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American History 1954-1975
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Brown Vs Board of Education
SourceBrown vs Board of Education was a States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision did not abolish segregation in other public areas, such as restaurants and restrooms, nor did it require desegregation of public schools by a specific time. It did, however, declare the mandatory segregation that existed in 21state unconstitutional. -
Dwight Eisenhower Re-elected as President
SourceSource After his doctor pronounced him fully recovered in February 1956, Eisenhower announced his decision to run for re-election.Eisenhower faced Adlai Stevenson again and won by an even larger landslide, with 457 of 531 electoral votes and 57.6% of the popular vote. Eisenhower's 1956 campaign was the first presidential campaign to rely heavily on political televised commercials. -
Murder of Emmett Till
SourceEmmett Till was a 14 year old boy from Chicago, who was visiting family in Mississipi on August, when he was kidnapped, beaten and shot in the head by four white men for allegedly firting with a white woman. Till's death provided an important catalyst for the American Civil Rights Movement. -
Interstate Highway System
Source One of Eisenhower's enduring achievements was championing and signing the bill that authorized the Interstate Highway System in 1956.He recognized that the proposed system would also provide key ground transport routes for military supplies and troops.The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1938 called on the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), the predecessor of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), to study the feasibility of a toll-financed system of three east-west and three north-south superhighways. -
Little Rock Nine
CiteLittle Rock Nine were a group of African American students from Little Rock, Arkansas who entered the newly desegregated High School.The white mob and the Arkansas National Guard, under orders from Governor Orval Faubus, blocked the nine black children from entering the city's Central High School. To resolve this situation,President Dwight Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne to protect the students. -
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee Founded
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The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, or SNCC, was created on the campus of Shaw University in Raleigh to coordinate these sit-ins, support their leaders, and publicize their activities. They pushed for voting rights and also played a key role in March to Washington. -
John F Kennedy Elected
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John F. Kennedy was a very charismatic man.In 1956 Kennedy almost gained the Democratic nomination for Vice President, and four years later was a first-ballot nominee for President. Millions watched his television debates with the Republican candidate, Richard M. Nixon. Winning by a narrow margin in the popular vote, Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President. -
US U-2 aircraft takes pictures of Soviet Union's missile camp in Cuba
SourceIn October 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war over the placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba. For 13 tense days, a fragile peace hung by only a thread as the US instituted a naval blockade of Cuba to turn back Soviet ships. The crisis was ended when the Soviet Union agreed in a secret negotiation to remove its nuclear weapons from Cuba in exchange for a US agreement to remove its nuclear weapons from Turkey six months later. -
Martin Luther King Jr's Speech
SourceSourceMartin Luther King Jr was a pastor who led the African American Civil Movement.He directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream". Hss speech called for end to racism.The speech was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement -
Sixteenth St. Baptist Church Bombing
SourceFour young girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Addie Mae Collins) attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the deaths of two more black youths. -
Lyndon B Johnson succeeded to Presidency
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November 22, Lyndon Baines Johnson became the 36th President of the United States following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas.
In an address before a joint session of Congress on November 27, Johnson pledged support for President Kennedy's legislative agenda, which included civil rights and education legislation. -
The 24th Amendment
SourceThe 24th Amendment abolishes the poll tax, which originally had been instituted in 11 southern states after Reconstruction to make it difficult for poor blacks to vote. -
Civil Rights Bill of 1964
Source The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson just a few hours after House approval on July 2, 1964. The act outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels. It banned discriminatory practices in employment and ended segregation in public places such as swimming pools, libraries, and public schools. -
Bodies of Civil Rights Worker Found
SourceThe bodies of three civil-rights workers—two white, one black—wer found in an earthen dam, six weeks into a federal investigation backed by President Johnson. James E. Chaney, 21; Andrew Goodman, 21; and Michael Schwerner, 24, had been working to register black voters in Mississippi, and, on June 21, had gone to investigate the burning of a black church.They were arrested by the police on speeding charges,incarcerated for several hours, and then released after dark into the hands of the Ku Klux. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
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The Tonkin Gulf Resolution stated that “Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repeal any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent any further aggression.” As a result, President Johnson, and later President Nixon, relied on the resolution as the legal basis for their military policies in Vietnam. -
Immgration Act of 1965
SourceIn 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed a bill that has dramatically changed the method by which immigrants are admitted to America. This bill is the Immigration Act of 1965. This act, also known as the Hart-Cellar Act [1], not only allows more individuals from third world countries to enter the US (including Asians, who have traditionally been hindered from entering America), but also entails a separate quota for refugees. -
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Tet Offensive
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On January 31, 1968, some 70,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet Offensive, a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam. -
My Lai Massacre
SourceHugh Thompson, Jr. rescued Vietnamese civilians during the My Lai massacre.
May Lai Massacre happend when the angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division entered the Vietnamese village of My Lai, an alleged vietcong village.When news of the atrocities surfaced,it sent shockwaves through the U.S. and fuled the divided country. -
Martin Luther King Jr's Assasination
SourceSourceMartin Luther King, at age 39, is shot at Memphis Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, is assasinated standing in the balcony of his hotel room. Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime. -
Richard Nixon Elected as President
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Richard Nixon, california born Republican, won the election of 1969, and succeeded the Vietnam War as well as the divided country. Though very good at foreign policy, Richard Nixon's presidency consisted of many controversial issues which eventually led him to resigning. -
Battle of Hamburger Hill
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The purpose of the operation was to cut off North Vietnamese infiltration from Laos and enemy threats to Hue and Da Nang. U.S. paratroopers pushing northeast found the communist forces entrenched on Ap Bia Mountain. This event futher out the battle ground from Vietnam to Laos and Cambodia. -
The National Environment Policy Act
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Signed into law by Richard Nixon,it was established to promote the general welfare, to create and maintain conditions under which man and nature can exist in productive harmony, and fulfill the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations of Americans. -
Clean Water Act of 1972
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The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. -
Consumer Product Safety Act
Souce The act gives CPSC the power to develop safety standards and pursue recalls for products that present unreasonable or substantial risks of injury or death to consumers. It also allows CPSC to ban a product if there is no feasible alternative. CPSC has jurisdiction over more than 15,000 different products. The CPSA excludes from CPSC's jurisdiction those products that expressly lie in another federal agency's jurisdiction, for example food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, tobacco products, fi -
Ceasefire of the aerial bombings in North Vietnam
SourceOn January 15, 1973, President Richard Nixon ordered a ceasefire of the aerial bombings in North Vietnam. The decision came after Dr Henry Kissinger, the National Security Affairs advisor to the president, returned to Washington from Paris France with a draft peace proposal. Combat missions continued in South Vietnam. By January 27, 1973, all warring parties in the Vietnam War signed a ceasefire as a prelude to the Paris Peace Accord. -
The Paris Peace Agreement on Vietnam
SourceThe United States, South Vietnam, Viet Cong, and North Vietnam formally sign "An Agreement Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam" in Paris. Due to South Vietnam's unwillingness to recognize the Viet Cong's Provisional Revolutionary Government, all references to it were confined to a two-party version of the document signed by North Vietnam and the United States—the South Vietnamese were presented with a separate document that did not make reference to the Viet Cong government. -
Geral Ford Elected after Nixon Resignes
<a href='http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/geraldford>Source</a>
Gerald Ford was Nixon's Vice President, and when Nixon regined, Ford was sworn into Presidency. Ford tried to calm earlier controversies by granting former President Nixon a full pardon.As President, Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, marking a move toward détente in the Cold War. With the conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam nine months into his presidency, U.S. involvement in Vietnam essentially ended. -
Proclamation-4311 Pardoning Nixon
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In a controversial executive action, President Gerald Ford pardons his predecessor Richard Nixon for any crimes he may have committed or participated in while in office. Ford later defended this action before the House Judiciary Committee, explaining that he wanted to end the national divisions created by the Watergate scandal. -
Education for all Handicapped Student
SourceSourceEducation of physically, mentally, and emotionally handicapped children in the United States, until the 1960s, was provided through a mixture of institutionalization, private tutoring, private schooling, or state-run schools for the handicapped, untill the Act of 1974 that ford signed off, introducing special education for handicapped children.
