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Iron Curtain
The name for the boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the West and non-Soviet-controlled areas. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the Soviet Union. The term gained popularity due to Winston Churchill using it in a speech. -
Period: to
The Cold War
A state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states) and powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others). The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, but they each supported major regional wars known as proxy wars. -
2nd Red Scare
The second Red Scare occurred after World War II and was popularly known as "McCarthyism" after its most famous supporter, Senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthyism coincided with increased popular fear of communist espionage consequent to a Soviet Eastern Europe, the Berlin Blockade, the Chinese Civil War, the confessions of spying for the Soviet Union given by several high-ranking U.S. government officials, and the Korean War. -
Truman Doctrine
An American foreign policy whose stated purpose was to counter Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. Direct American military force was usually not involved, but Congress appropriated financial aid to support the economies and militaries of Greece and Turkey. More generally, the Truman Doctrine implied American support for other nations allegedly threatened by Soviet communism. Historians often use Truman's speech to date the start of the Cold War. -
Marshall Plan
An American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave over $13 billion (nearly $110 billion in 2016 US dollars) in economic assistance to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II. The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-torn regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, improve European prosperity, and prevent the spread of Communism. -
Berlin Airlift
One of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. In response, the Western Allies organized to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin, a difficult feat given the size of the city's population. The Soviets did not disrupt the airlift for fear this might lead to open conflict. -
Beat Generation
A movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced culture and politics in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was published and 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 and exploration. -
Period: to
1950's
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The Korean War
A war between North Korea (with the support of China and the Soviet Union) and South Korea (with the principal support of the United States). The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea. As a product of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, Korea was split into two regions with separate governments. Both claimed to be the legitimate government of all of Korea, and neither accepted the border as permanent. -
Ike Turner
An American musician, bandleader, songwriter, arranger, talent scout, and record producer. An early pioneer of fifties rock and roll, he is most popularly known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s with his then-wife Tina Turner in the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. His first recording, "Rocket 88", credited to "Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats", in 1951 is considered a contender for "first rock and roll song". -
Fair Deal
an ambitious set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress. The term characterizes the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administration. It offered new proposals to continue New Deal liberalism, but with the Conservative Coalition controlling Congress, only a few of its major initiatives became law and then only if they had considerable GOP support. -
Polio Vaccine
The first polio vaccine was the inactivated polio vaccine. It was developed by Jonas Salk and came into use in 1955. They are on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, the most effective and safe medicines needed in a health system. Salk went on CBS radio to report a successful test on a small group of adults and children on 26 March 1953; two days later the results were published in JAMA. -
Rock 'n' Roll
a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, from African American musical styles such as gospel, jump blues, jazz, boogie woogie, and rhythm and blues, along with country music. The genre did not acquire its name until 1954. It refers to a style of popular music "the more encompassing international style known as rock music, though the latter also continued to be known as rock and roll." -
Elvis Presley
An American singer 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". His music career began, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African American music to a wider audience. Accompanied by others, Presley was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues. -
Period: to
Civil Rights
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Brown v. Board of Education
A landmark 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 effectively overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896, which allowed state-sponsored segregation. The Warren Court's unanimous (9–0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." -
Dr. Jonas Salk
An American medical researcher and virologist. He discovered and developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. Until 1955, when the Salk vaccine was introduced, polio was considered one of the most frightening public health problems in the world. In the postwar United States, annual epidemics were increasingly devastating. The 1952 U.S. epidemic was the worst outbreak in the nation's history. -
Little Richard
An American musician, songwriter, singer, and actor. He is known as the architect of Rock & Roll. An influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades, Little Richard's most celebrated work dates from the mid-1950s, when his dynamic music and charismatic showmanship laid the foundation for rock and roll. His music also played a key role in the formation of other popular music genres, including soul and funk. -
Emmett Till Tragedy
A 14-year-old African-American who was lynched in Mississippi after a white woman said she was offended by him in her family's grocery store. The brutality of his murder and the fact that his killers were acquitted drew attention to the long history of violent persecution of African Americans in the United States. Till posthumously became an icon of the Civil Rights Movement. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
a political and social protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a seminal event in the Civil Rights Movement. Many important figures in the Civil Rights Movement took part in the boycott, including Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Abernathy. Happened after Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person. -
Albert Sabin
A Polish American medical researcher, best known for developing the oral polio vaccine which has played a key role in nearly eradicating the disease. The Sabin vaccine is an oral vaccine containing weakened forms of strains of polio viruses. The Sabin vaccine is easier to give than the earlier vaccine developed by Salk in 1954, and its effects last longer. Sabin first tested his live attenuated oral vaccine at the Chillicothe Ohio Reformatory in late 1954. -
G.I. Bill
A law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). It was designed by the American Legion, who helped push it through Congress by mobilizing its chapters (along with the Veterans of Foreign Wars); the goal was to provide immediate rewards for practically all World War II veterans. The act avoided the disputed postponed life insurance policy payout for World War I veterans that caused turmoil for a decade and a half after that war. -
Little Rock Nine
A group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School. 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 Dwight D. Eisenhower. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
A federal voting rights bill, was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Its purpose was to show the federal government's support for racial equality after the US Supreme Court's 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. Opposition to the Act, including the longest one-person filibuster in US history, limited its immediate impact. -
Sputnik
The first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit. It was a 58 cm (23 in) diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennas to broadcast radio pulses. This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the Cold War. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. -
Nixon V Kennedy
This was the first election in which all fifty states participated, as well as the first election in which an incumbent president was ineligible to run for another term due to the Twenty-second Amendment. Nixon faced little opposition in the Republican race to succeed popular incumbent Dwight D. Eisenhower. Kennedy, a Senator from Massachusetts, established himself as the Democratic front-runner with his strong performance in the 1960 Democratic primaries. -
New Frontier
Used by liberal Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in his acceptance speech in the 1960 United States presidential election. The Democratic slogan to inspire America to support him. The phrase developed into a label for his administration's domestic and foreign programs. Amongst the legislation passed by Congress during the Kennedy Administration, unemployment benefits were expanded, aid was provided to cities to improve housing and transportation. -
Period: to
1960's
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Peace Corps
A volunteer program run by the United States government. The stated mission of the Peace Corps includes providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand American culture, and helping Americans to understand the cultures of other countries. The work is generally related to social and economic development. Each program participant, is an American citizen, mostly with a college degree, who works abroad for a period of two years after three months of training. -
Freedom Rides
Civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States in order to challenge the non-enforcement of the United States Supreme Court decisions Morgan v. Virginia (1946) and Boynton v. Virginia (1960), which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. The Southern states had ignored the rulings and the federal government did nothing to enforce them. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. President John Kennedy enacted a naval blockade around Cuba and made it clear the U.S. was prepared to use military force if necessary. Following this news, many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war. -
Counter Culture
A subculture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, often in opposition to mainstream cultural mores. A countercultural movement expresses the ethos and aspirations of a specific population during a well-defined era. When oppositional forces reach critical mass, countercultures can trigger dramatic cultural changes. -
Warren Commision
Established by President Lyndon B. Johnson through Executive Order 11130 to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy that had taken place. The U.S. Congress authorized the Presidential appointed Commission to report on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, mandating the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of evidence. It concluded that President Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald and that Oswald acted entirely alone. -
Letters from Birmingham Jail
an open letter written by Martin Luther King Jr. The letter defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. It says that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to come through the courts. Responding to being referred to as an "outsider," King writes, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". -
Assassination of JFK
John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas while riding in a presidential motorcade in Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was riding with his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife, Nellie, when he was fatally shot. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested by members of the Dallas Police Department about 70 minutes after the initial shooting. The Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy was assassinated by Oswald and had acted entirely alone. -
Lee Harvey Oswald
An American Marxist and ex-Marine who assassinated United States President John F. Kennedy. Five government investigations concluded that Oswald shot and killed Kennedy from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository as the President traveled by motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas. The assassination has spawned numerous conspiracy theories. -
The Great Society
A set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson. The main goal was the elimination of 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 an appearance at University of Michigan. New major spending programs that addressed education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, and transportation were launched during this period. -
Daisy Girl Ad
A controversial political advertisement aired on television during the 1964 United States presidential election by incumbent president Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign. Though only aired once (by the campaign), it is considered to be an important factor in Johnson's landslide victory over Barry Goldwater and an important turning point in political and advertising history. It remains one of the most controversial political advertisements ever made. -
Barry Goldwater
An American politician, businessman, and author who was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States in 1964. Despite his loss of the 1964 presidential election in a landslide, Goldwater is the politician most often credited with sparking the resurgence of the American conservative political movement in the 1960s. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
A landmark civil rights and US labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration requirements, racial segregation in schools, employment, and public accommodations. Powers given to enforce the act were initially weak, but were supplemented during later years. -
Malcom X
An African-American Muslim minister and 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. He was assassinated by three members of the Nation of Islam. -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
A landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act secured the right to vote for racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. -
Watts Riots
Took place in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. False rumors spread that the police had hurt a pregnant woman, and six days of looting and arson followed. Los Angeles police needed the support of nearly 4,000 members of the California Army National Guard to quell the riots, which resulted in 34 deaths. The riots led to white people being disillusioned of the Civil Rights Movement. -
Earl Warren Supreme Court
The period in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States during which Earl Warren served as Chief Justice. Warren led a liberal majority that used judicial power in dramatic fashion, to the consternation of conservative opponents. The Warren Court expanded civil rights, civil liberties, judicial power, and the federal power in dramatic ways. The period is recognized as the highest point in judicial power that has receded ever since, but with a substantial continuing impact. -
OPEC
An intergovernmental organization, founded in 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela). OPEC's stated mission is "to coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its member countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets, in order to secure an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consumers, a steady income to producers, and a fair return on capital for those investing in the petroleum industry. -
Stagflation
A situation in which the inflation rate is high, the economic growth rate slows, and unemployment remains steadily high. It raises a dilemma for economic policy, since actions designed to lower inflation may exacerbate unemployment, and vice versa. Stagflation is very costly and difficult to eradicate once it starts, both in social terms and in budget deficits. -
Period: to
1970's
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EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
An independent agency of the United States federal government for environmental protection. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA after Nixon signed an executive order. The agency conducts environmental assessment, research, and education. It has the responsibility of maintaining and enforcing national standards under a variety of environmental laws, in consultation with state, tribal, and local governments. -
Equal RIghts Amendment
A proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex; it seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment, and other matters. The amendment has prompted conversations about the meaning of legal equality for women and men ever since. -
Watergate
A major political scandal that occurred in the United States following a break-in by five men at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex and President Richard Nixon's administration's subsequent attempt to cover up its involvement. The scandal led to the discovery of multiple abuses of power by members of the Nixon administration, an impeachment process against the president that led to articles of impeachment and Nixon's resignation. -
Roe V Wade
A landmark decision issued by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of the constitutionality of laws that criminalized or restricted access to abortions. The Court ruled 7–2 that a right to privacy under the Due Process Clause of the 14th 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
An American conservative public policy 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. 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 United States. -
Vietnam War
It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies and the South Vietnamese army was supported by the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies. The war is therefore considered a Cold War-era proxy war. -
Camp David Accords
The two framework agreements were signed at the White House, and were witnessed by United States President Jimmy Carter. The second of these frameworks led directly to the 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty. Due to the agreement, Sadat and Begin received the shared 1978 Nobel Peace Prize. The first framework, which dealt with the Palestinian territories, was written without participation of the Palestinians and was condemned by the United Nations. -
The Moral Majority
A prominent American political organization associated with the Christian right and Republican Party. It played a key role in the mobilization of conservative Christians as a political force and particularly in Republican presidential victories throughout the 1980s. It was founded by Baptist minister Jerry Falwell and associates, and dissolved in the late 1980s. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
A diplomatic standoff between Iran and the United States. Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days after a group of Iranian students belonging to the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, who supported the Iranian Revolution, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. It stands as the longest hostage crisis in recorded history. -
Reagan Doctrine
A strategy orchestrated and implemented by the United States under the Reagan Administration to overwhelm the global influence of the Soviet Union in an attempt to end the Cold War. Under the Reagan Doctrine, the United States provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist guerrillas and resistance movements in an effort to "roll back" Soviet-backed communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. -
Robert L. Johnson
An American entrepreneur, media magnate, executive, philanthropist, and investor. He is the co-founder of BET (Black Entertainment Television). 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. -
Reaganomics
It refers to the economic policies by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. These policies are associated with supply-side economics, referred to as trickle-down economics or voodoo economics by political opponents, and free-market economics by political advocates. 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. -
Period: to
1980's
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Election of 1980
Republican nominee Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter. Due to the rise of conservativism following Reagan's victory, some historians consider the election to be a realigning election that marked the start of the "Reagan Era". Reagan won the election in a landslide, taking a large majority of the electoral vote and 50.7% of the popular vote. Reagan received the highest number of electoral votes ever won by a non-incumbent presidential candidate. -
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. Treatment of HIV/AIDS is primarily via a "drug cocktail" of protease inhibitors, and education programs to help people avoid infection. -
MTV
An American cable and satellite television channel owned by Viacom Media Networks. the channel originally aired music videos as guided by television personalities known as "video jockeys". At first, MTV's main target demographic was young adults, but today it is primarily teenagers, particularly high school and college students. At first, MTV's main target demographic was young adults, but today it is primarily teenagers. -
Video Head System (VHS)
A standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes. In the 1970s and early 1980s, there was a format war in the home video industry. Two of the standards, VHS and Betamax, received the most media exposure. VHS eventually won the war, dominating 60 percent of the North American market by 1980 and emerging as the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period. -
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
A proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons (intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles). Reagan was a vocal critic of the doctrine of mutual assured destruction (MAD), which he described as a "suicide pact", and he called upon the scientists and engineers of the United States to develop a system that would render nuclear weapons obsolete. -
Iran Contra Affair
A political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administration. Senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, which was the subject of an arms embargo. They hoped, thereby, to fund the Contras in Nicaragua while at the same time negotiating the release of several U.S. hostages. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by the government had been prohibited by Congress. -
Challenger Explosion
The NASA shuttle orbiter mission STS-51-L and the tenth flight of Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-99) broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members, which consisted of five NASA astronauts and two payload specialists. The explosion happened after a joint in its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed at liftoff. The failure was caused by the fact that O-ring seals used in the joint were not designed to handle the unusually cold conditions that existed at this launch. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
A series of events led to the Fall of the wall with first the Hungarian government began dismantling the electrified fence along its border with Austria led to more than 13,000 East German tourists escaped through Hungary to Austria. Harald Jäger, the commander of the Bornholmer Straße border crossing yielded, allowing for the guards to open the checkpoints and allowing people through with little or no identity checking. They danced together to celebrate their new freedom. -
Period: to
1990's
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Internet
In the 90's internet was made public for the first time. Data rates were slow and most people lacked means to video or digitize video so websites such as YouTube did not yet exist, media storage was transitioning slowly from analog tape to digital optical discs (DVD and to an extent still, floppy disc to CD). Which enabled and simplified speed of web development, largely awaited invention and their eventual widespread adoption. -
Persian Gulf War
Codenamed Operation Desert Storm in its combat phase, was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait. The war was marked by the introduction of live news broadcasts from the front lines of the battle, principally by the US network CNN. The war has also earned the nickname Video Game War after the daily broadcast of images from cameras on board US bombers during Operation Desert Storm. -
Rodney King Incident
An African-American taxi driver who became known internationally as the victim of Los Angeles Police Department brutality, after a videotape was released of several police officers beating him during his arrest. A civilian, George Holliday, filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage to local news station KTLA. The footage clearly showed King being beaten repeatedly, and the incident was covered by news media around the world. -
Balkan Crisis
A series of ethnic conflicts, wars of independence and insurgencies fought in the former Yugoslavia. These wars accompanied and facilitated the breakup of the Yugoslav state, when its constituent republics declared independence, but the issues of ethnic minorities in the new countries (chiefly Serbs, Croats and Albanians) were still unresolved at the time, though the republics were eventually recognized internationally. -
Ross Perot
An American business magnate and former politician. As the founder of Electronic Data Systems, he became a billionaire. He ran an independent presidential campaign in 1992 and a third party campaign in 1996, establishing the Reform Party in the latter election. Both campaigns were among the strongest presidential showings by a third party or independent candidate in U.S. history. -
Election of 1992
Democratic Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas defeated incumbent Republican President George H. W. Bush, independent businessman Ross Perot of Texas, and a number of minor candidates. The economy was in recession and Bush's greatest strength, foreign policy, was regarded as much less important following the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the relatively peaceful climate in the Middle East after the Gulf War. -
NAFTA
An agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. It superseded the Canada–United States Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Canada. Most economic analyses indicate that NAFTA has been beneficial to the North American economies and the average citizen, but harmed a small minority of workers in industries exposed to trade competition. -
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Policy
The official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, instituted by the Clinton Administration. The policy prohibited military personnel from discriminating against or harassing closeted homosexual or bisexual service members or applicants, while barring openly gay, lesbian, or bisexual persons from military service. This relaxation of legal restrictions on service by gays and lesbians in the armed forces was mandated by United States federal law. -
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
A United States federal law that, prior to being ruled unconstitutional, defined marriage for federal purposes as the union of one man and one woman, and allowed states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages granted under the laws of other states. DOMA's passage did not prevent individual states from recognizing same-sex marriage, but it imposed constraints on the benefits received by all legally married same-sex couples. -
Lewinsky Affair
An American political sex scandal that involved 49-year-old President Bill Clinton and 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The sexual relationship took place between 1995 and 1997 and came to light in 1998. Clinton ended a televised speech with the statement that he "did not have sexual relations" with Lewinsky. Further investigation led to charges of perjury and to the impeachment of President Clinton in 1998 by the U.S. House of Representatives. -
Al Gore
An American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Gore was selected as the Democratic nominee for the 2000 presidential election but lost the election in a very close race after a Florida recount. After his term as vice-president ended in 2001, Gore remained prominent as an author and environmental activist, whose work in climate change activism earned him (jointly with the IPCC) the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. -
Period: to
Contemporary
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Election of 2000
Republican candidate George W. Bush, the Governor of Texas narrowly defeated Democratic nominee Al Gore. It was the fourth of five presidential elections in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote. On election night, it was unclear who won, with Florida still undecided. The returns showed that Bush had won Florida by a close margin that it required a recount. A month-long series of legal battles led to the, 5–4 Supreme Court decision of Bush v. Gore, which ended the recount. -
War on Terror
An international military campaign that was launched by the U.S. government after the September 11 attacks. The naming of the campaign uses a metaphor of war to refer to a variety of actions that do not constitute a specific war as traditionally defined. The term was originally used with a particular focus on countries associated with al-Qaeda. -
9/11 Attacks
A series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. Four passenger airliners operated by two major U.S. passenger air carriers (United Airlines and American Airlines) – all of which departed from airports in the northeastern United States bound for California – were hijacked by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists. -
PATRIOT ACT
An Act of Congress that was signed into law by President George W. Bush. From broad concern felt among Americans from both the September 11 attacks and the 2001 anthrax attacks, Congress rushed to pass legislation to strengthen security controls. Since its passage, several legal challenges have been brought against the act, and federal courts have ruled that a number of provisions are unconstitutional. -
John McCain
An American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from Arizona since 1987. He was the Republican nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 election, which he lost to Barack Obama. He was a prisoner of war until 1973. McCain experienced episodes of torture and refused an out-of-sequence early repatriation offer. Since the loss he largely opposed actions of the Obama administration, especially in regard to foreign policy matters. -
Great Recession
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. In terms of overall impact, the International Monetary Fund concluded that it was the worst global recession since the 1930s (the Great Depression). The causes of the recession largely originated in the United States, particularly related to the real-estate market, though choices made by other nations contributed as well. -
Election of 2008
The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, a Senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, a long-time Senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of Senator John McCain of Arizona and Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. Obama became the first African American ever to be elected as president, and Joe Biden became the first Catholic to ever be elected as vice president. -
Barack Obama
An American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States. The first African American to assume the presidency, he was previously the junior United States Senator from Illinois from 2005 to 2008. Before that, he served in the Illinois State Senate from 1997 until 2004. Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, accepting the award with the caveat that he felt there were others "far more deserving of this honor than I." -
Obamacare
A United States federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama. It represents the U.S. healthcare system's most significant regulatory overhaul and expansion of coverage since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. The law also enacted a host of delivery system reforms intended to constrain healthcare costs and improve quality.
