US History 1870 to Present | |
Grade 11 | |
HHS |
Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles sponsored by the CIA with J. F. K's permission--it fails because the Cubans know when and where it will take place | |
Freedom Rides-civil rights movement | |
Berlin Wall construction began to stop uncontrolled movement from East Germany to West Berlin and freedom | |
Peace Corps formed |
Eisenhower's Military Industrial Speech--said that the people and government must be vigilant against the combination of M-l trying to control policy for its own purposes | |
23rd Amendment--electors for DC to the electoral college | |
Kennedy's Moon Speech--America would put a man on the moon by 1970 | |
"Flexible response"—Kennedy’s idea that force by the communists would be met with a measured response instead of a nuclear one |
Cuban Missile Crisis--Russia backs down and removes intermediate range ballistic missiles from Cuba | |
James Meredith integrates the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) | |
Rachel Carson writes A Silent Spring--book on the effects of chemicals in the environment |
United Farm Workers (Cesar Chavez)--union of Hispanic migrant workers | |
Feminine Mystique written by Betty Friedan | |
March on Washington (“I Have a Dream” speech) | |
Nuclear Test Ban Treaty--stops above ground testing by US and USSR; beginnings of detente | |
Vietnam advisory force increased from 700 under Eisenhower to 15,500 under J. F. K |
Diem is overthrown and killed by South Vietnamese military forces | |
Gideon v. Wainwright--"You have a right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one ..." | |
Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, November 22 by Lee Harvey Oswald | |
1963-1969 Lyndon B. Johnson (D) President |
1964-1969--Great Society programs-government to take care of individuals Medicare/Medicaid/Welfare | |
"War on poverty"; Economic Opportunity Act (Head Start, Job Corps, VISTA) | |
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) |
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution after possible attack of US warships by NV attack craft--president given free hand in Vietnam by Congress | |
"Escalation" policy-a gradual build up of US military forces will be cost effective and put enough pressure on North Vietnam to end the war | |
US forces top 50,000 |
Freedom Summer--Goodman, Schwerner, and Chaney killed outside Philadelphia, MS | |
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Jim Crow laws outlawed) | |
Fannie Lou Hamer and the MDFP | |
24th Amendment--prohibits poll taxes in federal elections Council of Federated Organizations(COFO) formed | |
Nation of Islam becomes more prominent--Elijah Muhammad founder--Malcolm X chief spokesman |
Medicare; Medicaid | |
Voting Rights Act--the use of literacy tests and poll taxes outlawed | |
Watts riots--section of Los Angeles, one of many urban areas involved in race riots in the 1960s | |
1965-1968 time period US forces top 100,000 |
Battle of Ia Drang valley (We Were Soldiers) | |
Doctrine of Air Mobility/Vertical Envelopment, Pacification, and Relocation processes begin in Vietnam--battle for the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese people | |
Malcolm X killed by members of the Nation of Islam |
Miranda v. Arizona--"you have the right to remain silent..." | |
US forces top 200,000 in Vietnam |
US forces top 550,000 | |
25th Amendment--presidential succession and the selection of a new Vice-President |
Tet Offensive--Celebration of the Lunar New Year--Viet Cong (VC) and NVA (North Vietnamese Army) attack across South Vietnam--military defeat for the North; Viet Cong virtually destroyed; political victory for the North--many more Americans began to question the progress of the war since the government had continually announced that the war was going well and that it was possible to see "light at the end of the tunnel" |
US forces top 700,000 | |
Johnson announces he will not run for re-election | |
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated in Memphis by James Earl Ray | |
My Lai Massacre--Lt. William Calley--uncovered in 1969 by Seymour Hersch |
Both major party candidates--Nixon (R) and Humphrey (D)--announce that they will withdraw military forces from Vietnam | |
Nixon campaigns on the slogan "Peace with Honor” | |
George Wallace (I) runs on "law and order" campaign theme | |
American Indian Movement (AlM) formed |
1960s-1980s--Detente--gradual thawing of relations between the US and USSR | |
1969--Apollo 11--Eagle lander lands on the moon --Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin | |
AIM occupies Alcatraz Island | |
US forces drop to 600,000+ | |
Nixon Doctrine--slow disengagement and turning over the war to the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN)--“Vietnamization" | |
Cambodia bombing | |
1969-1974--Richard Nixon (R) elected; resigns because of Watergate (1974) |
US invades Cambodia to attack NVA formations staging to attack in the South--this triggers protests on many college campuses across the US | |
Kent State--students killed during protests by National Guard | |
Jackson State--students killed during conflict with police | |
Clean Air Act | |
Environmental Protection Agency formed | |
First Earth Day |
26th Amendment--18 yr. old right to vote | |
US forces drop below 200,000 | |
Pentagon Papers leaked by Daniel Ellsberg--secret documents outlining US foreign policy in Vietnam and SE Asia since 1945--published by the Washington Post and NY Times--Ellsberg went to jail |
Official China/US relations reestablished | |
Break in at the Watergate Hotel | |
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) proposed to the states--only gets 31 states to ratify before the deadline and dies | |
Clean Water Act | |
US forces in Vietnam drop below 125,000 | |
SALT I--Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty US/USSR cuts the number of launch vehicles capable of delivering nuclear weapons |
Paris Peace Accord--ends US war in Vietnam | |
US withdraws most forces-small adviser and air detachments left POWs return home | |
War Powers Act-Congress attempts to limit the ability of a president to commit military forces without a declaration of war |
AIM conflict with federal marshals at Wounded Knee | |
Supreme Court legalized abortion in case of Roe v. Wade | |
Energy Crisis over oil—OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) cuts exports to punish the US for support of Israel in the 1973 "Yom Kippur" War; gas prices double | |
Nixon resigns | |
1974-1977--Gerald Ford (R) President | |
Ford pardons Nixon | |
Evacuation of Americans and friendlies from Vietnam | |
North Vietnamese win the war | |
Helsinki Accords--Human rights treaty |
US commercial ship Mayaguez captured by Communists on Cambodian island; US military attacks and saves most of the crew. | |
American Bicentennial |
1977-1981--Jimmy Carter (D) President | |
1977--Panama Canal Treaty gave the canal to Panama in 1997 | |
1979---Iran hostage crisis | |
Camp David Accords (between Israel and Egypt) |