A | B |
Taft Hartley Act | Outlawed all closed (all union) shops. A blow to the union movement and workers. |
Servicemen's Readjustment Act | Also known as the GI Bill of Rights. Gave low interest loans to returning G.I.'s (soldiers) to go to college or vocational schools. The motivation behind the bill is to keep millions of returning soldiers from flooding the job market and triggering a return to Great Depression unemployment rates. |
prosperity | The 1950's and 1960's saw a massive increase in the amount of money people had access to. Middle class doubled and the homeowner rate went from 40% to 60% of all Americans owning a home. Women enjoyed the most benefits from this new prosperity. |
low energy costs | One reason for the great prosperity of this time. |
massive military budgets | Second reason for the prosperity of the time. Many jobs could be found in the defense industry. |
Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care | Mobility of families meant many were not close to their own parents when they had children. They turned to Dr. Spock's book to learn how to raise children. Spock was one of the first to use psychoanalysis to try and understand the needs of children. Spcok encouraged parents to be more affectionate and more tolerant of their children. This gave rise to the criticism that Spock endorsed spoiling children with instant gratification. A charge he denied. |
agribusiness | Small farmers were taken over by conglomerates. The individual farmer became known as an antique, a dying breed. Though there were less farmers, more food was produced than ever before. |
Sunbelt | Area of the US where many people moved for the climate, lower taxes, and jobs. Includes 15 Southern states across the expanse of the US. Sunbelt prosperity was due to the massive amount of federal monies that poured into the area. |
" white flight" | One reason for the migration to the suburbs. White middle class families left the cities with more money in their pocket and minorities with less were left behind. |
FHA and VA loans | Another reason for the migration to the suburbs. Low interest loans to buy homes induced many to purchase. These loans were often not offered to "high risk" minority buyers. |
Interstate Highway Act | Another reason for the move to the suburbs. The highway system made it easy to live in the suburbs but work in the city. |
tax deductions for mortages | Another reason for migration to the suburbs. The government would allow people to reduce the amount they paid in taxes IF they owned a home. |
Baby boom | Another reason for the move to the suburbs. A baby was born every 13 seconds in America between 1945 and 1964. The largest generation ever born in the US. Reached it's peak in the 1957. |
suburbs | Track home living away from the city. The most famous development was LEVITTOWN. One out of every 4 Americans lived in the suburbs. |
Truman | President after Roosevelt died. Known for his honesty, no pretensions, courage, and willingness to take responsibility. One of his weakenesses was that he refused to admit when he made mistakes. |
Yalta Conference | Conference of the Big Three (Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill). The US approached the Soviets with the proposal that they help the US invade Japan once Germany was defeated to reduce the number of American casualities.. In the end, Soviet help was not needed. Two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. |
Cold War | Hostile tension between the US and the Soviet Union. Both practiced isolationism and missionary diplomacy (the belief that their government ideals should be spread around the world). AFter WWII the main source of tension was EASTERN EUROPE. STalin wanted a buffer zone or satellite nations while the US wanted to spread the ideals of demcoracy and freedom. A clash was inevitable. |
United Nations | World organization whose main purpose is to support peace around the world. Unlike the League of Nations that failed, the UN was a success because Roosevelt cleverly established it during a time period of great cooperation among the nations (1945- they were all workign together to defeat Germany and Japan). |
atomic energy, nuclear arms race | The first failure of the UN was that they did nothing to stop the race to produce more and more nukes. Consequently, the world lived in fear of nuclear holocaust for decades and somewhat today. |
M.A.D. | Mutual Assured Destruction. The reason nukes have not been used against enemy nations. THe mutual terror the idea provokes keeps a shaky peace. In other words, he who shoots first will die second. |
Post WWII Germany | Nazism will be rooted out and destroyed. Top Nazi officials will be put on trial during the NUREMBURG TRIALS. Nazi officials were tried for war crimes and punished by hanging or prison. |
Berlin Airlift | Stalin blockades Berlin to force the British, US, and French out of West Berlin. For 11 months the US flew planes in dropping off supplies in huge crates to keep Berliners from starving. Stalin eventually gave up and ended the blockade. |
Iran | Second confrontation with the Soviet Union before the Truman Doctrine is introduced. Soviets threatened the supply of oil from Iran to the US. |
George F. Kennan | Diplomat and Soviet specialist who adivsed Truman that the Soviets were relentlessly expansionists BUT also cautious so a "get tough" doctrine was necessary in the new hostile world of US versus Soviet Union. The Truman Doctrine was born and would be in place for the next 45 years. |
Truman Doctrine | A US foreign policy of containment. Communism would be contained or the tiger caged. Get tough policy on the Soviets. The US pledged to help all nations faced with communist aggression. This doctrine will send US soldiers to Korea in the fifties and Vietname in the 1960's and 70's. |
Marshall Plan | Economic help to struggling Western European nations devastated by WWII. The main motivation was to help these European nations so that communism would not be embraced by the people there as a viable alternative to democracy and freedom. Very successful. Marshall Plan kept both Italy and France from falling to emergin communist parites there. |
"good v. evil" | Ideal behind the containment policy that appealed to many Americans who say Communist as ungodly and "children of darkness". |
Norman Vincent Peale | Religous preacher who urged many Americans to support the fight against communism as one of good versus evil. |
Israel | Formed by the UN in 1948. A Jewish state was carved from Arab lands. US support for the creation of Israel threatened the supply of oil to the US time and time again. Today the US still pays for supporting Israel with many Middle Eastern oil nations threatening oil supply. |
NATO | North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Alliance between Western European nations and the US to help each other against communist aggression. NATO helps to reintegrate Germany into free Europe, strengthened the containment of the Soviet Union, reassured Europeans that the US would not abandon them, and struck a major blow to Americans who wanted to remain isolationists since it was a dramatic turn away from early US isolationism. |
Post War Japan | Main goal was democratization of Japan. Japanese war criminals were tried and punished like in Germany but was not divided like Germany. A great success. Japan is an US ally today. |
Chinese Civil War | Jiang Jieshi, the nationalist who wanted democracy fought and lost to Mao Ze Dong who won bringing complete communism to China. The US supported Jiang Jieshi who eventually was forced to flee to Taiwan. Jiang lost because he lost the confidence of the Chinese people. |
Second Red Scare | Hunt for communists in the US. |
Loyalty Review Board | Established by Harry S. Truman, this board sought to hunt out any communists in American government. |
Democrat Party Split | 1948 election. Dems split from their party and refuse to support a Truman re-election because Truman was a strong Civil Rights supporter. In other words, racist Dems left the party and supported instead, Governor J. Strom Thurmond. |
Fair Deal | Name given to Truman's domestic plan for the US. |
South Korea | Invaded by North Korean communists. Truman reaction was logical. He supported the use of the Truman Doctrine to stop the spread of communism and eventually US soldiers would be sent to Korea under the command of General MacArthur. |
Further US actions to face the Soviet threat | Creation of the CIA, Department of Defense, Joint Chiefs of STaff, NSC or National Security Council, Voice of America, Selective Service System. |
NSC-68 | Called for massive increase in military spending to combat the Soviet threat. |
Firing of General MacArthur | Truman fired MacArthur after the general called the president weak because he refused to allow MacArthur to take troops beyond the Korea borders into China. MacArthur dreamed of destroying communism in China. |
Nature of work in the 1950's | Science and technology drove economic growth, white collar workers surpassed blue collar workers, labor unions peaked and then declined, job opportunites were opening up to women, more jobs were availabole in the aerospace industry. |
Richard M. Nixon | Chosen as Eisenhower's running mate because he was a hard core anti-communist. Eisenhower did not particulary like Nixon. |
" I will go personally" | Campaign promise the Eisenhower made to American people concerning threat to South Korean by the communists. Eisenhower was WWII general so this set many people's minds at ease because he was so well loved and respected by the people of the US. |
Senator Joseph McCarthy | Communist hunter who accused people based on circumstantial evidence, friends they had, or outright lies. He attacked Hollywood most visciously as pro communist. He greatly damaged the ideals of free speach and fair play. Eisenhower allowed McCarthy to control personnel policy at the State Department after he famously accused the State Department of harboring communists. McCarthy rose to national prominence after that accusation. He was a fear monger and in the early days appealed to many who feared communism was in the US. |
Downfall of Senator McCarthy | He accused the US army of harboring communists when they would not release top secret documents to him. Eisenhower was not amused (he is a former general) and the power of McCarthy dies out quickly. He dies of alcoholism, hated, and broke. |
Asian specialists | Because of Senator McCarthy's famous accusation that the dozens employed at the State Department were communists, many Asian specialists who could of counseled a wiser course in Vietnam were let go. |
Civil Rights Kick starts | Main motivation among African Americans was the growing disparity (gap) between the ideals of American and the racial practices of US governments and communities towards their black neighbors revealed during WWII. . |
Civil Disobedience | Form of peaceful protests undertaken by Black Americans to fight for equality. Protesters used economic boycotts, legal attacks on segration laws, mobilization of black churches on behalf of black rights, using the nonviolent tactics of Mohandas Gandhi of India. |
Montgomery Bus Boycott | Occurred when ROSA PARKS refused to give up her seat in the black section of the bus to a white man. Blacks in Montgomery boycotted the public bus company there for over a year until the company gave in and INTEGRATED the buses. Sit where you like regardless of color. |
Martin Luther King Jr. | Black civil rights leader who emerged after the Rosa Parks arrest. He was the precher of the church where the boycott got it's start. He will be assassinated over ten years later for his role in Civil Rights. |
Supreme Court and Civil Rights | Supreme Court took the helm for bringing civili rights to America as both the White House and Congress had refused to do so to any great extent. |
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas | Court case the argued the "separate but equal" schools for blacks and white were not really equal at all. The Supreme Court agreed and in 1954, the end of racial segregation in schools was addressed in the case. From now on, schools were no longer to be segregated. |
Little Rock Nine | Nine black students in Little Rock, Arkansas who were to be the first black students at Little Rock High School. The governor of the state brought in National Guard troops to keep the nine out and Eisenhower sent in federal troops to escort the nine to class. Finally the White House was stepping up to the plate and protecting civil rights. |
Eisenhower and Civil Rights | Reality...he was not inclined to race towards integration BUT knew that the power of the black vote at election time had to be acknowledged. |
Student NonViolent Coordinating Committee | SNCC that emerged from the "sit in" movement of early years. |
Sit ins | Peaceful protesters would sit in resturants that refused to serve blacks and ask to be given a menu. These protesters were hit with foods and even punches but did not give up. |
Eisenhower and military spending | Military spending was the underlying reason for the prosperity of the time BUT Eisenhower recommended that military spending be REDUCED knowing that it was unsustainable. |
Eisenhower and Native Americans | He advocated a RETURN to the Dawes Act and ASSMILATION rather than the previous policy of letting Native Americans return to their ancient ways. |
Interstate Highway System | Eisenhower Administration success. A series of highways were constructed all across the US making travel and commuting to work easier. Many small towns economically died with the highways bypassed their locations. The cost of the interstates were even more expensive and larger than any of FDR's New Deal programs of the Great Depression. |
Eisenhower and Social Security | Social Security was EXTENDED to many more Americans during Eisenhower's administration. |
Fall of Dienbienphu | French fortress in Vietnam. It falls to communist leader Ho Chi Minh. Eisenhower however does NOT invoke the Truman Doctrine and refuses to permit any American involvement to help the French keep Vietnam as a territory/colonial possession. |
Eisenhower's "New Look" Foreign Policy | Instead of relying on the army and navy to promote American strength to the Soviets, Eisenhower embraced the power of air strikes and nuclear weapons. |
Rebellion of Hungary | Hungary, a satellite nation, rebelled against the Soviets in 1956. As in Vietnam, Eisenhower did nothing to help the Hungarians. They were brutally suppressed by the Soviet Union. |
Geneva Conference 1955 | Allowed Ho Chi Minh to have North Vietnam and called for the two Vietnams to hold elections within two years. Ho Chi Minh ignored the directive. |
Shah of Iran | Shah means king. Because of the Soviet threat to Middle Eastern Oil the US CIA staged a coup to overthrow the Iranian government and place in power the very westernized, pro American man named Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi as dictator. He would protect US oil supply. |
Guatemala | Another location where the CIA sponsored a political coup to place in power a pro American leader. |
Suez Canal Crisis | England and France were fighting Egypt to remain in control of the Middle Eastern Suez Canal. England had after all sponsored large amounts of money to have it built. Regardless, the US accused the two nations of being the aggressors in the the turmoil. It would be the last time the US could use oil as a weapon to promote foreign policy. |
Eisenhower Doctrine of 1957 | Enabled the president to provide economic and military aid to any nations in the Middle East that wanted to resist communist aggression. Why? to safeguard oil to the US. |
Sputnik | First satellite sent to space. Soviets were the designers and beat the US. In response, the US began spending millions to improve American science and language education. |
NAtional Defense Education Act | Millions spent by the US to make sure US students remained competitive with the Soviets. Focused on science and language education. |
"rocket fever" | spread across the US after the Soviets launched Sputnik. Americans did not want to be left behind. Rocket clubs sprang up across communities and schools. |
NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration. A response to the Soviet launching of Sputnik. This agency would oversee the space program and put the first man on the moon. |
U-2 Incident | A US spy plane that was shot down over Soviet Airspace. The pilot, Gary Powers admitted to spying and he was tried and sent to a Soviet prison. The incident increased tension between the US and the Soviets and the Paris summit conference of 1960 collapsed because of the event. Soviet premier Krushchev lectured Eisenhower and Eisenhower's trip to the Soviet Union that year was scuttled by the Soviets. |
Relations with Latin America | Tense. Why? The US gave large amounts of $ to Europe and little to Latin America, US intervened in Latin American affairs often, US supported bloody dictators who claimed to be ani-communist, CIA directed coup in Gutemala. |
Election of 1960 | John F. Kennedy wins. In large part, his win can be attributed to fact that Kennedy knew and understood how to use the power of television to sway voters. Kennedy debated his opponent Nixon on television. Nixon looked shaky and pale and Kennedy looked tan and healthy. Radio listeners said Nixon won. Television viewers said that Kennedy had won. The power of visual media was born. |
Invisble Man | Written by Ralph Ellison. The book concerns the main character, an African American male, whose supporters fail to see him as a real man. He is just a means to an end. He makes them feel better about themselves. |
John Updike and John Cheever | Two authors whose fiction books explored the problems and anxities produced by enormous wealth and prosperity. |