World Class Education
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1920 – Present Day
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1914 War had broken out in Europe
1917 Russian Revolution
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Communism became real
Never meant to happen in Russia
1917 USA enters War
Summary “we kick butt and come home”
however . . .
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All year –
Flu Epidemic
Various strikes in USA: Strike of US railroad
workers; Longshoreman's strike; The Great
Steel Strike; General strike in Seattle,
Washington.
World League Against Alcoholism established
by Anti-Saloon League
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US has a policy of Isolationism
1919 year of Flu, strikes, race riots, molasses
disaster.
 First Red Scare – deportation of Americans
 Rise of 1920s and the Jazz Age (Roaring Twenties )
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 Known for Jazz music, literature, progress (cars, trains,
radio, telephone), Hollywood.
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Coney Island Roller
Coaster
 The $100,000 roller
coaster, set in a tight
figure eight design
and an 86 foot first
drop.
 Lines for the ride
were blocks long and
at 25 cents per ride.
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Brought the world and
music and fun and sport
to people!
By the use of four
loudspeakers the
story of the ChicagoPrinceton football
game before a crowd
that gathered before
“The Tribune”
Building in New York
Brought Local to
National Attention.
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Women’s Suffrage
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Law passed 1919 and became an official
amendment to the Constitution 1920
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote
shall not be denied or abridged by the United States
or by any State on account of sex.
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.”
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Election of Harding (1921)
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Slogan “Return to Normalcy”
Coolidge becomes President
1924) Dawes Plan to stabilize German inflation
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Germany could not afford the payment plan
Replaced by the Young Plan (1929)
total reparations at $26,350,000,000 to be paid over
a period of 58½ years
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1925 Scopes conviction
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Scopes (Monkey) Trial
tested the Butler Act, which made it unlawful, in any
state-funded educational establishment in
Tennessee, "to teach any theory that denies the story
of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible,
and to teach instead that man has descended from a
lower order of animals."
Scopes found guilty and fined $100
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Heading Towards the Great Depression
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Bull Market
October 24, 1929
 Black Thursday
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Economy unsteady – no structure
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Dust Bowl
3.5 people abandoned farms
 “Oakies”
 Movement to California
 Poverty
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 Soup Kitchens
 All night dances
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FDR (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945)
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Leadership ((Gordon 477)
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New Deal
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Bank Holiday
The “Hundred Days”
Press Conferences
“Fireside Chats”
Brain trust
Government's Role in economics
Relief
Federal Govt.’s role
Argument for and against (Gordon 479)
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How to Study this war
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You can’t. So…
Basics
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Why did the USA enter the war?
What is meant by a pro-British neutrality?
Why were Japanese-Americans interned?
Why was VE day first?
Who was “Uncle Joe”?
Why was the bomb dropped? How often?
Impact?
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Propaganda – FDR started out by getting everybody
geared up with his Four Freedoms idea (speech,
worship, want, fear), and telling people they had to go
out and fight for the American Way of Life.
To help get the idea around, he established the Office
of War Information (1942) to take charge of the matter
– Hollywood joined in too, of course (Capra’s Why We
Fight).
Gov’t Regulation of the Economy – As follows…
 Office of Price Administration (1942): controlled inflation,
established rationing through local War Price & Rationing
Boards. War Production Board (1942): Following Pearl
Harbor, the WPB was established to convert the economy from
civilian to military production.
 War Manpower Commission (1942): Recruited workers for the
factories.
 Gov’t Incentives in Business: The gov’t guaranteed profits
(cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts), lowered taxes, and excluded
businesses from antitrust laws.
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Again: Main Points
What was the Cold War?
 Why is it called such?
 When did it begin?
 When did it last?
 Where is the “Iron Curtain”?
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 Who coined the phrase?
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Second Red Scare
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Sen. Joseph McCarthy
Hollywood
Post WWII US
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Rise of the suburbs
Quality of Life issues (Television)
Emphasis on Education
Civil Rights Movement
 Jackie Robinson
 Rosa Parks
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The Postwar Economic Boom: Increasing
output & increasing demand
The Baby Boom
Housing & Highway Boom
Consolidation & Conglomerate Mergers: Due to
the new technologies, industry ownership
became increasingly concentrated as only the
big companies had the $ to buy.
Labor Merger
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Conformity
Education
Religion
Television
Women’s Roles
Beat Generation
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The US & USSR developed a tremendous rivalry. This was for several
reasons:
Power Vacuum – Following the collapse of Germany and Japan and the
devastation of much of Europe
Decolonization – Another source of instability was the disintegration of the
big empires and the creation of the new “Third World” countries, which both
the US and USSR hoped to win over as military bases and markets.
Failure of Diplomacy – Diplomacy was largely ignored b/c both countries
were thoroughly convinced they were completely right, and were not willing
to accept “appeasement.”
US Economic/Strategic Needs – The US knew that its economic well being
depended on exports, and therefore wanted to continue the trend towards
economic expansionism through an active foreign policy. Also, the
increasingly interconnected world (faster travel, etc.) made the US feel it was
important to establish defense away from home.
Truman’s Tough Style – Truman was not a good diplomat.
US Suspicion of Soviet Intentions – Throughout the Cold War the US obsessed
over what the USSR could and wanted to do. They really weren’t as much of
a menace as we thought, but we still were concerned they could take over our
interests in Western Europe.
Truman Doctrine – “It must be the policy of the US to
support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside
pressures.”
 X Article - George Kennan published an article on
containment of Soviet power – confronting the USSR
with a strong counterforce anywhere they showed
signs of expansion.
 Marshall Plan (1947) - a huge European recovery
program
 National Security Act (1947) – Created the CIA
 Fulbright Program (1948)
 Rio Pact (1947) & Organization of American States
(1948)
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Recognition of Israel (1948)
Berlin Blockade/Airlift (1948): After the US, France and GB
agreed to merge their German zones, the USSR cut off
access to all of Berlin, prompting a US airlift of supplies
there until May 1949 and the foundation of the German
Democratic Republic (East Germany).
Point Four Program (1949): This was an aid program for the
Third World that helped to win allies onto our side. It later
became part of the Mutual Security Agency.
NATO (1949): formed a Western Europe security pact,
which caused some domestic debate
NSC-68 (1950): After the double shock of the USSR
exploding its first bomb and China going communist, the
Nat’l Security Council came up w/this report asking for more
$ for the military.
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Eisenhower basically kept up Truman’s policies
Did rely increasingly on the CIA
spread American culture in the USSR and the
East through the United States Information
Agency, which funded the Voice of America.
Some specific incidents under Eisenhower:
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Hungary (1956)
Khrushchev’s Ultimatum (1958)
U-2 Incident (1960)
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Kennedy is the epitome of the 1960s
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“New Frontier”
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Young President (Beats Nixon – Debate vital)
Fought in WWII
Catholic
Minority and union support
Technology, and science (space)
Social Security
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Expanding coverage, public housing.
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Peace Corps
Cuba
Latin America
Nuclear testing ban
Vietnam
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Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969
Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974
Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977
James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981
Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989
George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993
William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001
George Walker Bush, 2001-2009
Barack Hussein Obama, 2009-
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Notable Events:
1964
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, a key success for
the Civil Rights movement.
 The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gives the President
permission to take "all necessary measures" to repel any
armed attack against the United States in North Vietnam.
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1965
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U.S. becomes increasingly involved in the Vietnam war;
180,000 troops are deployed by the end of the year.
1968
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President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968,
Title VIII, also known as the Fair Housing Act.
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Notable Events:
Nixon resigned and was almost impeached over the Watergate
Scandal, named for the burglaries at the Democratic National
Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington.
D.C by men found to be connected to Nixon's re-election
campaign fundraising committee.
1971
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1971-2
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The Pentagon Papers, a top-secret U.S. Dept. of Defense study, were
leaked to The New York Times. This document showed that the Johnson
administration had secretly been expanding U.S. involvement in the
Vietnam War, further hurting the credibility of the Nixon administration.
The Nixon administration dramatically improved relations with China. Nixon
made a public visit to China in February, 1972, following Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger's secret visit to China in October, 1971.
1973
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Nixon was praised during his presidency for ending American Involvement
in the Vietnam War.
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Notable Events:
Pardoned Nixon
More Open Presidency
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Including Wife’s Cancer and Alcoholicism
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Notable Events:
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Camp David agreement 1978
established full diplomatic relations with the
People's Republic of China
completed negotiation of the SALT II nuclear
limitation treaty with the Soviet Union.
Hostages in Iran
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Notable Events:
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1986 Reagan obtained an overhaul of the
income tax code
negotiated the elimination of intermediaterange nuclear missiles with the USSR
Bombed Libya
“Reagan Doctrine” - to oppose the global
influence of the Soviet Union
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Notable Events:
sent American troops into Panama to
overthrow the corrupt regime of General
Manuel Noriega, who was threatening the
security of the canal and the Americans living
there. Noriega was brought to the United
States for trial as a drug trafficker.
Desert Storm
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Notable Events:
1998
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1999
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President Clinton authorized American troops, but not ground troops, to take part in
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) air strikes against the Serbian
government. Although a United Nations (UN) courts ruled that a "genocide" was not
taking place in Yugoslavia at this time, the UN court did conclude that Serbian
President Slobodan Milošević's government had used a "systematic
campaign of terror, including murders, rapes, arsons and severe maltreatments" in
suppressing the ethnic Albanians' revolt in Kosovo. NATO forces suffered virtually no
loss of life during this military campaign.
1998
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President Clinton signed into law the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The act
provided harsher penalties for copyright infringement on the internet and made it
illegal to create or distribute technologies for bypassing controlled access to
copyrighted material.
On December 19, the House of Representatives approved two articles of
impeachment against President Clinton, one for perjury and the other for obstruction
of justice.
1999
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On February 12, the Senate acquitted President Clinton of both articles of
impeachment made against him by the House of Representatives.
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Notable Events:
2001
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2003
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On September 11, terrorists flew hijacked airplanes into both towers of the
World Trade Center and into the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane
crashed in Pennsylvania.
October 7: The War in Afghanistan begins with the U.S. military operation
"Operation Enduring Freedom", which was launched by the United States
with the United Kingdom in response to the September 11 attacks.
March 20: the Iraq War (or the Second Persian Gulf War) begins with the
invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition of forces, led by the United
States and the United Kingdom. Although Bush declared an end to major
combat operations in May 2003, the conflict and causalities continued after
he completed his second term in office.
2005
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August 28: Hurricane Katrina hit the southern coast of the United States,
causing thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in damage.
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Notable Events:
2009
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In an effort to rejuvenate the struggling U.S.
economy, Congress passes the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act, which allocates money for job
preservation and creation, infrastructure investment,
energy efficiency and science, assistance to the
unemployed, and State and local fiscal stabilization.