UNIT 7

1898

Spanish-American War

1899-1902

Philippine-American War

1914-1918

WWI (US enters in 1917)

1920

19th Amendment

1929

Beginning of the Great Depression

1933

FDR Elected; New Deal

1939-1945

WWII (US enters in 1941)

Seward's Folly

Nickname for the 1867 purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire for a $7.2 million. So named because Secretary of State William H. Seward brokered the deal for what was then popularly seen as a worthless icebox. Later, gold and oil were discovered in great quantities in Alaska, making the deal a steal. Russia sold Alaska to the United States to keep it out of the hands of its geopolitical rival, Britain, which seemed poised to eventually seize the land.

Yellow journalism

A term for journalism that produced juicy stories, both real and wildly sensationalized, designed to drive newspaper readership, sometimes at the expense of the truth. See: Joseph Pulitzer, muckrakers, Spanish-American War, William Randolph Hearst.

Teller Amendment

Added to the war declaration on Spain, it assured Cuba and the world that the United States intended to grant Cuba its independence once the war ended. This turned out not to be the case. See: Platt Amendment, Spanish-American War.

Spanish-American War

A war between the United States and Spain (April 21, 1898-August 13, 1898). Ostensibly triggered by the alleged sinking of the Maine by Spanish forces, it involved the United States aiding independence efforts in Cuba to protect financial investments there, as well as to safeguard the Gulf Coast from a free Cuba potentially leasing its ports to foreign powers. The United States took control of Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and several other islands. Also led to the Philippine-American War and subsequent Moro Rebellion (1899-1913). See: Fidel Castro, Platt Amendment, Rough Riders, Treaty of Paris (1898), yellow journalism.

Insular Cases

A 1901 court decision which ruled that a citizen in a conquered territory did not necessarily have the protection of the Constitution. It was up to Congress to decide the rights of the peoples in the newly conquered territories. See: Spanish-American War.

Platt Amendment

A 1903 policy issued by the U.S. after the Spanish-American War. Cuba had to have all treaties approved by the United States; the United States had the right to interfere in Cuban affairs both politically and militarily; and the United States would be given access to naval bases on the island.

Open Door Policy

A policy articulated by Secretary of State John Hay, who served in both the McKinley and Roosevelt administrations. It declared that China would be open and free to trade equally with any nation. The policy was wildly popular in the United States, as it kept Chinese markets open to American business while outwardly avoided the taint of imperialism. Unsurprisingly, it was denounced and resisted in China due to it being a thinly veiled justification for violating their sovereignty. Contributed to the outbreak of the Boxer Rebellion.

Big stick diplomacy

A pejorative label for Teddy Roosevelt's foreign policy, especially in Panama, that referenced his repeated threats to use military force while negotiating peacefully.

Roosevelt Corollary

An amendment to the Monroe Doctrine issued by Theodore Roosevelt. It stated that the United States would come to the aid of any Latin American nation experiencing financial trouble. In essence, the United States gained total control of Latin America through the corollary. See: Good Neighbor Policy.

Theodore Roosevelt

Twenty-sixth President. Served 1901-1909. A reformist New York governor, Roosevelt was kicked upstairs by party bosses to the vice presidency, which was seen as an unimportant office. After McKinley was assassinated, Roosevelt became president at 42, the youngest ever. He pursued a progressive domestic agenda called the Square Deal. In terms of foreign policy, he forced through construction of the Panama Canal. He brokered an end to the Russo-Japanese War, which secured him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize. He unsuccessfully attempted to run for a third, non-consecutive term in 1912. See: Bull Moose Party, Rough Riders.

Progressive Era

An era of social and political reform that began with the swearing in of Theodore Roosevelt in 1901 and lasted until the beginning of U.S. involvement in World War I in 1917. Antitrust legislation and labor reform were key aspects of this era, along with support for women's suffrage, direct election of U.S. senators, and prohibition of alcohol. See: Frederick W. Taylor, Gilded Age, political machines, Social Gospel, Square Deal.

Muckrakers

A nickname for investigative journalists who seek to spur reform and expose corruption. Originated during the Progressive Era. The term comes from Theodore Roosevelt, who said: ". . . the men with the muck rakes are often indispensable to the well being of society; but only if they know when to stop raking the muck."

Seventeenth Amendment

Progressive Era reform that required the direct election of U.S. senators by the people of their home state. Passed in 1913.

Square Deal

A progressive policy platform advocated by President Theodore Roosevelt. It involved breaking up trusts, increasing government regulation of business, pro-labor laws, and promoting environmental conservation. The New Deal took its name from it. See: Hepburn Act, Meat Inspection Act, National Conservation Commission, Northern Securities Company.

Pure Food and Drug Act

A 1906 piece of progressive legislation. It ensured the safety and accurate labeling of food and drug products. Inspired in part by Upton Sinclair's 1906 novel The Jungle, a story illustrating the poor conditions at a Chicago meatpacking plant.

Meat Inspection Act

A law passed in 1907 to ensure that meat sold in the U.S. is properly preserved, chemically unadulterated, and generally unspoiled. See: Square Deal.

William Howard Taft

Twenty-seventh President. Served 1909-1913. Tenth Chief Justice (1921-1930). While a trust-busting Republican in Theodore Roosevelt's mold, he also had some sympathies with the party's conservative wing. Split the vote with Roosevelt's Bull Moose Party in the 1912 election, allowing Woodrow Wilson to win the White House. Later appointed to the Supreme Court, becoming the only person to have led both the executive and judicial branches.

Sixteenth Amendment

Ratified in 1913, it authorized the federal government to collect an income tax. See: Populist Party.

Woodrow Wilson

Twenty-eighth President. Served 1913-1921, although a series of near-fatal strokes in late 1919 incapacitated him for the rest of his life, and the remainder of his presidency was essentially run by his wife Edith. The first Southern president since before the Civil War. When healthy, _____ supported a number of progressive reforms, such as the Federal Reserve Act and the Clayton Antitrust Act. Implemented segregation throughout the executive branch offices, including the Navy, which had never been segregated. Internationally, he is famous for the Fourteen Points as well as his brainchild, the League of Nations. Died in 1924.

Federal Reserve System

Created in 1913, it consists of 12 regional banks that are publicly controlled by the Federal Reserve Board but privately owned by member banks. The system serves as the "lender of last resort" for all private banks, holds and sells the nation's bonds, and issues Federal Reserve Notes—otherwise known as dollar bills—for consumers to purchase goods and services. See: Second Bank of the United States.

Zimmerman Telegram

A diplomatic letter from German Foreign Secretary ______ to the Mexican president, promising him that if his country assisted Germany in a possible war against the United States, Mexico would be given back the territory lost in the Mexican-American War. A contributing factor to U.S. entry into World War I.

Fourteen Points speech

A speech given by President Wilson in 1918. It outlined his vision for the war aims and peace terms of the United States in World War I.

Selective Service Act

Commonly referred to simply as "The Draft." It provided for all American males between the ages of 21 to 35 to register for compulsory military service. This was the first time a peacetime military draft had been initiated, signaling that the president's stance was shifting from isolationism to interventionism.

Espionage Act

A 1917 law aimed at German-Americans and antiwar activists. It prohibited interfering with military recruitment and any support of enemy nations in wartime. Although parts have been repealed over time, the Espionage Act remains in effect, and has been used to prosecute people even in the 2010s. Used against many dissidents, from Eugene V. Debs to Daniel Ellsberg.

Sedition Act (1918)

A law passed during World War I that limited the right to free speech. Antiwar activists and socialists, such as Eugene V. Debs, were targeted, arrested, and jailed.

League of Nations

A precursor to the United Nations, proposed by Woodrow Wilson in his Fourteen Points. Article X of the League's charter called for members to stand at the ready if another member nation's sovereignty was being threatened. This killed the charter's chances of ratification in the U.S., as it seemed to promise future wars.

Henry Ford

He applied Taylor's principles of scientific management to make factory production faster and more efficient, specifically with his automobile factory assembly lines. This led to the creation and production of the ____ Model T, the first affordable car.

Dawes Plan

A loan program crafted by ______ that enabled Germany to pay its war reparations, thus lessening the financial crisis in Europe. It was successful until the program ended with the U.S. stock market crash in 1929.

Herbert Hoover

Thirty-first President. Served 1929-1933. A Quaker and humanitarian, he famously led famine relief efforts in Europe after World War I, as well as oversaw the response to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. However, his response (or lack thereof) to the Great Depression destroyed his popularity. Homeless encampments were dubbed Hoovervilles as a mocking honor. Signed the Smoot-Hawley Act into law and supported Prohibition.

Rugged individualism

A belief articulated by Herbert Hoover, which stated that anyone could become successful in life through hard work. Influenced his response to the Great Depression. See: Horatio Alger.

Good Neighbor Policy

A foreign policy initiative by FDR. Centered on Latin America, it saw the withdrawal of American forces from Nicaragua and the establishment of normalized relations between the United States and the nations of Latin America. Its non-interference, non-interventionist doctrine lasted until the start of the Cold War. See: Roosevelt Corollary.

Red Scare

Ran from 1917 through the 1920s. A period of social anxiety and paranoia concerned with communist and anarchist infiltration throughout society. Driven by events such as the nationalism of World War I, labor unrest, nativism, and most especially the 1917 Russian Revolution that established the world's first communist state in the Soviet Union. Led to a series of mass arrests and deportations in 1919-1920 known as the Palmer Raids.

Harlem Renaissance

A term for a cultural flowering in the New York City neighborhood of Harlem during the 1920s. Harlem became the center of African American culture during this period. It helped to change the perception of African Americans.

American Civil Liberties Union

Founded in 1920, the ACLU is an organization dedicated to the absolutist protection of Constitutional liberties, especially those of the First Amendment. In the 1920s, they appointed Clarence Darrow as defense in the Scopes Monkey Trial.

Scopes "Monkey" Trial

A biology teacher, Scopes, in Dayton, Tennessee, arrested and brought to trial in 1925 for teaching the theory of evolution.

Speakeasies

Secret clubs that served alcohol. Visitors needed to know the password and whisper it, or "speak easy," to gain entrance. Had the side effect of normalizing women drinking in public establishments, which had been rare prior to Prohibition and seen as immoral.

Emergency Quota Act (Immigration Act)

A 1921 law that set a strict limit on individuals from each nation of origin based on the 1910 census. In practice, this biased immigration in favor of northern and western Europeans. Repealed by the Immigration Act of 1965. See: nativists.

Flappers

A type of middle and upper-class woman in the 1920s. So named because they were not unlike baby birds flapping their wings and leaving the nest. Flappers cut their hair into short bobs, wore short skirts, rolled down their stockings to reveal their knees, drank alcohol, and danced the Charleston. While few in number, their behavior was very public and raised concerns among traditionalists.

Black Tuesday

The name for the worst stock market crash in U.S. history, which occurred on October 29, 1929. A common starting point for the Great Depression.

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

An ill-considered 1930 response to the Great Depression. It raised the tariff on imported goods from 30 to 50 percent, sparking a global trade war that worsened the economic crisis. Over a thousand economists signed a petition opposing its passage.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

A 1932 response to the Great Depression, created by Congress during the Hoover administration. The corporation was eventually given authority to issue loans to assist railroads, banks, and municipalities to prevent them from collapsing. However, the RFC benefited only the wealthy instead of those truly in need.

Bonus Army

A group of World War I veterans, who marched on Washington in 1932 to demand the early release of bonuses Congress had promised to pay in 1945. The Bonus Bill, however, was not passed by Congress. Soldiers used tear gas and tanks on the unarmed protesters. The U.S. Army also burned the encampment, driving away the veterans.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Thirty-second President. Served 1933-1945. Elected to four terms, and the only president to do so. FDR oversaw the response to the Great Depression in the New Deal, led the U.S. through most of World War II, approved the Manhattan Project, and laid the groundwork for the postwar international system. Paralyzed after a 1921 bout with polio, FDR carefully hid his disability with the help of the press. Died in office; succeeded by Harry Truman. See: Atlantic Charter, Big Three, Eleanor Roosevelt, Executive Order 9066, United Nations.

Eighteenth Amendment

The "noble experiment" in banning alcohol in the United States. This period was known as Prohibition. In practice, narrow exemptions were made for medical necessity or for religious rites that required sacramental wine. Took effect in 1920. Repealed by the Twenty-first Amendment in December 1933. See: speakeasies.

Eleanor Roosevelt

First Lady of the United States (1933-1945). United States Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly (1945-1952). First chair of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (1946-1952) and oversaw the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A vocal supporter of civil rights. Died 1962.

New Deal

A series of domestic policy initiatives and social welfare programs proposed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It sought to alleviate the suffering of the Great Depression with massive government spending, thus avoiding a potential communist or fascist revolution. See: Great Society, Keynesian theory, Reagan Revolution, Second New Deal, Square Deal.

Fireside chats

Weekly radio addresses intended to inform and reassure the American public. Started by FDR in 1933, and maintained by all presidents since then. George W. Bush adapted the practice to podcasting. Barack Obama adapted it to streaming-video, a practice continued by Donald Trump.

Tennessee Valley Authority

A program of the First New Deal, the TVA worked to electrify the impoverished Tennessee Valley with hydroelectric power.

Works Progress Administration

A program of the Second New Deal, the WPA encouraged more public works projects and the employment of nontraditional workers—artists, writers, and young people—to build bridges, refurbish parks, write plays, and paint murals.

Social Security Act

Passed in 1935, the SSA guaranteed income for retirees, the disabled, and the unemployed. Unfortunately, the law was biased—it did not apply to millions of agricultural and service workers, such as domestics, nannies, and janitors, who were largely African American. A major U.S. social safety net program.

Keynesian theory

An economic policy that states that governments should spend that which it does not have—in other words, resort to deficit spending. By the government increasing spending, it would "prime the pump" by spurring an increase in demand that would eventually increase the need for employees. See: Great Depression, New Deal.

Fair Labor Standards Act

A law passed during the Second New Deal. It established a federal minimum wage and set the maximum hours for workers employed by interstate businesses. It also ensured an end to child labor.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory

An infamous sweatshop fire in New York City on March 25, 1911. 146 out of 500 women and girls, some as young as 15, either died in the blaze or from jumping from the top floors in a desperate bid to escape. While the factory owners were acquitted of any wrongdoing, despite knowing the exits and fire escapes were locked, it led to massive reforms in factory conditions.

Great Depression

The name for a global economic depression that took place from 1929 and lasted until the outbreak of World War II. The massive social and political disruption it caused due to the loss of wealth and a spike in unemployment contributed to instability throughout the world, and led to the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany.

Dust Bowl

A severe drought that hit the Great Plains in the 1930s, killing most of its crops. The topsoil turned to a fine, powdery dust that blew away with the hot winds. Many of these farmers and their families flocked to California and earned the pejorative nickname "Okies," as many came from the panhandle regions of Oklahoma or Texas.

Indian Reorganization Act

A 1934 law that replaced the Dawes Act of 1887, returning lands to the tribes and giving support to Americans Indians to reestablish self-governance.

Nineteenth Amendment

Ratified in 1920, it granted women the right to vote.

League of Women Voters

An organization founded by Carrie Chapman Catt after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. It exists to assist female voters.

Booker T. Washington

An African American activist who argued that his people needed the skills necessary to work within the white world. In essence, he argued that blacks needed to make themselves economically successful before they could become equal to whites. This view came to be known as accommodation.

W. E. B. Du Bois

An African American intellectual who believed that his people should demand nothing less than social and political equality with whites; only then would blacks gain economic success.

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

The _______ was founded on February 12, 1908. It seeks to end all racial discrimination, segregation, and disenfranchisement.

Great Migration

A period beginning around 1910 which saw millions of African Americans move from the South to northern cities. This was to take advantage of economic opportunities in the North, often to escape from the exploitation system of sharecropping.

Pearl Harbor

A lagoon harbor located on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Home to a major U.S. Navy base. On December 7, 1941 it was the target of an infamous surprise attack by Japan. 2,403 Americans were killed and several U.S. Navy ships were destroyed. Inflamed a previously lukewarm American public opinion about involvement in World War II.

Big Three

A label for the leaders of the "Grand Alliance," the three major Allied powers in World War II: Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin.

Yalta Conference

A February 1945 meeting of the Big Three. It finalized their plans for postwar Europe, with the division of Germany into four occupied military zones and Stalin agreeing to allow free elections in Eastern Europe. Stalin also agreed to enter the war against Japan within three months of Germany's surrender. Yalta also yielded the skeleton framework for the United Nations.

United Nations

An intergovernmental organization chartered in October 1945 to mediate disputes between nations. Its headquarters is located in New York City. All recognized nations are granted seats in the General Assembly. However, veto power is reserved to the five permanent members of the Security Council, who represent the victorious world powers of World War II: Nationalist China (now held by the People's Republic of China), France, the Soviet Union (now held by Russia), the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

A five-star general, Ike acted as Supreme Commander of the Western Allies in Europe. He oversaw the invasion of North Africa and the Normandy landings. Anticipating the rise of Holocaust denialism, he took steps to see Nazi death camps were extensively photographed and recorded on film. This evidence was soon used at the Nuremberg trials. Later served as the 34th President (1953-1961)

D-Day

A common name for the Normandy landings, although it technically only refers to the initial landing operation on June 6, 1944. The Western Allies invaded along five beachheads, gaining a foothold in Nazi-occupied France. 2,499 Americans died out of 4,414 total Allied fatalities. Often dramatized in movies and video games.

Final Solution

Formally, the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. The Nazi plan for the extermination of the Jewish people, which resulted in the Holocaust.

Harry S. Truman

World War I veteran who led an artillery regiment. Missouri Senator (1935-1945) elected with aid of the Pendergast machine. He later gained a reputation for investigating military waste. Vice President from January 20, 1945 to April 12, 1945. Ascended to the presidency upon FDR's death. He ordered the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan and oversaw the final phases of both the Western and Pacific Fronts.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Japanese cities destroyed in 1945 by atomic bombs. Hiroshima was struck on August 6 by the "Little Boy" bomb dropped by the Enola Gay, killing 80,000 instantly and 135,000 in the long-term total. Nagasaki was struck on August 9 by the "Fat Man" bomb dropped by the Bockscar, killing another 80,000 in total.

Rosie the Riveter

A piece of American propaganda during World War II that exalted women's war work See: Office of War Information.

Zoot Suit Riots

A series of California race riots in summer 1943. Sailors roamed the streets of Los Angeles and Long Beach attacking young "zooters": Mexican-American teens who wore long coats, flashy colors, and long hairstyles. Due to rationing of fabric to support the war effort, the teens were considered unpatriotic for such extravagance. A special commission appointed by Governor Earl Warren found that the riots were not caused by the sailors and the police.

Navajo code talkers

A group of American Indian volunteers during World War II. They translated U.S. documents and order into their native language so that enemy forces could not decipher their content.

Executive Order 9066

An order issued by President Roosevelt in 1942 in reaction to the paranoia that American citizens of Japanese ancestry might turn against their adopted country to aid Japan in an invasion of the West Coast. The Supreme Court upheld the decision to intern these citizens in the case Korematsu v. United States (1944), stating that in times of war, the curbing of civil rights was justified and that the court could not second-guess military decisions.

GI Bill

a 1944 law which provided funding for a college education, as well as low-interest home and small business loans. For 15 million soldiers returning from war, the GI Bill provided the opportunity to secure a career and purchase a home. Facilitated the postwar "baby boom."

Rust Belt

A region of the United States centered around the Great Lakes and upper Midwest. The term references the post-World War II economic decline of the country's former industrial heartland.