APUSH Unit 8 Vocabulary

Flashcards covering major vocabulary and concepts from APUSH Unit 8 (1945-1980).

Cold War

A conflict between belligerents in which neither engages in open warfare, focusing on ideological battles rather than violence.

Containment

American policy to prevent the spread of communism by supporting countries threatened by Soviet influence, as advocated by the Truman Doctrine.

Truman Doctrine

Advocated the containment of communism by lending support to any country that was threatened by Soviet communism.

Marshall Plan

Allocated $13 billion to financially aid European countries to rebuild after WWII, aiming to promote democracy over communism.

Berlin Blockade

Issued by Stalin in 1948 to limit the ability of the United States, Great Britain and France to travel to the western part of the city.

Berlin Airlift

US organized 200,000 flights in US and allied airplanes carried US supplies into western Berlin and prevented the Soviets from taking over

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

A military alliance formed to resist aggressive actions by the Soviet Union.

Warsaw Pact

A counter-alliance formed by the Soviets in response to NATO, including communist nations of Eastern Europe.

Mutually Assured Destruction

The understanding that nuclear war between the US and Soviets would result in catastrophic destruction for both sides.

Proxy War

Conflicts in which the US and Soviets supported opposing sides without directly engaging each other in open warfare (e.g., Vietnam War, Korean War).

Korean War

A proxy war where Korea was divided along the 38th parallel with Soviets administering the North and US administering the South after WWII.

Red Scare

Periods of intense anti-communism in the US, particularly after WWI and WWII, characterized by widespread fear of communist influence and subversion.

Taft-Hartley Act of 1947

Passed in response to labor union strikes across the nation and made it more difficult for workers to strike and made union leaders pledge that they were not part of the communist party

McCarthyism

Named after Senator Joseph McCarthy, it refers to the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence.

GI Bill (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act) of 1944

Gave veterans the opportunity to go to college and take out low interest loans to buy houses and start businesses

Baby Boom

A period from 1945-1960 during which 50 million people were born due to extensive reproduction.

Levittown

A suburban community built by William J. Levitt; purchased land outside major cities and built mass-produced low-house homes organized in sprawling identical lots

Interstate Highway Act

Passed in 1956 resulting in a mass migration to the Sun Belt states in the South and the West

Mass Culture

Widespread homogenous ideas and patterns of behavior to which many Americans conformed.

Beatniks (Beat Generation)

A literary movement of poets who rebelled against the conformity of the age through their poetry.

Executive Order 9981

Issued by President Truman which banned segregation in the US armed forces in 1948 at the request of the committee on civil rights

Brown v. Board of Education

A landmark Supreme Court case ruled that segregated schools violated the provisions of the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause and overturned Plessy v. Ferguson.

Southern Manifesto

Argued that the Supreme Court engaged in a gross abuse of power in the Brown decision and shut schools down rather than have them integrated

Little Rock Nine

Black students prevented from entering Little Rock High School leading President Isenhower to send federal troops to protect their entry

Decolonization

A massive movement after WWII where maor empires in Africa, Asia, and Latin America crumbled

Bay of Pigs Invasion

US trained and armed a group of Cuba exiles who disliked the Cuban regime in order to overthrow the Castro regime but it was a massive failure and invaders were promptly killed or captured by Castro’s troops.

Cuban Missile Crisis

US intelligence agencies discovered Soviet-style launch weapons being stockpiled in Cuba

Domino Theory

Eisenhower believed that if South Vietnam fell to communism, it would spread to other countries in the region and soon communism would be widespread

Military-Industrial Complex

Presdient Eisenhower was opposed to the growing relationship between the military and our industrial capacity which had been producing arms for the Cold War arms race and other conflicts

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Congress passed allowing President Johnson to intervene militarily in Vietnam to protect American interests but was not declaration of war

Tet Offensive

A massive surprise attack carried out by the North Vietnamese which inflicted heavy casualties on US troops

Vietnamization

Provided for the removal of US troops of Vietnam while providing financial aid and arms and training programs to carry out war efforts

Great Society

Lyndon Johnson was working to correct societal ills at home in a series of programs which sought to abolish poverty in the US by creating a series of programs mirroring the limited welfare state created under the New Deal

The Warren Court

Headed by chief justice Earl Warren, made decisions greatly expanding liberalism from 1953 to 1969

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Black citizens of Montgomery refused to ride the city’s buses in protest over the bus system’s policy of racial segregation

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Made discrimination of the basis of race, religion, or sex illegial

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Prohibited racial discrimination in the voting booth by outlawing literacy tests and poll taxes and authorized the federal government to oversee voting in countries with historically low black voter turnout

National Organization for Women (NOW)

Advocated for women’s rights using the same tactics deployed by members of the civil rights movement to secure equal opportunity and equal pay for women entering professional careers

Title IX of the Educational Amendments on 1972

Banned discrimiation on the basis of gender in education and secured women’s funding for women’s sports teams on high school and college level

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

Goal to prevent discrimination on the basis of sex but it wasn't ratified.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

Women were given the right to an abortion on the right to privacy in the 14th amendment’s due process clause

United Farm Workers

Created in 1962 by Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta to protest interests of migrant farm workers

American Indian Movement of 1968

Goal was to reclaim their heritage and tribal traditions that had been lost to American culture, achieve self-determination, and address poverty

Stonewall Inn

1969 raid on a New York gay bar which resulted in homosexuality being changed from a mental illness to a sexual orientation

Young Americans for Freedom (YAF)

Conservative and supported American involvement in Vietnam because it mean the containment of communism

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

Released their beliefs in the Port Huron Statement which stressed participatory democracy and direct government action

Counterculture movement

Sought to cast off societal restraint and overturn societal norms with rebellious clothes and drugs

OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)

Oil-producing Arab nations formed to better control the prices of oil they exported and in 1973 they dramatically reduced oil exports to America and raised the price on oil that they did export

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Created in 1970 by President Nixon to manage pollution control programs and pesticides, oversee the regulation of polluting companies, and much more

Clean Air Act of 1963

Aimed at controlling air pollution on a national scale, when the EPA was created in 1970 it took over the work of that policy

The New Right

A coalition of conservatives who resisted the onslaught of liberalism, retained their religious values, were openly populist, and anti-egalitarian

Moral Majority

Founded by Jerra Falwell blended Christanity with conservative politics

Bakke v. University of California

In 1978, the Court ruled that minority quotas were unconstitutional and violated Equal Protection Clause of 14th amendment but still allowed race to play a part in decisions