Timeline: The "Progressive Era" :
1901 Vice President Theodore Roosevelt (Rep) assumes presidency following assassination of McKinley
1902 Federal government sues the Northern Security Company for anti-trust violations; first major "trust-busting" case
1903 First power-driven airplane flown by Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, NC
1905 Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) founded
1906 Upton Sinclaire's novel, The Jungle, published
1906 Regulatory laws enacted by federal government: Hepburn Act (strengthening Interstate Commerce Commission); Pure Food and Drug Act; Meat Inspection Act
1908 Ford Motor Company manufactures first Model T car
1908 William Howard Taft (Rep) elected president; defeats William Jennings Bryan (Dem) in Bryan's third run for the presidency
1910 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded
1912 Children's Bureau established by federal government
1912 Presidential election: Woodrow Wilson (D) wins with 42 percent of vote, defeating President William Howard Taft, who polled only 23 percent; Theodore Roosevelt returns from retirement, splits Republican party by forming Progressive (Bull Moose) party, & finishes second (27 percent of vote); Socialist Eugene V. Debs finishes strong fourth with 900,000 votes (6 percent; best showing ever for Socialist candidate)
1913 Ford Motor Co. installs first moving assembly line
1913 Federal Reserve Act restructures US banking & currency
1913 Income tax established by 16th Amendment
1914 World War I begins in Europe
1914 Panama Canal is completed
Timeline: World War I and the 1920s:
1914 World War I begins in Europe
1916 Woodrow Wilson (Dem) re-elected as president, promising peace
1917 United States (finally) joins World War I on April 6
1918 World War I ends on November 11
1919 Wave of race riots, most notably in East St. Louis & Chicago
1919 Wave of post-war unionization & strikes, including general strike in Seattle
1919 Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer coordinates crackdown on radical labor and socialist groups in first "Red Scare"; leaders of IWW, Socialist Party, & other organizations arrested in series of "Palmer raids"
1919 Prohibition established under 18th Amendment; goes into effect under Volstead Act in 1920
1920 Women given right to vote in all elections under 19th Amendment
1920 First commercial radio station -- Pittsburgh begins broadcasting
1920 Warren Harding (Rep) elected president in a landslide over James M. Cox (Dem); symbolic end of "progressive era" and return to "normalcy"
1923 Harding dies and Calvin Coolidge becomes president; re-elected in
1924 National Origins Act goes into effect, severely limiting immigration, especially from southern and eastern Europe
1924 Scopes "monkey trial" in Dayton, TN
1927 First motion picture with sound, "The Jazz Singer," released
1927 Charles Lindbergh makes first successful nonstop flight across Atlantic
1928 Herbert Hoover (Rep) elected president, defeating Al Smith in landslide
1929 St. Valentine's Day massacre; Al Capone gains unquestioned control of Chicago mobs
1929 Stock market collapses; traditional date for beginning of Great Depression
1916 Woodrow Wilson (Dem) re-elected as president, promising peace
1917 United States (finally) joins World War I on April 6
1918 World War I ends on November 11
1919 Wave of race riots, most notably in East St. Louis & Chicago
1919 Wave of post-war unionization & strikes, including general strike in Seattle
1919 Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer coordinates crackdown on radical labor and socialist groups in first "Red Scare"; leaders of IWW, Socialist Party, & other organizations arrested in series of "Palmer raids"
1919 Prohibition established under 18th Amendment; goes into effect under Volstead Act in 1920
1920 Women given right to vote in all elections under 19th Amendment
1920 First commercial radio station -- Pittsburgh begins broadcasting
1920 Warren Harding (Rep) elected president in a landslide over James M. Cox (Dem); symbolic end of "progressive era" and return to "normalcy"
1923 Harding dies and Calvin Coolidge becomes president; re-elected in
1924 National Origins Act goes into effect, severely limiting immigration, especially from southern and eastern Europe
1924 Scopes "monkey trial" in Dayton, TN
1927 First motion picture with sound, "The Jazz Singer," released
1927 Charles Lindbergh makes first successful nonstop flight across Atlantic
1928 Herbert Hoover (Rep) elected president, defeating Al Smith in landslide
1929 St. Valentine's Day massacre; Al Capone gains unquestioned control of Chicago mobs
1929 Stock market collapses; traditional date for beginning of Great Depression
Timeline: 1930s:
1930 Congress enacts Hawley-Smoot Tariff, creating high tariffs to protect American products & exacerbating Depression
1931 The "Bonus Army" arrives in Washington DC & demands payment of bonus promised to WWI veterans; driven out by police and military
1932 Charles Lindbergh's baby son kidnapped & murdered; in 1934, German immigrant Bruno Hauptmann arrested, tried, convicted, & executed
1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Dem., Gov. of New York) elected president over Herbert Hoover
1933 "Hundred Days" legislation enacted, beginning New Deal; legislation includes Emergency Banking Act, Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA), Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), and National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
1933 Dust Bowl in Great Plains states
1933 Prohibition repealed with 21st Amendment
1933 Adolf Hitler elected Chancellor of Germany
1934 In wake of controversy over film content, Hollywood studios establish Motion Picture Production Code
1935 Works Progress Administration created
1935 Social Security Act passed
1935 National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) passed, establishing National Labor Relations Board, rules for union elections, and legal framework for collective bargaining
1935 Huey Long (Louisiana senator) assassinated
1935 Committee of Industrial Organizations (CIO) established
1936 United Auto Workers (UAW) use sit-down strikes (most notably, in Flint, MI) to gain concessions from employers
1936 Roosevelt reelected, this time against Alf Landon
1938 Fair Labor Standards Acts passed; last major New Deal legislation
1939 Germany invades Poland; World War II begins in Europe
1931 The "Bonus Army" arrives in Washington DC & demands payment of bonus promised to WWI veterans; driven out by police and military
1932 Charles Lindbergh's baby son kidnapped & murdered; in 1934, German immigrant Bruno Hauptmann arrested, tried, convicted, & executed
1932 Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Dem., Gov. of New York) elected president over Herbert Hoover
1933 "Hundred Days" legislation enacted, beginning New Deal; legislation includes Emergency Banking Act, Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA), Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA), and National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
1933 Dust Bowl in Great Plains states
1933 Prohibition repealed with 21st Amendment
1933 Adolf Hitler elected Chancellor of Germany
1934 In wake of controversy over film content, Hollywood studios establish Motion Picture Production Code
1935 Works Progress Administration created
1935 Social Security Act passed
1935 National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) passed, establishing National Labor Relations Board, rules for union elections, and legal framework for collective bargaining
1935 Huey Long (Louisiana senator) assassinated
1935 Committee of Industrial Organizations (CIO) established
1936 United Auto Workers (UAW) use sit-down strikes (most notably, in Flint, MI) to gain concessions from employers
1936 Roosevelt reelected, this time against Alf Landon
1938 Fair Labor Standards Acts passed; last major New Deal legislation
1939 Germany invades Poland; World War II begins in Europe
Timeline: World War II and the 1940s:
1939 German invasion of Poland begins World War II
1940 Manhattan Project begins; eventually develops nuclear weapon
1940 FDR reelected for 3rd term over Wendell Willkie; proposes Lend-Lease aid for beleaguered European allies
1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor forces US to enter war
1942 Japanese-Americans interned
1942 Allied troops invade North Africa
1943 Race riots in Detroit and Los Angeles
1944 D-Day; American & Allied troops invade Europe
1944 FDR reelected for 4th term; dies early in 1945 & new Vice President Harry S. Truman elevated to presidency
1944 Serviceman's Readjustment Act (GI Bill of Rights) passed, providing aid for returning veterans
1945 Allies capture Berlin in April; achieve victory in Europe but discover proof of Holocaust
1945 US uses nuclear weapons against Japan on Aug. 6 and 9; Japan soon surrenders
1946 Winston Churchill declares that "an iron curtain" had descended across Europe; symbolic beginning of Cold War
1947 Truman articulates "containment" doctrine
1947 Jackie Robinson joins Brooklyn Dodgers, desegregating baseball
1947 Marshall Plan for European recovery initiated
1948 Truman orders armed forces desegregated
1948 Truman unexpectedly re-elected president over Thomas Dewey
1949 Soviet Union explodes an atomic device
1940 Manhattan Project begins; eventually develops nuclear weapon
1940 FDR reelected for 3rd term over Wendell Willkie; proposes Lend-Lease aid for beleaguered European allies
1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor forces US to enter war
1942 Japanese-Americans interned
1942 Allied troops invade North Africa
1943 Race riots in Detroit and Los Angeles
1944 D-Day; American & Allied troops invade Europe
1944 FDR reelected for 4th term; dies early in 1945 & new Vice President Harry S. Truman elevated to presidency
1944 Serviceman's Readjustment Act (GI Bill of Rights) passed, providing aid for returning veterans
1945 Allies capture Berlin in April; achieve victory in Europe but discover proof of Holocaust
1945 US uses nuclear weapons against Japan on Aug. 6 and 9; Japan soon surrenders
1946 Winston Churchill declares that "an iron curtain" had descended across Europe; symbolic beginning of Cold War
1947 Truman articulates "containment" doctrine
1947 Jackie Robinson joins Brooklyn Dodgers, desegregating baseball
1947 Marshall Plan for European recovery initiated
1948 Truman orders armed forces desegregated
1948 Truman unexpectedly re-elected president over Thomas Dewey
1949 Soviet Union explodes an atomic device
Timeline: 1950:
1950 Truman orders work to begin developing hydrogen bomb
1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy begins anti-Communist crusade
1950 NSC-68 implemented -- expanded containment doctrine & committed US to assist allied nations anywhere that seemed threatened by Communism
1950 Korean War begins; US defends South Korean government from Communist North Korea and, later, the People's Republic of China
1950 Senator Joseph McCarthy begins anti-Communist crusade
1950 NSC-68 implemented -- expanded containment doctrine & committed US to assist allied nations anywhere that seemed threatened by Communism
1950 Korean War begins; US defends South Korean government from Communist North Korea and, later, the People's Republic of China