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Characteristics of the United States

1. Capitalist

2. Freedom of religion

3. Private ownership of goods

4. Democracy

5. Freedom of speech and press

Characteristics of the Soviet Union

1. Communist

2. Atheist or limited religious freedom

3. Government ownership

4. Dictatorship, 1 party rule.

5. Limited speech/state-run press

United Nations

An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation. Goal is collective security to prevent wars and settle disputes diplomatically.

The Cold War

A state of hostility between the Soviet Union and United States from 1945-1991.

Iron Curtain

A term coined by Winston Churchill in 1946, this marked the division between the Soviet East and democratic West in Europe.

Satellite States

Eastern Bloc countries controlled by the Soviet Union. Examples: Poland, Czechoslovakia.

Truman Doctrine

This was a promise to provide aid to any country resisting communist rule, beginning with providing $400 million in aid to Turkey and Greece to resist communist revolutionaries.

Containment

American diplomat George F. Kennan proposed this policy. Goal was to keep communist regimes within existing borders. Don't let communism spread!

Marshall Plan

Proposed by Secretary of State George C. Marshall. Plan was to provide financial and agricultural aid to democratic countries in Europe to prove capitalist superiority.

Berlin Airlift (Operation Vittles)

This was a response to a blockade of West Berlin by the Soviet Union in which the U.S. and Britain engaged in a massive air campaign to bring supplies to West Berliners, delivering nearly 2 million tons of supplies through May, 1949.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Military alliance that included the United States, to counter the Soviets. A mutual defense pact.

Warsaw Pact

Soviet military alliance including the USSR and its communist allies in the Eastern Bloc.

Korean War

Fought between 1950-53. South Korea and UN/U.S. vs. North Korea and China. The war ended with an armistice and little resolved. The two Koreas remained divided; often referred to as the "Forgotten War" today.

Arms Race

In 1949, the Soviets tested their first nuclear weapon. This "race" soon followed.

Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

A deterrent to using nuclear weapons because both the U.S. and the Soviet Union would be destroyed if one used a nuclear weapon and the other retaliated.

Domino Theory

The theory that if one country falls to communism in a region, others will fall like dominoes.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

This was created in 1947 and engaged in covert operations around the world, including overthrowing democratic governments in Iran in 1953 and Guatemala in 1954.

Second Red Scare

This was the fear that communists both outside and inside the United States were working to destroy American life.

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

This included members of Congress who investigated possible subversive activities by communists or any other threat to the U.S. The best known hearings were of writers, directors, and producers of Hollywood films.

Joseph McCarthy

He was a Republican senator from Wisconsin who charged that the State Department had been infiltrated by communists. He held public hearings in which no communist spies were uncovered and he was ultimately censured (punished) by the Senate for his behavior.

McCarthyism

This is used to describe a political "witch-hunt" in which people are accused of treason/subversiveness with no evidence.

Levittown

Famous suburbs, first in Long Island, New York. Quickly built, cheap family homes. Affordable, comfortable, and nearly identical to one another. It was intended to be 100% for white families.

White Flight

The migration of white families after World War II from the cities to the suburbs which ultimately hurt inner-cities as the large tax base/services left the city.

Nuclear Family

This was considered the backbone of American society and consisted of a father, mother, and children. Usually, the father would work and be the "breadwinner" and the mother would be a homemaker.

Television

A culture-shaping product of the 1950s that reinforced the "ideal" American family in its programs.

Culture Critics

People who were against the conformity and materialism of the 1950s; instead, promoting individuality and freedom.

Beats/Beatniks

A small group of writers and artists that refused to conform to mass American culture and others who joined the movement. They reacted against conformity and materialism.

Rock & Roll

This type of music became popular with teens in the 1950s. It was influenced by Southern "black" music and it became a symbol of the emerging youth culture.

Emmett Till

A fourteen-year-old black boy lynched in Mississippi in 1955; his death served as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement.

De Jure Segregation

Segregation by law (Jim Crow Laws).

De Facto Segregation

Segregation by custom ("white flight"/Levittown).

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

This organization focused on legal cases to end segregation and gain legal equality for African Americans, including winning the seminal case Brown v. Board of Education (1954).

Thurgood Marshall

A prominent lawyer for the NAACP who argued in the Brown v. Board of Education case and would later serve as a Supreme Court Justice.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

A unanimous Supreme Court decision (9-0) that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and declared that segregation in public schools was illegal. It was difficult to implement, as there was much resistance throughout the South.

Orval Faubus

He was governor of Arkansas who resisted allowing nine black students from attending Central High School in 1957, defying Brown v. Board of Education.

Little Rock Nine

Nine black students set to attend Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Eisenhower dispatched troops to escort them into the school over Governor Orval Faubus's objections.

Rosa Parks

She refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus in 1955, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

The most prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement, he was a Baptist minister who advocated civil disobedience and nonviolent protests.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

This lasted from 1955-56 and was organized by Martin Luther King, Jr., among others. The motives were driven by economics, and it was successful because many African Americans participated.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

This organization was formed in 1957 and was led by Martin Luther King, Jr. It was a church-based group dedicated to nonviolent resistance. It helped to organize the Birmingham Campaign, the March on Washington, and the Selma to Montgomery Marches, among others.

Sit-Ins

These began in 1960 in Greensboro, NC when four students organized stayed at a segregated lunch counter and refused to leave. The goal was to desegregate restaurants and businesses, and the movement spread throughout the South.

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

This organization was formed in 1960 and was a grassroots movement of young activists who organized sit-ins and voter education projects in the South, including Freedom Summer in 1964.

Freedom Rides

In 1961, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) organized these interstate bus rides throughout the South with the intention of integrating interstate bus travel. They faced heavy violence including the firebombing of a bus and angry mobs.

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

This group, formed back in 1942, organized peaceful protests to gain civil rights, including the Freedom Rides.

Birmingham Campaign

In 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. focused his attention on another Alabama city, staging marches and demonstrations to integrate the city. The strategy was to fill the jails. The local police used fire hoses and dogs on protesters.

March on Washington

This event took place in August , 1963 and was attending by 250,000 people. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

This banned segregation in public accommodations and outlawed discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. Supported and signed by President Lyndon Johnson.

24th Amendment

This outlawed poll taxes in 1964.

Literacy Tests

These were often used to prevent African Americans from voting in the South.

Freedom Summer

SNCC organized thousands of volunteers to register African Americans to vote in Mississippi. Three civil rights workers disappeared and were later found dead, shot at point blank range.

Selma, Alabama

This city was the starting point for a 54 mile march to Montgomery, Alabama, with the goal of securing African American voting rights. On the third attempt, the march ultimately succeeded.

"Bloody Sunday"

This was the first Selma march--on March 7, 1965--the day protesters were beaten and tear gassed by Alabama state police when attempting to leave Selma.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Banned literacy tests and gave the federal government oversight in regions that were known for limiting the right for African Americans to vote

Kerner Commission

Created by President Johnson to investigate the causes of race riots. It concluded that long term racial discrimination stood as the single most important cause. Nothing was done to address the issue in the inner cities.

Malcolm X

The most well known black "radical," he converted to the Nation of Islam ("Black Muslims") while a young man in prison. He believed in self-defense instead of nonviolence, and black nationalism instead of integration.

Nation of Islam

A religious sect that preached self-reliance and discipline. Malcolm X was a primary figure in the group but later left, and he was ultimately assassinated by members of the religion.

Black Power

Term coined by Stokely Carmichael in 1966, who helped to radicalize SNCC and move away from nonviolence.

Black Panthers

Formed in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Monitor police abuse/arm black militants. Created antipoverty programs/free breakfast programs for poor black children and focused on ensuring black control of black neighborhoods.

Huey P. Newton

Led the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California and believed in arming the black community.

James Earl Ray

This man assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968.

Affirmative Action

Established hiring and educational guidelines to promote historically discriminated groups over whites. Preferential treatment for minorities in hiring.