APUSH Chapter 25 Vocabulary

Kitchen Debate

A 1959 debate over the merits of their rival systems between U.S. vice president Richard Nixon and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev at the opening of an American exhibition in Moscow.

National Defense Education Act

The act that was passed in response to Sputnik; it provided an opportunity and stimulus for college education for many Americans. It allocated funds for upgrading funds in the sciences, foreign language, guidance services, and teaching innovation.

Bretton Woods

Representatives from 44 countries met in New Hampshire to design a new international monetary system; resulted in the establishment of the IMF and the World Bank.

World Bank

A specialized agency of the United Nations that makes loans to countries for economic development, trade promotion, and debt consolidation. Its formal name is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

an international organization that acts as a lender of last resort, providing loans to troubled nations, and also works to promote trade through financial cooperation

military-industrial complex

Eisenhower first coined this phrase when he warned American against it in his last State of the Union Address. He feared that the combined lobbying efforts of the armed services and industries that contracted with the military would lead to excessive Congressional spending.

Sputnik

First artificial Earth satellite, it was launched by Moscow in 1957 and sparked U.S. fears of Soviet dominance in technology and outer space. It led to the creation of NASA and the space race.

Veterans Administration

A federal agency that assists former soldiers. Following World War II, the VA helped veterans purchase new homes with no down payment, sparking a building boom that created jobs in the construction industry and fueling consumer spending in home appliances and automobiles.

collective bargaining

Negotiations between representatives of labor unions and management to determine pay and acceptable working conditions.

Baby Boom

A cohort of individuals born in the United States between 1946 and 1964, which was just after World War II in a time of relative peace and prosperity. These conditions allowed for better education and job opportunities, encouraging high rates of both marriage and fertility.

Sunbelt

A region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the South and Southwest that has seen substantial population growth in recent decades, partly fueled by a surge in retiring baby boomers who migrate domestically, as well as the influx of immigrants, both legal and illegal.

National Interstate and Defense Highways Act

1956 act that provided funds for construction of 42,500 miles of roads throughout the US

Billy Graham

An Evangelist fundamentalism preacher who gained a wide following in the 1950s with his appearances across the country and overseas during and after the war. He would commonly appear at religious rallies and allowed people to connect with and appreciate religion even more, causing thousands to attend his sermons. His prominence was so large that in 1996, he was also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

The Affluent Society

A 1958 book by John Kenneth Galbraith that analyzed the nation's successful middle class and argued that the poor were only an "afterthought" in the minds of economists and politicians.

The Other America

(1962)-This novel was an influential study of poverty in the U.S, published by Michael Harrington & it was a driving force behind the "war on poverty." 1/5 of U.S was living below poverty line.

Levittown

In 1947, William Levitt used mass production techniques to build inexpensive homes in surburban New York to help relieve the postwar housing shortage. Levittown became a symbol of the movement to the suburbs in the years after WWII.

Shelly v. Kraemer

A 1948 Supreme Court decision that outlawed restrictive covenants on the occupancy of housing developments by African Americans, Asian Americans, and other minorities. Because the Court decision did not actually prohibit racial discrimination in housing, unfair practices against minority groups continued until passage of the Fair Housing Act in 1968.

Kerner Commission

created in July, 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the causes of the 1967 race riots in the United States