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What happened at the Yalta Conference?
In 1945, the Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) met to discuss the end of WWII. Their biggest issue was in the Far East regarding Japan (Russia got parts of it). They also had plans for creating the United Nations.
What happened at the Bretton Wood Conference?
In 1944, Western Allies met and established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to encourage world trade and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) to promote economic growth in underdeveloped areas.
What is the United Nations Conference?
In 1945 representatives from 50 nations created this. It included the Security Council (dominated by Big Five) each of whom had the right of veto, and the General Assembly, which could be controlled by smaller countries.
What kind of contributions has the United Nations created?
They have created the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization), and WHO (World Health Organization).
What happened at At Nuremberg, Germany?
From 1945-1946, Nazi leaders were tried and punished for war crimes. Punishments included hangings and long jail sentences.
What happened to Germany after WWII?
Austria and Germany were divided into 4 military occupation zones, each assigned to one of the Big Four powers (France, Britain, America, and the USSR).
What is the “iron curtain”?
It describes the differences between West and Eastern Germany. Western Germany was focused on capitalism and building itself back up while Eastern Germany faced huge communism and was largely controlled by the Soviet Union.
What happened to Berlin?
In 1948, it was separated into four different areas contingent on the Big Four. The Soviet’s attempted to starve their side by creating the Berlin Wall (this failed because of American ships flying by and giving supplies).
What was the “containment doctrine”?
Created by George Kennan in 1947, it explained the behavior of the USSR. It stated that the USSR was relentlessly expansionary and they could be contained by being firm and vigilant.
What was the Truman Doctorine?
Embraced by the “containment doctrine,” President Truman passed this in 1947 giving financial and military support to any country that needed it to resist communist pressures.
What was the Marshall Plan?
Many countries in Europe were suffering from the War and were in danger of being taken over by communism. This led George Marshall to gain support in passing this plan, giving 12.5 billion dollars to 16 European countries to resist communism. 1948
What was the National Security Act?
Passed by Congress in 1947, it created the Department of Defense. This department was headed by a the secretary of defense. The heads of each branch of the military were brought together as the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
What was the National Security Counsel and Central Intelligence Agency?
They were both created by the National Security Act and the NSC informed the president on security matters while the CIA coordinated the government's foreign fact-gathering.
What is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization?
It stated that if any nation was attacked and in NATO, EVERY country in NATO would be attacked. It also unified European unification with the addition of the US.
What was the MacArthur-dictated constitution?
This was created when General Douglas MacArthur took control making a Democracy in Japan. This constitution renounced militarism and introduce democracy. 1947
What happened with Jiang Jieshi?
In 1949, China became very communistic with Mao Zedong becoming leader. This forced Jiang Jieshi to flee to Taiwan. The collapse of Nationalist China was a depressing loss for America.
What happened to Korea when Japan fell?
The Korean war eventually happened and while General McArthur led huge success in pushing North Korea away, volunteer army-men from China led him back to the 38th parallel.
What was The National Security Council Memorandum Number 68 (NSC-68)?
Created by the National Security Council, it quadrupled military spending for intimidating the USSR. This was very important for the Cold War because it marked a major step in the militarization of American foreign policy.
What was the Korean War?
In 1950, the North Korean army invaded South Korea. This caused Truman to order a massive military buildup. He ordered American air and naval units to be sent to support South Korea. General McArthur did a ton in this war (for the US).
What was the Loyalty Review Board?
Created by Truman, it investigated the possibility of communist spies in the government.
What was the Smith Act of 1940?
It made it a crime to advocate for the violent overthrow of the U.S. government.
What were some of the effects to the Smith Act of 1940?
What happened in Dennis v. United States (1951)
The ruling of sending communists to prison that wanted to overthrow the US government was upheld.
What was the Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)?
Created in 1938, it investigated people who opposed the US government. Americans began to join in on the hunt for communist spies who were thought to be living in America.
What was the McCarran Internal Security Bill?
It authorized the president to arrest and detain suspicious people during an internal security emergency.
What happened regarding Julius and Ethel Rosenberg?
In 1951, they were convicted and sentenced to death for stealing American atomic bomb plans and selling them to the Soviet Union.
What was McCarthyism?
The practice of spreading accusations without evidence. 1940s-1950s
What was the “baby boom”?
When 15 years after 1945, the birth rate in the United States exploded. More than 50 million babies were born by the end of the 1950s.
What was the Taft-Hartley Act?
In 1947, it significantly reduced the power of unions in business by making them liable for damages. It also required union leaders to take a noncommunist oath.
What was The Employment Act of 1946?
It created a 3-member Council of Economic Advisers to advise the president on policies regarding employment, production, and purchasing power.
What was the The Servicemen's Readjustment Act (GI Bill)?
In 1944 it paid for former WWII soldiers to go to school. It raised educational levels and stimulated the construction industry and created economic expansion.
What was the "bold new program" or "Point Four" program?
Created by President Truman, it was a plan to lend American money to underdeveloped countries to help them develop before they were taken over by communism. 1949
What was the Housing Act of 1949?
Passed by Congress as a part of the “Fair Deal” program, it created public housing.
What was the Security Act of 1950?
Passed by Congress as a part of the “Fair Deal” program, it extended old-age insurance to many more people.
How was the American economy during 1950s-1970s?
It grew rapidly. Incomes rose, middle class expanded, and Americans accounted for 40% of the planet's wealth. This helped pave the way for successful civil rights movements and funded new welfare programs.
Most new jobs created after WWII went to women, as the service sector of the economy dramatically outgrew the old industrial and manufacturing sectors.
What were some of the effects of WWII regarding woman?
Many new jobs went to women, as the service sector of the economy dramatically outgrew the old industrial and manufacturing sectors.
What was population mobility?
When economic prosperity caused by WWII enabled people to move about the country at a higher rate than in the past.
What were some effects of population mobility?
The “Sunbelt” states (states from Virginia to California) grew twice as fast as states in the northeast (Frostbelt states). California accounted for 1/5 of the nations population by 1950s.
Why did people move to the sunbelt states?
Because it had may jobs, better climate, and lower taxes. It also gained significantly more federal money than the north.
What were The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Administration (VA)?
It made home-loan guarantees, making it more economical to own a home in the suburbs rather than rent an apartment in the city.
The VA provided health, education, and financial benefits to Veterans
What happened as many white people went to the suburbs? (Called “White Flight”)
It left many inner cities poverty-stricken. This encouraged blacks from the South to move into the abandoned inner cities because the Federal Housing Administration often refused blacks home mortgages for private home purchases.
How did Aerospace Industries grow?
Because of Eisenhower's SAC and an expanding passenger airline business.
Why did Union Memberships decline?
Because in the mid 1950s, white collar jobs were more popular than blue collar jobs.
What were some effects of white-collar jobs?
They opened up opportunities for women like clerical and service jobs.
What was The Feminine Mystique?
Published by feminist Betty Friedan, it launched the modern women's movement. The book discussed the widespread unhappiness of women who were housewives.
What were “Televangelists"?
People who used television to spread religion like Baptist Billy Graham.
What were some effects of TVs in the 50s?
They were used to spread religion and for elections.
What was the "Checkers speech"?
It was a speech Nixon gave on TV denying corruption allegations.
What was An American Dilemma?
Written by Gunnar Myrdal, it stated that all men are created equal and discussed the terrible treatment of black citizens in his book.
What happened in Sweat v. Painter?
In 1950, the Supreme Court ruled that separate schools for blacks failed to meet the idea of equality.
What was the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
It happened in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus. Her arrest sparked a boycott of city buses and stated that the South that blacks would no longer submit to segregation.
What did President Truman do regarding segregation in the military?
He ended segregation in federal civil service and ordered "equality of treatment and opportunity" in the armed forces in 1948.
What happened in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas?
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unequal and unconstitutional. It reversed the previous ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
What did Congressmen in Kansas do hearing of the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas?
They signed the "Declaration of Constitutional Principles" in 1956, pledging their resistance to desegregation.
What did the Civil Rights Act of 1957 do?
It set up a Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of civil rights and authorized federal warnings to protect voting rights.
What was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)?
Created by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1957, it sought to mobilize the power of black churches on behalf of black rights.
What was the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)?
In 1960, black college students began demanding services at a whites-only lunch counter. Eventually, more people participated who demanded equal rights. The black students then formed this, which demanded equal rights to black students.
What was Operation Wetback?
In 1954, Eisenhower deported a million illegal immigrants out of fear that it would they would undercut the bracero program of legally imported farmworkers.
What was the Federal Highway Act of 1956?
Supported by Eisenhower, it created thousands of miles of federally-funded highways.
What was the Strategic Air Command (SAC)?
Proposed by John Dulles in 1954, a fleet of super-bombers would be built and equipped with nuclear bombs which would allow the U.S. to threaten countries such as the Soviet Union and China with nuclear weapons.
What happened at the Geneva summit conference?
In 1955 President Eisenhower tried making peace with Nikita Khrushchev (new USSR dictator). Peace negotiations were rejected.
What happened after the nationalists won at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954 (Vietnam)?
A peace was called and Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam leader) was given the north, while a pro-Western government, led by Ngo Dinh Diem, was given the south.
What was the Warsaw Pact?
Seeing that more and more countries were joining NATO the Eastern European countries and the Soviets signed this, which was a communist military union to counteract NATO.
What did the US do to secure Iranian oil for Western countries?
The CIA created a coup that made Mohammed Reza Pahlevi the dictator of Iran.
What was the Suez Crisis?
This happened when President Nasser of Egypt needed funds for a dam on the Nile River. They didn’t receive any support because of their relationship with USSR. This caused Egypt to nationalize the Suez Canal and French and Britain to attack (it was owned by these two countries). It ended with both France and Britain retreating because they were underprepared.
What was the Eisenhower Doctrine?
It was a 1957 pledge of U.S. military and economic aid to Middle Eastern nations threatened by communist aggression.
What was the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)?
It joined together middle eastern and South American countries that exported petroleum in 1960.
(Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, and Venezuela)
What was the Landrum-Griffin Act?
This was designed to hold labor leaders more accountable for financial illegalities because of fraud and corruption in American labor unions.
What were some effects of the Soviet’s launching their Sputnik I and II into space?
The two satellites gave credibility to Soviet claims that superior industrial production is achieved through communism. Additionally, Eisenhower created NASA.
What was the National Defense and Education Act (NDEA)?
It gave $887 million in loans to college students and in grants to improve teaching sciences and languages.
What happened to Cuba that made it a military satellite (supported communism) for the USSR?
Cuba’s American-supported government was overthrown by Fidel Castro. He then became military allied with the USSR.
What happened to New York after WWII?
It became the Art Capital of the world.
Who helped to develop abstract expressionism in the 1940s and 1950s.
Jackson Pollock
What were "New Frontier" plans?
Created President Kennedy, it tried to fix unemployment and inflation and keeping wages high for workers. This plan inspired patriotism.
What were the Peace Corps?
Created by Kennedy, it was an army of idealistic and youthful volunteers to bring American skills to underdeveloped countries.
Who opposed Kennedy’s New Frontier plans?
Southern Democrats and Republicans.
What did Kennedy do achieve his goal of revitalizing the economy?
He tried to curb inflation such as negotiating a noninflationary wage agreement with the steel industry.
What did Kennedy do to improve the economy?
He cut taxes and put more money directly into private hands (instead of spending more government money).
What was the Apollo Plan?
Proposed by Kennedy, it was a multibillion-dollar plan to land an American on the moon.
Why was the Berlin Wall created?
To stop the large population drain from East Germany to West Germany through Berlin.
What was the Trade Expansion Act?
In 1962, Kennedy passed this authorizing tariff cuts of up to 50% to promote trade between America and Common Market countries.
What was “flexible response”?
Pushed by Robert McNamara,. it was the idea that America would deploy military options around the world that could match the necessities of the crisis at hand (Cold War)
What was the Alliance for Progress?
Signed by Kennedy in 1961, it was essentially the Marshall Plan for Latin America. Its primary goal was to help Latin American countries close the gap between the rich and the poor, thus quieting communist politicians. (Results were disappointing)
What was Cuba's Bay of Pigs?
Following the overthrow of the Cuban government, in 1961, 1200 American-supported Cuban exiles tried overthrowing the Castro regime. The invasion failed after the exiles were forced to surrender.
What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?
After American attempts to regain control of Cuba, the USSR began secretly installing nuclear missiles in Cuba. This caused Kennedy to demand immediate removal of the weapons. Eventually, USSR dictator Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles.
What were Freedom Riders?
People in the South who tried to end segregation by riding busses in the South. Unfortunately, southern officials did nothing about these violent protests and federal marshals were dispatched to protect the freedom riders.
What happened in Birmingham, Alabama and what did President Kennedy do?
Martin Luther King, Jr. launched a campaign against discrimination here and protestors were met by police with attack dogs and high-pressure water hoses. This led Kennedy to deliver a speech to the nation in 1963 to find a solution to racial problems.
Summarize the John F. Kennedy Assassination…
On November 22, 1963, Kennedy was shot and killed n Dallas, Texas. The gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald was eventually shot and killed by a self-appointed avenger, Jack Ruby. The Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into office.
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