Namba Historical Characters '26 (Semester 2)

Dean Acheson

-helped develop the Marshall Plan, Truman Doctrine, and NATO

-Secretary of State under Truman

Jane Addams

-established the Hull House- revolutionary community center

-Pacifist, led the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom

-strong advocate for women's rights to vote and suffrage

Emilio Aguinaldo

-Leader of the Philippine Revolution against Spain

-First president of the Philippines from 1899-1901

Madeleine Albright

-American diplomat and political scientist

-First woman to serve as U.S. Secretary of State under Bill Clinton

-Ambassador to the United Nations

Susan B. Anthony

-Co-founded National Woman Suffrage Association

-American Anti-Slavery Society Agent

Louis Armstrong

-Revolutionized jazz music

-One of the most influential trumpet players of all time

-Helped bring jazz into mainstream American culture

-Used global fame to break racial barriers and served as an informal cultural ambassador for the U.S.

Neil Armstrong

- 1st person to walk on the moon

- U.S. Apollo 11

-crucial in advancing space exploration during the Cold War

Joan Baez

-Folk Singer

-Political Activist, promoted civil rights, anti-Vietnam War

- inducted Rock and Roll into the Hall of Fame

Bernard Baruch

-Advised multiple U.S. presidents from Woodrow Wilson through the Cold War

-Headed the War Industries Board- control of industries into hands of federal government

-War Socialism, Progressive Reforms

Nellie Bly

-Author of "Ten Days in a Mad House"

- job at Joseph Pulitzer's New York World

-went undercover to check out conditions of a women's lunatic asylum on Blackwell's Island (real name is Elizabeth Cochran Seaman)

William Jennings Bryan

- "free silver" (unlimited coinage of silver)

-Cross of Gold speech

-Support of the Populist Party (ran for President)

-Prosecuting attorney in the Scopes Monkey Trial

George H.W. Bush

-41st President of the U.S.

-Led U.S. in the Gulf War

-Former director of CIA, Vice President, U.N. Ambassador, and Congressman

-NAFTA negotiation

George W. Bush

-43rd president

-9/11 -> Immediate focus on homeland security

-War on Terror (Invasion of Afghanistan, Unilateral Invasion of Iraq)

-Hurricane Katrina Disaster

Al Capone

-Mob king in Chicago

-Controlled a large network of speakeasies

-His illegal activities convey failure of prohibition and problems with gangs

-Influential crime boss, using bribes and corruption to his advantage

Stokely Carmichael

-Black civil rights activist in the 1960's (Black Power)

-Co-founded the All African People's Revolutionary Party

- Leader of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee

- Work with Martin Luther King Jr- urged giving up peaceful demonstrations and pursuing black power

Andrew Carnegie

-Poor immigrant from Scotland

-Gospel of Wealth

-Influential ideas on how to make and spend money- Steel monopoly (Carnegie Steel Company)

-Bessemer Process

Rachel Carson

-Wrote Silent Spring in 1962

-Exposed the environmental damage and dangers of DDT/Pesticides

-Spread ecological awareness -> start of the modern environmental movement

Jimmy Carter

-39th President

-Strengthened foreign policy: Panama Canal Treaties, Salt II

-Camp David Accords

-Created the Department of Energy

George Washington Carver

-Scientist who promoted new farming techniques to help poor southern farmers

-Encouraged crop rotation to restore soil

-Worked under Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute

Cesar Chavez

-Co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) to organize farm laborers

-Used nonviolent protest (California grape boycott)

-A national symbol of Latino civil rights and labor activism

Grover Cleveland

-22nd and 24th president

-Vetoed 414 bills in one term (more than any previous president)

-Established the Interstate Commerce Commission

Hillary Clinton

-First woman Presidential primary winner

-Active in national healthcare reform

-U.S. senator for the state of NY

-Obama's selection for secretary of state

William J. Clinton

-42nd President of the U.S.

-Impeached by the House, brought back by the Senate

-Oslo Accords

-Helped NATO stop ethnic cleansing

-Democrat President from Arkansas

-Defeated George Bush

John Collier

-Founded the American Indian Defense Association in 1923

-Commissioner of Indian affairs in 1933

-Reversed the Dawes Land Act

-Reformed the Bureau of Indian Affairs which also helped advance their civil rights

Anthony Comstock

-Spearheaded the Comstock Act of 1873 (banned mailing contraceptives, abortion information, etc)

-Led campaigned against prostitution (deemed immoral)

-Formed the Society for the Suppression of Vice in order to raise American Morals

Russell Conwell

-A minister and orator during the Gilded Age, key figure of the Baptist religion

- need to not help the poor in his "Acres of Diamonds" lecture -> inspired many to find work

-Supported Social Darwinism and rejected government aid

Calvin Coolidge

- 30th President

-Passed the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924

-Hands-Off and Pro-Business Approach to governing

- acquired the name "Silent Cal"

Rev. Charles Coughlin

-'Radio Priest' - broadcasts reached 30 million people

- Formed the National Union of Social Justice- had a strong following with the lower middle class

-His sermons shifted to antisemitic and pro-Fascist rhetoric

-Broadcasts cut off by the Catholic Church and FBI

George Creel

-Head of the Committee on Public Information -> shaped public opinion for WWI

-Four Minute Men- network of volunteers who delivered short patriotic speeches in public places

-Chairman for the WPA's National Advisory Board

Walter Cronkite

-Pioneer of Broadcast Journalism Integrity

-An original creation of CBS

-Influenced public opinion on Vietnam

-Dean of Space

-"Most Trusted Man in America"

Clarence Darrow

-Defense attorney for civil liberties, defended unpopular causes

-Defense in Scopes 'Monkey' Trial

-Opposed Death Penalty

-Advocate for labor union workers and strikes

Charles Darwin

-Theory of Natural Selection

-Published 'On the Origin of Species'

Eugene V. Debs

-Leader of the American Railway Union (one of the earliest industrial unions)

-Voted to aid workers in the Pullman strike

-Radical ideas eventually led to the abolition of child labor, safer working conditions, 40 hour work week, and social security

Jack Dempsey

-One of the first true sports superstar, making boxing hugely popular in the U.S.

-1919 Fight against Jesse Willard is one of the most famous fights ever

John Dillinger

-One of the most notorious bank robbers of the Great Depression

-His death marked the end of the 'Public Enemy' era and reinforced the federal government's authority over interstate crime

Dr. Charles Drew

-Broke racial barriers in medicine

-Wrote 'Banked Blood' -> helped with WWII casualties

-Formed foundation for modern blood banking (bloodmobiles)

W.E.B. DuBois

-Co-founded the NAACP

-Led the Niagara Movement

-Wrote 'The Souls of Black Folk'

- 1st black to earn Ph.D. from Harvard

-Encouraged blacks to resist systems of segregation and discrimination

James B. Duke

-Founded of the American Tobacco Company- one of the largest and most powerful tobacco monopolies in U.S. history

-Pioneer of mass production

-Expanded into electric power -> Duke Energy

-Major philanthropist -> Duke University

John Foster Dulles

-Secretary of State during the Cold War under President Eisenhower

-Heavily influenced Eisenhower Doctrine

-Promoted a strong anti-communist foreign policy and containment strategy

Bob Dylan

-Folk and rock singer-songwriter -> impact on political and social sphere

-Created protest songs which promoted the social movements occurring during the 60s

Amelia Earhart

-The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and Pacific

-Disappeared attempting to fly around the globe

-Co-founded the Ninety-Nines

Mary Baker Eddy

-Founded the Christian Science Movement

-Wrote 'Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures'

-Founded the Church of Christ in 1879

-Promoted the idea of spiritual healing over medication

Thomas Edison

-Invented phonograph, motion picture camera

-Improvements to the light bulb and telephone

-Created first industrial laboratory

Albert Einstein

-Developed theories that transformed modern physics, including relativity, space, time, matter

-Laid the scientific foundation for nuclear energy

-Warned the U.S. about Nazi atomic research

Dwight Eisenhower

-34th President of the U.S.

-Commander of the D-day invasion of Normandy/ War Hero

-Est. NASA

Daniel Ellsberg

-U.S. military analyst who leaked the Pentagon Papers (revealed that the U.S. leaders had lied about Vietnam' War's military success)

-Defended Transparency and Public's Right to Know

Albert Fall

-U.S. Senator from New Mexico

-Secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding

-Infamous for his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal

Enrico Fermi

-Led the creation of the first controlled nuclear chain reaction

-Key role in the Manhattan Project

-Contributed to the development of nuclear energy and atomic weapons in the future

F. Scott Fitzgerald

-The Great Gatsby

-Political themes in his writing

-Popularized the term "Jazz Age" in the Roaring Twenties

Gerald Ford

-38th President, became President after Nixon resigned

-Pardoned Nixon after the Watergate Scandal

-Detente by signing Helsinki Accords

Henry Ford

-Assembly Line -> cut down production time and helped mass production (Fordism)

-Cut down on the cars cost to make it affordable

-Designed the Model T- durable, affordable, for middle working class

-Founder of Ford Motor Company

Betty Friedan

-Author of Feminine Mystique

-Co-founder/President: National Organization for Women & National Women's Political Caucus

-Women's Strike for Equality

Marcus Garvey

-Head of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)- worked for Black nationalism

-Back to Africa movement

-Urged black economic cooperation

-Promoted Black-owned businesses (creation of chain grocery stores to create a separate, independent economy for African Americans)

Joseph Glidden

-Invented the barbed wire -> helped people on the frontier expand

Barry Goldwater

-1964 Republican contender against LBJ for presidency

-Author of Conscience of a Conservative

-Wanted to have aggressive policies during the Cold War

Samuel Gompers

-Founder of the American Federation of Labor in 1886 (one of the most powerful labor unions ever)

-Promoted skilled workers and collective bargaining rather than radical protests

-"Bread and Butter Unionism" labor philosophy -> focused on shorter work days and weeks, higher wages, and safer working conditions

Alan Greenspan

-Chairmen of the Federal Reserve- led U.S. monetary policy under four presidents

-Managed interest rates and inflation, guiding the economy through growth and recession

-Influenced modern economic policy (limited gov. regulation and free markets)

D.W. Griffith

-Film "Birth of a Nation" first feature length film

-Influenced by his racist ideology, propaganda for the KKK

Fannie Lou Hamer

-Co-founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in 1964

-Her activism helped build support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965

-Founded Freedom Farm Cooperative

-lead the 1964 Freedom Summer voter registration campaign

Warren G. Harding

-29th President with a Front Porch Campaign

-Saw over the Washington Naval Conference of 1921-1922

-Scandals include the Teapot Dome damaging his reputation

John Hay

-Secretary of State under McKinley and Roosevelt

-Pioneered the open-door policy and Panama canal

William Randolph Hearst

-Practiced Yellow (Sensationalist) Journalism

-Est. vast newspaper/magazine chain -> leading newspaperman of his times

-Ran The New York Journal

Ernest Hemmingway

-Iceberg Theory (story's meaning is implied beneath the surface)

-Lost Generation- captured dark themes after WWI

-The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms, The Sun Also Rises

-Won the Nobel Prize in Literature

Oliver Wendell Jr. Holmes

-Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

-Help create legal realism (law is shaped by real life experience)

-Shaped modern American free speech law

-'Clear and present danger' in Schenck v. U.S.

Herbert Hoover

-31st Republican President (during Great Depression)

-Created the Reconstruction Finance Corporation

-'Rugged Individualism'

J. Edgar Hoover

-Longest serving FBI Director

-Helped with the Palmer Raids during the Red Scare

-Spied on citizens and officials by illegal wiretapping and surveillance

Charles Evans Hughes

-Chief Justice of Supreme Court (Great Depression, New Deal)

-Advocated Judicial Independence

-Republican presidential nominee of 1916, lost to Woodrow Wilson

Langston Hughes

-Leading figure during the Harlem Renaissance, lass style

-Voiced the working lives of African Americans

Zora Neale Hurston

-Author of 'Their Eyes Were Watching God'

-Associated with the Harlem Renaissance

-Wrote about Black culture and folklore

Cordell Hull

-Chairman of Democratic National Committee

-Secretary of State during FDR's presidency

-Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act

-Believed in Good Neighborism

Helen Hunt Jackson

-Author of 'A Century of Dishonor' exposed the U.S. gov. mistreatment of Natives

-Her books led to the Mission Indian Act of 1891

Jesse Jackson

-Founded Operation People United to Save Humanity

-Worked alongside MLK Jr in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

-African-American candidate for the Democratic ticket

-"Rainbow Coalition" of minorities and the disadvantaged

Lyndon B. Johnson

-36th President -> Came into officer after JFK was shot

-Great Society Program

-Signed the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and Voting Rights Act of 1965

Mary Harris Jones

-March of the Mill Protest

-Created the United Mine Workers

-International Workers of the World

-Steel Strike 1919

-"most dangerous woman in America" --> mother jones

Helen Keller

-Blind and deaf, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree

-Co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union

George Kennan

-Long Telegram-foundation of containment policy

-X Article -> Mr. X

-Served in the Moscow Embassy during WWII

John F. Kennedy

-35th President

-Bay of Pigs Invasion- Cuban Missile Crisis

-Peace Corps

-Space Race + Apollo Program

-Flexible Response

Jack Kerouac

-Leader writer of the Beat Generation

-Author of 'On the Road'

-Criticized Cold War conformity and materialism

Martin Luther King Jr

-Led the Montgomery Bus Boycott

-Led nonviolent civil rights movement

-'I have a dream' speech

-Earned Nobel Peace Prize

Henry Kissinger

-Secretary of State for Nixon and Ford

-Shaped foreign policy: better relations with Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, and the Middle East

-Controversy over multiple alleged attempt to extend Vietnam bombings into Cambodia and Laos

Ray Kroc

-Founded first McDonalds

-Exclusive distributor of multimixer of milk shakes

-Bought out McDonald's brothers' restaurants

-Father of modern franchising

Robert LaFollette

-Founder of the Progressive Party in 1924

-Served as a U.S. Senate from Wisconsin

-Proponent of Progressivism and a vocal opponent of railroad trusts, bossism, WWI, and the League of Nations

Timothy Leary

-Former Harvard psychologist

-Experimented with psychoactive drugs (particularly LSD)

Mary Elizabeth Lease

-Populist reformer, Political writer

-Became the president of the Kansas State Board of Charities

-Told Kansas farmers to "raise less corn and more hell"

-She championed monetary reform, women's suffrage, and temperance

William Levitt

-Father of Suburbia (American home builder and developer)

-Popularized residential housing and suburban landscape post WWII

John L. Lewis

-Organized millions of industrial workers to strike

-Formed the Committee for Industrial Organization

-Increased rights for miners including medical care

Sinclair Lewis

-Famous American novelist- criticized American society, esp. materialism and conformity

-Author of Main Street and Babbitt (exposed problems in small-town life)

Charles Lindbergh

-American aviator, completed the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight

-Isolationist movements

-Association with the America First Committee

Henry Cabot Lodge

-Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

-Leader in the fight against participation in the League of Nations

-Had a personal and ideological rivalry with Woodrow Wilson

Huey Long

-U.S. Senator, "The Kingfish"

-"Share Our Wealth" programs

-Proposed to give every American family a comfortable income, etc.

Douglas MacArthur

-Surrender the Philippines during WWII

-Supreme allied commander during the Cold War in 1945

-Put in charge of putting Japan back together

-Korean War, commanded the United Nations troops

-Fired by Harry Truman for insubordination

Alfred Thayer Mahan

-Author of 'The Influence of Sea Power Upon History'

-Influenced and stimulated the naval race

Malcom X

-Leader and spokesperson for the Nation of Islam

-Strong advocate of Black Pride and Black Nationalism

-Became Black Muslims' most dynamic street orator and recruiter

George Marshall

- Served as Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense under Truman

-Leadership of Allied victory in WWII

-Marshall Plan- economic/political commitment to Europe

Thurgood Marshall

-Lead attorney in Brown v. Board of Education

-American civil rights lawyer

-Used the legal system to challenge racial discrimination nationwide

-Became the first African American Supreme Court Justice

Joseph McCarthy

-Claimed to have list of communists in American government

-No credible evidence -> McCarthyism

-Took advantage of fears of communism post WWII

Robert McNamara

-Secretary of Defense under Kennedy and Johnson

-Pushed U.S. escalation in Vietnam War

-Applied systems analysis to military decision-making

Andrew W. Mellon

-Secretary of Treasury under President Harding, Coolidge and Hoover

-Pushed tax cuts favoring corporations and wealthy Americans

-Policies widened wealth inequality before the Great Depression

James Meredith

-First African American to enroll at Ole Miss

-Led the march against fear-promoted black voter registration

J.P. Morgan

-Most powerful financier and banker and history

-Bought out Carnegie Steel/renames it U.S. Steel

-Gave all the money needed for WWI and was paid back