U.S. History Concepts

Flashcards covering key figures and concepts from U.S. history.

Theodore Roosevelt

Progressive president, trust-buster, leader of the Rough Riders, ran for president again as part of the Bull Moose Party.

Woodrow Wilson

WWI president who proposed the Fourteen Points and the League of Nations.

Herbert Hoover

President during the stock market crash; criticized for his inaction during the Great Depression.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Implemented New Deal programs and provided leadership through the Great Depression and most of WWII.

Harry Truman

Approved using atomic bombs on Japan; initiated the Truman Doctrine aimed at containing communism.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

WWII general; president during the 1950s Cold War era; supported federal intervention in civil rights.

John F. Kennedy

President during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Bay of Pigs; assassinated in 1963.

Lyndon B. Johnson

Signed the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965); initiated Great Society programs.

Richard Nixon

President during Vietnam withdrawal; resigned due to the Watergate scandal.

Jacob Riis

Photographer and muckraker who exposed urban poverty in 'How the Other Half Lives.'

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

His assassination in 1914 triggered World War I.

Henry Ford

Invented the modern assembly line for car production.

Winston Churchill

British Prime Minister during WWII known for leadership during the Blitz.

Adolf Hitler

Nazi leader responsible for WWII and the Holocaust.

Joseph Stalin

Dictator of the Soviet Union during WWII and early Cold War.

Benito Mussolini

Fascist dictator of Italy during WWII.

Hideki Tojo

Japanese military leader and Prime Minister during WWII.

Oppenheimer

Lead scientist of the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb.

Joseph McCarthy

Led anti-communist investigations during the Red Scare; known for McCarthyism.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

Executed for allegedly passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.

Lee Harvey Oswald

Accused assassin of President John F. Kennedy.

Fidel Castro

Cuban communist leader during the Cold War and Cuban Missile Crisis.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Leader of the nonviolent civil rights movement; known for his 'I Have a Dream' speech.

Thurgood Marshall

First African American Supreme Court justice; lawyer in Brown v. Board.

Emmett Till

Teen whose lynching galvanized the Civil Rights Movement.

Rosa Parks

Her refusal to give up her bus seat led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Progressivism

Reform movement aimed at addressing issues from industrialization and urbanization.

Lusitania

British ship sunk by Germans in 1915; contributed to U.S. entry into WWI.

Zimmerman Note

German message proposing a Mexico-Germany alliance; helped lead U.S. to WWI.

League of Nations

Post-WWI international peacekeeping body that the U.S. did not join.

Prohibition

Era when the manufacture and sale of alcohol were illegal in the U.S.

18th Amendment

Established prohibition of alcohol in the U.S.

19th Amendment

Granted women the right to vote.

Bonus Army

WWI veterans who protested for military bonuses in 1932.

New Deal

FDR's programs designed to combat the Great Depression.

Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact

Agreement between Germany and USSR to not attack one another before WWII.

Pearl Harbor

Japanese attack on U.S. base in Hawaii; led to U.S. entry into WWII.

D-Day

Allied invasion of Normandy, France on June 6, 1944.

Holocaust

Systematic murder of 6 million Jews by Nazi Germany.

Anti-Semitism

Prejudice and discrimination against Jewish people.

Executive Order 9066

Ordered the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

Manhattan Project

Secret U.S. project to develop atomic bombs during WWII.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Japanese cities targeted with atomic bombs in August 1945.

United Nations

International peacekeeping organization founded after WWII.

Nuremberg Trials

Trials of Nazi leaders for war crimes following WWII.

Cold War

Tension and competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union post-WWII.

Korean War

1950-1953 conflict between communist North and democratic South Korea.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Military alliance of the U.S. and European democracies.

Warsaw Pact

Soviet-led military alliance of Eastern European nations.

Sputnik

First satellite launched by the USSR, marking the start of the space race.

Berlin Airlift

U.S. and Allies supplied West Berlin during the Soviet blockade.

Berlin Wall

Divided communist East and democratic West Berlin.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Failed U.S. invasion of Cuba aimed at overthrowing Castro.

Brown v. Board of Education

Supreme Court case that declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Year-long protest against segregated buses following Rosa Parks’ arrest.

Sit-ins

Nonviolent protests where demonstrators occupy space until served equally.

Freedom Rides

Civil rights activists rode buses to protest segregation.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, gender, religion, or nationality.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Legislation that prohibited voting restrictions based on race.

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

Allowed U.S. escalation of military involvement in Vietnam.

Pentagon Papers

Secret government documents revealing mismanagement during the Vietnam War.

Causes of World War I (MANIA)

Militarism, Alliances, Nationalism, Imperialism, Assassination.

Causes of WWII

Treaty of Versailles, rise of dictators, appeasement, economic instability.

Allied Powers WWII

The countries of the U.S., U.K., France, Soviet Union, and China.

Axis Powers WWII

Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Black Tuesday

day the stock market crashed

Treaty of Versailles

peace agreement that officially ended WWI

WWII Allies

United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, China

Hawaii

the attack on Pearl Harbor

France

D-Day

Cuba

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Germany

Berlin Wall, Berlin Airlift

Japan

dropping of the atomic bombs (Nagasaki and Hiroshima)

Russia (USSR)

signed the Non-Aggression Pact with Germany

Mexico

Zimmerman Note was intended for this country

Causes of the Great Depression

Stock market crash, bank failures

Causes of the Cold War

U.S. vs USSR ideological conflict

Technological Advancements (1900-1970)

Automobile, Television, Computers, Atomic Bomb, Space Technology, Airplane, Radio Broadcasting, Talkies at the movies, Credit Cards,

Populist Movement

A movement by discontented farmers in the late 19th century that advocated for radical economic reforms and greater government intervention

Progressive Movement

Reform efforts led by urban middle-class citizens aimed at curbing corruption, regulating industries, and improving social conditions

Muckrakers

Journalists who exposed corporate greed, corruption, and social injustice during the Progressive Era

William Howard Taft

27th president; pursued antitrust litigation more aggressively than Roosevelt and later served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

The Great Mirgration

Mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to urban North for wartime industrial jobs

Wilson’s Fourteen Points

Woodrow Wilson’s plan for a post-WWI world focused on free trade, self-determination, and establishing the League of Nations

McCarthyism

Anti-communist movement led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, characterized by unsubstantiated accusations and fear-mongering

Montgomery Bus Boycott

1955 protest against segregated buses in Montgomery, Alabama, sparked by Rosa Parks’ arrest

Brinkmanship

Policy of pushing dangerous situations to the brink of disaster rather than conceding

Domino Theory

Belief that if one nation falls to communism, nearby nations will fall like a row of dominoes

Watergate Scandal

Political scandal involving a break-in at Democratic headquarters; led to President Nixon’s resignation.

Pentagon Papers

Classified documents revealing government deception in the Vietnam War; leaked to the press in 1971.