Ten Days that Shook the Nation Educational History Posters
for the history and social studies classrooms and home schoolers.

December 17, 1903 -
Ohio Brothers Achieve Flight

Ever since Icarus donned his wings of feathers and wax, humans have dreamed of flying. But as the 20th century began, few believed people would ever fly through the air. But two young men from Dayton, Ohio, knew better. Their names were Wilbur and Orville Wright. The Wright brothers first became interested in powered flight after reading about the pioneering glider pilot Otto Lilienthal. Soon, they began experimenting with gliders and kites as their own design. On the advice of weather experts, they chose a narrow strip of sandy beach near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina for their experiments.

In the summer of 1902, the Wrights successfully tested a glider at Kitty Hawk. The next fall, Orville and Wilbur returned to Kitty Hawk with a gas-powered plane thay had built for less than $1,000 (roughly $27,000 in 2013). They were so confident that this plane would work, they sent a telegram to their father, “Success assured. Keep quiet.” But bad weather and minor technical problems kept their plane grounded until December 17th. That day, the two brothers flipped a coin to see who would make the historic first flight. Orville won. The flight was anthing but spectacular, covering only 120 feet and lasting a mere 12 seconds. But that short trip was to change the nation - and the world - forever.

Soon, the skies over America were filled with strange flying contraptions. Only 11 years after Kitty Hawk, the world's first scheduled airline was operating in Florida. By the 1950s, airliners were making daily non-stop flights across the Atlantic. Today, U.S. airlines log over 400 billion miles every year! Our ability to fly anywhere in the world - at a moments notice - has brought people from all cultures together, and made our world a smaller, less mysterious place.

Theodore Roosevelt was US President.

• aviation posters

April 2, 1917-
World War I

Wilson Demands War, U-Boat Sinks First U.S. Armed Ship

• Woodrow Wilson posters
• more WW I posters

October 29, 1929 -
Stock Market Crash of 1929

Market Plunges

• Historic Headlines

Herbert Hoover was US President.

December 7, 1941 -
World War II

The morning of December 7, 1941, dawned clear and cold. Though World War Two was more than two years old, for most Americans it remained a remote war. On that afternoon, may Americans were engaged in a weekly habit - listening to the New York Philharmonic give its Sunday coast to coast radio concent. Suddenly, at breathless voice broke in: “One moment please.” There was a brief pause, and then: “The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States naval base ... in the Hawaian Islands.” At that moment, the war became more than background noise for Americans, it became a national cause - a cause that would eventually claim nearly 300,000 American lives and cost roughly $300 billion.

On December 8, the United States entered the conflict and most destructive war in history. But as tragic as World War Two was, U.S. entry into the war did have two positive long-range effects on the nation. First, the massive war effort pulled America out of the depths of the Great Depression, which had left the U.S. economy in a shambles. Secondly, with a single thrust Pearl Harbor deflated the growing isolationist movement in America. Before that infamous December afternoon, most Americans were content to stay put of the world's troubles. But by the time the war ended four years later, the United States was the world's dominant economic power and one of its two greatest military powers. The establishment of the United Nations in 1945 symbolized the new U.S. role as “the world's policmen” - a role that our nations has played, sometimes reluctantly, ever since.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was US President.

May 17, 1954 -
Brown v. Board of Education

High Court Bans Segregation in Public Schools

• more Civil Rights posters

Dwight D. Eisenhower was US President.

October 4, 1957 -
Sputnik - Satellite Fired by Russia: Circling US 15 Times a Day.

The first artificial Earth satellite (a natural satellite is a celestial body that orbits another body) - was launched by the now former Soviet Union. The launch, shattering the US perception itself of being the technological superpower superior to the backward the Soviet Union, spurred an emphasis on science and technological research and reforms in US military and education systems.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was US President.

• more Space posters

November 22, 1963 -
Kennedy Assassinated; Johnson Takes Oath

It took only six secconds for Lee Harvey Oswald ...

January 30, 1968 -
The Vietnam War

North Launches New Offensive on Tet Holiday

Lyndon Baines Johnson, President

July 20, 1969 -
The Moon Landing

Men Walk on Moon, Astronauts Land on Plain; Collect Rocks, Plant Flag

• aviation posters
• astronauts posters

Richard Nixon, President

August 9, 1974 -
Nixon’s Resignation

Nixon Resigns - He Urges a Time of “Healing”; Ford Will Take Office Today.