Unit 8 (1945- Present) APUSH

Atlantic Charter

A joint declaration released by FDR and Churchill on August 14, 1941 following a meeting of the two heads of state in Newfoundland; they stated to seeking no territorial gain in the war, respecting the principles of free trade among nations and the right for people to choose their governments.

Berlin Airlift

Successful effort by the US and Britain to ship by air 2.3 million tons of supplies to the residents of the Western-controlled sectors of Berlin from June 1948 to May 1949, in response to a Soviet blockade of all land and canal routes to the divided city.

Iron Curtain

a term used by Churchill to describe the cold war divide between western Europe and Soviet Eastern Europe. Importance: represented the reality of a divided Europe (a free Western Europe vs. Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe) during the Cold War.

Containment

A U.S. foreign policy adopted by President Harry Truman in the late 1940s, in which the US tried to stop the spread of communism by creating alliances and helping weak countries to resist Soviet advances.

Massive Retaliation

"new look" defense policy of the Eisenhower administration to threaten "massive retaliation" with nuclear weapons in response to any act of aggression by a potential enemy.

Brinksmanship

a policy of risking war in order to protect national interests.

House Un-American Activities Committee

an investigating committee which investigated what it considered un-American propaganda. This congressional Committee investigated Commmunist influence inside and outside the US government after WWII.

McCarthyism

A brand of vitriolic, fear-mongering anti-communism associated with the career of Senator Joseph McCarthy. In the early 1950s, Senator McCarthy used his position in Congress to baselessly accuse high-ranking government officials and other Americans of conspiracy with communism.

Marshall Plan

A program proposed by George Marshall in 1947. Supplied $13 billion to Western Europe, enabling its postwar economic boom and ending the threat of mass starvation.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

A military alliance formed by the Western Allies of World War II to deter Soviet aggression. It guarantees collective defense under the rule that an attack on one member is an attack on all members.

Taft-Hartley Act

Condemned by Labor leaders as a "slave labor law". It outlawed the "closed" shop, made unions liable for damages that resulted from jurisdictional disputes among themselves, and required union leaders to take a non-communist oath.

Truman Doctrine

President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helped Greece and Turkey.

Brown vs. Board of Education

ruled that segregation in the public schools was inherently unequal and thus unconstitutional. This would reverse the decision of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case that allowed separate but equal facilities.

Jonas Salk

American doctor who invented the successful polio vaccine in 1953.

Levittown

William Levitt used mass production techniques to build inexpensive homes in suburban New York to help relieve the postwar housing shortage. Levittown became a symbol of the movement to the suburbs in the years after WWII.

Employment Act of 1946

Enacted by Truman, it committed the federal government to ensuring economic growth and established the Council of Economic Advisors to confer with the president and formulate policies for maintaining employment, production, and purchasing power.

Military Industrial Complex

the inter linkage of the military and the defense industry that emerged with the arms buildup of the Cold War.

Highway Act (1956)

authorized the building of highways throughout the nation

Bay of Pigs

an American attempt to overthrow the newly established communist government in Cuba by training and sending Cuban rebels. The coup ended up in a disaster due to the lack of support by the Americans.

Sputnik/NASA

The world's first space satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1967

Berlin Wall

a fortified wall made up of concrete and barbed wire made to prevent East Germans escaping to West Berlin. It was one of the most visible signs of the Cold War and the Iron Curtain.

Cuban Missile Crisis

an incident where Soviet missiles were placed in Cuba as a response for help. The event greatly increased tensions between the Soviets and the Americans. As a result, a hotline was established between the two nations to avoid any accidents.

Civil Rights Act (1957, 1964, 1965)

1957: Established a permanent commission on civil rights with investigative powers but it did not guarantee a ballot for blacks.

1964: Passed under the Johnson administration, this act outlawed segregation in public areas and granted the federal government power to fight black disfranchisement; also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to prevent discrimination in the workplace.

1965: invalidated the use of any test or device to deny the vote and authorized federal examiners to register voters in states that had disenfranchised blacks

Voting Rights Act 1965

removed barriers to black enfranchisement in the South, banning poll taxes, literacy tests, and other measures that effectively prevented African Americans from voting.

Immigration Act 1965

Abolished the "national-origins" quota and doubled the number of immigrants allowed to enter annually.

Little Rock Crisis

students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus, and then attended after the intervention of President Eisenhower

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Yearlong boycott of Montgomery's segregated bus system in 1955-1956 by the city's African American population

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination, to oppose racism and to gain civil rights for African Americans, got Supreme Court to declare grandfather clause unconstitutional.

Freedom Riders

organized mixed-race groups who rode interstate buses deep into the South to draw attention to and protest racial segregation

Freedom Summer

highly publicized campaign to register blacks to vote in the Deep South during the summer of 1964.

Black Panthers

An African-American organization established to promote Black Power and self-defense through acts of social agitation.

Watts Riots

were race riots in Los Angeles, though it was triggered by a white police officer striking an African American bystander, it was set up by racial tensions in the city, and led to 6 days of riots, several deaths, injuries and 40 million dollars worth of damage.

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

Nonviolent civil rights organization founded in 1942 and committed to the "Double V" campaign, or victory over fascism abroad and racism at home

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

a group established in 1960 to promote and use non-violent means to protest racial discrimination; they were the ones primarily responsible for creating the sit-in movement.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

was a leftist student movement that came out of the early 60s in the midst of the New Left, and had chapters and wide participation throughout America in the 60s, most notably the anti-war and free speech movement.

Stonewall Riot

a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City.

Counterculture Movement

Protests of the New Left went hand in hand with a new counterculture movement, a social and cultural phenomenon that emerged in the 1960's characterized by a rejection of mainstream values and a rebellion against the traditional social, political, and cultural norms of the time.

Kent State Riot

1970 members of the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd of Kent State University demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine Kent State students.

Weatherman Underground (WUO)

an American left wing extremist organization that carried out a series of bombings, jailbreaks, and riots from 1969 through the 1970s.

Beatniks

Group of young poets, writers and artists. They wrote harsh critiques of what they considered the sterility and conformity of American Life, the meaningless of American politics and the banality of popular culture.

Great Society (Lyndon Johnson)

was an ambitious series of policy initiatives, legislation and programs spearheaded by President Lyndon B. Johnson with the main goals of ending poverty, reducing crime, abolishing inequality and improving the environment.

War on Poverty

The name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. This legislation was proposed by Johnson in response to the difficult economic conditions associated with a national poverty rate of around 19%.

Medicare

A health plan for the elderly passed in 1965 and funded by a surcharge on Social Security payroll taxes.

Medicaid

A health plan for the poor passed in 1965 and paid for by general tax revenues and administered by the states.

Peace Corps

A federal agency created by President Kennedy in 1961 to promote voluntary service by Americans in foreign countries.

New Frontier

The campaign program advocated by JFK in the 1960 election. He promised to revitalize the stagnant economy and enact reform legislation in education, health care, and civil rights.

Miranda vs. Arizona

Supreme Court held that criminal suspects must be informed of their right to consult with an attorney and of their right against self-incrimination prior to questioning by police.

Title IX

prohibited sex discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal funds from the US government.

Betty Friedan- Feminine Mystique

depicted how difficult a woman's life is because she doesn't think about herself, only her family. It said that middle-class society stifled women and didn't let them use their talents.

Rachel Carson- Silent Spring

documented the detrimental effects of the widespread use of pesticides , particularly DDT , on the environment and wildlife

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

initially proposed in Congress in 1923 in an effort to secure full equality for women. It seeks to end the legal distinctions between men and women in terms of divorce, property, employment, and other matters.

Roe vs. Wade

established a woman's legal right to have an abortion under certain circumstances, effectively legalizing abortion nationwide.

Wounded Knee

soldiers of the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment indiscriminately slaughtered hundreds of Sioux men, women, and children, marked the definitive end of Indian resistance to the encroachments of white settlers.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

first sought to improve conditions for recently urbanized Native Americans. It grew into an international movement whose goals included the full restoration of tribal sovereignty and treaty rights.

Silent Majority

Nixon Administration's term to describe generally content, law-abiding middle-class Americans who supported both the Vietnam War and America's institutions.

Nixon Doctrine

A doctrine that stated that the US would stay true to all of their existing defense commitments but Asian and other countries would not be able to rely on large bodies of American troops for support in the future.

Vietnamization

Nixon's policy that involved withdrawing 540,000 US troops from South Vietnam over an extended period of time. It also included a gradual take over of the South Vietnamese taking responsibility of fighting their own war by American-provided money, weapons, training, and advice.

OPEC Oil Embargo

Cut off supply of oil as protest of U.S. support of Israel. Caused worldwide oil shortage and long lines at gas stations in the US.

Watergate

A major political scandal that occurred in the US during early 1970s following a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex and President Richard Nixon's administration's attempt to cover up its involvement.

Three Mile Island

The site of a 1979 nuclear disaster, the worst in American history. A combination of mechanical failure and human error combined to permit an escape of radiation over a 16 mile radius. While it was ultimately not terrible, it harmed the public perception of nuclear power.

Clean Air Act (1970)

law that established national standards for states, strict auto emissions guidelines, and regulations, which set air pollution standards for private industry.

Clean Water Act (1972)

The primary federal law in the United States governing water pollution. The objective is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters by preventing point and nonpoint pollution sources.

Environmental Protection Agency

A governmental organization signed into law by Richard Nixon in 1970 designed to regulate pollution, emissions, and other factors that negatively influence the natural environment.

Exxon Valdez Accident

oil spill in Alaska when an oil tanker hit a coral reef and spilled between 11 and 38 million US gallons of gas. A huge environmental disaster killing many fish and animals within the area of the oil spill.

Camp David Accords (1978)

a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt issuing from talks at Camp David between Egyptian President Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Begin, and the host, U.S. President Carter

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)

a series of bilateral conferences and international treaties signed between the United States and the Soviet Union. These treaties had the goal of reducing the number of long-range ballistic missiles (strategic arms) that each side could possess and manufacture.

“Malaise” Speech

National address by Jimmy Carter in July 1979 in which the President chided American materialism and urged a communal spirit in the face of economic hardships.

Iranian Hostage Crisis

The 444 days in which American embassy workers were held captive by Iranian revolutionaries after young Muslim fundamentalists overthrew the oppressive regime of the American-backed shah, forcing him into exile.