APUSH Unit 9 Key Terms

Betty Friedan

Betty Friedan

author of The Feminine Mystique (1963), which raised the issue of a woman's place in society and how deadening suburban "happiness" could be for women; her ideas sparked the women's movement to life in the 1960s.

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed by Congress and submitted to the states for ratification in 1971; outlawing discrimination based on gender, it was at first seen as a great victory by women's-rights groups. The amendment fell 3 states short of the 38 required for ratification. However, many states have adopted similar amendments to their state constitutions

Bay of Pigs

U.S. supported invasion of Cuba in April 1961; intended to overthrow Communist dictator Fidel Castro, the operation proved a fiasco. Castro's forces killed 114 of the invaders and took nearly 1,200 prisoners. The disaster shook the confidence of the Kennedy administration and encouraged the Soviet Union to become more active in the Americas.

Cuban Missile Crisis

a confrontation between the United States and the USSR resulting from a Soviet attempt to place long-range nuclear missiles in Cuba (October 1962); Kennedy forced the Soviets to remove them with a blockade and the threat of force. The crisis enhanced Kennedy'S standing but led to a Soviet arms buildup

Dien Bien Phu

French fortress in northern Vietnam that surrendered in 1954 to the Viet Minh; the defeat caused the French to abandon Indochina and set the stage for the Geneva Conference, which divided the region and led to American involvement in South Vietnam.

Fidel Castro

Communist leader of Cuba who led a rebellion against the U.S.-backed dictator and took power in 1959; President Kennedy tried to overthrow him with the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 but failed. ——- became closely allied with the Soviet Union, making the Kennedy Administration increasingly concerned about Soviet influence in the Western Hemisphere.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)

an authorization by Congress empowering President Johnson "to take all necessary measures" to protect U.S. forces in Vietnam; it was issued following reported attacks on U.S. destroyers off the Vietnam coast. Congress later regretted this action as the Vietnam War escalated, and questions emerged about the legitimacy of the attacks.

Henry Kissinger

advisor to Presidents Nixon and Ford; he was architect of the Vietnam settlement, the diplomatic opening to China, and détente with the Soviet Union.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam; he and his ——- / Viet Cong allies fought French and American forces to a standstill in Vietnam, 1946-1973. Considered a nationalist by many, others viewed him as an agent of the Soviet Union and China.

Ngo Dinh Diem

American ally in South Vietnam from 1954 to 1963; his repressive regime caused the Communist Viet Cong to thrive in the South and required increasing American military aid to stop a Communist takeover. He was killed in a coup in 1963.

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader, 1954-1964; he was an aggressive revolutionary who hoped to spread Communism into Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Blame for the Cuban Missile Crisis eventually cost him his leadership position in the USSR.

Tet Offensive (January 1968)

a series of Communist attacks on 44 South Vietnamese cities; although the Viet Cong suffered a major defeat, the attacks ended the American view that the war was winnable and destroyed the nation's will to escalate the war further.

Black Power

rallying cry for many black militants in the 1960s and 1970s; it called for blacks to stand up for their rights, to reject integration, to demand political power, to seek their roots, and to embrace their blackness

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Supreme Court decision that overturned the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision (1896); led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Court ruled that "separate but equal" schools for blacks were inherently unequal and thus unconstitutional. The decision energized the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 196Os.

Fair Deal

Truman's legislative program; it was largely an extension of the New Deal of the 1930s, and Truman had little success convincing Congress to enact it.

Federal Highway Act (1956)

largest public works project in United States history; Eisenhower signed the law, which built over 40,000 miles of ——— in the United States at a cost of $25 billion and created the interstate ——- system.

Freedom rides

civil rights campaign of the Congress of Racial Equality in which protesters traveled by bus through the South to desegregate bus stations; white violence against them prompted the Kennedy administration to protect them and become more involved in civil rights.

Hubert Humphrey

liberal senator from Minnesota and Lyndon Johnson's vice president who tried to unite the party after the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago; he narrowly lost the presidency to Richard Nixon that year.

John Kennedy

president, 1961-1963, and the youngest president ever elected, as well as the first Catholic to serve; he had a moderately progressive domestic agenda and a hardline policy against the Soviets. His administration ended when Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated him.

Lyndon Johnson

president, 1963-1969, who took over for Kennedy and created the Great Society, a reform program unmatched in the twentieth century; however, his Vietnam policy divided the country and his party, and he retired from politics in 1969.

Malcolm X

militant black leader associated with the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims); he questioned Martin Luther King's strategy of nonviolence and called on blacks to make an aggressive defense of their rights. He was assassinated by fellow Muslims in 1965.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

America's greatest civil rights leader, 1955-1968; his nonviolent protests gained national attention and resulted in government protection of African American rights. He was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Richard Nixon

controversial vice president, 1953-1961, and president, 1969-1974, who made his political reputation as an aggressive anticommunist crusader; his presidency ended with his resignation during the Watergate scandal.

Robert Kennedy

John Kennedy's brother who served as attorney general and gradually embraced growing civil rights reform; later, as senator from New York, he made a run for the Democratic presidential nomination. An assassin ended his campaign on June 6, 1968.

Rosa Parks

NAACP member who initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 when she was arrested for violating Jim Crow rules on a bus; her action and the long boycott that followed became an icon of the quest for civil rights and focused national attention on boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sit-ins

protests by black college students, 1960-1961, who took seats at "whites only" lunch counters and refused to leave until served; in 1960 over 50,000 participated in —— across the South. Their success prompted the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee

Strom Thurmond

Democratic governor of South Carolina who headed the States' Rights Party (Dixiecrats); he ran for president in 1948 against Truman and his mild civil rights proposals and eventually joined the Republican Party

Taft-Hartley Act (1946)

anti-labor law passed over Truman's veto; it provided a "cooling off" period wherein the president could force striking workers back to work for 80 days. It also outlawed closed shops and allowed states to pass right-to-work laws.

Thomas Dewey

twice-defeated Republican candidate for president (1944,1948); his overconfidence and lackadaisical effort in 1948 allowed Truman to overcome his large lead and pull off the greatest political upset in American history.