Sparks of Conflict
Exaggerated and false reports by the Yellow Press blamed the 1898 explosion of this U.S. battleship on Spain, helping to spark the Spanish-American War.
What is the U.S.S. Maine?
The massive economic boom of the 1920s was largely caused by the application of Henry Ford's assembly line and this specific efficiency system, also known as "Taylorism."
What is Scientific Management?
In 1946, diplomat George Kennan sent an influential telegram from Moscow arguing that the Soviet Union was inherently expansionist, acting as the primary catalyst for this decades-long U.S. strategy
What is containment?
In 1954, the NAACP successfully argued that segregated schools violated the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause, officially overturning the "separate but equal" precedent set by this 1896 case.
What is Plessy v Ferguson?
William J. Levitt mass-produced suburban homes for returning WWII veterans, but these communities were often restricted to White families due to this discriminatory federal loan practice.
What is redlining?
In 1917, the U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Germany after intercepting this message offering to help Mexico reclaim lost territory if they supported the Axis.
What is the Zimmerman Telegram?
A major catalyst for the Great Depression was the excessive use of this financial tool, which allowed consumers to buy newly invented appliances and cars during the 1920s until they simply stopped buying.
What is credit?
Acting as the first official implementation of containment, this 1947 presidential doctrine was a direct reaction to a communist uprising in Greece and Soviet demands for water routes in Turkey.
What is the Truman Doctrine?
By refusing to leave a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960, a group of college students acted as a primary catalyst for a nationwide movement utilizing this specific nonviolent tactic to integrate public facilities.
What are sit-ins?
The post-WWII boom in the defense industry pulled millions of Americans to the Sun Belt states from Florida to California, causing a major national shift in this specific type of power.
What is political power?
Although U.S. officials knew an attack was imminent due to cracked codes, the surprise December 7, 1941 bombing of this specific Hawaiian naval base united the American public and immediately caused Congress to declare war on Japan
What is Pearl Harbor?
A primary catalyst for the unprecedented post-WWII economic boom was this 1944 legislation, which stimulated the economy by providing 15 million veterans with low-interest government-backed loans for homes and businesses
What is the G.I. Bill?
Reacting to the fear that economic instability would cause Western Europe to fall to communism, the U.S. successfully prevented its spread by providing $12 billion in aid through this 1948 program.
What is the Marshall Plan?
Giving the feminist movement a new direction in 1963, Betty Friedan wrote this book encouraging middle-class women to seek fulfillment outside of being a wife and mother.
What is The Feminine Mystique?
Fleeing 1930s droughts and high winds, displaced Midwestern farmers known as "Okies" migrated to California, a plight famously chronicled in this John Steinbeck novel.
What is The Grapes of Wrath?
President Eisenhower justified sending $1 billion in aid to South Vietnam by outlining this theory, which warned that if one nation fell to communism, all of Southeast Asia would follow.
What is the Domino Theory?
In 1978, California voters catalyzed a national conservative resurgence by passing this measure to sharply cut property taxes, a movement supported by economist Arthur Laffer’s theory that tax cuts would actually increase government revenue
What is Proposition 13?
In 1957, the Soviet Union threw American technological leadership into question and shocked the public by successfully achieving this milestone in space, directly causing the creation of NASA and the NDEA
What is the launch of Sputnik?
Acting as major catalysts for the Mexican American civil rights movement, these two leaders helped form the United Farm Workers Association to gain collective bargaining rights for agricultural workers
Who are Delores Huerta and Cesar Chavez?
Pulling a new wave of immigrants primarily from Asia and Latin America, this 1965 Great Society legislation fundamentally changed the demographic makeup of the United States by officially abolishing discriminatory national-origin quotas
What is the Immigration Act of 1965?
President Carter halted arms reduction efforts, boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and placed an embargo on grain exports as a direct result of this nation's 1979 invasion of Afghanistan.
What is the Soviet Union (USSR)?
A major cause of the 1970s economic struggle and high inflation was a worldwide oil shortage caused by an embargo enacted by this organization.
What is OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)?
The anti-communist witch hunts of the 1950s finally lost their momentum after the public watched this senator bully witnesses on television during hearings about communists in the army.
Who is Joseph McCarthy?
Frustrated by the slow progress of the Civil Rights movement, the radicalism of this leader inspired groups like the SNCC to embrace "Black Power" and racial separatism before his assassination in 1965.
Who is Malcolm X?
Acting as a massive pull factor for the middle class, this 1956 infrastructure project authorized by President Eisenhower directly caused the rapid expansion of the suburbs and the creation of a more homogeneous national culture
What is the Interstate Highway System (or the Highway Act of 1956