APSUH Vocab 8.2

Suez Crisis

When President Nasser of Egypt announced his intention to build a dam in the Suez to provide power and irrigation to Egypt, the United States offered its financial support, then withdrawing it when Nasser spoke with the communists on the subject. Nasser responded by nationalizing the Suez Canal, which was previously owned by British and French stockholders. This hurt Europe by crippling their oil supply, most of which came from the Persian Gulf. The French and British retaliated by striking Egypt, confident that the United States would supply them with the oil they needed while they fought with the Middle East. President Eisenhower refused to do so, however, forcing the allies to withdraw their troops. As a result, U.N. troops acted for the first time to maintain peace and order in the world. The Soviets tried to interfere. Eisenhower put the Strategic Air Command on alert to halt this.

Eisenhower Doctrine

In 1957, Congress and the president pledged U.S. military and economic aid to Middle Eastern nations threatened by communist aggression. Under this, the U.S. was able to openly land several thousand troops and help restore order.

Sputnik

This Russian satellite was the first satellite ever launched into space, in October of 1957. This began the "race for space" where Americans competed with the Russians to get farther into space. Also caused American education to focus more on science and mathematics and less on the arts and humanities.

Missile Gap

The United States and the Soviet Union were involved in a race to discover who had more missiles and war equipment. This was the difference in how much the United States had compared to how much the Soviet Union had. Sputnik showed that the U.S. might be lagging.

National Defense and Education Act

After the Russian satellite "Sputnik" was successfully launched, there was a critical comparison of the Russian to the American education system. The American education system was already seen as too easygoing. So in 1958, Congress made the, authorizing $887 million in loans to needy college students and in grants for the purpose of improving the teaching of the sciences and languages.

U-2 Incident

This took place under Eisenhower's administration just before the "summit conference" in Paris scheduled for May 1960. The American spy plane was shot down over Russia. Eisenhower was forced to step up and assume personal responsibility for the incident. Francis Gary Powers was the pilot who was captured by the Russians, but later returned. The incident kept Khrushchev from meeting with Eisenhower.

Flexible Response

This was Kennedy's plan to deal with foreign powers by not always resorting to the threat of nuclear weapons (massive retaliation), but by using specialists like the Green Beret.

Credibility Gap

This was the gap between the people and the government that grew as the people became disillusioned with the Vietnam War and Watergate scandal and specifically what they were told or not told about each.

New Frontier

This was the new program introduced by President Kennedy in the early 1960's. These programs included the space program and the Peace Corp. It appealed to younger Americans especially.

Peace Corps

Kennedy proposed this program, which was an army of idealistic and mostly youthful volunteers to bring American skills to underdeveloped countries.

Alliance of Progress

This plan was the "Marshall Plan for Latin America." It was suggested by President Kennedy to help the Good Neighbors close the gap between the rich and the poor, and to help quiet the communist agitation. It was unsuccessful because there was little of this.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Kennedy was told that there were enough people in Cuba that would support an uprising, so he sent American-trained Cuban exiles to this place. When no one was there to support the raid, Kennedy withdrew air support. Therefore, Castro was able to defeat the uprising. This was Kennedy's largest failure in his foreign policy.

Cuban Missile Crisis

In Oct. of 1962, U.S. intelligence confirmed reports that the U.S.S.R. was constructing missile launching sites in Cuba. President Kennedy rejected a full-scale attack and, instead, delivered a public ultimatum to the U.S.S.R. to halt missiles. JFK ordered a naval blockade around Cuba to enforce this halting. The U.S.S.R. backed down and the U.S. promised not to overthrow the Cuban government.

Nuclear-test Ban Treaty

In 1963, Kennedy and the Russians signed a pact prohibiting trial nuclear explosions in the atmosphere. This was signed following the Cuban missile crisis.

March on Washington

In August of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. organized a massive protest on Washington, D.C. where he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. The march was organized to protest racial discrimination and to demonstrate support for major civil-rights legislation that was pending in Congress.

War on Poverty

This was the name President Lyndon Johnson gave to his crusade to improve the lifestyle of America's poor, especially those in Appalachia. It included economic and welfare measures aimed at helping the large percentage of Americans who lived in poverty.

Great Society

This was President Johnson's domestic program. It was a continuation of the democratic ideals of FDR's New Deal and Truman's Fair Deal. It included war on poverty in which such issues as health care, education, and welfare were covered and increased in importance. Medicare and Medicaid exemplify this program.

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

In August 1964, shots were allegedly fired at American navy ships by the North Vietnamese. LBJ quickly ordered an air raid on North Vietnamese bases, and pushed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution through Congress. This gave the president a blank check to use for further force in Southeast Asia. Because of this, LBJ had total control, and did not need the approval of Congress to enter the war.

Civil Right Act of 1964

Passed by Congress in 1964 in honor of the late President Kennedy, this act banned racial discrimination in places such as hospitals and restaurants. This act also gave the government the power to desegregate schools. It led to the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Twenty-Fourth Amendment

Passed in 1964, it abolished the poll tax in federal elections to increase Black voter turnout down South.

Voting Rights Act

This act, passed in 1965, outlawed literacy tests and sent federal voter registrars into several Southern states. This act did not end discrimination and oppression overnight, but it helped blacks get a foothold on change.

Operation Rolling Thunder

President Johnson launched this, a massive air bombardment of North Vietnam, in April of 1965. The targets were directly chosen by the president. These were regular, full-scale bombing attacks against Vietnam.

Tet Offensive

This was the name given to a campaign in January 1968 by the Viet Cong to attack twenty-seven South Vietnamese cities, including Saigon. It ended in a military defeat for the Viet Cong, but at the same time, proved that Johnson's "gradual escalation" strategy was not working. It shocked an American public that had been led to believe the Vietnam conflict was a sure victory.

Détente

This was a period of relaxed tension between the communist powers of the Soviet Union and China. During this time the Anti-ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty as well as the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) cut back nuclear weapons.

Executive Privilege

This was a policy that came into effect during the Nixon administration when members of the executive branch were being questioned by authorities. The policy stated that Congress could not question any of the past or present employees about any topic without the presidents' approval.

Vietnamization

This was President Nixon's policy to withdraw the 540,000 U.S. troops in South Vietnam over an extended period, thus turning the war over to Vietnam. It would bring and end to the war in 1973.

Nixon Doctrine

During the Vietnam War, this stated that the United States would honor its existing defense commitments, but in the future, other countries would have to fight their own wars without support of American troops.

My Lai massacre

In 1968, American troops massacred women and children in this Vietnamese village. This showed the troops' frustration and deepened American people's disgust for the Vietnam War.

Kent State Killings

In April of 1970, police fired into an angry crowd of college students at this University. Four students were killed and many others were wounded. The students were protesting against Nixon ordering U.S. troops invasion of Cambodia without consulting Congress.

Twenty-Sixth Amendment

This amendment lowered the voting age to 18 years old. It was a result of the Vietnam War, in which young men felt that if they could fight, they should be able to vote.

Pentagon Papers

These were papers that "leaked" to The New York Times about the blunders and deceptions of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations in Vietnam, especially the provoking of the 1964 North Vietnamese attack in the Gulf of Tonkin. These papers were linked to Watergate in that the "credibility gap" made people distrust the government.

SALT

This was a 1972 pact that served to freeze the numbers of long-range nuclear missiles for five years. This treaty between Nixon (U.S.), China, and the Soviet Union served to slow the arms race that had been going on between these nations since World War II.

MIRVs

These were designed to overcome any defense by "saturating" it with large numbers of nuclear warheads all on one rocket.

Watergate Scandal

This hit Washington during the presidency of Richard Nixon. Members of the Committee to Re-Elect the President, CREEP, were involved in a burglary, and it was then linked to Nixon. The CREEP group had also gotten lots of money from unidentifiable places. Suspicion set in and Nixon was accused of getting illegal help in being reelected. Nixon tried to use the government to cover-up his involvement. Audio tapes proved Nixon's involvement in the cover-up. Impeachment proceedings were started but Nixon resigned from his office in August of 1974.

CREEP

This committee was found to have been engaged in a "dirty tricks" campaign against the Democrats in 1972. They raised tens of millions of dollars in campaign funds using unethical means. They were involved in the infamous Watergate break-in.

War Powers Act

This act was passed during the Vietnam War to restrict presidential powers dealing with war. It was passed over Nixon's veto, and required the president to report to Congress within 48 hours after committing troops to a foreign conflict or enlarging units in a foreign country. Congress wanted to never repeat its Tonkin Gulf Resolution blank check error.

OPEC

This was an oil cartel of Middle Eastern nations. They cut production in 1979, helping American inflation rise well above 13%. Oil prices eventually quadrupled in about a decade.

Iran Hostage Crisis

This was called Carter's and America's "bed of nails." In it, captured Americans languished in cruel captivity after Muslim radicals captured them. American nightly television news showed scenes of Iranians burning the American flag. Carter tried to apply economic sanctions and the pressure of world opinion against Iranians. Carter then called for rescue mission, but the rescue attempt failed. The stalemate with Iran went on through the rest of Carter's term, hurting his bid for reelection.

Viet Cong (V.C).

These were South Vietnamese communists. They frustrated the American soldiers who found it difficult to identify their enemy. They faced the question, was a village on the American side (as they'd say) or with the?

"supply-side economics"

This was the nickname given to the type of economy that Ronald Reagan brought before Congress. It involved, among other things, a 25% tax cut that encouraged budgetary discipline and would hopefully spur investments. However, the plan was not a success in closing the rich-poor gap. It was also called "Reaganomics" and "trickledown economics" as helping the rich was supposed to see money trickle-down to the poor.

Moral Majority

This was an evangelical Christian group that was created to fight against the liberal ideas and politics that developed in the 1960's and after. It was a "right-wing," conservative group, that proved politically powerful.

Chappaquiddick

Senator Edward Kennedy, brother of John F. Kennedy, was at a bachelor party on Martha's Vineyard. There were some young women there and there was some drinking and Kennedy ended up taking one of the young ladies into going for a ride. When they were crossing a bridge, Kennedy's car went off into the water and young woman was killed. Kennedy's story was that he swam across a bay to get help, but it was too late. There was much controversy over this incident since Kennedy was already married. Many thought his family wealth covered up everything and prevented Kennedy from being charged for murder. This controversy cost Kennedy the 1980 presidential election.

Reverse Discrimination

During the 1970's, white workers and students felt that they were being discriminated against by employers and admission offices using "affirmative action." Whites claimed too much weight was put on race and ethnic background at the expense of accomplishments. In the court case, Bakke vs. California, the Supreme Court declared that preference in admissions to a college could not be given to a certain race, but racial factors could be taken into account in a school's overall admissions policy.

Affirmative Action

These were programs designed to encourage employers and colleges to hire or accept more minorities and women to even out the workforce, eliminate racism in the hiring process, and improve the lives of impoverished minorities in America. The programs were opposed by many as reverse discrimination in an effort to keep the workplace ethnically diverse.

Neo-conservatism

This was an influential group of thinkers who were supporters of Ronald Regan. They were acting against the 1960's liberalism. They took tough anti-Soviet positions in foreign policy. They championed free-market capitalism and liberated businesses from government restraints. They questioned liberal forms of welfare programs and affirmative action policies. They encouraged traditional values, individualism, and the centrality of the family

Roe v. Wade

This case was decided by the Supreme Court in 1973 and prohibited state legislatures from banning to abortion. This case legalized abortion. Ironically, Norma McCarvey, AKA "Jane," had the baby anyway, and later said in 1995 that she no longer favored abortion rights.

IBM

This was part of the historic shift to a mass consumer economy after World War II, and symbolized another momentous transformation to the fast-paced "Information Age."