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Alexis de Tocqueville
A French political thinker and historian best known for his works Democracy in America (appearing in two volumes: 1835 and 1840) and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856). In both of these, he analyzed the improved living standards and social conditions of individuals, as well as their relationship to the market and state in Western societies. Democracy in America was published after Tocqueville's travels in the United States, and is today considered an early work of sociology and political s -
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Warren G. Harding
The 29th President of the United States (1921–1923), a Republican from Ohio who served in the Ohio Senate and then in the United States Senate, where he protected alcohol interests and moderately supported women's suffrage. He was the first incumbent U.S. senator and the first newspaper publisher to be elected U.S. president.[1][2] -
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The Gilded Age – Post Reconstruction [1877] - 1900
A period of expansion, industrialization, immigration and urbanization with significant effects on
Native Americans, workers, immigrants, and the rise of big business in the late 19th century. -
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Douglas MacArthur
An American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army who was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign, which made him and his father Arthur MacArthur, Jr., the first father and son to be awarded the medal. He was one of only five men ever to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the U.S. Army, and the only man ever to bec -
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George Marshall
An American soldier and statesman famous for his leadership roles during World War II and after. He was Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense. He was hailed as the "organizer of victory" by Winston Churchill for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II,[4] Marshall served as the United States Army Chief of Staff during the war and as the chief military adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
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Dwight D. Eisenhower
The 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe; he had responsibility for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45 from the Western Front. In 1951, he became the first supreme commander of NATO.[2] -
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Omar Bradley
A United States Army field commander in North Africa and Europe during World War II, and a General of the Army. From the Normandy landings through the end of the war in Europe, Bradley had command of all U.S. ground forces invading Germany from the west; he ultimately commanded forty-three divisions and 1.3 million men, the largest body of American soldiers ever to serve under a U.S. field commander. After the war, Bradley headed the Veterans Administration and became Chief of Staff of the Unit -
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Age of Imperialism and Reform – 1898 - 1919
During the early 20th century the U.S. entered a new historical era: an Age of Expansionism
beyond our natural borders as the country moved from isolationism. U.S. imperialism led to
involvement in the Spanish-American War, changing policies in Latin America and Asia and
eventually to World War I. At home, reformers made efforts to correct economic and social
abuses of the Gilded Age. -
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Joseph McCarthy
An American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion.[1] He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, his tactics and inability to substantia -
16th Amendment
allows the Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states or basing it on the United States Census. This amendment exempted income taxes from the constitutional requirements regarding direct taxes, after income taxes on rents, dividends, and interest were ruled to be direct taxes in the court case of Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. (1895). The amendment was adopted on February 3, 1913. -
17th Amendment
Modified Article I, section 3, of the Constitution by allowing voters to cast direct votes for U.S. Senators. Prior to its passage, Senators were chosen by state legislatures. -
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World War I – 1914 – 1918
This was an era in which the global conflict of World War I and its effects had an impact on all
Americans. -
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Hector P. Garcia
A Mexican-American physician, surgeon, World War II veteran, civil rights advocate, and founder of the American G.I. Forum.[1] As a result of the national prominence he earned through his work on behalf of Hispanic Americans, he was instrumental in the appointment of Mexican American and American G.I. Forum charter member Vicente T. Ximenes to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1966,[2] was named alternate ambassador to the United Nations in 1967, was appointed to the United States C -
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John F. Kennedy
Commonly known by his initials JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until he was assassinated in November 1963. After military service as commander of Motor Torpedo Boats PT-109 and PT-59 during World War II in the South Pacific, Kennedy represented Massachusetts's 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat. Thereafter, he served in the U.S. Senate from 1953 until 1960. Kenne -
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The Roaring 20s
This was also an era of significant prosperity and social change as Americans became more
isolationist and responded to significant change in social norms, consumerism, technological
advances and artistic achievement. -
18th Amendment
Prohibited the manufacture, sale, transport, import, or export of alcoholic beverages. -
19th Amendment
Prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. -
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Betty Friedan
an American writer, activist, and feminist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States, her 1963 book The Feminine Mystique is often credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism in the 20th century. In 1966, Friedan founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now [in] fully equal partnership with men". -
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Ceser Chavez
An American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist, who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers union, UFW).[1] A Mexican American, Chavez became the best known Latino American civil rights activist, and was strongly promoted by the American labor movement, which was eager to enroll Hispanic members. His public-relations approach to unionism and aggressive but nonviolent tactics made the farm workers' struggle a moral ca -
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Great Depression: 1930s
Beginning with the Stock Market Crash in 1929, this era is marked by severe depression and
the increasing role of the Federal government to improve the economy. -
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Martin Luther King Jr.
An American pastor, activist, humanitarian, and leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for his role in the advancement of civil rights using nonviolent civil disobedience based on his Christian beliefs. -
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Rise of Dictators and World War II – 1930s and 1940s
The rise of totalitarian governments in Europe and East Asia led to World War II and
involvement of the United States in that conflict. -
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Bill Clinton
An American politician who served from 1993 to 2001 as the 42nd President of the United States. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president from the baby boomer generation. Clinton has been described as a New Democrat. Many of his policies have been attributed to a centrist Third Way philosophy of governance. Before becoming president, he was the Governor of Arkansas for five two-year terms, serving from 1979 -
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Civil Rights – 1950s, 1960s and beyond
This era highlights the issues of emerging rights for minorities and the leaders and critical
events of the modern 20th century civil rights movement. -
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Late 20th Contemporary Issues 1980s – 2000
An era of change as the U.S. experienced the end of the Cold War, new conflicts in the Middle
East, the impeachment of a President and a controversial election to begin a new century. -
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Cold War – Post WWII through the 1980s
This post-war era is marked by issues of communism vs. democracy in Europe and America
after World War II. It includes the United States and the Soviet Union as competing
superpowers in the balance of power. The escalation of the Cold War from containment to the
outbreak of the Korean War and foreign policies of the Kennedy / Johnson years including the
growing conflict in Vietnam as well as the ending of the Cold War in the 1980s. -
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21st Century
Early in this century America dealt with a new threat of terrorism at home with the attacks on the
World Trade Center on 9/11 and a decade of the “War Against Terror”. This era also marked the
election of the first African-American President of the United States in 2008.
