Early Cold War
Define Cold War
A conflict between two belligerents in which neither engages in open military conflict with the other. However, tension is so high that war could erupt at any time.
What caused the Vietnam War?
Similar to the Korean War, conflict between communist and democratic forces broke out, bringing Russia and China to North Vietnam’s aid and the US to the South’s.
What was the decision in Brown vs. Board of Ed.?
Segregation justified by Plessy v Ferguson was overturned on the basis of “separate but equal” being “inherently unequal”. This led to the long and arduous process of school integration.
What was the counterculture movement in the 1960s?
Predominantly young people who cast off societal restraint with rebellious styles of clothing, and music, along with experimental drug use and free love. Associated with protesting the Vietnam War.
What was detente?
a period of general easing of geopolitical tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States
What was the source of rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union (think government and economy)?
The US had a democratic government and capitalist economic system while the USSR had a communist system in which the political and economic systems were one in the same. Both countries sought to expand their ideologies globally.
Who is the Cuban leftist revolutionary that established a communist regime in 1959?
Fidel Castro
What was the March on Washington?
The 1963 highlight of the civil rights movement in which MLK, Jr. led 200-300,000 supporters and gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
What was the GI Bill and who was excluded from some of the benefits?
Gave WWII veterans access to a free college education and low-interest home and business loans. African American veterans were excluded from some of the benefits.
The 1972-1974 political scandal involving the Nixon administration in which the Democratic presidential campaign was brazenly spied. Investigative journalists uncovered the plot. Nixon was impeached, choosing to resign in order to escape removal from office.
Watergate Scandal
What are the names of the two alliances that were formed at the beginning of the Cold War?
Warsaw Pact - Soviet Union and satelite nations (communist)
The US attempted to overthrow the communist regime in Cuba in this invasion.
Bay of Pigs
The Montgomery Bus Boycotts, orchestrated by the NAACP and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. forced local authorities to desegregate busses. Similarly, the sit in movement, led predominantly by black college students, resulted in mass arrests and the eventual desegregation of public spaces.
What caused the demographic spike and shift after World War II? Where did people move?
The postwar population spike in the United
States as a result of young men returning from war to a generally prosperous economy. Massive planned communities sprang up in suburban areas across the country, especially in the South and West. Levittown/SunBelt/Baby Boom
What was the EPA?
The Environmental Protection Agency was a regulatory agency that sought to put limits on the environmental impact of industry on the land, and air, and water
What is the name of the Senator and the committee who accused and investigated high-profile Americans of being affiliated with communism?
Joseph McCarthy and House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
What incident escalated American involvement in Vietnam?
The Gulf of Tonkin incident, though disputed like the sinking of the USS Maine in Cuba, was used as justification for increasing American troop presence in Vietnam. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave President Johnson the authority to send troops to Vietnam without the approval of Congress first.
What are two major pieces of civil rights legislation signed by President LBJ?
Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965
Literary movement in the 1950s that rejected the conformity and capitalism of postwar America through their writing, as well as through their fashion and drug use. Example: Kerouac's "On the Road"
Beat Generation or Beatniks
What was the Roe v Wade decision? What effect did this decision have on society? When was it overturned?
The Supreme Court ruled that abortion was a constitutional right on the basis of the “right to privacy”. This decision galvanized evangelical Christians around the conservative Republican Party as a vehicle for opposing the right to abortion.
Overturned June 2022
Name and briefly describe two examples of US foreign policy of containment.
Marshall Plan -foreign aid to Western Europe
Truman Doctrine - provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat
Domino Thoery - a communist government in one nation would quickly lead to communist takeovers in neighboring states, each falling like a row of dominos
The CIA assisted in overthrowing a socialist government in this Middle Eastern country.
Iran
Mexican American labor leader and civil rights activist who dedicated his life’s work to what he called la causa (the cause): the struggle of farm workers in the United States to improve their working and living conditions. Was committed to the tactics of nonviolent resistance.
Cesar Chavez
What is the name of President Lyndon Johnson’s continuation of New Deal era government-led social and economic reforms? Give two examples of programs and/or legislation.
Great Society
Medicare - health insurance to people over 65
Medicaid - health inssurance to people in low-income situations or with disabilities
Immigration Act - abolished immigration quotas
What is stagflation in the 1970s? Name two causes.
A recession, or a decline in economic activity, struck in the early 1970s. This slow economic growth, or stagnation, occurred at the same time as rising prices for goods, or inflation.
High budget deficits - increased defense and non-defense spending
Oil Crisis 1973 - OPEC oil embargo - refuses to sell to countries supporting Israel in Yom Kippur War.
Bretton Wood System Collapse - a surplus of U.S. dollars caused by foreign aid, military spending, and foreign investment threatened this system, as the US did not have enough gold to cover the volume of dollars in worldwide circulation; as a result, the dollar was overvalued