Social Studies Final Exam Vocabulary

Warren G. Harding

29th U.S. President whose administration was marked by corruption scandals.

Calvin Coolidge

30th U.S. President known for pro-business policies during the 1920s.

Teapot Dome Scandal

Bribery scandal involving the secret leasing of federal oil reserves.

Kellogg-Braind Pact

1928 agreement where nations pledged to renounce war as national policy.

Model T

Affordable Ford automobile that made car ownership possible for average Americans.

Moving assembly line

Ford's manufacturing innovation that sped up production and lowered costs.

Herbert Hoover

31st U.S. President in office when the Great Depression began.

Flappers

Young women in the 1920s who defied traditional norms through fashion and behavior.

Red Scare

Post-WWI fear of communist and anarchist influence in the United States.

Twenty-first Amendment

Repealed Prohibition in 1933.

Fundamentalism

Religious movement emphasizing literal interpretation of the Bible.

Scope Trial

1925 trial of a teacher for teaching evolution in Tennessee.

Great Migration

Mass movement of African Americans from the South to Northern cities.

Marcus Garvey

Black nationalist leader who promoted African pride and the Back-to-Africa movement.

Talkie

Early motion pictures with synchronized sound, replacing silent films.

Jazz Age

Name for the 1920s reflecting the popularity of jazz and cultural liberation.

Harlem Renaissance

Flourishing of African American art, literature, and music in Harlem during the 1920s.

Langston Hughes

Influential African American poet of the Harlem Renaissance.

Lost Generation

Generation that came of age during WWI, marked by disillusionment.

Expatriates

Americans who moved abroad in the 1920s seeking artistic freedom.

Georgia O'Keeffe

American modernist painter known for flowers and Southwestern landscapes.

Buying on margin

Purchasing stocks by paying only a fraction of the price and borrowing the rest.

Black Tuesday

October 29, 1929, the day the stock market crashed.

Business cycle

The recurring pattern of economic expansion and contraction.

Great Depression

Severe worldwide economic downturn in the 1930s with mass unemployment.

Bonus Army

WWI veterans who marched on Washington in 1932 demanding early bonus payment.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

32nd U.S. President who led the nation through the Depression and WWII.

New Deal

FDR's programs designed to provide relief, recovery, and reform during the Depression.

Fireside chats

FDR's informal radio addresses to explain policies and restore public confidence.

Tennessee Valley Authority

New Deal agency that built dams and provided electricity to rural areas.

Frances Perkins

First female U.S. Cabinet member; FDR's Secretary of Labor.

Eleanor Roosevelt

First Lady and activist who advocated for civil rights and the poor.

Social Security Act

1935 law creating a federal safety net for the elderly and unemployed.

Congress of Industrial Organizations

Labor federation that organized unskilled industrial workers in the 1930s.

Sit-down strike

Workers stop working but remain in the factory to prevent use of replacements.

Dust Bowl

Severe drought and dust storms in the 1930s that devastated the Great Plains.

Mary McLeod Bethune

African American educator who advised FDR as part of his "Black Cabinet."

John Steinbeck

Author of The Grapes of Wrath, depicting Dust Bowl migrants' struggles.

Woody Guthrie

Folk musician who wrote songs about ordinary Americans during the Depression.

Totalitarianism

Political system where the government holds absolute control over all aspects of life.

Benito Mussolini

Fascist dictator of Italy who allied with Hitler in WWII.

Fascism

Far-right authoritarian ideology characterized by dictatorial power and nationalism.

Adolf Hitler

Nazi dictator of Germany who launched WWII and orchestrated the Holocaust.

Nazis

Members of Hitler's National Socialist Party, responsible for WWII and the Holocaust.

Joseph Stalin

Soviet dictator who joined the Allies after Germany invaded the USSR.

Axis Powers

Alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan that fought against the Allies.

Appeasement

Policy of making concessions to aggressors to avoid war.

Allied Powers

Coalition of nations including the U.S., UK, and Soviet Union that fought the Axis.

Lend-Lease Act

1941 law allowing the U.S. to supply war materials to Allied nations.

Pearl Harbor

U.S. naval base attacked by Japan on December 7, 1941, bringing the U.S. into WWII.

War Production Board

U.S. agency that directed conversion of civilian industry to war production.

A. Philip Randolph

African American leader who pressured FDR to ban discrimination in defense industries.

Tuskegee Airman

African American WWII pilots who served with distinction despite segregation.

Benjamin O. Davis

First African American general in the U.S. Army.

Zoot-suit riots

1943 attacks by white servicemen on Latino and Black youth in Los Angeles.

Internment

Forced relocation of Japanese Americans into camps during WWII.

Battle of El Alamein

1942 North African battle where Allies stopped Germany's advance.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during WWII; later 34th U.S. President.

Battle of Stalingrad

1942–43 battle where Soviet forces defeated Germany, a major turning point in WWII.

D-Day

June 6, 1944; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France.

Douglas MacArthur

U.S. general who commanded Allied forces in the Pacific.

Bataan Death March

Forced march of American and Filipino POWs by Japan in 1942, killing thousands.

Chester Nimitz

U.S. Admiral who commanded Allied naval forces in the Pacific.

Battle of the Coral Sea

1942 naval battle that halted Japan's southward expansion.

Battle of Midway

1942 naval battle where the U.S. destroyed much of Japan's carrier fleet.

Island hopping

U.S. strategy of capturing select Pacific islands to advance toward Japan.

Battle of Leyte Gulf

1944 largest naval battle in history; decisive U.S. victory over Japan.

Kamikaze

Japanese suicide pilots who crashed explosive-laden planes into Allied ships.

Battle of the Bulge

Germany's last major offensive on the Western Front in late 1944.

Holocaust

Systematic Nazi genocide of six million Jews and millions of others.

Genocide

The deliberate mass killing of a particular ethnic or national group.

Harry S. Truman

U.S. President who authorized the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.

Manhattan Project

Secret U.S. program that developed the first nuclear weapons.

Atomic bomb

Nuclear weapon dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, ending WWII.