Unit 8: 1945-1980

What is the Cold War?

a struggle over political differences carried on by means short of military action or war

Why did the USSR and the US have a rivalry?

Us was democratic and capitalist, Ussr was Communist. Both country wanted to spread this globally

What was the US strategy in the Cold War?

Containment. The US wanted to halt the spread of communism economically, diplomatically, and militarily.

Long Telegram

The message written by George Kennan in 1946 to Truman advising him to contain Communist expansion. Told Truman that if the Soviets couldn't expand, their Communism would eventually fall apart, and that Communism could be beaten without going to war.

Truman Doctrine

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

Marshall Plan

A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe (1948-1952)

How did the different view points align themselves?

Like minded countries entered mutual defense pacts.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

A 1949 defense alliance initiated by the US, Canada, and 10 Western European nations

Warsaw Pact

An alliance between the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations. This was in response to the NATO

Arms Race

Cold war competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union to build up their respective armed forces and weapons

Hydrogen Bomb (1952)

US explodes the first hydrogen bomb at a test site in Marshall Island (pacific); approx. 1 yr. later USSR tests their bomb; fall out shelters built in both countries

Mutually Assured Destruction

(MAD) if either US or the USSR was hit with a nuclear weapons they would respond with the same

Proxy War

The Korean Peninsula became divided and war broke out. The USSR aided the north and the US the south. It's "by proxy" because the US and USSR used the korean conflict to further their own goals.

Second Red Scare

Post-World War II Red Scare focused on the fear of Communists in U.S. government positions; peaked during the Korean War and declined soon thereafter, when the U.S. Senate censured Joseph McCarthy, who had been a major instigator of the hysteria.

House Un-American Activities Committee

A congressional committee created to search out disloyal Americans & Communists.

McCarthyism

The term associated with Senator Joseph McCarthy who led the search for communists in America during the early 1950s through his leadership in the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Army-McCarthy Hearings

The Trials in which Senator McCarthy accused the U.S. Army of harboring possible communists.These trials were one of the first televised trials in America, and helped show America Senator McCarthy's irresponsibility and meanness.

What was the GI Bill?

It provided tuition money to veterans of WWII

What caused the population spike after WW2

Young men returning from war, massive communities sprang up in the south and west

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.

Levittown

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

What were the primary causes for increased pop culture

Radio and television, growth in advertising.

Consumerism

a movement advocating greater protection of the interests of consumers

Beat Generation

Literary movement of the 1950s that criticized the conformity of American society and the ever-present threat of atomic warfare, through writing, fashion, and drug use.

Beatniks

A United States youth subculture of the 1950s that rebelled against the mundane horrors of middle class life.

Brown v. Board of Education

1954 - The Supreme Court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, declared that racially segregated facilities are inherently unequal and ordered all public schools desegregated.

What was the reaction towards Brown v BOE

Massive resistance of southern state legislatures. Threats of school closures and violence against black students.

Little Rock Nine

In September 1957 the school board in Little rock, Arkansas, won a court order to admit nine African American students to Central High a school with 2,000 white students

Civil disobedience by civil rights activists

Sit in Movement: Led by black college students, eventual desegregation of public spaces. Bus boycotts, bus desegregation.

SCLC

Southern Christian Leadership Conference, churches link together to inform blacks about changes in the Civil Rights Movement, led by MLK Jr., was a success

Greensboro Four

College Students that sat at a segregated lunch counter and refused to get up

SNCC

(Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee)-a group established in 1960 to promote and use non-violent means to protest racial discrimination; they were the ones primarily responsible for creating the sit-in movement

March on Wahington

Martin Luther King Jr. and 200,000 people marched to D.C. to protest, were not met with resistance.

Political success from the Civil Rights movement

JFK and LBJ befriended the movement publicly, LBJ signed several pieces for legislation.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

Voting Rights Act of 1965

a law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African-American suffrage

Fair Housing Act of 1968

Prohibited discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing based on race

Alternative approaches to Civil rights

Malcolm X had a more violent view, as he thought white racism was unavoidable and segregation was the only way forward.

Black Power Movement

African American movement that focused on gaining control of economic and political power to achieve equal rights by force in necessary. (Malcolm X)

Black Panther Party

A group formed in 1966, inspired by the idea of Black Power, that provided aid to black neighborhoods; often thought of as radical or violent.

Black Nationalist Movement

The struggle to expand civil rights and cultural pride in Black Americans.

Nation of Islam

A group of militant Black Americans who profess Islamic religious beliefs and advocate independence for Black Americans

Women's rights during this time period

Equal rights amendment faced too much backlash, couldn't be ratified. Receiving lots of government attention.

Women's Liberation Movement

This refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence

Equal Rights Amendment

constitutional amendment passed by Congress but never ratified that would have banned discrimination on the basis of gender

The Feminine Mystique

written by Betty Friedan, journalist and mother of three children; described the problems of middle-class American women and the fact that women were being denied equality with men; said that women were kept from reaching their full human capacities

National Organization for Women

Founded in 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) called for equal employment opportunity and equal pay for women. NOW also championed the legalization of abortion and passage of an equal rights amendment to the Constitution.

Phyllis Schlafly

Anti-feminist who led the campaign to defeat the ERA claiming it would undermine the american family

Other groups approaches to civil rights

Black rights inspired the Chicago Movement, American indian movement, and the Gay liberation movement to use similar tactics to gain protections and rights.

Chicago Movement

A battle against racial discrimination led by Dr. King. Marchers were threatened and protected by police. King made victory.

American Indian Movement

led by Dennis Banks and Russell Means; purpose was to obtain equal rights for Native Americans; protested at the site of the Wounded Knee massacre

Gay Liberation Movement

In the 1970s, homosexuals began an effort to win social and legal acceptance and to encourage gays to affirm their sexual identity. Despite some advances, the movement was slowed by the onset of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s and the insistence of the military on banning openly gay individuals from the armed services.

Ceaser Chavez

1927-1993-mexican american farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist. farm worker who started the great boycott of grapes. Started the United Farm Workers which is the union for farm workers

Wounded Knee Occupation

In February 1973, members of AIM seized and occupied this town in South Dakota, the site of the 1890 massacre of Sioux by federal troops, for two months, demanding radical changes in the administration of the reservation and insisting that the government honor its long-forgotten treaty obligations.

Occupation of Alcatraz

Alcatraz Occupation lasted for nineteen months, from November 20, 1969, to June 11, 1971, and was forcibly ended by the U.S. government. had a direct effect on federal Indian policy and, with its visible results, established a precedent for Indian activism.

self-determination theory

a theory of motivation that is concerned with the beneficial effects of intrinsic motivation and the harmful effects of extrinsic motivation

Stonewall Riots

a group of riots in new york by homosexuals, marked the beginning of the gay rights movement

Counterculture Movement

protest movement in the 1960s that rejected traditional American values and culture

Woodstock Festival

1969 music festival attended by four hundred thousand young people in 1969 to celebrate their vision of freedom and harmony.

sexual liberation

escaping sexual "rules" so as to do whatever one wants with his or her sexuality.

Baker v. Carr

case that est. one man one vote. this decision created guidelines for drawing up congressional districts and guaranteed a more equitable system of representation to the citizens of each state

Engel v. Vitale

The 1962 Supreme Court decision holding that state officials violated the First Amendment when they wrote a prayer to be recited by New York's schoolchildren.

Fidel Castro

Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba (born in 1927). Us attempted to overthrow him through invasion and assassination.

Che Guevera

Marxist revolutionary leader in Latin America - helped Castro in Cuba, later went to Africa - Congo

Bay of Pigs

In April 1961, a group of Cuban exiles organized and supported by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency landed on the southern coast of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro. When the invasion ended in disaster, President Kennedy took full responsibility for the failure.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The 1962 confrontation bewteen US and the Soviet Union over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

What actions did the US take in the Middle East?

The Central Intelligence Agency assisted in the overthrow of a socialist government in Iran amid its efforts to nationalize Iranian oil reserves.

Mohammed Mossadegh

Prime Minister of Iran before overthrown in CIA coup, accused of treason, and convicted as a Communist

What caused the Vietnam War?

Like the korean war, due to political differences.

Domino Theory

A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam

What escalated American involvement in Vietnam?

The Gulf of Tonkin incident, though disputed like the sinking of the USS Maine in Cuba, was used as justification for increasing American troop presence in Vietnam.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

1964 Congressional resolution authorizing President Johnson to take military action in Vietnam

What was the outcome of the Vietnam war?

U.S withdrew due to unpopularity and North Vietnam won, causing Vietnam to be reunited under Communism

Great Society

President Johnson called his version of the Democratic reform program the Great Society. In 1965, Congress passed many Great Society measures, including Medicare, civil rights legislation, and federal aid to education.

War on Poverty

President Lyndon B. Johnson's program in the 1960's to provide greater social services for the poor and elderly

Medicare

A federal program of health insurance for persons 65 years of age and older

Medicaid

A federal and state assistance program that pays for health care services for people who cannot afford them.

Immigration Act

(LBJ) 1965, law discontinued quota based on national origin

Elementary and Secondary Education Act

1965 - Provided federal funding for primary and secondary education and was meant to improve the education of poor people. This was the first federal program to fund education.

Food Stamp Act

expanded the federal program to help poor people buy food

Stagflation

a period of slow economic growth and high unemployment (stagnation) while prices rise (inflation)

Watergate Scandal

A break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate complex in Washington was carried out under the direction of White House employees. Disclosure of the White House involvement in the break-in and subsequent cover-up forced President Nixon to resign in 1974 to avoid impeachment.

Roe v. Wade

(1973) legalized abortion on the basis of a woman's right to privacy

New Right

Conservative political movements in industrialized democracies that have arisen since the 1960's and stress "traditional values," often with a racist undertone.

Moral Majority

"Born-Again" Christians become politically active. The majority of Americans are moral people, and therefore are a political force.

EPA

Environmental Protection Agency

An independent federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment

Kent State Massacre

Four killed, nine wounded by Ohio National Guard during protest of U.S. invasion of Cambodia