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Period: to
1954-1975
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Battle of Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam
Encyclopaedia BritannicaFrench forces --backed by the U.S.-- were overrun in the town of Dien Bien Phu by Viet Minh forces (Vietnamese Communists and nationalists), ending the First Indochina War and the French colonial rule in Vietnam. -
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Ruling
Encyclopaedia BritannicaThe unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruling that separate educational facilities for African-Americans and whites are unequal, and racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional (violates Fourteenth Amendment). -
Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott
Stanford MLK, Jr. Research and Education Institute When African-American Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat for a white man, she sparked the 13-month long boycott of Montgomery city buses. Martin Luther King, Jr. emerged as a leader for this boycott, and it led to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional. -
Eisenhower Wins Election of 1956
Encyclopaedia BritannicaThe incumbent Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower (former World War II general) defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson with an electoral vote of 457 to 73. Eisenhower's win also kept Vice President Richard Nixon alongside him. -
Eisenhower Doctrine
US Department of State Under President Eisenhower's doctrine, the United States would commit economic or military assistance for any country that was being threatened by communism. -
SCLC Forms
National SCLC Sparked from protesting groups of the Montgomery bus boycott, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference formed to adopt mass nonviolent action for civil rights. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was named its first president. -
Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Leadership Coalition President Eisenhower signed the first civil rights legistlation since Reconstruction. The Act made many provisions to protect voting rights, such as establishing the Civil Rights Division in the Justice Department to prosecute those who denied others the right to vote, and formed the U.S. Civil Rights Commission to investigate voter infringement. -
Little Rock Desegregation Crisis
The National ArchivesWhen Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard to surround Little Rock's Central High School, inorder to interfere with the enrollment of nine African-Americans, President Eisenhower deployed the 101st Airborne Division to forcibly desegregate the school.
PhotoCred:http://centralhigh.aetn.org/1957.html -
Sit-In Movements Begin
Encyclopaedia Britannica Beginning with the Greensboro, North Carolina sit-in at a segregated lunch counter, the nonviolent protests of segregation spread through the South, with much help from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). -
Kennedy Wins Election of 1960
Encyclopaedia Britannica Democratic Senator of Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy, defeated Republican Vice President Richard Nixon in the presidential election. JFK received 303 electoral votes to Nixon's 219. -
March on Washington, D.C.
NPR Coming from different types of African-American and white organizations, 200,000 demonstrators marched for jobs and freedom at the nation's capital. Civil rights leaders, like John Lewis of the SNCC and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., made their famous speeches. After the march, King and other civil rights leaders met with President Kennedy and Vice President Johnson to talk about civil rights legislation. -
Coup of Ngo Dinh Diem
The American Pageant</a> Seeing the problems of South Vietnam's reactionary President, the Kennedy administration encouraged the coup against Diem, which led to his death. Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006
PhotoCred:http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB101/ -
Lyndon B. Johnson Becomes President
JFK Presidential Library Two hours after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson took the oath of office and assumed the presidency. -
Passing of the 24th Amendment
Cornell University Law School This amendment abolished poll taxesin any federal elections, helping the Civil Rights Movement by removing an obstacle that kept African-Americans from voting. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
US Senate President Johnson signed into law this Act that prohibits discrimination based on race, gender, color, religion, or national origin. The Act ended the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court ruling that allowed Jim Crow laws. It also formed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to prevent discrimination when hiring. -
Johnson's Great Society Legislation Begins
PBS President Johnson makes it his mission to build a "great society" by helping education (Elementary and Secondary Education Act), aiding cities (Housing and Urban Development Act), and combat poverty (Medicare/Medicaid Amendment to the Social Security Act). -
Voting Rights Act of 1965
US Department of Justice President Johnson passed the piece of legislation that prohibits the denial of the right to vote based on literacy tests nationwide. It also assigned federal voting examiners to monitor activities --like whites preventing African-Americans from voting-- at the polling place. PhotoCred:http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/02/after-50-years-the-voting-rights-acts-biggest-threat-the-supreme-c -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Spurred by an alleged North Vietnamese attack on U.S. Navy ships in the Tonkin Gulf, President Johnson pushed Congress to pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The Resolution gave the president a blank check to advance forces in Southeast Asia, and it took lawmakers' war-declaring powers. Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006
PhotoCred:http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-m/dd731-k.htm -
Tet Offensive
NY Times Surprising South Vietnamese and American forces at 3am, on Lunar New Year's Day, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched waves of attacks on southern cities and military bases. The Tet Offensive ended with a military loss but political win for the Viet Cong. The Offensive quickly caused Americans to call for an end to the war. www.history.army.mil/html/books/vietnam/tet_battles -
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassination
National Archives A little after 6pm, in Memphis, Tennessee, civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot and killed by James Earl Ray. King's death sparked nationwide riots and showed a turn to black militancy. PhotoCred:http://abcnews.go.com/images/US/gty_assassination_martin_luther_king_jr_april_1968_ss_thg_130114_ssh.jpg -
Richard Nixon Wins Election of 1968
Encyclopaedia Britannica Republican Richard Nixon defeated Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey with 301 electoral votes to 191. -
Stonewall Inn Riots
PBS A police raid of Stonewall Inn, a New York City mafia-run homosexual bar, turned into a 3 day riot when its patrons refused to leave. This riot became the first protest for equal rights for homosexuals. -
U.S. Astronauts Land On Moon
NASA Eight years after President Kennedy challenged NASA to get a man on the moon, Neil Armstrong (of the Apollo 11 Crew) was the first man to step on the lunar surface. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin joined him, and together, they explored the moon for 21 hours. -
Kent State/ Jackson State Incidents
Outraged that President Nixon sent American forces into Cambodia, students nationwide rioted and arsoned at college campuses. At Kent State University of Ohio and Jackson State College of Mississippi, students were killed. Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 PhotoCred:http://archives.library.wisc.edu/uw-archives/exhibits/protests/1970s.html -
26th Amendment
House of Representatives Since the draft for military service was instituted throughout the Vietnam War, arguments arose that those old enough to be drafted should be old enough to vote. The 26th Amendment lowered the voting age to 18 years old. PhotoCred:http://www.civilrights.org/archives/2009/07/477-26th-amendment.html -
Watergate Affair
PhotoCred:[American Pageant](Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006)Beginning with a break-in of the Democratic Party's headquarters in the Watergate building, President Nixon was tied to "dirty tricks" that tried to discredit Democrats. In a Senate committee's hearings, Nixon denied any knowledge of the burglary, yet information leaked that he had taped his conversations. Refusing to give up all of the tapes, Nixon obstructed justice and was going to be impeached by Congress. The Watergate scandal came to an end when Nixon resigned from office in 1974. -
Roe v. Wade Case
PBS The Supreme Court ruled (7-2) that it is an individual's right to privacy to terminate a pregnancy, and it struck down state laws that prohibited abortion. -
Paris Peace Accords of 1973
NY Times The United States' Henry A. Kissinger and North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho signed the Accords, agreeing to a cease fire in Vietnam and the release of all American prisoners of war. Additionally, all remaining American troops in South Vietnam would withdraw within the next 60 days. -
War Powers Act
Opposed to President Johnson's and Nixon's actions in the Vietnam war without consulting Congress, the legislative branch required the president to report to them 48 hours after sending troops overseas. Kennedy, David., et al. The American Pageant. Thirteenth edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006 -
Ford Becomes President
White House Gerald R. Ford becomes the first president to gain office solely through a vote of Congress. Ford became Vice President under the 25th Amendment after the Watergate scandal, and he assumed the presidency when Nixon resigned. Shorty after his inauguration, Ford granted Nixon a full pardon for any crimes he may have commited.
