Time Period 8 APUSH

Fascism

A political system headed by a dictator that calls for extreme nationalism and racism and no tolerance of opposition

Communism

A government system created by Karl Max advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned.

Yalta Conference

1945 meeting between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt in which the leaders discussed plans for the post-war world. Stalin agreed to join the fight with Japan 90 days after the war in Europe was over. Stalin also promised to allow free elections in Eastern Europe. The breaking of this promise led in part to the Cold War.

Potsdam Conference

July 26, 1945 Allied leaders Truman, Stalin and Churchill met in Germany to set up zones of control and to inform the Japanese that if they refused to surrender at once, they would face total destruction.

Containment

A policy based in the belief that if communism could be kept within its existing boundaries, it would collapse under the weight of its internal weaknesses

Truman Doctrine

1947 policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helped Greece and Turkey

Marshall Plan

A plan that the US came up with to revive war-torn economies of Europe. This plan offered $13 billion in aid to western and Southern Europe.

Berlin Airlift

1948 that supplied food and fuel to citizens of West Berlin when the Russians closed off land access to Berlin

NATO

The First peace time alliance the United States belonged to. It made a promise to defend one another if they were attacked by any other country; US, England, France, Canada, Western European countries

Mao Zedong

Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew the Nationalists. Established China as the People's Republic of China and ruled from 1949 until 1976.

Joseph McCarthy

1950's Wisconsin senator claimed to have list of communists in the state department but no credible evidence; took advantage of fears of communism post WWII to become incredibly influential

HUACC

Investigated Hollywood for communist sympathizers

38th Parallel

After North Korean forces were forced back behind this Truman gave MacArthur permission to pursue communists into their own territory. He was moving beyond the policy of containment and envisioning a rollback of communist power. It separated north and south Korea.

Proxy War

Wars in which the superpowers backed different sides that acted as substitutes (proxies) for the superpowers themselves examples would be the Korean War and the Vietnam war.

CIA

Agency of the United States government. used to obtain and analyze information about foreign governments, corporations, and persons in order to advise public policymakers. It was also involved in covert operations.

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.

Suez Canal Crisis

1954 Egyptian leader Abdel Nasser seizes control of the Suez Canal, led to British and French troops being sent into the canal zone, ended when Eisenhower insisted Britain and France leave before the Soviets enter on the side of the Egyptians

Massive Retaliation

Eisenhower's policy; it advocated the full use of American nuclear weapons to counteract even a Soviet ground attack in Europe

Decolonization

The collapse of colonial empires. Between 1947 and 1962, practically all former colonies in Asia and Africa gained independence.

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnamese leader who is responsible for ousting first the French, then the United States from his country. Supported by both communist China and the Soviet Union he achieved his goal of a united communist Vietnam in 1975

Diem

Leader of South Vietnam supported by United States, but not by Vietnamese Buddhist majority He was assassinated in 1963

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.

Bay of Pigs

An unsuccessful invasion of Cuba in 1961, which was sponsored by the United States. Its purpose was to overthrow Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 A Brink-of-war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the latter's placement of nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba. The Soviet Union turned back with concessions from the U.S. that missiles would be removed from Turkey and that the U.S. would not invade Cuba.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

1964 Congressional resolution that authorized President Johnson to commit US troops to South Vietnam and fight a war against North Vietnam.

Tet Offensive

1968 NLF and North Vietnamese forces launched a huge attack on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet). The U.S. won the battles but Americans reacted sharply, with declining approval of LBJ and more anti-war sentiment.

Bombing of Cambodia

US troops invaded Cambodia to clear out north Vietnamese and Vietcong supply centers (Ho Minh Trail) many college students protested, one protest was at Kent State

Fall of Saigon

Marked the end of the Vietnam War in April, 1975 when North Vietnamese invaded South Vietnam, forcing all Americans left to flee in disarray as the capitol was taken

Afghanistan

1979-1988: The war in this country was a nine-year proxy war during the Cold War involving the Soviet Union against the Afghan Mujahideen guerrilla movement. The mujahideen received unofficial military and/or financial support from a variety of countries including the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, and Israel.

Détente

A lessening of tensions between U.S. and Soviet Union. Besides disarming missiles to insure a lasting peace between superpowers, Nixon pressed for trade relations and a limited military budget. Nixon started this policy based on "realism" and an example is when he visited China

SALT

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks- A pact that served to freeze the numbers of long-range nuclear missiles for five years in 1972. This treaty between Nixon (U.S.), China, and the Soviet Union served to slow the arms race that had been going on between these nations since World War II.

Evil Empire

Ronald Reagan's description of Soviet Union because of his fierce anti-communist views and the USSR's history of violation of human rights and aggression.

Israel

This state was created by the U.N. following WWII. In 1967, Israel launched the Six Day War against Egypt and her allies. Israel took over the Golan Heights , The West Bank of the Jordan River; and the Sinai Peninsula. The U.S.'s pro-Israel foreign policy has been a source of tension in the Middle East.

OPEC

This organization's embargo in 1973 created an energy crisis in the U.S. This oil cartel doubled their petroleum charges in 1979, helping American inflation rise well above 13%.

Iran

C.I.A. sponsored a coup in 1953 to overthrow Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq, who had began nationalizing oil. Following the coup, the U.S. had close ties with pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi until he was overthrown during the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The Shah fled to the U.S. Resentment over this leads to the Hostage Crisis.

Iraq

The U.S. supported Hussein in its war against Iran. However, the U.S. fought against the Hussein regime in 1990 after the invasion of Kuwait and again in 2003.

Star Wars

The Strategic Defense Initiative this was President Reagan's proposed weapons system to destroy Soviet missiles from space. It was never implemented

Mikhail Gorbachev

Head of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991. His liberalization effort improved relations with the West, but he lost power after his reforms led to the collapse of Communist governments in eastern Europe

Fall of Berlin Wall

This event in 1989 marked the symbolic end of the Cold War and was the beginning of the collapse of communism in eastern Europe

Interstate Highway Act

1950s plan to build 41,000 mi of highway; met the need of suburban growth and was a means to transport missiles

Little Rock Nine

1957 - Governor Faubus sent the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine Black students from entering Little Rock Central High School. Eisenhower sent in U.S. paratroopers to ensure the students could attend class.

Brown vs. Board of Education

1954 court decision that declared state laws segregating schools to be unconstitutional. Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Dixiecrats

southern Democrats who opposed Truman's position on civil rights. They caused a split in the Democratic party.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) believed in non-violent civil disobedience. Most famous speech, "I have a dream."

Sit Ins

Non violent protest where people sit at lunch counters and refuse to leave until served

Betty Friedan

1960's she wrote "The Feminine Mystique," an account of housewives' lives in which they subordinated their own aspirations to the needs of men she sparked the women's rights movement. She later help create NOW

Great Society

This was part of President Johnson's war on poverty. In 1965, Congress passed many Great Society measures, including Medicare, civil rights legislation, and federal aid to education

Civil Rights Act

1964 This act made racial, religious, and sex discrimination by employers illegal and gave the government the power to enforce all laws governing civil rights, including desegregation of schools and public places.

Voting Rights Act

1965 A law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African American suffrage. Under the law, hundreds of thousands of African Americans were registered and the number of African American elected officials increased dramatically.

Black Nationalism

The idea the African-Americans should take pride in their achievements and to reject assimilation into white society. Nationalism also spread to other groups such as Native Americans and Latino Americans.

Stokely Carmichael

a black civil rights activist in the 1960's. Leader of the SNCC. He worked with MLK but later changed his attitude. He urged giving up peaceful demonstrations and advocated Black Power. He was known for saying,"black power will smash everything Western civilization has created."

Gloria Steinem

American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist, leader of the Women's liberation movement, co-founded Ms. Magazine

Fair Deal

An economic extension of the New Deal proposed by Harry Truman that called for higher minimum wage, housing and full employment. It led only to the Housing Act of 1949 and the Social Security Act of 1950 due to opposition in congress

Escobedo v. Illinois

1964--Ruled that a defendant must be allowed access to a lawyer before questioning by police.

Miranda v. Arizona

(1966) Supreme Court held that criminal suspects must be informed of their right to consult with an attorney and of their right against self-incrimination prior to questioning by police.

New Frontier

President Kennedy's 1960 plan aimed at improving the economy, fighting racial discrimination, and exploring space.

LBJ

He did not run for re-election in 1968 even though he successfully passed many pieces of legislation for civil rights and his war on poverty. Vietnam played a role in his decision and many protests escalated under his term.

Silent Majority

A phrase used to describe people, whatever their economic status, who uphold traditional values, especially against the counterculture of the 1960s. Nixon appealed to them to win the 1968 election.

Watergate scandal

A botched Republican engineered break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington D.C., that eventually forced Nixon to resign in 1974.

Carter

He appealed to the U.S. as an outsider in the 1976 election as a peanut farmer. He had a troubled presidency that included the Iran Hostage Crisis, an energy crisis after the OPEC oil embargo and an economic downturn called stagflation.

Moral Majority

Formed by Jerry Falwell. Organization made up of conservative Christian political action committees which campaigned on issues its personnel believed were important to maintaining its Christian conception of moral law (e.g. banning abortion)

Reaganomics

"trickle down" theory or supply side economic policies. cut federal spending on domestic programs and cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations. he thought this would help create new jobs.

Roe v. Wade

The 1973 Supreme Court decision holding that a state ban on all abortions was unconstitutional.

Ronald W. Reagan

Ushered in an era of economic conservativsm. While president, he cut out many welfare and public works programs. He used the Strategic Defense Initiative to avoid conflict. His meetings with Gorbachev were the first steps to ending the Cold War. He was also responsible for the Iran-Contra Affair which bought hostages with guns.

Levittown

1947 Mass-produced housing development -> Levittown, started in Long Island, copied across country

Jack Kerouac

A key author of the Beat movement whose best-selling novel, "On the Road" helped define the movement.

Michael Harrington

Author who wrote "The Other American." He alerted those in the mainstream to what he saw in the run-down and hidden communities of the countrySun Belt -

Graying of America

the aging of the American population, or increase of the proportion of elderly citizens, caused by a declining birth rate and increased life expectancy. Caused an increase in costliness of Social Security pensions, rapid increase in health costs, and meant the elderly would be politically formidable.

Baby Boom

An increase in population by almost 30 million people. This spurred a growth in suburbs and three to four children families.

Beatniks

A group of rebellious writers and intellectuals: led by Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg: advocated spontaneity, drugs, and rebellion against societal standards

Consumer Culture

a culture in which personal worth and identity reside not in the people themselves but in the products with which they surround themselves

Affluent Society

term used by economist John Kenneth Galbraith to describe the American economy in the 1950s, during which time many Americans became enraptured with appliances and homes in the suburbs

Counterculture

People, for example the Hippies, that reject normal societal values. For example: free love, communalism, and drug use.

Woodstock

3 day rock concert in upstate N.Y. August 1969, exemplified the counterculture of the late 1960s

Immigration Act of 1965

Abolished the national-origins quotas and providing for the admission each year of 170,000 immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 from the Western Hemisphere

Rachel Carson

"Silent Spring", sparked a real environmentalist movement: which introduced the adverse environmental effects of DDT and the fact that it would kill the environment and there would be no birds to sing.- a silent spring.

Affirmative Action

A policy designed to redress past discrimination against women and minority groups through measures to improve their economic and educational opportunities

Phyllis Schlafly

A conservative female political activist. She stopped the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) from being passed, seeing that it would hinder women more than it would help them.

Bakke v. University of California

Supreme Court case dealing with affirmative action that ruled that affirmative action programs in principle are constitutional, but a strict quota system wasn't.

Rust Belt

A term introduced in the 1980s to describe a region of the country devoted to manufacturing. With the loss of manufacturing, many parts of this region are in severe decline.