US History Final Exam Study Guide Compact Review Edition

Comprehensive practice flashcards covering key terms and concepts from US History Chapters 25-30 and 32, as well as the Clinton era.

Selective Service Act

A law that required men to register for the draft so the United States could build a large army for World War II.

Island hopping

The Allied strategy of capturing key Pacific islands and skipping others to move closer to Japan.

Office of Price Administration

A wartime agency that controlled prices and rationed scarce goods to prevent inflation and shortages.

Manhattan Project

The secret U.S. program that developed the atomic bomb during World War II.

War Production Board

A government agency that helped factories switch from making consumer goods to making war supplies.

Hiroshima

The Japanese city where the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on August 6, 1945.

National War Labor Board

A wartime agency that helped settle labor disputes and keep production going during the war.

Nagasaki

The Japanese city where the United States dropped the second atomic bomb on August 9, 1945.

Operation Overlord

The code name for the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in 1944.

GI Bill

A law that gave World War II veterans benefits such as money for college, job training, and home loans.

D-Day

June 6, 1944, when Allied troops landed in Normandy to begin liberating Western Europe from Nazi control.

Internment

The forced relocation and imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

V-E Day

Victory in Europe Day, May 8, 1945, when Germany surrendered and the war in Europe ended.

Korematsu v. United States

A Supreme Court case that upheld Japanese American internment during World War II.

Harry S. Truman

The U.S. president who took office after Franklin Roosevelt died and decided to use atomic bombs against Japan.

United Nations

An international organization formed after World War II to promote peace and cooperation among nations.

Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill’s phrase for the division between Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe and democratic Western Europe.

Satellite nations

Countries in Eastern Europe controlled or strongly influenced by the Soviet Union after World War II.

Containment

The U.S. policy of trying to stop communism from spreading to new countries.

Truman Doctrine

President Truman’s promise to support countries resisting communism, first aimed at Greece and Turkey.

Marshall Plan

A U.S. program that gave economic aid to rebuild Western Europe and prevent the spread of communism.

Berlin airlift

The U.S. and British effort to fly supplies into West Berlin after the Soviet Union blockaded the city.

NATO

A military alliance formed by the United States, Canada, and Western European nations to defend against Soviet aggression.

Korean War

A Cold War conflict from 1950 to 1953 in which the United States and UN helped South Korea fight communist North Korea.

Red Scare

A period of fear that communists were secretly working inside the United States government and society.

Joseph McCarthy

A senator who made dramatic accusations that communists had infiltrated the U.S. government, often without solid proof.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

The U.S. president during the 1950s who used strong Cold War policies and warned against massive military spending.

Brinkmanship

The policy of threatening to go to the edge of war, including nuclear war, to force an enemy to back down.

Eisenhower Doctrine

A policy that promised U.S. aid to Middle Eastern countries resisting communism.

Nikita Khrushchev

The Soviet leader after Stalin who competed with the United States during the Cold War and Space Race.

Space Race

The Cold War competition between the United States and Soviet Union to achieve major goals in space exploration.

Sputnik

The first artificial satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, which shocked Americans and intensified the Space Race.

Consumerism

The focus on buying goods and services, which grew in the 1950s as Americans had more money to spend.

Suburbs

Residential communities outside cities that grew quickly after World War II.

Beat movement

A 1950s literary and cultural movement that criticized conformity and middle-class values.

Baby boom

The large increase in births after World War II as soldiers returned home and families grew.

Rock ’n’ roll

A popular music style of the 1950s that mixed rhythm and blues, country, and pop and became especially popular with teenagers.

Interstate Highway System

A nationwide network of highways created under Eisenhower that made travel, commuting, and suburban growth easier.

White flight

The movement of many white families from cities to suburbs, often leaving cities more segregated and with fewer resources.

John F. Kennedy

The president from 1961 to 1963 who promoted the New Frontier and faced major Cold War crises.

Lee Harvey Oswald

The man accused of assassinating President John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963.

Flexible response

Kennedy’s defense strategy of building different military options instead of relying only on nuclear weapons.

Lyndon Johnson

The president after Kennedy who pushed the Great Society and major civil rights laws through Congress.

Bay of Pigs invasion

A failed U.S.-backed attempt by Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro in 1961.

Great Society

Lyndon Johnson’s domestic program aimed at ending poverty, improving education and health care, and protecting civil rights.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A 1962 confrontation in which the United States and Soviet Union nearly went to nuclear war over missiles in Cuba.

Medicare/Medicaid

Great Society health programs that provided medical coverage for the elderly and for low-income Americans.

New Frontier

Kennedy’s program to improve the economy, education, civil rights, space exploration, and national defense.

Immigration Act of 1965

A law that ended the old national origins quota system and opened immigration to more people from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Brown v. Board of Education

The 1954 Supreme Court case that ruled segregated public schools were unconstitutional.

Little Rock

The Arkansas city where federal troops protected nine African American students integrating Central High School in 1957.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

A 1955–1956 protest sparked by Rosa Parks that ended segregation on Montgomery buses.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

A civil rights leader who promoted nonviolent protest and helped lead the movement for racial equality.

SCLC

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights group led by ministers that used nonviolent protest.

SNCC

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a student-led civil rights group that organized sit-ins, voter registration, and protests.

CORE

The Congress of Racial Equality, a civil rights organization that used nonviolent direct action such as Freedom Rides.

Freedom Rides

Bus trips through the South used to challenge segregation in interstate travel.

Freedom Summer

A 1964 campaign to register African American voters in Mississippi and challenge segregation.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

A law that banned segregation in public places and job discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

A law that banned literacy tests and gave the federal government power to protect voting rights.

De facto segregation

Segregation that happens by custom, housing patterns, or economic conditions rather than by law.

De jure segregation

Segregation required by law.

Malcolm X

A Black nationalist leader who first supported self-defense and separation but later moved toward a broader view of racial justice.

Black Power

A movement that emphasized racial pride, political power, economic independence, and sometimes self-defense.

Black Panther Party

A Black Power organization that promoted self-defense, community programs, and resistance to police brutality.

Affirmative Action

Policies designed to increase opportunities for groups that had faced discrimination.

Ho Chi Minh

The communist nationalist leader who fought French and later U.S.-backed forces to unite Vietnam.

Vietminh

A Vietnamese independence group led by Ho Chi Minh that fought French colonial rule.

Vietcong

Communist guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam who fought against the South Vietnamese government and U.S. forces.

Domino Theory

The belief that if one country fell to communism, nearby countries would also fall.

Geneva Accords

The 1954 agreement that temporarily divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel after France’s defeat.

Ngo Dinh Diem

The anti-communist leader of South Vietnam who was supported by the United States but became unpopular and authoritarian.

Gulf of Tonkin

A 1964 incident involving U.S. ships and North Vietnam that led Congress to give Johnson broad war powers.

Napalm

A jellied gasoline bomb used by the United States to burn forests, villages, and enemy positions.

Agent Orange

A chemical herbicide used by the United States to destroy jungle cover and crops in Vietnam.

Draft

The system of requiring people to serve in the military, which became controversial during the Vietnam War.

Tet Offensive

A major 1968 Vietcong and North Vietnamese attack that shocked Americans and weakened support for the war.

Vietnamization

Nixon’s plan to gradually withdraw U.S. troops while training South Vietnam to fight on its own.

Paris Peace Accords

The 1973 agreement that ended direct U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.

War Powers Act

A 1973 law limiting the president’s ability to send troops into combat without congressional approval.

26th Amendment

The amendment that lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.

Richard Nixon

The Republican president from 1969 to 1974 who promoted New Federalism, détente, and resigned because of Watergate.

Gerald Ford

The vice president who became president after Nixon resigned and later pardoned Nixon.

New Federalism

Nixon’s policy of shifting some power and money from the federal government to state and local governments.

Pardon of Nixon

Ford’s decision to officially forgive Nixon for possible Watergate crimes, which damaged Ford’s popularity.

Southern strategy

Nixon’s plan to win Southern white voters by appealing to conservative views on civil rights, busing, and federal power.

Helsinki Agreement

A 1975 agreement in which the United States, Soviet Union, and European nations recognized borders and pledged to respect human rights.

Realpolitik

A foreign policy based on practical power and national interest rather than ideals or morality.

Jimmy Carter

The Democratic president from 1977 to 1981 who focused on human rights but faced inflation, energy problems, and the Iran hostage crisis.

Détente

Nixon’s policy of easing Cold War tensions with communist nations such as China and the Soviet Union.

Camp David Accords

A peace agreement helped by Carter between Egypt and Israel in 1978.

Watergate

The scandal involving a break-in at Democratic headquarters and a Nixon administration cover-up.

Iranian Hostage Crisis

A crisis from 1979 to 1981 in which Iranian revolutionaries held Americans hostage at the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

Impeachment

The process of formally charging a government official with wrongdoing, which Nixon faced before he resigned.

Ronald Reagan

The conservative Republican elected president in 1980 after criticizing big government and promising strength and lower taxes.

Clinton

Bill Clinton was the Democratic president from 1993 to 2001 who focused on the economy, welfare reform, free trade, and health care debates.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

A Clinton-era military policy that allowed gay, lesbian, and bisexual people to serve only if they did not openly reveal their identity.

Lewinsky Scandal

A scandal involving President Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky that led to his impeachment by the House.

dot com

The internet-based business boom of the 1990s that helped fuel economic growth before many companies crashed later.

Welfare Reform

A 1996 law that changed welfare by adding work requirements and time limits for receiving benefits.