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GI Bill
Officially known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, the G.I. Bill was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help veterans of World War II. It provided for college or vocational education as well as one-year of unemployment compensation. It was designed to solve the problem of what the 15 million soldiers would do once they got back home. It also created the Veterans' Administration allowing them to take out loans. -
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Cold War
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The Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was a term used to describe the boundary that separated Eastern Europe from the rest of the world. It was used by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to describe the Soviet Union's policy of isolationism during World War II. It was both a physical and ideological division. It came into place after Churchill's speech in Fulton Missouri, U.S. It was a literal guarded barrier that millions of people could not cross. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was an American foreign policy based on George Kennan's policy of containment during the Cold War. Its purpose was to stop the Soviet spread of communism. This doctrine stated American was responsible for the protection of the world. The U.S could fight for liberty whenever they were threatened and would send troops and economic resources to help governments that were threatened as well. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was initiated by the Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947 as a plan for the United States to help rebuild Europe after World War II by offering certain European countries, including the Soviet Union, funds. The offer would stand as long as the money was spend on goods made in the U.S. The plan appealed to U.S. leaders, since it would increase foreign trade and prevent communism. Over a period of 5 years, the U.S. would give European countries $13 billion dollars. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift was a near year-long operation in which the U.S and British planes delivered supplies by aircraft into West Berlin after the Soviets blockaded the city in. The German city of Berlin was divided among 4 countries in 1945: Russia, Great Britain, France, and the U.S. The Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' access to Berlin sectors, giving the Soviets complete control of Berlin. This was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. -
Fair Deal
The Fair Deal was the name given to U.S. President Harry Truman's domestic program, first introduced in his January 1949 State of the Union address. It was built on former President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, calling for projects to create jobs, build public housing, and end racial discrimination. Southern Democrats and Republicans were against this program. Its successes were that it raised the minimum wage, bettered public housing, and extended old-age insurance to more people. -
Rock 'n' Roll
A genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940's and early 1950's. The primary source of Rock and Roll was Rhythm and Blues, which came from African-Americans. Rhythm and Blues combined elements of urban blues, Gospel Music, and jazz- all from African-Americans as well. Rock n Roll was directed toward teenagers and was controversial as it often expressed ideas of rebellion and sex. -
The Second Red Scare
The second Red Scare refers to the fear of communism that flooded American politics, culture, and society from the 1940s to the 1950s during the Cold War. It was characterized by "heightened political repression against communists, as well as a campaign spreading fear of their influence on American institutions and of espionage by Soviet agents". Senator Joe McCarthy became the most public face of the Second Red Scare by the act of McCarthyism (making unfair accusations for political gain). -
Television in the 50s
Television and the media overpowered newspapers, magazines, and radios primarily as a source of news and also entertainment. Advertising transferred to television as a vast market for new fashion trends and products. Televised athletic events made college and professional sports a major source of entertainment. TV programming appealed to white middle class Americans, as that was the "popular image" of American life. By the end of the 50s, over 90% of American households had TVs. -
The Beat Generation
The Beat Generation, also known as "Beats" and "Beatniks" were a social group and movement in the 1950s. They were made up of artists, novelists, and poets who rejected American materialism & culture, as well as home ownership, careers, and marriage like their parents. They prided individual freedom & pleasure, turning to drugs and sex as outlets. They were the original hippies of their time and were the foundation for war protests in the 1960s. -
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The 1950s
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Korean War
Often called the Forgotten War, this was one between Communist North Korea and Democratic South Korea. After World War II, Korea was split at the 38th parallel. The Soviet Union occupied the North and the U.S. occupied the South. The North invaded the South on June 25, and the U.N. sent U.S. Commander Douglas MacArthur and the army to Korea, where he planned attack on the village of Inchon, catching the North Koreans by surprise and eventually pushing them back to the 38th parallel. -
Ike Turner
Ike Turner was an black American musician who made and recorded the first Rock and Roll song called Rocket 88. It was recorded by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, who were actually Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm, in March of 1951. Popular-at-the-time Bill Haley recorded a cover to the song in June of the same year (1951), which actually became a hit in the northeast United States. It became more popular than the original, mainly because it was a white artist that was singing. -
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Civil Rights
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Dr. Jonas Salk
Jonas Salk was born in New York City to a Russian Jewish immigrant mother and a second generation Jewish immigrant father. He graduated high school at the age of 15 and went to the City College of New York. He graduated with a degree in science in 1933. On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio. -
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band founded in 1952. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. Their most famous song was actually a rendition called "Rock Around The Clock". It was a number one single on both the United States and United Kingdom charts. This new genre of Rock and Roll appealed to white American teenage kids. By 1956, Bill Haley had become one of the most popular Rock and Roll performers in the world. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka is widely considered one of the most important court cases in U.S. history. It was unanimously ruled that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. It helped establish the precedent that "separate-but-equal" education and other services were not equal. SCOTUS' decision in Brown v. Board did not achieve school desegregation on its own, but the ruling fueled the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. -
Emmett Till Tragedy
14-year-old Emmett Till, an African-American from Chicago was brutally murdered for allegedly flirting with a white woman. His cousin and some of their friends dared him to flirt with the white woman behind the counter. He was beaten and disposed of in a nearby river. 3 days later, his corpse was recovered by barely recognizable, and the only way they could identify him was by a ring his mother gave him. His mother held an open-casket funeral to show everyone the cruelty of Jim Crow and racism. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was the struggle between forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States along with South Vietnam and other capitalist nations attempting to prevent the spread of communism. The war lasted nearly 16 years until North Vietnam and the Viet Cong won, turning Vietnam communist. Vietnam is divided at the 17th parallel, with the communist North and the now Socialist Republic South. This is also known as the Second Indochina War. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks, an African-American from Alabama refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama city bus. She is credited to sparking the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The leaders of the local black community, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. organized a bus boycott beginning the day Parks was convicted of violating the segregation laws. Over the next half-century, Parks became a nationally recognized symbol of dignity in the struggle to end racial segregation. -
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley was an American musician, regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century. He was nicknamed the "King of Rock and Roll" or "the King". He was famous from the mid 50's into the early 70's; fusing together black rhythm and blues with white bluegrass and country styles, he created a new musical idiom known as Rockabilly. Elvis was signed under Sun Records founded by Sam Philips, and was where he was first recorded. -
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine were a group of nine black students who enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in September 1957. Their attendance at the school was a test of Brown v. Board of Education. On the first day of classes, Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students’ entry into the high school. Later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school. -
NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, was created by congress and President Dwight D. Eisenhower due to national defense pressures. The United States and the Soviet Union/USSR were in the Great Space Race to see who could dominate spaceflight capacity in the world. The Space Race was considered important because it showed the world which country had the best science, technology, and economic system. -
The New Frontier
The New Frontier was President Kennedy's nickname for his domestic policy agenda in the Election of 1960. He promised to revitalize the stagnant economy and enact reform legislation in education, health care, and civil rights. It was driven by his youthful optimism, with him being the youngest candidate elected. The program included proposals for the Peace Corps and efforts to improve education and health care. -
Feminism
The Resurgence or Second Wave of Feminism across the Untied States in the 1960s paved the way for the status quo today. Women were expected to be housewives and domestic beings in the 1920s. The 38% of American women who worked in the 60s were largely limited to jobs as teachers, nurses, or secretaries. This movement mainly focused on equaling out the workplace and to get better jobs and salary equality among women and men. -
SNCC
The SNCC, or Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, was a civil-rights group formed to give younger blacks more of a voice in the civil rights movement. Ella Baker, then director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), helped set up the first meeting of what became the SNCC, out of concern that SCLC, led by Martin Luther King Jr., was out of touch with younger blacks who wanted the movement to make faster progress. -
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The 1960s
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Albert Sabin
Albert Sabin was born in Bialystok, Russia (now part of modern-day Poland). He emigrated to the United States at the age of 15 with his family. He graduated from high school in New Jersey and his uncle agreed to finance his college education so long as Sabin studied dentistry. After two years at New York University he switched to medicine with an interest in virology. Sabin's live-virus oral vaccine soon replaced Dr. Jonas Salk's killed-virus inject-able vaccine in many parts of the world. -
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps was a New Frontier program proposed by President John F. Kennedy. It was a civilian organization sponsored by the United States government; a program that trains and sends volunteers to poor nations all over the world to serve as educators, health care workers, agricultural advisers, and in other jobs. It was considered an "army" of idealistic and youthful volunteers who brought American skills to underdeveloped countries. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was during President Kennedy's term and was a 13-day political and military standoff over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, which was only 90 miles from U.S. shores. The U.S. was worried about having a "Soviet satellite" equipped with nuclear weapons so close to them, and put up a naval blockade to show Khrushchev. Fidel Castro eventually agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba as long as the U.S. removed theirs from Turkey. -
March on Washington
Officially called the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, this was a massive protest march where some 250,000 people gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The event aimed to draw attention to continuing challenges and inequalities faced by African Americans a century after emancipation and was also the occasion of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s iconic “I Have A Dream” speech. Other speakers were in attendance, including members of the NAACP and the SNCC. -
Birmingham Bombing
The Birmingham church bombing occurred when a bomb exploded before Sunday morning services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. It had a predominantly black congregation and also served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders. Four young girls were killed and many other people injured. The outrage over the incident helped draw national attention to the hard-fought, often-dangerous struggle for civil rights for African Americans. -
JFK Assassination
President John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while traveling through Dallas, Texas, in an open-top convertible. As their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building, Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired three shots from the sixth floor, fatally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Texas Governor Connally. Kennedy was pronounced dead 30 minutes later at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital. He was 46. -
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald joined the U.S. Marines at 17 years old, and was discharged 3 years later, only to leave for the Soviet Union where he tried unsuccessfully to become a citizen. He married a Soviet woman and in 1962 was given special permission to return to the U.S. with his wife and infant daughter. Less than an hour after Kennedy was shot, Oswald killed a policeman who questioned him on the street near his rooming house in Dallas and was eventually arrested and charged with two murders. -
Jack Ruby
On November 24, 1963, just 2 days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a 52-year-old Dallas nightclub operator shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin of President John Kennedy. On that day, as Oswald was being transferred from the city jail to the county jail, Ruby stepped out of a crowd of onlookers and gunned down the younger man. The media captured this all and was witnessed by millions of Americans on live television. Ruby was convicted of murder in 1964. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm X was a militant African-American activist and voice of the Black Muslim faith. He challenged the Civil Rights movement and the nonviolent approach of MLK by urging his followers to defend themselves "by any means necessary.” Born Malcolm Little, he changed his last name to X to signify his rejection of his “slave” name. He became a charismatic and eloquent leader of the Nation of Islam which combined Islam with black nationalism that appealed to the black youth in segregated America. -
The Great Society
The Great Society was the name of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Democratic reform program. It instituted federally sponsored social welfare programs. It meant to solve large social problems like hunger and poverty. In 1965, Congress passed many Great Society measures, including Medicare, civil rights legislation, and federal aid to education. Johnson also created a department of housing and urban development. His most important and effective legislation was medicare and medicaid. -
Daisy Girl Ad
The Daisy commercial was a controversial political advertisement aired on television during the 1964 election by candidate Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign. Though it was only aired once, it is considered to be an important factor in Johnson's victory over Barry Goldwater and an important turning point in political and advertising history. It remains one of the most controversial political advertisements ever made. -
The Counterculture
In the mid-1960s, liberalism started to fracture as the New Left, consisting of young people who were mostly students, started rising to the scene. They took on discrimination, poverty, and the Vietnam War. They were very radical, and some were socialists and communists. They seceded the Beat Generation, rejecting middle class values and renouncing material possessions like homes and even jobs. They turned to drugs like LSD and Heroin for "taking off the edge" and were about self-exploration. -
Selma March
Protesters from Selma, Alabama were making an effort to register black voters in the South by marching a 54-mile route from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery. They were confronted by an angry white mob and white onlookers as well as local authorities. The media covered the protesters getting beat and gassed, letting the whole world know. This march raised awareness of the difficulties faced by black voters, and the need for a national Voting Rights Act. -
LSD in the 60s
Lysergic acid diethylamide, LSD or "acid", is a colorless and odorless drug. It's famous for its role in the 1960s Counterculture movement. Dr. Albert Hofmann first synthesized LSD in 1938. It was introduced to the public in 1947 under the name Delysid as a possible treatment for psychiatric patients as well as alcoholism. The effects of the drug cause people to go on "trips", or "psychedelic experiences". Users experience mostly visual and other sensory distortions and intense emotions. -
Stonewall Riot
On this day, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village in New York City, dragging out employees and customers. The raid sparked a riot among customers as well as neighborhood residents, which led to six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement outside the bar on Christopher Street, in neighboring streets and in nearby Christopher Park. The riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in the U.S. and around the world. -
Silent Majority
The Silent Majority was a term used by President Nixon to indicate his belief that the great body of Americans supported his policies and that those who demonstrated against the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War amounted to only a noisy minority. Nixon's call for support is an attempt to blunt the renewed strength of the antiwar movement. He appealed to the American people, calling on the “great silent majority” for their support as he worked for “peace with honor” in Vietnam. -
The New Right
The New Right was the outspoken conservative movement of the 1980s (which began in the mid 1970s) that emphasized such "social issues" as opposition to abortion, the Equal Rights Amendment, pornography, homosexuality, and affirmative action. It was mainly a doing of the Republican Party, and it followed America's mass liberalization due to the Great Society. It saw another rise of laissez-faire capitalism and a reactionary response to the social progressivism of the 1960s. -
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The 1970s
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Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis Schlafly was a conservative anti-feminist who protested the women's rights acts and movements. She saw them as defying tradition and natural gender division of labor. She led the campaign to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment, claiming it would undermine the American family. She believed it would hinder women more than it would help them. Schlafly demonstrated conservative backlash against the 1960s as a whole. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was a proposed amendment that would ban any discrimination based on sex. It was at first seen as a great victory by women's-rights groups. The amendment fell 3 states short of the 38 required for ratification. However, many states have adopted similar amendments to their state constitutions. Although defeated, the popularity of the amendment showed how far feminists had come. -
Watergate
The scandal began when several burglars were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate complex of buildings in Washington, D.C. The burglars had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents- all for President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign. Nixon went to extreme lengths to cover up the crime and in August 1974, after his role in the conspiracy was revealed, Nixon resigned. -
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade is a landmark decision issued in 1973 by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of the constitutionality of laws that criminalized or restricted access to abortions. The case held that the Constitution protected a woman's right to an abortion prior to the viability of the fetus. Most states outlawed it and it was sometimes allowed only for the life of the mother or other reasons. SCOTUS ultimately ruled outlawing abortion is unconstitutional. This is still controversial today! -
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation was a conservative American think-tank that promoted the principles that made America great: free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. It attacked liberal legislation and the permissive culture it had created. followers envisioned themselves as crusaders, working against what one conservative called "the despotic aspects of egalitarianism." -
OPEC
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is a permanent, intergovernmental Organization, created at the Baghdad Conference in September of 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. On October 17, 1973, OPEC announced a decision to cut oil exports to the United States and other nations that provided military aid to Israel. According to OPEC, exports were to be reduced by 5% every month until Israel evacuated the territories occupied in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. -
Stagflation
Economic term from the 1970s used to describe a situation where inflation and unemployment increase during the same time period. During the 60's and 70's, the U.S. was suffering from 5.3% inflation and 6% unemployment. It decreased Americans' purchasing power which ultimately led to a recession in the U.S. economy. Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter had difficulty dealing with this issue. Nixon attempted to solve the problem by implementing his New Economic Policy. -
The Moral Majority
The Moral Majority was a prominent American political organization associated with the Christian right and Republican Party. It was the development of Protestant fundamentalism; they became energized about politics and social actions. There was heavy involvement from the Republican party but they did not represent the majority as the name suggested. They lobbied for prayer and teaching creationism in schools, they were against legal abortion, and homosexuality. -
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The 1980s
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Robert L. Johnson
Robert L. Johnson is an American entrepreneur best known as the founder of the BET channel and as the country’s first African-American billionaire. Johnson founded Black Entertainment Television (BET) in 1979 with his wife, Sheila. BET was the first cable network targeting the African-American market. It was launched in January 1980, initially broadcasting for two hours a week. In 1991, BET became the first African American-owned company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. -
Election of 1980
The Election of 1980 was between Republican Ronald Reagan and re-nominated Jimmy Carter who was greatly disliked, even by his own party supporters. Reagan won easily and was very popular, Carter won only six states and the District of Columbia, putting the Republicans back in control for the first time in 25 years. Even though Reagan won by a landslide, only 52% of eligible voters cast their ballots in the election, leading many to question why so many Americans chose not to vote. -
Reaganomics
Reaganomics were the federal economic polices of the Reagan administration, elected in 1981. These policies combined a monetarist fiscal policy, supply-side tax cuts, and domestic budget cutting. Their goal was to reduce the size of the federal government and stimulate economic growth. Reagan's administration greatly increased military spending, cut taxes, and reduced spending for social programs. As a result, exports decreased while imports increased. Eventually, the economy stabilized in 1983. -
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Conner was the first woman to be in the Supreme Court, appointed by President Ronald Reagan. Prior to O'Connor's appointment to the Court, she was an elected official and judge in Arizona serving as the first female Majority Leader in the United States as the Republican leader in the Arizona Senate. On July 1, 2005, she announced her intention to retire effective upon the confirmation of a successor. O'Connor was an Associate Justice from 1981 until 2006. -
MTV
MTV, or Music Television Station launched in 1981. It started in small market of New Jersey on cable and became a sensation. It inspired a revolution in television broadcasting. MTV was designed to appeal to young adults with lots of disposable income. The success of MTV and other forms of niche marketing contributed to the fragmentation of public culture. The American public was no longer watching the same shows because of so many shows to choose from. -
AIDS Crisis
The disease AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) first appeared in the early 1980s, and rapidly became an epidemic among homosexual men. Intravenous drug users who shared needles, blood transfusion patients, and women with infected sexual partners were also at risk of contracting AIDS. Activists responded by creating care and education centers and by calling for increased government funding to help. The government eventually committed millions of dollars to research, care, and education. -
Sam Walton's Just-in-Time Inventory
Samuel Moore Walton opened the first Wal-Mart in July 2, 1962. His company was the first to use the UPC bar code to automate the inventory process. In 1983, the company set up a private satellite system to track delivery trucks, process credit card transactions, and transmit sales data. This process led to Walton’s pioneering “just-in-time” inventory. The local distribution center can know, via satellite, when a given store is nearly out of a product and can truck more in immediately. -
SDI/Star Wars
SDI or Strategic Defense Initiative was Reagan's proposed missile-defense system. The initiative was part of Reagan's plan to force the Soviets' hand and was also referred to as "Star Wars." It called for a land- or space-based shield against a nuclear attack. Reagan described it as an "astrodome" shield over America. Although SDI was criticized as unfeasible and in violation of the Anti-ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, Congress approved billions of dollars for development. -
Rap Music
Initially the word rap meant to strike or to hit. A few centuries later a slight variation of this definition appeared which meant to speak or talk. In America around the 1960’s it began to pop up in the black community and was used as a slang word to mean that someone was talking or having a conversation. One of the first rappers at the beginning of the hip hop period was also hip hop's first DJ, DJ Kool Herc, who started delivering simple raps at his parties -
Challenger Explosion
The NASA space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after liftoff. The disaster claimed the lives of all seven astronauts aboard, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire who would have been the first civilian in space. Two rubber O-rings, which had been designed to separate the sections of the rocket booster, had failed due to cold temperatures on that morning. The tragedy received extensive media coverage and made NASA temporarily suspend all shuttle missions. -
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is a talk show host who started her own show in 1986 that went until 2011. It is regarded as the highest rated talk show in history. Dubbed the "Queen of all Media" she has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century and the greatest black philanthropist. She established Harpo Productions 1988 and in 2003, Forbes listed her as the first African-American female billionaire. As of 2018, her net worth is 2.8 billion U.S. dollars. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Fall of the Berlin Wall symbolizes the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union or the U.S.S.R.; the end of the Cold War. After the democratic elections were announced in Hungary, there was an influx of East German citizens to West Germany, forcing the East German government to allow the Easterners to cross the border to the West. This was the first step toward the reunification of Germany. -
Lionel Sosa
Lionel Sosa is the founder of Sosa, Bromley, Aguilar & Associates (now Bromley Communications), which became the largest Hispanic advertising agency in the U.S. Sosa is an acknowledged expert in Hispanic consumer and voter behavior and was named “One of the 25 most influential Hispanics in America” by Time Magazine. Lionel was media consultant for Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. He has served on the teams of eight national Republican presidential campaigns. -
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1990s
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Persian Gulf War
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait in August 1990. Alarmed by these actions, fellow Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on the United States and other Western nations to intervene. Iraq set Kuwait's oil fields on fire so the Americans couldn't gain the oil. The Persian Gulf War began with a massive U.S.-led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm. After 42 days, most Iraqi forces in Kuwait had either surrendered or fled. -
Rodney King Incident
When a videotape of Los Angeles police officers beating a black bystander, Rodney King, got out, it provoked outrage throughout whites and blacks alike. The officers were acquitted, however. Black residents in South Central Los Angeles erupted in anger and started one of the largest racial disturbances of the twentieth centuries. More than 50 people died. Two decades after the riots, King told CNN that he had forgiven the officers. -
Election of 1992
The 52nd presidential election was between Democrat Bill Clinton and re-running Republican George H.W. Bush. Businessman H. Ross Perot ran as an independent third party candidate. Clinton won over Bush because of the economy's problems after the Gulf War ended. The economy was plagued by high unemployment and the large deficit. Perot split the Republican votes, allowing Clinton to win the presidency with less than 50% of the vote with a campaign focused on the economy. -
World Trade Center Bombing
On February 26, 1993, terrorists drove a rental van into a parking garage under the World Trade Center’s twin towers and lit the fuses on a homemade bomb stuffed inside. At 12:17 p.m. the bomb exploded, knocking out the World Trade Center’s sprinklers, generators, elevators, public address system, emergency command center and more than half of the high-voltage lines that fed electricity to the complex. Six people died and more than 1,000 were injured in the massive explosion. -
NAFTA
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was an agreement signed by the United States, Canada, and Mexico in 1992 to form the largest free trade zone in the world that would gradually eliminate tariffs. It was a symbol of the increased reality of a globalized market place. It was established by President Clinton; it allowed the flow of increased goods, services, and jobs across the international borders by lessening and eliminating tariffs. -
Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy
The policy was intended as a "compromise"- one that purports to restrict the United States military from "witch-hunting" secretly gay, lesbian, and bisexual service members or applicants, while absolutely barring "openly" gay or bisexual people from joining the military, and expelling those already serving during Clinton's term. The act prohibits any homosexual or bisexual person from disclosing his or her sexual orientation or from speaking about any homosexual relationships while serving. -
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
The act stated in part that "No state, territory or possession of the United States ... shall be required to give effect to any public act, record, or judicial proceeding of any other State, territory, possession or tribe respecting a relationship between persons of the same sex that is treated as a marriage under the laws of such other State, territory, possession, or tribe, or a right or claim arising from such a relationship." It was overruled by SCOTUS in June of 2015. -
The Lewinsky Affair
The Clinton–Lewinsky scandal was an American political sex scandal that involved 49-year-old President Bill Clinton and 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The sexual relationship took place between 1995 and 1997 and came to light in 1998. Clinton denied it under oath, but there was physical evidence. Bush eventually was forced to admit to his relationship, leading the House Republicans to pass two articles of impeachment on the basis of perjury and obstruction of justice. -
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Contemporary
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Election of 2000
Democrats chose Vice President Albert Gore. He had to balance aligned with Clinton's prosperity and against his scandals. The Green Party (consisting mostly of liberals and environmentalists) chose consumer advocate Ralph Nader. Gore won the popular vote, but the results in Florida were disputed and a recount was ordered by the Florida courts. In a 5 to 4 decision, the Supreme Court ordered a halt to the recount, giving Bush the victory. -
War on Terror
War on terrorism, term used by President George W. Bush to describe the American-led global counter-terrorism campaign launched in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The broadly defined "war on terror" aimed to weed out terrorist operatives and their supporters throughout the world. The successes of the first years of the war on terrorism included the arrest of hundreds of terrorist suspects around the world. -
9/11
On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the U.S. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in NYC, a third plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism. -
PATRIOT Act
The USA PATRIOT Act is an Act of Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. With its ten-letter abbreviation (USA PATRIOT) expanded, the full title is “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001”. The act sought to prevent further terrorist attacks by allowing greater government access to electronic communications and other information. -
No Child Left Behind Act
An education bill created and signed by the George W. Bush administration. Designed to increase accountability standards for primary and secondary schools, the law authorized several federal programs to monitor those standards and increased choices for parents in selecting schools for their children. The program was highly controversial, in large part because it linked results on standardized to federal funding for schools and school districts. -
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a major hurricane that destroyed New Orleans and the gulf region in August 2005. It destroyed 80% of New Orleans and 1,800 people died; the damages costed nearly $150 billion. The lack of federal response and compassion ignited debate of poverty and race in America. The Bush administration was accused of showing indifference to those who were affected by the massive storm due to the delayed response. -
Election of 2008
The Election of 2008 was between Democrat Barack Obama (then-Senator of Illinois) and running mate Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain (then-Senator of Arizona) and running mate Sarah Palin. Senator Obama won the number of electors necessary to be elected President and was inaugurated on January 20, 2009. 365 electoral votes to Obama, 173 electoral votes to McCain. Barack Obama was the first African-American president. -
Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 2009. She has the distinction of being its first justice of Hispanic descent and the first Latina. Sotomayor was born in the Bronx on June 25, 1954 to Juan Sotomayor and Celina Baez, both native Puerto Ricans. President Obama nominated Sotomayor on May 26, 2009, and the Senate confirmed her on August 6, 2009 on a 68-31 vote divided mostly along party lines. -
Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
It is a US federal statute signed into law by Obama. Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act amendment, it represents the most significant regulatory overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. It was enacted to increase the quality and affordability of health insurance, lower the uninsured rate by expanding public and private insurance coverage, and reduce the costs of healthcare for individuals and the government. -
DOMA Repeal
On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right. The ruling also had implications for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) a 1996 law that defined federal marriage as a union between one man and one woman. As a result of Obergefell v. Hodges, same-sex couples now have the right to marry in every state, and consequently, every state must recognize lawful same-sex marriages performed in other states.
