2nd Semester Review Terms - American Studies

yalta conference

Big three agreed that Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania would hold free elections

united nations

organization that promoted peace

island hopping

seizing selected Japanese islands in the Pacific while skipping over others

genocide

mass killing of a group

"europe-first" strategy

Prioritizing Germany before focusing on other threats

war refugee board

worked with the red cross to save thousands of Jews

Operation Overlord

Allied beach invasion of Normandy, France

rationing

Americans were issued coupon books that limited the amount of certain goods

bracero program

Bringing laborers from Mexico to work on American farms

philip randolph

Labor leader who asserted that African Americans would no longer accept second-class citizenship

442nd regimental combat team

Fought in the Italian campaign and became the most decorated military unit in American history

tuskegee airman

African american fighter squadron

erwin rommel

German field marshal

george kennan

American diplomat and leading authority on the Soviet Union

red scare

Fear of communists

mccarthyism

Extreme, reckless charges

eisenhower doctrine

Stated that the US would use force to help any Middle Eastern nation threatened by communism

limited war

Truman's policy where they only fought to achieve specific goals

douglas macarthur

WWII hero who planned to launch a surprise attack on the Port City of Inchon, well behind enemy lines

julius rosenberg

communist spy who was from the poor side of Manhattan

satellite state

states controlled by the soviet union

arms race

competition to have a stronger military force than others by building weapons and military capabilities

mutual assured destruction

US and soviet union hoped to deter nuclear war by building up enough weapons to destroy one another

freedom summer

campaign helped African Americans registering to vote

thurgood marshall

African American lawyer from Maryland

brown v. board of education

court case about segregated education

martin luther king

Baptist and held the march on Washington along with the "I have a dream" speech

de jure segregation

segregation imposed by law`

voting rights act of 1965

prohibited racial discrimination in voting

kerner commission

long-term racial discrimination stood as the most important cause of violence

malcolm x

African American radical and Islam's prominent minister where they demanded a separation of races

black power

movement that urged African Americans to use their collective political economic power to gain equality

montegomery bus boycott

African Americans refused to go on buses

freedom ride

riders set off in two buses from DC to New Orleans and sat in the front

james meredith

air force veteran and won a federal court case allowing the university in Mississippi to desegregate

great society

demanded an end to poverty and racial injustice

deficit spending

government practice of borrowing money to spend more than what is received from taxes

richard m. nixon

Poorer but was passionate about foreign affairs and supported the Cold War fight against communism, elected to Congress and Senate

flexible response

defense policy that prepared the United States to fight any conflict

equal pay act

required equal wages for equal work in industries engaged in commerce or producing goods for commerce

lyndon johnson

became President after Kennedy's assassination and created the Great Society program

fidel castro

Communist Regime in Cuba

civil rights act

outlawed discrimination in voting, education, and public accommodations

warren commission

conducted the investigation of the assassination describing Oswald as the "lone killer"

berlin wall

gulf between the communist East and democratic West of Germany

medicaid

program that provided low-cost health insurance to poor Americans of any age

new frontier

Kennedy's proposals to improve the economy, education, healthcare, and civil rights

feminism

theory of political, social, and economic equality of men and women

beatles

English rock band

phyllis schlafy

political activist who denounced women's liberation and worked hard to defeat the ERA

roe v. wade

protected the right to have an abortion

migrant farmworkers

migrated from farm-to-farm to pick fruits and vegetables

betty friedan

author who wrote the Feminine Mystique and established the National Organization for Women

united farm workers

labor union for farmers that worked to improve wages, working conditions, and well-being of farmers

toxic waste

poisonous byproduct of human activity

cesar chavez

Latino activist who fought for rights and farm laborers

national organization of women

dedicated itself to winning "true equality for all women" and to attaining a "full and equal partnership of the sexes", galvanized the women's movement

earth day

nationwide protest to growing environmental concerns

judith baca

American artist, activist, and Professor of Chicano studies

commune

small communities where people have common interests and share resources

counterculture

adopted values that ran counter to mainstream

timothy leary

Harvard researcher who preached that drugs could free the mind and encouraged Americans to do drugs