World History in Credo: 20th Century

US Baptist minister and civil rights leader. Throughout his life, King remained committed to nonviolent direct action as a means of effecting social change. The son and grandson of prominent African American ministers, each of whom bequeathed a legacy of activism in the cause of black civil rights, Martin Luther King, Jr., born on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, was the most influential leader of the American civil rights movement.

US civil-rights activist.

Wife of Franklin D. Roosevelt. A symbol of American liberalism in the mid-20th century, Roosevelt was an important actor in the shaping of the modern Democratic Party and the American welfare state.

Playwright, born in Columbus, Mississippi, USA. From an old Tennessee family (he adopted his first name by 1939 while in New Orleans), he was raised under the influence of his clergyman-grandfather. From 1945, with his first success, The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams has had a deep impact on the American theatre, bringing to it an original lyric voice and a new level of sexual frankness.

Popular singer and film actor, born in Tupelo, Mississippi, USA. As a boy he sang with his local Assembly of God church choir, which emulated the style of African-American psalm singing.

Musician, born in St Louis, Missouri, USA. As a singer-guitarist who drew from blues, rockabilly, and country-and-western styles, and wrote songs about teenage concerns, he was the biggest influence on pre-Beatles rock.

Flashing across the American scene like a comet, Marilyn Monroe employed her beauty and sexuality to become one of the most popular figures in America during the 1950s and through succeeding decades.

American politician, U.S. Attorney General (1961-64), b. Brookline, Mass., younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and son of Joseph P. Kennedy. He was elected to the Senate (1964) and was campaigning for the presidency when he was assassinated in Los Angeles.

Conductor and composer, born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA. He played piano from childhood, and studied at Harvard and the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia.

A leading figure in the second wave of U.S. feminism. Famous for her wit and incisive commentaries on women’s rights, her invention of the neutral term Ms. for single women, and her critiques of the family and gender roles.

US lawyer, Democrat senator 2001–09, first lady 1993–2001, and US secretary of state 2009–13.

US Democratic politician and environmentalist, vice-president 1993–2001. A member of the House of Representatives 1977–85 and senator for Tennessee 1985–93, he was on the conservative wing of the party, but held liberal views on such matters as women's rights, environmental issues, and abortion.

US politician, national security advisor 2001-04 and secretary of state 2005-09

US-led international campaign against terrorist organizations, declared in response to the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, DC, on September 11th, 2001 that killed around 3,000 people. “Global War on Terror” is the term used to describe the military, political, diplomatic, and economic measures employed by the United States and other allied governments against organizations, countries, or individuals that are committing terrorist acts; that might be inclined to engage in terrorism; or that support those who do commit such acts.

In economics, phase of the business cycle associated with a declining economy; Its manifestations are rising unemployment, contracting business activity, and decreasing purchasing power of consumers. Government policy, such as cuts in government spending or taxes, may be used to stimulate and expand the economy during a recession. If a recession is not checked, it can degenerate into a depression. A state of the economy that occurs when there is a slowdown or downturn of economic activity for two consecutive quarters or more. The slowdown is a manifestation of increased unemployment above its natural (long-run) rate and plummeting real output (GDP).

Demonstrations, marches, and acts of civil disobedience in protest to US involvement in the Vietnam War (1954–75), beginning around 1965. Anti-war sentiment arose from the question of the morality of participation in what many regarded as a civil war; the growing human and environmental costs; and doubts that the US war effort would succeed.

US movement especially active during the 1950s and 60s that aimed to end segregation and discrimination against Blacks, as well as affirm their constitutional rights and improve their status in society. The civil rights movement was a struggle to fulfill the promise, made in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, of full citizenship and equal opportunity for African Americans

Statutory limitations placed on the number of terms officeholders may serve; Focusing especially on members of the U.S. Congress, term limits became an important national political issue during the late 1980s and early 90s and have been vigorously debated.

Period of political persecution during the 1950s, led by US senator Joe McCarthy, during which many public officials and private citizens were accused of being communists or communist sympathizers.

Reduction of a country's weapons of war.

Organized efforts to end the criminalization of homosexuality as well as to protect and secure the civil rights of homosexuals and lesbians.

From Feminist Philosophies A-Z
Third wave feminism embraces the contradictions that are generated by taking a pluralistic approach to the critical analysis of western culture, oppression, masculinity, femininity.

War between the Central European Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and allies) on one side and the Triple Entente (Britain and the British Empire, France, and Russia) and their allies, including the USA (which entered in 1917), on the other side.

Oil reserve scandal that began during the administration of President Harding.

The New York Stock Exchange in 1929, where panic-selling of shares after a prolonged period of speculation brought about a worldwide economic crisis. Although this severe economic crisis shared the basic characteristics of other such crises (see depression), the Great Depression was unprecedented in its length and in the wholesale poverty and tragedy it inflicted on society.

In U.S. history, the severe economic crisis supposedly precipitated by the U.S. stock-market crash of 1929. Although it shared the basic characteristics of other such economic crises, the Great Depression was unprecedented in its length and in the wholesale poverty and tragedy it inflicted on society. Of all the historical events that shaped the internal structure of America, three stand out above the rest: the War of American Independence, the Civil War, and the Great Depression. The Depression years were a time of great hardship and sweeping change.

War between Germany, Italy, and Japan (the Axis powers) on one side, and Britain, the Commonwealth, France, the USA, the USSR, and China (the Allies) on the other.

US Pacific naval base on Oahu island, Hawaii, USA, the scene of a Japanese aerial attack on 7 December 1941, which brought the USA into World War II.

The wartime effort to design and build the first nuclear weapons (atomic bombs). With the discovery of fission in 1939, it became clear to scientists that certain radioactive materials could be used to make a bomb of unprecedented power.

Ideological, political, and economic tensions from 1945 to 1989 between the USSR and Eastern Europe on the one hand and the USA and Western Europe on the other. George Orwell first used the term cold war in a 1945 article entitled “ You and the Atom Bomb,” which described the United States, Russia, and China as postwar “superstates” whose nuclear arsenals would involve them in a “permanent state of cold war.” Orwell borrowed this phrase from the French la guerre froide (“ the cold war”), which he translated as a state of war that lacked the overt conditions of war.

War from 1950 to 1953 between North Korea (supported by China) and South Korea, aided by the United Nations (the troops were mainly US). Considered the forgotten war by some because it fell between the “good” war, World War II, and the “bad” war, Vietnam—was the first time in the nuclear age when the United States committed its forces to combat.

War from 1954 to 1975 between communist North Vietnam and US-backed South Vietnam, in which North Vietnam aimed to conquer South Vietnam and unite the country as a communist state; North Vietnam was supported by communist rebels from South Vietnam, the Vietcong. Beginning in the aftermath of World War II and lasting into the 1970s, U.S. involvement in Vietnam, indeed throughout Southeast Asia, grew progressively from an advisory effort into a major war.

Demonstrations, marches, and acts of civil disobedience in protest to US involvement in the Vietnam War (1954–75), beginning around 1965. Anti-war sentiment arose from the question of the morality of participation in what many regarded as a civil war; the growing human and environmental costs; and doubts that the US war effort would succeed.

Government study of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia. Commissioned by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara in June, 1967, the 47-volume, top secret study covered the period from World War II to May, 1968.

Case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1954; Linda Brown was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka because she was black. US Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.

US legislation that outlawed discrimination on the grounds of a person's color, race, national origin, religion, or sex. Rights protected under the act include a person's freedom to seek employment. The act is considered the USA's strongest civil-rights legislation since Reconstruction.

A research programme, originally managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center, aimed at using large radio telescopes to detect artificially generated radio signals coming from interstellar space. The umbrella term for all endeavors, especially those using radio telescopes, to find signs of intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe.

Watergate refers to the political scandal that broke in 1972 and forced Richard M. Nixon to resign the presidency two years later.

Case decided in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Along with Doe v. Bolton, this decision legalized abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. The decision, written by Justice Harry Blackmun and based on the residual right of privacy, struck down dozens of state antiabortion statutes.

Events following the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran by Iranian students on Nov. 4, 1979; The overthrow of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlevi of Iran by an Islamic revolutionary government earlier in the year had led to a steady deterioration in Iran-U.S. relations.

Secret arrangement in the 1980s to provide funds to the Nicaraguan contra rebels from profits gained by selling arms to Iran; The Iran-contra affair was the product of two separate initiatives during the administration of President Ronald Reagan.

War 16 January-28 February 1991 between Iraq and a coalition of 28 nations led by the USA; The invasion and annexation of Kuwait by Iraq on 2 August 1990 provoked a build-up of US troops in Saudi Arabia, eventually totaling over 500,000.