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Brown vs. Board of Education
The 1954 case of Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, ordered for the integration of schools. As people strove to desegregate schools, they would not agree, bringing the case to court. The ruling came to be that the seperation of education facilities were unfair. This decision reversed the Plessy vs Ferguson case, where seperate schools were defined as equal. Source:http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/4-five/topeka-kansas-2.html -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
On December 1,1955, an African American woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat for a white man, thus starting the boycott. She was then arrested for violating the city's Jim Crow laws starting a year long boycott. During the time, African Americans refused to ride the buses and walked instead. Source:http://sites.duke.edu/docst110s_01_s2011_kgd3/history/1940s-1960s/ -
Interstate Highway Act
By backing up the Interstare Highway Act of 1956, Eisenhower planned to build 42,000 miles of motorway, costing about 27 billion dollars. This helped people find jobs in need of money by opening up to apply to be a contruction worker. It also sped up America to get to and from places faster and easier. Source:http://american-business.org/3105-interstate-highway-act-history.html -
Dwight D Eisenhower Presidency
Dwight D Eisenhower is elected to his second term as United States president. His opponent, Democrat Adlai Stevenson, lost 73-475 in the electoral college. In his previous presidency, he backed the Interstate Highway Act of !956, a plan to build 42 miles of highway and helped prevent illegal immigration by enforcing Operation Wetback. Source:http://www.presidentprofiles.com/Grant-Eisenhower/Eisenhower-Dwight-D.html -
John F Kennedy Presidency
John F Kennedy was elected to the United States presidency in 1961. He was a Democrat and his Vice President was Lyndon B Johnson. His opponent, Nixon, was unanimously nominated to run for president. With the first presidential debate ever recorded on TV, Kennedy was able to win by a small bit, barely winning with 100,000 more popular votes and over 80 electoral votes. Source:http://bylinesteveklein.onmason.com/2012/11/02/jfk-wants-you-to-vote/ -
Kennedy's "New Frontier"
As part of his new social program, JFK tried to expand the House Rules Committee, but it did not work well because medical and education bills stalled in Congress. He kept a good economy and prevented inflation due to his tax cut bill. Also, almost immediately into his term, steel manegement announced great price increases, making JFK angry. Source:http://gamewardens.home.comcast.net/~gamewardens/ -
Social Security Act
On May 8, 1961, President Kennedy signed Public Law 87-31; which would change "title IV" to the Social Security Act. It gave the federal government permission to aid dependent children belonging to umemployed parents. The new law included that the aid given to dependent children be be aided to children with unemployed parents and kids who were in foster care. It included medical care for the elderly and training grants for people in public welfare. Source:http://www.ssa.gov/history/50mm2.html -
Albany Movement
In November 1961, African American citizens started a campaign to eliminate segregation in all parts of local life. The movement failed to secure concessions from local officials and therefore proved to be unsuccessful. Many Civil Rights leaders look at this movement as a learning expirence and said that it led to the desegregation of local facilities. Source:http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/strategy.htm -
Brimingham Campaign
In the spring of 1963, MLK Jr., launched a campaign against the discrimination of Blacks in Birmingham, Alabama. As officers and and firemen try to force the movement to a stop, they plunge fire hoses and release attack dogs to free the city of protest. Kennedy's response to this tragic dilemma was a proposal to a solution to protect black Americans. After word reached MLK Jr., he started the peaceful March on Washington to support the legislation. Source:http://www.lib.unc.edu/stories/poli -
March on Washington
Soon after the Birmingham Campaign, MLK Jr. announces plans for a march in Washington, D.C. to demonstrate for jobs and freedom. On this day, MLK Jr. gave his famous "I Have A Dream" speech outside of the Lincoln Memorial. Source:http://www.capitolhillhistory.org/memories/ -
16th Street Baptist Church Bombing
A KKK member, Robert Chambliss, reported to have put a box under the steps of the church sometime before the explosion. After the detenation, four young African American girls were killed after their church lesson including, Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair. The suspect was only found guilty after the incident for only having dynamite without a permit. Source:http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/randall/birmingham.htm -
Lyndon B Johnson's Presidency
In the 1964 presidential election, Lyndon B. Johnson ran for the Democratic Party while his oppenent, Barry Goldwater, ran for the Republican party. Johnson won with 486 electoral votes leaving Goldwater's with only 52. He was also able to grab about 43 million popular votes compared to Goldwater's 27 million. Johnson's win started the trend of many wins in the Democratic party as a whole, which allowed him to pass his Great Society programs, which is what he promised. http://sos.ri.gov/ -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 marks a turning point in civil rights legislation. It prohibits any type of discrimination that could lead to any disasterous acts. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 struck the end of Jim Crow Laws as well as the belief that "seperate but equal" facilities were constitutional. Source:http://www.congresslink.org/print_basics_histmats_civilrights64text.htm -
Operation Wetback
Through Operation Wetback, Eisenhower cracked down on illegal Maxican immigration that lowered the success of the bracero program, by gathering about 1 million Mexicans and returning them to their native country in 1954. The movement was a violation of labor laws and it was an illegal act to cross the border without notice. Source:http://mexicanborder.web.unc.edu/the-bracero-program-3/ -
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party
During the "Freedom Summer" African Americans were striving for a voter reistration. At the time, one black and two white civil rights workers went missing dissappeared and later found dead. After the juries refused to arrest the whites involved, the interated "Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party" was denied a seat at the national Democratic convention, limiting the number of black Mississippians that had succeeded in registering to vote.Source:http://www.lib.unc.edu/stories/politics/story/oppo -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Two days before August 4, 1964, U.S. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin had been attacked by the North Vietnamese. As a resolution, Johnson asked Congress to support his actions by dispatching U.S. planes against the North Vietnamese. As he got permission, he also received a blank check to use further force in Southeast Asia. Source:http://www.usni.org/magazines/navalhistory/2008-02/truth-about-tonkin -
Wilderness Act
Signs on September 3, 1964 by Johnson, the Wilderness Act designated all previously existing Wild Areas as Wilderness. At the time, these areas on national forests totaled 9.1 million acres of US soil. Source: http://www4.uwm.edu/letsci/research/sigurd_olson/history/1999/199909.htm -
Lyndon B Johnson's Great Society
As Johnson prepares for the election of 1964, he signs the Civil Rights Bill that JFK promised to sign as well as the economic opportumity act of 1964 which created the Office of Economic Opportunity for helping poverty. Head Start helped children with disadvantages get more help to ultimately start Kindergarden. As he campaigned in 1964, Johnson declared a "war on poverty," helping eliminate the troubles of the poor. Source:http://www.ushistory.org/us/56e.asp -
Rolling Thunder
After Viet Cong guerrillas attacked an American air base at Pleiku, South Vietnam, the president immediately ordered retaliatory bombing raids against millitary installations in North Vietnam and for the first time ordered attacking US troops to land."Operation Rolling Thunder" came into place, air bombing north Vietnam out of jungles, making them retreat. Source:http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/printer_348.shtml -
Voting Rights Act
As the voter registration campaign continued in Selma, Alabama, officers with tear gas and whips assaulted MLK Jr's. demnstrators as they continued on their march to Montgomery. President Johnson insisted they the US "overcome" discrimination by signing the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed liteacy tests and sent federal voter registrars into several southern states. Source:http://www.acslaw.org/acsblog/on-voting-rights-act-anniversary-threats-to-landmark-law-both-direct-and-symbolic -
TET Offensive
On the Vietnamese holiday of Tet (New Years), the North Vietnamese forces haulted the fighting for the day. They were launching men and weapons through the Ho Chi Minh trail under American lines. Most American bases were attacked that night, but the North was unable to overcome the Americans with a victory. The Tet offensive was a success for the North Vietnamese, because it demoralized the Americans on the home front. Source:http://www.ushistory.org/us/55c.asp -
My Lai Massacre
In the Village of My Lai, American troops were searching for the 48th Viet Cong Batallion, who were expected to be in the area had planned to "search and destroy" the village, causing many casualties to innocent children and women. Source: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/vietnam/vietnam_mylai.cfm -
King's Assassination
On April 4, 1968, in Memphis Tennessee, MLK Jr. was shot and killed while outside of his room by a sniper. The American people lost one of the most inspirational leaders in history. Source:http://www.lehman.edu/vpadvance/artgallery/gallery/turning_point/unger.htm -
Richard M Nixon Presidency
After losing to Kennedy in 1960, Nixon was able to win the Republican ticket and the election in 1968. He won 43.4% of the popular vote compared to Humphrey's 42.7%. Source:http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/impeachments/nixon.htm -
Vietnamization
Nixon, being skilled in foreign affairs, used a policy called "Vietnamization" to attempt to pull 540,000 Americans troops out of Southeast Asia, so that it could be continued only between the North and South Vietnamese. The US would still send aid to the south but slowly let them finish their own war. Source:http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/events/2002_Symposium/2002Papers_files/vietnamization.htm -
Watergate Scandal
On June 17, 1972, five men working for the Republican Committee for the re-election of the president were caught breaking into the Watergate Hotel and planting spy equiptment in the room. It was then discovered that there were tapes that had recorded conversations that could have proved that Nixon knew about it before the election. After handing over the tapes, Nixon then resigns. Source:http://www.pbs.org/johngardner/chapters/6c.html -
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords were official treaties signed by the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Viet Cong. South Vietnam recieved a document that did not label the Viet Cong government knowing that they did not want to recognize it. Both sides agreed to withdraw from Laos and Cambodia, and establish the 17th parallel as a peaceful border. Source:http://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/VietnamWar -
Gerald R Ford Presidency
Gerald R Ford was the first man ever to become president due to the vote of congress, since the Watergate Scandal shook Nixon too hard. After Spiro Agnew resigned, Nixon submitted Ford to the presidency. Shortly after becoming president, Ford gave Nixon a pardon for the wrong doings he may have done while in office. Source:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4529638 -
Ford Pardon's Nixon
President Gerald Ford preaches in his speech before the Congressional Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, his decision to pardon former President Richard Nixon was unnessecary but wanted to forgive him for what he took part in during the Watergate scandal. Even without Nixons permission, Ford still continues his speech forgiving him of his wrong doings. Source:http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/seventies/resources/president-fordâs-statement-pardoning-richard-nixon-1974 -
Tax Reduction Act of 1975
Fords main focus for the remainder of his presidency was to lower the unemployment rate. He proposed a one-year tax redcution of 16 billion dollars to stimulate the economy in January of 1975. In March of 1975, Congress passed the Tax Reduction Act of 1975. The result was an excess of spending of about 53 billion dollars in 1975 and 73 billion dollars for 1976. Source:http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=635
