TOPIC/ KEY POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS KEY SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS KEY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS KEY FOREIGN POLICY EVENTS KEY CIVIL RIGHTS DEVELOPMENTS
PERIOD
TRUMAN • 1949 - Fair Deal (social reform) • Women in work- start of 50s = 33.8% to • Debt increased from $5.7 billion in 1945 • 1947 - Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe • 1947 - ‘To Secure These Rights’ -
1945-1953 • 1946 - Employment Act 37.8% at end of decade to $56.1 billion in 1960 • 1947 - Truman Doctrine - spread investigated violence against black people
• 1948 - Dixiecrat Revolt (party split) • Fair Deal increased minimum wage and • $6 billion tax cut democracy against communism • By 1952, 11 states and 20 cities had fair
• Full Employment Bill (to make employment a Social Security • Short economic boom post WW2 • 1949 - Berlin Blockade employment laws
right) never fully achieved • Low unemployment • Korea - saves and ends Truman’s career • 1946 - Civil Right Committee
• Truman Doctrine, Containment • 1948 - Desegregation of armed forces
• 1947 - Marshall Plan
EISENHOWER • Continued New Deal and Fair Deal • Minimum wage increased • Fiscal conservatism • 1950s - Arms Race • Facilitated desegregation in Washington
1953-1961 • 1956 - Interstate Highway System • Interstate Highway - large public works • 1960 - Debt increase to $56.1 billion • New Look Foreign Policy - containment DC
• Decreased the role of the Gov - ended wage programme • Ending of wage and price controls and increase of nuclear arsenal • 1954 - Brown v Board (Supreme Court
and price controls • Creation of Department of Health, Education • Growth in consumerism • Armistice ending Korea ruled separate but equal had no place in
• Sent 800 military advisors and finances to and Welfare • Space Race education)
Vietnam • by 1960, 90% of suburban dwellers owned • 2 Chinas Policy • By school year 1956-57, 723 districts
one or more cars • 1954 - Geneva Accords were desegregated
• By 1950s, 1/2 male teens were drafted for • 1957 - Little Rock (federal troops enforce
the armed forces desegregation)
• 1956 - Montgomery Bus Boycott
KENNEDY • New Frontier -social reform • Unemployment in traditional industries (eg • Gov spending increased in projects, tech • 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis • 1963 - Civil Rights Bill defeated by
1961-1963 • Increased Gov spending coal, iron etc) companies, space race etc = job creation • 1961 - Berlin Wall Crisis Congress
• Brains Trust - helped JFK to tackle domestic • Unemployment twice as high among African- • Prices and wages limited, preventing • 1961 - Bay of Pigs • 1963 - Birmingham Race Riots (crucial in
issues Americans inflation • Sent 3,000 military advisors and financial raising awareness of the Civil Rights
• Medicare proposal thrown out by Congress • Social Security benefits to elderly and • During his 1000 days, GDP expanded by aid to Vietnam movement)
• 1963 - Equal Pay Act unemployed 5% a year on average • Aug 1963 - March on Washington
• 1962 - 1/4 of Americans living below the • General tax cut
poverty line
JOHNSON • ‘Great Society’ - economic and social • Elementary and Secondary Education Act • Tax cut to give people more money and • 1968 - Tet Offensive - shocked the US • 24th Amendment
reforms and civil rights legislation • Minimum wage increase encourage spending public (weren’t doing as well as it was • 1964 - Civil Rights Act banned discrimination in
1963-1969 public accommodation and employment
• ‘War on poverty’ • By 1965, the average family income had • Office of Economic Opportunity thought)
• 1965 - Voting Act - forbade literacy tests
• 1964 - Civil Rights Act doubled since 1930 (operated in cities) • March 16th 1968 - My Lai Massacre - • Late 1960s = Black revolt
• 1965 - Voting Rights Act • Head Start Programme - $1.5 billion to • 1964 - Economic Opportunity Act = job cause public outcry and increase in • 1965 - Selma (encouraged Voting Act)
• 1964 - 24th Amendment (prohibits poll tax) teachers to educate very young, poor corps pressure
children • Great Society fails due to lack of
• Anti-war protests peaked 1968-70 adequate funds
• Vietnam drains finances
NIXON • 1973 - Paris Peace Accords (end US • 1969 - First man on the moon • 1971 - 90 day wage and price freeze and • 1973 - ‘Vietnamisation’ (peace with • Early 1970s - ‘New South’ segregation
involvement in Vietnam war) • late 1960s-70s increase in political decrease of income tax, to encourage honour’ melted away
1969-1974 consumerism.
• Family Assistance Plan rejected by Congress participation of young people • 1972 - historic visits to communist China • North - problem not due to African-
• Gov spending on social programmes • 1970 - Kent State, Ohio - 4 student and the USSR American inclusion, but the exclusion of
increased protestors were shot down by the National • 1974 - Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty the poor, who were often black.
• Forced to resign after facing impeachment Guard • By 1971 - 13 Black congressmen and 31
due to the Watergate Scandal mayor
FOREIGN • New Look FP - containment and increase of • 1947 - Containment policy and Truman • 1947 - Marshall Plan - sent $17 billion to Europe • 2 Chinas Policy (recognised Chinese
nuclear arsenal Doctrine • 1945-48 - sent $3.5 billion to China, but it fell to nationalists and Communist China)
POLICY communism
1945-1975 • 1973 - Paris Peace Accords • 1949 - NATO (defend/support other • 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis
• by 1953, US defence production increased to 7x
• 1954 - Geneva Accords - (Ike supports but members) that of 1950 (arms race) • 1975 - Helsinki Agreements
doesn’t sign) • 1973 - Vietnamisation (‘peace with honour’) • 1972 - SALT 1 -limits nuclear capability of the • 1956 - Suez Canal (doesn’t support Brits)
• 1949 - Berlin Blockade and Airlift • 1968 - My Lai (causes domestic issues and USA and USSR
• SEATO - response to Geneva Accords impacts reputation)
• 1950-53 - Korea (due to containment policy)
PERIOD
TRUMAN • 1949 - Fair Deal (social reform) • Women in work- start of 50s = 33.8% to • Debt increased from $5.7 billion in 1945 • 1947 - Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe • 1947 - ‘To Secure These Rights’ -
1945-1953 • 1946 - Employment Act 37.8% at end of decade to $56.1 billion in 1960 • 1947 - Truman Doctrine - spread investigated violence against black people
• 1948 - Dixiecrat Revolt (party split) • Fair Deal increased minimum wage and • $6 billion tax cut democracy against communism • By 1952, 11 states and 20 cities had fair
• Full Employment Bill (to make employment a Social Security • Short economic boom post WW2 • 1949 - Berlin Blockade employment laws
right) never fully achieved • Low unemployment • Korea - saves and ends Truman’s career • 1946 - Civil Right Committee
• Truman Doctrine, Containment • 1948 - Desegregation of armed forces
• 1947 - Marshall Plan
EISENHOWER • Continued New Deal and Fair Deal • Minimum wage increased • Fiscal conservatism • 1950s - Arms Race • Facilitated desegregation in Washington
1953-1961 • 1956 - Interstate Highway System • Interstate Highway - large public works • 1960 - Debt increase to $56.1 billion • New Look Foreign Policy - containment DC
• Decreased the role of the Gov - ended wage programme • Ending of wage and price controls and increase of nuclear arsenal • 1954 - Brown v Board (Supreme Court
and price controls • Creation of Department of Health, Education • Growth in consumerism • Armistice ending Korea ruled separate but equal had no place in
• Sent 800 military advisors and finances to and Welfare • Space Race education)
Vietnam • by 1960, 90% of suburban dwellers owned • 2 Chinas Policy • By school year 1956-57, 723 districts
one or more cars • 1954 - Geneva Accords were desegregated
• By 1950s, 1/2 male teens were drafted for • 1957 - Little Rock (federal troops enforce
the armed forces desegregation)
• 1956 - Montgomery Bus Boycott
KENNEDY • New Frontier -social reform • Unemployment in traditional industries (eg • Gov spending increased in projects, tech • 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis • 1963 - Civil Rights Bill defeated by
1961-1963 • Increased Gov spending coal, iron etc) companies, space race etc = job creation • 1961 - Berlin Wall Crisis Congress
• Brains Trust - helped JFK to tackle domestic • Unemployment twice as high among African- • Prices and wages limited, preventing • 1961 - Bay of Pigs • 1963 - Birmingham Race Riots (crucial in
issues Americans inflation • Sent 3,000 military advisors and financial raising awareness of the Civil Rights
• Medicare proposal thrown out by Congress • Social Security benefits to elderly and • During his 1000 days, GDP expanded by aid to Vietnam movement)
• 1963 - Equal Pay Act unemployed 5% a year on average • Aug 1963 - March on Washington
• 1962 - 1/4 of Americans living below the • General tax cut
poverty line
JOHNSON • ‘Great Society’ - economic and social • Elementary and Secondary Education Act • Tax cut to give people more money and • 1968 - Tet Offensive - shocked the US • 24th Amendment
reforms and civil rights legislation • Minimum wage increase encourage spending public (weren’t doing as well as it was • 1964 - Civil Rights Act banned discrimination in
1963-1969 public accommodation and employment
• ‘War on poverty’ • By 1965, the average family income had • Office of Economic Opportunity thought)
• 1965 - Voting Act - forbade literacy tests
• 1964 - Civil Rights Act doubled since 1930 (operated in cities) • March 16th 1968 - My Lai Massacre - • Late 1960s = Black revolt
• 1965 - Voting Rights Act • Head Start Programme - $1.5 billion to • 1964 - Economic Opportunity Act = job cause public outcry and increase in • 1965 - Selma (encouraged Voting Act)
• 1964 - 24th Amendment (prohibits poll tax) teachers to educate very young, poor corps pressure
children • Great Society fails due to lack of
• Anti-war protests peaked 1968-70 adequate funds
• Vietnam drains finances
NIXON • 1973 - Paris Peace Accords (end US • 1969 - First man on the moon • 1971 - 90 day wage and price freeze and • 1973 - ‘Vietnamisation’ (peace with • Early 1970s - ‘New South’ segregation
involvement in Vietnam war) • late 1960s-70s increase in political decrease of income tax, to encourage honour’ melted away
1969-1974 consumerism.
• Family Assistance Plan rejected by Congress participation of young people • 1972 - historic visits to communist China • North - problem not due to African-
• Gov spending on social programmes • 1970 - Kent State, Ohio - 4 student and the USSR American inclusion, but the exclusion of
increased protestors were shot down by the National • 1974 - Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty the poor, who were often black.
• Forced to resign after facing impeachment Guard • By 1971 - 13 Black congressmen and 31
due to the Watergate Scandal mayor
FOREIGN • New Look FP - containment and increase of • 1947 - Containment policy and Truman • 1947 - Marshall Plan - sent $17 billion to Europe • 2 Chinas Policy (recognised Chinese
nuclear arsenal Doctrine • 1945-48 - sent $3.5 billion to China, but it fell to nationalists and Communist China)
POLICY communism
1945-1975 • 1973 - Paris Peace Accords • 1949 - NATO (defend/support other • 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis
• by 1953, US defence production increased to 7x
• 1954 - Geneva Accords - (Ike supports but members) that of 1950 (arms race) • 1975 - Helsinki Agreements
doesn’t sign) • 1973 - Vietnamisation (‘peace with honour’) • 1972 - SALT 1 -limits nuclear capability of the • 1956 - Suez Canal (doesn’t support Brits)
• 1949 - Berlin Blockade and Airlift • 1968 - My Lai (causes domestic issues and USA and USSR
• SEATO - response to Geneva Accords impacts reputation)
• 1950-53 - Korea (due to containment policy)
