AP US History Notes: Period 8 (1945-1980) Six Things to Know about Period 8:
Six Things to Know about Period 8:
The United States emerged as a global leader during this period.
The Cold War, a major conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, was the defining event.
The U.S. feared the spread of communism and became involved in military conflicts in Korea and Vietnam.
Initially, there was considerable American support for the anti-communist foreign policy.
However, as the Vietnam War continued, mass antiwar protests occurred across the United States.
Passionate debates arose concerning the war in Southeast Asia, the proliferation of nuclear weapons, and the authority of the executive branch.
Civil rights activists initiated a nationwide movement for racial equality.
Martin Luther King Jr. employed strategies such as nonviolent protests, direct action, and legal challenges.
The Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education (1954) was a landmark achievement, though progress was slow due to significant resistance.
Inspired by the civil rights movement, other social movements advocated for their causes.
Issues like sexuality, gender, the environment, and economic equality were debated, leading to the counterculture of the 1960s.
President Johnson's Great Society program aimed to use the federal government to eliminate poverty, end racial discrimination, and promote social justice.
Conservatives challenged these actions, seeking to limit the federal government's role, fearing cultural and moral decline.
In the 1970s, public trust in the government's ability to solve problems declined.
The Watergate scandal, the stalemate in Vietnam, and President Nixon's resignation intensified this distrust.
Key Topics-- Period 8 (1945-1980 C.E.)
The Origins of the Cold War
Joseph Stalin:
Dictator of the Soviet Union.
After Lenin’s death in 1924, Stalin gained power and eliminated rivals.
Ruled with strong control until his death on March 5, 1953.
Favored centralization and collectivization.
Purged millions through famine, imprisonment, and executions.
After his death, Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin’s actions and reformed the Soviet system.
Iron Curtain:
A metaphor for the division between the West and the Soviet Union.
Coined by Winston Churchill in a March 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri.
The Truman Administration
Harry S. Truman:
Thirty-third President, serving from 1945 to 1953.
Desegregated the U.S. military.
Helped found the United Nations and supported the Marshall Plan.
Reformed U.S. foreign policy toward internationalism, focusing on containment of communism.
Oversaw Cold War conflicts like the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War.
Ordered the use of atomic weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Won reelection in 1952.
George Marshall:
Former Army Chief of Staff (1939–1945).
Secretary of State (1947–1949) and Secretary of Defense (1950–1951) under Truman.
Credited with the Marshall Plan, aiding Western Europe's postwar recovery.
Marshall Plan:
Proposed by George Marshall in 1947.
Supplied to Western Europe, boosting its economy and preventing starvation.
Berlin Airlift:
A major Cold War crisis (June 1948 – May 1949).
The Soviet Union blockaded Western access to Berlin.
President Truman responded by airlifting supplies, putting the onus for starting WWIII on the Soviets.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO):
A military alliance formed by Western Allies to deter Soviet aggression.
Guarantees collective defense: an attack on one member is an attack on all.
Warsaw Pact:
A collective defense similar to NATO, protecting the Eastern bloc from the West.
Solidified Soviet control over Eastern Europe.
Dissolved in 1991.
National Security Act:
Restructured the U.S. government’s military and national security agencies in 1947.
Established the National Security Council, CIA, Department of Defense, and an independent U.S. Air Force.
Department of Defense:
Formerly the War Department, reorganized in 1947.
Cabinet-level office.
Military officers cannot serve as Secretary of Defense until seven years after retirement (unless Congress waives), ensuring civilian control.
National Security Council:
Coordinates national security and foreign policy.
Advises the President.
Includes Secretaries of Defense, Energy, and State; Joint Chiefs of Staff; and other advisors.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA):
A foreign intelligence service founded in 1947.
Successor to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).
The Church Committee investigated the CIA for abuses in the mid 1970s.
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was formed to oversee the CIA.
Cold War Policy in Asia
Mao Tse-Tung:
Chinese communist revolutionary.
Founding father of the People’s Republic of China, ruling until 1976.
Defeated the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War.
The Great Leap Forward caused a famine that killed millions.
The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) sought to reimpose Maoist ideology, killing between and million.
Achieved détente with Nixon.
Korean War:
“The Forgotten War,” de facto from June 1950 to July 1953.
Technically ongoing due to the lack of a formal peace treaty.
Fought between North and South Korea, backed by China and a U.N. coalition, respectively.
Ended in a stalemate, borders fixed at the prewar status quo.
Douglas MacArthur:
An American five-star general.
Played a major role in the Pacific front of World War II.
Oversaw the occupation of Japan (1945-1951).
Led U.N. forces in the Korean War, notably at the Inchon Landing.
Removed from command by President Truman for insubordination.
The Second Red Scare
Second Red Scare:
Lasted from 1947 to 1956.
A period of social anxiety and paranoia over communist infiltration.
Driven by the Rosenbergs’ trial, Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe, and Mao’s victory in China.
Related to the House Un-American Activities Committee, McCarthyism, and the Smith Act.
House Un-American Activities Committee:
Founded in 1938 to root out alleged subversives.
Associated with the Hollywood blacklist and Alger Hiss.
Disbanded in 1975; duties now handled by the House Judiciary Committee.
Richard M. Nixon:
Thirty-seventh President (1969–1974).
Vice President under Eisenhower.
An anticommunist, narrowly lost the 1960 election to JFK.
Accepted the Great Society programs domestically.
Pursued détente and realpolitik internationally.
Established relations with China to counterbalance the Soviet Union.
Escalated the Vietnam War, secretly bombed Cambodia, and sponsored a coup in Chile.
Resigned due to the Watergate scandal.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg:
Executed for espionage.
Their 1951 trial was a press spectacle.
Soviet archives later proved they were spies.
Joseph McCarthy:
Senator from Wisconsin (1947–1957).
The face of the Second Red Scare, known for baseless accusations.
The 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings exposed him doctoring evidence, damaging his public image.
The Senate censured him.
Died in 1957 at age 48 from hepatitis exacerbated by alcoholism.
The Eisenhower Administration
Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower:
Thirty-fourth President (1953–1961).
A former five-star general and Supreme Commander of the Western Allies in Europe.
Oversaw the invasion of North Africa and the Normandy landings.
A moderate conservative, he preserved the New Deal programs and established NASA.
His signature achievement is the Interstate Highway System.
Ended the Korean War, began American involvement in Vietnam, and directed the overthrow of governments in Iran and Guatemala.
Brinksmanship:
Achieving a goal by escalating events to near conflict to force a rival to concede.
A common tactic in the Cold War period.
Contrast with détente.
Massive retaliation:
A defense strategy pursued by President Eisenhower for budgetary reasons.
The U.S. pledged to use nuclear weapons against any nation that attacked it.
Criticized as too aggressive.
Abandoned by the Kennedy administration for flexible response.
Suez Canal:
A waterway linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas.
A vital economic and military point.
The British Empire gained control of it in 1882.
Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized it in 1956.
Britain, France, and Israel invaded in response; Eisenhower did not support them, so the alliance was forced to return the canal to Egypt.
Nikita Khrushchev:
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964.
Eased Stalin-era restrictions.
His efforts to improve relations with the West were often undermined by his own actions.
Removed after the Cuban Missile Crisis and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev.
U-2 Incident:
A May 1960 incident where the Soviet Union shot down a U.S. U-2 spy plane and captured its pilot.
Resulted in Eisenhower’s public humiliation, ending a thaw between the two superpowers.
Fidel Castro:
Cuban revolutionary and First Secretary of Cuba from 1961–2011.
Overthrew the Batista regime in 1959 and established a communist state in Cuba.
Survived hundreds of assassination attempts by the CIA.
Died in 2016 at age 90.
See: Bay of Pigs.
U.S. Attitudes in the Cold War
National Highway Act:
Passed in 1956.
Established the Interstate Highway System.
Advocated by President Eisenhower due to his experiences in the 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy and with the German autobahn
Sputnik:
The first manmade satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957.
Sparked the Space Race and investment in American education.
See: NASA.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA):
A federal agency handling the civilian space program, founded in 1958.
See: Sputnik.
Cold War:
A geopolitical struggle between blocs led by the United States and the Soviet Union (1946–1991).
Featured an arms race and proxy wars.
Direct nuclear conflict almost occurred.
Military-industrial complex:
Coined by President Eisenhower in his farewell address.
Refers to the vested interest the military and arms industry have in influencing public policy.
Eisenhower originally referred to it as the “military–industrial–congressional complex” but dropped the third term.
The Kennedy Administration
John F. Kennedy:
Thirty-fifth President (1961–1963).
First Roman Catholic president.
Elected over Richard Nixon, his term was marked by the civil rights movement and Cold War tensions.
The Bay of Pigs and the building of the Berlin Wall occurred early in his presidency.
He dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962.
Assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, by Lee Harvey Oswald.
Berlin Wall:
A militarized concrete barrier separating East and West Berlin (1961–1989).
Constructed by the Soviets to halt a brain drain from East Germany.
Its fall heralded German reunification and the end of the Cold War.
Cuban Missile Crisis:
A confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba (October 16–28, 1962)
Considered one of the Cold War’s tensest events.
Resolved diplomatically, it bolstered President Kennedy’s reputation but led to the overthrow of Nikita Khrushchev.
Leonid Brezhnev:
Ruler of the Soviet Union (1964–1982).
He favored consensus and rule by committee.
Brezhnev reversed the cultural liberalization of the Khrushchev era.
He attempted no reforms of the Soviet economy, leading to economic stagnation and national decline.
He favored détente.
He ordered the invasion of Afghanistan to support its communist government.
The Vietnam War
Geneva Convention:
A series of international treaties establishing humanitarian standards for wartime.
Contested in the 2000s with the rise of non-state actors.
Ho Chi Minh:
Vietnamese communist revolutionary leader.
Stepped down in 1965 due to health problems and died in 1969.
Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City after its fall.
Domino theory:
The idea that political revolutions in one country will cause similar revolutions in neighboring countries.
Typically associated with the spread of communism.
A variant associated with spreading democracy gained currency during the 2003 Iraq War.
Lyndon B. Johnson:
Thirty-sixth President.
Senate Majority Leader (1955–1961) and Vice President (1961–1963).
Assumed the presidency upon Kennedy’s assassination.
Oversaw the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Escalated the Vietnam War.
Declined to run for reelection in 1968.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution:
An August 1964 Congressional resolution authorizing the president to wage war in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war.
Vietnam War:
The Second Indochina War.
Direct American involvement began in 1955 and ended on April 30, 1975, with the Fall of Saigon.
The war polarized American society.
Killed more than 58,000 Americans and over 2 million Vietnamese.
See: domino theory, Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Tet Offensive, War Powers Act.
Operation Rolling Thunder:
A bombing campaign conducted by the U.S. Air Force against North Vietnam (March 1965 to November 1968)
Dropped more bombs on North Vietnam than had been used by the United States throughout World War II.
Failed to achieve its aims.
Viet Cong:
The military wing of the National Liberation Front, a communist nationalist group in South Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh Trail:
U.S. name for a logistical network connecting North and South Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia.
Supported the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army.
Tet Offensive:
A surprise January 1968 offensive by the Viet Cong.
Undermined American public opinion in the war.
Contributed to Johnson’s decision to not run for reelection in 1968.
Brown v. Board of Education:
A Supreme Court case that ruled segregation of public schools unconstitutional.
Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson in the context of education.
Hard Hat Riot:
A counter-protest in New York City in 1970 where construction workers attacked students protesting the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings.
Embodied a growing social backlash to the 1960s youth culture.
Pentagon Papers:
Secret documents regarding the Vietnam War leaked to The New York Times by Daniel Ellsberg.
Revealed that Congress had been lied to about the war and that the United States had acted contrary to its publicly stated goals.
Henry Kissinger:
National Security Advisor (1969–1975) and Secretary of State (1973–1977).
A foreign policy advisor for Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
Advocated détente and realpolitik.
War Powers Act:
Passed by Congress after learning of Nixon’s secret bombings of Cambodia.
Limited the president’s ability to wage war without Congressional approval.
Executive authority to wage war has grown substantially since 2001.
The Civil Rights Movement
Earl Warren:
Fourteenth Chief Justice (1953–1969).
The Warren Court is noted for its liberal rulings, which include outlawing segregation in education, ending school prayer.
Thurgood Marshall:
The first African-American Justice of the Supreme Court, appointed by Lyndon Johnson in 1967.
He was regarded as a liberal judicial activist, favoring rulings that protected individual rights.
Little Rock Nine:
A group of nine African American students who had gained entry into the previously segregated public high school of Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957.
Rosa Parks:
Activist in the Civil Rights Movement noted for refusing to give up her seat to a white person sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Jim Crow laws:
Laws that enforced segregation, primarily but not exclusively in the South.
Martin Luther King Jr.:
Noted leader in the Civil Rights Movement, advocating for non-violent resistance to racism.
Leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Winner of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize.
Initially allied with President Johnson, he fell out with him over Vietnam.
Assassinated in April 1963 in Memphis, Tennessee.
The Movement Expands
Freedom Riders:
A 1961 effort by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to register African-American voters throughout the South.
The violent backlash the activists encountered forced President Kennedy to take a stronger public stance on civil rights.
Letter from Birmingham Jail:
An open letter written by Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963, defending the strategy of nonviolent resistance.
“I Have a Dream” speech:
Given by Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial.
Civil Rights Act of 1964:
A law that outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, nationality, religion, and sex.
It prohibited racial segregation.
Voting Rights Act of 1965:
Made literacy tests illegal and prohibited states from denying the right to vote on the basis of race.
The Selma to Montgomery marches contributed to its passage.
Malcolm X:
African American Muslim minister and human rights activist.
Initially associated with the Nation of Islam, he broke with it in 1964.
Assassinated in 1965 by three members of the Nation of Islam.
Best remembered for his emphasis on black self-determination and self-defense.
“The Ballot or the Bullet” speech:
A 1964 speech given by Malcolm X.
Whites must either allow African Americans freedom or face an armed revolution later.
Black Panthers:
A socialist, black nationalist organization founded in 1966.
Famous for carrying firearms.
They organized a social safety net for impoverished African-Americans in Oakland.
Succumbed to ideological schisms, government harassment, as well as the arrests and deaths of their major leaders by the mid-1970s.
Kerner Commission:
A commission established by President Johnson to study the 1967 race riots.
Concluded the riots had been caused by frustration among African-Americans due to lack of economic opportunity.
Their report was ignored by Johnson.
The “Affluent Society”
Beatniks:
A counterculture movement in the 1950s and early 1960s emphasizing art, philosophy, and social criticism.
Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg were notable members.
Port Huron Statement:
A 1962 political manifesto by the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).
Called for an expansion of democratic participation.
Noted as the start of the New Left.
Free Speech Movement:
A large-scale student protest that took place during the 1964–1965 academic year at the University of California, Berkeley.
The students demanded free speech rights.
Backlash to the Free Speech Movement aided in Ronald Reagan’s victory in the 1966 California gubernatorial election.
Woodstock:
A three-day concert in rural New York during 1969.
Typified 1960s youth culture.
National Organization for Women:
Founded in 1966, NOW is an American feminist advocacy group.
Supported the Equal Rights Amendment.
Equal Rights Amendment:
An amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have guaranteed equal rights regardless of sex.
By 1977, it had been ratified by 35 of the 38 states necessary, but faced a backlash from the growing conservative movement.
Failed to be ratified by a sufficient number of states by its 1982 deadline.
Changing Ideologies between Kennedy and Johnson
New Frontier:
A liberal policy proposals by John F. Kennedy.
Few were adopted due to obstructionism by Republicans and conservative Democrats.
Reworked and expanded under President Johnson into the Great Society.
Warren Commission:
A special commission appointed by Lyndon Johnson to investigate the assassination of President Kennedy.
Headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, it concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone.
Great Society:
A series of domestic programs proposed by Lyndon Johnson.
Aimed to expand civil rights and eliminate poverty.
See: Medicare, Medicaid, and the Immigration Act of 1965.
Medicare:
A federal health insurance for Americans 65 or older, along with some younger people with disabilities.
See: Great Society.
Medicaid:
A social safety net program that provides healthcare for low-income Americans.
See: Great Society.
Immigration Act of 1965:
Repealed the discriminatory practices of the Quota Acts of the 1920s.
Allowed millions of previously excluded peoples to immigrate to the United States.
Office of Equal Opportunity:
Oversaw the creation of the Job Corps, a program that provided career training to inner-city and rural citizens.
Part of the Great Society.
Department of Housing and Urban Development:
Commonly known as HUD.
A cabinet-level office created in 1965 as part of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program.
Oversees the housing market, with an emphasis on creating and sustaining affordable housing.
The Election of 1968
American Independent Party:
In the 1968 election, the AIP functioned as a pro-segregationist breakaway from the Democratic Party.
Its nominees were George Wallace and Curtis LeMay.
The Nixon Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration:
Created in 1973, the DEA is a federal law enforcement agency operating under the Department of Justice.
It enforces the Controlled Substances Act.
Detente:
The easing of hostility between two or more parties through diplomacy.
Advocated during the Cold War by Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
Contrast with brinksmanship.
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I):
The first round of arms control talks.
Negotiations took place under the Johnson and Nixon administrations.
The treaty was ratified in 1972.
See: détente, SALT II.
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC):
An organization of oil-producing states, especially ones in the Middle East.
In retaliation for U.S. support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War, OPEC targeted the United States and some of its Western allies for an oil embargo.
This led to the 1973 oil crisis.
See: Department of Energy.
Yom Kippur War:
A 1973 war between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Syria and Egypt.
Richard Nixon supplied Israel with vital military aid.
See: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Watergate:
A political scandal sparked by Nixon operatives burglarizing the Democratic Party National Headquarters at the Watergate Hotel on June 17, 1972.
With impeachment over the Watergate scandal certain, President Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974.
See: Gerald Ford.
Gerald R. Ford:
Ended American involvement in Vietnam.
Continued the policy of détente.
His approval ratings sank after issuing an unconditional pardon of Richard Nixon.
The Carter Administration
Jimmy Carter:
The former governor of Georgia, he ran as an outsider in the 1976 presidential election.
Served one term.
Carter pardoned Vietnam War draft dodgers, established the Departments of Energy and Education, and returned the Panama Canal to Panama.
Internationally, he oversaw the Camp David Accords, ended détente in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
Anwar Sadat:
Third President of Egypt (1970–1981).
Alongside Israeli Prime Minister Begin he signed the Camp David Accords, for which both men shared the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.
He was assassinated in 1981 by the group Egyptian Islamic Jihad.
Menachem Begin:
Sixth Prime Minister of Israel.
Signed the Camp David Accords with Anwar Sadat in 1979, for which both men won the Nobel Peace Prize.
As part of that agreement, he withdrew Israeli forces from the Sinai Peninsula.
Camp David Accords:
A 1979 peace agreement reached between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
Ayatollah Khomeini:
Founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its leader from 1979 to 1989.
The United States dubbed the “Great Satan.”
SALT II:
The second round of the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.
Negotiations took place under the Nixon and Ford administrations.
See: détente.
Department of Education:
A cabinet-level office created in 1979 by Jimmy Carter.
It mainly collects data, coordinates federal assistance to schools, and helps enforce civil rights laws.
See: No Child Left Behind Act.
Department of Energy:
A cabinet-level office created in 1977 by Jimmy Carter largely in response to the 1973 Oil Crisis.
Oversees energy-related research and domestic energy production.
It also safeguards nuclear material, including nuclear weapon