US History 2nd Semester Terms to Know

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering fundamental terms from the 2nd semester of a US History course, spanning from the Great Depression to globalization.

Buying on credit

A 1920s economic practice where consumers purchased goods with borrowed money, promising to pay later in installments.

Speculation

Investment in high-risk stocks or property with the hope of making a quick, large profit, which contributed to the stock market crash.

Installment Plans

An arrangement that allowed people to buy expensive products by making a series of smaller payments over a set period of time.

Farming Overproduction

A situation during the late 1920s where farmers produced more crops than they could sell, causing prices to drop and many farms to fail.

Hawley Smoot Tariff

A law passed in $1930$ that raised taxes on imported goods, intended to protect American industry but ultimately worsening the global depression.

Hoover’s approach to dealing with Great Depression

A minimalist strategy that emphasized voluntary cooperation, local charity, and limited federal government intervention to manage the economic crisis.

Rugged Individualism

President Herbert Hoover's belief that individuals should succeed melalui their own efforts and that government hand-outs would undermine self-respect.

Harlem Renaissance

A cultural, social, and artistic movement of the $1920s$ that celebrated African American heritage and creativity, based in Harlem, New York.

Dust Bowl

A region in the Great Plains devastated by severe drought and wind erosion during the $1930s$, leading to massive migrations of farm families.

FDR Fireside Chats

A series of radio addresses by President Franklin D. Roosevelt designed to explain his New Deal policies and calm the public's fears.

National Recovery Administration

A New Deal agency established to promote recovery by setting voluntary codes of fair competition for various industries.

Agricultural Adjustment Act

A New Deal program that sought to increase crop prices by paying farmers to reduce their production levels.

Tennessee Valley Authority

A major New Deal project that provided navigation, flood control, and inexpensive electricity to the impoverished Tennessee River Valley.

Social Security Administration

A federal agency created in $1935$ to provide old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and financial aid to the disabled and needy children.

Facism

A political philosophy that prioritizes the nation and often race above the individual, typically characterized by dictatorial rule and the suppression of opposition.

Totalitarianism

A government system where the state holds total authority over society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life.

Attack at Pearl Harbor

The surprise military strike by the Japanese Navy against the United States naval base in Hawaii on December 7, $1941$, causing the U.S. to enter WWII.

Japanese Internment

The forced relocation and confinement of over $120,000$ people of Japanese descent to inland camps during World War II under Executive Order 9066.

Red Scare

Periods of widespread fear of potential rise of communism or anarchism in the United States, often involving government investigation of suspected radicals.

Atomic Bomb Usage in Japan

The deployment of nuclear weapons over the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August $1945$ to force a Japanese surrender and end World War II.

Nuclear Arms Race

The competition between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War to develop increasingly powerful and numerous nuclear weapons.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A $13\,day$ confrontation in $1962$ between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over the presence of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Brinkmanship

The policy of pushing a dangerous geopolitical situation to the edge of disaster to force an opponent to back down, prominent during the Cold War.

Domino Theory

The Cold War belief that if one country in a region fell to communism, neighboring countries would also inevitably fall.

Marshall Plan

An American initiative providing economic aid to rebuild Western European economies after World War II and stop the spread of communism.

Containment Policy

The primary U.S. foreign policy strategy during the Cold War intended to stop the expansion of communism to other countries.

Berlin Airlift

A year-long operation in $1948-1949$ where U.S. and British planes flew food and supplies into West Berlin after a Soviet blockade.

Levittown

The name of post-WWII suburban housing developments that featured mass-produced, affordable homes, symbolizing the trend of suburbanization.

Brown v. Board of Education

A landmark $1954$ Supreme Court decision that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students were unconstitutional.

Plessy v. Ferguson

The $1896$ Supreme Court ruling that established the \u201cseparate but equal\u201d doctrine, which legalized racial segregation for decades.

Montgomery bus boycott

A civil rights protest in which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating, lasting from $1955$ to $1956$.

Martin Luther King Jr.’s philosophy and methods

A civil rights approach rooted in nonviolence, civil disobedience, and peaceful mass demonstrations to achieve racial equality.

Malcolm X’s philosophy and methods

A civil rights approach that initially advocated for black nationalism, self-reliance, and self-defense \u201cby any means necessary.\u201d

Beginning of Vietnam Conflict

The transition from supporting French colonial efforts to sending the first U.S. military advisors to South Vietnam in the $1950s$ or after the $1954$ Geneva Accords.

Tet Offensive

A massive surprise attack by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces in $1968$ that shocked the American public and increased opposition to the war.

Vietnam as ‐Living Room War‐

The term used to describe the Vietnam War because it was the first conflict where citizens could watch uncensored war footage on television in their homes.

Vietnam Protesters

Groups of mostly young people, students, and activists who organized demonstrations and strikes to voice opposition to U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

LBJ and Nixon escalation of Vietnam

The policies of Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon to increase troop numbers and bombing campaigns to prevent a communist victory in Vietnam.

Immigration and migration trends from 1950-1980

A period characterized by substantial shifts to the Sunbelt and changes in demographics following the Immigration and Nationality Act of $1965$.

Suburbanization

The large-scale movement of people from cities to residential areas on the outskirts, which accelerated after World War II because of the GI Bill and highways.

Watergate

A major political scandal in the early $1970s$ involving a break-in at the Democratic National Committee and an ensuing cover-up that led to President Nixon's resignation.

Pillars of Reaganomics

The economic policies of the $1980s$ including budget cuts, tax cuts, increased military spending, and government deregulation.

North American Free Trade Agreement

A $1994$ agreement between the United States, Canada, and Mexico that eliminated most tariffs on trade between the three nations.

Globalization

The increasing economic, political, and cultural integration and interaction of nations and people throughout the world.

US Invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan

Major military operations launched by the United States in the early $2000s$ as part of the Global War on Terrorism following the attacks on $9/11$.