America Since 1975

There have been many changes in America in recent history. In order to understand them, you need to know a little bit about each era.

1970's

The chaotic events of the 60's, including war and social change, seemed destined to continue in the 70's. Major trends included a growing disillusionment of government, advances in civil rights, increased influence of the women's movement, a heightened concern for the environment, and increased space exploration. Many of the "radical" ideas of the 60's gained wider acceptance in the new decade, and were mainstreamed into American life and culture. Amid war, social realignment and presidential impeachment proceedings, American culture flourished. Indeed, the events of the times were reflected in and became the inspiration for much of the music, literature, entertainment, and even fashion of the decade.

1980's

The 1980s became the Me! Me! Me! generation of status seekers. During the 1980s, hostile takeovers, leveraged buyouts, and mega-mergers spawned a new breed of billionaire. Donald Trump, Leona Helmsley, and Ivan Boesky iconed the meteoric rise and fall of the rich and famous. If you've got it, flaunt it and You can have it all! were watchwords. Forbes' list of 400 richest people became more important than its 500 largest companies. Binge buying and credit became a way of life and 'Shop Til you Drop' was the watchword. Labels were everything, even (or especially) for our children. Tom Wolfe dubbed the baby-boomers as the 'splurge generation.' Video games, aerobics, minivans, camcorders, and talk shows became part of our lives. The decade began with double-digit inflation, Reagan declared a war on drugs, Kermit didn't find it easy to be green, hospital costs rose, we lost many, many of our finest talents to AIDS which before the decade ended spread to black and Hispanic women, and unemployment rose. On the bright side, the US Constitution had its 200th birthday, Gone with the Wind turned 50, ET phoned home, and in 1989 Americans gave $115,000,000,000 to charity. And, Internationally, at the very end of the decade the Berlin Wall was removed - making great changes for the decade to come! At the turn of the decade, many were happy to leave the spendthrift 80s for the 90s, although some thought the eighties TOTALLY AWESOME.

1990's

The 1990s was truly the electronic age. We would not have been able to publish this decades web site if it weren't for the Internet. The World Wide Web was born in 1992, changing the way we communicate (email), spend our money (online gambling, stores), and do business (e-commerce). In 1989, 15% of American households had a computer. And by 2000, this figure increased to 51%, with 41.5% online. Internet lingo like plug-ins, BTW (by the way), GOK (God only knows), IMHO (in my humble opinion), FAQS, SPAM, FTP, ISP, and phrases like "See you online" or "The server's down" or "Bill Gates" became part of our everyday vocabulary. We signed our mail with a :-) smile, a ;-) wink, or a :-* kiss. And - everyone has a cell phone.

Peace in the Middle East?

In December 1977, Egypt and Israel began negotiating a Middle East peace treaty in Cairo. These talks continued on and off over the next several months, but by September 1978 it was clear that they were deadlocked. President Jimmy Carter had become closely involved in the negotiations. In an effort to break the deadlock, Carter invited Sadat and Begin to Camp David. The negotiations were tense and almost broke down several times. On September 17, however, Carter announced that a Middle East peace treaty, to be known as the the Camp David Accords, had been reached.

It consisted of two parts: the Framework for Peace in the Middle East; and the Framework for the Conclusion of a Peace Treaty between Israel and Egypt.

The Fall of the Soviet Union

In December of 1991, as the world watched in amazement, the Soviet Union disintegrated into fifteen separate countries. Its collapse was hailed by the west as a victory for freedom, a triumph of democracy over totalitarianism, and evidence of the superiority of capitalism over socialism. The United States rejoiced as its formidable enemy was brought to its knees, thereby ending the Cold War which had hovered over these two superpowers since the end of World War II. Indeed, the breakup of the Soviet Union transformed the entire world political situation, leading to a complete reformulation of political, economic and military alliances all over the globe.

The Persain Gulf War

Also known as Operation Desert Strom, the invasion of Kuwait by Iraqi troops that began August 1990 was met with international condemnation, and brought immediate economic sanctions against Iraq by members of the UN Security Council.
U.S. President George H. W. Bush deployed American forces into Saudi Arabia, and urged other countries to send their own forces to the scene. An array of nations joined the coalition. The great majority of the military forces in the coalition were from the United States, with Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom and Egypt as leading contributors, in that order.
This was a decisive victory for the coalition forces, who liberated Kuwait and advanced into Iraqi territory.

Personal Computers

The history of personal computers began in the 1970s. A personal computer is one intended for individual use, as opposed to a mainframe computer where the end user's requests are filtered through operating staff, or a time sharing system in which one large processor is shared by many individuals. After the development of the microprocessor, individual personal computers were low enough in cost that they eventually became affordable consumer goods.
Today it is estimated that over 70% of Americans have personal computers.

The Internet

Since the mid-1990s the Internet has had a drastic impact on culture and commerce, including the rise of near-instant communication by electronic mail, instant messaging, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) "phone calls", two-way interactive video calls, and the World Wide Web with its discussion forums, blogs, social networking, and online shopping sites. The research and education community continues to develop and use advanced networks such as NSF's very high speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS), Internet2, and National LambdaRail. Increasing amounts of data are transmitted at higher and higher speeds over fiber optic networks operating at 1-Gbit/s, 10-Gbit/s, or more. The Internet continues to grow, driven by ever greater amounts of online information and knowledge, commerce, entertainment and social networking.

Tradgedy Strikes America on September 11, 2001

On September 11, 2001, life in America changed forever. Here are some useful resources to help you learn the basics of what happened on that infamous day. The BrainPop movie linked here will give you a quick overview of the events of 9/11. You can also visit the September 11 interactive timeline to watch videos, hear audio and see pictures from this tragic day.

Everyone keeps talking about the World Trade Center. What is it?
To learn about the rescue and recovery efforts following 9/11 click here. There is a 2nd rescue and recovery site linked here.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency put together several pages to help kids learn about September 11 and responding to National Emergencies.
You can also visit Scholastic's September 11th site here.

Live Footage of 9-11

This movie shows chilling footage from various perspectives. The video truly captures the horror of the day and should be viewed with a proper respect. The events shown are what you might have seen had you turned on your TV on September 11, 2001.

President George W. Bush Addresses the Nation

Here is former President Bush's speech to the American people on the evening of September 11th.

A Tribute to September 11, 2001

This collage shows footage and photos from the actual events of September 11th. The music says it all, "Where were you on that September day?" Ask someone and they will be able to tell you exactly where they were when these events took place.

The War on Terrorism

The unspeakable acts of September 11, 2001 caused a reation from U.S. Military to find those parties responsible and hold them accountable. This is known as the War on Terrorism.

October 7, 2001 The War in Afganistan

The United States declared a war on terrorism shortly following the attacks of September 11. Unlike previous wars, this was a war that took place in Afghanistan, but it was not against Afghanistan. The U.S. was only at war with a small group of people within the country of Afghanistan called "Al Qaeda." Al Qaeda was Osama bin Laden's terrorist organization. They had many training camps in Afghanistan and also in nearby Pakistan. Below you see an NBC news broadcast from the beginning of this "War on Terror."

The Hunt for Osama Bin Laden

Following September 11, Osama bin Laden became the number one enemy of the United States and the U.S. Special forces went into Afghanistan to try to find him and bring him to justice, along with key members of the Al Qaeda terrorist organization. Bin Laden escaped and was not found until May of 2011, nearly ten years later.

Osama Bin Laden Located and Removed as Threat to Freedom

In May of 2011, nearly ten years after September 11th. Osama bin Laden was finally tracked down. Bin Laden had been public enemy number one ever since he masterminded the September 11th terrorist attacks.

President Obama Addresses the Nation

Obama's speech explains very clearly the reason that the U.S. was hunting down Osama bin Laden.