Historical characters semester two

Alfred Smith

Catholic Democratic candidate who lost to Hoover and advocated for ending Prohibition.

John Collier

Commissioner of Indian Affairs who spearheaded the Indian Reorganization Act.

Dean Acheson

Secretary of State who helped implement the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan.

Neil Armstrong

Former military pilot and astronaut who led the Apollo 11 moon landing mission.

Bernard Baruch

Advisor to presidents and chairman of the War Industries Board; also involved in atomic energy commissions.

Albert Einstein

Famed physicist whose work led to the development of the atomic bomb.

Enrico Fermi

Physicist who created the first nuclear reactor and is known for the Fermi Paradox.

Barry Goldwater

Republican presidential nominee in 1964 whose loss to LBJ helped spark the modern conservative movement.

Joan Baez

Folk singer and activist known for her anti-Vietnam War protest music.

Walter Cronkite

Influential CBS news anchor whose opposition to the Vietnam War significantly shifted public opinion.

Daniel Ellsberg

Military analyst who famously leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press.

Robert McNamara

Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War known for escalating U.S. involvement. Flexable repsonse JFK LBJ

William Westmoreland

Commander of U.S. forces in Vietnam who utilized attrition warfare and was often blamed for military failures.

Bob Dylan

Influential singer-songwriter whose protest songs became anthems for the Civil Rights and anti-war movements.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Non-violent leader of the Civil Rights Movement who led the Montgomery Bus Boycott and gave the "I Have a Dream" speech.

Malcolm X

Civil Rights leader and minister who advocated for Black nationalism and self-defense before shifting toward a more orthodox Islamic view.

Stokely Carmichael

Civil Rights activist who led SNCC and popularized the phrase "Black Power," signaling a shift toward more militant advocacy.

James Meredith

The first African American student to integrate the University of Mississippi after a violent standoff with segregationists.

Medgar Evers

NAACP field secretary and WWII veteran whose 1963 assassination in Mississippi became a rallying cry for civil rights.

Lyndon B. Johnson

36th President who launched the "Great Society" and signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Robert F. Kennedy

Attorney General and Senator whose 1968 presidential campaign sought to bridge racial and economic divides before his assassination.

Richard Nixon

37th President known for "Vietnamization," opening relations with China, and resigning following the Watergate scandal.

Henry Kissinger

National Security Advisor and Secretary of State who pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union. For Nixon and Ford

Gerald Ford

38th President who took office after Nixon's resignation and famously issued a full pardon to his predecessor.

Ronald Reagan

40th President whose "Reaganomics" and "Peace Through Strength" policies defined the conservative resurgence of the 1980s.

Bill Clinton

42nd President who oversaw a period of economic prosperity and signed NAFTA, but was later impeached.

George Wallace

Governor of Alabama and staunch segregationist who famously blocked the entrance to the University of Alabama.

Cesar Chavez

Labor leader and co-founder of the UFW who used non-violent strikes and fasts to secure rights for farmworkers. Dolores Huerta

John F. Kennedy

35th President who handled the Cuban Missile Crisis and established the Alliance for Progress before his 1963 assassination.

Lee Harvey Oswald

The former Marine identified by government investigations as the assassin of President John F. Kennedy.

Elvis Presley

The "King of Rock and Roll" who revolutionized American music and became a symbol of teenage rebellion against conformity.

Jonas Salk

Medical researcher who developed the first successful polio vaccine and chose not to patent it for the public good.

Phyllis Schlafly

Conservative activist who led the successful "STOP ERA" campaign to prevent the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Gloria Steinem

Journalist and co-founder of "Ms." magazine who became a leading spokesperson for the feminist movement in the 1970s.

Betty Friedan

Author of "The Feminine Mystique," which is credited with sparking the second wave of American feminism.

Earl Warren

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court whose "Warren Court" issued landmark liberal rulings like Brown v. Board of Education.

James Watson & Francis Crick

Scientists who identified the double-helix structure of DNA, marking a pinnacle of 20th-century biological science.

Sandra Day O'Connor

The first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, serving as a key swing vote for over two decades.

Mikhail Gorbachev

The final Soviet leader whose policies of Glasnost and Perestroika contributed to the end of the Cold War.

Huey Long

Louisiana Senator and critic of the New Deal who proposed the "Share Our Wealth" program to redistribute income.

Frances Perkins

The first female Cabinet member in U.S. history; she served as FDR’s Secretary of Labor and helped draft the Social Security Act.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Revolutionary First Lady and human rights activist who served as a delegate to the United Nations and redefined the role of the President's spouse.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

32nd President who led the U.S. through the Great Depression with the New Deal and served as Commander-in-Chief during most of WWII.

John Steinbeck

Author of "The Grapes of Wrath," which poignantly depicted the hardships of Dust Bowl farmers during the Great Depression.

Harry S. Truman

33rd President who made the decision to use atomic bombs on Japan and established the policy of containment against Communism.

A. Philip Randolph

Labor leader who organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and pressured FDR to desegregate defense industries.

General Douglas MacArthur

Top U.S. commander in the Pacific during WWII and leader of UN forces during the Korean War until he was dismissed by Truman.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during WWII who later became the 34th President, known for the Interstate Highway System.

General George Marshall

WWII Chief of Staff who created the Marshall Plan to provide economic aid for the reconstruction of post-war Europe.

Admiral Chester Nimitz

Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet during WWII who directed the pivotal naval victories at Midway and the Coral Sea.

Robert Oppenheimer

Theoretical physicist known as the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role leading the Manhattan Project.

Rosa Parks

Civil rights activist whose refusal to give up her bus seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

The Rosenbergs

American citizens executed for conspiracy to commit espionage by passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.

Joseph McCarthy

Senator who fueled the Second Red Scare by making unsubstantiated claims that communists had infiltrated the U.S. government.

Jackie Robinson

The first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era, breaking the long-standing color barrier.

Thurgood Marshall

Lead NAACP attorney in Brown v. Board of Education who later became the first African American Supreme Court Justice.

Adlai Stevenson

Intellectual Democratic candidate who ran against Eisenhower twice and later served as Ambassador to the UN during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Dr. Benjamin Spock

Pediatrician whose book "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care" influenced parenting for the Baby Boom generation.

John Foster Dulles

Eisenhower’s Secretary of State who advocated for "brinkmanship" and "massive retaliation" against communist aggression.

George Kennan

Diplomat and historian whose "Long Telegram" established the "Containment" doctrine to prevent the spread of Soviet influence.

Jack Kerouac

Leading novelist of the Beat Generation whose book "On the Road" celebrated non-conformity and spontaneous living.

Ray Kroc

Businessman who franchised McDonald’s, turning it into a global fast-food empire and symbol of American consumer culture.

Timothy Leary

Harvard psychologist and counterculture icon who advocated for the use of psychedelic drugs like LSD.

William Levitt

Real estate developer known as the "father of modern suburbia" for creating Levittowns using mass-production techniques.

Dr. Charles Drew

Physician and researcher who pioneered methods for storing blood plasma, which saved countless lives during WWII.

Emmett Till

14-year-old African American whose brutal murder in Mississippi became a catalyst for the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement.

Jack Dempsey

Heavyweight boxing champion and cultural icon of the 1920s who helped usher in the era of million-dollar sports gates .

Amelia Earhart

Pioneering aviator who became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean .

Albert Fall

Secretary of the Interior under Harding who was convicted in the Teapot Dome scandal for leasing navy oil reserves to private companies.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Author of "The Great Gatsby" and a leading voice of the "Lost Generation" who captured the excesses of the Jazz Age .

Henry Ford

Industrialist who revolutionized manufacturing with the assembly line and made the Model T affordable for the masses . 5 dollar work day

Warren G. Harding

29th President who called for a "return to normalcy" but whose administration was marred by major scandals like the Ohio Gang.

D. W. Griffith

Influential director and "Father of Film" whose controversial movie "Birth of a Nation" glorified the KKK .

Ernest Hemingway

Nobel Prize-winning author and "Lost Generation" figure known for his understated style in works like "A Farewell to Arms" .

Herbert Hoover

31st President during the start of the Great Depression; his name became synonymous with "Hoovervilles" and the Hoover Dam .

Charles Evans Hughes

New Deal-era Chief Justice, former New York Governor, and Secretary of State.

A. Mitchell Palmer

Attorney General who led the "Palmer Raids" to arrest and deport suspected communists and anarchists during the first Red Scare .

Sinclair Lewis

Satirical novelist of the Lost Generation who critiqued American middle-class conformity in books like "Babbitt" .

Charles Lindbergh

Famed aviator who flew solo across the Atlantic and later led the isolationist America First Committee .

Henry Cabot Lodge

Powerful Senator and expansionist who led the opposition to the League of Nations via the "Lodge Reservations" .

John T. Scopes

High school teacher at the center of the "Monkey Trial" regarding the teaching of evolution in schools .

Andrew Mellon

Secretary of the Treasury who championed Laissez-faire "trickle-down" economics under Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover .

Ransom Olds

Automotive pioneer whose Oldsmobile was the top-selling car in America before Henry Ford's Model T .

Sacco and Vanzetti

Italian immigrants and anarchists whose controversial trial and execution highlighted the anti-immigrant and anti-communist sentiment of the 1920s .

Alice Paul

Radical suffragist and leader of the National Woman's Party who pushed for the Equal Rights Amendment .

Jeanette Rankin

The first woman elected to the House of Representatives; she famously voted against U.S. entry into both WWI and WWII .

Billy Sunday

Professional baseball player turned celebrated evangelist who was a key supporter of the 18th Amendment and Prohibition .

Orville and Wilbur Wright

Aviation pioneers credited with inventing and flying the world's first successful motor-operated airplane.

Rev. Charles Coughlin

The "Radio Priest" who used his massive broadcast audience to criticize FDR and promote anti-Semitic views .

John Dillinger

Notorious bank robber during the Great Depression who gained a level of Robin Hood-style "pseudo-fame" .

John L. Lewis

Influential labor leader and head of the CIO and United Mine Workers who fought for industrial unionism .

Cordell Hull

FDR’s Secretary of State who pioneered the "Good Neighbor Policy" and reciprocal trade agreements.

J. Edgar Hoover

Longtime FBI Director who led the bureau for 48 years, focusing on anti-communist "Red Scares" and disrupting political activists.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Shipping and railroad magnate who dominated the East Coast and was known as "The Commodore" .

Nelli Bly

Investigative journalist who famously went undercover to expose the conditions of insane asylums .

George Washington Carver

African American scientist who revolutionized Southern agriculture by promoting alternative crops like peanuts.

W.E.B. DuBois

Scholar and NAACP co-founder who argued the "Talented Tenth" should lead African Americans toward immediate civil rights .

Marcus Garvey

Founder of the UNIA who promoted the "Back to Africa" movement and Black nationalism .

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Supreme Court Justice known as the "Great Dissenter" who argued for a flexible interpretation of the Constitution .

Mary Harris Jones

Labor organizer known as "Mother Jones" who co-founded the IWW to help workers .