| A | B |
|---|
| Yalta Conference (February 1945) | Last meeting of the Big Three- Provisions- 1) Divided Germany and Berlin into four zones of Allied occupation, 2) the Soviets would enter the war against Japan 3 months after V-E Day, 3) free elections of Poland, and 4) creation of the United Nations- some believe FDR sold out Eastern Europe to Stalin |
| Bretton Woods Conference (1944) | Conference to address the post-war economic situation- created the International Monetary Fund (IMF) |
| United Nations | Collective security organization that was created after World War II- successor to the League of Nations- divided into the General Assembly and the Security Council |
| "Iron Curtain" Speech | Speech delivered by Winston Churchill at Fulton, Missouri in 1946 describing the status of Eastern European countries under Soviet control |
| Morgenthau Plan | A proposed plan to severely punish Germany and strip the nation of its heavy industry- rejected and never went into effects |
| Nuremberg Trials | Trials to punish high ranked Nazi officials for their crimes against humanity |
| Berlin Blockade/Airlift | The Soviets imposed a blockade of land travel to the Allied sectors of Berlin in 1948- Truman responded with an airlift to supply the city- the Soviets had to back down and lift their blockade- contributed to Truman's reelection in 1948 |
| containment | Theory put forth by George Kennan, an expert on the Soviet Union- argued communism was naturally expansionist and that the U.S. must use its resources to stop the spread of communism |
| Truman Doctrine (1947) | Done in response to communist involvement in Greece and Turkey- the official U.S. foreign policy that articulated the commitment to containment- the U.S. will assist "freedom loving" peoples of the world against outside aggression |
| Marshall Plan | Economic plan to revitalize the economies of Western Europe and stop the spread of communism by pumping in millions of dollars- successful because the economies of Western Europe were quickly rebuilt and communism was no longer appealing- also stimulated the U.S. economy |
| National Security Act (1947) | Addressed the need to reform the U.S. military establishment to deal with the Cold War- created the CIA, Department of Defense, National Security Council (NSC), and the Air Force as an independent branch |
| Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) | Intelligence agency created by the National Security Act of 1947- participated in a variety of covert actions such as in Guatemala, Iran, Cuba, among other places |
| North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) | Collective security pact formed by the U.S. and its Western European allies in 1949 to deter Soviet aggression by stating "an attack on one is an attack on all" |
| Warsaw Pact | Collective security pact formed by the USSR and its Eastern European allies in 1955 to counter the U.S.-led NATO |
| NSC-68 (1950) | Response to the twin disasters of 1949 that called for massive increases in defense spending and the development of the hydrogen bomb |
| Smith Act (1940)/McCarran Act (1950) | Acts passed by the federal government to suppress radicals- ex: prohibiting speech which advocates overthrowing the government |
| loyalty oaths | Administered to government employees during the Truman Administration to prevent communists from taking over |
| House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) | Congressional committee that investigated communists in the late 1940s, included Richard Nixon, ex: investigated Hollywood |
| Hollywood blacklists | The Hollywood Ten a group of actors, producers, and other film industry people who lost their jobs because of their supposed communist ties, blacklists were led by Ronald Reagan |
| Pumpkin Papers | The incriminating evidence presented by Whittaker Chambers that was used to convict Alger Hiss of perjury- showed Hiss at one time had been a member of the Communist Party |
| State Department | Oversees foreign policy- took much of the blame for "losing" China to the communists- initially the main target of McCarthy's wrath |
| Korean War (1950-1953) | North Korea, with the urging of the Soviet Union, attacked South Korea- the U.S. committed to containment intervened- China unofficially entered on behalf of North Korea- Truman relieved MacArthur of command for insubordination- the war ended in 1953 when Ike took office |
| 38th parallel | The boundary between North and South Korea- had been since World War II |
| massive retaliation | Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles' foreign policy approach to Soviet aggression- the U.S. would respond with nuclear weapons |
| Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) | The idea that in a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and U.S. both sides would destroy each other and there would be no winners |
| New Look Policy | Eisenhower's foreign policy which called for U-2 flights over the Soviet Union to spy them |
| Hungarian Revolt (1956) | Rebellion within the Iron Curtain that was brutally crushed by the Soviets. Rebels in Budapest hoped the U.S. would support them but Eisenhower knew that was infeasible |
| Suez Crisis | Conflict between Egypt and France/Britain over one of the most strategic waterways in the world, Eisenhower sided with the Egyptians to prevent Soviet intervention |
| Eisenhower Doctrine | The U.S. specifically stated it would contain communism in the Middle East- justification for the covet ops in Iran to topple the Mossadegh government |
| Eisenhower's Farewell Address (1961) | Eisenhower warned of the growing power of the "military-industrial complex"- the arms manufacturers |
| Sputnik (1957) | The first satellite sent into Space- done by the Soviets- led to American fears of technological inferiority and educational reforms (ex: the National Defense and Education Act of 1958) |
| National Defense and Education Act of 1958 | Educational reforms in response to Sputnik- a greater emphasis on math and science |
| "missile gap" | Claim made by Kennedy during his 1960 campaign that the Soviets had more missiles than the United States; in reality the United States had a marked advantage in number and quality of missiles |
| H-bombs | Hydrogen bombs- developed by Dr. Edward Teller- far more powerful than the bombs used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki because they use fusion instead of fission |
| ICBMS | Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles- long-range missiles that are capable delivering a nuclear payload- the focal point of the arms race between the U.S. and Soviet Union |
| Atomic Test Ban Treaty of 1963 | Due to increased levels of radiation being detected, nations vowed to end atmospheric (above ground) nuclear testing- did NOT end all testing |
| U-2 Spy Incident (1960) | Supersonic, high-altitude U.S. reconnaissance plane was shot down over the Soviet Union despite stating no such flights existed. The Soviets were irate and the incident broke up the Paris Summit between Eisenhower and Khrushchev |
| Operation MONGOOSE | A wide array of plots hatched by the CIA to topple or assassinate Fidel Castro |
| The Bay of Pigs (1961) | CIA plot to train and send Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and topple the Castro regime- an absolute disaster because there was much more Cuban resistance than anticipated and JFK did not provide air support |
| The Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962) | U-2 planes detected missile sites in Cuba, JFK imposed a "quarantine" on the island of Cuba instead of invasion or airstrikes, Soviet ships turned away at the last minute as they approached the embargo (quarantine) line- the world came very close to nuclear war- since Khrushchev backed down he was out of power in just a few years in the USSR |
| The Berlin Wall | Erected by the Soviet Union in 1961 to keep East Berliners from escaping to West Berlin- lasted until 1989- perhaps the most symbolic monument of the Cold War |
| "The American Century" | Term coined by journalist Henry Luce in 1941 that the United States would achieve greatness |
| Servicemen's Readjustment Act (1944) | Also known as the GI Bill- the federal government provided funds to veterans to start businesses, buy houses, and go to college |
| Taft-Hartley Act (1947) | Anti-labor law that made the closed shop illegal- passed by the Republican-dominated Congress over Truman's veto |
| The Fair Deal | Harry Truman's domestic program that was mostly defeated due to strong Republican opposition in Congress. Ex: the defeat of health care reform. Truman also pushed civil rights |
| Election of 1948 | Truman (D) defeated Thomas Dewey (Republican) and Strom Thurmond (Dixiecrat)- notable for Southern Democrats breaking away because of Truman's stance on civil rights (Dixiecrats)- Truman won in a surprise victory largely because of his handling of the Berlin Blockade |
| Interstate Highway Act of 1956 | Act passed by the Eisenhower administration to improve the nation's highway system for both commercial and military reasons. The highway system is very well-organized with interstates that run north-south ending in "5" and east-west ending in "0" |
| Baby Boomers | Demographic of children born between 1946 and 1964- 76 million were born |
| Polio | Debilitating childhood disease- conquered by Jonas Salk's vaccine |
| suburbs | Outlying areas from a central urban core. Ex: Allen. Grew dramatically due to more efficient construction techniques (ex: William Levitt), improved transportation, and favorable government policies |
| white flight | Describes the migration of white, middle-class residents from a urban area to a suburb when minorities start to move in large numbers. This accounts for the disparity in demographics of Dallas and Collin County suburbs |
| Sunbelt | Area of the United States stretching from California to Virginia that grew dramatically after World War II due to air conditioning, lower cost of living, lower labor costs for business. Ex: Texas, California, and Florida. This region has also grown in political power |
| Rustbelt | Area of the Midwest (ex: Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania) that have lost population relative to the Sunbelt due to the decline of industry |
| The Feminine Mystique (1963) | Written by Betty Friedan- landmark feminist work that criticized the cult of domesticity and called the suburban home a "comfortable concentration camp" |
| The "pill" | Birth control pill- approved by the FDA in 1960- revolutionized Americans' sexual habits |
| service industry | Term to describe non-industrial and non-agriculture work. Has grown dramatically in the last 50 years. Ex: motels, restraints, etc. |
| television | Form of media that came to age in the 1950s which revolutionized entertainment, politics, sports, and advertising |
| Rock 'n Roll | Upbeat form of music that became popular in the 1950s- very popular among the youth. Lots of black influences. Ex: Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis |
| Beatniks | Group of nonconformist writers and poets who criticized 1950s middle-class conformist culture. Included Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Helped inspired the counterculture of the 1960s. Lots of drug use. |
| white primary | Clever way to disenfranchise blacks in the South by stating the Democratic Party is a private organization and not allowing blacks to vote in its primary elections- since the South was so solidly Democratic the primary elections between Democratic candidates were far more competitive than the general elections between Republicans and Democrats- declared unconstitutionally by Smith v. Alwright (1944) |
| "To Secure These Rights" | Document during the Truman Administration which outlined civil rights goal and committed the federal government to achieving these goals |
| integration of the military | Executive Order 9981 issued by President Truman in 1948- had not fully come into effect until after the Korean War |
| Dixiecrats | Southern Democrats led by Strom Thurmond who broke away from the Democrats in 1948 because of Truman's stance on civil right |
| Negro Leagues | Segregated baseball leagues for African-American players- famous players included Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson |
| Smith v. Alwright (1944) | The white primary was declared unconstitutional |
| Sweatt v. Painter (1950) | The Court forced the University of Texas Law School desegregate because its African-American student did not receive an equal educational opportunity |
| Brown v. Board of Education (1954) | Landmark case that overturned by constitutionality of Plessy v. Ferguson and "separate but equal"- unanimous decision led by Chief Justice Earl Warren- set to desegregate schools but established no timeline for this to occur- resulted in massive resistance to white Southerners who opposed integration |
| Brown II (1955) | Tried to establish a timetable for integration provided by Brown v. Board of Education (1954)- very vague, integration was to occur "with all deliberate speed" |
| Southern Manifesto | Document drawn up by Southern congressmen in 1956 expressing their opposition to Brown v. Board of Education and integration |
| White Citizens' Councils | Local groups committing to stopping integration in the South- ex: sending their kids to private schools instead of integrated schools |
| Heart of Atlanta (1964) and Katzenbach (1965) Cases | Upheld the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 respectively |
| Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955) | Initiated by Rosa Parks refusing to move to the colored section- nonviolent protest orchestrated by Martin Luther King- one of the first major victories for the civil rights movement done exclusively by African-American activists- elevated King as a national civil rights leader |
| Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) | Civil rights organization led by Martin Luther King Jr. committed to nonviolent protests of segregation- founded in 1957- participated in various events in Birmingham, the March on Washington, and Selma |
| Little Rock/Little Rock Nine | Governor Orval Faubus (D-Ark) refused to integrate Little Rock's Central High School- 1957 President Eisenhower sent in the 101st Airborne to uphold the court-ordered integration and ensure the 9 black students (the Little Rock 9) were safely able to attend Central High |
| Greensboro Sit-ins (1960) | Initiated by four African-American students from North Carolina A&T who protested segregated seating at a local Woolworths- spread across the state and eventually across the South- sit-ins became a popular nonviolent tactic used by the civil rights movement |
| Freedom Rides (1961) | Biracial group of nonviolent protesters, mostly from CORE, to challenge a recent court decision desecrating interstate busing- once the Freedom Riders reached the Deep South they faced a great deal of violence, especially in Alabama and Mississippi |
| Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) | Civil rights organization founded in 1942 that was committed to nonviolent protest and participated in the Freedom Rides, March on Washington, and Freedom Summer, etc. |
| integration of Ole Miss (1962) | The University of Mississippi was the state's flagship university and was not going to integrate- James Meredith wanted to enroll- JFK sent federal marshals to protect Meredith- even with federal troops present riots killed 2 |
| integration of the University of Alabama (1962) | Governor George Wallace defiantly stood in the doorway of his state's flagship university trying to defy integration- JFK stood behind the integration |
| Bombingham" | Nickname for Birmingham- arguably the most segregated and most violent major city in the South- ex: church bombing killing 4 little girls |
| March on Washington (1963) | August 28, 1968 about 200-300,000 nonviolent protestors converged on Washington D.C. to push for civil rights- most famous for King's "I Have a Dream" Speech |
| Civil Rights Act of 1964 | Landmark act that banned racial discrimination in most private and public facilities. More than anything ended Jim Crow- ex: desegregated schools much faster than Brown v. Board of Education (1954) |
| Twenty-fourth Amendment (1964) | Abolished the poll tax |
| Freedom Summer (1964) | Effort by CORE to send volunteers (most were Northern college kids) to register black voters in Mississippi. Met opposition for local whites and sometimes blacks who feared retribution. Three workers (Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner, and James Chaney) were killed by local authorities. The national attention brought by the case inspired the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 |
| Selma (1965) | Effort led by King and the SCLC to peacefully march Selma to Montgomery, AL. Alabama State Police attacked the protestors at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. The incident was captured on national television and inspired passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 |
| Voting Rights Act of 1965 | Landmark civil rights legislation that dramatically increased the number of registered black voters in the South by providing federal protection. Changed the political landscape of the South |
| Black Power | Emphasis on the cultural pride and distinctiveness of African-Americans during the late 1960s, ex: the Black Panthers and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) |
| Long Hot Summers | Term used to describe wave of urban riots, typically in the summer months. Ex: the Watts Riot |
| Watts Riot | Riot in inner city Los Angeles in 1966, an example of the wave of riots in the 1960s known as "Long Hot Summers" |
| Black Panthers | Black power organization led by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, carried guns to protect themselves from the police. Paramilitary organization |
| Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) | Led by Stokely Carmichael, increasingly moved away from King's policy of nonviolent protest. Rival of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) |
| Election of 1960 | JFK (Democrat) vs. Richard Nixon (Republican)- JFK won a very narrow victory because of his showing on the 1st televised debates and claims of a "missile gap"- but JFK did have to overcome his youth and Catholicism |
| JFK/Nixon televised debates | Election of 1960- the first televised debates- contributed to JFK's victory because he looked younger and more vibrant than the gruff Nixon |
| "Best and Brightest" | Term to describe JFK's advisors who were mostly Ivy League intellectuals- included Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara |
| Camelot | Term glorifying the Kennedy family- handsome John F, his elegant wife Jackie, and their two beautiful kids- John F. Jr. and Caroline |
| New Frontier | JFK's domestic program- JFK had difficulty getting it passed due to narrow victory in 1960 and opposition from conservative Democrats from the South |
| Flexible Response | JFK's foreign policy that understood the Cold War had shifted to the Third World and that the United States needed a variety of options, such as Special Forces, in addition to being able to use nuclear weapons |
| Assassination of JFK (1963) | November 22, 1963 in Dallas, TX; Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK from the 6th Floor of the Texas School Book Depository Building. Some believe there was a conspiracy to kill JFK but the Warren Commission determined Oswald acted alone |
| Warren Commission | Committee created by Congress that investigated JFK's assassination. Determined that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone and that there was not a second gunman |
| Election of 1964 | LBJ (D) vs. Barry Goldwater (Republican)- LBJ won in a landslide because he painted Barry Goldwater as a nuclear cowboy that would get us in nuclear war (ex: the Daisy Commercial) |
| "Daisy Commercial" | Commercial played by the LBJ campaign that was played only once because it was controversial showing a little girl picking petals off a flower while a nuclear countdown sounds in the background |
| Great Society | LBJ's domestic program to wage war on poverty. Inspired by the New Deal- great increased in federal programs. Ex: Head Start, Medicare/Medicaid, Office of Economic Opportunity, etc. |
| The War on Poverty | Inspired by Michael Harrington's "The Other America" (1962)- LBJ wanted to use the power of the federal government to eliminate poverty in the United States |
| Medicare/Medicaid | Reforms of the Great Society to provide federal funds to help people pay for their medical expenses |
| Head Start | Education program created by the Great Society to enroll economically disadvantaged students into preschools to they would not be behind their more affluent peers when they entered kindergarten |
| Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 | Immigration reform act passed during LBJ's administration that ended the quota system of the 1920s acts, there after immigration would primarily from Latin America and Asia rather than Europe |
| guns vs. butter | Metaphor used to describe the 2 basic types of government spending: defense spending and domestic social programs. Ex: spending money on Vietnam or the Great Society |
| Dienbienphu (1954) | Site of a battle where a French garrison surrendered to Vietnamese forces that ended the French phase of the Vietnam War. The French asked the U.S. to assist the garrison, even asking for nuclear attack. The U.S. refused the French folded |
| Geneva Accords (1955) | Agreement after Dienbien Phu where North and South Vietnam would be unified in national elections. The U.S. refused to abide because Ho Chi Minh would win these elections |
| Gulf of Tonkin Incident (1964) | U.S. destroyers off the coast of North Vietnam were supposedly attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. This gave the U.S. the excuse to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that paved the way for full-fledged U.S. involvement in Vietnam |
| Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964) | Passed in response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, passed unanimously by the House and there were only 2 dissenting votes in the Senate- gave the President basically unlimited power to wage war in Vietnam |
| Operation Rolling Thunder | U.S. bombing campaign in Vietnam |
| Viet Cong | South Vietnamese communist guerillas, supplied via the Ho Chi Minh Trail |
| Tet Offensive (1968) | Surprise attack by the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong guerillas all over South Vietnam during the ceasefire during the Vietnamese lunar new year. The attackers even took over the U.S. Embassy in Saigon for a short time. The U.S. garrison at Khe Sanh was almost overrun. Tactical defeat for the Viet Cong but strategic victory because it proved to be the turning point due to increase in anti-war feelings in the U.S. as it became evident the U.S. was no where close to winning |
| Election of 1968 | Hubert Humphrey (D) vs. Richard Nixon (Republican) vs. George Wallace (I) The Democrats were hopelessly divided after the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. Wallace took votes away from the South. Nixon won with a plan to end the war in Vietnam- "peace with honor" |
| 1968 Democratic National Convention | Riots at the convention in Chicago- the Democrats were divided over Vietnam. Candidate Hubert Humphrey favored continuing the war- angered anti-war protesters |
| Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) | Radical campus organization led by Tom Hayden- known for the Port Huron Statement |
| Port Huron Statement | Ideas of the Students for a Democratic Society |
| Free Speech Movement | Radical student organization at the University of California-Berkeley led by Mario Savio |
| Hippies | Youth subculture during the 1960s that was known for nonconformity and at times drug use, communal living, alternative sexual practices. |
| Woodstock (1969) | Music festival that attracted 400,000 fans to upstate New York- bands included Jimi Hendrix |
| Invasion of Cambodia (1970) | Escalation of the Vietnam War by the Nixon administration to destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trial in a neutral nation; created a huge backlash of anti-war protests that resulted in Kent State |
| Kent State (1970) | One of the many anti-war protests in response to Nixon's invasion of Cambodia. The National Guard fired into protestors killed 4 and wounding others. |
| Countelpro | LBJ's use of the CIA to spy on the anti-war movement |
| ARVN | The Army of the Republic of Vietnam- the South Vietnamese Army |
| Vietnamization | Plan by Nixon to decrease U.S. involvement in Vietnam by increasingly turning over the war over to South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) |
| Christmas Bombings of 1972 | Attempt by the Nixon Administration to convince the North Vietnamese to the peace table |
| Paris Peace Accords (1973) | Ended the Vietnam War. Delayed by the shape of the negotiating table. The U.S. ended fighting and withdrew from Vietnam leaving South Vietnam to fight North Vietnam alone |
| Ho Chi Minh Trail | Route the North Vietnamese used to supply Viet Cong in South Vietnam. Not a fixed location as it constantly moved to avoid U.S. bombing, parts ran through neutral Cambodia |
| fragging | The killing of officers by their own soldiers |
| My Lai Massacre | Incident where U.S. soldiers led by Lt. William Calley killed more than 200 South Vietnamese villagers, one of the great atrocities of the Vietnam War |
| Agent Orange | Herbicide invented by Dow Chemical that was sprayed over the jungles of Southeast Asia to kill the foliage so the Viet Cong would have fewer places to hide. Carcinogenic- accounts for the high cancer rates in Vietnam |
| napalm | Substance that continuously burns, weapon used in Vietnam |
| Boat people | Term to describe the immigrants from Southeast Asia in the 1970s. Known as such because many fled via boats to Malaysia, the Philippines, or Hong Kong |
| Fall of Saigon (1975) | North Vietnamese forces overran ARVN and their defense of the capitol city in late April 1975. The United States evacuated its embassy and refused to reenter the war to save South Vietnam. South Vietnam was defeated and Vietnam was united under communist rule |
| Pentagon Papers | Series of classified government documents published by Daniel Ellsberg that revealed many lies by the government regarding the Vietnam War |
| War Powers Act of 1973 | Act passed in response to the Vietnam War limiting the power of the President to send troops into combat without Congressional approval |
