APUSH Spring Historical Characters

Jane Addams

the founder of Hull House, which provided English lessons for immigrants, daycares, and child care classes; she advocated for the juvenile court system; "the Mother of Social Work"

Susan B Anthony

social reformer who campaigned for women's rights, the temperance, and was an abolitionist, helped form the National Woman Suffrage Association

Mary Baker Eddy

Founded the Church of Christian Scientists and set forth the basic doctrine of Christian Science; believed faith healed more than medicine

Mary Elizabeth Lease

Known as "Mary Yellin'" and "the Kansas Pythoness," she made about 160 speeches in 1890. She criticized Wall Street and the wealthy, and cried that Kansans should raise "less corn and more hell."

Andrew Carnegie

A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who founded a Steel Company in 1892. wrote Gospel of Wealth

Grover Cleveland

22nd and 24th president, Democrat, Honest and hardworking, fought corruption, vetoed hundreds of wasteful bills, achieved the Interstate Commerce Commission and civil service reform, violent suppression of strikes

Anthony Comstock

US Postal inspector who persuaded Congress in 1873 to pass the "Comstock Law" which prohibited the mailing or transportation of obscene and lewd material and photographs; enraged feminists because birth control was harder to transport

Russell Conwell

founded Temple University; He was a Revered and a staunch advocate of Social Darwinism. He helped the justification of the rich and the need to not help the poor in his "Acres of Diamonds" lecture.

Charles Darwin

English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection; wrote On the Origin of Species

Eugene V Debs

Head of the American Railway Union and director of the Pullman strike; he was imprisoned along with his associates for ignoring a federal court injunction to stop striking. While in prison, he read Socialist literature and emerged as a Socialist leader in America.

James B Duke

Owner of an American Tobacco Company, which established a virtual monopoly over the processing of raw tobacco into marketable materials; also founded The Southern Power Company

Thomas Edison

American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recording on wax cylinders, and motion pictures; first industrial research laboratory

Joseph Glidden

Invented barbed wire

Samuel Gompers

He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers.

Helen Hunt Jackson

United States writer of romantic novels about the unjust treatment of Native Americans; A Century of Dishonor

JP Morgan

Banker who buys out Carnegie Steel and renames it to U.S. Steel. Was a philanthropist in a way; he gave all the money needed for WWI and was payed back. Was one of the "Robber barons"

Thomas Nast

A famous caricaturist and editorial cartoonist in the 19th century and is considered to be the father of American political cartooning. His artwork was primarily based on political corruption. He helped people realize the corruption of some politicians

John D Rockefeller

Established the Standard Oil Company, the greatest, wisest, and meanest monopoly known in history (example of Vertical Integration); one of the nation's first billionaires

Leland Stanford

One of the "Big Four" tycoons who became president of the Central Pacific Railroad and later went on to become governor of California; founded Stanford University

Frederick Jackson Turner

American historian who said that humanity would continue to progress as long as there was new land to move into. The frontier provided a place for homeless and solved social problems

Mark Twain

United States writer and humorist best known for his novels about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn; writes about the moral struggle of exposing or helping a fugitive slave

Cornelius Vanderbilt

American entrepreneur and philanthropist who made his fortune in shipping and railroads during the Gilded Age. He was one of the richest Americans in history and a major philanthropist, funding numerous universities and charitable organizations.

James B Weaver

He was the Greenback candidate then a Populist candidate for president; He was from the West, advocated for farmers; he ran twice and lost both times

Emilio Aguinaldo

Leader of the Filipino independence movement against Spain; He proclaimed the independence of the Philippines in 1899, but his movement was crushed and he was captured by the United States Army in 1901.

William J Bryan

early 1900s. Ran and lost for the Presidency 3 times under Populist and Democratic party; did the Cross of Gold Speech; Supported Prohibition and was lawyer in Scope's Monkey Trail, against evolution in schools.

George Creel

Headed the Committee on Public Information, for promoting the war effort in WWI; against censorship

John Hay

Was the Secretary of State in 1899; dispatched the Open Door Policy to keep the countries that had spheres of influence in China from taking over China and closing the doors on trade between China and the U.S.

William R Hearst

newspaper publisher whose yellow journalism style helped create public pressure for Spanish-American War;

Alfred T Mahan

Author who argued in 1890 that the economic future of the United States rested on new overseas markets protected by a larger navy. Wrote "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History"

Joseph Pulitzer

He used yellow journalism in competition with Hearst to sell more newspapers. He also achieved the goal of becoming a leading national figure of the Democratic Party.

WEB Dubois

Opposed Booker T. Washington. Wanted social and political integration as well as higher education for 10% of African Americans-what he called a "Talented Tenth". Founder of the Niagara Movement which led to the creation of the NAACP; first Black to earn a PhD from Harvard

Theodore Roosevelt

26th president, known for: conservationism, trust-busting, Hepburn Act, safe food regulations, "Square Deal," Panama Canal, Great White Fleet, Nobel Peace Prize for negotiation of peace in Russo-Japanese War

Josiah Strong

author of Our Country, on Anglo-Saxon superiority; a popular American minister in the late 1800s who linked Anglo-Saxonism to Christian missionary ideas

GW Carver

Botanical Researcher
Discovered hundreds of uses for previously useless vegetables and fruits, principally the peanut; first Black American to have a national park named after him

Marcus Garvey

African American leader during the 1920s who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and advocated mass migration of African Americans back to Africa. Was deported to Jamaica in 1927.

Booker T. Washington

African American progressive who supported segregation and demanded that African American better themselves individually to achieve equality.

Ida B Wells

African-American journalist who led the fight against lynching

Nellie Bly

Pen name for Elizabeth Seaman, who was an investigative reporter who wrote about conditions in factories, prisons and insane asylums.

Oliver W Holmes

Liberal Supreme Court justice who supported the Progressive Movement and believed that laws should fit the changing needs of society.

Mary H Jones

Reformer who pushed for protection of children. Given the nickname "Mother Jones"

Helen Keller

American female author, political activist, lecturer; first deaf-blind person to earn B.A. She wrote The Story of My Life and The Frost King.

Robert LaFollette

A great debater and political leader who believed in libertarian reforms, he was a major leader of the Progressive movement from Wisconsin.

Carrie Nation

Founded WCTU to outlaw selling/drinking alcohol. She was married to an abusive man that she killed with an axe and she didn't get punished for it. She formed a group that walked into bars with axes.

Frances Perkins

U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman ever appointed to the cabinet.

Jacob Riis

A Danish immigrant, he became a reporter who pointed out the terrible conditions of the tenement houses of the big cities where immigrants lived during the late 1800s. He wrote How The Other Half Lives in 1890.

Margaret Sanger

American leader of the movement to legalize birth control during the early 1900's. As a nurse in the poor sections of New York City, she had seen the suffering caused by unwanted pregnancy. Founded the first birth control clinic in the U.S. and the American Birth Control League, which later became Planned Parenthood.

Upton Sinclair

muckraker who shocked the nation when he published The Jungle, a novel that revealed gruesome details about the meat packing industry in Chicago. The book was fiction but based on the things he had seen.

Lincoln Steffens

United States journalist who exposes in 1906 started an era of muckraking journalism (1866-1936), Writing for McClure's Magazine, he criticized the trend of urbanization with a series of articles under the title Shame of the Cities.

William H Taft

27th US president, took over presidency after Theodore Roosevelt, strengthened ICC, trust buster; followed "Dollar Diplomacy"; only person who was both leader in executive branch and judicial branch (was the tenth Chief Justice)

Ida Tarbell

Leading muckraking journalist whose articles documented the Standard Oil Company's abuse of power

Frederick Taylor

American mechanical engineer, who wanted to improve industrial efficiency. He is known as the father of scientific management, and was one of the first management consultants

Frances Willard

"the most famous woman of the nineteenth century;" ran the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) from 1878-97; campaigned for woman's suffrage, abstinence from alcohol, reformation of prison systems, abolition of prostitution, and elimination of wage system; raised the age of consent

Woodrow Wilson

28th president of the United States, known for World War I leadership, created Federal Reserve, Federal Trade Commission, Clayton Antitrust Act, progressive income tax, lower tariffs, women's suffrage (reluctantly), Treaty of Versailles, sought 14 points post-war plan, League of Nations (but failed to win U.S. ratification), won Nobel Peace Prize

Louis Armstrong

Leading African American jazz musician during the Harlem Renaissance; he was a talented trumpeter whose style influenced many later musicians.

Langston Hughes

African American poet who described the rich culture of African American life using rhythms influenced by jazz music. He wrote of African American hope and defiance, as well as the culture of Harlem and also had a major impact on the Harlem Renaissance.

Zora Neale Hurston

African American writer and folklore scholar who played a key role in the Harlem Renaissance; wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God, a novel that focused on the adventures of a Black woman

Calvin Coolidge

Became president when Harding died of pneumonia. He was known for practicing a rigid economy in money and words, and acquired the name "Silent Cal" for being so soft-spoken. He was a true republican and industrialist. Believed in the government supporting big business.

Warren G Harding

promoted laissez-faire, little regard for gov't or presidency. "return to normalcy" campaign after Wilson and his progressive ideals. Office became corrupt: allowed drinking in prohibition, had an affair, surrounded himself w/ cronies (used office for private gain). Ex) Sec. of Interior leased gov't land w/ oil for $500,000 and took money himself. Died after 3 years in office, VP: Coolidge took over

Herbert Hoover

Republican candidate who assumed the presidency in March 1929 promising the American people prosperity and attempted to first deal with the Depression by trying to restore public faith in the community; is associated with all of the bad things during the Great Depression

Al Capone

A mob king in Chicago who controlled a large network of speakeasies with enormous profits. His illegal activities convey the failure of prohibition in the twenties and the problems with gangs.

Clarence Darrow

American lawyer known for defending controversial clients such as Leopold and Loeb, John Scopes, and Eugene Debs. He was a prominent advocate for civil liberties and free speech.

Jack Dempsey

United States prizefighter who was world heavyweight champion

Amelia Earhart

First female pilot to cross the Atlantic. She disappeared while trying to fly around the world (she was going to be the first woman to fly around the world)

Albert Fall

He was Secretery of the Interior during Harding's administration, and was a scheming anticonservationist. He was convicted of leasing naval oil reserves and collecting bribes, which was called the Tea Pot Dome scandal.

F Scott Fitzgerald

a novelist and chronicler of the jazz age; used his literature to display the ideas and morals of his time

Henry Ford

United States manufacturer of automobiles who pioneered mass production; participate in WWII to build airplanes

DW Griffith

groundbreaking American film director, directed The Birth of a Nation

Ernest Hemingway

Lost Generation writer, spent much of his life in France, Spain, and Cuba during WWI, notable works include "The Old Man and the Sea," "A Farewell to Arms," "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and "The Sun Also Rises."

Charles Evans Hughes

A reformist Republican governor of New York, who had gained fame as an investigator of malpractices by gas and insurance companies and by the coal trust. He later ran against Wilson in the 1916 election.

Sinclair Lewis

American novelist who satirized middle-class America in his 22 works, including Babbitt (1922) and Elmer Gantry (1927). He was the first American to receive (1930) a Nobel Prize for literature.

Charles Lindbergh

United States aviator who in 1927 made the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean (1902-1974)

Henry Cabot Lodge

he studied law, then became a governor in New York; conservative senator who wanted to keep the united states out of the league of nations

Andrew Mellon

the Secretary of the Treasury during the Harding Administration. He felt it was best to invest in tax-exempt securities rather than in factories that provided prosperous payrolls. He believed in trickle down economics.

Ransom Olds

along with Ford, adapted the gasoline engine and developed infant automotive industry, "Oldsmobile"

Mitchell A Palmer

Attorney General who rounded up many suspects who were thought to be un-American and socialistic; he helped to increase the Red Scare; he was nicknamed the "Fighting Quaker" until a bomb destroyed his home; he then had a nervous breakdown and became known as the "Quaking Fighter."

Alice Paul

Head of the National Woman's party that campaigned for an equal rights amendment to the Constitution. She opposed legislation protecting women workers because such laws implied women's inferiority. Most condemned her way of thinking.

Jeanette Rankin

First woman to serve in Congress. Suffragist and pacifist, voted against US involvement in WWI and WWII.

George Herman "Babe" Ruth

"Home Run King" in baseball, provided an idol for young people and a figurehead for America

Sacco and Vanzetti

Italian radicals who became symbols of the Red Scare of the 1920s; arrested (1920), tried and executed (1927) for a robbery/murder, they were believed by many to have been innocent but convicted because of their immigrant status and radical political beliefs.

John T Scopes

Tennessee biology teacher, indicted for teaching evolution (as opposed to Biblical creation of life); his case was nicknamed the "Monkey Trial"

Alfred Sloan

President of General motors, appealed to prestige, offered variety with different models and colors. introduced buying on credit

Billy Sunday

American fundamentalist minister; he used colorful language and powerful sermons to drive home the message of salvation through Jesus and to oppose radical and progressive groups.

Orville and Wilbur Wright

These brothers were bicycle mechanics from Dayton, Ohio who built and flew the first plane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903.

John Collier

Head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs who introduced the Indian New Deal and pushed congress to pass Indian Reorganization Act of 1934

Charles Coughlin

Catholic priest who used his popular radio program to criticize the New Deal; he grew increasingly anti-New Deal and anti-Semitic until the Catholic Church pulled him off the air

John Dillinger

bank robber and mobster who was caught by Hoover, the capture of which catapulted Hoover into national prominence in the "Dillinger Case"; killed by the FBI; 'Robin Hood' of his period

Edgar J Hoover

Leader of FBI that began NARCS during red
scare., The first Director of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United
States; investigated Harding's corrupt events; he also deported many communists during the Red Scare

John L Lewis

He was a miner known for creating the United Mine Workers of America. He helped found the CIO (protected 'unskilled' workers) and was responsible for the Fair Labor Standards Act

Huey Long

As senator in 1932 of Washington preached his "Share Our Wealth" programs. It was a 100% tax on all annual incomes over $1 million and appropriation of all fortunes in excess of $5 million. With this money he proposed to give every American family a comfortable income, etc

Eleanor Roosevelt

FDR's Wife and New Deal supporter; wanted the US to join the UN; Was a great supporter of civil rights and opposed the Jim Crow laws. She also worked for birth control and better conditions for working women; only three term First Lady

Franklin D Roosevelt

32nd US President - He began New Deal programs to help the nation out of the Great Depression, and he was the nation's leader during most of WWII

Alfred Smith

leader of the efficiency movement; leader of the American Liberty League; Governor of New York four times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928. He was the first Roman Catholic and Irish-American to run for President as a major party nominee. He lost the election to Herbert Hoover.

John Steinbeck

American novelist who wrote "The Grapes of Wrath". (1939) A story of Dustbowl victims who travel to California to look for a better life; wrote about middle class struggles; won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962

Cordell Hull

father of the UN; longest reigning secretary of state, who promoted reciprocal trade agreements (Good Neighbor Policy), especially with Latin America

Douglas McArthur

Commander of the U.S. armed forces in the Pacific, fought to recapture the Phillipines, but lost his command in the Korean War

Gerald Nye

Republican of North Dakota, headed a 1934-1936 Senate investigation of WWI, which concluded that banking and munition interests, whom it called "merchants of death", had tricked the US into war to protect their loans and weapon sales to England and France

Enrico Fermi

Italian nuclear physicist (in the United States after 1939) who worked on artificial radioactivity caused by neutron bombardment and who headed the group that in 1942 produced the first controlled nuclear reaction

Barry Goldwater

1964; Republican contender against LBJ for presidency; platform included lessening federal involvement, therefore opposing Civil Rights Act of 1964; lost by largest margin in history

George Kennan

He was an American diplomat and ambassador best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War.

Henry Kissinger

Awarded 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for helping to end Vietnam War and withdrawing American forces. Heavily involved in South American politics as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State. Condoned covert tactics to prevent communism and fascism from spreading throughout South America.