POLITICS & WORLD EVENTS

    1920's

             1960's

  U.S. Presidents - The President's of this decade include Woodrow Wilson (1913-1920), Warren G. Harding (1921-1923), Calvin Coolidge (1923-1928) and Herbert Hoover (1928-1932). Harding died in office under the shadow of the Teapot Dome Scandal, that ultimately did not prevent Coolidge being re-elected.  In 1928 Hoover ran against the first potential Catholic president and within six months of taking office the stock market crashed.                                                                                                                                   Major World Events - Some major events that shaped the world during the twenties include: the League of Nations is established in 1920. Mussolini forms Italy's fascist government in Italy in 1922 and Soviet dictator, Stalin assumes power after Lenin's death in 1924.  Hitler publishes Mein Kampf in 1925 and the stage becomes set for his eventual rise to power as the German economy collapses in 1927. 

  Significant Legislation - The Volstead Act resulted in Prohibition and the rise of mobsters such as Al Capone, symbolizing the collapse of law and order. Darwin's theory of evolution was at the core of a pivotal religious battle that culminated in the Scopes trial.  The Immigration Act of 1924 severely restricted the increase of immigrants entering the U.S.

  U.S. Presidents - John F. Kennedy, elected in 1960, was the youngest and only Catholic U.S. President. His campaign spoke of entering a new frontier. Listen to his inaugural address.  After he was assassinated in 1963, VP Lyndon Johnson became president and was reelected in 1964.  Richard Nixon, who, in 1974, became the only U.S. President to resign, was elected president in 1968.  Presidential candidate, Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1968, a few months after esteemed civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

 Major World Events - Manifestations of the Cold War, which was at its height, were seen with the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and the Cuban Missile crisis, a near nuclear war.  But it was the Viet Nam War, overshadowing the latter part of the decade, that resulted in peaceful anti-war protests and division in the U.S., fueled in part by the greater exposure this war was given by TV coverage.  The race to land on the moon ended for the U.S. in July 1969.

 Significant Legislation -  J. F. Kennedy established the Peace Corps that still exists today. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 was the first federal law that prohibited discrimination based on gender. President Johnson had a vision of a Great Society that included the War on Poverty and strove to create greater equality for blacks.  Under Johnson's administration Congress passed several civil rights laws, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the of 1965 to the 1968 Fair Housing Act.  Richard Nixon strove to curb what he deemed to be wasteful federal spending when he became president in 1968.