Updated Unit 3 & 4 Test Review

Great Depression / New Deal

Causes of the Great Depression; Smoot-Hawley (or Hawley-Smoot) Tariffs

• Causes of the Great depression: Stock market crash, banking failures, over-farming

• Smoot-Hawley Tariffs: Hoover opposed high tariffs to other nations, causing retaliatory tariffs from other nations

• Bonus Army: WWI veterans marched to Washington demanding early pension payments; Hoover sent army to remove them

• Depression effects: Unemployment levels were high, and the public was very angry leading to farmer’s protests and factory worker strikes

• Hoovervilles: People called shantytowns this because Hoover was hated because for doing little to help the Great Depression

New Deal programs

• AAA (agriculture): aimed to boost agricultural prices by reducing crop production and paying farmers subsidies to not plant crops 

• CCC (conservation): provided jobs for young men in environmental conservation projects

• Social security: provides financial help to the elderly, unemployed, and disabled people through a federal insurance system

• TVA: created to develop the Tennessee Valley region through flood control, electricity generation and economic development

• FDIC (deposit insurance): created to insure bank deposits up to a certain amount, regaining public trust on the banking system

• RFC: created by Hoover, expanded under the New Deal to provide loans to banks, railroads, etc to stimulate economic recovery

• Fireside chats: FDR’s parasocial radio broadcasts about his programs that made the public like him

• bank holidays closed banks down to prevent people from withdrawing all their money at once. They only reopened if they had enough cash reserve 

• Dustbowl: caused by drought and over-farming, caused farmers called Okies to migrate to California for better conditions

• Huey Long: advocated for wealth redistribution and government intervention to alleviate poverty through his “Share Our Wealth” program

How ultimately did the US get out of the Debt (hint: it’s not the New Deal)?

• the Hundred days: under FDR’s administration, passed fifteen major bills focused on banking failures and agricultural overproduction and ultimately helped the US get out of debt

• Pros of New Deal: Created jobs, provided social security, and reformed banking and labor laws

• Cons of New Deal: Critics argue it expanded government power too much and didn't end the Depression

• Supreme Court “packing” scheme: FDR’s proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court to get more favorable rulings for his New Deal programs. Controversial for potentially upsetting the separation of powers 

America’s attempts/policies at neutrality/isolationism; events between the wars

Rejection of the League of Nations (Article X): Article X meant that the US would be forced to help if another nation was being attacked, leading to them not joining the league of nations

• Manchurian Incident: In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria, sparking international condemnation but little intervention

• Panay Incident: In 1937, Japan attacked an American gunboat, the USS Panay, further straining their relations

• Rise of dictators: In the 1930s, Adolf Hitler in Germany and militarists in Japan rose to power, pushing for expansionism and militarization

Neutrality Acts 

• Cash and carry: A policy allowing warring nations to buy nonmilitary goods from the U.S. if they paid in cash and transported them.

• Destroyers for bases: An agreement in which the U.S. traded naval destroyers to the UK in exchange for military bases. The US emphasized that they needed a great arsenal

• Lend-Lease: A policy where the U.S. supplied Allied nations with arms and supplies during WWII, without immediate payment.

• America First Committee: A group advocating for U.S. neutrality and non-intervention in WWII

• Nye Commission: a senate committee that investigated US involvement in WWI, suggesting that corrupt financial interests played a role

• Appeasement: giving into aggressive demands to avoid conflict; mainly what the allies did the Germany’s invasion of other countries, violating the treaty of versailles

• Munich Conference: example of appeasement, where Britain and France allowed Hitler to annex Czechoslovakia

Foreign Policy

• Isolationism: not getting involved with foreign affairs

• Interventionism: getting involved with foreign affairs

World War II

• WWII Effects on women: Women entered the workforce and military during WWII, symbolized by Rosie the Riveter, promoting female empowerment.

• WWII Effects for African-Americans moved to northern cities for jobs and better opportunities during WWII

• A. Philip Randolph: civil rights leaders like him pushed for anti-segregation efforts.

• WWII Effects on Japanese-Americans: Japanese-Americans were interned in camps during WWII, and Supreme Court cases like Korematsu v. U.S. justified these actions.

• Atlantic Charter: A joint declaration by the U.S. and UK outlining post-war goals, including self-determination and economic cooperation.

Key battles of WWII

• D-day: Combined allied invasion of the beaches of Normandy, France; lead to the liberation of France

• Midway: naval battle fought between the US and Japan resulting in decisive US victory that shifted the balance of power in the Pacific during WWII

• Pearl Harbor: December 7, 1941 when Japan attacked a US naval base in Hawaii which caused the US to enter WWII

• Battle of the Bulge: The last major German offensive in World War II, which was ultimately repelled by Allied forces, hastening the end of the war in Europe

• Manhattan Project: A secret U.S. project during WWII that developed the first nuclear weapons

• Atomic bombs: The U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, leading to Japan's surrender and the end of WWII.
  
  

Cold War 

• Start and definition of Cold War: A period of tension between the US and the USSR that was a battle of ideologies (democracy vs communism), nuclear arms races, and proxy wars

Truman Era – 1945 – 1953 

• Iron curtain: the (ideological, not physical) divide between the Communist Eastern side of Germany and the Democratic Western side of Germany

• Containment: US policy to prevent the spread of communism 

• Truman Doctrine: US policy to support nations resisting communist influence by sending troops

• Marshall Plan: US policy to support nations resisting communist influence by sending money (economic aid to rebuild Western European countries after WWII)

• Berlin Airlift: The US and allies send supplies to West Berlin by air after the Soviet blockade

• NATO & Warsaw Pact: Military alliances formed during the Cold War (NATO assembling the allies and Warsaw Pact assembling the Soviet Union)

• Events of 1949 (American L’s): the CCP takes over China, and the USSR successfully detonates an atomic bomb

• Korean War: A conflict between communist North Korea (backed by China and the Soviet Union) and democratic South Korea (backed by the U.S. and allies)

• 2nd Red Scare: A period of fear and suspicion of communism in the U.S. during the late 1940s-1950s, leading to the rise of McCarthyism.

• Joseph McCarthy: A U.S. senator who led anti-communist investigations, often without solid evidence, contributing to the Red Scare.

• Loyalty-Security Program: A U.S. government program that investigated federal employees for communist ties.

• HUAC: The House Un-American Activities Committee, which investigated suspected communist influences in Hollywood and other sectors. (Hollywood 10)

• Alger Hiss: A former U.S. State Department official accused of espionage during the Red Scare

• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg: A couple executed for espionage after being convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union

• Iran and Guatemala problems: The CIA  intervened in both Iran and Guatemala to overthrow governments seen as sympathetic to communism

The 1950s (Middle Class and Cold War continued)

Suburbs, Levittowns, G.I. Bill, Baby Boom, White Flight, Rock n’ Roll and their various effects

• 1950’s Cultural impacts Post-WWII America saw rapid suburban growth, increased consumerism, and the rise of new cultural movements like Rock n’ Roll and the Baby Boom.

• Levittowns: Large suburban housing developments offering affordable homes to middle-class families, but were often segregated

• G.I Bill: provided benefits to veterans, including funding for education, home loans, and unemployment compensation, to help them reintegrate into civilian life

• White flight: The migration of white families from urban areas to the suburbs to avoid racial integration in schools and neighborhoods

• Sputnik: The Soviet Union's launch of the first artificial satellite, which ignited the Space Race (first to get to space and the moon)

• Apollo program: The U.S. space effort to compete with the USSR, resulting in the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing

The Civil Rights Movement (1950s - early 1970s)

• Brown v. Board of Education: Supreme Court declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional

• Little Rock Nine: A group of African-American students who were the first to integrate in a school, but were stopped by Central police

• Rosa Parks: An African-American woman whose refusal to give up her bus seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

• Martin Luther King Jr.: A leader in the Civil Rights Movement known for his advocacy of nonviolent resistance.

• Sit-ins and SNCC: Nonviolent protests organized by students (SNCC) that focused on desegregating lunch counters.

• Freedom Rides: Interstate Bus trips through the South organized by civil rights activists to challenge segregation in public transportation.

• Alabama Governor George Wallace: Known for his strong stance against desegregation, including his infamous stand in the schoolhouse door in 1963.

• Civil Rights Act of 1964: Landmark legislation that outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

• Freedom Summer, March in Selma: Efforts to register African-American voters and demand voting rights, resulting in the Selma to Montgomery marches.

• Voting Rights Act of 1965: Legislation that prohibited racial discrimination in voting, aimed at eliminating barriers like literacy tests

• Black power and Malcolm X: A movement advocating for racial pride and self-determination, often associated with Malcolm X's philosophy.
  
  

JFK and LBJ

Cuba and Soviet interactions

• Bay of Pigs: CIA tries but fails to overthrow Fidel Castro for being communist

• Berlin wall: separated democratic West Berlin and communist East Berlin

• Cuban Missile Crisis: standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles stationed in Cuba, nearing nuclear war before a peaceful resolution was reached

• Great Society: was a set of domestic programs launched in the 1960s aimed at eliminating poverty and racial injustice through policies like Medicare, Medicaid, Civil & voting rights acts, and education reforms

Vietnam War

• Ho Chi Minh: led communist North Vietnam 

• Ngo Dinh Diem: US-backed leader of South Vietnam. He was overthrown and assassinated by the CIA

• Vietcong: communist farmers who fought with guerrilla tactics against South Vietnam and American forces

• Gulf of Tonkin: Incident that started the Vietnam War; LBJ receives false reports of a North Vietnamese attack on US destroyer

• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: Congress gave LBJ virtually unlimited authority in conducting the Vietnam War, which he hid from the public

• My Lai Massacre: massacre where U.S. troops killed hundreds of Southern Vietnamese civilians

• Tet Offensive: A North Vietnamese offensive that shattered U.S. confidence and the US government’s credibility in the Vietnam War

• Vietnamization: President Nixon’s strategy to reduce U.S. involvement in Vietnam by training and equipping South Vietnamese forces and reducing US troops

• Ho Chi Minh Trail and Kent State: A supply route used by North Vietnam, and the Kent State shooting where National Guardsmen killed students during anti-war protests

• How does the war end?: The war ended in 1975 with the fall of Saigon and the reunification of Vietnam under communist control.

• Counterculture: A movement in the 1960s and 1970s that rejected mainstream culture and advocated for peace, civil rights, and environmentalism.

Other Civil Rights Movements

• American Indian Movement (AIM): An organization formed to advocate for the rights and sovereignty of Native Americans.

• Latino Activism: Chicanos and Chicanas advocated for Mexican American rights

• Cesar Chavez: Advocacy for Latino rights, led by figures like Cesar Chavez, who fought for farm workers' rights

• Gay Liberation: gained momentum after events like the 1969 Stonewall Riots.

Women and Social Change

• Betty Friedan – The Feminine Mystique: A 1963 book that challenged traditional gender roles and sparked the second wave of feminism.

• National Organization for Women (NOW): A feminist organization founded to fight for gender equality.

• Title IX legislation: A 1972 law that prohibited gender discrimination in education and sports.