United States History G/T 2025-26 Final Exam Study Guide

Comprehensive vocabulary terms and definitions covering the Great Depression, New Deal, World War II, the Cold War, Civil Rights, and the Vietnam Conflict as part of the G/T History final exam preparation.

Hoovervilles

Shanty towns built by homeless people during the Great Depression, named after Herbert Hoover to highlight his perceived lack of action.

The $3$ R's

Franklin Roosevelt's three-part goal for the New Deal: Relief, Recovery, and Reform.

CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps)

A Relief program during the Great Depression that provided work for young men in conservation and forestry projects.

Bank Holiday ($1933$)

Roosevelt's first economic goal as president, which involved closing all banks to prevent further failures and restore public confidence.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

A program that provided relief during the Great Depression by employing people in various public works projects.

Black Cabinet

An informal group of African American public policy advisors to FDR who were important for representing the interests of Black Americans.

FDIC

The New Deal program created to protect consumers' savings by providing federal insurance for bank deposits.

National Labor Relations Act ($1938$)

Legislation that helped labor by protecting the right to collective bargaining and organizing.

New Deal Coalition

A group of various social and political groups, including labor unions, minorities, and farmers, who supported Roosevelt’s New Deal.

Court Packing Proposal

FDR’s proposal to change the Supreme Court by adding more justices, which was met with negative reaction across the country.

Axis Powers

The alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II.

America First Committee

An organization that advanced the cause of isolationism and kept America out of European conflicts, led by figures like Charles Lindbergh.

Braceros

Mexican laborers brought to the United States during World War II to fill labor shortages in the agricultural sector.

Lend-Lease

FDR's program to provide military aid to foreign nations while keeping the United States technically out of the fighting.

Executive Order $9066$

The federal order that mandated the relocation and internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.

Executive Order $8802$ (FEPC)

An order prohibiting racial discrimination in the national defense industry; established the Fair Employment Practices Committee.

D-Day Invasion

The Allied invasion of Normandy, France, with the goal of liberating Western Europe from Nazi control.

Manhattan Project

The secret American research and development project that produced the first atomic bombs.

Office of Price Administration

The federal office responsible for directing price controls and rationing on the homefront during World War II.

Marshall Plan

A post-war economic initiative to strengthen the relationship between the US and Europe through aid and reconstruction.

N.A.T.O.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a mutual defense alliance formed to counter Soviet aggression.

Truman Doctrine

The main idea that the United States would provide aid to nations such as Greece and Turkey to prevent the spread of communism.

Levittowns

Mass-produced suburban communities that represented a shift in demographic living patterns after World War II.

G.I. Bill

Legislation that aided servicemen and women following WWII by providing benefits for education and home or business loans.

White Flight

The demographic trend of white residents moving from racially diverse urban areas to racially homogeneous suburbs.

Beatniks

Members of a social and literary movement who rebelled against the traditional consumption and conformity of the $1950$s.

HUAC

The House Un-American Activities Committee, which investigated alleged communist subversion within the United States.

Hollywood Ten

A group of screenwriters and directors who symbolized the heightened fear of communism by refusing to answer HUAC's questions.

Sputnik

The Soviet Union's first artificial satellite, which caused concern among Americans regarding technological superiority and the arms race.

Great Society

Lyndon Baines Johnson's policy focus which expanded the federal government's role in ending poverty and racial injustice.

Brown v. Board of Education ($1954$)

The landmark Supreme Court case ruling that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.

Civil Rights Act of $1964$

Legislation designed to protect the rights of all Americans by banning discrimination in public spaces and employment.

Freedom Riders

Civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated South to challenge non-compliance with Supreme Court rulings.

Freedom Summer Project

A campaign organized to increase African American voter registration in Mississippi.

Black Power

A movement emphasizing racial pride and the creation of black political and cultural institutions to achieve civil rights.

Voting Rights Act ($1965$)

Legislation that improved voting rights by banning discriminatory practices like literacy tests.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

The resolution that allowed President Johnson to escalate U.S. military involvement in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war.

My Lai

The village in South Vietnam where a massacre of civilians by American troops occurred in $1968$.

Tet Offensive

A series of major North Vietnamese attacks that served as a turning point in the conflict, affecting American attitudes toward the war.

Agent Orange

A chemical herbicide used during the Vietnam War to clear foliage and expose enemy hiding spots.

Vietnamization

Nixon's policy to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War by transferring military responsibility to the South Vietnamese forces.