American History Lecture Thirteen

Lecture - Questions - Student Answers

This is the final lecture of the course, and takes us through the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

What is the most important event in America in the current decade 2001-2010? The terrorist attack of 9/11? President Bush's elections? Two new Justices on the Supreme Court? The election of President Obama? Or this class? Do not think that history is something that involves only other people. You shape history too.

Consider the history of the United States to be like a child who grows into an adult. At what age would you expect a baseball player to hit his first home run? At what age would you expect a country to be old enough to have a prolonged Civil War? At what age would you expect a country to be able to lead the world? Put things in perspective and realize that we had to be 180 years old before we could write a Constitution, and over 300 years old before we could become the most powerful nation in the world. But once our country grew old enough, our enemies began to grow from within (e.g., infiltration by anarchists, communists and, more recently, terrorists).

Be able to identify overall trends in our history. One trend is ever-increasing federal power. Another trend is inflation. A third trend is increased democracy. A fourth trend is increasing power in the world. A fifth trend is the Supreme Court pushing us away from our religious roots. In Engel v. Vitale (1962), the Supreme Court banned prayer in public schools. Many consider this to be one of the Supreme Court’s worst decisions ever.

Also understand history as a struggle between two sides. It is like two wrestlers combating each other on a mat. The wrestlers rotate on the map as each one tries to gain an advantage on the other. Same for the two political parties: they rotate their regional support over the years. At the time of the Civil War, the Republican Party dominated in the North and the Democratic Party dominated in the South. Now it is the opposite.

We have seen several important figures who were Quakers: William Penn, Susan Anthony (who favored women’s right to vote), Whittaker Chambers and Richard Nixon. What was the Quaker religion really about? It was Protestant against Protestantism. Every Quaker is his own pastor; every Quaker is his own church using the Bible and his “inner light.” This led to a fierce independence in the character of Quakers, including a pacifism (opposition to war) by the Quakers in the eastern United States.

What "drives" or "leads" or "causes" history? Do politicians lead or follow? Do writers of books lead or follow? What's the real cause of history?

Many would say "culture" is what drives history. In other words, what is considered "cool" to people. What is considered to be fun, enjoyable, fashionable, acceptable, etc. The movies we watch, the books we read, the activities we pursue, the styles, the festivals, the communication, etc.

Review

In the 1960s, these hard-to-categorize events occurred:

• In 1960, Arab nations formed "OPEC" to control the production and sale of oil to the world. OPEC stands for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. This monopoly has caused shortages and driven up the price of oil, particularly in the early 1970s when OPEC retaliated against the United States.

• In 1960, liberal students formed the "Students for a Democratic Society" (SDS) in Port Huron, Michigan, saying that they are "looking uncomfortably to the world we inherit." It became the foundation for radical groups later in the 1960s, who became increasingly aggressive and violent in their protest activities. In the spring of 1968, it arranged for 1 million students to skip class. But the public hardly noticed. However, an SDS chapter at Columbia University did succeed with a "sit in" that forced the school to temporarily shut down.

• In 1961, President Kennedy started two programs to help alleviate poverty in foreign countries. One was the Alliance for Progress, which consisted of foreign aid to Latin America. The other was the Peace Corps, which sent volunteers to foreign countries to teach farming and build schools.

• In 1962, Michael Harrington wrote a book entitled "The Other America," which exposed poverty by 1 out of every 4, especially in Appalachia, in the South, and in city ghettos.

• Student movements expanded in 1964 with the "Free Speech Movement," which began at the ultra-liberal University of California at Berkeley and began to protest a number of perceived injustices.

In 1970, the Nixon Administration founded the Environmental Protection Agency (the "EPA") ostensibly to conserve natural resources and reduce pollution. The EPA quickly banned DDT on unproven environmental grounds (as incited by the since-discredited book the "Silent Spring," by Rachel Carson). This ban on DDT, which continues to this day, has resulted in the avoidable deaths of millions of Africans from malaria; DDT easily eliminates malaria.

The 1970s

Furman v. Georgia "1972: invalidates death penalties, requires high standards and guidelines before imposing the death penalty"

Comm. to Reelect the Pres. "1972: Pres. Nixon's reelection committee in 1972 that broke the law, caused Watergate; named ""CREEP"" by critics"

Panama Canal treaties "1977: Carter agrees to give back Panama Canal to Panama after 1999, Senate approves"

Camp David Accords "1978: Carter gets Egypt and Israel to agree to peace, still in effect"

Three Mile Island "1979: Nuclear power plant's meltdown near Harrisburg, boosted anti-nuclear movement"

Iran hostage crisis 1979-81: Iranian fundamentalists captured US embassy since Carter helped Shah; hostages released for Reagan

Watergate 1972-74: Burglary that led to cover-up led to Nixon resigning

Spiro Agnew "1973: Nixon's VP, forced out based on corruption charges arising from when he was governor of Maryland"

Saturday Night Massacre 1973: Nixon wants special prosecutor Cox fired; 2 resign rather than fire Cox; Robert Bork eventually fires Cox

Nixon resigns "1973: Ct ordered his tapes released, and impeachment was likely, so Nixon resigned first"

Gerald Ford "1973-76: Repub., only unelected President; pardoned Nixon, signed Helsinki Accords to promote rights worldwide"

Jimmy Carter "1976-1980: Dem. Pres., honest antidote to Nixon scandal, boycotted Olympics, decried nat'l ""malaise"", high inflation"

President Ronald Reagan

This lecture is about Ronald Reagan, whose influence on American history remains high even 20 years after he was president. An entire course could even be taught about him.

Ronald Reagan "1980-1988: Repub. Pres.: less govt. regulation, more morality, tough with Communists; ""tear down this wall"" (Berlin)"

Many politicians still define themselves by reference to President Reagan, who served from 1980-88. President Clinton, who served in the 1990s, imitated President Reagan in style (but not in substance). The first President Bush, who served from 1988-1992, only won because he had been President Reagan’s vice president.

Called the “Great Communicator” for his ability to connect with the American people through television, President Reagan was both the most-ridiculed president in history and the one who left office with the highest popularity of any modern president. A recent telephone and internet poll selected Ronald Reagan as the greatest American ever, to the dismay of those conducting the survey (who expected someone like Lincoln to win).

Reagan was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 1981. On that day, Iran released unharmed all of our hostages that it had held in retaliation against Jimmy Carter’s support of the Shah of Iran. That hostage crisis paralyzed Jimmy Carter’s final year in office, and contributed to his defeat for reelection.

Reagan immediately went to work in enacting the conservative agenda. Within one month, on Feb. 18th, Reagan proposed the biggest tax and spending cuts in history. Reagan adhered to “supply-side economics,” a new theory advanced by Arthur Laffer that cutting taxes would actually increase government revenue. He drew a curve on the back of a napkin in a restaurant one night to explain his theory: as taxes approach 100%, government revenue decreases towards zero because people lose reason to work (all their income is taken by the government). By cutting taxes, we can actually increase revenue. Most established economists laughed at this theory, sarcastically calling it “Reaganomics”.

It was a very rough initial two months in office for Reagan. In 1981 the House of Representatives was controlled by Democrats, and the media was also completely against him.

Then, on March 30th, John Hinckley shot Reagan as he was walking from a speaking event to his car in D.C. The bullet came with an inch of killing him. But Reagan survived with charm and good spirits. Despite losing a great deal of blood, Reagan was even cracking jokes about his misfortune as he was rushed to the hospital. Hinckley tried to kill Reagan because Hinckley had been inspired by a filthy Hollywood movie featuring a prostitute played by Jodie Foster. Hinckley was trying to impress the actress. Hinckley was later found not guilty by reason of insanity, and that led to changes in many laws to limit the insanity defense. Many people gave Reagan a break at this point, and grew sympathetic towards him. His tax cuts passed Congress, because many Democrats voted for them. In exchange Reagan promised not to campaign against them when they ran for reelection.

In August 1981, the Air Traffic Controllers union (PATCO) went on strike in order to obtain much higher wages. Reagan went on television to address the nation and told the union workers to stay on the job or be fired. He was acting just as one of his heroes, President Calvin Coolidge, did when Coolidge was governor of Massachusetts and the police went on strike. Reagan then fired all the PATCO workers who went on strike and barred them from ever being rehired. The airports remained open through use of military traffic controllers who filled in for the strikers.

In 1982, unemployment hit 10.8%, the worst since the Great Depression. Reagan was blamed for this and things looked bleak. But the criticism did not change Reagan. “Stay the course” was his campaign slogan for Republicans up for reelection in 1982. The Democrats countered with “stay the curse.” After hitting rock bottom in 1982, the effects of Reagan’s tax and spending cuts began to take hold in 1983. An unprecedented economic boom began in 1983 and lasted throughout the remainder of the 1980s.

In 1983, Reagan turned to foreign policy. He called the communist Soviet Union the “evil empire.” Then Reagan advanced a completely original idea in a speech to the nation: he proposed a missile defense system called the “Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).” This was probably the most original and powerful idea ever proposed by a president in our entire history. Reagan’s enemies derisively called it “Star Wars.”

To understand the idea, it is first necessary to appreciate our military defense strategy in the 1970s. Throughout the 1970s, our foreign policy towards the Soviet Union consisted of “Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD).” Under this approach, each side was deterred from attacking the other side because the result would be the mutual destruction of both sides through massive nuclear war. While neither side could defend against an attack, each side threatened massive retaliation as a deterrent to the attack. Simply put: “if you attack me, then I’ll attack you back and we’ll both be destroyed!”

There were obvious flaws in MAD. What about an accidental firing of a nuclear missile by the other side, which we could do nothing to stop? What about an attack by smaller countries? What about a terrorist missile attack? What about an attack by a crazed dictator who might rise to power and not mind mutual assured destruction? MAD left us defenseless against such attacks.

Reagan wanted a defense against missile attacks. He thought this would bring us to a new level of freedom and security. Critics immediately attacked his theory as impossible, wasteful, and destabilizing. Enormous debate and controversy followed, and many were vicious in their criticism of Reagan over this. Also in 1983, communists backed by Cuba invaded Grenada, where there were over one hundred American medical students. Reagan immediately sent in our troops and saved the students, bringing them back to the United States safely. Students were seen on television kissing the ground of American soil as soon as they got off their planes.

In 1984, Reagan stood for reelection against Walter Mondale, the former Vice President under Jimmy Carter. Reagan’s mind was stuffed with facts by his advisers in preparation for his first of two debates with Mondale, and Reagan did poorly. Mondale pulled nearly even in the polls. For the second and final debate, public supporters of Reagan demanded that his advisers “let Reagan be Reagan.” Free to be himself, Reagan destroyed Mondale in the second debate and went on to win one of the biggest landslide victories in U.S. history.

In 1985, Reagan began authorizing the sale of arms to Iran in exchange for its work to free American hostages held captive in the Middle East. Two years later this would turn into the “Iran-Contra” scandal, as the proceeds of those sales were intended to be sent to anti-communist freedom fighters in Nicaragua (the “Contras”). Congress, which was controlled by Democrats, had passed a law prohibiting funding of the Contras, and saw this as a violation of that law. Reagan was never charged with any crime, however.

In 1986, Reagan cut taxes much further. He also met with Gorbachev (the leader of the Soviet Union) in Reykjavik, Iceland to negotiate an arms reduction deal. Gorbachev was willing to give Reagan almost anything he wanted in return for just one demand: abandon Star Wars. Reagan refused, and left Iceland embarrassed and dejected for not reaching a deal. He was further criticized in the media for this.

In 1987, Reagan insisted on visiting the Berlin Wall, despite obvious security risks of being in the range of communist East German sharpshooters. In preparing for his speech there, Reagan wrote into his draft remarks this demand: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” His advisors removed this phrase from the speech as being unrealistic, silly and confrontational. As the drafts of the speech went back in forth between Reagan and his advisors, Reagan kept inserting the phrase and his advisors kept removing it. But Reagan included the phrase in his spoken words, the world heard it, and within a few years the wall was miraculously torn down. Reagan is credited with ending communism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, though it still remains in China, North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba.

In 1988, Reagan struck a deal for free trade (no tariffs) with Canada. Reagan was also instrumental in enabling his Vice President, George H.W. Bush, to be elected president in 1988 in a close race.

In 1990, during the (Persian) Gulf War against Iraq, Americans were amazed by the use by our troops of a new missile defense system that knocked Saddam Hussein’s deadly missiles out of the sky before they could hit our troops, civilians, or Israel. Hussein had planned to use chemical warfare with his missiles, and his threatened use of the missiles terrified the world until our missile defense system removed the threat. In addition to giving the United States an important tactical advantage, this new technology inspired by Reagan’s “Star Wars” idea saved thousands of lives.

Debate topic:

In class we then debated this topic: Should Ford have pardoned Nixon?

Ronald Reagan "1980-1988: Repub. Pres.: less govt. regulation, more morality, tough with Communists; ""tear down this wall"" (Berlin)"

Reaganomics "how critics described ""supply side economics"": tax cuts help everyone and can even increase govt revenue"

women Sup. Ct. Justices 1981: 1st woman Supreme Court Justice was Sandra Day O'Connor; second was Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1993)

Iran-Contra Scandal "1986: Using arms-for-hostages to fund Contras, despite Congress. prohibition"

Star Wars 1983: Reagan's idea for system to shoot down enemy missiles mid-air; partially developed and useful in Gulf War

Immigration, from Nick: 3. I think that the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, signed into law by President Ronald Regan, was a good idea, for the most part. This law made it a crime for an employer to hire an illegal immigrant. It also required that employers have their employees complete a form, called the I-9 form, which provided documentation that the employees were legally eligible to work in the United States. It imposed financial penalties for the companies who were employing illegal aliens. This law was passed in hopes of reducing illegal immigration.

While I believe that this law was a great idea, I disagree with a part of it. This Act granted amnesty to most illegal aliens who had come to the United States before 1982 and had lived there ever since. I understand why this was done, but I do not agree with it.

Gulf War

Recall that President Lyndon Johnson is known for two things, the Great Society and the Vietnam War. President George H.W. Bush (the father of President George W. Bush) is known for three things: breaking his pledge of "no new taxes," winning the Persian Gulf War, and nominating Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court. We discuss the first two here, and the last in the next section.

In 1988 the economy was doing well based on eight years of conservative policies under President Reagan. President George H.W. Bush, Reagan's Vice President, won the Republican nomination for president and rode on Reagan's successes to win the presidential election in 1988. But he made a famous promise of "Read my lips, no new taxes," which he later broke as President when he signed a tax increase by the Democratic Congress in response to a massive budget deficit. Breaking that promise hurt him enormously politically.

In 1990, Saddam Hussein thought that America would do nothing when he invaded and easily conquered nearby Kuwait, where lucrative oil fields are. President George H.W. Bush, alarmed by the consequences of Saddam Hussein controlling so much oil and the injustice of the invasion, struck back with American troops. They quickly defeated (and killed) Hussein's army and drove the few survivors back to Baghdad. American casualties were extremely low, and President Bush was hero. The combat was code-named Operation Desert Storm. The Operation never intended to overthrow or capture Saddam Hussein himself, but President George H.W. Bush was later criticized for not "finishing the job," and some say that his son (the current President George W. Bush) wanted to take care of that.

The high point in the war came when Saddam Hussein began launching missiles at the troops, missiles thought to contain chemical warfare that could cause horrific death. The American troops had "Patriot missiles" designed based on President Reagan's "Star Wars" proposal, and these American missiles intercepted and shot down the Iraqi missiles in mid-flight. It was spectacular to watch a fast-moving missile be tracked and then exploded in mid-air by another fast-moving missile. This was something that liberals, including scientists, claimed was impossible to do. Hussein launched missile after missile, and a soldier sitting in front a computer screen in a trailer fired Patriot missile after missile to shoot down the enemy missiles.

Angry and frustrated, Hussein then fired his missiles at civilian populations in Israel. It had been developing its own missile defense program, but it was not ready for this. Quickly the American troops rushed their missile defense to Israel so it could protect its population too.

Clarence Thomas

Two big events occurred during the one-term presidency of George H.W. Bush (who is the father of future President George W. Bush). One was the Gulf War, described above. The other was President George H.W. Bush's nomination of Clarence Thomas as the second African American to the U.S. Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Thurgood Marshall.

Clarence Thomas was and is a conservative opponent of affirmative action, which is giving preferences to people based on race. He was and is considered to be an opponent of abortion also, and a conservative on most other issues. Liberals seem to grow angrier when confronted with a conservative African American, like Clarence Thomas, or a conservative woman. They did everything they could to prevent confirmation of his appointment by the Senate.

The "smear" campaign against Thomas was one of the worst in American history, and Thomas himself appeared on national television to bitterly describe it as a "high-tech lynching." In a flagrant violation of the rules of the Senate, the staff of a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee leaked a confidential FBI background report to Nina Totenberg of National Public Radio (NPR) which contained a vicious personal allegation about Thomas's past. Nothing was proven and there was much reason to disbelieve the allegation. But the plan was to intimidate Thomas into withdrawing, or turn the public against him, or give senators enough of a reason to vote against him. The liberals even scheduled a vote on the nomination almost immediately after the airing of the allegation, which could only be postponed by unanimous consent under Senate rules, in order to force senators to vote before the allegation could be disproved. But the vote was postponed, hearings were held, and only one senator moved from being for Thomas to being against him: the former Ku Klux Klan Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia. Thomas was confirmed by a vote of 52-48, the narrowest margin in history for a Supreme Court Justice.

Your teacher was in D.C. at the time and had personally met Clarence Thomas a year earlier. Your teacher, the entire city of D.C., and even the entire nation, was riveted by this drama. A liberal colleague of your teacher quipped afterward that the media ambush of Thomas during the confirmation process was not likely to make him any less conservative. Since 1991 Thomas has been part of a conservative block on the Supreme Court that has grown to a total of 4-5 Justices out of a total of 9, sometimes enough for a majority and sometimes just shy by one vote.

Bill Clinton

By 1992, President George H.W. Bush's popularity was falling fast. The economy was failing. He had signed burdensome legislation into law, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, which required small businesses to comply with costly new regulations for citizens having physical or mental disabilities. Buildings were required to install elevators, for example, and create other accommodations like setting aside many parking spaces set aside for people having disabilities. Lawyers could enter retail stores, spot something not in compliance with the new regulations, and file expensive lawsuits against the businesses with demands for payment of the lawyers own attorneys' fees. While everyone wanted to do more for the disabled, this federal legislation created countless lawsuits and expenses. The U.S. Supreme Court used the ADA to order the Professional Golf Association (PGA) to drop its ban on golf carts at events so that a golfer who claimed he had a rare circulatory problem could compete while using a golf cart!

Conservatives supported a candidate (Pat Buchanan) to challenge Bush for the Republican nomination, and Bush was crushed in a three-way contest in the fall. Democrat Bill Clinton won 43% of the vote, Bush won 37%, and independent third-party candidate Ross Perot (a wealthy businessman from Texas concerned about the budget deficit) won 19%.

Bill Clinton 1992-2000: Dem. Pres. hurt by failed health care plan and Monica Lewinski sex scandal; 1st budget surplus in years

"""Don't ask, don't tell""" 1993: Clinton wanted ban on gays in military lifted; military refused and excludes gays; protested by gay movement

Health care reform "1993: Hilary Clinton led team to take over health care. Physicians, pro-lifers help defeat complex plan in Congress"

World Trade Center bombing 1993: terrorists linked to radical Muslims set off truck bomb under World Trade Ctr in attempt to destroy it; six killed

Brady Bill 1994: federal gun control requiring criminal background check and five-day waiting period for handgun purchasers

Bombing of the Federal Building "1995: on 2nd anniversary of govt raid in Waco, in retaliation Timothy McVeigh bombed govt bldg in Oklahoma City"

NAFTA "1993: North American Free Trade Agt., creates free-trade zone encompassing Mexico, Canada, and the U.S. "

World Trade Organization 1995: Aims to promote world trade by lowering by lowering trade barriers.

Monica Lewinsky 1998: Clinton lied about his relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky; led to his impeachment (but not his removal)

Columbine High School "1999: two anti-Christian bigoted high school students killed 12 students, one for believing in God, and a teacher"

Dot-com Boom 1997-2000: huge speculation in stocks doing business over the internet; followed by dot-com bust students; baseball team plays high school; seniors get into best colleges

21st Century

The 21st Century began in 2001 (though many thought it started in 2000), with a new President George W. Bush being sworn in on Jan. 20, 2001. That election was the most contested since 1876, when Rutherford was declared the winner over Tilden based on the Compromise of 1877 to end Reconstruction. Bush defeated his opponent, Al Gore, by a few hundred votes in the decisive state of Florida but it took the U.S. Supreme Court (Bush v. Gore) to intervene to stop the Democrats from recounting and reevaluating ballots in an attempt to declare Gore the winner.

President George W. Bush described himself as a "compassionate conservative," which meant expanding government to give more "entitlements" (handouts). He did slightly cut taxes, but let government spending increase beyond control.

9/11 terrorist attacks "Sept. 11, 2001: Saudi Arabians hijack 4 planes, fly 2 into World Trade Ctr, it catches fire and collapses, killing 3000" " 3rd jet crashed into Pentagon, killing 66; passengers fight hijackers on 4th jet, it crashes in Pennsylvania field."

Patriot Act of 2001 "Permits extensive phone and email surveillance, and authorizes deportation or detention of suspected terrorists"

No Child Left Behind Act "2001: Aims to improve public schools by increasing testing, and mandating alternatives when test scores are failing"

War on Terrorism 2001: War begun after the 9/11 attacks with the intension of ending international terrorism

Invasion of Afghanistan 2001: Targeted Al-Qaeda members and sought to punish Taliban government for harboring terrorists.

Invasion of Iraq 2003: Saddam Hussein of Iraq fails to disarm; US invades and eventually captures Saddam.

homeschooling now mainstream 2006: homeschooling class swells to 42

Term List

Transatlantic Cable	"Peace without Victory"	McCarren Internal Security Act
Seward Purchase of Alaska	Jones Act	Joseph McCarthy
Tariff Issue	Zimmermann telegram	Edward R. Murrow
Exodusters	Selective Service Act	Korean War
The Grange/Oliver Kelley	Espionage Act	General Douglas MacArthur
Elizabeth Cady Stanton	World War 1	McCarren-Walter Immigration & Nationality Act
Chataugua Movement	Lever Act	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Chief Joseph/Nez Perce	Trading with the enemy Act	Earl Warren
Bessemer Process	Bolsheviks	SEATO
Munn v. Illinois	Sedition Act	Brown v. Board of Education
Workingmen's Party	Fourteen Points	AFL-CIO
Edison/Light bulb	National War Labor board	Montgomery Bus Boycott
Bland-Allison Act	Overman Act	Beat Culture
Standard Oil Trust	Schenck v. U.S.	Eisenhower Doctrine
Booker T. Washington	Abrams v. U.S.	Domino Theory
James Garfield	Debs v. U.S.	MAD
Stalwarts	Treaty of Versailles	NASA
Chester Arthur	Prohibition supporters	Landum-Griffin Act
Pendleton Act	19th Ammendment	Fidel Castro
Civil Service Commission	How the Other Half Lives	U-2
Helen Hunt Jackson	Adkins v. Children's Hospital	Sputnik
Chinese Exclusion Act	Wright Brothers Flight	John F. Kennedy
Civil Rights Cases	Niagara Movement/NAACP	Opec
Brooklyn Bridge	DuBois compared to Washington	Sit-ins
James Blaine	"Big" Bill Haywood	Alliance for Progress
Mugwumps	Henry Ford	Bay of Pigs
Grover Cleveland	United Negro Imprvmt Ass'n	Berlin Wall
American Federat. of Labor (AFL)	18th Ammendment	Peace corps
Haymarket Square riot	Volstead Act	Freedom Rides
Yick Wo v. Hopkins	Great American Authors wrote...	Project Apollo
Interstate Commerce Act	Tin Pan Alley	Vietnam
Dawes Act	William Faulkner	Engel v. Vitale
Jane Addams/Hull house	Eugene O'Neill	Baker v. Carr
Williamsport, Pennsylvania	Harlem Renaissance	The Other America
Benjamin Harrison	Sacco and Vanzetti	The Feminine Mystique
US Census Bureau declares...	radio, Television	National Organiz. For Women
Sherman Antitrust Act	Warren G. Harding	Students for a Democratic Soc'y
John Sherman	Federal Highway Act	James Meredith/Univ. of Mississ.
Sherman Silver Purchase Act	Washington Naval Conference	Cuban Missle Crisis
McKinley Tariff	Immigration 1890-1917	Gideon v. Wainwright
Alfred Thayer Mahan	Emergancy Quota Act	Martin Luther King Jr.
Homestead Strike	Fordney McCumber Act	South Christian Leadership Conference
Frederick Jackson Turner	Calvin Coolidge	Student Nonviolent Coord. Com.
Panic of 1893	Coolidge's view on Strikes	Black Panthers
Queen Liliuokalani	National Origins Act	March on Washington
National Municipal League	Scopes "Monkey" Trial	Office of Economic Opportunity
Coxey's Army	Charles Lindbergh	Civil Rights Act of 1964
Wilson-Gorman Tariff	Great Mississippi Flood	Escobedo v. Illinois
Eugene V. Debs	Kellogg-Briand Pact (or Treaty)	Free Speech Movement
Pollack v. Farmers Loan & Trust	Herbert Hoover	Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Atlanta Exposition/Compromise	Stock Market Crash	Lyndon Johnson
U.S. v. Knight Co.	Hawley-Smoot Tariff	Voting Rights Act
In re Debs	Causes of Depression	"Great Society"
Condition to admit Utah as State	Reconstruction Finance Corp.	Medicare and Medicaid
Plessy v. Ferguson	Bonus March	Elem. & Sec. & High Ed. Acts
William Jennings Bryan	Franklin Delano Roosevelt	Dept. of Urban Housing and Dev't
"Cross of Gold Speech"	New Deal	Miranda v. Arizona
Populist Party/Platform	"Hundred Days"	Thurgood Marshall
...high point	Emergency Banking Act	Tet Offensive
...ended because	Civilian Conservation Corps	Paris Peace Talks
William McKinley	Agricultural Adjustment Act	Robert F. Kennedy(bro of JFK)
Spanish American War	Federal Emergency Relief Act	Democratic National Convention
De Lome Letter	Tennessee Valley Act	Chicago Seven
U.S.S. Maine	Farm-Credit Act	EPA
Rough Riders	Glass-Steagall Banking Act	Roe v. Wade
Joseph Pulitzer	National Industrial Recovery Act	Richard Nixon
"Yellow Journalism"	21st Ammendment	Apollo 11
Teller Amendment	Good Neighbor Policy	War powers Act
Commander George Dewey	Federal housing Authority	New York Times v. U.S.
Treaty of Paris	Gold Reserve Act	Furman v. Georgia
Open Door Policy	Securities and Exchange Act	Henry Kissinger
Foraker Act	Works Progress Administration	"Vietnamization"
Boxer Rebellion	National Housing Act	Strategic Arms Limit Trty(SALT)
Platt Amendment	Schecter Poultry v. U.S.	Comm. to reelect the Pres.
Theodore Roosevelt	Wagner Act	Watergate
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty	Social Security Act	Spiro Agnew
Venezuela boundry dispute	Congress of Indust. Organ. (CIO)	Saturday Night Massacre
Newlands Reclemation Act	Fair Labor Standards Act	Nixon Resigns
The Philippines	Trade Agreements Act	Gerald Ford
Women's Trade Union League	Neutrality Act	Jimmy Carter
Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty	Pennsylvania Turnpike	Panama Canal treaties
Northern Securities Co. v. U.S.	Selective Training and Service Act	Camp David Accords
Russo-Japanese War	Four Freedoms	Black Codes
Lochner v. New York	Lend-Lease Act	Three Mile Island
Hepburn Act	Atlantic Charter	Salt-II
The Jungle	U-Boats	Iran Hostage Crisis
Meat Inspection Act	Pearl Harbor	Equal Rights Ammendement
Pure Food and Drug Act	D-Day	Ronald Reagan
Muckrakers	Casablanca Conference	Reaganomics
Treaty of Portsmouth	Holocaust	women sup. Ct. Justices
Taft-Katsura Agreement	CORE	Iran-Contra Scandal
Susan B. Anthony	"Voice of America"	Star Wars
Gentlemen's Agt. re: Japan	Teheran Conference	George Bush Sr.
Root-Takhira Agreement	Yalta Conference	Persian Gulf War
Muller v. Oregon	Potsdam Conference	Americans with Disabilities Act
Paine-Aldrich Tariff	Manhattan Project	Budget Plan of 1990
Mann-Elkins Act	Harry S. Truman	Clarence Thomas
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire	Hiroshima, Nagasaki	Bill Clinton
Progressive Movement	Korematsu v. U.S.	"Don't Ask, Don't tell"
William Howard Taft	Servicemen's readjustment Act	Health Care Reform
Progressive (Bull moose) Party	Bretton Woods/World Bank	World Trade Center Bombing
Woodrow Wilson	Dumbarton Oaks/United Nations	Brady Bill
Underwood Tariff	Full Employment Act	Bombing of the Federal Building
Dillingham Commission	Loyalty Boards	NAFTA
17th Ammendment	Taft-Hartley Act	World Trade Organizations
16th Ammendment	Truman Doctrine	Monica Lewinsky
Federal Reserve Act	George Kennan/Containment	Columbine High School
Triple Alliance	National Security Act/Council	Dot-Com Boom
Triple Entente	Marshall Plan	Bush v. Gore
Archduke Ferdinand	Jackie Robinson	George W. Bush
Clayton-Antitrust Act	Organization of American States	9/11 terrorsit attacks
Federal Trade Commission Act	Centeral Intelligence Agency	Patriot Act of 2001
Guinn v. U.S.	"Iron Curtain"	No Child left behind Act
Lusitantia	North Atlantic Trty Org.(NATO)	War on Terrorism
National Defense Act	Youngstown Sheet & Tube Case	Invasion of Afghanistan
Federal Farm Loan Act	House un-American Activ. Committee	Baseball
Sussex Pledge	Whittaker Chambers/Alger Hiss	Invasion of Iraq
Urban League	Ethel and Julius Rosenberg	homeschooling now mainstream