Great Depression to Jimmy Carter's Presidency

Vocabulary practice cards covering key events and concepts from the Great Depression through the early 1970s based on lecture notes.

Black Tuesday

The stock market crash in $1929$ that is recognized as the start of the Great Depression.

Money supply limitation

The government policy action that exacerbated the economic crisis during the Great Depression.

Hoovervilles

Shantytowns built during the Great Depression, jokingly named after the president.

Hoover blankets

Newspapers used as blankets by the homeless during the Great Depression.

The Dust Bowl

The environmental disaster that affected the Midwest due to drought and poor farming during the Great Depression.

Relief

One of the three-fold primary goals of President Roosevelt's New Deal.

Recovery

One of the three-fold primary goals of President Roosevelt's New Deal.

Reform

One of the three-fold primary goals of President Roosevelt's New Deal.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

A New Deal program that provided short-term jobs building infrastructure like roads and airports.

Civil Works Administration (CWA)

A New Deal program that provided short-term jobs building infrastructure like roads and airports.

The Wagner Act

Legislation that protected workers' rights to organize unions and engage in collective bargaining.

Francis Townsend

The reformer who pushed for federal support for the elderly, influencing the creation of Social Security.

Social Security Act

Legislation establishing a program for old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

The "court-packing" plan

FDR's controversial proposal to add additional justices to the Supreme Court to prevent it from striking down New Deal programs.

Deficit spending

The principle of borrowing money for government spending adopted by Roosevelt to stimulate economic growth.

Movies

A form of entertainment that became extremely popular as an escape from the Great Depression.

Radio

A form of entertainment that became extremely popular as an escape from the Great Depression.

Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA)

A program designed to stabilize farm prices and maintain subsidies for farmers.

1938 Munich Conference

The meeting where Britain and France agreed to let Germany annex the Sudetenland in a policy of appeasement.

Appeasement

The failed British and French policy of allowing Germany to annex territory to avoid war.

Blitzkrieg

The "lightning war" military strategy characterized by fast-moving tanks and aircraft.

Bataan Death March

The brutal forced march of American and Filipino forces to Camp O'Donnell following their surrender.

Camp O'Donnell

The destination for prisoners during the Bataan Death March in the Philippines.

Battle of Coral Sea

A naval battle that served as a turning point in the Pacific War by weakening Japanese naval power.

Battle of Midway

A naval battle that served as a turning point in the Pacific War by weakening Japanese naval power.

War Production Board

The agency that supervised the conversion of factories from consumer goods to military supplies during WWII.

Executive Order 9066

The order used to force Japanese Americans into internment camps.

442nd Regiment

A highly decorated World War II unit composed of Japanese American soldiers.

Tuskegee Airmen

African American pilots who proved their combat abilities despite military segregation.

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

The largest Jewish revolt against Nazi control during World War II.

D-Day

The $1944$ invasion of Normandy that opened a second front in Europe against Germany.

Battle of the Bulge

Germany's final major offensive that failed, leading to an Allied victory in Europe.

Hiroshima

The city where the first atomic bomb was dropped in $1945$, marking the first use of nuclear weapons in warfare.

United Nations

An organization established after WWII to maintain peace, protect human rights, and encourage international cooperation.

The Atlantic Charter

A document outlined by Roosevelt and Churchill emphasizing self-determination and economic cooperation.

Freedom of Speech and Expression

One of the four specific freedoms Roosevelt outlined as essential human rights.

Freedom of Worship

One of the four specific freedoms Roosevelt outlined as essential human rights.

Freedom from Want

One of the four specific freedoms Roosevelt outlined as essential human rights.

Freedom from Fear

One of the four specific freedoms Roosevelt outlined as essential human rights.

Island-hopping strategy

A military strategy allowing the Allies to bypass heavily fortified Japanese positions in the Pacific.

Soviet Union

The country that suffered the highest number of military and civilian deaths during WWII, estimated at $24$ to $27$ million.

"Red Tails"

The nickname for the African American fighter pilots of the Tuskegee Airmen who painted their planes' tails red.

Marshall Plan

A post-WWII plan to rebuild Europe and stop the spread of communism.

Berlin Airlift

The delivery of food and supplies by air organized by the U.S. and allies in response to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin.

1950 North Korean invasion

The event that triggered the United States' entry into the Korean War.

The 38th parallel

The geographic boundary near which the Korean War ended, leaving the peninsula divided.

Containment

The foreign policy approach toward communism continued by Eisenhower from the Truman administration.

Brinkmanship

The practice of pushing conflicts to the edge of war to pressure diplomatic opponents.

Atoms for Peace

Eisenhower's program to encourage peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

Eisenhower's "New Look" policy

A policy prioritizing nuclear weapons over conventional forces because they were less expensive to maintain.

CIA

The agency that carried out covert operations in the $1950s$ to stop governments viewed as sympathetic to communism.

Domino theory

The theory that if one country fell to communism, its neighbors would also fall.

The 17th parallel

The line where Vietnam was divided following the defeat of the French.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

The Egyptian President whose action triggered the Suez Crisis in $1956$.

Nationalization of the Suez Canal

The action by Gamal Abdel Nasser that triggered the Suez Crisis.

Eisenhower Doctrine

A promise of American economic and military aid to Middle Eastern nations to resist international communism.

Military-industrial complex

A combination of the military and the defense industry that Eisenhower warned could threaten American democracy.

Viet Cong guerrilla warfare

A combat style where soldiers blend with civilian populations and use surprise attacks.

Tet Offensive

The $1968$ offensive that shocked Americans and changed public opinion by showing the enemy remained strong.

Lyndon B. Johnson's 1968 withdrawal

The decision to leave the presidential race due to plummeting support for the war and political divisions.

Vietnam War draft

A system criticized as unfair because minorities and poorer Americans were drafted while college students avoided service.

Television coverage (Vietnam)

Media coverage that brought graphic war images into homes, leading many to question government progress claims.

1970 Kent State shootings

An event demonstrating the intensity and volatility of anti-war sentiment in the United States.

Vietnamization

President Nixon's policy of transferring combat responsibilities to South Vietnam while withdrawing U.S. troops.

Nixon's invasion of Cambodia

An expansion of the war into a neutral country viewed as a contradiction to the withdrawal policy.

My Lai Massacre

An event revealing atrocities by American soldiers that caused a sharp decline in public trust in the government.

Pentagon Papers

Leaked documents revealing that multiple presidential administrations had misled the public about the Vietnam War.

1973 troop withdrawal

The end of U.S. combat involvement in Vietnam, representing a failure to prevent communist control.

Fall of Saigon

The $1975$ event symbolizing the failure of the American Cold War strategy in Vietnam.

Operation Rolling Thunder

A military failure that relied on gradual escalation and political micromanagement rather than a decisive campaign.

Agent Orange

A chemical weapon used in Vietnam that revealed the destructive nature of industrialized warfare.

Napalm

A chemical weapon used in Vietnam that showed the limits of military technology against guerrillas.

Brown v. Board of Education

The Supreme Court decision that declared school segregation unconstitutional and overturned "separate but equal."

Nonviolent resistance

Martin Luther King Jr.'s strategy to expose injustice and make it difficult for opponents to justify violence.

Birmingham Campaign

A civil rights movement influential due to television coverage of protesters being attacked by dogs and fire hoses.

Little Rock Central High School

The site of a $1957$ integration crisis where Eisenhower sent federal troops to protect African American students.

Freedom Rides

Protests designed to challenge segregation in public spaces and interstate transportation.

1963 March on Washington

A gathering of more than $200,000$ people to demand equality and hear the "I Have a Dream" speech.

NAACP

A civil rights organization that focused on achieving equality through legal battles in the courts.

SNCC

A civil rights organization that focused on direct protest methods rather than legal battles.

"Black Power"

A movement that arose from activists frustrated with the slow pace of change through nonviolent methods.

Malcolm X (post-Mecca)

The leader whose philosophy became more moderate regarding Black nationalism after his trip to Mecca.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The legislation that outlawed segregation in public places.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Legislation that protected the right to vote and significantly increased Black voter registration.

James Meredith

The individual whose admission to the University of Mississippi required federal enforcement to overcome resistance to integration.

Sit-ins

Peaceful occupations of public spaces used to challenge segregation directly.

National Urban League

An organization focused on empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream.

Black Panthers

A group that promoted armed self-defense and community programs rather than nonviolence.

"Modern Republicanism"

Eisenhower's approach of expanding government programs while preserving Republican traditions for national stability.

Postwar consumerism

A period defined by Americans buying homes, cars, and goods at unprecedented levels due to economic growth.

Rock and roll

A music genre that helped challenge racial barriers by introducing white audiences to African American musicians.

1950s Television culture

A medium that promoted traditional values and idealized images of suburban families during the Cold War.

Great Society

President Johnson's programs for education and healthcare aimed at addressing inequality.

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965

The law that ended restrictive quotas and opened U.S. immigration to people from around the world.

"War on Poverty"

A controversial political issue that sparked ideological divides over the role of government.

"White flight"

The movement of white residents from cities, which reduced tax revenue and underfunded infrastructure.

Counterculture

A movement challenging traditional values like conformity, consumerism, and racial injustice.

1968 Watershed Year

A turning point in history featuring high-profile assassinations, urban riots, and a national crisis over Vietnam.