Honors US History Spring 2026 Final Exam Study Sheet

Key Figures in United States History

Charles Lindbergh: Famous aviator who completed the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight in $1927$ in the "Spirit of St. Louis." Later became a prominent leader of the America First Committee, advocating for isolationism before World War II.
Lyndon Johnson (LBJ): The $36^{th}$ President of the United States. He championed the "Great Society" programs, which included Civil Rights legislation and the "War on Poverty." His presidency was significantly overshadowed by the escalation of the Vietnam War.
Neil Armstrong: American astronaut and the first human to walk on the moon during the Apollo $11$ mission in $1969$ . He famously stated, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
Fidel Castro: Revolutionary leader who established a communist regime in Cuba in $1959$ . His leadership led to significant Cold War tensions, including the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Earl Warren: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ( $1953$ - $1969$ ) known for the "Warren Court," which expanded civil rights, civil liberties, and judicial power. He presided over Brown v. Board of Education.
Upton Sinclair: A "Muckraker" journalist and author of The Jungle ( $1906$ ), which exposed the unsanitary conditions of the meatpacking industry, leading to the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act.
Jimmy Doolittle: General in the U.S. Army Air Forces during WWII. He led the "Doolittle Raid" in April $1942$ , the first air raid by the U.S. to strike the Japanese Home Islands.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand: Heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne whose assassination in Sarajevo on June $28, 1914$ , served as the immediate catalyst for the start of World War I.
John D. Rockefeller: Industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Standard Oil Company. He used horizontal integration to control approximately $90\%$ of the U.S. oil refining industry.
Douglas MacArthur: U.S. General who commanded the Southwest Pacific in WWII and led UN forces during the start of the Korean War. He was famously relieved of duty by President Truman for public insubordination.
Booker T. Washington: African American educator and reformer who founded the Tuskegee Institute. In his "Atlanta Compromise" speech, he argued for vocational education and economic self-reliance rather than immediate social equality.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR): The $32^{nd}$ President, elected to four terms. He led the U.S. through the Great Depression with his "New Deal" and served as Commander-in-Chief during most of WWII.
Joseph McCarthy: A Republican Senator from Wisconsin who became the face of the Second Red Scare. He made unsubstantiated claims that communist spies had infiltrated the U.S. government (McCarthyism).
Sitting Bull: Hunkpapa Lakota leader or "holy man" who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies, notably at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Andrew Carnegie: Scottish-American industrialist who led the expansion of the American steel industry. He used vertical integration and later became a major philanthropist, writing "The Gospel of Wealth."
William Jennings Bryan: Leading orator and politician. He delivered the "Cross of Gold" speech supporting bimetallism and served as the prosecutor in the Scopes Monkey Trial.
Henry Ford: Founder of the Ford Motor Company. He revolutionized industry with the assembly line and the Model T, making automobiles affordable for the average American.
Theodore Roosevelt: The $26^{th}$ President, known for "Square Deal" domestic policies, trust-busting, conservationism, and his "Big Stick" foreign policy. He led the Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War.
Jackie Robinson: The first African American to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era, breaking the color barrier when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in $1947$ .
Rosa Parks: Civil rights activist whose refusal to surrender her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Alabama bus in $1955$ sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
John F. Kennedy (JFK): The $35^{th}$ President during the height of the Cold War. He navigated the Cuban Missile Crisis and established the Peace Corps before his assassination in $1963$ .
Dr. Benjamin Spock: Pediatrician whose book Baby and Child Care ( $1946$ ) influenced the parenting styles of the post-WWII baby boom generation.
Lee Harvey Oswald: The individual identified by government investigations as the assassin of President John F. Kennedy.
Jack Ruby: A Dallas nightclub owner who fatally shot Lee Harvey Oswald on November $24, 1963$ , while Oswald was in police custody.
Robert Kennedy (RFK): Former Attorney General and Democratic presidential candidate who championed civil rights. He was assassinated in $1968$ during his campaign.
Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK): Baptist minister and the primary leader of the American Civil Rights Movement. He advocated for nonviolent civil disobedience and led the March on Washington.
Richard Nixon: The $37^{th}$ President, known for his foreign policy (opening relations with China) and for being the only president to resign from office following the Watergate scandal.
Sandra Day O’Connor: The first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, nominated by President Ronald Reagan in $1981$ .
Mario Savio: A key figure in the Free Speech Movement at the University of California, Berkeley, representing the political activism of the $1960$ s youth.

Influential Groups and Cultural Movements

Little Rock 9: A group of nine African American students who enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in $1957$ . Their enrollment was a test of Brown v. Board of Education, requiring federal troops to escort them.
Muckrakers: Progressive Era journalists who investigated and exposed corruption and social injustices in government and industry.
Progressive Party: Also known as the "Bull Moose Party," formed by Theodore Roosevelt in $1912$ when he split from the Republicans. It advocated for social reforms and government regulation.
Rough Riders: The $1^{st}$ United States Volunteer Cavalry, led by Theodore Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War, famous for the charge up San Juan Hill.
Rosie the Riveter: A cultural icon representing the American women who worked in factories and shipyards during WWII, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies.
Old Immigrants vs. New Immigrants:
- Old Immigrants: Arrived before the $1880$ s, mostly from Northern and Western Europe (UK, Germany, Ireland, Scandinavia), primarily Protestant (except the Irish).
- New Immigrants: Arrived from the $1880$ s to $1920$ , mostly from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italy, Russia, Poland, Greece), often Catholic, Jewish, or Orthodox.
American Federation of Labor (AFL): Founded by Samuel Gompers in $1886$ , it was a national federation of labor unions that focused on "bread and butter" issues like higher wages and shorter work hours.
Writers of the 1920s: Known as the "Lost Generation" (e.g., F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway), they often wrote about disillusionment with post-WWI society and materialism.
Harlem Renaissance Writers/Poets: Artists like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston who celebrated African American culture and explored the "New Negro" identity in Harlem during the $1920$ s.
Flappers: Young women in the $1920$ s who challenged traditional social norms by wearing short skirts, bobbing their hair, listening to jazz, and flouting conventional behavior.
Political Bosses & Machine Politics: Corrupt urban political organizations (like Tammany Hall) that traded services and jobs for votes and political support.
United Nations (UN): An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation among nations.
NATO/Warsaw Pact:
- NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization): A military alliance of Western democratic nations formed in $1949$ for collective defense against the USSR.
- Warsaw Pact: The Soviet-led response to NATO ( $1955$ ), a military alliance of communist nations in Eastern Europe.
Yuppies: Short for "Young Urban Professionals," a term from the $1980$ s describing ambitious, high-earning city dwellers focused on material luxury and career success.

Constitutional Amendments and Supreme Court Cases

16th Amendment: Authorized the federal government to collect an income tax.
17th Amendment: Established the direct election of U.S. Senators by the people of the states, rather than by state legislatures.
18th Amendment: Prohibited the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors (Prohibition).
19th Amendment: Granted women the right to vote (Woman's Suffrage).
20th Amendment: Moved the inauguration date for the President and Vice President from March to January $20$ ("Lame Duck" Amendment).
21st Amendment: Repealed the $18^{th}$ Amendment, ending Prohibition.
22nd Amendment: Limited the President to two terms in office ( $8$ years total).
25th Amendment: Clarified presidential succession and disability procedures.
26th Amendment: Lowered the legal voting age from $21$ to $18$ .
Brown v. Board of Education: $1954$ case that overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, ruling that "separate but equal" facilities are inherently unequal and unconstitutional in public education.
Baker v. Carr: $1962$ case establishing the "one person, one vote" principle, allowing federal courts to intervene in redistricting cases.
Mapp v. Ohio: $1961$ case establishing the "exclusionary rule," which states that evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment (unreasonable search and seizure) cannot be used in court.
Roe v. Wade: $1973$ case that legalized abortion nationwide based on a woman's right to privacy (later overturned in $2022$ by Dobbs).
Plessy v. Ferguson: $1896$ case that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation laws under the "separate but equal" doctrine.
U.S. v. Nixon: $1974$ case ruling that executive privilege is not absolute and ordering President Nixon to turn over the Watergate tapes.

Acts of Congress and Major Legislation

Pure Food and Drug Act: $1906$ law requiring accurate labeling and prohibiting the sale of adulterated or misbranded food and drugs.
Social Security Act: $1935$ Law establishing a system of old-age benefits, unemployment insurance, and aid for dependent mothers and the disabled.
Destroyers for Bases Deal: $1940$ agreement where the U.S. gave Britain $50$ older destroyers in exchange for the right to build military bases on British territories.
Civil Rights Act of 1964: Landmark legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and ended segregation in public places.
Selective Service Act: Laws passed during WWI and WWII that established the military draft.
Marshall Plan: A U.S. program providing over $\$13$ billion in economic aid to rebuild Western Europe after WWII, aiming to prevent the spread of communism.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: $1964$ congressional resolution giving President LBJ the power to use "all necessary measures" to protect U.S. interests in Vietnam (authorized escalation).
War Powers Act: $1973$ law intended to limit the President's power to commit U.S. forces to an armed conflict without congressional consent.
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): $1966$ law giving citizens the right to access information from the federal government.
Sherman Antitrust Act: $1890$ law that banned trusts and monopolies that inhibited trade, though initially weak and used against unions.
Clayton Antitrust Act: $1914$ law strengthening the Sherman Act by clearly defining illegal business practices and exempting labor unions from antitrust prosecution.
Meat Inspection Act: $1906$ law mandating federal inspection of meatpacking plants to ensure sanitary conditions.
Federal Highway Act: $1956$ law (under Eisenhower) that created the Interstate Highway System, the largest public works project in history.
Sedition Act & Espionage Act: WWI-era laws that penalized interference with the war effort and prohibited "disloyal" speech against the U.S. government.
Voting Rights Act of 1965: Legislation that banned literacy tests and provided federal oversight of voter registration in areas with a history of discrimination.
Medicare: Part of the Great Society; provides health insurance for Americans aged $65$ and older.
Dawes-Severalty Act: $1887$ law that broke up tribal lands into individual plots in an attempt to assimilate Native Americans into Western culture.
Pendleton Act: $1883$ law that established the Civil Service Commission, shifting government jobs from the "spoils system" to a merit-based system.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA): $1990$ law prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life.

Significant Historical Events

Red Scare: Periods of intense fear of communist infiltration in the U.S. (Post-WWI and the Cold War/McCarthyism).
Boxer Rebellion: An uprising in China ( $1900$ ) against foreign influence; an international force (including the U.S.) suppressed it.
Montgomery Bus Boycott: A year-long protest ( $1955$ - $1956$ ) against segregated seating on city buses, leading to a Supreme Court ruling that such segregation was unconstitutional.
Greensboro Lunch Counter Sit-Ins: $1960$ nonviolent protests by college students at a Woolworth's counter, leading to the desegregation of lunch counters across the South.
The World Wars:
- End of WWI: The Armistice on $11/11/1918$ followed by the Treaty of Versailles ( $1919$ ).
- Start of WWII: September $1, 1939$ , with the German invasion of Poland.
- US Entry into WWII: December $8, 1941$ , following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
- Attack on Pearl Harbor: December $7, 1941$ ; Japanese surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii.
- D-Day / Operation Overlord: June $6, 1944$ ; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, opening the second front in Europe.
- Battle of Midway: $1942$ naval battle; the turning point in the Pacific Theater where the U.S. destroyed four Japanese carriers.
JFK Assassination: November $22, 1963$ , in Dallas, Texas.
MLK Assassination: April $4, 1968$ , in Memphis, Tennessee.
March on Washington: $1963$ civil rights rally where MLK delivered the "I Have a Dream" speech, advocating for jobs and freedom.
Korean War: $1950$ - $1953$ ; a conflict between North Korea (supported by China/USSR) and South Korea (supported by UN/US) that ended in a stalemate at the $38^{th}$ parallel.
Battle of Little Bighorn: $1876$ ; Native American victory (Lakota, Cheyenne, Arapaho) over the U.S. $7^{th}$ Cavalry led by George Custer.
U-2 Incident: $1960$ ; the downing of a U.S. spy plane over the Soviet Union, damaging diplomatic relations during the Cold War.
Scopes Monkey Trial: $1925$ ; a legal battle over the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools, representing the conflict between modernism and fundamentalism.
USS Maine: The sinking of this battleship in Havana Harbor in $1898$ served as a catalyst for the Spanish-American War.
Election of Barack Obama: $2008$ ; the election of the first African American President of the United States.
Teapot Dome Scandal: $1920$ s corruption scandal where government oil reserves were leased to private companies in exchange for bribes during the Harding administration.
Berlin Blockade ( $1940$ s): The Soviet attempt to starve out West Berlin, leading to the Berlin Airlift ( $1948$ - $1949$ ).
Bay of Pigs: $1961$ failed CIA-backed invasion of Cuba by exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro.
Tet Offensive: $1968$ surprise North Vietnamese/Viet Cong attack during the Lunar New Year; though a military failure for the communists, it caused U.S. public support for the war to plummet.
My Lai Massacre: $1968$ ; the murder of hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians by U.S. troops, causing national outrage when revealed.
Holocaust: The state-sponsored systematic genocide of approximately six million Jews and others by the Nazi regime.
Kent State Protests: $1970$ ; National Guard troops fired on students protesting the Cambodia incursion, killing four.
Watergate Scandal: A series of political scandals and illegal activities that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
Gulf War 1991 (Operation Desert Storm): A U.S.-led coalition war to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait after Saddam Hussein's invasion.
Iran-Contra Scandal: $1980$ s scandal where the Reagan administration illegally sold weapons to Iran to fund the Contras (anti-communist rebels) in Nicaragua.
Election of 2000: A highly contested election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, decided by the Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore regarding Florida recounts.

Important Terms, Policies, and Concepts

Causes of WWI: Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism (MAIN).
Lusitania: British passenger liner sunk by a German U-boat in $1915$ , killing $128$ Americans and shifting U.S. public opinion toward war.
Zimmerman Note: A telegram from Germany to Mexico proposing an alliance against the U.S.; its interception helped lead the U.S. into WWI.
Fourteen Points: Woodrow Wilson's post-WWI plan for world peace, which included the creation of the League of Nations.
Allied Strategy (WWII): "Germany First" strategy (defeat Hitler before focusing on the Pacific) and "Island Hopping" in the Pacific.
Blitzkrieg: "Lightning War"; a German tactical doctrine using coordinated tanks, infantry, and air power for rapid penetration.
Japanese Internment: Executive Order $9066$ resulted in the forced relocation of over $110,000$ Japanese Americans to camps during WWII.
Atomic Bomb: Developed under the Manhattan Project; used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August $1945$ to end WWII.
Vietnamization: Nixon's policy of gradually withdrawing U.S. troops from Vietnam while handing the fighting over to the South Vietnamese.
Pentagon Papers: Secret Defense Department study leaked in $1971$ revealing that the government had lied to the public about the scope of the Vietnam War.
Sputnik: The first artificial satellite, launched by the USSR in $1957$ , starting the Space Race.
Containment: The U.S. foreign policy goal during the Cold War to stop the spread of communism (articulated by George Kennan).
Berlin Wall: Built in $1961$ to prevent East Germans from fleeing to the West; its fall in $1989$ symbolized the end of the Cold War.
Initiative, Referendum, Recall: Progressive Era democratic reforms:
- Initiative: Voters can propose laws.
- Referendum: Voters can vote directly on laws.
- Recall: Voters can remove an official from office.
Panama Canal: Built by the U.S. ( $1904$ - $1914$ ) to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; it revolutionized global shipping and U.S. naval mobility.
Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact: $1928$ agreement in which nations promised not to use war to resolve disputes.
Causes of Great Depression: Stock market crash ( $1929$ ), banking failures, overproduction, underconsumption, and high tariffs (Hawley-Smoot).
Dust Bowl: Severe drought and dust storms in the Great Plains during the $1930$ s, caused by poor farming practices and weather.
Silent Spring: $1962$ book by Rachel Carson about the dangers of pesticides, launching the modern environmental movement.
Reaganomics: Supply-side economics involving tax cuts for the wealthy and deregulation to stimulate the economy.

Acronyms to Know

NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (defense alliance).
SEC: Securities and Exchange Commission (regulated stock market).
FDIC: Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (insured bank deposits).
CCC: Civilian Conservation Corps (environmental jobs for young men).
TVA: Tennessee Valley Authority (regional economic development and power).
NAFTA: North American Free Trade Agreement (trade bloc between US, Canada, Mexico).
AAA: Agricultural Adjustment Act (paid farmers to reduce production).
SSA: Social Security Administration.
NRA: National Recovery Administration (voluntary industry codes).
PWA: Public Works Administration (large-scale infrastructure construction).
CWA: Civil Works Administration (short-term manual labor jobs).
SEATO: Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (anti-communist alliance).
WPA: Works Progress Administration (massive New Deal employment program).