US HISTORY PEOPLE TO KNOW

Harry Truman

President after FDR; dropped atomic bombs, desegregated the military, started Cold War policies.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

President during 1950s; built interstate highways, promoted containment.

John F. Kennedy (JFK)

President during Cuban Missile Crisis; supported civil rights and the space race; assassinated in 1963.

Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ)

Took over after JFK; launched Great Society and signed Civil Rights Acts.

Richard Nixon

President during Vietnam War, détente with China and USSR; resigned due to Watergate scandal.

Gerald Ford

Became president after Nixon; pardoned him.

Jimmy Carter

Promoted human rights; signed Camp David Accords; faced Iran Hostage Crisis.

Ronald Reagan

Conservative leader of 1980s; Reaganomics, Cold War policies.

George H.W. Bush

President during the Gulf War; end of Cold War.

George W. Bush

9/11 attacks, War on Terror, Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Leader of nonviolent civil rights movement; 'I Have a Dream'; Nobel Peace Prize.

Rosa Parks

Sparked Montgomery Bus Boycott by refusing to give up her bus seat.

Malcolm X

Promoted Black empowerment and separation before moderating views later in life.

Thurgood Marshall

NAACP lawyer in Brown v. Board, first Black Supreme Court Justice.

Cesar Chavez

Latino labor leader; co-founded United Farm Workers; used nonviolent protest.

Betty Friedan

Wrote The Feminine Mystique, helped start modern feminist movement.

Gloria Steinem

Journalist and feminist leader.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam.

Ngo Dinh Diem

Leader of South Vietnam (anti-communist, U.S.-backed).

Robert McNamara

U.S. Secretary of Defense during Vietnam escalation.

William Westmoreland

U.S. General in Vietnam.

Linda Brown

Student at the center of Brown v. Board of Education (desegregation case).

Earl Warren

Chief Justice of Supreme Court; led landmark decisions (Miranda v. Arizona, Gideon v. Wainwright, Brown v. Board).

Joseph Stalin

Soviet leader during early Cold War.

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader during Cuban Missile Crisis.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Soviet leader in 1980s; reformed USSR, helped end Cold War.

Fidel Castro

Communist leader of Cuba.

Osama bin Laden

Leader of al-Qaeda; responsible for 9/11 attacks.

Saddam Hussein

Iraqi dictator; removed during 2003 U.S. invasion.

Rachel Carson

Wrote Silent Spring, sparked environmental movement.

Bill Gates

Co-founder of Microsoft; tech boom of 1990s.

Steve Jobs

Co-founder of Apple; helped lead technology revolution.