American history Final stuff 2026

for study :)

Great Depression

A very bad time when many people lost jobs and money

Stock Market Crash

When stock prices suddenly fell

Speculation

Guessing stocks will go up

Buying on margin

Borrowing money to buy stocks

Bank Run

Everyone tries to take money out of the bank

Dust Bowl

Huge dust storms that ruined farms

Impact on farmers (Dust Bowl)

Farms died and families had to move

Farmers in Great Depression

Couldn’t sell crops and lost farms

Overcropping

Using soil too much

Overgrazing

Animals eating too much grass

Smoot-Hawley Tariff

Tax on imports that hurt trade

Main effect of tariff

Other countries taxed us back

Bonus Army

WWI veterans asking for money

What they wanted

Early bonus payment

Government action

Army forced them to leave

Herbert Hoover

President when Depression started

Hoover’s role

Didn’t do enough to help

How Hoover worsened Depression

Acted too slowly

Hoover’s view on government

Wanted small government

Franklin D. Roosevelt

President who made the New Deal

FDR’s government view

Wanted government to help more

Relief

Help right now

Recovery

Help the economy get better

Reform

Stop future problems

Bank failures cause

Banks ran out of money

Extending too much credit

Too many loans people couldn’t pay

Ignoring Federal Reserve

Didn’t follow warnings

Didn’t maintain reserves

Didn’t save enough cash

Banks needing to be fixed

New Deal programs helped banks

FDR Fireside Chats

Radio talks to calm people

Why FDR used them

To explain plans

American response

Felt safer

Alphabet Agencies

New Deal programs to help people

AAA

Helped farmers

FDIC

Protected bank money

HOLC

Helped people keep homes

CCC

Gave young men jobs

TVA

Built dams and power plants

NYA

Helped students get jobs

WPA

Built roads and buildings

SEC

Watched the stock market

SSA

Social Security money

Criticisms of New Deal

Too much government spending

Causes of Great Depression

Too much production, risky stocks, high taxes on trade

Low interest rates

Easy to borrow money

Overproduction

Too many goods

Uneven wealth

Rich had most money

High tariffs

Hurt trade

Falling demand

People bought less

Stock speculation

Risky stock buying

Appeasement

Giving in to avoid fighting

American Neutrality

U.S. stayed out of war

Event leading to U.S. entry

Pearl Harbor attack

Cash and Carry

Allies buy goods with cash

Lend-Lease

U.S. gave supplies to Allies

Pearl Harbor

Japan attacked U.S.

Why Japan attacked

Wanted to weaken U.S. Navy

Result of attack

U.S. joined WWII

Island Hopping

Taking islands one by one

Island hopping success

Yes

Navajo Code Talkers

Used Navajo language as code

American Women in WWII

Worked in factories

Nisei Soldiers

Japanese American soldiers

Tuskegee Airmen

Black fighter pilots

Japanese Internment Camps

Forced camps for Japanese Americans

Purpose of internment

Fear of spying

Impact on Japanese Americans

Lost homes and freedom

Manhattan Project

Made the atomic bomb

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Lead scientist

Location of project

Los Alamos

Who was there

Scientists and workers

Result of project

Atomic bombs created

Capitalism vs Communism

Private ownership vs government ownership

Marshall Plan

Money to rebuild Europe

Marshall Plan policy

Containment

Truman Doctrine

Help countries fight communism

Berlin Wall

Split East and West Berlin

Iron Curtain

Divide between East and West Europe

Containment

Stop communism from spreading

Brinkmanship

Pushing close to war

Detente

Reducing Cold War tension

Korean War North

Communist

Korean War South

Democratic

How Korean War started

North invaded South

Why U.S. joined

Stop communism

Result of Korean War

No winner

Vietnam North

Communist

Vietnam South

U.S.-supported

Guerrilla warfare

Surprise attacks

Conditions in Vietnam

Hot jungle and traps

Reaction at home

Protests

Cuban Missile Crisis

Missiles in Cuba

How crisis ended

Missiles removed

2nd Red Scare

Fear of communists

McCarthyism

False accusations of communism

Goal of McCarthyism

Find “communists”

Feeling in U.S.

Fear

HUAC

Investigated communism

Space Race

Competition in space

Why symbol of Cold War

Showed power