1492
- 1760 : Pre-Revolutionary
John
Cabot explored Delaware 1497; Juan Ponce de Leon explored Florida 1513;
Giovanni da Verrazano
entered
NY Harbor 1524; Hernando de Soto crossed Mississippi 1541; Francisco Vasquez
de Coronado
explored
SW; Hernando de Alarcon reached Colorado River; Don Garcia Lopez de Cardenas
reached
Grand
Canyon; Pedro Menendez established St. Augustine 1565; Francis Drake entered
SF Bay and
razed
St. Augustine; John Smith and 105 caveliers settled at Jamestown 1607; Henry
Hudson sailed to
Albany;
Samuel de Champlain explored Lake Champlain; House of Burgesses elected in
Jamestown 1619;
103
Pilgrims reached Cape Code 1620 and signed Mayflower Compact; Peter Minuit
bought New Amsterdam
from
Man-a-hat-a Indians for $24; John Winthrop founded Boston 1630; Maryland
founded for Catholics;
Roger
Williams founded Providence; Harvard founded 1636; Navigation Act regulated
commerce 1660;
Charles
II gave New Amsterdam to Duke of York 1664; Nathaniel Bacon's rebellion
against Governor Berkeley
failed
1676; wars against Wampanoags under King Philip and Narragansetts; Robert
Cavelier Sieur de La Salle
claimed
Louisiana 1682; William Penn bought Pennsylvania from Delaware Indians; One
issue of Publick
Occurences
1690; 1692 Salem witch trials; William Kidd hired to fight pirates but became
a pirate; Indians
killed
40 in Deerfield MA 1704; John Campbell founded Boston News-Letter 1704;
British captured Port
Royal
in Nova Scotia in Queen Anne's War (Spanish Succession) 1701-1713; NY slave
revolts 1712 and
1741;
Williamsburg theater opened; Poor Richard's Almanac published 1732-1757; John
Peter Zenger of
Weekly
Journal in NY acquitted of libel against Governor Cosby 1735; Russian Vitus
Bering reached
Alaska;
British captured Louisburg during King George's War (Austrian Succession) 1744
but returned to
France
under Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle;
1754
- 1763 : French and Indian War (Seven Years' War)
French
occupied Ft. Duquesne (Pittsburgh); Acadian French moved from Nova Scotia to
Louisiana;
Montcalm
and Wolfe killed at Quebec; Treaty of Paris 1763
1763
- 1788 Revolutionary
Sugar
Act 1764 for French and Indian War debt; Stamp Act 1765 led to Stamp Act
Congress in NY adopting
Declaration
of Rights, act repealed 1766; Townshend Acts 1767, all but tea repealed 1770;
Crispus Attucks
and
4 others killed at Boston Massacre 1770; tea protests in Annapolis, NY,
Philadelphia, and Boston 1773;
Intolerable
Acts closed Boston Harbor; First Continental Congress in Philadelphia 1774;
Patrick Henry
speech;
Paul Revere and William Dawes at Lexington and Concord; Ethan Allen and
Benedict Arnold
captured
Ft. Ticonderoga and Crown Point 1775; fortified Breed's Hill and repulsed
William Howe at Bunker
Hill;
Richard Henry Lee of VG introduced resolution leading to Declaration of
Independence; Moultrie won
at
Charleston; Washington lost Battle of Long Island; Nathan Hale executed;
Arnold lost at Valcour on Lake
Champlain;
Howe won at White Plains; Hessians captured Ft. Washington and Ft. Lee;
Washington won at
Trenton
and Princeton; John Burgoyne recaptured Ft. Ticonderoga but surrendered at
Saratoga; Marquis de
Lafayette
made major general; Articles of Confederation adopted 1777; Bonhomme Richard
with John Paul
Jones
defeated Serapis in North Sea; British won at Charleston but lost at Kings
Mountain NC; Arnold
defected
to British; Washington, Rochambeau, and French Adm. De Grasse forced
Cornwallis to surrender
at
Yorktown 1781; RI abolished slavery 1774 and MA 1783; Treaty of Paris 1783
negotiated by Jay, Franklin,
and
Adams; Washington's farewell at Fraunces Tavern NYC; Noah
Webster's spelling book published;
Pennsylvania
Packet & General Advertiser started 1784; 5 state Annapolis Convention
1786 called for
convention
in Philadelphia to write new constitution; 1787 Shay's Rebellion of MA farmers
failed; Northwest
Ordinances
supported schools and religious freedom, no slavery; 1787 Constitutional
Convention,
Sherman
/ Ellsworth's CT Compromise between Randolph / Madison's VG Plan and
Paterson's NJ Plan
1788
: George Washington (Federalist) unanimous (John Adams VP)
first
Congress at Federal Hall NYC; Federal Judiciary Act established Supreme Court;
Bill of
Rights
in effect 1791; Mad Anthony Wayne defeated Indians at Fallen Timbers on Maumee
River and
British
at Ft. Miami OH
1792
: George Washington (Federalist) unanimous (John Adams VP)
Eli
Whitney invented cotton gin 1793; Whiskey Rebellion in W PN suppressed 1794;
$1 million
ransom
paid o Algerian pirates; Wayne signed Treaty of Greenville; UNC first state
university; Britain
abandons
forts between Great Lakes and Ohio River under Jay's Treaty 1794; Washington's
farewell address
1796
: John Adams (Federalist) def. Thomas Jefferson (Dem-Rep)
frigates
United States (Philadelphia), Constellation (Baltimore), and Constitution
(Boston)
launched;
French X, Y, and Z try to extort Americans Pinckney, Marshall, and Gerry 1797;
Federalists passed
Alien
and Sedition Acts 1798; 84 French ships captured including Constellation
taking Insurgente; capital
moved
to Washington 1800
1800
: Thomas Jefferson (Dem-Rep) def. John Adams (Federalist); Aaron Burr VP with
second most votes
war
with Tripoli 1801-1805; doubled area with $15 million Louisiana Purchase,
explored by
Lewis
and Clark with Sacagawea; VP Burr shot Hamilton in Weehawken duel
1804
: Thomas Jefferson (Dem-Rep) def. Charles Pinckney (Federalist)
Robert
Fulton steamboat trip NY to Albany; Embargo Act 1807; slave importation
outlawed 1808
1808
: James Madison (Dem-Rep) def. Charles Pinckney (Federalist)
William
Henry Harrison of IN defeated Indians under the Prophet at Tippecanoe;
Cumberland
Road
begun in MD; W supported war with Britain but NE opposed; British took Detroit
1812; Essex took
Alert,
Constitution destroyed Guerriere, Wasp took Frolic, US defeated Macedonian,
Constitution beat Java
1812
: James Madison (Dem-Rep) def. DeWitt Clinton (Federalist)
Oliver
Hazard Perry won at Lake Erie; US won at Battle of the Thames Ontario; York
(Toronto),
Buffalo,
and Washington (1814) burned; Francis Scott Key wrote "Star-Spangled
Banner" during
bombardment
of Ft. McHenry; US won Battle of Lake Champlain; Treaty of Ghent 1814; Andrew
Jackson
defeated
Edward Pakenham at New Orleans 1815; Second Bank of US chartered 1816
(presidents Jones,
Cheves,
and Biddle)
1816
: James Monroe (Dem-Rep) def. Rufus King (Federalist)
Rush-Bagot
Treaty 1817 limited arms on Great Lakes; Florida ceded by Spain by Adams-Onis
Treaty
1819; Savannah steamship crossed Atlantic; Henry Clay's Missouri Compromise
1820 prevented
slavery
north of 36o 30', repealed 1854
1820
: James Monroe (Dem-Rep) def. John Quincy Adams (Dem-Rep)
Emma
Willard founded Troy Female Seminary; Monroe Doctrine opposed European
intervention in
Americas
1823; Pawtucket RI women weavers' strike
1824
: John Quincy Adams (Dem-Rep) def. Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, and William
Crawford (all Dem-Rep)
Erie
Canal opened 1825; John Stevens of Hoboken built first steam locomotive; SC
declared right
of
nullification against Tariff of Abominations; Baltimore and Ohio railroad
opened
1828
: Andrew Jackson (Democrat) def. John Quincy Adams (National Republican)
Joseph
Smith established Mormon church in Fayette NY 1830; William Lloyd Garrison
founded
The
Liberator; Nat Turner rebellion killed 57 whites and 100 slaves in VG 1831
1832
: Andrew Jackson (Democrat) def. Henry Clay (National Republican) and William
Wirt (Anti-Masonic)
Black
Hawk War against Sauk and Fox Indians; SC repealed Ordinance of Nullification
when compromise
tariff
passed; Oberlin College accepted blacks; 8-year war against FL Seminoles under
Osceola; Texas
Revolution
1835-1836 under Sam Houston, battles at Alamo and San Jacinto against Santa
Anna; Cherokees
forced
out of GA; Marcus Whitman and HH Spaulding and wives reached Walla Walla
1836
: Martin Van Buren (Democrat) def. William Henry Harrison (Whig)
Cherokee
Trail of Tears 1838;
1840
: William Henry Harrison (Whig) def. Martin Van Buren (Democrat)
1841
: John Tyler became president upon Harrison's death
Brook
Farm MA under George Ripley and Charles Fourier; Webster-Ashburton Treaty 1842
fixed border in
ME
and MN; Samuel Morse invented telegraph ("What hath God wrought"
Washington-Baltimore 1844);
Texas
annexed 1845
1844
: James Polk (Democrat) def. Henry Clay (Whig) and James Birney (Liberty)
US
under Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott defeated Mexico, took Vera Cruz and
Mexico
City 1847, Mexico ceded land in Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo for $15 million;
Wilmot Proviso
forbade
slavery in Mexican lands; Oregon
Treaty set border at 49o not 54o 40'; Mormons left Nauvoo IL
for
Salt Lake; John Noyes founded Oneida Community in NY; Elias Howe invented
sewing machine; 1848
gold
rush in CA; Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Stanton led Seneca Falls Convention
1848
1848
: Zachary Taylor (Whig) def. Lewis Cass (Democrat) and Martin Van Buren (Free
Soil)
1850
: Millard Fillmore became President upon Taylor's death
Clay's
Compromise of 1850 admitted CA as 31st state, UT and NM territories, end DC
slave trade, and
strength
Fugitive Slave Law
1852
: Franklin Pierce (Democrat) def. Winfield Scott (Whig)
Matthew
Perry negotiated treaty with Japanese Lord of Toda; Republican party founded
at Ripon WI
1854
opposing KS-NE Act; first Mississippi railroad bridge Rock Island-Davenport;
Lawrence KS sacked;
John
Brown led abolitionists at Osawatomie KS; Charles Sumner (MA) delivered
"Crime Against Kansas"
Speech
and was clubbed by Sen. Andrew Butler (SC)'s nephew Rep. Preston Brooks
1856
: James Buchanan (Democrat) def. James Fremont (Republican) and Millard
Fillmore (American)
Cyrus
Field laid first Atlantic cable; Lincoln-Douglas debates in IL 1858; Edwin
Drake established Titusville
PA
oil well; John Brown seized US Armory at Harpers Ferry VG, hung; NE shoe
worker strike; Pony Express
St.
Joseph-Sacramento
1860
: Abraham Lincoln (Republican) def. Stephen Douglas (Democrat), John
Breckinridge (Southern Democrat), and
John
Bell (Constitutional Union)
seven
states set up Confederate States of America Feb 8 1861 under Jefferson Davis;
Beauregard fired on
Ft.
Sumter SC; Beauregard defeated McDowell at Bull Run VG; blockade of Southern
ports begun;
Homestead
Act 1862 gave free farms to settlers; Land Grant Act provided land for state
universities;
McClellan
forced Lee to retreat at Antietam MD 1862; Emancipation Proclamation issued
1863; Meade
defeated
Lee and Picket's charge at Gettysburg PA; NYC draft riots 1863; Sherman took
Atlanta and
Savannah
1864; Cheyennes an Arapahos massacred at Sand Creek CO by John Chivington
1864
: Abraham Lincoln (Republican) def. George McClellan (Democrat)
Lee
surrendered to Grant April 9 1865 at Appomattox Court House VG; Johnston
surrendered to
Sherman
at Durham Station NC April 18 1865; Lincoln shot by John Booth in Ford's
Theater April 14 1865
1865
: Andrew Johnson became president upon Lincoln's assassination
Ku
Klux Klan organized 1866; William Seward bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2
million; Grange organized
1867
for farmers; Andrew Johnson impeached for violating Tenure of Office Act in
removing Secretary of
War
Edwin Stanton
1868
: Ulysses Grant (Republican) def. Horatio Seymour (Democrat)
Black
Friday Sept 24 1869 from gold cornering by Jim Fisk and Jay Gould; Central
Pacific and Union Pacific
join
at Promontory UT 1869; Knights of Labor formed in Philadelphia; women allowed
to vote in Wyoming
1869;
October 8-11 1871 fire in Chicago; Amnesty Act for southerners; Yellowstone
established 1872
1872
: Ulysses Grant (Republican) def. Horace Greeley (Democrat) and Victoria
Woodhull (Equal Rights,
with
Frederick Douglass)
1873-1878
depression; Union Pacific construction company Credit Mobilier scandal
implicated Oakes Ames,
VP
Colfax, and Garfield; Boss William Tweed of NYC Tamaney Hall convicted;
Bellevue Hospital in NYC
opened
nursing school; Bristow implicated Babcock in IRS Whiskey Ring scandal; 1875
Civil Rights Act;
George
Custer (under Alfred Terry) and 264 of 7th Cavalry killed at Little Big Horn
MT in Sioux War, led by
Sitting
Bull (Hunkpapa Sioux) and Crazy Horse (Oglala Sioux) 1876
1876
: Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) def. Samuel Tilden (Democrat) and Peter
Cooper (Greenback)
when
awarded 22 disputed electoral votes
Reconstruction
ended; Molly Maguires riot in Scranton PA mining areas; Thomas Edison founded
Edison
Electric
Light Company 1878; FW Woolworth opened store in Utica
1880
: James Garfield (Republican) def. Winfield Hancock (Democrat) and James
Weaver (Greenback)
Stalwarts
supported Grant and Half-Breeds supported Blaine; Garfield shot by Stalwart
Charles Guiteau
1881
: Chester Arthur became president upon Garfield's assassination
Booker
T Washington founded Tuskegee Institute 1881; Pendleton Act 1883 reformed
civil service; Brooklyn
Bridge
opened 1883 by John Roebling
1884
: Grover Cleveland (Democrat) def. James Blaine (Republican) and John P. St.
John (Prohibition)
Haymarket
riot in Chicago 1886, 8 anarchists convicted by Gov. John Altgeld denounced
trial; Apache
Geronimo
surrendered; Statue of Liberty by Bartholdi dedicated 1886; American
Federation of Labor
founded
under Samuel Gompers 1886; 1888 blizzard killed 400
1888
: Benjamin Harrison (Republican) def. Grover Cleveland (Democrat)
OK
Land Run 1889; Johnstown PA flood 1889 killed 2200; William Kemmler
electrocuted in Auburn NY
1890;
battle at Wounded Knee SD 1890 killed 200; Sherman Antitrust Act 1890 curbed
monopolies; Forest
Reserve
Act passed; Homestead PA strike at Carnegie steel mills 1892
1892
: Grover Cleveland (Democrat) def. Benjamin Harrison (Republican) and James
Weaver (Peoples)
1893-1897
panic; Jacob Coxey led unemployed Midwesterners to DC 1894; William Jennings
Bryan "Cross
of
Gold" speech against gold standard
1896
: William McKinley (Republican) def. William Jennings Bryan (Democrat)
260
killed in Maine explosion in Havana 1898; US defeated Spain in Philippines,
Guam and Puerto Rico;
Hawaii
annexed; 1899-1901 Philippine Insurrection under Emilio Aguinaldo; Hay
established Open Door
policy
with China; Carry Nation raided saloons with hatched; boxers suppressed in
China; Int'l Ladies'
Garment
Workers Union founded in NYC 1900
1900
: William McKinley (Republican) def. William Jennings Bryan (Democrat) and
Eugene V. Debs (Socialist)
Texas
oil strike at Spindletop; Leon Czolgosz shot McKinley in Buffalo; US signed
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty
with
Britain and Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty with Panama to built canal, making Panama
independent of
Columbia;
WI direct primaries 1903; Orville and Wilbur Wright first airplane 1903 at
Kitty Hawk NC
1904
: Theodore Roosevelt (Republican) def. Alton Parker (Democrat) and Eugene V.
Debs (Socialist)
April
18 1906 SF earthquake killed 503; Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection
Act passed 1906;
16-ship
Great White Fleet world tour 1907; Henry Ford introduced Model T 1908
1908
: William Howard Taft (Republican) def. William Jennings Bryan (Democrat) and
Eugene V. Debs (Socialist)
Robert
Perry and Matthew Henson reached North Pole 1909; NAACP founded by National
Conference on
the
Negro 1909; 146 died in NYC Triangle Shirtwaist fire 1911; Forestry Service
head Pinchot accused Interior
Secretary
Ballinger of wrongdoing; CP Rodgers flew NY-Pasadena; Marines sent to
Nicaragua 1912
1912
: Woodrow Wilson (Democrat) def. Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive) and William
Taft (Republican) and Eugene
V.
Debs (Socialist)
NY
Armory Show 1913; US blockaded Mexico; Federal Reserve System authorized 1913;
Panama Canal
opened
1914; 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act strengthened Sherman Act; Alexander Graham
Bell - Thomas
Watson
telephone 1915; British Lusitania sunk with 128 Americans 1915; US invaded
Haiti 1915; John
Pershing
sent to Mexico after Pancho Villa who had raided Columbus NM; Rural Credits
Act and
Warehouse
Act 1916; Thomas Mooney and Warren Billings convicted of bombing SF
Preparedness Day
parade;
bought Virgin Islands from Denmark 1916; Jeannette Rankin (R, MT) first woman
in Congress;
invaded
Dominican Republic
1916
: Woodrow Wilson (Democrat) def. Charles Hughes (Republican)
declared
war on Germany April 6 1917; Prohibition began with 18th Amendment 1917; 1918
influenza epidemic;
Rockaway
NY - Lisbon transatlantic flight 1919; Boston police strike 1919; Red Scare, H
Mitchell Palmer Raids
1920
arrested 2700 Communists; Senate refused League of Nations; Nicola Sacco (shoe
factory worker) and
Bartolomeo
Vanzetti (fish peddler) convicted of MA murders, executed 1927, decision
reversed 1977 by
Dukakis;
League of Women Voters founded 1920; Wall Street bombing killed 30 1920
1920
: Warren Harding (Republican) def. James Cox (Democrat) and Eugene V. Debs
(Socialist)
treaties
with Germany, Austria, and Hungary 1921; Limitation of Armaments Conference in
DC; Ku Klux Klan
revival
1921; coal strike at Herrin IL 1922; Phonofilm with sound by Lee de Forest at
Rivoli Theater NYC;
1923
: Calvin Coolidge became president upon Harding's death
Nellie
Ross (WY) and Miriam Ferguson (TX) women governors 1924; Indians given
citizenship 1924
1924
: Calvin Coolidge (Republican) def. John Davis (Democrat) and Robert
LaFollette (Progressive)
John
Scopes fined $100 for teaching evolution in Dayton TN, Clarence Darrow vs.
William Jennings Bryan
lawyers;
Robert Goddard liquid fuel rocket 1926; Army Air Corps established; Air
Commerce Act passed;
1000
Marines landed in China 1927; Charles Lindbergh Roosevelt Field NY - Le
Bourget Paris in 33.5 hours
1927;
Al Jolson Jazz Singer; Amelia Earhart crossed Atlantic 1928
1928
: Herbert Hoover (Republican) def. Al Smith (Democrat) and Norman Thomas
(Socialist)
7
members of George Bugs Moran's gang killed probably by Al Capone's gang in
Chicago St. Valentine's
Day
Massacre 1929; Sec. of Interior Albert Fall convicted of bribe in Elk Hills /
Teapot Dome naval oil
reserve
scandal; October 29 1929 stock market crash; Hawley-Smoot Tariff raised
tariffs 1930; Empire State
Building
opened 1931; Al Capone convicted of tax evasion; Reconstruction Finance
Corporation established
1932;
Charles Lindberg Jr kidnapped, Bruno Hauptmann convicted; Bonus March by WWI
veterans 1932
1932
: Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat) def. Herbert Hoover (Republican) and Norman
Thomas (Socialist)
Frances
Perkins (Labor) first woman in Cabinet; banks closed March 6; 100 Days New
Deal legislation
March
9 - June 16 1933; Tennessee Valley Authority established; gold standard
dropped; Prohibition
ended;
withdrawal from Haiti 1934; Will Rogers and Wiley Post killed in Alaska plane
crash 1935; Social
Security
Act passed 1935; Huey Long assassinated; Committee for Industrial Organization
formed 1935;
Boulder
Dam finished 1936
1936
: Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat) def. Al Landon (Republican), William Lemke
(Union) and Norman Thomas (Socialist)
Amelia
Earhart and Fred Noonan lost near Howland Island; 6-justice court packing plan
defeated; 1938
Naval
Expansion Act; October 30 1938 Orson Welles War of the Worlds scare; 1939 NY
World's Fair; 1940
sale
of 50 destroyers to Britain
1940
: Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat) def. Wendell Willkie (Republican) and Norman
Thomas (Socialist)
Four
Freedoms speech (speech, religion, fear, want); 1941 $7 billion Lend-Lease Act
for Britain then USSR;
Atlantic
Charter 8-points signed August 14 1941 by Roosevelt and Churchill; bombing of
Pearl Harbor
December
7 1941 killing 2300; declaration of war December 8 1941; Nimitz defeated
Yamamoto at Midway
but
Yorktown sunk; Guadalcanal landing 1942; Arthur Compton and Enrico Fermi
produced nuclear chain
reaction
at University of Chicago 1942; race riots in Detroit and Harlem 1943; Normandy
invasion under
Eisenhower
and Montgomery June 6 1944; GI Bill of Rights passed 1944; Halsey defeated
Toyoda at Leyte
Philippines
1944
1944
: Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat) def. Thomas Dewey (Republican) and Norman
Thomas (Socialist)
February
1945 Yalta conference in Crimea; Marine landings in Iwo Jima (Feb 19) and
Okinawa (Apr 1) 1945;
Roosevelt
cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs GA April 12 1945; Germany surrendered May
7 1945;
1945
: Harry Truman became president upon Roosevelt's death
atomic
bombings of Hiroshima (August 6) and Nagasaki (August 9); Japan surrendered on
Missouri
August
14 1945; Potsdam Conference
established occupation zones; Douglas MacArthur put in change of
Japan;
1946 mine worker strikes; 1946 Philippine independence; Truman Doctrine aided
Greece and Turkey;
Taft-Hartley
Labor Act passed on veto override, curbing strikes; $12 billion Marshall plan
approved for
rebuilding
Europe; 17-month Berlin airlift
1948-1949; OAS founded 1948; Whittaker Chambers accused Alger
Hiss
of communist spying; Kinsey Report published
1948
: Harry Truman (Democrat) def. Thomas Dewey (Republican), Strom Thurmond
(States Rights), and Norman
Thomas
(Socialist), and Henry Wallace (Progressive)
NATO
established 1949; I. Toguri D'Aquino (Tokyo Rose) convicted of treason; 1950
robbery of Brink's
Boston;
Korean conflict begun 1950; railroads seized by Truman 1950-1952; Inchon
landing September
1950
advanced until Chinese troops entered; Puerto Rican assassination attempt of
Truman; Estes Kefauver
Senate
investigation of organized crime and gambling; Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and
Morton Sobell
convicted
of espionage; MacArthur removed by Truman; Japanese Peace Treaty signed 1951
in SF; Truman
seized
steel mills in 1952; Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952; hydrogen bomb
tested at Eniwetok
Atoll
1952
1952
: Dwight Eisenhower (Republican) def. Adlai Stevenson (Democrat)
nuclear
sub Nautilus launched at Groton CT 1954; five congressmen wounded by Puerto
Rican
independence
supporters; Joseph McCarthy (WI) Communism hearings later condemned by Senate;
SEATO
formed 1954; Rosa Parks bus protest in Montgomery 1955; AFL-CIO merger 1955;
Federal-Aid
Highway
Act passed 1956
1956
: Dwight Eisenhower (Republican) def. Adlai Stevenson (Democrat)
1957
Civil Rights Bill; troops sent to allow 9 black students to attend Little Rock
Central High despite
opposition
by Governor Orval Faubus 1957; Explorer I launched and discovered Van Allen
radiation belt
1958;
5000 Marines sent to Lebanon; National Airlines NY-Miami air service; Alaska
and Hawaii admitted
1959;
St. Lawrence Seaway opened 1959; Nikita Khurshchev visited US September 1959;
sit-ins began at
Greensboro
NC Woolworth; Francis Powers U-2 plane shot down in USSR 1960, canceling Paris
conference
1960
: John F. Kennedy (Democrat) def. Richard Nixon (Republican)
April
17 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba failed; Peace Corps established under
Sargent Shriver; Alan
Shepard
in Mercury first American in space; 1961 Freedom Rides; John Glenn in Mercury
Friendship 7 first
American
in orbit 1962; James Meredith first black at University of Mississippi; US
agreed to remove missiles
in
Turkey to resolve Cuban Missle Crisis 1962; above-ground nuclear tests banned
by US, USSR, and UK 1963;
Martin
Luther King Jr. March on Washington August 28 1963; South Vietnam Ngo Dinh
Diem assassinated;
Kennedy
assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, who was shot by Jack Ruby,
Governor Connoly also
injured
1963
: Lyndon B. Johnson became president upon Kennedy's assassination
Medger
Evers killed in Mississippi 1963, Byron De La Beckwith convicted in 1994;
Civil Rights Act of
1964
passed; Medicare established 1964; Tonkin Gulf Resolution escalated Vietnam
Conflict 1964; War on
Poverty,
Job Corps, and domestic Peace Corps (VISTA) established 1964; Warren Commision
said Oswald
acted
alone
1964
: Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat) def. Barry Goldwater (Republican)
North
Vietnam bombed below 20o; troops sent to Dominican Republic; Selma to
Montgomery march 1964;
Voting
Rights Act of 1965; Watts riots in LA 1965; US bombed Hanoi 1966; Edward
Brooke of MA first
black
senator in 85 years; Rep. Adam Powell fined by Congress; Johnson met with
Aleksei Kosygin at
Glassboro
State College; Detroit and Newark riots 1967; Carl Stokes (Cleveland) and
Richard Hatcher (Gary)
first
black mayors of major cities; Pueblo seized by North Korea in Sea of Japan
1968; Tet Offensive reached
Saigon
1968; Vietnam bombing halted
1968; Martin Luther King Jr assassinated by James Earl Ray in
Memphis
1968; Robert Kennedy assassinated by Jordanian Sirhan Sirhan in LA; Chicago 7
riots at Democratic
Convention;
Shirley Chisolm (NY) first black woman in Congress; massacre at Mylai under
William Calley 1968
1968
: Richard Nixon (Republican) def. Hubert Humphrey (Democrat) and George
Wallace (Am. Indep.)
Neil
Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin reach moon on Apollo 11 July 20 1969 with Michael
Collins orbiting;
Woodstock
near Bethel NY 1969; United Mine Workers chief Tony Boyle convicted of killing
Joseph Yablonski;
four
killed at Kent State protests 1970; Charles Manson convicted of murder of
Sharon Tate; NY Times and
Washington
Post printed Pentagon papers given by Daniel Ellsberg; 8-day Nixon trip to
China 1972; Equal
Rights
Amendment approved by Congress 1972 but never ratified; US bombed Hanoi and
Haiphong for first
time
in 4 years; Arthur Bremer shot AL Gov. George Wallace at Laurel MD 1972; Nixon
visited Moscow; 5
arrested
for Watergate break-in 1972
1972
: Richard Nixon (Republican) def. George McGovern (Democrat) and George
Schmitz (American)
Treaty
of Paris ended Vietnam conflict 1973; Haldeman (chief of staff), Ehrlichman
(domestic policy advisor
who
authorized break-in to office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist), Dean (White House
counsel), and Kleindienst
(Attorney
General) resigned 1973; VP Spiro Agnew resigned because of tax evasion charges
as MD governor;
1973-1974
Arab oil embargo; in Saturday Night Massacre October 20 1973, Attorney General
Richardson
resigned
and Ruckelshaus and Cox were fired by Nixon; Jaworski replaced Cox as special
prosecutor, John
Sirica
was Watergate judge; War Powers Act passed over veto; House Judiciary
Committee recommended
three
articles of impeachment; Nixon resigned August 9 1974;
1974
: Gerald Ford became president upon Nixon's resignation
Mitchell,
Ehrlichman, and Haldeman convicted; Saigon evacuation April 29 1975; Cambodia
seized Mayaguez,
Marines
attacked Tang Island; Nelson Rockefeller panel described illegal CIA
operations; Patty Hearst
arrested
after being kidnapped by Symbionese Liberation Army; NYC Operation Sail 1976;
legionnaire's
disease
killed 29 in Philadelphia; Viking I and II landed on Mars 1976
1976
: Jimmy Carter (Democrat) def. Gerald Ford (Republican)
Carter
pardoned Vietnam draft evaders; Gary Gilmore (Utah firing squad) was first to
be executed in ten
years;
Energy Department created 1977; accident at Three Mile Island near Middletown
PA 1979; $1.5 federal
bailout
of Chrysler; 63 taken hostage by followers of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran,
demanding return of Shah
Muhammad
Reza Pahlavi 1979; grain embargo and Olympic boycott of USSR after Afghanistan
invasion; 8
killed
in failed Iranian rescue; Mt. St. Helens killed 60 in WA; John Lennon
assassinated in NYC by Mark
Chapman
1980
: Ronald Reagan (Republican) def. Jimmy Carter (Democrat) and John Anderson
(Independent)
52
hostages released after 444 days in Iran January 20 1981; John Hinckley shot
Reagan to impress Jodie
Foster
1981, crippling Press Secretary James Brady; first shuttle Columbia launched;
Reagan dismissed
striking
air traffic controllers 1981; AT&T split into 22 Baby Bells in 1982; South
Korean passenger jet shot
down
over USSR 1983; 241 Marines killed in Beirut Airport suicide bombing October
23 1983; US Marines
invaded
Grenada October 25 1983 by request of OECS; suit settled by Vietnam veterans
against herbicide
Agent
Orange; Geraldine Ferraro (NY) first woman VP candidate
1984
: Ronald Reagan (Republican) def. Walter Mondale (Democrat)
London-Philadelphia
Live Aid concert raised $70 million for Africa 1985; TWA plane hijacked from
Athens
1985;
Achille Lauro hijacked near Port Said and Leon Klinghoffer killed; Geneva
summit 1985; Challenger
exploded
January 28 1986 killing 7 including NH teacher Christa McAuliffe; Ivan Boesky
pled guilty to illegal
stock
trading; 1987 first trillion dollar budget; Iraqi missle killed 37 on USS
Stark 1987; Iran Contra Affair
investigations
by Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh and John Tower led to charges against NSC
heads
Robert
McFarlane and John Poindexter and staff member Oliver North 1987; October 19
1987 Wall Street
508-point
fall; mid-range armament dismantling agreement; 1988 immigration amnesty
policy; missile from
USS
Vincennes shot down Iranian airliner; Drexel Lambert pled guilty to illegal
stock trading
1988
: George Bush (Republican) def. Michael Dukakis (Democrat)
Exxon
Valdez under Joseph Hazelwood struck Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound and
spilled 260,000 barrels
of
oil; SF Bay earthquake killed 60 1989; Douglas Wilder (VG) elected first black
governor since
Reconstruction;
US arrested Manuel Noriega from Vatican embassy in Panama (Operation Restore
Hope)
1989;
Americans with Disabilities Act passed 1990; 100-day Operation Desert Shield
and 100-hour Operation
Desert
Storm liberated Kuwait from Iraq by February 27 1991; OU Law Professor Anita
Hill accused Clarence
Thomas
of harassment; Charles Keating convicted of securities fraud; 52 killed in
South-Central LA riots after
acquittal
of 4 officers charged in Rodney King beating 1992, Koon and Powell later
convicted of civil rights
violations
1992
: Bill Clinton (Democrat) def. George Bush (Republican) and Ross Perot
(Independent)
Hillary
Clinton headed health care task force; World Trade Center bombed 1993 by group
led by Sheik
Rahman,
Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and Eyad Ismoil Yousef convicted 1997; 51-day siege of
Branch Davidian
compound
in Waco under David Koresh, 80 killed in April 19 1993 fire; Great Flood of
1993 left 70,000
homeless;
Vincent Foster found dead in VG park; Brady Bill signed; Endeavor repaired
Hubble telescope;
NAFTA
took effect 1994; Northridge earthquake killed 61 in 1994; Reno appointed
Whitewater special
prosecutors
Robert Fiske, then Kenneth Starr, then Robert Ray, investigating actions of
James and Susan
McDougal's
Madison Guaranty; Adrich Ames convicted of spying 1994; Paula Jones filed
harassment
charges
against Clinton; OJ Simpson acquitted of murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and
Ronald Goldman
1995;
World Trade Organization established by Uruguay Round of GATT; Republicans
gained majority in
both
Houses with Contract with America 1994, Majority Leader Bob Dole and Speaker
Newt Gingrich; 169
killed
in bombing of Murray Building in Oklahoma City April 19 1995, Timothy McVeigh
and Terry Nichols
arrested;
Henry Foster rejected as surgeon general nominee to replace Jocelyn Elders;
Webster Hubbell
convicted
of tax evasion; Atlantis and Mir docked 1995; Scott O'Grady rescued from
Bosnia; Arkansas
Governor
Jim Guy Tucker convicted; Shannon Faulkner admitted to The Citadel but soon
dropped out; Bob
Packwood
(OR) resigned; Louis Farrakhan led Million Man March 1995; former White House
Travel head Billy
Dale
acquitted; Bosnian treaty signed at Wright-Patterson AFB near Dayton 1995; 7
killed in Riyadh explosion;
budget
impasse led to 1995 government shutdown
1996
: Bill Clinton (Democrat) def. Robert Dole (Republican) and Ross Perot
(Reform)
Harold
Nicholson pled guilty to spying; 39 Heaven's Gate members committed suicide at
Rancho Santa Fe
CA
1997 in connection with Comet Hale-Bopp; Theodore Kaczynski pled guilty to
Unabomber charges 1998;
Karla
Faye Tucker first female executed in Texas in 135 years 1998;
Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden
killed
five in Jonesboro; Kipland Kinkel killed four in Springfield OR; two police
killed at the Capitol; Clinton
impeached
on charges of grand jury perjury and obstruction of justice based on Starr
report December 1998;
Matthew
Shepard murdered in Wyoming; John Glenn returned to space on the Discovery;
Johnny Chung
convicted
of illegal campaign contributions; Amadou Diallo killed by NYC police; John
William King, Lawrence
Brewer,
and Shawn Allen Berry convicted of murdering James Byrd Jr in Jasper TX;
Jack Kevorkian sentenced
to
prison 1998; Susan Webber Wright held Clinton in contempt of court; Eric
Harris and Dylan Klebold killed
13
at Columbine in Littleton April 20 1998; Charlie Trie convicted of illegal
fundraising 1999; two NYC police
sentenced
for torture of Abner Louima; JFK Jr., Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Lauren
Bessette died in plane
crash
off Martha's Vineyard; Eileen Collins was first woman to command shuttle
flight (Columbia); Mark Barton
killed
9 in Atlanta; Hurricane Floyd killed 68, mainly in NC 1999; 12 killed in Texas
A&M bonfire collapse
2000
: George Bush Jr. (Republican) def. Al Gore (Democrat), Ralph Nader (Green),
and Pat Buchanan (Reform)
Vice
Presidents
John Adams (Washington) : MA; first VP; elected President 1796
Thomas Jefferson (Adams) : VG; played little role in Adams
Administration; drafted
Kentucky Resolutions for nullification 1798; elected President 1800
Aaron Burr (Jefferson) : NY; killed rival Alexander Hamilton in 1804
duel; purchased land in
Louisiana and planned to invade Spanish territory
George Clinton (Jefferson, Madison) : first NY governor; opposed
ratifying Constitution; died in
office; Anti-Federalist
Elbridge Gerry (Madison) : anti-Federalist; gerrymandered MA districts
while governor
Daniel Tompkins (Monroe) : NY governor during War of 1812
John Calhoun (JQ Adams, Jackson) : SC; House 1811-1817; Secretary of
War 1817-1824; Vice
President 1825-1832; opposed tariffs of 1828 and 1832 and was first VP
to resign; supported
nullification; Senate 1832-1848; Secretary of State 1841-1845; Senate
again
Martin Van Buren (Jackson) : NY; as Secretary of State was rival of VP
Calhoun; 1832 VP
nominee; elected President 1836
George Dallas (Polk): PA; minister to Russian and GB; cast deciding
vote for Walker Tariff
Reductions
John Breckinridge (Buchanan) : KY; lost 1860 Presidential election;
Secretary of War under Davis
Hannibal Hamlin (Lincoln) : ME; anti-slavery; supported Wilmot Proviso
Andrew Johnson (Lincoln) : TN; War Democrat who remained loyal to Union
after TN secession;
became President when Lincoln shot
Schuyler Colfax (Grant) : NY/IN; Speaker of the House; not renominated
for VP in 1872;
implicated in Credit Mobilier scandal
Henry Wilson (Grant) : NH; shoe worker; helped equip and train Union as
chairman of Senate
Committee on Military Affairs
Adlai Stevenson (Cleveland) : KY; ran with Bryan in 1896; grandson lost
1952, 1956 elections
Charles Fairbanks (Roosevelt) : OH; negotiated US-Canada border 1898;
ran with Hughes 1916
James Sherman (Taft) : NY; died just before 1912 election
Thomas Marshall (Wilson) : IN; said "What this country needs is a
good five-cent cigar"
Charles Dawes (Coolidge) : OH; banker who created 1924 Dawes Plan to
ease Germany's
reparations burden (later reduced by 1929 Young Plan); shared 1925
Nobel with Austen
Chamberlain
John Garner (Roosevelt) : TX; VP during FDR's first two terms but
opposed his seeking a third
term; helped pass New Deal legislation
Henry Wallace (Roosevelt) : IA; VP during FDR's third term; asked to
resign as Truman's
Commerce Secretary because he opposed hard-line stance against USSR;
edited New
Republic; ran as Progressive candidate in 1948
Harry Truman (Roosevelt) : MO; Truman Committee in Senate uncovered
fraud and waste in
defense; VP for 82 days before FDR died and he became President
Richard Nixon (Eisenhower) : campaigned against Communism; prosecuted
Alger Hiss; lost CA
governor election; lost 1960 Presidential election but won in 1968 and
1972
Hubert Humphrey (LBJ) : SD/MN; proposed Peace Corps and Medicare;
supported nuclear test
bans and civil rights; lost 1968 election
Spiro T. Agnew (Nixon) : MD; resigned over charges of bribery and tax
evasion as governor
Gerald Ford (Nixon) : became VP after Agnew resigned and President
after Nixon resigned;
pardoned Nixon
Nelson Rockefeller (Ford) : ME/NY; NY governor 1958-1974; Latin
American expert
Walter Mondale (Carter) : MN; lost 1984 election
George Bush (Reagan) : ran for 1980 nomination; elected President 1988
Dan Quayle (Bush) : IN; Chairman of National Space Council; wrote
Standing Firm
Al Gore (Clinton) : TN; lost 2000 election
Dick Cheney (GW Bush) : Secretary of Defense under Bush
Secretaries
of State
Thomas Jefferson (Washington) : first secretary of state; differences
with Hamilton over national
bank led to political parties - Federalist and Democratic-Republican
Edmond Randolph (Washington) : VG; proposed VG Plan for Constitution;
resigned after false
bribery accusations; defended Burr in treason trial
Timothy Pickering (Washington) : MA; also postmaster and secretary of
war; founded West Point
Henry Clay (JQ Adams) : VG/KY; War Hawk; Whig; proposed 1820 and 1850
slavery
compromises; lost 3 Presidential elections
Daniel Webster (Harrison, Tyler, Fillmore) : NH/MA; argued cases before
Supreme Court; famous
orator; opposed nullification; opposed Mexican War
John Calhoun (Tyler, Polk) : SC
William Seward (Lincoln, Johnson) : NY; prevented European intervention
in Civil War;
unsuccessful in annexations of Hawaii and Caribbean islands but bought
Alaska from
Russia for $7.2 million
Hamilton Fish (Grant, Hayes) : NY; arbitrated Alabama claims in 1871
Treaty of Washington with
GB; settled San Juan boundary dispute with GB; persuaded US to
recognize Cuban
insurrectionists
James Blaine (Garfield, Arthur) : PN/ME; "The Plumed Knight";
lost 1884 Presidential election
because of "Mugwumps" Republican defectors; protected US
commercial interests in
Pacific and Latin America
John Hay (McKinley, Roosevelt) : co-authored two Lincoln biographies
with John Nicolay;
negotiated Spanish-American War treaty; annexed Philippines; initiated
Open Door policy
in China; signed Hay-Pauncefote and Hay-Buneau-Varilla treaties for
Panama Canal
Elihu Root (Roosevelt) : NY; won 1912 Nobel; leading Republican
supporter of League of
Nations
Philander Knox (Taft) : as attorney general won antitrust case against
Northern Securities
William Jennings Bryan (Wilson) : IL/NE; advocated free silver coinage
("Cross of Gold" speech
1896); resigned in opposition to hostilities with Germany; lost 3
Presidential elections;
prosecuted 1925 Scopes trial
Charles Evans Hughes (Harding, Coolidge) : resigned from Supreme Court
for 1916 Presidential
election but lost; secretary of state 1921-1925; Chief Justice
1930-1941
Frank Kellogg (Coolidge) : shared 1929 Nobel with Arisitide Briand for
1928 Kellogg-Briand
Treaty renouncing war as an instrument of national policy
Cordell Hull (FDR) : TN; signed many treaties with Latin America; met
often with GB and USSR
ministers during WWII; supported founding UN; 1945 Nobel
Edward Stettinius (FDR) : first US delegate to UN
James Byrnes (Truman) : SC; resigned from Supreme Court to head WWII
economic
commissions; represented US in peace talks; wrote Speaking Frankly and
All in One Lifetime
George Marshall (Truman) : PN; served in WWI and WWII as general;
authored European
Recovery Program; 1953 Nobel
Dean Acheson (Truman) : implemented Marshall Plan; helped found NATO;
advised against US
involvement in Vietnam
John Foster Dulles (Eisenhower) : helped establish European Defense
Community, SEATO; and
Baghdad Pact (Central Treaty Organization); threatened "massive
nuclear retaliation" against
Communism
Dean Rusk (JFK, LBJ) : GA; chairman of Rockefeller Foundation;
supported US involvement in
Vietnam
William Rogers (Nixon) : arranged Suez truce 1970; headed Challenger
investigation committee
Henry Kissinger (Nixon, Ford) : German-born; national security advisor;
shared 1973 Nobel with
Le Duc Tho for Vietnam cease-fire; negotiated Egypt-Israel
disengagement
Cyrus Vance (Carter) : WV; LBJ's secretary of defense; important in
1980 Camp David accords;
resigned in protest of Iran hostage rescue attempt; later mediated in
South Africa and Bosnia
Edmund Muskie (Carter) : ME senator; Humphrey's VP candidate
Alexander Haig (Reagan) : PN;
NATO commander; opposed Soviet expansion; resigned 1982;
wrote How America Changed the World
George Shultz (Reagan) : NY; Nixon's secretary of the treasury; head of
Bechtel Corporation
Jim Baker (Bush) : TX; Reagan's secretary of the treasury; organized
1991 Mideast Peace Conference
Lawrence Eagleburger (Bush)
Warren Christopher (Clinton) : SD; member of LA riot committees in
1960s and 1990s
Madeleine Albright (Clinton) : born in Prague; first woman secretary of
state; UN representative
Colin Powel (GW Bush) : first black chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff under Bush
Secretaries
of the Treasury
Alexander Hamilton (Washington) : born in Nevis; first treasury
secretary; paid off national debt
and assumed states' revolutionary debts; established national bank;
supported high tariffs;
killed in duel by Burr
Albert Gallatin (Jefferson, Madison) : born in Geneva; PN senator;
reduced debt; supported
Louisiana Purchase; opposed war; founded American Ethnological Society
George Dallas (Madison)
Salmon P. Chase (Lincoln) : NH/OH; helped found Free-Soil and
Republican parties; appointed
chief justice 1864
Andrew Mellon (Harding, Coolidge, Hoover) : PN; founded steel plant in
Donora; refunded
European debts and reduced US debt; left art collection that became
National Gallery of Art
Henry Morgenthau Jr.(FDR) : NY; implemented FDR's New Deal and WWII
monetary policies
for 11 years; wrote Germany Is Our Problem
Donald Regan (Reagan)
James Baker (Reagan)
Nicholas Brady (Reagan, Bush)
Lloyd Bentsen (Clinton) : TX
Robert Rubin (Clinton)
Lawrence Summers (Clinton)
O'Neill (GW Bush)
Attorneys
General
Edmund Randolph (Washington) : VG; first attorney general