APUSH HP8 CH27-29 Terms

Baby Boom

The large increase in births in the United States after World War II, especially from 1946 to the early 1960s, which helped fuel rapid population growth and suburban expansion.

Sunbelt Migration

The movement of people and businesses from the Northeast and Midwest to the South and West after World War II because of warm climates, defense spending, and economic opportunities.

Space Race

The Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve advances in space exploration and rocket technology.

Levittowns

Mass

Beats

Members of the Beat Generation, a group of writers and young people in the 1950s who rejected conformity and criticized middle

The Other America

A phrase describing the poverty and inequality hidden beneath postwar prosperity, later emphasized by Michael Harrington’s book The Other America.

Brown v. Board

The 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education that ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Crisis at Central H.S. in Little Rock

The 1957 conflict in Little Rock, Arkansas, when federal troops were sent to enforce the integration of Central High School against segregationist resistance.

Woman’s Political Committee

A group of African American women in Montgomery, Alabama, that organized political activism and helped launch the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

A 1955–1956 protest against segregated buses in Montgomery, Alabama, sparked by Rosa Parks and led in part by Martin Luther King Jr.

SCLC

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization founded in 1957 that coordinated nonviolent protests and was led by Martin Luther King Jr.

John Foster Dulles

Eisenhower’s secretary of state who promoted a Cold War policy of “massive retaliation” against communist aggression.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist nationalist leader of Vietnam who fought against French and later American influence in Vietnam.

Fidel Castro

Revolutionary leader who took control of Cuba in 1959 and established a communist government allied with the Soviet Union.

U

2 Crisis

Great Society

Lyndon Johnson’s domestic reform program aimed at reducing poverty and racial injustice through federal legislation and social programs.

Immigration Act of 1965

A law that abolished the national origins quota system and increased immigration from Asia, Latin America, and other non

S.N.C.C.

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a student

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Federal law that banned segregation in public places and outlawed discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Federal legislation that protected African Americans’ voting rights by banning literacy tests and allowing federal oversight of elections.

Black Power movement

A movement in the late 1960s that promoted racial pride, self

Flexible Response

Kennedy’s Cold War strategy that expanded military options beyond nuclear retaliation to include conventional forces and counterinsurgency.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

The failed 1961 invasion of Cuba by U.S.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The 1962 confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles placed in Cuba.

1954 Geneva Accords

Agreements that ended French fighting in Indochina and temporarily divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel.

Nat. Liberation Front, Viet Cong

Communist guerrilla forces in South Vietnam that fought against the South Vietnamese government and the United States during the Vietnam War.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

A 1964 congressional resolution giving President Johnson broad authority to expand U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.

My Lai Massacre

The 1968 killing of hundreds of Vietnamese civilians by American soldiers, which increased antiwar sentiment in the United States.

Tet Offensive

A major 1968 surprise attack by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces that weakened American public support for the Vietnam War.

Counterculture

A youth movement in the 1960s that rejected traditional social values and embraced experimentation, protest, and communal lifestyles.

SDS

Students for a Democratic Society, a major New Left student organization that protested war, inequality, and traditional authority.

A.I.M.

The American Indian Movement, a Native American activist group founded to fight discrimination and defend indigenous rights.

Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers

Labor leader Cesar Chavez organized the United Farm Workers union to improve wages and working conditions for migrant farm laborers through strikes and boycotts.

Stonewall uprising

A 1969 confrontation between police and patrons of the Stonewall Inn in New York City that helped launch the modern gay rights movement.

Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique

A 1963 book criticizing the limited roles of women in American society and helping inspire modern feminism.

NOW

The National Organization for Women, founded in 1966 to advocate for women’s equality in employment, education, and politics.

Roe v. Wade

The 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide by ruling that women had a constitutional right to privacy.

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring

A 1962 book exposing the dangers of pesticides and helping spark the modern environmental movement.

Earth Day

An annual event first held in 1970 to promote environmental awareness and activism.

Vietnamization

Nixon’s policy of gradually withdrawing American troops while increasing the military role of South Vietnam.

Détente

A period of reduced tensions and improved relations between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1970s.

The Silent Majority

Nixon’s term for Americans who supported law, order, and traditional values but were less publicly vocal than antiwar protesters.

The Watergate Scandal

The political scandal involving the Nixon administration’s cover