End of the 20th Century

The United States always has been a place where different ideas and views compete to influence law and social change. The liberal activism of the 1960s–1970s gave way to conservatism in the 1980s.

Conservatives wanted limited government, strong national defense, and tax cuts.
  American politics, however, can change quickly: In 1992, Americans elected the more liberal Bill Clinton as president.
Politics became more bitter than usual when the election was very close in 2000. A Supreme Court ruling about disputed ballots in Florida ensured that George W. Bush won the election over Al Gore.President Bush expected to focus on education, the U.S. economy, and Social Security. On September 11, 2001, everything changed.

Bush declared war on worldwide terrorism and sent U.S. troops into Afghanistan and Iraq. At first, most Americans backed President Bush, but many grew uncomfortable with his policies. In 2008, Americans chose Barack Obama for the presidency. Obama became the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office.

The United States has dramatically changed from its beginnings as 13 little-known colonies. Its population of 300 million people represents almost every national and ethnic group in the world. Progress continues in economics, technology, culture, and society. Americans live in an interdependent, interconnected world.

Cultural Change 1950–1980

At home, some Americans began to have easier lives. Families grew and some moved from the cities into outlying areas where they could purchase larger homes. Not all Americans were so successful. African Americans started a movement to gain fair treatment everywhere.

 In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that separate schools for black children were not equal to those for white children and must be integrated. President Lyndon Johnson supported the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his peaceful fight for civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.

 Many black Americans worked toward joining the more prosperous middle class. While racial prejudice was not gone, African Americans had a better chance to live freely and well.

During the 1960s and 1970s, many American women grew angry that they did not have the same opportunities as men.

 In 1992, Ben Nighthorse Campbell became the first Native American elected to the Senate.

Hispanic Americans from Mexico, Central America, Puerto Rico, and Cuba were politically active too. They fought against discrimination. They were elected to local, state, and national positions. 

Long hair, rock ’n’ roll music, and illegal drugs were visible symbols of the “counter-culture” thinking of some young people during this time. Americans became more concerned about pollution. The first Earth Day was designated in 1970.

The Cold War, Korean Conflict, and Vietnam

After World War II, the United States and Great Britain had long-term disagreements with the Soviet Union over the future of Europe, most of which had been freed from Nazi rule by their joint effort. Each wanted to establish governments friendly to its own interests there.
 Russia had been invaded twice in the past 40 years, and the United States twice had been dragged into European wars not of its making. Each believed that its system could best ensure its security, and each believed its ideas produced the most liberty, equality, and prosperity.


After World War II, many empires fell, and many civil wars occurred. The United States wanted stability, democracy, and open trade. Because it feared that postwar economic weakness would increase the popularity of communism, the U.S.

 The Soviet military forced communist governments on nations in Central and Eastern Europe. The United States wanted to limit Soviet expansion.  When the Soviets blockaded West Berlin, a U.S. airlift brought millions of tons of supplies to the divided city.

In 1949, the communist forces of Mao Zedong took control of China. Communist North Korea invaded South Korea with the support of China and the Soviet Union in 1950.
In the 1960s, the United States helped South Vietnam defend itself against communist North Vietnam. All American troops withdrew by 1973. In 1975, North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam.

The New Deal and World War II

President Roosevelt believed that democracy had failed in other countries because of unemployment and insecurity. In the early 1930s, he proposed a “New Deal” to end the Great Depression.
 The New Deal included many programs. Bank accounts were insured. New rules applied to the stock market. Workers could form unions to protect their rights.
The government hired people to plant trees, clean up waterways, and fix national parks.
The government provided flood control and electric power for poor areas. The Social Security system helped the poor, disabled, and elderly.

Many Americans were uneasy with big government, but they also wanted the government to help ordinary people. These programs helped, but they didn’t solve the economic problems. The United States remained neutral while Germany, Italy, and Japan attacked other countries.
As Japan conquered territories in China and elsewhere in Asia, it threatened to seize raw materials used by Western industries. In response, the United States refused to sell oil to Japan.
When the United States demanded that Japan withdraw from its conquered territories, Japan refused. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The United States declared war on Japan. Because Germany and Italy were allies of Japan, they declared war on America.

Japan refused to surrender even as U.S. forces approached the Japane
se home islands. Some Americans thought invading Japan would cause larger numbers of U.S. and Japanese deaths. When the atomic bomb was ready, President Harry S. Truman decided to use it on two Japanese cities— Hiroshima and Nagasaki—to bring the war to an end without an invasion.

World War II was finally over in August 1945. 

World War I, 1920s Prosperity, and the Great Depression

In 1914, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey fought Britain, France, Italy, and Russia. Other nations joined the conflict, and the war reached across the Atlantic Ocean to affect the United States. The British and German navies blocked American shipping. In 1915, almost 130 Americans died when a German submarine sank the British ocean liner Lusitania. President Woodrow Wilson demanded an end to the German attacks. They stopped but started again in 1917. The United States declared w
ar.

President Wilson had a 14-point peace plan, including the creation of a League of Nations. He hoped the League would guarantee the peace, but in the final Treaty of Versailles, the victors of the war insisted on harsh punishment.
 After the war, the United States had problems with racial tension, struggling farms, and labor unrest. After Russia’s revolution in 1917, Americans feared the spread of communism. This period is often known as the Red Scare.

In October 1929 the good times ended with the collapse of the stock market and an economic depression. Businesses and factories shut down. Banks failed. Farms suffered. By November 1932, 20 percent of Americans did not have jobs.

Discontent and Reform

By 1900, the United States had seen growth, civil war, economic prosperity, and economic hard times. Americans still believed in religious freedom. Free public education was mostly accessible. The free press continued. On the negative side, it often seemed that political power belonged to a few corrupt officials and their friends in business. In response, the idea of Progressivism was born. Progressives wanted greater democracy and justice. They wanted an honest government to reduce the power of business.

the  President Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909) believed in Progressivism. He worked with Congress to regulate businesses that had established monopolies. He also worked hard to protect the country’s natural resources.
The Federal Reserve banking system set interest rates and controlled the money supply. The Federal Trade Commission dealt with unfair business practices.

 During the Progressive Era, more immigrants settled in the United States. Almost 19 million people arrived between 1890 and 1921 from Russia, Poland, Greece, Canada, Italy, Mexico, and Japan.  Although the government created quotas to restrict immigration, it relaxed those restrictions in the 1960s, assuring that the United States would remain a nation in which many different people and cultures could forge an identity as Americans.

Growth and Transformation

The United States changed after the Civil War. The frontier became less wild. Cities grew in size and number. More factories, steel mills, and railroads were built. Immigrants arrived in the United States with dreams of better lives.
This was the age of inventions. Alexander Graham Bell developed the telephone. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. George Eastman made the moving picture, later called a movie. Before 1860, the government issued 36,000 patents. From 1860 to 1890, the government issued 440,000. Separate companies merged to become larger companies, sometimes called trusts.

Farming was still America’s main occupation. Scientists improved seeds. New machines did some of the work that men had done. American farmers produced enough grain, meat, cotton, and wool to ship the surplus overseas.

When Europeans first arrived on the East Coast, they pushed the native people west. Each time, the government promised new land for the native people so they would have a home. Many tribes would live on reservations, which are federal lands administered by Indian tribes. Today there are more than 300 reservations.
Toward the end of the 1800s, European powers colonized Africa and fought for rights to trade in Asia. Many Americans believed that the United States should do the same.

United States encouraged them to become selfgoverning. In reality, the United States kept control. Idealism in foreign policy co-existed with the desire to prevent European powers from acquiring territories that might enable them to project military power toward the United States.