George W. Bush

Served as President from 2001-2008
Era: The Present Era
American Identity and Culture
During Bush’s presidency, the infamous 9/11 occurred where planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. It was an act of terrorism that devastated the entire nation. There were also other terrorist attacks on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the downing of a fourth plane in Pennsylvania. Altogether, these events claimed the lives of over three thousand Americans and pushed the American public to call for war.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
Congress passed a $1.35 trillion tax cut to be spread over ten years in 2001. This bill gave taxpayers and immediate $300 or $600 rebate, reduced all tax brackets, and increased both child credit and limits for IRA and 401(k) contributions. When the tax cut passed, the government ran a surplus and the stock market was at a high. Unfortunately, the stock market crashed in 2000 and experienced its first recession in 2001 since the early 1990s. The unemployment rose to six percent in 2002 while the number of people living in poverty also increased. To fight the recession, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates to 1.25 percent which was the lowest in fifty years. By 2004, there was more than a $400-billion annual deficit.
Environment
President Bush’s conservative agenda included drilling for gas and oil in the Alaska wildlife refuge and voluntary environmental standards. In 2002, he announced the Clears Skies Act which was aimed at amending the Clear Air Act to reduce pollution of emission trading programs. Critics argued that this only succeeded in weakening the original legislation because it allowed higher emission rates of pollutants that were previously illegal. In 2007, Bush pledged to rely less on foreign oil by reducing fossil fuel consumption and working toward increasing alternative fuel production. However, due to high oil prices in 2008, he lifted a ban on offshore drilling.
Politics and Citizenship
The largest government reorganizations since the creation of the Department of Defense after World War II occurred during Bush’s presidency. The Homeland Security Department combined over twenty federal agencies with one-hundred seventy thousand employees, including Customs, Immigration and Naturalization, the Coast Guard, and the Secret Service. However, the FBI and CIA were left out of the new department. They were also criticized by a bipartisan national commission on terrorism for not being able to uncover the September 11 plot. Under increasing pressure from the public, Congress finally passed a majority of the commission’s recommendations which included the creation of a Director of National Intelligence to coordinate the intelligence activities of competing bureaucracies.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
Within the Bush administration, Condoleeza Rice was the first female African American secretary of state. She was also the first woman to be named as National Security Advisor (during Bush’s first term). In 2003, the Washington Post reported that Rice was important in forming Bush’s position on race-based preferences. Rice has stated that "while race-neutral means are preferable," race can be taken into account as "one factor among others" in university admissions policies. Also in 2003, the Supreme Court upheld the use of race in admissions decisions. It reaffirmed that universities could take race into consideration as one factor among many when selecting incoming students.
War and Diplomacy
In January 2002, in his first State of the Union address, President Bush called the nations of Iraq, North Korea, and Iran as the “axis of evil.” Although American intelligence failed to find a link between Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and the September 11 attacks, the Bush administration pursued an attack on Iraq before Hussein could build and distribute “weapons of mass destruction,” both nuclear and biological, to terrorists. It was criticized for going to war with faulty intelligence, but defended the war as a part of the campaign against terrorism and bringing democracy to the Middle East. In 2005, the Iraqis held their first free election and created a national assembly, which selected a prime minister, cabinet ministries, and a committee to write a new constitution.

Bill Clinton

Served as President from 1993-2001
Era: The Conservative Resurgence
American Identity and Culture
During President Clinton’s presidency, the United States was becoming more and more racially and culturally diverse. At the same time, life spans were increasing meaning people were living to older ages. By the year 2000, more than 35 million Americans were over the age of 65 and an even larger amount of Americans over the age of 85. With more people living to an older age, there was more emphasis on concerns such as health care, senior retirement homes, social security, and prescription of drugs. During this time, another concern that escalated was the fact that the numbers of single parent households in America were increasing, while the traditional family ideal was decreasing. In the year 2000, families ran by a single mother had hit a staggering amount of 17.6 percent of the American population which is equivalent to 12.8 million families.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
During President Clinton’s presidency, there was a dramatic increase in communications, trade, and capital spreading around across the world due to globalization. Globalization advocated for more development in regional and global economic establishments.In 1994, the World Trade Organization was created to make sure trade rules were being followed, to supervise trade agreements, and to settle any economical disputes. The same year, the International Monetary Fund was created as well as the World Bank. Together, these organizations gave out loans and enforced commercial policies in nations that were stuck in debt.In 2002, 12 nations inthe European Union, which was a union in which 15 nations agreed to have a unified market, decided to have one currency (the euro) that will be accepted in any of the 12 participating nations.
Environment
During President Clinton’s presidency,President Clinton supported many environmental causes. As President, President Clinton used his presidential powers to draft more than 10 new monuments in the United States. These national monuments preserved over 4.6 million acres of land. In 2000, President Clinton personally visited Bangladesh to publicly tell everyone that he has set aside 84 million dollars to help clean energy in areas of South Asia.President Clinton focused on creating alternative energy sources and thus his administration created more than fifty programs to help improve the efficiency of energy and to develop new renewable sources of energy. President Clinton enforced the Safe Drinking Water Act by forcing over 55 thousand water companies to provide reports by their customers explaining the quality of the water. Due to President Clinton’s actions, approximately 90 percent of the water Americans drink are up to par with the federal government’s standards.
Politics and Citizenship
During President Clinton’s first term as President, the Democratic Congress passed the Family and Medical Leave Act in 1993. Also in 1993, President Clinton passed the “motor-voter” law that allowed citizens of the United States with a driver’s license to be able to vote. In his Brady Handgun bill, the bill established that a person must wait for five-days before being able to buy a handgun. The following year, Congress passed President Clinton’s Anti-Crime Bill which gave 30 billion dollars to fund more police and anti-crime programs. To aid in crime prevention, Congress prohibited the sale of any weapons deemed “dangerous” or that could be used to assault anyone.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
As the first president to be from the baby boom generation, President Clinton had received much support for the African Americans living in the United States. As one of President Clinton’s main beliefs, Clinton wanted to improve relationships between different races. In the year 1998, famous New York writer Toni Morrison calls President Clinton the “first Black president” because he grew up raised by one parent, born in a poor middle class family. Also because President Clinton loves eating McDonalds, knows how to play the saxophone, and because President Clinton has experienced people stereotyping him which is an experience many African Americans go through.
War and Diplomacy
In 1993, President Clinton sent troops to Somalia for humanitarian missions. Many of the American troops died there. In 1994, President Clinton sent 20 thousand troops to Haiti in hopes of restoring the elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide. In 1998, the United States helped compromise a stop to British control over the island of Northern Ireland. Asia during the 1990s, became increasingly scary as more Asian nations began experimenting with nuclear weapons. At the time North Korea had many prominent nuclear developing programs going on, but agreed to stop development of nuclear weapons after negotiating with President Clinton’s administration. Despite giving agreement, North Korea continued the development of nuclear weapons in secrecy. In 1995, the United States formed a military alliance with Vietnam. At the same time, the United States also were signing commercial agreements with China in hopes of strengthening more diplomatic relationships with Asia.

George H. W. Bush

Served as President from 1989-1993
Era: The Conservative Resurgence
American Identity and Culture
During George Bush’s presidency there were much advancement in the American culture. For example, in 1992 Hollywood became the leading film market in the entire world. There was also a new great film known as Schindler’s List. This award-winning film won many Golden Globes and Academy Awards for being the Best Motion Picture – Drama and also the Best Screenplay along with the Best Director. The director of this movie and also the author of the original story was Steven Spielberg. Along with advancements in culture, there were also new scientific advancements such as the Internet. The internet expanded and became the World Wide Web that we all know today in 1993. The United States also lost to Japan in making automobiles as Japan took over the world’s auto-making capabilities. This shaped the United States as we have come to now use lots of Japanese cars such as Suzuki, Honda and others.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
After Ronal Reagan, the United States was left in large deficits. In 1990 the federal government deficit was at $220 billion. Bush focused most of his presidency on trying to curb the deficit and believed that America had to fix the problem or else it could not be a world leader. Bush ended up raising tax revenues even though in his campaign to become president, he campaigned that he would have no new taxes. Because of this, Republicans defeated his new proposals that would have cuts and would have taxed people, reducing the deficit by over $500 billion in the next five years. In the end, Bush put higher taxes and put more spending. He increased the marginal tax rate and stopped giving exemptions to people who were high-income.
Environment
During the presidency of George H. W. Bush there were many restrictions in the environmental policy. The first thing that he did was appoint William Reilly to be the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. He also appointed many other people that were very strong environmentalists to high positions in the EPA. Bush also created the Council on Competitiveness to negotiate with the EPA. In one negotiation, they had rulings that redefined the wetlands and also brought the budget in dealing with toxic chemicals that were in landfills. Along with this they also brought many relief efforts in trying to help the environment.
Politics and Citizenship
It was during 1989 that there was the end of Communism as we saw the Soviet Union crumble slowly. During the same year, the Berlin Wall that separated West and East Berlin also crumbled as the Soviet Union finally agreed to end the Berlin Wall that was there. The leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev, also ceased his rampage on democracy and ended his reign of communism, meaning he also stopped supporting other countries that were communistic or were under communistic influence such as Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. After this ending of the communism, Bush later tried to end the arms race as he made both the Soviet Union and the United States try to limit production of more nuclear warheads and dismantle many nuclear weapons. This was known as START I and START II.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This act was very pro-civil rights legislation. This bill established a strong prohibition of discrimination that is based on anything near disabilities. This strongly went for the civil rights activists in America as it had now stopped discrimination towards Americans with disabilities. There were also other new bills worked with the federal government into trying to increase the federal spending for civil rights in education, childcare and also in technology. This Immigration Act was also signed in the same year, 1990 which increased the legal immigration of immigrants into the United States by over 40%.
War and Diplomacy
During 1990, Saddam Hussein led an invasion as they invaded Kuwait near Iraq for its oil. Because of this invasion, George Bush began his rampage in Iraq as he began to rally it in Iraq and in the United States. This began the Gulf War in Kuwait. Iraq began violently attack Kuwait and they refused to leave. This led to the military decision to bomb them as we dropped more than 4,000 bombs in the area by aircraft. We began to push towards Kuwait City as we tried to push towards it we gained more and more casualties which was unneeded though many critics. People though we should have stopped, and there are others who believed we should have kept on going, but if we had done this we would have to occupy Baghdad and in the end, rule over Iraq as well. Along with the Gulf War, Bush also faced the Somali Civil War. The United Nations had to create the UNOSOM I in 1992 to aid the humanitarians in Somalia. Bush approved aid to the area because the project by the United Nations failed.

Ronald Reagan

Served as President from 1981-1989
Era: The Conservative Resurgence
American Identity and Culture
During Reagan’s presidency, an era of conservatism reemerged. A loose coalition of economic and political conservatives, religious fundamentalists, and political action committees (PACs) rose. These groups opposed big government, new Deal liberalism, gun control, feminism, gay rights, welfare, affirmative action, sexual permissiveness, abortion, and drug use. They saw these issues as the cause of the decline in family and religious values, work ethic, and national security. Three best-selling novels written by Tom Clancy portray the Reagan Era: The Hunt for Red October (1984), Red Storm Rising (1986), and The Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988). They reflect values from the Cold War and were used to ideas of national security to the public.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
Regan emphasized supply-side economics (also known as “Reaganomics”) which argued that tax cuts reduced government spending, increased investment, and led to increased production, jobs, and prosperity. Congress passed most of the tax cuts suggested by Reagan which included a twenty five percent decrease in personal income taxes over three years. There were also cuts in the corporate income tax, capital gains tax, and gift and inheritance taxes. The top income tax rate was reduced to twenty eight percent. Republicans cut over $40 billion from domestic programs, which included food stamps, student loans, and mass transportation. However, the savings allowed a dramatic increase in military spending in its place.
Environment
The Reagan administration followed up on its promise of “getting government off the backs of the people” by reducing federal government regulation on business and industry (deregulation). This also meant that the government eased up its restriction on issues like environmental protection. For example, to help America’s struggling auto industry, regulations on emissions and auto safety were reduced. Secretary of the Interior James Watt also opened federal lands to increase coal and timber production and offshore waters for oil drilling.
Politics and Citizenship
The Reagan administration’s conservative agenda called for a stronger military, lower taxes, fewer social programs, and traditional cultural values. This helped the Republicans to become the majority party. In his approach to combating the Cold War, Reagan increased spending for defense and aid to anticommunist forces in Latin America. For example, his administration increased spending on the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) which was a plan for building a high-tech system of lasers and particle beams to destroy enemy missiles before they could reach U.S. territory. This shows that Reagan’s political focus were on conservative goals and the Cold War.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
During years of recession, white males blamed their problems on “reverse discrimination” due to the government’s support of racial and ethnic quotas. An example of this was the Supreme Court case of Bakke v. Regents of the University of California (1978) where Allan Bakke, a white male, sued saying that he was excluded from admission solely on the basis of race. The Supreme Court upheld the university’s use of race in its admissions decisions, but it also found that Bakke should have been admitted and banned the use of racial quotas alone. After this event, conservatives worked even harder to end preferential treatment based on racial and ethnic backgrounds.
War and Diplomacy
In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev became the new Soviet leader and introduced two major reforms: glasnost (openness) to end political repression and perestroika, or restructuring of the economy by introducing some free-market tactics. In order to achieve his reforms, Gorbachev needed to end the costly arms race. As a result, in 1987, Gorbachev and Reagan agreed to remove and destroy all intermediate-range missiles (the INF agreement). To further reduce Cold War tensions, Gorbachev removed Soviet troops from Afghanistan and even cooperated with the United States in pressuring Iran and Iraq to end their war. Relations had improved so much that the end of the Cold War seemed close.

Jimmy Carter

Served as President from 1977-1981
Era: The Seventies
American Identity and Culture
During the 1970s, minorities began to protest and implement their own movements in the United States to achieve discrimination relief and recognition by the American public.Before World War II, Hispanic Americans generally resided in southwestern states. However in the years after World War II, Hispanic Americans began to come from Cuba, South America, Puerto Rico, and Central America and inhabit the Midwest and East. During the 1950s to 1960s, Mexican workers assumed agricultural jobs that paid very little. In 1975, Caesar Chavez led boycotts in which achieved rights for farm workers. Mexican Americans, also known as Chicanos, also achieved federal mandates for Hispanics to be taught Spanish and English. During the 1980s, many Hispanic Americans were able to obtain positions, such as being a mayor of a city, in the public office. As a result, Hispanics became America’s biggest minority group.
In 1968, the American Indian Movement was established to obtain self-determination and to bring back traditions of Native American tribes. The efforts of the American Indian Movementled Congress to pass the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1975 which allowed tribal lands and reservations to have more control over programs, education, and laws.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
During President Carter’s presidency, one of the main problems Carter faced was the increasing inflation rates in the United States. Initially, President Carter tried to fix the inflation rates by conserving the usage of oil energy and instead going back to the usage of the coal industry to replace oil energy. However, the efforts of Congress failed to try to decrease the amount of usage of oil energy. Between 1979 and 1980, inflation increased to 13 percent, a rate that was never seen before by the American public.The inflation rates reduced economic growth because businesses and consumers could not afford the interests rates that were on expensive products. In 1980, Paul Volcker from the Federal Reserve Board wanted to increase the inflation rate to 20 percent. The increase in the inflation rate affected the car industry as well as the construction industry. As a result, many businesses were forced to lay off thousands of workers.In 1980, the government deficit was almost 60 billion dollars which finally hit Americans with the reality that the standard of living in the United States was slowly beginning to decline.
Environment
In 1970, the first ever Earth Day was established. On the national event, approximately 20 million citizens of the United States participated.Earth Day focuses on the amount of pollution and destruction of forests, wild life, etc. in the United States. The event of Earth Day spurred the question of whether or not if advancements in technology were really made. The American public soon became against the idea of constructing more nuclear power plants after an incident in the Three Mile Island power plant located in Pennsylvania. The American public was also scared of incidents like a deadly explosion. For example, like what happened in Soviet Union when the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded.As a response to these growing fears over the future environment, conservationists urged for Congress to pass laws and policies to stop any more pollution from being generated and the destruction of the wild life. Congress soon passed the Clean Air Act in 1970 and created the Environmental Protection Agency. In 1972, Congress also passed the Clean Water Act. In 1980, the establishment of the Superfund sought to clear-out toxic dumps. For example the Love Canal located in Niagara Falls, New York.
Politics and Citizenship
Despite the achievements made by President Carter, his actions in handling the crisis of hostages in Iran and his actions in trying to fix the declining economic crisis has led him to be known as an incapable president. In 1979, President Carter made a speech known as the “national malaise” speech. In his speech, President Carter directly blamed the issues of the United States on the American public. As a result, President Carter’s popularity decreased dramatically and thus aided him in his loss of the election of 1980.
In 1978, Allan Bakke, a white man in his 30s, applied to attend the University of California, Davis twice as he was rejected the first time. Bakke was rejected the second time and wondered why he had been rejected when his grades had exceeded the requirement level. Bakke was also curious as to why he was rejected when many of the applicants who were admitted had significantly lower grades than him. In the year 1974, the University finally admitted that they were only looking for applicants whose races were considered a minority in the United States. Angered, Bakke sued in which his case soon was taken under the provisions of the Supreme Court. In the case, known as Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court ruled that the university’s actions were unconstitutional and it is illegal to not admit an applicant based on race.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
President Carter was a supporter of civil rights for African Americans. One of President Carter’s main achievements in his foreign policies was his take on human rights. President Carter selectedAfrican American Andrew Young to become the United States ambassador in the United Nations. As ambassador, Andrew Young greatly contributed to the cause of human rights by criticizing the cruelty towards the African Americans in Rhodesia, now known as Zimbabwe, and South Africa. With human rights being violated in Latin America by the governments of Chile and Argentina, President Carter stopped sending United State help to them.
War and Diplomacy
In 1978, President Carter was able to settle a peace treaty for Egypt and Israel. In 1977, Anwar Sadat (President of Egypt) went to Jerusalem to visit Menachem Begin, the Israel Prime Minister. With Sadat’s brave move, President Carter invited Begin and Sadat to Camp David, Maryland for a presidential getaway retreat. Together, they were able to agree to the Camp David Accords which called for peace between the two countries. As a result of the peace treaty, Egypt became the first nation of Arabia to acknowledge Israel as a nation. In response to the new found recognition, Israel sent word for their troops to be removed from the territory of Sinai which was taken by Egypt in the Six-Day War in 1967. Despite peace between Egypt and Israel, the Palestine Liberation Organization as well as a majority of the Arab nations was strongly against the peace treaty.In 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini and his Islamic followers put an end to the dictatorial government of the shah. In the 1970s, the shah provided the West oil, but due to his actions much of the Iranian population became alienated. With Khomeini in power, the oil being sent to the West stopped causing President Carter to have to step in and handle the crisis. In 1980, President Carter allowed for a rescue mission. However because the helicopters in the desert of Iran broke down, the mission was cancelled. As a result, President Carter’s failed actions to rescue the hostage became a symbol of him being a failure president.

Gerald R. Ford

Served as President from 1974-1977
Era: The Seventies
American Identity and Culture
During Gerald Rudolph Ford’s presidency there was a major scientific advancement in the field of Astronomy and Aeronautics. This advancement was the landing of the Viking 1 and Viking 2 on Mars. These two satellite Rovers on mars have now landed and could now take pictures of the terrain of Mars, yielding new information on the red planet that no one else knew about. There were also new cultural developments such as the creation of Star Wars by George Lucas. George Lucas published it in 1977. There were also other new movies such as Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, an award winning film by Reiner Werner Fassbinder.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
The first thing that Gerald did for the Economy was to create the Economic Policy Board. Gerald Ford’s biggest goal was to lower the inflation in America. He started the “Whip Inflation Now” program where he publicized it with buttons and other things. The program asked United States citizens to try and limit their spending and consumption of consumer items made by factories and others. He even made a speech to start his campaign for the Whip Inflation Now Program. Although people though the speech was fake and it was only to appeal to the public, the actual point from that speech was to introduce a new plan that would last one year where five percent of all income tax increases would be on corporations and also the wealthy people.
Environment
During the Gerald Ford administration, the United States had to face the swine flu pandemic. This flu, named H1N1 was a form of flu that was thought to only affect pigs, however it had crossed over to humans now. Public health officials now began the mysterious prevention of combating this Swine Flu. People wanted Gerald Ford to ask for every United States citizen to be vaccinated. Even though the vaccination was given to the Americans, there were more deaths from the vaccines than from the actual disease itself.
Politics and Citizenship
After Richard Nixon resigned from office, the Vice President did not become president, instead it was Gerald Ford who did. Gerald Ford was not the Vice President nor was he voted into the position, being the first to do this. As soon as Gerald Ford became president, he pardoned Nixon from prison for any crimes that he may have committed in the past, partly because of Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandals. Because of this pardon, there were many critics who believed there was a “corrupt bargain” that had gone on between Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. People thought that Gerald Ford only pardoned Richard Nixon because he Nixon was the one who allowed him to become the president so that he could later pardon him when Ford went into office as the president.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
In 1977 there was a new law known as the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1977. This new legislation ended discrimination in places such as the workplace, school, and also in other public serves. This new law now promoted the social equality whether this discrimination was racial, towards the disabled or because of different sexes. Gerald Ford also agreed with this as he believed that discriminating people in jobs was bad and that he hoped the Republican Party would stop this discrimination.
War and Diplomacy
During Gerald Rudolph Ford’s presidency, the Vietnam War had ended with Southern Vietnamese Nationalists surrendering to the Northern Vietnamese Communists. Since the Northern Vietnamese had won the war, it was finally over for the United States and they had left the country for good. As soon as Gerald Ford went into office, the northern Vietnamese invaded the south and Ford gave $522 million dollars for aiding the south in the war. Although Ford wanted to give it to them, Congress voted strongly against it and in the end, President Thieu in Southern Vietnam blamed the loss of their territory on the United States for not supporting them at all. Even though no money was given to them for military aid, a lot of money was given to help citizens leave the country and evacuate into safer places. American soldiers helped 5,595 Vietnamese citizens evacuate into the Southern Vietnamese Democratic capital of Saigon in the Operation named Frequent Wind.

Richard Nixon

Served as President from 1969-1974
Era: The Sixties
American Identity and Culture
During the years 1969 through 1974 there were many new things in the United States that dealt with the American culture. For example, people were now experiencing many different things. One of these was the discrimination of females and males in universities and other forms of higher education. To counter this, in 1972 a law was passed that ended sex discrimination in any higher level form of education, including colleges and universities. There were also scientific advancements such as the United States winning in the race to land people on the moon. In 1969, the United States successfully landed Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on the moon.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
During Richard Nixon’s presidency, because of the Korean War and the Great Society from Johnson, the United States was under a large debt and had many large budget deficits. His largest goal however, was to reduce inflation. He made a New Federalism as he gave federal grants to lots of states but a lot of this grant money was lost in the process of congressional budget. At Camp David, Nixon announced for temporary wage and price controls and also allowed the United States dollar to float against other country’s currencies. He also ended the ability for United States citizens to convert their money back into gold. In 1973, Nixon was still controlling prices and these produced many food shortages. In the end, Richard Nixon had failed to control inflation in America, and along with that failure the controls also ended.
Environment
During Richard Nixon’s presidency, he established the Environmental Protection Agency. In 1970 the first Earth Day had also taken place. Nixon also made the Clean Air Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to further his support for the conservation movement. The Environmental Protection Agency that Nixon made required many Federal projects to have environmental impact states. Even though Nixon had passed many of these environmental things for the conservational movement, there was one legislation that Richard Nixon did not pass. In 1972 he had vetoed the Clean Water Act of 1972 because he though it objected the policies goals of the EPA and because it also would have cost a lot of money which the federal government did not have at that time.
Politics and Citizenship
During Richard Nixon’s presidency, he enacted the “New Federalism.” This program devolved a lot of power to the state governments and also the few local officials that are elected. Congress, however, was very hostile and skeptical about these ideas. Richard Nixon also eliminated lots of people from the United States Post Office Department of the federal government who were in the cabinet-level. In 1971 the Post Office Department also changed into the United States Postal Service. One large political thing though was the Watergate Scandal. This term came from the illegal activities that had gone on during the Nixon administration. In this Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon ordered people to harass many activist groups and people like the FBI, the Internal Revenue service and others. It was later known that Richard Nixon’s aides were the ones who were trying to sabotage the democrats in high positions.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
It was starting in Richard Nixon’s presidency that many schools in the south that were public allowed the integration in such a large scale. Richard Nixon’s Vice President Agnew lead a force of local leaders in the Southern towns to try and work with the integration of both African American kids and white kids in public schools. Although Richard Nixon appointed the Vice President to do the work, it was really Labor Secretary George Shultz who did it. Nixon also implemented a large plan for civil rights known as the Philadelphia Plan in 1970. This plan was the first federal action to be an affirmative action program. He endorsed a new amendment known as the Equal Rights Amendment and he tried to get it ratified in the United States.
War and Diplomacy
During Richard Nixon’s presidency the United States was still at war in the Southeast Asia. In 1970 and 1971 the invasion of Cambodia and Laos took place, respectively. The Vietnam War is also still going on, where the Northern Communistic forces were fighting the nationalists of the South. Richard Nixon even bombed Cambodia in suspicious that there were Viet Cong bases there. Nixon also went to South Vietnam and started the process strategy known as Vietnamization. This process was to start by replacing the American troops with troops from Vietnam. In the end, the United States withdrew from the Vietnam War because of the heavy casualties that the American people have faced. Along with the withdrawal they also agreed to cease fire and stop supporting the Southern Vietnamese Nationalists.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Served as President from 1963-1969
Era: The Sixties
American Identity and Culture
During President Johnson’s presidency, there was a shift in ideas with social and cultural revolutions occurring. Beginning in the mid-1960s, large groups of college students began to rebel the oppressive laws established in universities and colleges. At Port Huron, Michigan in 1962, students led by their leader Tom Hayden formed the Students for a Democratic Society(abbreviated SDS). The SDS wanted to be involved in the decision making process that will affect their future lives and therefore proposed their Port Huron Statement which demanded for decisions of the university to be decided with participatory democracy.The New Left was people who supported the ideas of the SDS. In 1964, students protested at the University of California Berkeley demanding a stop to the rules on student-ran political events. This protest eventually became known as the Free Speech Movement which led to students all over the country to protest against a variety of rules imposed by the university which included members of the opposite sex visiting dorms and drinking alcohol. They also demanded for student involvement in the decisions made by the university board.
With student protests going on, younger generations began rebelling against the traditional American styles.Hippies began to grow out beards and long hair, as well as wear jeans and beads. The youth began to listen to rock and roll music by popular bands that emerged during the time like the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. The youth also began to become more promiscuous by engaging in more sexual activities as birth pills and other contraceptives became available to the public. A survey completed by Alfred Kinsey showed that divorces, homosexuality, and sex before marriage were becoming more common and common.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, President Johnson stepped in and wanted to expand the forms of the New Deal. President Johnson convinced Congress to pass an extended form of the civil rights bill and an income tax cut that was earlier passed under Kennedy’s administration. The enactment of the income tax cut provided more jobs for the American public, more spending in consumer goods, and a long term expansion in the economy during the 1960s.In 1962, author Michael Harrington’s book The Other America became a best-selling book. The book emphasized the staggering amount of 40 million Americans living in poverty. In 1964, as a response to the amount of poverty in the United States, President Johnson launched the war on poverty. President Johnson asked Congress to create an Office of Economic Opportunity which focused on setting up programs for the poor like Head Start which provided education for preschoolers. Congress set aside a one billion dollar budget for the Office of Economic Opportunity to sponsor more programs that will aid in goal of decreasing poverty. The establishment of the Community Action Program gave jobs to the poor to set up their own programs that aids in decreasing poverty in their own neighborhoods.
Environment
In 1965, President Johnson encouraged Congress to pass the Immigration Act of 1965. The immigration act called for a change in policy directed at non-Europeans. Based on information of the Office of Economic Opportunity, immigrants from Europe made up for about 60 percent of the foreign population during the time. Between the years of 1965 and 1970, the amount of immigrants doubled in the United States. The Immigration Act of 1965 also increased opportunities for Latin Americans and Asians to enter the United States as immigrants. In 1965, author Ralph Nader published his book Unsafe at Any Speed. As a response, Congress passed acts to help regulate the driving industry and as a response to the publication of Rachel Carson’s depiction of pesticides in her book Silent Spring, Congress passed laws to keep the air clean and to keep the water pure.
Politics and Citizenship
Between 1965 and 1966, President Johnson launched his Great Society reforms in which would establish a permanent effect on the United States society. President Johnson’s Great Society reforms included: health insurance for people 65 and older (Medicare), government supported health care for disabled people and the poor (Medicaid), an establishment of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities which provided government funding for “creative and scholarly” projects, the passage of an Elementary and Secondary Education Act which provided government aid to school districts that lacked money, more funding for education, more funding for public housing, more funding to reduce crime rates, an immigration law that would abolish quotas that discriminated people based on their national roots, and the addition of two cabinet departments known as the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
During President Johnson’s presidency, Earl Warren was the chief justice of the Supreme Court. In the case of Escobedo v. Illinois in 1964, Chief Justice Warren ruled that polices have to tell a person who has been arrested that he or she has the right to not talk. In 1966, the Miranda v. Arizona case used the ruling that was made in the Escobedo v. Illinois case. In the Miranda v. Arizona case, Chief Justice Warren added onto the ruling that a person has the right to not talk that a person also had the right to have a lawyer with him or her while being interviewed by the police.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
President Johnson was an avid supporter of civil rights for African Americans. Even before President Johnson was elected president, Johnson helped African Americans by persuading the Republicans and Democrats in Congress to ratify the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which made segregation in public buildings (restaurants, hotel, etc.) illegal. The Act also gave more power to the federal government, so that they can enforce desegregation. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 paved the way for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to be established. The commission’s purpose was to stop people from racial discrimination in jobs. The same year, the twenty-fourth amendment was passed which eliminated the activity of gathering a voting tax which had been an activity that stopped people from the lower classes from voting since they were unable to afford it. In 1964, a violent riot broke out in Selma, Alabama. The protest was led by Martin Luther King Jr. and as a result of the violenceexperienced; Congress enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The act stopped literacy tests from being given and sent federal employees to supervise in regions where African Americans would vote.
War and Diplomacy
The Vietnam War was initially headed by President Kennedy and later President Lyndon Johnson.President Johnson entered the war just as South Vietnam began to internally fall apart. South Vietnam had a massive amount of seven different kinds of governments. Republican Goldwater attacked Johnson’s cabinet for not supporting the efforts of South Vietnam trying to defeat North Vietnam or the communists. In the month of August of 1964, President Johnson and Congress used the naval conflict that occurred in the Gulf of Tonkin (near the coast of Vietnam) to establish American forces entering the warzone. Since North Vietnam had sent boats to shoot at United States warships, President Johnson convinced Congress to help him send American troops. As a result, Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The resolution made President Johnson the chief of the war and gave President Johnson the power to make any actions necessary to protect the United States and its allies against Northern Vietnam. However, some declared the enforcement of sending out American troops to Vietnam was illegal because Congress did not follow the rules of the Constitution by never officially declaring war against Vietnam.

John F. Kennedy

Served as President from 1961-1963
Era: The Sixties
American Identity and Culture
In the year 1962, Pop art and culture became a popular thing in America and the world. Artists all over the world now began to paint and create art from popular culture such as those from movies, famous celebrities and other forms of popular culture. The science world also made a large advancement. It made the advancement of the first Intercontinental ballistic missile. This was an important discovery because it set fear into the citizens of the United States as people came to fear the horrible missiles and nuclear weapons of other nations, especially the Soviet Union. Another scientific advancement in the United States was the launching of Apollo. The Apollo project to get a man on the moon was successful through this time when the United States successfully launched and sent three astronauts to the moon.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
John F. Kennedy, with the help of Congress, created the Peace Corps. The first director of this association was his brother-in-llaw Sargent Shriver. Sargent Shriver would ask and gain the help of many American citizens to volunteer their time in trying to help third-world countries or other underdeveloped countries in the world. This corporation would give them money, education, help in farming, health care and also help them construct things to further develop their society. This Peace Crops would help many countries to become great countries in the future through its America’s economic aid in these countries. Along with the Peace Corps, John F. Kennedy also created the Alliance of Progress in 1961. This program would establish relations for economic aid to Latin America for 10 years, where America would help them establish economic developments as well as establishing democratic governments in Latin American countries. The United States would contribute billions of dollars in this economic aid program.
Environment
During the Cold War many Americans were faced with fear in the danger of being attacked by nuclear missiles and weapons. This fear spread through people and environmentalists because the radiation and the deadly poisons produced from these power nuclear weapons was very strong. John F. Kennedy in his speech on June 10, 1963 also agreed with this. The president wanted to have peace between all countries especially the United States and the Soviet Union because we were the countries that held these dangerous weapons. If we were to fight with each other we would produce deadly poisons and radiation from the nuclear exchanges that were going to take place. All of our known air and soil would be changed and our environment would change to the worse possible outcome.
Politics and Citizenship
John F. Kennedy became president and he fought to create democratic governments and sustain them in the world. Through his plans in Latin America, he tried to create democratic governments there. He also tried this in Western Europe to get countries away from the communistic influence. Even near the United States itself, John F. Kennedy fought against Cuba, which was a threat to the United States for being communistic. John F. Kennedy approved of the Central Intelligence Agency’s plan to invade Cuba with old Cuban Exiles that had left the island. These people would sneak into the Bay of Pigs and area in Cuba and would try to take control over this place and they were causing a riot. These people however failed to cause a riot and only got caught and John F. Kennedy refused to send any military aid to them.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a strong supporter and even openly supported civil rights and racial integration. There was a case in 1962 where a person, James Meredith, was entered into the University of Mississippi; however he was not permitted to enter the University because of his race. Robert Kennedy sent federal marshals to try and confront the situations, but the whole mess turned into a large riot known as the Ole Miss riot of 1962. Two people had been killed and many suffered from casualties but James Meredith was finally allowed to enroll into his classes. Because of this incident John F. Kennedy signed the Executive Order number 11063 which prohibited any racial discrimination of any kind in any federally supported houses or anything related to these facilities.
War and Diplomacy
John F. Kennedy was president in the middle of a large problem in the Southeast Asian area. One such area was Vietnam. In Vietnam, the northern communists lead by Ho Chi Minh had fought ruthlessly with the Viet Cong army against the Vietnamese nationalists of the South who were also aided by the United States. In 1962 John F. Kennedy also sent 12,000 advisers to Vietnam to fight against the Viet Cong communists. Other than the problems in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries, we also had problems near our own home front. In Cuba it was discovered that there were nuclear arms there hidden by the Soviet Union. To have such dangerous arms so near the United States caused major panic and this had to be resolved immediately. The United States responded as they built nuclear war bases in the Middle East, also near the Soviet Union. With fear of starting a major nuclear war between the two nations, both nations, the Soviet Union and the United States, agreed to remove the bases as they solved the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Served as president from 1953-1961
Era: The Cold War
American Identity and Culture
Although the Cold War was during Eisenhower’s presidency, many remember it as the “happy days.” This is because Americans did not have to deal with a depression or war or even difficult issues like they did during the previous decades. The nation had a booming economy and Americans were reaping its benefits. Millions of families had access to television sets in their homes that presented viewers with situation comedies, westerns, quiz shows, and professional sports. This culture portrayed on television provided common content for a common language. Americans also embraced conformity as it was a small price to pay for a nice home in the suburbs, a new car, good schools for children, and a vacation.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
During Eisenhower’s presidency, Americans were fairly prosperous. The unemployment rate was generally low and the inflation rate was less than two percent. Old guard conservatives wanted Eisenhower to cut taxes, however he believed in balancing the budget. The personal incomes of wage earners also increased by forty five percent during this time period. On the other hand, not everyone shared in this prosperity. The South had almost half of the country’s poor. Poverty increased in northern cities due to the fact that African Americans left the South to find jobs in the north because they had lost their jobs to new farm machines.
Environment
A legacy of the Eisenhower years was the passage of the Interstate Highway Act of 1956, which authorized the construction of forty two thousand miles of interstate highways linking all the nation’s major cities together. It justified the new taxes on fuel, tires, and vehicles to improve national security. The immense public works project created jobs, promoted trucking industry, accelerated suburban growth, and contributed to conforming national culture. However, the emphasis on trucks, cars, and highways ended up hurting the railroads and ultimately the environment.
Politics and Citizenship
Eisenhower practiced what he called “Moderate Republicanism.” This was his method of preserving the market economy and individual freedom while also assuring the public that the government would provide assistance to those that needed it. He wanted to balance the budget after years of deficit spending. Not only that, he accepted most of the New Deal programs and even extended some of them. Eisenhower succeeded in extending the Social Security program to more citizens, raising the minimum wage, and building additional public housing. He helped farmers by initiating a soil-bank program which reduced farm production and increased farm income. Strangely, Eisenhower opposed ideas on federal health care insurance and federal aid to education.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
In the court case Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka which challenged the “separate but equal” ruling established in Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that separate was inherently unequal and instructed states to integrate. Therefore, segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Southern states resisted by temporarily closing schools. Even though Eisenhower disagreed with the court’s ruling, he had a duty to uphold it. As a result, he sent federal troops to a school in Little Rock, Arkansas to protect nine African American students who were attending an all-white school there.
War and Diplomacy
After he became president in 1953, Eisenhower agreed to an armistice that ended fighting in Korea. He only sent troops into battle on one other occasion. Spending on defense was high however because he was determined to wage the Cold War. He emphasized nuclear superiority to prevent the outbreak of war. This policy of massive retaliation became known as “brinkmanship.” Eisenhower also used covert action as a new conduct of foreign policy. For example, the CIA played a major role in 1953 by aiding in the overthrow of a government in Iran that tried to nationalize foreign oil companies.

Harry S. Truman

Served as president from 1945-1953
Era: The Cold War
American Identity and Culture
In the early years of President Truman’s presidency, there was a dramatic increase in the number of marriages and births.Between 1945 and 1960, people were marrying at a younger age and families were growing increasingly large resulting in the production of 50 million babiesjoining the American population coining this period of time the “baby boom.” With more children to care of, it affected American economic and social institutions by changing the role of women in society.Traditionally, women stayed in the house and took care of the children. However with the increase in the number of children per each family, women began working jobs outside of the house to make some extra money.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
During the mid-1940s, American marines, soldiers, and sailors were returning home to America with the end of World War II. Americans were afraid that they would be returning home to a stagnating economy; however because of the war the economy had gained much capital.During the 1950s, Americans were living at the highest standard of living. To help these Americans returning from the war, President Truman passed the GI Bill also known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944. This bill allowed for government paid education for the war veterans. The GI Bill also redistributed more than 16 million dollars in government loans to help war veterans buy houses or farms to start businesses. By doing so, the federal government invigorated the United States economy even more. In 1946, President Truman pressed for Congress to pass policies that will increase the minimum wage of worker and keep up employment rates. Congress soon passed the Employment Act of 1946 which called for the creation of Economic Advisers, a counsel that advised Congress and the President in advocating national economic welfare.
Environment
William Levitt created his Levittown which was a small suburban town of 17 thousand small, affordable homes. With the creation of towns with mass produced houses, it aided in providing housing to more Americans, especially when American war veterans began to return to America from war. William Levitt’s Levittown was located in Long Island, New York. The mass produced houses were made affordable by placing low interest mortgage rates that were backed by the government. The houses were also tax deductible which encouraged and aided families to move from cities to the suburban area causing much of the middle class Americans to move into suburban homes. Due to this mass movement of Americans, by the time of the 1960s cities ranging from Los Angeles to Boston grew extremely poor and less diverse.
Politics and Citizenship
In the beginning of President Truman’s second term of presidency, he started the Fair Deal, which was Truman’s reform program. The Fair Deal called for a national health care insurance, a civil rights legislation, money for public housing, a new farm program, and federal funding for education. Congress, mostly the Conservatives, hated this and for this reason they ignored most of the reforms Truman wanted. The only reform policies the conservatives like were policy to include various types of people to receive social security care and the increase of 35 cents in minimum wage. Congress ignored most of Truman’s reform policies because Congress was more worried about the foreign policies of the cold War and because of past problems between President Truman and Congress.
With the fear of communism spreading, Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy added onto the growing fear by giving a speech in 1950 stating that there were traitors (communists) infiltrating the U.S federal government. With McCarthy’s claim that there were over 200 communist employees working in the U.S government, the American public began to fear that communism would soon take over America’s democracy. McCarthy’s belief that there were communists in the U.S was called McCarthyism.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
As president, Truman was the very first contemporary president to use his presidential powers to try to stop racial prejudice and discrimination. In 1946, ignoring southern Democrats, President Truman established the Committee on Civil Rights. President Truman also helped empowered the civil rights division within the Justice Department. By doing so, this allowed for African American leaders to stop the separation of races in schools. In 1948, President Truman demanded for an end to racial discrimination within the departments of the federal government, which also included the three branches of the armed forces. With the end of segregation in military bases, many military bases (most located in the South) were reformed. Truman also helped African American’s civil rights by urging Congress to establish a Fair Employment Practices Commission that would serve to prevent company bosses from discriminating against African American workers.
War and Diplomacy

In 1947, Truman had three advisers (George Marshall, George F. Kennan, and Dean Acheson) who advised Truman to adopt the policy of containment to keep communism from spreading to other countries. The policy of containment was meant to send a message to the Soviet Union to stop their plans of spreading communism to other countries and instead just live in peace. Truman adopted the containment policy as a response to the revolt in Greece that the Soviets caused and because the Soviets demanded control/involvement with the Dardanelles of Turkey. In March 1947, President Truman imposed his Truman Doctrine which called for 400 million dollars in military and economic aid to help Greece and Turkey end their totalitarian governments.
In 1948, the Berlin airlift occurred marking it as one of the first major events of the Cold War. After the Soviets destroyed all roads to getting to the city of Germany, Truman was unable to recall troops from Berlin since it was impossible to reach the troops without roads. Since there were no roads, President Truman sent supplies by planes to the troops and people of West Berlin. Finally, in 1949 the Soviets ended their 11 month blockade and opened up the roads to Berlin.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Served as president from 1933-1945
Era: The Great Depression and WWII
American Identity and Culture
During Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency, there were many new things in American society. For example in the scientific world, there were a lot of new advancements. One of these advancements was the creation of plutonium. Fermi was the one who created it. By creating plutonium, the Americans were now able to find out more about nuclear power and radiation from this. Another advancement was the development of plastic. Dow Chemicals developed plastics. There were also artistic advancements such the international School of Surrealism. This school helped young artists advance in the surrealist art movement, which was very popular and fancy during this time period.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president right in the middle of America’s greatest economic depression in history, The Great Depression. He became president and his goal was to counter this depression and help all of the citizens of the United States get away from unemployment and back into action. He accomplished this by creating the “alphabet soup” of programs from his New Deal legislation. He made many new agencies and administrations to help bring the unemployment rate down in America. For example, he made the Works Progress Administration in 1935. This administration employed millions of citizens of the United States in working to build roads, canals, and other internal improvements for the society. He also made the Social Security Act in 1935 to provide pensions to people and to aid those older than the age of 65.
Environment
As the wartime president for World War II, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took full advantage of the environment that they were fighting in, as it had changed since past wars. Now that the world has become industrialized people now had to fight in the seas and the air. In all of the battles that American fought in, the majority of the battles were fought in the air, away from the mainland and in the middle of the Ocean. Americans now fought against Germany and Japan through air raids as they slowly liberated small islands in the Pacific to gain control over Japan. To win the war they had to take control over small islands near Japan so that they could pin Japan down into their own island. Along with using airplanes to fight now, people also industrialized and fought with new bombs. Most American battles were air raids where the United States Air Force dropped bombs and bombed whole enemy cities in just one night, obliterating everything.
Politics and Citizenship
Franklin Delano Roosevelt left a large legacy in the United States. He was a president that ran for four consecutive terms in office and won all four of them. Because of his four consecutive terms in office as the president, the federal government made it a law forbidding any president to serve in office as the president for more than two terms. Franklin Roosevelt also made a lot of political reforms in the United States. He made a lot of associations and reforms to try and better the environment as well as try to stop the Great Depression from getting any worse from his New Deal program; however, the Supreme court invalidated many of his programs for being unlawful.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was known as a major hero to minorities, including African Americans. In his Civilian Conservation Corps, he provided African Americans with help in their economic background and also helped them revitalize their services; however Franklin Roosevelt did not push and anti-lynching legislations because it might have threatened any further ability to further push this priority programs in economics. Even though he could not pass any legislation he did denounce lynching in the south as being “a vile form of collective murder.” There was also the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. This organization worked to help civil rights cases in courts that dealt with brutality from policemen, lynching and also people abusing voting rights.
War and Diplomacy
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president during World War II and even furthered his time as president as he took on a third term and even a fourth term to fight against the Axis powers of Germany, Japan and Italy. Before the world had begun he tried to make the United States be a neutral nation even taking the form the Neutrality Acts; however it was unsuccessful because the United States was still biased towards Great Britain as companies had sold them firearms and other miscellaneous items for war and refusing the sell things to countries like Germany and other Axis powers. Roosevelt was also president during the war with Japan as Japan had begun their raid in Pearl Harbor. In this attack Japan had ruthlessly bombed the naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, injuring lots of people. Because of this ruthless raid from the Japanese, Franklin Roosevelt had no choice but to declare war on the Japanese as they began the war. The war began with Japan as they fought head to head in the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese at first were winning however the United States pushed them back as they liberated many islands and won in the turning battle of the Midway in 1942. The process of slowly liberating the islands was known as island hopping to take lands so that the Japanese could not build bases there because we were first.

Herbert Hoover

Served as president from 1929-1933
Era: The Great Depression and WWII
American Identity and Culture
Hoover was president when the Great Depression began within the United States. Because of this, many people migrated west for job opportunities. They were called “Okies” because they came from states like Oklahoma. Many were looked down upon. These migrants would pack all their belongings with them and travel west. However, once they reached their destination, they discovered that it was no different from home. They struggled to find jobs and many lived in “Hoovervilles.” These were shanty towns of the poor and homeless. Although, the nation was experiencing a depression, Hoover was reluctant to provide government aid. He believed in “rugged individualism” where people were responsible for changing their own condition.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash. This became known as Black Thursday—October 24, 1929—when there was an unprecedented volume of selling, and stock prices plunged dramatically. The next day, a group of bankers bought millions of dollars in stocks to try and stabilize prices, but the selling frenzy resumed Monday. On Black Tuesday, millions of investors ordered banks to sell when no buyers could be found. Wall Street continued to spiral downward from that day on. Some causes of the stock market crash can be attributed to an uneven distribution of income, stock market speculation, an excessive use of credit, overproduction of consumer goods, a weak farm economy, government policies, and global economic problems.
Environment
The Great Depression was also caused in part by the Dust Bowl. This was an event in which areas of American prairie states experienced ecological damage due to huge clouds of soil. Mismanagement of grazing land and severe winds swept unprotected soil into dust storms. The land was turned dry and brittle because of over farming along with the appearance of new technology, like mechanized farming tools, contributed to the Dust Bowl. This event would lead to both economic and health hardships for many.
Politics and Citizenship
The election of 1932 resulted in a Democratic victory. Not only did their candidate win the presidency, but both houses of Congress had large Democratic majorities as well. Hoover was labeled as the “lame duck” president as he was powerless to deal with the depression which continued to get worse during the time between Roosevelt’s election and his inauguration. The Twentieth Amendment, also known as the lame duck amendment, passed in 1933 shortened the period between presidential election and inauguration. It set January 20 as the new date for the start of a president’s term in office.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
Hoover was not concerned with civil rights while he was president. He believed that African Americans could improve themselves with education. He encouraged them to assimilate into white culture. In 1930, he attempted to appoint John J. Parker in the Supreme Court. The NAACP fought his nomination however. They claimed that he made many court decisions against African Americans. In the end, they succeeded.
War and Diplomacy
In 1931, Japan invaded Chinese Manchuria. This region had long been coveted by Japanese expansionists for its mineral rich and agriculturally productive land. Hoover decided not to take an immediate American response, but the Japanese invasion had violated the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1929 which renounced war as an “instrument of national policy.” The League of nation issued a resolution that demanded the Japanese to withdraw from Chinese territory. It was ignored, and the U.S. issued the Stimson Doctrine. This basically meant that the United States would not recognize Japan’s territorial gains in China.

Calvin Coolidge

Served as president from 1923-1929
Era: Roaring Twenties
American Identity and Culture
Beginning in the 1920s, the Jazz Age was a period of time where college and high school students showed their rebellious nature and rebelled against the tradition culture of their elders by dancing and listening to jazz music. Jazz music originated from African Americans musicians who moved it north. Jazz soon became to be thought of as the new modern culture of the cities. With new inventions such as radios and phonographs, jazz music was easily spread to the American public.The invention of the radio also gave rise to entertainment programs, like comedy shows, quiz shows, news broadcasts, soap operas, and sporting events. In 1924, the National Broadcasting Company was established and in 1927 the Columbia Broadcasting System formed.
Also during the 1920s, there was a rise in the movie industry giving fame to movie stars like Rudolf Valentino and Greta Garbo. Millions of Americans idolized these celebrities. More movie theaters were built for the public. In 1927, the movie industry reached a new peak with the invention of talking sound pictures causing over 80 million tickets to be sold each weak for the most recent Hollywood movie.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
During the 1920s, there was a boom in business due to factors such as increased productivity, new government policies, and energy technologies. These factors led to a 64 percent increase in manufacturing output.In 1914, Henry Ford (creator of Ford cars) introduced a more efficient method of manufacturing cars known as the assembly line. With this new method, a mass production of cars allowed consumers to buy automobiles at more affordable prices. Throughout the 1920s, many companies began to use the method of the assembly line to increase the output of consumer goods. With cars being more available to the American public, the use of electricity and oil increased dramatically, while coal was used to power railroads.Oil and electricity were used in factories causing oil to produce 23 percent of the electricity that factories use. Also during the 1920s, the government was more in favor of business prosperity instead of relying on agriculture. For this reason, the government instituted business tax cuts and did little to enforce the antitrust laws during the time. In correlation of the boom in business, wages increased for workers during the 1920s. With the increase in wages, members in unions began to decline by 20 percent.
Environment
Based on the Census of 1920, much of the American population settled in urban regions. These urban cities were marked by their popular culture of modern morals, tastes, and mass consumption. With new methods making mass production more efficient, automobiles were made more affordable to the American public. With cars being more affordable, people could just drive their own cars around instead of using public transportation like the railroad. For this reason, the construction of roads was in demand.Despite people being able to drive their own cars whenever they want, the usage of more cars led to traffic jams on the roads, car accidents, and deaths. The use of more cars also led to environmental problems like global warming and pollution.
Politics and Citizenship
President Coolidge was a man who hardly spoke and thus was given the name “Silent Cal.” In Coolidge’s defense, President Coolidge explained that not speaking much in politics is good because no one will ask you to repeat anything if you never said it. President Coolidge’s philosophy for America was that the problems of America only concern America and not any other country.
In 1925, controversy arose when biology teacher John Scopes in Tennessee was put on trial for teaching the ideas of the theory of evolution (formulated by Charles Darwin) to his students. In the state of Tennessee, it was made illegal to spread the ideas of the evolution theory in public schools. As a result, the Scopes trial eventually became a Supreme Court case. With Clarence Darrow as John Scope’s lawyer, they went against William Jennings Bryan, who believed he was an expert on the Bible. In court, lawyer Clarence Darrow constantly questioned Jennings making Jennings seem inadequate for his job. Despite Darrow’s effort to protect Scopes, Scopes was found guilty. However, Scope’s conviction was ultimately overturned.Even though Scopes was able to be freed, the question of teaching religious ideas to public schools still remains a controversial topic even in present day society.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
During the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan reemerged. The Ku Klux Klan which was originally established during the 1860s or 1870s was founded once again in 1915.The Klan had many supporters in the Midwest and the South. Members of the Klan in the North directed their hatred not only to African Americans, but to Jewish, Catholics, suspicious Communists, and even foreigners. By 1925, the newly Ku Klux Klan had reached five million members and supporters. Most of these supporters lived in small towns and cities and were from the lower middle class. During this time period, the Ku Klux Klan dressed in white robes and white hoodies to disguise themselves from being caught in public. The members of the Klan burned crosses, whipped their victimsand even hung some of their targets. As President of the United States, President Coolidge was an avid supporter of civil rights for African Americans and was able to prevent any members of the Ku Klux Klan from entering or gaining any position in the government.
War and Diplomacy
During President Coolidge’s presidency, Europe was facing a lot of post war problems and Russia was facing problems with communism. Because of this, Americans were afraid of entering another war overseas. However, despite all the issues going on, the United States did not return to the practice of isolationism and instead took an active role in foreign policy making to help keep world peace among the various countries. In 1924, Charles Dawes formulated a plan to help Germany pay back the war reparations. The plan, known as the Dawes Plan, stated that the United States would give loans to Germany, so that Germany can pay back Britain, France, and the United States. With the money earned from Germany’s war reparations, Britain and France would be able to pay back the debts they owe to the United States.In 1928, Secretary of State Frank Kellogg signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact with French foreign minister Aristide Briand. The Kellogg-Briand Pact relinquished the hostile use of force to achieve national desires.Unfortunately, this pact proved failure because it still allowed nations to hold defensive wars and it failed to enforce punishment to nations who violated the agreement.

Warren G. Harding

Served as president from 1921-1923
Era: Roaring Twenties
American Identity and Culture
During Warren Harding’s presidency there were lots of advancements in the American culture. One advancement was the proposal of Wave mechanics by Schrodinger. In the science world, Schrodinger who is famous for his theory of the cat brought out wave mechanics, a large physical theory. In 1922 T.S. Eliot also published the book The Waste Land. This poem was about the obscurity of the United States in its time. It brings satire and the prophecy of a new culture in the problems of not conserving the environment. In 1921 there was also the first Miss America Pageant. This pageant was held in New Jersey. It was in the city of Atlantic City which was also known as the Vegas of the East where there were lots of casinos and other attractions. Before the winner was known as the Gorman Mermaid however, later on they changed it the Miss America.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
During Warren Harding’s presidency he brought laws into the Republican congress. He approved a reduction to the income tax and also increased the tariff rates under the Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act. Warren Harding also approved of the establishment of the Bureau of the budget. Harding placed procedures for all government expenditures to also be placed in a single budget for Congress to review and vote on.
Environment
By this time, more people were using newer technologies that produced lots of waste. For example, because of the economic growth of the United States, people now increased their usage of fossil fuels and electricity. Because of the oil that was being used to now power factories it rapidly increased the number of automobiles in the United States. The large increase in oil also provided gasoline to the people and that the United States ended up using twenty-three percent of the world’s Oil usage for electricity. The United States was now becoming a large country that now used a lot of the world’s fossil fuels which was not a renewable resource, so now we would have less in the world, as we began our crusade on the world’s fossil fuels seeking it out from other countries.
Politics and Citizenship
During the presidency of Harding many political reforms took place. Warren Harding appointed Charles Evans Hughes to be the secretary of state, as he was a presidential candidate and he was also a candidate to become one of the Supreme Court Justices. He also invited Herbert Hoover to be secretary of Commerce. One large thing that he did was pardon the Socialist leader Eugene Debs from his place in federal prison. His pardon of Eugene Debs was prompted as a generous move by the president. People thought the president Harding had a generous spirit because of this, although Harding was a conservative.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
Warren Harding was a strong endorser for African American civil rights. Harding went around advocating civil rights and even made speeches such as one in Birmingham, Alabama. He argued for black political, economic, and education equality. He even viewed civil rights as a nation issue and wanted to solve it. He even brought some African Americans into federal positions such as Walter L. Cohen. He made Walter L. Cohen the comptroller of customs. He also tried to establish the international commission to improve racial relations to try and stop the racial tensions that were forming in the United States and in federal stations in the government.
War and Diplomacy
The secretary of state, Charles E. Hughes worked to make peace with lots of former enemies such as Austria and Germany. This peace treaty was became known as the Knox-Porter Resolution. These peace treaties were the official endings of World War I. The Senate also ratified the Treaty of Versailles during the years 1919 and 1920. Because of this treaty, the League of Nations was now created. During 192 there was also another major thing that happened to the world. This was a large diplomatic thing, because Italy now became a fascist country under the rule of Benito Mussolini. The Soviet Union was also formed during the year before that in 1922. It was because of this formation that the peacemaking for Germany and Austria took place.

Woodrow Wilson

Served as president from 1913-1921
Era: Foreign Policy, Progressive Era and WWI
American Identity and Culture
Muckrakers were journalists who informed the public of the dirty realities of party politics and the squalid conditions of factories and city slums. An example of a muckraker was photojournalist Jacob Riis who published pictures and articles of tenement life in How the Other Half Lives (1890). However, the popularity of muckraking books and magazine articles began to decline. One reason was that writers had a harder time topping the sensationalism of the last story. Another reason was that publishers were expanding and faced economic pressure from banks and advertisers to tone down their criticism on businesses. Lastly, corporations were becoming more aware of their public image.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
Wilson attacked what he called “the triple wall of privilege”: tariffs, banking, and trusts with his New Freedom program. He addressed Congress in person about the need to lower tariff rates to bring down consumer prices. The Underwood Tariff in 1913 lowered tariffs substantially and introduced a graduated income tax rate from one percent to six percent. He also proposed a national banking system with twelve district banks that would be supervised by a Federal Reserve Board. Wilson passed the Clayton Antitrust Act which strengthened the Sherman Antitrust Act for breaking up monopolies and exempted unions from being prosecuted as trusts. The Federal trade Commission emerged as an agency that investigated and prosecuted any “unfair trade practice” in industries.
Environment
Woodrow Wilson also played a role in helping the environment. In 1913, he signed the Raker Act. This gave San Francisco permission to construct a dam. In 1916, Wilson oversaw the creation of the National Park Service in 1916. He also began the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, which established extension services through the land-grant universities to spread information on agriculture and other topics. Wilson's anti-trust and labor laws also probably helped become the setting for future environmental regulations through the increase of government regulation of corporate America.
Politics and Citizenship
An issue that occurred during Wilson’s presidency was women’s suffrage. Women began taking a more militant approach to achieve their goal of gaining the vote and took to the streets with mass pickets, parades, and hunger strikes. In 1916, Alice Paul formed the National Women’s Party and focused on winning Congress’s support for an amendment to the Constitution. President Wilson finally adopted a women’s suffrage amendment which was ratified as the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. This guaranteed women’s right to vote in all elections at the local, state, and national levels.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
Unfortunately, Wilson was a noted racist. He segregated the federal government by ordering the Washington offices to be segregated along with the Treasury and Navy. He even praised Birth of a Nation, a controversial movie that negatively depicted African Americans. During his presidency, the House passed a law making interracial marriages illegal in the District of Columbia. Wilson’s excuse for his actions was that they were meant to ease racial tensions between the two groups of people.
War and Diplomacy
During his presidency, Woodrow Wilson led the United States into World War I. Once peace negotiations came around, he proposed a detailed list of war aims known as the Fourteen Points. His principles for securing peace were: recognition of freedom of the seas, an end to the making secret treaties, reduction of national armaments, an “impartial adjustment of all colonial claims,” self-determination for various nationalities within Austria-Hungary, and the creation of an international peacekeeping organization. Although Wilson agreed to compromise on most of his Fourteen Points, he insisted on the formation of a peacekeeping organization, the League of Nations. Once peace negotiations were over, he returned to the United States to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, including the League of Nations. However, it failed to win approval and was never ratified by the United States. In turn, this weakened the League of Nations.

William Howard Taft

Served as president from 1909-1913
Era: Foreign Policy, Progressive Era and WWI
American Identity and Culture
On Washington Senator’s Opening Day of1910, President Taft threw the first opening ball pitch at the Griffith Stadium, also known as the National Park, located in the Washington D.C. By doing this, President Taftinitiated the American tradition of throwing the first ball pitch at a baseball game on the event of an Opening Day, World Series, or the All Star Game. Ever since 1910, every president elected into the White House has thrown at least one ceremonial ball pitch for a baseball game.Also in 1910, the Boy Scouts of America were established by William Boyce, Ernest Thompson, and Daniel Beardin hopes of training the youth to develop character, develop a sense of self-reliance, and to become a good citizen of America in the future.The Boy Scouts of America were mainly filled with children of wealthy families because they were the only one who could afford to send their children to the program.
Economic Transformations and Globalization
President Taft was known as a “trustbuster” because he ordered many prosecutions of antitrust cases.One of the cases was against the U.S Steel Company in which included a merger that was approved by President Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt viewed this action by President Taft as an attack to Roosevelt’s integrity. In 1913, the sixteenth amendment was ratified and it called for a graduated income tax. Progressives accepted this new tax because the tax initially only affected the very wealthy upper classes. The sixteenth amendment helped unite Southern and Western farmers together because they wished that the government would stop depending on them to pay the taxes.
In Taft’s 1908 campaign, Taft promised to decrease the tariff. Once elected, the conservative Republicans in Congress ratified the Payne-Aldrich Tariff in 1909 which increased the tariff on a majority of imported goods. Taft made the Progressives in his party furious by not signing the tariff and by making a bold public statement defending his actions.
Environment
During President Taft’s presidency, Taft worked hard to conserve the natural resources in the United States.In May 1910, President Taft established the Bureau of Mines which added huge tracts in the Appalachian Mountains to the national forest reserves. President Taft also set aside federal oil lands, making him the first president to ever do this. The Mann-Elkins Act of 1910 empowered the Interstate Commerce Commission to suspend new railroad rates and supervise telephone, cable, and telegraph companies. Also beginning in 1910, Chicago devotes over 300 million dollars to urban improvement and civic designs which was supportedby Daniel Burnham. In addition, in 1912 two more states joined the union. These states were Arizona and New Mexico.
Politics and Citizenship
During President Taft’s presidency, cabinet member and secretary of interior Richard Ballinger opened up the public domains in Alaska for private development. In 1910, Gifford Pinchot,chief of the Forest Service and conservationist, accused Ballinger for his wrong actions. Shocked by Pinchot’s accusation, President Taft fired Pinchot for his defiantness. Progressives were angered at President Taft’s decision to fire Pinchot, while Conservatives supportedTaft for his actions. This controversy became known as the Pinchot-Ballinger Controversy.
Due to President Taft’s actions, the Progressives in the Republican Party believed that Taft was beginning to lean more toward the conservative side of the party. With President Taft’s reaction toward the Payne-Aldrich tariff and the Pinchot-Ballinger controversy, the Progressives believed that President Taft went against their ideals.More factors that contributed to the Progressives mentality also included when President Taft did not support Progressive Republicans in reducing the tyrant-like powers of the Speaker of the House, Joseph Cannon. Another factor was that Taft publicly supported candidates who were conservatives.
Slavery and its legacies in North America
In 1909,WEB DuBois, Oswald Garrison Villard, and Mary White Ovington established the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People organization (NAACP for short). The organization’s main purpose was to guarantee equal political, social, economic, and educational rights to all people of any race. A few months after the establishment of the NAACP, the Niagara Movement conference was held in New York in which members of the NAACP attended to elect a board for the organization. As a result the board was elected with only one African American which was WEB DuBois. WEB DuBois pressed for instant changes within the legislation for equal civil rights between whites and African Americans. DuBois argued that Whites are only successful because they had political and social rights, however if African Americans were given the same rights it would allow them to become successful too.
In 1911, Jamaican Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Their goal was to unite all blacks together, to protest for equal civil rights, and to create a sense of Black Nationalism. Similarly to the NAACP, the Universal Negro Improvement Association urged for a stop to lynching, anend to the Jim Crow laws, secure black voting rights, and no racial discrimination.
War and Diplomacy
President Taft embraced a foreign policy that was relatively expansionist, but was more dependent on money than battleships.President Taft’s policy of promoting U.S trade by supporting American companies overseas was called the “Dollar Diplomacy.”President Taft supported the private American financial investment in China and in nations of Central America would lead to stability in the foreign nations while simultaneously advocating business interests of the United States. However, one obstacle that President Taft faced with his policy of dollar diplomacy was that there was a growing anti-imperialism feeling in the United States and abroad.President Taft first experimented with his dollar diplomacy policy in Chinabecause he wanted U.S bankers to be involved in the plans of the French, British, and German to invest in railroads in China. President Taft was able to secure participations of Americans in the agreement of 1911. To protect investments in Nicaragua, the United States meddled with the financial problems of Nicaragua in 1911 and sent troops when a civil war occurred in 1912.