History Exam vocabs

Warren G. Harding

A senator from Ohio who served as the 29th president of the United States alongside Calvin Coolidge. Known for the Teapot Dome scandal, and for presiding over a "return to normalcy" after World War I.

Calvin Coolidge

Governor of Massachusetts who served as Warren G. Harding’s running mate.

Teapot Dome Scandal

Involved the Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall who accepted large sums of money and valuable gifts from private oil companies. In exchange, he allowed the companies to control government oil reserves in Elk Hills, California, and Teapot Dome, Wyoming.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

Agreement signed in 1928 by the United States and 14 other nations that outlawed war.

Model T

A sturdy and reliable car built by Ford, nicknamed the “Tin Lizzie”.

Moving Assembly Line

A system that used conveyor belts to move parts and partly assembled cars from one group of workers to another.

Herbert Hoover

31st presdient.

Flappers

Young women who cut their hair short and wore makeup and short dresses, openly challenging traditional ideas of how women were supposed to behave.

Red Scare

A time of fear of communists, or Reds.

21st Amendment

An amendment that ended prohibition on alcohol.

Fundamentalism

A religious movement characterized by the belief in a literal, or word-for-word, interpretation of the Bible.

Scopes Trial

A high school teacher named John T. Scopes was put on trial for teaching evolution.

Great Migration

When large numbers of African Americans began leaving the south to take jobs in northern factories.

Jazz Age

An explosion in the popularity of jazz that gave the decade another nickname.

Harlem Renaissance

A period of African American artistic accomplishment.

Lost Generation

Writers who criticized society in the 1920s.

Palmer Raids

Government raids in 1919-1920 targeting suspected radicals and communists during the Red Scare.

18th Amendment

To prohibit the production, sale, or transport of "intoxicating liquors" (liquor, wine, and beer) for beverage purposes.

19th Amendment

Women got rights to vote.

Buying on Margin

Purchasing stocks or credit with borrowed money. (High risk)

Black Tuesday

The stock market crashed on Tuesday, October 29th. So many people wanted to sell their stocks, and so few wanted to buy, that stock prices collapsed.

Business Cycle

The concept that the economy bounces back from recession as companies and consumers even out the gaps.

Great Depression

When the economy failed to recover from a downturn in 1929, thus creating a long, severe, recession.

Bonus Army

World War I veterans who came to the capital to demand early payment of a military bonus.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

President known for leading the states through two of the most serious crises faced by the country; The Great Depression and WWII.

New Deal

Roosevelt and Congress worked together to create new programs to battle the Depression and aid economic recovery.

Fireside Chats

Radio addresses in which Roosevelt spoke directly to the American people,

Eleanor Roosevelt

An active supporter of the New Deal programs,

Social Security Act (SS)

Passed in 1935, provided some financial security for the elderly, the disabled, children, and the unemployed.

Dust Bowl

Refers to the massive dust storms that swept the region, turning parts of the great plains into the Dust Bowl.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Bring trust back in banks (safety of savings).

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

1930s New Deal agency that employed millions of young men to work on environmental projects.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

1933, by Congress to provide affordable electricity, manage natural resources, and drive economic development in the Tennessee Valley. (Built dams and power plants in the Tennessee valley to attract industry to the south.)

Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)

Reduced agricultural surplus and raised prices for struggling farmers

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

Created jobs in construction, research, and the arts.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Regulated the stock market to avoid dishonest practices.

Totalitarianism

A political system in which the government controls every aspect of citizen’s lives.

Benito Mussolini

Fascist leader from Italy who rose to power in 1922

Fascism

A political system in which the state, or government is seen as more important than the individuals.

Adolf Hitler

Politician and WW1 veteran who became chancellor of Germany in 1933 by taking advantage of public anger to gain power

Nazis party

Hitler’s national socialist party, helped Hitler to become Chancellor.

Joseph Stalin

Became dictator of the soviet union in 1928

Axis Powers

Japan, Germany, Italy, (Soviet Union)

Appeasement

A policy of avoiding war with an aggressive nation by giving into its demands.

Winston Churchill

British admiral who was against appeasement.

Allied Powers

Britain and France

Lend-Lease Act

Allowing the president to aid any nation considered vital to U.S. defense

Pearl Harbor

US military base on Hawaii that was bombed by Japan on December 7, 1941, brought the US into WWII

Tuskegee Airmen

African American pilots who trained at the Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama.

Internment

Forced relocation or imprisonment

Battle of Stalingrad

German and Soviet troops battled during harsh Russian winter, and the German commander surrendered to save his remaining troops, creating a key turning point of the war.

D-Day

American, British, and Canadian troops invaded France on June 6, 1944–known as the “designated day”

Battle of Midway

A surprise attack by Japan on the Midway islands, Japan suffered a loss as Nimitz was prepared.

Island Hopping

American strategy in which their navy attacked and captured islands in the Pacific ocean on their way to Japan.

Mein Kampf

Autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler

V-J Day

Victory over Japan: celebrated Japan’s surrender at Tokyo Bay.

Kristallnacht

Called, “Night of Broken Glass” An organized mob attack against Jews.

Little Boy

9000-pound atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945

Fat Man

10000-pound atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945

Robert Oppenheimer

Scientist who led the development of the Atomic Bombs in New Mexico and Oakridge, Tennessee.

Sacco and Vanzetti

Italian immigrants executed in 1927 for a 1920 armed robbery and murder in Massachusetts. Biased by anti-immigrant sentiment and the Red Scare, caused massive international protests, becoming an enduring symbol of judicial unfairness.

Dawes Plan

An international agreement designed to resolve the crisis of German reparations payments after World War I, reducing annual payments, and providing a $200 million U.S. loan to stabilize the German economy.

Installment Buying

1920’s version of credit card.

Prohibition

Ban on the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States from 1920 to 1933.

Nativism

Political ideology and social movement that prioritizes the interests of native-born inhabitants over those of immigrants.

Calvin Coolidge

30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. Pro-business, laissez-faire economic policies, which fostered the "Roaring Twenties" prosperity.

Herbert Hoover

31st U.S. president (1929–1933) who served during the onset of the Great Depression.