846 Chapter 31 From Boomers to Millennials
1946 Dr. Benjamin Spock publishesCommon Sense
Guide to Baby and Child Care
1947 Construction begins on Levittown, New York,
first tract-house suburb
1960 FDA approves sale of birth control pills
1963 Betty Friedan publishesThe Feminine Mystique
1965 Congress passes Immigration Act that ends
“national origins” quotas
Supreme Court affirms “right to privacy” in
Griswold v. Connecticut
César Chávez organizes boycott to support
grape pickers
1969 Stonewall riots mark public assertion of rights
of homosexuals
1973 Supreme Court legalizes abortion in Roe v. Wade
1979 Jerry Falwell founds the Moral Majority
1982 Center for Disease Control identifies new
disease, AIDS
1989 Supreme Court limits abortion rights in Webster v.
Reproductive Health Services
2000 Vermont recognies same-sex unions
2010 Michelle Obama introduces anti-obesity campaignMilestones
Chapter Review
Key Terms
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
A deadly, and very often sexually transmitted dis-
ease that emerged in the 1980s and that at first
spread chiefly among injection drug users and
gay male populations, but soon affected all com-
munities. The disease is a complex of deadly
pathologies resulting from infection with the
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). By
2000, AIDS deaths in the United States had sur-
passed 40,000, 834
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) A proposed
amendment to the U.S. Constitution to outlaw
discrimination on the basis of sex. Although first
proposed in 1923, the amendment was not passed
by Congress until 1972; but the ratification move-
ment fell short and the ERA was not added to the
Constitution, 827
human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) A virus,
usually spread through sexual contact, that attacks
the immune system, sometimes fatally. HIV, which
causesacquired immunodeficiency syndrome
(AIDS), first appeared in the United States in the
1980s, 834
National Organization for Women (NOW) An
organization, founded in 1966 by Betty Friedan
and other feminists, to promote equal rights for
women, changes in divorce laws, and legalization
of abortion, 827Review Questions
1.The introduction to this chapter argues that
young Boomers were more inclined to look for a
“meaningful philosophy of life,” while young
Millennials were more interested in being “well-
off financially.” Do you agree? What evidence
from the chapter supports your position? What
refutes it?
2.What accounted for the emergence of modern
feminism in the 1960s? Did it succeed in changing
gender roles and if so, how? What explained the
emergence of gay and lesbian activism?
3.What were the main components of the conserva-
tive movement after 1970? How did it influence
culture and society?
4.How did the cultural shift from “downtown” to
the suburbs change society more generally? In
what sense has life become more or less “private”?