Final Exam- 20th Century US History

How did the United Nations envision the postwar world order?

The United Nations envisioned a postwar world order that emphasized international cooperation, collective security, and the promotion of human rights to prevent future conflicts and foster peace among nations.

What were the strengths and weaknesses of the American occupation of Germany and Japan?

War crime / Nuremburg trials, splitting of Germany into four quadrants, and dividing Berlin into two sides; Britain, France, Soviet Union, and U.S. In Japan, U.S. was focused on pacifying the country and establishing democratic gov, in addition to convening war crime trial

Why did the United States and Soviet Union end their wartime alliance?

The Cold War, USSR was not happy that US delayed getting involved in WW2

What explains the strike wave in late 1945 and 1946?

Inflation, poor working conditions, and mass unemployment

What was the impact of the Taft-Hartley Act?

Weakened labor unions, allowed states to pass right-to-work laws (restricted union activities)

The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 limited the power of labor unions, allowing states to pass right-to-work laws and restricting union activities, thereby impacting labor relations in the United States.

What was the Truman Doctrine?

A policy established in 1947 to counter Soviet geopolitical expansion by providing political, military, and economic assistance to countries threatened by communism. Pledged to get involved in Proxy wars, containment policy, and anti-Communism

Why did President Truman face such stiff opposition in the election of 1948?

Truman faced widespread criticism due to his handling of domestic issues, including civil rights, labor unrest, and inflation, along with the unpopularity of the Korean War.

Outline the views of anti-Communists in the late 1940s.

Anti-Communists in the late 1940s believed that communism posed an existential threat to democracy and capitalism. They advocated for strong measures against communist influence both domestically and internationally, supporting policies like containment and the Truman Doctrine.

Why did the United States decide to intervene in the Korean War?

The United States intervened in the Korean War to prevent the spread of communism in Asia, following the principles of the Truman Doctrine and the policy of containment. The intervention aimed to support South Korea against the communist North, which had invaded in 1950. (bc of Truman doctrine)

How did Senator Joseph McCarthy lose his credibility?

Senator Joseph McCarthy lost his credibility due to his aggressive and often unfounded accusations against alleged communists, particularly during the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954, where his tactics were exposed as reckless and lacking evidence.

Who did and did not benefit from the postwar economic boom?

The postwar economic boom primarily benefited white, middle-class families in the United States, providing opportunities for home ownership and increased consumer spending. However, many racial minorities and lower-income Americans were largely excluded from these benefits, facing discrimination in housing and employment.

How did American family structure change in the post-World War II years?

American family structure shifted towards traditional nuclear families, characterized by a male breadwinner and female homemaker, as a result of economic prosperity and social norms of the time. Additionally, there was an increase in birth rates and suburban living during this period.

How did the federal government promote home ownership?

The federal government promoted home ownership through various initiatives, such as the GI Bill, which provided veterans with low-interest home loans and financial assistance for purchasing homes, as well as through the establishment of agencies like the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) that insured loans and made housing more accessible.

Describe the typical postwar suburban house

Large scale housing developments

Were President Eisenhower’s domestic politics liberal or conservative?

Eisenhower's domestic politics were generally conservative, focusing on limited government intervention and fiscal responsibility while promoting moderate policies and social stability.

What were business elites’ major arguments against the New Deal?

Business elites argued that the New Deal increased government intervention in the economy, threatened free enterprise, and imposed excessive regulations that would hinder economic recovery.

What explains the rise in fears of juvenile delinquency in the 1950s?

Explain the Lavender Scare and its repercussions.

Used to target the gays, excuse used was that queer gov. employees would give up gov. secrets in order to protect their identities. Repercussions are that thousands of military/gov employees lost their jobs, and without honorable discharge papers were unable to recieve benefits.

Discuss the major arguments that civil rights activists made against “separate but equal” education.

It wasn’t actually equal, they weren’t going to be separate forever, etc.

How did American involvement in the developing world reshape Cold War foreign policy?

We became more involved in foreign affairs, often meddled in other countries’ elections, by attempting to overthrow and successfully overthrowing country leaders

How did President Kennedy view the relationship between the federal government and expertise?

He thought that it was beneficial, by creating a cabinet full of experts instead of his friends

Why did the Kennedy administration move slowly on civil rights before 1963?

Fear of backlash, especially b/c he was already unpopular b/c of his Catholic faith

How did the White House resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Withdrew their missiles from Turkey in exchange for the removal of Soviet missiles in Cuba.

Why did journalists call 1963 the year of the “Negro revolt”?

Mass protests, March on Washington, etc.

How did Lyndon B. Johnson’s views on civil rights evolve?

Ambivalent to civil rights, but down the line he became progressive! :)

Explain northern white resistance to the black freedom struggle.

Boston, detroit, Chicago had issues with bussing and desegregation

Discuss Barry Goldwater’s arguments about the role of the federal government.

Stay out of business, free enterprise

What were the key elements of the Great Society?

Welfare, community, public educaiton, people taken care of. Medicare, Medicaid, civil rights, Head start program (birth to age 5 preschool)

Explain the origins of the Voting Rights Act.

Voting intimidation, ltieracy tests, poll taxes on state/local level

What were the links between jobs and freedom?

The links between jobs and freedom in the 20th century centered on the belief that gainful employment was essential for economic independence and social mobility. Access to jobs was seen as a fundamental pathway for marginalized groups to attain civil rights and participate fully in society.

Explain the impact of Ngo Dinh Diem’s regime on the coming of the Vietnam War.

Ngo Dinh Diem's regime severely repressed opposition, leading to increased unrest and ultimately creating conditions that escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam. His unpopular policies and anti-communist stance alienated many Vietnamese, setting the stage for a larger conflict.

Why did President Johnson decide to Americanize the Vietnam War?

President Johnson believed that Americanizing the Vietnam War was necessary to prevent the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, following the domino theory. He aimed to support the South Vietnamese government against the communist North and maintain US credibility globally.

Evaluate George Ball’s position on American military policy in Southeast Asia.

George Ball opposed the escalation of American military involvement in Southeast Asia, arguing that it would lead to an unwinnable conflict and advising against a full-scale war in Vietnam.

What was the appeal of left-wing politics on American campuses in the mid 1960s?

The appeal of left-wing politics on American campuses in the mid-1960s was driven by a desire for social change, civil rights, and opposition to the Vietnam War. Students were influenced by various movements advocating for equality and justice, fostering a spirit of activism.

What were the differences and similarities between the counterculture and the New Left?

New left more political, counter culture was more cultural, yippies/hippies counter culture, both liberal, woke radical left marxists

Who served in the military during the Vietnam War?

Many young Americans, including draftees, volunteers, and soldiers from diverse backgrounds, served in the military during the Vietnam War.

Why did public support for the war in Vietnam decline so sharply in 1968?

Media coverage became harder for gov. to censor/control, especially after ambassador dude went to Vietnam and publicized how poorly it was going

Why did students at Columbia and other universities revolt in the spring of 1968?

Vietnam/censorship

How did the Democratic candidates for the presidency in 1968 differ?

There was a fracture in the democratic party. Student rebellion and black unrest made many democrats shift to the right. There was a deep divide over Vietnam in the party candidates themselves. McCarthy was antiwar but was seen as elitist to blue collar and did not support civil rights legislation. Kennedy probably had the best resume to bring all sides together. He was law and order, he was for civil rights, he was his brothers right hand man and played a part in every John Kennedy decision. He was against the war and defender of the downtrodden. He worked to hold together the democratic base of working class whites and blacks. Humphry didn't campaign and he was the frontrunner. He was Johnson's VP and although against the war, he stood by president Johnson.

Describe the events on the streets outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

the DNC was held in Chicago. Outside the convention it was. Chaos. Groups - mostly antiwar- came to protest the Lyndon Johnson presidency and the war in Vietnam. MOBE was a group that spearheaded the protest. MOBE was led by Tom Hayden, a civil rights protestor turned antiwar. After they protested on Washington, they moved to Chicago to the convention. Mayor Daley of Chicago wanted to 'sell' his city as a great destination and was aggravated that the protestors threatened to ruin this. He retaliated by sending 11 thousand cops to the streets armed with riot gear. He disallowed protest permits and sleeping on the street. Protesters changed the world is watching, the cops ran into the crowds yelling kill kill kill. In the end the city was seen as a metaphor for a broken country and the concept of the democrats being able to govern was destroyed

How did Richard Nixon manage the divisions between the Republican Party’s moderate and right wings?

His cabinet included GOP Rockefeller republicans like Kissinger, new right politicians Spiro Agnew as his VP and even democrats were in his cabinet. He brought together a team of moderates from all sides bringing together all sides.

Why were white “middle Americans” so angry?

They felt that there needed to be law and order. That all the protests were out of control and taking away from their way of life

Explain the shifting position of the federal government on housing and school integration in the early 1970s.

Romney was the HUD director and did everything to provide funds to cities that had plans for integration. Nixon would not fire him even though many in his administration wanted him shut up. Nixon did not necessary endorse everything that he did but he also wouldn't fire Romney and instead weakened HUDs suburban housing program and pledged to oppose forced integration.
School integration was also being challenged as it was moving children out of their neighborhood school and bussed. But districts were ordered to shut their all black schools so the districts needed to find a way to integrate the students. The federal administration threatened the loss of federal aid, but still many counties opted to try and build a private school system. In addition, many families just up and moved to the district where they wanted to their children to go to school. the end, bussing integration was brought to the supreme court and upheld, however, if the school was integrated appropriately bussing was not mandated.

What did feminists mean when they said “the personal is political”?

It underscored the connections between personal experience and larger social and political structures. For example, right to privacy and the political movement to limit women from getting abortions

What explains the rise of the gay liberation movement?

Police enforcing against gay clubs and lifestyle became too much. When the police raided stonewall, the community could not take any more of being considered a mentally ill person because of their sexuality. The civil rights protest, the anti-war protests, showed the gay community that they could be heard and after the stonewall riots they began to coalesce like the other protest movements.

In what ways did the STOP ERA movement succeed?

They prevented the amendment from getting the amount of states needed to ratify the constitution. After the equal rights amendment to the constitution was approved by congress it needed to be ratified by the states, within a year 28 states had ratified the amendment. But Phyllis and her stop era movement had garnered support through the country and were given talking points to make to legislators and the community. The intense organization of the movement prevented the ratification of ERA in states and to date there are only 35 states that have ratified the amendment, 3 short of the 38 needed.

How did the Supreme Court explain its decision in Roe v. Wade?

The supreme Court ruled that the choice to have an abortion was a woman's in her own privacy, and that the right to privacy, a constitutional right, could encompass abortion in the first trimester of the pregnancy when the fetus was not viable.

What led Richard Nixon to resign from the presidency?

The year 1973 saw an Arab oil embargo, gasoline rationing, and a continuing series of revelations about the Watergate scandal and proof that he tried to cover it up (but never proof he knew about it in the beginning). Nixon was a very unpopular president even before Watergate in the face of the Arab oil embargo and the Vietnam war. The Watergate scandal escalated, costing Nixon much of his political support, and on August 9, 1974, he resigned in the face of almost certain impeachment and being kicked out of office.

How did the United States end the Vietnam War?

Direct U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973. The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year. The war exacted a huge human cost in terms of fatalities

Why did Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon decide to open relations with the Republic of China?

The escalating war in Vietnam led U.S. officials to look for ways to improve relations with Communist governments in Asia in the hopes that such a policy might lessen future conflict, undermine alliances between Communist countries, diplomatically isolate North Vietnam, and increase U.S. leverage against the Soviet Union.

What was stagflation, and how did it transform the economy?

Everything was getting pricier (inflation) but everyone’s wages were stagnant and not increasing with the prices: In the 1970s, the U.S. economy was hit simultaneously by unemployment, stagnant consumer demand, and inflation—a combination called stagflation—which contradicted a basic principle taught by economists: Prices were not supposed to rise in a stagnant economy. For ordinary Americans, the reality of stagflation was a noticeable decline in the standard of living, as discretionary income per worker dropped 18 percent between 1973 and 1982

Explain the origins of the oil crisis of 1973-74.

During the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an embargo against the United States in retaliation for the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military and to gain leverage in the post-war peace negotiations.

Why were Americans so pessimistic about the state of the country in the mid-1970s?

Oil embargo, raging inflation, high unemployment, global competition. Profound disillusionment, Americans "considered their future bleaker than their past." The economy was shaped, more than it had been in decades, by shifts in the global economy this competition caused unemployment, lower wages, global competition like Toyota. Twenty percent of countries steel was being imported now

Why did so many workers go on strike in the period from 1970 to 1974?

Advent of computers allowed assembly lines to become more mechanized. Low skill entry level jobs began to disappear. Managers worked people harder. Conditions were bad and workers demanded better conditions and health coverage. Migrant workers strike. Younger Workers were questioning traditional values and encouraged to stand up and be counted. The days of segregated plants were gone, traditional values were being replaced by people who were speaking their minds. Assembly lines that were sped up were closed down by strike, 'workers just want to be treated with dignity' Environmental causes had broad appeal. There was bipartisan support to protect land water and air.

How did policy makers respond to growing concerns about the environment?

The changing environment and what industrialization had done to it was impossible to ignore. Americans began to pressure politicians to protect fragile landscapes. Kennedy protected coastlines. Johnson singed wilderness act to protect 9 million acres. Water quality act signed into law. Curbed discharge into lakes and rivers

Explain the dramatic increase in incarceration in the United States beginning in the 1970s.

Between 1965 and 1975 rates of violent crime soared. The statistics may have been more accurately reported but fear may have stoked some of the actions of the government which became mandatory minimums, laws limiting parole. Drug related arrests were on the increase.

How did President Carter differ from his Democratic predecessors?

President Carter, attempted to radically redirect U.S. foreign policy away from the realist model advanced by his predecessors and toward a more idealistic model, with advancement of human rights at its core.
Carter tapped into common Christian themes that unite Americans across race, class and geography. He spoke often of love and charity, brotherhood and compassion, framing his campaign through moral imperatives as much as political ones.
Carter, by contrast, of his other democratic presidents was obsessively concerned with detail. He micromanaged every aspect of his administration's social, economic, and foreign policy. He was a technocrat.

What was deregulation, and why did members of both political parties support it?

Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations. Carter deregulated so that he could free the American people of the burden of over regulation. there would be competition and no monopolies and depression era banking laws. Republicans liked it because it did the same thing, removed and reduced regulations and allowed more competition.

Explain Ronald Reagan’s economic policy.

Supply side, trickle down economics: Reagan's economic policy: Reduce the growth of government spending, reduce the federal income tax and capital gains tax, reduce government regulation, and tighten the money supply i to reduce inflation.

What social programs did the Reagan administration propose to cut and why?

ALL the New Deal, including social security: He was opposed to people who he felt could work and that social programs made people depended on the government. He cut school-lunch programs. He cut welfare programs by allowing states to create welfare reform in their state and institute work requirements. DE institution of Mentally ill. He also Cut Urban spending which led to increased poverty in the countries urban centers.

How did the religious right become a powerful political force?

They politcized everything, turned everything into religious reasoning: The religious right was responding to frustrations and uncertainties in the United States and the world. They were political, denouncing liberal-ism, homosexuality, abortion, crime, and pornography, and blaming liberal politicians for enabling a culture of permissiveness.

What satisfied and disappointed conservatives about Supreme Court decisions in the 1980s?

Satisfied with the following: court rulings favored police and prosecutors, affirmative action limits, abortion restrictions. Disappointed with individual rights, first amendment protections, and state regulation restrictions

What were the causes and consequences of the Reagan administration’s involvement in Nicaragua?

The republican administration in the United States led by president Ronald Reagan saw the Contras as a convenient tool for removing the Sandinistas from power in Nicaragua. However, Congress and the American people did not share this view and the administration found that they were increasingly restricted in the ways that they could arm and finance the Contra forces. Eventually, what is known as the Iran-Contra scandal was made public, bringing much disrepute to the Reagan administration.

Explain the changing relationship between Ronald Reagan and Mikhai Gorbachev.

Reagan began as an anti-communist and referred to the Soviet Union as the evil empire. In his second term, he wanted to fix a place in history for himself by starting a disarmament dialogue with USSR. They met four times, on the third meeting, they were close to a disarmament deal but Reagan had to give up his Star Wars defense against nuclear weapons. Reagan would not do it. Again, they met and this time signed an agreement of all ground launched intermediate range missiles.

Why did the United States decide to intervene in Kuwait and Iraq in 1991?

Saudi Arabia asked the US to help defend their country after Iraq invaded Kuwait. The US saw Iraq as a threat to human rights, but also a threat to its oil interests in the region. Instability could potentially expand aggressively throughout the region, posing significant humanitarian and economic threats with potentially global consequences.

What factors contributed to the expansion of low-wage jobs in the late twentieth century?

NAFTA, dramatic tax cuts for the wealthiest left a divide in income equality.....

How did the Democratic Leadership Council help shape President Clinton’s agenda?

It was his agenda of centrist that allowed him to court wealthy donors. called for a third way of politics between New Deal and Reagan Republicanism. TANF (next question) is a good example of this. get rid of entitlement welfare and introduce personal responsibility and work assistance. TANF though has many problems, like finding work in some instances (having to take jobs hours away) causes a single parent to be away from their kids for 12-14 hours leaving children vulnerable.

Explain the creation of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families in 1996.

How did his Christian faith shape George W. Bush’s domestic agenda?

Explain the rationale for tax reform in the early 2000s.

How did the Bush administration balance national security concerns and civil liberties?

How did the Bush administration balance national security concerns and civil liberties?

How did the 2003 War in Iraq differ from the Persian Gulf War in 1991?

Why was President Bush unable to privatize Social Security.

Evaluate the policy responses to Hurricane Katrina.

What caused the collapse of the home mortgage market?

How did Barack Obama appeal to the electorate in the election of 2008?

Why was bipartisanship so difficult to achieve in the 2009-14 period?