APUSH Period 8 1945–1980

Based off of Heimler's Review Videos and APUSH Princeton Review Book

Cold War

a conflict between two belligerents in which neither engages in open warfare with the other, more a battle of ideologies

Causes of the Cold War

from the Russian Revolution and forward, America disliked communists, USSR wanted to expand and American didn’t want them to, both ideologies are expansionist by nature, agreed to allow free elections in newly made countries but Stalin didn’t let that happen

Joseph Stalin

leader of USSR decided that he’d rather create a buffer zone between him and Germany, this was not the agreement that the USSR and America made for after WWII

Occupational Zones

After WWII, Germany would be divided into four of these, one for the British, Americans, French and USSR, the eastern side quickly became a communist state even though the holding was supposed to keep temporary peace, the USSR intended to keep Germany weak and force them to pay reparations while the Western side wanted to rebuild Germany economically

Berlin Right After WWII

It was split up into occupational zones similar to the country except Berlin was sitting in the zone handled by the USSR

Why did Winston Churchill say an Iron Curtain had descended across the continent?

He was referring to the divide between Eastern and Western Germany

Containment

many resources were used to contain the spread of communism

Truman Doctrine

Harry Truman formulated this which advocated containment of communism by lending support to any county that was threatened, Truman issued this on result of communist pressure in Turkey and Greece

Marshall Plan

advocated billions of dollars in aid to European countries to rebuild after the war, they thought that if nation had a healthy economy they would be more likely to adopt democracy

Berlin Blockade

Because western powers kept west berlin alive with the hope of democracy, Stalin decided to block their entry into the western part of the city, Soviets wanted to absorb west berlin into their territory

Berlin Airlift

because Soviets blocked modes of transportation such as canals and land vehicles, the US flew hundred of planes with supplies into West Berlin, preventing the Soviets from taking over

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

a military alliance made in order to resist any aggressive acts against Soviets

Warsaw Pact

As a counter to NATO, the Soviets formed this which was made in order to resist Democratic influence

Nuclear Proliferation

the spread of nuclear technology, Soviets were able to test their atomic bomb shortly after Americans thanks to spies

Hydrogen Bomb

more powerful than the atomic bomb soviets tested theirs a year after the US

Mutual Assured Destruction

if the Soviets or Americans used nuclear bombs it practically assures that they would both die

Proxy Wars

real fighting, just not directly between the US and USSR, they were just the ones backing the opposing sides

Korean War

After WWII, Korean was divided along the 38th parallel, Soviets administered affairs in the North while the US administered the affairs in the South, North initiated the war, ultimately China got involved once UN troops reached them and sent the border back to the 38th parallel, direct result of Trumans containment policy

The Second Red Scare

the fear of the spread and influence of communism by American citizens which resulted in chaos and hysteria

Labor Unions during the Red Scare

federal government required people to pledge loyalty to the United States and swear that they were not communist, union leaders had to pledge that they were not members of the communist party

Hartley-Taft/ Taft-Hartley Act

this act was passed in response to massive waves of labor union strikes across the nation, the act made it more difficult for workers to strike

Federal Employee Loyalty and Security Program

an executive order from Truman passed in the same were of the Taft-Hartley Act, federal employees had to swear they were not communist or fascist, allowed for federal investigations into the affiliations of federal workers

Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC)

began searching for communist influence in all of American society, most often in Hollywood (feared that they would spread the communist message to the American public)

Hollywood Ten

Prominent Hollywood directors who were singled out as communist, earned a spot on the Hollywood blacklist when refusing to be put on trial

Senator Joseph McCarthy

in 1950 he claimed to have the names of 205 known communists that had infiltrated the state department, this hurled him into American prominence, many people thought the American government was corrupt with communists after this, was unable to prove himself and was censored

McCarthyism

the phenomenon of hysteria in the country due to McCarthy’s claims, influenced mass culture, to be a predictable kind of American in order to not be labeled a non-conformist (during this time was an enemy of the state)

Rosenberg Case

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were accused of stealing plans for the atomic bombs, they were apart of the communist party so it made sense, they were executed in the electric chair

Causes for booming economy after 1945

increased productivity, massive federal spending on infastructure

Interstate Highway System/Act

1956 Eisenhower 20 yr plan to build 41,000 mi of highway, largest public works project in history, did much to change the economic and social structure of America, helped businesses and families move from downtowns to suburbs

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill)

1944, WWII veterans were given the opportunity to go to college on the government’s money and take out low interest loans to buy houses and start businesses

Baby Boom

1945-1960, over 50 million babies were born, leading to an increased demand for housing construction

Suburbs

people started moving here because of the baby boom, Interstate highway act and created with the advent of the automobile, more white middle class, minorities and impoverished were stuck in cities

Levittown

milestone in the suburbanization of American, suburban community conceived and built by William J. Levitt, bought tracks of land outside many cities, built a ton of mass produced low cost housing organized in identical lots, large grid pattern, criticized for being homogenizing, provided a solution to the housing demand

Sunbelt Movement

Migration of northerners tired of winters, decided to move to these warmer southern states, highway system made these migrations more accessible, usually GIs and their families seeking opportunities in the defense industry, tax dollars for defense spending shifted to the Sunbelt states (like NASA during the arms race) and created the occasion for the shift of political power

Mass Culture

widespread homogenous set of ideas and patterns of behavior to which many Americans followed

Television

by the end of the 1950s nearly 90% of all Americans had a one, provided a platform for the consumption of mass culture, provided for entertainment and news broadcasting

Examples of Popular American Sitcoms

Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver, both presented the ideal American family, usually did not include minorities, provided common language and values

Advertising after WWII

because the middle class had more disposable income, advertisers were usually more aggressive and appealed to people’s emotional needs, exploited their needs for belonging and status, their products were seen as an answer to those needs

Credit Cards

meant that people could buy more than they could afford and then pay it off over time

Rock N Roll Music

Became exceedingly popular among young people, spread mass culture to the younger generation, included stars such as Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry (both white and black musicians), older folks didn’t like their music

Beatniks

group of poets who rebelled against the conformity of the age through their poetry, rail against conformity

Jack Kerouac

was a beatnik, well-known for his book “on the road” which rejected standard poetical meter for a free form style

J. D. Salenger

wrote “The Catcher and the Rye”, novel about a cynical teenager who didn’t like phoniness and mass cultural conformity

Promises of the Reconstruction Era (After the Civil War)

constitutional amendments, securing voting rights, and equal protection under the law

Why was Reconstruction a failure?

Jim crow laws in the south and voter suppression tactics such as poll taxes and literacy tests, supreme court decisions from Plessy v. Ferguson, upholding racial segregation

Uproar of Civil Rights in

1940s-1950s, sought to put pressure on the American government to make good on reconstruction promises

Gains of the Civil Rights Movement

Truman issued executive order 9981 which banned segregation in the United States Armed forces (not enforced until two years later in 1950 when the Korean War began)

Committee on Civil Rights

a committee created by Truman in 1946 tasked with examining the real conditions of civil rights in America and to give recommendations for how to address those problems, led him to pass 9981, abolishment of poll taxes and the encouragement of federal protection from lynching

24th Amendment

in 1962, abolished the poll tax

Brown v. Board of Education

convergence of many cases having to do with racial segregation of schools, Oliver Brown’s daughter had to attend a black school over a mile away from their home, when a white school was around the corner, he argued that the segregation of schools violated the 14th amendment (granted all citizens equal protection under the law), in result the court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson arguing that separate education facilities are unequal and should be integrated, southern states resisted this decision

Southern Manifesto

Congressional Representatives wrote out the argument that the supreme court had engaged in an abuse of power in the Brown v. Board decision and in order to uphold their rights, some southern states would rather shut down schools than integrate them

Orval Faubus

an Arkansas governor called in the state’s nation guard to prevent black students from entering little rock high school (the Little Rock 9) in response President Eisenhower sent federal troops to protect these nine students as they entered the school

Decolonization

due to the colonizing of other places by Europeans that started in the 1500s, during the period of decolonization after WWII Soviets and the United States both wanted to spread their ideologies so as countries were rising against imperial rule, they were unstable at first and needed aid

Guatemale

in 1954 the United States led a coup to overthrow a socialist government that was encroaching on US business interests, the leader of Guatemala was Jacobo Arbenz whom was elected in 1951 but soon dissolved to be too Socialist for Americans, because some of the land Americans grew fruit was beginning to be nationalized, he intended to take unused land or buy land from the American United Fruit Company to give to impoverished Guatemalans, the CIA trained a force of Guatemalan insurgents to overthrown them and install a military dictatorship

Cuba

was a military dictatorship until 1959 when Fidel Castro overthrew the government, Americans didn’t like this because he was Communist, President Eisenhower greenlighted a campaign for the United States to train and arm Cuban exiles hostile to the Castro regime in order to overthrow them

Bay of Pigs Invasion

When JFK came to office the operation to overthrow the Castro regime was ready, but it was a massive failure, only led to a bigger embrace of communist USSR

Cuban Missile Crisis

the US intelligence agencies discovered soviet nuclear launch weapons stocked in Cuba (close to US) America was very tense, we did the same thing by stocking weapons in Turkey, after intense negotiation the crisis was averted

Iran

in 1953 the CIA implemented a plot to overthrow the democratically elected prime minister in order to return the Shah to throne, because the prime minister sought to nationalize Iran’s oil industry and take firmer control over it, US and European nations were dependent on this oil and the Shah was friendly in terms of oil relations

Vietnam War CausesMil

after decolonized by fighting off the French and Japanese, Vietnam divided along the 17th parallel until an election could be held, but in the north communism took over under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh while the south remained democratic, became another proxy war for the US, billions of dollars of aid were sent from President Eisenhower to stabilize its economy and he argued if the US didn’t help here it would become a Domino Effect

Military-Industrial Complex

Eisenhower warned that the growing relationship between the military and our industrial capacity, would tempt policy decisions about military intervention to keep economic interest of making weapons

Lyndon Johnson

very involved in Vietnam war, was a Democrat, attempted to correct the ills of American through the Great Society had a democratic Congressional majority allowing him to do most of what he wanted

Great Society

extension and further implementation of FDR’s New Deal, aimed to abolish poverty by creating a series of programs that mirrored the New Deal, because of the Vietnam war there wasn’t much funding available to properly help

Office of Economic Opportunity

implemented self-help programs, like literacy instruction and vocational training to impoverished Americans, only limited success

Medicare

introduced by Johnsons Great Society, provided federally funded insurance for people over 65

Medicaid Program

introduced by Johnsons Great Society, provided federally funded health insurance for those in poverty

Abolished immigration Quotas

introduced by Johnsons Great Society, provided new opportunities for America-seeking immigrants

Liberalism’s Golden Age

the 1960s provided unification due to anti-communist sentiments, and the conviction that vigorous governmental activity was necessary to write the wrongs of society

Warren Court

expanded the application of liberalism from 1953-1969, named after Chief Justice Earl Warren

Gideon v Wainwright

1963, ruled if a person is impoverished and cannot afford their own attorney in court, the state must provide one for them

Griswold v. Connecticut

1965, ruled that laws which forbade the use of birth control were unconstitutional

Engel v Vitale

1962, deemed school prayer unconstitutional as it violated the First Amendment’s provision for the separation of church and state

Baker v Carr

1962, decided states must redraw their legislative districts so that they more accurately uphold voting rights, certain districts grew much faster than others, so if this didn’t occur fewer voices get a bigger voice which is unequal

Civil Rights Movement

the 40s and 50s began a few victories implemented by the federal government but with significant resistance, the 60s aimed to claim the rights that had been promised to them

Montgomery Bus Boycott

1955, the Montgomery Alabama public transportation was segregated by state law and company policy, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white customer, and she was arrested for it, this led to a city-wide bus boycott which lasted for about a year, due to its financial pressure of the boycott the company ended the policy, helped the rise of MLK jr

Martin Luther King JR

a preacher from Atlanta joined the Montgomery bus boycott and soon ascended to prominence as one of the most powerful voices for a non-violent movement to secure civil rights, used civil disobedience inspired by Gandhi in India

Sit-In movements

more used by younger activists, members would enter restaurants and sit at lunch counters which were for white customers only and demand service for their efforts, met with mass arrests and ended up being on the front pages of national newspapers increasing pressure of restaurants to change their policies

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

in 1963, MLK and the SCLC launched another major campaign in Montgomery Alabama to end racial discrimination, gathered for peaceful protests, Bull Connor would not tolerate this and used city police to use fire hoses at the crowd, used against adult and CHILDREN

Children’s Crusade

nonviolent protest against segregation held by Black children in 1963

March on Washington

1963, more than 200 activists in front of the Lincoln memorial, MLK delivered his I Have a Dream Speech expressing his desire for a society defined by equality

Malcom X

in line with a more militant branch of the Civil Rights Movement, tried to persuade black Americans that integration with white society was not the way to freedom, instead it should be through separatism and militarism, counter white violence with black violence

Black Panthers

a black militant group that formed to secure black rights through violence if necessary, portrayed as a violent group but in reality it was legal to carry arms in California as long as they were concealed, one-sided accounts led to the alienation of the party all they wanted was a revolution to capitalist economics, wanted a more socialist economy like Canada, they saw it was a more equitable and humane system, helped many people through their survival programs across the country, giving food, healthcare and clothing to those in need

Civil Rights Act of 1964

made discrimination on the basis of race, religion or sex illegal

Voting Rights Act of 1965

prohibited racial discrimination in the voting booth by outlawing literacy tests and poll taxes, authorized the federal government to oversee voting

Loving v Virginia

1967, stuck down state laws that made interracial marriage illegal

1968

In Memphis Tennessee MLK JR was assassinated, welcomed a time of national mourning, after this racial tension endured without his leadership, and race riots erupted across the nation

The Woman’s Movement

the 1950s taught woman that their place was in the home to make it a haven but in 1963 that was shattered when Betty Friedan published The Feminine Mystique which explored the boredom and imprisonment of the typical housewife, who was a slave to her family at the expense of her own needs, sought to express that woman couldn’t express opinions of the want to be educated or working without being ridiculed

National Organization for Woman

advocated for woman’s rights using the same tactics employed by members of the civil rights movement, their goal was to secure equal opportunity and equal pay for woman entering professional careers

Ms. Magazine

created by Gloria Steinem, attempted to make feminist voices audible and bring issues to the mainstream

Title IX

education amendments of 1972, banned any discrimination on the basis of gender with respect to education and it had a big impact on securing funding for woman’s sports teams both at high school and college level

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

a push to bring this to constitution with would prevent discrimination on the basis of sex, largely by the efforts of a conservative woman, Phyllis Schlafly, that it fell short of the number of votes needed to ratify it

STOP ERA

Phyllis Schlafly and her organization led this campaign, STOP represents stop taking our privileges because to her it would take away the dependent wife benefits for social security separate bathrooms for men and woman and exemption from the military draft

Sexual Revolution

more widespread use of birth control and antibiotics to treat STDs causal sex was more common (not saving it for marriage), woman wanted to have control over their own bodies if they were pregnant

Roe v Wade

1973, decision declared that states could not prohibit woman from having abortions in the first two trimesters of their pregnancy because they said a woman’s right to privacy was found in the 14th amendment

Latinos

in the 50s and 60s they came to work as agricultural workers and were paid little for their efforts

Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta

created the United Farm Workers in 1962 in order to protect the interests of migrant farm works, staged a nationwide boycott of grapes to pressure farm owners to increase their pay

American Indian Movement

1968, goal was to reclaim their heritage and tribal traditions that have been lost to American acculturation achieved self-determination and addressed the systemic poverty shard by many Indigenous people

Occupation of Alcatraz Island

home to a federal prison, but it had become abandoned by the federal government and given back to the indigenous people who previously inhabited it , in 1968 dozens of activist claimed it, but this lasted a short period of time because the federal government made it very hard for them to live there led to the Self-Determination Act

Self-Determination Act of 1975

gave American Indians much greater control over their land, education and law enforcement

Gay Liberation Movement

1969 raid on a New York bar called Stonewall inn, it was breaking anti-gay laws because there were a conjugation of gay people, spontaneous resistance against the enforcement of unjust laws led to multiple organized protests

1970s Liberation for Gay People

status of homosexuality was officially changed from being a mental illness to a legitimate sexual orientation along with heterosexuality