US History Semester 2 Final

Causes of the Great Depression and problems of the 1920s

• stock market crash of 1929

• overproduction/underconsumption

• consumer debt

• bank failures

• agricultural decline

Why did the Stock market crash happen?

• decline in consumer demand

• panic selling of stocks

• “buying on margin” using borrowed money to buy stocks

Hoover’s attempts to help the economy

• encourage businesses to cooperate

• public works projects ex the Hoover Dam

  • helped stimulate the economy and provide jobs

  • increased public infrastructure spending

• RFC- reconstruction finance corporation

  • loans to banks and businesses and building railroads

  • expanded to relief programs

• Limited government intervention

Bonus Army, okies, hoboes

• WW! veterans that demanded their payment bonus for serving in the war gathering in a march in DC

• migrant agricultural workers, mostly from Oklahoma, that migrated west during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression

• in the contest of the Great Depression, they were hardworking young people that would do odd jobs

Depression Art and Literature

• reflected current challenges like poverty and unemployment

Direct Relief

• programs that providing immediate assistance through food, shelter, and medical care

Dust Bowl

• cause: droughts, overgrazing, over farming, and eventual removal of native vegetation

• effect: large scale migration due to weather and lack of rain and food, mostly towards California.

• effect: economic hardship (in addition to the depression) and health problems

What was life like for people during the Depression?

• widespread economic hardship

• high unemployment

• poverty

• bank failures

• reduced consumption

The election of 1932 and Roosevelt’s early actions as President

• Roosevelt defeated Hoover in a landslide

• First New Deal

  • Banking reform

  • unemployed relief programs

  • agricultural programs

Goals of the New Deal and the three R’s

• relief, recovery, and reform

Major New Deal programs

• Emergency Banking Relief Act- stabilize the banking system after crisis

• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)- employing young men on conservation projects like park development

• Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)- raise agricultural prices by paying farmers to reduce production

• Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)- provide electricity, flood control, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley

• Public Works Administration (PWA)- agency funded large scale public works projects, such as highways and bridges

Women During the New Deal

• Elanor Roosevelt- advocate for women’s rights and shaped New Deal’s social programs as First Lady

• Frances Perkins- first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet as Secretary of Labor

• Women were mostly excluded from New Deal programs

Supreme Court’s response to the New Deal and Roosevelt’s court packing scheme

• The Supreme court initially challenged the New Deal Programs because they were unconstitutional

• Court packing: Roosevelt’s plan to increase the number of justices to gain more support

• This led for it to pass

Legacy and criticisms of the New Deal

• Legacy

  • Labor rights

  • economic regulation

  • public works

• Criticisms

  • debt

  • government overreach

  • prolonged depression

  • social divisions

The dictators and their rise to power and path to WWII in Europe

• Adolf Hitler- implemented aggressive nationalist and racist policies to expand Germany and their military contributing to the outbreak of WWII

• Benito Mussolini- expansionist policies and alliance with Germany further destabilizing Europe and forming the Axis powers

• Joseph Stalin- authoritarian regime and expansion of the Soviet Union’s influence in Eastern Europe

Pearl Harbor

• surprise military attack by Japan to Hawaii

• led US to join the war

Reasons for US neutrality and ways aid was contributed

• they didn’t want to join another costly war, wanted to avoid foreign entanglements, and didn’t want to further strain the economy after the Great Depression

• they contributed aid through lending war materials, selling materials, and providing training and equipment to allied forces

The Holocaust and genocide

• Nazi ideology and antisemitism that increased persecution to Jews and led to deportation, ghettos, and mass murder

The nonaggression pact

• pact between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union that agreed that both powers would not attack each other for the next 10 years

Blitzkrieg and the Battle of Britain

• Blitzkrieg was a series of German bombings on British cities

• Battle of Britain was an air fought battle where Britain won and prevented a German invasion of Britain

Life on the home front during WWII

• rationed goods to ensure supplies for military

• increased labor force while men served

• women took on more male-dominated jobs

• war bonds

• increased popularity in films and music that promoted patriotic themes

Major Battles in Europe

• Battle of Stalingrad- turning point in the war between Germany and Soviet Union

• Battle of the Bulge- last major German offensive in the West

• Battle of Britain-aerial battles between Britain and Germany

• Battle of Normandy (D-Day)- invasion and one of the deadliest battles of the war

• Battle of Berlin- final battle that ended the war

Major Battles in the Pacific theater

• Pearl Harbor- surprise attack by Japan that led to the US joining the war

• Battle of Midway- victory for the US and considered a turning point in the war

• Battle of Iwo Jima- costly battle for US during the invasion of Japan

• Battle of Okinawa- largest of bloodiest battle with casualties on both sides

Why and where the atomic bomb was dropped

• it was dropped in Japan

• it was to end the war and force Japan’s surrender

Legacy of WWII

• rise of global superpowers

• beginning of the Cold War

• decolonization

• development of UN

Origins of the Cold War

• ideological differences

• rise of US and Soviet Union as global superpowers

• aftermath of WW2 (disagreements and fueled tensions)

Truman doctrine

• US providing military and economic aid to countries resisting aggression or subversion, like Greece and Turkey

• moving towards a policy of containment of communism

Marshall Plan

• post WWII initiative by the US to aid Western European nations in rebuilding their economies by providing financial aid

Containment

• US foreign policy to prevent the spread of communism from its existing boundaries

Eisenhower Doctrine

• authorized US to provide economic and military aid to the Middle Eastern countries facing threats from armed aggression or internal subversion

Truman’s foreign policy, strategies, and events

• Truman Doctrine

• Marshall Plan

• Containment

• NATO

• Cold War Arms race

Eisenhower’s foreign policy, strategies, and events

• containment

• Soviet retaliation

• Eisenhower Doctrine

• Suez Crisis

Space race and nuclear weapons

• Soviet Union and US fueling each other to progress nuclear and space technology

• hand in hand with Cold War

Spread of communisms: China, the Korean War

• China became a communist nation led by Mao Zedong

• The Korean war a result of communist North invading South, and China sent troops to North

McCarthyism

• publicly accusing people of disloyalty or subversion, mostly around communism

• stared with McCarthy, a senator, that used his position to launch highly publicized investigations and accusations

HUAC

• House Un-American Activities committee

• House of Representitives Committee investigating alleged disloyal and subversion in the US

Paranoia at home

• nuclear bombing

• communist spread

• women returning to their traditional roles

Kennedy’s foreign policy: Berlin Wall, Cuban Missile Crisis

• avoided military response toward Berlin Wall

• choose a naval blockade over an invasion into Cuba

Realpolitik

• diplomatic and political approach that prioritizes practicality over ideological or moral ones

Detente

• a period of improved relations and reduced tensions between nations

SALT

• a series of negotiations between the US and Soviet Union limiting development and deployment of nuclear weapons

Glasnost

• meaning openness in Russian and was intended to address the lack of transparency and suppression of information within the Soviet system

Perestroika

• the policy of restructuring the economic and political system in the Soviet Union

End of the cold war

• George HW Bush declared the end of the Cold War

• Soviet Union broke up into 15 different states after failure to restructure

• Germany reunified

1950s culture, prosperity, and society

• post war boom

• consumerism

• rise of the middle class

• segregation and discrimination

• rise of television

Baby Boom

• increase in birth rates following WWII

Move to suburbs, consumerism

• became more affordable

• centering around family life and community

Election of 1960, Camelot and “the best and the brightest”

• New Frontier campaign from Kennedy

• focused on his youthful energy and evokes idealism and elegance

• referring to his highly intelligent administration

The New Frontier and Kennedy’s domestic agenda

• expand government of social and economic reform

• expanded Peace Corps, Medicare, Social Security, and federal aid to education

Kennedy’s assassination

• in an open roof car in Dallas

• led to questioning government and conspiracy theories

War on Poverty and Great Society: programs, legacy

• a series of social programs to combat poverty, improve education, and expand healthcare

• this advanced civil rights and increased government involvement

The Warren court

• the US supreme court under Chief Justice Warren that expanded civil rights and fought for equal representation

Counterculture: what they were protesting against, who belonged, conservative response

• rebellion movement that protested the Vietnam war, racial injustice, and rigid social norms

• mostly people that rejected mainstream values

• received backlash from conservatives

Segregation

• separating people usually by race

• schools, restaurants, and other public spaces were seperated

Significant civil rights court cases

• Plessy v Ferguson- established “separate but equal” and continued racial segregation

• Brown v Board of Education- overturned “separate but equal” and ruled racial segregation in schools unconstitutional

Goals of early civil rights movements

• secure equal rights for Black Americans

• end segregation

• secure voting rights

Major civil rights event, groups, and figures

• Southern Christian Leadership Conference- founded by MLKjr that organized nonviolent protests

• Civil Rights Act of 1964- outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin

Black Power figures and strategies

• Malcolm X- advocated for Black nationalism and self-defense

• MLK Jr- preacher who advocated for nonviolent resistance and civil rights

Legacy of civil rights movement

• cultural shifts

• desegregation

• increased education and employment opportunities

Cesar Chavez and United Farm Workers: goals and strategies

• improve working conditions

• increase wages and benefits

• nonviolent resistance and consumer boycotts

Feminist movement: notable leaders and goals, conservative backlash, and leaders

• Susan B Anthony and Lucy Stone- achieve the right to vote

• Betty Frieden and Gloria Steinem- fought for reproductive rights and equal pay

• backlash due to opposition and negative stereotypes

Origins of the Vietnam War and why America becomes involved

• stemmed from Cold War rivalry

• prevent the spread of communism

Goals of American role in Vietnam

• prevent the spread of communism in Southeast Asia

Major figures in war and their roles: Kennedy, Johnson, Westmoreland, McNamara, Ho Chi Minh

• increased military aid and advisors

• escalated US involvement and increased troop deployment

• army general who commanded US forces in Vietnam

• US secretary of defense during the war

• President of North Vietnam

Vietnam draft

• drafted 2.2 million men based on birthday to the war

Tet Offensive, My Lai, bombing of Cambodia

• series of surprise attacks by North Vietnam

• massacre that fueled anti-war sentiments in the US

• secret bombing campaign that targeted North Vietnamese supply lines

Why the war becomes so unpopular

• prolonged nature

• growing casualties

• graphic media coverage

• anti-war movement

Protests and the New Left

• anti-war protests

• loosely organized political movement in the 1960s that advocated for social and political change

Legacy of the war at home and in Vietnam/Cambodia

• end of the draft

• anti-war protests

• shift in public attitude towards military

• infrastructure damage

• psychological trauma

Nixon’s conservatism: New federalism, success and failures

• devolve certain powers from the federal government back to the states

• desegregated schools, ended the draft, decentralized administration

• lessened foreign policy, economic challenges, and Watergate

Stagflation

• slow economic growth and high employment with inflation

Nixon’s foreign policy

• reduce tensions with Soviets

• withdraw from Vietnam war while still supporting the South

Watergate: why, how, who was involved, outcome

• invasion to Democrat HQ in Watergate complex

• White House tried to cover it up

• FBI and Congress investigated it and uncovered web of illegal activities

• Nixon resigns

Post Nixon 1970s

• Watergate scandal aftermath

• end of the Vietnam War

Iran Hostage Crisis

• diplomatic standoff between US and Iran

• weakened US foreign policy