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French Defeated in Vietnam
In March a French garrison was trapped in Dienbienphu in northwestern Vietnam. Eisenhower's aides favored military intervention, but Eisenhower held back. Dienbienphu fell to Ho Chi Minh's nationalists and Vietnam was split at the 17th Parallel. [Image](' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006</a> <a href='http://www.historycentral.com/asia/DienBienPhu.jpg) -
Brown v. Board of Education
The justices of the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in the public schools was unequal and thus uncostitutional. This decision reversed the Court's earlier decision of 1896 in Plessy v Ferguson that separate but equal facilities were constitutional. Desegregation, the justices insisted, had to go ahead with "all deliberate speed." <a href='' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006</a> <a href='http://www.nps.gov/brvb/history -
Rosa Parks Sparks the Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, makes history in Montgomery, Alabama by boarding a bus, taking a seat in the "whites only" section, and subsequently refusing to give it up. Her arrest for violating the city's JIm Crow laws sparked a yearlong black boycott of the city buses. [Image](' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006</a> <a href='http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4973548) -
Ike Wins Again
The election of 1956 was a repeat of the 1952 contest, with President Eisenhower facing Republican candidate Adlai Stevenson for the second time. Ike won the popular and electoral vote handily, but he failed to win his party either the Senate or the House. [Image](' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006</a> <a href='http://media.trb.com/media/photo/2008-10/42932724.jpg) -
Eisenhower Passes his Civil Rights Act
President Eisenhower signed into law the first civil rights legislation to be passed since Reconstruction. The act set up a Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of civil rights and authorized federal injunctions to protect voting rights. [Image](' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006</a> <a href='http://www.civilrights.org/publications/reports/commission/creating-the-commission.html) -
The Little Rock 9
President Eisenhower ordered paratroopers fom the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock's Central High School in order to escort nine black students to their classes. This action came days after Orval Fabous, the govenor of Arkansas, ordered the National Guards to prevent the students from entering the campus. LIFE.com -
Ike Wants to go to Space
In response to the Soviet Union's launching of Sputnik, Congress passed legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA would serve as the coordinating body of the U.S. space program. NASA's birth would pit the two superpowers in a heated "space race." history.com Image -
Eisenhower Educates the Youth
The success of Sputnik gave rise to criticism of the American educational system, which had been viewed as too easygoing. The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) was passed in 1958 to provide aid to education at all levels, public and private. NDEA was passed primarily to stimulate the advancement of science, mathematics, and modern foreign languages. infoplease.com -
Students Start the "Sit-In" Movement
Four black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina demanded service at a whites-only restaurant. The black waitress refused to serve them. They kept their seats and returned the next day with 19 other classmates. The next day they were joined by 85; by the end of the week, a thousand. The sit-in movement swelled into a wave of wade-ins, lie-ins, and pray-ins to compel equality in segregated facilities.<a href='' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston:
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JFK Challenges Nixon
In 1960, Republicans chose Richard Nixon as their presidential candidate while John F. Kennedy suprisingly won for the Democrats. In four nationally televised debates, JFK held his own against the more "experienced" Nixon. Many viewers found Kennedy's vitality more appealing than Nixon's tired appearance. JFK won with a rather comfortable margin in the electoral college, making him the youngest president ever elected. <a href='' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. -
John Also Wants to go to Space
In front of a special joint session of Congress, President Kennedy announced his goal of sending an American to the moon by the end of the decade. Kennedy had felt pressure to have the U.S. beat the Soviets in the space race. His goal was eventually achieved... eight years later. history.nasa.gov -
James Meredith Tries to Enroll at Ole Miss
In October, 1962 the first black student, James Meredith, was admitted to the University of Mississippi. Mississippi Govenor Ross Barnett promised to prevent Meredith from entering the campus. In the end, President Kennedy was forced to send federal marshals to Oxford and called in the Mississippi National Guard and Army troops from Memphis. npr.org -
MLK Leads the March on Washington
More than 200,000 Americans gathered in Washington D.C. for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The event was held in order to reveal the obstacles African Americans faced daily around the nation. Also, on this day, King delivered his electrifying "I Have a Dream" speech from the Lincoln Memorial. History.com Image -
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
On a Sunday morning, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, which resulted in the deaths of four young girls.The church had served as the center of Birmingham's African American community since its construction in 1911. Following the bombing, white strangers visited the grieving families to give their condolences. NPS.gov -
LBJ Takes Over
While riding down a street in Dallas, JFK was shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. Vice President Johnson was promptly sworn in as president on a waiting airplane and flew back to Washington with Kennedy's body. [Image](' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006</a> <a href='http://www.history.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/lbj-sworn-in.jpg) -
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident Escalates the War
Unbeknownst to the public or Congress, US ships had been cooperating with the South Vietnamese in raids along the coast of North Vietnam. Two of these US destroyers were allegedly fired upon by the North Vietnamese. The subsequent Tonkin Gulf Resolution handed the president a blank check to use further force in Vietnam. <a href='' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006</a> <a href='http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g700 -
LBJ Signs Medicare Into Law
In July, President Johnson signed the Social Security Amendments which established Medicare (elderly) and Medicaid (poor). At the bill-signing, Johnson enrolled former President Truman as the first Medicare beneficiary and granted him the first Medicare card. ssa.gov -
Johnson Signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, passed in midst of voting demonstrations in Selma, Alabama, gave the Attorney General the power to appoint federal examiners to supervise voter registration. Along with this, the new legislation outlawed literacy tests. This proved to be the last of Johnson's Big Four reforms. congresslink.org <a href='http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/235/images/voting-rights-lbj.jpg' >Image</a -
Johnson Abolishes the Quota System
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolished the quota system that had been enacted in 1921. The act doubled the number of immigrants allowed to enter annually, while limiting immigrants from the Western Hemisphere. In response, more than 100,000 people took advantage in the decades after 1965. <a href='' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006</a> <a href='http://www.america.gov/st/educ-english/2008/April/2008042321422 -
MLK is Assassinated
In Memphis, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed by a sniper's bullet. American outrage over his death led to a nationwide outpouring of violence that ended up taking the lives of over forty people. [Image](' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006</a> <a href='http://life.time.com/history/mlk-assassination-photos-from-memphis-tennessee-april-4-1968/?iid=lb-gal-viewagn#1) -
Nixon Wins the Presidential Sweepstakes
After Robert Kennedy was fatally shot, the Democratic ticket went to Hubert Humphrey. The Republicans chose former vice president Richard Nixon.Additionally, George C. Wallace became a suprise third-party canditdate. Nixon won the election with 301 electoral votes and only 43.4% of the popular vote. He became a minority president who owed his victory to divisions over the war, draft, crime, and rioting.<a href='' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton -
Nixon Goes to Space
Under Nixon, NASA's Apollo program finally achieved Kennedy's goal of reaching the moon by the end of the decade. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to ever step foot on the lunar surface. Soon after they made their first steps, Nixon spoke to them by telephone link commemorating them for their actions. nasa.gov -
America Camboianizes the War
Without consulting congress, Nixon ordered American forces to join the South Vietnamese in cleaning out North Vietnamese and Viet Cong sanctuaries in Cambodia. The enemy forces had been using Cambodia as a springboard for troops, weapons, and supplies. Nixon withdrew his troops after only two months. [Image](' >Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006</a> <a href='http://olive-drab.com/images/nixon_cambodia_700.jpg) -
Chaos at Kent State
After holding antiwar demonstrations for three straight nights, students at Kent State University were fired upon by the National Guard, resulting in the deaths of four young individuals. The students had been angered by the war into cambodia and hurled stones at the guardsmen before they eventually opened fire. newyorktimes.com <a href='http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-VK276_1119ke_H_20121119145033.jpg' -
Feminists Gain Another Victory
On this day, the Senate passed the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) which prohibited discrimination based on the gender of an individual. The amendment, the result of a 43 year struggle, won by a vote of 84-to-8. Hawaii became the first state to ratify the amendment. nytimes.com Image -
Watergate Topples Nixon
Nixon's victory in 1972 was almost immediately soiled when 5 men were arrested in the Watergate apartment-office complex in Washington after an attempt to plant 'bugs" in the Democratic party's headquarters. It was revealed that they were working for the Republican Committee for the Re-election of the President. The public's wrath proved to be overwhelming. Nixon would eventually resign the presidency. Image -
Congress Enacts Title IX
In 1972, President Nixon signed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 which banned sex discrimination in any federally funded education program or activity. Perhaps the most significant impact of the act was creating opportunities for women in athletics at schools, which resulted in a new "Title IX generation." justice.gov <a href='http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/06/15/opinion/titleix5/titleix5-ar -
A Cease-Fire is Arranged
[newyorktimes.com](http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/jan-23-In January, Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the war in Vietnam. The Paris Peace Accords called for a ceasefire to begin on January 27 between Northern and Southern forces allowing Americans to begin a 60-day withdrawal. The North Vietnamese agreed to release all American prisoners of war. 1973-nixon-announces-end-of-u-s-involvement-in-vietnam/) -
Ford: The Unelected President
America's 38th president, Gerald Ford took the oath of office following Nixon's resignation in response to the Watergate scandal. Ford became the nation's first unelected president as he had been selected (not elected) the vice president after Spiro Agnew's resignation. Suprisingly, Ford pardoned Nixon of any crimes Nixon may have committed during his presidency. history.com
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Vietnam is Reunited
In April, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces captured the Southern capital of Saigon. Without American troops struggled to stop the North's advance. South Vietnam was thus forced to surrender, bringing an end to the Vietnam War. newyorktimes.com
