The Modern Era
Population and power shifted south and west at home while a single superpower faced a new kind of enemy abroad.
4 topics · 13 questions
Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.
The Sun Belt Shift
- How it worksShow me population growth shifting from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt as air conditioning and new jobs spread south.
- Going furtherWhat happens to a Rust Belt city's tax base once its factories close and its population starts shrinking?
- Worked exampleTrace California, Texas, and Florida gaining dozens of combined electoral votes from Rust Belt states over the late 20th century.
Your turn1 of 2
Over the late 20th century, population and political power steadily drained out of the Northeast and Midwest toward the South and Southwest, a region nicknamed the Sun Belt. Why did that shift happen?The Gulf War and the Post-Cold War World
- How it worksHow did the Soviet Union's collapse leave the United States as the only remaining global superpower?
- Worked exampleShow me the Gulf War coalition pushing Iraqi forces out of Kuwait in a ground campaign lasting about 100 hours.
- Going furtherWhat happens to US foreign policy once it no longer has a rival superpower to balance against?
Your turn1 of 2
When Iraq invaded and occupied Kuwait in 1990, dozens of countries joined a single US-led military coalition to reverse it. Why did so many countries join over one invasion?September 11 and the War on Terror
- How it worksShow me the September 11 attacks striking the World Trade Center and the Pentagon within the same hour.
- Going furtherWhat happens to US airport security and government surveillance powers in the years right after September 11?
- How it worksWalk me through how the war in Afghanistan targeted the network blamed for planning the September 11 attacks.
Your turn1 of 2
On the morning of September 11, 2001, four hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. The wars that followed lasted roughly two decades. Why did a single morning's attacks lead to conflicts that long?A Changing American Population
- How it worksShow me US immigration by origin shifting toward Latin America and Asia after the 1965 Immigration Act ended the old quotas.
- Going furtherWhat happens to a country's median age and workforce once its birth rate falls below the replacement level?
- Worked exampleTrace the share of the US population that is foreign-born falling under 5 percent by 1970 then climbing back above 13 percent by the 2010s.
- Ties togetherHow does the immigration wave that follows 1965 echo the same waves of arrival that built the country two centuries earlier?
Your turn1 of 2
The 1965 Immigration Act ended a decades-old quota system that had favored immigrants from Northern Europe. Why does the US population today look so different by race and origin than it did in 1960?