Midterm

Themes 1.3 and 1.4

Why was Truman considered the “whoopsie” president?

he became president because he was vice president when FDR died at the beginning of his term

Who took the blame for the initial postwar economy being poor?

Truman

Why was the postwar economy poor initially?

due to inflation and labor strikes

What redeeming qualities did Truman have?

he was authentic and accountable

What did Truman accomplish?

• he integrated the military

• he appointed a civil rights commission

• he raised minimum wage

• he attempted universal healthcare

• he extended the New Deal

Why did Republicans win control of Congress in the 1946 midterm elections?

the Democrats in power were blamed for the poor economy

Who did the Republicans nominate for the 1948 presidential candidate?

Thomas Dewey, New York governor

Why was Dewey confident in the 1948 presidential election?

he had a large lead in the polls and the Democrats were split between candidates Truman and Wallace

Who were the 2 presidential candidates that created opposition to Truman within the Democratic party?

Henry Wallace (Progressive/Left) – liberal, soft on Soviets, and strong on civil rights

Strom Thurmond (Dixiecrats/Right) – a southern segregationist that left the Democratic party angry over Truman’s civil rights agenda

How did Truman campaign?

by traveling throughout the country by train, giving more than 300 speeches, and labeling the Republican Congress a “do nothing” Congress

How did Truman earn the nickname “give ‘em hell Harry”?

a supporter shouted the phrase during a speech

Why was Truman’s win surprising?

split parties don’t usually win elections

When was the First Red Scare?

in the 1920s

What did the First Red Scare lead to?

the deportation of “undesirable” immigrants, who were mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe

What were the main events of the First Red Scare?

the Palmer raids and the Sacco and Vanzetti trial

What did postwar WWII issues include?

the aggressiveness of Stalin and the Iron Curtain

What did communist ideology include?

government control of all private property, including social media, no free elections or bill of rights, and criminalization of organized religion

How did Soviets obtain the ability to make atomic bombs?

espionage

Who were outed as Communist spies?

Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs

What happened to the Rosenbergs?

they were executed

What country became communist in 1949?

China

How was the U.S.’s approach to communism viewed?

they were believed to be soft toward it

Who started the Korean war?

aggressive Communist North Koreans

Who were the Communist North Koreans backed by?

China and the USSR

What portion of Americans belonged to communist/socialist policies?

a small percentage

What did conservatives label as Reds/Commies?

labor unions, civil rights leaders, and liberals

Why did Truman create the Loyalty Review Board (EO 9835)?

to investigate communist sympathizers in the government

What did the House UnAmerican Committie (HUAC)?

it investigated subversives in the entertainment industry

What did the Supreme Court rule in Dennis v. U.S. (1951)?

it upheld limiting the first amendment rights of communists

What did FBI director J. Edgar Hoover do to help Loyalty Committees do?

investigate 5,000,000 Americans

What did the Lavender Scare do?

out and fire gay federal employees

Who was Joseph McCarthy>

a conservative senator from Wisconsin who was the person most associated with anti-communist hysteria

What did McCarthy use the Red Scare for?

for his political benefit, by accusing people without evidence

How did the media benefit from McCarthyism?

the scandal sold millions of newspapers and boosted TV ratings

How far did McCarthy’s investigations extend?

throughout all levels of the government, including the military

Why wasn’t McCarthy confronted?

due to fear of being put on his list and losing elections

Who used communism to win political campaigns?

mostly conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats

How was McCarthy shown to be reckless and belligerent?

through the televised Army-McCarthy hearings in 1953

What happened to McCarthy?

he lost public trust, was eventually censured by Congress, and died of alcoholism in 1957

Who was on the Democratic ticket in the 1952 presidential election?

Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson for president and segregationist John Sparkman as vice president

Who was on the Republican ticket in the 1952 presidential election?

war hero Dwight “Ike” D. Eisenhower as president and Richard Nixon as vice president

What helped Nixon to gain hard line conservative votes?

his reputation as a communist hater and hunter

What kept Nixon on the Democratic ticket in spite of corruption charges and accusations of him being soft on communism?

his televised “checkers” speech

What were the biggest issues at the time of the 1952 presidential election?

the Cold War, Red Scare, and U.S. involvement in the Korean War

How did TV help Eisenhower’s brand?

by portraying him as an “American grandpa”

What demographic was Eisenhower very popular with?

female voters

Who did Eisenhower win the Republican primary against, and how?

Taft, over issues of limiting government spending

Who were the candidates of the 1956 presidential election?

Stevenson and Eisenhower, once again

Why was Eisenhower popular?

for ending the Korean war, leading a peacetime economy, and having well-liked domestic policies

How did Stevenson loose Northern liberal votes in the 1956 presidential election?

by appeasing racist Southern Democrats

How did Democrats try to make Eisenhower look worse?

by using negative TV ads, which ended up being unsuccessful and benefitted Eisenhower

Why did Eisenhower consider military spending a “necessary evil”?

based on the Cold War arms race with the Soviets

What did Eisenhower’s 1961 farewell address warn against?

the build up of peacetime weapons by profiteers and war hawks (a.k.a. the military industrial complex)

How was Eisenhower a “dynamic” (a.k.a. Moderate) Republican?

he was conservative on fiscal policy and liberal on social issues

What were Eisenhower’s anti-socialist policies?

cutting federal spending, balancing the budget, and cutting taxes

Who ended the bracero program of legally imported Mexican farmworkers?

Eisenhower

Who started Operation Wetback?

Eisenhower

What did Operation Wetback do?

it rounded up thousands of illegal immigrants and dumped them across the border in 1954

How did Eisenhower strengthen and support the New Deal programs?

by raising minimum wage, expanding Social Security, helping unemployment, and giving farm aid

What did the Interstate Highway Act of 1956 do?

it built 42,000 miles of highway systems all across the U.S.

What benefitted from the Interstate Highway Act?

cars, trucks, oil, suburbs, and construction

What was worsened from the Interstate Highway Act?

cities, trains, the environment, and traffic fatalities

What weakened unions?

organized crime and corruption

What did weakened unions lead to?

labor union reform and transparency laws

What was Eisenhower’s role in civil rights?

he moderately supported iconic civil rights achievements, including Brown v. Board of Education, the Alabama bus boycott, Little Rock 9, and Civil Rights of 1957

What does the NAACP stand for?

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

When was the NAACP established?

1909

Who established the NAACP by?

W.E.B. DuBois and Ida B. Wells

What is the largest civil rights group?

the NAACP

What was one of the original goals of the NAACP?

to campaign against lynching

What film did the NAACP boycott and why?

Birth of a Nation, because it portrayed the KKK as heroes

What was the NAACP instrumental in?

desegregation in the 1950s

Which NAACP member made the winning argument in Brown v. Board of Education?

Thurgood Marshall

Who was the NAACP led by?

Walter White (1929-55)

What did the NAACP work on with SCLC?

a successful boycott in 1955-56 after Rosa Parks’ arrest

What does the SCLC stand for?

the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

What was the SCLC?

an organization of black ministers

Who led the SCLC?

Martin Luther King, Jr.

What was the SCLC most notable for?

nonviolent civil disobedience, including protest marches

Where did the SCLC have umbrella organizations?

across Southern states where Jim Crow laws were strictly enforced

What was the SCLC’s original focus in the 1950s?

desegregation of the South and black voting rights

Who was A. Philip Randolph?

an iconic labor union organizer and politician

What did A. Philip Randolph accomplish?

• he famously developed nonviolent methods to protest against discrimination in the workplace

• he became the model for civil rights protests of the 1950s

• he helped organize the 1963 March on Washington

Who was Roy Wilkins?

a civil rights leader, activist, and newspaper editor

What did Roy Wilkins believe in?

achieving reform through registration

What did Roy Wilkins accomplish?

• he wrote hundreds of legal challenges

• he led the NAACP for over 20 years, including through Brown vs. Board and the ‘50s/’60s civil rights movement

Who was Bayard Rustin?

a political activist and pacifist

What did Bayard Rustin accomplish?

• he was a primary organizer of the March on Washington

• he mentored MLK on nonviolent resistance

• he planned the Journey of Reconciliation, which served as a model for the Freedom Rides

• he led a voter registration campaign and a program to prepare people of color for apprenticeships

Who was Thurgood Marshall?

a civil rights lawyer

What did Thurgood Marshall accomplish?

• he graduated from Howard (an HBCU)

• he led a voter registration campaign and a program to prepare people of color for apprenticeships

• he successfully argued Brown v. Board

• he became the first black Supreme Court Justice

Who was John Lewis?

a civil rights activist and politician

What did John Lewis accomplish?

• he co-founded and chair the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

• he participated in the Freedom Rides

• he gave a keynote speech at the March on Washington

• he led the first of the three Selma to Montgomery marches in 1965

Who was James Farmer?

a civil rights activist and leader

What did James Farmer accomplish?

• he co-founded the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) to fight Jim Crow laws

• he led the Freedom Rides to desegregate interstate bus travel

Who was Ella Baker?

a civil and human rights activist and original member of SCLC

What did Ella Baker accomplish?

• she was the executive director of the SCLC

• she encouraged young people to create SNCC

• she helped create the Mississippi Democratic Freedom Party, which was intended to help overturn the all-white Democratic Party delegation

• she co-founded In Friendship, an organization to raise money to fight against Jim Crow Laws

Who was Medgar Evers?

a civil rights activist and soldier

What did Medgar Evers accomplish?

• he spoke out against Jim Crow laws

• he protested segregation

• he investigated the lynching of Emmett Till

• he established new NAACP chapters

• he organized voter register drives to help blacks in Mississippi

• he led boycotts of segregationist companies and white merchants

• he led efforts to desegregate schools, parks and beaches

• he gathered evidence of racially motivated incidents

Who was W.E.B. DuBois?

a sociologist, socialist, historian and civil rights activist

What did W.E.B. DuBois accomplish?

• he co-founded the NAACP

• he founded the NAACP’s official journal, The Crisis

• he wrote The Souls of Black Folk, a collection of sociological essays that examined the Black experience in the United States

• he founded the Niagara Movement, a group of African American leaders who fought for racial equality

• he was a founder of the Pan-African movement and organized the first international congresses of leaders from Africa and the Diaspora