Why go
Pearl Harbor marks a decisive turn in American participation in World War II, while the Wall Street crash ties economic history to New York. San Francisco’s role in creating the United Nations adds a different ending to the wartime story. Together, these places connect domestic change with growing international influence.
The full story
The United States entered World War I in 1917 after initially remaining neutral. President Woodrow Wilson later supported joining the League of Nations, but the Senate rejected American participation. At home, the 1920s brought women's suffrage and expanding mass communication through radio. The Wall Street crash of 1929 preceded the Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal responded with federal programs, including Social Security. Migration also changed the country: African Americans moved from the South during the Great Migration, while the Dust Bowl drove farming families west. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 brought the United States into World War II. Wartime production and military power increased its international influence. In 1945, a conference in San Francisco produced the United Nations Charter, linking the war's end to a new framework for international cooperation.