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#Modern America

67 entries

People (17)
Alexander Graham Bell
Scottish-American inventor of the telephone, 1847–1922
Barack Obama
44th President of the United States, 2009–2017
Betty Friedan
Author of The Feminine Mystique and Founder of Second-Wave Feminism, 1921–2006
Bill Clinton
42nd President of the United States, 1993–2001
Bonnie and Clyde
The Depression-era couple whose two-year crime spree ended in a Louisiana ambush
Donald Trump
45th and 47th President of the United States
Edward Hopper
American light and the painter of Nighthawks, 1882-1967
Elvis Presley
The Memphis truck driver who carried Black Southern music into white America, 1935-1977
Frank Lloyd Wright
Organic architecture across seventy years, 1867-1959
George H.W. Bush
41st President of the United States, 1989–1993
George W. Bush
43rd President of the United States, 2001–2009
Georgia O'Keeffe
Skyscrapers, flowers, and the New Mexico desert, 1887-1986
Gerald Ford
38th President of the United States, 1974–1977
Jackson Pollock
The poured canvases and the short fame, 1912-1956
Jimmy Carter
39th President of the United States, whose post-presidency eclipsed his time in office
Joe Biden
46th President of the United States, 2021–2025
Ronald Reagan
40th President of the United States, 1981–1989
Places (10)
Cape Canaveral
The Florida Launch Site That Has Carried American Ambitions Into Space Since 1950
Dallas
The city where Kennedy was killed and the Sun Belt came of age
Ellis Island
The New York Harbor immigration station that processed 12 million arrivals, 1892–1954
George W. Bush Presidential Library
The SMU library that lets visitors face the decisions of 9/11
Los Angeles
The city that became America's second metropolis by inventing itself from scratch
Obama Presidential Center
The Chicago campus that broke with the federal library model
Seattle
Gateway to Alaska, birthplace of Boeing, and capital of the Pacific Northwest
Silicon Valley
How a stretch of California orchards became the engine of the digital age
The Willis Tower
The Sears Tower and the bundled tube, 1973
The World Trade Center
The twin towers of lower Manhattan, 1973 to 2001
Events (19)
COVID-19 Pandemic
The 2020–2023 public health crisis that killed over a million Americans and transformed national life
Death of Osama bin Laden
The 2011 raid that ended a decade-long manhunt
Great Recession of 2008
The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression — and the collapse that remade American politics
Hurricane Katrina
The 2005 storm and flood that devastated New Orleans and exposed a broken federal safety net
January 6 Capitol Attack
The 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol that interrupted the certification of the presidential election
Kent State Shootings
The 1970 killing of four students by National Guard troops that broke the antiwar movement open
Los Angeles Riots (1992)
Six days of urban unrest following the acquittal of officers who beat Rodney King
Occupy Wall Street
The 2011 protest that put economic inequality on the agenda
Oklahoma City Bombing
The Deadliest Act of Domestic Terrorism in American History, April 19, 1995
Reagan Assassination Attempt
The 1981 shooting that nearly killed a president and reshaped gun law
September 11 Attacks
The deadliest terrorist attack on American soil, 2001
Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster
The 1986 explosion that killed seven astronauts and shook America's faith in its space program
Stonewall Riots
The 1969 Greenwich Village uprising that launched the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement
The Moon Landing
Apollo 11 and humanity's first steps on another world, July 1969
The Space Shuttle
The reusable spacecraft that defined American spaceflight for three decades
The TV Dinner
Swanson's 1953 aluminum tray and the rearranged American evening
Three Mile Island
The 1979 nuclear accident that ended the American nuclear power era
Trump Assassination Attempt (2024)
The July 2024 Butler, Pennsylvania shooting during the presidential campaign
U.S.–Iran Military Strikes
From the killing of Soleimani in 2020 to direct strikes on Iran's nuclear sites in 2025–2026
Documents (1)
Obergefell v. Hodges
The 2015 Supreme Court decision that established the constitutional right to same-sex marriage
Concepts (12)
Abstract Expressionism
The New York School and the moment the center moved
American Art
A colony that imported its taste and a republic that had to invent one
Black Lives Matter
The movement against racism and police violence born of a hashtag
Country Music
From Appalachian string bands to the Bristol sessions and Nashville
Hip-Hop
From a 1973 Bronx block party to the dominant popular form
Jazz
The New Orleans art of improvisation that became America's chief export
Rock and Roll
The mid-1950s collision of rhythm and blues with country
Suburbanization
How Postwar America Built a New Geography — and Who It Left Out
The Counterculture of the 1960s
The cultural rebellion that challenged postwar conformity and permanently altered American life
The Environmental Movement
From Theodore Roosevelt's conservation to Rachel Carson's alarm to the unresolved politics of climate
U.S.–China Relations
From Open Door to trade war — the relationship that will define the 21st century
U.S.–Mexico Relations
A 1,954-mile border, a war that one side calls an invasion, and two centuries of inseparable entanglement
Organizations (3)
CNN
The first twenty-four-hour news channel, launched 1980
McDonald's
The San Bernardino hamburger stand that became a global system
The New York Times
The paper of record, founded 1851
Technology (5)
ARPANET and the Birth of the Internet
The Cold War research network that grew into a global communications system
LASIK
Laser eye surgery and the arrival of elective consumer medicine
The Artificial Heart
The Jarvik-7, 112 days, and the limits of a machine
The Human Genome Project
Reading three billion base pairs, 1990 to 2003
The MRI
Magnetic resonance imaging and the soft body made visible
All Tags
Politics 178 Economy 171 Military 129 Reform 121 Civil Rights 118 Law & Justice 116 Presidency 113 Science & Technology 112 Foreign Policy 107 Arts & Culture 103 Race 98 Founding Era 96 Industry 90 Constitution 75 Modern America 67 Protest 66 Cold War 65 Civil War 62 Westward Expansion 61 War 59 Revolution 59 Slavery 57 Media & Press 57 Women 56 Indigenous 51 Diplomacy 47 Immigration 41 Labor 40 Environment 36 Colonial America 34 Congress 33 Religion 33 World War II 32 Supreme Court 32 Disaster 29 Exploration 27 Public Health 25 Progressive Era 25 Abolition 22 Finance 22 Reconstruction 22 Democracy 20 Gilded Age 19 Assassination 15 Education 15 Suffrage 11 World War I 9 Sports 9 Corruption 9 Prohibition 1