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Contemporary Times
This is the time period ranging from 1945 to the present. It encompasses the Cold War, Korean War, Vietnam War and newer conflicts as they occur. -
Trinity Test
The Trinity Test was the name given to the first nuclear weapon detonated. It was part of a test conducted by the U.S. during the Manhattan Project and was detonated on July 16, 1945 and allowed for the continued advancement of nuclear weapons and subsequent detonations. -
38th Parallel Established as Border
In August of 1945, the 38th parallel was established as a boundary between Soviet (North) and American (South) Korea. This was later revived near the end of the Korean War as it divided the China/USSR backed-Communist North Korea and American supported-Capitalist South Korea. -
Little Boy
This was the codename for the atomic bomb that was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, August 6, 1945, by the U.S. during the ending phases of World War II. -
Fat Man
This was the codename for the atomic bomb that was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, August 9, 1945, by the U.S. during the ending phases of World War II. -
Iron Curtain
This was a speech given by Winston Churchill at Westminster College about how an 'iron curtain' had fallen across Europe between the capitalist and communist countries. This marked the beginning of the Cold War. -
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Cold War
The Cold War was a mixture of a nuclear arms race and series of Proxy Wars between the USSR and the US. This was mainly a fight between communism and capitalism as the two superpowers intervened in many countries to set up their own governments to run the country. -
The Berlin Airlift
After the second World War, the Soviets and Allied forces were peacefully vying for Berlin. As the Soviets controlled all the land around Berlin, they cut off all travel to Allied Berlin. This was solved as the United States and United Kingdom began airlifting food into Berlin from Western Germany. (June 24, 1948-May 12, 1949) -
Television
Television in the 1950s was a new phenomenon that shaped the entire nation. It became the new way that people receive news (and plotical updates) and nearly 2/3 of all Americans owned a television during the 1950s. -
Ike Turner
Ike Turner was born November 5, 1931. He was an American musician and pioneer of rock and roll during the 1950s but is most well known for his songs during the 1960s and the 1970s. -
Little Richard
Richard Penniman was born on December 5, 1932. He was an American musician and an influential figure in popular music for more than six decades. His main works lay in the 1950s when he helped lay the foundations for rock and roll. -
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1950s
The 1950s were a period of change. The age of rock and roll began during this time, along with the power of television emerged, along with huge advance in medicine concerning vaccines. -
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Civil Rights
The 1950s & 1960s were a huge game changer for Civil Rights. The movement witnessed great success as well as great failures, as both blacks and whites fought back both violently and nonviolently against oppression. -
Korean War (The Forgotten War)
The Korean War (June 25, 1950-July 27, 1953) was a war fought in Korea by North and South Korea along with U.S. and China. The North had nearly won before the U.S. came in and pushed the North to a near defeat before China stepped in and created a stalemate at the 28th parallel. -
China Comes into the War
On November of 1950, the Communist Government in Beijing decided to send their massed troops on the Korean border into Korea to assist the North Koreans after the General MacArthur ignored their threats to intervene. This resulted in the near full retreat and loss of land for the South Koreans and U.S. forces. -
Bill Haley and the Comets
Bill Haley and the Comets were a rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until 1981. This group placed 9 singles in the Top 20 of 1954 through 1956 songs and was well known throughout the world. -
Fair Deal
The Fair Deal was a set of proposals that President Harry S. Truman put forth in his January 1949 State of the Union address. These laws focused on continuing New Deal liberalism, and as a result, very few came to fruition in the conservative congress. Nevertheless, it managed to create 11 million jobs. -
Dr. Jonas Salk
Dr. Jonas Salk was was an American medical researcher who developed the first polio vaccine on March 26, 1953 and was able to help nearly fully eradicate the crippling disease with his creation. -
Polio Vaccine
The polio vaccine was created by Dr. Jonas Salk on the 26th of March, 1953. This invention allowed for tens of thousands of people to be protected against polio and eventually led to the near eradication of it across the globe. -
Elvis
Elvis Presley was born January 8, 1935. He was one of the most significant cultural icons during the 20th century (King of Rock and Roll). He started his music career in 1954 and was known for his sexually suggestive dance moves. -
Brown v. Board of Education
In 1954, the Supreme Court of the United States decided the court case of Brown v. Board of Education. This case overturned the case of Plessy v. Ferguson and made segregation in schools unconstitutional. -
Albert Sabin
Albert Sabin was born August 26, 1906. He developed the oral polio vaccine which was released in 1955. This prevented most of the polio complications but didn't stop the initial intestinal infection that polio carried with it. It is easier to give and lasts longer than the vaccine made by Dr. Jonas Salk. -
Dolores Huerta
Dolores Huerta was born on April 10, 1930. She was an American labor leader and civil rights activist who advocated for workers, immigrants and women's rights. She also was a co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association. -
Anti-War Movement
The Anti-War Movement of the 1960s was led by the counterculture and the desire to end the Vietnam War. This was due to the questionable nature of the war, the fact what we were the invading force and that there was a draft going on. -
Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was born February 4, 1913. She was a civil rights activists during civil rights. On December 1, 1955, she was arrested for not giving up her seat on a bus for a white man and sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
When Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1, 1955, the Montgomery Bus Boycott was started. This led from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956. This was the first large-scale Civil Rights Movement. It ended with the busses being desegregated by the Supreme Court of the United States. -
G.I. Bill
The G.I. Bill was designed to help WWII veterans move back into civilian life. It established hospitals, low-interest mortgages and covered tuitions and expenses for college-attending veterans. Many of the provisions expired in 1956. -
Eisenhower's Intervention
In September of 1957, the Little Rock Nine occurred. The acting president, Eisenhower, send in 1,000 U.S. Army paratroopers from the 101st Airborne Division to escort the students into the school and placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control. -
Little Rock Nine
The Little Rock Nine was when a group of African Americans tried to go to a school in Arkansas. The governor, Orvaul Faubus, decided to not allow them in and the Federal Government had to get involved and escort them into the school every day. -
Orvaul Faubus
Orvaul Faubus was born on January 7, 1910. He was a Democratic politician who was the 36th Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to politician. His most notable memory is standing against desegregation in 1957 during the Little Rock Nine. -
Counter Culture
The Counterculture during the 1960's was a time where many long-standing values seemed to break down. This movement was driven mainly by the younger generation. It was characterized by being very far left, loose attitudes towards sexuality, questioning of traditional roles and anti-war protests. -
LSD
LSD was first synthesized by Albert Hofmann in 1938. This new drug was popularized in the 1960s and spread throughout the world. The governemnt experimented with the drug as a potential chemical weapon but eventually banned the drug in 1967. -
Hippies
Hippies were members of the liberal counterculture during the mid-1960s. These were people who sought to free themselves from normal society and as a result grew out their hair and commonly used drugs. -
Sit-Ins
During the 1960s, the Civil Rights movement was gaining momentum with its nonviolent measures. This began the Greensboro sit-in in North Carolina and quickly spread throughout the country as a protest. -
Chicano Mural Movement
The Chicano Mural movement began in the 1960s and was focused around Mexican-Americans.This movement was used to spread and raise awareness of Mexican-American culture. -
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1960s
The 1960s saw many significant events including the assassination of a president and also the rise of one of the greatest counter cultures in history, the successors to the proto-hippies, the hippies. -
Greensboro, North Carolina
On February 1, 1960, four African American college students staged a sit-in at Woolworth's in Greensboro, North Carolina. This passive and peaceful resistance helped sparked a greater movement in the South. -
New Frontier
The New Frontier was used by the Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy during his acceptance speech in the 1960 presidential election. This was given to the Democratic National Convention to raise support for him. -
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps was a volunteer program that was made by the United States. The goals of this organization was to provide technical assistance and help people that lived outside the United States and to spread the knowledge of culture. -
Assassination of JFK
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as the was driven through Dallas (2 shots, neck and head). The convicted shooter was Lee Harvy Oswald, but there is speculation that there might have been others. -
Lee Harvey Oswald
Lee Harvey Oswald was born October 18, 1939. He was a former marine and the convicted assassin of President John F. Kennedy. Two days later while transferring between jails, he was shot by a Dallas nightclub owner, Jack Ruby and killed. Speculation exists that he was not the only shooter. -
Jack Ruby
Jack Ruby was born March 25, 1911. He was the nightclub owner who shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald. Later in prison, awaiting his new trial, he mysteriously became ill and died of lung cancer. -
Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater was born on January 2, 1909. He was an American politician who served mainly in the 60's and 70's. He was also a five-term Senator from Arizona from 1953 to 1965 and from 1969 to 1987. -
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 was the first spaceflight to land two people on the moon (Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin) on July 20, 1969. This was an expedition made by the U.S. in an effort to beat the Soviets in the space race. -
Period: to
1970s
The 1970s had many scandals and history altering events such as Watergate, Iran Hostage Crisis, and the Three-Mile Island incident. -
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
The Environmental Protection agency was a Federal Agency that was created by Nixon to help protect and preserve the environment. This was created alongside the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act and the creation of OSHA. -
Watergate
The Watergate scandal was the scandal that involved the Nixon administration spying on the Democrats in the Watergate hotel. Several 'plumbers' were caught and it was discovered that they were being paid off to keep silent by the White House. This eventually led to Nixon having to resign and lessened faith in the government. -
Plumbers
The 'plumbers' were agents sent by the Nixon administration to plant listening devices in the Watergate hotel to spy on the Democratic party in order to gain dirt on them. It was later revealed after they were captured that they were being paid to be quiet. -
Title IX
Title IX was created as part of the Education Amendments. Its main goal was to prohibit sex discrimination in any educational program that required/relied on federal funding. -
Nixon's Presidency
On November 7, 1972, President Richard Nixon was re-elected after winning the 1968 presidential election He had campaigned on peace in Vietnam but did not deliver on it. He was also involved in the Watergate scandal which resulted in him stepping down. -
OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)
OPEC stands for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. They placed an embargo on the United States in retaliation for the United States supplying the Israeli military and was used as part of an effort to gain leverage in negotiations with the United States. -
Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species act was passed on the 27th of December, 1973. Its goal was to help aid in the protection and revitalization of endangered and threatened species of various species. -
Panama Canal
On the 7th of September, 1977, President Jimmy Carter gave the Panama Canal away to Panama. This was due to the canal being too small to fit most modern ships through it, a problem Panama fixed by widening the dam once in their control. -
Camp David Accords
The Camp David Accords was an agreement signed between Israel and Egypt. This legislation led to a peace treaty the following year and had been the first treaty of its nature between Israel and any of the surrounding Arabian countries. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
The Iran Hostage Crisis was a crisis that occurred during President Carter's administration. Multiple people were taken hostage in Iran for 444 days. This happened after the U.S. gave shelter to the Shah and refused to give him up. -
Reagonomics
Reagonomics was the name given to President Reagan's economic policies. These policies included trickle-down economics and free-market enterprise. -
A.I.D.S. Crisis
The A.I.D.S. disease originally came from chimpanzees in Africa. It was moved to the U.S. in 1960 but was not discovered in the United States until the 1980s had begun, resulting in 30,000 deaths. -
Rap Music
Although rap music was made in the 1970s, it was popularized in the 1980s by the father of rapping, DJ Kool Herc during this time period. -
Home Video Game Systems
Home Video Game Systems were created in the 1970s but were popularized during the 1980s (the golden age for gaming consoles). The first popular one was the Atari 2600 which sold around 30,000,000 units. -
Period: to
1980s
The 1980s had many new and unprecedented changes, such as the appearance of AIDS, the new Reagonomics, and the explosion of the Challenger. -
Election of 1980
The election of 1980 was between Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter, Republican candidate Ronald Reagan, and Independent candidate John B. Anderson. Reagan easily won due to Carter's mistakes during the Iran Hostage Crisis. -
Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson was born on April 8, 1946. He was an African American entrepreneur who founded the Black Entertainment Network (BET) and eventually became the first black billionaire. -
Music Television (MTV)
The Music Television (MTV) network that was founded on August 1, 1981. It was a TV channel that aired music videos and had hosts called 'video jockies' and attracted young adults. -
Reagan Doctrine
The Reagan Doctrine was implemented by the Reagan administration on February 6. 1985. This was the centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy and was intended to overwhelm the influence of the Soviet Union and end the Cold War. -
Iran Contra Affair
The Iran-Contra Affair was the political scandal involving the Reagan administration. This scandal involved this administration selling weapons illegally to Iran to support the Contras that were fighting communists in Nicaragua. -
Challenger Explosion
The Challenger was the NASA space shuttle that exploded on takeoff on January 28th, 1986. The entire explosion took 73 seconds and killed 5 people in the process -
Online Gaming
Online Gaming was invented around the same time as the internet when it was commercialized (1990). The first online game was called Meganet, it was made by Sega and made for the Sega Genesis. -
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey was born on the 29th of January, 1954. She is a popular TV host, proprietor, actress, producer, and philanthropist. and is one of the richest women on Earth. -
Period: to
1990s
The 1990s was a chaotic one. This period of history is filled with many events, including wars, racial violence, scandals and terror attacks. -
Internet
The internet was developed in 1950s. Initially, it was used only in government buildings or universities, but that changed in 1991 when the internet went commercial and was opened to the public. -
Persian Gulf War / 1st Iraq War
The Persian Gulf War began on January 16, 1991. This began with the Iraqi army invading Kuwait and President George W. Bush subsequently deploying troops in Saudi Arabia and urging other countries to do so aswell. -
Rodney King Incident
Rodney King was born on April 2, 2965. He was a taxi driver who was beaten by the police after a high-speed car chase. A witness sent the video to the news and raised concern about how the U.S. treats minorities. This incident also sparked riots in Los Angles and led to many deaths. -
Election of 1992
The 52nd presidential election. The 3 main candidates were Democrat Bill Clinton, Republican George H. W. Bush and Independent Party Ross Perot. Bill Clinton won this election. -
World Trade Center Attack - 1993
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. A truck with a bomb was detonated below the Northern Tower. The plan was to topple the North tower into the Southern tower, it failed. -
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
NAFTA was a trade agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States to create a trade bloc in North America. Its goal was to protect the environment (NAAEC) and to improve working conditions in North America (NAALC). -
Don't Ask , Don't Tell Policy
This policy was created during Bill Clinton's administration in 1994. It's goal was to prevent discrimination against homosexual/bisexual (closeted) people serving in the military. On the flip side, it also banned openly homosexual people from joining the military. -
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
The Defense of Marriage Act was created under President Bill Clinton. This act allowed for states to refuse same-sex marriages as it defined a proper marriage as a man and a woman, not of the same sex. This was repealed later when it was declared unconstitutional in 2013. -
Election of 2000
The election of 2000 took place on November 7, 2000. This election was between Republican candidate George W. Bush (George H. W. Bush's son) and Democratic candidate Al Gore (current VP). -
Al Gore
Albert Al Gore was born March 31, 1948. He was the 45th vice president from 1993 to 2001 (Bill Clinton was president). He was the democratic nominee for the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush beat him. -
George W. Bush
George W. Bush was born on July 6, 1946. He served as the 43rd president of the United states from 2001 until 2009. He also served as the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995. He faced off against Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election as the Republican candidate. -
Bush vs Gore (SCOTUS)
This court case was between presidential candidates Gore and Bush. This ended with the Florida Supreme Court's law being declared unconstitutional as they could not make new electino laws to recount votes after they had been counted once. -
9/11 Attacks
On the 11th of September, 2001, 4 planes were hijacked by terrorist group Al-Qaeda (led by Osama Bin-Laden). Two hit the Twin Towers, one hit the Pentagon and the last crashed into a field. 2,996 people were killed and 6,000 were injured. -
PATRIOT Act
The Patriot Act was put into action following the 9/11 terrorist attack. This gave the U.S. tools to combat terrorism with added surveillance. It stands for 'Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001'. -
No Child Left Behind Education Act
The focus of this act was to provide all children with fair, equal and good opportunity to get a high-quality education. The four pillars of this act are accountability, flexibility, research-based education and parent options. -
2nd Iraq War
The Iraq War began when the United States invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein. The conflict continued to spiral on however, as insurgent forces began to battle the occupying forces. -
Election of 2008
The election of 2008 was between democratic candidate Barack Obama and republican candidate John McCain. Barack Obama won the election by a wide margin in the end. -
Barack Obama
Barack Obama was born August 4, 1961. He was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 until 2017. He was the first African-American president as well as the first born outside the mainland United States. He also served in the U.S. Senate (Illinois) from 2005 to 2008 and the State Senate (Illinois) from 1997 to 2004.
