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Chinese Exclusion Act
the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States
prevented any new Chinese immigration
Exemptions were made for merchants, students, teachers, and diplomats in order to permit trade.
Limits were also placed on existing Chinese immigrants who weren't allowed to naturalize as Americans. -
Strike After Strike
Consisted of:
Homestead Steel Strike: Chairman of the Board of Carnegie Steel and plant manager at Carnegie's Homestead steel plant, Henry Frick shuts down the factory to prevent employees from further negotiations after the AAS and Iron Workers broke down on June 30, 1892 Pullman Strike: Pullman Company workers go on strike when company owner George Pullman refuses to reduce rent costs after the wage cuts given to workers on May 11, 1894. -
Fourteen Points
President Woodrow Wilson presented a 14-part peace plan to Congress on January 8, 1918. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Big Four (Allied Powers and Germany) sign a peace treaty on June 18, 1919, at the Paris peace conference at the Palace of Versailles in France; it assigned Germany responsibility for the war, required Germany to pay reparations to the Allied countries, reduced Germany's territory, and included the covenant for the League of Nations. -
First Red Scare
Reference to the fear of communism in the USA during the 1920s, and is said that there were over 150,000 anarchists or communists in USA in 1920 alone and this represented only 0.1% of the overall population of the USA. -
Changing Roles of Women
Women were now free from the housewife and flapper image; because of the 19th amendment, women were able to vote, millions of women worked in white-collared jobs and could afford to participate in the burgeoning consumer economy. -
Attack on Pearl Harbor
From 1940-41, Japan was seeking resources via conquest of Indochina. The US sent loans and other aid to Japan’s enemy, China, and froze Japanese assets in American banks. It also blocked the export of vital resources, including oil, to Japan; eventually, relations between the two nations steadily worsened. By 1941, American intelligence officers had managed to intercept and decode secret messages from Japan to its foreign offices. Pearl Harbor was invaded, and the US got involved in WWII. -
Internments of German, Japanese and Italian Americans
All “enemy aliens” had to register with the government and carry special identification cards. They had to turn in all firearms and cameras, as well as shortwave radios, which might be used to send information to the enemy. They also needed a travel permit to go more than 5 miles from their homes. -
Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Truman stuck to his demand for an unconditional surrender. He told Japan that the alternative was “prompt and utter destruction.” On August 6, 1945, an A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, a city of 300,000 people. Within seconds of the explosion, up to 80,000 people died. Three days later, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb to Nagasaki, killing some 40,000 people instantly. The destruction of Nagasaki brought a Japanese surrender. -
Marshall Plan
a U.S. plan, initiated by the Secretary of State George Marshall and implemented from 1948 to 1951, to aid in the economic recovery of Europe after World War II by offering certain European countries substantial funds -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Before this boycott began, an African-American woman named Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, because she was tired from work. She was arrested and fined. The boycott of public buses by blacks in Montgomery began on the day of Parks’ court hearing and lasted 381 days. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system, and one of the leaders of the boycott, a young pastor named Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-68). -
MLK Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" Speech
MLK delivered this speech from the Lincoln Memorial steps demanding racial justice and an integrated society, and clearly state that all people are created equal. -
Nixon in China
The president had several reasons for wanting better relations with China. One was the sheer size of that nation—one fifth of the world’s population lived in China. In addition, Nixon had watched the relationship between China and the Soviet Union change from one of communist comrades to one of hostile neighbors. He believed that establishing friendly diplomatic relations with China might pressure Soviet leaders, who feared Chinese power, to cooperate more with the United States. -
Reaganomics
President Reagan's promise to stimulate the economy by cutting taxes and promoting private enterprise. Much of Reagan’s plan was based on a theory called supply-side economics. According to this theory, economic growth depends on increasing the supply of goods and services. The way to increase supply is to cut taxes. Lower tax rates will leave more money in the hands of individuals and businesses, providing an incentive for them to save and invest. -
9/11
On September 11, 2001, 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, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. -
Global War on Terror
Operation Enduring Freedom, the American-led international effort to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and destroy Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network based there, began on October 7. Within two months, U.S. forces had effectively removed the Taliban from operational power, but the war continued, as U.S. and coalition forces attempted to defeat a Taliban insurgency campaign based in neighboring Pakistan.
