American History Semester 2 Final Terms

Prohibition

time period in American history when the buying

speakeasy

underground club during Prohibition times

bootlegger

someone who smuggled the illegal liquor

flapper

1920s independent woman

talkies

movies with sound

isolationism

withdrawing from international affairs

Dow Jones Industrial Average

measure the health of the stock market

hobos

homeless men wandered the streets looking for jobs

Okies

people from the Dust Bowl region

refinance

lowering mortgage rates and less time to pay back

deficit spending

Spending more money than the government actually has in its treasury

parity

A government-supported level for the prices of agricultural products

fireside chats

Radio broadcasts that FDR did to comfort the American people

appeasement

Pleasing an aggressor

totalitarian

A type of political system that has complete control over its citizens

genocide

Killing of an entire race of people

fascism

Political philosophy that promotes a strong

blitzkrieg

Lightning warfare

nationalism

Pride in one's country

non-aggression pact

An agreement not to attack one another

United Nations

International peacekeeping organization created after World War II

kamikaze

The deliberate crashing of a bomb-filled airplane into a military target

internment camps

A prison camp in the US during World War II where Japanese Americans were held.

Selective Service Act

The war draft

convoys

Destroyers escorting merchant ships during times of war

Communism

a political and economic system in which the major productive resources in a society are owned by the public or the state

Capitalism

an economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and the operations are funded by profits.

Democracy

a form of government in which the people rule

satellite nation

countries that were dominated by the Soviet Union after WW2

containment

United States policy using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad.

blacklist

people who were condemned for having a Communist background by not being hired for jobs

Harlem Renaissance

the literary and artistic movement of African American culture during the 1920s

Red Scare

Americans believed Communists were trying to take over in the 1920s

Black Tuesday

the name of the day the Stock Market Crashed

Stalin

leader of the Soviet Union during WW2

Hitler

leader of Germany during WW2

Mussolini

leader of Italy during WW2

Roosevelt

leader of the US during WW2

Churchill

leader of Great Britain during WW2

Franco

leader of Spain during WW2

Tojo

leader of Japan during WW2

D-Day

The largest land-air-sea military operation in US history

Eisenhower

supreme commander of US Forces in Europe

V-E Day

Victory in Europe

island-hopping

US offensive in the Pacific during WW2

Fat Man

Name of 2nd atomic bomb

Little Boy

Name of 1st atomic bomb

GIs

nickname of US soldiers during WW2 because they were drafted

Cold War

the conflict between the US and the Soviet Union from 1945-1991

McCarthyism

the unfair tactic of accusing people of disloyalty (like being Communist) without

Berlin Blockade

The Soviet Union tried to take over all of Berlin so it did not all any food or other supplies to be brought into West Berlin.

Sputnik

the Soviet Union's first satellite

Bay of Pigs Invasion

the failed invasion attempt of Cuba

Cuban Missile Crisis

The closest that the two "superpowers" (US and Soviet Union) came to nuclear war

Miranda v Arizona

if you are arrested you can get your rights read

Brown v Board of Education of Topeka

made segregation illegal

GI Bill of Rights

It gave returning veterans college tuition

Great Plains

the region that the Dust Bowl affected