Congress funds construction of modern battleships

U.S.-backed planters overthrow Hawaii’s queen (1892)

U.S. wins War of 1898 against Spain; claims Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and Philippines

Republicans sweep congressional elections as Americans respond to severe depression (1894)

Republican William McKinley elected president (1896)

“American exceptionalism” and rise of imperialism

Alfred Mahan, The Influence of Sea Power upon History (1890)

“Remember the Maine” campaign fuels surge in nationalism

Depression of 1890s increases pressure for U.S. to secure foreign markets

U.S. war against Philippine revolutionaries

Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine (1904)

William McKinley reelected on pro-imperialist platform (1900)

William McKinley assassinated; Theodore Roosevelt becomes president (1901)

Insular Cases establish noncitizenship status for new territories (1901)

California, Washington, and Hawaii limit rights for Asian immigrants

Rise of modernism

Root-Takahira Agreement affirms free oceanic commerce (1908)

Wilson intervenes in Mexico (1914)

Panama Canal opened (1914)

United States enters WWI (1917)

War ends; Wilson seeks to influence peace treaty negotiations (1918)

Woodrow Wilson elected president (1912)

Red Scare (1919)

Woodrow Wilson issues Fourteen Points (1919)

U.S. Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles (1919, 1920)

New Ku Klux Klan founded (1915)

Post-WWI race riots

Wartime pressure for “100% loyalty”; dissent suppressed

Moviemaking industry moves to southern California

Birth of a Nation glorifies the Reconstruction-era Klan (1915)

Radio Corporation of America created (1919)

Great Migration brings African Americans to northern cities, Mexicans north to United States

Assembly-line production begins

Heyday of “dollar diplomacy”

U.S. occupation of Haiti and other Caribbean and Central American nations

Nineteenth Amendment grants women’s suffrage (1920)

Prohibition (1920–1933)

Teapot Dome scandal (1923)

Republican “associated state,” probusiness policies (1920–1932)

National Origins Act limits immigration (1924)

Rise of Hollywood

Harlem Renaissance

Popularity of jazz music

Scopes “monkey trial” (1925)

Economic prosperity (1922–1929)

Labor gains rolled back

Era of welfare capitalism

Rise of automobile loans and consumer credit

Rise of European fascist powers

Japan invades China (1937)

Franklin Roosevelt elected president (1932)

First New Deal (1933)

Second New Deal (1935)

Roosevelt attempts to reform Supreme Court (1937)

Bonus Army (1932)

Indian Reorganization Act (1934)

Social Security created (1935)

Documentary impulse in arts

WPA assists artists

Federal Writers’ Project

Great Depression (1929–1941)

Rise of CIO and organized labor

United States enters WWII (1941)

Atomic bombing of Japan and end of WWII (1945)

United Nations founded (1945)

Roosevelt elected to fourth term (1944)

Roosevelt dies (1945)

Harry Truman becomes president (1945)

Internment of Japanese Americans

Segregation in armed services until 1948

Film industry aids war effort

War spending ends depression

Rationing curbs consumer spending

Married women take war jobs