Cold War, Civil Rights, and Post-WWII US History Key Terms

Satellite Nations

Countries that were technically independent but really controlled by the USSR (Eastern Europe). Think puppet states.

Marshall Plan

The US gave billions in economic aid to rebuild Western Europe after WWII. The logic: poor, unstable countries turn communist. It worked — Western Europe recovered and stayed democratic.

Policy of Containment

America's core Cold War strategy, designed by diplomat George Kennan. Don't let communism spread any further than it already has. This drives EVERY US decision in the Cold War.

Truman Doctrine

President Truman declared the US would actively support any country resisting communist takeover. This ended America's old tradition of staying out of other countries' business.

NATO

A military alliance: an attack on one member = attack on all. Huge shift... the US formally tied its security to Europe for the first time since Washington warned against permanent alliances.

The Soviets responded with the Warsaw Pact — their own alliance with satellite nations.

DETERRENCE

make your arsenal so powerful that attacking you would be suicidal (arms race)

MAD

Mutually Assured Destruction. If either side launched nukes, both sides would be completely destroyed. So neither ever did. (The Dr. Seuss Butter Battle Book is an allegory for exactly this.)

General MacArthur wanted to expand the Korean war into China

Truman said no and fired him (civilian control of military is a constitutional principle)= Ended in 1953 with an armistice (ceasefire): no peace treaty, Korea still divided at the 38th parallel today

Bay of Pigs (1961)

JFK approved a CIA-trained invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro. It failed completely and embarrassed the US.

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

The USSR placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, 90 miles from Florida. For 13 days, the world was on the brink of nuclear war.

HUAC (House Un

American Activities Committee)- investigated suspected communists in government, Hollywood, universities. People lost jobs just from being accused.

Loyalty Oaths

Government workers had to swear they weren't communists. Refuse = lose your job.

Alger Hiss

accused of spying for USSR, convicted of perjury (lying under oath), not espionage. Americans were divided.

Rosenbergs

Julius and Ethel convicted of passing atomic secrets to USSR. Executed in 1953.

McCarthyism

Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed communists had infiltrated the government, made wild accusations with little evidence. Ruined reputations. Eventually discredited — but not before destroying many lives.

The Red Scare violated civil liberties

people were punished based on suspicion, not proof. Freedom of speech and association were suppressed.

GI Bill (1944)

Returning WWII veterans got low-interest home loans, money for college, unemployment benefits, and job placement.

Baby Boom

With soldiers home, the economy booming, and GI Bill benefits flowing, Americans started having a lot of children. The peak was 1957.

Dr. Benjamin Spock published his famous parenting book in 1946

told parents to comfort babies, spare the rod, and build loving relationships. His gender role message though: mothers should stay home. Working mothers were actively discouraged.

National Highway Act

Eisenhower created 40,000+ miles of interstate highways — the largest public works project in US history. It boosted commerce, expanded suburbs, encouraged malls, and made car ownership essential.

Allen Ginsberg

(Howl)= Beats/Beatniks

Jack Kerouac

(On the Road)= Beats/Beatniks

Beats/Beatniks

rejected conformity, consumerism, and mainstream culture. They valued personal freedom and spiritual meaning. They laid the foundation for the 1960s counterculture.

During WWII, women worked in factories and gained independence

After the war, they were pushed back into homemaking.

Betty Friedan's

The Feminine Mystique (1963) named "the problem that has no name" suburban women who had homes, husbands, and children but felt isolated, unfulfilled, and trapped by traditional gender roles. It directly inspired the Women's Rights Movement of the 60s and 70s.

Rachel Carson

Silent Spring warned about pesticides like DDT harming birds and ecosystems. It launched the modern environmental movement.

Sputnik in 1957

shocked Americans who feared falling behind technologically. Congress responded with the National Defense Education Act (1958),

National Defense Education Act (1958)

pumping federal money into math, science, and foreign language education.

13th (1865)

abolished slavery

14th (1868)

granted citizenship and equal protection under law

15th (1870)

prohibited denying voting rights based on race

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

the Supreme Court ruled racial segregation was constitutional under "separate but equal." This gave legal cover to Jim Crow laws for the next 58 years.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

The NAACP, led by Thurgood Marshall, argued that separate schools were inherently unequal. Chief Justice Earl Warren agreed unanimously = segregation in public schools violated the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. "Separate but equal" was dead.

The Little Rock Nine (1957)

Nine Black students tried to attend Central High School in Arkansas. Governor Faubus sent the National Guard to block them. Eisenhower responded by federalizing the Guard and sending the 101st Airborne Division to escort the students. Federal authority overrode state resistance... but it required the army to do it.

Emmett Till (1955)

a 14-year-old Black boy from Chicago was murdered in Mississippi after being accused of offending a white woman. His mother insisted on an open-casket funeral so the world could see what happened to her son. The images shocked the country and massively increased support for civil rights.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955

56) - Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat. Black residents boycotted the buses for 381 days, led by a young pastor named Martin Luther King Jr. The Supreme Court ruled bus segregation unconstitutional. First major victory. MLK became a national figure.

Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963)

MLK's masterpiece written while imprisoned for protesting. Key ideas: People cannot wait forever for justice, Citizens have a moral duty to disobey unjust laws, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere", Moderate whites who stayed silent were slowing progress

NAACP

used courts to fight segregation, won Brown v. Board

SCLC

MLK's organization, led nonviolent marches

SNCC

student-led, organized sit-ins and voter registration, later moved toward Black Power

CORE

organized Freedom Rides, nonviolent direct action

March on Washington (1963)

250,000 people. MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech turned a political rally into a historic moment. Massive pressure on Congress.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

ended segregation in public places, banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Important for your exam: it did NOT cover housing.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

needed because despite the 15th Amendment, Black Americans still faced literacy tests and other barriers. The Selma to Montgomery marches, especially Bloody Sunday on the Edmund Pettus Bridge (where peaceful marchers were beaten by state troopers on live TV), forced President Johnson to push the Act through. It banned literacy tests and allowed federal oversight of voter registration.

Malcolm X

believed in Black pride, self-determination, and self-defense if attacked. Skeptical of integration. Saw racism as deeply embedded in American society. Very different from MLK but both wanted dignity and equality.

Black Power

racial pride, political power, economic independence. Emerged from frustration with slow progress.

Black Panthers

often remembered only for armed self-defense, but also ran free breakfast programs, health clinics, and educational programs. Investigated by the FBI.

De jure

segregation by law (Jim Crow). Civil rights laws ended this.

De facto

segregation by practice, housing patterns, and economics. Much harder to legislate away. Still exists today.

Domino Theory

Proposed by Eisenhower... if one country falls to communism, neighboring countries fall too, like dominoes. The US feared a communist Vietnam would drag down all of Southeast Asia.

Eisenhower

sent money and aid, supported Diem

Kennedy

sent 15,000 military advisers, tried to keep Diem in power

Johnson

escalated massively, Americanized the war using the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Nixon

Vietnamization, secret bombing of Cambodia, negotiated Paris Accords

Ford

requested aid for South Vietnam, Congress refused, South Vietnam fell 1975

The Gulf of Tonkin

In August 1964, US officials claimed North Vietnam attacked American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving LBJ the power to send troops and expand military operations without a formal declaration of war. This officially Americanized the war.

The War Powers Act of 1973

presidents must notify Congress within 48 hours of sending troops, and Congress must approve within 60 days or troops must be withdrawn.

US Strategy

Attrition. Kill enough enemy soldiers that they give up. Used massive firepower, advanced technology, air power, and helicopters.

North Vietnamese/Viet Cong Strategy

Guerrilla warfare. Hit-and-run attacks, ambushes, avoid large battles, blend into the civilian population. They knew the jungle terrain. The US couldn't tell friend from enemy.

Ho Chi Minh Trail

Supply route through Laos and Cambodia moving troops, weapons, and supplies into South Vietnam.

Agent Orange (Operation Ranch Hand)

chemical herbicide sprayed to destroy jungle cover and crops. Caused long-term health problems, birth defects, and environmental damage for decades ... affecting both Vietnamese civilians and American veterans.

Tet offensive

January 1968 = North Vietnam and Viet Cong launched massive surprise attacks on cities and towns throughout South Vietnam, including the US Embassy in Saigon.= psychologically it was devastating for America. MILITARY VICTORY FOR COMMUNIST

watershed

Tet Offensive, MLK assassinated, Robert Kennedy assassinated

Johnson declined reelection, Democratic National Convention erupted in violence, Anti war movement reached its peak

NIXON Peace with Honor

end US involvement without appearing to lose.

NIXON Vietnamization

gradually withdraw US troops and turn the fighting over to South Vietnamese forces. The problem: South Vietnam couldn't hold on its own.

My Lai

US soldiers massacred hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians in 1968. The government hid it for a year. When it came out, it devastated America's moral image and intensified anti-war sentiment

Paris Accords (1973)

ceasefire, US troops withdrew, South Vietnam was promised aid if attacked again. But Congress refused to send that aid.

NIXON domestic policy

New Federalism= reduce federal power and return control to state and local governments. He used revenue sharing, giving states federal money with fewer restrictions on how to spend it. This reflected conservative beliefs about smaller government.

what was watergate?

June 17, 1972 — five men were arrested breaking into Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington DC. Investigation revealed they were connected to Nixon's reelection campaign, Investigators discovered Nixon had secretly recorded all conversations in the White House. Nixon claimed Executive Privilege

watergate impeachment charges

obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress= NIXON RESIGN

NIXON foreign policy

Détente = easing tensions with the USSR. Instead of confronting communism everywhere, Nixon focused on negotiating with communist countries to reduce the risk of nuclear war.

SALT I

the first major nuclear arms limitation agreement between the superpowers.

China

Nixon became the first US president to visit communist China in 1972, ending decades of isolation.

First wave feminism won

voting rights

Second wave (1960s 1980s)

fought for workplace equality, equal pay, educational opportunities, and reproductive rights.

Betty Friedan

wrote The Feminine Mystique (1963) and co founded NOW

NOW

(National Organization for Women)... lobbied government, filed lawsuits, staged marches.

Gloria Steinem

journalist, founded Ms. magazine in 1972, fought for the ERA.

Equal Pay Act

first federal law prohibiting wage discrimination based on sex. Women were earning about 59 cents for every dollar men earned.

Title IX

prohibited sex discrimination in schools receiving federal funding. Massively expanded women's athletic opportunities and addressed campus sexual assault.

ERA (Equal Rights Amendment)

"Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." Needed ratification by 38 states. Failed= opposition led by Phyllis Schlafly argued it threatened traditional family roles and could lead to women being drafted. Never became part of the Constitution.

Reagan domestic policy

REAGANOMICS= Federal tax cuts (especially for wealthy), Budget cuts to social programs, Massive increase in defense spending... trickle-down economics/supply side economics

AIDS crisis

identified in 1981. Reagan's administration was widely criticized for responding too slowly. Funding increased later in the decade but thousands died while the government dragged its feet.

REAGAN foreign policy

dramatic milt. spending

SDI (Strategic Defense Initiative / "Star Wars")

proposed a missile defense shield. The USSR couldn't compete economically with this kind of arms rac... it may have been the final straw that broke the Soviet economy.

GW Bush Sr.

Famous promise: "Read my lips... no new taxes." He broke it, agreeing to tax increases in 1990 to reduce the deficit. Combined with a recession, this killed his reelection chances.

Persian Gulf War (1991)

Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait for its oil. Bush built a coalition of 35 nations and launched Operation Desert Storm, successfully forcing Iraq out of Kuwait. He was known for "patient diplomacy" = working with allies rather than acting alone. Importantly, he did NOT march to Baghdad= he stopped once Kuwait was liberated.

Clinton

New Democrat= free markets and fiscal responsibility while also supporting programs for disadvantaged Americans.

Clinton Healthcare

attempted major reform led by Hillary Clinton. Failed to pass Congress.

Welfare to Work

CLINTON required welfare recipients to work or prepare for work. Reduced long-term dependence.

CLINTON NAFTA

free trade zone among US, Canada, and Mexico. Increased trade but controversial because manufacturing jobs moved overseas.

Clinton ECO

boomed, govt surplus

CLINTON Foreign policy

used peacekeeping missions rather than large wars. Sent troops to Bosnia as part of NATO to stop ethnic cleansing during the breakup of Yugoslavia.

BUSH JR War in Afghanistan (2001)

the Taliban government sheltered bin Laden. US invaded to destroy al-Qaeda and remove the Taliban.

BUSHN JR Iraq War (2003)

Bush claimed Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). US invaded, removed Saddam from power. No WMDs were ever found. Became one of the most controversial decisions in modern American history.

BUSH JR Patriot Act

expanded government surveillance powers to prevent terrorism. Critics argued it violated privacy rights and civil liberties. Also created the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate national security.

BUSH JR Guantanamo Bay

detention center for suspected terrorists. Many held without traditional criminal trials. Critics said it violated constitutional and human rights protections.

BUSH JR Great Recession (2007-2009)

housing market collapse, banking crisis, rising unemployment. One of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression.