From the 1950s through the 1980s, major events shaped the fabric of American society, economics, and politics. Socially, Brown v. Board of Education (1954) was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court which struck down the "separate but equal" doctrine established in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), effectively ending segregation in public education (Brown, 2008, p. 1). In the 1950s, the threat of Communism and the rise of the Cold War led to what was known as "McCarthyism," a term that equates to the "intense anti-communist suspicion in the U.S." (McCarthyism, 2008, p. 1). Eventually, U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy was accused of leading witch hunts against innocent citizens and discredited. During the 1960s, the outbreak of the Vietnam War witnessed bitter fighting between Communist (i.e. China) and U.S. and Vietnam forces. Highly unpopular in the U.S., the Vietnam War generated mass protests and was responsible for the decision of President Lyndon B. Johnson not to seek reelection, showing its enormous social, economic and political consequences. Johnson's successor, President Richard M. Nixon, ultimately became involved in illegal activities from wiretapping to obstruction of justice - all related to the Watergate scandal. Nixon's obstruction of justice was meant to conceal his involvement in the arrest of five men charged with "breaking and entering into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate hotel" (Watergate, 2008, p. 1). Nearly causing a Constitutional crisis when Nixon refused initially to resign, rather than face certain impeachment Nixon willingly quit the office of the presidency. Reaganomics is the term applied to the overall economic policies of President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. Reaganomics included four pillars of economic policy established by Reagan: 1) reduce the growth of government spending, 2) reduce marginal tax rates on income from labor and capital, 3) reduce gover...