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1950s: "Albert Sabin"
Upon receiving his medical degree in 1931, Sabin immediately began research on the nature and cause of polio, a viral infection that can result in death or paralysis. This disease had reached epidemic proportions, affecting people around the world.It was there that he proved that polio viruses not only grew in nerve tissue, as was generally assumed, but that they lived in the small intestines. This discovery indicated that polio might be vulnerable to a vaccine taken orally -
1990s:"Balkans Crisis"
the First Balkan War was fought between the members of the Balkan League—Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, and Montenegro—and the Ottoman Empire. The Balkan League was formed under Russian auspices in the spring of 1912 to take Macedonia away from Turkey, which was already involved in a war with Italy. The league was able to field a combined force of 750,000 men. Montenegro opened hostilities by declaring war on Turkey on Oct. 8, 1912, and the other members of the league followed suit 10 days later. -
1950s: "Dr. Jonas Salk"
Jonas Salk was born October 28, 1914, in New York City. In 1942 at the University of Michigan School of Public Health he became part of a group that was working to develop a vaccine against the flu. In 1947 he became head of the Virus Research Lab at the University of Pittsburgh. At Pittsburgh he began research on polio. On April 12, 1955, the vaccine was released for use in the United States. He established the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in 1963. Salk died in 1995. -
1970s:" Phyllis Schlafly"
Phyllis Schlafly, née Phyllis Stewart, (born August 15, 1924, St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.—died September 5, 2016, St. Louis), American writer and political activist who was best known for her opposition to the women’s movement and especially the Equal Rights Amendment. She was a leading conservative voice in the late 20th century and a lightning rod for fervent debate about cultural values. -
Civil Rights: "Malcolm X"
Malcolm X,theactivist and outspoken public voice of the Black Muslim faith,challenged the mainstream civil rights movement and the nonviolent pursuit of integration championed by Martin Luther King Jr.He urged followers to defend themselves against white aggression “by any means necessary.”After Malcolm X’s death in 1965, particularly among black youth, and laid the foundation for the Black Power movement of the late 1960s and 1970s -
1950s:" Ike Turner"
R&B legend Ike Turner was born on November 5, 1931, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and grew up playing the blues. Ike & Tina Turner Revue and created several R&B hits, including "I Idolize You," "It's Going to Work Out Fine" and "Poor Fool." The duo's cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" earned them their first and only Grammy Award together in 1971. Their last hit together was "Nutbush City Limits," written by Tina . Turner died of a cocaine overdose on December 12, 2007/ -
1960s: "LSD"
Albert Hofmann, a chemist working for Sandoz Pharmaceutical, synthesized1 LSD for the first time in 1938.LSD was popularized in the 1960s by individuals such as psychologist Timothy Leary, who encouraged American students to “turn on, tune in, and drop out.”While the ‘60s counterculture used the drug to escape the problems of society, it was also used by "Hippies" to counter act the Vietnam war in order to promote peace but ultimately the drug was banned. -
1950s: "Little Richard"
Born Richard Wayne Penniman on December 5, 1932, in Macon, Georgia, Little Richard helped define the early rock ‘n’ roll era of the 1950s with his driving, flamboyant sound. With his croons, wails and screams, he turned songs like “Tutti-Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally” into huge hits and influenced such bands as the Beatles. -
1950s: "Elvis Presley"
Born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, Elvis Presley came from very humble beginnings and grew up to become one of the biggest names in rock 'n' roll. By the mid-1950s, he appeared on the radio, television and the silver screen. On August 16, 1977, at age 42, he died of heart failure, which was related to his drug addiction. Since his death, Presley has remained one of the world's most popular music icons -
Cold War: "Joseph McCarthy"
During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the prospect of communist subversion at home and abroad seemed frighteningly real to many people in the United States.For many Americans, the most enduring symbol of this “Red Scare” was Republican Senator Joseph P. McCarthy of Wisconsin.McCarthy’s accusations were so intimidating that few people dared to speak out against him. It was not until he attacked the Army in 1954 that his actions earned him the censure of the U.S. Senate. -
1950s: "G.I. Bills"
Officially the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, the G.I. Bill was created to help veterans of World War II. It established hospitals, made low-interest mortgages available and granted stipends covering tuition and expenses for veterans attending college or trade schools. The Readjustment Benefits Act of 1966 extended these benefits to all veterans of the armed forces, including those who had served during peacetime. -
1950s: "Fair Deal"
In a reference to Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal policies, Truman announced his plans for domestic policy reforms including national health insurance, public housing, civil rights legislation and federal aid to education. He advocated an increase in the minimum wage, federal assistance to farmers and an extension of Social Security, as well as urging the immediate implementation of anti-discrimination policies in employment. -
Cold War: "Little Boy"
In this gun-type device, the critical mass is achieved when a uranium projectile which is sub-critical is fired through a gun barrel at a uranium target which is also sub-critical. The resulting uranium mass comprised of both projectile and target becomes critical and the chain reaction begins. Dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, it was the first nuclear weapon used in a war. -
Cold War: "Fat Man"
"Fat Man" was the second plutonium, implosion-type bomb.The first was the "Gadget" detonated at the Trinity site on July 16,1945.In the implosion-type device,a core of sub-critical plutonium is surrounded by several thousand pounds of high-explosive designed in such a way that the explosive force of the HE is directed inwards thereby crushing the plutonium core into a super-critical state. Dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, it was the second nuclear weapon used in a war. -
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The Cold War
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Cold War: "Marshall Plan"
Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. The Marshall Plan successfully sparked economic recovery, meeting its objective of ‘restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole.’ The plan is named for Secretary of State George C. Marshall, who announced it in a commencement speech at Harvard University on June 5, 1947. -
Cold War: "Berlin Airlift"
In June 1948, the Russians–who wanted Berlin all for themselves–closed all highways, railroads and canals from western-occupied Germany into western-occupied Berlin. This, they believed, would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually drive Britain, France and the U.S. out of the city for good. however, the U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the “Berlin Airlift,” -
1950s: "Beat Generation"
Beat Generation was a literary movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was popularized throughout the 1950s. Central elements of Beat culture are rejection of standard narrative values, spiritual quest, exploration of American and Eastern religions, rejection of materialism, explicit portrayals of the human condition, experimentation with psychedelic drugs, and sexual liberation -
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The 1950s
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1950s: "Bill Haley and the Comets"
Bill Haley & His Comets were an American rock and roll band, founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band was also known as Bill Haley and the Comets and Bill Haley's Comets. From late 1954 to late 1956,the group placed nine singles in the Top 20, one of those a number one and three more in the Top Ten.Bandleader Bill Haley had previously been a country music performer; after recording a country and western-styled version of "Rocket 88" -
1950s: "Polio Vaccine"
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. In 1952–an epidemic year for polio–there were 58,000 new cases reported in the United States, and more than 3,000 died from the disease. For promising eventually to eradicate the disease, which is known as “infant paralysis” because it mainly affects children. -
Cold War: "Korean War"
On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south.By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea’s behalf. Finally, in July 1953, the Korean War came to an end. In all, some 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the war. -
Civil Rights: "Brown v. Board of Education"
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional. Brown v. Board of Education was one of the cornerstones of the civil rights movement, and helped establish the precedent that “separate-but-equal” education and other services were not, in fact, equal at all -
Civil Rights: "Rosa Parks"
By refusing to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama, city bus in 1955, black seamstress Rosa Parks (1913—2005) helped initiate the civil rights movement in the United States.The leaders of the local black community organized a bus boycott that began the day Parks was convicted of violating the segregation laws.Over the next half-century, Parks became a nationally recognized symbol of dignity and strength in the struggle to end entrenched racial segregation. -
Civil Rights: "Emmett Till Tragedy"
While visiting family in Money, Mississippi, 14-year-old Emmett Till, is brutally murdered for allegedly 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 barbed wire. -
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Civil Rights
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Civil Rights: "Orval Faubus"
In September 1957 Arkansas Democratic Governor Orval E. Faubus became the national symbol of racial segregation when he used Arkansas National Guardsmen to block the enrollment of nine black students who had been ordered by a federal judge to desegregate Little Rock's Central High School.His action created a national crisis with President Dwight D. Eisenhower finally ordering federal troops to Little Rock to ensure the judge's order was obeyed, to protect the black students, and maintain order. -
Civil Rights: "Little Rock 9"
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. On September 4, 1957, the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus called in the Arkansas National Guard to block the black students’ entry into the high school. Later that month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into the school. -
Cold War: "Sputnik"
The Soviet Union inaugurates the “Space Age” with its launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. The spacecraft, named Sputnik after the Russian word for “satellite,” was launched. It caused concern over American people, thinking that their technology couldn't surpass that of the Soviets. Given that there were already heated tensions between the 2 countries, this began what is now known as the "Space Race" to see who can out do who. -
Cold War: "Nikita Khrushchev"
Nikita Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, serving as premier from 1958 to 1964. Though he largely pursued a policy of peaceful coexistence with the West, he instigated the Cuban Missile Crisis by placing nuclear weapons 90 miles from Florida. Known for his colorful speeches, he once took off and brandished his shoe at the United Nations. -
1960s: "New Frontier"
The term New Frontier was used by liberal Democratic[1][2] presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election to the Democratic National Convention at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the Democratic slogan to inspire America to support him. The phrase developed into a label for his administration's domestic and foreign programs. -
1960s:"Feminism"
In 1960, the world of American women was limited in almost every respect, from family life to the workplace. A woman was expected to follow one path: to marry in her early 20s, start a family quickly, and devote her life to homemaking.The feminist movement of the 1960s and '70s originally focused on dismantling workplace inequality, such as denial of access to better jobs and salary inequity, via anti-discrimination laws -
1960s:"Hippies"
Hippie, also spelled hippy, member, during the 1960s and 1970s, of a countercultural movement that rejected the mores of mainstream American life. The movement originated on college campuses in the United States.Although the movement arose in part as opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War (1955–75), hippies were often not directly engaged in politics, as opposed to their activist counterparts known as “Yippies -
1970s: "The New Right"
New Right, grassroots coalition of American conservatives that collectively led what scholars often refer to as the “conservative ascendancy” or “Republican ascendancy” of the late 20th century. Dubbed the New Right partly in contrast to the New Left counterculture of the 1960s, the New Right consisted of conservative activists who voiced opposition on a variety of issues, including abortion, homosexuality, the Equal Rights Amendment the Panama Canal Treaty, affirmative action. -
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The 1960s
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1960s: "Peace Corps"
On March 1, the Peace Corps was established as a new agency within the Department of State. The same day, he sent a message to Congress asking for permanent funding for the agency, which would send trained American men and women to foreign nations to assist in development efforts. The Peace Corps captured the imagination of the U.S. public, and during the week after its creation thousands of letters poured into Washington from young Americans hoping to volunteer. -
1960s: "JFK Assassination"
First lady Jacqueline Kennedy rarely accompanied her husband on political outings, but she was beside him, along with Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, for a 10-mile motorcade through the streets of downtown Dallas on November 22.As their vehicle passed the Texas School Book Depository Building at 12:30 p.m., Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired three shots from the sixth floor, fatally wounding President Kennedy and seriously injuring Governor Connally. -
1960s: "Lee Harvey Oswald"
Lee Harvey Oswald, a past marine, was accused assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963. He himself was fatally shot two days later by Jack Ruby in the Dallas County Jail. , investigated from November 29, 1963, to September 24, 1964, and concluded that Oswald alone had fired the shots killing Kennedy and that there was no evidence that either Oswald or Ruby had been part of any conspiracy -
1960s: "Jack Ruby"
On November 24, 1963, Jack Ruby,a 52-year-old Dallas nightclub operator, stunned America when he shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald. On November 22, Oswald was accused of Assassinating President JFK, On his was to be tried.Ruby stepped out of a crowd of onlookers and gunned down the younger man. The event was witnessed by millions of Americans on live television. Where in turn Jack Ruby Mysteriously died from Cancer in jail. -
1960s: "Warren Commission"
A week after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas,Lyndon Johnson established a commission to investigate Kennedy’s death. After a nearly yearlong investigation, the commission, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren concluded that alleged gunman Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone in assassinating America’s 35th president, and that there was no conspiracy, either domestic or international, involved. -
Civil Rights: "Lester Maddox"
Lester Maddox, American businessman and politician served as governor of Georgia after having garnered national attention in 1964 for refusing to serve African Americans at his Pickrick Restaurant. He later passed out pick handles as symbols of his defiance of the Civil Rights Act and eventually closed his restaurant rather than comply with the federal law. Noted for his folksy manner, he proved a surprisingly moderate governor and implemented many policies that benefited African Americans. -
1960s: "Daisy Girl Ad"
On September 7, 1964, a 60-second TV ad changed American politics forever. A 3-year-old girl in a simple dress counted as she plucked daisy petals in a sun-dappled field. Her words were supplanted by a mission-control countdown followed by a massive nuclear blast in a classic mushroom shape. The message was clear if only implicit: Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater was a genocidal maniac who threatened the world’s future. President Lyndon Johnson won easily. -
Civil Rights: " Selma March"
The Selma to Montgomery march was part of a series of civil-rights protests that occurred in 1965 in Alabama, a Southern state with deeply entrenched racist policies. In March of that year, in an effort to register black voters in the South, protesters marching the 54-mile route from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery were confronted with deadly violence from local authorities and white vigilante groups. -
Civil Rights: "Voting Rights Act of 1965"
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Voting Rights Act is considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S. history. -
Civil Rights" Watts Riots"
in the predominantly black Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, racial tension reaches a breaking point after two white policemen scuffle with a black motorist suspected of drunken driving. A crowd of spectators gathered near the corner of Avalon Boulevard and 116th Street to watch the arrest and soon grew angry by what they believed to be yet another incident of racially motivated abuse by the police. -
Cold War: "Apollo 11"
July 20, 1969,American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin became the first humans ever to land on the moon.Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon.As he set took his first step, Armstrong famously said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”The Apollo 11 mission occurred eight years after President John Kennedy announced a national goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s.Apollo 17, the final manned moon mission, took place in 1972. -
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The 1970s
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1970s: "Watergate"
The Watergate scandal began early in the morning of June 17, 1972, when several burglars were arrested , located in the Watergate complex This was no ordinary robbery: The prowlers were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and they had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. Later Nixon Resigned, The Watergate scandal changed American politics forever, leading many Americans to question their leaders and think more critically about the presidency -
1970s:"Nixon's Tapes"
Between February 1971 and July 1973,President Richard Nixon secretly recorded 3,700 hours of his phone calls and meetings across the executive offices.These recordings played a leading role in the resignation of our 37th president on August 9, 1974.They remain perhaps the greatest treasure of information ever left by a president, as well as the most complex,controversial set of presidential records in U.S. history.However,today these recordings remain relatively unexplored on nonWatergate topics -
1970s: "Roe Vs. Wade"
Roe v. Wade was a landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a woman’s legal right to an abortion. The Court ruled, in a 7-2 decision, that a woman’s right to choose an abortion was protected by the privacy rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The legal precedent for the decision was rooted in the 1965 case of Griswold v. Connecticut, which established the right to privacy involving medical procedures. -
1970s:" Endangered Species Act"
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) provides a program for the conservation of threatened and endangered plants and animals and the habitats in which they are found. The lead federal agencies for implementing ESA are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service. The FWS maintains a worldwide list of endangered species.Species include birds, insects, fish, reptiles, mammals, crustaceans, flowers, grasses, and trees. -
1970s:" Camp David Accords"
At the White House in Washington, D.C., Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin sign the Camp David Accords, laying the groundwork for a permanent peace agreement between Egypt and Israel after three decades of hostilities.The accords were negotiated during 12 days of intensive talks at President Jimmy Carter’s Camp David retreat in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland. Sadat and Begin were jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. -
1970s: " The Moral Majority"
Moral Majority, American political organization that was founded in 1979 by Jerry Falwell, a religious leader and televangelist, to advance conservative social values. Although it disbanded in 1989, the Moral Majority helped to establish the religious right as a force in American politics.The Moral Majority was formed in response to the social and cultural transformations that occurred in the United States in the 1960s and ’70s. -
1970s:" Three Mile Island"
Three Mile Island is the site of a nuclear power plant in south central Pennsylvania. In March 1979, a series of mechanical and human errors at the plant caused the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history, resulting in a partial meltdown that released dangerous radioactive gasses into the atmosphere. Three Mile Island stoked public fears about nuclear power—no new nuclear power plants have been built in the United States since the accident. -
1970s: "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. he immediate cause of this action was President Jimmy Carter’s decision to allow Iran’s deposed Shah, to come to the United States for cancer treatment. However, the hostage-taking was about more than the Shah’s medical care: it was a dramatic way for the student revolutionaries to declare a break with Iran’s past and an end to American interference in its affairs. -
1980s:" A.I.D.S Crisis"
The AIDS epidemic, caused by HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), found its way to the United States as early as 1960, but was first noticed after doctors discovered clusters of Kaposi's sarcoma and pneumocystis pneumonia in young gay men in Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco in 1981. Treatment of HIV/AIDS is primarily via a "drug cocktail" of protease inhibitors, and education programs to help people avoid infection. -
1980s:" Jimmy Carter"
As the 39th president of the United States,Jimmy Carter struggled to respond to formidable challenges,including a major energy crisis as well as high inflation and unemployment.In the foreign affairs arena, he reopened U.S. relations with China and made headway with efforts to broker peace in the historic Arab-Israeli conflict, but was damaged late in his term by a hostage crisis in Iran.Carter built a distinguished career as a diplomat pursuing conflict resolution in countries around the globe. -
1980s: "Reaganomics"
During the campaign of 1980, 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 bulk of the cut would be concentrated at the upper income levels. The economic theory behind the wisdom of such a plan was called SUPPLY-SIDE or TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS. -
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The 1980s
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1980s:" Election of 1980"
United States presidential election of 1980, American presidential election held on Nov. 4, 1980, in which Republican Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent Democratic Pres. Jimmy Carter. -
1980s:" Sandra Day O' Conner"
Sandra Day O’Connor was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006, and was the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. A moderate conservative, she was known for her dispassionate and meticulously researched opinions.For 24 years, Sandra Day O’Connor was a pioneering force on the Supreme Court and will always be remembered as acting as a sturdy guiding hand in the court’s decisions during those years—and serving a swing vote in many important cases. -
1980s: "Ronald Reagan"
Ronald Reagan, served as the 40th U.S. president from 1981 to 1989. Raised in small-town Illinois, he became a Hollywood actor in his 20s and later served as the Republican governor of California from 1967 to 1975. Dubbed the Great Communicator, the affable Reagan became a popular two-term president. He cut taxes, increased defense spending, negotiated a nuclear arms reduction agreement with the Soviets and is credited with helping to bring a quicker end to the Cold War -
1980s: "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.” -
1980s: Iran Contra Affair"
The Iran-Contra Affair was a secret U.S. government arms deal that freed some American hostages held in Lebanon but also funded armed conflict in Central America. In addition, threatened to bring down the presidency of Ronald Reagan.The results would complicate the president’s agenda. During his campaign for the White House, Reagan had promised to assist anti-Communist insurgencies around the globe, but the so-called “Reagan Doctrine” faced a political hurdle following those mid-term elections. -
1980s:"Robert Johnson"
Robert Johnson stands at the crossroads of American music, due in no small part to a popular folk legend that he once stood at Mississippi crossroads and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for guitar-playing prowess.He became the first modern bluesman, evolving the country blues of the Mississippi Delta. Johnson was a songwriter of searing depth and a guitar player with a commanding ability that inspired no less an admirer than Keith Richard of the Rolling Stones. -
1990s:"Oprah Winfrey"
Oprah Winfrey was born in the rural town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, on January 29, 1954. In 1976, Winfrey moved to Baltimore, where she hosted a hit television chat show, People Are Talking. Afterward, she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show. She later became the host of her own, wildly popular program, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired for 25 seasons, from 1986 to 2011. That same year, Winfrey launched her own TV network, the Oprah Winfrey Network. -
1980s:"Challenger Explosion"
The NASA space shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, just 73 seconds after liftoff, bringing a devastating end to the spacecraft’s 10th mission. The disaster claimed the lives of all seven astronauts aboard.t was later determined that two rubber O-rings, which had been designed to separate the sections of the rocket booster, had failed due to cold temperatures on the morning of the launch. The tragedy prompted NASA to temporarily suspend all shuttle missions. -
Cold War: "Iron Curtain"
Two economic and international alliances existed on both sides of the Iron Curtain: On the Soviet Union’s side were the countries that made the Warsaw Pact and were members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and on the U.S. side were the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Community.It was only in 1991 when the Cold War ended and the one party communist rule in Eastern Europe was abandoned that the Iron Curtain ceased to exist. -
1990s:"Ross Perot"
Ross Perot, in full Henry Ross Perot, (born June 27, 1930, Texarkana, Texas, U.S.), American businessman and philanthropist who ran as an independent candidate for U.S. president in 1992 and 1996.In 1969 Perot mounted an unsuccessful campaign to free American prisoners of war being held in North Vietnam. In 1979 he sponsored efforts to rescue two EDS employees who were being held in prison in Iran. -
1990s:"Lionel Sosa"
Lionel Sosa is an independent marketing consultant and nationally recognized portrait artist. He is the founder of Sosa, Bromley, Aguilar & Associates which became the largest Hispanic advertising agency in the U.S. Sosa is an acknowledged expert in Hispanic consumer and voter behavior . 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. -
Contemporary:"Ralph Nader"
American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney, noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism and government reform causes.The son of Lebanese immigrants to the United States, Nader was educated at Harvard and first came to prominence in 1965 with the publication of the bestselling book Unsafe at Any Speed, a critique of the safety record of American automobile manufacturers that became known as one of the most important journalistic pieces of the 20th century. -
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The 1990s
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1990s:" Pursian Gulf War/ First Iraq War"
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait in early 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. Hussein defied United Nations Security Council demands to withdraw from Kuwait by mid-January 1991, and the Persian Gulf War began with a massive U.S.-led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm. -
1990s: "Bill Clinton"
Bill Clinton the 42nd U.S. president, served in office from 1993 to 2001. Prior to that, the Arkansas native and Democrat was governor of his home state. During Clinton’s time in the White House, America enjoyed an era of peace and prosperity, marked by low unemployment, declining crime rates and a budget surplus.In 1998, the House of Representatives impeached Clinton on charges related to a sexual relationship he had with a White House intern. He was acquitted by the Senate. -
1990s:"Health Care Reform"
The Clinton health care plan, was a 1993 healthcare reform package proposed by the administration of President Bill Clinton . The president had campaigned heavily on health care in the 1992 presidential election. The task force was created in January 1993, but its own processes were somewhat controversial and drew litigation. Its goal was to come up with a comprehensive plan to provide universal health care for all Americans. -
1990s:" George H.W. Bush"
a World War II naval aviator and Texas oil industry executive,began his political career in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1967. During the 1970s, he held a variety of government posts,including CIA director. In 1988, Bush defeated Democratic rival Michael Dukakis to win the White House.In office,he launched successful military operations against Panama and Iraq;however, his popularity at home was marred by an economic recession, and in 1992 he lost his bid for re-election to Bill Clinton -
1990s: "NAFTA"
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is signed into law by President Bill Clinton. NAFTA, a trade pact between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, eliminated virtually all tariffs and trade restrictions between the three nations. The passage of NAFTA was one of Clinton’s first major victories as the first Democratic president in 12 years–though the movement for free trade in North America had begun as a Republican initiative. -
1990s:" Lewinsky Affair"
The Monica Lewinsky scandal began in the late 1990s, when America was rocked by a political sex scandal involving President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern in her early 20s. In 1995, the two began a sexual relationship that continued sporadically until 1997.During that time, Lewinsky was transferred to a job at the Pentagon, where she confided in coworker Linda Tripp about her affair with the president. The House of Representatives impeached the president. -
1990s:"DOMA"
Defense of Marriage Act , byname of U.S. Public Law 104-199., law in force from 1996 to 2013 that specifically denied to same-sex couples all benefits and recognition given to opposite-sex couples. Those benefits included more than 1,000 federal protections and privileges, such as the legal recognition of relationships, access to a partner’s employment benefits, rights of inheritance, joint tax returns and tax exemptions, immigration or residency for noncitizen partners, next-of-kin status. -
Contemporary:"Al Gore"
A native of Tennessee, Al Gore served as vice president of the United States under President Bill Clinton from 1992 to 2000, after a long tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. He lost a presidential bid to George W. Bush in 2000. In 2007, Gore won a Nobel Prize for his work to raise awareness of global warming. -
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Contemporary
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Contemporary: "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 United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attack. -
Contemporary: "2nd Iraq War"
Iraq War, also called Second Persian Gulf War, (2003–11), conflict in Iraq that consisted of two phases. The first of these was a brief, conventionally fought war in March–April 2003, in which a combined force of troops from the United States and Great Britain ) invaded Iraq and rapidly defeated Iraqi military and paramilitary forces. It was followed by a longer second phase in which a U.S.-led occupation of Iraq was opposed by an insurgency. After violence began to decline in 2007 -
Contemporary:" Hurricane Katrina"
Early in the morning on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast of the United States. When the storm made landfall, it had a Category 3 rating on the Hurricane Scale–it brought sustained winds of 100–140 miles per hour–and stretched some 400 miles across. The storm itself did a great deal of damage, but its aftermath was catastrophic. Levee breaches led to massive flooding, and many people charged that the federal government was slow to meet the needs of the people -
Contemporary:"The Great Recession"
The Great Recession was a period of general economic decline observed in world markets during the late 2000s and early 2010s. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country/The Great Recession was related to the financial crisis of 2007–08 and U.S. subprime mortgage crisis of 2007–09. The Great Recession resulted in the scarcity of valuable assets in the market economy and the collapse of the financial sector (banks) in the world economy. -
Contemporary: "John McCain"
John McCain first entered the public spotlight as a Navy fighter pilot during the Vietnam War. Taken prisoner after his plane was shot down, he suffered five and a half years of torture and confinement before his release in 1973. In 1986, he began his long tenure as the U.S. senator from Arizona, a position he holds to this day. McCain ran for president on the Republican ticket in 2008, losing to Democrat Barack Obama in the general election. -
Contemporary: "Sonia Sotomajor"
Sonia Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954, in the Bronx borough of New York City. Her desire to be a judge was first inspired by the TV show Perry Mason. She graduated from Yale Law School and passed the bar in 1980. She became a U.S. District Court Judge in 1992 and was elevated to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in 1998. In 2009, she was confirmed as the first Latina Supreme Court justice in U.S. history. -
Contemporary:" Barrack Obama"
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was elected president of the United States over Senator John McCain of Arizona.Obama became the 44th president,and the first African American to be elected to that office.He was subsequently elected to a second term over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.A crushing financial crisis in the months leading up to the election shifted the nation’s focus to economic issues,and both Obama and McCain worked to show they had the best plan for economic improvement.
