| 1896 | William McKinley is elected president. |
| 1898 | The Spanish-American War occurs. |
| 1901 | President McKinley is assassinated, and Teddy Roosevelt takes office. |
| 1908 | The NAACP is created. |
| 1912 | Woodrow Wilson is elected president. |
| 1913 | The Federal Reserve Act creates the Federal Reserve System. |
| 1914 | World War I begins in Europe. |
| The Clayton Antitrust Act curbs the power of monopolies. | |
| 1917 | The United States enters World War I. |
| The Bolshevik Revolution starts in Russia. | |
| 1918 | The United States enters World War I. |
| The Bolshevik Revolution starts in Russia. | |
| 1919 | Paris Peace Conference creates the Treaty of Versailles, the formal end to World War I. |
| The Red Scare breaks out in America. | |
| 1920 | The Nineteenth Amendment gives women the right to vote. |
| The beginning of the Jazz Age, or the Roaring Twenties. | |
| 1923 | The Teapot Dome Scandal takes place. |
| President Harding dies in office, and Calvin Coolidge takes office. | |
| 1929 | The stock market crashes on Black Tuesday, triggering the |
| Great Depression. | |
| 1933 | The first part of FDR’s New Deal is implemented. |
| 1939 | Hitler invades Poland, starting World War II. |
| 1940 | France falls to Hitler. |
| The United States implements the first peacetime draft. | |
| 1941 | Japan attacks the U.S. military installation at Pearl Harbor. |
| The United States declares war on Japan. | |
| Germany declares war on the United States. | |
| 1942 | The United States sends Japanese-Americans to internment camps. |
| The Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway are victories for the Allies. | |
| 1944 | The GI Bill is signed into law. |
| D-Day invasion occurs on the beaches of Normandy in France. | |
| 1945 | Germany surrenders to the Allied Powers. |
| FDR, Stalin, and Churchill meet at the Yalta Conference. | |
| President Roosevelt dies while still in office. | |
| Harry Truman becomes president. | |
| The United States drops atomic bombs on Japan, bringing an end to World War II. | |