American History Timeline

Front 1

c. 12,000B.C.

Back 1

North American Indian cultures flourish.

Front 2

A.D.1000

Back 2

Norse seaman Leif Ericsson lands in Newfoundland, which he calls Vinland.

Front 3

1492

Back 3

Christopher Columbus, financed by Spain, makes the first of four voyages to the New World. He lands in the Bahamas (Oct. 12).

Front 4

1513

Back 4

Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León lands on the coast of Florida.

Front 5

1565

Back 5

Saint Augustine, Florida, settled by the Spanish, becomes the first permanent European colony in North America.

Front 6

1607

Back 6

Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America, is established by the London Company in southeast Virginia (May 14 o.s.).

Front 7

1619

Back 7

The House of Burgesses, the first representative assembly in America, meets for the first time in Virginia (July 30 o.s.). The first African slaves are brought to Jamestown (summer).

Front 8

1620

Back 8

The Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts is established by Pilgrims from England (Dec. 11 o.s.). Before disembarking from their ship, the Mayflower, 41 male passengers sign the Mayflower Compact, an agreement that forms the basis of the colony's government.

Front 9

1650

Back 9

Colonial population is estimated at 50,400.

Front 10

1664

Back 10

English seize New Amsterdam (city and colony) from the Dutch and rename it New York (Sept.).

Front 11

1752

Back 11

Britain and the British colonies switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar (Sept. 2).

Front 12

1754–1763

Back 12

French and Indian War: Final conflict in the ongoing struggle between the British and French for control of eastern North America. The British win a decisive victory over the French on the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec (Sept. 13, 1759) and, by the Treaty of Paris (signed Feb. 10, 1763), formally gain control of Canada and all the French possessions east of the Mississippi.

Front 13

1770

Back 13

Boston Massacre: British troops fire into a mob, killing five men and leading to intense public protests (March 5).

Front 14

1773

Back 14

Boston Tea Party: Group of colonial patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians board three ships in Boston harbor and dump more than 300 crates of tea overboard as a protest against the British tea tax (Dec. 16).

Front 15

1774

Back 15

First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia, with 56 delegates representing every colony except Georgia. Delegates include Patrick Henry, George Washington, and Samuel Adams (Sept. 5–Oct. 26).

Front 16

1775–1783

Back 16

American Revolution: War of independence fought between Great Britain and the 13 British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America. Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, between the British Army and colonial minutemen, mark the beginning of the war (April 19, 1775). Battle-weary and destitute Continental army spends brutally cold winter and following spring at Valley Forge, Pa. (Dec. 19, 1777–June 19, 1778). British general Charles Cornwallis surrenders to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Va. (Oct. 19, 1781). Great Britain formally acknowledges American independence in the Treaty of Paris, which officially brings the war to a close (Sept. 3, 1783).

Front 17

1776

Back 17

Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia (July 4).

Front 18

1777

Back 18

Continental Congress approves the first official flag of the United States (June 14). Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation, the first U.S. constitution (Nov. 15).

Front 19

1786

Back 19

Shays's Rebellion erupts (Aug.); farmers from New Hampshire to South Carolina take up arms to protest high state taxes and stiff penalties for failure to pay.

Front 20

1787

Back 20

Constitutional Convention, made up of delegates from 12 of the original 13 colonies, meets in Philadelphia to draft the U.S. Constitution (May–Sept.).

Front 21

1789

Back 21

George Washington is unanimously elected president of the United States in a vote by state electors (Feb. 4). U.S. Constitution goes into effect, having been ratified by nine states (March 4). U.S. Congress meets for the first time at Federal Hall in New York City (March 4). Washington is inaugurated as president at Federal Hall in New York City (April 30).

Front 22

1790

Back 22

U.S. Supreme Court meets for the first time at the Merchants Exchange Building in New York City (Feb. 2). The court, made up of one chief justice and five associate justices, hears its first case in 1792. The nation's first census shows that the population has climbed to nearly 4 million.

Front 23

1791

Back 23

First ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, are ratified (Dec. 15).

Front 24

1793

Back 24

Washington's second inauguration is held in Philadelphia (March 4).Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin greatly increases the demand for slave labor.

Front 25

1797

Back 25

John Adams is inaugurated as the second president in Philadelphia (March 4).

Front 26

1800

Back 26

The U.S. capital is moved from Philadelphia to Washington, DC (June 15). U.S. Congress meets in Washington, DC, for the first time (Nov. 17). Gabriel Prosser, an enslaved African American blacksmith, organizes a slave revolt intending to march on Richmond, Virginia. The conspiracy is uncovered, and Prosser and a number of the rebels are hanged. Virginia's slave laws are consequently tightened.

Front 27

1801

Back 27

Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third president in Washington, DC (March 4).

Front 28

1803

Back 28

Marbury v. Madison: Landmark Supreme Court decision greatly expands the power of the Court by establishing its right to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional (Feb. 24). Louisiana Purchase: United States agrees to pay France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory, which extends west from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and comprises about 830,000 sq mi (treaty signed May 2). As a result, the U.S. nearly doubles in size.

Front 29

1804

Back 29

Lewis and Clark set out from St. Louis, Mo., on expedition to explore the West and find a route to the Pacific Ocean. (May 14).

Front 30

1805

Back 30

Jefferson's second inauguration (March 4). Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean (Nov. 15).

Front 31

1809

Back 31

James Madison is inaugurated as the fourth president(March 4).

Front 32

1812–1814

Back 32

War of 1812: U.S. declares war on Britain over British interference with American maritime shipping and westward expansion (June 18, 1812). Madison's second inauguration (March 4, 1813). British capture Washington, DC, and set fire to White House and Capitol (Aug. 1814). Francis Scott Key writes Star-Spangled Banner as he watches British attack on Fort McHenry at Baltimore (Sept. 13–14, 1814). Treaty of Ghent is signed, officially ending the war (Dec. 24, 1814).

Front 33

1817

Back 33

James Monroe is inaugurated as the fifth president (March 4).

Front 34

1819

Back 34

Spain agrees to cede Florida to the United States (Feb. 22). McCulloch v. Maryland: Landmark Supreme Court decision upholds the right of Congress to establish a national bank, a power implied but not specifically enumerated by the Constitution.

Front 35

1820

Back 35

Missouri Compromise: In an effort to maintain the balance between free and slave states, Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts) is admitted as a free state so that Missouri can be admitted as a slave state; except for Missouri, slavery is prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude 36°30'(March 3).

Front 36

1821

Back 36

Monroe's second inauguration (March 5).

Front 37

1822

Back 37

Denmark Vesey, an enslaved African American carpenter who had purchased his freedom, plans a slave revolt with the intent to lay siege on Charleston, South Carolina. The plot is discovered, and Vesey and 34 coconspirators are hanged.

Front 38

1823

Back 38

Monroe Doctrine: In his annual address to Congress, President Monroe declares that the American continents are henceforth off-limits for further colonization by European powers (Dec. 2).

Front 39

1824

Back 39

Gibbons v. Ogden: Landmark Supreme Court decision broadly defines Congress's right to regulate interstate commerce (March 2).

Front 40

1825

Back 40

John Quincy Adams is inaugurated as the sixth president (March 4). Erie Canal, linking the Hudson River to Lake Erie, is opened for traffic (Oct. 26).

Front 41

1828

Back 41

Construction is begun on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first public railroad in the U.S. (July 4).

Front 42

1829

Back 42

Andrew Jackson is inaugurated as seventh president (March 4).

Front 43

1830

Back 43

President Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, which authorizes the forced removal of Native Americans living in the eastern part of the country to lands west of the Mississippi River (May 28). By the late 1830s the Jackson administration has relocated nearly 50,000 Native Americans.

Front 44

1831

Back 44

Nat Turner, an enslaved African American preacher, leads the most significant slave uprising in American history. He and his band of about 80 followers launch a bloody, day-long rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. The militia quells the rebellion, and Turner is eventually hanged. As a consequence, Virginia institutes much stricter slave laws.

William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing the Liberator, a weekly paper that advocates the complete abolition of slavery. He becomes one of the most famous figures in the abolitionist movement.

Front 45

1833

Back 45

Jackson's second inauguration (March 4).

Front 46

1836

Back 46

Texas declares its independence from Mexico (March 1). Texan defenders of the Alamo are all killed during siege by the Mexican Army (Feb. 24–March 6). Texans defeat Mexicans at San Jacinto (April 21).

Front 47

1837

Back 47

Martin Van Buren is inaugurated as the eighth president (March 4).

Front 48

1838

Back 48

More than 15,000 Cherokee Indians are forced to march from Georgia to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. Approximately 4,000 die from starvation and disease along the “Trail of Tears.”

Front 49

1841

Back 49

William Henry Harrison is inaugurated as the ninth president (March 4). He dies one month later (April 4)and is succeeded in office by his vice president, John Tyler.

Front 50

1845

Back 50

U.S. annexes Texas by joint resolution of Congress(March 1). James Polk is inaugurated as the 11th president (March 4). The term “manifest destiny” appears for the first time in a magazine article by John L. O'Sullivan (July–August). It expresses the belief held by many white Americans that the United States is destined to expand across the continent.

Front 51

1846

Back 51

Oregon Treaty fixes U.S.-Canadian border at 49th parallel; U.S. acquires Oregon territory (June 15). The Wilmot Proviso, introduced by Democratic representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, attempts to ban slavery in territory gained in the Mexican War. The proviso is blocked by Southerners, but continues to enflame the debate over slavery.

Front 52

1846–1848

Back 52

Mexican War: U.S. declares war on Mexico in effort to gain California and other territory in Southwest (May 13, 1846). War concludes with signing of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Feb. 2, 1848). Mexico recognizes Rio Grande as new boundary with Texas and, for $15 million, agrees to cede territory comprising present-day California, Nevada, Utah, most of New Mexico and Arizona, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming.

Front 53

1848

Back 53

Gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill in California (Jan. 24); gold rush reaches its height the following year. Women's rights convention is held at Seneca Falls, N.Y. (July 19–20).

Front 54

1849

Back 54

Zachary Taylor is inaugurated as the 12th president (March 5). Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and becomes one of the most effective and celebrated members of the Underground Railroad.

Front 55

1850

Back 55

President Taylor dies (July 9) and is succeeded by his vice president, Millard Fillmore. The continuing debate whether territory gained in the Mexican War should be open to slavery is decided in the Compromise of 1850: California is admitted as a free state, Utah and New Mexico territories are left to be decided by popular sovereignty, and the slave trade in Washington, DC, is prohibited. It also establishes a much stricter fugitive slave law, than the original, passed in 1793.

Front 56

1852

Back 56

Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin is published. It becomes one of the most influential works to stir anti-slavery sentiments.

Front 57

1853

Back 57

Franklin Pierce is inaugurated as the 14th president (March 4). Gadsden Purchase treaty is signed; U.S. acquires border territory from Mexico for $10 million (Dec. 30).

Front 58

1854

Back 58

Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act, establishing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska (May 30). The legislation repeals the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and renews tensions between anti- and proslavery factions.

Front 59

1857

Back 59

James Buchanan is inaugurated as the 15th president (March 4). Dred Scott v. Sanford: Landmark Supreme Court decision holds that Congress does not have the right to ban slavery in states and, furthermore, that slaves are not citizens.

Front 60

1858

Back 60

Abraham Lincoln comes to national attention in a series of seven debates with Sen. Stephen A. Douglas during Illinois state election campaign(Aug.–Oct.).

Front 61

1859

Back 61

Abolitionist John Brown and 21 followers capture federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va. (now W. Va.), in an attempt to spark a slave revolt (Oct. 16).

Front 62

1860

Back 62

Abraham Lincoln is elected president (Nov. 6).South Carolina secedes from the Union (Dec. 20).

Front 63

1861

Back 63

Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana secede (Jan.). Confederate States of America is established (Feb. 8). Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederacy (Feb. 9).Texas secedes (March 2). Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th president (March 4).

Front 64

1861–1865

Back 64

Civil War: Conflict between the North (the Union) and the South (the Confederacy) over the expansion of slavery into western states. Confederates attack Ft. Sumter in Charleston, S.C., marking the start of the war (April 12, 1861). Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee secede (April–June).Emancipation Proclamation is issued, freeing slaves in the Confederate states (Jan. 1, 1863). Battle of Gettysburg is fought (July 1–3). President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address (Nov. 19). Gen. William T. Sherman captures Atlanta (Sept. 2, 1864). Lincoln's second inauguration (March 4, 1865). Gen. Ulysses S. Grant captures Richmond, Va., the capital of the Confederacy (April 3).Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Va.,(April 9).

Front 65

1863

Back 65

Homestead Act becomes law, allowing settlers to claim land (160 acres) after they have lived on it for five years (Jan. 1).

Front 66

1865

Back 66

Lincoln is assassinated (April 14) by John Wilkes Booth in Washington, DC, and is succeeded by his vice president, Andrew Johnson. Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, prohibiting slavery (Dec. 6).

Front 67

1867

Back 67

U.S. acquires Alaska from Russia for the sum of $7.2 million (treaty concluded March 30).

Front 68

1868

Back 68

President Johnson is impeached by the House of Representatives (Feb. 24), but he is acquitted at his trial in the Senate (May 26). Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, defining citizenship (July 9).

Front 69

1869

Back 69

Ulysses S. Grant is inaugurated as the 18th president (March 4). Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads are joined at Promontory, Utah, creating first transcontinental railroad (May 10).

Front 70

1870

Back 70

Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving blacks the right to vote (Feb. 3).

Front 71

1871

Back 71

Chicago fire kills 300 and leaves 90,000 people homeless (Oct. 8–9).

Front 72

1872

Back 72

Crédit Mobilier scandal breaks, involving several members of Congress (Sept.).

Front 73

1873

Back 73

Grant's second inauguration (March 4).

Front 74

1876

Back 74

Lt. Col. George A. Custer's regiment is wiped out by Sioux Indians under Sitting Bull at the Little Big Horn River, Mont. (June 25).

Front 75

1877

Back 75

Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated as the 19th president (March 5). The first telephone line is built from Boston to Somerville, Mass.; the following year, President Hayes has the first telephone installed in the White House.

Front 76

1881

Back 76

James A. Garfield is inaugurated as the 20th president (March 4). He is shot (July 2) by Charles Guiteau in Washington, DC, and later dies from complications of his wounds in Elberon, N.J. (Sept. 19). Garfield's vice president, Chester Alan Arthur, succeeds him in office.

Front 77

1882

Back 77

U.S. adopts standard time (Nov. 18).

Front 78

1885

Back 78

Grover Cleveland is inaugurated as the 22nd president (March 4).

Front 79

1886

Back 79

Statue of Liberty is dedicated (Oct. 28). American Federation of Labor is organized (Dec.).

Front 80

1889

Back 80

Benjamin Harrison is inaugurated as the 23rd president (March 4). Oklahoma is opened to settlers (April 22).

Front 81

1890

Back 81

National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) is founded, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as president. Sherman Antitrust Act is signed into law, prohibiting commercial monopolies (July 2).Last major battle of the Indian Wars occurs at Wounded Knee in South Dakota (Dec. 29). In reporting the results of the 1890 census, the Census Bureau announces that the West has been settled and the frontier is closed.

Front 82

1892

Back 82

Ellis Island becomes chief immigration station of the U.S. (Jan. 1).

Front 83

1893

Back 83

Grover Cleveland is inaugurated a second time, as the 24th president (March 4). He is the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms.

Front 84

1896

Back 84

Plessy v. Ferguson: Landmark Supreme Court decision holds that racial segregation is constitutional, paving the way for the repressive Jim Crow laws in the South (May 18).

Front 85

1897

Back 85

William McKinley is inaugurated as the 25th president (March 4).

Front 86

1898

Back 86

Spanish-American War: USS Maine is blown up in Havana harbor (Feb. 15), prompting U.S. to declare war on Spain (April 25). Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Spanish-American War (Dec. 10); Spain gives up control of Cuba, which becomes an independent republic, and cedes Puerto Rico, Guam, and (for $20 million) the Philippines to the U.S.

Front 87

1898

Back 87

U.S. annexes Hawaii by an act of Congress (July 7).

Front 88

1899

Back 88

U.S. acquires American Samoa by treaty with Great Britain and Germany (Dec. 2).

Front 89

1900

Back 89

Galveston hurricane leaves an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 dead (Sept. 8).According to the census, the nation's population numbers nearly 76 million.

Front 90

1901

Back 90

McKinley's second inauguration (March 4). He is shot (Sept. 6) by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, N.Y., and later dies from his wounds (Sept. 14). He is succeeded by his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt.

Front 91

1903

Back 91

U.S. acquires Panama Canal Zone (treaty signed Nov. 17). Wright brothers make the first controlled, sustained flight in heavier-than-air aircraft at Kitty Hawk, N.C. (Dec. 17).

Front 92

1905

Back 92

Theodore Roosevelt's second inauguration (March 4).

Front 93

1906

Back 93

San Francisco earthquake leaves 500 dead or missing and destroys about 4 sq mi of the city (April 18).

Front 94

1908

Back 94

Bureau of Investigation, forerunner of the FBI, is established (July 26).

Front 95

1909

Back 95

William Howard Taft is inaugurated as the 27th president (March 4). Mrs. Taft has 80 Japanese cherry trees planted along the banks of the Potomac River.

Front 96

1913

Back 96

Woodrow Wilson is inaugurated as the 28th president (March 4).Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, providing for the direct election of U.S. senators by popular vote rather than by the state legislatures (April 8).

Front 97

1914–1918

Back 97

World War I: U.S. enters World War I, declaring war on Germany (April 6, 1917) and Austria-Hungary (Dec. 7, 1917) three years after conflict began in 1914. Armistice ending World War I is signed (Nov. 11, 1918).

Front 98

1914

Back 98

Panama Canal opens to traffic (Aug. 15).

Front 99

1915

Back 99

First long distance telephone service, between New York and San Francisco, is demonstrated (Jan. 25).

Front 100

1916

Back 100

U.S. agrees to purchase Danish West Indies (Virgin Islands) for $25 million (treaty signed Aug. 14). Jeannette Rankin of Montana is the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (Nov. 7).

Front 101

1917

Back 101

Wilson's second inauguration (March 5). First regular airmail service begins, with one round trip a day between Washington, DC, and New York (May 15).

Front 102

1918

Back 102

Worldwide influenza epidemic strikes; by 1920, nearly 20 million are dead. In U.S., 500,000 perish.

Front 103

1919

Back 103

League of Nations meets for the first time; U.S. is not represented (Jan. 13). Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor (Jan. 16). It is later repealed by the Twenty-First Amendment in 1933. Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, granting women the right to vote (Aug. 18). President Wilson suffers a stroke (Sept. 26). Treaty of Versailles, outlining terms for peace at the end of World War I, is rejected by the Senate (Nov. 19).

Front 104

1921

Back 104

Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as the 29th president (March 4). He signs resolution declaring peace with Austria and Germany (July 2).

Front 105

1923

Back 105

President Harding dies suddenly (Aug. 2). He is succeeded by his vice president, Calvin Coolidge. Teapot Dome scandal breaks, as Senate launches an investigation into improper leasing of naval oil reserves during Harding administration (Oct.)

Front 106

1925

Back 106

Coolidge's second inauguration (March 4). Tennessee passes a law against the teaching of evolution in public schools (March 23), setting the stage for the Scopes Monkey Trial (July 10–25).

Front 107

1927

Back 107

Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in his plane The Spirit of St. Louis (May 20–21).

Front 108

1929

Back 108

Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the 31st president (March 4). Stock market crash precipitates the Great Depression (Oct. 29).

Front 109

1931

Back 109

The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the national anthem (March 3).

Front 110

1932

Back 110

Hattie Wyatt Caraway of Arkansas is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate to fill a vacancy caused by the death of her husband (Jan. 12).She is reelected in 1932 and 1938. Amelia Earhart completes first solo nonstop transatlantic flight by a woman (May 21).

Front 111

1933

Back 111

Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution, sometimes called the “Lame Duck Amendment,” is ratified, moving the president's inauguration date from March 4 to Jan. 20 (Jan. 23). Franklin Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd president (March 4). New Deal recovery measures are enacted by Congress (March 9–June 16). Twenty-First Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, repealing Prohibition (Dec. 5).

Front 112

1935

Back 112

Works Progress Administration is established (April 8). Social Security Act is passed (Aug. 14). Bureau of Investigation (established 1908) becomes the Federal Bureau of Investigation under J. Edgar Hoover

Front 113

1937

Back 113

F. Roosevelt's second inauguration (Jan. 20).

Front 114

1938

Back 114

Fair Labor Standards Act is passed, setting the first minimum wage in the U.S. at 25 cents per hour (June 25).

Front 115

1939–1945

Back 115

World War II: U.S. declares its neutrality in European conflict (Sept. 5, 1939). F. Roosevelt's third inauguration (Jan. 20, 1941). He is the first and only president elected to a third term. Japan attacks Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines (Dec. 7, 1941). U.S. declares war on Japan (Dec. 8).Germany and Italy declare war on the United States; U.S. reciprocates by declaring war on both countries (Dec. 11). Allies invade North Africa (Oct.–Dec. 1942) and Italy (Sept.–Dec. 1943). Allies invade France on D-Day (June 6, 1944). F. Roosevelt's fourth inauguration (Jan. 20, 1945). President Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet at Yalta in the USSR to discuss postwar occupation of Germany (Feb. 4–11). President Roosevelt dies of a stroke (April 12) and is succeeded by his vice president, Harry Truman. Germany surrenders unconditionally (May 7).First atomic bomb is detonated at Alamogordo, N.M. (July 16). President Truman, Churchill, and Stalin meet at Potsdam, near Berlin, Germany, to demand Japan's unconditional surrender and to discuss plans for postwar Europe (July 17–Aug. 2). U.S. drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan (Aug. 6). U.S. drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan (Aug. 9). Japan agrees to unconditional surrender (Aug. 14). Japanese envoys sign surrender terms aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo harbor (Sept. 2).

Front 116

1945

Back 116

United Nations is established (Oct. 24).

Front 117

1946

Back 117

The Philippines, which had been ceded to the U.S. by Spain at the end of the Spanish-American War, becomes an independent republic (July 4).

Front 118

1947

Back 118

Presidential Succession Act is signed into law by President Truman (July 18). Central Intelligence Agency is established.

Front 119

1948

Back 119

Congress passes foreign aid bill including the Marshall Plan, which provides for European postwar recovery (April 2). Soviets begin blockade of Berlin in the first major crisis of the cold war (June 24). In response, U.S. and Great Britain begin airlift of food and fuel to West Berlin (June 26).

Front 120

1949

Back 120

Truman's second inauguration (Jan. 20). North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established (April 4). Soviets end blockade of Berlin (May 12), but airlift continues until Sept. 30.

Front 121

1950–1953

Back 121

Korean War: Cold war conflict between Communist and non-Communist forces on Korean Peninsula. North Korean communists invade South Korea (June 25, 1950). President Truman, without the approval of Congress, commits American troops to battle (June 27). President Truman removes Gen. Douglas MacArthur as head of U.S. Far East Command (April 11, 1951). Armistice agreement is signed (July 27, 1953).

Front 122

1950–1975

Back 122

Vietnam War: Prolonged conflict between Communist forces of North Vietnam, backed by China and the USSR, and non-Communist forces of South Vietnam, backed by the United States. President Truman authorizes $15 million in economic and military aid to the French, who are fighting to retain control of French Indochina, including Vietnam. As part of the aid package, Truman also sends 35 military advisers (May 1950).North Vietnamese torpedo boats allegedly attack U.S. destroyer in Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam (Aug. 2, 1964).Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin resolution, authorizing President Johnson to take any measures necessary to defend U.S. forces and prevent further aggression (Aug. 7). U.S. planes begin bombing raids of North Vietnam (Feb. 1965). First U.S. combat troops arrive in South Vietnam (March 8–9). North Vietnamese army and Viet Cong launch Tet Offensive, attacking Saigon and other key cities in South Vietnam (Jan.–Feb. 1968). American soldiers kill 300 Vietnamese villagers in My Lai massacre (March 16). U.S. troops invade Cambodia(May 1, 1970). Representatives of North and South Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and the U.S. sign a cease-fire agreement in Paris (Jan. 27, 1973). Last U.S. troops leave Vietnam (March 29). South Vietnamese government surrenders to North Vietnam; U.S. embassy Marine guards and last U.S. civilians are evacuated (April 30, 1975).

Front 123

1951

Back 123

Twenty-Second Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, limiting the president to two terms (Feb. 27). President Truman speaks in first coast-to-coast live television broadcast (Sept. 4).

Front 124

1952

Back 124

Puerto Rico becomes a U.S. commonwealth (July 25). Firsthydrogen bomb is detonated by the U.S. on Eniwetok, an atoll in the Marshall Islands (Nov. 1).

Front 125

1953

Back 125

Dwight Eisenhower is inaugurated as the 34th president (Jan. 20). Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed for passing secret information about U.S. atomic weaponry to the Soviets(June 19).

Front 126

1954

Back 126

Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy accuses army officials, members of the media, and other public figures of being Communists during highly publicized hearings (April 22–June 17). Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kans.: Landmark Supreme Court decision declares that racial segregation in schools is unconstitutional (May 17).

Front 127

1957

Back 127

Eisenhower's second inauguration (Jan. 21). President sends federal troops to Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., to enforce integration of black students (Sept. 24).

Front 128

1958

Back 128

Explorer I, first American satellite, is launched (Jan. 31).

Front 129

1959

Back 129

Alaska becomes the 49th state (Jan. 3) and Hawaii becomes the 50th (Aug. 21).

Front 130

1961

Back 130

U.S. severs diplomatic relations with Cuba (Jan. 3). John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th president (Jan. 20). Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba fails (April 17–20). A mixed-race group of volunteers sponsored by the Committee on Racial Equality—the so-called Freedom Riders—travel on buses through the South in order to protest racially segregated interstate bus facilities (May).

Front 131

1962

Back 131

Lt. Col. John Glenn becomes first U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth(Feb. 20). Cuban Missile Crisis: President Kennedy denounces Soviet Union for secretly installing missile bases on Cuba and initiates a naval blockade of the island (Oct. 22–Nov. 20).

Front 132

1963

Back 132

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech before a crowd of 200,000 during the civil rights march on Washington, DC (Aug. 28). President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Tex. (Nov. 22). He is succeeded in office by his vice president, Lyndon B. Johnson.

Front 133

1964

Back 133

President Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act (July 2).

Front 134

1965

Back 134

In his annual state of the Union address, President Johnson proposes his Great Society program (Jan. 4). L. Johnson's second inauguration (Jan. 20). State troopers attack peaceful demonstrators led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., as they try to cross bridge in Selma, Ala. (March 7). President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits discriminatory voting practices (Aug. 6). In six days of rioting in Watts, a black section of Los Angeles, 35 people are killed and 883 injured(Aug. 11–16).

Front 135

1966

Back 135

Miranda v. Arizona: Landmark Supreme Court decision further defines due process clause of Fourteenth Amendment and establishes Miranda rights (June 13).

Front 136

1967

Back 136

Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, outlining the procedures for filling vacancies in the presidency and vice presidency (Feb. 10).

Front 137

1968

Back 137

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated in Memphis, Tenn.(April 4). Sen. Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles, Calif. (June 5–6).

Front 138

1969

Back 138

Richard Nixon is inaugurated as the 37th president (Jan. 20).Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr., become the first men to land on the Moon (July 20).

Front 139

1970

Back 139

Four students are shot to death by National Guardsmen during an antiwar protest at Kent State University (May 1).

Front 140

1971

Back 140

The Twenty-Sixth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 (July 1).

Front 141

1972

Back 141

Nixon makes historic visit to Communist China (Feb. 21–27).U.S. and Soviet Union sign strategic arms control agreement known as SALT I (May 26). Five men, all employees of Nixon's reelection campaign, are caught breaking into rival Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, DC(June 17).

Front 142

1973

Back 142

Nixon's second inauguration (Jan. 20). Roe v. Wade: Landmark Supreme Court decision legalizes abortion in first trimester of pregnancy (Jan. 22). Senate Select Committee begins televised hearings to investigate Watergate cover-up (May 17–Aug. 7). Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigns over charges of corruption and income tax evasion (Oct. 10). President Nixon nominates Gerald R. Ford as vice president (Oct. 12). Ford is confirmed by Congress and sworn in (Dec. 6). He is the first vice president to succeed to the office under the terms laid out by the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.

Front 143

1974

Back 143

House Judiciary Committee recommends to full House that Nixon be impeached on grounds of obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress (July 27–30). Nixon resigns; he is succeeded in office by his vice president, Gerald Ford (Aug. 9). Nixon is granted an unconditional pardon by President Ford (Sept. 8). Five former Nixon aides go on trial for their involvement in the Watergate cover-up (Oct. 15); H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, and John Mitchell eventually serve time in prison. Nelson Rockefeller is confirmed and sworn in as vice president (Dec. 19).

Front 144

1977

Back 144

Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as the 39th president (Jan. 20).President Carter signs treaty (Sept. 7) agreeing to turn control of Panama Canal over to Panama on Dec. 31, 1999.

Front 145

1978

Back 145

President Carter meets with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin at Camp David(Sept. 6); Sadat and Begin sign Camp David Accord, ending 30-year conflict between Egypt and Israel (Sept. 17).

Front 146

1979

Back 146

U.S. establishes diplomatic ties with mainland China for the first time since Communist takeover in 1949 (Jan. 1). Malfunction at Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania causes near meltdown (March 28). Panama takes control of the Canal Zone, formerly administered by U.S. (Oct. 1). Iranian students storm U.S. embassy in Teheran and hold 66 people hostage(Nov. 4); 13 of the hostages are released (Nov. 19–20).

Front 147

1980

Back 147

President Carter announces that U.S. athletes will not attend Summer Olympics in Moscow unless Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan (Jan. 20). FBI's undercover bribery investigation, code named Abscam, implicates a U.S. senator, seven members of the House, and 31 other public officials(Feb. 2). U.S. mission to rescue hostages in Iran is aborted after a helicopter and cargo plane collide at the staging site in a remote part of Iran and 8 servicemen are killed (April 25).

Front 148

1981

Back 148

Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th president (Jan. 20).U.S. hostages held in Iran are released after 444 days in captivity (Jan. 20). President Reagan is shot in the chest by John Hinckley, Jr. (March 30). Sandra Day O'Connor is sworn in as the first woman Supreme Court justice (Sept. 25).

Front 149

1982

Back 149

Deadline for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution passes without the necessary votes (June 30).

Front 150

1983

Back 150

U.S. invades Caribbean island of Grenada after a coup by Marxist faction in the government (Oct. 25).

Front 151

1985

Back 151

Reagan's second inauguration (Jan. 21).

Front 152

1986

Back 152

Space shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members (Jan. 28). It is the worst accident in the history of the U.S. space program. U.S. bombs military bases in Libya in effort to deter terrorist strikes on American targets (April 14). Iran-Contra scandal breaks when White House is forced to reveal secret arms-for-hostages deals(Nov.).

Front 153

1987

Back 153

Congress holds public hearings in Iran-Contra investigation(May 5–Aug. 3). In a speech in Berlin, President Reagan challenges Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall” and open Eastern Europe to political and economic reform(June 12). Reagan and Gorbachev sign INF treaty, the first arms-control agreement to reduce the superpowers' nuclear weapons (Dec. 8).

Front 154

1989

Back 154

George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as the 41st president (Jan. 20). Oil tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground in Prince William Sound, spilling more than 10 million gallons of oil (March 24). It is the largest oil spill in U.S. history. President Bush signs legislation to provide for federal bailout of nearly 800 insolvent savings and loan institutions (Aug. 9). U.S. forces invade Panama in an attempt to capture Gen. Manuel Noriega, who previously had been indicted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges (Dec. 20).

Front 155

1990

Back 155

Iraqi troops invade Kuwait, leading to the Persian Gulf War(Aug. 2).

Front 156

1991

Back 156

Persian Gulf War: U.S. leads international coalition in military operation (code named “Desert Storm”) to drive Iraqis out of Kuwait (Jan. 16–Feb. 28). Iraq accepts terms of UN ceasefire, marking an end of the war (April 6).

Front 157

1991

Back 157

U.S. and Soviet Union sign START I treaty, agreeing to further reduce strategic nuclear arms (July 31). Senate Judiciary Committee conducts televised hearings to investigate allegations of past sexual harassment brought against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas by Anita Hill, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma (Oct. 11–13).

Front 158

1992

Back 158

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union in Dec. 1991, President Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin meet at Camp David and formally declare an end to the cold war (Feb. 1). The acquittal of four white police officers charged in the 1991 beating of black motorist Rodney King in Los Angeles sets off several days of rioting, leading to more than 50 deaths, thousands of injuries and arrests, and $1 billion in property damage (April 29). President Bush authorizes sending U.S. troops to Somalia as part of UN relief effort (Dec. 4). President Bush grants pardons to six officials convicted or indicted in the Iran-Contra scandal, leading some to suspect a cover-up (Dec. 24).

Front 159

1993

Back 159

Bill Clinton is inaugurated as the 42nd president (Jan. 20).Bomb explodes in basement garage of World Trade Center, killing 6, injuring 1,000, and causing more than $500 million in damage (Feb. 26). After 51-day standoff with federal agents, Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Tex., burns to the ground, killing 80 cult members (April 19). President Clinton orders missile attack against Iraq in retaliation for alleged plot to assassinate former President Bush (June 26). Eighteen U.S. soldiers are killed in ambush by Somali militiamen in Mogadishu (Oct. 3–4). President Clinton signs North American Free Trade Agreement into law (Dec. 8).

Front 160

1994

Back 160

Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee, files a federal lawsuit against President Clinton for sexual harassment (May 6).

Front 161

1995

Back 161

Bombing of federal office building in Oklahoma City kills 168 people (April 19). U.S. establishes full diplomatic relations with Vietnam (July 11). President Clinton sends first 8,000 of 20,000 U.S. troops to Bosnia for 12-month peacekeeping mission(Dec.). Budget standoff between President Clinton and Congress results in partial shutdown of U.S. government (Dec. 16–Jan. 6).

Front 162

1997

Back 162

Clinton's second inauguration (Jan. 20).

Front 163

1998

Back 163

President Clinton denies having had a sexual relationship with a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky (Jan. 17).President Clinton releases 1999 federal budget plan; it is the first balanced budget since 1969 (Feb. 2). In televised address, President Clinton admits having had a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky (Aug. 17). U.S. launches missile attacks on targets in Sudan and Afghanistan following terrorist attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania (Aug. 20). U.S. and Britain launch air strikes against weapons sites in Iraq (Dec. 16). House of Representatives votes to impeach President Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice (Dec. 19).