1941-1963

Pearl Harbor - Cody Beitel V-E Day - Cody Beitel Cuban Missile crisis - john chavez Korean War - Dawson Bristol Brown v. Board of Education - Thomas Bumbalo Potsdam Conference - thomas bumbalo Assassination of Kennedy - John Chavez Soviets Launch Sputnik - Tirthna 5 Korematsu v. United States - Tirthna 5 Bay of Pigs - dawson bristol
 * Multimedia:**
 * Events by Importance:**

Harry Truman - Thomas Bumbalo Martin Luther King Jr. - Cody Beitel Einstein - Tirthna 5 Joseph McCarthy - John Chavez Ike Eisenhower - John Chavez John F. Kennedy - Dawson Bristol Kruschev - Dawson Bristol Fidel Castro - Tirthna 5 Chairman Mao - Thomas Bumbalo Elvis - Cody Beitel
 * People by Importance:**

=People:= //Why is he important?// //Why is he significant to United States history?// //Why is he important?// //Why is he significant to US history?//
 * Harry Truman - Thomas Bumbalo**
 * Made the decision to drop the atomic bombs onto Japanese cities
 * Desegregated the United States military
 * Attempted to pass a "Fair Deal" for the American people
 * The desegregation of the military assisted in initiating the American Civil Rights Movement
 * Entered the United States into the missile age
 * Sponsored the Marshall Plan for the rebuilding of Europe
 * [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/92/Harry-truman.jpg/220px-Harry-truman.jpg caption="A middle-aged Caucasian male wearing a dark business suit and wireframe glasses is depicted smilingly pensively at the camera in a black-and-white photo."]] ||
 * MLK - Cody**
 * American clergyman, activist and civil rights leader
 * Led the 1955 Bus Boycott and 1963 March on Washington
 * Famous for delivering his "I Have a Dream" speech
 * Youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize
 * Assassinated on April 4, 1968
 * Possibly the most influential civil rights activist of all time
 * Fought racial discrimination and segregation through nonviolent means
 * Assassination led to widespread shock and grief, as well as expanded practice of his nonviolent protests

//Why is he important?// //Why is he significant to US history?//
 * Albert Einstein - Tirthna**
 * This dude developed the theory of general relativity, which caused a physics revolution
 * Mass energy equivalence formula
 * Quantum Theory
 * He did a lot of stuff okay
 * Sent and signed letters to FDR encouraging the creation of an atomic bomb
 * The letters were one of the causes of the US entering the race to develop the bomb
 * Manhattan Project

// Why is he important? // // Why is he significant to US history? //
 * Joseph McCarthy - John Chavez **
 * Infamous for creating outrageous allegations against supposed Communists
 * This included people suspected of being spies, Soviet sympathizers, and communists in general
 * His bold claims were not validated by substantial information and people finally realized this, causing him to be censured
 * His notoriety lead to the coining of the term //McCarthyism//, which now stands for austere accusations, that fail to be backed up with evidence, concerning one's character
 * His accusations were taken seriously due in part of the Cold War tensions
 * He instilled fear in the American people by suggesting that they had been infiltrated by commies and they were living with them
 * Became a laughing stock towards the end of his career

// Why is he important? // // Why is he significant to US history? // //Why is he important?// //Why is he significant to US history?//
 * Dwight D. Eisenhower - John Chavez **
 * Served in World War II as the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces and was accredited for the planning and the supervising of Operation Torch in North Africa and D-Day
 * 34th President
 * Ran on the platform of crusading against "Communism, Korea, and corruption"
 * Removed the Iranian leader in the 1953 Iranian coup d'etat
 * Ended the Korean War with China by threatening them with nuclear weapons
 * New Look policy: Under nuclear deterrence, he placed priority on cheap nuclear weapons and also decreasing the funding for military forces
 * Domino theory as a threat
 * Formosa Resolution: Prevented Chinese communist aggression against Chinese nationalists and also created the US policy of protecting Taiwan
 * Funneled money into science and math education in response to Sputnik's launch
 * The Interstate Highway System
 * Desegregation of the American forces
 * Successfully led America to victories in World War II
 * Effectively combated Communism through ending McCarthyism at home, creating the Interstate Highway System, investing in inexpensive nuclear arms to reduce federal funding, etc
 * His reforms can still be felt today, such as in the education system, the highway system, and the desegregated army
 * [[image:http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/first-family/masthead_image/34de_header_sm.jpg?1250885267 caption="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/first-family/masthead_image/34de_header_sm.jpg?1250885267"]] ||
 * John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)** - Dawson
 * Increased Eisenhower's meager involvement in Vietnam by several orders of magnitude, increasing US military advisers and special forces to 16,000 (from a fraction of this) and instituting Operation Ranch Hand (deforestation) and the Strategic Hamlet Program (relocation).
 * Invested heavily in the Apollo Space Program, promising a man on the moon (which came to fruition in 1969, after his death).
 * While quite moderate on civil rights issues - for example, fighting the Black Panther Party in California - Kennedy supported civil rights legislation on a moral level and took some federal action to protect protesters (University of Alabama incident, for example). His brother RFK is seen as a civil rights leader; he served as Attorney General and their plan was to enforce extant Civil Rights legislation more thoroughly through judicial decisions.
 * Led the Bay of Pigs invasion and Operation Mongoose to try and overthrow Fidel Castro.
 * Brought the US peacefully through the Cuban Missile Crisis
 * Worked out Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union.
 * Initiated actual US involvement in Vietnam, longest war in US history at that time
 * Secured for the US a victory in some aspects of the Space Race by investing heavily in a mission to the moon
 * Likely prevented global thermonuclear war by not pursuing the use of force during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
 * Contributed to nuclear nonproliferation by signing the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
 * Secured some civil rights victories with his brother, putting pressure of civil service programs to employ more African-Americans and using the Department of Justice to enforce anti-discrimination and voting rights laws.

//Why is he important?// //Why is he significant to US history?//
 * Nikitia Khrushchev (1894-1971)** - Dawson
 * First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Premier of the Soviet Union in the 50s and 60s
 * Initiated many early Soviet victories in the Space Race, including the launch of Sputnik, one of few instances where Soviet technology surpassed American technology
 * Changed the Soviet Union's power structure to be somewhat less repressive and less centralized (political arrests reduced to the 100s); freed millions from Stalin's gulags; instituted private housing in the USSR; openess in entertainment and arts.
 * Negotiated a Nuclear Test Ban Treaty with JFK
 * Led the Soviet Union through the Cuban Missile Crisis without the use of force
 * Worked with Kennedy to see a peaceful end to the Cuban Missile Crisis (the "Caribbean Crisis" in the Soviet Union)
 * Liberalization of the Soviet Union would lead to Gorbachev's second round of reform, which would lead finally to the end of the Soviet empire and the tenuous Cold War
 * Initially expanded the Arms race with the US but finally signed a ban on above-ground nuclear tests with the US to mediate the arms race

//Why is he significant to US history?//
 * Fidel Castro - Tirthna** //Why is he important?//
 * Prime Minister/Dictator of Cuba 1959-1976
 * First secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba
 * Came to power as result of Cuban Revolution which overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Bastita.
 * FDR ordered the CIA to to overthrow him
 * Led to the Bay of Pigs Invasion
 * Allowed the USSR to store nuclear weapons on the island
 * Cuban Missile Crisis[]

//Why is he important?// //Why is he significant to United States history?//
 * Chairman Mao Tse-tung**
 * Founded the People's Republic of China or Communist China
 * Won the Chinese Civil War against Chiang Kai-shek
 * Led an attack on Chinese culture in the Cultural Revolution after gaining power
 * Sponsored a war on intellectualism in order to keep Chinese government strong and free of protest
 * Founded the country that is one of the United States's main competitors economically and politically in the modern era

//Why is he important?// //Why is he significant to US history?//
 * Elvis - Cody**
 * One of the most popular American singers of the 20th century
 * A cultural icon, is commonly known as "King of Rock and Roll"
 * Died suddenly in 1942 from a drug overdose
 * Helped bring the Rock and Roll Era into popularity in the United States
 * As well as his music, was seen as a prominant symbol of rebellion for the new US

=Events:=

//What caused it?// //Why is it important?// //How did it help shape the US?// //What caused it?// //Why is it important?// //How did it help shape the US?//
 * Pearl Harbor (1941) - Cody**
 * World War II
 * America's presumed isolationism in regard to the war
 * The Imperial Japanese Navy surprisingly attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor
 * All eight US battleships were damaged, with four being sunk
 * Almost 2,500 American casualties with an additional 1,282 wounded
 * Proclaimed by President FDR, "a date that will live in infamy" because of the absence of warning from Japan
 * US immidetly joined World War II on the Allies side
 * The US's enterance into the war is widely considered to have shifted the power to the Allies
 * Backfired on Japan, as they believed this attack would neutralize the US Pacific Fleet
 * Korematsu v United States (1944) - Tirthna**
 * During WWII, Japanese-Americans were forced to move into relocation camps
 * Korematsu chose to stay where he was and argued that the Civilian Restrictive Order was unconstitutional and violated the 14th Amendment
 * Korematsu was arrested and convicted
 * Landmark case
 * Concerned the constitutionality of the US's actions during WWII on Japanese-Americans
 * Supreme Court held that espionage outweighed individual rights
 * Ruled the exclusion order constitutional
 * Proved that certain rights could be taken away during times of war



//What caused it?// //Why is it important?// //How did it help shape the US?//
 * V-E Day (1945) - Cody**
 * World War II
 * Pearl Harbor
 * Battle of Berlin
 * The Allies of World War II finally accepted the surrender of Nazi Germany
 * Signaled the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich
 * Led to world-wide celebration such as the US and the Soviet Union
 * Soldiers were allowed to return home to their families (baby boom)
 * US was seen as a major world power, as their contribution seemed to be the turning point of the war
 * Allowed us to stop spending money on the war

//What caused it?// //Why is it important?// //How did it help shape the United States?//
 * Potsdam Conference (July 16 - August 2 1945) - Thomas Bumbalo**
 * Invasion of Poland
 * V-E Day
 * Yalta Conference
 * Attack on Pearl Harbor
 * Battle of Stalingrad
 * There was no reference to the atomic bomb over the course of the conference
 * No real action was taken against the Soviet Union and its occupation of Eastern Europe
 * Divided Germany into post-war occupation zones for the major powers of the war (and France)
 * It deepened tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States
 * It helped lead to the Cold War
 * It ensured that an "Iron Curtain" would descend upon Europe, dividing East and West Europe

//What caused it?// //What is its significance?// //How did it help shape the United States?//
 * Korean War (1950-1953) - Dawson**
 * Korean peninsula ruled by Imperial Japan prior to World War 2
 * Korea divided into North and South along the 38th parallel after World War 2
 * Reunification negotiations and pro-unification sentiment from the North
 * North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950
 * Security Council (all Capitalist countries, USSR protesting) voted to intervene in the Korean conflict
 * Prime example of Containment policy
 * US were primary nation enforcing UN resolution, invaded South Korea, pressed Koreans back to Chinese border while China began to fight back
 * Soviet Union fought as a proxy, support Kim Il Sung's Northern army
 * One of the first instances of the US employing force to contain Communism (NSC 68)
 * More friction between the US and the Sino-Soviet alliance
 * Legitimized United Nations enforcement power
 * Beginning of racial integration in the US military
 * Anti-American sentiment and propaganda still central to North Korean society

//What caused it?// //Why is it important?// //How did it help shape the United States//
 * Brown v. Board of Education (1954) - Thomas Bumbalo**
 * Plessy v. Ferguson
 * 14th Amendment
 * 13th Amendment
 * Executive Order 9981
 * Passage of Jim Crow laws
 * It desegregated public schools in the United States
 * It incited racial tension between blacks and whites
 * It allowed for a better chance at education for blacks
 * It helped to pave the way for the American Civil Rights Movement
 * The ruling inspired others, such as Rosa Parks, to take a stand on black rights
 * Served as a precedent for future rulings regarding desegregation

//What caused it?// //Why is it important?// //How did it help shape the US?//
 * Soviets Launch Sputnik (1957) - Tirthna**
 * Arms race
 * Advances in technology
 * Cold War
 * First artificial satellite to be put into orbit
 * Led to Soviet propaganda and some hysteria in the US
 * Diminished the techonological reputation of the US
 * Began the Space Race
 * Began a new age of space exploration
 * Threatened the US because of its ability to carry nuclear missiles
 * Helped the US in creating and launching Explorer 1

//What caused it?// //What is its signifiance?// //How did it help shape the United States?//
 * Bay of Pigs Invasion (April 17 1961) - Dawson**
 * Monroe Doctrine and Roosevelt Corollary effectively establish US as the dominant power in the Americas
 * Platt Amendment established Cuba as a US protectorate
 * CIA overthrows leftist Jacobo Arbenz government in Guatemala, setting the stage for CIA involvement in Latin American governments
 * Fidel Castro leads 26th of July Movement to overthrow the Fulgencio Batista dictatorship in Cuba, declares a Socialist government after taking power
 * Eisenhower approves plan to invade Cuba "in a manner to avoid the appearance of a US intervention," allocates funding
 * Huge US defeat as Cuba fought back the CIA mercenary force and took several thousand exiles prisoner (many were executed or imprisoned for treason until a prisoners-for-money deal was negotiated for the remainder awaiting trial).
 * Made Kennedy appear weak against even a small Latin American military, which may have strengthened the Soviet Union's resolve and confidence
 * Gave Castro nationalist support and fomented anti-American sentiment in Cuba ever since
 * One of very few US military losses in history
 * Cuban fear of invasion and Soviet overconfidence would lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis
 * US citizenry lost confidence in the government's ability to fight Communism, Soviet Union saw an opportunity to strengthen itself internationally
 * Tenuous US relationship with Cuba for years



// What caused it? // // Why is it important? // // How did it help shape the US? //
 * Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) - John Chavez **
 * Bay of Pigs Invasion
 * Operation Mongoose
 * Cuban Revolution
 * Monroe Doctrine
 * Spread of Communism
 * America almost entered into nuclear warfare with Cuba and other communist countries
 * The Soviets lost in this situation, which is heightened by the fact that they started the fight
 * Communism as a whole began to deteriorate, as symbolized by the severance of Cuban and Soviet relations
 * Bolstered Kenedy's competency as a President
 * Contributed to the hostility of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union
 * Paved the way for a more diplomatic approach with the Soviet Union



// What caused it? // Why is it important? // How did it help shape the US? //
 * Assassination of John F. Kennedy (1963) - John Chavez **
 * Conspiracy theories: CIA, KGB, American Mafia, the Israeli government, J Edgar Hoover, Fidel Castro, etc
 * Lee Harvey Oswald was the assassin, but there's a possibility that there had been two gunmen, as there were at least four gunshots
 * Harvey acted alone
 * His motives are a little psychotic, but they were truly his own and not that of others
 * Motivated by the hostility of his environment, hating America and society
 * One of America's greatest presidents was cut short of finishing his term
 * His potential, as President, was not fully displayed
 * Lyndon B Johnson took over, and Robert Kennedy ran for President later on, who also was gunned down
 * The creation of the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination
 * Heartbreak in the American people
 * Deprived of Kennedy's propositions
 * Conspiracy amongst the citizens


 * [[image:http://www.waterbury.k12.ct.us/khs/site/images/john_f_kennedy1963.jpg caption="http://www.waterbury.k12.ct.us/khs/site/images/john_f_kennedy1963.jpg"]] ||