Books in Snapshots in History series

The Progressive Party was founded in 1912 by former President Theodore Roosevelt and reform-minded Republicans. The presidential election of 1912 pitted Progressive Party candidate Roosevelt against Republican President William Howard Taft, Democratic Governor Woodrow Wilson, and Socialist Eugene Debs. Although the Progressive Party lost the election, it fared better than any other third party ever has. Other political parties and presidential administrations have since adopted reforms that started out as part of the Progressive Party platform.

In the summer of 1925, the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, was home to a court case that many people called the trial of the century. The Scopes trial attracted worldwide attention as some of the best-known attorneys and politicians traveled to the South to fight for academic and religious freedoms. The trial’s outcome would not only determine the guilt or innocence of one man, it would serve as the opening to an evolution debate that continues to this day.

In 1932, the United States was on the brink of economic disaster. The Great Depression had left millions of Americans jobless and even homeless, with no end to their troubles and no hope in sight. But when presidential candidate Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised a "new deal" for America, hope replaced despair as people began to dream of a better life. As president, Roosevelt’s "three Rs" programs created new jobs and reformed business practices. Full economic recovery was just over the horizon.

The Democratic Party has its foundations in the late 1700s with the party of Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence. Andrew Jackson, known as the people’s president, later took Jefferson’s ideas and formulated a new party, the Democrats. In its early years, the party favored a strong union with the balance of powers given to individual states. It also encouraged westward expansion of the growing country. The oldest party in the United States has changed over the years but remains a powerful standard bearer of American ideals.

In August 1945, World War II was over, and China was liberated after suffering for years under harsh Japanese military rule. But a new war was about to begin. Over the next four years, China would endure a brutal civil war as the Nationalists, who had ruled China before the war against Japan, and their longtime enemies the Communists battled it out to the bitter end. The ultimate Communist victory over the Nationalists brought a massive revolution to Chinese society and even more suffering to the Chinese people.

When the United States won its freedom from Great Britain, colonies became states, subjects became citizens, and the nation's leaders faced a complex question: How did the native people of the United States fit into this new picture? Government leaders concluded that they did not. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 sparked intense moral and political debate, led to the near-destruction of five powerful Southeastern tribes, and exposed the widening gap between the young country's ideals and its actions.