Berlin Wall
The Soviet Union, Khrushchev, erected between East and West Berlin to keep people from fleeing from the East,
after Kennedy asked for an increase in defense funds to counter Soviet aggression. This stood as a gloomy symbol
of the Cold War until it was torn down by rebellious East Germans in 1989.
PLO Palestinian Liberation Organization
Goal to unite Arabs and liberation of Palestine from Israel
OPEC Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
an international oil cartel dominated by an Arab majority, joined together to protect themselves.
Common Market
European Economic Community - established 1957 by Treaty of Rome for European agreement to reduce trade
barriers
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
a legal agreement between many countries, whose overall purpose was to promote international trade by
reducing or eliminating trade barriers such as tariffs or quotas. Becomes the World Trade Organization in 1995
ARVN
South Vietnamese army
Modernization Theory
Economic reforms will set off social and political reforms (democracy); Provided theoretical justifications for US
policies in 3rd world countries like Vietnam
Bay of Pigs Invasion
in April 1961, the CIA-trained force of Cubans landed at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba but failed to set off a general
uprising as planned. Trapped on the beach, the anti-Castro Cubans had little choice but to surrender after
Kennedy rejected the idea of using U.S. forces to save them. Castro used the failed invasion to get even more aid
from the Soviet Union and to strengthen his grip on power.
Cuban Missile Crisis
After discovering that the Russians were building nuclear missile launch sites in Cuba, the U.S. announced a
quarantine of Cuba, which was really a blockade, but couldn't be called that since blockades are a violation of
international law. After 6 days of confrontation that led to the brink of nuclear war, Khrushchev backed down and
agreed to dismantle the launch sites
New Frontier
Kennedy called for aid to education, federal support of health care, urban renewal, and civil rights, but his
domestic programs languished in Congress.
supply side economics
Trickle-Down; cut taxes and deregulate to stimulate the economy
space race
Between the US and USSR for firsts, includes Vostok and Mercury programs
limited test ban treaty
banned all above-ground testing, sending nuclear tests underground – US USSR, UK
Lunch Counter Sit-ins
Protests that focused on integrating private businesses
Freedom riders
1961 program by civil rights activists that took bus trips through the American South to protest segregated bus
terminals.
16th Street Baptist Church
Attempts to desegregate had resulted in brutal retaliation by whites in Birmingham Alabama where 4 little girls
were killed in this bombing
Letter From a Birmingham Jail
MLK led drive to desegregation in Birmingham, Alabama and arrested. MLK responds to being referred to as an
“outsider“ - writes: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Freedom Summer aka Mississippi Summer Project
was a 1964 voter registration drive aimed at increasing the number of registered Black voters in Mississippi.
Organized by CORE and SNCC
March on Washington
Martin Luther King, Jr. led one of the largest and most successful demonstrations in U.S. history. About 200,000
blacks and whites took part in the peaceful March on Washington in support of the civil rights bill.
1964 Civil Rights Act
made segregation illegal in all public facilities, including hotels and restaurants, and gave the federal gov’t
additional powers to enforce school desegregation