Truman Flashcards
What big boom happened after World War 2?
The Baby Boom would last from 1946 to 1964.
This was when the USA had a massive increase in population as a result of all the babies being born
What did returning American warriors get when returning from World War 2?
They got to enjoy the benefits of a new law called the G.I. Bill
What is the G.I. Bill?
Also known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, it provided veterans with
- Gave veterans unemployment benefits for one full year
- Made it really easy for veterans to get loans to buy their own House
- Provided them with Veterans-ONLY hospitals called “VA Hospitals”, as well as their own unique health insurance, in case they get sick.
Why was the GI bill made?
FDR, before he died, had planned on trying to get new laws passed in the United States called “The Second Bill of Rights”. But many people were not in the mood to pass those laws, and so they gave them to veterans instead through the GI Bill.
What was included in FDR’s 2nd Bill of Rights?
- Government-paid for college education
- Government-paid for healthcare
- Government-backed home loans (meaning if u cant pay for ur home, the govt will pay 4 u)
There is a bit more to it than that, but for the purposes of this class, you only need to remember those 3.
Who is Jackie Robinson?
He is the first Black person to break the “color barrier” in Major League Baseball.
Before Jackie Robinson, no Black player had ever participated in a Major League Baseball game due to racism and the unwillingness of white people to watch a Black person play Baseball.
What was Executive Order 9981?
It forced the military to be desegregated. This meant that from now on, Black soldiers would fight side by side with White soldiers.
Who is Harry Truman?
He was Vice President under FDR when FDR died of Polio. He became the next Democratic President after FDR.
What is the Cold War?
An indirect war between the USA and the Soviet Union.
The USA and the Soviet Union will never have a *direct* war against each other. The Cold War is mostly a series of “Proxy” Wars.
What is another name for the Soviet Union?
Russia
United Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
How is the Soviet Union’s government different from the USA?
The USA elects its representatives and is a type of Democracy where the people decide what the laws are.
The Soviet Union is a communist dictatorship where one person decides what the laws are.
What did the Soviet Union do with the lands it took from the Nazis after World War 2?
The Soviet Union kept the lands for themselves and installed dictators in those lands that were loyal to the Soviet Union.
Why did the Soviet Union keep the lands it took away from the Nazis during World War 2?
Because it wanted to have more power, so it could spread its communist ideas around the world. Stalin, who was the leader of the Soviet Union, believed that Communism was a better economic and political system than the USA’s Democracy and Capitalism.
What did the USA do with the lands it took away from the Nazis during World War 2?
The USA gave those lands back their freedom.
What did President Harry Truman do about the Soviet Union keeping those lands?
He created what was called the Truman Doctrine.
The Truman Doctrine was all about containing the spread of Communism.
What was the Truman Doctrine?
It said that whenever the Soviet Union was trying to spread communism, the USA should try to contain its spread.
How is the Soviet Union different from the USA economically?
The Soviet Union has a “Command” Economy, whereas the USA has a “Free Enterprise System” Market Economy.
How is a command economy different from a free enterprise system (market economy)?
In a command economy, the government determines the price of services because the government owns all the businesses.
In a free enterprise system, (or Market Economy) the people privately own the businesses and set the prices based on factors like supply and demand.
What was the 2nd Red Scare? (Do you also remember the 1st red scare?)
The 2nd Red Scare was when, after World War 2, people in the USA became scared of the Soviet Union and the spread of Communism.
They became so scared, that they started to arrest people in the USA who were suspected of being communists.
PS the 1st Red Scare was also about a fear of communism, but it was in the 1920s after World War 1
How did Truman respond to what Stalin did to the city of Berlin?
Truman helped to organize the Berlin Airlift.
This is where American/British planes flew into Berlin to drop off supplies and then flew out.
What is NATO?
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
It is the USA and all of the countries in Europe and North America that consider the USA as good friends.
What does the USA have to do if a NATO country is attacked?
According to NATO’s constitution, which the USA created, any attack on a single NATO country is an attack on everyone who is in NATO, which would include the USA.
So the USA would have to fight back!
What was the Korean War about?
Communist-controlled North Korea invaded Capitalist South Korea and quickly conquered South Korea’s capital of Seoul.
How did Truman react to North Korea’s invasion of South Korea?
He went to the United Nations and asked them to approve a war to free South Korea from North Korea.
The United Nations approved.
Who are the United Nations?
They are an organization representing every country on Earth. Their mission is to have World Peace and to help those in most need of important supplies like food and water.
Who helped the North Koreans stay alive when the United Nations almost crushed them?
The Chinese.
China was afraid of having a capitalist country like Korea be unified under one ruler.
So, to keep Korea divided and weak, they helped the North Koreans attack American-led UN troops.
China would prefer for Korea to be unified under a communist ruler, but since the United Nations stopped that from happening, they were willing to settle for a divided Korea.
How did the Korea war end?
Well, it didn’t end when Truman was President so I guess you’ll have to wait to see lol
