Origins

Politics are the activities associated with the affairs and governance of a country, job, or any other area really. They are the total complex of relations between people living in society, so we deal with politics every day in our workplace, country, and for some, even at home. It tends to be enforced by an authority of some sort, such as a board of directors for a school, company or union, state and country legislators, a sports committee, by head of household and even by the military capacity of a nation.

There are really two types of politics; formal and informal. Formal politics tend to be viewed outside yourself while still affecting your daily life because it refers to the operation of government and public institutions and procedures such as wars and other foreign and domestic affairs. Informal politics is pretty much everyday politics that we use to advance our goals and ideas at home or in the workplace where we exercise our influences over another. Both types of politics are about exercising power and forming alliances with those of like mind.

The word “politics” stems from the Greek word “politika” which means “affairs of the cities” and was made famous by the great Greek philosopher Aristotle who penned the book “Politics”.

The history of politics is reflected in the origin, economics and development of state institution government. Since states were formed through the art of warfare, then historically speaking, all political communities owe their existence to successful warfare.

While state and government are predominant political organizations, there are also many non-governmental organizations or even international organizations such as the UN that fall more in line with global politics to help keep the peace around the world.

With politics, comes political parties and political corruption. Most countries out there have a multi-party system and with that, I would say all have some sort of political corruption to gain an edge. While the corruption varies by country pending what is legal or not, the universal problems tend to be extortion, cronyism, nepotism, patronage, and embezzlement.

Political parties and political values go hand in hand, where both are comprised of ideologies of the “left-right” mantra or the “authoritarian-libertarian” one. For the “left-right” there is a left wing branch that tends to stand by reform and egalitarianism while the right wing branch tends to stand for traditional values and social stratification. The “authoritarian-libertarian” viewpoint speaks more on the amount of individual freedom one possesses. Authoritarian form is pretty much group goals and expectations holding more precedence over the individual goals, while Libertarian form is all about the individual sovereignty. Technically speaking, libertarian is the anarchist standing against state political control, while authoritarian is the totalitarian that supports full state control over all aspects of society.

In the U.S., the current, main political parties consist of Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian, and Green. Parties of the past include Federalist, Anti-Federalist, Democratic-Republican, and Whig.

Why do we choose party affiliation?

Is it the principle of the party, or are we just raised that way? One thing for sure is we are not born to a political affiliation, it seems to be acquired as we pursue adulthood. Me personally, I don’t see how anyone can pick a side, it’s like picking which head of a hydra will eat you.

Parties are more alike than not in most people’s eyes, besides the fundamental difference they have in the role of government. Democrats want big federal  government controlling the law of the land and work on society as a whole while Republicans want federal government to take a seat to the states and work on the individual rights and responsibilities of each citizen. By this matter, I would slide to the Republican side. Both sides flip flop on a regular basis on most issues.

The first thing to understand is that there are ignorant people in both parties, just as there are extremists, sheep and patriots on both sides. Anyone who tells you otherwise is propably an affiliate of a party, and will only recognize faults of the opposing sides.

As far as parties, one huge issue is super-delegates, which are unpledged delegates to mainly the Democratic National Convention and they consist of elected officials, party activists and other high ranking officials with no limit per state. Lets look at Arizona Democratic party, which has eighty-five delegates and ten superdelegates, when you break down the math there are about a million registered democrat voters, and they are heard by the 85 delegates in the primaries who primarily vote along their lines, the superdelegates can vote for whomever they want, tipping the scales. That is roughly twelve-thousand voters equal to one superdelegate and that is just not right. On the other side, Republicans have their own superdelegates but they are regulated to at the most, three per state and are required to vote along with the majority on their end.

(Update: Democrats changed their superdelegates to only vote if there is a run off, so they should only play a factor if it’s close)

Personally, I think everyone should leave the Republicans and Democrats, and vote conscientiously on the individual candidate, not by party affiliation. If a large percentage dropped their parties, that would shake up the party system and maybe bring on some new life.

Founding Fathers

FOUNDING FATHERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Pictured                                                                  Honorable Mentions

1st President George Washington                                                         Patrick Henry

2nd President John Adams                                                                    John Jay

3rd President Thomas Jefferson                                                           Thomas Paine

4th President James Madison                                                               John Marshall

5th President James Monroe                                                                George Mason

Benjamin Franklin                                                                                 John Hancock

Alexander Hamilton

Samuel Adams

 

Presidential Structure

The President of the United States (POTUS) is the elected head of government of the United States of America. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

The President of the United States is considered one of the world’s most powerful people and that role includes being the commander-in-chief of the world’s most expensive military with the largest nuclear arsenal and leading the largest economy by real and nominal gross domestic product. The office of the president holds significant hard, and soft power, both in the United States and abroad.

Article II of the U.S. Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The power includes execution of federal law, alongside the responsibility of appointing federal executive, diplomatic, regulatory and judicial officers, and concluding treaties with foreign powers with the advice and consent of the Senate. The president is further empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves, and to convene and adjourn either or both houses of Congress, under extraordinary circumstances. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States.

The president is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College to a four-year term, and is one of only two nationally elected federal officers, the other being the Vice President of the United States. 

The Twenty-second Amendment, adopted in 1951, prohibits anyone from ever being elected to the presidency for a third full term. George Washington set the precedent, others followed suit thinking no man should have that power for life, but that was an unwritten rule and therefor Franklin Roosevelt was able to secure more than the standard two terms. In all, 45 individuals have served 46 presidencies (counting Cleveland’s two non-consecutive terms, separately).

Presidents #1-10 (1752-1845) were the ones to set the bar. They broke from Great Britain and established the new nation and rules to follow. They played major roles in the Revolutionary War and War of 1812 . They consisted of;

• 1.George Washington; Independent
• 2. John Adams; Federalist
• 3. Thomas Jefferson; Democratic-Republican
• 4. James Madison; Democratic-Republican
• 5. James Monroe; Democratic-Republican
• 6. John Quincy Adams; Democratic-Republican
• 7. Andrew Jackson; Democrat
• 8. Martin Van Buren; Democrat
• 9. William Henry Harrison; Whig
• 10. John Tyler; Whig

#1 George Washington 1752-1796

2/22/1732 – 12/14/1799

Party: None / Independent

Timeline; 1752-1796

There is a rumor that in the Battle of Monongahela, during the French-Indian war, General Braddock (Sitting on the horse pictured below) was shot off his horse and soldiers started fleeing, George Washington took over the rear guard to protect troops as they fled, during this, he had two horses shot out from under him, once they got away it was noted that Washington had four bullet holes in his coat, but no wounds. He sent a letter to his mother indicating everything, but how accurate is it? You decide. While I, personally, have found multiple sites putting the bullet holes off as pure myth, I have found others, Encyclopaedia Britannica for one, to state it as truth.

 

1752-1758; George Washington held ranks of Major and Colonial with the British Militia during the French and Indian Wars.

1759-1765; Washington stayed away from the military life, running his plantation off the Kanawha River.

1765; The Stamp Act was announced, which was the first direct tax on the colonies.

1767; The Townshend Acts were announced which were a series of tax acts throughout that year.

1770; The Townshend Acts were repealed after Washington called for a ban on English goods until so. The only tax the colonies were paying after that were for tea.

1773; The Tea Act was announced which then brought the Colonists of the Thirteen Colonies, merchants, smugglers and artisans to stop the tea distribution and defy the taxes levied, referred to as The Boston Tea Party.

BOSTON TEA PARTY

1774; The Continental Congress was formed after the punitive taxes that came from the Boston Tea Party were levied. Washington was one of the first delegated.

1775; After The Battles of Lexington and Concord the colonies went to war. Washington appeared at the Second Continental Congress in military uniform signaling he was prepared for war. Washington founded the Continental Army as Congress unanimously declared him Full General and Commander in Chief.

BATTLES OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD

1776;

• France starts to provide covert aid to the Americans
• Popular belief is Washington and a few others visited Betsy Ross to create a flag for the new colony. Originally the colors did not have a significant meaning but eventually it was labeled that white signifies purity and innocence, red signifies hardiness & valour, and blue, also known as the color of the Chief, signifies vigilance, perseverance and justice.
  
• The Continental Congress releases the declaration of Independence
• The Battle of Long Island takes place
  
• The Siege of Bostontakes place
• Washingtonand company crosses the icy Delaware river for the Battle in Trenton

WASHINGTON CROSSES DELAWARE RIVER

1777; The Battles of Saratoga takes place where Britain surrenders almost 6,000 troops

1778; France recognizes U.S. independence

1780; Washington finds out that General Benedict Arnold had changed sides.

1781; The Victory at Yorktown ends major fighting in the Continental North America.

LORD CORN WALLACE SURRENDER AT YORKTOWN

While there were still British soldiers occupying northern territories from 1781-1784, they finally vacated late 1784, after the Treaty of Paris (1783) broke and Great Britain started to recognize the independence of the United States. Shortly after, General Washington disbanded the Army and resigned as Commander in Chief.

1787; Delaware (slave), Pennsylvania (free) and New Jersey (slave til 1804) become states.

1788; Georgia (slave), Connecticut (free), Massachusetts (free), Maryland (slave), South Carolina (slave), New Hampshire (free), Virginia (slave), and New York (slave until 1799) become states

1789;

• Congressional delegates designed the Presidency with Washington in mind. After convincing him to run, they voted unanimously that he be the First President at the age of 57, John Adams came in second and was named Vice President.
• North Carolina (slave) becomes a state in the union

1790;

• First naturalization law which established terms of citizenship
• Permanent home of the Nation’s capital to be moved to along the Potomac River and called the District of Columbia. While in building mode, the Capital moved from New York to Philadelphia.
• Rhode Island (free) becomes the 13th of the original colonies to become a state.

1791;

• Washington signs bill for First bank of the United States.
• The first internal revenue law was created; tax on distilled spirits.
• Commissioners name the territory of D.C., Washington D.C. in honor of their first President.
• States officially ratify the first ten amendments, known as The Bill of Rights.
• Vermont (free) becomes the 14th state

BILL OF RIGHTS

Washington unified the new nation and shaped the chief executive’s duties. After convincing him to run a second term, he unanimously won again in 1792.

1792; Kentucky (slave) becomes the 15th state

From 1792 to 1794, his administration dealt with trying to play neutral in the Britain and France feud but hosting the France minister deteriorated relations with Britain which caused them to make a new Treaty, dubbed Jay Treaty, late 1794.

1795; Treaty of San Lorenzo passed, which gave Americans the right to ship goods through the port of New Orleans, without paying duties to the Spanish government.

1796; Tennessee (slave) becomes the 16th state of the Union.

Washington refused to run a third term, which set the precedent for two terms. He gave his farewell address late 1796 and early 1797 and retired to his home in Mount Vernon. He died two years later from illness.

WASHINGTON FAREWELL ADDRESS

Not only is he one of the (if not the biggest) Founding Fathers of the United States of America, in his lifetime he was regarded as the “Father of his country” and to this day, he is the face of the one-dollar bill, the 25 cent piece, and as well as a face on Mount Rushmore

MOUNT RUSHMORE

Famous quotes:

“If the freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter”

“Observe good faith and justice toward all nations. Cultivate peace and harmony with all”

“Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”

#2 John Adams 1797-1800

10/20/1735 – 7/4/1826

Party: Federalist

Timeline; 1797-1800

 Adams was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a leader of the American Independence from Great Britain. He played a leading role in persuading Congress to declare Independence and assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776. During the Revolutionary War he was one of the first members of the Continental Congress (1774-1778) as well as Envoy to France (1778-1779). As the new colony, he served as Minister to the Netherlands (1782-1788), Minister to the court of St. James (1785-1788) and was the first Vice President under the United States (1789-1796). He was the first President to live in the White House.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

1797; At the age of 61, John Adams became the second President of the United States. Thomas Jefferson wins his Vice President position. His first order of business was making a three party peace committee to ease tensions with France. The circumstances of those men having to bribe their way to see the French prime minister became known as the XYZ Affair.

1798;

• The Eleventh Amendment was declared, which stipulated federal court will not have jurisdiction when it comes to litigation between individuals from one state against individuals of another.
• Alien and Sedition acts were adopted.
• Tensions grew with France, Congress approved finances for an army in case war was inevitable.
• Washington was brought back on as the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Army.

1799;

• Built up the U.S. Army and Navy in the face of an undeclared naval Quasi-war with France.
• George Washington is laid to rest in Mt. Vernon, VA

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S TOMB

• New York ends slavery, becomes free state

QUASI-WAR

1800;

• Adams signs into law the Federal Bankruptcy act to protect merchants and traders from debtors.
• Washington D.C. is finished, becomes the new capital and Adams becomes the first President to live in the Presidential mansion (What is now referred to as the White House).
• The quasi-naval war with France ends.

Adams signing the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts may have silenced some of his critics in trying to fill Washington’s shoes, but it also made him very unpopular and is most likely the reason he only served one term. Given his work building up the Army and Navy in his only term, he is still often regarded as the Father of the American Navy.

Famous Quotes:

“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

“Let us tenderly and kindly cherish, therefore, the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write.”

#3 Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809

4/13/1743 – 7/4/1826

Party: Democratic-Republican

Timeline; 1801-1809

Jefferson is considered the most brilliant President and he is also another one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He was a great architect, farmer, and scientist that founded the University of Virginia. He was the first Secretary of State under Washington, and the second Vice President, serving under John Adams before he was elected the third President. As a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, he motivated American colonists to break from Great Britain and form a new nation. He, along with James Madison, organized the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party during the formation of the first party system. Along with Madison, he wrote the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which was to strengthen states rights in opposition to the National Government by nullifying unconstitutional laws, such as they deemed Adams’s Alien and Sedition Acts.

1801;

• John Adams passes one last law to help Federalists remain in power of Congress; Judiciary Act of 1801
• At the age of 57, Jefferson became the third President of the United States with Aaron Burr winning the Vice Presidency.
• Tripoli declares war on the U.S. by cutting down the flagpole at the U.S. consulate.

1802;

• Congress recognized the war with Tripoli and authorized the arming of merchant ships going into what was to be, The First Barbary Wars.
• Judiciary Act of 1801 repealed, Judiciary Act of 1802 passed
• Whiskey and Naturalization laws repealed.
• Jefferson signs the Enabling Act.

BARBARY WARS

1803;

• Ohio (free) becomes the seventeenth state.
• Case of Marbury v Madison was decided, where the basis for judicial review of congressional and executive actions on the grounds of their constitutionality.
• The Louisiana Purchase treaty was signed.

LOUISIANA PURCHASE

1804;

• Aaron Burr is brought up on treason charges for killing Alexander Hamilton and is on the run.
•  Twelfth amendment ratified, changing the rules of elections that Vice Presidents are voted separately, not just the runner up since Jefferson and Burr tied creating chaos in the first election.
• Jefferson dispatches Lewis and Clark for an expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory
• New Jersey ends slavery, becomes free state

AARON BURR – ANDREW HAMILTON DUEL

1805;

• Jefferson wins re-election with George Clinton as his Vice President.
• Midway through the year, the U.S. and Tripoli finally reached a treaty of peace, ending the Tripolitan war (also known as Barbary war).

1806;

• The Lewis and Clark Expedition ends where it began; St. Louis.
• Legislation was also passed providing military organizational structure.
• Jefferson asks for ban on slave trade.

1807;

• Congress passes law prohibiting the Importation of Slaves, effective 1/1/1808.
• Jefferson modifies, authorizes and signs the Embargo Act.
• Burr is caught and eventually acquitted.

1808; Second Embargo Act (1807) comes into force

1809;

• Congress repeals Embargo Acts.
• Jefferson signs Non-Intercourse act closing U.S. ports to France and England until they agreed to respect rights of U.S. citizens.

Historians generally rank Jefferson as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents. He is on the face of the $2 bill as well as Mount Rushmore.

MOUNT RUSHMORE

Famous quotes:

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”

“I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.”

“Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”

#4 James Madison 1809-1816

3/16/1751 – 6/28/1836

Party: Democratic-Republican

Timeline; 1809-1816

Madison was hailed as the Father of the Constitution as well as the Father of the Bill of Rights for his pivotal role in drafting and promoting each, respectively. He became a leader in the new House of Representatives, drafting many basic laws and working closely with George Washington to organize the new Federal Government, as well as organizing the Democratic-Republican party, and drafting the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions with Jefferson, he supervised the Louisiana Purchase as Jefferson’s Secretary of State.

U.S. CONSTITUTION

1809;

• Madison is awarded Presidency at the age of 57, with George Clinton as his Vice President.
• Madison issues a proclamation known as the Erskine agreement, revoking the embargo on Britain.

1810;

• Tensions escalated with Spain prompting Madison and Congress to build the military and fleet back up.
• Madison proclaims authorizing occupation of West Florida, also claimed by Spain.

1811;

• Tensions build with Britain and harden later that year due to the Orders in Council.
• Madison requests declaration of war with Britain.

1812;

• House passes bill to enlarge the U.S. Army but denies enlarging the Navy.
• France sinks Naval ships and Congress declares war.
• Louisiana (slave) is admitted as the eighteenth state of the Union.
• Madison wins second term, loses George Clinton as V.P. and then requested declaration of war on Britain again over the Orders in Council, this time Congress approves.
• The nation divides as Madison wins again and declares the War of 1812.

1813;

• The Battles of Lake Erie and Battle of Thames become victories while Madison calls for total embargo on Britain.
• The Battle of the Burnt Corn in the Mississippi Territory starts the Creek War with the Native Creek Indians.

BATTLE OF THAMES

1814;

• Victory at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend eliminated the Confederation as an obstacle to American expansion toward the Gulf Coast. The engagement is one of the most significant American victories in the War of 1812, providing the United States with two-thirds of Creek land in the Treaty of Fort Jackson.
• Napolean’s empire collapses causing Madison to repeal the trade embargo.
• British set blaze to White House and Washington D.C.
• Star-spangled banner is penned by Francis Scott Keys
• Britain signs the Treaty of Ghent in Europe.

WAR OF 1812

1815;

• Battle of new Orleans is victorious
• News gets back home about the treaty, ending the War of 1812 in a draw.

BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

1816;

• Madison signs a bill re-chartering a new national bank in Philadelphia
• Madison signs bill admitting Indiana to statehood.
• Indiana (free) becomes the 19th state

After the failure of diplomatic protests and the trade embargo against the United Kingdom, he led the U.S. into the War of 1812 which was a muddy situation for the administration since they neither had a strong army, or solid financial system. As a result of that, Madison supported stronger National Government, a strong military, and the National banking system, which he long opposed. Early on he favored a strong National Government but as time passed he preferred stronger State Government, eventually settling between the two extremes. He is also one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. His face is on the $5,000 bill.

Famous quotes:

“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” “The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.” “Where an excess of power prevails, property of no sort is duly respected. No man is safe in his opinions, his person, his faculties, or his possessions.”
#5 James Monroe 1817-1825

4/28/1758 – 7/4/1831

Party: Democratic-Republican

Timeline; 1817-1825

Monroe held roles early on as diplomat to France (1794-1796) and to United Kingdom (1803-1808) as well as Governor of Virginia (1799-1802, 1811). During the War of 1812 he held critical roles as the Secretary of State (1811-1817) and Secretary of War (1814-1815) under Madison. He also helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

1817;

• Monroe is sworn in at the age of 58 with Daniel D. Tompkins as his V.P.
• Britain agrees to Rush-Bagot agreement
• Monroe takes a 16 week tour of New England making appearances for a sense of National unity
• Mississippi (slave) becomes the twentieth state
• Erie Canal begins construction

1818;

• Ratification of the Treaty of 1818
• Rush-Bagot agreement signed
• Illinois (free) becomes 21st state of the union

1819;

• Alabama (slave) becomes the 22nd state of the union
• The Panic of 1819 starts
• Adams-Onis Treaty resolved
• Supreme Court rules against Maryland in McCulloch v Maryland where states cannot tax federal agencies.

1820;

• Monroe signs Missouri Compromise
• Maine (free) becomes the 23rd state of the union
• Monroe wins a second term

1821;

• Monroe signs the Military Establishment Act
• Missouri (slave) becomes the 24th state of the Union
• Monroe supported the founding of colonies in Africa for free African Americans that became the nation Liberia

1822; Liberia’s capital is named Monrovia in honor of President Monroe

1823; Monroe announces the Monroe Doctrine

MONROE DOCTRINE COMIC SKETCH

1824;

• Monroe signs the General Survey Act
• Monroe signs the Tariff of 1824

1825; Monroe’s last piece of business was vetoing the Cumberland Road Bill

Monroe’s term was called the “Era of Good Feeling“ because there was little partisan fighting. With the ratification of the Treaty of 1818 and with the successful diplomacy of his Secretary of State John Q. Adams, the United States extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific, giving America harbor and fishing rights in the Pacific Northwest. The Treaty of 1819 secured the border of the U.S. along the 42nd parallel to the Pacific ocean and represented America’s first attempt at creating a global empire. Along with the previous Presidents, he was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America as well and the last President to be a founding father.

Famous quote:

“A little flattery will support a man through great fatigue.”

“Preparation for war is a constant stimulus to suspicion and ill will.”

“The best form of government is that which is most likely to prevent the greatest sum of evil.”
#6 John Q. Adams 1825-1828

7/11/1767 – 2/23/1848

Party: Democratic-Republican

Timeline; 1825-1828

John Q. Adams was the son of the second President; John Adams. They became the first father and son duo to have served as Presidents.  Historians believe he was one of the greatest diplomats and Secretaries of State in American History due to the Treaty of Ghent which ended the War of 1812, the annexation of Florida, the negotiation with Britain over the northern border with Canada and his drafting of the Monroe Doctrine. His successful diplomacy as Secretary of State helped extend United States from Atlantic to Pacific coasts.

1825; 

• John Q Adams wins the controversial Presidency over Jackson at the age of 57, John C. Calhoun becomes his V.P.
• Erie Canal is completed

ERIE CANAL

1826;

• Military training manuals created
• Founding Fathers Jefferson and Adams both die on Independence Day.

JOHN AND ABIGAIL ADAMS TOMB IN QUINCY, MA

THOMAS JEFFERSON TOMB IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA

• Adams finalized restitution settlement with Britain through the Treaty of Ghent.

1827;

• Adams proclaims ports closed to British, suspending trades.
• European states incorporated into MFN Trade System

1828;

• Mexican Boundary Settlement agreed upon
• Adams signs the Tariff of Abominations, Calhoun does nothing expecting it to fail and make the North look bad, but it passes.
• VP Calhoun anonymously pens South Carolina Exposition and Protest in objection to Tariff of Abominations

Although Adams was a leader in foreign-policy and played important roles of negotiating treaties, he was blocked by a Congress of his enemies time and time again, Some accused him of winning the White House through corruption so he was plagued by accusations of misdeeds throughout his presidency, which is why he only served one term. Calhoun’s deeds towards the end of the term helped seal it as well but Adams achieved far greater acclaim after his Presidency when he was elected a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts for nine terms, where his growing revulsion against slavery helped him become a leading opponent against slave power.

Famous quotes:

“Posterity: you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it.”

“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

#7 Andrew Jackson 1829-1837

3/15/1767 – 6/8/1845

Party: Democratic

Timeline; 1829-1837

Andrew Jackson gained national fame through his role in the War of 1812, where he won a decisive victory over the main British invasion army at the Battle of New Orleans. Years later he responded to conflict with the Seminole in Spanish Florida by invading the territory in 1818 which led to the First Seminole War and the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1819, which formally transferred Florida from Spain to the United States. After his surprising loss to John Q. Adams (allegedly by corruption) in 1824, his supporters founded what became the Democratic Party and pushed him to his election.

1829; Jackson becomes the 7th President of the United States, at the age of 61. Calhoun remains as his V.P.

1830; Jackson signs Indian Removal Act

1831;

• Jackson reshuffles his cabinet due to the Peggy Eaton affair
• James Monroe is laid to rest in Richmond, VA

JAMES MONROE TOMB

• Jackson vetoes bill that would extend the life of the Second Bank

1832;

• Jackson wins re-election
• South Carolina adopts the Ordinance of Nullification. Calhoun resigns from VP to be Senator of SC
• Jackson announce Nullification Proclamation in counter to South Carolina’s ordinance.

1833;

• Congress passes Force Bill, authorizing Jackson to use military power to bring South Carolina in compliance, if necessary.
• Martin Van Buren becomes V.P.

1836;

• Texas declares Independence from Mexico
• James Madison is laid to rest in Orange, VA

JAMES MADISON TOMB

• Arkansas (slave) becomes the 25th state of the union
• Deposit Act of 1836 signed

1837; Jackson recognizes Texas as an Independent but declines addressing annexation in light of threats by Mexico

Jackson dealt with the threat of secession from South Carolina over the Tariff of Abominations, which was passed in Adam’s congress. The tariff was eventually amended but even if it had not, Jackson refused to let any state nullify federal law, or secede and threatened the use of military force if South Carolina, or any other state, attempted to secede. During his time he was considered the common people’s friend and was dubbed “Old Hickory” because he was so tough and expanded the powers of the Presidency. He is the face of the $20 bill.

Famous Quotes;

“Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms.”

“The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality.”

“Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”

#8 Martin Van Buren 1837-1841

12/5/1782 – 7/24/1862

Party: Democratic

Timeline; 1837-1841

Van Buren gained his fame as a political organizer and an accomplished lawyer as well as building the organizational structure for the Democratic Party, primarily in New York where he also held titles of Senator (1821-1828) and Governor (1829). He also held position of Secretary of State (1829-1831), prime minister to United Kingdom (1831-1832) and Vice President (1833-1937). He was the first President to be born an American citizen, rather than British subject.

1837;

• At the age of 54, Van Buren becomes 8th President of the United States. Richard M. Johnson is his V.P.
• The Panic of 1837 begins in New York
• Rebellion erupts in upper and lower Canada against British, Americans get involved
• Britain seizes American steamship Caroline supplying aid to Canadian militia
• Michigan (free) becomes the 26th state of the Union

PANIC OF 1837

1838;

• Aroostook War begins
• Van Buren criticizes Britain over the Caroline Affair but remains in a neutral stance with the Neutrality Law of 1838

DESTRUCTION OF CAROLINE

1839;

• Aroostook War ends
• Van Buren secures agreement with England over two slave ships, then seizes another mutinous one, Amistad

LA AMISTAD

1840;

• Van Buren signs the Independent Treasury Act
• Hearings of the Amistad determined the right to send the ship back to its owner, but the slaves were freed to Africa

Van Buren lost re-election, where he was dubbed by newspapers as “Martin Van Ruin” over his inability to deal with the economic chaos that was the Depression of 1837 and for his stance against the annexation of Texas.

Famous quotes;

“The less government interferes with private pursuits, the better for general prosperity.”

“I cannot expect to perform the task with equal ability and success.”

“I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men… in receiving from the people the sacred trust confided to my illustrious predecessor.”

#9 William Henry Harrison 1841

2/9/1773-4/4/1841

Party: Whig

Timeline; 1841

Harrison served as the first territorial congressional delegate from the Northwest Territory (1799-1800), governor of the Indiana Territory (1801-1812), and later as a U.S. representative (1816-1819) and senator from Ohio (1825-1828). He originally gained national fame for leading U.S. forces against American Indians at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, where he earned the nickname “Tippecanoe” (or “Old Tippecanoe”). As a general in the subsequent War of 1812, his most notable action was in the Battle of the Thames in 1813, which brought an end to hostilities in Upper Canada. This battle resulted in the death of Tecumseh and the dissolution of the Indian coalition which he led.

BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE

1841;

• At the age of 68, Harrison became the ninth President of the United States and was the last President born as a British Subject. He delivered one of the longest inaugural speeches in the cold and fell ill.
• A month later Harrison died of pneumonia, bringing up the dilemma of who succeeds the President if he dies in office, it was determined then that the Vice President (John Tylor) takes over duties if the President passes in office.

HARRISON’S TOMB IN NORTH BEND, OH

Famous quotes;

There is nothing more corrupting, nothing more destructive of the noblest and finest feelings of our nature, than the exercise of unlimited power. The only legitimate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed. All the measures of the Government are directed to the purpose of making the rich richer and the poor poorer.
#10 John Tyler 1841-1845

3/29/1790 – 1/18/1862

Party: Whig

Timeline; 1841-1845

Tyler served as a Virginia state legislator, governor (1825-1827), U.S. representative (1816-1821), and U.S. senator (1827-1836) before his election as vice president (1841). He was put on the ticket to attract states’ rights Southerners to what was then a Whig coalition to defeat Van Buren’s re-election bid. Tyler was known as a supporter of states’ rights, which endeared him to his fellow Virginians. A firm believer in manifest destiny, President Tyler sought to strengthen and preserve the Union through territorial expansion, most notably the annexation of the independent Republic of Texas in his last days in office.

1841;

• Tyler takes Presidency at the age of 51, after Harrison’s death.
• Tyler’s entire cabinet, besides Secretary of State, resigns after he vetoes bill for establishment of the National Bank.

1842;

• Supreme Court of Massachusetts establishes the legality of labor unions in the case of Commonwealth v Hunt
• Tyler signs Webster-Ashburton Treaty
• Tyler’s wife, the first lady Letitia dies.

1844;

• Texas annexation Treaty is signed but fails to gain two-thirds support in the Senate
• First telegraph line established between Washington D.C. and Baltimore
• Treaty of Wanghia signed with Chinese empire
• Tyler gets remarried which causes both parties to pummel him in politics

1845;

• Texas annexation is passed
• Andrew Jackson is laid to rest in Nashville, TN

ANDREW JACKSON TOMB

• Florida (slave) becomes the 27th state of the Union

The circumstances of his unexpected rise to the presidency and his possible threat to the ambitions of other potential presidential candidates left him estranged from both major parties in Washington. Tyler found much of the Whig platform unconstitutional, and vetoed several of his party’s bills. Believing that the president should set policy instead of deferring to Congress, he attempted to bypass them but most of Tyler’s Cabinet resigned soon into his term, dubbing his tenure as “His Accidency”  and expelling him from the party. Though Tyler was not the first president to veto bills, he was the first to see his veto overridden by Congress. Although he faced a stalemate on domestic policy, he had several foreign-policy achievements, including the Webster–Ashburton Treaty with Britain and the Treaty of Wanghia with Qing China.

President Tyler dedicated his last two years in office to the annexation of Texas. He initially sought election to a full term, but after losing the support of both Whigs and Democrats, he withdrew. Although some have praised Tyler’s political resolve, his presidency is generally held in low standards by historians; today, he is considered with little presence in the American cultural memory. Tyler was expected to be a passive “acting President” while he finished Harrison’s term. But he refused to be passive. He made enemies in Congress and was the first President to be threatened with impeachment. 

Presidents #11-20 (1845-1881) Dealt with the Mexican-American War, South secession and Civil War, as well as the reconstruction phases and fight for civil rights that came with those.

• 11. James K. Polk; Democrat
• 12. Zachary Taylor; Whig
• 13. Millard Filmore; Whig
• 14. Franklin Pierce; Democrat
• 15. James Buchanon; Democrat
• 16. Abraham Lincoln; Republican
• 17. Andrew Johnson; Democrat
• 18. Ulysses S. Grant; Republican
• 19. Rutherford B. Hayes; Republican
• 20. James A. Garfield; Republican

#11 James K. Polk 1845-1849

11/2/1795 – 6/15/1849

Party: Democratic

Timeline; 1845-1849

Polk had an interest in politics and practiced law early on, being admitted to the bar in 1820. He served On Tennessee’s House of Representative’s 6th district (1825-1833) and 9th district (1833-1839) as well as becoming the speaker of the house (1835-1839), before moving on to Governor of Tennessee (1839-1841), failing to win the spot again in 41′ and 43′ prompted him to move to Washington. He was the only president to ever have served as House Speaker, as well as Governor of Tennessee. Polk was the dark horse candidate for president, surprisingly defeating Henry Clay by promising to annex Texas. His nickname was “Young Hickory” because of his close association with “Old Hickory”, Andrew Jackson.

1845;

• James K. Polk becomes eleventh President of the United States at the age of 49. George M. Dallas is his Vice President
• The Great Irish Potato shortage forces huge waves of immigrants to United States
• Polk orders General Taylor to the Rio Grande in case of Mexican invasion
• Manifest Destiny becomes a label to justify expanding the United Sates
• Texas (slave) becomes the 28th state of the Union
• U.S. Naval Academy formed

1846;

• Brigham Young leads Mormon migration to Utah
• Congress declares war on Mexico after the clash at Rio Grande

MEXICAN-AMERICAN WAR

• American settlers take over Sonoma California which was called the Bear Flag Revolt
• Polk threatens war with U.K. over Oregon, Oregon Treaty is made.
• Congress passes Tariff of 1846
• Polk vetoes River and Harbors Bill that he deems favoring an area and unconstitutional
• Polk signs into law the Independent Treasury Act of 1846
• Congress establishes the Smithsonian Institution
• Iowa (free) becomes the 29th state of the Union

 

1847;

• First U.S. postage stamp issued
• General Taylor’s army wins the Battle of Buena Vista while General Winfield Scott’s army wins the invasion of Mexico, finishing with the Battle for Mexico City, pressurizing the Mexican government to take Polk’s demands of peace.

BATTLE FOR MEXICO CITY

1848;

• James Marshall finds gold in Sacramento, beginning a mass migration of the California gold rush.

CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago signed, ending the Mexican-American war.

TREATY OF GUADALUPE HIDALGO

• Wisconsin (free) becomes the 30th state of the Union
• John Q. Adams is laid to rest in Quincy, VA

• Declaration of Sentiments were being fought by woman to have equal rights
• Construction of Washington Monument started

Scholars have ranked Polk favorably on lists of greatest presidents for his ability to promote, obtain support for, and achieve all of the major items on his presidential agenda. Polk is the least known president, that had a strong significance of the United States and in doing so, held true to his campaign, even pledged to only serve one term as President, Polk left office and returned to Tennessee in March 1849. He died of cholera three months later.

Famous quotes:

“No president who performs his duties faithfully and conscientiously can have any leisure.”
 

“Peace, plenty, and contentment reign throughout our borders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral spectacle to the world.”

“One great object of the Constitution was to restrain majorities from oppressing minorities or encroaching upon their just rights.”

#12 Zachary Taylor 1849-1850

11/24/1784 – 7/9/1850

Party: Whig

Timeline; 1849-1850

Taylor enlisted in the Army in 1806 and was commissioned first lieutenant of the infantry in 1808. He served for almost 40 years, going through the War of 1812, Blackhawk War (1832) and the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) where he reached the rank of brigadier general, eventually advancing to major general in 1846 for the Mexican-American War, where he was most known for disobeying President Polk’s orders and taking his diminished army south for the Battle of Buena Vista where he won a victory even though he and his men were outnumbered 4-1. “Old Rough and Ready”, as his soldiers called him, was put on the ballot in 1848 for the fame he received as general and national hero.

1849;

• Zachary Taylor becomes 12th President of the United States at the age of 64. Millard Filmore was his Vice President.
• James K. Polk is laid to rest in Nashville, TN

POLK’S TOMB

1850; President Taylor dies of cholera morbus and is buried in Louisville, KY

GENERAL TAYLOR’S TOMB

Though Taylor had a short Presidency, his legacy stood tall from his acts as General. His last few months in Presidency were filled with debates over the possible expansion of slavery in the territories won in the Mexican war. While the Compromise of 1850 was being discussed by Congress, Taylor stood firm against it, prepared to hold the Union together by force, rather than compromise.

Famous quotes;

“For more than half a century, during which kingdoms and empires have fallen, this Union has stood unshaken. The patriots who formed it have long since descended to the grave; yet still it remains, the proudest monument to their memory…”

“It eminently becomes a government like our own, founded on the morality and intelligence of its citizens and upheld by their affections, to exhaust every resort of honorable diplomacy before appealing to arms.”

“I have no private purpose to accomplish, no party objectives to build up, no enemies to punish—nothing to serve but my country.”

#13 Millard Filmore 1850-1853

1/7/1800 – 3/8/1874

Party: Whig

Timeline; 1850-1853

Fillmore started work in a law office at an early age, being admitted to the bar in 1823. Entering politics in 1828, he served in the New York assembly (1829-1832) and eventually won a spot in congress as New York’s 32nd district representative (1833-1835) and again (1837-1843). Then he went on to be the first comptroller of New York (1848-1849) before he was put on the ballot with General Taylor as Taylor’s Vice President which he served from 1848 until Taylor’s passing in 1850, where he took over office during the Crisis of 1850.

1850;

• Fillmore is sworn in at the age of 50 after Taylor’s untimely death. He becomes the 13th President of the Union
• California (free) becomes the 31st state
• Fillmore signs Fugitive Slave Act
• Congress passes the Compromise of 1850, with Fillmore’s support
• Fillmore names Brigham Young President of Mormon church, Young leads thousands from Illinois to Utah Valley

1851;

• U.S. ratifies first commercial treaty with El Salvador
• First installment of Uncle Tom’s Cabin comes out, which some believe is a book that helped raise tensions into the Civil War era
• Gold is found in Oregon along the Rogue River prompting thousands to go.

ROGUE RIVER OREGON GOLD RUSH

1852;

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin is published
• Rail service from New York to Chicago is under construction

1852 RAIL SERVICE

1853;

• Fillmore sent the Navy to force Japan into trade talks
• The territory of Washington is formed after its separation from the Oregon territory
• Congress authorizes Transcontinental railroad survey

Fillmore’s insistence on federal enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 alienated the North and helped lead him to being the last Whig President, and the last President that didn’t fall under Democrat or Republican. Fillmore approved the Compromise of 1850, allowing slavery in the South. But neither North nor South were happy with it, and Fillmore was blamed for the law’s failure which is why he only served that one term, although he did run again in 1856 for the anti-immigrant “Know-Nothing Party“, which he lost. He retired to Buffalo, becoming a leader in the city’s civic and cultural life. With his health on a decline, he died in 1874 due to the aftereffects of a stroke.

Famous Quotes:

“Nothing brings out the lower traits of human nature like office-seeking. Men of good character and impulses are betrayed by it into all sorts of meanness.”

“May God save the country, for it is evident that the people will not.”

“Let us remember that revolutions do not always establish freedom. Our own free institutions were not the offspring of our Revolution. They existed before.”

#14 Franklin Pierce 1850-1857

11/23/1804 – 10/8/1869

Party: Democratic

Timeline; 1853-1857

Pierce was studying law as his father was rising in political ranks, he joined his father’s campaign and helped him become governor in 1827. By 1833, the younger Pierce was elected to Congress as New Hampshire’s “at large” district representative where he stayed until moving to Senator
(1837-1842). After losing his seat he went back to practicing law where he was a success due to his popularity and outgoing personality, but eventually he had to take part in the Mexican–American War (1847-1848) when he was summoned to lead as a brigadier general in the Army in the assault on Mexico City but arrived too late for the final battle where he suffered minor wounds and embarrassment when his horse badly stumbled and he fainted and fell. He had to be hoisted back into the saddle to ride out too late for the climactic Battle of Chapultepec. After the war Pierce retired back to his successful law firm until he was called back out of New Hampshire.

BATTLE OF CHAPULTEPEC

1853;

• Pierce becomes the 14th President of the United States at the age of 48. William R. King was his Vice President.
• Andrew Jackson Battle of New Orleans statue put up

ANDREW JACKSON STATUE

• Gadsden purchase treaty signed

1854;

• A guerilla war between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers emerges and consumes Kansas for two years, dubbed “Bleeding Kansas”

• The Kansas-Nebraska Act is signed into law

• The Canadian Reciprocity Treaty opens the U.S. market to Canadian agricultural products. In return, the United States gets new commercial rights in Canadian waters and on the Great Lakes
• Coinciding with the further disintegration of the Whig Party, the Republican Party is founded. Its membership is composed of Whigs, Free-Soilers, and northern Democrats angry at the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
• The Ostend Manifesto, written by U.S. minister to Spain; Pierre Soule suggests that the United States threaten to invade Cuba if Spain is not willing to sell the island to the United States. The State Department disavows any connection to the document and forces Soule’s resignation later that year.

• In congressional elections, the Whigs continue to decline in power while Democrats also suffer losses. The Republican Party has yet to prove its ability to contest the Democrats but boasts impressive gains through cooperation with the American Party. Forty-four Republicans are elected to the House of Representatives.
  

1855;

• Nationality Laws change so that children born abroad by American citizens, were in fact American citizens themselves.
• Anti-slavery settlers in Kansas form an army they called Free State Forces and write the Topeka Constitution, which creates a second government in Kansas.
• Border ruffians invade Lawrence, Kansas starting the Wakarusa War but they are chased off by the Free State Forces.

1856;

• Pro-slavery and Border Ruffians attack Lawrence again.
• Sumner-Brooks affair occurs
• In response to the pro-slavery invasion of Lawrence, some Free State Forces conduct the Pottawatomie Massacre, killing five unarmed pro-slavery Kansans along the Pottawatomie Creek.

• “Bleeding Kansas” continues to rage; hundreds killed and a lot of homes burnt down,

1857;

• State of disunion convention is held Massachusetts to peacefully separate North and South.
• Congress determines foreign coins are not legal tender in the states.

You wouldn’t know by looking at him because of his outgoing demeanor but his family life was a very grim affair, his wife Jane suffer from illness and depression for much of her life and all of their children died young, their last son was killed in a train accident while the family was traveling, shortly before Pierce’s inauguration. His polarizing actions in championing and signing the Kansas–Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act failed to settle differences between North and South, setting the stage for Southern secession. Pierce signed the Gadsden Purchase of land from Mexico and led a failed attempt to acquire Cuba from Spain. He signed trade treaties with Britain and Japan, while his Cabinet reformed their departments and improved accountability, but these successes were overshadowed by political strife as his administration was further damaged when several of his diplomats issued the Ostend Manifesto, calling for the annexation of Cuba, a document which was roundly criticized. Pierce, who had been a heavy drinker for much of his life, died of severe cirrhosis of the liver in 1869. US historians and other political commentators generally rank Pierce’s presidency among the worst.

Famous quotes:

“We have nothing in our history or position to invite aggression; we have everything to beckon us to the cultivation of relations of peace and amity with all nations.”

“The storm of frenzy and faction must inevitably dash itself in vain against the unshaken rock of the Constitution.”

“I wish I could indulge higher hope for the future of our country, but the aspect of any vision is fearfully dark and I cannot make it otherwise.”

#15 Phillip Buchanan 1857-1861

4/23/1791 – 6/1/1868

Party: Democratic

Timeline; 1857-1861

Buchanon studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1812 where he established a successful law practice, getting into politics shortly after where he was on the Pennsylvania house of representatives (1814-1816) and U.S. house of representatives for Pennsylvania’s 3rd district (1821-1823), and the 4th district (1823-1831) where he became the chairman of the house (1829-1831). He also help positions as Minister to Russia (1832-1833), Senator of Pennsylvania (1834-1845), Secretary of State (1845-1849) and Minister to the U.K. (1853-1856). He was the only bachelor to ever serve in the White House.

1857;

• Buchanon becomes the 15th President of the United States at the age of 65. John C. Breckinridge was his Vice President.
• The Dred Scott decision is made by the Supreme Court
• President Buchanon orders Brigham Young’s removal as Governor of Utah, which sets off John D. Lee and he retaliates with what became known as the Mountain meadow massacre of Utah.

MOUNTAIN MEADOW MASSACRE

• Kansas elects Free-state legislature while pro-slavery advocates try to bring Kansas into the Union as a slave state. Lecompton constitution (Brittanica) is under discussion.

1858;

• Republicans gain control of the house as the Lincoln-Douglas debates heat up
• Lecompton constitution (Wiki) is defeated in Kansas; 10,226 to 138
• House votes to resubmit the Lecompton Constitution (Kansas Memory) in a national vote, in order to accept Kansas as a state of the Union, under Lecompton.
• English Bill passed, the bill resubmits the Lecompton Constitution (Civil War History) to Kansas with the incentive of land if ratified
• Minnesota (free) becomes the 32nd state of the Union
• Lecompton Constitution defeated again; 11,300 to 1,788

1859;

• Comstock Lode is found in Nevada, becoming the first U.S. silver strike found

COMSTOCK LODE

• Oregon (free) becomes the 33rd state of the Union
• Southern Commercial Convention kicks off where Southern slave owners try to bring back the African slave trade
• Kansas constitutional convention is back in session to determine whether Kansas will be admitted as a free or slave state.
• Kansas constitution ratified as an anti-slavery state
• John Brown’s Harper’s Ferry raid in Virginia in effort to establish abolitionist Republic in the Appalachians but he is caught and hanged for treason to the state. The brute force used to remove their threat divides the North and South states even further.

JOHN BROWN HANGING

1860;

• Republicans gain control of Senate as well as regain the House, controlling Congress
• Lincoln gives the Cooper Union address
• Lincoln is elected President
• Crittenden Compromise is put forth as a last attempt to persuade the Southern States from leaving the Union
• South Carolina secedes from the Union
• Buchanan gives his final message calling the Union a sacred trust

1861;

• Mississippi secedes from the Union
• Florida secedes from the Union
• Alabama secedes from the Union
• Georgia secedes from the Union
• Louisiana secedes from the Union
• Kansas joins the Union as a free state
• The confederacy is formed and Jefferson Davis is elected President with Alexander Stephens as his Vice President.
• Montgomery, Alabama is named Capital of the Confederacy
• Texas secedes from the Union
• Confederate Flag; Stars and Bars, is created

STARS AND BARS CONFEDERATE FLAG

Buchanan tried in vain to find a compromise to keep the South from seceding from the Union, but failed. His reputation during his years in retirement where Congress, the Republican Party, President Lincoln, the U.S. military, and national newspapers all ridiculed his handling of the Fort Sumter crisis and his failure to prevent the secession of Southern states. The Senate even drafted a resolution to condemn Buchanan. In fact, to prevent the defacing of Buchanan’s portrait, it had to be removed from the Capitol rotunda. Buchanan vigorously defended his presidency and died confident in the belief that posterity would vindicate him and redeem his reputation.

Famous quotes:

“There is nothing stable but Heaven and the Constitution.”

“The ballot box is the surest arbiter of disputes among freemen.”

“The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.”

#16 Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865

2/12/1809 – 4/15/1865

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1861-1865

Lincoln lived a quiet life working various traits. He volunteered in the Illinois Mafia and shortly after was elected captain in the Black Hawk War (1832). After the war he aspired to be a legislator but kept falling short, although he did hold a position on the Illinois House of Representatives (1834-1842) he also studied law where he passed his bar exam (1836) and started practicing. While working in the legal field, he worked for the Illinois Central Railroad (and sued them for his pay) as well as handled many other cases for other railroads, banks, insurance companies, and manufacturing firms. He also served on the U.S house of representatives (1847-1849). One of his finest accomplishments that helped solidify his fame as a lawyer was saving the Rock Island Bridge (1857) from the threat of the Mississippi river transportation interests, that demanded the bridge’s removal. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War, which was its bloodiest and an event often considered its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. His administration setup the Confiscation Acts through the war (1861-1864) liberating slaves in seceded states.

LINCOLN PAINTING (BLACK HAWK WAR)

1861;

• Lincoln becomes the 16th President of the United States at the age of 52. Hannibal Hamlin was his Vice President.
• The Confederate Congress unanimously adopt the Confederate Constitution
• Jefferson Davis wanted Fort Sumter surrendered to the Confederacy since it was on South land. Negotiations failed
• Confederate President Davis orders General P.G.T. Beauregard to open fire on federal
  arsenal in response to Lincoln trying to resupply Fort Sumter; one of the last federal stations remaining in the South.
• Lincoln calls for 70+ thousand volunteers to join the U.S. Army as militia men against the rebellion
• Lincoln declares an insurrection, marking the beginning of the bloodiest war in America history; The U.S. Civil War

CIVIL WAR

• In response to Lincoln’s decision to use force in South Carolina, Virginia secedes from the Union
• Lincoln orders a blockade of Confederate ports to disrupt the importation of supplies to the Confederacy
• Arkansas secedes from the Union
• House of Representatives pass the Morrill Tariff Act to help pay for the war
• North Carolina secedes from the Union
• The capital of the Confederacy moves from Montgomery, Alabama to Richmond, Virginia since Virginia had the higher population
• Tennessee secedes from the Union
• The Battle of Bull Run takes place near Manassas, Virginia. Confederate General Beauregard defeats the Union forces under General Irvin McDowell.

BATTLE OF BULL RUN

• Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson receives the nickname “Stonewall” here, after his firm stand during the battle. The Stars and Bars flag was confused with the Union flag during battle which inspired the Confederacy to create a new Battle Flag.

NEW BATTLE FLAG OF CONFEDERACY

• Union offers $100 bonus to volunteers offering two years of service to the U.S. Army
• General Winfield Scott retires as head of the Union army, Lincoln promotes General George B. McClellan

1862;

• Lincoln loses his son William Wallace Lincoln to typhoid fever
• The Virginia (formerly Merrimack) gunship battles the Union’s Monitor to a stand off, but eventually the Union establishes Naval superiority and gets the Confederates to abandon Norfolk

MERRIMACK VS MONITOR

• Secretary of the treasury under Lincoln, Salmon P. Chase passes the Legal Tender Act and issues 150 million “greenbacks”, ordering that “In God We Trust” be printed on them to encourage people to accept money at face value.
• Former President Tyler is laid to rest in Richmond, VA

JOHN TYLER’S TOMB

• Slavery is abolished in the District of Columbia
• Major General David Hunter organizes the first set of black troops that were former slaves. Confederates threaten they will execute captured black troops and Lincoln responds they will execute a confederate soldier for every black troop executed.
• Former President Van Buren is laid to rest in Kinderhook, NY

VAN BUREN’S GRAVE

• General Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson‘s Confederate army dominate the 2nd Battle of Bull Run which lead to huge Union losses

2ND BATTLE OF BULL RUN

• The Battle of Antietam takes place and becomes the bloodiest single-day battle of the Civil War

BATTLE OF ANTIETAM

• Battle of Shiloh takes place in Tennessee

BATTLE OF SHILOH

• General Lee invades the North in attempt to isolate Washington D.C. but fails. McClellan does not chase after the retreating Lee, frustrating President Lincoln and causing him to remove McClellan from command.
• Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, to go into effect the following year where all Confederate and opposing state’s slaves were considered Free men. Union state slaves were not included in this.

• Battle of Fredericksburg takes place, marking a huge defeat to the Union.

BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG

• Union ironclad Monitor sinks off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

USS MONITOR SINKING

1863;

• Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect, making black slaves in the South “forever free”. It did not include occupied portions of the South like parts of Tennessee, Virginia, and Louisiana, nor the loyal slave states, just rebellion portions.
• The Battle of Murfreesboro occurs

BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO

• Salmon P. Chase orchestrates the first income tax in 1863.
• Congress passes Conscription law, requiring military service, or draftees can pay $300 to hire a substitute, which angers some, referring to that as “aristocracy legislation.”
• Battle of Chancellorsville takes place where Stonewall Jackson is wounded by his own troops, requiring his arm to be amputated, short time later, dying from pneumonia. General Lee wins the battle and it is dubbed a brilliant victory, prompting him to invade the North again.

BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE

• Richmond Bread Riot takes place, becoming largest civil disobedience for the Confederacy
• West Virginia becomes the 35th state of the Union (Although Southern states seceded from the Union, Lincoln still counted them as Federal property, knowing they would not give up the fight to unify them all again)
• On Lee’s way to invade the North again and try to take Washington D.C., General George G. Meade (whom replaced McClellan) accidentally ran into him in Gettysburg, staging the biggest engagement of the Civil War with the Battle of Gettysburg.

BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG

• Lee makes huge mistake sending General George Picket and 15,000 men on a suicidal run of Cemetery Ridge, causing Lee and his men to retreat. Meade does not pursue, frustrating Lincoln.

LEE’S RETREAT FROM GETTYSBURG

• General Ulysses S. Grant captures Vicksburg, Mississippi, a confederate stronghold. Shortly after, Lincoln promotes Grant as his Lieutenant General.
• Angry over the draft, rioters in New York protest the conscription act prompting Lincoln to send troops from Gettysburg to end the fighting in New York
• Lincolns makes the Gettysburg address on the bloodstained battlefield and dedicates a National cemetery for it.
• Lincoln offers pardons to those in the South that take the oath and come back to the Union.

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS

1864;

• General Grant continues his Spotsylvania campaign, hammering through Lee’s forces.

GENERAL GRANT INVASION

• Lincoln opens peace negotiations and sends Horace Greeley to Canada to meet with Davis’s emissaries but without proper authority there, negotiations fail.
• Democrats deem the war a failure and nominate General McClellan as their candidate to run against Lincoln for his 2nd term.
• Confederates under General John Hood evacuate Atlanta Georgia as Union forces led by General William Tecumseh Sherman come in to occupy the city. Sherman, being a close friend to General Grant, used Grant’s same tactics of total warfare to occupy areas of the Atlanta Campaign
• Nevada becomes the 36th state of the Union
• Following decisive Union victories by Admiral Farragut in Alabama and General Sherman in Atlanta, Abraham Lincoln is reelected as President of the United States, with Andrew Johnson as his new Vice President. He chose Johnson, a racist and uneducated Southerner from Tennessee, to balance the ticket.
• Salmon P. Chase is appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court after his Legal Tender Act of 1862 helped keep the nation out of financial ruin.

1865;

• House approves the Thirteenth Amendment, with Lincoln’s influence.
• Confederate Congress gives Robert E. Lee full command of Confederate Army
• Federal Congress creates Freedmen’s Bureau to help Southern blacks affected
  by the war
• Confederate Congress approves recruitment of 300,000 slaves for military involvement. President Davis declares that all volunteers and their families would be given freedom
• Richmond, Virginia is evacuated
• Union forces capture Confederate’s much-needed supplies at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, prompting Confederate General Robert E. Lee to surrender to General Grant, marking the end of the Civil War.

GENERAL GRANT AND GENERAL LEE

• 5 days after the conclusion of the war, President Lincoln was shot in the head at Ford’s theater by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth, dying the following morning.

John Wilkes booth had accomplices who were supposed to kill Secretary of State William H. Seward, Vice President Andrew Johnson, and General Ulysses S. Grant but Booth was the only one to follow through. The accomplices were hanged for taking part in the plot or having known about it in advance and doing nothing. Booth was discovered in a barn in Virginia by the Army and Secret Service but as they attempted to capture Booth, the barn was set on fire and Booth either shot himself or was killed in a shoot-out trying to flee.

BOOTH ACCOMPLICES HANGED

Lincoln’s death stunned the country and wiped away any celebration that was to come of the ending of the Civil War. Polls show that Lincoln is the most admired President. Lincoln is the face of the five-dollar bill, and the penny. The Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. was made dedicated to him, as well as his face being one of the 4 on Mount Rushmore

LINCOLN MEMORIAL

MOUNT RUSHMORE

Famous quotes:

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”

“Whatever you are, be a good one.”

“I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends.”

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.“

#17 Andrew Johnson 1865-1869

12/29/1808 – 7/31/1875

Party: National Union

Timeline; 1865-1869

Before running with Lincoln, Johnson served in the U.S. house of representatives (1843-1853), was the governor of Tennessee (1853-1857) and in the Tennessee Senate (1875). As Southern slave states, including Tennessee, seceded to form the Confederate States of America, Johnson remained firmly with the Union. He was the only sitting senator from a Confederate state who did not resign his seat upon learning of his state’s secession.

1865;

• At the age of 56, Johnson becomes the 17th President of the United States after Lincoln’s assassination.
• Johnson declares that terms agreed on between Union General Sherman and Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston were too lenient to the Confederates. Johnston surrenders to Sherman later, on harsher terms
• Johnson issues a proclamation offering rewards for the arrests of Confederate leaders Jefferson Davis, Jacob Thompson, and Clement C. Clay, Jr.
• After Lincoln’s funeral train departs D.C. for Illinois, D.C. celebrates the Civil War win as Johnson presides over a series of reviews from the Army of Potomac and Army of Tennessee

LINCOLN FUNERAL

• Johnson appoints provisional governors of the South to look over his reconstruction plans
• Lincoln is laid to rest in Springfield, IL

LINCOLN’S TOMB 1865

• Mississippi enacts a Black Code which restricts newly won rights of African Americans in attempts to still keep them inferior. Other ex-Confederate states do the same.
• Johnson orders provisional governors to hand over their positions to the elected successors. Newly elected government are filled with numerous ex-Confederate officials.

1866;

• Johnson vetoes a bill calling for the extension of the Freedmen’s Bureau. The bill is a response to the black codes of the South and would expand the power of the Bureau, the organization formed for the freedmen’s protection.

• Johnson vetoes the Civil Rights Act, a second attempt by Congress to provide freedmen with federal citizenship after the failed Freedmen’s Bureau bill, but The Senate overrides Johnson’s veto and three days later, the House of Representatives overrides it as well.
• The Fenian Raid and the Battle of Ridgeway in Canada takes place between Canadian militiamen and members of the Fenian Brotherhood, an Irish-American organization lobbying for a free Ireland. Many of the Fenian participants are Civil War veterans.

FENIAN RAID

• Congress passes and sends the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, to the states for ratification. Not only does the amendment seek to prevent ex-Confederates from holding office, it also establishes the citizenship of African Americans, affirming that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” The amendment, when passed, will overturn the Dred Scott decision of 1857.
• Congress readmits Tennessee to the Union after the state ratifies the Fourteenth Amendment

1867;

• Nebraska becomes 37th state in the Union
• Despite Johnson’s veto, Congress passes the First Reconstruction Act as well as the Army Appropriations Act. Congress also passes, over Johnson’s veto, the Tenure of Office Act, prohibiting Johnson from removing cabinet officers without the Senate’s consent.
• Johnson vetoes the Seconds Reconstruction Act but Congress overrides that too.
• Johnson vetoes the Third Reconstruction Act, but again, Congress overrides it.

• Johnson and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton disagree on Southern Reconstruction,
  Stanton refuses to resign at Johnson’s request so Johnson suspends him and promotes Ulysses S. Grant as interim Secretary of War.

1868;

• Johnson submits his reasons for suspending Stanton to the Senate but the Senate refuses to concur
• Grant informs Johnson that he will vacate his spot for Stanton per the Senate
• Former President Buchanan is laid to rest in Lancaster, PA

BUCHANAN’S TOMB

• Johnson removes Stanton and gives control of the War Department to General Lorenzo Thomas but Stanton barricades himself in his cabinet office for a couple months. Johnson’s actions violate the Tenure of Office Act and begin the impeachment crisis.
• The House appoints seven managers to go before the Senate with eleven articles of impeachment. Eight of these articles relate to the Tenure of Office Act and the removal of Secretary of War Stanton.
• Senate begins impeachment trials
• The Senate votes 35-19 to convict President Johnson, falling one vote short of the necessary two-third majority. Seven moderate Republicans vote against impeachment. The vote serves as a precedent for standard necessary to convict in impeachment hearings.
• The Senate votes to acquit President Johnson on impeachment charges two and three. The Senate then adjourns and fails to vote on the remaining eight articles of impeachment.
• President Johnson vetoes bills that would have readmitted several ex-Confederate states to the Union. Congress overrides these vetoes.
• Johnson submits the Burlingame Treaty between the United States and China
• President Johnson delivers his final annual message to Congress, again requesting the repeal of the Reconstruction Acts.

Succeeding Lincoln, Johnson found himself in bitter battles with Congress over Reconstruction. Congress tried to impeach him and he was tried by the Senate, but was acquitted by one vote. After Presidency he won another seat on the Senate in 1875 but died later that year due to complications of multiple strokes.

Famous quotes;

“Honest conviction is my courage; the Constitution is my guide”

“There are no good laws but such as repeal of other laws”

“I am sworn to uphold the Constitution as Andy Johnson understands
it and interprets it”

#18 Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1877

4/27/1822 – 7/23/1885

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1869-1877

Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant, but an error on his application to West Point changed his name to Ulysses Simpson Grant. He liked the initials so much that he kept the name. Not only was Grant the top Union military hero of the Civil War era (1861-1869), before that, he played a big part in the Mexican-American war era (1839-1854) under both General Taylor, and later General Scott.

1869;

• Grant becomes the 18th President of the United States at the age of 46. Schuyler Colfax was his Vice President.
• Former President Pierce is laid to rest in Concord, NH

PIERCE FAMILY TOMB

• First Transcontinental railroad is completed

TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD COMPLETED

• Black Friday financial panic takes place

1870;

• Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge begins

BROOKLYN BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION

• Grants vetoes Private relief bill
• Virginia is readmitted to the Union after completing reconstruction
• U.S. Weather bureau is established
• Mississippi is readmitted to the Union after completing reconstruction
• Texas is readmitted to the Union after completing reconstruction
• Fifteenth Amendment ratified
• Congress makes it a federal crime to interfere with voting as a first Enforcement Act to prevent people from stopping blacks from voting.
• Congress creates a Department of Justice, reporting to Attorney General

1871;

• Federal Election Law passes as the second Enforcement Act to prevent people from stopping blacks from voting.

ENFORCEMENT ACTS

• Indian Appropriation Act is passed
• Treaty of Washington passes
• Ku Klux Klan Act is passed to enforce the Fourteenth Amendment in
  the South and suppress Klan activities. It was the third, and strongest
  Enforcement Act to prevent people from interfering with Blacks voting.
• City of Chicago is nearly burned to the ground, the rise of skyscrapers comes from the reconstruction

CHICAGO FIRES

• Grant issues a proclamation against KKK in South Carolina

1872;

• Grant vetoes Private Pension Bill
• Henry Wilson runs as Grant’s VP for re-election

1873;

• The House of Representatives investigates the relations of Credit Mobilier and the Union Pacific Railroad as a scandal surfaces in which UPR directors used the Credit Mobilier to pay themselves from the Railroad Treasury. Additionally, they had bribed congressmen to avoid an investigation. Thirteen Senators were involved, although only two received censure.

CREDIT MOBILIER SCANDAL

• Coinage act passed, also know as the “Crime of 73“
• Congress passes appropriations Bill, raising senior government salaries with 2 years back paid… also known as the salary grab bill.
• Grant starts 2nd term with Henry Wilson as the new VP
• The failure of brokerage firm Jay Cooke & Company starts the
  Panic of 1873
• A Spanish cruiser captures the U.S. ship, the Virginius, thinking that it was sent to provide armaments for an invasion. Before Spain’s can order instructions not to impose the death penalty , fifty-three of the men captured on the ship were executed. Tensions were calmed when Secretary of State Fish and the Spanish minister to the United States signed an agreement providing for the return of the remaining prisoners and the payment of an indemnity.

VIRGINIUS AFFAIR

1874;

• The salary grab bill is repealed
• Former President Fillmore is laid to rest in Buffalo, NY

FILLMORE’S GRAVE

• Grant vetoes Currency inflation bill
• Lincoln’s Tomb is dedicated

LINCOLN TOMB 1874

• Grant issues a proclamation calling for the dispersal of the rebellious “White League” in Louisiana. Grant sends five thousand troops and three gunboats to New Orleans; the resistance ends two days later, although, Grant and the Republicans were criticized for the intervention in the Battle of Liberty Place

BATTLE OF LIBERTY PLACE

1875;

• The Hawaiian Reciprocity Treaty is signed, making the islands a virtual protectorate of the United States.
• The Specie Resumption Act is passed
• Former President Johnson is laid to rest in Greenville, TN

JOHNSON’S TOMB

• Two-hundred thirty-eight people are indicted in connection with
  the “Whiskey Ring Scandal,” in which distillers conspired with Treasury
  Department officials to defraud the government of millions of dollars
  in liquor taxes.
• VP Henry Wilson dies
• Grant signs the Civil Rights Act of 1875, guaranteeing blacks
  equal rights in public places and prohibiting the exclusion of blacks
  from jury duty

1876;

• General George A. Custer and 265 men of the Seventh Cavalry are
  killed in a battle with Sitting Bull’s Sioux Indians at Little Big Horn

BATTLE OF LITTLE BIG HORN

• Colorado is admitted to the Union as the 38th state
• Presidential election result is inconclusive, a team is put together to look at the electoral votes

1877;

• Ohio Republicans and Southern Democrats meet in D.C. to forge the
  Compromise of 1877
• Senate and House accept the report from the electoral commission.

Grant had a solid two terms even though they were marred with scandals. He would have won a third had he ran but he showed no interest. After office, he and his wife Julia traveled around the world before settling in New York to run a business and write his memoirs, which he signed a contract with his friend Mark Twain to complete. Grant died in 1885 after battling with throat cancer.

Famous quotes;

“The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving on.”

“In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins.“

“Labor disgraces no man; unfortunately, you occasionally find men who disgrace labor.“

#19 Rutherford B. Hayes 1877-1881

10/4/1822 – 1/17/1893

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1877-1881

Hayes was an attorney and city solicitor of Cincinnati (1858-1861) but when the Civil War began he left politics to join the Union Army, as an officer. He was wounded a few different times, the worst being the Battle of South Mountain (1862) where he earned a reputation for bravery in combat and earned the rank of major general. After the war he went back to politics and served in the U.S. Congress (1865-1867) and then as Governor of Ohio on two separate occasions (1868-1872, 1876-1877).

BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN

1877;

• Hayes becomes the 19th President of the United States at the age
  of 54. He secures only 48 percent of the popular vote and 164 electoral votes to Tilden’s 184. However, voter fraud and unclear results are reported in several states. A controversial decision of a special electoral commission ultimately proclaims Hayes President, with some Democrats referring to Hayes as “Rutherfraud.”
• In return for the presidency, the Republicans make various concessions, including the removal of federal troops from the South in what was known as the Compromise of 1877 or the Great Betrayal as African-Americans referred to it as.
• Troops depart the statehouse in South Carolina following a meeting at the White House.
• As in South Carolina, Hayes officially withdraws soldiers from Louisiana. Governor Packard has no choice but to submit, declaring, “One by one, the Republican
  state governments of the South have been forced to succumb to force, fraud or policy.” Hayes’s withdrawal of troops from the South marks the end of Reconstruction.

• Hayes sends troops to patrol the nearly lawless Mexican border and cross it if necessary to pursue bandits. Mexican president Diaz protests and sends troops to the border as well. Ultimately, economic concerns motivate both parties to work towards a settlement.
• Hayes issues an Executive Order that forbids the involvement of federal employees in political activities. The President takes such action in the hope that it will curtail corruption; the Executive Order stipulates that those in office can no longer be dismissed for political reasons. Congress rejects additional proposals. These events testify to Hayes’s interest in civil service reform.
• The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 begins on the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) line at Camden Junction, Maryland; additional strikes will follow, lasting a month, but lacking organization, the strikes frequently degenerate into mob activity. Hayes sends federal troops to protect mail and quell the riots that take place in numerous cities, angering many workers.

GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE

1878;

• Founded in 1869 by Uriah S. Stephens, a tailor in Philadelphia, the Knights of Labor is
  established as a national organization. It is the first labor union to attempt to organize all workers and hopes to establish a worker-owned factory system.
• A U.S.-Samoan treaty is signed in Washington which gives the United States the right to establish a naval and coaling station at the port of Pago Pago; it also pledges American assistance to Samoa if a third country interferes with Samoan chiefs. The Senate ratifies the treaty

U.S.-SAMOA TREATY

• Hayes vetoes the Bland-Allison Act, advocated by farmers and debtors, but Congress passes the measure over his veto. The act calls for the resumption of silver coinage at a rate between $2 and $4 million per month.
• Hayes vetoes a bill which bans incoming vessels from carrying more than fifteen Chinese passengers. Hayes then works to negotiate changes to the Burlingame Treaty with China in order to set limits on Chinese immigration.
• America recognizes the Diaz regime in Mexico in an effort to avoid greater conflict.
• House Democrats begin an investigation of the controversial presidential election of 1876, much to the chagrin of Hayes, who fears that the investigation may be an attempt to replace him with Tilden.
• Following congressional midterm elections, the Democratic Party controls both houses of Congress for the first time since the Civil War. Consequently, Hayes will have little sway in Congress.

1879;

• Hayes allows the resumption of gold payments for Civil War greenbacks, paper money not backed by specie, silver, or gold. This is a continuation of the Specie Act begun under President Grant. During the Hayes administration, as the government’s gold supply grows and the issuance of silver coins increases, the economy begins to recover. By the spring of 1879, the government has retired all Civil War bonds.
• After a political struggle between Hayes and Senator Conkling, the Senate approves Hayes’s appointments for the New York Customhouse. Although these fail to end inefficiency in the civil service system, the country largely supports Hayes’s commitment to reform.
• Congress passes the Army Appropriations Bill. The law includes a “rider” which forbids the use of federal troops at polls, which many regard as an attempt to nullify black
  voting rights. Hayes vetoes the bill, but the House sustains the veto. Hayes again vetoes the rebuffed version, and many Republicans feel the veto secures the election of 1880.
• Hayes vetoes a version of the appropriations bill for the third time; a later bill excludes “certain judicial expenses” forbidding the army to “police the polls”; Hayes will agree to this language.
• The appropriations designated by Democrats exclude implementation of election law funds; Hayes vetoes the bill.
• In a speech to Congress, Hayes continues to support a Central American canal to unite the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

1880; The United States and China sign a treaty which repeals a section of the 1868 Burlingame treaty. The move gives the United States the power to “regulate, limit or suspend” but not completely prohibit Chinese immigration. The treaty also includes a clause banning the opium trade. In return, the United States grants China trading privileges.

Hayes kept his pledge not to run for re-election, retired to his home in Ohio, and became an advocate of social and educational reform. He died from complications after a heart attack.

Famous quotes;

“One of the tests of the civilization of people is the treatment of its criminals.”  “He serves his party best who serves his country best.”  “Do not let your bachelor ways crystallize so that you can’t soften them when you come to have a wife and a family of your own.”
#20 James A. Garfield 1881

11/19/1831 – 9/19/1881

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1881

Garfield worked various jobs in his younger years entering politics in 1857. He served on the Ohio Senate
(1859-1861) and then joined the Union Army where he helped recruit the 42nd Ohio Volunteer infantry and became its colonel. After commanding a brigade at the Battle of Shiloh (1862) he served as chief of staff in the Army of Cumberland, where he was promoted to major general after his part in the Battle of Chickamauga (1863). He served on the U.S. house of representatives (1863-1880) where he also held titles as chairman on the house committees on Military affairs (1867-1869), Financial services (1869-1871) and Appropriations (1871-1875).

1881;

• Garfield becomes the 20th President of the united States at the age of 49. Chester A. Arthur was his Vice president.
• New York senators Roscoe Conkling and Tom Platt resign to protest
  Garfield’s removal of New York nominees to secure Robertson’s confirmation.
• The Senate confirms Robertson as collector of customs for the port of New York.
• Clara Barton organizes the American Association of the Red Cross, modeled after the International Red Cross, in Washington, D.C.
• Charles J. Guiteau, a mentally unstable Stalwart attorney who had
  been denied a consular post, shoots Garfield in a Washington railroad
  station. “I am a stalwart,” Guiteau proclaims. “Arthur is now President
  of the United States.”

GARFIELD SHOT IN THE BACK

• Established in 1880, the Normal School for Colored Teachers, now Tuskegee University, officially opens its doors in Tuskegee, Alabama.
  
• President Garfield dies from blood poisoning and complications after surgeons search endlessly to find the lost bullet in Garfield’s back, lodged in his pancreas. He was laid to rest in Cleveland, OH
  

GARFIELD’S TOMB

Garfield set out to reform the “spoils system” by which politicians gave their friends low-level political offices. He never paid a great deal of attention to securing himself, likening the possibility of being assassinated to the same chance of being struck by lightning; impossible to prevent, pointless to worry about. Even after he was shot he didn’t seem too concerned by those around him.

Famous quotes;

“If wrinkles must be written upon our brows, let them not be written
upon the heart. The spirit should not grow old.”

“The truth will set you free, but first it will make you
miserable.”

“History is philosophy teaching by example, and also warning;
its two eyes are geography and chronology.”

Presidents #21-30 (1881-1929) Established many civil reforms, delegated conservation of land, branched out the Federal Government, as well as improved foreign relations and dealt with the Great War; World War I and the start of prohibition.

• 21. Chester A. Arthur; Republican
• 22. Grover Cleveland; Democrat
• 23. Benjamin Harrison; Republican
• 24. Grover Cleveland; Democrat
• 25. William McKinley; Republican
• 26. Theodore Roosevelt; Republican
• 27. William H. Taft; Republican
• 28. Woodrow Wilson; Democrat
• 29. Warren G. Harding; Republican
• 30. Calvin Coolidge; Republican

#21. Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885

10/5/1829 – 11/18/1886

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1881-1885

Arthur spent his early career as an attorney and in politics. During the Civil War, he served as Engineer-in-Chief (1861-1863), Inspector General (1862) and Quartermaster General (1862-1863) in the New York Militia. After the war he devoted more time to politics, holding positions such as Collector of the Port of New York (1871-1878), Chairman of the New York State Republican Executive Committee (1879-1881), and Vice President (1881).

1881;

• Following Garfield’s death, Arthur becomes the 21st President of the United States at the age of 51.
• Trial for Garfield’s assassin, Guiteau begins

1882;

• Congress passes bill mandating the use of the census to determine representation. The move increases the number of reps to 325
• The Star-Route Scandal trial begins where nine men are to be indicted for defrauding the government in a postal scam
• Senate ratifies the Geneva Convention of 1864
• Congress passes Edmund’s Act which excludes bigamists and polygamists from voting or holding office.
• Chinese Exclusion Act vetoed, then revised
• Arthur appoints a tariff commission to recommend tariff reductions
• Steamboat Safety Bill vetoed
• River and Harbor Act vetoed
• Star-Route scandal concludes with 2 of the 9 found guilty. A retrial for December is set when the jury foreman says a government agent tried to bribe him.

1883;

• Congress passes the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
• Mongrel Tariff Act passes
• Arthur signs bill appropriating funds for the Navy’s first steel vessels.
• Brooklyn Bridge opens; the construction project took 13 years and $15 million to complete. It is estimated that over 20 men died in this project

• Second Star-Route case concludes, all nine men are found not guilty
• U.S.-Luxembourg Treaty is concluded

1884;

• U.S. participates in an international conference establishing standard time
• Congress passes bill repealing the 1862 test oath, which required office holders to swear they never displayed any illegal or disloyal conduct.
• Bureau of Labor established
• Arthur issues a proclamation warning people not to settle on Oklahoma lands
• France presents the United States with the Statue of Liberty at a ceremony in Paris

STATUE OF LIBERTY BEING BUILT IN PARIS

1885;

• Washington Monument is dedicated in Washington D.C.

WASHINGTON MONUMENT UNDER CONSTRUCTION

• Congress passes act prohibiting the fencing of public lands in the west
• Former President Grant is laid to rest in New York City, NY

GRANT’S TOMB

• Contract Labor Law passes which is meant to ban companies from importing immigrant workers to break strikes and drive down wages.

Arthur was unknown before being elected, but surprised people by being honest and responsible. He helped create the Civil Service and as a lawyer, he defended a black woman who had been abused on a streetcar. He won the case, which led the streetcar companies to integrate.

Arthur was asked to run for Senate after his Presidency but refused, retiring to his home in New York to work on his law firm but his health started to deteriorate and he died a year later.

Famous quotes;

“I may be president of the United States, but my private life is nobody’s damned business.”  “Men may die, but the fabrics of free institutions remains unshaken.”  “The extravagant expenditure of public money is an evil not to be measured by the value of that money to the people who are taxed for it.”
#22 Grover Cleveland 1885-1889

3/18/1837 – 6/24/1908

Party: Democratic

Timeline; 1885-1889

Cleveland distinguished himself as one of the few truly honest and principled politicians of the gilded age. His father passed in 1853 forcing him to abandon school to help take care of his mother and sisters. Clerking in a law firm helped him get admitted to the bar in 1859 and follow politics. During the Civil War, he was drafted but opted to hire a substitute so that he could care for his mother. In his time, he held titles of Sheriff of Erie County in New York (1871-1873), mayor of Buffalo (1882), and governor of New York (1883-1885) 

1885;

• Cleveland becomes the 22nd President of the United States at the age of 47. Thomas Hendricks was his Vice President.
• VP Hendricks dies later that year, leaving a vacancy at V.P.

1886;

• Cleveland signs the Presidential Succession Act specifying the chain of command should President and Vice President both be absent.
• Former President Arthur is laid to rest in Menands, NY

CHESTER ARTHUR’S GRAVE

• Cleveland sends message to Congress asserting that labor is a vital element of national prosperity and should be a concern of the federal government. He recommends a committee to resolve disputes between labor and capital
• Cleveland vetoes bill granting military pensions to Civil War Union vets who had appealed to Congress after their claims were rejected by the Pensions Bureau. A lot of the claims were found to be bogus.
• Cleveland recommends to Congress that the nation accepts France’s gift of the Statue of Liberty. The statue was to be placed on Liberty Island, adjacent to Ellis Island which served as a welcome center for immigrants in New York City.

LIBERTY ISLAND, NEW YORK

ELLIS ISLAND, NEW YORK

• The American Federation of Labor (AFL) is formed

1887;

• The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) is created to ensure fairness in the management of interstate railroads after complaints of railroad rates and policies
• Cleveland signs the Dawes General Allotment Act which shortened or expanded Indian Reservations and weakened some Native American culture while trying to get them to renounce their tribes and become citizens.
• Monument to James Garfield is created

JAMES GARFIELD MONUMENT

• Cleveland vetoes Dependent Pension Bill arguing that the bill will only encourage fraudulent assertions. The bill would have given military pension to anyone serving a minimum of 90 days in any war.
• Cleveland vetoes Texas Seed Bill, believing it overstepped the powers of government. The bill was designed to provide relief to drought-stricken farmers
• Tenure of Office Act is repealed
• Cleveland sends message to Congress against protective tariffs creating an excessive surplus. Some that were adopted as a temporary measures during the Civil War were still in place.

1888;

• Civil Service Commission announces amended rules, prompting Cleveland to respond with detailed objections, being a proponent of civil service reform
• Department of Labor is established
• Washington Monument opens

WASHINGTON MONUMENT

• Cleveland renews and signs the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibiting Chinese immigrants who return to China, from coming back to U.S.

1889;

• Cleveland signs bill creating the Department of Agriculture
• Cleveland signs bill that turns the territories of North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington into states

Cleveland lost his re-election bid. Even though he won a lot more popular votes than Harrison, his stance on opposing the high tariff cost him electoral votes which swayed the decision. His wife told the White House staff before leaving that she and Grover would be seeing them in 4 years.

Famous quotes;

“Though the people support the government; the government should not support the people.”

“I have tried so hard to do right.”

 “A government for the people must depend for its success on the intelligence, the morality, the justice, and the interest of the people themselves.”
#23 Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893

8/20/1833 – 3/13/1901

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1889-1893

Harrison was the grandson of the 9th President, William Henry Harrison and he was known as a man of moral courage. Early on he studied law and followed his political ambitions. When the Civil war broke out he joined the Union Army as an officer, serving from 1862-1865, eventually reaching the rank of brevet brigadier general. After the war he resumed his law practice and political ambitions, failing to win the Governship of Indiana in 1876 but winning a seat in the U.S. Senate in 1881 and holding it until 1887.

BENJAMIN HARRISON, 1865

1889;

• Harrison becomes the 23rd President at the age of 55, Levi P. Morton was his Vice President
• Berlin Conference on Samoan Affairs begins, trying to establish Independence of Samoa and protection rights.
• Harrison tours New England and works on Navy expansion
• Pan-American Conference begins, trying to improve relations with Latin America countries in economic and political relations.
• North and South Dakota join the Union as the 39th and 40th states
• Montana becomes the 41st state
• Washington becomes the 42nd state
• Harrison sends first message to Congress recommending civil rights and civil service reform, naval legislation, improved conditions for railroad workers and pensions for veterans.

1890;

• Dependent Pension Bill is passed
• Sherman Anti-Trust Act is enacted
• Idaho becomes the 43rd state
• Wyoming becomes the 44th state
• Harrison signs into law the Sherman Silver Purchase Act
• Congress passes Anti-lottery Bill
• Congress passes the McKinley Tariff

1891;

• Harrison signs measure creating nine Circuit Courts of Appeals to relieve the demands of the Supreme Court

• New Orleans mob lynches 11 Italian immigrants that were part of a group that allegedly murdered police chief David C. Hennessey as well as bribing and threatening jurors during trial. The lynching prompts Italy to sever diplomatic ties and threaten war with the U.S.

• U,S. seizes a Chilean rebel ship; Itata, at the Balmaceda government of Chile’s request, as it is delivering arms to Chilean rebels. Rebels win the Chilean civil war leading to tense relations between the U.S. and Chile from the Itata Incident
  

CHILEAN REBEL SHIP; ITATA

• Tensions with Chile rise after American sailors and Chilean Nationals brawl in Valparaiso, Chile, resulting in deaths of two Americans and many arrests.
• Harrison sends message to Congress denouncing the Valparaiso attack, known as the Baltimore Incident, as savage, brutal and unprovoked and nominates Stephen B. Elkins the new Secretary of War

1892;

• Harrison states all members of his cabinet are in favor of war with Chile and U.S. sends an ultimatum to Chile regarding this.
• Harrison sends message to Congress asking that lawmakers take appropriate action regarding Chile.
• Chile backs down in the conflict and pays as indemnity of $75K
• Steelworkers in Homestead, Pennsylvania are locked out over contract disputes and start fighting with men from the Pinkerton Detective Agency that were brought in to bust the strike up. 7 Pinkertons and 9 workers died. A week later 8,000 militiamen accompany and protect Pinkerton men.

• Harrison sends federal troops in to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to restore order and stop silver miners on a violent strike that had already resulted in 30 deaths.
• Harrison privately supports mediation in the Homestead strike, sending Whitelaw Reid to Homestead as an emissary to Henry Clay Frick who is left in charge by Carnegie. It did no good though and the strike went on for months, breaking the union and dealing a major blow to organized labor.

HOMESTEAD STRIKE

• The Kingdom of Hawaii is overthrown and Queen Liliuokalani is removed from office with a provisional government established under Sanford B. Dole. Harrison deploys 150 marines to Hawaii to protect the new government.

After losing re-election to Cleveland, Harrison retired to his law practice in Indiana, emerging briefly to serve as leading counsel for Venezuela in the arbitration of the boundary dispute with great Britain (1898-1899) as well as serve as a public speaker for institutes such as Stanford University, where his lectures became published on 1901 as Views of an Ex-President. He died that very year from pneumonia. He was the last Civil War general to serve as President.

Harrison was caught between reformers who were fighting the spoils system and those who wanted to continue it, and was defeated after one term.

Harrison’s grandfather was President William Henry Harrison.

Famous quotes;

“I pity the man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth will starve in the process.”  “We Americans have no commission from God to police the world.”  “The bud of victory is always in the truth.”
#24 Grover Cleveland 1893-1897

3/18/1837 – 6/24/1908

Party: Democratic

Timeline; 1893-1897

Cleveland spent the four years of the Harrison presidency in New York City, working for a prominent law firm. After the Harrison administration and his Republican party enacted the very high McKinley Tariff in 1890 and made the surplus in the treasury vanish in a spending spree, the path to a Democratic victory in 1892 seemed clear.

1893;

• Cleveland becomes the 25th President of the United States at the age of 55 and becomes the only President ever to serve two non-consecutive terms. Adlai Stevenson was his Vice president.
• Former President Hayes is laid to rest in Fremont, OH

RUTHERFORD HAYES’S TOMB

• Cleveland withdraws the Hawaiian annexation treaty and advocates the restoration of the queen but the provisional government rejects the idea.
• Gold value drops, Cleveland vows to defend the gold standard
• Panic of 1893 starts after the National Cordage Company and the Philadelphia and Reading railroads go bankrupt, causing the New York stock market to take a sharp decline, dubbed the “Industrial Black Friday”

• A growth is detected on the roof of Cleveland’s mouth prompting a secret operation to remove the cancerous growth and a portion of his jaw
• Cleveland calls for a special session with Congress to address the economic crisis through tariff reform and the repeal of silver purchase law.
• Congress begins debate on the silver issue and tariffs
• Congress repeals the Sherman Silver Purchase Act

1894;

• The House passes a tariff revisions bill
• The Army of the Commonwealth of Christ march to Washington to demand that the government take action to alleviate economic depression by providing the unemployed with worthwhile jobs. The event proves anti-climatic as the leader, Coxey and a few others were arrested for trespassing.
• Pullman railway car company employees go on strike due to the owner; George Pullman lowering wages in light of the 1893 depression, as well as requiring them to work longer days since he did not lower rates of living in his company town of Pullman, Illinois. Cleveland sent federal troops to stop the strike

PULLMAN STRIKE

• The Wilson-Gorman Tariff Bill becomes law without Cleveland’s signature since he refused to veto or sign it since the law included an income tax of 2% on all personal income greater than $4K as well as all corporate income above operating expenses
• The U.S. intervenes in a boundary dispute between Venezuela and Britain, invoking the Monroe Doctrine to assert its rights. Britain agrees to arbitration rather than going to war with the United States

1895;

• Treasury bond sale to a syndicate headed by J.P. Morgan restores gold reserves and validates the credit of the government
• Revolution begins in Cuba over Spanish rule. Although American sympathy lies with the rebels, the U.S. adopts a policy of neutrality.
• Supreme Court nullifies the income tax in Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Co. as well as justifies the arrest of the leader of the Pullman Strike, Eugene Debs

1896;

• Utah becomes the 45th state
• Treasury bond sale of $100 million is announced, restoring gold reserves to a safe level of $124 million. Bond sales from 1894 to 1896 create $262 million in federal debt

1897;

• United States and Britain sign a treaty of arbitration ending the Venezuelan dispute
• Cleveland vetoes bill that would ban illiterate immigrants

Early in Cleveland’s second term, the United States sank into the most severe economic recession the country had yet experienced. Cleveland believed that the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 had eroded confidence in the stability of the currency and was at the root of the nation’s economic troubles. He forced the repeal of the act but the depression only worsened, and Cleveland’s negative view of government began to diminish his popularity. Apart from assuring gold-backed currency, he insisted the government could do nothing to alleviate the suffering of the many thousands of people who had lost jobs, homes, and farms. His popularity sank even lower when the treasury gold quantity diminished leading him to negotiate with John Pierpont Morgan to sell government bonds abroad for more gold. The deal succeeded in replenishing the government’s gold supply, but the alliance between the president and one of the era’s leading “robber barons” intensified the feeling that Cleveland had lost touch with ordinary Americans. He also lost a lot of fans from the labor field when he sided with the interests of big business over ordinary Americans in the Pullman Strike.

Cleveland retired to Princeton, New Jersey, where he became active in the affairs of Princeton University as a lecturer in public affairs and as a trustee from 1901–1908, when he died.

Famous quotes;

“Communism is a hateful thing, and a menace to peace and organized government.”  “The United States is not a nation to which peace is a necessity.”  “The ship of democracy, which has weathered all storms, may sink through the mutiny of those on board.”
#25 William McKinley 1897-1901

1/29/1843 – 9/14/1901

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1897-1901

McKinley was the last President to serve in the Civil War (1861-1865), enlisting as a private and finishing as a brevet major. After the war he practiced law and studied politics. He eventually won a seat in Congress as a representative for Ohio (1876-1891) and then became governor (1892-1896)

MAJOR MCKINLEY

1897;

• McKinley becomes the twenty-fifth President of the United States at the age of 54. Garret Hobart was his Vice President.
• McKinley becomes first President to ride in an automobile

• President McKinley calls Congress into a special session for the purpose of revising the tariff laws.
• John J. McDermott wins the first Boston Marathon. The 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Copley Square will become one of the world’s most prestigious marathons.

FIRST BOSTON MARATHON WINNER; JOHN J. MCDERMOTT

• Congress appropriates $50,000 for the relief of Americans in Cuba.
• The first shipment of gold discovered in Alaska, totaling $750,000, arrives in San Francisco.
• President McKinley signs the Dingley Tariff Law, which raises custom duties by an average of 57 percent.
• More than twenty workers are killed in Lattimer, Pennsylvania, after deputy sheriffs open fire on striking coal miners. In sympathy and remembrance of the Lattimer Massacre, coal miners in the Ohio, West Virginia, and the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania walk off their jobs
  

• McKinley sends his first annual message to Congress indicating that while the government of Spain should be given time to reform its behavior in Cuba, America would continue to devote significant diplomatic attention to the island.

1898;

• Pro-Spanish groups riot in Havana, Cuba, in opposition to Cuban autonomy
• The U.S. Battleship Maine arrives in Havana on a “friendly visit” but Its true mission is to protect American life and property.

USS MAINE

• The De Lome letter written by the Spanish minister to the United States, containing insults directed at President McKinley, is published in William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal.
• The battleship Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor, killing 266 Americans. Subsequent press coverage of the event points to Spanish sabotage as the cause of the disaster. “Remember the Maine!” becomes a rally cry for Americans ready to go to war with Spain.

• At McKinley’s command, Congress votes a $50 million appropriation for national defense.
• The U.S. Navy reports that the Maine explosion was the result of external factors while the Spanish Navy releases its own report on the Maine disaster, concluding that an internal explosion destroyed the battleship.
• McKinley asks Congress for authority to “use armed force” in Cuba to end the civil war. Meanwhile, Spanish Prime Minister Sagasta makes a last-minute peace concession by offering the Cubans limited autonomy.
• Congress adopts a joint resolution authorizing President McKinley to intervene in Cuba. The resolution also states that the United States has no plans to annex Cuba. Spain counters by severing diplomatic relations with the United States.
• McKinley orders a blockade of northern Cuban ports.
• Congress passes the Volunteer Army Act, which authorizes the organization of the First Volunteer Cavalry, or Rough Riders as the U.S. captures its first spoils of war, the Spanish ship Buena Ventura.

• McKinley calls for 125,000 volunteers to fight the war with Spain.
• Spain and the United States declare war on each other

• Commodore George Dewey, commanding an American squadron of six ships, soundly defeats a larger but outgunned Spanish fleet at Manila Bay.

• McKinley issues a new call for volunteers, asking for an additional 75,000. A U.S. troop expedition of 2,500 men also sets sail for Manila, Philippines.
• Congress passes the Erdman Arbitration Act, but the Supreme Court rules it unconstitutional.
• Congress passes the War Revenue Act, which generated about $150 million of tax revenue a year from taxes levied on beer, tobacco, amusements, and some business transactions.
• A Spanish commander of Guam surrenders to advancing western Pacific fleets. Oblivious to the outbreak of war, the Spanish apologized thinking they were under attack for not saluting back.
• The United States defeats Spanish troops at the Battle of Las Guasimas, the first major land battle of the Spanish-American War.

BATTLE OF LAS GUAISMAS

• After heavy fighting, American forces in Cuba take the Spanish garrisons at El Caney and San Juan Hill.

BATTLE OF EL CANEY

BATTLE OF SAN JUAN HILL

• American naval forces destroy the Spanish fleet off Santiago de Cuba.

• McKinley signs a joint congressional resolution providing for the annexation of Hawaii.
• Santiago de Cuba surrenders, along with 24,000 Spanish troops, to American General William Shafter.
• American forces invade Puerto Rico, encountering little resistance.
• Spain and the United States sign an armistice in which Spain agrees to grant Cuba its independence and cede Puerto Rico and Guam to the United States. The fate of the Philippines is left to be determined at a postwar conference.
• Spanish forces in the Philippines surrender to the United States.
• A strikers’ riot in Virden, Illinois, leads to thirteen deaths and twenty-five injuries.

• American peace commissioners in Paris receive instructions to demand from Spain the cession of the Philippine Islands.
• McKinley’s sends his second annual message to both Houses of Congress. He declares his intention to build an inter-oceanic canal through Nicaragua and discusses the merits of fighting the Spanish-American war
• The United States and Spain sign the Treaty of Paris.

1899;

• The United States takes official control of Cuba.
• Philippine guerrillas attack U.S. forces in Manila, beginning the Philippine Insurrection.
• The Senate ratifies the peace treaty between the United States and Spain, The United States acquires Puerto Rico and Guam, and assumes the temporary administration of Cuba. While Spain receives $20 million for certain Filipino holdings, some looked at it as an outright purchase of the Philippines.
• Congress authorizes voting machines for federal elections, subject to the request of individual states.
• McKinley sends his third annual message to Congress, focusing primarily on foreign affairs and beefing up the U.S. Navy to benefit overseas commerce

1900;

• Britain and the United States sign the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty to provide for an isthmian canal in Central America.
• McKinley signs the Gold Standard Act, which fixes the standard of value for all money issued or coined by the United States.
• Congress passes an act establishing the Territory of Hawaii.
• The Senate ratifies a modified version of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, in which the British government agrees to an American canal with the conditions that it be neutral and unfortified. This treaty abrogates the Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850.

1901;

• The first great oil strike in Texas occurs near Beaumont.

OIL STRIKE

• Congress adopts the Platt Amendment, as part of the Army Appropriation Act of 1901
• Former President Benjamin Harrison is laid to rest in Indianapolis, IN

BENJAMIN HARRISON’S TOMB

• McKinley is re-elected President of the United States, with Spanish-American War Hero and New York governor Theodore Roosevelt as his new vice president.
• The British government informs the United States that it will not accept the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty as amended by the Senate.
• Filipino resistance leader Emilio Aguinaldo is captured by Frederick Funston, crippling the Philippine insurrection.
• The rebellion in the Philippines ends by proclamation. Sporadic fighting still continues until American military forces fully secure the island.
• Leon Czolgosz shoots McKinley in the stomach while the President shakes hands at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.
  

MCKINLEY ASSASSINATION

• Mckinley dies from his wounds a week later due to gangrene and is laid to rest in Canton, OH.

MCKINLEY’S TOMB

• Czolgosz, who admitted to the shooting of McKinley and expressed no remorse for his actions, was sent to the electric chair a month later. Rumor has it that McKinley was assassinated moments after handing a girl his lucky red carnation.

Famous quotes;

“In the time of darkest defeat, victory may be nearest.”

“That’s all a man can hope for during his lifetime – to set an example – and when he is dead, to be an inspiration for history.”

“War should never be entered upon until every agency of peace has failed.“

#26 Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909

10/27/1858 – 1/6/1919

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1901-1909

 Roosevelt made a name for himself from his service in the New York National Guard (1882-1886) where he also served on the New York Assembly and authored his first book “The Naval War of 1812“. He was assistant to the secretary of the Navy (1897-1898) before joining the U.S. Army (1898) for the Spanish-American War, where he was much involved in the Battle of Las Guasimas, and the Battle of San Juan Hill. After the war he became Governor of New York (1899-1900) and then Vice President (1901) to President McKinley.

1901;

• Roosevelt becomes the 26th President of the United States at the age of 42.
• U.S. and Great Britain sign the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty where Britain grants control of an isthmian canal to the U.S.
• Congress extends the Chinese Exclusion Act

1902;

• Coal miner’s strike of Pennsylvania starts where 140K people leave their jobs, dubbed Anthracite Coal Strike.

ANTHRACITE COAL STRIKE

• Roosevelt establishes Crater Lake National Park in Oregon

CRATER LAKE

• Roosevelt signs the Newlands Reclamation Act, authorizing Federal irrigation projects
• Congress passes Isthmian Canal Act which called for the funding of building the canal across Panama
• Congress passes the Philippine Government Act establishing the islands as an unorganized territory and dubbing the inhabitants as territorial citizens
• Roosevelt puts a stop to the Anthracite Coal Strike by developing a reform program known as the Square Deal

1903;

• Roosevelt signs bill creating the Department of Commerce and Labor.
• Congress approves the Elkins Anti-Rebate Act, making it illegal for railroads to give rebates on their published freight rates.
• Department of Justice announces that the federal government will prosecute the Northern Securities Company for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act.
• Supreme Court makes decision on Champion v. Ames, making federal police power superior to the states
• Roosevelt proclaims Pelican Island, Florida as the first federal bird reservation

• The report of the Anthracite Coal strike Commission declares that workers cannot be discriminated against because they belong to a union
• A revolt breaks out in Panama against Colombian rule. Presence of the U.S. Navy prevents Columbia from crushing the revolt as U.S. recognizes the Republic of Panama
• The U.S. negotiates the Hay-Buneau-Varilla Treaty with Panama to build the Panama Canal.

PANAMA CANAL CONSTRUCTION

1904;

• Supreme Court rules that citizens of Puerto Rico are not illegal aliens and cannot be denied entry to the U.S. but the court also states they are not citizens either.
• Roosevelt appoints a commission to oversee the Panama Canal construction.
• Supreme Court rules in Northern Securities Company v. United States and orders the dissipation of the Company due to their breaking the Sherman Anti-trust Act.
• A merger between the Consolidated and The American & Continental tobacco companies produces the American Tobacco Company.
• Roosevelt sends his annual message to Congress issuing the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.

1905;

• The United States signs a protocol with the Dominican Republic, thereby giving it control of the latter’s customs and international in and mollifying European creditors.
• Roosevelt establishes the National Forest Service.
• Supreme Court recognizes the legality of compulsory vaccination laws in Jacobson v. Massachusetts.
• Roosevelt wins his second term, and first full term with Charles W. Fairbanks as his V.P.
• Supreme Court rules that state laws limiting working hours are illegal in Lochner v. New York
• The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) forms in Chicago, Illinois, to counteract the conservative American Federation of Labor
• A group of black intellectuals, including W.E.B. DuBois, meets near Niagara Falls to demand racial equality. This begins the Niagara Movement

• Roosevelt mediates and urges an end to the Russo-Japanese War, bringing Russia and Japan to compromise and sign the Portsmouth Treaty.

1906;

• The Algeciras Conference opens, Roosevelt plays mediator on the disagreement of France and Germany over Morocco.
• Clashes erupt in Brownsville Texas after white civilians taunt black soldiers. 3 whites are killed
• A devastating earthquake strikes San Francisco, California, killing 452 and leveling 490 blocks

EARTHQUAKE IN SAN FRANCISCO, 1906

• Roosevelt signs the National Monuments Act, establishing the first 18 national monuments, including Devils Tower, Muir Woods and Mount Olympus
• Roosevelt signs the Hepburn Act which gives the interstate Commerce Commission increased power to relegate railroad rates.
• Roosevelt signs the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act.
• Roosevelt sends troops to Cuba at President Palma’s request to quell rebellion from a disputed election.
• Race riot breaks out in Atlanta, Georgia, leaving 18 blacks and 3 whites dead.

• The Platt Amendment is invoked, authorizing U.S. military control of Cuba.
• Roosevelt becomes first President to travel abroad as he and his wife go inspect the building of the Panama Canal

ROOSEVELT VISITING PANAMA CANAL

• Roosevelt is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending the Russo-Japanese War during the Portsmouth Conference in 1905

1907;

• Congress passes a law prohibiting campaign contributions to candidates for national office.
• Cleveland is laid to rest in Princeton, New Jersey

GROVER CLEVELAND BURIAL

• The Dominican Republic and the United States sign a treaty empowering American agents to collect Dominican customs taxes for the purpose of satisfying the nation’s creditors.
• Roosevelt signs the Immigration Act of 1907, which includes a provision allowing the President to restrict Japanese immigration.
• Roosevelt issues proclamations establishing forest reserves in affected states before the law goes into effect
• An executive Inland Waterways Commission is appointed to study the relationship between forest preservation and commercial waterways.
• The Second International Peace Conference opens at The Hague, The Netherlands. The United States argues, unsuccessfully, for the establishment of a World Court.
• The Panic of 1907 begins when shares of the United Copper Company begin to fluctuate wildly.

• Okalahoma becomes the 46th state
• Roosevelt orders the Great White Fleet to embark on a voyage around the world to emphasize America’s growing naval strength.

GREAT WHITE FLEET

• Grand Canyon becomes a National Monument

GRAND CANYON, ARIZONA

1908;

• Supreme Court rules that antitrust laws apply to labor unions in Loewe v. Lawlor
• The United States and Japan reach an agreement on the restriction of Japanese immigration.
• First Conference of Governors takes place in the White House to discuss the problems of conservation.
• Congress passes a child labor law for the District of Columbia.
• Roosevelt establishes the National Commission for the Conservation of Natural Resources
• The General Motors Company files incorporation papers in Hudson County, New Jersey
• Ford introduces the “Model T” automobile, which costs $850, making Henry Ford’s mass-produced cars available to the average wage earner.

FORD MODEL T

1909;

• Black intellectuals, including W.E.B. DuBois, and white progressives, led by Oswald Garrison Villard, form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
• The North American Conservation Conference convenes at the White House

Roosevelt was one of the most activist Presidents. His many accomplishments included the building of the Panama Canal, cracking down on business monopolies, and creating many national parks. After his terms he went on a yearlong African safari in order to avoid charges that he was attempting to run the White House from the shadows. Upon his return he got back into politics and even attempted another run but failed. He went on to write and journey more, even planning another run at the White House but passed away beforehand. He is one of the four faces of Mount Rushmore

Famous quotes;

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

“Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far.”

“If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.”

“Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.“

#27 William H. Taft 1909-1913

9/15/1857 – 3/8/1930

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1909-1913

 Taft served as a Solicitor general of the U.S. (1890-1892), Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals (1892-1900), Governor of the Phillipines (1901-1903), Secretary of War (1904-1908)  and Governor of Cuba (1906).

 

 

 

1909;

• Taft becomes the 27th President of the U.S. at the age of 51. James Sherman was his V.P.
• Taft calls for the use of diplomatic and military action to further foreign business interests in what is known as the Dollar Diplomacy.
• Taft’s administration continues Roosevelt’s Antitrust policy, designed to keep markets open and competitive.
• Crazy Snake Rebellion kicks off between the Creek Indians and settlers in Oklahoma
• Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act is signed, lowering tariffs on certain goods entering the U.S.
• The Ballinger-Pinchot scandal takes place, in which Richard Ballinger is accused of conspiring to defraud the public domain in the Alaskan Coal field while the Taft administration was complicit in his actions.

1910;

• Postal Savings System is established after the Postal Savings Depository Act of 1910
• Angel Island Immigration station is opened in the San Francisco Bay, California

ANGEL ISLAND IMMIGRATION STATION

• Mexican Revolution starts with an uprising led by Francisco Madero against Porfirio Diaz

1911;

• The Battle of Kelley Creek occurs where a small group of Bannock and Shoshone killed four men in an incident known as the Last Massacre

LAST MASSACRE

• Taft starts to back away from his efforts to tame the trusts
• Titanic is almost complete, April of 2012 is set as the maiden voyage

TITANIC

1912;

• New Mexico becomes the 47th state of the U.S.
• Arizona becomes the 48th state of the U.S.
• Titanic sinks off the coast of Newfoundland, on its first voyage
  

 

1913;

• Sixteenth Amendment is ratified, authorizing Congress to collect income taxes
• Seventeenth Amendment is ratified stating that people will now elect Senators, whereas, before it was done by legislators.

Unhappy with Taft, Roosevelt ran against him in the Republican primary, Taft barely won but the damage done from the party split, cleared the way for Democrat victory. Taft went on to teach at Harvard, followed by serving as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1921-1930) before resigning due to health concerns. He passed a month later and became the first President and first Supreme Court Justice to be laid to rest in Arlington national Cemetery.

Famous quotes;

“Enthusiasm for a cause sometimes warps judgment.”

“Don’t write so that you can be understood, write so that you can’t be misunderstood.”

“We live in a stage of politics, where legislators seem to regard the passage of laws as much more important than the results of their enforcement.“

#28 Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921

12/29/1856 – 2/3/1924

Party: Democratic

Timeline; 1913-1921

 Wilson served as a professor and scholar for many institutes before being chosen for President of Princeton University (1902-1910). After that he ran for, and won, position of Governor of New Jersey (1911-1913).

1913;

• Wilson becomes the 28th President of the United States at the age of 56. Thomas R. Marshall was his V.P.
• The Federal Reserve Act is established, allowing for a Federal Reserve System, also known as the Currency Bill or Owen-Glass Act
• John D. Rockefeller donates $100 million to begin the Rockefeller Foundation

1914;

• Veracruz incident takes place with Mexico

• World War I is triggered after the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, by a Serbian terrorist group called the Black Hand. 2 Alliances are formed; The Allies and the Central Powers. U.S. takes a neutral stance

ASSASSINATION OF FRANZ FERDINAND

• Germany invades Belgium kicking off World War I officially

• Panama Canal is officially opened

FIRST BOAT THROUGH GATON LOCKS, PANAMA

1915;

• Rocky Mountain National Park is established in Colorado

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

• Congress authorizes Mounted Inspectors along the US-Mexico border
• A German U-boat sinks the British passenger ocean liner; Lusitania as it was heading towards Liverpool, from New York.

• Kaiser Wilheim suspends unrestricted submarine warfare in an attempt to keep U.S. out of the war.

1916;

• Saboteurs explode an ammunition depot and destroys docks at Toms River Island near Jersey City, followed by the destruction of a munitions plant in Kingsland, New jersey.

• National Defense Act is passed in response to threats at home and deteriorating relations between Germany and United States.

1917;

• Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare in the European waterways.
• British Intelligence gives Wilson the Zimmermann Telegram where German foreign secretary Zimmermann proposes that Mexico sides with Germany in case of war with the U.S., Mexico declines offer but this was the last straw for the American people.

• Wilson outlines his case for war to Congress
• U.S. declares war on Germany and officially enters WWI
• The Espionage and Sedition Acts make it a crime to interfere with the operations of the military to promote success of its enemies as well as prohibits many forms of speech perceived as disloyal to the US

1918;

• Battle of Cantigny takes place, marking the first major American offensive in the war.

BATTLE OF CANTIGNY

• Americans attack Germans at Chateau-Thierry but the battle morphs into the larger Battle of the Belleau Wood

BATTLE OF BELLEAU WOOD

• Battle of St. Mihiel takes place where 300K troops under command of General Pershing march towards German lines.

BATTLE OF ST. MIHIEL

• Wilson gives his Fourteen Points speech to Congress
• Selective Service Act is passed, requiring all men between 21 and 30 to register with locally administered draft boards for a federal draft conscription lottery.
• Armistice is signed in Redonthes, France, ending WWI and becoming what is known as Armistice Day

1919;

• The devastating world-wide influenza epidemic reaches its height in the US
• The Treaty of Versailles was signed
• Former President Roosevelt is laid to rest in Oyster Bay, NY

THEODORE ROOSEVELT GRAVE

• Eighteenth Amendment is passed, prohibiting the sale, production, importation and transportation of alcohol. Starting the Prohibition era.

1920; Nineteenth Amendment  is passed, guaranteeing women the right to vote.

After initially opposing World War I, Wilson led the U.S. into the war and eventually, drafted the peace plan that ended it. Wilson then fought to create the League of Nations, the forerunner of the United Nations.

Famous quotes;

“The man who is swimming against the stream knows the strength of it.”

“The seed of revolution is repression.”

“America lives in the heart of every man everywhere who wishes to find a region where he will be free to work out his destiny as he chooses.”

“I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.“

#29 Warren Harding 1921-1923

11/2/1865 – 8/2/1923

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1921-1923

 Harding was a newspaper editor that bought the Marion Star and built it up into a successful newspaper. He was then elected to the Ohio Senate (1899-1903), followed by a successful run at Lieutenant Governor (1904-1906). He was defeated in his run for Governor (1910) but was elected to the Senate eventually (1915-1921).

1921;

• Harding becomes the 29th President of the U.S. at the age of 55. Calvin Coolidge becomes the VP
• World War I is formally ended by joint resolution
• The Emergency Quota Act is passed after a massive migration of European immigrants into the US at the end of WWI
• The Teapot Dome Scandal erupts surrounding the secret leasing of federal oil reserves by the secretary of the interior, Albert Bacon Fall
• Harding opposes entry into the League of Nations
• Budget and Accounting Act is passed, creating the Bureau of the Budget and housing it within the Department of Treasury.
• Washington Armament Conference, an International conference is called by the U.S. to limit the naval arms race and devise security agreements in the Pacific Area
• Shepperd-Towner Act passes, funding maternity and infant health care
• War protester and union leader Eugene V. Debs is pardoned
• Tomb of the unknown soldier is dedicated as a memorial to all American soldiers and sailors that lost their lives. An unknown serviceman is buried.

TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER DEDICATION

1922;

• The Capper-Volstead Act passes due to the depression of agricultural prices following World War I
• Lincoln Memorial is dedicated

LINCOLN MEMORIAL DEDICATION

1923; Harding dies of a heart attack in San Francisco, California, while he was on a speaking tour.

Famous quotes;

“America’s present need is not heroics but healing; not nostrums but normalcy; not revolution but restoration;… not surgery but serenity.”  “Only solitary men know the full joys of friendship. Others have their family; but to a solitary and an exile his friends are everything.”  “I have no trouble with my enemies. I can take care of my enemies all right. But my damn friends… They’re the ones that keep me walking the floor nights!”
#30 Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929

7/4/1872 – 1/5/1933

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1923-1929

Coolidge was a lawyer from Vermont that eventually worked his way up the ladder in Massachusetts’s state politics starting as a member of the House of Representative’s (1907-1908), then becoming Mayor of Northampton (1910-1911), to being named a member of the Senate (1912-1915) even becoming President of that Senate (1914-1915). After that he moved up to lieutenant governor (1916-1919) and eventually winning governor (1919-1921) where he got put in the national spotlight for his response to the Boston Police Strike of 1919. Soon after his term he became Vice President under Harding (1921-1923)

1923;

• As Harding passes, Coolidge becomes the 30th President of the U.S. at the age of 51.
• President Harding is laid to rest in Marion, OH

WARREN HARDING TOMB

1924;

• Revenue Acts of 1924 and 1926 are established to reduce inheritance and personal income taxes after years of very high wartime tax rates
• Former President Wilson is laid to rest in Washington, DC

WILSON’S FUNERAL

WILSON’S TOMB

• Monument to Ulysses Grant is unveiled

MONUMENT TO GRANT

• The Immigration Act of 1924 is passed, ending further immigration from Japan and restricting the number of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. Also known as the Johnson-Reid Act

1925;

• Coolidge wins his first full term. Charles G. Dawes is his V.P
• The first Diesel locomotive begins operating in New York City

1926;

• Air Commerce Act is passed giving the Commerce department regulatory powers over sectors of the aviation industry, such as the licensing of pilots and airplanes.
• Harding Tomb is dedicated

 

1927;

• Charles Lindbergh makes the first non-stop transatlantic flight across the Atlantic, from New York City
• A radio telephone system connected New York City and London

1928;

• Coolidge surprises the nation by stating he did not want to run for President
• The US recognizes Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist government of China and signs a tariff treaty with the Chinese.

Coolidge restored public confidence in the White House after the scandals of the Harding Administration. He was known to the media as “Silent Cal.” Once a reporter said to him, “I bet my editor I could get more than two words out of you.” Coolidge replied: “You lose.” He went into a short retirement afterwards, passing in 1933.

Famous quotes;

“No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.”

“Don’t expect to build up the weak by pulling down the strong.”

“Patriotism is easy to understand in America – it means looking out for yourself by looking out for your country.“

Presidents #31-40 (1929-1989) dealt with the Great Depression, Prohibition, World War II, Vietnam war, and the Cold war.

• 31. Herbert Hoover; Republican
• 32. Franklin D. Roosevelt; Democrat
• 33. Harry Truman; Democrat
• 34. Dwight D. Eisenhower; Republican
• 35. John F. Kennedy; Democrat
• 36. Lyndon B. Johnson; Democrat
• 37. Richard M. Nixon; Republican
• 38. Gerald Ford; Republican
• 39. Jimmy Carter; Democrat
• 40. Ronald Reagan; Republican

#31 Herbert Hoover 1929-1933

8/10/1874 – 10/20/1964

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1929-1933

 Hoover spent most of his career as a mining and civil engineer, businessman and humanitarian. He is one of only two Presidents (The other being Taft) to win a presidency without electoral experience or a high military rank. He did however, serve as Secretary of Commerce (1921-1928)

 1929;

• Hoover becomes the 31st President of the United States at the age of 54. Charles Curtis is elected as his V.P.
• The U.S. Supreme Court upholds the use of the pocket veto by the President for the purpose of blocking legislation
• Former President Coolidge is laid to rest in Plymouth Notch, VT

• Hoover signs the Agricultural Marketing Act to revitalize the increasingly poor market for farm products
• New York Stock Exchange experiences a collapse in stock prices as 13 million shares are sold. This becomes, what is known as “Black Thursday”, a week later the New York Stock Exchange experiences a record 16.4 million shares of stock traded as large blocks of equity are sold at extremely low prices, this becomes what is known as “Black Tuesday”

• The New York Stock Exchange was the start of the Great Depression era

GREAT DEPRESSION ERA; PEOPLE LINED UP AT BANKS TO PULL MONEY

• Secretary of State Henry Stimson invokes the Kellogg-Briand Pact, ratified earlier that year, in an effort to prevent a Sino-Soviet war.

1930;

• The U.S. Census reports a population of nearly 123 million, illiteracy hitting a new low of 4.3 percent of the population–down 1.7 percent from 1920–with about one in five Americans owning an automobile
• Empire State Building construction starts

• A major bootlegging operation in Chicago’s organized crime era of Prohibition, is shut down with the arrest of 158 people from 31 organizations
• Former President Taft is laid to rest in Arlington, VA

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT GRAVE

• London Naval Conference takes place in London where the United States, Britain, and Japan, sign the treaty.
• Hoover signs the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, raising duties high on many imports.
• Hoover signs the Veterans Administration Act to consolidate handling benefits for former servicemen into a single department
• A bank panic begins as over 800 banks across the country close down.
• Construction of the Hoover Dam begins

HOOVER DAM CONSTRUCTION

• Japanese Premier, Hamaguchi Yuko, is assassinated by a military fanatic, he had supported the London Naval Treaty signed in April, and his death opens the government to the increasing influence of military groups
• Memorial is dedicated to James Buchanan in Washington D.C.

BUCHANAN MEMORIAL

• Congress complies with Hoover’s request of funding for public works projects in order to supply jobs to help some of the 4.5 million people that are unemployed
• Economic depression worsens as bank closures rises to over 1,300. The Bank of the United States in New York City, with 60 branches and 400K depositors being the largest.

1931;

• The President’s Emergency Committee reports that the number of unemployed has reached nearly 5 million
• Empire State Building is completed and opens to the public

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING 1931

• Over Hoover’s veto, Congress passes the Bonus Loan Bill. The act allows veterans to obtain cash loans of up to 50 percent of their bonus certificates issued in 1924
• The “Star Spangled Banner” officially becomes the national anthem

• In an effort to ease the worldwide depression, Hoover proposes a one-year moratorium on debt payments owed America in return for Europe returning the favor on U.S. debts
• The Japanese military stages an incident in the Manchurian town of Mukden, creating a pretext for the Japanese invasion of the region. The action is in direct violation of the Kellogg-Briand Pact signed in 1928
• Britain goes off the gold standard in an effort to solve the continuing economic crisis. Americans, fearing that the United States will soon do the same, begin to withdraw their money from banks and hoard gold which causes another 800 banks to close their doors
• The notorious gangster Al Capone is busted by Eliot Ness and is convicted of income tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison and a $50,000 fine

• In response to the Great Depression, hundreds of hunger marchers descend on the nation’s capital in an unsuccessful attempt to present a petition to Hoover asking for jobs.
• In Japan, Hamaguchi’s replacement, Ki Inukai, is also assassinated by a military fanatic.
• After more than a decade of using the military to remain in power, King Alfonso XIII of Spain fled the country due to the international depression producing mutinies in the army. Spain adopts a Republican constitution, abolishing its monarchy.

1932;

• Secretary of State Stimson delivers a diplomatic note to Japan, condemning its actions in Manchuria. The “Stimson Doctrine” indicates America’s refusal to recognize territory seized by force of arms
• Roosevelt Island is created in honor of Theodore Roosevelt

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

• Hoover establishes the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, an agency designed to lend money to banks, insurance companies, and other institutions to stimulate the economy
• In one of the most publicized crimes of the century, the twenty-month-old son of Charles Lindbergh is kidnapped. After paying a $50,000 ransom, the boy is found dead on May 12. The public outcry against the crime will help to make kidnapping a federal crime punishable by death

• Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to complete a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean

AMELIA EARHART

• Nearly 20,000 veterans arrive in Washington, D.C., hoping to pressure Congress into granting them the full value of their bonus certificates, which were not to mature until 1944. The “Bonus Army” fails though, as Hoover has them forced out of the city by the U.S. Army.
• Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is completed

TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER

The stock market crashed a few months into Hoover’s term and The Great Depression that followed was widely and some say unfairly, blamed on Hoover which cost him re-election. He went on to stay in politics and deal in foreign relations like organizing relief efforts in Europe after both World Wars before dying in 1964.

Famous quotes;

“Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.”

“Words without actions are the assassins of idealism.“

“Freedom is the open window through which pours the sunlight of the human spirit and human dignity.”

#32 Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945

1/30/1882 – 4/12/1945

Party: Democrat

Timeline; 1933-1945

Roosevelt entered politics in 1910, serving first as a member of the New York Senate’s 26th district (1911-1913), he then went on to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1913-1920) before being struck with debilitating polio, where he spent most of his years in Warm Springs, Georgia, where the water helped him gain feeling in his legs again. Once able to regroup he went on to serve as the Governor of New York (1929-1932)

ROOSEVELT AT WARM SPRINGS

1933;

• Roosevelt becomes the 32nd President of the United States at the age of 51. John Garner is his VP. One of his first orders of business was appointing the first woman to hold a cabinet position; Francis Perkins, as Secretary of Labor
• Roosevelt declares a four-day bank holiday in order to stop the panic run on nation’s banks.
• Hoover Dam is halfway complete

HOOVER DAM 1933

• Congress begins what becomes known as Roosevelt’s “Hundred Days” where Congress enacts many of the principal programs of FDR’s “New Deal.” It passes the Emergency which allows banks to reopen as soon as they can prove they are solvent; within three days, more than 1,000 banks reopen, helping to raise the nation’s confidence.
• Roosevelt delivers his first fireside chat which is a radio address to the nation.

ROOSEVELT FIRESIDE CHAT

• Congress passes the Reforestation Relief Act, which provides for the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps to offer immediate work to some 250K people
• Roosevelt issues a proclamation, taking United States off the gold standard, allowing more money to become available to Americans, in order to stimulate the economy.
• Congress passes the Federal Emergency Relief Act, to provide immediate grants to states for relief projects. It also passes the Agricultural Adjustment Act, to restrict the production of certain crops and pays farmers not to till their land.
• Congress passes the Tennessee Valley Act to control flooding in the Tennessee River Valley and provide for rural electrification in the seven states comprising the region.
• Congress passes the Federal Securities Act, requiring all issues of stocks and bonds to be registered and approved by the federal government
• The final day of FDR’s “Hundred Days,” Congress passes National Industry Recovery Act which was the centerpiece of Roosevelt’s efforts to revive American industry. It establishes two of the early key agencies of the New Deal: the Public Works Administration and the National Recovery Administration. Congress also passes the Banking Act of 1933, which establishes the Federal Bank Deposit Insurance Corporation, and the Farm Credit Act.
• Roosevelt establishes the National Labor Board in order to enforce the right of organized labor to bargain collectively.
• The American Federation of Labor votes to boycott all German-made products to protest the Nazi party’s antagonism towards organized labor in Germany. The next day, Germany withdraws from the Disarmament Conference in Geneva and announces that it will terminate membership in the League of Nations in two years’ time.
• Roosevelt issues an executive order establishing the Civil Works Administration in hopes to provide work for millions of unemployed Americans
• Roosevelt announces that the U.S. will establish domestic relations with the U.S.S.R. after a meeting with the Soviet commissar for foreign affairs, Maksim Litvinov
• Utah becomes the 36th state to ratify the twenty-first amendment, ending the Prohibition era.

• Federal Judge John M. Woolsey lifts the ban on James Joyce’s Ulysses, a major decision against the censorship of books

1934;

• Congress passes the Gold Reserve Act, allowing the President to fix the value of the U.S. dollar at between 50 to 60 cents in terms of gold
• Roosevelt signs the Farm Mortgage Refinancing Act, establishing the Federal Farm Mortgage Corporation, designed to help farmers pay their mortgages by granting them easier terms of credit
• Roosevelt issues an executive order establishing the Export-Import Bank to encourage commerce between the U.S. and other foreign nations
• In a show of confidence in the nation’s economic recovery, Henry Ford restores his $5 per day minimum wage to most of his workers
• Congress passes the Tydings-McDuffie Act, guaranteeing Philippine independence after the Philippine legislature meets the terms of the act.
• The Senate establishes a committee to investigate the extent to which manufacturers of munitions influenced and profited from U.S. involvement in the Great War. The findings reinforce the isolationist-neutralist beliefs of many Americans who view international war as profiting only the business elite
• A severe dust storm hits the central and southern plains, blowing an estimated 300,000,000 tons of topsoil from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, and Colorado as far east as the Atlantic Ocean. It is only one of a number of such storms ravaging a region which becomes known as “the Dust Bowl.” In large part, the conditions are due to the improper plowing and farming practices used to squeeze yields and profits out of the land during the Depression.

DUST BOWL

• The United States and Cuba sign a treaty releasing Cuba from the Platt Amendment, which had made Cuba a U.S. protectorate following the Spanish-American War in 1903
• Roosevelt signs the Securities Exchange Act, which will license stock exchanges and determine the legality of certain speculative market practices.
• Congress passes the Corporate Bankruptcy Act, allowing corporations facing bankruptcy to reorganize if two-thirds of its creditors agree
• Congress passes the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act, allowing the President to cut tariffs by as much as 50 percent–without the consent of the Senate–for those nations granting the U.S. most-favored-nation trading status
• Congress passes the Federal Communications Act, creating the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to regulate radio, telegraph, and telephone communications.
• Roosevelt signs the National Housing Act, creating the Federal Housing Administration, designed to further stimulate home building
• Organized labor calls for a “general strike”, the first ever in U.S. history, after 12,000 members of the International Longshoreman’s Association walked out in San Francisco.

• John Dillinger, listed as “Public Enemy No. 1” by the FBI, is shot and killed by federal agents outside a Chicago theater.

JOHN DILLINGER SHOT DEAD OUTSIDE CHICAGO THEATER

• Japan refuses to abide by terms of the Washington Naval Treaty and the London Naval Treaty

1935;

• Roosevelt delivers a state of the union address announcing his second stage New Deal
• Congress passes the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, authorizing nearly $5 billion to establish federal programs in line with Roosevelt’s goals
• Roosevelt issues an executive order establishing the Works Progress Administration to provide work and income for millions of Americans through the construction and repair of roads, bridges, public schools, post offices, parks and airfields.
• Roosevelt establishes the Rural Electrification Administration to provide power to regions that private companies deemed unprofitable.
• The Supreme Court rules in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, that the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 is unconstitutional
• Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act to ensure the right of labor to organize and bargain collectively
• Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act to guarantee pensions to Americans over the age of 65, establish a system of unemployment insurance, and assist states in aiding dependent children, the blind, and the aged who do not already qualify for Social Security
• Public utilities become under federal regulation following the passage of the Public Utilities Act
• Congress passes the Revenue Act, increasing taxes on inheritances and gifts, as well as on higher incomes and corporations
• Roosevelt signs the Neutrality Act to forbid the shipment of arms and munitions to belligerents during a state of war.
• Senator Huey Long of Louisiana is assassinated

SENATOR LONG’S FUNERAL

1936;

• The Supreme Court rules the Agricultural Adjustment Act to be unconstitutional.
• Congress passes the Adjusted Compensation Act over Roosevelt’s veto, in order to provide immediate cash redemption of the bonus certificates first issued to veterans in 1924
• Ethiopia succumbs to Italy in the Italo-Ethiopian War after its capital falls and Emperor Haile Selassie flees.

• The Spanish Civil War kicks off as the Spanish Army proclaims a revolution against the government.

• At the Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, Hitler’s hope to use the games to demonstrate his country’s national and racial superiority is dashed as African American Jesse Owens steals the spotlight, winning a historic four gold medals in track and field.

JESSE OWENS VICTORY IN OLYMPICS

• The NAACP wins its case in Gibbs v. Board of Education, against the state of Maryland, ensuring that white and black teachers are paid equally.

1937;

• Roosevelt starts his second term with his Inaugural address promising to continue his fight to return the nation to economic health. John Garner remains VP
• Congress passes the Supreme Court Retirement Act, which permits justices to retire at seventy with full pay, after Roosevelt tries forcing those who fought back his New Deal, to retire, which fails to prompt resignations.
• William H. Hastie becomes the first black federal judge.
• Supreme Court finds the National Labor Relations Act and Social Security Acts to be constitutional, deflating some of the tension between the Judicial and Executive branches
• Roosevelt signs the third Neutrality Act, extending for another year the prohibitions against exporting arms and munitions to belligerents
• The German dirigible Hindenburg explodes outside Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing thirty-six.

HINDENBURG EXPLOSION

• World-famous American aviator Amelia Earhart vanishes over the Pacific Ocean during her round-the-world flight after radio contact with her comes to a sudden stop.

• Congress passes the National Housing Act. The bill establishes the U.S. Housing Authority, which is charged with administering loans for rural and urban home construction.
• International relations continue to sour as Italy withdraws from the League of Nations following criticism of its actions toward Ethiopia. Although the U.S. had claimed neutrality in the Japan/China fight, the Japanese Air Force attacks the U.S. gunboat Panay in China’s Yangtze River. Japan government apologizes days later

1938;

• Roosevelt issues his State of the Union Address focusing on the nation’s continuing economic and social problems as well as citing the necessity to be strong in self defense
• Roosevelt submits a recommendation to Congress to increase appropriations to build up the armed forces, especially the Navy.
• Roosevelt signs the second Agricultural Adjustment Act as part of a continuing effort to stabilize agricultural prices and farmers’ incomes.
• German troops move into Austria, allegedly to bring order to that country. Hitler, however, will fuse Austria to Germany and describes the annexation as a peaceful.

• The House of Representatives forms the Committee to Investigate all groups on both the Right and Left of the political spectrum deemed un-American.
• Congress passes the Revenue Act of 1938 over Roosevelt’s veto, reducing corporate income taxes for the purpose of stimulating the economy
• Congress appropriates more than $1 billion dollars, over a ten-year period, for the improvement of the U.S. Navy in response to Roosevelt’s earlier request
• Congress passes The Civil Aeronautics Act targeting the rapidly expanding civilian air traffic industry by licensing pilots and standardizing the rules, airways, and equipment for flight.
• Roosevelt signs the Fair Labor Standards Act, raising the minimum wage and setting the maximum work week at 40 hours, though only for businesses engaged in interstate commerce.
• In a private message to the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, and Czechoslovakia, Roosevelt urges that they find a peaceful settlement to the growing Sudetenland crisis British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and French Prime Minister Eduard Daladier agree to allow Germany to annex the Sudetenland. Upon his return to England, Chamberlain announces that the Munich Pact guarantees “peace in our time.”
• Orson Welles’ radio play, “War of the Worlds,” is so convincing that large numbers of listeners take to the highways in panic.

• Hugh Wilson, American ambassador to Germany, is called back to the United States for “report and consultation” on anti-Jewish activities there. Four days later, the German ambassador to the United States is also recalled.
• The WPA announces that the number of Americans receiving federal relief has dropped to just over 2.1 million.

1939;

• Roosevelt formally submits his budget to Congress, requesting more than $1.3 billion for defense out of a total of $9 billion.
• The Supreme Court declares the sit-down strike, one of organized labor’s most powerful tactics, unconstitutional.
• The German Army invades Czechoslovakia, five-and-a-half months after gaining the Sudetenland peacefully through the Munich pact. By the end of March, the entire country will be under German control.

GERMAN INVASION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA

• As the Spanish Civil War effectively comes to an end, the United States recognizes the government headed by General Francisco Franco.

• Italy invades Albania, causing Roosevelt to write both Hitler, and Mussolini requesting that they offer a ten-year guarantee of peace in Europe and the Middle East in return for U.S. cooperation in international trade and armament talks. Neither leader acknowledges the offer; in fact, Hitler revokes the German non-aggression pact with Poland and the naval agreement with Britain.

ITALY INVADES ALBANIA

• Transatlantic passenger air service begins a with Pan American Airways flight from Long Island, New York, to Lisbon, Portugal. With twenty-tow passengers, the Dixie Clipper makes the trip in just under twenty-four hours.
• Roosevelt works to cement the U.S. alliance with Britain against the looming Fascist-totalitarian threat. He asks Congress to repeal the arms embargo, revise the neutrality law, and end the trade agreement with Japan.
• Germany and the U.S.S.R. sign a non-aggression pact in Moscow. The world learns of the agreement the next day, creating disruption and dismay in both Communist and non-Communist circles as it seems to reveal Hitler’s intentions to move launch war on Poland.
• Germany launches a major invasion of Poland, starting the World War II.

GERMANS INVADE POLAND

• France and Britain declare war on Germany. With limited domestic support for war, Roosevelt declares U.S. neutrality.

• As an informal part of the non-aggression pact signed a month earlier, Germany and the U.S.S.R. divide up Poland between them
• Roosevelt declares all American ports and waters closed to submarines of belligerents
• Roosevelt signs the Neutrality Act of 1939, repealing the general embargo on arms and allowing the sale of arms to belligerents on a “cash and carry” basis. Allowing the United States to aid Britain and France while retaining their official stance of neutrality.
• The U.S.S.R. invades Finland, bombing its capital, Helsinki.

HELSINKI BOMBED

1940;

• The Allies take heavy losses in the Battle of the Atlantic. Waged largely by German subs, or U-Boats, against the British Navy, the Allies lose about 440,000 tons of shipping during these two months alone.

BATTLE OF THE ATLANTIC

• Finland signs an armistice and treaty with the U.S.S.R., ending the Russo-Finnish War and ceding territory to the Russians. Importantly, both Germany and the Allies are aware of the heavy casualties the Russians sustained in battling the seemingly over-matched Finns.
• The German Army invades Norway and Denmark in preparation for its invasion of France, dubbed Operation Weserubung.

OPERATION WESERUBUNG

• Continuing its sweep toward France, Germany invades Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Winston Churchill becomes the Prime Minister of Britain, replacing the discredited Neville Chamberlain. Days later, Churchill sends Roosevelt the first of many personal telegrams requesting American aid and participation in the war.

• Roosevelt establishes the Office for Emergency Management, illustrating his belief in the increasing inevitability of U.S. involvement in the war.
• The German Army invades and sweeps across France, thousands of British and French troops converge on Dunkirk, a coastal town in France, in preparation for evacuation of the country. By the time the Germans reach the beach to stop the operation, more than 330,000 troops have been evacuated.

PARIS INVASION

• Churchill delivers his most famous radio address, framing the retreat from Dunkirk as a symbol of the Allies’ determination to win the war.
• Roosevelt announces that the American stance toward the war is changing from “neutrality” to “non-belligerency.” In effect, this means that the United States will now openly support the Allied Powers without actually going to war against the Axis Powers.
• Roosevelt appoints two prominent Republicans to his cabinet: Henry L. Stimson as secretary of war, and Frank Knox as secretary of the Navy. A political move in order to form a “coalition government,” intended to present a unified front to both the world and to Americans
• Congress passes the Alien Registration Act, requiring the registration and finger-printing of all aliens. The bill also prohibits individuals or organizations from advocating the overthrow of the U.S. government by force.
• The Battle of Britain begins with the first bombing raids by the German Air Force.

BATTLE OF BRITAIN

• Roosevelt submits a request to Congress for a defense budget of $4.8 billion; days later, Congress appropriates $4 billion to provide the United States with a two-ocean Navy
• The United States trades fifty outdated destroyers to Britain in exchange for the right to construct air and naval bases on British holdings in the Western Hemisphere

• Roosevelt signs the Selective Training and Service Act, authorizing the first peace-time military draft in U.S. history and requiring all men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-five to register for military training
• British retains control of British airspace, forcing the Germans to end their onslaught, although the bombing raids will continue, Hitler is forced to abandon any hope of invading Britain.

• Roosevelt wins an unprecedented third-term as President of the United States, looking past the unwritten rule Washington established of a two term limit
• Roosevelt issues an end of the year fireside chat where he declares the U.S. must be the “arsenal of democracy”

1941;

• Roosevelt makes a State of the Union Address stressing the need for congressional support for his program to help the Allies defend the “four essential freedoms” against the Axis powers.

• Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act, empowering the President to lend arms and other war material to any country deemed vital to U.S. interests. It is more or less an extension of formal and informal U.S. policy to aid Britain and the Allies without officially declaring war on the Axis
• The Office of Price Administration is established to control and stabilize prices during wartime
• An American merchant ship; Robin Moor, is sunk by a German U-boat off the coast of Brazil.

• Following German victories over Greece and Yugoslavia, Roosevelt issues a proclamation declaring unlimited national emergency.

GERMANY LAUNCHES DUAL INVASION OF GREECE AND YUGOSLAVIA

• Roosevelt orders the closing of all German consulates in the United States; Germany and Italy respond by closing all U.S. consulates in their countries.
• Knowing the U.S.S.R. was weakened by the war with Finland, Germany breaks the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 1939 when it invades the U.S.S.R.

GERMAN INVASION OF RUSSIA

• After hesitating, Roosevelt promises U.S. aid to the Soviet Union.
• Roosevelt establishes the Fair Employment Practices Committee by executive order, preventing discrimination due to race, creed, or color in the hiring and treatment practices of the ever-growing defense industry.
• Roosevelt establishes the Office of Scientific Research and Development by executive order, which will coordinate the development of defense-related technology including radar, sonar, and early stages of atomic research.
• Roosevelt freezes all Japanese assets in the United States and halts all trade, as relations between the two countries continues to deteriorate.
• Roosevelt nationalizes the armed forces of the Philippines, a U.S. dependency at the time, and names General Douglas MacArthur commander in chief of all U.S. forces in the Far East.
• After three days of secret meetings on U.S. and British warships off the coast of Newfoundland, Roosevelt and Churchill issue the Atlantic Charter. The document sets forth eight goals for the world

• In response to the growing number of attacks on U.S. ships, Roosevelt orders U.S. Navy planes to shoot on sight any Axis ships found operating in U.S. defensive waters.
• Fifteen other countries, including the U.S.S.R., endorse the maxims of The Atlantic Charter, which will serve as a blueprint, of sorts, for the United Nations.
• Hoover Tower is completed, housing the library founded by Hoover at Stanford University

HOOVER TOWER

• Roosevelt signs the largest tax bill in American history, as the Revenue Act of 1941 provides for sharply increased taxes to collect more than $3 billion for the defense effort.
• A German U-boat torpedoes the U.S. destroyer; Kearney, which prompts Roosevelt to announce to the nation that America has been attacked, stopping short of declaring war on Germany, however, as many Americans are still reluctant to enter into open war… even after another U-boat sinks the destroyer Reuban James days later, killing 100 Americans

USS KEARNEY DESTROYER

USS REUBAN JAMES

• Japan’s ambassador to the United States begins negotiations with the State Department in the nation’s capital. They propose that the United States remove the trade restrictions on Japan and refrain from involving itself with Japan’s activities in China, but Secretary of State Cordell Hull rejects these proposals, stating that the Japanese must first withdraw from China and Indochina before the trade restrictions can be lifted.
• Mount Rushmore is completed

MOUNT RUSHMORE 1941

• Japan declares war on U.S. after Japanese bombers attack Pearl Harbor, the major U.S. naval base in Hawaii.

ATTACKS ON PEARL HARBOR

• Roosevelt appears before a special joint session of Congress, calling December 7th, “a date which will live in infamy” and asking for a declaration of war against Japan, Congress declares war on Japan the same day.

• Japan invades the Philippines, landing at Luzon.
• Germany and Italy declare war on the United States; Congress, in turn, declares war on Germany and Italy.

• In a show of support for the war effort, the executive council of the American Federation of Labor adopts a “no strike” policy for the duration of the conflict between the Axis and Allied Powers

• Admiral Chester Nimitz is given command of the Pacific fleet, replacing Admiral Husband Kimmel, who was found derelict in taking the necessary precautions for thwarting the attack on Pearl Harbor.
• Roosevelt establishes an executive order for the Office of Censorship, in order to control all matters involving information deemed vital to the war effort.
• The Office of Price Administration announces rubber rationing; beginning on New Year’s Day, the sale of new cars and trucks will be temporarily banned.
• Japan takes Wake Island, an American territory in the Pacific.
• Japan takes Hong Kong, a British colony.

1942;

• Representatives of twenty-six nations, including the United States, sign the Declaration of United Nations, affirming their cooperation against the Axis powers.
• Manila falls to the Japanese, forcing Philippine and U.S. forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula.

JAPAN ARMY HEADING TOWARDS MANILA

• Roosevelt issues an executive order creating the War Labor Board which is charged with maintaining the flow of war materials through the arbitration of labor disputes.
• Roosevelt issues a proclamation ordering all aliens in the U.S. to register with the federal government, primarily Italian, German, and Japanese immigrants, which are viewed suspicious, especially Japanese-Americans living on the West Coast.
• The Emergency Price Control Act goes into effect, authorizing the Office of Price Administration to place ceilings on all prices except those for agricultural products.
• The U.S. War Department announces that the United States and Britain have formed a combined chiefs of staff to coordinate their war efforts.
• Roosevelt authorizes a program to remove Japanese-Americans living in the Pacific Coast states to internment camps in Colorado, Utah, and Arkansas to be sure they will not provide aid to the enemy. Most Americans were undisturbed by the policy as some 100,000 people are “relocated” over the next month.

WWII INTERNMENT CAMP FOR JAP-AMERICANS

• At the Battle of Java Sea, the Japanese Navy inflicts heavy losses on Allied forces.

BATTLE OF JAVA SEA

• General MacArthur is forced to move his command base from the Philippines as Japanese forces approach. Before he leaves for Australia, he famously declares, “I shall return!”
• The 75,000 Philippine and American troops that remained to defend the island surrender to the Japanese on Bataan Peninsula. These men will be taken prisoner and forced to march one hundred miles to a prison camp; with poor rations and ill treatment, thousands will die on the so-called Bataan Death March.

BATAAN DEATH MARCH

• Doolittle Raid takes place when Major General James Doolittle leads sixteen U.S. bombers in a surprise raid on Tokyo. Not only does the attack provide a morale boost for the Allies, it serves to divert Japanese defenses.

BOMBERS RAIDING ON TOKYO

• A nightly “dim-out” or “black-out” goes into effect along a fifteen-mile strip of the Atlantic coast to counter German submarine activity in the area.
• The U.S. Navy inflicts heavy losses on the Japanese fleet in the Battle of the Coral Sea, becoming the first naval battle in history in which surface ships did not engage one another directly, with planes attacking each other and the ships.

BATTLE OF CORAL SEA

• General Jonathan Wainwright is captured by the Japanese and forced to surrender Fort Corregidor and ask all U.S. forces in the Philippines to surrender as well.

CORREGIDOR ISLAND

• FDR signs the congressional act establishing the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. A similar group, known as the WAVES, will be assembled for the Navy
• Gasoline rationing goes into effect in seventeen states in the eastern United States
• At the Battle of Midway, the U.S. Navy loses the carrier Yorktown, but not before sinking four Japanese aircraft carriers. While the war is far from over, the victory at Midway establishes U.S. naval superiority as the Japanese also lose a significant number of their best pilots.

BATTLE OF MIDWAY

• Roosevelt issues an executive order, creating the Office of War Information to control the disclosure of official news and propaganda
• Americans join in a great nationwide drive to collect the increasingly rare rubber scraps essential to the war effort.
• Roosevelt meets with Churchill in Washington, D.C., to plan the invasion of North Africa.
• U.S. Marines land on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific. It is the first offensive in the long road to Tokyo.

USMC STORM GUADALCANAL

• The Germans, having won major gains in their offensive against Russia over the summer, launch a massive assault on Stalingrad in an effort to complete the conquest.

BATTLE OF STALINGRAD

• The United States are forced to purchase Mexico’s entire rubber supply for the next four years.
• The Revenue Act of 1942 is passed, calling for taxes to be increased by $9 billion; included is the so-called Victory Tax, a five-percent tax on all income over $624, in effect until the war’s end.
• Operation Torch starts as 400K Allied troops land in Morocco and Algeria, under the command of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the newly appointed commander of U.S. forces in the European theater. I will give an honorable mention to General Patton here as well, he would have probably been appointed that role if he did things by the book.
• Scientists at the University of Chicago demonstrate the first sustained nuclear chain reaction.
• Germans find themselves overextended and mired in the mud and harsh cold of winter; it marks the turning point on the Eastern Front.

1943;

• At the Casablanca Conference in Morocco, Roosevelt, Churchill, and other Allied representatives agree on how they will establish themselves in closing the war, the routes they will take, and that they will demand the Axis powers surrender unconditionally
• The first all-American bombing raid on Germany takes place on Wilhelmshaven.

WILHELMSHAVEN RAID

• In effort to make resources last, the U.S. established a temporary rationing program for shoes, canned goods, meats, fats and cheese. Coupons were required to get them
• Memorial is dedicated to Thomas Jefferson in Washington D.C.

THOMAS JEFFERSON MEMORIAL

• At the Battle of the Bismarck Sea off New Guinea, U.S. and Australian planes score a major victory in the Pacific.

JAPANESE TRANSPORTER UNDER AERIAL ATTACK IN BISMARCK SEA

• Roosevelt freezes prices, wages, and salaries in an effort to stem inflation.
• Allied forces remove the Axis from North Africa through the forced surrender of German and Italian commanders.

ITALIAN TROOPS SURRENDER NORTH AFRICA

• At the Trident Conference in Washington, D.C., Churchill, Roosevelt, and their top military planners meet and formulate a general strategy for the planned invasions of Europe
• German troops in Poland finally subdue an uprising by Jews in the Warsaw ghetto that had begun the previous month.

WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING CONTROLLED BY GERMANS

• Roosevelt issues an executive order establishing the Office of War Mobilization to coordinate the nation’s efforts at home. He also orders that all government contracts with private industries forbid racial discrimination.
• The Current Tax Payment Act goes into effect, introducing the withholding of federal income taxes on wages and salaries
• The Supreme Court rules in West Virginia Board of Education v. Bernette that it is unconstitutional for a state to require children to salute the flag if doing so counters their religious beliefs.
• In Detroit, Michigan, whites protesting the employment of blacks in formerly “white-only” jobs start the Detroit race riot that leads to two days of rampage, leaving thirty-four dead before federal troops intervene.

DETROIT RACE RIOTS

• Germans launch a massive attack on the Russian city of Kursk, becoming the largest tank battle in history and the German’s last significant effort at conquering the U.S.S.R.

PANZERS MOVING IN ON KURSK

• Allied forces invade Sicily

AMERICAN CARGO SHIP CARRYING MUNITIONS IS HIT BY A BOMB FROM A GERMAN PLANE

• Three days after dropping leaflets urging the Italian people to surrender, 500 U.S. bombers carry out an air raid on Rome. The city had previously been spared because of its unique historical, religious, and artistic significance.

BOMBING OF ROME

• King Victor Emmanuel of Italy forces Benito Mussolini to resign after more than two decade, effectively ending Italy’s role as an Axis power.
• After Allies invades, Italy surrenders unconditionally, despite German troops still pouring in to fight
• At the Quadrant Conference in Quebec, Roosevelt, Churchill and others agree on, among other items, a plan for the invasion of France, set for the spring of 1944.
• In Moscow, the foreign ministers of the U.S.S.R., Britain, and the United States, along with the Chinese ambassador to Russia, meet to discuss matters relating to the end of the war. They will issue a statement declaring their intentions to treat the Axis powers fairly once the war is over, and to create an international organization for peace.
• Roosevelt, Churchill, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek meet at the Sextant Conference in Cairo, Egypt, and demand the unconditional surrender of Japan according to the following terms: it must restore Chinese territory; give Korea its independence; and give up all Pacific islands seized after 1914.
• Flying from Cairo, Roosevelt and Churchill meet Joseph Stalin at the Tehran Conference in Iran. The first ever meeting of the “Big Three” leaders is to settle the timing of the invasion of Europe.

TEHRAN CONFERENCE

• Congress repeals the Chinese Exclusion Acts passed during the late- nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries which banned Chinese immigration to the United States.
• Roosevelt announces in his end-of-the-year radio address that General Eisenhower will be Supreme Commander of the forces that will soon invade Europe.

1944;

• U.S. forces invade the Marshall Islands in the Pacific

MARSHALL ISLANDS

• The United States suffers heavy losses during The Big Week of massive air raids on German aircraft production that significantly weakens Germany’s air capacity

“BIG WEEK” BOMBING

• Congress approves a joint resolution appropriating up to $1.35 billion for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency, looking toward postwar efforts to aid the millions of people devastated by the war.
• The Supreme Court makes a ruling in Smith v. Allwright, that the white-only primary, sponsored by the Democratic Party in Texas, is unconstitutional.
• Allied forces enter Rome after German troops evacuate the city in retreat

ALLY TANK AND TROOPS ARE CHEERED PASSING THROUGH ROME

• On “D-Day,” Operation Overlord begins just after midnight, with some 4,000 invasion ships, 600 warships, 10,000 planes, and about 176,000 Allied troops. The invasion of the continent takes place at a series of beaches in Normandy. By the end of the day, and despite heavy casualties, around 150,000 Allied troops have safely reached the beach and are dug in

D-DAY LANDING

D-DAY LANDING

• The Germans make use of the first V-1 flying bombs, jet-propelled pilotless bombs launched from France and Belgium toward Britain; only one of these “buzz bombs” reaches London

ANATOMY OF THE GERMAN V-1 BUZZ BOMB

• The B-29 Superfortresses, based in China, begin the first air raids on the Japanese main island.

B-29 RAID ON JAPAN

• In the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the United States wins one of the more decisive air-naval battles of the war as the Japanese lose at least 400 planes and three carriers.

BATTLE OF THE PHILLIPINE SEA

• Roosevelt signs the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, which provides financial aid to veterans for education, housing, and other needs; it will be widely known as the G. I. Bill of Rights
• U.S. forces take Saipan

U.S. TROOPS LAND IN SAIPAN

• Representatives from forty-four nations meet for a monetary and financial conference. They agree to establish an International Money Fund and an International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, also known as the World Bank.
• In a failed assassination attempt, a bomb explodes near Hitler in his headquarters in East Prussia, leaving him relatively unscathed but psychologically shaken and increasingly paranoid. Before the day is over, several high-level officers and politicians will be executed for their role–active or merely alleged–in the conspiracy

NAZI OFFICER SENT TO FIRING SQUAD

• U.S. forces under General Omar Bradley begin Operation Cobra, a coordinated offensive to cut off German forces in Brittany and collapse the German defensive line in northwestern Germany.
• The Battle of Guam is won by U.S. forces after twenty days of fighting.

MARINES IN GUAM

• The War Production Board allows the resumption of various consumer goods, such as vacuums, electric ranges, and cooking utensils
• The Dumbarton Oaks Conference begins in Washington, D.C., attended by representatives of the United States, Britain, China, and the U.S.S.R. It lays the groundwork for the United Nations
• Allied forces liberate Paris, France

LIBERATION OF FRANCE

• The first of the German V-2 rockets land in England; they are much faster and more powerful than the V-1 rockets

ANATOMY OF THE GERMAN V-2 ROCKET

• At the Octagon Conference in Quebec, Roosevelt and Churchill discuss strategies for pursuing the Germans and Japanese and their treatment following the war
• American forces engage German troops on German soil in the Battle of Aachen

• U.S. forces invade Leyte Island in the Philippines. They are led by General MacArthur, who broadcasts to the Philippine people that he has fulfilled his promise of returning to the country.

• Germany launches its final offensive of the war, counterattacking Allied defenses in the Ardennes Forest in an engagement known as the Battle of the Bulge

BATTLE OF THE BULGE

• Despite efforts by the federal government to control wages and prices, the cost of living registers a 30-percent increase since the United States formally entered the war

1945;

• Roosevelt wins an unprecidented 4th term, Harry S. Truman is his new VP
• At the Yalta Conference in the Crimea, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet to discuss the final assault on Germany and the treatment of that country following the war. They sign a “Declaration on Liberated Europe,” discuss the providing for democratic governance of European nations, and agree to meet in San Francisco that April to establish an international peace organization

• U.S. troops complete the capture of Manila, the capital of the Philippine islands

BATTLE OF MANILA

• In one of the hardest-fought battles of the war, U.S. Marines capture the island of Iwo Jima.

CAPTURE OF IWO-JIMA

• Nearing the mainland islands of Japan, the U.S. Army wins a fierce battle to capture the island of Okinawa.

BATTLE OF OKINAWA

• While vacationing in Warm Springs, Georgia, President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies following a massive cerebral hemorrhage. Vice President Harry S. Truman is immediately sworn in, becoming the thirty-fourth President of the United States.

• Roosevelt is laid to rest in Hyde Park, NY

Famous quotes

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”

“Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.”

“A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.“

#33 Harry S. Truman 1945-1953

5/8/1884 – 12/26/1972

Party: Democrat

Timeline; 1945-1953

Truman tried joining the U.S. military Academy early on but was denied due to his poor eye-sight so he opted for the Missouri Army National Guard (1905-1911) then when World War I broke out he rejoined the Guard as a first lieutenant before joining the U.S. Army (1917-1919) where he eventually made captain and went to reserves where he studied more into law becoming the presiding judge of Jackson County, Missouri (1927-1935), then as a U.S. Senator (1935-1945) before becoming VP to Franklin Roosevelt (1945-1953).

HARRY TRUMAN IN WWI UNIFORM

1945;

• Following Roosevelt’s death, Truman becomes the 33rd President of the U.S. at the age of 60.
• Germany surrenders, ending World War II in Europe

• Representatives from the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union attend the Potsdam Conference
• Adolf Hitler is found dead from a self inflicted gun shot wound.
• The United States drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan

“LITTLE BOY” ATOMIC BOMB

• The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan

“FAT BOY” ATOMIC BOMB

• Japan surrenders, ending World War II in Asia

• Truman presents Congress with his 21-point plan for Re-conversion

1946;

• Truman signs the Employment Act
• Phillipine legislature meets the terms of the Tydings-McDuffie Act and wins their independence
• State Department official George Kennan, serving in the Soviet Union, sends his “Long Telegram,” in which he analyzes the sources of Soviet conduct and Moscow’s geopolitical intentions, and suggests American responses
• Winston Churchill delivers his “Iron Curtain” speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri

1947;

• While relations begin to sour with the Soviet Union, pushing into the Cold War, Truman delivers his “Truman Doctrine” speech to Congress, asking for a $400 million appropriation to fight the spread of Communism in Greece and Turkey.
• Truman issues an executive order creating the Federal Employee Loyalty Program
• Jackie Robinson plays his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers and integrates major league baseball

• Truman signs the “Truman Doctrine” appropriation approved by Congress for Greece and Turkey
• George Marshall proposes economic aid to Europe in an address at Harvard University. Officially titled the Economic Recovery Program, the package becomes known as the “Marshall Plan.”
• Truman vetoes the Taft-Hartley Act but Congress overrides it
• Truman becomes the first President to address the NAACP
• The National Security Act passes Congress, creating the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the National Security Resources Board.

1948;

• Truman sends a message to Congress asking for legislation to secure the civil rights of the nation’s minorities
• Congress passes the European Recovery Program (the “Marshall Plan”)
• The United States recognizes the state of Israel
• The Soviet Union blockades the overland access routes to West Berlin

BERLIN BLOCKADE

• In conjunction with the British, Truman orders the airlifting of supplies into West Berlin

• Truman opens a special session with Congress asking for legislation on housing, civil rights, and price controls. He also establishes an executive order desegregating the Armed Forces

1949;

• Truman wins a second term with Alben W. Barkley as his V.P. and proposes the “Fair Deal” in his State of the Union address
• Twelve nations from Europe and North America sign the North Atlantic Treaty
• The Soviet Union lifts the Berlin blockade
• Truman signs the Housing Act, establishing a national housing agency and providing federal aid to slum clearance programs and low-cost housing projects
• The State Department issues its “White Paper” on China
• Truman announces that the Soviet Union has detonated an atomic bomb

SOVIET UNION’S FIRST ATOMIC BOMB TEST

• Mao Zedong announces the establishment of the People’s Republic of China
• Congress raises the minimum wage from forty cents to seventy-five cents an hour

1950;

• Truman announces that the United States will develop a hydrogen bomb

MK15 H-BOMB

• Mao and Stalin sign the Sino-Soviet alliance
• During White House renovations, the Trumans stayed at the Blair House, during that time a pair of would-be assassins attacked the house from the front but guards fought them off before any harm could come to the President.
• The National Security Council presents NSC-68: United States Objectives and Programs for National Security to Truman
• Korean War starts as North Korea invades South Korea

• Truman announces that he has ordered American ground forces stationed in Japan to Korea. General Douglas MacArthur commands the U.S. (and United Nations) troops
• Truman signs the 1950 Social Security Amendments, expanding coverage and increasing benefits
• United States military forces successfully spearhead a counterattack at Inchon, South Korea

U.S. TROOPS LAND IN INCHON, SOUTH KOREA

• Truman vetoes the Internal Security Act but Congress passes it over his veto
• Truman signs the Revenue Act of 1950, increasing corporation and income taxes
• China launches a massive counteroffensive against American advances in North Korea
• Truman proclaims a state of national emergency and imposes wage and price controls

1951;

• Truman relieves General Douglas MacArthur from his command of both U.S. and U.N. forces in Korea
• Twenty-second amendment is ratified, making President ineligible to run for a 3rd term
• Truman signs the Mutual Security Act, authorizing more than $7 billion for foreign economic, military, and technical aid

1952;

• Truman signs an Executive Order directing the secretary of commerce to seize steel mills in order to prevent a strike by steel workers
• The Supreme Court declares the seizure of steel mills unconstitutional
• Truman vetoes the McCarran-Walter Immigration Bill but the House and Senate override his veto
• The United States detonates the first hydrogen bomb

FIRST HYDROGEN BOMB TEST

After Presidency, Truman retired to Missouri with financial problems, opting not to use his past Presidency to get into corporations and just living off his army pension. He also wrote memoirs to help make ends meet and is partially the reason Presidents get a retirement package now.

Famous quotes;

It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.

In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves… self-discipline with all of them came first.

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties.

#34 Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961

10/14/1890 – 3/28/1969

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1953-1961

Eisenhower served in the U.S. Army (1915-1953), training tank crews in World War I and worked his way up to a five-star general and Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in World War II, most known for his role in the North Africa invasion, also known as Operation Torch.

1953;

• Eisenhower becomes the 34th President of the United States at the age of 62. Richard M. Nixon is his VP
• The Soviet Union announces the death of Josef Stalin
• All price controls officially ended by the Office of Price Stabilization
• The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare is created by joint congressional action
• Eisenhower delivers his “Chance for Peace” speech to the American Society of Newspaper Editors
• Eisenhower signs the Submerged Lands Act
• Eisenhower addresses the American public and announces an armistice in Korea
• Eisenhower proposes broadening the provisions of the Social Security Act to cover more than 10 million additional Americans
• Eisenhower signs the Refugee Relief Act of 1953, admitting 214,000 more immigrants than permitted under existing immigration quotas
• Iranians, with the backing of the CIA, overthrow the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, ensuring Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi’s hold on power

IRAN/U.S. COUP

• Eisenhower announces that the Soviet Union has tested a hydrogen bomb

SOVIET UNION FIRST HYDROGEN BOMB TEST

• Eisenhower gives his “Atoms for Peace” speech to the U.N. General Assembly

1954;

• Eisenhower sends a special message to Congress asking for changes in the Taft-Hartley labor law
• The United States and Japan sign a mutual defense agreement that provides for the gradual and partial rearmament of Japan
• The Army-McCarthy hearings begin
• France surrenders its garrison at Dien Bien Phu to the Viet Minh

VIET MINH TROOPS RAISE FLAG AFTER TAKING FRENCH GARRISON

• Eisenhower signs the St. Lawrence Seaway Bill
• The Supreme Court announces a decision in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education, ruling that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional.
• A CIA-sponsored coup in Guatemala overthrows the government of Jacobo Arbenz Guzman
• The first “White Citizens Council” is organized in Indianola, Mississippi
• The Geneva Accords are signed, establishing a cease-fire and partition of Vietnam. The United States refuses to sign.
• The United States signs the South East Asian Treaty Organization Pact
• The United States signs a mutual defense pact with Taiwan

1955;

• Chinese Communist Air Force raid the nationalist-controlled Tachen Islands and seize Ichiang Island in the Taiwan Straight Crisis, Battle of Yijiangshan, and Battle of Dachen Archipelago

• Eisenhower announces that the United States would use atomic weapons in the event of war with Communist China
• In Brown II, the Supreme Court orders schools integrated “with all deliberate speed.”
• The Geneva Conference opens, attended by the heads of state of Britain, France, the U.S.S.R, and the United States
• Plans for the first artificial satellites, scheduled to be launched in 1957, are announced by the United States
• The Interstate Commerce Commission bans racial segregation on interstate trains and buses
• Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. During the following week, the Montgomery African American community, led by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., organizes a boycott of the city’s buses

MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT

• The merger of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations is ratified

1956;

• African American student Autherine Lucy is admitted to the University of Alabama following a court order
• Eisenhower releases $1 billion worth of Uranium-235 for peaceful atomic purposes
• Nineteen senators and eighty-one representatives sign the “Southern Manifesto,” promising to use “all lawful means” to reverse the Brown decisions
• In Browder v. Gayle, a three-judge district court rules that bus segregation in Montgomery, Alabama, is unconstitutional
• Eisenhower signs the Federal Aid Highway Act, providing federal funding for the construction of a system of interstate highways for transportation and national defense
• Eisenhower signs the Social Security Act, permitting women to retire at age sixty-two and disabled workers at age fifty
• The recently discovered Salk Polio Vaccine is sold on the open market
• The Hungarian Revolution begins

HUNGARIAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS TAKE OVER SOVIET TANK

• Israel, Britain, and France attack Egypt in the Suez Crisis; Eisenhower condemns the attack

SUEZ CRISIS

• The Soviet Union crushes the Hungarian Revolution via armed intervention

RUSSIAN TANKS CRUSH HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION

• A cease-fire is established in Egypt
• Supreme Court holds up Browder v. Gayle
• The Montgomery Bus Boycott comes to an end

1957;

• Eisenhower proposes the “Eisenhower Doctrine” regarding defense of the Middle East
• Elvis Presley makes his third appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show; and concern that his gyrating dance style is too lewd lead network executives to show him only from the waist up
• Eisenhower wins a second term Presidency, Richard Nixon is his VP
• The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is organized in New Orleans. Martin Luther King, Jr., is elected president of the organization
• Congress sanctions the “Eisenhower Doctrine.”
• Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1957, the first civil rights bill since Reconstruction
• Eisenhower orders federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to end the school desegregation crisis
• The Soviet Union launches Sputnik

SPUTNIK SATELLITE

1958;

• Eisenhower signs legislation to stimulate housing construction and help combat a developing economic recession
• Eisenhower orders 1,000 troops from Caribbean bases to rescue Nixon, if necessary, after the Vice President was threatened on his tour of Latin America
• Eisenhower doubles the strength of the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea in Operation Blue Bat, due to tensions causing the Lebanon Crisis

SIXTH FLEET IN MEDITERRANEAN SEA FOR OPERATION BLUE BAT

• Eisenhower meets with African American leaders Martin Luther King, Roy Wilkins, A. Philip Randolph, and Lester Granger

• Eisenhower orders the U.S. Marines into Lebanon

MARINES LAND IN LEBANON

• Eisenhower signs the National Defense Education Act
• Eisenhower orders the withdrawal of the last U.S. Marines from Lebanon

1959;

• Fidel Castro’s revolutionaries overthrow Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista

• Alaska becomes the 49th state of the United States.
• St Lawrence Seaway opens

ST. LAWRENCE SEAWAY

• Hawaii becomes the 50th state of the United States
• Eisenhower meets Nikita Khrushchev asking for a partial test-ban agreement

1960;

• A U-2 reconnaissance plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the U.S.S.R.

RUSSIANS LOOKING AT THE CRASH SITE OF THE U-2 THAT WAS SHOT DOWN

• The Paris Summit meeting collapses when Khrushchev demands an apology from President Eisenhower for the U-2 flights.
• The Congo (Zaire) becomes independent from Belgium on June 30, 1960 and widespread violence leads to intervention by U.N. troops

Eisenhower became the first President not constitutionally allowed to run for a third term since the twenty-second amendment was ratified. He did however, get to be the first President to fall under the Former Presidents Act, an Act that entitles former Presidents a pension for life, state provided staff and Secret Service detail. After his Presidency, he got his commission of being 5-star general reinstated and retired to a fairly quiet political life.

Famous quotes;

“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

“History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid.”

“If you want total security, go to prison. There you’re fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking… is freedom.“

#35 John F. Kennedy 1961-1963

5/29/1917 – 11/22/1963

Party: Democrat

Timeline; 1961-1963

Kennedy started out in the U.S. Navy (1941-1945) as a reserve during World War II, after that he got into politics joining Massachusetts house of representatives (1947-1953) then as Senator (1953-1960)

1961;

• Kennedy becomes the 35th President of the United States at the age of 43. Lyndon B. Johnson is his VP
  
• Kennedy issues an executive order creating a temporary Peace Corps and asks Congress to authorize the program permanently.
• Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space

• Kennedy takes responsibility for a U.S.-sponsored invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs that ended in disaster

BAY OF PIGS INVASION, CUBA

• Black and white youths supported by the Congress of Racial Equality set out on the “freedom rides” to test the enforcement of ICC rules against discrimination in interstate travel.

FREEDOM RIDERS

• Alan Sheppard Jr. becomes the first American in space

• In an address to Congress, Kennedy pledges that the Unites States will land a man on the moon by the end of the decade
• Kennedy meets with Soviet premier Nikita S. Khrushchev in Vienna. The conference fails to resolve conflict over the status of Berlin
• East Germany, supported by the Soviet Union, begins construction of the Berlin Wall, halting the flow of refugees to the West

BERLIN WALL BEING BUILT

• The Geneva conference, with the United States, Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom participating, adjourns without reaching an agreement on a nuclear test ban
• Kennedy halts virtually all trade with Cuba

1962;

• The U.S. Supreme Court rules that segregation in transportation facilities is unconstitutional
• Astronaut John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth

JOHN GLENN GETTING IN THE COCKPIT

• Kennedy announces the reduction of U.S. import duties as part of an agreement to promote international trade
• Marilyn Monroe is found dead
• The U.S. Supreme Court orders the University of Mississippi to admit James H. Meredith, its first African-American student. After Governor Ross Barnett attempts to block the admission and an Ole Miss riot breaks out, U.S. Marshals escort Meredith to campus while Federalized national guardsmen maintain order

MISSISSIPPI’S LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR PAUL JOHNSON CONFRONTS THE CHIEF MARSHALL JAMES MCSHANE AS HE ESCORTS JAMES MEREDITH TO REGISTRATION

• Kennedy is informed of the existence of Soviet missile installations in Cuba

U-2 PHOTOGRAPH OF SOVIET MISSILE INSTALLATIONS IN CUBA

• Kennedy announces Cuban Missile Crisis and addresses the American people about the situation in Cuba, ordering a navel quarantine of Cuba to prevent further shipments of weapons

• After thirteen days, the Cuban Missile Crisis is resolved. The United States pledges not to invade Cuba (and secretly agrees to remove missiles from Turkey), in exchange for the removal of the Soviet weapons
• Kennedy lifts the naval blockade of Cuba
• The Supreme Court rules in Gideon v. Wainwright that states must supply counsel in criminal cases for individuals who cannot afford it

1963;

• Martin Luther King Jr leads a civil rights drive in Birmingham, Alabama. Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor orders the police to use fire hoses and dogs on demonstrators

POLICE SICKING DOGS ON PROTESTERS

PROTESTERS BEING HOSED DOWN

• Medgar W. Evers, NAACP field secretary for Mississippi, is assassinated outside his home in Jackson
• The March on Washington attracts 250,000 demonstrators to the nation’s capital in support of civil rights legislation. At the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his “I Have a Dream” speech

• Kennedy signs a limited nuclear test-ban treaty with the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom
• South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated in U.S.-supported coup
• Kennedy is assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested and accused of the crime. Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson is sworn in as the thirty-sixth President of the United States following the assassination

JFK ASSASSINATION

• Jack Ruby shoots and kills Lee Harvey Oswald

• Kennedy is buried at Arlington National Cemetery, VA

To this day, nobody knows for sure why Kennedy was assassinated but there are many conspiracy theories out there to make you wonder.

Famous quotes;

“My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”

“Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.“

#36 Lyndon B. Johnson 1963-1969

8/27/1908 – 1/22/1973

Party: Democrat

Timeline; 1963-1969

Johnson got into teaching and politics early on before joining the U.S. Navy reserves (1940-1964) only serving active duty for 2 years (1941-1942), the rest were spent in political positions; Texas House of representatives member  (1937-1949), Senate majority whip (1951-1953), Senate minority leader (1953-1955), Senate majority leader (1955-1961), before serving as VP (1961-1963)

1963;

• Following Kennedy’s assassination, Johnson becomes the 36th President of the United States at the age of 55.
• Johnson addresses a joint session of Congress calling on legislators to fulfill Kennedy’s legacy and pass civil rights and tax legislation
• Johnson creates a special commission chaired by Chief Justice Earl Warren to investigate the Kennedy assassination

1964;

• The Twenty-Fourth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, abolishing poll taxes
• Jack Ruby is convicted of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald and sentenced to death.

• In a speech at the University of Michigan, Johnson announces his intention to create a Great Society by extending American prosperity to all its citizens.
• Johnson signs The Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Former President Hoover is laid to rest in West Branch Iowa

HOOVER GRAVE

• Three civil rights workers are found dead in Mississippi, they were all participating in the Mississippi Freedom Summer
• Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving the President power to pursue military action in Vietnam
• Johnson signs the Economic Opportunity Act, beginning the War on Poverty
• The Warren Commission releases its report, rejecting the notion that Kennedy was assassinated as part of a conspiracy
• Martin Luther King Jr. is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

MLK WITH HIS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

• Nikita Khrushchev is forced to resign as leader of the Soviet Union and is replaced by Leonid Brezhnev

1965;

• Johnson wins a full term for Presidency, Hubert Humphrey is his new VP
• Johnson begins the bombing on North Vietnam after nine American soldiers are killed in an attack on the U.S. barracks; Camp Holloway, in Pleiku, Vietnam
• Malcolm X is assassinated by other black Muslims in New York City
• Martin Luther King Jr. leads a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama

SELMA TO MONTGOMERY MARCH

• Johnson signs the Elementary and Secondary Education Act
• Johnson sends U.S. marines to the Dominican Republic to protect U.S. citizens after a military coup during the Dominican Civil War
• The U.S. Supreme Court finds a Connecticut law banning the use of contraceptives unconstitutional
• Martin Luther King Jr. leads a demonstration in Chicago in an attempt to bring the Civil Rights Movement to the North
• Johnson increases the number of troops sent to Vietnam, indicating his determination to engage in a ground war

MARINES ARRIVE AT DA NANG

• Johnson signs Social Security amendments creating Medicare and Medicaid
• Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act into law
• The Watts Riots break out in Los Angeles

NATIONAL GUARD WALKS TOWARDS SMOKE FROM BURNING BUILDINGS

• Fearing that American involvement in Vietnam will draw France into a world war, French president Charles De Gaulle announces that France will withdraw from NATO
• The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upholds the Voting Rights Act of 1965

1966;

• The White House Conference on Civil Rights urges Congress to pass further civil rights legislation
• James Meredith is shot in a March from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jackson, Mississippi; civil rights leaders organize to complete his march. During this demonstration, Stokely Carmichael makes a statement in support of “black power.”

JAMES MEREDITH SHOT AND WOUNDED

• the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the constitutional provision against self-incrimination applies to police interrogations, in Miranda v. Arizona
• Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale found the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California

1967;

• A launch pad fire during tests for the Apollo I program kills three astronauts.

• The Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, providing rules of succession upon the death of the President, and enabling the President to appoint a new vice-president in the case of a vacancy.
• The Eternal Flame memorial is added to Kennedy’s grave at Arlington National cemetery

ETERNAL FLAME MEMORIAL AT ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

• The Six Day War breaks out between Israel and several Arab nations

• Riots break out in Newark, New Jersey

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY RIOTS

• Riots spread across the city of Detroit, Michigan.

DETROIT RACE RIOT

• Anti-war demonstrators March to the Pentagon in an attempt to shut it down

ANTI-WAR PROTEST AT PENTAGON

1968;

• North Korean forces capture the U.S.S. Pueblo

• North Vietnamese troops surprise South Vietnamese and American troops by attacking during the Tet holiday, known as the Tet Offensive

• U.S. forces in Vietnam commit massacre in the hamlet of My Lai; hundreds of unarmed men, women, and children are killed.

HUEYS DROPPING OFF U.S. FORCES IN VIETNAM

• Johnson announces a partial bombing halt and his unwillingness to seek reelection to the presidency
• Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee

• Students at Columbia University take over several buildings on campus
• The United States and North Vietnam begin peace talks in Paris
• Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated after winning the Democratic primary in California
• The Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia to end the movement toward greater freedom and independence

SOVIET INVASION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA

• Leonid Brezhnev announces that the Soviet Union has the right to intervene anywhere in its sphere of influence. This “Brezhnev Doctrine” becomes central to Soviet foreign policy

Antiwar protests caused Johnson to drop a reelection bid. He retired to his ranch in Texas and worked on books and memoirs, occasionally getting involved with politics.

Famous quotes;

“If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: “President Can’t Swim.”.”

“Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.”

“Jerry Ford is so dumb he can’t fart and chew gum at the same time.”

“A man without a vote is man without protection.“

#37 Richard M. Nixon 1969-1974

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1969-1974

Nixon served with the U.S. Navy Reserves (1942-1966) with just the first 5 years spent active duty, the other time was spent as a member of the house of representatives for California (1947-1950), California Senator (1950-1953), and Vice President (1953-1961).

1969;

• Nixon becomes the 37th President of the United States at the age of 56. Spiro Agnew is his V.P.
• Following an attack on a U.S. plane on April 15, Nixon orders that reconnaissance flights off of North Korea be resumed
• Former President Eisenhower is laid to rest in Abilene, KS

EISENHOWER TOMB AT HIS PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY

• Nixon asks that Congress be granted authority to consolidate federal aid programs to states and cities
• Apollo 11 lifts off and becomes the first space flight to land on the moon

NEIL ARMSTRONG BECOMES FIRST MAN ON THE MOON

• Nixon asks that Congress make the Post Office department a public corporation
• Nixon announces a plan to withdraw 25,000 U.S. troops from South Vietnam within next couple of months and orders cuts in overseas government personnel by 10 percent.
• Nixon affirms his desire to withdraw U.S. troops from southeast Asia and declares that individual nations will bear a larger responsibility for their own security. Initially referred to as the “Guam Doctrine,” this statement later becomes known as the “Nixon Doctrine.”
• Nixon discloses his program for welfare reform, which includes the Family Assistance Plan
• Nixon declares that Latin America must be responsible for its own social and economic progress
• Nixon reveals that North Vietnam has rejected the administration’s secret peace offers. He proposes a plan for the gradual and secretive withdrawal of troops
• Nixon signs the Selective Service Reform bill, ensuring that draftees are selected by a lottery system

1970;

• Nixon signs executive order ending occupational and parental deferments for the draft.
• Nixon puts forth a plan to reorganize the federal agencies that handle environmental problem
• Nixon approves a plan for an Inter-agency Committee on Intelligence to conduct operations against domestic targets
• Nixon approves and signs the Postal Reorganization Act, which establishes an independent United States Postal Service
• Nixon meets with Israeli Premier Golda Meir to talk about problems in the Middle East.
• In a televised address, Nixon proposes a five-point peace plan for Indochina. The plan includes a “cease-fire in place” and the negotiated withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam
• Nixon signs the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1970, which gives the secretary of labor the responsibility of setting workplace safety standards for jobs in the United States.
• Nixon signs a clean air bill which mandates that car manufacturers reduce certain pollutants by 90 percent

1971;

• Nixon delays the construction of the Cross-Florida Barge Canal in order to stop environmental damage
• Taping systems are activated in the White House. The Oval Office is outfitted with a voice-activated system and the Cabinet Room with a manual system
• A voice-activated taping system in the Executive Office Building (EOB) becomes operational. Taping also begins on phone conversations held in the Oval Office, the EOB, and the Lincoln Sitting Room
• Nixon signs a Wage-Price Controls Bill, extending his authority to impose restraints on wages, prices, salaries, and rents for another year
• The New York Times begins to publish secret internal documents referred to as the “Pentagon Papers,” a development which leads the White House to become increasingly fearful of further disclosures. Within a week, a special unit named the “Plumbers” is created to stop the leaks.
• Nixon signs an Emergency Employment Act, earmarking $2.25 billion for the creation of public service jobs at state and local levels.
• Nixon declares a 90-day freeze on wages and prices, known as Phase One of his economic program.
• Nixon announces Phase Two of his economic plan
• Nixon signs an extension of the Economic Stabilization Act, allowing himself another year in which to right the economy.

1972;

• President and Mrs. Nixon travel to China. A joint communique, later known as the Shanghai Communique, is released by the United States and China. It calls for both countries agree to increase their contacts, and for the United States to withdraw gradually from Taiwan

SHANGHAI COMMUNIQUE MEETING

• Nixon dismisses busing as a means of achieving racial integration and seeks legislation that would deny court-ordered busing.
• Nixon enacts legislation devaluing the dollar.
• Former President Truman is laid to rest in Independence Missouri

TRUMAN GRAVE

• On national television, Nixon states that he has ordered the mining of North Vietnamese ports and the bombing of military targets in the North Vietnam, known as Operation: Linebacker.

BOMBING OF THE HAI DU’O’NG BRIDGE

• A mixture of taping systems in Camp David become operational
• Nixon arrives in the Soviet Union for the Moscow summit meeting. He is the first sitting President to visit the U.S.S.R.

U.S. PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON AND U.S.S.R. PREMIER ALEXEI KOSYGIN SIGNING AN AGREEMENT WHILE U.S.S.R PRESIDENT LEONID BREZHNEV AND OTHER DIPLOMATS WITNESS.

• Police stop 5 burglars inside Democratic Headquarters in Washington, D.C.’s Watergate Hotel. They confiscate cameras, wiretapping materials, and $2,300 in cash

• Nixon orders Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman to tell the F.B.I. not to go any further with its Watergate investigation, justifying his actions on national security grounds.
• In a news conference, Nixon declares that no one on the White House staff, in the administration, or anyone “presently employed” was involved in the Watergate break-in
• Nixon endorses a bill which calls for revenue sharing with the states and grants over $30 billion to state and local governments over the course of five years.
• Nixon enhances the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the sale and use of pesticides.
• Nixon signs multiple bills, one of which provides more than $5 billion in benefits for the aged, blind, and disabled, while also increasing Social Security taxes.
• Nixon asks for the resignation of all agency directors, federal department heads, and presidential appointees.
• Operation Lumberjack II starts, which was also known as December Raids of Vietnam

1973;

• Phase Three of the economic plan is announced, in which wages and price controls will be ended in all but a few industries.
• Nixon wins his 2nd term, Agnew remains V.P.
• Paris Peace Accords are signed by all parties at war in Vietnam.
• Voice-activated taping systems at Camp David cease operations
• Nixon admits responsibility for the Watergate affair on television, but continues to assert no prior knowledge of it.
• Former President Johnson is laid to rest in Stonewall, TX

• Nixon declares a freeze on all prices for sixty days, with the exception of raw agricultural products and rents.
• The voice-activated taping system in the Oval Office ceases operation.
• Testifying before the Senate Watergate Committee, Federal Aviation administrator Alexander Butterfield confirms the existence of an Oval Office taping system
• Phase Four of the economic program is revealed, in which the freeze is lifted on all foods except beef and health-care products.
• Taping systems in the Cabinet Room, Oval Office, EOB, and Lincoln Sitting Room ceases operation
• Nixon refuses to turn over tapes to the Senate Watergate Committee, claiming executive privilege
• Vice President Agnew comes under scrutiny for charges stemming from campaign contributions he received while in office from persons who were later given government contracts. Agnew denies the charges in a press conference.
• Nixon denies involvement in the Watergate cover-up in a televised address.

• Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns and pleads “no contest” to charges stemming from a kickback scheme he ran while Governor of Maryland. Agnew is fined $10,000 and sentenced to three years probation. Gerald Ford is nominated as vice president.
• Nixon addresses the nation regarding the energy crisis.
• Nixon discloses his personal finances, which indicate he paid less than $1,000 in taxes in 1970 and 1971.
• Nixon increases Social Security benefits.

1974;

• The Senate Watergate Committee subpoenas more than 500 tapes, which Nixon refuses to turn over, stating that presidential communications must remain confidential.
• Nixon gives his State of the Union address, in which he refuses to resign and demands an end to the Watergate investigation.
• As a result of an IRS investigation into Nixon’s finances, the President is forced to pay $432,787 in back taxes and $33,000 interest.
• Nixon increases the minimum wage to $2 with the likelihood of future increases and broader coverage.
• Nixon addresses the nation before disclosing more than 1,200 pages of his conversations regarding Watergate.

• Despite Vice President Ford’s advice to surrender the necessary evidence to the House Judiciary Committee, Nixon refuses to hand over Watergate-related tapes.
• In an 8-0 ruling, the Supreme Court orders that Nixon turn over sixty-four tapes to the Senate Watergate Committee, in United States v. Nixon. The tapes disclose Nixon’s knowledge and participation in the cover-up of the Watergate burglary.

• Three articles of impeachment are brought against Nixon by the House Judiciary Committee: obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and the unconstitutional defiance of its subpoenas.
• Three new transcripts are released, showing that Nixon ordered a cover-up less than a week after the break-in. Nixon issues a statement with the transcripts indicating that he withheld this evidence from his lawyers and from those who support him on the Judiciary Committee.

• Nixon informs his cabinet that he will not resign despite the fact that even his closest advisors are suggesting that he should.
• Nixon is told by a few of his supporters that he would not win an impeachment trial. Nixon tells Kissinger, Ford, and a few Congressional leaders that he plans to resign.
• Nixon resigns the presidency, effective at noon the next day, in a televised address. Before leaving for California, he sends his letter of resignation to Kissinger and offers Gerald Ford the new President spot since he had no VP successor, Ford accepts.

During Nixon’s first term, he improved relations with the Soviet Union and China and wound down the Vietnam War. But the Watergate scandal, forced Nixon to resign before Congress could impeach him, becoming the only President in U.S. history to resign. The first few years of retirement were rough, socially and financially, due to his involvement from Watergate, but he eventually got past it by doing sit-down interviews, speeches and writing his memoirs regarding it all.

Famous quotes;

“No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.”

“If an individual wants to be a leader and isn’t controversial, that means he never stood for anything.”

“The Cold War isn’t thawing; it is burning with a deadly heat. Communism isn’t sleeping; it is, as always, plotting, scheming, working, fighting.“

#38 Gerald R. Ford 1974-1977

7/14/1913 – 12/26/2006

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1974-1977

Ford made a name for himself playing football for the University of Michigan (1932-1934). He almost quit the team his senior year after the team pulled his best friend Willis Ward from a game because Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets refused to take the field with an African-American, Ward talked him out of it though. After College he turned down contracts from Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, opting to coach football in Yale instead where he eventually got admitted to Yale Law School (1938) graduating in the top 25 and getting admitted to the Michigan bar (1941). He went on to be commissioned in the U.S Navy (1942-1946) where he served in World War II, on board the U.S.S. Monterey where he almost went overboard. After his military service he got back into politics, serving as a of Michigan’s house of representatives (1949-1973) becoming chairman (1963-1965) and minority leader (1965-1973) before eventually being put on as Nixon’s Vice President (1973-1974).

U.S.S. MONTEREY

FORD WAS ON DECK AT THIS POINT AND ALMOST WENT OVERBOARD BUT WAS ABLE TO CATCH HIMSELF, TWIST AND JUMP TO THE LOWER DECK

1974;

• Ford becomes the 38th President of the United States at the age of 61.
• Ford grants Richard Nixon a full pardon; his approval rating slips to 49 percent.

• Ford issues a proclamation of conditional amnesty for those who deserted or dodged the Vietnam War by performing alternative services.
• Ford forms the Economic Policy Board, which will oversee all aspects of economic policy.
• Ford speaks to a joint session of Congress. He calls for a temporary 5 percent tax hike, cuts in federal spending, and the creation of a voluntary inflation-fighting organization, named “Whip Inflation Now”
• Ford signs the Federal Elections Campaign Act of 1974, the most significant attempt at campaign finance reform since the 1920s.
• Ford makes a visit to Japan, the first by an American President.
• The Freedom of Information Act is passed over Ford’s veto. It provides expanded access to government files and allows secrecy classifications to be challenged in court and justified by the appropriate federal authorities.

1975;

• The House approves Ford’s selection of Nelson A. Rockefeller, as his vice president.
• Ford signs the Privacy Act of 1974, ensuring the right of Americans to individual privacy
• Ford announces the creation of the Rockefeller Commission, their intent is to review abuses by the C.I.A.
• Ford proposes a $16 billion tax cut in his State of the Union Address
• The Commission on Civil Rights reports that the proportion of blacks in mostly white schools was higher in the South than in the North
• Following the fall of the city of Ban Me Thout, and the Hue-Da Nang Campaign, the city of Saigon falls to the North Vietnamese causing the South to surrender and the Vietnam War to end. Ford has the remaining Americans evacuated from the capital city.

NORTH VIETNAMESE TANK ROLLING THROUGH THE PRESIDENTIAL PALACE GATES IN SAIGON

• Ford tells the nation he will reluctantly sign the Tax Reduction Act of 1975, which calls for a $22.8 billion tax cut.
• Unemployment rises to 8.7 percent, the highest since 1941
• Cambodia falls to Khmer Rouge, a communist party of Cambodia

CAMBODIA FALLS

• The Mayaguez Incident starts up as Cambodia (Khmer Rouge) seizes the U.S. merchant ship and takes its crew hostage.

• Marines move onto Koh Tang, an island off the shore of Cambodia believed to hold the captured sailors of the Mayaguez. Fierce fighting kills fifteen Marines, but the sailors are not found.

MARINES MOVING IN ON KOH TANG ISLAND

• Ford orders airstrikes on the Cambodian mainland. Shortly after the crew of the Mayaguez is released but battles still go on as marines try to pull out. The Battle of Koh Tang was the last battle of Vietnam

• Unemployment reaches its highest point at 9.2 percent.
• Ford signs the Helsinki Accords on European security and cooperation during his trip in Europe
• Egypt and Israel sign the second-stage Sinai withdrawal agreement
• A Charles Manson follower; Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme attempts to assassinate President Ford in San Francisco with her Colt .45 but a secret service agent stopped her.

FROMME BEING DETAINED BY SECRET SERVICE

• Sara Jane Moore attempts to assassinate Ford but misses her first shot and gets tackled by an ex-marine on her second, deflected the bullet and narrowly missing the President.

SECRET SERVICE RUSHING FORD TO HIS CAR AFTER MOORE ATTEMPTED TO ASSASSINATE HIM

• Ford addresses the nation via television asking for a reduction of $28 billion in taxes and spending
• Ford refuses to give federal economic aid to New York City. Instead he advises the city to use financial restraint. The next day, the headline of the New York Daily News reads: Ford to City—Drop Dead.

• Ford signs the Energy Policy Conservation Act

1976;

• Unemployment drops from 8.3 to 7.8
• The Concorde supersonic jet makes its first flight between Europe and the United States.

FIRST CONCORDE SUPERSONIC JET LIFTS OFF FOR ITS FIRST COMMERCIAL RUN

• Ford builds up the country’s strategic oil reserve in order to protect the United States from another foreign embargo
• A memorial grove is dedicated to Lyndon B. Johnson off the Potomac River

LYNDON B. JOHNSON MEMORIAL

• Fords signs a treaty with the Soviet Union limiting underground nuclear testing as part of the Helsinki Accords.
• Following the murder of the American ambassador and his aide, Ford orders Operation Fluid Drive to evacuate the 116 Americans and 146 third-country nationals from Lebanon.
• A memorial building and statue are dedicated to James Madison in Washington D.C.

JAMES MADISON STATUE

• Viking I lands on Mars.

VIKING 1 ON THE MARS

• The Labor Department announces that employment has risen by 3.8 million people
• Mao Zedong dies, leaving China in a state of unrest.
• As many as ninety members of Congress are implicated in a scandal for accepting illegal gifts from an agent of the South Korean government, dubbed Korea-Gate.
• The administration announces that it plans to store as many as 500 million barrels of crude oil in salt dunes on the Gulf Coast
• Ford proposes that Puerto Rico become the fifty-first state without consulting Congress; critics contend that the proposal violates the principle of self-determination.

Ford was unsuccessful in winning a second term and goes down as the only President and Vice President to ever hold those titles without actually being elected to them. After his Presidency he stayed close to politics and still worked on foreign affairs such as making numerous trips outside of the country for diplomatic reasons and attended memorial’s on the President’s behalf at times, as well as dealing with domestic issues.

Famous quotes;

“A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have.”

“Our constitution works. Our great republic is a government of laws, not of men.”

“All of us who served in one war or another know very well that all wars are the glory and the agony of the young.“

#39 Jimmy E. Carter 1977-1981

10/1/1924 –

Party: Democrat

Timeline; 1977-1981

Carter was a farm boy that joined the Navy out of college (1943-1953; active, 1953-1961; reserve) before getting into politics. After his service he went back to farming and studying politics where he eventually won a seat in the Georgia Senate (1963-1967) before going on to win the position of Governor (1971-1975)

1977;

• Carter becomes the 39th President of the United States at the age of 52. Walter Mondale is his VP
• Carter pardons Vietnam War draft evaders.

• Congress passes Emergency Natural Gas Act, authorizing the President to deregulate natural gas prices due to a shortage in supply.
• Carter cancels production of the B-1 strategic bomber

1978;

• Carter invokes the Taft-Hartley Act to end the Bituminous coal strike
• Carter warns of the Soviet threat in a foreign policy address at Wake Forest University
• Carter mediates talks between Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt at Camp David, resulting in a peace treaty between the two nations.
• Carter mediates talks between Israel and Egypt and helps sign the Camp David Accords
• Congress passes a revised energy bill eighteen months after Carter proposed it. Congress also passes the Humphrey-Hawkins full employment bill.
• The Carter administration grants full diplomatic status to the People’s Republic of China

1979;

• Carter approves development of the MX missile.
• Carter signs the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II) with the USSR. The U.S. Senate never ratifies the treaty but both nations voluntarily comply with its terms.

CARTER AND BREZHNEV SIGN SALT II

• Carter delivers what becomes known as his the “Crisis of Confidence speech,” blaming the problems of the nation on “a crisis of spirit.”
• Carter collapses in 10K race, leading the press to depict the event as representative of the strength of his presidency.

CARTER COLLAPSES DURING RACE

• Carter signs a bill establishing the Department of Education
• Iran hostage crisis starts as Iranian students take sixty-six Americans hostage at the American embassy in Tehran

1980;

• Due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Carter asks the Senate to table its consideration of SALT II. He also placed an embargo on grain sales to the Soviet Union and suggests the possibility of boycotting the Summer Olympics in Moscow

SOVIET INVASION OF AFGHANISTAN

• Carter announces the “Carter Doctrine” in his State of the Union address
• Carter announces his anti-inflation program which includes a proposal for a balanced budget for fiscal year 1981.
• Carter announces that the economy is in recession, with the inflation rates hitting ten percent and interest rates climbing to eighteen percent.
• The U.S. Olympic Committee votes to boycott the Moscow summer Olympics, supporting Carter in protesting the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• Carter announces the failure of “Desert One,” the mission to rescue the Iranian-held hostages, and that several American military personnel had been killed.

FAILURE OF DESERT ONE; RH-53 SEA STALLION HELICOPTERS AND THE BODY OF A PILOT

• Carter signs Presidential Directive 59 advocating a strategy for fighting a nuclear war

Carter had success promoting Middle East peace but the soaring oil prices, high inflation, and the Iran hostage crisis made him look weak and cost him a re-election bid. He took back over his peanut farm from the Trust Company that mismanaged it to debt and went on living an active life establishing the Carter Center, building his presidential library, writing books, traveling the world as a diplomat and doing charity work which won him a Nobel Peace Prize

Famous quotes;

“We should live our lives as though Christ were coming this afternoon.”

“Aggression unopposed becomes a contagious disease.”

“If you fear making anyone mad, then you ultimately probe for the lowest common denominator of human achievement.”

#40 Ronald W. Reagan 1981-1989

2/6/1911 – 6/5/2004

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1981-1989

Reagan was a movie star before enlisting in the U.S. Army as a reserve (1937), still starring in roles while serving and even signed a seven year contract with Warner Brothers before he was ordered to active duty (1942-1945). When he was out he went back to the entertainment life serving on the Screen Actors Guild, eventually becoming President (1959-1960). During that time he started his political career as well where the Goldwater campaign and his fame led him to a visible political status which helped him win the position of governor of California (1967-1975). After his terms as Governor he went on to run for President, losing his first campaign in 1976 before finally being elected in 1980.

1981;

• Reagan becomes the 40th President of the United States, at the age of 69. George H.W. Bush is his V.P.
• Fifty-two American hostages held in Iran since November 1979 are released.

AMERICAN HOSTAGES ARE FREED FROM IRAN AFTER ALMOST 2 YEARS

• Reagan proposes increased defense spending, and decreased taxes and domestic spending in speech to Congress.
• Reagan was shot by John W. Hinkley, Jr., while leaving the Washington Hilton Hotel after giving a speech

ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF REAGAN

• Reagan lifts a grain embargo imposed on Soviet Union by President Carter.
• Reagan nominates Sandra Day O’Connor to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart, making O’Connor the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court
• Reagan orders the dismissal of 13,000 PATCO air traffic controllers out on strike, citing their violation of a federal law against industry strikes.
• Reagan declares that the United States will produce the B-1 bomber and MX missiles as part of military buildup

• Reagan states that he will not deploy intermediate-range nuclear missiles in Europe if the Soviet Union agrees to dismantle similar weapons already in place.
• Reagan imposes economic sanctions on Poland following that government’s imposition of martial law in the Poland Crisis.

1982;

• Reagan calls for “New Federalism” in his State of the Union address, advocating less federal spending and more state initiative to solve social and economic problems.
• Reagan becomes the first U.S. President to address the combined Houses of Parliament, taking Britain’s side in the Falkland Islands conflict with Argentina.
• Reagan establishes the President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control through Executive Order
• Reagan signs the Tax Equity & Fiscal Responsibility Act

1983;

• In his State of the Union address, Reagan calls for a freeze on domestic spending and increases in military outlays.
• Reagan sends forces to Lebanon to help reduce tensions from the Lebanese Civil War
• Reagan urges development of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), an attempt to create a high-technology anti-ballistic missile shield to protect the United States from nuclear attack.
• President Reagan signs the Social Security Reform Bill into law.
• The U.S. GNP shows dramatic growth for the first quarter of 1983, signaling the end of the recession.
• suicide bombers crashed a truck bearing more than 2,000 pounds of explosives through protective barricades at U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon, Beirut

AFTERMATH OF THE BEIRUT SUICIDE BOMBING ON MARINE BARRACKS

1984;

• Reagan delivers State of the Union message, calling on Congress to cooperate to reduce the deficit.
• Reagan signs scientific and cultural exchange accords with the Beijing leadership while on six-day visit to China.
• Congress and Reagan work out a compromise on the MX missile

1985;

• Reagan wins a second term
• The Reagan administration announces trade embargo against Nicaragua.
• Reagan attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Bitburg military cemetery in West Germany, the gravesite of 200 German soldiers including 49 members of Adolf Hitler’s SS. Responding to criticism of the visit, Reagan visits and lays a wreath at a nearby concentration camp earlier in the day

• Reagan has a malignant polyp removed from his colon; Vice President Bush serves as acting President for eight hours.
• The Reagan administration announces limited economic sanctions against South Africa after the South African government declares martial law.
• Reagan and Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev hold a summit meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. It is the first such meeting between U.S and Soviet heads of state since 1979
• Reagan signs the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction bill.

1986;

• Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Reykjavik, Iceland.
• The Challenger space shuttle explodes just over a minute into its flight

CHALLENGER AT LIFT OFF

CHALLENGER EXPLOSION SHORTLY AFTER LIFT OFF

• Reagan signs a revision of the tax code into law.
• The White House informs Congress that the United States secretly sold arms to Iran in violation of federal laws prohibiting arms deals with Iran. The administration denies that the sales were part of an attempt to secure the release of American hostages held by Iranian-backed forces
• The administration admits that between $10 and $30 million had been diverted from Iranian arms sales and funneled to the Nicaraguan contras
• The Tower Commission is appointed to investigate the Iran-Contra affair. Reagan forgoes any claim of executive privilege and orders his administration to cooperate fully with the investigation. Lawrence Walsh is appointed special prosecutor to investigate criminal wrongdoing.

1987;

• Congress overrides Reagan’s veto of the Water Quality Control Act
• The Tower Commission releases its report, finding no criminal wrongdoing on the part of the White House but remaining critical of the administration nonetheless
• In televised address, Reagan accepts responsibility for actions in Iran-Contra affair that occurred without his knowledge.
• Reagan visits Berlin Wall asking Gorbachev to tear down the wall for peace talks

REAGAN SPEAKS AT BERLIN WALL

• Congress issues its Iran-Contra report, declaring that Regan must assume “ultimate responsibility” for the affair.
• Gorbachev and Reagan meet in Washington, D.C., and sign the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, ending the Cold War

1988;

• The administration prohibits federally funded family-planning centers from providing assistance to women seeking abortions.
• Reagan visits the Soviet Union for the Moscow Summit

GORBACHEV AND REAGAN

1989;

• Reagan delivers his farewell address.
• Reagan leaves office with public opinion casting him as the nation’s most popular President since Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Reagan is credited with reviving national pride after the turmoil of the 1960s and 1970s. He enjoyed great popularity, though his conservative policies were controversial. He is the only President to survive after being wounded by a would-be assassin. Reagan retired to California occasionally making appearances on behalf of the Republican Party. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1994

Famous Quotes

“If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth.”

“Government is not the solution to our problem, government is our problem”

“There is no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit”

Presidents #41-Present (1989-present) Dealt with the Middle East wars, War on Terror, and White House Scandals

• 41. George H. W. Bush; Republican
• 42. Bill Clinton; Democrat
• 43. George W. Bush; Republican
• 44. Barack Obama; Democrat
• 45. Donald Trump; Republican
• 46. Joe Biden; Democrat

#41 George H.W. Bush 1989-1993

6/12/1924 –

Party: Republican

Timeline; 1989-1993

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bush joined the Navy (1942-1945) during World War II. Based on U.S.S. San Jacinto, he was part of one of the largest air battles of WWII; Battle of the Phillipine Sea followed by piloting the Grumman TBM Avenger aircraft from VT-51 during the attack on Chichijima. After his military career he went into the oil industry before getting into politics where he served as a U.S. representative for Texas (1967-1971), an ambassador to the U.N. (1971-1973), chairperson of the RNC (1973-1974), Chief liaison to the People’s Republic of China (1974-1975), Director of the C.I.A. (1976-1977), and Ronald Reagan’s V.P. (1981-1989)

1989;

• Bush becomes the 41st President of the Unites States, at the age of 64. Dan Quayle is his VP.
• Bush introduces his bail-out plan for troubled savings and loans banks.
• The Bush administration announces a temporary ban on the importation of semi-automatic rifle
• In the worst oil spill on American territory, the Exxon Valdez supertanker runs aground in southeastern Alaska.

CREWS TRY TO CLEAN UP THE OIL ON THE SHORE

AERIAL VIEW OF THE EXXON OIL SPILL

• Bush offers a program of special assistance for Poland
• The People’s Liberation Army, the military arm of the Chinese government, uses tanks and armored cars to suppress a pro-democracy movement that had encamped in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

ONE PROTESTER STANDS IN FRONT OF TANKS AT TIANANMEN SQUARE

• Bush announces a number of condemnatory actions, including the suspension of the sale of American weapons to China for the Tiananmen Square Incident.

CHINESE TROOPS AND TANKS AT TIANANMEN SQUARE

• Bush the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, a compromise with Congress on the bail-out of savings and loans.
• The Berlin Wall falls, marking the symbolic end of Communist rule in Eastern Europe.

• Bush signs the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1989, which will raise the minimum wage to $4.25 an hour.
• Bush signs a new anti-drug law that provides more than $3 billion for expanded  programs like treatment facilities, federal prison expansion, education, and law enforcement.
• Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev meet to discuss nuclear disarmament and the strengthening of Soviet-American trade relations. Both leaders announce that the Cold War is effectively over.
• American armed forces invade Panama to capture Manuel Antonio Noriega, the country’s military dictator.

1990;

• Bush and Gorbachev sign the broadest arms reduction agreement in two decades, stipulating that the United States and the Soviet Union scrap 25 percent and 40 percent of their respective nuclear stockpiles.
• Bush reneges on his “no new taxes” pledge from the 1988 presidential campaign by stating that in order to solve the deficit problem, tax increases might be necessary
• Bush signs the Americans with Disabilities Act
• Iraq invades Kuwait. Bush strongly condemns Iraq’s actions

 

IRAQI TANK IN KUWAIT

• After East Germans approve reunification, East and West Germany are formally reunited
• Bush vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1990, stating that the bill would “introduce the destructive force of quotas into our nation’s employment system.”
• Bush signs a budget law intended to reduce the federal budget by almost $500 billion over the next five years. The law includes $140 billion dollars in new taxes.
• Bush increases the number of American troops in Saudi Arabia to 400,000.
• Bush signs the Clean Air Act of 1990
• The United States, Canada, and twenty other European nations sign the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty.
• Bush signs the Immigration Act of 1990, allowing for the admission of 700,000 aliens each year.

1991;

• The Persian Gulf War, code-named Operation Desert Storm, begins with a massive, American-led air attack on Iraq.

AIR RAID ON IRAQ

• Ground troops, including a large contingent of American soldiers, begin operations in Operation Desert Storm.

U.S. TROOPS STROLLING THROUGH KUWAIT

• After liberating Kuwait, coalition troops advance rapidly into Iraqi territory, encountering no resistance. Bush calls off the ground offensive.

• Bush lifts most American sanctions against the Republic of South Africa
• Bush and Gorbachev meet in Moscow to sign a nuclear arms reduction treaty (START-I) which calls for both nations to make significant reductions in the number of nuclear warheads in their respective arsenals.
• Bush signs the Civil Rights Act of 1991, making it easier for employees to sue employers on grounds of discrimination.
• The constituent republics of the Soviet Union dissolve the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

1992;

• At the presidential retreat at Camp David, Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin meet to discuss U.S.-Russian relations and officially declare the end of the Cold War.
• President Bush announces an aid plan of $24 billion to spur democratic and a free market reforms in the former Soviet Union.
• The United States signs agreements with Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, ensuring the continued participation of these nations in the nuclear arms reduction treaties signed by the U.S.S.R. before its collapse in late 1991.
• The United States signs the Framework Convention on Climate Change aimed at preventing further global warming.
• Bush and Yeltsin announce an agreement by which the United States and Russia reduce their nuclear warheads to between 3,000 and 3,500 by the year 2003.
• Bush signs a supplemental appropriations act that provides aid to inner cities, specifically Los Angeles, which is trying to recover from the Rodney King riots.

L.A. RIOTS

• Bush signs the Unemployment Compensation Amendments of 1992, extending coverage to the unemployed for 26 weeks, following their initial 26 weeks of benefits.
• American troops land in Somalia as part of the UN-sponsored “Operation Restore Hope.”

U.S. TROOPS IN SOMALIA

Bush was the first sitting Vice President to be elected President since Martin Van Buren. During his term, the Soviet Union collapsed and the Cold War ended. He also led the U.S. in the Gulf War against Iraq, but economic troubles at home cost him re-election. Since then he has been active in various humanitarian activities and living out his retirement making occasional political appearances. 

Famous quotes;

“I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don’t always agree with them.”

“We must act on what we know. I take as my guide the hope of a saint: In crucial things, unity; in important things, diversity; in all things, generosity.”

“Don’t confuse being ‘soft’ with seeing the other guy’s point of view.“

#42 Bill Clinton 1993-2000

8/19/1946 –

Party: Democrat

Timeline; 1993-2000

Clinton got into law before entering politics where he served as Attorney General of Arkansas (1977-1979), and Governor of Arkansas on separate occasions (1979-1981 and 1983-1992).
1993;

• Clinton becomes the 42nd President at the age of 46. Al Gore is his V.P.
• Clinton announces that the First Lady will head the Task Force on National Health Care Reform.
• Clinton signs the Family Medical Leave Act that requires companies to provide workers with up to three months of unpaid leave for family and medical emergencies.
• Six people are killed and more than a thousand suffer injuries after a bomb planted under the World Trade Center in New York City explodes.

1993 WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING

• The Senate confirms Janet Reno as attorney general, the first woman to serve in the position.
• In Waco, Texas, federal law enforcement officers, end a 51-day standoff against a religious cult led by David Koresh.

FBI BURNS HOUSE IN WACO STANDOFF

• Clinton orders the U.S. Navy to attack Iraqi intelligence operations in downtown Baghdad after learning that Iraqis had plotted to kill former President Bush during his visit to Kuwait. The twenty-three tomahawk missiles fired reportedly kill eight people.

ANATOMY OF A TOMAHAWK MISSILE

• Clinton announces an “honorable compromise” in the debate surrounding gays in the military. The policy is labeled “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
• Vince Foster, deputy counsel to the President, is found dead in a Northern Virginia park. Authorities rule his death a suicide at first, but it still left many conspiracy theories.
• Clinton signs the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.
• Clinton presides over a ceremony in Washington, D.C., at which Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat sign the Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles.
• Clinton unveils a plan for universal health care emphasizing that all Americans would have high quality health care and would be able to choose their physicians.
• An elite American special forces unit searching for Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu is ambushed by Aidid’s forces, leaving eighteen Americans dead.

• Clinton signs the Brady Act, which requires a potential handgun purchaser to wait five days while a background check is performed by law enforcement officers.
• After a hard-fought battle in Congress, Clinton signs the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), eliminating nearly every trade barrier between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, creating the world’s largest free trade zone.

1994;

• Clinton attends the NATO summit meeting in Brussels, Belgium and announces that the United States will maintain at least 100,000 troops in Europe as well as introducing the “Partnership for Peace” program
• Clinton ends the nineteen-year old trade embargo against Vietnam, noting that Vietnam is trying to locate 2,238 Americans listed as missing in action since the Vietnam War.
• The last American marines leave Somalia.
• Former President Nixon is laid to rest in Yorba Linda, CA

NIXON GRAVE

• Clinton renews China’s Most Favored Nation trade status
• Clinton unveils his welfare reform initiatives.
• Clinton meets with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and King Hussein of Jordan. The talks result in Israel and Jordan agreeing in principle to end nearly fifty years of official antagonism.

U.S. PRESIDENT CLINTON, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER RABIN AND KING HUSSEIN OF JORDAN

• Clinton signs the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act into law, that includes provisions providing for the hiring of 100,000 more policemen, and the expansion of the death penalty to cover more than 50 federal crimes.
• The administration announces plans to send more than 35,000 troops to the Persian Gulf to deter an Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Days later, Iraqi troops withdraw from border
• The Senate votes to approve the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) that 117 nations, including the United States, agree to in December 1993.
• Clinton, along with the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine, signs the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) in Budapest, Hungary. The treaty eliminates more than 9,000 warheads.

1995;

• Clinton signs the Congressional Accountability Act, requiring Congress to abide by the same anti-discrimination workplace rules that apply throughout the rest of the country.
• Clinton authorizes the U.S. Treasury Department to make an emergency loan of up to $20 billion to Mexico to forestall a financial crisis threatening the interconnected Mexican and American economies.
• In an act of domestic terrorism, a bomb planted in a truck parked in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, kills 168 people and causes massive structural damage.

OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING

• The United States extended full diplomatic recognition of Vietnam, twenty-two years after the United States withdrew military forces from that country.
• NATO, with a strong contingent of American forces, begins two weeks of air attacks on Serbian positions, dubbed Operation Deliberate Force.

• In Dayton, Ohio, the representatives of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia agree in principle to a peace agreement, the Dayton Accords

1996;

• Clinton signs a bill giving him the power of the “line-item veto,” which had been requested by Presidents Reagan and Bush. With this new power, Clinton can veto specific items in spending and tax bills without vetoing the entire measure.
• Clinton vetoes a bill that would have outlawed certain types of late-term abortions, namely the partial birth abortion.
• Clinton announces that American troops will likely remain in Bosnia as the major component of an international peacekeeping force for an additional eighteen months.
• In the first trial to result from the Whitewater investigation, Jim and Susan McDougal, and Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker–Clinton’s friends and former business partners in the Whitewater affair–are convicted of fraud.
• Clinton signs a health care reform bill that he expects to expand coverage for many Americans.
• Clinton signs a welfare reform bill that radically restructures the American welfare system.
• Clinton orders a cruise missile strike against Iraq after Saddam Hussein leads a siege against the Kurdish city of Irbil in northern Iraq.

MISSILE STRIKE ON IRAQ

• An overwhelming majority of United Nations members, including the United States, agree to a treaty banning all nuclear weapons testing.

1997;

• The Senate votes 99-0 to approve an investigation into the “improper” and “illegal” fund-raising tactics of both the White House and members of Congress. Allegations by Republicans and some Democrats of illegal fund raising by the Clinton White House spur the investigation
• Clinton and Yeltsin meet at Helsinki, Finland, and agree to begin negotiations on another nuclear arms reduction treaty (START III)
• The Senate ratifies the Chemical Weapons Convention, making illegal the production, acquisition, stockpiling, or use of chemical weapons
• A memorial is dedicated to Franklin D. Roosevelt in Washington D.C.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL

• The Clinton administration and Republican congressional leaders agree in principle to a five-year budget plan to eliminate the budget deficit.
• In a decision affecting both the scope of presidential power and the immediate future of the Clinton presidency, the Supreme Court rules that Paula Jones can pursue her sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton, even while he is in office.
• President Clinton signs legislation providing for a balanced budget by 2002, ending years of partisan wrangling between Clinton and Republican leaders.
• Attorney General Janet Reno, in a letter to Congress, announces that the Justice Department’s investigation into allegations that the Clinton administration violated campaign finance laws, especially in its efforts to finance the 1996 presidential campaign, has uncovered no major violations.
• President Clinton orders the United States government to contribute $3 billion to an international bail-out of Indonesia totaling over $22 billion. The Clinton administration argues that the bailout will help stabilize the shaky financial situation in Southeast Asia.

1998;

• News breaks that President Clinton may have had a sexual relationship with a former White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. Clinton, adamantly denying the allegations, states, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”
• A judge dismisses Paula Jones’s sexual harassment lawsuit against President Clinton.
• Catholic and Protestant leaders in Northern Ireland sign the “Good Friday Peace Accords,” a substantial agreement in the Northern Ireland peace process.
• Terrorists bomb American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224 people, including 20 Americans. United States intelligence believes that Osama bin Laden is behind the attacks.

AMERICAN EMBASSY BOMBING IN KENYA

• The Office of the Independent Counsel releases its report on the Clinton-Lewinsky affair, commonly known as the Starr Report.
• After nine days of negotiations in rural Maryland, Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat sign the Wye River Memorandum. President Clinton mediates the negotiations, which result in an agreement highlighted by a three-stage withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank.

• President Clinton orders a three-day bombing attack against Iraq after Saddam Hussein refuses to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.

BOMBING OF IRAQ

• The House of Representatives votes to impeach President Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

1999;

• The Senate acquits President Clinton on both articles of impeachment, rejecting one article and splitting evenly on the second.
• In response to Serbian aggression in Kosovo and Albania, and reports of ethnic cleansing, the United States leads NATO attacks against Serbia.

NATO BOMBING

• The NATO air campaign against Serbia ends after Serb forces agree on June 9 to withdraw from Kosovo.
• The United States Senate votes down the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which would have prevented the United States from conducting underground nuclear tests.

2000;

• The United States and China agree to a trade treaty reducing tariffs and other trade barriers. The treaty is to come into effect after China joins the World Trade Organization
• Clinton sends a bill to Congress asking for permanent normal trade relations with China.
• Clinton holds a summit meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin. They reaffirm their nations’ commitment to strategic arms reductions, but disagree over American plans to research and develop a missile-defense system.
• Independent Counsel Robert Ray announces that his investigation has not discovered enough evidence to indict the Clintons for their Whitewater dealings.

Since Clinton left office he has been involved in public speakings and humanitarian work as well as remaining active in politics by campaigning for Democratic Presidential nominees, most recently, his wife running in 2016.

Famous quotes;

“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”

“Let us all take more responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families but for our communities and our country.”

“Sometimes when people are under stress, they hate to think, and it’s the time when they most need to think.“

#43 George W. Bush 2001-2008

7/6/1946 –

Party: Republican

Timeline; 2001-2008

Bush served in the Air National Guard (1968-1974) after he earned his M.B.A. degree from Harvard. After his service he joined his father in politics, helping with his campaigns before running on his own when he won the seat of Governor of Texas (1995-2000) while also being part owner of the Texas Rangers (1989-1998). He and his dad are the second father-son duo to serve as Presidents, John Adams and John Q. Adams being the first.

2001;

• Bush becomes the 43rd President of the United States at the age of 54. Dick Cheney is his V.P.
• Bush decides to reinstate the ban on aid to international groups performing or counseling on abortion.
• United States airplanes attack Iraqi radar sites to enforce a “no-fly zone.”

• The Bush administration affirms its decision to abandon ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty signed by 180 countries to reduce global warming that set limits on industrial emissions.
• A U.S. spy plane is clipped by a Chinese fighter jet, forcing the American plane to make an emergency landing on Chinese soil, dubbed the Hainan Island Incident
• President Bush signals a change in relations with China by officially pledging military support for Taiwan in the event of an attack by China.
• Bush signs a $1.35 trillion tax cut into law.
• President Bush addresses the nation, outlining his plans for the federal funding of stem cell research.
• Terrorists hijack four commercial jets and crash them into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the Pennsylvania countryside. It is the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor

SECOND PLANE ABOUT TO HIT THE WORLD TRADE CENTER

AFTERMATH OF THE SECOND PLANE HITTING THE WORLD TRADE CENTER

PLANE TAKEN DOWN INTO A PENNSYLVANIA FIELD

PENTAGON AFTER THE 9/11 ATTACKS

• Bush appears before a joint session of Congress to outline the administration’s plans to defeat world terrorism, singling out Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization as the primary targets of such a policy.
• Bush announces the commencement of military action in Afghanistan, an operation code-named “Enduring Freedom.”

• The Capital shuts down amidst an Anthrax scare. Persons in Florida and New York have already tested positive for the frequently fatal bacteria.
• The Enron Corporation files for Chapter Eleven bankruptcy protection, the largest bankruptcy case in American history.
• Bush notifies Russia of his intention to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

2002;

• President Bush signs a landmark education reform bill into law. Known as the No Child Left Behind Act
• In his State of the Union address, President Bush warns that the War on Terror is only beginning. Specifically citing North Korea, Iran, and Iraq
• Bush renews his call on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to end attacks on Israel
• Bush announces that the forty-year-old trade embargo against Cuba will continue until conditions, including free and fair elections, are met.
• Congress presses the Bush administration for further information about warnings of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
• Bush and Russian president Vladimir Putin sign a nuclear arms treaty, vowing to reduce their nations’ arsenals by two-thirds over the next ten years.

BUSH AND PUTIN SIGN NUCLEAR ARMS TREATY

• Bush announces broad changes to security departments in charge of protecting the nation from terrorism.
• Following the Enron and WorldCom scandals, in which both companies claimed profits which turned out to be highly inflated, Bush calls for new laws on corporate abuse.
• Seeking support for action against Iraq, President Bush addresses Congress, identifying Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein as “a serious threat.”
• Bush addresses the United Nations’ Security Council, making his case for military action to enforce UN resolutions in Iraq.
• The House and Senate vote and give authorization to Bush to use force against Iraq.
• Department of Homeland Security is established
• Following a United Nations report issued by arms inspectors indicating that Iraq remained in violation of Security Council Resolution 1441, Bush speaks out again against Iraq. Inspections in Iraq continue.

2003;

• Bush reveals a tax-cut plan of $674 billion over ten years.
• The seven-member crew of the shuttle Columbia dies in an explosion in space. Debris falls in Texas.

COLUMBIA SHUTTLE CREW

COLUMBIA SHUTTLE EXPLOSION

• CIA director George Tenet announces that North Korea possesses a nuclear ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States.
• Bush announces the U.S. intention to move against Iraq with its coalition of allies. Bush issues an ultimatum for military action, giving Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his sons forty-eight hours to leave Iraq.
• The deadline for Hussein to leave Iraq passes. Bush addresses the nation and informs the American people that the United States is at war with Iraq.

U.S. BOMBS ON BAGHDAD

• Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair air a joint address on Iraqi television that describes the goals of coalition forces and reassures the Iraqi people that they will be able to live their lives in peace and security in a post-Saddam era
• In a nationally televised address aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, Bush stands in front of a “Mission Accomplished” banner and declares that major combat operations in Iraq are over. He links the Iraq War to the War on Terror and vows to continue searching for banned weapons in Iraq.

• The UN Security Council votes to lift sanctions on Iraq imposed since the 1991 Gulf War. The resolution gives the United States and United Kingdom control of Iraq until it establishes a legitimate government and authority to use Iraqi oil revenues for humanitarian aid and reconstruction.
• U.S. marines and Iraqi citizens take down Saddam statue in Firdos Square

U.S. MARINES AND IRAQI CITIZENS TAKE DOWN SADDAM STATUE

• Bush signs into law his $350 billion tax-cut package, the third-largest in history, in an effort to strengthen the U.S. economy and reverse a trend of increasing unemployment.
• U.S. forces kill Saddam Hussein’s two sons Uday and Qusay in Mosul, Iraq. Officials hope that anti-U.S. attacks in Iraq will decrease as a result.
• The joint Congressional Committee on Intelligence releases the findings of  the terrorist attacks of September 11, concluding that intelligence agencies failed to respond to alerts about potential targets and methods.
• The Justice Department announces a full criminal investigation into allegations that Bush administration officials had leaked the name of a covert CIA operative to the media in July, dubbed the Plame Affair. Bush urges full cooperation with the probe.
• Chief U.S. Weapons Inspector David Kay reports that his  team has finished their inspection into Iraq’s weapons.
• Bush signs into law a ban on late-term abortion, the first law to ban an abortion procedure since the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.
• Bush signs a landmark bill overhauling Medicare
• Saddam is caught during Operation Red Dawn

SADDAM CAPTURED

• Iran signs an agreement to grant unrestricted access to UN-IAEA weapons inspectors.

2004;

• Bush gives his fourth State of the Union Address, laying out a broad domestic and foreign policy agenda while stressing issues of national security.
• The Iraqi Governing Council signs an interim constitution to provide a framework for establishment of a transitional government.
• U.S. forces in Iraq confront a violent uprising beginning with Shiite Muslims in Baghdad and spreading to Sunni guerrillas in Fallujah, leading to the heaviest fighting since the invasion began in March of 2003.

BATTLE OF FALLUJAH

HANDS OF VICTORY IN BAGHDAD

• CBS broadcasts photographs of U.S. Army abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison, a facility on the outskirts of Baghdad.
• Massachusetts becomes the first state to offer marriage licenses to same sex couples. Bush reiterates to Congress his call for a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage.
• The U.S.-led Coalition for Provisional Authority formerly ends foreign occupation of Iraq, granting the provisional government sovereignty. Still, 130,000 troops remain in Iraq.
• U.S. troops launch an assault to retake the rebel-controlled city of Fallujah in the largest military operation since the initial invasion in March of 2003.

U.S. TROOPS WALK THROUGH STREETS OF FALLUJAH

2005;

• Bush meets with Presidents of France, Germany, and Russia to smooth diplomatic relations after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

SOCHI MEETING

• Iraqi government announces that a war crimes trial for Saddam Hussein is likely to begin within the next two months and prosecutors would seek the death penalty.
• The Senate easily passes an omnibus energy bill aimed at supporting the traditional energy industries of oil and natural gas, but also provide tax incentives for the use of alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power.
• Vladimir Arutyunian attempts to assassinate Bush when he throws a live hand grenade at Bush’s podium but it does not go odd. He is given a life sentence for it.
• The space shuttle Discovery takes off from the Kennedy Space Center on a mission to deliver repairs to the International Space Station.

SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY LAUNCH

• Hurricane Katrina strikes the southern coast of the United States with devastating effects.

HURRICANE KATRINA VIEW FROM SATELLITE

AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE KATRINA

• Bush admits for the first time that the complete removal of U.S. troops from Iraq during the remainder of his term is improbable. He continues to assert the fact that progress is being made in the establishment of Iraqi democracy.
• The U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, sentences Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison without parole for his role in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

2006;

• The Senate votes to ban same sex marriages in the United States, thereby preventing a vote on the actual passage of the amendment.
• Former President Ford is laid to rest in Grand Rapids, Michigan

FORD TOMB

• Bush issues his first veto on a bill to lift constraints on federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, and subsequently, the House unsuccessfully attempts to override the veto.
• Bush signs a bill providing for the construction of a 700-mile fence along the United States-Mexico border, in an effort to increase border security and stem illegal immigration.
• Russia dedicates the Teardrop memorial for the lives lost at the 1993 and 2001 World Trade Center attacks

TEARDROP MEMORIAL

• Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is hanged in Baghdad, Iraq, after being convicted of crimes against humanity dating back to 1982.

SADDAM BEING HANGED

2007;

• Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, takes office as the first female Speaker of the House.
• The U.S. Air Force launches an air attack on Islamist militias and suspected al-Qaeda operatives in Somalia.

AC-130 GUNSHIP OVER SOMALIA

• Bush announces what would be termed a “troop surge” in Iraq in an attempt to increase security in the capital of Baghdad and smother insurgency centers throughout the country.
• General David Petraeus takes over command of the multinational forces in Iraq to oversee the surge.
• Seung-Hui Cho kills himself and 32 fellow students at Virginia Tech in the deadliest campus gun rampage in U.S. history. President Bush and the First Lady attend the memorial.
• Bush vetoes a war spending bill passed by Congress, which set a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq. Within days Bush reaches a record low approval rating.
• The Supreme Court reverses an April decision and agrees to hear appeals from Guantanamo Bay detainees who have not had access to the federal courts.
• Congress passes the Anti-terrorism Bill, allowing the screening of air and sea cargo as well as giving more money in grants to states with greater risk
• Congress passes new energy legislation to increase automobile fuel efficiency standards and mandates increases in bio-fuel production. The bill passes the House and Senate, and President Bush signs it into law.

2008;

• Bush proposes and Senate passes a stimulus package in response to a housing crisis and increasing oil prices, giving individuals several hundred dollars as well as rebates for children and tax deductions for businesses in order to boost the slowing economy.
• U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan kill a top al-Qaeda leader, Abu Laith al-Libi, who trained terror operatives in the region.

DRONE MISSILE LAUNCH

• Six detainees at Guantanamo Bay are charged with conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, and terrorism for their roles in 9/11.
• The State Department renews a deal with Blackwater Worldwide, the private defense contractor to provide defense for U.S. diplomats in the Middle East.
• Bush vetoes the Farm Bill, thought to be too excessive of a bill providing subsidies to farmers but the House and Senate override his veto and pass it.
• The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence finds that Bush and other officials exaggerated the evidence showing that Saddam held weapons of mass destruction.
• The U.S. forces hand over control of Anbar Province to the Iraqi military and police.
• Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are placed under government control to prevent the institutions from going under
• Senate approves an end to the long-standing ban on trading nuclear fuels with India.
• Bush signs a $700 billion bailout plan for failing bank assets, the largest in U.S. history.
• General David Petraeus takes over as Head of Central Command, overseeing all U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and Iran.
• President Bush issues a $17.4-billion auto bailout to General Motors and Chrysler to keep the two American automotive giants from going bankrupt.

Bush retired to Texas, still making public appearances at Ranger games, political and charity events.

Famous quotes;

“When I take action, I’m not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It’s going to be decisive.”

“I am mindful not only of preserving executive powers for myself, but for predecessors as well.”

“I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.“

#44 Barack H. Obama

8/4/1961 –

Party: Democrat

Timeline; 2009-2017

Obama was a Community Organizer (1985-1988) before attending Harvard Law School (1988-1991). He gained national recognition becoming the first black President of Harvard Law review which helped lead him to a publishing contract where he wrote his personal memoirs. He went on to teach constitutional law at the University of Chicago (1992-2004) where he also served as a member of the Senate ((1997-2004) before becoming the Senator of Illinois (2005-2008).

2009;

• Obama becomes the 44th President and first African-American President of the United States at the age of 47. Joe Biden is his V.P.
• Obama announces that companies receiving large amounts of federal bailout money through the TARP, must cap top executive pay at $500,000
• Obama nominates the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor
• Obama signs the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009
• Obama signs an Economic Stimulus Bill into Law
• Obama is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

2010;

• Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) into law
• BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico explodes

DEEPWATER HORIZON OIL RIG EXPLODES

OIL SPILL IN THE GULF OF MEXICO

• Obama signs the compromise tax plan, extending the Bush tax cuts

2011;

• U.S. forces track down Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan, killing him in a raid.

PAKISTANI MEDIA AND RESIDENTS GATHER AROUND THE HOUSE BIN LADEN WAS HIDING IN

• Government backed solar company Solyndra files for bankruptcy
• Libyan leader Muammar Qaddaffi is killed

2012;

• Supreme Court starts hearing arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act
• Supreme Court upholds key part of Arizona law allowing police to ask about immigration status dealing a blow to Obama and the Federal government’s lawsuit.
• The U.S consulate and annex in Benghazi, Libya are attacked by terrorists where the American ambassador Stevens and three other Americans are killed.

2013;

• Obama wins a 2nd term
• The No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013 is signed into law
• The Violence Against Women Act is signed into law
• Freedom Tower (One World Trade Center) is completed

FREEDOM TOWER

• Terrorists plant bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon

BOSTON MARATHON BOMBING

• Tornado rips through the town of Moore, Oklahoma

MOORE TORNADO AFTERMATH

• Obama announces he will seek congressional approval to use military force against Syria for their use of chemical weapons
• The Continuing Appropriations Act is signed into law containing a continuing resolution ending the US government shutdown of 2013 and the debt-ceiling crisis of 2013
• Obama overseas the G20 summit

2014;

• Obama issues an executive order raising the minimum wage of federal contractors
• Russian military intervention in Ukraine
• Financial sanctions imposed against “‘individuals and entities’ responsible for the Russian intervention in Crimea
• Obama attends the Nuclear Security Summit in the Netherlands
• The Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act signed into law
• Obama announces the authorization of targeted airstrikes against ISIS near Erbil, Iraq

AIRSTRIKES NEAR IRAQ

• U.S. and allied forces begin an airstrike in Syria

AIRSTRIKES BY ALLIED FORCES IN SYRIA

• Obama announces the nation will resume normal relations with communist controlled Cuba

2015;

• Obama meets with United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss Iran, ISIS, and the terrorism of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris, France.
• Obama vetoes the Keystone XL pipeline bill passed by congress
• Supreme Court declares same-sex marriage legal
• Obama delivers a speech on the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama on the 50th anniversary of the Civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery

PRESIDENT OBAMA AND FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH MARCHING

• Obama delivers a memorial speech and lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

OBAMA LAYING A WREATH AT THE TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER

• Obama announces a nuclear deal with Iran
• Obama discusses climate change at the United Nations conference in Paris, France
• Two heavily armed terrorists attack a Christmas Party in San Francisco, California

SUSPECTS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO SHOOTING GUNNED DOWN

2016;

• Obama signs Judicial Redress Act of 2015
• Obama signs Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 into law
• Obama hosts the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit
• Obama visits Flint, Michigan to address the city’s water crisis

Famous Quotes:

“The strongest weapon against hateful speech, is not repression, it’s more speech”

“The best way to not feel helpless, is to get up and do something”

“Although the principle of equality has always been self-evident, it has never been self-executing”

#45 Donald J. Trump 2017-2021

7/14/1946 –

Party: Republican

Timeline; 2017-

At the age of 70, Donald Trump won his first bid for public office and became the oldest President ever elected president of the United States. He is the fifth US president to take office despite losing the popular vote, having prevailed in Electoral College votes over Democrat Hillary Clinton. A real estate mogul and reality television star, Trump is the first president without previous service in either elective office or the military.

2017;

• Trump becomes the 45th President of the United States
• Protests across the nation breakout over the accusations of Russia rigging the U.S. elections
• Trump tries to have ACA repealed but fails
• Travel ban is made for 7 countries but courts shoot it down, eventually the Supreme Court allows some portions
• Trump announces transgenders will not be allowed in military 6 months after Obama removed the ban
• Trump withdraws U.S. from Trans-Pacific Partnership
• Syrian Government uses chemical weapons on their citizens, U.S. attacks one of their air bases in retaliation
• Special counsel created to investigate Russian collusion in 2016 elections
• Trump pulls U.S. from Paris Climate Accord
• Trump is first foreign leader to be invited to dine in the Forbidden City of China
• Trump’s National Security Advisor Michael Flynn is first piece to fall in Russian Collusion investigation, pleads guilty to lying to FBI

2018;

• Trade war with China begins
• Indictments issued for 13 Russians that allegedly meddled in the 2016 elections 
• Withdraw from Iran Nuclear deal
• U.S. Embassy opens in Jerusalem
• Trump meets with North Korean Leader after tense back and forth threats were made.
• Trump meets Putin in Finland and is blasted by both parties for not confronting Putin on alleged election interference.
• Trump attorney Michael Cohen sentenced to 3 years for pleading guilty to finance violations when he paid off women to remain silent of alleged affairs
• Government begins partial shut down after failing to reach agreement on budge

2019;

• After 35 days, Trump announces reopening plan
• Mueller report released on Russian collusion
• Trump becomes first President to cross into North Korean territory for a meeting with Kim Jong-un
• Trump calls President of Ukraine about scandals regarding Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden
• Complaint filed about Trump’s call, regarding it as international election interference since Joe Biden is a Presidential candidate.
• Trump announces creation of Space Force, officially separating it from the Air Force.
• Democrats begin impeachment inquiries over alleged interference of elections
• Democrat controlled House votes to impeach Trump over abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Trump becomes 3rd President to be impeached by the house

2020;

• The United States kills General Qasem Soleimani of Iran in a drone attack in Iraq.
• Iran retaliates by firing ballistic missiles into two bases in Iraq where US soldiers are stationed. There are no deaths.
• NAFTA replaced
• Coronavirus plagues the world, travel from China is restricted as it is the origin of the virus
• Senate acquits Trump on impeachment
• Coronavirus causes national economic shutdown amid sickness escalation
• Riots and protests spread across the country after an officer is recorded needlessly killing a man 
• U.S. pulls from World Health Organization
• Biden wins election amid more election interference accusations
• U.S. rolls out COVID-19 vaccination

2021;

• Mob attacks US capitol protesting election results

Trump left office with a large portion of citizens considering him the worst President ever, and a large portion considering him one of the best. He was opposed and threatened impeachment before he even stepped in office. He is still being investigated and still has a team investigating the elections on his behalf

#46 Joe Biden 2021-