Period 8: 1945–1980: Redefining Democracy in the Era of Cold War and Liberal Ascendancy

puppet regime

The U.S.-Soviet World War II alliance against the Nazis brought them together, but the Cold War began when the Soviet Union left its Red Army troops occupying Eastern Europe and installed a _____ in Poland.

Truman Doctrine (1947)

President Harry S. Truman issued the ______ to contain the Soviet Union.

Sources of Soviet Conduct

The article "*_____________*, " published in Foreign Affairs (1947), was written by George Kennan, a diplomat who had served in the U.S. embassy in Moscow (1944–1946).

Marshall Plan

Developed by Secretary of State George Marshall, allocated almost $13 billion for war-torn Europe to rebuild.

Berlin Airlift

President Truman sent more than 278,000 flights to supply western Berlin, known as the "________".

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

a response to the crisis over the fate of Berlin. It was the first time the US joined a formal peacetime alliance, and this played an important role in resisting Soviet advances.

National Security Council Paper (NSC-68)

called for a more aggressive defense policy for the United States, asserting that the United States must assume a sole leadership position among the non-Communist nations.

Mao Zedong

The 1930s saw a civil war in China between the Nationalist side and the Communist Party, led by __________.

New Look

The "_______" policy of President Dwight D. Eisenhower emphasized the development of strategic nuclear weapons as a deterrent to potential threats from the Soviet Union.

massive retaliation

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles proposed the policy of "______" to deter Soviet strikes.

brinksmanship

Dulles also proposed the idea of "____________" to make the Soviet Union aware that the United States was willing to "go to the brink" of war with its nuclear arsenal.

Sputnik

The Cold War began in the late 1950s with the launch of the Soviet satellite ___________, which alarmed U.S. government officials due to its potential to deliver atomic weapons to any location on Earth.

NASA

was created in 1958 to carry out the nation's space program, and President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of landing a man on the moon before the close of the 1960s.

Cuban Missile Crisis

This crisis occurred in 1962 when a U-2 spy plane discovered that Cuba was preparing bases for installing Soviet nuclear missiles.

Nikita Khrushchev

President John F. Kennedy declared these missiles, in such close proximity to the United States, amounted to an unacceptable provocation and demanded that the Soviet premier, _________, halt the operation and withdraw the missiles.

intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)

The launching of Sputnik and the first Soviet test of an ________ pushed the two nations further apart.

Partial Test Ban Treaty

This was signed by the United States, the Soviet Union, and Britain in 1963 to reduce atmospheric testing. It exempted underground nuclear tests, but it did not halt the arms race.

Taft-Hartley Act (1947)

passed by a conservative, Republican-dominated Congress and imposed restrictions on unions, such as banning union shops and requiring union leaders to pledge that they were not members of the Communist Party.

Executive Order 9835

This order barred Communists and fascists from serving in federal government positions and allowed for investigations into political affiliations of current employees, requiring them to uphold the Constitution and swear they were not members of subversive organizations.

McCarran Internal Security Act (1950)

This mandated that Communist groups in the United States register with the government. It also allowed for the arrest of suspected security risks during national emergencies.

McCarthyism

The anti-Communist movement of the 1950s is often referred to as ___________ because McCarthy was so closely identified with it.

Hollywood Ten

Senate and House anti-Communists investigated the film and broadcast industries, leading to the blacklisting of the "___________" in the 1950s.

Servicemen's Readjustment Act (1944)

Act provided low-interest loans for veterans to purchase homes and attend college.

G.I. Bill

By 1956, nearly eight million veterans had used the bill's educational benefits, and the Veterans Administration backed over 4.3 million home loans under the this bill.

Baby Boom

The spike in birthrates from 1946 through the early 1960s caused a baby boom that had lasting repercussions in American society, requiring states to spend more money on public education and college enrollment.

*Baby and Child Care* (1946)

This book encouraged parents to treat their children as individuals, let them develop at their own pace, and focus less on discipline and more on affection.

William Levitt

A president of Levitt & Sons, was an innovative developer who took large tracts of land outside major cities and built huge developments of nearly identical, modest houses.

National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (1956)

created the interstate highway system, allowing for the rapid movement of military equipment and personnel and allowing Americans to leave cities and enjoy a small piece of land to call their own.

redlining

The practice of “________“ blocked the flow of federally-backed loan money from African American neighborhoods, with banks creating maps with red lines and labelling them “investment hazards.“

Urban Renewal Program

a set of initiatives developed by the federal government to address the decline of older cities.

Housing Act of 1949

Title I of the _______ provided federal financing for slum clearance programs, encouraging city administrations to declare areas blighted and then to demolish vast swaths of inner cities.

The Catcher in the Rye

J. D. Salinger's bestselling novel, *__________*, railed against the "phonies" who had achieved success in mainstream 1950s society.

Rock ʼnʼ roll

was popular among young people in the 1950s, but was often deemed "race music" by mainstream white commentators.

Elvis Presley

A white singer from Memphis, Tennessee, became a huge cultural force in America, following in the footsteps of numerous African-American performers.

Abstract Expressionism

an important artistic movement of the 1950s, emphasizing spontaneity, emotion, and intensity over studied reproductions of the visible world. It was led by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko.

Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s

a major reform movement in American history, challenging the legal basis of segregation and the pervasive racism of American society.

Rosa Parks

The Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott of 1955 and 1956 was sparked by the arrest of _____, a local civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat to a white person on a Montgomery city bus in December 1955.

Martin Luther King Jr.

The Montgomery bus boycott was led by a young reverend, ___________, from Atlanta. his leadership during the boycott made him a well-known figure.

military-industrial complex

Term popularized by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address, implying a close-knit relationship between government officials, leaders of the military, and corporate interests.

Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy

Critics of nuclear proliferation formed the ___________ in 1957 to challenge the ongoing nuclear tests conducted by the Eisenhower administration, and the Women's Strike for Peace in 1961 inspired more than 50,000 women in sixty cities to march for peace.

mutually assured destruction

By the early 1960s, the United States had produced enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world several times over, and policymakers accepted the policy of _______, or MAD.

Eisenhower Doctrine

was invoked in 1958 when a rebel movement friendly to Nasser emerged in Lebanon, and U.S. Marines were quickly dispatched to support the Lebanese president, Camille Chamoun.

Vietnam

a small country along the eastern edge of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia.

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel between a Communist-controlled North Vietnam, led by ____, and a Western-allied South Vietnam.

Vietcong

Rebel fighters, known as the _______, fought to defeat a corrupt and dictatorial South Vietnamese government.

domino theory

states that when a nation adopts a Communist form of government, its neighbors are likely to follow.

Diem regime

In 1963, the _____ brought about a crisis by repressing the Buddhist community, leading to large protests and incidences of Buddhist monks publicly ending their lives by self-immolation.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)

was passed by Congress to give President Lyndon Johnson broad latitude to pursue "conventional" military actions in Southeast Asia.

pacification

The bombing campaign of North Vietnam intensified, and the military pursued a policy of "______" of villages, resulting in the uprooting of entire villages and creating millions of refugees.

Tet offensive

This offensive left over 9,000 U.S., South Vietnamese, and allied troops dead (1,600 Americans), while the North Vietnamese and Vietcong suffered more than 40,000 deaths.

My Lai Massacre

The U.S. Army covered up the massacre for more than a year. In 1971, a U.S. military court found the commander of the company, Lieutenant William Calley, guilty of the massacre.

Vietnamization

Nixon promised "peace with honor" in the Vietnam War, but instead widened the war to Cambodia and Laos. He began the policy of "_____" in 1969, replacing American troops with South Vietnamese troops, but this did not lead to American victory.

The War Powers Act (1973)

an attempt to check presidential power and strengthen the legislative branch during the Vietnam War.

The Other America: Poverty in the United States (1962)

Michael Harrington's book, ***__________________***, highlighted the extent and tenacity of poverty in American society. It estimated that 40 to 50 million Americans lived in poverty, many in decaying urban slums and isolated rural towns.

Peace Corps

established by Kennedy in 1961 to assist underdeveloped countries in Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

Immigration and Nationality Act (1965)

* It abolished the national quota system and replaced it with overall limits on immigration into the United States.
* This limited Western Hemisphere immigration to 120,000 per year and set a limit for immigration from the Eastern Hemisphere to 170,000.

whites only

The sit-ins began in Greensboro, North Carolina, when four African-American students challenged the "_______" policy of a Woolworth's lunch counter.

Freedom Rides

occurred in 1961, when the Supreme Court ruled that state laws separating the races on interstate transportation facilities were unconstitutional.

March on Washington

a major event in the civil right movement in August 1963, when 200,00 people gathered in Washington DC to march, sing, and hear speeches, including Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream.“

Jimmie Lee Jackson

In response to the shooting of _____, movement leaders organized a major march in March 1965, which was blocked by county and state police and attacked with clubs and tear gas. The incident was broadcast on national television and aroused indignation.

Black Panther Party

_In 1966, this party took up the call for a "Black Power" movement, embracing self-defense and militant rhetoric.

Malcolm X

a leader of the Nation of Islam, an African-American group that advocated for African Americans to organize among themselves, separate from whites.

Civil Rights Act (1964)

This act guaranteed all Americans equal access to public accommodations, public education, and voting. Another section banned discrimination in employment based on race or gender.

Voting Rights Act (1965)

This was passed in August 1965, authorized the federal government to oversee voter registration in counties with low African- American registration.

Earl Warren

His first case was the landmark Brown case, which established the rights of minorities, reinforced the separation of church and state, established an individual's right to privacy, and protected the rights of those accused of crimes.

Regentsʼ

In Engel v. Vitale (1962), the Supreme Court ruled that the ______ Prayer, a state-mandated prayer that was recited by public school children in New York State, was unconstitutional because it violated the doctrine of separation of church and state

termination

In 1953, the federal government passed legislation that established a policy known as "__________" to encourage American Indians to assimilate into white culture and terminate recognition of tribes as legal entities.

Declaration of Indian Purpose

In 1961, representatives of sixty-seven tribes met in Chicago to address common concerns and wrote a manifesto called the “_______________“

Chicanos

Many young Mexican Americans, calling themselves "______", organized La Raza Unida political party in 1970.

United Farm Workers

Cesar Chavez and Delores Huerta founded the _____ in 1962 to protect the interests of migrant farmers, including many Mexican Americans.

The Emergence of Yellow Power

Amy Uyematsu's essay "*______*" was a catalyst for Asian Americans to examine their own lives and fight to redress injustices.

The Feminine Mystique

Many women were inspired by Betty Friedan's 1963 book, *______*, which challenged the traditional options in life offered to middle-class women.

Educational Amendments of 1972

Title IX of the ______ banned gender discrimination in education, which has had a major impact on funding for female sports activities.

gay liberation movement

This movement was born in 1969 when patrons at the Stonewall Inn in New York's Greenwich Village resisted a police raid and fought back, exposing discrimination against gay men and women in many walks of life, including in government civil-service jobs.

Roe v. Wade (1973)

The Supreme Court decision in ____ declared that states shall not prohibit women from having an abortion during the first two trimesters of pregnancy.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

It held its first national convention in 1962 and adopted the Port Huron Statement, which stressed participatory democracy and direct action.

Bob Dylan

He cultivated a vocal approach that paid homage to the untrained, indigenous music of rural America, and his early songs became anthems of the protest movements.

Beatlemania

The Beatles inspired a manic following in the US known as "_____________" and generated a backlash in the US due to their long hair, veiled allusions to drug use, interest in Eastern religions, and challenges to traditional notions of propriety.

Hippie movement

Activities associated with the movement included urban and rural communal living, a "do-it-yourself" approach to life, mystic spiritual experiences, drug use, experimental music, and avant-garde art. Be-ins were also organized, combining political protest and spiritual and artistic festival.

Camp David Accords

President Jimmy Carter succeeded in providing a foundation for a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, known as the ______.

OPEC oil embargo

The _____ in 1973 caused fuel prices to rise dramatically in the 1970s, leading to a realization that there was a limit to the amount of fossil fuels available in the world, particularly petroleum, and much of it came from the Middle East.

National Maximum Speed Law

Congress passed the _____ in January 1974, requiring states to cap speed limits on highways at fifty-five miles per hour.

Nuclear power

This is an alternative to fossil fuels, but there are problems associated with it, such as radioactive waste and the possibility of catastrophic accidents.

Clean Air Act

The first Earth Day was celebrated in April 1970, and the Nixon Administration created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and approved the ______ to set standards for air quality.

Love Canal

The late 1970s saw calls for greater federal environmental regulation of the environment as evidence emerged of toxic pollutants at _____, a waterway near Niagara Falls, New York.

Three Mile Island

In 1979, a partial meltdown of the core in one of the reactors at the ______ power plant in Pennsylvania resulted in the release of radioactive gases and radioactive materials into the environment.

massive resistance

This led to the growth of an angry, paranoid conservatism, evident in the "_____" movement in the South, the John Birch Society, and the 1968 candidacy of George Wallace.

Young Americans for Freedom

It was founded in the 1960s by conservatives to promote free markets, anti-Communism, and limited government.

Stagflation

Inflation accompanied by stagnant growth, unemployment or recession.

Whip Inflation Now (WIN)

Gerald Ford attempted to address the economic malaise of the 1970s by promoting the ______campaign, which encouraged people to be more disciplined with their money.

Panama Canal Zone

President Jimmy Carter negotiated two treaties with Panama in 1977, the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, which turned control of the ______ over to Panama by December 31, 1999.

Watergate scandal

A scandal began in June 1972 when five men were caught breaking into the headquarters of the Democratic Party at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. Persistent reporting by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward of the Washington Post drew connections between the burglars and President Richard Nixon's reelection committee and the White House.

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

was approved by both the House and Senate in 1972, but failed to get the required thirty-eight states to ratify it, resulting in its not becoming part of the Constitution.

New Right

The ________ found voice in several grassroots organizations, including the "Moral Majority" founded by Reverend Jerry Falwell in 1979

Focus on the Family

founded by psychologist James Dobson in 1977;  non-profit, multimedia organization with a global reach.

Moral Majority

This is interdenominational and promotes an abstinence-only approach to sex education, the reintroduction of prayer into the schools, and reinforcement of traditional gender roles.