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Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
In the Brown v. Board of Education, The Warren Court unanimously voted that segregation in public schools was inherently unequal, and thus, unconstitutional. The vote startled conservatives because it reversed the courts earlier declaration of 1896.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower was born in Texas in 1890. He won the presidential election in 1952, and then again in 1956. Eisenhower pursued a middle course, continuing most of the new deal, and fair deal programs, while emphasizing a balanced budget. The Interstate Highway System was one of his greatest accomplishments. It created thousands of miles of government maintained highways, and it was the largest public works act in American History.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/dwightdeisenhower -
Interstate Highway Act of 1956
The Interstate Highway Act dwarfed anything the New Dealers had ever dreamed of. It was a $27 billion plan to build 42 thousand miles of fast, sleek highways. The construction of this project created countless new jobs, and speeded the suburbanization of America. The Highway act offered juicy benefits to the trucking, automobile, and travel industies.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Created by Martin Luther King jr, The SCLC aimed to mobilize the vast power of the black churches on behalf of black rights. This was a good strategy because the churches were the largest and best organized black institutions that had been allowed to flurish in a segregated society. Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Cultural Upheaval
Everywhere in America during the 1960's a newly negative attitude towards authority took hold. Many young people lost thier traditional moral rudders. Skepticism about authority became very high during this time period, and "trust no one over thirty" was a popular sneer of rebellious youth.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Sit in Movement
The sit in movement was launched by four black college freshmen in Greensboro, North Carolina.They didn't have a detailed plan, but they demanded service at a whites-only lunch counter. When they were refused service, they came back the next day with 19 classmates, then 85, and then by the end of the week a 1000. The sit in movement spread across the south into many types of restuants and sit-ins
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company -
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy was born in Brookline, Massachusetts. He was a Harvard graduate, and he became the youngest person to be elected President. As President he sought to to redeem his campaign pledge to get America moving again. He accomplished many things as President, including huge strides for civil rights. On November 22, 1963, he was tragiclally shot and killed in Dallas Texas.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/johnfkennedy -
Kennedy sends 400 thousand troops to Vietnam
When Anti-Diem agitators threatened to topple the pro-American government from power, Kennedy made a critical decision to send a sharp increase of American forces to South Vietnam as advisors.
http://vietnamwar.lib.umb.edu/chronology.html -
Green Berets
Kennedy felt hamstrung by the knowledge that in a crisis, he had the Devil's choice between humiliation and nuclear incineration. He pushed the strategy of flexible response with his secretary of defence. He bolstered the Green Berets, an elite antiguerilla trained to survive with little, and kill with scientific finesse.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Birmingham Campaign
In the spring of 1963, MLK Jr. launched a campaign against discrimination in Birmingham Alabama. At the time it was the most segregated city in America. KIng advised his organizers that some might not come back alive after this campaign. The marchers, many of them children, were repelled by police dogs and even water hoses. This prompted Kennedy to deliver a memorable speech on June 11, 1963.
http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1358 -
March on Washington
In August, King led 200,000 black and white demonstaters on a peaceful march on Washington in support of the proposed legislation. There he gave a famous speech from the Lincoln Memorial.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Lyndon B. Johnson
After Kennedy was assassinated, Vice President Johnson was promply sworn in as President. After a new civil rights bill, and a tax cut, he urged the nation to build "A Great Society". It became Johnson's agenda for Congress in January 1965. When he left office, peace talks were on the horizon, but he did not see them successful because he died suddenly of a heart attack in 1973.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/lyndonbjohnson -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed by Congress in 1964. It forbade discrimination on the basis of sex as well as race in hiring, promoting, and firing. It also created then federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which enforces laws that prohibit discrimniation based on race, color, religion, sex, origin, or disability, or age, in hiring.
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/ -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was a campaign where the U.S military aircrafts attacked targets throughout North Vietnam. The massive bombardent was intended to put military pressure on the North's leaders and reduce thier ability to attack the South. The operation marked the first sustained American assult on the North's territory, and large U.S involvement in the Vietnam War.
http://www.history.com/topics/operation-rolling-thunder -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was a civil rights leader following Martin Luthr King. He was greatly different from King in that he did not support the nonviolent movement. He was a brilliant and charismatic preacher who called Blacks towrds separatism. At the end of his life, Malcolm began to temper his separatist creed.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition -
Medicare
Like the New Deal's Social Security program, Medicare created entitlements, which means, it conferred rights on certain categories of Americans virtually in perpetuity. Medicare improved the lives of many Americans, but also eventually undermined the federal governments financial health.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Immigration Reform
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 were third on Johnson's big four feats. It doubled the amount of immigrants who could enter annually, while for the first time setting limits on immigrants from the western hemesphere. The sources of immigration soon shifted from Europe, to Latin America and Asia.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
With the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Johnson made a huge leap to ending segregation. The act did not end discrimination over night, but it placed an awesome lever for change in blacks hands. It marked the end of an era of nonviolent demonstrations, led by peaceful moderates like MLK Jr.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Race Riots
Just as the civil rights had achieved its greatist political triumps, more city-shaking riots had erupted in the black ghettos of several American cities. One riot in Newmark, New Jersey took twenty five lives, and in Detroit Michigan, forty three people died in the streets. These riotus outbursts angered many white Americans, who threatened backlash against the killers.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Tet Offensive
At the time when the Viet Cong were supposedly licking their wounds, they suddenly launched attacks on several South Vietnmaise cities, including the capitol. The Tet Offensive ended in a military defeat but a political victory for the Viet Cong. -
Richard M. Nixon
Richard Nixon, born in 1913, accomplished many things as President, including revenue sharing, the end of the draft, and a broad enviornmental program. He also reduced tensions with China, and the U.S.S.R on his trips to Beijing, and Moscow in 1972. During the campaign of 1972, Nixon was caught in the "Watergate Scandal", which led to him resigning from office.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/richardnixon -
Philidelphia Plan
The Philidelphia Plan, implimented by Nixon in 1969, required construction trade unions to establish goals and time tables for the hiring of black apprentices. The plan soon extended to all federal contracts, and in effect, required thousands of employers to meet hiring quotas.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Invasion of Cambodia
The North Vietnamiese had been using Cambodia as a spring for attacks on the South for years. Without consulting Congress, Nixon suddenly ordered American forces to join with the South in cleaning out the enemy. The American public responded angrily, and on June 29, 1970, Nixon withdrew the forces.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Griggs v. Duke Power co.
In the Griggs v. Duke, the Supreme Court forbade intelligence tests or other devices that could exclude minorities or women from certain jobs. The only sure protection of employers against charges was to hire minority workers.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Feminist Movement/Equal Rights Amendment
In 1970, thousands of women marched in the Women's Stride for Equality. Then, in 1972, Congress passed title IX, prohibiting sex discrimination. The Equal Rights Amendment to the constitution won Congressional approval in 1972
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Watergate Scandal
When five men were arrested in the Watergate apartment, they were soon revealed to be working for the Republican committee for the re-election of the president. It turned out to be one of Nixon's dirty tricks. He was finally found guilty, and because of this he soon-after resigned.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
New Supreme Court
One of the first things Nixon did as President, was appoint new justices to the Supreme Court. They leashed out many new decisions such as Grisworld v. Connecticut, that prohibited the use of contraceptives. They also held the Gideon v. Wainwright, that all defendents in serious criminal cases, were entitled to legal council.
Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Oil Embargo
Late in October, 1973, the Arab nations suddenly put an oil embargo on the United States, and other nations for supporting Israel. Americans had to suffer through the winter with minimum energy. After 5 months of the embargo, it was finally lifted. -
Milliken v. Bradley
The Milliken v Bradley case was brought upon allegeding that the Detroit public school system is racially segregated. It ruled that desegregation plans could not require students to move across school district lines.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0418_0717_ZS.html -
Gerald R. Ford
Ford took the oath of office on August 9, 1974. Assuming the Presidency after Nixon's resignation, he was confronted with almost insuperable tasks. He established his policies during his first year in office, despite opposition from a heavily Democratic Congress. He viewed himself as "a moderate in domestic affairs, a conservative in fiscal affairs, and a dyed -in-the-wool internationalist in foreign affairs."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/geraldford