25.
William McKinley
Republican,
(1897-1901)

Literature: Naturalism

Regionalism

1898

U.S. declares war on Spain. Battle of Manila Bay: U.S. annexes Hawaii, American forces invade Puerto Rico. Treaty of Paris ends the Spanish-American War.

1899

U.S. annexes Guam, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.
United Fruit Company founded.

.

Kate Chopin (1851-1904): The Awakening

1900

Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945): Sister Carrie
L. Frank Baum:
The Wizard of Oz

1901

World Fair in Paris
U.S. President William McKinley is assassinated by a mentally ill anarchist.
Theodore Roosevelt 26th President of the U.S.
Congress confers U.S. citizenship on all Native Americans residing in the Oklahoma Territory.

 

26.
Theodore Roosevelt
Republican,
(1901-09)

 


"Modernism"

Modernism and Experimentation

Jazz:
Ragtime

1901

Theodore Roosevelt 26th President of the U.S.
Congress confers U.S. citizenship on all Native Americans residing in the Oklahoma Territory.

1902

Europe:
Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness
Music:
Scott Joplin (1867-1917): Piano Rags

1903

Wright Brothers fly the first successful airplane.

.

Henry James (1843-1916): The Ambassadors
Jack London (1876-1916): The Call of the Wild
W. E. B. Du Bois (1877-1963): The Souls of Black Folk
Film:
The first silent movie:
The Great Train Robbery

1904

Construction of Panama Canal begins.
Roosevelt asserts U.S. right to intervene in Latin America.

1905

Einstein proposes Theory of Relativity.

1906

Upton Sinclair (1878-1968): The Jungle
Music:
Charles Yves (1874-1954): The Unanswered Question; Central Park in the Dark

1907

US invades Nicaragua.

.

Popular Culture:
The Ziegfield Follies (1907-37)
Art:
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973):
Les Demoiselles d'Avignon

1908

Ford's Model T (1908-27). The General Motors Corporation formed.

27.
William Howard Taft
Republican,
(1909-13)

"Modernism"

Modernism and Experimentation

Music:
Ragtime

 

1909

William Howard Taft 27th President of the U.S. (till 1913)
The National Association for Advancement of Colored People
NAACP is formed (timeline)

.

Ezra Pound (1885-1972): Personae
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946): Three Lives

1910

Mark Twain and Leo Tolstoi die.

1911

Music:
Scott Joplin (1867-1917): Treemonisha
Irving Berlin: Alexander's Ragtime Band
Film:
The Nestor Company opens the first film studio in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles

1912

The Titanic sinks on her maiden voyage.
US invades Panama, Honduras, Cuba.

.

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1857-1950): Tarzan of the Apes

28.  
Woodrow Wilson
Democrat,
(1913-21)

"Modernism"

Modernism and Experimentation

Music:
New Orleans Jazz

 

1913

Woodrow Wilson is elected president in the U. S.
Segregation introduced officially into the Federal Government.

.

Music:
Igor Stravinsky: Rite of Spring

1914

Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in Sarajewo leads to World War I (1914-19).
The United States declares itself officially neutral in World War I (see: 1917)
Construction of Panama Canal completed.
Ludlow Massacre
US invades Haiti.

.19.1.4

Gertrude Stein (1874-1946): Tender Buttons
William Christopher Handy (1873 - 1958)
St Louis Blues

1915

Arthur Miller born.

1916

William E. Boeing, a Seattle timber baron, establishes the Boeing Airplane Company with a contract to build 50 planes for the Navy.

.

Ezra Pound (1885-1972): In a station of the Metro

1917

The Germans begin all out submarine warfare.
June: The United States enters World War I on the side of the allies. The NAACP fights and wins the battle to enable African Americans to be commissioned as army officers.
October Revolution: Victory of the Bolshewists in Russia. The new Soviet Union signs an armistice with Germany.
Puerto Ricans are granted United States citizenship. US invades Cuba (occupation till 1933)

1918

Germany surrenders.
US invades Panama and maintains a police force there.
Wilson makes a public statement against lynching.

1919

Treaty of Versailles ends World War I.
State legislatures ratify the 18th Amendment:
prohibition (more).
Chicago Race Riots.
US army intervenes in Honduras elections.
Jack Dempsey Heavyweight Boxing Champion (1919-1926)

1920

League of Nations is established in Geneva.
The Nineteenth Amendment is ratified (
Women's suffrage)
The first commercial radio broadcast

29.
Warren G. Harding
Republican,
(1921-23)

 

1921

Warren G. Harding US president till 1923

1922

Fascists take power in Italy (Mussolini).

19.22

T. S. Eliot (1888-1965): The Waste Land
Music:
Duke Ellington (1899-1974) forms band in New York.
Louis Armstrong (1901-71) joins King Oliver's (1885 - 1938) Creole Jazz Band

 

 

30.
Calvin Coolidge
Republican,
(1923-29)

"Modernism"

Algonquin Round Table

"
Harlem Renaissance"

"The Lost Generation"

Music:
Chicago

The Roaring Twenties

Ziegfield Follies

 

1923

Calvin Coolidge US president till 1929.

.

Music:
Bessie Smith (1894-1937): Down Hearted Blues

1924

US army intervenes in Honduras elections.

.

Music:
George Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue
"Jelly Roll" Morton (Ferdinand Lemott, 1890 - 1941) and the Red Hot Peppers:
Jelly Roll Blues

1925

Hitler founds Nazi party in Germany. Ku Klux Klan reaches a membership of 4 000 000.

1925

Europe:
Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf
Virginia Woolf: Mrs Dalloway
US:
Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945): An American Tragedy
John Dos Passos (1896-1970): Manhatten Transfer
F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940): The Great Gatsby
Alain Locke (1886-1954): The New Negro
Film:
Charles Chaplin (1889-1977): The Gold Rush
Music:
Louis Armstrong (1901-71): Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five

1926

General Strike in Britain.

.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961): Fiesta (The Sun Also Rises)
Europe:
Franz Kafka (1883-1924): The Castle

1927

Charles Lindbergh flies non-stop from New York to Paris in the "Spirit of St. Louis."

.

Europe:
Virginia Woolf: To the Lighthouse
Film:
Fritz Lang (1890-1976): Metropolis
Music:
Kern/Hammerstein: Show Boat (Musical)

1928

Heisenberg: Uncertainty Principle
Sir Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin.
Strike of banana plantation workers against
United Fruit in Columbia.
Edward Albee born.

.

Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953): Strange Interlude
Europe:
D. H. Lawrence: Lady Chatterley's Lover
Brecht/Weill: Dreigroschenoper
Film:
Walt Disney's first Mickey Mouse cartoon.

31.
Herbert Hoover
Republican,(1929-33)



The Great Depression

 

1929

Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) is exiled from the U.S.S.R.
Herbert Hoover becomes 32nd president of the US.
Black Thursday, October 23rd: The New York
Stock Market crashes.
On Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th the
Dow Jones Index (launched at 40.94 points in 1896) goes down 12.82% and 11.73% (38.33 and 30.57 points) leading to the Great Depression
Al Capone arrested. Martin Luther King jr. born.

.

William Faulkner (1897-1962): The Sound and the Fury
Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961): Red Harvest
Music:
Bessie Smith (1894-1937): St. Louis Blues
Thomas "Fats" Waller ( 1904 - 1943) Ain't Misbehavin'

1930

Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961): The Maltese Falcon
William Faulkner (1897-1962): As I Lie Dying
Hollywood establishes
The Motion Picture Production Code (Hays' Code) on crime, sex, vulgarity etc.

1931

7 years' drought begins in Oklahoma ("Dust Bowl")

.

Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953): Mourning Becomes Electra
Charles Chaplin (1889-1977): City Lights
Architecture:
Empire State Building completed.

1932

Erskine Caldwell (1903-87): Tobacco Road
Music:
Duke Ellington (1899-1974): It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing

32.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democrat,
(1933-45)

"Harlem Renaissance"

Music: Big Bands and Swing

The Great Depression,
New Deal


World War II

Music:
Swing

1933

Italy invades Ethopia.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (till 1945): "New Deal"
The 21st Amendment is added to the Constitution, repealing
Prohibition.

.

Film:
Marx Brothers: Duck Soup

1934

Farm families leave dust bowl-stricken Great Plains and move west to California.

1935

Zora Neale Hurston (1901-60): Mules and Men
Music:
George Gershwin: Porgy and Bess

1936

Jesse Owens wins four gold medals in track-and-field at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin

.

Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949): Gone with the Wind
John Dos Passos (1896-1970): U.S.A.
Dale Carnegie (1888-1955): How to Win Friends and Influence People
Film:
Marx Brothers: A Night at the Opera

1937

German bombers under Franco attack civilians in Guernica in The Spanish Civil War.

.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968): Of Mice and Men
Zora Neale Hurston (1901-60): Their Eyes Were Watching God
Art:
Pablo Picasso (1881-1973):
Guernica
Music:
Woody Guthrie (1912-67): Dust Bowl Ballads

1938

Orson Welles' (1915-1985) radio production of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds causes a national panic
Thornton Wilder (1897-1975): Our Town
Richard Wright (1908-1960) Uncle Tom's Children
Music:
Benny Goodman (1909-86): Concert in Carnegie Hall
Sidney Bechet (1897-1959): Summertime
Europe:
Sigmund Freud in London.

1939

Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact.
Germany invades Poland. Beginning of Wold War II.

.

John Steinbeck (1902-1968): The Grapes of Wrath
Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980): Pale Horse, Pale Rider
Raymond Chandler (1888-1959): The Big Sleep
Films:
Victor Fleming (1883-1949): Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz
Ernst Lubitsch (1892-1947): Ninotchka (with Greta Garbo)
Europe:
James Joyce: Finnegan's Wake

1940

Battle of Britain, London Blitz.
Trotsky assassinated in Coyoacan, Mexico.
Sir Winston Churchill British Prime Minister (Conservative Party) till 1945

.

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961): For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Raymond Chandler (1888-1959): Farewell My Lovely
Richard Wright (1908-1960) Native Son
Film:
Charles Chaplin (1889-1977): The Great Dictator
Orson Welles (1915-1985): Citizen Kane
John Ford (1894-1973), Grapes of Wrath
Music:
Glen Miller: In the Mood

1941

Japan launches a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. US declares war on Japan. US declares war on Germany.

1941

John Crowe Ransom (1888-1974): The New Criticism
Film:
Walt Disney: Fantasia
Music:
Billie Holiday (1915-59) God Bless the Child
Louis Prima (1911-78) Sing Sing Sing

1942

Thornton Wilder (1897-1975): The Skin of our Teeth
Langston Hughes (1902-67) Shakespeare in Harlem
Ralph Ellison (1914-1994) Invisible Man
Film:
Michael Curtiz (1886-1962): Casablanca (with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman)
Ernst Lubitsch (1892-1947): To be or not to be
Music:
Bing Crosby: White Christmas

1943

Film:
Sam Wood:
For Whom the Bell Tolls

1944

Russians break the siege of Leningrad.
The Allies land in Normandy (June 6th: D-Day)

.

Tennessee Williams (1911-1983): The Glass Menagerie
Film:
Billy Wilder (1906-2002): Double Indemnity
Music:
Billie Holiday (1915-59) Lover Man

The Cold War

33.
Harry S. Truman
Democrat,
(1945-53)

Music: Bebop

1945

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies. Mussolini killed. Germany surrenders.
US President
Harry S. Truman authorizes the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Yalta Conference. Beginning of Cold War
United Nations

Europe:
George Orwell: Animal Farm
Music:
Dmitri Shostakovich: 9th Symphony

1946

Nürnberg War Crimes Trial.
Winston Churchill's
Iron Curtain Speech
Gertrude Stein dies.

.

Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953): The Iceman Cometh
Gertrude Stein (1874-1946): Reflections on the Atomic Bomb

1947

Marshall Plan

.

David Mamet born.
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983): A Streetcar Named Desire
Arthur Miller (1915-): All My Sons
Music:
Mario Lanza performs at the Hollywood Bowl

1948

Berlin Airlift
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Harry Truman signs an Executive Order banning racial discrimination by the Federal government.

.

Norman Mailer (1923-): The Naked and the Dead

1949

Arthur Miller (1915-): Death of a Salesman (concordance)
Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000): Annie Allen
Film:
Carol Reed (1906-76), The Third Man

1950

Korean War (1950-53).
Senator
Joseph R. McCarthy, a Republican from Wisconsin, claims to have a list of 205 known communists in the State Department.

1951

Color television is introduced in the U.S.
Edward Teller tests H-bomb.

..

Jermome D. Salinger (1919-): The Catcher in the Rye
Carson McCullers (1917-67):The Ballad of the Sad Cafe
Langston Hughes (1902-67), Montage of a Dream Deferred

1952

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961): The Old Man and the Sea;
John Steinbeck (1902-1968): East of Eden
Flannery O'Connor (1925-64): Wise Blood

34.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican,
(1953-61)

The Literature and Culture of the American 1950s

"The Beat Generation"

The fifties

Music:
Rock 'n' Roll

1953

General Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected president of the United States.
Death of Stalin.
Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquer Everest.

..

Alfred C. Kinsey: Sexual Behavior in the Human Female
Arthur Miller (1915-): The Crucible
Raymond Chandler (1888-1959): The Long Goodbye
Saul Bellow (1915-): The Adventures of Augie March
James Baldwin (1924-1987) Go, Tell it on the Mountain
Europe:
Samuel Beckett: An attendant Godot (French)
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations
Music:
Bill Haley and the Comets: Rock around the Clock

1954

The French leave Vietnam. Vietnam is divided.
USA:
Communist Control Act
Hoover and the "Un-Americans"
Strikes of banana plantation workers in Guatemala and Honduras.
Guatemala coup (CIA)

..

Hollywood Blacklist of "Un-American" actors. Walt Disney's testimony.
Film:
Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980): Rear Window

1955

Sputnik launched.
Rosa Parks, a black lady, refuses to give her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger, defying a southern custom of the time. In response to her arrest the Montgomery black community launches a bus boycott. As newly elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., is leading the boycott.
Webmaster born.

195.5

Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977): Lolita. (GB edition)
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983): Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Allen Ginsberg (1926-97), "Howl"
Thomas H. Johnson's edition of Emily Dickinson's poems
Film:
Nicholas Ray (1911-79): Rebel without a Cause (with James Dean)
Billy Wilder (1906-2002): The Seven Year Itch (with Marilyn Monroe)
Music:
Ray Charles (1930-): I Got A Woman
Popular Culture:
Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California.

1956

Hungarian Revolt. Arthur Miller marries Marilyn Monroe.
Granma sets sail for Cuba.

.

Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953): A Long Day's Journey Into Night
Saul Bellow (1915-): Seize the Day
Popular Music:
Elvis Presley (1935-1977): Love Me Tender

1957

Suez Crisis.
Sputnik is launched (beginning of "Space Race")
Arthur Miller convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to name names to the House Un-American Activities Committee.

.

Arthur Miller (1915-): Collected Plays published.
Jack Kerouac (1922-1969):
On the Road
Bernard Malamud (1914-1986): The Assistant
Film:
Stanley Kubrick (1928-99): Paths of Glory
Music:
Leonard Bernstein (1918-90): West Side Story

1958

Nikita Khrushchev General Secretary of the USSR.

.

Truman Capote (1924-1984): Breakfast at Tiffany's
Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977): Lolita. (US edition)
Film:
Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980): Vertigo

1959

Cuban Revolution completed: Dictator Batista escapes to US on 1 January 1959.
Fidel Castro begins agrarian reform.

.

William S. Burroughs (1914-): Naked Lunch
Film:
Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980): North by Nortwest.
Billy Wilder (1906-2002): Some Like it Hot
Architecture:
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), Guggenheim Museum

1959

Mattel introduces Barbie Dolls
Edward Albee (1928-): Zoo Story, The Sandbox

1960

Civil Rights Movement: sit-ins
Krushchev:
Address to the UN General Assembly.
Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay) wins light heavyweight gold medal at the Olympic games.

1960

Edward Albee (1928-): The American Dream
John Updike (1932-): Rabbit, Run
Harper Lee (1934-) To Kill a Mockingbird
Flannery O'Connor (1925-64): The Violent Bear It Anyway
Film:
Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980): Psycho
Billy Wilder (1906-2002): The Apartment


35.
John F. Kennedy
Democrat,
(1961-63)

 

 

 

Postmodernism

The Sixties

1961

John F. Kennedy president of the US.
Us attack at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba fails: Cuba Crisis (1961-62).
The Berlin wall is built.
Yuri Gagarin first man in space.
Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller divorced.

.

Joseph Heller (1923-99): Catch 22
Langston Hughes (1902-67), The Best of Simple; Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz
Film:
Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins:
West Side Story
Billy Wilder (1906-2002): One-Two-Three

1962

J.F. Kennedy: The Space Challenge.
American spy planes spot Soviet missile bases on Cuba: Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy:
Address on the Cuban Crisis.
e.e.cummings dies. Marilyn Monroe dies.

1962

Edward Albee (1928-): Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Ken Kesey (1935-): One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977): Pale Fire
Marshall Mc Luhan: The Gutenberg Galaxy
Art:
Andy Warhol: Campbell Soup Cans
Pop Music:
Bob Dylan: Blowing in the Wind

1963

"March on Washington" by the Civil Rights Movement. Martin Luther King: "I have a dream" speech.
J. F. Kennedy's visit to Berlin. John F. Kennedy killed in Dallas, Texas.
Escalation of the war in Vietnam.
Robert Frost dies. William Carlos Williams dies. Sylvia Plath commits suicide.

.

Thomas Pynchon (1937-): V
Sylvia Plath (1932-63): The Bell Jar
Music:
Louis Armstrong (1901-71): Hello Dolly

36.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Democrat,
(1963-69)

 

 

Hippie Movement

The Sixties

Music:
Rock

1964

The Civil Rights Acts prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, or gender. (NAACP timeline)
Martin Luther King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

.

Music:
Chuck Berry (1926-): Greatest Hits
Film:
Stanley Kubrick (1928-99): Dr. Strangelove or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb

1965

Capital punishment abolished in Britain.
First anti-Vietnam war march in Washington.
Black leader
Malcom X is assassinated in New York.
T. S. Eliot dies.

1965

Alex Haley: The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Popular Music:
The Byrds (Bob Dylan): Mr Tambourine Man.
Bob Dylan: Like a Rolling Stone

1966

The Black Panther party is founded.

.

Thomas Pynchon (1937-): The Crying of Lot 49
Film:
Mike Nichols (1931-): Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Pop Music:
Beach Boys: Good Vibrations
Frank Zappa (1940-93): Freak Out

1967

Martin Luther King leads an anti Vietnam protest in New York.
Che Guevara killed in Bolivia.

.

Norman Mailer (1923-): Why Are We in Vietnam?
Film:
Walt Disney (1901-66): The Jungle Book
Arthur Penn (1922-): Bonnie and Clyde
Mike Nichols (1931-): The Graduate
Roman Polanski (1933-): The Fearless Vampire Killers
Music:
Summer of Love in San Francisco
Jimmy Hendrix: Hey Joe, Purple Haze
Beatles: All You Need is Love, Strawberry Fields Forever, Penny Lane, Michelle, Yesterday
The Grateful Death: Grateful Dead (psychedelic Rock)
Jim Morrison and The Doors: Light my Fire

1968

Assassination of Martin Luther King in Memphis. Robert Kennedy killed.
Vietnam War: Massacre in
My Lai.
Prague Spring; Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Revolution in Paris.
Andy Warhol shot.

.

John Barth (1930-): Lost in the Funhouse
Tom Wolfe (1931-): The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Noam Chomsky: Language and Mind.
Music:
Rock Musical Hair
The Beatles: Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Film:
Stanley Kubrick (1928-99): 2001: A Space Odyssey
Roman Polanski (1933-): Rosemary's Baby

37.
Richard M. Nixon
Republican,
(1969-74)

 

Postmodernism

Music:
Fusion (Jazz/Rock)

Rock

1969

Richard M. Nixon president of the US. Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong the first man on the moon.

.

Woodstock (pop music festival)
John Lennon / Yoko Ono: Give Peace a Chance
Janis Joplin: Kozmic Blues
Film:
Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper:
Easy Rider

1970

My-Lai Trial. American forces invade Cambodia. December: The United States begins withdrawling troops from Vietnam.

.

Music:
Paul McCartney announces breakup of the Beatles.
Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin die.
Pink Floyd: Atom Heart Mother

1971

NASDAQ Stock Market is born. Trading is executed through a computer and telecommunication network that transmits real-time quote and trade data to more than 1.3 million users in 83 countries.

.

John Updike (1932-): Rabbit Redux
Music:
John Lennon (1940-1980): Imagine
Film:
Stanley Kubrick (1928-99): A Clockwork Orange
Roman Polanski (1933-): Macbeth

1972

Watergate scandal in US.
Dow Jones (Index launched at 40.94 points in 1896): first close above 1000, called Wall Street's equivalent of breaking the sound barrier.
Ezra Pound dies.

Architecture:
Robert Venturi (1925-): Learning from Las Vegas
Music:
Chuck Berry: Johnny B. Goode

1973

Cease-fire in Vietnam. The last of American forces leave Vietnam.
Henry Kissinger wins Nobel Peace Prize.
Arab Oil Embargo leeds to Recession.

..

Thomas Pynchon (1937-): Gravity's Rainbow
Film:
George Lucas (1944-): American Graffiti
William Friedkin (1935-): The Exorcist

1974

Nixon resigns.

..

Film:
Roman Polanski (1933-): Chinatown

38.
Gerald Ford
Republican, (1974-77)

Music: Rock

1974

Gerald Ford (till 1977)

1975

Music:
Bob Marley (1945-1981): No Woman No Cry
Film:
Milos Forman (1932-): One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

1976

North and South Vietnam are united.

..

Architecture:
Bruce Graham: Sears Tower, Chicago
Music:
Philipp Glass: Einstein on the Beach ("minimal music")
Film:
Martin Scorsese: Taxi Driver

39.
Jimmy Carter
Democrat,
(1977-81)

Music: Hip-Hop
disco

New Wave

1977

Jimmy Carter (Democrat) elected as 39th US president. (till 1981)

..

Toni Morrison (1931-): Song of Solomon
Film:
George Lucas:
Star Wars
John Badham:
Saturday Night Fever
Architecture:
Minoru Yamasaki,
World Trade Center, New York
Music:
Elvis Presley dies

1978

John Irving (1942-): The World According to Garp

1979

Margareth Thatcher (The "Iron Lady") Conservative Prime Minister in Great Britain (till 1990)
Radioactive Leak at Three Mile Islands.

..

Music:
Sugar Hills Gang: Rapper's Delight
Film:
Francis Ford Coppola (1939-): Apocalypse Now,

1980

Mount St. Helens (volcano eruption).
Ted Turner Establishes CNN

..

Europe:
Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose
Music:
John Lennon killed in New York.
Pink Floyd: The Wall
Architecture:
Michael Graves:
Portland Building, Portland (Oregon)

 

 

 

40.
Ronald Reagan
Republican,
(1981-89)

 


Music: Hip-Hop
techno

Heavy Metal

1981

Ronald Reagan elected as 40th US president (till 1989)
Assassination Attempt on President Reagan
AIDS identified.
Personal Computers (PC) introduced by IBM

..

John Updike (1932-): Rabbit Is Rich
Music:
MTV broadcasts

1982

Falklands War

..

Alice Walker (1944-)The Color Purple
Film:
Steven Spielberg: E.T.

1983

Reagan proposes Star Wars
US invade Grenada.

.

William Least Heat-Moon, Blue Highways
David Mamet (1947-): Glengarry Glen Ross

1984

Macintosh computer "Apple" launched

.

Madonna: Like A Virgin

1985 - 1991

Michael Gorbachov General Secretary in USSR

1985

Sam Shepard (1943-): A Lie of the Mind
Bret Easton Ellis (1964-): Less Than Zero
Music:
Michael Jackson (1958-): Thriller

1986

Chernobyl Disaster in USSR

1987

Dow Jones (Index launched at 40.94 points in 1896): October 19th, Black Monday crash, 22.61% or 508 points.

.

Toni Morrison (1931-): Beloved
Tom Wolfe (1931-): The Bonfire of the Vanities

1988

Salman Rushdie: The Satanic Verses
Film:
John Cleese and Charles Crichton: A Fish Called Wanda
Barry Levinson:
Rain Man

41.
George Bush
Republican,
(1989-93)

 

1989

George Bush 41st American president (till 1993). 9th Nov.: Berlin Wall comes down. Ayatollah Khomeini pronounces Fatwa (death sentence) for Salman Rushdie.
US invades Panama and arrests President Noriega.

1990

Germany unified.
Iraqi troops invade Kuwait.
Gulf War
Human Genom Project started.

..

First McDonald's opened in Russia.
John Updike (1932-): Rabbit at Rest

1991

Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty signed in Moscow. Boris Yeltzin elected as President of Russia. End of Cold War. The USSR dissolved into 15 nations. Gorbachev resigns as head of CP
Miles Davis (1926-91)

..

Douglas Coupland (1961-): Generation X
Bret Easton Ellis (1964-): American Psycho
Music:
Pearl Jam: Ten (grunge rock)

1992

Norman Mailer (1923-): Harlot's Ghost
David Mamet (1947-): Oleanna

42.
Bill Clinton
Democrat,
(1993-2001)

1993

Bill Clinton 42nd American president

1994

Edward Albee (1928-): The Three Tall Women
Film:
Steven Spielberg: Schindler's List

1995

Dow Jones (Index launched at 40.94 points in 1896) has first-ever close above 5000 in Nov. 21th, nine months after hitting 4000.

1996

5th March: NASDAQ-100 Indexes start at 100 points

1997

Great Britain: Antony Blair (Labour) PM
Dow Jones (Index launched at 40.94 points in 1896): Biggest-ever point loss at 554.26 (but only 7.18%) followed by then-biggest point gain; 337.17 (4.71%) in October 27/28.

1998

Film:
John Madden:
Shakespeare in Love

1999

NATO begins launching air strikes against Yugoslavia.
Dow Jones (Index launched at 40.94 points in 1896) Industrial Average jumps over 10'000 points primarily behind tech-stock rally ("new economy").

2000

Peak of "new economy":
NASDAQ-100 NDX Index (starting at 100 points on 5th March 1996) at 782 points on March 27th

..

Antonio Negri, Michael Hardt: Empire

 

43.
George W. Bush
Republican,
(2001-)


2001

George W. Bush elected (?) as 43rd president of the US (50,456,169 votes against Al Gore's 50,996,116)
September 11th: Terrorist Attack on World Trade Center and Pentagon.

.

Jonathan Franzen (1959-): The Corrections

2002

War on Afghanistan

2003

NASDAQ-100 NDX Index (starting at 100 points on 5th March 1996) at 157 points (03/05). See the last 7 years till today
Dow Jones at 7759.59
March 20th: US starts war on Iraq


American History:

Colonial America
1789 - 1901
1901 - 2003

Timeline: History of Great Britain