US History Timeline

Election of 1948

Jun 1, 1948

Works CitedHarry Truman defeats Thomas Dewey in the greatest upset in US history. Truman won with 49.5% of the vote.

Margaret Chase Smith

Jun 2, 1948

Margaret Chase Smith is the only woman ever elected to four successive terms in the U.S. Senate. As a senator, she continued the same independent voting pattern she had established in the House.

Joseph McCarthy

Feb 9, 1950

Works CitedJoesph McCarthy said he had a list of 205 federal employees who were communists. This was during the time of the red scare and this started the creation of blacklists. McCarthyism started to sweep the nation accusing many people of being "red" who were not.

Jonas Salk

Jun 1, 1953

Works CitedJonas Salk created the vaccine to cure polio. Polio was a terrible virus that effected many American's including the president.

Geneva Accords

May 1, 1954

Works CitedAt peace talks held in Geneva, Switzerland, the French agreed to a gradual withdrawal from Vietnam. The Geneva Accords marked the beginning of the end of French influence in the region.

Strom Thurmond

Jun 1, 1954

Works CitedStrom Thurmond became part of the US senate in 1954. He strongly opposed the civil rights movements even creating a record fillabuster to prevent the passage of civil rights legislation.

Orval Faubus

Sep 3, 1957

Works CitedOrval Faubus was the governer of Arkansas who order the National Guard to surround central high so the Little Rock 9 could not attend. He, himself, even stood infront of the school so the children could not attend.

Beatniks

Jun 1, 1959

Works CitedThe Beatniks were a generation of artisits, writiers and individuals in San Fransico. The rejected the cookie cutter lifestyle of their parents and society. They laid much groundwork for the counterculture of the 1960's.

Flexible Response

Jun 1, 1960

Works CitedFlexible Response was a strategic defense policy developed to replace U.S. dependence on nuclear weapons. Flexible response called for a sizable increase in conventional armed forces.

Operation Mongoose

May 1, 1961

Works CitedOperation Mongoose was a program to overthrow Fedal Castro. The plan was to stimulate a rebelion on Cuba that the United States could support.

Deferment

Jun 2, 1961

Works CitedA deferment allows you to postpone payments on loans.

James Meredith

Jun 2, 1961

James Meredith applied to the University of Mississippi. This sparked a violent crisis that lead to the desegregation of the university.

Eugene "Bull" Connor

Jun 3, 1961

Works CitedEugene Connor fought against integration by using fire hoses, police attack dogs, and even a small tank against protest marchers. His aggressive tactics backfired when his brutality was broadcasted on national television. This helped to assure the passage by the United States Congress of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Walter Cronkite

Jun 2, 1962

Works CitedWalter Cronkite, American journalist and advocate of free speech. He was the anchor of the popular CBS Evening News from 1962.

Michael Harrington

Jun 2, 1962

Michael Harrington wrote The Other America. This book reminded the American public of the invisible poor such as the native americans and blacks.

Betty Friedan

Jun 1, 1963

Works CitedBetty Friedan wrote the Femine Mystique which identified a feeling of discontent among women. Betty also is the cofounder of NOW.

Earl Warren

Jun 2, 1963

He was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Earl Warren was one of the great modern chief justices, and his name became synonymous with the fight for civil rights

Ngo Dinh Diem

Aug 21, 1963

Works CitedNgo Dinh Diem was the president of Vietnam who tended to favor the newly arrived Roman Catholics over the predominately Buddhist population of South Vietnam. Catholics received lands, business favors, military and government jobs, and other special rewards. He was eventually overthrown.

Barry Goldwater

Jun 3, 1964

Works CitedBerry Goldwater was the leader of the Republican Party iBarry He won the party's nomination for president in 1964 but lost in the general election to Lyndon B. Johnson.

Gulf of Tonkin incidents

Jul 31, 1964

Works CitedMany commanders on the US navy ship the Maddox thought that they were being attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. LBJ believing the attack occured order the Maddox to strike back but really no attack had occured. This lead to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Aug 10, 1964

Works CitedLBJ signed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which allowed him to take whatever measures he wanted to defeat communism in Vietnam. This gave more power to the president and was repealed in 1970

Operation Rolling Thunder

Mar 2, 1965

Works CitedOperation Rolling Thunder was a prolonged U.S. bombing campaign during the Vietnam War. 1 million sorties dropped nearly 750,000 tons of bombs on North Vietnam

March from Selma to Montgomery

Mar 25, 1965

Works CitedThe march from Selma to Montgomery was to protest segregation in Alabama. This march helped to pass the civil rights act.

Watts Riots

Aug 11, 1965

Works CitedThe Watts Riots broke out in Watts California after a young African America was arrested for suspected dunk driving. It turned very violent as people started to protest police brutality and white oppression.

Stokely Carmichael

Jun 2, 1966

Stokely Carmichael, a leader of SNCC brought the concept of black power into the civil rights struggle. The militant group emphasized African American freedom rather than integrated nonviolent cooperation

Dien Bien Phu

May 2, 1967

Works CitedThe Battle of Dien Bien Phu was a confrontation between the Frech and the Vieh Min. In the spring of 1967, Special Operations Forces observed marked increases in traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, as did observation posts along the DMZ. Westmoreland believed the communists were planning a siege at Khe Sanh reminiscent of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

Kerner Commission

Jul 27, 1967

Works CitedThe Kerner Commission was a ten men, one women group set up by LBJ following the racial riots in Detroit and Newark. The commission decided that "Our nation is moving toward two separate societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal."

Lt. William Calley

Mar 16, 1968

Works CitedLt. Calley was involved in the My Lai Massacre. He is a convicted war criminal.

My Lai Massacre

Mar 16, 1968

Works CitedMy Lai Massacre is one of the most notorius US military actions of the Vietnam War because of the coverup of the incident. Between 200 and 500 Vietnam citizens were killed in the incident.

Ralph Abernathy

Apr 4, 1968

Works CitedOn April 4 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. died with Ralph Abernathy on his side. He was King's closest coworker and he became the leader of the SCLC.

James Earl Ray

Apr 4, 1968

ames Earl Ray was the convicted assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., He pled guilty to the murder after his arrest but later recanted his confession, claiming he was part of a larger conspiracy. A larger conspiracy could never be determined.

General William Westmoreland

Jun 1, 1968

Works CitedGernal Westmoreland was instrumental in planning and executing the Vietnam War. Tremendous damage was inflicted on Communist forces but Westmoreland underestimated North Vietnamese resolve to win.

DNC convention

Aug 26, 1968

Because Democratic President Lyndon Johnson had announced he would not seek a second term, the purpose of the convention was to select a new nominee to run as the Democratic Party’s candidate for the office

Plumbers

Jul 24, 1971

The Plumbers were a covert White House Special Investigations Unit established July 24, 1971 during the presidency of Richard Nixon. Its members branched into illegal activities working for the Committee to Re-elect the President, including the Watergate break-ins and the ensuing Watergate scandal.

Gloria Steinem

Jun 1, 1972

Works CitedGloria Steinem was the editor of Ms. magazine which was first published in 1972. She also lobbied for the equal rights act.

George McGovern

Jun 2, 1972

Works Cited George McGovern was the Democratic Party nomination in 1972. He was overwhelmingly defeated by Richard Nixon.

Spiro Agnew

Jun 2, 1973

Works CitedSpiro was the second vice president to resign from office. He was the VP for Richard Nixon and was facing charges of bribery and tax evasion.

Daniel Ellsberg

Jun 2, 1973

Works CitedDaniel Ellsberg is an author, economist, and political scientist who achieved public notoriety in the early 1970s after releasing to the press portions of a top secret Pentagon file outlining U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Henry Kissinger

Jun 3, 1973

Works CitedHenry Kissinger was a foreign policy expect for the administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. He was rewarded the nobel peace prize for his work on the Vietnam War.

Howard Hunt

Sep 3, 1973

Howard Hunt worked for the CIA and later the White House under President Richard Nixon. Hunt, with G. Gordon Liddy and others, was one of the White House's "plumbers".

Carl Bernstein

Jun 3, 1974

Carl Bernstein is a journalist best known for his work with fellow journalist Bob Woodward. They uncovered the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation in 1974.

Love Canal

Jun 3, 1978

Works CitedLove Canal was a toxic waste dump that a neighborhood was built over. In 1978, a State of Emergency was declared in Love Canal, New York, after the discovery of environmental toxic chemicals, whereupon, the Centers for Disease Control along with the Environmental Protection Agency, participated in a cytotoxicity study on local residents.

Jerry Falwell

Jun 2, 1979

Works CitedJerry Falwell was a preacher who founded an organization called Moral Majority Inc which condemed the equal rights amendement, gays, abortion and many other things. In the election of 1980, voters following Moral Majority's message defeated several liberal representatives and senators and helped to elect President Ronald Reagan

Margaret Thatcher

Jun 3, 1979

Margaret Thatcher served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She is the only woman to have held either post.

Iran Hostage Crisis

Nov 4, 1979

WorksCited On November 4, 1979, students overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Although some Americans escaped, 52 became hostages. The United States had many attempts to release the hostages but were not successful. The hostages were eventually released.

Sandra Day O'Connor

Sep 25, 1981

Works CitedSandra Day O'Conoor was the first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. She remained true to her own political and legal beliefs in her judicial decisions. Despite being more traditionally conservative, O'Connor often voted with her liberal colleagues. As the swing vote, she was considered by many to be one of the most powerful judges on the Court.

SDI

Jun 2, 1983

Works CitedSDI or the Strategic Defense Initiative (dubbed "Star Wars" by the press). President Ronald Reagan proposed it as a space-based defensive umbrella against missiles

Walter Mondale

Jun 2, 1984

Walter Mondale served in Congress and as Vice President. He ran for president against Ronald Reagan and lost.

Sen. William Fulbright

Aug 3, 1985

Works CitedSenator William Fulbright hada long and successful career as a U.S. senator from Arkansas. He became famous for his intellectual criticism of the destructive "arrogance of power" that guided U.S. policy during the Vietnam War.
quote: "The biggest lesson I learned from Vietnam is not to trust [our own] government statements. I had no idea until then that you could not rely on [them]."

Manuel Noriega

Jun 3, 1989

Manuel Noriega is a Panamanian politician and soldier. The 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States removed him from power. He was captured, detained as a prisoner of war, and flown to the United States. Noriega was tried on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering in April 1992.

Invasion of Kuwait

Aug 2, 1990

Works CitedIraq invade Kuwait in 1990. The United States set operation desert shield into action and this was the first time anyone had attacked an enemy without threat to its own ground forces.

Operation Desert Storm

Feb 28, 1991

Saddam Hussein's rejection of diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis led to the decision to restore Kuwait's sovereignty by military force. The ensuing air war and the effects of the economic embargo decimated Iraq's military infrastructure, severed communication and supply lines, smashed weapons arsenals, and destroyed morale

Ross Perot

Jun 2, 1992

One of the wealthiest men in the United States, Ross Perot used his business and money to cast himself as the savior of the country's economy. He losts elections in 1992 against Bill Clinton and Geroge Bush.

Brady Bill

Nov 30, 1993

The Brady Bill limited the purchase of handguns in the United States. It later became the Brady Law.

Oklahoma City Bombings

Apr 19, 1995

The Okalhoma City bomings were a massive explosion caused by the detonation of homemade explosives left in a parked truck The final death toll counted 168 people killed in the blast, including 19 children. This single act of domestic terrorism brought home to the American people the violent discontent of the so-called militia movement.

Newt Gingrich

Jun 2, 1996

Newt Gingrich was appointed speaker of the House of Representatives in December 1994. A serious scandal in 1996 nearly almost made him leave the house; however, in January 1997, he was instead fined $300,000 for discrediting the House and received a formal reprimand.

Kenneth Starr

Nov 19, 1998

Kenneth Starr lead the investiagation of Bill Clinton. Starr's investigations led questions about the efficacy and wisdom of continuing the special prosecutor law created under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978. Starr himself testified against the law.

Condoleezza Rice

Jan 2, 2000

Condoleezza Rice was the first African American female Secretary of State. When beginning as Secretary of State, Rice pioneered a policy of Transformational Diplomacy, with a focus on democracy in the greater Middle East.

Colin Powell

Jun 2, 2000

Colin Powell was a U.S. Army general and the first African American to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He later became the first African American to serve as secretary of state.

Al-Qaeda

Sep 11, 2001

Al-Qaeda is a violent Islamic terrorist group that started around 1988. They are responsbile for the attacks on Sept. 11th.