Period 8: 1945-1980 Flashcards
Security Council
Used by the president to deal with foreign policy matters and national safety through advisors and an executive cabinet - assist the president in these decisions.
Iron Curtain
Symbolized the ideological conflict and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991
Truman Doctrine
Advocated containment of communism by lending support to any country that was threatened by said soviet communism
Loyalty Review Board
Purpose was to investigate government employees and to dismiss those who were disloyal to the US
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
Created to investigate alleged communists
McCarthyism
“Witch hunt” for communists
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill)
Provided WWII veterans with funds for college, unemployment insurance, and housing
Baby Boom
50 million babies entering US population between 1945 nd 1960
Levittown
Project of 17,000 mass-produced, low price family homes in Long Island, New York
Sun Belt
States to the South and Southwest
22nd Amendment
Limited a president to a maximum of 2 full terms in office
Taft-Hartley Act
Purpose was to check the growing power of unions by: requiring workers to join a union before being hired, etc.
Fair Deal
Included national health insurance, federal aid to education, civil rights legislation, funds for public housing, and a new farm program
Highway Act
Authorized the construction of 42,000 miles of interstate highways linking all the nation’s major cities
Stagflation
Combination of economic slowdown and high inflation
New Frontier
The campaign program advocated by JFK in the 1960 election. He promised to revitalize the stagnant economy and enact reform legislation in education, health care, and civil rights.
Warren Commission
Commission made by LBJ after killing of John F. Kennedy. (Point is to investigate if someone paid for the assasination of Kennedy.) Conclusion is that Oswald killed Kennedy on his own. Commissioner is Chief Justice Warren.
Thurgood Marshall
the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Prior to becoming a judge, he was a lawyer who was best remembered for his activity in the Little Rock 9 and his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Supreme court over turned Plessy v Ferguson (separate but equal) in a unanimous vote, deeming separate schools inherently unequal
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
Southern Manifesto
Argued the supreme court had engaged in a gross abuse of power in the brown decision and in order to uphold their rights in the face of such abuses of power, some southern states shut schools down rather than have them integrated
Little Rock
National troops had to stand guard and protect black students entering Little Rock HS at the start of desegregation
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
Southern Christian Leadership Conference, churches link together to inform blacks about changes in the Civil Rights Movement, led by MLK Jr., was a success
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
College kids participate in Civil Rights, stage sit-ins and such
Suez Crisis
When Egyptian president Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, British, French, and Israeli forces staged a joint assault on Egypt, cutting off Western Europe’s oil supply; when the United States, who had been kept in the dark about the plan, refused to release emergency oil supplies, the allies were compelled to withdraw troops and the United Nations was forced to intervene.
Eisenhower Doctrine
the U.S. pledged economic and military aid to any Middle Eastern country threatened by communism
Oil Embargo
banned both petroleum exports to the targeted nations and introduced cuts in oil production. Several years of negotiations between oil-producing nations and oil companies had already destabilized a decades-old pricing system, which exacerbated the embargo’s effects
Peace Corps
a civilian organization sponsored by the United States government
Domino Theory
a theory prominent from the 1950s to the 1980s, that speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Joint resolution of the U.S. Congress passed on August 7, 1964 in direct response to a minor naval engagement known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. It is of historical significance because it gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of “any force necessary” in Vietnam.
