History 2.2

Baby boom

a marked increase in the U.S. birthrate during 1946–1964

Blacklist

a list of people suspected of having Communist sympathies who were denied work as a result

Cold war

the prolonged period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, based on ideological conflicts and competition for military, economic, social, and technological superiority, and marked by surveillance and espionage, political assassinations, an arms race, attempts to secure alliances with developing nations, and proxy wars

containment

the U.S. policy that sought to limit the expansion of Communism abroad

Desegregation 

the removal of laws and policies requiring the separation of different racial or ethnic groups

Domino theory

the theory that if Communism made inroads in one nation, surrounding nations would also succumb one by one, like a chain of dominos toppling one another

Fair deal

President Harry Truman’s program of economic and social reform

GI Bill

a program that gave substantial benefits to those who served in World War II

Iron Curtain

a term coined by Winston Churchill to refer to portions of Eastern Europe that the Soviet Union had incorporated into its sphere of influence and that no longer were free to manage their own affairs

Levittowns

suburban housing developments consisting of acres of mass-produced homes

Little Rock Nine

the nickname for the nine African American high school students who first integrated Little Rock’s Central High School

Marshall Plan

a program giving billions of dollars of U.S. aid to European countries to prevent them from turning to Communism

Massive retaliation

a defense strategy, sometimes called “mutually assured destruction” or MAD, adopted by Eisenhower that called for launching a large-scale nuclear attack on the Soviet Union in response to a first Soviet strike at the United States

Military-industrial complex

the matrix of relationships between officials in the Defense Department and executives in the defense industry who all benefited from increases in defense spending

Rock and Roll

a musical form popular among the baby boomers that encompassed styles ranging from county to blues, and embraced themes such as youthful rebellion and love

Sputnik

the first manmade orbital satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in October 1957

States’ rights

the political belief that states possess authority beyond federal law, which is usually seen as the supreme law of the land, and thus can act in opposition to federal law

Truman referred to his program of economic and social reform as the ________.

Fair Deal

The Truman administration tried to help Europe recover from the devastation of World War II with the ________.

Marshall Plan

The name of the first manmade satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, was ________.

Sputnik

The Arkansas governor who tried to prevent the integration of Little Rock High School was ________.

Orval Faubus

Which of the following pieces of Truman’s domestic agenda was rejected by Congress?

national healthcare

What was the policy of trying to limit the expansion of Soviet influence abroad?

Containment

The first Levittown was built ________.

in Nassau County, New York

The disc jockey who popularized rock and roll was ________.

Alan Freed

The NAACP lawyer who became known as “Mr. Civil Rights” was ________.

Thurgood Marshall 

A term coined by Winston Churchill to refer to portions of Eastern Europe that the Soviet Union had incorporated into its sphere of influence and that no longer were free to manage their own affairs.

Iron curtain

Black Power

a political ideology encouraging African Americans to create their own institutions and develop their own economic resources independent of White people

Black Pride

a cultural movement among African Americans to encourage pride in their African heritage and to substitute African and African American art forms, behaviors, and cultural products for those of White people

Black Separatism 

an ideology that called upon African Americans to reject integration with the White community and, in some cases, to physically separate themselves from White people in order to create and preserve their self-determination

Counterinsurgency

a new military strategy under the Kennedy administration to suppress nationalist independence movements and rebel groups in the developing world

Flexible response

a military strategy that allows for the possibility of responding to threats in a variety of ways, including counterinsurgency, conventional war, and nuclear strikes

Great Society

Lyndon Johnson’s plan to eliminate poverty and racial injustice in the United States and to improve the lives of all Americans

Naval quarantine

Kennedy’s use of ships to prevent Soviet access to Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis

Port Huron Statement

the political manifesto of Students for a Democratic Society that called for social reform, nonviolent protest, and greater participation in the democratic process by ordinary Americans

Title VII

the section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of gender

War on poverty

Lyndon Johnson’s plan to end poverty in the United States through the extension of federal benefits, job training programs, and funding for community development

The term Kennedy chose to describe his sealing off of Cuba to prevent Soviet shipments of weapons or supplies was ________.

quarantine

Many Americans began to doubt that the war in Vietnam could be won following ________.

the Tet Offensive

The new protest tactic against segregation used by students in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960 was the ________.

sit-in

Who founded the Crusade for Justice in Denver, Colorado in 1965?

Rodolfo Gonzales

What was one of the major student organizations engaged in organizing protests and demonstrations against the Vietnam War?

Students for a Democratic Society

Kennedy proposed a constitutional amendment that would ________.

outlaw poll taxes

________ was Johnson’s program to provide federal funding for healthcare for the poor.

Medicaid

The African American group that advocated the use of violence and espoused a Marxist ideology was called ________.

the Black Panthers

Who founded the Crusade for Justice in Denver, Colorado in 1965?

Rodolfo Gonzales

Which of the following was not a founding goal of NOW?

to de-criminalize the use of birth control

The political manifesto of Students for a Democratic Society that called for social reform, nonviolent protest, and greater participation in the democratic process by ordinary Americans.

Port Huron Statement

Carter Doctrine

Jimmy Carter’s declaration that efforts to interfere with American interests in the Middle East would be considered an act of aggression and be met with force if necessary

Counterculture

a culture that develops in opposition to the dominant culture of a society

Deep Throat

the anonymous source, later revealed to be associate director of the FBI Mark Felt, who supplied reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein with information about White House involvement in the Watergate break-in

Detente

the relaxation of tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union

Dixiecrats

conservative southern Democrats who opposed integration and the other goals of the African American civil rights movement

executive privilege

the right of the U.S. president to refuse subpoenas requiring him to disclose private communications on the grounds that this might interfere with the functioning of the executive branch

identity politics

political movements or actions intended to further the interests of a particular group membership, based on culture, race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, or sexual orientation

Pentagon Papers

government documents leaked to the New York Times that revealed the true nature of the conflict in Vietnam and turned many definitively against the war

plumbers 

men used by the White House to spy on and sabotage President Nixon’s opponents and stop leaks to the press

silent majority

a majority whose political will is usually not heard—in this case, northern, White, blue-collar voters

Southern strategy 

a political strategy that called for appealing to southern White people by resisting calls for greater advancements in civil rights

Stagflation

high inflation combined with high unemployment and slow economic growth

Vietnamization

the Nixon administration’s policy of turning over responsibility for the defense of South Vietnam to Vietnamese forces

Yippies

the Youth International Party, a political party formed in 1967, which called for the establishment of a New Nation consisting of cooperative institutions that would replace those currently in existence

One of the original founders of AIM was ________.

Dennis Banks

The Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade established that ________.

abortions obtained during the first three months of pregnancy were legal

The blue-collar workers who Nixon called “the silent majority” ________.

believed their opinions were overlooked in the political process

President Nixon took a bold diplomatic step in early 1972 when he ________.

met with Chinese leaders in Beijing

The agreement Gerald Ford signed with the leader of the Soviet Union that ended the territorial issues remaining from World War II was ________.

The Helsinki Accords

Recognizing that ongoing protests and campus violence reflected a sea change in public opinion about the war, in 1971 Nixon ________.

repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Carter deregulated several major American industries in an effort to ensure that ________.

companies would become more competitive

During the 1976 election campaign, Jimmy Carter famously promised ________.

that he would never lie

Of these figures, who was not indicted following the Watergate break-in and cover-up?

Bob Woodward

Who was indicted following the Watergate break-in and cover-up?

H.R. Haldeman, John Mitchell, and John Ehrlichman

The demonstrations at Kent State University in May 1970 were held to protest what event?

the invasion of Cambodia by U.S. forces

AIDS

(Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) an immune deficiency disorder caused by HIV, and formally the third stage of HIV infection; people with AIDS have a high viral load and are susceptible to other illnesses

Contract with America

a list of eight specific legislative reforms or initiatives that Republicans representatives promised to enact if they gained a majority in Congress in the 1994 midterm elections

Gender Gap

the statistical differences between the voting preferences of women and men, with women favoring Democratic candidates

Green Party

a political party founded in 1984 that advocates environmentalism and grassroots democracy

Heritage foundation

a professional organization conducting research and political advocacy on behalf of its values and perspectives

HIV

(Human Immunodecificiency Virus) is a virus that attacks the cells that help the body fight infection; it can cause a range of illnesses and has been responsible for millions of deaths in the US and worldwide

New Right

a loose coalition of American conservatives, consisting primarily of wealthy businesspeople and evangelical Christians, which developed in response to social changes of the 1960s and 1970s

Operation Desert Storm

the U.S. name of the war waged from January to April 1991, by coalition forces against Iraq in reaction to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in August 1990

Reaganomics

Ronald Reagan’s economic policy, which suggested that lowering taxes on the upper income brackets would stimulate investment and economic growth

START

a treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union that limited the number of nuclear warheads, ballistic missiles, and strategic bombers held by both sides

Vietnam Syndrome

reluctance on the part of American politicians to actively engage U.S. forces in a foreign war for fear of suffering a humiliating defeat

War on Drugs

a nationwide political campaign to implement harsh sentences for drug crimes, which produced an explosive growth of the prison population

Before becoming a conservative Republican, Ronald Reagan was ________.

a liberal Democrat

Which statement best describes Reagan’s political style?

Folksy and likeable

The belief that cutting taxes for the rich will eventually result in economic benefits for the poor is commonly referred to as ________.

trickle-down economics

What rationale did Phyllis Schlafly and her STOP ERA movement cite when opposing the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment?

the ERA would end gender-specific privileges women enjoyed

The group the Reagan administration encouraged and supported in its fight against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua was known as the ________.

Contras

The country that Iraq invaded to trigger the crisis that resulted in the Persian Gulf War was ________.

Kuwait

Bill Clinton helped create a large free market among Canada, the United States, and Mexico with ratification of the ________ treaty.

NAFTA

The key state in the 2000 election where the U.S. Supreme Court stopped a recount of votes was ________.

Florida

What rationale did Phyllis Schlafly and her STOP ERA movement cite when opposing the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment?

the ERA would end gender-specific privileges women enjoyed

The group the Reagan administration encouraged and supported in its fight against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua was known as the ________.

Contras

This was a list of eight specific legislative reforms or initiatives that Republicans representatives promised to enact if they gained a majority in Congress in the 1994 midterm elections.

Contract with America

This term refers to a loose coalition of American conservatives, consisting primarily of wealthy businesspeople and evangelical Christians, which developed in response to social changes of the 1960s and 1970s.

New right

al-Qaeda

a militant Islamist group originally founded by Osama bin Laden

Boomerang generation

young people who must return to their parents' home in order to make ends meet