Printed Page 670-610-592(cont.)

America’s History: Printed Page 670

America: A Concise History: Printed Page 610

America’s History: Value Edition: Printed Page 592

Domestic and Global Challenges

1890–1945

Question

Thematic Understanding This timeline arranges some of the important events of this period into themes. Consider the entries under “America in the World,” “Politics and Power,” “Identity,” and “Ideas, Beliefs, and Culture.” What connections do you see between events on the world stage and developments within the United States? What impact did World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II appear to have on American politics, society, and culture?
AMERICA IN THE WORLD POLITICS AND POWER IDENTITY IDEAS, BELIEFS, AND CULTURE WORK, EXCHANGE, AND TECHNOLOGY
1890

  • 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
1900

  • 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)
1910

  • 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
1920

  • 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
1930

  • 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
1940

  • 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