Chapter 37 - The Eisenhower Era, 1952-1960 Flashcards
IBM
“international business machines” expanded greatly during the sixties. They became the prototype for the dawning of the information age.
Information Age
a period of time in the sixties when technology grew very quickly. A pocket calculator had more computing power than computers made in 40’s and 50’s.
Ozzie and Harriet
a television show based in the fifties that depicted white collar american culture t the time. They depicted idyllic suburban families with a working husband, two children, and a wife who did not work outside the home.
The Feminine Mystique
a book written by feminist Betty Friedan that was a bestseller and gave fuel to women’s feelings. This book sparked the modern women’s movement.
Diner’s Club
the diner’s club introduced the first plastic credit card in 1949, which created an even bigger consumer culture at the time.
McDonald’s
the first mcdonald’s was opened in 1948 in San Bernardino, California. Mcdonald’s was the beginning of the fast food industry.
Disneyland
opened in 1955 in Anaheim California, disneyland was a new form of recreation that contributed to the new lifestyle in america.
Television
a new technology that gave rapid rise during the 50’s and sixties. Critics complained that the “picture tube” was degrading the public’s aesthetic, social, moral, political, and educational standards.
Elvis Presley
born in mississippi in 1935, he transformed popular music for the generation of baby boomers. He created a new musical idiom known as rock and roll. Traditionalists were repelled by presley.
Marilyn Monroe
a movie star with an ingenuous smile and mandolin-curved hips, helped to popularize new standards of sensuous sexuality.
Playboy
Magazine first published in 1955 that also helped spread sensuous sexuality.
The Affluent Society
a series of books published by john Kenneth Galbraith, who questioned the relation between private wealth and public good. His books went mostly unheard in the affluent 1950’s/
Adlai E. Stevenson
a nominated democrat in the presidential election of 1952. He was a eloquent and idealistic governor of illinois.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
the most popular candidate of the 1952 presidential election. He won the election with 33,936,234 votes.
Checkers Speech
the checkers speech saved nixon’s candidacy. It also showed the power of television, giving candidates the ability of speaking to their voters.
Joseph McCarthy
a republican senator from wisconsin. He attacked many political figures claiming they were communist. He created a lot of fear within the US until he verbally attacked the US army. He ended up dying of chronic alcoholism.
Jim Crow Laws
jim crow laws governed all aspects of existence of african americans from the schoolroom to the bathroom. These laws made african americans politically powerless, economically inferior, and kept them isolated from whites.
Emmett Till
Murdered in 1955 for whistling at a white woman by her husband and his friends. They kidnapped him and brutally killed him. his death led to the American Civil Rights movement.
Jackie Robinson
The first African American player in the major league of baseball. His actions helped to bring about other opportunities for African Americans.
NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Major player in gaining civil rights for blacks.
Thurgood Marshall
an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Before becoming a judge, he was a lawyer who was best remembered for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education. He was nominated to the court by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967.
Rosa Parks
United States civil rights leader who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man in Montgomery (Alabama) and so triggered the national civil rights movement (born in 1913)
Montgomery Bus Boycott
In 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Dr. Martin L. King led a boycott of city busses. After 11 months the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal.
Martin Luther King Jr.
U.S. Baptist minister and civil rights leader. A noted orator, he opposed discrimination against blacks by organizing nonviolent resistance and peaceful mass demonstrations. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Nobel Peace Prize (1964)
Earl Warren
controversial Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1953-1969); he led the Court in far-reaching racial, social, and political rulings, including school desegregation and protecting rights of persons accused of crimes; presided over the Brown v. the Board of Education case
Brown v. Board of Education
court found that segregation was a violation of the Equal Protection clause; “separate but equal” has no place