WPA Film Library
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When he campaigned for office, President Ronald Reagan argued that the lack of a balanced federal budget was responsible for inflation and the nation's recession. Once in office, he again argued for a balanced budget. During his years in office, however, the federal deficit rose to $79 billion to $3 trillion as a result of increased defense spending and an adherence to supply-side economics.
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After the recession of 1981-1982, the number of people receiving food stamps increased significantly. Homeless shelters and soup kitchens experienced an upsurge in usage, with young, able-bodied people making up a large number of the new clients. President Ronald Reagan appointed the Task Force on Food Assistance to study the problem of hunger in the United States. In January 1984 the task force recommended that states be allowed to drop out of the...
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World War II has sometimes been referred to as the "Good War" because of its widespread public support, the economic boom that it caused, and the sense of fighting for a just cause. The Office of War Information's (OWI) Domestic Branch produced radio, film, and written materials for dissemination to the American public. The goal was to create unity and boost morale and motivation surrounding the war effort. Many celebrities joined the cause, selling...
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Despite a history of providing valuable information regarding Fidel Castro to U.S. intelligence agencies, Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega's extensive drug-trafficking and human-rights violations led President George H. W. Bush to suspend all aid to Panama. In 1990 agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) arrested Noreiga a month after the U.S. invasion of Panama.
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On the evening of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Senator Robert F. Kennedy delivered a speech asking for calm in response to riots that engulfed predominantly African-American neighborhoods throughout the nation. The assassination further divided militant civil rights groups like the Black Panthers from those that supported non-violent measures.
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In 1969, while King Idras was away for medical treatment, the Free Unionist Officers Movement - a revolutionary socialist group of military officers led by Muammar al-Qaddafi - staged a bloodless coup. Qaddafi, who patterned himself after Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser, converted Libya to a socialist Islamic state, with an emphasis on Pan Africanism.
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During the Spanish-American War, Theodore Roosevelt commanded a cavalry regiment informally known as the Rough Riders. On July 1, 1898, the Rough Riders were positioned to take the Cuban city of Santiago. Despite heavy Spanish rifle fire, Roosevelt and his troops charged up Kettle Hill, overwhelming the Spanish forces. The battle made Roosevelt and the Rough Riders national heroes.
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The escalation of U.S. military forces in Vietnam by President Lyndon B. Johnson elicited a wave of antiwar protests across the country. While many of these protests were waged by college students who were against the draft, older Americans also joined in these demonstrations.
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Swing was the most popular form of music in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. Musicians such as Count Basie and Duke Ellington and their orchestras played for large audiences all over the United States and Great Britain. Fans of swing music developed energetic dances to go along with the music, including the Jitterbug and the Lindy Hop.
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The United States and the Soviet Union reached the brink of war during the Cuban Missile Crisis, during which U.S. warships began a naval blockade of Cuba to prevent the Soviet Union from stationing nuclear missiles in the country. During the blockade, Cuban soldiers and students prepared for a possible U.S. invasion, while the family members of U.S. forces stationed at a base at Guantanamo Bay were evacuated.
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American cinema during the 1950s became increasingly affected by McCarthyism and the communist Red Scare, yet simultaneously they pushed forward new boundaries with more multidimensional and racy characters through actors like James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. Audrey Hepburn represented another new strand of actor with her elegance and charm.