Key Presidential Achievements

 

The Cold War, 1945-1968

 

(33.) President Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953

Democrat
Vice President - Alben Barkley

World War II ends
Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 1945
Taft-Harley Act, 1947
Truman Doctrine, 1947
Marshall Plan, 1947
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 1949
Korean War, 1950-1953
"Fair Deal"

(34.) President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953-1961

Republican
Vice President - Richard Milhous Nixon

22nd Amendment
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)
Suez Crisis, 1956
Eisenhower Doctrine
"Space Race"
Alaska and Hawaii become states, 1959

(35.) President John F. Kennedy, 1961-1963

Democrat
Vice President - Lyndon B. Johnson

Alliance for Progress
Baker v. Carr, 1962
Peace Corps
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
"New Frontier"
Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty
Assassinated in Dallas, Texas, November 22, 1963, by Lee Harvey Oswald

(36.) President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963-1968

Democrat
Vice President - Hubert Humphrey

The "Cold War"
Cuban Policy
Income tax cut
Wesberry v. Sanders, 1964
Civil Rights Act, 1964
Voting Rights Act, 1965
Anti-Poverty Act, 1964
Elementary and Secondary education reform
Medicare
"Great Society"

1968 - present

(37.) President Richard M. Nixon, 1968-1974

Republican
Vice Presidents - Spiro Agnew & Gerald Ford

"Imperial Presidency"
Landing on the moon, July 1969
Warren Burger, Chief Justice, 1969
Woodstock, August 1969
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established, 1970
16th Amendment, 1971
Visit to China, February 1972
Visit to Russia, May 1972
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT), 1972
Kissinger and "shuttle diplomacy," 1973-1975
Wounded Knee, South Dakota, 1973
Allende regime in Chile overthrown with the help of the CIA, September 1973
Agnew resigns, 1973
Nixon resigns, August 9, 1974
Pentagon Papers, August 30, 1971 (superior court allows the NY Times to publish)

(38.) President Gerald Ford, 1974-1976

Republican
1st appointed President
Vice President - Nelson Rockefeller
Neither President nor Vice-President had been elected

Pardons Richard Nixon
OPEC crisis, 1974

(39.) President Jimmy Carter, 1977-1981

Democrat
Vice President - Walter Mondale

Panama Canal Treaty signed, September 1977
Established diplomatic relations with China and ended recognition of Taiwan
Three-Mile Island Incident, March 1979 (nuclear reactor leak in Pennsylvania)
Egypt and Israel peace treaty; Sadat and Begin win the Nobel Prize, 1979
Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979 (rescue attempt, 8 killed, April 1980)
Seizure of Afghanistan by Soviets, 1979
"Stagflation"
Boycott of Olympics in Moscow to protest invasion of Afghanistan (The Miracle on Ice)

(40.) President Ronald Reagan, 1981-1989

Republican
Vice President - George Bush

Hostages returned
Falkland Islands Crisis, 1982 (U. S. supports England)
1500 Marines sent to Beirut, 1983; withdrawn in 1984
Grenada, October 1983
Nicaragua, 1984
Sandra Day O'Connor, first woman appointed to the Supreme Court
"Supply-side economics"
Iran-Contra Hearings, Summer 1987 (Oliver North)

(41.) President George Bush, 1989- 1993

Republican
Vice President - Dan Quayle

Savings and Loan Scandal, 1990
Berlin Wall came down leading to the reunification of Germany
Invasion of Panama, 1990
Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm (the Gulf War), January to August 1992

(42.) President Bill Clinton, 1993-2001

Democrat
Vice President - Al Gore

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 1993
Proposes a national health care system, 1993
Participates in air strikes in Bosnia, 1994
Participates in air strikes in Iraq
Sex scandal, 1998 (Impeachment)
Participates in air strikes on Serbia, 1999

(43.) President George W. Bush, 2001-2009

Republican
Vice President - Dick Cheney

Disputed election, eventually decided by the Supreme Court
"Compassionate Conservatism"
War on Terrorism, post-September 11, 2001
Attacks terrorist forces in Afghanistan