The Cold War from 1945 - 1980
This decades-long geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union never escalated into direct warfare, but fueled an arms race, space race, and numerous proxy wars around the world.
What was the Cold War?
In October 1962, this 13-day standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over nuclear missiles in the Caribbean brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.
What is the Cuban Missile Crisis?
Despite their differences, these two major American political parties largely agreed on Cold War policies like containment, using them to justify military and diplomatic actions against Communism.
What are Democrats and Republicans?
Influenced by affordable housing, the G.I. Bill, and a growing highway system, millions of Americans moved to these residential communities outside major cities in the postwar era.
What are the suburbs?
This group of writers and thinkers, such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, in the 1950s rejected materialism and conformity, embracing spontaneity, spiritual exploration, and nontraditional lifestyles.
What is the Beat Generation?
Passed by Congress in 1964 after alleged attacks on U.S. ships, this resolution gave President Johnson broad military powers in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war.
What is the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?
This mammal’s milk is pink, and its closest living relatives include whales and dolphins.
What is the hippopotamus?
This U.S. foreign policy strategy, aimed at preventing the spread of communism after World War II, was the cornerstone of American efforts in Korea, Vietnam, and beyond.
What is containment?
Fought from 1950 to 1953, this war began when Communist-backed troops crossed the 38th parallel, prompting a UN-backed intervention led by the U.S. to stop the spread of communism in Asia.
What is the Korean War?
Anti-communist policies like loyalty oaths, blacklists, and congressional investigations were criticized for violating these fundamental protections guaranteed to all U.S. citizens.
What are constitutional rights?
Enacted in 1944, this landmark legislation provided returning World War II veterans with benefits like tuition assistance, low-cost mortgages, and unemployment compensation.
What is the G.I. Bill?
Symbolizing rebellion and self-expression among postwar teens, this energetic music genre was tied to new fashion, slang, and a break from their parents' values.
What is Rock 'n Roll?
This U.S. theory held that if one nation in Southeast Asia fell to communism, neighboring countries would soon follow.
What is the Domino Theory?
This common baking ingredient causes dough to rise by releasing carbon dioxide when combined with an acid.
What is baking soda?
Announced in 1947, this doctrine pledged U.S. support for countries resisting communism, starting with military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey.
What is the Truman Doctrine?
Formed in 1949, this military alliance united the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations in a collective defense against Soviet aggression.
What is NATO?
In its effort to combat the threat of communism, the U.S. government backed policies that emphasized national security, sometimes limiting these things guaranteed to all U.S. citizens.
What are individual freedoms?
After World War II, millions of Americans relocated to this warm-weather region stretching from the Southeast to the Southwest, drawn by jobs, air conditioning, and affordable housing.
What is the Sun Belt?
In the 1950s, the rise of television, national advertising, and booming consumerism helped shape American culture, defined by shared lifestyles, values, and buying habits across the U.S. to be more like this.
What is uniform/uniformity?
Launched in 1968 during a major Vietnamese holiday, this surprise attack by North Vietnamese forces shocked Americans and turned public opinion against the war.
What is the Tet Offensive?
This planet rotates so slowly that its day is longer than its year.
What is Venus?
This aggressive policy, marked by the Soviet Union’s efforts to dominate Eastern Europe after World War II, was a key factor in the collapse of its alliance with the United States.
What is Soviet expansionism?
This term describes the period of eased tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the 1970s, marked by arms control agreements like the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) and increased diplomatic cooperation.
What is détente?
These controversial hearings in the early 1950s, led by a Wisconsin senator, sought to root out alleged communists in the U.S. government and other institutions, often without solid evidence.
What are the McCarthy Trials?
Known as the "father of modern suburbia," this developer revolutionized home construction with mass-produced houses in communities after World War II.
Who is William Levitt?
These movements of dissent in the 1950s that challenged conformity and consumerism laid the groundwork for broader social reforms that would emerge in the 1960s.
What are counter-culture movements?
Passed in 1973 over a presidential veto, this law aimed to limit the commander-in-chief's ability to send U.S. forces into combat without congressional approval.
What was the War Powers Act?
This little-known ancient city, located in modern-day Turkmenistan and once part of the Oxus civilization, is believed to have had one of the world’s earliest known grid-based urban plans.
What is Gonur Tepe?
This U.S. economic initiative, launched in 1948, provided over $12 billion to help rebuild Western European economies and prevent the spread of communism.
What is the Marshall Plan?
Fueled by industrial automation, rising productivity, and inventions that reshaped daily life, these changes transformed the U.S. economy in the decades after World War II.
What is technological innovation?
This effect of postwar economic growth led to increased spending on goods, widespread advertising, and the rise of national ideals centered on maintaining similar lifestyles.
What is mass consumer culture?
In the wake of the Vietnam War, the United States was forced to reassess this area of strategy, focusing more on diplomacy, alliances, and the limits of military power.
What is foreign policy?
Fueled by high consumer demand, technological innovation, and increased government spending, this economic trend defined the U.S. economy in the years following World War II.
What is rapid economic growth?
What is growth?