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Cold War
Growing out of post-World War II tensions between the two nations, the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted for much of the second half of the 20th century resulted in mutual suspicions, heightened tensions and a series of international incidents that brought the world’s superpowers to the brink of disaster. -
Joseph McCarthy- McCarthyism
Claimed he had a list of 205 people in the State Department who were known members of the American Communist Party. The public went crazy with the thought of communists living within the U.S, and roared for the investigation of those people. These people on the list were in fact not all communists. Regardless, McCarthy relentlessly pushed through and continued to investigate for over two years, relentlessly questioning numerous government departments. -
The Korean War
A war between the Republic of Korea (South Korea), supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), at one time supported by China and the Soviet Union. It was primarily the result of the political division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. -
Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement got its start in the 1950s as returning African-American veterans from World War II began demanding equal rights. The decade of the fifties also saw the rise of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the nonviolent protest movement. This timeline of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s explains the events leading up to and following Rosa Parks's stance in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation, insofar as it applied to public education. Handed down on May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are unequal" -
Emmett Till
While visiting family in Money, Mississippi, 14-year-old Emmett Till, an African American from Chicago, is brutally murdered for flirting with a white woman four days earlier. His assailants--the white woman's husband and her brother--made Emmett carry a 75-pound cotton-gin fan to the bank of the Tallahatchie River and ordered him to take off his clothes. The two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head, and then threw his body, tied to the cotton-gin fan with -
Little Rock NIne
Little Rock Nine were a group of African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which 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 Eisenhower. -
The Ku Klux Klan
Founded in 1866, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) extended into almost every southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks. Its members waged an underground campaign of intimidation and violence directed at white and black Republican leaders. -
Malcolm X
Malcolm Little was an African-American Muslim minister and a human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of blacks, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans; detractors accused him of preaching racism and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history. -
Space Race
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik, and the space race was on.On February 20, 1962, John Glenn Jr. became the first American to orbit Earth.As space exploration continued through the 1960s, the United States was on its way to the Moon.On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr.—realized President Kennedy's dream. -
George Wallace, Gov of Alabama
The Stand in the Schoolhouse Door took place at Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama on June 11, 1963. George Wallace, the Governor of Alabama, in a symbolic attempt to keep his inaugural promise of "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" and stop the desegregation of schools, stood at the door of the auditorium to try to block the entry of two black students, Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood -
Lyndon B. Johnson
In the 1960 campaign, Johnson, as John F. Kennedy's running mate, was elected Vice President. On November 22, 1963, when Kennedy was assassinated, Johnson was sworn in as President. -
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
President Kennedy was travelling in an open top car through the streets of Dallas when three loud rifle shots rang through the air, apparently shot from the sixth floor of the nearby Book Depository building. According to official reports, the first of these bullets missed its mark, while the second penetrated the back of the President’s neck. Kennedy’s steel-boned back brace which he wore to alleviate his constant pain held Kennedy in a upright position, despite his wound – allowing the final, -
Vietnam War- 1955 to 1975
The Vietnam War was one of the most controversial armed conflicts during the 20th century. Many people were against the war as they believed that the soldiers were only being sent to their deaths, and that the war was not very productive for the United States. Many of the soldiers returned home only to be called by protesters as "baby killers." The war first started towards the end of the Cold War when the United States attempted at eliminating any Communist Presence in Vietnam. -
The Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party was an African American revolutionary leftist organization from 1966-1982. They believed in preventing racism against blacks, and that all blacks deserved to be treated equally to whites in society. The group was specifically known for its rhetoric, military posture and its way of expressing their beliefs. -
The Hippie Movement
The Hippie movement did actually occur in the Untied States. During the mid-1960's a hippie subculture started to emerge among the youth population. The main belief that they expressed was their anti-sentiments towards the war in Vietnam. The Hippie's created their own social groups, listened to psychedelic rock, embraced the sexual revolution and used drugs such as marijuana, LSD, and "magic mushrooms" to explore other states of consciousness. -
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is widely considered the most influential leader of the American civil rights movement. He fought to overturn Jim Crow segregation laws and eliminate social and economic differences between blacks and whites. -
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
The assassination of Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy, a United States Senator and brother of assassinated President John F. Kennedy, took place shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles, California, during the campaign season for the United States Presidential election, 1968. After winning the Cali and South Dakota primary elections for the nomination for President of the United States, Kennedy was shot as he walked through the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel and died 6 hrs later. -
Neil Armstrong
On July 20, 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 mission, astronaut Neil Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module (nicknamed Eagle) and stepped out onto the ladder. Once at the bottom of the ladder, Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon and became the very first man on the moon. -
Woodstock 1969
The Woodstock Festival was a three-day concert (which rolled into a fourth day) that involved lots of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll - plus a lot of mud. The Woodstock Music Festival of 1969 has become an icon of the 1960s hippie counterculture. -
Earth Day
The first Earth Day. Founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues, Earth Day is now a globally celebrated holiday that is sometimes extended into Earth Week, a full seven days of events focused on green awareness -
Jackson State Shootings
On May 14, 1970, a group of student protesters against the Vietnam War, specifically the United States invasion of Cambodia, were confronted by city and state police. The police opened fire, killing two students and injuring twelve. -
Public Broadcasting System
PBS was founded by Hartford N. Gunn Jr. of WGBH-TV in Boston, Massachusetts, as the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on October 5, 1970, at which time it took over many of the functions of its predecessor, National Educational Television (NET), which later merged with Newark, New Jersey station WNDT to form WNET. -
Environmental Protection Agency
The United States Environmental Protection Agency[2] (EPA or sometimes USEPA) is an agency of the U.S. federal government which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. The EPA was proposed by President Richard Nixon and began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. -
Occupational Safety and Health Act
The Occupational Safety and Health Act is the primary federal law which governs occupational health and safety in the private sector and federal government in the United States. It was enacted by Congress in 1970 and was signed by President Richard Nixon on December 29, 1970. -
26th Amendment
The Twenty-sixth Amendment (Amendment XXVI) to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right of US citizens, eighteen years of age or older, to vote on account of age. The drive to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 grew across the country during the 1960s, driven in large part by the broader student activism movement protesting the Vietnam War. -
Watergate Scandal
The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970's which involved a break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Complex in Washington D.C. After investigation it was found out that President Nixon was aware of this and that several members of the Committee to Re-elect the President had participated in this break-in. Further in the Investigation it was revealed that every conversation in the oval office was taped and that Nixon was supposed to h -
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 was the final mission of the United States' Apollo lunar landing program, and was the sixth and last landing of humans on the Moon. Launched at 12:33 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST) on December 7, 1972, with a three-member crew consisting of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, It was the last use of Apollo hardware for its original mission. -
Roe v. Wade
Each year, the Supreme Court reaches over one hundred decisions that impact the lives of Americans, yet few have been as controversial as the Roe v. Wade decision announced on January 22, 1973. The case concerned the right of women to seek an abortion, which was largely banned under Texas state law where the case originated in 1970. -
Bicentennial
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to the historical events leading up to the creation of the United States of America as an independent republic. It was a central event in the memory of the American Revolution. The Bicentennial culminated on Sunday, July 4, 1976, with the 200th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. -
Elvis Presley
Presley an American singer, musician, and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as "the King of Rock and Roll", or simply, "the King" -
Iran Hostage Crisis
On November 4, 1979, a group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking more than 60 American hostages. The immediate cause of this action was President Jimmy Carter’s decision to allow Iran’s deposed Shah, a pro-Western autocrat who had been expelled from his country some months before, to come to the United States for cancer treatment. -
Reagonomics
Ronald Reagan announced a recipe to fix the nation's economic mess. He claimed an undue tax burden, excessive government regulation, and massive social spending programs hampered growth. Reagan proposed a phased 30% tax cut for the first three years of his Presidency. The economic theory behind the wisdom of such a plan was called SUPPLY-SIDE or TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS. -
John Lennon
John Lennon was an English musician and singer who was one of the founding members of The Beatles. With Beatle Fellow, Paul McCartney, he formed one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of the 20th century. The Beatles were very famous in the pop culture world. Lennon was known for his rebellious nature and his criticism of the Vietnam War. His criticism was so harsh that the Nixon administration attempted to deport him back to England so that he would cause no more issues. Unfortunat -
HIV/AIDS
AIDS was first clinically observed in 1981 in the United States. The initial cases were a cluster of injecting drug users and homosexual men with no known cause of impaired immunity who showed symptoms of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), a rare opportunistic infection that was known to occur in people with very compromised immune systems. -
Assassination Attempt of Ronald Reagan
On March 30, 1981, 25-year-old John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on U.S. President Ronald Reagan just outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. President Reagan was hit by one bullet, which punctured his lung. Three others were also injured in the shooting -
Tax Reform Act of 1986
The U.S. Congress passed the Tax Reform Act of 1986 to simplify the income tax code, broaden the tax base and eliminate many tax shelters and other preferences. Referred to as the second of the two "Reagan tax cuts", the bill was also officially sponsored by Democrats, Richard Gephardt of Missouri in the House of Representatives and Bill Bradley of New Jersey in the Senate. -
Yellowstone fires of 1988
he Yellowstone fires of 1988 together formed the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames quickly spread out of control with increasing winds and drought and combined into one large conflagration, which burned for several months. The fires almost destroyed two major visitor destinations and, on September 8, 1988, the entire park was closed to all non-emergency personnel for the first time. -
Pan AM Flight
At 7:03 p.m. on December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103, a London to New York flight, exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. A total of 270 people were killed, 259 of which had been on board the plane and another 11 had been killed from the debris that hit the ground. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
In the evening of November 9, 1989, East German government official Günter Schabowski stated during a press conference that travel through the border to the West was open. -
Oklahoma City Bombing
On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh drove a truck containing a home-made bomb up to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. When the bomb exploded at 9:02 a.m., the building was decimated and 168 people were left dead. -
Columbine Shooting
On April 20, 1999, two students of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado planted bombs and opened fire on students within their school. The boys, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, planned on killing hundreds during their killing spree and didn't succeed in killing such large numbers only because their bombs did not explode. However, before the boys killed themselves, they had murdered twelve students and one teacher. This was the first mass, student shooting on a U.S. campus.
