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G.I Bill
Created to help veterans of World War II. Established hospitals, made low-interest mortgages available and granted stipends covering tuition and expenses for veterans attending college or trade schools. -
Little Boy
First atomic bomb used in warfare and dropped on Hiroshima during World War II by Superfortress Enola Gay. -
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Iron Curtain
The political, military and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II. Sealed itself off and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and non communist areas. -
Truman Doctine
President Harry S. Truman established that the US would provide political, economic and military assistance to all democratic nations under threat from internal and external authoritarian forces. -
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Cold War
America and its allies attempt to keep communism from spreading into Europe, Asia and Africa. A geopolitical, ideological and economic struggle between superpowers. -
Hollywood 9
HUAC opens investigations into communist infiltration of the film industry, identifying political subversives among Hollywood actors and actresses, writers and directors. -
Truman Deal
Recommended that all Americans have health insurance, that the minimum wage be increased, and that, by law, all Americans be guaranteed equal rights. -
Beat Generation
American social and literary movement centered in communities of San Francisco's North Beach, Los Angeles' Venice West, and New York's Greenwhich Village. Alienated from a conventional society, they were apolitical and indifferent to social problems. -
North Korea invades South Korea
75,000 soldiers from North Korea People's Army moved across the 38th parallel, causing the Security Council of the UN calling troops to cease hostilities and to withdraw, evidently starting the Korean War. -
Journalism
With the popularity of television, older sources of information had to adapt to a new audience. Radio changed programming to a mix of music, news, sports and weather. Popular disc jockeys, such as Freed in Cleveland and Dewey Phillips in Memphis, achieved celebrity status by playing rock 'n' roll. Magazines learned to find specialized audiences and men and women's magazines dictated social culture for their readers. -
Polio Vaccine
Developed by Albert Sabin. Used today in world wide effort to eradicate acute polio. -
Elvis Presley
Infused black rhythm and blues songs with a distinct style having a huge impact on pop culture, had dance moves that were considered sexually suggestive. -
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African-American Civil Rights Movements
Mass protest on the discrimination against people of color, and segregation around the nation. Fighting to secure the rights of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. -
Little Richard
Integral to the birth of rock & roll. Breakthrough came in September at a recording session with "Tutti Frutti." -
Martin Luther King
Baptist minister and social activist who played a key role in American civil rights movement. King spoke out peacefully for African Americans, the economically disadvantaged and victims of injustice. Was the driving force behind events like the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the March on Washington. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. -
Eisenhower Interstate System
When the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 was signed a National System of Interstate and Defense Highways was created, eliminating unsafe roads, inefficient routes, and traffic jams that would get in the way of safe transcontinental travel, and quick evacuation of target areas. -
Little Rock Nine
Nine black students enrolled at formerly all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, the first day of classes at Central High, Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas called in the state National Guard to bar the black students’ entry into the school. Later in the month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the “Little Rock Nine” into the school, and they started their first full day of classes on September 25. -
Sputnik
World's first artificial satellite, ushered new political, military, technological and scientific developments, marking the start of the space age and the US-USSR space race. -
NASA
Created as a result of the space race between USA and the Soviet Union, a sign that the United Sated was committed to winning against the Soviets. -
Video Games
The first video game of the 1980s was Pac-Man. First the Atari system dominated the video game scene, then Nintendo burst through with their original NES console that seemingly everyone bought. -
Greensboro Sit-In
A non-violent protest by young African-American students at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, sparked a sit-in movement that soon spread to college towns throughout the region. Though many of the protesters were arrested for trespassing, disorderly conduct or disturbing the peace, their actions made an immediate and lasting impact, forcing Woolworth’s and other establishments to change their segregationist policies. -
Antiwar Movement
Movement opposing the Vietnam War on moral and economic grounds, exposing a deep schism with 1960's American society. -
Hippies
Counter cultural movement that rejected the mores of mainstream American life. Advocated nonviolence and love, openness and tolerance. -
Feminism
The feminist movement focused on dismantling workplace inequality via anti-discrimination laws. The different wings of the feminist movement sought women's equality on both political and person levels. -
Chicano Mural Movement
The Chicano mural movement began in the 1960s in Mexican-American barrios throughout the Southwest. Artists began using the walls of city buildings, housing projects, schools, and churches to depict Mexican-American culture. -
Peace Corps
Established by John F. Kennedy trying to encourage mutual understanding between Americans and people of other nations and cultures. -
Dolores Huerta
Activist and labor leader who co-founded the United Farm Workers. One of the most influential labor activists of the 20th century and a leader of the Chicano civil rights movement. -
Letter from Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail" is the most important written document of the civil rights era. The letter served as a tangible, reproducible account of the long road to freedom in a movement that was largely centered around actions and spoken words. -
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. -
Malcolm X
Activist 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.” -
Daisy Girl Act
Aired on behalf of President Lyndon Johnson, changed political advertising. -
LSD
Made popular by hippies, many claimed that it was used as rejection of society. -
Black Power Movement
The epitome of the Black Power Movement was the Black Panther Party. Founded by Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and others, this party justified the use of violence in the accomplishment of black justice. The movement stimulated a number of other blacks to speak out. -
Native American Civil Rights Movement
Many Native Americans pushed for more civil rights and renewed what many see as their original struggle to force the U.S. to keep its promises to native peoples. American Indian Movement (AIM), Native American civil-rights activist organization, founded in 1968 to encourage self-determination among Native Americans and to establish international recognition of their treaty rights. -
Stonewall Riot
A catalyst for the LGBT movement for civil rights in the United States. The riots inspired LGBT people throughout the country to organize in support of gay rights, and within two years after the riots, gay rights groups had been started in nearly every major city in the United States. -
Apollo 11
Launched from Cape Kennedy, it's objectives included scientific exploration by the lunar module, deployment of television camera to transmit signals to Earth, and deployment of solar wind composition experiment. -
Silent Majority Involvement
President Richard Nixon goes on television and radio to call for national solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to gather support for his policies; his call for support is an attempt to blunt the renewed strength of the antiwar movement. In a speech he said, "And so tonight—to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans—I ask for your support." popularizing the term. -
The New Right
A combination of Christian religious leaders, conservative business bigwigs who claimed that environmental and labor regulations were undermining the competitiveness of American firms in the global market, and fringe political groups. -
Equal Rights Amendment
A proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal rights for all citizens regardless of gender; it seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment, and other matters. -
Watergate Scandal
The Watergate Scandal took place when Richard Nixon was the president and it led to the indictment of many advisors of the president. It was because of the scandal that Nixon was forced to resign. The scandal broke out because of break in that occurred in the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. -
Heritage Foundation
Promotes conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense. -
Nixon Tapes
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. -
Personal Computer
Personal computer history doesn’t begin with IBM or Microsoft! The first personal computers, introduced in 1975, came as kits: The MITS Altair 8800, followed by the IMSAI 8080, an Altair clone. -
Three Mile Island Accident
A series of mechanical and human errors at the Three Mile Island nuclear generating plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, resulted in an accident that profoundly affected the utility industry. The accident heightened public fears and led to the immediate shutdown of several plants. In addition, a moratorium on the licensing of all new reactors was temporarily imposed, significantly slowing the industry for several years. -
Moral Majority
Prominent American political organization associated with the Christian right and Republican Party. It was founded in 1979 by Baptist minister Jerry Falwell and associates, and dissolved in the late 1980s. Created as a response to transformations in American society and culture that took place in the 1960s and '70s. -
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Iran Hostage Crisis
A dramatic way for student revolutionaries to declare a break with Iran’s past and an end to American interference in its affairs. Also a way to raise the intra- and international profile of the revolution’s leader, the anti-American cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. -
United States residential Election, 1980
The United States presidential election of 1980 featured a contest between incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter and his Republican opponent, Ronald Reagan, as well as Republican Congressman John B. Anderson, who ran as an independent. -
Reaganomics
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. The four pillars of Reagan's economic policy were to reduce the growth of government spending, reduce the federal income tax and capital gains tax, reduce government regulation, and tighten the money supply in order to reduce inflation. -
AIDS
Emerged originally from the politics of urban gay communities in North America. Gay men living with a disease of unknown etiology and sobering mortality faced not only a threat to their health, and the stigma that soon accompanied it, but a phenomenon sociologists in other settings have described as "social death." Undiagnosed gay men also faced the stigma of the disease, and gay community political leaders began trying to combat the problem of stigma on behalf of the whole community -
MTV
Defined pop culture, changed generations and shaped an industry. MTV went on to revolutionize the music industry and become an influential source of pop culture and entertainment in the United States and other parts of the world -
Sandra Day O'Connor
First woman to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States, appointed by Ronald Reagan. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
A program first initiated under President Ronald Reagan. The intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union. With the tension of the Cold War the Strategic Defense Initiative was the United States’ response to possible nuclear attacks from afar -
Retailing
Infomercials emerge, tv and shopping come together with the first season of the home shopping network. -
Challenger Explosion
American shuttle orbiter Challenger broke up 73 seconds after liftoff, bringing a devastating end to the spacecraft’s 10th mission. The disaster claimed the lives of all seven astronauts aboard.The tragedy and its aftermath received extensive media coverage and prompted NASA to temporarily suspend all shuttle missions. -
Rap Music
Rap music and hip hop created and codified a new language that rose up from the streets, record companies who had previously ignored the musical style scrambled to fill their rosters with rap acts once it became popular. -
Climate Change
Thanks to technology and observational work confirming the Milankovitch theory of the ice ages, a position formed: greenhouse gases were deeply involved in most climate changes and human caused emissions were bringing discernible global warming. -
Affordable Phones
The first cell phone call was made using the new digital technology that became characteristic of this Cellular phone technology was faster and much quieter, as a result, it became even more popular than previous models, too. The new technology also made phones capable of being smaller rather than the large briefcase-sized units from the 1980s. -
Rodney King
Reluctant symbol of police brutality that spurred a conversation about race, economics and justice in America. A series of riots, lootings, arsons, and civil disturbances occurred in Los Angeles County, California as a reaction to acquittal of policemen on trial in the beating of Rodney King. -
Election of 1992
Democrat Bill Clinton defeated Republican Pres. George 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. -
World Trade Center Attack 1993
terrorists parked a rental van in a garage underneath the World Trade Center’s twin towers and lit the fuses on a massive homemade bomb stuffed inside. Six people died and more than 1,000 were injured in the explosion, which carved out a crater several stories deep. At the time, it was one of the worst terrorist attacks ever to occur on U.S. soil. -
Clinton Health Care
A healthcare reform package proposed by the administration of President Bill Clinton. Its goal was to come up with a comprehensive plan to provide universal health care for all Americans.Opposition to the plan was heavy from conservatives, libertarians, and the health insurance industry. -
Don't Ask Don't Tell
Official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, instituted by the Clinton Administration. Restricting military personnel from efforts to discriminate or harass closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring those who are openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual from military service. -
Oprah Winfrey
American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist,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. In 2013, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama and honorary doctorate degrees from Duke and Harvard. -
Defense of Marriage Act
Law that prohibited married same-sex couples from collecting federal benefits but it was overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges. This ruling cited the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause, concluding that a denial of marriage rights to same-sex couples is unconstitutional. -
Monica Lewinsky Affair
American political sex scandal that involved President Bill Clinton and a 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Investigation led to charges of perjury and led to the impeachment of President Clinton in 1998 by the U.S. House of Representatives. -
Birth of Lorena Martinez
Born in the Ben Taub Houston Hospital, at the elevator doors of the first floors at 9:55 PM. :-) -
9/11 Attacks
19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. The attacks resulted in extensive death and destruction, triggering major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defining the presidency of George W. Bush. -
War On Terror
A military campaign launched by the Bush Administration in response to the al-Qaida 9/11 terrorist attacks. The War on Terror includes the Afghanistan War and the War in Iraq. It addeds $2 trillion to the debt as of the FY 2018 budget. -
No Child Left Behind
Authorizes federal education programs administered by the states. Under the 2002 law, states are required to test students in reading and math in grades 3–8 and once in high school. -
Compassionate Conservatism
Popularized by George W. Bush, CC is a political philosophy that stresses using traditionally conservative techniques and concepts in order to improve the general welfare of society. Dealt with poverty, the ideology supports the idea of a social safety net. It also supports a limited redistribution of wealth. The people supporting progressive conservatism want to allow the government to regulate markets in the interests of both consumers and producers -
Great Recession
Economic slump began when the U.S. housing market went from boom to bust and large amounts of mortgage-backed securities and derivatives lost significant value. -
Election of 2008
Campaign lasted nearly two years, Americans elected Illinois senator Barack Obama their 44th president. Obama became the country’s first African American president. He also was the first sitting U.S. senator to win election to the presidency since John F. Kennedy in 1960. -
Housing Bubble
A run-up in housing prices fueled by demand, speculation and exuberance.The housing bubble was long in forming as real estate values began to rise in response to investors abandoning the stock market in the wake of the dotcom bubble and the 2000 stock market crash. -
Sotomayor
President Barack Obama announced his nomination of Sotomayor for Supreme Court Justice. The nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in August 2009 by a vote of 68 to 31, making Sotomayor the first Latina Supreme Court Justice in U.S. history. -
Affordable Care Act
Created to make healthcare more affordable and easily accessible to a wider range of Americans. Aims of ObamaCare were to help these individuals to get health insurance through expanding Medicaid eligibility and offering cost assistance through health insurance marketplaces.
