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2nd Red Scare- Smith Act
Smith Act, formally known as the Alien Registration Act of 1940, was authored by Representative Howard W. Smith of Virginia, was adopted at 54 Statutes at Large 670-671 (1940). This U.S. federal law was passed on June 28, 1940, and made it a criminal offense to advocate the violent overthrow of the government or to organize or be a member of any group or society devoted to such advocacy. This fined or imprisoned people trying to overthrow the government. -
G.I. Bill
The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, provides educational assistance to servicemembers, veterans, and their dependents. The federal government offers World War II vets low-interest rates/ funding on housing and college tuition, and unemployment insurance. They also provide money to start businesses. The G.I. Bill was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22, 1944. -
Atomic Bomb- Fat Man
"Fat Man" was the codename for the atomic bomb that was detonated over the Japanese city of Nagasaki by the United States on August 9, 1945. It was the second of the two nuclear weapons ever used in warfare, the first being Little Boy, and its detonation marked the third-ever man-made nuclear explosion in history. The name Fat Man refers to the early design of the bomb because it had a wide, round shape. It was also known as the Mark III. The Fat Man was retired in 1950. -
Korean War- 38th Parallel established as border
When Japan surrendered its 35-year rule of Korea in August 1945, the 38th parallel, a circle of latitude that is 38 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane, was established as the boundary between Soviet and American occupation zones. This parallel divides the Korean peninsula roughly in the middle. In 1948, this parallel became the boundary between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). -
Berlin Airlift- Stalin closes boarder
On June 22, 1948, after WW1, negotiations between the former allies broke down. 2 days later, the Soviet forces blocked the roads and railroad lines to Berlin, the capital of Germany surrounded by Soviet territory but split among the former allies. Joseph Stalin created a blockade around Berlin in hopes of America giving up the land because they couldn't get supplies to West Berlin. The United states response was to airlift the supplies. On May 12, 1949, the Soviets ended the blockade. -
Fair Deal
Harry S. Truman, United States' 33rd President, adds to Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal called the Fair Deal. He wants this to focus more on health care, public housing, education, and public works. He wanted a minimum wage to be established and wanted electricity and telephones to be widely accessible to the public. He was forced to scale back because of Korea and anti-communist agenda that needed bi-partisan support. President Truman’s success kept most of the New Deal intact. -
Korean War- North Korea invades South Korea
Just 5 years after Japan surrendered its rule in Korea, with the 38th parallel acting as the border between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea), North Korea invades South Korea. On 25 June 1950, after a series of cross-border raids and gunfire from both the Northern and the Southern sides, the North Korean Army crossed the parallel and invaded South Korea in hopes of pushing out the US and gaining government control over all of Korea. -
Rock ‘n’ Roll- Ike Turner
Ike Turner was born November 5, 1931. He was a black American musician and pioneer of rock and roll during the 1950s but is most well known for his songs during the 1960s and the 1970s. He made the first Rock & Roll song called “Rocket 88” but during this time, many white artists ripped off Rock & Roll songs from black artists; So there were many remakes of this song even more popular than his. -
Atomic Bomb- Duck & Cover
Duck & Cover was a drill implemented by the Federal Civil Defense Administration in order to educate people around the country on what to do in the case of a nuclear attack. The FCDA partnered with the National Education Agency to create an educational video, in which an animated turtle shows students how to duck and cover when the enemy attacks. Duck and Cover is a civil defense social guidance film that is often popularly mischaracterized as propaganda and used to help people be more at ease. -
Rock ‘n’ Roll- Bill Haley and the Comets
Bill Haley and the Comets were a rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until 1981 was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of America and the rest of the world. This group placed 9 singles in the Top 20 of 1954 through 1956 songs and was well known throughout the world. -
Polio Vaccine- Dr. Jonas Salk
Polio debilitating thousands of American children every year with FDR being one of the ones who was suffering from it. After the disease ran its course many people left paralyzed for the rest of their lives. Dr. Jonas Salk developed a inactivated vaccine to combat the disease. In 1952, Jonas Salk and his team at the University of Pittsburgh created the first effective polio vaccine and was made available in 1961. This vaccine eradicated Polio from the U.S. by 1994. -
Earl Warren Supreme Court
Earl Warren was an elected California governor who secured major reform legislation during his 3 terms in office. After failing to claim the Republican nomination for the presidency, he was appointed the 14th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1953. His landmark case was Brown v. Board of Education, in which the Court unanimously determined the segregation of schools to be unconstitutional. They also sought electoral reforms, equality in criminal justice and the defense of human rights. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in 1954, was a landmark the United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, which applied to public education at the time. The Warren Court's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." -
Beat Generation
The Beat Generation, a literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-WWII era. The bulk of their work was published throughout the 1950s. Central elements of Beat culture are a rejection of standard narrative values and materialism, spiritual quest, exploration of religion, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and sexual liberation and exploration. Inspires & lays the foundation for war protests in the1960s. -
Emmett Till Tragedy
While visiting family in Mississippi on August 24, 1955, 14-year-old Emmett Till reportedly flirted with a white cashier. 4 days later, two white men, the white woman’s husband and brother, tortured and murdered Till. They were acquitted for the murder and kidnapping charges by an all-white, male jury. The funeral was held in Chicago and was an open casket because Emmett’s mother wanted the world to see what the South had done to her son. His murder galvanized the coming Civil Rights Movement. -
Rock ‘n’ Roll- Elvis
Elvis Aaron Presley, born on January 8, 1935, was an American singer and actor. He is regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, and is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll". He was successful in many genres, including pop, blues, and gospel, and is one of the best-selling solo artists in the history of recorded music. Several years of prescription drug abuse severely damaged his health, and he died in 1977 at the age of 42. -
Rock ‘n’ Roll- Little Richard
Richard Penniman was born on December 5, 1932. He was a black American musician and an influential figure in popular music for more than six decades. His main works lay in the 1950s when he helped lay the foundations for rock and roll. Like many other black musicians at the time, his work was also stolen from him and made popular by a white musician. -
Little Rock 9
The Little Rock 9 was a group of 9 African-American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, where the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. They then attended after the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Little Rock School Board agreed to comply with the high court's ruling and submitted a plan of gradual integration. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957, enacted September 9, 1957, primarily a voting rights bill, was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was also a way for Congress to show their support for the Supreme Court's Brown decisions which led to the integration (desegregation) of public schools. Following the Supreme Court ruling, Southern whites in Virginia began a "Massive Resistance." -
Space Race- Sputnik
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. This surprising success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. -
Space Race- NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, is a federal agency created in the US as a result of the space race between the US and the Soviet Union.On July 29, 1958, Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, establishing NASA. NASA was created from NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics of 1915) and other related organizations. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was created in February 1958 to develop space technology for military application. -
Vietnam War- Ho Chi Minh Trail
The Hồ Chí Minh trail was a logistical system that ran from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The system provided support, in the form of manpower and materiel, to the North Vietnamese Army (Vietcong), during the Vietnam War. It was named after the North Vietnamese president, Ho Chi Minh, and was "one of the great achievements of military engineering of the 20th century," according to the United States National Security Agency. -
Counter Culture- Anti-War Movement SDS
The Anti-War Movement of the 1960s was a movement against the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War. This began in the U.S. in 1964 and grew in strength in later years. The U.S. became polarized between those who advocated continued involvement in Vietnam and those who wanted peace.
Many in the peace movement were students, mothers, or anti-establishment hippies. Their actions consisted mainly of peaceful, nonviolent events; few events were deliberately provocative and violent. -
OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is a permanent, intergovernmental Organization, created at the Baghdad Conference on September 10–14, 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. OPEC's objective is to co-ordinate and unify petroleum policies among Member Countries, in order to secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers; an efficient, economic supply of petroleum to consuming nations; and a fair return on capital to those investing in the industry. -
Television- Politics
WWII slowed TVs introduction to the consumer market but by 1955, 75% of American homes had a TV (black & white). TVs are the way people were entertained and politicians invoked that power. Kennedy won the election of 1960 mainly due to television debates. Nixon was sick at the time of the debate and looked bad while Kennedy looked young and energetic. The people who heard the debate, thought that Nixon had won but the overwhelming majority who watched the debate on TV thought that Kennedy won. -
Peace Corps
Just two weeks later, on November 2, 1960, President Kennedy's speech at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, proposed "a peace corps of talented men and women" who would dedicate themselves to the progress and peace of developing countries. This encouraged more than 25,000 letters responding to his call. Kennedy took immediate action as president and created the Peace Corps. Kennedy wanted to involve Americans more actively in the cause of global democracy, peace, development, and freedom. -
New Frontier
The term New Frontier was used by liberal Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 US presidential election to the Democratic National Convention. It was a Democratic slogan to inspire America to support him that developed into a label for his administration's domestic and foreign programs. "We stand today on the edge of a New Frontier, the frontier of the 1960s, the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, the frontier of unfilled hopes..." -
Freedom Rides
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States in 1961 in order to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia and Boynton v. Virginia. On May 4, 1961, a group of 13 African-American and white civil rights activists launched the Freedom Rides, a series of bus trips through the American South to protest segregation in interstate bus terminals but were met with violence from whites. -
Polio Vaccine- Albert Sabin
Albert Sabin was born August 26, 1906. He developed the oral polio vaccine and came into commercial use in 1961. This prevented most of the polio complications but didn't stop the initial intestinal infection that polio carried with it. It is easier to give and lasts longer than the vaccine made by Dr. Jonas Salk. -
March on Washington
The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the March on Washington, or The Great March on Washington, was held in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was to stand up for civil and economic rights for African Americans during a time when racism was more prevalent throughout society. At the march, Martin Luther King Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic "I Have a Dream" speech in which he called for an end to racism. -
Birmingham Bombing
On September 15, a bomb exploded before Sunday morning services at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama–a church with a predominantly black congregation that served as a meeting place for civil rights leaders. Four young girls were killed and many other people injured; outrage over the incident and the violent clash between protesters and police that followed helped draw national attention to the hard-fought, often dangerous struggle for civil rights for African Americans. -
Assassination of JFK
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he was driving through Dallas. He took 2 shots, neck and head. The convicted shooter was Lee Harvy Oswald, but there has been a lot speculation, even to this day, that there might have been others or even the work of the CIA. -
Assassination of JFK- Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was born October 18, 1939. He was a former marine and the convicted assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Two days later while transferring between jails, he was shot by a Dallas nightclub owner, Jack Ruby and killed. Speculation exists that he was not the only shooter and was shot to cover up any remaining evidence. -
Ascendency of Lyndon Johnson- Barry Goldwater
In one of the most crushing victories in the history of US presidential elections, Lyndon Baines Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater, Sr. with over 60% of the popular vote. Johnson then turned back the conservative senator from Arizona to secure his first full term in office. During the 1964 campaign, Goldwater, critical of Johnson’s liberal domestic agenda, railing against welfare programs and defending his own decision to vote against the Civil Rights Act passed by Congress earlier that year. -
Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the US launched by Democratic President Lyndon B Johnson. The main goal was to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. President Johnson first used the term "Great Society" during a speech at Ohio University, then unveiled the program in greater detail at the University of Michigan. This created new major spending programs that addressed education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, and transportation were launched during this period. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Voting Rights Act, signed by President Lyndon Johnson on August 6, 1965, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states -
Counter Culture- Hippies
Hippies were members of the liberal counterculture during the mid-1960s. These were people who sought to free themselves from normal society and as a result grew out their hair and commonly used drugs. Hippies wanted a new society based on peace, love, and pleasure. Members of the hippie counter-culture expressed their dissent through personal expression— Some hippies formed small groups and lived together in various kinds of small, self-supporting communities called communes. -
Death of MLK
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American clergyman and civil rights leader who was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead that evening. He was a prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was known for his use of nonviolence and civil disobedience. James Earl Ray, a fugitive from the Missouri State Penitentiary, was arrested on June 8, 1968, and charged with the crime. -
Stonewall Riot
The Stonewall riots, also known as the Stonewall uprising/ Stonewall rebellion, were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay (LGBT) community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. They are widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the US. -
Race to Space- Apollo 11
Almost 11 years after NASA was created, the US created Apollo 11, which was the spaceflight that landed the first two humans on the Moon. Mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American, landed the lunar module Eagle on July 20, 1969. They then proceeded to collect and bring back 47.5 pounds of lunar material to bring back to Earth as "proof". This was a great success for the American people but there is still a lot of speculation on what really happened even to this day. -
Counter Culture- LSD
Albert Hofmann synthesized LSD for the first time in 1938 while looking for a blood stimulant. Its hallucinogenic effects were unknown until 1943 when Hofmann accidentally consumed some LSD. An oral dose of as little as 25 micrograms is capable of producing vivid hallucinations.This new drug was popularized by hippies in America in the 1960s and spread throughout the world. The government experimented with the drug as a potential chemical weapon but eventually banned the drug in 1967. -
Warren Burger Supreme Court
Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was the 15th Chief Justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Although Burger was a conservative, and the U.S. Supreme Court delivered numerous conservative decisions under him, it also delivered some liberal decisions on abortion, capital punishment, the religious establishment, and school desegregation during his tenure. Warren Burger is the longest-serving U.S. Supreme Court chief justice of the 20th century. -
Equal Rights Amendment
The proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) states that the rights guaranteed by the Constitution apply equally to all persons regardless of their sex. After the 19th Amendment affirming women’s right to vote was ratified in 1920, suffragist leader Alice Paul introduced the ERA in 1923 as the next step in bringing "equal justice under law" to all citizens. The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress on March 22, 1972, and sent to the states for ratification to be added to the Constitution. -
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade is a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. It was decided simultaneously with a companion case, Doe v. Bolton. The Court ruled 7–2 that a right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment extended to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that this right must be balanced against the state's interests in regulating abortions: protecting women's health and protecting the potentiality of human life. -
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation, founded on February 16, 1973, is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies were taken from Heritage's policy study Mandate for Leadership.[2] Heritage has since continued to have a significant influence in U.S. public policy making, and is considered to be one of the most influential conservative research organizations in the US. -
Nixon’s resignation
In light of his loss of political support, Nixon had the choice to resign on his own terms or be impeached and removed. Nixon resigned the presidency on August 9, 1974, after addressing the nation on television the previous evening. The resignation speech was delivered from the Oval Office and was carried live on radio and television. Nixon stated that he was resigning for the good of the country and asked the nation to support the new president, Gerald Ford. -
Federal Election Commission (FEC)
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the US Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1974 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act. It describes its duties as "to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections." -
The New Right
New Right is used in several countries as a descriptive term for various policies or groups that are right-wing. It has also been used to describe the emergence of Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Union and systems using Soviet-style communism. The New Right refers to a conservative movement which brought key elements of the American Right under the banner of anti-communism and is named new right because it sets itself apart from the laissez-faire "Old" Right. -
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is an artificial 48-mile waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is key for international maritime trade. The second, called The Panama Canal Treaty, stated that the Panama Canal Zone would cease to exist on October 1, 1979, and the Canal itself would be turned over to the Panamanians on December 31, 1999. These two treaties were signed on September 7, 1977. -
Satellite Entertainment
Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment was a joint venture owned by Warner Communications and American Express that developed interactive television shows in the 1970s and 80's and initiated several successful cable networks that remain well-known. On December 1, 1977, Warner Cable's Columbus Ohio unit introduced the QUBE, the world's 1 interactive television programming system that predated Video On Demand by decades. It featured 30 channels. Warner Communications needed outside capital to expand. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
The Iran hostage crisis was a diplomatic standoff between Iran and the United States. 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days from November 4 to January 20 after a group of Iranian students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. It stands as the longest hostage crisis in recorded history. The crisis reached a climax after diplomatic negotiations failed to win the release of the hostages. -
Sam Walton’s Just-in-Time Inventory
Samuel Moore Walton was founder and chairman of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer. At one time, he was the richest man in the United States. He created systems keep a minimum amount of inventory on the premises and deliver parts, supplies and other needs just in time to go to the assembly line. They usually use ESP and they are computerized to get the product out at the right time, right place, at the cheapest cost to meet both customers and production need. -
Discount Retailing
A discount store is a retail store which sells products at prices that are lower than the typical market value. Discount store may specialize in specific merchandise such as jewelry, electronic equipment, or electrical appliances, relying on bulk purchase and efficient distribution to keep down cost. Following World War II, a number of retail establishments in the U.S. began to pursue a high-volume, low-profit-margin strategy designed to attract price-conscious consumers. -
Entertainment- Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson is an African American entrepreneur, media magnate, executive, philanthropist, and investor. He is the founder of BET (Black American Television), which was sold to Viacom in 2001. He also founded RLJ Companies, a holding company that invests in various business sectors. He became the first black American billionaire. Johnson's companies have counted among the most prominent African-American businesses in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. -
Election of 1980
The United States presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Reagan, aided by the Iran hostage crisis and a worsening economy at home, won the election in a landslide. Carter won the Democratic nomination and attacked Reagan as a dangerous right-wing radical. Reagan won a decisive victory and republicans won control of the US Senate for the first time in 28 years. This election marked the beginning of what is popularly called the "Reagan Revolution." -
Music Television (MTV)
MTV (originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable and satellite television channel owned by Viacom Media Networks (a division of Viacom) and headquartered in New York City. Launched on August 1, 1981, the channel originally aired music videos as guided by television personalities known as "video jockeys" (VJs). In its early years, MTV's main target demographic was young adults, but today it is primarily towards teenagers, particularly high school and college students. -
Sandra Day O’Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the US, serving from her appointment in 1981 by Ronald Reagan. She was the first woman to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the US. Prior to that, she was an elected official and judge in Arizona serving as the first female Majority Leader of a state senate as the Republican leader in the Arizona Senate. Upon her nomination to the Court, O'Connor was confirmed unanimously by the Senate. -
Reaganomics
Reaganomics is the economic policies of the former US president Ronald Reagan, associated especially with the reduction of taxes and the promotion of unrestricted free-market activity. These policies are commonly associated with supply-side economics and free-market economics by political advocates. The four pillars of the policy were to reduce the growth of government spending, the federal income tax and capital gains tax, government regulation, and tighten the money supply to reduce inflation. -
Reagan Doctrine
In his State of the Union address, President Ronald Reagan defines some of the key concepts of his foreign policy, establishing what comes to be known as the “Reagan Doctrine.” The doctrine served as the foundation for the Reagan administration’s support of “freedom fighters” around the globe. Reagan began his foreign policy comments with the dramatic pronouncement that, “Freedom is not the sole prerogative of a chosen few; it is the universal right of all God’s children.” -
Space Shuttle Program- Challenger Explosion
On January 28, 1986, the NASA shuttle orbiter mission and the tenth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members, which consisted of five NASA astronauts and two payload specialists.The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida. The O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff; it was not designed to fly under unusually cold conditions as in this launch. -
Entertainment- Oprah Winfrey
Orpah Gail Winfrey better known as Oprah Winfrey, is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. She is known for her talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show, which was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history. She is dubbed the "Queen of All Media", and has been ranked the richest African-American, the greatest black philanthropist in American history, and is currently North America's first and only multi-billionaire black person. -
Persian Gulf War / 1st Iraq War
The Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Shield for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm. In its combat phase was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the US against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. The war is also known under other names, such as the Persian Gulf War, First Gulf War, Gulf War I, Kuwait War, First Iraq War, or Iraq War -
Rodney King Incident
Rodney King (April 2, 1965 - June 17, 2012) was a taxi driver who became internationally known after being beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers following a high-speed car chase on March 3, 1991. A witness, George Holliday, videotaped much of the beating from his balcony and sent it to the local news station KTLA. The footage showed 4 officers beating him and was broadcasted around the world. This raised public concern about police treatment of minorities in the U.S. -
Election of 1992
The United States presidential election of 1992 was the 52nd quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1992. There were three major candidates: Incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bush, Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and independent Texas businessman Ross Perot. This ultimately resulted in the election of Bill Clinton as the forty-second President of United Sates where he will stay in office for two whole terms. -
Election of 1992- George H.W. Bush
Clinton won a plurality in the popular vote and a wide Electoral College margin. The election was a significant realigning election after three consecutive Republican landslides. Northeastern, Upper Midwest, and West Coast states which had previously been competitive began voting reliably Democratic. As of 2016, this is the most recent election in which an incumbent president was unseated, the previous one having been the 1980 election in which Ronald Reagan unseated then-incumbent Jimmy Carter. -
World Trade Center Attack - 1993
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, carried out on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. It killed six people and injured over a thousand more. The attack was planned by a group of terrorists that received financing from Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, Yousef's uncle. In March 1994, four men were convicted of carrying out the bombing and two more followed just three years later. -
Bill Clinton Presidency- Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Policy
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT), was a former official U.S. policy (1993–2011) regarding the service of homosexuals in the military. The term was coined after Pres. Bill Clinton in 1993 signed a law directing that military personnel “don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue, and don’t harass.” When it went into effect on October 1, 1993, the policy theoretically lifted a ban on homosexual service that had been instituted during World War II, though in effect it continued a statutory ban. -
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The signed agreement was then ratified by each nation's legislative or parliamentary branch on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada–US Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Canada. NAFTA has two supplements: North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation and the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation. -
Bill Clinton Presidency- Welfare Reform
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is a United States federal law considered to be a major welfare reform. The bill was a cornerstone of the Republican Contract with America and was authored by Rep. Clay Shaw Jr. President Bill Clinton signed PRWORA into law on August 22, 1996, fulfilling his 1992 campaign promise to "end welfare as we have come to know it". PRWORA instituted Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which became effective July 1, 1997. -
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) enacted September 21, 1996, was a US federal law that defined marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman. It allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states. Until Section 3 of the Act was struck down in 2013 DOMA had barred same-sex married couples from being recognized as "spouses" for purposes of federal laws, effectively barring them from receiving federal marriage benefits. -
Bush v. Gore (SCOTUS case)
Bush v. Gore (2000), is the United States Supreme Court decision that resolved the dispute surrounding the 2000 presidential election. The Court unanimously decided the closely related case of Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board. In a per curiam decision, the Court ruled that there was an Equal Protection Clause violation in using different standards of counting in different counties and no alternative method could be established within the time limit set by Title 3 of the U.S. Code. -
Election of 2000- George W. Bush
The election of 2000 took place on November 7, 2000. This election was between Republican candidate George W. Bush and Democratic candidate Al Gore. George W. Bush was born on July 6, 1946 and he served as the 43rd president of the United States for 2 terms from 2001 until 2009. He also served as the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995. He faced off against Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election as the Republican candidate and was elected to be the next president of the United States. -
George W. Bush Presidency- 9/11 Attacks
The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11) were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in property and infrastructure damage and $3 trillion in total costs. The attacks were executed by hijacking 2 planes and crashing them into the twin towers in New York City, causing them to fall. -
PATRIOT ACT
The USA PATRIOT Act 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" President Barack Obama signed the PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011, a 4 year extension of 3 key provisions in the Act:roving wiretaps, searches of business records, and surveillance of individual terrorists. -
No Child Left Behind Education Act
The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 was a United States Act of Congress that reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act; it included Title I provisions applying to disadvantaged students. It supported standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve individual outcomes in education. The Act required states to develop assessments in basic skills to receive federal school funding. -
2nd Iraq War
The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued for much of the next decade as an insurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. The invasion began on 20 March 2003,[55] with the U.S., joined by the United Kingdom and several coalition allies, launching a "shock and awe" bombing campaign. -
Hurricane Katrina Disaster
Hurricane Katrina was the costliest natural disaster and one of the five deadliest hurricanes in the history of the United States. The storm is currently ranked as the third most intense United States landfalling tropical cyclone. At least 1,245 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods, making it one of the deadliest United States hurricane. Katrina originated over the Bahamas on August 23 from the interaction between a tropical wave and the remnants of Tropical Depression Ten. -
Barack Obama
Barack Obama was born August 4, 1961. He was the 44th president of the United States and served 2 terms in office from 2009 until 2017. He was the first African-American president as well as the first born outside the contiguous United States. He also served in the U.S. Senate (Illinois) from 2005 to 2008 and the State Senate (Illinois) from 1997 to 2004. He is a democratic president and the founder of the ACA (affordable care act) and went to Harvard Law school to study politics. -
First Hispanic SCOTUS judge - Sonia Sotomayor
Sonia Maria Sotomayor (born June 25, 1954) 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 heritage, the first Latina, its third female justice, and its twelfth Roman Catholic justice. In May 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sotomayor to the Supreme Court following the retirement of Justice David Souter. Her nomination was confirmed by the Senate in August 2009 by a vote of 68–31. -
Affordable Care Act (ACA) “Obamacare”
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is a US federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama. Hospitals and primary physicians would transform their practices financially, technologically, and clinically to drive better health outcomes, lower costs, and improve their methods of distribution and accessibility. The Affordable Care Act was designed to increase health insurance quality and affordability, lower the uninsured rate by expanding insurance coverage and reduce the costs of healthcare.
