50s - Vietnam

NATO

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization; Americans and Western Europeans form a military alliance to protect Europe from Russian expansion.

Warsaw Pact

• Russian and other communist Eastern European countries’ alliance in response to NATO.

Chinese Communists win civil war (1949)

• The first "domino" falls, prompting fears of communism spreading.

Domino Theory

• After one country falls to communism, others will follow. China, then Korea, then Vietnam—stopped at Vietnam.

Berlin Airlift

• Soviets cut off West Berlin; American and British planes fly in supplies daily for 15 months.

Marshall Plan

• U.S. economic aid to help European countries recover from WWII.

Truman Doctrine

• U.S. military aid to countries fighting Communist uprisings.

Red Scare / McCarthyism

• Fear of Communist infiltration in American institutions; led by Sen. McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Korean War (1950)

• North (Communist, backed by China) vs. South (U.S.-backed military dictatorship); civil war escalates with U.S. involvement.

General Douglas MacArthur

• Wanted to drop atomic bombs on China, criticized Truman, and was fired.

GI Bill (1944)

• Gave veterans free education, healthcare, and low-cost home loans.

Election of 1948

• Truman (D) defeats Dewey (R); Dixiecrats led by Strom Thurmond split vote.

Eisenhower Elected (1952)

• Promoted “dynamic conservatism”; Nixon was VP.

Baby Boom

• In 1957, one baby was born every 7 seconds; suburban growth exploded.

Cold War Tensions

• Fear of atomic war led to “Duck and Cover” drills in schools.

Space Race Begins (1957)

• Launch of Sputnik by the USSR.

Role of Women (1950s)

• Pushed into homemaker roles; tranquilizers prescribed for “hysteria.”

Military Desegregation (1948)

• Armed forces integrated by order of President Truman.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

• Declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Murder of Emmett Till (1955)

• Brutal killing helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)

• Rosa Parks and MLK lead protest against segregated buses.

Little Rock Nine (1957)

• Black students integrated white school with U.S. Army escort.

Termination Policy

• U.S. government ended recognition of Native American reservations.

Jim Crow Laws

• Legal segregation (de jure) in the South.

White Flight / Housing Covenants

• Informal (de facto) segregation as whites fled integrated cities.

Martin Luther King Jr.

• Founded SCLC in 1957 after Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Greensboro Sit-Ins (1960)

• Four NC A&T students protested segregated lunch counters.

Freedom Riders (1961)

• Desegregated interstate bus stations, faced violence and arrest.

Birmingham Movement (1963)

• Violent police response to civil rights protests shocked the nation.

16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (1963)

• KKK attack killed four girls; highlighted racial violence.

March on Washington (1963)

• MLK delivers “I Have a Dream” speech; 250,000 attend.

Freedom Summer (1964)

• Volunteers register Black voters in Mississippi; three murdered.

Election of 1960

• JFK (D) defeats Nixon (R); TV debates played a major role.

Cuban Missile Crisis

• Closest the Cold War came to nuclear war; resolved peacefully.

Space Race Milestones

• Alan Shepard: 1st American in space; John Glenn: orbits Earth; JFK sets moon goal.

JFK Assassination (1963)

• Killed by Lee Harvey Oswald; Oswald killed by Jack Ruby; LBJ becomes president.

Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ)

• Focused on Civil Rights (1964), Voting Rights (1965), and the Great Society.

Great Society Programs

• Cut poverty by 40%; included Medicare and Medicaid.

New Left

• SDS protests war and inequality; NOW fights for women’s rights; Roe v. Wade legalizes abortion.

Hippie Movement

• Promoted peace, love, and rebellion; drug culture rises.

Environmentalism

• Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring exposes DDT; Nixon creates EPA in 1969.

1968: A Year of Chaos

• MLK and RFK assassinated; violent protests at Chicago DNC.

Vietnam War Background

• U.S. involvement escalates after defeating Japan and France’s withdrawal.

Gulf of Tonkin Incident (1964)

• Alleged attack on USS Maddox; led to full U.S. engagement.

Americanization of Vietnam War

• 500,000 U.S. troops sent to Vietnam.

Tet Offensive (1968)

• Surprise North Vietnamese attack; turned American public against the war.

Nixon’s Vietnam Policy

• Vietnamization (handing war to S. Vietnam), illegal bombings of Laos & Cambodia.

U.S. Withdrawal from V

• U.S. exits the war; Nixon calls it “peace with honor.”