Big Ideas Rev

G.I. Bill, 1944

The G. I. Bill of Rights or Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 provided for college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as GIs) as well as one-year of unemployment compensation. It also provided loans for returning veterans to buy homes and start businesses. Considered an extremely successful government program to both help veterans and boost the US economy.

Containment Policy

Policy introduced by Harry S. Truman after WWII that said the duty of the U.S. was to stop the spread of Totalitarianism (implying Communism); Defined the foreign policy for the period after WWII until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989

Domino Theory

A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.

Truman Doctrine (1947)

Stated that the U.S. would support any nation threatened by communism. Played a large role in the developing Cold War with the Soviet Union. Helped set the stage for the Marshall Plan.

Marshall Plan (1947)

A plan that the US came up with to revive war-torn economies of Europe. This plan offered $13 billion in aid to western and Southern Europe on condition they wouldn't go communist. Helped contain communism in Europe and helped our economy as Europe bought from US businesses to rebuild.

Berlin Airlift, 1948

Year-long mission of flying food and supplies to blockaded West Berliners, whom the Soviet Union cut off from access to the West in the first major crisis of the Cold War.

HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee)

Congressional committee that investigated communist influence in the US in government agencies and the Hollywood movie industry the 1940s and 1950s.

Blacklist

List of persons who were not hired because of suspected communist ties. Example - the Hollywood Ten

Korean War (1950-1953)

Began as a civil war between North and South Korea (which had been established by the USSR and US respectively), but the conflict soon became international when, under U.S. leadership, the United Nations joined to support South Korea and China entered to aid North Korea. The war left Korea divided along the 38th parallel. The Korean War was an example of the U.S. Cold War policies of containment and militarization, setting the stage for the further enlargement of the U.S. defense perimeter in Asia (Vietnam)

military-industrial complex

Eisenhower first coined this phrase when he warned American against it in his last State of the Union Address. He feared that the combined lobbying efforts of the armed services and industries that contracted with the military would lead to excessive Congressional spending.

Sputnik (1957)

The first artificial satellite sent into space, launched by the Soviets. Started Space Race, NASA, and focus on math & science in American schools.

Levittown

In 1947, William Levitt used mass production techniques to build inexpensive homes in suburban New York to help relieve the postwar housing shortage. Levittown became a symbol of the movement to the suburbs in the years after WWII.

Baby Boom

A cohort of individuals born in the United States between 1946 and 1964, which was just after World War II in a time of relative peace and prosperity. These conditions allowed for better education and job opportunities, encouraging high rates of both marriage and fertility.

Great Society

President Johnson called his version of the Democratic reform program the Great Society. In 1965, Congress passed many Great Society measures, including Medicare, civil rights legislation, and federal aid to education.

Bloody Sunday (1965)

After a civil rights march to Montgomery, Alabama, Governor Wallace authorized state troops to stop the march, beating and killing strikers.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

1964 Congressional resolution that authorized President Johnson to commit US troops to South Vietnam and fight a war against North Vietnam. Gave the president excessive war-time powers.

Tet Offensive (1968)

The Tet Offensive was one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against the forces of South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies. It failed militarily, but had an enormous psychological impact on the US, showing that the war was far from over, and proving that the government was lying about the war.

Counterculture Movement

Protest movement in the 1960s that rejected traditional American values and culture. Led by student organizations and hippies.

My Lai Massacre (1968)

An incident in which a company of American troops killed some 350 South Vietnamese civilians in 1968. The Army initially covered it up, but the story eventually got out in 1969, fueling increasing skepticism of both the Vietnam War as well as the honesty of the government's depiction of the war.

Vietnamization, 1969

The US policy of withdrawing its troops and transferring the responsibility and direction of the war effort to the government of South Vietnam. It is important because it would bring the end of the Vietnam war in 1973.

Kent State Massacre

The Kent State shootings, also known as the May 4 Massacre or Kent State massacre, occurred at Kent State University in the city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of students by members of the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970. Four students were killed and nine others were wounded, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

Pentagon Papers, 1971

Secret document papers, leaded by Daniel Ellsberg, published by the New York Times in 1971, showed the blunders and deceptions that led the United States that led to the Vietnam war. Revealed the government misleading the people of its involvement in Vietnam, both about the intentions and the outcomes of the conflict.

Arms Race (Cold War)

America and USSR competed for superiority in the development and accumulation of weapons

George Kennan

He was an American diplomat and ambassador best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War.

McCarran Act of 1950

Required Communist organizations to register with the United States Attorney General and established the Subversive Activities Control Board to investigate promoting the establishment of a "totalitarian dictatorship," either fascist or communist.

Second Red Scare/McCarthyism

The fear of communism, known as the Red Scare, led to a national witch hunt for suspected communist supporters, which was known as McCarthyism.

consumer culture

a culture in which personal worth and identity reside not in the people themselves but in the products with which they surround themselves

Richard Nixon

1968 and 1972; Republican; Vietnam: advocated "Vietnamization" (replace US troops with Vietnamese), but also bombed Cambodia/Laos, created a "credibility gap," Paris Peace Accords ended direct US involvement; economy-took US off gold standard (currency valued by strength of economy); created the Environmental Protection Agency, was president during first moon landing; SALT I and new policy of détente between US and Soviet Union; Watergate scandal: became first and only president to resign

Kitchen Debate (1959)

Televised exchange in 1959 between Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and American Vice President Richard Nixon. Meeting at the American National Exhibition in Moscow, the two leaders sparred over the relative merits of capitalist consumer culture versus Soviet state planning. Nixon won applause for his staunch defense of American capitalism, helping lead him to the Republican nomination for president in 1960.

James Truslow Adams

• Coined the term "American Dream"

• Wrote "The Epic of America"

Vietnam War

A prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States.

Richard Nixon and Vietnam

U.S. President who brought home troops from Vietnam under the policy of Vietnamization.

Fall of Saigon (1975)

Capture of South Vietnamese capital that marked the end of the Vietnam War (April 30, 1975)

LBJ

Vise President to JFK,1963-1969, Democrat, passed civil rights act of 64, included a program called Great Society, presidency based on Vietnam War, passed Gulf of Tonkin and said "to take any measures necessary", decided to escalate American involvement in Vietnam, proved to be extremely unpopular

Medicare and Medicaid

Great Society programs to have the government provide medical aid to the elderly (Medicare) and the poor (Medicaid).

26th Amendment (1971)

Lowered the voting age from 21 to 18

Beatniks/Beat Generation

Group of writers and artist of the 1950s and early 1960s who were critical of American society (example: Jack Kerouac's book "On the Road")

Hawks vs. Doves

Hawks supported the Vietnam war, where doves opposed it. Most doves were college students who were afraid of being drafted

Bob Dylan

60's musician. Part of counterculture revolution through music. anti-war and anti-government

Woodstock Music Festival

An outdoor music festival at rural New York farm in 1969, it featured a lineup of popular counterculture performers and was attended by 500,000 people.

Sweatt v. Painter (1950)

Segregated law school in Texas was held to be an illegal violation of civil rights, leading to open enrollment.

Alice Coachman

• First black woman to win Olympic gold (1948)

• High Jump

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

1954 - The Supreme Court overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, declared that racially segregated facilities are inherently unequal and ordered all public schools desegregated.

Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993)

In 1967, appointed the first Black Supreme Court Justice, he had led that NAACP's legal defense fund and had argued the Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case before the Supreme Court.

Little Rock Nine

1957 - Governor Faubus sent the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine Black students from entering Little Rock Central High School. Eisenhower sent in U.S. paratroopers to ensure the students could attend class.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)

In 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Dr. Martin L. King led a boycott of city busses. After 11 months the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

An organization founded by MLK Jr., to direct the crusade against segregation. Its weapon was passive resistance that stressed nonviolence and love, and its tactic direct, though peaceful, confrontation.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

an organization formed in 1960 to coordinate sit-ins and other protests and to give young blacks a larger role in the civil rights movement

Freedom Riders, 1961

organized mixed-race groups who rode interstate buses deep into the South to draw attention to and protest racial segregation, beginning in 1961. This effort by northern young people to challenge racism proved a political and public relations success for the Civil Rights Movement

"Letter from a Birmingham Jail," 1963

A letter written by Martin Luther King Jr. after he had been arrested when he took part in a nonviolent march against segregation. He was disappointed more Christians didn't speak out against racism. Advocated nonviolence protest methods

Malcolm X

1952; renamed himself X to signify the loss of his African heritage; converted to Nation of Islam in jail in the 50s, became Black Muslims' most dynamic street orator and recruiter; his beliefs were the basis of a lot of the Black Power movement built on separationist and nationalist impulses to achieve true independence and equality

Delores Huerta

She co-founded the United Farm Workers of America along with Cesar Chavez. Her leadership in the national grape boycott resulted in the California grape industry agreeing to collective bargaining rights for workers.

Cesar Chavez

Non-violent leader of the United Farm Workers from 1963-1970. Organized laborers in California and in the Southwest to strike against fruit and vegetable growers. Unionized Mexican-American farm workers.

National Farm Workers Association (NFWA)

This was a union of Mexican American farmworkers. Chavez and Huerta knew that the strike needed publicity, and that laborers stopping work in the fields would not draw enough attention to their cause. Union activists and sympathetic volunteers stood in front of grocery stores nationwide urging Americans not to buy California grapes. Symbol of organization: a black Aztec eagle.

Chicano Movement

The Mexican-American movement that sought political and social justice. The Chicano Movement addressed negative stereotyping of Mexicans, this stereotyping was addressed through works of literary and visual arts.

Port Huron Statement (1962)

A manifesto by Students for a Democratic Society that criticized institutions ranging from political parties to corporations, unions, and the military-industrial complex, while offering a new vision of social change.

Betty Friedan

1921-2006. American feminist, activist and writer. Best known for starting the "Second Wave" of feminism through the writing of her book "The Feminine Mystique".

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

Forbids discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, or national origin in all areas of the employment relationship

National Organization for Women (NOW)

Founded in 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) called for equal employment opportunity and equal pay for women. NOW also championed the legalization of abortion and passage of an equal rights amendment to the Constitution.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

A coalition that fought for Indian rights guaranteed by treaties(broken by the U.S. government many, many times over) and better conditions and opportunities for American Indians.

Stonewall Inn (1969)

a bar in Greenwich Village, New York, where the modern Gay Pride movement began after rioters protested the police treatment of the LGBT community there

Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005)

'Unbought and Unbossed' - politician, educator, and author. In 1968 - the first black woman elected to the US Congress

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

A constitutional amendment originally introduced in Congress in 1923 and passed by Congress in 1972, stating that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." Despite public support, the amendment failed to acquire the necessary support from three-fourths of the state legislatures.

The Feminine Mystique

Name of the book by Betty Friedan that discussed the frustration of many women in the 1950's and 1960's who felt they were restricted to their roles of mother and homemaker.

Civil Disobedience

A form of political participation that reflects a conscious decision to break a law believed to be immoral and to suffer the consequences.

Sit-Ins (1960)

Greensboro, NC - 4 students defy segregation, sit at segregated lunch counters in department store, then more show up, 4th day 300 show up; they are arrested and beat; continues until they allow it..it spread to other cities (FSU and famu even took part here)

James Baldwin (1924-1987)

Essayists, novelist, playwright, poet, critic of the African American experience. Moved to Paris when he was 24 to escape the racism in America. Wrote about sexuality much before the subject was mainstream in literature. His work can have a liturgical style (influenced by his religious upbringing), strong social commentary and characters that reflected issues Baldwin faced. Notes of a Native Son (1955), influenced by Richard Wright, is a compilation of ten essays on race in America and Europe. Many of Baldwin's writings explore homosexuality and bisexuality. Giovanni's Room (1956) is about an American man living in Paris who tells of his exploits there. Going to Meet the Man (1965) Collection of short stories about African Americans, crime and justice, childhood and family, sexuality and racism.

Chicano Mural Movement

Began in the 1960s in Mexican-American barrios throughout the Southwest. Artists began using the walls of city buildings, housing projects, schools, and churches to depict Mexican-American culture.

United Farm Workers (UFW)

Is a union for agricultural laborers, primarily in California. Founded by charismatic leader, Cesar Chavez, UFW reached the peak of its influence in the 1970s, then declined until his death in 1993.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

This act made racial, religious, and sex discrimination by employers illegal and gave the government the power to enforce all laws governing civil rights, including desegregation of schools and public places.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

a law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African-American suffrage

24th Amendment (1964)

Prohibits federal and state governments from charging poll tax

Busing

achieving racial balance by transporting students to schools across neighborhood boundaries

Hubert Humphrey

The democratic nominee for the presidency in the election of 1968. He was LBJ's vice president, and was supportive of his Vietnam policies. This support split the Democratic party, allowing Nixon to win the election for the Republicans.

Richard Nixon (1969-1974)

The 37th President of the United States; ended American involvement in the war in Vietnam in 1973 and brought the American POWs home, and ended the military draft. Nixon's visit to China in 1972 eventually led to diplomatic relations between the two nations, and he initiated détente and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the Soviet Union the same year.

Silent Majority

Phrase use by Nixon to describe the quiet, honest, hard-working middle class Americans who do their job, respect their country and support the government and oppose the counterculture movement; Nixon wants their votes in 1968 and 1972

Nixon Domestic Policies

• Regulatory agencies: EPA, NOAA, OSHA.

• Affirmative Action: required companies doing business with feds to hire more MINORITIES and WOMEN.

• "Stagflation" (high unemployment and inflation) hurt economy

• OPEC raised oil prices to hurt West for support of Israel.

• Southern "strategy" - as Democratic Party more liberal; Republican Party got more votes in the South.

• Nixon had four Supreme Court picks.

Nixon Doctrine (1969)

It stated that Asian nations facing communist subversion through border clashes or civil conflicts could count on American financial support, but not U.S. military aid.

Pentagon Papers, 1971

Secret document papers, leaded by Daniel Ellsberg, published by the New York Times in 1971, showed the blunders and deceptions that led the United States that led to the Vietnam war. Revealed the government misleading the people of its involvement in Vietnam, both about the intentions and the outcomes of the conflict.

Detente

A policy of reducing Cold War tensions that was adopted by the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)

Negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union that reduced the two nations' supply of long-range nuclear weapons.

National Organization for Women (NOW)

Founded in 1966, the National Organization for Women (NOW) called for equal employment opportunity and equal pay for women. NOW also championed the legalization of abortion and passage of an equal rights amendment to the Constitution.

Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005)

was a Democratic politician from New York who achieved a number of firsts. In 1968, she was the first black woman elected to Congress. In 1972, she became both the first black major-party presidential candidate and the first woman to run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. (Margaret Chase Smith had run for the Republican nomination in 1964.) In 1970, Chisholm gave an acclaimed speech in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.

Plumbers Unit

men used by Nixon to stop information from being leaked out to the media; also broke into the Watergate Complex

Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP)

Richard Nixon's committee for re-electing the president. Found to have been engaged in a "dirty tricks" campaign against the Democrats in 1972. They raised tens of millions of dollars in campaign funds using unethical means. They were involved in the infamous Watergate cover-up.

Watergate Scandal

A break-in at the Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate complex in Washington was carried out under the direction of White House employees. Disclosure of the White House involvement in the break-in and subsequent cover-up forced President Nixon to resign in 1974 to avoid impeachment.

Gerald Ford (1974-1977)

The 38th President; pardoned Nixon; signed the Helsinki Accords, marking a move toward détente in the Cold War. Domestically, he presided over the worst economy in the four decades since the Great Depression, with growing inflation and a recession during his tenure.

Jimmy Carter (1977-1981)

39th President; Democrat; Camp David Accords (1978) peace between Israel and Egypt; Iranian Revolution/Oil Crisis (1979); SALT II (1979); Iranian hostage crisis (1979-1981)

Ronald Reagan (1981-1989)

The 40th President of the United States; His supply-side economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics", advocated tax rate reduction to spur economic growth, economic deregulation, and reduction in government spending. Star Wars Program (1982); Glasnost and perestroika (1985); Iran Contra Affair (1986); The fall of the Berlin Wall (1989)

New Right Movement

Conservative movement that responded to the counter cultural movement of the 1960's; Protested ERA, against abortion, social conservatism, opposed many of the women's movement ideas

Reaganomics/Supply Side Economics

This put more money into the hands of the wealthy by cutting taxes. Because of this, domestic programs were cut, including aid to education, urban housing, arts, and humanities. The defense budget increased, and the liberals were not pleased. Basically, many of the programs set up by the Johnson administration were cut.

Heritage Foundation

Conservative American think tank in Washington D.C. to promote conservative public policies. based the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values and a strong national defense.

Moral Majority (1979)

Political action committee founded by Jerry Falwell to promote traditional Christian values and oppose feminism, abortion, and gay rights. The group was a major linchpin in the resurgent religious rights of the 1980s.