Transcript 100 Facts About Virginia*s Version of United States HIstory

26. Yellow Journalism caused the Spanish-American War
Yellow Journalism, and especially the sensational stories about
Spanish atrocities in Cuba during the late 1890s, was a major cause
of the Spanish-American War in 1898.
27. The Explosion of the USS Maine:
“Remember the Maine!”
The explosion of the USS Maine was blamed on Spanish enemies – despite no
evidence to prove such a charge – by yellow journalists’ articles. The destruction
of the Maine was a major cause of the Spanish American War, as well, so much
so that the battle cry of Americans during the war was “Remember the Maine!”
28. William McKinley was the President of the United
States during the Spanish American War.
29. The Results of the Spanish-American War.
The United States of America emerged as a world power.
Cuba was granted independence and became an
American protectorate.
The Philippines was taken as a US colony.
Guam and Puerto Rico were taken as American colonies.
as well.
30. At the start of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson
encouraged Americans to remain neutral!
“He Kept US
Out of War.”
- 1916 Campaign Slogan of
Woodrow Wilson.
31. Germany used U-Boats to engage in unrestricted submarine
warfare against American vessels; by sinking the Lusitania, Germans
killed over 1000 civilians, including 128 Americans. This was a major
cause of the United States entry into World War I.
32. The Allied Powers: WW I
Great Britain
France
Russia
Serbia
Belgium
Later, the United States of America would join the Allied Powers
– but not until 1917.
33. The Central Powers: WW I
Our enemies during World War I were the Central Powers nations:
Germany
Austria-Hungary
The Ottoman Empire
Bulgaria
34. The United States is tied to England by history, politics,
government, values, and economics.
Because the United States was once an English
colony, and because we share political systems
(democracy), social values (individual rights), and
economic systems (capitalism) the United States
supported England during both the First World War
and during World War II.
35. Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Point Plan
President Woodrow Wilson suggested
the Fourteen Point Plan for peace in
Europe following World War I. Many
part of his plan were included in the
Treaty of Versailles. The most
important part of the plan to Wilson
was the creation of the League of
Nations – an international
peacekeeping organization to be
created in Europe. The plan also
encouraged free trade, an end to secret
treaties, freedom of the seas, and the
self-determination of nations’
governments, to end imperialism.
“Am I gonna be able to carry this?”
36. The USA never signed the Treaty of Versailles and never
joined the League of Nations.
37. The automobile changes life in America.
The automobile changed the way Americans lived:
• People had greater and more reliable mobility.
• Jobs were created in road construction, parts stores, service
stations, and tourism.
• People were able to live in the suburbs and drive to work in the
city.
• In the 1950s, the Interstate Highway System was created by
President Dwight David Eisenhower.
38. Guglielmo Marconi invented the radio.
39. David Sarnoff revolutionized the broadcasting industry
– both in radio and television, with NBC: the National
Broadcasting Company.
40. Electrification changed America by making work easier
and life more entertaining.
Labor saving products like washing machines, stoves, and water
pumps.
Electric lighting increased productivity and made homes safer and
more comfortable.
Entertainment in radio and motion picture machines.
Communication improved due to telephones and telegraphs.
41. During the Great Migration in the 1910s and 1920s,
African-Americans moved North to take jobs in
industrialized cities.
42. Artist Jacob Lawrence was an African-American painter most
famous for his portraits of blacks in urban settings. His most
famous trilogy of paintings features “The Great Migration.”
43. Langston Hughes was the leading poet of the Harlem
Dream Deferred
Renaissance.
by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream
deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore—
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over—
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
44. Jazz is an African-American musical innovation, born in
New Orleans and featuring improvisation.
Louis
Armstrong
Duke
Ellington
Bessie
Smith
New
Orleans,
LA
45. Georgia O’Keeffe was an artist whose work featured
flowers, symmetry and Southwestern themes.
46. Writer F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, was a
description of life among the wealthy elite during the 1920s.
He was a member of the so-called “Lost Generation.”
47. Author John Steinbeck wrote the Grapes of Wrath, a
novel about a family which was forced to take work as
migrants in California when the Dust Bowl and the Great
Depression forced them off of their land.
48. Composers Aaron Copland and George Gershwin were
musicians who wrote uniquely American songs.
Aaron Copland
George Gershwin
49. Buying stocks “on the margin” – or using borrowed
money to purchase stocks – was one of the causes of the
Great Depression.
50. The Great Depression’s impact on Americans.
Almost 10,000 banks failed – they had loaned money out to the
stockbrokers who purchased shares “on the margin.”
Unemployment rates reached as high as 25% in 1933, the worst
year of the Depression.
Millions were homeless and hungry during the Depression;
under President Herbert Hoover, little was done to improve
conditions, and shantytowns called “Hoovervilles” were
established on the edges of towns.
Farm incomes dropped dramatically.