cold war

POTUS Truman

President Truman's domestic and foreign policy after WWII.

GI Bill of Rights

Provided readjustment benefits for soldiers, including college tuition, unemployment benefits, and low-interest loans.

Taft-Hartley Act

Labor Management Relations Act that reduced the power of labor unions.

Fair Deal

Truman's plan to extend the New Deal with initiatives like national health insurance and slum clearance.

Dixiecrat

Southern Democrats who opposed Truman's civil rights policies.

Civil Rights under Truman

Desegregation of the armed forces.

Dynamic Conservatism

Eisenhower's approach of fiscal conservatism with a social liberal perspective.

Interstate Highway Act

Legislation to create a national network of highways.

Civil Rights Under Eisenhower

Desegregation of Washington D.C. and military units.

Mass Consumerism

The widespread purchasing and consumption of consumer goods.

Conglomerate

A major corporation that includes smaller companies in unrelated industries.

Baby Boom

A significant increase in the birth rate following WWII.

Dr. Benjamin Spock

Pediatrician who popularized child-rearing practices and polio vaccine.

Planned Obsolescence

Business practice of designing products to wear out quickly.

Mass Culture

Cultural norms that emphasize traditional family values and gender roles.

Subculture

Groups that challenge or exist outside traditional norms, like the Beat movement.

Rock n Roll

A musical genre associated with the youth subculture of the 1950s.

Beat Movement

A literary and social movement promoting nonconformity.

Betty Friedan & The Feminine Mystique

Critique of traditional female roles in society.

White Flight

The movement of white Americans from cities to suburbs.

Berlin Blockade

Soviet Union's cutoff of land access to West Berlin in 1948.

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance formed in 1949.

Cold War

The geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and the West after WWII.

Domino Theory

The belief that if one country fell to communism, neighboring countries would follow.

Eisenhower Doctrine

Shift in U.S. foreign policy from containment to brinkmanship.

McCarthyism

The practice of making unsubstantiated accusations of communism.

Red Scare

The fear of communism and communist infiltration in the United States.

House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)

Committee created to investigate alleged disloyalty among private citizens.

Blacklist

A list of individuals accused of being associated with communism, preventing them from getting jobs.

Hollywood 10

Group of filmmakers blacklisted for alleged communist ties.