AP US History Unit 8: 1945 to 1980

What was the significance of the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education?

It ruled that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

What was the primary goal of the Freedom Rides?

To challenge the non-enforcement of Supreme Court rulings that declared segregated public buses unconstitutional.

What was the objective of the 1964 Freedom Summer project?

To increase the number of registered Black voters in Mississippi.

How did the Black Panther Party differ from other civil rights organizations of the 1960s?

They advocated for self-defense and monitored police behavior in Black communities.

What was the purpose of the American Indian Movement (AIM)?

To address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police brutality against Native Americans.

What is the purpose of affirmative action policies?

To improve opportunities for historically marginalized groups in areas like employment and education.

What was the proposed purpose of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)?

To guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex.

Who was Eugene 'Bull' Connor and what is he known for?

He was the Commissioner of Public Safety in Birmingham, Alabama, known for his violent opposition to civil rights protesters.

What is the primary purpose of the Federal Housing Administration?

To improve housing standards and conditions and provide an adequate home financing system through insurance of mortgage loans

Who were the Little Rock Nine?

A group of nine African American students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.

What was the primary goal of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom?

To advocate for the civil and economic rights of African Americans.

What event sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

The arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus.

What is the purpose of the National Organization for Women (NOW)?

To advocate for women's equality and rights in all aspects of American society.

What was the significance of the 1972 Roe v. Wade decision?

It established a constitutional right to abortion, legalizing it nationwide.

What was the purpose of school busing policies in the mid-20th century?

To achieve racial desegregation in public schools by transporting students to schools outside their neighborhoods.

What was the primary role of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)?

To coordinate and support nonviolent protests for civil rights, led by figures like Martin Luther King Jr.

What did the Stonewall riots represent for the LGBTQ+ movement?

A series of spontaneous demonstrations against a police raid in 1969, widely considered the catalyst for the modern gay rights movement.

Who were Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta?

Labor leaders and civil rights activists who co-founded the United Farm Workers to improve conditions for agricultural workers.

Who was Medgar Evers?

A civil rights activist and field secretary for the NAACP who worked to end segregation in Mississippi.

What was Betty Friedan's contribution to the women's rights movement?

She wrote 'The Feminine Mystique' and was a founding member of the National Organization for Women.

Who was Fannie Lou Hamer?

A voting rights activist and leader in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party.

Who was John Lewis in the context of the Civil Rights Movement?

A leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and a key organizer of the March on Washington.

What is James Meredith best known for?

Becoming the first African American student to be admitted to the University of Mississippi in 1962.

Who were the co-founders of the Black Panther Party?

Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale

Whose refusal to give up her bus seat in Montgomery sparked a major civil rights boycott?

Rosa Parks

Which labor leader and civil rights activist planned the 1941 March on Washington and later the 1963 March on Washington?

A. Phillip Randolph

Who was a prominent leader and spokesperson for the feminist movement in the late 1960s and 1970s?

Gloria Steinem

Whose brutal murder in 1955 became a catalyst for the American Civil Rights Movement?

Emmett Till

Which civil rights leader advocated for Black empowerment and self-defense, often contrasting with the nonviolent approach of the mainstream movement?

Malcolm X

Bay of Pigs Invasion

A failed 1961 military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba by Cuban exiles, sponsored by the U.S. government.

Berlin Airlift

A massive operation by the Western Allies to supply food and fuel to citizens of West Berlin when the Soviet Union closed off land access to the city.

Berlin Wall

A guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

The U.S. federal agency responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world.

Containment

A U.S. foreign policy strategy during the Cold War aimed at preventing the spread of communism.

Domino Theory

The belief that if one country in a region fell to communism, the surrounding countries would inevitably follow.

Escalation

The process of increasing the intensity or scope of a military conflict, often used in reference to the Vietnam War.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

A 1964 congressional authorization that gave the U.S. President broad authority to use military force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war.

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

A committee of the U.S. House of Representatives formed to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens and public employees.

Iron Curtain

The political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West.

What was the Kitchen Debate?

A series of impromptu exchanges between U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in 1959.

What was the primary purpose of the Marshall Plan?

To provide economic aid to Western European countries to help rebuild after World War II and prevent the spread of communism.

What is the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD)?

A military strategy where the full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender.

What was the significance of the National Interstate and Defense Highway Act?

It authorized the construction of a national highway system, primarily for military mobility and evacuation in the event of a nuclear attack.

What was the primary goal of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)?

To provide collective security against the threat of Soviet expansion in Europe.

What was the significance of NSC-68?

A top-secret policy paper that advocated for a massive expansion of the U.S. military budget and a more aggressive stance against the Soviet Union.

What was the goal of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I and II)?

To curb the arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union by limiting the number of nuclear weapons and delivery systems.

What was the significance of NSC-68?

A top-secret policy paper that advocated for a massive expansion of the US military budget and a policy of containment.

What was the main objective of the Potsdam Conference?

To negotiate terms for the end of World War II and the administration of defeated Germany.

Define Realpolitik.

A system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations.

What characterized the Second Red Scare?

A period of intense anti-communist suspicion and paranoia in the United States during the late 1940s and 1950s.

What was the impact of the launch of Sputnik?

It triggered the Space Race and heightened US concerns regarding technological and military inferiority to the Soviet Union.

How did the revelation of the My Lai massacre affect American public opinion regarding the Vietnam War?

It significantly increased anti-war sentiment and fueled distrust of the government and military leadership

What was the Tet Offensive?

A major series of surprise attacks by North Vietnamese and Vietcong forces against South Vietnam in 1968.

Define totalitarianism.

A system of government that is centralized and dictatorial and requires complete subservience to the state.

What was the primary goal of the Truman Doctrine?

To provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from authoritarian forces.

Who were the Vietcong?

A political organization and army in South Vietnam and Cambodia that fought the United States and South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War.

What was the policy of Vietnamization?

The U.S. policy of withdrawing its troops and transferring the responsibility and direction of the war effort to the government of South Vietnam.

What was the purpose of the War Powers Act of 1973?

To check the U.S. President's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress.

What was the Warsaw Pact?

A collective defense treaty signed by the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War.

Who was Leonid Brezhnev?

The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union who led the USSR from 1964 until his death in 1982.

Who was Fidel Castro?

The Cuban revolutionary and politician who served as the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008.

Who were the two central figures in the 1948 espionage case involving allegations of Soviet spying?

Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss

Which British Prime Minister is famous for his 'Iron Curtain' speech?

Winston Churchill

Who served as the first president of South Vietnam until his assassination in 1963?

Ngo Dinh Diem

Which American diplomat is credited with formulating the 'containment' policy against the Soviet Union?

George Kennan

Who succeeded Joseph Stalin as the leader of the Soviet Union?

Nikita Khrushchev

Which U.S. General was dismissed by President Truman during the Korean War?

Douglas MacArthur

Who was the communist leader of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War?

Ho Chi Minh

Which American was executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage regarding nuclear secrets?

Ethel Rosenberg

Who was the leader of the Soviet Union throughout World War II and the early Cold War?

Joseph Stalin

Who led the Communist Party to victory in the Chinese Civil War in 1949?

Mao Zedong

What was the 'Port Huron Statement' and who was its primary author?

A 1962 manifesto of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), primarily authored by Tom Hayden.

What was the significance of the Kent State Massacre?

The 1970 shooting of unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard during a Vietnam War protest.

Who were the key literary figures associated with the Beat Generation?

Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and Norman Mailer.

What was the focus of Dr. Albert Kinsey's research?

Human sexual behavior, which challenged traditional social norms of the era.

What was Phyllis Schlafly known for in the context of social movements?

Her conservative activism, most notably her successful campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

What was the cultural impact of Dr. Benjamin Spock?

He revolutionized child-rearing practices in America with his influential book, 'The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care'.

Which iconic figures defined the mid-20th-century American celebrity and counter-culture aesthetic?

Marlon Brando, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley.

Which musicians were central to the development of modern jazz during this period?

John Coltrane and Dizzy Gillespie.

Who was Tom Hayden?

An American social and political activist, author, and politician known for his role in the anti-Vietnam War movement and help found the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

Baby boom

The significant increase in birth rates in the United States between 1946 and 1964

Great Migration

The movement of six million African Americans out of the rural Southern United States to the urban Northeast, Midwest, and West between 1916 and 1970

William Levitt

An American real estate developer widely credited as the father of modern American suburbia

Levittown

The first mass-produced suburban housing development in the United States, built after World War II

Dr. Jonas Salk

The medical researcher who developed the first successful polio vaccine in 1955

Christian Right

A political movement composed of conservative Christians who advocate for social policies based on their religious values.

Dixiecrats

A short-lived segregationist political party in the United States that formed in 1948 to protect the Southern way of life against federal intervention.

Eisenhower Doctrine

A policy announced in 1957 that promised military or economic aid to any Middle Eastern country needing help in resisting communist aggression.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

A federal agency created to protect human health and the environment by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress.

Great Society

A set of domestic programs launched by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964-65 with the main goal of eliminating poverty and racial injustice.

Imperial presidency

A term used to describe a U.S. presidency that is characterized by greater power than the Constitution allows, often involving unilateral executive action.

Modern Republicanism

An approach to government popularized by Dwight D. Eisenhower that combined fiscal conservatism with the acceptance of New Deal social programs.

Neoconservatives

A political movement that emerged in the 1960s and 70s, advocating for the promotion of democracy and American national interest in international affairs.

New Frontier

The legislative program proposed by President John F. Kennedy, aimed at revitalizing the stagnant economy and enacting reform legislation in education, health care, and civil rights.

Pentagon Papers

A classified study of the U.S. government's decision-making process regarding the Vietnam War, which was leaked to the press in 1971.

What was the primary purpose of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act (GI Bill)?

To provide benefits and support to returning World War II veterans, such as education and housing assistance.

What did the Twenty-sixth Amendment establish?

It lowered the legal voting age in the United States from 21 to 18.

What was the main objective of the Voting Rights Act?

To prohibit racial discrimination in voting and enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the 14th and 15th Amendments.

What was the Watergate scandal?

A major political scandal involving the Nixon administration's involvement in a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and the subsequent cover-up.

Who was John Dean in the context of the Watergate scandal?

The White House Counsel who provided testimony regarding the administration's involvement in the Watergate cover-up.