Robert Rauschenberg, Retroactive II, 1963.

20,000 BCE: Pre-Columbian era: during the last ice age, groups of nomadic hunting and gathering Paleoindians migrate from Eurasia across Beringia and spread southward across North America. They gradually evolve into the 574 Native American tribes living in the U.S. today.

1000: Vinland: Norse seaman Leif Ericson, the son of Eric the Red, explores North America and creates a settlement in Newfoundland, calling it Vinland.

1492: The New World: In August, Italian navigator Christopher Columbus sets out on his first voyage to find a westward route to the east; in October, he sets foot on the Lucayan Island, in the Bahamas. In the next hundred years, numerous European voyagers follow his lead. In 1497, Italian navigator John Cabot is hired by Henry VII to explore coastal North America and claim it for England. In 1501, Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci explores the coast of South America; the name America is derived from his name. In 1513, Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce DeLeon discovers Florida; in 1565, Spain uses this location to establish the colony of St Augustine, the first permanent European colony in North America. In 1524, Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazano discovers the island of Manhattan and names the place New Angouleme, to commemorate his patron Francis I of France. In 1534, French explorer Jacques Cartier explores the Great Lakes and the St Lawrence River; France’s colonization of North America begins.

1585-1607: Roanoke Island and Jamestown: In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh creates the colony of Roanoke Island, the first English settlement in North America, off the coast of today’s North Carolina; two years later, however, all colonists vanish mysteriously. In 1607, a new group of English settlers led by Captain John Smith establish a new colony in Jamestown, Virginia, which will be the colonial capital until 1699. Slaves from Africa are imported there as early as 1619.

1620: New England: Led by William Bradford, Puritan exiles, later known as “the Pilgrim Fathers,” arrive in New England on the Mayflower. They establish Plymouth Plantation, a colony regulated by strict Christian doctrine. Other colonies are created in the next decades, notably the Massachusetts Bay Colony (1629), and the flow of Puritan migrants increases during the English Civil War (1642-51). In 1636, John Harvard, a Puritan preacher, bequeaths his fortune and his library for the creation of Harvard College, the first American university. By 1650, the population in New England is 50,000.

1664: New York: In 1626, the Dutch purchase the island of Manhattan from the local Algonquian tribe for trinkets valued at $24 and call the new colony New Amsterdam. In 1664, the English seize the colony and rename it New York. 

1692: The Salem Witch Trials: Following complaints by two children, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, trials are held in Salem, Massachusetts, accusing 200 local people of witchcraft: 30 are found guilty, and 19 are hanged, 14 of them women, including the slave Tituba. The trials epitomize a peak of religious fanaticism in New England, but also precipitate the decline of the local theocratic regimes.

1730-1755: The First Great Awakening: A series of Christian revivals sweep across the colonies, carried out by itinerant preachers and pietist pastors dissatisfied with traditional Protestant dogma. This marks the emergence of American evangelicalism. At least three more revivals have occurred in the U.S. since: in 1790-1840, 1855-1930, and 1960-1980.

1754-63: The French and Indian War: The struggle between the English and the French for control of North America culminates with the French and Indian War, during which both ally with different Native tribes. On February 10, 1763, the Treaty of Paris ends the war and England gains control of Canadian territory east of the Mississippi. King George III also issues a proclamation to stabilize relations with Native Americans: no British settlements are allowed west of the Appalachian Mountains, and settlers already in these areas are required to return east.

1763-67: The Mason-Dixon Line: In 1763, astronomer Charles Mason and surveyor Jeremiah Dixon are hired to draw a demarcation line between Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and today’s West Virginia. The Mason-Dixon line later marks the boundary between the Northern free states and Southern slave states.

1765-75: The Sons of Liberty: In the 1760s, measures passed by the English Parliament stir unrest in the American colonies. In 1765, the Stamp Act creates a tax on printed documents to cover the costs of keeping troops there and the Quartering Act requires colonists to house and feed British soldiers. The same year, the Sons of Liberty, a secret organization opposed to the new laws, start publishing pamphlets and organizing rallies around “liberty trees.” The slogan “no taxation without representation” becomes the rallying cry for local patriots. In 1768, English warships are sent into Boston Harbor and leave two regiments of English troops to keep order. In March 1770, troops fire on a mob in Boston, killing 5 American workers (the “Boston Massacre”). In December 1773, Bostoners disguised as Mohawk Indians dump 300 crates of tea into the harbor to protest against the British tea tax (“the Boston Tea Party”). In January 1774, Parliament passes the Intolerable Acts to punish Bostoners for their defiance; martial law is declared. In September 1774, delegates representing all colonies except Georgia meet during the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia to organize a collective response to British abuse. In October, the “Minutemen,” the colonies’ military militia, start preparing for an armed conflict with the British forces. 

1775-83: The American Revolutionary War: The war officially begins on April 19, 1775, when shots are exchanged (“the shot heard round the world”) between American militiamen and British soldiers at the battle of Lexington and Concord. On June 14, the Continental Army is established; George Washington (I, 1789-97), a general and plantation owner from Virginia, is appointed Commander-in-Chief. Three days later, British troops win the Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston but endure far more casualties than expected. In January 1776, English philosopher and activist Thomas Paine makes an impassioned case for American independence and democracy in Common Sense. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress endorses the Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson (DR, 1801-09). In the winter of 1777-1778, Washington’s troops are forced to regroup in the Valley Forge, in Pennsylvania; the war is turning to the advantage of the British, who are supported by loyalist troops, Indian allies and German mercenaries. In February 1778, however, France signs a treaty of alliance with the colonies and sends some 10,000 troops to their support. In July, the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation, a constitutional agreement between the 13 colonies. In October 1781, the American and French forces win the Battle of Yorktown, a devastating blow to the British. In September 1783, the Treaty of Paris officially ends the war: the U.S. is recognized as a sovereign nation and gains territories in the west and south. At this stage, the population in the colonies is approximately 4 million.

1787: The Constitution: In September, delegates from the 13 colonies meet in Philadelphia and approve a new Constitution. In April 1789, George Washington is sworn in as the first U.S. President; his vice-president is John Adams (F, 1797-1801). In September 1791, Congress adopts the Bill of Rights, an additional ten Amendments to the Constitution drafted by James Madison (DR, 1809-17) to safeguard individual liberties.

1793: The Invention of the Cotton Gin: Eli Whitney Jr. invents the cotton gin, which greatly improves the productivity of the cotton industry and epitomizes the U.S.’s First Industrial Revolution. All through the 19^th century, similar technological innovations, modernized industrial methods, infrastructure development (canals, roads, railroads, telegraph lines) and increasing capital allow the American economy to evolve from manual and farm labor to an advanced level of industrialization. The invention of the cotton gin also initiates the “Plantation Era,” and strengthens the economic foundation of slavery in Southern states. In 1800, there are already 700,000 slaves in the U.S. In 1807, the U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, but this does not prevent the number of slaves from growing to 2m in 1830 and 4m in 1860, on the eve of the Civil War.

1794-1820: Federalism v. Jeffersonian democracy: In 1794, Washington sends troops to western Pennsylvania to quell “the Whiskey Rebellion,” an uprising by citizens refusing to pay a liquor tax imposed by Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton to raise money for the national debt and assert the power of the government. Federalists cheer the triumph of national authority, while Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party castigates what it sees as government overreach. In 1801, Jefferson begins the first of his two terms in the White House, the capital having moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. Jefferson champions a vision of the U.S. as a decentralized union of small, self-reliant agrarian communities, embodied by the civic virtues of the yeoman farmer, the planter and plain folk, and warns against the corruption of metropolitan elites and the dangers of intensive urbanization and industrialization. At the same time, the Jeffersonians encourage the territorial expansion of the country. 

1803: The Louisiana Purchase: In April, the U.S. negotiates with Napoleon I the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, a huge swath of land of 2.1m km² containing what is now Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming. The purchase costs the U.S. government $15 million and doubles the size of the country.

1804-05: Lewis & Clark: In May 1804, American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark leave St. Louis, Missouri, and set out on an expedition to explore the West and find a route to the Pacific Ocean. They reach it in November 1805 and return to Washington, D.C. in September 1806.

1812-15: The War of 1812: In June 1812, the U.S. declares war on Britain, over its interference with American maritime shipping, the impressment of Americans during the Napoleonic Wars, and with the U.S.’s expansion in the colonial Canadas. The war takes place mostly on the western frontier and near the Canadian border, but in August 1814, British troops manage to occupy Washington, D.C. and burn government buildings. In December, the Treaty of Ghent puts an end to the war, but the fights go on until January 1815, when American forces led by Andrew Jackson defeat the British at the Battle of New Orleans, without knowing that the conflict is over. The war is a stalemate, and fears remain that the British will attempt to reclaim their territories in the future. Britain’s alliances with Indian tribes during the war also foster widespread resentment against them in the following decades.

1820: The Missouri Compromise: To maintain the balance between free states and slave states in the Union, Maine is admitted as a free state while Missouri is admitted as a slave state; except for Missouri, slavery is prohibited in states north of the Mason-Dixon line.

1823: The Monroe Doctrine: In his last annual address to Congress before the end of his second term, President James Monroe (DR, 1817-25) declares that the U.S. will refrain from meddling in the internal affairs of European countries, but that the American continents are henceforth off-limits to further colonization by European powers. The term “Monroe Doctrine” itself is coined only in 1850.

1828-36: The Era of the Common Man: In 1828, Andrew Jackson (D, 1829-37) cocreates the Democratic Party and wins the presidential election. Born in a poor Scots-Irish family of the Carolinas, the new president presents himself as a champion of the “common man”, extols nationalist values, and castigates monied interests and the metropolitan elites. Under his presidency, suffrage is extended to a majority of white males; more judges are elected (rather than appointed); fraud and embezzlement laws become stricter; and the people are encouraged to expand across the continent.

1830-40: The Trail of Tears: In May 1830, the Indian Removal Act authorizes the forced removal of Indians living west of the Mississippi River; by 1840, 50,000 of them have been relocated, including 15,000 Cherokee Indians, who are forced to march from Georgia to present-day Oklahoma, 4,000 of them dying from hunger and disease during an exodus known as the “Trail of Tears.”

1831: Nat Turner and the Abolitionist Movement: Nat Turner, an enslaved African-American preacher, leads the most significant slave uprising in U.S. history. He and his band of 80 followers launch a day-long rebellion in Virginia, but the militia quells the revolt, and Turner is hanged. While, in retaliation, Virginia institutes even stricter slave laws, William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing “The Liberator,” a weekly that plays a prominent role in the rise of the abolitionist movement.

1845-48: Manifest Destiny: In March 1845, the U.S. annexes Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, and the Republic of Texas, a rebellious Mexican province that declared its independence in 1836. In July 1845, journalist John L. O’Sullivan coins the term “manifest destiny” to defend the U.S.’s God-given right to expand across the continent. In May 1846, the U.S. declares war on Mexico over the disputed border between Texas and Mexico. In September 1847, American forces take Mexico City, and in February 1848, Mexico is forced to sign the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which allows the U.S. to gain what is now California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming. The Rio Grande becomes the main border between the U.S. and Mexico.

1848: The Gold Rush: In January, James W. Marshall, a carpenter, discovers gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California. California suddenly becomes the new El Dorado: the news of gold brings more than 300,000 prospectors from across the U.S. in just a few years and the local population booms: between 1846 and 1852, the population of San Francisco alone grows from 200 to 36,000.

1850: The Compromise of 1850: The Union has been plagued by debates over whether the territories gained in the Mexican War should be admitted as free states. As a compromise, California is admitted to the Union as a free state while Utah and New Mexico are left to decide by popular sovereignty. Congress also passes the Fugitive Slave Act which requires the return of escaped slaves to slave states. In reaction, the “Underground Railroad” – a network of secret routes and safe houses used by slaves to escape into free states and Canada – expands further, notably thanks to Harriet Tubman, who escaped from Maryland the year before. In 1854, abolitionists push for the creation of the Republican Party; Abraham Lincoln (R, 1861-65), a Chicago lawyer and former Whig Congressman, becomes their leader.

1857: Dred Scott v. Sanford: In March, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that African-Americans are not citizens, that slaves residing in free states are not entitled to their freedom and that the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which declared free all territories west and north of Missouri, is unconstitutional.

1859: The Harpers Ferry Raid: In October, an armed band of abolitionists led by John Brown capture the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, in an attempt to spark a slave revolt. The raid is a main precipitating incident to the Civil War.

1860: Secession: In November, Abraham Lincoln is elected president of the U.S., on a platform opposing slavery and calling for the preservation of the Union. In December, however, the slave state of South Carolina secedes from the Union, followed by Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. In February 1861, the seven secessionist states form the Confederate States of America; Florida, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee and Arizona soon secede too and join the 13-member Confederacy, whose capital city is set in Richmond, Virginia. On February 18, Jefferson Davis is sworn in as the 1^st President of the Confederate States of America.

1861-65: The Civil War: On April 12, Confederate forces attack Fort Sumter, in South Carolina, marking the start of the war. The Union responds by blockading Confederate ports and, on May 6, President Lincoln declares a state of insurrection in the southern states. In July, Confederate forces win the Battle of Bull Run, in Virginia: the battle is a bloodbath and both sides realize that the war will be much longer and destructive than anticipated. Southern states have assumed that the world is so dependent on their cotton (75% of global supplies are produced cotton by Southern plantations, a.k.a. “King Cotton”) that the North will relent to preserve its textile industry, and that Britain and/or France will intervene in their favor. This, however, will never happen. By the second half of 1862, the North takes an inexorable military advantage. In September, Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in Confederate states to be free. In July 1863, Union forces win the Battle Gettysburg. In November, President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address. In September 1864, Union forces led by General William T. Sherman take Atlanta. In November, Lincoln is elected for a second term as president. In February 1865, Congress passes the 13^th Amendment, which abolishes slavery in the U.S. In April, General Ulysses S. Grant captures Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederacy. On April 9, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, ending the Civil War. On April 15, Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Washington, DC, and is succeeded by his vice president, Andrew Johnson (D, 1865-69). The Civil War remains the deadliest military conflict in American history, leaving 700,000 soldiers dead, along with at least 150,000 casualties among civilians and slaves. It is also the earliest industrial war, the two sides mobilizing unprecedented technology for warfare, including iron-clad ships, railroads, the telegraph, and mass-produced weaponry.

1865-96: Reconstruction and the Jim Crow Laws: After the Civil War, attempts are made to both pacify relationships between Northern and Southern states and redress the inequalities of slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution (1868) grants citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S., including former slaves, and guarantees them “equal protection of the laws”, and the Fifteenth Amendment (1870) gives African Americans the right to vote. A backlash, however, takes place in the former slave states. In 1865, the Ku Klux Klan is formed, and southern states pass laws to disenfranchise and victimize African Americans, known as the Jim Crow laws. In 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Plessy v. Ferguson sanctions this segregation by legalizing “separate but equal” public facilities and services for African Americans and whites.

1870-1900: The Gilded Age: Coined by American writer Mark Twain, the term “Gilded Age” is used to evoke a period of intense economic growth, rapid industrialization, and mass immigration from Europe to the U.S., but also of abject inequality, high concentration of wealth in the hands of “robber barons,” as well as social ills such as poverty, child labor and discrimination.

1876: The Philadelphia Centennial Exposition: More than 10 million visitors attend the first World’s Fair hosted in America. Coinciding with the 100^th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence, the exhibition showcases the industrial and innovative prowess the country has attained over the past century. Inventions on display include Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone, Thomas Edison’s automatic telegraph system, the Scholes and Glidden typewriter, George B. Grant’s mechanical calculator, the Corliss steam engine, as well as Heinz’s ketchup.

1893: The Closing of the Frontier: American historian Frederick Jackson Turner publishes a paper entitled “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” arguing that American values –democracy, individualism, and egalitarianism – have been shaped by the experience of moving westward and conquering unknown territories. Turner warns that the closing of the frontier, which was officialized by the census of 1890, may threaten the continued dynamism and innovativeness of American society.

1896-1916: The Progressive Era: The Progressive Era is a period of intense social activism and political reform, during which measures are taken to improve the country’s democratic system and address the problems of industrialization, urbanization, and corruption. “Muckrakers”, writers, and investigative journalists such as Upton Sinclair expose political and economic corruption, and social ills like child labor. Philanthropists like Andrew Carnegie create foundations and charities. Major reforms are carried out in favor of hygiene and conservation across the country, including the creation of five national parks. The period is often associated to Theodore Roosevelt’s two-term presidency (R, 1901-09), during which steps are taken to curb the enormous economic and political power of the U.S.’s giant corporate trusts (notably the Northern Securities Company and Standard Oil), a policy known as “trust-busting”.

1898: The Policeman of the Western Hemisphere: Under Roosevelt, the U.S. launches a series of operations to secure its hegemony over the Western hemisphere. In April 1898, it declares war on Spain and takes over Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. The same year, it also annexes Hawaii after supporting a coup against the local Queen. In 1903, the U.S. forces Britain to redraw the borders of Canada and Alaska to its advantage, allowing it to have sole access to the Pacific Ocean. The same year, it supports an insurrection in Colombia to create a new country, Panama, and build a canal of which Americans become the gatekeeper and privileged beneficiary until 1999.

1903: The Wright Brothers fly their first aircraft: In December, Orville and Wilbur Wright make their maiden flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This historic success initiates the U.S.’s dominance in aeronautics. In 1912, Glenn L. Martin establishes the Glenn L. Martin Company, while Allan Lockheed founds the Alco Hydro-Aeroplane Company; the two companies later merge into Lockheed-Martin, the world’s biggest defense contractor and second biggest aerospace company. In 1916, William E. Boeing founds the Aero Products Company in Seattle, Washington; five years later, it becomes the Boeing Airplane Company. In 1927, Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo transatlantic flight in his plane The Spirit of St. Louis. In May 1932, Amelia Earhart completes the first solo transatlantic flight by a woman. After WW2, the U.S. government invests massively in the Space Race, and the Apollo program eventually succeeds in landing the first man on the moon on July 20, 1969.

1914-18: WW1: On June 28, 1914, Archduke Ferdinand is assassinated. One month later, the Ottoman Empire declares war on Bosnia. On August 4, President Woodrow Wilson (D, 1913-21) issues a proclamation of neutrality. At first, the U.S. benefits greatly from remaining neutral and supplying food, raw material, and military equipment to the Allies, but it eventually enters the war on the side of the Triple Entente in April 1917, in retaliation to the sinking of sea-liners and merchant ships by German submarines, and the discovery of Germany’s potential alliance with Mexico against the U.S. (the “Zimmermann Telegram”). By January 1918, the conflict has turned to the Allies’ advantage and President Wilson issues his Fourteen Points, attempting to set out the terms for a stable world order after the war. On November 11, the Allies sign an armistice with their opponents in Compiegne. On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending WW1. The U.S. Congress, however, rejects the terms of the Treaty and the U.S.’s membership of the League of Nations.

1916-40: The Great Migration: In the 1910s, more than 90% of the African American population live in the rural South, but by the end of WW1, hundreds of thousands of them start to migrate to the Northeast, Midwest and West, escaping poverty, segregation, and discrimination. Most of them settle in large cities, notably Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, NYC, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and St. Louis. By 1960, only about half of African Americans still live in the South.

1920-29: The Roaring Twenties: WW1 is followed by a period of economic prosperity epitomized by the large-scale development of automobiles, telephones, radio, and electrical appliances. The period is also characterized by greater social and political liberalism (exemplified by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which gives women the right to vote in 1920) and a powerful sense of novelty in culture, with the advent of the cinema, modernist innovations in literature, the arts and music. Originating in the African American communities of New Orleans, jazz music becomes the most popular music form in the U.S., and the whole period is often referred to as the “Jazz Age” too. This hedonistic decade coincides, somewhat ironically, with Prohibition. After decades of lobbying by temperance organizations, in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment outlaws the manufacture, transportation and sale of alcoholic liquor in the U.S., but the country sees a mushrooming of illegal drinking joints, home-produced alcohol and gangsterism; Prohibition is eventually repealed in 1933.

1925: The Scopes Monkey Trial: In July, high school teacher John T. Scopes stands trial in Dayton, Tennessee, after violating a local law banning the teaching of human evolution in public schools. Scopes is defended by Clarence Darrow, a famous lawyer and prominent member of the American Civil Liberties Union. The trial draws national publicity and becomes a cause célèbre for advocates of free speech and critics of Christian fundamentalism, notably in the Bible Belt. In 1968, in Epperson v Arkansas, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that bans against the teaching of evolutionism are unconstitutional. In 1987, in Edwards v Aguillard, it then rules that the teaching of creationism itself in public schools is unconstitutional. Yet, the subject remains divisive, and numerous states circumvent the law to carry on teaching some type of “creation science”.

1929-40: The Great Depression: On October 29, 1929, a.k.a. “Black Tuesday,” the New York Stock Exchange crashes to an all-time low, precipitating the start of the Great Depression. The Federal Reserve fails to prevent a bank run and President Herbert Hoover (R, 1929-33) rejects direct federal relief. What started as a financial crash escalates into an economic disaster. Businesses close across the country; 25% of the workforce find themselves unemployed in less than 4 years; “Hooversvilles” – i.e., shanty towns – mushroom everywhere. In 1934, the Dust Bowl worsens the situation: a series of severe dust storms plague the Great Plains, especially Kansas and Oklahoma, causing massive droughts and leaving 500,000 people homeless, unemployed and famished; 3.5m people – often referred to as “Okies” – are forced to migrate west looking for work by 1940.

1933: The New Deal: In November 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D, 1933-45) is elected president and launches the “New Deal” recovery program, which focuses on the 3 Rs: relief for the poor and the unemployed (notably through the creation of social security and labor reform), recovery of the economy (through public spending and investment in public works) and reform of the financial system to prevent a repeat depression. The New Deal produces a long-lasting realignment in U.S. politics, the Democratic party evolving towards Big Government liberalism, while the G.O.P. endorses small government conservatism.

1939-45: World War 2: On September 1, 1939, Germany invades Poland. Three days later, France and Great Britain declare war on Germany. The U.S., however, remains neutral until December 7, 1941, when Japanese forces attack the naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, leading the Americans to join the Allies against the Axis. On November 28, 1943, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet in Tehran to discuss military strategies. On June 6, 1944, also known as D-Day, Allied forces invade Normandy, and in August, they liberate Paris. In February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin meet in Yalta to discuss postwar occupation of Germany. On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt dies of a stroke; his vice-president, Harry S. Truman (D, 1945-52) is sworn in as president. On July 12, 1945, American forces take Okinawa, and on August 6 and 9, they drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. On September 2, 1945, Japan unconditionally surrenders to the U.S., ending World War 2.

1947: The Cold War: In 1947, President Truman enunciates a policy of aid for nations threatened by the Soviet Union. What becomes known as the Truman Doctrine is predicated on the “domino theory”, according to which if one country in a region comes under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries will follow. The Cold War begins. In 1947, the Central Intelligence Agency is created. The next year, the U.S. launches the Marshall Plan – a program to revive post-war European economies and consolidate American influence in the area. In June 1948, the Soviet Union begins a blockade of Berlin; in response, the U.S. and Britain organize an airlift of food and fuel to West Berlin. In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is established by the U.S., Canada, and nine European allies. In the 1950s, the U.S. gradually intervenes on more and more theatres of operation across the globe, to overthrow left-leaning governments and support right-wing regimes and uprisings.  

1950-53: The Korean War: In June 1950, North Korean communist forces cross the 38^th parallel and invade South Korea. Two days later, a United Nations coalition declares war on North Korea; 90% of the troops involved are American. U.N. forces push North Korean forces back and invade North Korea, but the People’s Republic China enters the war on the latter’s side, forcing the coalition to retreat. An armistice agreement is eventually signed in July 1953, ending the war in a stalemate.

1950-54: The Second Red Scare: In 1950, Joseph McCarthy, a Republican Senator from Wisconsin, starts carrying out a “witch hunt” against alleged communists in government and public life; the campaign and its methods become known as McCarthyism, and a new “Red Scare” – the second one after the three-year period that followed the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution – takes over the country. Left-wing sympathizers are blacklisted from the media and Hollywood; teachers are fired from schools and universities; in June 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed for passing secret information about U.S. atomic weaponry to the Soviets. In 1954, McCarthy is formally censured by the Senate after he accused army officials and other public figures of being Communists during televised hearings.

1954: The Civil Rights Movement: In May 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the U.S. Supreme Court declares that segregated schools violate the Fourteenth Amendment. The ruling is accompanied by a campaign of civil disobedience to secure civil rights for African Americans. Non-violent demonstrations, boycotts and sit-ins are held across the south. In 1955, Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for not giving up her seat to white passengers on a bus. In September 1957, President Dwight E. Eisenhower (R, 1953-60) sends federal troops to in Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce integration of Black students. In 1961, the Freedom Riders travel on buses through the South to denounce segregated bus facilities. In 1963, Martin Luther King gives his “I have a dream” speech before a crowd of 200,000 people during a march in Washington, D.C. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act bans discrimination on grounds of race, color, religion, and nationality. The same year, King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In March 1965, state troopers attack peaceful demonstrators led by King as they try to cross a bridge in Selma, Alabama. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act prohibits discriminatory voting practices. In 1968, MLK and Robert F. Kennedy – the presumptive Democratic nominee in the coming presidential election and a passionate civil rights advocate – are assassinated. From 1964 through 1970, inner-city riots betray exasperation among African Americans with the slow results of civil rights reform; the emergence of the Black Power movement also shows dissatisfaction with legalist and non-violent action.

1961: The Military-industrial Complex: In his farewell address in January 1961, President Eisenhower warns the country against the “unwarranted influence” of the U.S.’s “military-industrial complex”, i.e., the close links between the military, defense contractors and politicians, and the excessive military spending and bellicose policies that they encourage.

1961: The Cuban Crisis: Since Fidel Castro overthrew President Batista – the local U.S.-backed dictator – in 1959, Cuba has strengthened relations with the U.S.S.R. In 1960, Castro nationalizes all foreign assets in Cuba and hikes taxes on U.S. imports. The U.S. cuts off diplomatic relations with Cuba and starts plotting against Castro. In April 1961, a CIA-backed invasion force of Cuban exiles lands at Bahia de Cochins but is crushed by the local troops. In February 1962, the U.S. administration imposes a full embargo on Cuba; Cuba, whose economy greatly depends on trade with the U.S., loses an estimated $130bn over the next 60 years. In October, American spy planes spot Soviet nuclear missile bases on Cuba. President John F. Kennedy (D, 1961-63) demands the weapons be removed and initiates a naval blockade of the island. After a 13-day standoff, the U.S.S.R. pulls its missiles out of Cuba. 

1963: The Assassination of JFK: On November 22, John F. Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas, Texas; the same day, his vice-president, Lyndon B. Johnson (D, 1963-68) is sworn in as president; two days later, Oswald is shot and killed by Jack Ruby, a local nightclub owner. In September 1964, the Warren Commission concludes that Oswald acted alone, but conspiracy theories proliferate around the events.

1964: The Great Society: President Johnson launches a Great Society program designed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice in the U.S. This includes the creation of Medicare (national health insurance for the elderly), Medicaid (national health insurance for the poor), the Civil Rights Act (forbidding discrimination and segregation), the Voting Rights Act (assuring minority registration and voting) and the Immigration and Nationality Services Act (abolishing national-origin quotas), affirmative action policies, as well as measures to improve the education system, support the arts, and protect the environment.

1964-73: The Vietnam War: After France left Indochina in 1954, the U.S. has been backing the South Vietnamese state financially and militarily, but the communist Viêt Công initiates a guerilla war in the area. The U.S. gradually escalates its involvement, raising the number of “military advisors” from 1,000 in 1959 to 23,000 in 1964. In August 1964, North-Vietnamese forces attack the American destroyer USS Maddox during the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The U.S. further steps up its military presence and sends its first combat troops in March 1965. In January 1968, the North Vietnamese army and Viet Cong launch the Tet Offensive, attacking Saigon and other key cities in South Vietnam; at this stage, the U.S. appears to be trapped in an inextricable quagmire. In March, American troops massacre 300 Vietnamese villagers in My Lai, causing an international scandal and making the war even more unpopular at home. In 1969, newly elected President Richard Nixon (R, 1969-74) nevertheless increases U.S. military presence in Vietnam up to 500,000 personnel. In May 1970, U.S. forces invade Cambodia. In 1971, “The New York Times” publishes the “Pentagon Papers,” classified documents showing that the U.S. government has been secretly involved in Vietnam far more and for far longer than was believed. In January 1973, the Paris treaty ends the Vietnam War; the same month, active conscription (the “draft”) comes to an end in the U.S. In March, the last U.S. troops leave Vietnam. In April 1975, the South Vietnamese government surrenders to North Vietnam; U.S. embassy Marine guards and the last U.S. civilians are evacuated. As a whole, the campaign has claimed some 58,000 American lives and cost the U.S. $168 billion.

1972: Nixon in China: Perceiving China as a possible ally against their common enemy, the Soviet Union, President Nixon makes a historic visit to Beijing in 1972 and recognizes Chairman Mao’s communist government. In 1979, the U.S. orchestrates China’s reintegration to international organizations; in parallel, China starts to liberalize its economy and open it to foreign investment.

1972-74: The Watergate scandal: In June 1972, five employees of President Nixon’s reelection campaign are caught breaking into Democratic headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Investigations carried out by reporters at the “Washington Post” ultimately show that Nixon and senior advisers of his sanctioned the operation. In August 1974, facing the threat of impeachment, Nixon eventually resigns. Gerald Ford (R, 1974-77), Nixon’s vice-president, is sworn in as president and grants an unconditional pardon to his predecessor.

1973: Roe v. Wade: In January 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court legalizes abortion in the U.S. on the basis of the protection of a woman’s right to control her own body. The ruling reshapes American politics: under the influence of the Evangelical Right, the Republican Party makes it a long-term objective to appoint socially conservative Justices to the Supreme Court and ultimately overturn Roe v. Wade.

1973-79: The Oil Crises: In 1945, American oilfields accounted for two-thirds of global oil production, and the U.S. could meet its energy needs independently. Since then, however, its growing economy has relied on oil more and more, and become dependent on imports from Venezuela, Canada, and the Persian Gulf. In October 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries led by Saudi Arabia proclaims an oil embargo against countries supporting Israel during the Yom Kippur War. This sparks off the first oil shock. The price of oil quadruples and the higher costs ripple through the global economy. In the U.S., there are long lines at gas stations and the administration must impose rationing. U Oil companies and carmakers endure major losses, and the whole of the economy goes through a period of recession, stagflation, and unemployment. A second oil crisis will occur after a drop in oil production caused by the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the Iran-Iraq War in 1980.

1979: The Iran hostage crisis: In November, Iranian students seize the American Embassy in Tehran and take 66 people hostage. The 444-day hostage crisis plagues the last year of the presidency of Jimmy Carter (D, 1977-80) and dominates the 1980 presidential election campaign. In November 1980, Ronald Reagan (R, 1981-88), a former actor and California Governor, wins the presidency and begins the first of his two terms; the last of the hostages are liberated on the very day of his inauguration.

1980: The Mariel Boatlift: Cuba’s economy suffers from the continued U.S. embargo as well as a spike in oil prices; poverty and social unrest soar. In April 1980, Fidel Castro announces that anyone wishing to leave the island for Florida may do so from Mariel Harbor over the next six months. Some 125,000 Cubans take part in the boatlift.

1981-88: The Reagan Era: President Reagan initiates a “conservative revolution,” based on socially conservative policies, supply-side economics (deregulation, tax cuts, reduced welfare spending), increased military spending and a tough anti-communist policy abroad.

1986: Irangate: In November, the Iran-Contra scandal breaks, revealing that secret U.S. arms sales to Iran have been used illegally by the U.S. administration to fund Contra anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua. In May 1987, Congress holds public hearings. In December 1992, President George H.W. Bush (R, 1989-92), Reagan’s successor, grants pardon to six officials convicted or indicted in the scandal.

1989: The End of History: In November, Berliners start breaking down the city’s inner wall, precipitating the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and of the Iron Curtain. In February 1992, U.S. President Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin meet at Camp David and formally declare an end to the Cold War. The same year, political scientist Francis Fukuyama publishes The End of History and the Last Man, in which he argues that the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union signal the “end of history,” and “the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government.” The same year, the U.S. Congress passes the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which creates a free-trade bloc between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

1991-92: Rodney King and the L.A. Race Riots: In March 1991, Black motorist Rodney King is beaten by four white LAPD officers during his arrest for driving while intoxicated. The incident is videotaped and widely shown in television broadcasts. In April 1992, the acquittal of the four officers by a local jury sparks off 6 days of rioting, looting, and arson, notably in Koreatown, leading to 63 deaths, thousands of injuries, more than 12,000 arrests, and $1 billion in property damage.

1995: The Oklahoma City Bombing: In April, a federal office building in Oklahoma City is bombed by far-right activists led by Timothy McVeigh, in what becomes the worst act of terrorism in U.S. history. 168 people are killed. The U.S. militia movement and armed nativism become national security concerns. 

1998: The Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal: In January 1998, President Bill Clinton (D, 1993-2000) is reported to have had an affair for two years with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The President denies the allegations, publicly and under oath, but when new evidence emerges, he retracts himself and acknowledges the affair.  He is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice, and impeached by the House of Representatives, but the Senate does not convict him.

1999-2007: Mass shootings: In April 1999, 2 teenagers kill 12 pupils and 1 teacher, and injure 23 others at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. In April 2007, a student at Virginia Tech, in Blacksburg, Virginia, kills 32 students and wounds 15 more. In 2012, a 20-year-old kills 27 people, including 20 children under 7 years old, at the Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. In 2015, a white supremacist kills 9 African Americans at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. In 2016, an ISIS-sympathizer kills 49 people and injures 58 more at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. In 2017, a deranged gambler kills 58 people and injures 869 others in Paradise, Nevada. These shootings raise debates on gun control, but few measures are taken.

2000: The Recount: On November 9, 2000, George W. Bush (R, 2001-08) wins the presidential election with a slim majority in the electoral college, but a minority of the popular vote; his opponent, incumbent vice-president Al Gore calls the election too close to call and requests a recount of ballots in Florida. In December, the U.S. Supreme Court overrules Florida’s decision to recount ballots manually and declares George W. Bush the winner of the election; the next day, Al Gore concedes.

2001: 9/11: On September 11, 2001, coordinated suicide operations by al-Qaeda succeed in crashing three planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing 3,000 Americans; the passengers on a fourth plane, United Flight 93, foil hijackers and crash it into a Pennsylvania field. 9/11 becomes the worst act of terrorism in U.S. history.

2001-13: The War on Terror: In October 2001, the U.S. leads a massive campaign of air strikes against Afghanistan after the Taliban government failed to hand over Saudi terrorist Osama Bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind 9/11; the same month, Congress passes the USA Patriot Act, which dramatically tightens national security, expanding surveillance abilities by law enforcement and increasing penalties for terrorism crimes. In his State of the Union address of January 2002, President Bush defines an Axis of Evil, which includes North Korea, Iran and Iraq, and declares that the U.S. will wage war against states that develop weapons of mass destruction. The same year, the Bush administration creates the Department of Homeland Security, the biggest reorganization of federal government in more than 50 years, and opens the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, known as Gitmo, a detention camp for terrorist suspects captured in Afghanistan. In February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell lays out the case to go to war against Iraq before the U.N. Security Council; the next month, U.S. troops invade Iraq; Baghdad is taken in early April and Saddam Hussein is killed. In May 2004, revelations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners in U.S. custody cause international outrage. In June, the U.S. returns sovereignty to an interim government in Iraq but maintains 135,000 troops in the country to fight a growing insurgency. In November, President Bush wins re-election. In January 2007, he announces a new Iraq strategy; thousands more US troops are dispatched to shore up security in Baghdad. During the 2008 presidential campaign, Democratic candidate Barack Obama pledges to end American military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq and close Guantanamo Bay prison. In May 2011, U.S. forces kill Osama Bin Laden in an operation in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. In May 2013, President Obama announces that the War on Terror is over. In July 2021, President Biden withdraws the last of the remaining U.S. troops from Afghanistan. As a whole, more than 1.5m American troops served in Iraq and 4,000 died there; more than 800,000 served in Afghanistan, and 2,500 died there. The two wars cost an estimated $4.7 trillion over twenty years.

2005: Katrina: In August 2005, hundreds of people are killed when Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive storm to hit the US in decades, sweeps through Gulf Coast states. 80% of the city of New Orleans is submerged by flood waters. All levels of government, notably F.E.M.A, are criticized for the delayed and inadequate response to the disaster.

2007-09: The Financial meltdown and the Great Recession: U.S. and international financial markets collapse after major Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers files for bankruptcy and other big U.S. financial institutions face growing troubles as a result of the bursting of the subprime bubble. A deep recession begins. In October 2008, President Bush signs into law the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), a $700 billion bank bailout bill intending to save the American financial industry and attenuate the credit crunch. In March 2009, Congress passes President Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package to help the U.S. economy. Two of America’s “’Big Three” carmakers, Chrysler and General Motors, go through bankruptcy proceedings. Meanwhile, the first “Tea Party” rallies are held in protest at the Obama administration’s plans to bail out banks, boost the economy and introduce healthcare reform (“Obamacare”); the populist and libertarian movement galvanizes conservative opposition to the president throughout his two terms. The Great Recession officially ends in June 2009, but the American economy suffers until at least 2014.

2009: Yes We Can: In January 2009, Barack Obama (D, 2009-16) begins the first of his two terms as president, becoming the first non-white president in the history of the United States. During the campaign, the new president delivers a transformational, post-racial message, but his legitimacy is questioned by a significant fraction of the electorate; conspiracy theories proliferate about his religion and place of birth (Birtherism), and Republicans resort to obstructionist tactics in Congress.

2014: The Ferguson Riots: In August, the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman sparks off weeks of riots in the Missouri town of Ferguson. In November, a grand jury’s decision not to charge the officer with murder sets off new unrest. In the years that follow, numerous cases of homicides and police brutality follow. 

2016: Make America Great Again: In November, Republican candidate Donald Trump (R, 2017-20) defeats Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in one of the biggest upsets in U.S. history. President Trump initiates a populist “America First” policy, notably through stringent cutdowns on immigration, withdrawal from international organizations and treaties, and a trade war against China. At home, the Trump administration pursues conservative policies, both fiscally and socially. President Trump is impeached twice (first, for soliciting foreign interference in the presidential election, and then for inciting the January 2021 Capitol invasion), and acquitted twice by the U.S. Senate.