The period from 1913 to 1933 is not often seen as a coherent entity in the history of the United States. It is more often viewed in terms of two distinct periods with the pre-war era of political engagement, idealism, and reform known as “progressivism” separated by World War I from the materialism, conservatism and disengagement of the “prosperous” 1920s. To many postwar observers and later historians, the entry of the United States into the European conflict in 1917 marked not just a dramatic departure in foreign relations, but also the end of an era of reform. This second edition of Historical Dictionary from the Great War to the Great Depression covers the history of this period through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 700 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about a vital period in U.S. history.

This volume examines significant individuals and developments in American political, economic, social, and cultural history between the years 1913 and 1933. It was a time of momentous change including involvement in World War I, the Red Scare, the Jazz Age, the Crash of 1929, and the onset of the Great Depression. It covers the presidencies of Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover and the shift from reformism to conservatism. Prohibition and gangsterism symbolized the apparent failure of politics. The A to Z from the Great War to the Great Depression covers this important period in American history with a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on everything from automobiles, chemicals, and electrical goods, to mass entertainment and the rise of Hollywood, radio, and sport.

Today when most Americans think of the Great Depression, they imagine desperate hoboes riding the rails in search of work, unemployed men selling pencils to indifferent crowds, bootleggers hustling illegal booze to secrecy-shrouded speakeasies, FDR smiling, or Judy Garland skipping along the yellow brick road. Hard times have become an abstraction. But there was a time when economic suffering was real, when hunger stalked the land, and Americans tried to forget their troubles in movie theaters or in front of a radio. From the stock market crash of October 1929 to Germany's invasion of Norway, France, and the Low Countries in 1940, the Great Depression blanketed the world economy. Its impact was particularly deep and direct in the United States. This was the era when the federal government became a major player in the national economy and Americans bestowed the responsibility for maintaining full employment and stable prices on Congress and the White House, making the Depression years a major watershed in U.S. history. In more than 500 essays, this book provides a ready reference to those hard times, covering the diplomacy, popular culture, intellectual life, economic problems, public policy issues, and prominent individuals of the era.

U.S. Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower first entered into the public eye during World War II as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe. In 1952, he was elected as the 34th President of the United States and served two terms. During those terms he oversaw the cease-fire of the Korean War, kept up the pressure on the Soviet Union during the Cold War, made nuclear weapons a higher defense priority, launched the Space Race, enlarged the Social Security program, and began the Interstate Highway System. The Historical Dictionary of the Eisenhower Era examines significant individuals, organizations, and events in American political, economic, social, and cultural history during this era in American history. In addition to the hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on politics, economics, diplomacy, literature, science, sports, and popular culture, a chronology, introductory essay, and several appendixes are also included in this valuable reference.

The Progressive Era, the period in the United States between 1898 and 1917, was a time of great social, political, and industrial change. Following the Spanish-American War of 1898, an event that signaled the emergence of the United States as a great power, the country soon was involved in its first overseas guerrilla war, in the Philippines. Vast changes in communications and transportation, immigration and migration patterns, social mores, gender roles, family structure, class structure, work patterns, business methods, education, intellectual life, religion, the professions, technology, science, medicine, and much else were transforming the scope and feel of people's lives and relationships. In many ways what happened in this era set the agenda for the rest of the 20th century. The Historical Dictionary of the Progressive Era is the most comprehensive and coherent reference work on the Progressive Era. Through its chronology, introductory essay, bibliography, appendixes, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on the key events, people, organizations, and ideas of the period, this resource is a lively, complete, and accessible overview of this significant era.

The presidential administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford encompassed some of the most turbulent and significant years of the 20th century. Nixon was elected near the end of a decade characterized by struggles for civil rights, years of war in Vietnam, and widespread cultural rebellion. Although he promised during his campaign to bring the country together, Nixon's administration was more confrontational than compromising and ultimately deepened national divisions. Gerald Ford worked to restore integrity to the White House but never fully established a program separate from his predecessor. His pardon of Nixon and the 1975 fall of South Vietnam kept him linked to the past rather than establishing the beginning of a new era. The Nixon-Ford Era witnessed one of the most controversial presidential eras, yet despite all of the turmoil, progress was made. The Vietnam War eventually wound down, the Cold War went through a phase of dZtente, relations were established with China, civil rights progressed, the situation of African Americans and Native Americans improved, and Women's Liberation altered the status of half of the population. The Historical Dictionary of the Nixon-Ford Era relates these events and provides extensive political, economic, and social background on this era through a detailed chronology, an introduction, appendixes, a bibliography, and several hundred cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, events, institutions, policies, and issues.

The Historical Dictionary of the Roosevelt-Truman Era examines significant individuals, organizations, and events in American political, economic, social, and cultural history between 1933 and 1953. This was a period of enormous significance in the United States due to the impact of the Great Depression, World War II, and the onset of the Cold War. The presidencies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman witnessed the origins of the modern American welfare system and the rise of the United States as a world power, as well as its involvement in the confrontation with communism that dominated the latter half of the 20th century.