Guilty as Guilded
This term, coined by Mark Twain, describes an era of serious social problems hidden by a thin layer of gold and economic growth.
What is the Gilded Age?
These investigative journalists, like Upton Sinclair and Ida Tarbell, dug deep to expose corruption and abuses in big business and politics.
Who are the muckrakers?
The sinking of this British ocean liner by a German U-boat in 1915 killed 128 Americans and shifted U.S. public opinion toward joining the war.
What is the RMS Lusitania?
Described by FDR as a "date which will live in infamy," this surprise attack on December 7, 1941, brought the U.S. squarely into WWII.
What is Pearl Harbor?
This prominent Cold War belief held that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to communism, the surrounding countries would quickly follow.
What is the Domino Theory?
This Scottish immigrant made his massive fortune in the steel industry and believed the wealthy should give back through his "Gospel of Wealth."
Who is Andrew Carnegie?
Ratified in 1920, this constitutional amendment finally guaranteed women the right to vote.
What is the 19th Amendment
This secret intercepted message from Germany proposed a military alliance with Mexico, promising to help them recover Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.
What is the Zimmermann Telegram?
This iconic cultural character represented the millions of American women who entered the workforce to build planes, ships, and munitions.
Who is Rosie the Riveter?
Driven by the controversial drafting of young men to fight in Vietnam, this amendment lowered the U.S. voting age from 21 to 18.
What is the 26th Amendment?
These corrupt organizations, like Tammany Hall led by Boss Tweed, controlled local governments by providing services to immigrants in exchange for votes.
What are political machines?
This gruesome novel appalled the American public and directly led to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act.
What is The Jungle?
This brutal style of combat defined the Western Front, characterized by deep ditches, "no man's land," and deadly stalemates.
What is trench warfare?
These Native American soldiers used their complex, unwritten language to transmit top-secret military messages that the Japanese were never able to decipher.
Who are the Navajo Code Talkers?
This 1964 Congressional resolution gave President Lyndon B. Johnson a "blank check" to use military force in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war.
What is the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?
Passed in 1882, this law was the first significant restriction on free immigration in U.S. history, specifically targeting laborers from an Asian nation.
What is the Chinese Exclusion Act?
This process allows citizens to bypass their state legislature by placing proposed statutes and constitutional amendments directly on the ballot.
What is an initiative?
This American general and commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) insisted that U.S. troops fight as independent units rather than as replacements for European armies.
Who is General John J. Pershing?
This massive, multinational amphibious invasion of Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944, successfully opened a second major front in Europe.
What is D-Day (or Operation Overlord)?
This massive 1968 surprise attack by the Viet Cong on the lunar new year became a major turning point, severely damaging American public support for the war.
What is the Tet Offensive?
This 1887 legislative act aimed to culturally assimilate Native Americans by dividing up reservation land into individual farming allotments.
What is the Dawes Act?
Theodore Roosevelt formed this third party in 1912 after splitting from the Republicans, claiming he felt as fit as its namesake animal.
What is the Bull Moose Party (or Progressive Party)?
In his "Fourteen Points," President Wilson called for the creation of this international peacekeeping organization, which the U.S. Senate ultimately refused to join.
What is the League of Nations?
Directed by J. Robert Oppenheimer, this top-secret U.S. government research project successfully developed the first atomic bombs.
What is the Manhattan Project?
Passed in 1973 to restrict presidential power, this act requires the President to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to military action.
What is the War Powers Act?