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38th parallel
dividing line between North and South Korea
Douglas MacArthur
(1880-1964) commanded American troops in World War I, where he developed a reputation for bravery. As supreme commander of Allied forces in the Pacific (1942-1945) he accepted Japan’s surrender to end World War II. In 1950, he became the commander of UN forces in the Korean War. He retired after his controversial removal from command in 1951, following a dispute with President Harry Truman.
mutually assured destruction
policy in which the United States and the Soviet Union hoped to deter nuclear war by building up enough weapons to destroy one another
John Foster Dulles
(1888-1959) was a diplomat and political thinker. A strong anti-communist, he helped organize the United Nations after World War II and later served as Secretary of State under president Dwight Eisenhower. In this role, he helped formulate the Cold War policies of brinkmanship and “massive retaliation“.
Nikita Khrushchev
(1894-1971) was a Communist Party leader who served as premier of the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964. They led the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but lost power soon afterwards.
Suez crisis
attempt by France and Great Britain to seize control of the Suez Canal in 1956
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
U.S. intelligence-gathering organization
Red Scare
fear that communists were working to destroy the American way of life
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
congressional committee that investigated possible subversive activities within the United States
Hollywood Ten
group of movie writers, directors, and producers who refused to answer HUAC questions about communist ties
blacklist
list of persons who were not hired because of suspected communist ties
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
They were two American civilians controversially convicted and executed for espionage during the Red Scare of the 1950s. Later evidence from the Verona Papers confirmed that both did have ties to Soviet espionage.
Joseph R. McCarthy
(1908-1957) was a U.S. Senator who led a series of high-profile investigations into Americans whom he accused of being disloyal to the United States. His tactics, known as McCarthyism. helped define the Red Scare of the 1950s.
McCarthyism
negative catchword for extreme, reckless change of disloyalty
GI Bill of Rights
legislation that eased the return of World War II veterans by providing education and employment aid
baby boom
increase in births between 1945 and 1964
Sunbelt
name given to the region of states in the South and the Southwest
service sector
businesses that provide services rather than manufactured goods
Interstate Highway Act
the 1956 law that authorized the spending of $32 billion to build 41,000 miles of highway
nuclear family
an ideal or typical household with a father, mother, and children; a family that consists of parents and their children
urban renewal
government programs for redevelopment of urban areas
Thurgood Marshall
(1908-1993) became counsel for the NAACP in 1938 and won 29 of the 32 major civil rights cases he argued over the next 23 years. In 1967, he became the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court and held the post until poor health caused him to retire in 1991.
De Facto Segregation
segregation by unwritten custom or tradition
Orval Faubus
(1910-1994) was the governor of Arkansas from 1954 to 1967. He is best known for ordering the Arkansas National Guard to block nine African American students from entering Little Rock Central High School in 1957, in defiance of a federal order that mandated the end of racial segregation in schools. His efforts failed when President Eisenhower sent federal troops to usher the students into the school.
Sit-in
form of protest during which participants sit and refuse to move
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
grassroots movement founded in 1960 by young civil rights activists
Freedom Rides
1961 protest by activists who rode buses through southern states to test their compliance with laws banning segregation on interstate buses
James Meredith
(1933-) attended an all black college before becoming the first black student at the University of Mississippi in 1962. After he graduated, he earned a law degree and became involved in Republican Party politics. He was shot in Mississippi while on a protest march in 1966. After he recovered, he continued to be active in the civil rights movement.
March on Washington
1963 demonstration in which more than 200,000 people rallied for economic equality and civil rights
Freedom Summer
1964 effort to register African American voters in Mississippi
24th Amendment
constitutional amendment that banned the poll tax as a voting requirement
Malcom X
(1925-1965) served as a spokesman and minister for the Nation of Islam. His work helped the Nation of Islam, which had only 400 members when he was released from prison in 1952, grow to 40,000 members by 1960. He broke with the group shortly before his assassination in 1965.
“Black Power“
movements in the 1960s that urged African Americans to use their collective political and economic power to gain equality
Affirmative Action
policy that gives special consideration to women and minorities to make up for past discrimination
New Frontier
President Kennedy’s plan to improve the economy, fight racial discrimination, and explore space
Equal Pay Act
1963 law requiring men and women to receive equal pay for equal work
Space Race
competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to successfully land on the moon
Great Society
President Lyndon Johnson’s goals in the areas of health care, education, the environment, discrimination, and poverty
Medicare
federal program created in 1965 to provide basic hospital insurance to most Americans over the age of sixty-five
Medicade
federal program created in 1965 to provide low-cost health insurance to poor Americans of any age
Immigration and Nationality Act
law that changed the national quota system limits of 170.000 immigrants per year from the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 per year from the Western Hemisphere
Tinker v Des Moines School District
1969 Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the right to free speech extended to other types of expression besides the spoken word
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Flashcard (33)