Six Years Timeline

August 22, 2008

Six Years Timeline

 

 

1941

·         Hitler attacks Russia.

·         Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, Philippines, Guam force the U.S. into war.

·         U.S. and Britain declare war on Japan.

·         Germany and Italy declare war on U.S.; Congress declares war on those countries.

1944

·         June 6^th –D-Day—Allies launch Normandy invasion and move on to liberate Paris. Americans 

        invade Philippines.

·         Germans launch counteroffensive in Belgium—Battle of the Bulge (Dec. 16).

·         Phil stops writing to Meredith and his family.

1945

·         Yalta Agreement signed by FDR, Churchill, Stalin—establishes basis for occupation of Germany,

        and returns to the Soviet Union lands taken by Germany and Japan.

·         Germany signs unconditional surrender terms at Rheims and one day later the Allies declare V-E

         Day (May 8).

·         Truman authorizes dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

·         V-J Day—Japanese sign surrender terms (Sept. 2).

·         WWII claims the lives of more than 55 million people, 20 of whom are Russian civilians.

1947    

·         On May 7, 1947, Levitt and Sons publicly announced their plan to build 2,000 mass-produced rental homes for veterans on their Island Trees land. The success of Levittown, as the new development would eventually be named, would lead to more housing developments.

1949     

·         A military alliance known as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is formed    by 12 Western

         nations and ratified by the U.S. Senate.

·         Act One Scene One – Meredith and Phil reunite for the first time after the war in a hotel room

         outside of St. Louis Both are 27-years old.

1950

·         Korean War begins when North Korean Communist forces invade South Korea.

·         Michael Granger is born.

1951

·         The Cold War intensifies as both the U.S. and the Soviet Union race to develop their first hydrogen bombs.

1953

·         Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated president of United States. 

·         The signing of an armistice between the North Koreans and the forces of the United Nations ends

         the Korean War, in which 36,574 Americans have been killed.

1954

·         U.S. Supreme Court (in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka) unanimously  

       bans racial segregation in public schools.

1955

·         Rosa Parks refuses to sit at the back of the bus. Martin Luther King, Jr., leads

       black boycott of Montgomery, Ala., bus system.

·         The four WWII Allied powers formally end their occupations in East and West

       Germany and in Austria.

·         Roads built under projects funded by the Federal Highway Act, a national   

       interstate  system of highways helped build suburban communities often at the  

       expense of long-established urban centers.

·         Act One Scene Two – Jack (36), Peg(32), and Tom (32) try to convince Phil (now 33) to go in on a housing scheme. Sometime during the next 6 years, Tom’s wife will die.

 

1957

·         The “Little Rock Nine” integrate Arkansas high school. Eisenhower sends troops to quell mob and protect school integration.

·         Russians launch Sputnik I, first Earth-orbiting satellite—the Space Age begins.

 

1961

·         John F. Kennedy becomes president of the U.S. In one of his first acts as president, Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps. 

·         East Germans erect Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin to halt flood of refugees.

·         Act One Scene Three – Phil (39) shares his excitement for the nation and his own loneliness with Dorothy in a Chicago lounge while Meredith (39) nearly has an affair with Tom.

1963

·         Martin Luther King delivers “I have a dream” speech.

·         President Kennedy shot and killed by sniper in Dallas, Texas.

·         Lyndon B. Johnson becomes president.

1965

·         U.S. planes begin combat missions over South Vietnam. In June, 23,000 American advisers are committed to combat. By end of year there are over 184,000 U.S. troops in area. 61% of Americans support the war.

·         Number of US troops in Vietnam reaches a record total of 300,000 and by the end of the year, 5,008 Americans are killed. The cost of the war is $12 billion per month.

1967

·         Racial violence in Detroit; National Guardsmen aid police after a night of rioting. 43 are killed, more than 2000 injured, and 5000 arrested.  1,700 stores are looted and  5,000 people are homeless after 1,442 fires wreak havoc on the city.  Similar outbreaks occur in New York City’s Spanish Harlem, Rochester, N.Y., and Birmingham, Alabama.

·         Act Two Scene One – Meredith (45), Jack (48), and Peg (44) want to convince Michael (now 17) to go to Canada even though he has already enlisted in the military. Meredith tries to cajole Phil to talk to his son, but he breaks down and cannot.  Michael dies in the war later that year. Sometime during the next 6 years Meredith will divorce Phil and marry Tom.

1968

·         The Tet Offensive, a number of surprise attacks by the Vietcong, force America to reevaluate the forces it needs to end the war and signals a turning point.  

·         American soilders massacre between 350 and 500 civilians – women, children, and aged men—in the village of My Lai.

·         Martin Luther King, Jr., civil rights leader, is slain in Memphis.

·         Sen. Robert F. Kennedy is shot and killed in Los Angeles.

·         Ten thousand demonstrators stage massive protests opposing the war in Vietnam at the Democratic Convention in Chicago.

 

1969

·         Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated 37th president of the U.S.

·         Apollo 11 astronauts—Neil A. Armstrong, Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., and Michael Collins—take man’s first walk on moon.

 

1970

·         18,000 U.S. troops invade Cambodia.

·         Four students at Kent State University in Ohio are slain by National Guardsmen at a demonstration protesting the invasion of Cambodia.

 

1971

·         61% of Americans oppose the Vietnam War. 

·         Twenty-sixth Amendment to U.S. Constitution lowers voting age to 18.

1972

·         Five men are apprehended by police in attempt to bug Democratic National Committee headquarters — start of the Watergate scandal.

·         “Christmas bombing” of North Vietnam.

1973

·         Vietnam War ends with signing of peace agreement between U.S. and North Korea.

·         U.S. prisoners of war began returning in groups from Vietnam.

·         Act Two Scene Two – Michael (51) follows Meredith (51) to a motel in California after watching her at Travis Air force Base greeting released POWs.  She has left Tom and the two decide that perhaps they can start their lives together again.

 

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