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96 Cards in this Set
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Harry S. Truman |
he was a WWI artillery officer replaced Wallace as FDR's vice president during his second term, and becomes president in 1945 when Roosevelt dies, he is largely unknown by the people of the US He decided on the use of the atomic bomb on Japan in 1945, formally ending WWII Also desegregated the US military |
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Serviceman Adjustment Act (1944) |
Also known as GI Bill, passed by congress it provided almost $20 billion for various programs, fueled nation-wide construction boom by providing long-term, low-interest mortgages to veterans, plus $2000 toward the buying of a new home, also allowed former soldiers to obtain a college degree |
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Baby Boom |
the increased number of births in the years following WWII (1946-1964) |
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Levittown |
William Levitt bought several thousand acres of land in Hempsted, NY, and massed produced private homes Founded in 1947 as a low-cost housing development for WWII veterans, later created similar towns in Pennsylvania and New Jersey Towns reinforced traditional family roles Levitt salesmen restricted communities to white applicants who signed pledges not to later resell to blacks |
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Soviet Testing of atomic bomb in Eastern Europe in 1949, ended the Grand Alliance and began the Cold War |
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Iron Curtain (1945-1989) |
military, political, and ideological barrier established between the Soviet bloc and Western Europe |
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Containment |
US national security doctrine during the Cold War, attributed to State Department officer George Kennan, political-military strategy for confronting Soviet expansion the idea of blocking communist expansion into new areas that are vulnerable |
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Truman Doctrine |
March 12, 1947 Truman went before Congress and the national radio and requested $400 million in military aid for Greece & Turkey, claiming the money was vital to the containment of communism and the future of freedom to all |
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George C. Marshall |
US general and statesman, served as secretary of state (1947-1949) organized the European Recovery Plan, aka Marshall Plan Later received the Nobel Peace Prize 1953 for the plan |
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Marshall Plan |
"European Recovery Plan" post WWII US economic aid program that costed about $13 billion, it planned to help restore economic confidence throughout Western Europe, raise living standards, curb influence of local communist parties, and increase US trade and investment on the European continent |
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National Security Act of 1947 |
Proposed legislation by Truman, to streamline the nations military and diplomatic services It unified the armed forces under a single Department of Defense (DOD) and created the National Security Council (NSC) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) |
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National Security Council (NSC) 1947 |
provided foreign policy information to the president |
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Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 1947 |
coordinated intelligence gathering abroad later faced criticism for illegally spying on American citizens and attempting to overthrow governments viewed as hostile to the US |
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House Un-American Activities Committee (HAUC) |
originally formed in the 1930's as a watchdog against Nazi propaganda, revived after WWII as communist propaganda watchdog |
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Jackie Robinson |
first African-American baseball player in the major leagues in the 20th century, played for the Brooklyn, Dodgers inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 |
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North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 1949 |
military alliance, between the US and 11 other nations to protect Western Europe from invasion , later expanded to include new nations It was a leading force in Cold War struggle to contain Soviet aggression opposed the Warsaw Pact |
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NSC Paper 68 (NSC 68) |
National Security Council Paper 68, was a secret document produced by secretary of state Acheson and his deputy advocated the use of military force to stop communist aggression throughout the world Truman never showed it to Congress but it shaped US defense in the coming years |
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Koren War (1950-1953) |
At the end of WWII Korea was randomly divided by Russian and American troops In June of 1950, communist North Korea invaded non-communist South Korea In 1948 an election to unify Korea was cancelled when Soviets refused UN observers north of the dividing line at the 38th parallel, creating a stalemate between Kim Il Sung communist leader of the North and Syngam Rhee non communist leader of the South US aids the south and originally just plans to defend, but offer time the US begin to take the offensive under General McArthur (ex. Chain Kai-shek) War ends when Eisenhower comes to power and demands a prompt resolution, it is ended with an armistice in 1953-- creating the demilitarized zone |
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Joseph R. McCarthy |
Senator from Wisconsin (1947-1957) Presided over the subcommittee on investigations and held public hearings in which he accused army officials, members of media and public figures of being communist the charges were never proved and he was later censured by the Senate in 1954 |
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Alger Hiss |
State Department official accused of espionage at the height of the Cold War by Joseph McCarthy, convicted of perjury in 1950 in a controversial case |
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Dwight D Eisenhower |
From Kansas, went to West point, served as a chief aide to General McArthur in the 1930s, worked with War Department and helped plan D-day, army chief of staff, commander of NATO forces and etc won presidential election of 1952, serving from (1953-1961) he cut federal spending and federal income tax by 10% in his first year of presidency Aimed to balance budget and claimed to be a conservative when dealing with money, and a liberal when dealing with human beings |
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Tidelands Oil Act |
Eisenhower supported act, that transferred coastal oil lad worth at least $40 billion from the federal government to the states |
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Cold War |
state of intense geopolitical rivalry, such as existed between US and Soviet Union following WWII, that stopped short of full-scale military conflict |
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"New Look" |
Eisenhower take on containment, his approached differed from Truman's in that it felt the US should emphasize nuclear weapons and long-range bombers to its best advantage instead of conventional forces |
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Mohammed Mossadegh |
pro-communist, who nationalized British-controlled oil fields and deposed the pro-western Shah of Iran leader of the Iranian revolution CIA saw his coming to power as a domino in the domino theory, so they installed a coup that established Shah Pahlavi |
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Domino Theory |
a theory that when one nation falls to communist control that it would precipitate action in neighboring nations that would soon follow |
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Ho Chi Minh |
popular marxist leader, led the Vietmenh in an armed struggle for independence against the French in Vietnam (or Indochina), known as the French Indochina War the US viewed him as a puppet for the Soviet, so they supported the French but were unsuccessful, as Minh came out victorious First president of North Vietnam and led them in the Vietnam War |
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Brown v Board of Education (1954) |
Rev Oliver Brown sued the Topeka school board arguing that his 8 year old daughter shouldn't have to commute a mile to a negro school, when there was a white public school just 3 blocks away attorneys Thurgood Marshall and William Hastie work the case Supreme Court has a unanimous ruling that segregated facilities in public education were "inherently uneven" and violated the 14th amendments guarantee of equal protection of law, the decision overruled the long-standing "separate but equal" doctrine of Plessy v Ferguson |
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Ku Klux Klan came alive in the 1950s, and new groups like the White Citizens Council were formed to defend segregation and the "southern way of life" |
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Civil Rights Movement (1954-1968) |
encompassed social movements in the US whose goals were to end racial segregation and discrimination towards blacks and to secure legal recognition and federal protection of citizenships in the Constitution and law |
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Rosa Parks |
42 year old, black seamstress and local member of the NAACP, refused to give up her seat on crowded bus in Montgomery, Alabama in December of 1955 and was jailed This event stirred a citywide bus boycott and the civil rights movement across the nation |
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Montgomery Bus Boycott |
Began in December 1955 as result of Rosa Parks action, it regarded the segregated transportation facilities and humiliating treatment of blacks in the capital city of Alabama Boycott soon became an international event |
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Martin Luther King |
African-American clergyman and minister, who committed to nonviolence which formed the foundation of the civil rights movement led the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) Given the nobel peace prize in 1964 Assassinated in 1968 |
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March on Washington 1964, MLKs 'I have a dream' speech |
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****Television in the 1950s**** |
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John F. Kennedy |
first president to be born in the 20th century, youngest candidate to win presidential election did so at 43 yrs old and was also the first Catholic president His presidency (1961-1963) was something new for America and he represented optimism Some of his initiatives included increase in Social Security benefits, raise of minimum wage, a $2.3 billion education bill, and higher pay for teachers that never got passed Was assassinated in November of 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald |
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Peace Corps |
launched by Kennedy in 1961, and directed by R Sargent Shiver a program that sent thousands of US volunteers to underdeveloped nations to provide educational and technical assistance |
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Oct 1957 Soviet launched Sputnik I first artificial satellite weighed 200lb Sept 1957 orbitted Sputnik II which was an 1100lb capsule with a small dog inside |
This angered the US people who had always taken their country's technological superiority for granted |
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April 1961- Yuri Gagarin, Soviet cosmonaut, orbited the globe in less then 2 hours |
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John Glenn |
lieutenant colonel who was the first American to orbit the earth, he did so 3 times aboard Friendship 7, before landing in the Caribbean in February of 1962 national hero |
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Fidel Castro |
cuban revolutionary leader who overthrew Batistas in 1959 and soon after declared Cuba a communist state Prime Minister (1959-1976), President of the Government and first secretary of communist Party (1976-2008) He originally tries to gain US support but the US realizes his ideals align with Soviet Union and they don't grant him support, also US liked Batistas since he always ensured the US interest were recognized |
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Bay of Pigs |
April 17, 1961 1500 cuban exiles supported by the CIA landed on Cuba's southern coast, the landing site had sharp coral reefs and swampy terrain making it hard to unload supplies and move from the beaches they were spotted by local workers 100 were killed and the rest were captured due to Kennedy's refusal to provide vital air and naval support in attempts to hide US involvement Unsuccessful coup of the communist government of Fidel Castro, and pushed him even closer to soviet embrace |
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Berlin Wall (1961) |
Workers in East Berlin constructed a wall of barbed wire and concrete around the western edge of their city, sealing off East Berlin and eventually all of East Germany, from the non communist world In doing so Khrushchev was able to stop East German exodus to West |
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Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) |
October 1962, US U-2 spy planes confirmed Soviet were deploying intermediate-range ballistic missiles aimed at the US October 22- Kennedy receives note from Khrushchev suggesting a settlement that the missiles would missiles would be removed in the US vow to never invade Cuba and remove Jupiter missiles in Turkey Oct 28- Us agrees and Khrushchev accepts July 1963 red telephone, "hot line" set up |
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Red telephone |
"hot line" 1963, phone line between the White House and Kremlin where both leaders could pick up the phone and call each other to discuss issues |
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Robert F. Kennedy |
Bobby Kennedy brother of Franklin D Roosevelt, and was FDRs attorney general of war bigger supporter of civil rights than his brother |
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Ngo Dingh Diem |
South Vietnam president Enriched himself at the expense of the Vietnamese people also emposed a crackdown on Buddhists Kennedy hoped to formalize the partition at the 17th parallel by turning the South Vietnamese regime of Diem to a military power capable of defending itself of attacks from Ho Chi Minh 1963 Diem government was brought down |
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Betty Friedan (1921-2006) |
author of "Feminine Mystique" (1963) which was an instant best-seller that voiced the unspoken and desperate feelings of many women, which spurred the struggle for women's rights also founded the National Organization for Women in 1966-- major goals: passage of equal rights amendment and sexual equality in the workplace |
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Equal Pay Act of 1963 |
required employers to provide equal wages to men and women working the same job |
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Lyndon B Johnson |
JFK's vice president, who succeeded the presidency following Kennedy's assassination, originally into civil rights but not largely he begins to be a key role in the abolishment of segregation post JFK death President (1963-1968) known for effective negotiating skills "Johnson treatment", also piloted Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Great Society |
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Civil Rights Act of 1964 |
authorized federal action against segregation in public accommodations, public facilities and employment |
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Voting Rights Act of 1965 |
Aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented blacks from exercising right to vote under the 15th amendment Caused white southerners to abandon democratic party and transition to republican party which was conservative, democratic party of south then becomes liberal and has African Americans |
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Great Society (1964-1965) |
domestic initiatives taken by Johnson to turn US into his vision of a great society with true community spirit medicare/medicaid, environmental legislation, expanded funding for humanities and arts, "war on poverty", etc. |
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Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964) |
reports of confrontation with North Vietnamese in Tonkin Gulf, call Johnson to request congressional authority to "take all necessary" measures to repel further aggression in Vietnam The granting of Johnson to have formal authority to escalate war which he was granted |
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Vietnam War (1955-1975) |
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Johnson was expanding domestic programs while expanding involvement in Vietnam, both are expensive and make it hard for him to keep up his domestic and foreign policies |
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Students For Democratic Society (SDS) |
one of the first rumblings of antiwar protest formed in Michigan in 1962 denounced racism and militarism and promised new politics based on socialist ideals, the group became one of the leading New Left antiwar organizations of the 1960s |
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Watts Riot (1965) |
african american neighborhood in Los Angeles, riot following the arrest of black motorist by white highway patrolman by the time it ended 5 days later, 34 were dead, a 1000 were injured, property damage topped $200 million, and national guardsmen had to be called in to restore order |
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Black Power |
movement for black racial pride in the 1960s that advocated all-black institutions, not racially integrated ones, as the best vehicles for advancing black objectives |
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Malcolm X |
Black Muslim leader who advocated nationalism, self-defense and racial separation Black Muslim Movement (Nation of Islam) he later ended up splitting from it, and creating the Organization of Afro-American unity assassinated by a Black Muslim in NY rally in 1965 |
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Counterculture |
emerging radicalism of America's youth in the 1960's had both cultural and political base it was bound together with civil rights, women's rights, and the antiwar protests and it challenged traditional values |
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Tet Offensive (1968) |
Tet was a major Buddhist holiday and so the US believed that nothing would happen however North Vietnam and Vietcong launched a major military operation in South Vietnam, many US soldiers were killed the US still comes out notorious this undermined Johnson's claim that steady progress was being made in Vietnam, and changed the peoples viewpoints on war |
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Richard Nixon |
president (1969-1974) Nixon cracks down on hippies, Vietnam opposers, militant revolution groups, and other signs of dissension in the US also wanted to end war with Vietnam-'peace with honor' Foreign policy- included detente and triangular diplomacy First president to visit China |
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1969 NASA fulfilled JFKs promise to land a man on the mood, Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Michael Collins took part in the lunar mission- Apollo 11 July 20- Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon |
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Woodstock |
a musical festival that was a fusion of rock music, hard drugs, free love, and an antiwar protest 400 thousand people to a farm in upstate New York in the summer of 1969 |
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Kent State University |
May 1970 Several thousand students rampaged through the business district and clashed with local police and on the same evening the Kent State's Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) building went up in flames, leading the governor to send in the National Guard the guardsmen and ended up killing four people and wounding nine others |
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Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) |
The idea first proposed in 1923, was later passed by Congress in 1972 but by the mid 1970's conservative groups had managed to stall its confirmation by the states |
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Roe v Wade (1973) |
Supreme court decision that along with, Doe v. Bolton, legalized abortion in the first trimester |
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Henry Kissinger |
german-born american political scientist and national security advisor (1969-1974) and secretary of state (1973-1977) shared the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize for helping to negotiate the Vietnam cease-fire |
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detente |
an easing of tensions among countries, which usually leads to increased economic, diplomatic, and other types of contacts between former rivals Nixons ideal in dealing with the Soviet Union, China Wanted to damp down the issues of the cold war and initiate a new era |
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Spiro Agnew |
Nixons vice president in his first term resigned in 1973, a year before watergate decision, as result of taken bribes |
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Watergate Scandal (1972) |
CREEP was an organization that aimed to win reelection for Nixon, they tapped the democratic parties national headquarters 5 burglars were caught, four of which were cuban CIA agents, when they are caught the judge doesn't believe they did it without motive and urges them to come clean Nixon and his administration try and cover up the action, but get caught up in the tapes he had that recorded some of the plans/coverups of the scandal, supreme court calls for the tapes and not just the transcripts |
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Gerald Ford |
Became Nixons vice president following the resignation of Agnew Summer of 1974, Ford became president following watergate and stated that he would not pardon Nixon, but then later goes against this and pardons him--claims to do so to help let the nation just get over it, this dropped his public approval ratings by almost 50% Runs for election in 1976 loses due to -pardoning of nixon -economy is struggling (inflation was at 14%) -issues with congress (vetoed 39 bills in his first year in office, disagreed on budgeting) |
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Triangular Diplomacy |
1st: He establishes a better relationship with China (to show Soviet Union that they were working towards better relations)-- the relationship with China can help with things such as Korean War 2nd: attempt to redefine relations with Soviet Union--Nixon sends Kissinger to Soviet Union on a secret mission to pave the way for Nixon to later go in 1972 and negotiate some improvements in the relationship and establish areas of common interest |
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Common interests/benefits with Soviet and China |
Chinese benefits: Nixon supported China obtaining a seat on UN Security Council (5 permanent members) China was originally a part of it but after Chinese revolution the US opposed the idea of the New Chinese government having it--also negotiate the status of nuclear weapons since China had gained nuclear power by the 1960s Soviet Union: focus on establishing better trade relationships, negotiating the numbers of nuclear weapons each side has and destroying weapons that aren't needed so it doesn't fall into the hands of terrorist or the wrong county (SALT 1972- strategic arms limitations treaty) |
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Paris Peace Agreement of 1973 |
US agree to take all the troops out of South Vietnam, North Vietnam agrees not to invade South Vietnam, both sides agree to return prisoners of war and bodies of dead soldiers North Vietnam invaded two years later and that was big embarrassment for the US |
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Yam Kippur War |
October 1973 Egypt and Syria attacked Israel from two sides, United States come to the rescue of Israel during this conflict, and the continued support of Israel led to a negative reaction of the surrounding countries in the middle east |
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OPEC oil embargo |
As result for US aid to Israel, OPEC issued an embargo on oil being sold to the United States ban only lasted 6 months but after embargo was lifted they sold the US oil at double the price of it --the rising price of gasoline and our dependency of it lead to inflation, raises issue amongst Americans about US energy policy, people began to push alternative energy |
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Energy Crisis in the 1970s |
rationing of gasoline, only allowed the purchase of gas on certain days, companies and service stations limited the amount of gasoline that could be purchased gas prices prevailed and grew until modern day, Americans are no longer as mobile as they used to be This continued all the way up until the Ford Administration |
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Jimmy Carter |
president (1977-1981) originally a peanut farmer, southern democrat, was from Georgia but was not a racist, he was never particularly not an antiracist, he was neither for or against civil rights, and was a man of contradictions-- submariner in the navy, nuclear physicist he wasn't a political insider and wanted to return to the Jeffersonian roots of the country offered amnesty to people in Vietnam |
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Department of Energy (1977) Department of Education (1979) 3 mile meltdown (1979) |
Important departments set up by Jimmy Carter nuclear plant accident that happened in Pennsylvania, raised questions on if nuclear energy was a viable option |
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Camp David Accords (1978) |
Signed by Israeli prime minister Menachem and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat stated that Israel would return ithe land that it had taken in previous wars to Egypt, in return for Egypt's recognition of Israel as a country |
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Iranian Hostage Crisis (1979-1981) |
In November of 1979 Carter grants Shah Pahlavi amnesty to come to the United States to get treated for cancer, when it becomes public knowledge that the US did the this a group of Iranian college students angered, decided to seize the US embassy and take 90 hostages upset that the Shah would not be held accountable for what he had done while in power they release a few but hold many for 450 days In spring of 1980, the US had a failed rescue attempt and around the same time the US severs all relationships with them Hostages aren't released until January of 1981 on the same day that Reagan was inaugurated |
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Ronald Reagan |
president (1981-1989) actor, spokesperson for general electric, governor of California in the 1960's where he originally was a supporter of the new deal but then slowly begins to lean more and more right, as governor he cracks down on antiwar movement and hippies lost presidential election of 76 to Ford he was a strong critic of Carters foreign policy, and represented a certain change in American politics first of the neoconservatives he was more similar to the republicans of the 20's "great communicator", paired with moral majority |
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Reaganomics |
the idea that if federal funding was cut for things such as schools, mental hospitals, etc. that the private sectors would step in and do a better job |
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Strategic Defense Initiative (1983) |
Star Wars proposed by Reagan as a defense initiative, that would set up a system of weapons that would be set up in space that would intercept and shoot down Soviet Missiles before they could reach the US |
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1980-1988 War between Iran and Iraq |
Fighting characterized by brutality, weapons of mass destruction (gas), high casualties and a lot of military damage US supports Iraq during this war, and in the 1980's Saddam Hussein was an ally to the US |
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First Gulf War (1990) |
Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait this act changed US relations with Hussein and caused the US to respond to this in the following year 1991 |
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Soviet Union in the late 1970s was attempting to use influence in the Middle East so they supported the establishment of a communist partner in Afghanistan in 1978- the afghan people do not accept the secular gov since most were religious and did not agree with decisions or policy a coup takes over the communist government |
In 1979 the Soviet Union invades Afghanistan and remained there until 1987, Us imposes the soviet invasion and our relationship immediately turns sour as result of this incident this marks the end of Soviet US detente that had been around for a decade |
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US supports the Afghani mujahideen that resisted the Soviet invasion and also pair up with the Saudi Arabian government to send in money and Saudi troops one of which was Osama bin laden |
After Soviet Union withdraw from Afghanistan so does the United States Leading to the Afghanistan civil war since a lot of groups were fighting for power-- which further leads to the raise of Taliban in the 1990s |
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Mikhail Gorbachev |
president of the USSR (1990-1991) Ushered change in the USSR with his ideals of glasnost and perestroika, he sought friendlier relations with European Nations and was a vital role in the transitioning of the USSR he removed censorship, allowed the existence of other political parties, also all the soviet teritories gained independence (1989-1991) Tore down the Berlin Wall |
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glasnost perestroika |
opening up-willingness to engage with other countries (import/export) reconstructing- internal reforms in the soviet union |
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Fall of the Berlin wall (1989) |
Symbolic end of the Cold War |
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Israel (1948) |
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1991 Soviet Union reverted to Russia |
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Iran-Contra Scandal |
a major scandal of the second Reagan term that involved shipping arms to Iran and diverting money from the sale of these weapons to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua Oliver North |
