US History Regents - WWII to Present

Isolationism

A foreign policy of staying out of other nations' political and military affairs; guided U.S. policy before both World Wars

Neutrality

A foreign policy of taking no side in international disputes while still engaging in trade; George Washington's preferred approach

Monroe Doctrine

President Monroe's 1823 declaration that the U.S. would not interfere in European affairs and Europe must stay out of the Western Hemisphere

Totalitarianism

A form of government in which one party holds complete control, bans opposition, suppresses individual rights, and controls all aspects of life through terror

Fascism

A political ideology placing the nation above all else, suppressing individual rights for the state's benefit; adopted by Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy

Appeasement

The policy of giving in to an aggressor's demands to avoid conflict; seen in the 1938 Munich Agreement when Britain and France let Germany take the Sudetenland

Munich Agreement (1938)

Agreement where Britain and France allowed Hitler to annex the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia; backfired when Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia six months later

Lend-Lease Act (1941)

Law that allowed the U.S. to sell or lend war materials to any country whose defense was vital to U.S. security; kept Britain supplied before U.S. entered WWII

Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941)

Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii that killed over 2,400 Americans and brought the U.S. into WWII

Atlantic Charter

Agreement between Roosevelt and Churchill outlining principles for peace and free governments after WWII; became the founding document of the United Nations

Allied Powers

The alliance of the U.S., Britain, France, and Soviet Union (among others) that fought against the Axis Powers in WWII

Axis Powers

The alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan that fought against the Allied Powers in WWII

Yalta Conference (1945)

Meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin that planned the division of post-war Germany and the prosecution of war criminals

Potsdam Conference (1945)

Allied meeting where leaders warned Japan to surrender or face total destruction; set terms for post-war Germany

Manhattan Project

The top-secret U.S.-led program that developed the first atomic bomb; tested in New Mexico in July 1945

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Japanese cities where the U.S. dropped atomic bombs in August 1945; killed over 100,000 instantly and forced Japan's surrender, ending WWII

Holocaust

The Nazi genocide of approximately six million Jews and millions of others during WWII; the Nazis' systematic plan for extermination was finalized at the Wannsee Conference (1942)

Nuremberg Trials (1945-46)

International military court that tried 24 high-level Nazis for crimes against humanity; established that leaders can be held legally responsible for atrocities

Rosie the Riveter

Cultural symbol representing the more than five million women who worked in wartime factories during WWII, marking a turning point in women entering the workforce

Nisei

American-born citizens of Japanese descent; over 100,000 were forced into internment camps after Pearl Harbor under Executive Order 9066

Internment Camps

Military-style barracks surrounded by barbed wire where Japanese Americans were imprisoned during WWII; upheld by the Supreme Court in Korematsu v. United States (1944)

Korematsu v. United States (1944)

Supreme Court case that upheld Japanese American internment as a wartime emergency measure; later recognized as a grave injustice

G.I. Bill (Servicemen's Readjustment Act, 1944)

Law that provided veterans with college tuition, medical care, unemployment insurance, and home/business loans; helped millions enter the middle class after WWII

Baby Boom

The dramatic surge in birth rates from 1946-1964 after WWII soldiers returned home; created lasting impacts on schools, suburbs, and the economy

Suburbanization

The rapid growth of residential communities outside major cities after WWII, fueled by the G.I. Bill, cheap cars, and the Highway Act of 1956

Taft-Hartley Act (1947)

Law passed over Truman's veto that restricted union power by banning the closed shop and barring union political donations

United Nations

International peacekeeping organization founded after WWII; includes a General Assembly and a 15-member Security Council with 5 permanent members

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Landmark UN document authored by Eleanor Roosevelt's committee proclaiming the fundamental rights of all people worldwide

Cold War

The prolonged political, military, and ideological conflict (1946-1991) between the U.S. and Soviet Union, fought through proxy wars, arms races, and influence campaigns rather than direct combat

Containment

U.S. foreign policy strategy aimed at preventing the spread of communism beyond the countries where it already existed

Iron Curtain

Churchill's phrase describing the ideological and political divide between free Western Europe and Soviet-dominated communist Eastern Europe after WWII

Truman Doctrine

President Truman's policy pledging U.S. support to any free nation resisting communist takeover; first applied to Greece and Turkey with $400 million in aid

Marshall Plan

U.S. program (1948-1952) that provided about $13 billion in economic aid to rebuild war-torn Western Europe and prevent the spread of communism

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

1949 military alliance of the U.S. and 11 Western nations; an attack on one member is considered an attack on all

Warsaw Pact

Soviet-led military alliance of seven Eastern European communist nations; formed in response to NATO

Berlin Airlift (1948-49)

U.S., British, and French operation that airlifted food and supplies into West Berlin after the Soviet Union blockaded all land routes; ended when Soviets lifted the blockade

38th Parallel

The line of latitude dividing North Korea (Soviet-influenced) and South Korea (U.S.-controlled) after WWII; North Korea's invasion across it started the Korean War in 1950

Korean War (1950-1953)

Conflict in which the U.S. and UN forces defended South Korea after North Korea invaded; ended in a ceasefire with Korea remaining divided

Domino Theory

The belief that if one country fell to communism, neighboring countries would follow like falling dominoes; used to justify U.S. involvement in Korea and Vietnam

HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee)

Congressional committee formed in 1938 to investigate suspected communist influence in the U.S.; became a tool of the Red Scare in the late 1940s-50s

McCarthyism

Senator Joseph McCarthy's aggressive and largely unsubstantiated accusations that communists had infiltrated the U.S. government and military in the early 1950s

Red Scare

The widespread fear that communist agents were secretly working to undermine the U.S. government; peaked in the late 1940s and early 1950s

Alger Hiss Case

Former State Department official convicted of perjury in 1950 after being accused of spying for the Soviet Union; intensified fears of communist infiltration in the government

Rosenbergs

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, executed in 1953 after being convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union; their case deepened Cold War anxieties

Brinkmanship

Eisenhower-era policy of pushing dangerous situations to the edge of conflict ("the brink") to force the enemy to back down; relied on the threat of nuclear weapons

Arms Race

The Cold War competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union to build larger and more powerful nuclear and conventional weapons arsenals

Sputnik (1957)

The Soviet Union's launch of the first artificial satellite, shocking the U.S. and accelerating the Space Race and increased investment in science education

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Landmark Supreme Court ruling that declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, overturning Plessy v. Ferguson

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court ruling that upheld "separate but equal" racial segregation in public facilities; overturned by Brown v. Board of Education

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)

Year-long African American protest of segregated city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, sparked by Rosa Parks' arrest; a key early victory of the civil rights movement

Civil Disobedience

The nonviolent refusal to obey unjust laws as a form of protest; championed by Martin Luther King Jr., who argued it is morally right to break unjust laws

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Landmark law that outlawed racial discrimination in public facilities, employment, and federally funded programs; ended Jim Crow laws

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Law that eliminated literacy tests and other barriers used to prevent African Americans from voting; dramatically increased Black voter registration in the South

March on Washington (1963)

Massive civil rights demonstration in Washington, D.C., where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, calling for racial equality

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

13-day standoff between the U.S. and Soviet Union after the USSR placed nuclear missiles in Cuba; the closest the Cold War came to nuclear war; resolved when Soviets removed the missiles

Berlin Wall

Barrier built by East Germany in 1961 to stop citizens from fleeing to West Berlin; became the defining symbol of the Iron Curtain; torn down in 1989

Great Society

President Lyndon Johnson's sweeping domestic program to eliminate poverty and racial injustice; created Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, and the Voting Rights Act

Medicare

Federal health insurance program for Americans 65 and older, created in 1965 as part of Johnson's Great Society

Medicaid

Federal-state health insurance program for low-income Americans, created alongside Medicare in 1965

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)

Congressional authorization giving President Johnson broad power to escalate U.S. military involvement in Vietnam, based on disputed reports of North Vietnamese attacks on U.S. ships

Vietnamization

Nixon's strategy of gradually withdrawing U.S. troops from Vietnam while training South Vietnamese forces to take over the fighting

War Powers Act (1973)

Law requiring the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing troops abroad and limiting military engagements to 60 days without congressional approval; a response to Vietnam

Détente

Nixon's policy of easing Cold War tensions through diplomacy, trade, and negotiations with the Soviet Union and China; included arms limitation talks (SALT)

Nixon and China (1972)

Nixon's historic visit to communist China, opening diplomatic and trade relations; a major Cold War realignment that isolated the Soviet Union

Watergate

The 1972 political scandal in which Nixon's campaign operatives broke into Democratic Party headquarters; Nixon's subsequent cover-up led to his resignation in 1974

Supply-Side Economics (Reaganomics)

Reagan's economic policy of cutting taxes (especially for the wealthy and businesses) and reducing regulation, believing economic growth would "trickle down" to all Americans

Stagflation

The simultaneous occurrence of high inflation and high unemployment that plagued the U.S. economy in the 1970s; challenged traditional economic thinking

Camp David Accords (1978)

Peace agreement brokered by President Carter between Egypt and Israel; a major foreign policy achievement and the first Arab-Israeli peace treaty

Iran-Contra Affair

Reagan-era scandal in which officials secretly sold weapons to Iran and illegally used the proceeds to fund Nicaraguan rebels (Contras), violating a congressional ban

Persian Gulf War (1990-1991)

U.S.-led coalition war to liberate Kuwait after Iraq's Saddam Hussein invaded it; Operation Desert Storm quickly defeated Iraq but left Saddam in power

NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)

1994 trade agreement between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico that eliminated most tariffs; increased trade but was criticized for outsourcing American jobs

Globalization

The increasing economic, cultural, and political interconnectedness of nations through trade, technology, and communication

9/11 (September 11, 2001)

Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks using hijacked planes that destroyed the World Trade Center and struck the Pentagon, killing nearly 3,000 people; launched the War on Terror

Patriot Act

Post-9/11 law that expanded government surveillance powers to monitor suspected terrorists, raising civil liberties concerns

Afghanistan War (2001)

U.S. invasion of Afghanistan to remove the Taliban government that harbored Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden; the longest war in U.S. history

Iraq War (2003)

U.S. invasion of Iraq based on claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs); no WMDs were found; Saddam was removed from power but Iraq fell into chaos

Affordable Care Act / "Obamacare" (2010)

Law expanding health insurance coverage to millions of Americans, banning denial of coverage for preexisting conditions, and allowing children to stay on parents' plans until age 26

Great Recession (2007-2008)

Severe economic downturn caused by the collapse of the housing market and risky mortgage lending; triggered bank failures, rising unemployment, and government bailouts

Dodd-Frank Act

Post-Great Recession financial reform law creating new regulations to prevent reckless banking practices and protect consumers

Affirmative Action

Policies designed to increase opportunities for historically disadvantaged groups (originally African Americans and women) in education and employment; G.I. Bill is cited as an early example

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

Proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing equal rights regardless of sex; passed Congress in 1972 but was never ratified by enough states

American Indian Movement (AIM)

Organization founded in 1968 to fight for Native American rights, including sovereignty, treaty rights, and an end to discrimination

César Chávez / United Farm Workers

Labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers union to fight for the rights of largely Latino migrant farmworkers through strikes and boycotts

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court ruling that upheld "separate but equal" racial segregation in public facilities; overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954

Social Security

Federal program established under FDR that provides retirement income to workers; cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) protect benefits from inflation

Head Start

Great Society preschool program providing early education to low-income children to reduce the achievement gap

Highway Act of 1956

Federal law funding the interstate highway system; made suburbanization possible and boosted the auto industry