Period 8/9 Vocabulary

The same thing from Kahoot, but it's on Knowt instead if you don't like Quizlet's new way of studying.

Affirmative Action

Policies and practices designed to provide equal and greater opportunities for historically marginalized and underrepresented groups, particularly in education and employment for minorities.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

A movement founded in 1963 by Native Americans who were fed up with the poor conditions on Indian reservations and the federal government's unwillingness to help, which led 200 Sioux in the in the occupation of Wounded Knee where the government agreed to reexamine Indian treaty rights after a ten-week standoff with the federal authorities.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

A U.S. mission in which the CIA, hoping to inspire a revolt against Fidel Castro, sent 1500 Cuban exiles to invade their homeland on April 17, 1961, resulting in a spectacular failure.

Black Power

A political and social movement that emerged in post-1966 of the rallying cry of a more militant civil rights movement, aiming to empower and elevate the political and economic status of African Americans.

Camp David Accords

A peace agreement between the leaders of Israel and Egypt, facilitated by President Jimmy Carter in 1978 which included provisions for the withdrawal of Israel where the forces from the Sinai Peninsula, the establishment of normal diplomatic relations between the two countries, and the recognition of Israel's right to exist.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

A landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin that aims to eliminate racial segregation in schools, workplaces, and public accommodations.

Cold War

A term for tensions from 1945 to 1989 between the United States and the Soviet Union due to ideological differences with the U.S. promoting democracy and capitalism and the Union advocating for communism.

Containment

A general U.S. strategy aiming to prevent the spread of communism from the Soviet expansion beyond the areas where it already existed, which was originally devised by U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan.

Counterculture

"Hippie" youth culture of the 1960s, which rejected the values of the dominant culture in favor of illicit drugs, communes, free sex, and rock music.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A tense confrontation caused when the United States discovered Soviet offensive missile sites in Cuba in October 1962 where the U.S.-Soviet confrontation was the Cold War's closest brush with nuclear war.

Detente

A period of improving relations between the United States and Communist nations, particularly China and the Soviet Union, during the Nixon administration.

Dixiecrats

Deep South delegates who walked out of the 1948 Democratic National Convention in protest of the party's support for civil rights legislation and later reformed the States' Rights Democratic Party, which nominated Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president.

Fair Deal

Domestic reform proposals of the Truman administration, which included civil rights legislation, national health insurance, and reveal of the Taft-Harthley Act, but only extensions of some New Deal programs were enacted.

Freedom Rides

A series of political protests against segregation by blacks and whites who rode buses together through the American South in 1961.

Geneva Accords

A 1954 document that had promised elections to verify Vietnam and established the Seventeenth Parallel line which divided North and South Vietnam.

Great Society

A term coined by President Lyndon B. Johnson in his 1965 State of the Union address, in which he proposed legislation to address problems of voting rights, poverty, diseases, education, immigration, and the environment.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Legislation passed by Congress in 1964 in reaction to supposedly unprovoked attacks on American warships off the coast of North Vietnam where it gave the president unlimited authority to defend U.S. forces and members of SEATO.

Helsinki Accords

1975 agreement between the USSR and the United States that recognized the post-World War II boundaries of Europe and guaranteed the basic liberties of each nation's citizens.

Hollywood Ten

A group called before the House Un-American Activities Committee who refused to speak about their political leanings or "name names"—that is, identify communists in Hollywood, which some were imprisoned as a result.

Iran-Contra Affair

A scandal of the second Reagan administration involving sales of arms to Iran in partial exchanges for release of hostages in Lebanon and use of the arms money to aid the Contras in Nicaragua, which had been expressly forbidden by Congress.

Iron Curtain

A term coined by Winston Churchill to describe the Cold War divide between western Europe and the Soviet Union's eastern European satellites.

Korean War

A civil conflict in 1950 that became a proxy war between superpowers clashing over communism and democracy when Communist North Korea invaded South Korea, which fought largely from U.S. forces up until 1953.

Long Telegram

A telegram by American diplomat George Kennan in 1946 outlining his views of the Soviet Union that eventually inspired the policy of containment.

March on Washington

Civil rights demonstration on August 28, 1963, where the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Marshall Plan

U.S. program for the construction of post-World War II Europe through massive aid to former enemy nations as well as allies, which is proposed by General George C. Marshall in 1947.

Massive Retaliation

A strategy that is used the threat of nuclear warfare as a means of combating the global spread of communism.

McCarran-Walter Act

Immigration legislation passed in 1952 that allowed the government to depart immigrants who had been identified as communists, regardless of whether or not they were citizens.

McCarthysim

The post-World War II Red Scare focused on the fear of Communists in U.S. government positions, which peaked during the Korean War where it was most closely associated with Joseph McCarthy, a major instigator of the hysteria.

Missle Gap

The claim, raised by John F. Kennedy during his campaign for president in 1960, that the Soviet Union had developed a technological and military advantage during Eisentower's presidency.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

It was sparked by Rosa Parks's arrest on December 1, 1955, for refusing to surrender her seat to a white passenger, a successful year-long boycott protesting segregation on city buses, which was led by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

My Lai Massacre

A massacre of 347 Vietnamese civilians in the village of My Lai by Lieutenant William Calley and troops under his command, where the U.S. army officers were charged with complicity in the massacre and its cover-up, but only Calley was convicted and served little time for his crimes.

National Defense Education Act

1958 law passed in reaction to America's perceived inferiority in the space race that encouraged education in science and modern languages through student loans, university research grants, and aid to public schools.

National Organization for Women (NOW)

An organization founded in 1966 by writer Betty Friedan and other feminists where they pushed for abortion rights, nondiscrimination in the workplace, and other forms of equality for women.

New Left

A radical youth protest movement of the 1960, named by leader Tom Hayden to distinguish it from the Old (Marxist-Leninist) Left of the 1930s, in response to the perceived failures of traditional left-wing movement and focused on issues such as civil rights, feminism, and anti-war activism.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

An alliance founded in 1949 by ten western European nations, the United States, and Canada to deter Soviet expansion in Europe.

NSC-68

A top-secret policy paper approved by President Truman in 1950 that outlined a militaristic approach to combating the spread of global communism.

Oil Embargo

A prohibition on trade-in oil declared by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, dominated by Middle Eastern producers in October 1973 in response to U.S. and western European support for Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War where the rise in gas prices and fuel shortages resulted in a global economic recession and profoundly affected the American economy.

Operation Dixie

A campaign launched by the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO) in 1940 with the goal of unionizing workers in the southern United States in attempt to extend labor rights and unionization efforts beyond the industrial Midwest and Northeast, but it was largely ineffective due to strong opposition from southern political leaders and business owners who viewed unions as a threat to their way of life.

Pentagon Papers

An informal name for the Defense Department secret history of the Vietnam conflict where it was leaked to the press by former official Daniel Ellsberg and published in the New York Times in 1971.

Port Huron Statement

A manifesto by Students for a Democratic Society that criticized institutions ranging from political parties to corporations, unions, and the military-industrial complex, while offering a new vision of social charge.

Reagan Revolution

The rightward turn of American politics following the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan, where this revolution made individual "freedom" a rallying cry for the right.

Reagonomics

A popular name for President Ronald Reagan's philosophy of "supply side" economics, which combined tax cuts with an unregulated marketplace.

Silent Springs

A 1962 book by biologist Rachel Carsen about the destructive impact of the widely used insecticide DDT that launched the modern environmentalist movement.

Sit-ins

A tactic adopted by young civil rights activists, beginning in 1960s of demanding service at lunch counters or public accommodations and refusing to leave if denied access, which marked the beginning of the most militant phase of the civil rights service.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

A civil rights organization founded in 1957 by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other leaders, with the goal of achieving full equality for African Americans through nonviolent protest and civil disobedience.

Sputnik

The first artificial satellite launched into space by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, to orbit the earth while demonstrating the technological superiority and impacting on American education as it led to increased emphasis on science and mathematics in education in schools.

Stagflation

A combination of stagnant economic growth and high inflation present during the 1970s, which had a significant impact on the U.S. economy and led to major policy while playing a role in shaping political discourse and public opinion on economic policy during this period.

Stonewall Inn

A gathering place for New York's gay community, the site of the 1969 police raids and resulting riots that launched the modern gay rights movement.

Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II)

A treaty signed between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1979, aiming at development of nuclear weapons and reducing the arms race between the two superpowers, yet it was never ratified by the U.S. due to concerns over Soviet military expansion and their invasion in Afghanistan.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

An organization founded in 1960 to coordinate civil rights sit-ins and other forms of grassroots protests while playing a major role in voter registration drives for African Americans.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

A major organization of the New Left, founded at the University of Michigan in 1960 by Tom Hayden and Al Haber, focusing on social justice issues, including civil rights, peace, and economic equality

Taft-Hartley Act

1947 law passed over President Harry Truman's veto where the law contained a number of provisions to weaken labor unions, including the banning of closed shops.

Tet Offensive

A surprise attack by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese during the Vietnamese New Year of 1968 that turned American public opinion strongly against the war in Vietnam.

The Feminine Mystique

A book written by Betty Friedan in 1963 that is considered a landmark feminist work by playing a key role in the second wave of feminism—focused on issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and workplace discrimination—and challenged the traditional view of women's roles as solely domestic and called for women to have greater opportunities for education, career advancement, and personal fulfillment.

Three Mile Island

A nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, site of 1979 accident that released radioactive steam into the air where the public reaction ended the nuclear power industry's expansion.

Title IX

Part of the Educational Amendments Act of 1972 that banned gender discrimination in higher education.

Truman Doctrine

President Truman's program announced in 1947 of aid to European countries—particularly Greece and Turkey—threatened by communism.

Urban Removal

A series of policies supported by all levels of government that allowed local governments and housing authorities to demolish so-called blighted areas in urban centers to replace them with more valuable real estate usually reserved for white people.

Voting Rights Act

A law passed in the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.'s Selma-to-Montgomery March in 1965 where it authorized federal protection of the right to vote and permitted federal enforcement of minority voting rights in individual counties, mostly in the South.

War on Poverty

A plan announced by President Lyndon B. Johnson in his 1964 State of the Union address that is under the Economic Opportunity Bill signed later that year, Head Start, VISTA, and the Jobs Corps were created, and programs were created for students, farmers, and businesses in efforts to eliminate poverty.

War Powers Act

A law passed in 1973, reflecting growing opposition to American involvement in Vietnam War, where it required congressional approval before president sent troops abroad.

Watergate

The Washington office and apartment complex that lent its name to the 1972-1974 scandal of the Nixon administration where Nixon resigned the presidency under threat of impeachment when his knowledge of the break-in at the Watergate and subsequent cover-up was revealed.