    The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. The main goal was the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. President Johnson first used the term "Great Society" during a speech at Ohio University.
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    Civil Rights Act of 1964
    This act is a landmark civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
  • Daisy Girl Ad

    Daisy Girl Ad
    It was a controversial political advertisement aired on television during 1994 United States presidential election. It was an important turning point in political and advertising history.
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    Selma March

    That March, protesters attempting to march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery were met with violent resistance by state and local authorities. The historic march, and King’s participation in it, greatly helped raise awareness of the difficulty faced by black voters in the South, and the need for a Voting Rights Act, passed later that year.
  • Voting Rights Act of 1965

    Voting Rights Act of 1965
    It aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States.
  • Death of MLK

    Death of MLK
    Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, had been assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. His assassination led to an outpouring of anger among black Americans.
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    Nixon's Presidency

    The time period Richard Nixon was president. He served two terms and resigned from office after the Watergate scandal.
  • Stonewall Riot

    Stonewall Riot
    The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community against a police raid that took place at the Stonewall Inn, located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.
  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

    Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
    A governmental organization designed to regulate pollution, emissions, and other factors that negatively influence the natural environment.
  • Equal Rights Amendment

    Equal Rights Amendment
    This is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender; it seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment, and other matters.
  • Watergate

    Watergate
    A scandal were several burglars were caught while attempting to wiretap phones and steal secret documents. The burglars were connected to President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign.
  • Endangered Species Act

    Endangered Species Act
    This act is a key legislation for both domestic and international conservation. The act provides a framework to conserve and protect endangered and threatened species and their habitats.
  • Nixon's Resignation

    Nixon's Resignation
    A scandal was escalating and Nixon was faced with almost getting impeached and removed from office.
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    Gerald Ford's Presidency

    He was America's 38th president following the resignation of President Richard Nixon. He became president after the Watergate scandal and he became the first unelected president in the nation's history.
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    Jimmy Carter's Presidency

    His presidency was full of memorable events like inflation, energy crisis, war in Afghanistan, and hostages in Iran.
  • Panama Canal

    Panama Canal
    the Panama Canal proved a vital component to expanding global trade routes in the 20th century. The transition to local oversight began with a 1977 treaty signed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Panama leader Omar Torrijos, with the Panama Canal Authority assuming full control on December 31, 1999.
  • Video Head System (VHS)

    Video Head System (VHS)
    Use of a VCR to record a television program to play back at a more convenient time is commonly referred to as time-shifting. And became more popular during the late 1970s and into the 1980s.
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    Iran Hostage Crisis

    A group of Iranian students stormed the U.S Embassy in Tehran, taking more than 60 American hostages. The hostages were held hostage for 444 days until their release in 1981.
  • Sam Walton’s Just-in-Time Inventory

    Sam Walton’s Just-in-Time Inventory
    Sam Walton was the creator of the "just in time" inventory. He is also known for building a single franchise store into the world's largest store.
  • Election of 1980

    Election of 1980
    Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter were both candidates for the election of 1980. Reagan won over Jimmy Carter the election because of the Iranian hostage crisis and America's stagflation.
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    Reagan's Presidency

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    Space Shuttle Program

    NASA's space shuttle fleet -- Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour -- flew 135 missions, helped construct the International Space Station and inspired generations.
  • A.I.D.S Crisis

    A.I.D.S Crisis
    AIDS was first diagnosed in the U.S. in 1981, but did not receive much attention as perceived as a gay mans disease.
  • Music Television (MTV)

    Music Television (MTV)
    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.
  • Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

    Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
    SDI also known as Star Wars, the intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union.
  • Reagan Doctrine

    Reagan Doctrine
    The United States provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist guerrillas and resistance movements in an effort to "roll back" Soviet-backed communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
  • Challenger Explosion

    Challenger Explosion
    The American shuttle orbiter Challenger broke up 73 seconds after liftoff, bringing a devastating end to the spacecraft’s 10th mission.
  • Affordable cell phones

    Affordable cell phones
    As the cell phone market began to emerge from its primitive state, the second generation of cell phones had been introduced. The overall trend was a movement away from the brick appearance of the previous decade
  • Black Entertainment Television (BET)

    Black Entertainment Television (BET)
    It is the most prominent television network targeting African American audiences. BET is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the BET Networks division of Viacom.
  • Rodney King Incident

    Rodney King Incident
    Four police officers were filmed beating taxi driver Rodney King after a pursuit through the streets of Los Angeles.
  • Election of 1992

    Election of 1992
    Republican President George H. W. Bush, Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and independent Texas businessman Ross Perot, were the three candidates running for president. Clinton won and became the president of the election of 1992.
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    Bill Clinton Presidency

    The most important achievements of Bill Clinton’s presidency were the balancing of the federal budget and a return to economic prosperity. But became the second presidnet to be impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice.
  • World Trade Center Attack - 1993

    World Trade Center Attack - 1993
    The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, carried out on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.
  • Health Care Reform

    Health Care Reform
    Health Care Reform package under the Clinton Administration that required each US citizen and permanent resident alien to become enrolled in a qualified health plan. President Clinton set up a task force led by his wife to come up with a comprehensive plan to provide universal health care along these lines.
  • North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

    North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
    NAFTA is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. Most economic analyses indicate that NAFTA has been a small net positive for the United States, large net positive for Mexico and had an insignificant impact on Canada.
  • Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

    Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
    DOMA is a United States federal law that, prior to being ruled unconstitutional, 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.
  • Lewinsky Affair

    Lewinsky Affair
    The Lewinsky scandal was an American political sex scandal that involved 49-year-old President Bill Clinton and a 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.Further investigation led to charges of perjury and led to the impeachment of President Clinton in 1998 by the U.S. House of Representatives
  • Election of 2000

    Election of 2000
    Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-incumbent governor of Texas and the eldest son of the 41st President George H. W. Bush, narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee Al Gore.
  • No Child Left Behind Education Act

    No Child Left Behind Education Act
    was a U.S. Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students.
  • 9/11 Attacks

    9/11 Attacks
    The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of September 11, 2001.
  • PATRIOT ACT

    PATRIOT ACT
    This is an Act of Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. Its title is a ten-letter backronym (USA PATRIOT) that stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001".
  • Hurricane Katrina Disaster

    Hurricane Katrina Disaster
    The storm surge also devastated the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama, making Katrina the most destructive and costliest natural disaster in the history of the United States, and the deadliest hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. The total damage from Katrina is estimated at $108 billion.
  • The Great Recession

    The Great Recession
    This is now generally acknowledged to be the most devastating global economic crisis since the Great Depression. As a result of the crisis, the United States lost more than 7.5 million jobs, and the unemployment rate doubled—peaking at more than 10 percent.
  • Election of 2008

    Election of 2008
    The 2008 election was important because the Barack Obama became the first African-American to be president, Americans elected Illinois senator Barack Obama their 44th president.
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    Obama's presidency

    Obama, a Democrat, took office as the 44th United States president following a decisive victory over Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. Four years later, in the 2012 election, he defeated Mitt Romney to win re-election. He was the first African American president.
  • American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

    American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
    This bill was designed to give the economy a boost by reducing federal taxes, increasing unemployment benefits and also increasing spending in certain areas.
  • Affordable Care Act (ACA) “Obamacare”

    Affordable Care Act (ACA) “Obamacare”
    This is the landmark health reform legislation passed by the 111th Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010.
  • 38th parallel line

    38th parallel line
    This is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula. It is established by the provisions of the Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State.