Period 8

Question 1

Define “cold war”

Answer 1

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.

Question 2

What was the source of the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union?

Answer 2

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.

Question 3

What was the overarching US strategy during the Cold War?

Answer 3

Containment. Marxist-Leninism was inherently expansionist, calling for worldwide revolution, which compelled the US to attempt to halt its spread economically, diplomatically, and militarily.

Question 4

How did democratic/ capitalist nations and communist nations align themselves?

Answer 4

The notion of collective security on both sides caused like-minded countries to enter into mutual defense pacts.

Question 5

What was the EPA?

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

What was the Roe v Wade decision? What effect did this decision have on society?

Answer 6

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.

Question 7

What was the Watergate Scandal?

Answer 7

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.

Question 8

What was stagflation?

Answer 8

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.

Question 9

Describe 3 significant Great Society acts of legislation.

Answer 9

Medicare- provided health insurance to people over the age of 65
Medicaid- provided health insurance to people in low-income situations or with disabilities.
Immigration Act- abolished immigration quotas.

Question 10

What was the Great Society?

Answer 10

President Lyndon Johnson’s continuation of New Deal era government-led social and economic reforms. These programs and legislation focused on safety nets for the poor.

Question 11

Describe the outcome of the Vietnam War.

Answer 11

After over a decade of military involvement in Vietnam, over 50,000 Americans died which paled in comparison to the upwards of 2 million Vietnamese deaths. The US withdrew in 1973 amid massive protests throughout the late 1960s and early 70s, having never declared war.

Question 12

What escalated American involvement in Vietnam?

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

What caused the Vietnam War?

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Who was Fidel Castro? How did the US respond to his actions?

Answer 14

The leftist revolutionary who established a communist regime in his native Cuba in 1959. The US attempted to overthrow his regime through invasion and assassinate him, though both failed

Question 15

What actions did the US take in the Middle East?

Answer 15

The Central Intelligence Agency assisted in the overthrow of a socialist government in Iran amid its efforts to nationalize Iranian oil reserves

Question 16

What was the counterculture movement?

Answer 16

Predominantly young people who cast off societal restraint with rebellious styles of clothing, and music, along with experimental drug use and free love.

Question 17

How did the Supreme Court address civil liberties in the 1960s?

Answer 17

Baker v Carr established the precedent for legislative reapportionment, or redistricting, subject to court review. This attempted to balance the representation of rural and suburban white communities with increasingly minority-majority urban communities. Engel v Vitale further reaffirmed separation of church and state, making mandatory Bible readings and teacher-led prayers in public schools illegal.

Question 18

Describe the women’s rights movement during this period.

Answer 18

This movement called for legislation protecting the economic and social rights for women. The Equal Rights Amendment would have been the crowning achievement but conservative backlash prevented it from being ratified.

Question 19

How did other groups approach the issue of civil rights?

Answer 19

The support and successes of the African American Civil Rights Movement inspired the Chicano Movement, American Indian Movement, the Gay Liberation Movement, among others to use similar tactics of civil disobedience, nonviolence, and militant activism for gaining protections and equality.

Question 20

Define “arms race”. Why didn’t nuclear war happen?

Answer 20

The advancement and stockpiling of new weapons, specifically nuclear bombs during this period. As the US and USSR flaunted their newest weapons through massive tests, both sides came to realize the devastating potential for the planet should war break out.

Question 21

How was the Korean War a “proxy war”?

Answer 21

The ideological conflict between democratic capitalism and communism was not exclusive to the US and USSR. The Korean peninsula became ideologically divided, as well, and war broke out. The Soviets and Chinese rallied behind the North and the United States and the UN on behalf of the South. “By proxy,” the Cold War belligerents attempted to further their goals via the Korean conflict.

Question 22

What was the Second Red Scare

Answer 22

Like the first back in the 1920s, paranoia surrounding the potential for widespread infiltration of communism into the US ran high following World War II. This paranoia reached the federal government, as military officials and high profile civilians were accused of connections to the USSR by Senator Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

Question 23

What was the GI Bill?

Answer 23

Learning from economic woes following World War I, the GI Bill (officially the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act) gave WWII veterans access to a free college education and low-interest home and business loans.

Question 24

What caused the demographic spike and shift after World War II? Where did people move?

Answer 24

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.

Question 25

What were two primary causes for increased mass culture?

Answer 25

The succession of the radio by the television and the continued growth and pervasiveness of the advertising. Consumerism

Question 26

What was the Beat Generation?

Answer 26

Literary movement that rejected the conformity and capitalism of postwar America through their writing, as well as through their fashion and drug use

Question 27

What was the decision in Brown v Board of Ed.?

Answer 27

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.

Question 28

Describe the reaction to Brown v BoE?

Answer 28

Massive resistance was the broad strategy employed by Southern, white-majority state legislatures. Over 100 Southern congressmen publicly rejected the decision, leading to threats of school closures and violence against black students.

Question 29

Describe two examples of civil disobedience used by civil rights activists in the 1950s and 60s.

Answer 29

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.

Question 30

What was the March on Washington?

Answer 30

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.

Question 31

What examples of political success did the civil rights movement have in the 1960s?

Answer 31

Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson publicly befriended the civil rights movement. LBJ signed multiple pieces of legislation, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Question 32

Describe alternative approaches to civil rights from that of Dr. King.

Answer 32

Malcolm X was a very vocal critic of Dr. King’s optimism and nonviolent methods. He saw white racism as unavoidable, thus the separation of races was the pragmatic way forward. This sentiment gave rise to more extreme and militant forms of activism as well as increased conflict with police and the federal government.

Question 33

The Truman Doctrine committed the US to

Answer 33

use its military and economic strength to block Soviet ideological influence and military power by supporting the “free peoples” in Greece, Turkey, and Europe.

Question 34

Truman intervened in the K war because he didn’t want others to think that he “lost” ___. He did not declare war but sent US soldiers under the auspices of the__

Answer 34

S Korea

UN

Question 35

NATO vs Warsaw Pact

Answer 35

NATO was against communism and the Warsaw Pact was the Soviet union and 7 other communist Euro cou.

Question 36

The Soviet spy in the 1930s was

Answer 36

Alger Hiss

Question 37

HUAC

Answer 37

House Un-American Activities Committee

Question 38

Television got drastically popularized from

Answer 38

1946-1953

Question 39

What did the Great Society do?

Answer 39

Improved water quality
Made immigration easier
Improved healthcare for the elderly and poor
Lessened poverty
Gave all blacks a chance to vote
Stopped segregation from being legal.