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Eureka! Inquiry Unlimited
Later 20th Century -
Dewey 973.92
[a constantly changing URL database with content relevant to elementary school curricula]
DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER ADMINISTRATION, 1953-1961
Domestic
- Hearings on communist subversion activities in America conducted during 1953-54 by Senator Joseph McCarthy.
- May 17, 1954 - Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education - A follow-up to Plessy vs. Ferguson, the Supreme Court rules that segregated schools are "inherently unequal" not separate but equal.
- 1955 - Dr. Jonas Salk develops a vaccine that fights poliomyelitis.
- December 5, 1955 - The Montgomery, AL city bus boycott instigated by Rosa Parks and led by Martin Luther King, Jr. lasted for 54 weeks.
- September 9, 1957 - The President signs the 1957 Civil Rights Act which helps to protect voting rights for all.
September, 1957 - Federal troops are sent to Little Rock High School, Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce the desegregation law.
- January 3, 1959 - Alaska becomes the 49th state
- April 25, 1959 - The St. Lawrence Seaway opens.
- Aug. 21, 1959 - Hawaii becomes the 50th state.
International
- The Korean War
- Korean War exhibits at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library
- March 5, 1953 - Death of Josef Stalin, Premier of the Soviet Union ( biography )
- The Cold War
- July 27, 1953 - U.S. and North Korea sign armistice at Panmunjon. The 38th parallel is established as boundary between North and South Korea.
- October -November 1956 - The Suez Canal Crisis
- October 4, 1957 - The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, the first earth satellite, into orbit
- May 1, 1960 - Francis Gary Powers' U2 spy plane is shot down over the U.S.S.R.
- June 30, 1960 - Internal violence when the Congo (Zaire) becomes independent from Belgium. U.N. troops intervene.
JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION, 1961-1963
International
- 1962 - Bay of Pigs - Cuban Missile Crisis
- Berlin Wall speech
LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON ADMINISTRATION, 1963-1969
Domestic
- Creation of the Warren Commission to investigate Kennedy's assassination
- Focused on creating "a Great Society"
- aid to education
- attack on disease
- Medicare
- urban renewal, beautification, conservation
- fight against poverty
- removal of obstacles to the right to vote
- 1965 - Voter registration in the South
RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON ADMINISTRATION, 1969-1974
Domestic
- 1969 - United States astronauts reach the Moon
- Ended the draft
- "Watergate" scandal revealed stemming from a break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee during the 1972 at the Watergate Complex
- Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in 1973 due to scandals in Maryland. House Minority Leader Gerald R. Ford was nominated by Nixon for Vice President.
- August 8, 1974 - Nixon announced his resignation faced with the possibility of impeachment
International
- 1972 - Visited Beijing and Moscow reducing tensions with China and the U.S.S.R.
- January 1973 - Announced an accord with North Viet Nam to end American involvement in Indochina
- 1974 - Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, negotiated disengagement agreements between Israel and its opponents, Egypt and Syria.
GERALD R. FORD ADMINISTRATION, 1974-1977
Domestic
- Granted a full parden to former President Nixon
- Appointed Governor Nelson Rockefeller (New York) as Vice President.
- Recession problems in the economy
International
- Provided aid to both Israel and Egypt to prevent war in the area
- Continued detente with the Soviet Union with Leonid I. Brezhnev setting new nuclear weapons limitations
JIMMY (JAMES EARL) CARTER ADMINISTRATION, 1977-1981
Domestic
- A massive energy shortage with huge oil prices
- Created the Department of Education
International
- September 17, 1978 - Camp David Accords - peace between Israel and Egypt
- Ratification of the Panama Canal Treaty
- established full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China
- completed negotiation of the SALT II nuclear limitation treaty with the Soviet Union.
- U. S. embassy staff in Iran seized as hostages and kept for the last 14 months of his administration
- The 52 American hostages were released the same day Carter left office and the day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated.
RONALD WILSON REAGAN ADMINISTRATION, 1981-1989
International
- Fighting against international terrorism, he sent American bombers against Libya for attacking American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub
- Keeping with the Reagan Doctrine, he gave support to anti- Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and Africa.
- Worked on improving relations with the Soviet Union through their leader, Mikhail Gorbachev and attempted to agree on eliminating intermediate-range nuclear missiles
- Iran Contra
GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH ADMINISTRATION, 1989-1993
International
- The end of the Cold War after 40 bitter years with the Communist empire breaking up, and the Berlin Wall falling.
- The Soviet Union ceases to exist
- American troops enter Panama overthrowing corrupt ruler, General Manuel Noriega. Noriega was tried for drug trafficking in the United States.
- Use of multi-national cooperation of the United Nations to employ missile attacks during Desert Storm against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein who invaded Kuwait and threatened to move into Saudi Arabia.
BILL (WILLIAM JEFFERSON) CLINTON ADMINISTRATION, 1993-2001
Domestic
- Economic prosperity
- Personal and administration scandals (Whitewater; Travelgate) distracted his accomplishments
- With the help of his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who led the Task Force on National Health Care Reform, they attempted health care reform
International
- At Camp David, talks to bring about an Israel-Palestinian Liberation Organization agreement to create peace and plans for a Palestinian state. Eventually culminates in the Oslo Agreement
- Sent peace keeping forces to war-torn Bosnia
- Bombed Iraq when Saddam Hussein stopped United Nations inspections for evidence of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.
- He became a global proponent for an expanded NATO, more open international trade, and a worldwide campaign against drug trafficking.
GEORGE WALKER BUSH ADMINISTRATION, 2001 -
Domestic
- Attempts bi-partisan relationships
- Tax refund to American people
- Faith-based funding pushed
- Bush supporting vouchers in education
- Anthrax scare in the United States
- Focus on homeland security on airlines, planes, trains
- Department of Homeland Security under Director Tom Ridge focusing on border and transportation security; emergency preparedness and response; chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear countermeasures; information analysis and infrastructure protection
- Department of Justice prosecutes those involved in terrorist attacks against the United States
- Corporate scandals due to reporting incorrect accounting results rocks the stock market causing losses in personal portfolios. [Enron]
Educator is the recipient of the Miss Rumphius Award.
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Copyright © 1997 Marjorie Duby, practitioner formerly sited at Joseph Lee School, Boston, MA.
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Last modified: September 19, 2005.
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