(ODD)American People

Joseph Glidden

American Farmer

Patented Barbed Wire

Ended open ranged ranching

Ulysses S. Grant

18th President of the United States

Led efforts to remove the vestiges of Confederate Nationalism

Defeated the KKK

George Armstrong Custer

Dispatched to the West in the American Indian Wars

Appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment

George Washington Carver

Reputation based on research into (and promotion of) alternative crops

Jesse James

Infamous “wild west“ gang leader and outlaw

Confederate Guerrilla during the Civil War

Cornelius Vanderbilt

American businessman and Philanthropist

“Vanderbilt University“

John D. Rockefeller

Founder of Standard Oil Company

Henry Ford

Founder of Ford Motor Company

Alexander Graham Bell

Credited with inventing the first telephone

William Jennings Bryan

Advocate of Bimetallism

Delivered “Cross of Gold Speech“

Led attacks on Darwinism and Evolution

Samuel Gompers

Founded the American Federation of Labor(AFL)

Promoted collective bargaining to secure shorter hours and higher wages for workers

William Tweed

Most notable for being the “Boss“ of Tammany Hall

Ida Tarbell

A “muckracker“ who pioneered investigative journalism

1904 book The History of The Standard Oil Company

Robert Lafollet

Achieved the most significant progressive state government reform in America known as the “Wisconsin Idea“

W.E.B DuBois

Leader of the Niagara Movement

Demanded immediate, full civil rights and increased political representation

Theodore Roosevelt

Led the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War

Famous for his actions during the Battle of San Juan Hill

Took the presidency after William McKinley’s assassination

William Randolph Hearst

Owned the New York Journal

Competed against the New York world

Led to “yellow journalism“

Alice Paul

The main leader of the 1910s campaign for the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women the right to vote

Hunger strikes in prison

Hellen Keller

Deaf and Blind

Learned how to read and write

A founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU)

John “Blackjack” Pershing

United States General of World War I

American Expeditionary Forces

Jeanette Rankin

The First woman elected to Congress

Only member of congress to vote against the United States participation in both World War I and World War II

George Herman “Babe” Ruth

Nicknamed “The Bambino” and “The Sultan of Swat”

Broke the MLB Single-Season home run record in 1919

Earnest Hemingway

Author

Inspired by the lost children

Wrote a “Farewell to Arms” and “From When the Bell Tolls”

Sacco and Vanzetti

Italian immigrant anarchists accused of a 1920 robbery/murder

Convicted largely due to the Red Scare fears and anti-immigrant bias

Charles Lindbergh

Rose to world fame as the result of a solo nonstop flight in May 1927

Single-seat, Single-engine plane, Spirit of St. Louis

Duke Ellington

Leader of Jazz Orchestra

Gained fame through his orchestra’s appearances at the cotton club in Harlem

Al Capone

Gangster and businessman

Attained notoriety during the Prohibition era in Chicago

Herbert Hoover

Wall Street crash of 1929 struck less than 8 months after he took office

Tried to ensue the Great Depression with modern government works

Hoover Dam

Did not believe in providing direct relief to individuals due to the Great Depression

John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath dealt with the Great Depression, poverty, and issues relating to migration farther west from the Dust Bowl

Father Charles Coughlin

Opponent of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal“ policies and opposed American involvement in World War II

Radio Broadcast and newsletter, Social Justice, criticized American involvement in World War II was eventually censored during wartime

Dwight D. Eisenhower

He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch and the successful invasion of France (D-Day) and Germany

Became the first supreme commander of NATO.

He was the 34th President of the United States.

George Patton

Led U.S. troops into the Mediterranean theatre with an invasion of Casablanca during Operation Torch in 1942

Commanded the U.S. Third Army in France and Germany

William Levitt

Real-Estate developer

Levitt & Sons built their first huge housing development near Hempstead, Long island named Levittown

George Marshall

After World War II, as Secretary of State, he advocated US economic and Political commitment to post-war European recovery

Marshall Plan

Thurgood Marshall

Lawyer for Brown V Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

Rosa Parks

Her arrest sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott

John F. Kennedy

Best known for his leadership during the Cold War, especially during the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis

Neil Armstrong

Apollo 11

First human to step on the moon

Famously stated, “That’s one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind.”

Malcom X

Advocated for Black empowerment and self-defense

Originally criticized and disagreed with Martin Luther King Jr.’s strategy of nonviolent protest and racial integration

Promoted black nationalism, self-defense, and separation rather than integration

Emmet Till

A 14-year-old African American who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955

Became an icon of the Civil Rights Movement

Cesear Chevez

Led the La Causa movement

Sought to improve the lives of farm workers in the United States

Norman Borlaug

Agronomist

Research helped develop disease-resistant crops, as well as effective pesticides and chemical fertilizers

Henry Kissinger

Pioneered the policy of détente with the Soviet Union

Negotiated the Paris Peace Accords, ending American involvement in the Vietnam War

Richard Nixon

Initially escalated the war in Vietnam

Subsequently, the U.S. involvement ended in 1973, along with the military draft

The Watergate Scandal

Gerald Ford

As President, he signed the Helsinki Accords

Jonas Salk

American Virologist and medical researcher

Discovered and developed the first successful inactivated polio vaccine

Billy Graham

Best known for his large “crusade” revival meetings

Preached to millions of people around the world and encouraged them to commit their lives to Christianity

Muhammad Ali

Nicknamed "The Greatest"

Widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated figures of the 20th century and as one of the greatest boxers of all time

Carl Sagan

Astronomer

Played a key role in NASA's planetary exploration

Sandra Day O’Connor

First woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court

George H.W. Bush

Foreign policy drove his presidency

Military operations were conducted in Panama and the Persian Gulf

Bill Clinton

Presided over the longest period of peacetime economic expansion in American history

The North American Free Trade Agreement

Ross Perot

Ran an independent presidential campaign in 1992 and a third-party campaign in 1996, establishing the Reform Party

Both campaigns were among the strongest presidential showings by a third-party or independent candidate in US history

Newt Gingrich

An architect of the "Contract with America.”

John McCain

While on a bombing mission over Hanoi, he was shot down, seriously injured, and captured by the North Vietnamese

Refused to be released before the others he was being held with were released

Barack Obama

He was the first African-American president of the United States.

The main reforms that were passed include the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare")

He also ordered the military operations that resulted in the deaths of Osama bin Laden.

Steve Jobs

Co-founder of Apple Inc.

Joe Biden

Oversaw the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021

Key policies included the Inflation Reduction Act to lower health costs, reversing climate change initiatives, and strengthening labor unions

Jeff Bezos

Founder of Amazon

Donald Trump

45th and 47th President of the United States

His second administration has focused on a "Golden Age" agenda, emphasizing "America First" policies, mass deportations, and significant economic restructuring.