1950s Affluence
Which social class grew the most during the 1950s in America?
What is the Middle Class?
"Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."
Who is Barry Goldwater
Lots of these were being built by the government in 1956 in order to make travel between states, towns, and cities easier
What are highways? (Freeways or interstates are also acceptable)
October 1957- Americans looked up at the sky and grew terrified at the sound of terror was "beep beep beep beep"
What was Sputnik?
Engel v. Vitale, Supreme Court ruled this unconstitutional, placing an "indirect coercive pressure upon religious minorities"
What is prayer in public school?
Community in Los Angeles where MLK's calls for non-violence fell on deaf ears, in fact he was heckled and jeered at. August 1965.
What is Watts?
What did the G.I. Bill allow veterans to do?
What are paying for college and Homes?
"If you and I were Americans, there’d be no problem. Those Honkies that just got off the boat, they’re already Americans; Polacks are already Americans; the Italian refugees are already Americans..... And as long as you and I have been over here, we aren’t Americans yet. Well, I am one who doesn’t believe in deluding myself. I’m not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing on my plate, and call myself a diner"
Who is Malcolm X?
Foreign policy theory that stated that if one country falls to communism, neighboring countries will eventually fall as well.
What is the domino theory?
September 23, 1952- Nixon goes on T.V. to save his political life and defend himself against accusations of receiving illegal donations
What is "Checkers Speech"?
1965, Court rules a major victory for sexual freedom and couples that sought reproductive autonomy from the state
What is Griswold v. Connecticut?
Dei-industrialization, white flight, and municipal corruption plagued this city in the 60s, but it was a rumor that a black cabbie was beaten to death after being arrested for driving with a revoked license that caused a riot in the summer of 1967.
What is Newark, NJ?
William Levitt mass-produced thousands of these:
What are houses?
As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night--she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question--"Is this all?" For over fifteen years there was no word of this yearning in the millions of words written about women, for women, in all the columns, books and articles by experts telling women their role was to seek fulfillment as wives and mothers......no greater destiny than to glory in their own femininity
Who is Betty Friedan?
The balance between the Soviets and the Americans whereby both sides had more than enough fire power to completely destroy the other nation.
What was MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction)?
The French were vanquished from Indochina after this battle in 1954....... Adieu!
What is Dien Bien Phu?
1967 Supreme Court rules states' can't stop love between people, race or religion:
What is Loving v. Virginia?
March 1968, this document declared white racism—not black anger—turned the key that unlocked urban American turmoil.
What is the Kerner Report/ Kerner Commission?
When union membership peaked in 1954 at 34% of the workforce, it marked the end of this color collar dominance of the workforce
What is blue-collar?
"And in spite of our riches, In spite of our high standard of living, our whole economy is geared to getting more. The capitalist wants more profit. The laboring man wants more wages for less hours. And all of us are engaged in a mad race- trampling over each other, cheating each other, lying, stealing, anyway we can get it- to get another dollar. The bible says it's the sin of covetousness. "Thou shall not covet.""
Who is Billy Graham?
After Bay of Pigs fiasco in April 1961, it was reportedly said he wanted to "splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds." After careful review, he did not splinter it, but "accepted" the resignation of this man
Who is Allen Dulles?
Nikita Khrushchev succeeded this world leader after his death in 1953.
Who was Joseph Stalin?
This Supreme Court Justice warned of ruling in favor Baker would have a rippling effect if the country were to get involved in what he called "the political thicket"
Who is Justice Felix Frankfurter?
Appearing in 1964, this band represented a raunchier and more rebellious than the Beatles. Their song "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" became an anthem for jaded and disillusioned youth.
"The Beatles want to hold your hand," said one critic, but they "want to burn your house."
Who are the Rolling Stones?
Graced the cover of the 1st print of Playboy Magazine, 1953 (and a president's bed)
Who is Marilyn Monroe?
"Don't you have a machine that puts food into the mouth and pushes it down? Many things you've shown us are interesting but they are not needed in life. They have no useful purpose. They are merely gadgets.....You think the Russian people will be dumbfounded to see these things, The fact is that newly built Russian houses have all this equipment."
Who is Nikita Khrushchev?
After a white mob attacked this Attorney General's personal representative during Freedom Ride near Aniston, Alabama in May 1961; the administration Federal Marshals to protect the freedom riders
Who is Robert F. Kennedy?
October 16-29th, 1962: Thirteen days where the world held its breadth waiting for a nuclear standoff to end. Khrushchev flinches.
What is the Cuban Missile Crisis
1962- Ruled Tennessee had diluted power of urban voters, And into the "Political Thicket" the court goes.....
What Baker V. Carr?
Promoted by Harvard psychologist Timothy Leary who preached to his students about its wonders. "Tune in, turn on, drop out." He was the prophet of this mind-altering drug which became a right of passage for the counter-culture youth.
What is LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide)?
What is IBM?
You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down--up to a man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order--or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.
In this vote-harvesting time, they use terms like the "Great Society," or as we were told a few days ago by the President, we must accept a "greater government activity in the affairs of the people." But they have been a little more explicit in the past and among themselves--and all of the things that I now will quote have appeared in print. These are not Republican accusations.
Who is Ronald Reagan?
(relying more on covert action, bombers, and nuclear bombs)
What is the "New Look" ?
July 1969, Kennedy's dream comes into fruition when two American Astronauts triumphantly plant their feet on the moon's surface. People around the globe huddled around televisions to watch this mission live. The world had never seemed so small.
What is the Apollo Mission?
Mapp v. Ohio, 1961- extended this amendment to the states, all unwarranted evidence obtained by searches and seizures is inadmissible in a state court.
Short form- No warrant, not admissible
What is the 4th Amendment?
Concerned about growing federal powers and expanding social programs; a growing in size of ultra-conservatives such as this group declared the U.S. was at war with a "gigantic conspiracy to enslave mankind." Their list of conspirators included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chief Justice Earl Warren, and President Kennedy.
What is the John Birch Society?
This industry grew fantastically in the 1950s due to military buildup of S.A.C. and expanding commercial business. No states benefited more than California, Missouri, and Washington State.
What is Aerospace?
"All over the world, particularly in the newer nations, young men are coming to power- men who are not bound by the traditions of the past- men who are not blinded by the old fears and hates and rivalries- young men who cast off the old slogans.....
For the harsh facts of the matter are that we stand at this frontier at a turning point of history. We must prove all over again to a watching world as we sit on a most conspicuous stage whether this nation, conceived as it is with its freedom of choice, its breadth of opportunity, its range of alternatives, can compete with a single-minded advance of the Communist system."
Who is JFK?
On Sept. 12, 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy gave a major speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, a group of Protestant ministers, on this issue which was of great concern for many Americans, who happen to practice protestant christianity.
What is the issue of his Roman Catholicism?
In response to violence during the march from Selma to Montgomery; On March 15, 1965, President Johnson declares "We Shall Overcome" and calls upon congress to pass this piece of legislation.
What is the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
The Warren Court's interpretation the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, and 14th Amendments of the Constitution championed expansion of individual and civil liberties claiming it created this for individuals:
What is a "Zone of Privacy"?
Captured the anger of many urban blacks when this leader of SNCC coined the phrase "Black Power"
Who is Stokely Carmichael?