APUSH YAWP Chapter 27 Terms

John F. Kennedy – President from 1961 to 1963 who promoted civil rights and led the U.S. during early Cold War crises like the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Richard Nixon – Vice President under Eisenhower and later President who expanded the Vietnam War before resigning due to the Watergate scandal.

Fidel Castro – Communist leader of Cuba who took power after the 1959 revolution and aligned Cuba with the Soviet Union.

Fulgencio Batista – U.S.-backed Cuban dictator overthrown by Fidel Castro during the Cuban Revolution.

Cuban Revolution – A 1959 uprising led by Fidel Castro that overthrew Batista and brought a communist government to power in Cuba.

Bay of Pigs Invasion – A failed 1961 U.S.-backed operation to overthrow Fidel Castro by landing Cuban exiles on the island.

Cuban Missile Crisis – A 1962 standoff between the U.S. and the USSR over Soviet missiles in Cuba, bringing the world close to nuclear war.

Nikita Khrushchev – Leader of the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis and opponent of U.S. foreign policy.

Sit-In Movement – A form of peaceful protest started by Black college students in 1960 to desegregate lunch counters in the South.

Freedom Riders – Civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated South to challenge non-enforcement of desegregation laws.

SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) – A civil rights group of mostly young people that organized protests, sit-ins, and voter registration drives.

SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) – Civil rights organization led by Martin Luther King Jr. that focused on nonviolent protest.

Albany Movement – A failed civil rights campaign in Georgia that taught activists the importance of focused goals and media strategy.

James Meredith – The first Black student to integrate the University of Mississippi with federal protection in 1962.

Martin Luther King, Jr. – Civil rights leader who used nonviolent protest to fight segregation and famously led the March on Washington.

George Wallace – Segregationist governor of Alabama who opposed the civil rights movement and symbolized white resistance.

Massive Resistance – A movement by Southern white politicians to block school desegregation after Brown v. Board of Education.

March on Washington – A major 1963 civil rights rally where MLK delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech to push for racial equality.

Lyndon B. Johnson – President who passed major civil rights laws and launched the Great Society to fight poverty and inequality.

Escalation – The increase of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam under Johnson, especially after the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Domino Theory – The Cold War belief that if one country fell to communism, nearby countries would fall too.

Limited Response – Kennedy’s Cold War strategy of using flexible military options rather than full-scale nuclear war.

Civil Rights Act of 1964 – A landmark law that banned segregation in public places and discrimination in employment.

Voting Rights Act of 1965 – Law that banned literacy tests and allowed federal oversight of elections to protect Black voters.

Great Society – Lyndon Johnson’s program aimed at ending poverty and racial injustice through social and economic reforms.

War on Poverty – A key part of the Great Society that created programs like Head Start and Job Corps to help poor Americans.

CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) – A civil rights group that organized Freedom Rides and worked for desegregation and voting rights.

Selma March and “Bloody Sunday” – A 1965 protest for voting rights violently attacked by police, helping lead to the Voting Rights Act.

Economic Opportunity Act – 1964 law that created programs to fight poverty, such as Job Corps and community action agencies.

Medicare/Medicaid – Federal programs created in 1965 to provide health care to the elderly (Medicare) and the poor (Medicaid).

White Flight – The movement of white families from cities to suburbs to avoid integration and urban unrest.

Dien Bien Phu – A 1954 battle in which Vietnamese forces defeated the French, leading to U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

Vietnam Conflict – A Cold War military conflict in which the U.S. tried to stop the spread of communism in Vietnam.

Vietcong and NVA (Vietminh) – Vietcong were South Vietnamese communist fighters; NVA (or Vietminh) were the North Vietnamese army.

Ho Chi Minh – Communist leader of North Vietnam who fought for Vietnamese independence and unification.

Gulf of Tonkin Affair – A disputed 1964 incident that led Congress to give LBJ broad powers to wage war in Vietnam.

Robert McNamara – Secretary of Defense who helped plan U.S. military escalation in Vietnam.

Counterculture – A youth movement in the 1960s that rejected traditional values, supported peace, and embraced new lifestyles.

Black Nationalism – A movement that emphasized Black pride, self-sufficiency, and sometimes separation from white society.

Malcolm X – A civil rights leader who advocated for Black empowerment and self-defense, challenging nonviolence.

Stokely Carmichael and the Black Panthers – Carmichael coined “Black Power,” and the Black Panthers demanded racial justice and defended Black communities.

Chicano Movement – A Mexican American civil rights movement focused on labor rights, education, and cultural pride.

Betty Friedan and The Feminine Mystique – Friedan’s book challenged traditional roles of women and helped start the modern feminist movement.

NOW (National Organization for Women) – A feminist group founded in 1966 to push for gender equality, including the Equal Rights Amendment.