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Martin Luther King Jr. Bus Boycott
Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white passenger. Martin Luther King Jr. kicked off his civil rights career leading protesters in a boycott of the bus system, resulting in a Supreme Court decision that bus segregation was unconstitutional. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower was reelected as President of the United States. -
Central High School in Little Rock
Following the Brown v. Board of Education, the NAACP registered 9 black students to attend Central High School in Little Rock in the 1957 school year. The school refused to let the students attend, and president Eisenhower responded by having the students escorted to class by a detachment of US Army Airborne troops. -
NDEA Authorized Education Loans
After the Russians launched Sputnik in 1957, it became clear American needed to catch up in the fields of math and science, so the NDEA was signed in to provide for math and science educations. -
Hawaii and Alaska
To expand U.S. presence in the Pacific region, Hawaii and Alaska gained statehood. -
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy was elected as the 35th President of the United States of America. -
U.S. Sends Military Advisers to Vietnam
Security of Defense Robert McNamara approves the sending of six divisions (200,000 men) of US troops to "advise" the South Vietnamese. -
The Trade Expansion Act
In order to stimulate international trade, JFK lowered the American protective tariff. -
JFK Assassination
JFK was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald on Nov 22, 1963. Lyndon Johnson was immediately sworn into the presdidency. -
The 24th Amendment
The 24th Amendment to the Constitution abolished the use of a poll tax in national votes. -
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson was reelected as President of the United States on Nov 3, 1964. -
The Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act outlawed discriminatory voting practices by states aiming to disenfranchise minorities. -
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Assassination
James Earl Ray killed MLK in his motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The killing set off a spree of riots and saw the end of the nonviolent protest movement, with the militant black power phase picking up pace. -
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon was elected as the 37th President of the United States. -
The Clean Air Act
This legislation resulted in the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, a federal regulatory body dedicated to upholding the environmental regulations set in place by earlier Clean Air Acts. -
The 26th Amendment
The 26th Amendment to the Constitution reduced the legal voting age to 18, bringing in a generation of young voters. -
The Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Act, was passed by Congress but failed to be ratified by the states. The goal of this act was to outlaw sex discrimination in the workplace, -
Richard Nixon Reelected
Richard Nixon was reelected President of the United States on Nov 7, 1972. -
U.S. Withdraws from Vietnam
After securing the release of American POWs from Hanoi and a cessation of hostilities, president Nixon withdrew all American forces from Vietnam, leaving South Vietnam to face the communists alone. -
Richard Nixon Resigns
Richard Nixon resigns his Presidency as the 38th President of the United States in 1974. -
Vietnam War
After removing the French, the now independent Vietnam was split between a communist north and a pro-west south. For 20 years the North Vietnamese tried to conquer South Vietnamese, fighting intervening Americans until 1973.
