Unit 8 Flashcards
What was the Cold War?
A conflict between two belligerents in which neither engages in open warfare with the other;
More a battle of ideologies than a battle of bloodshed
What were the causes of the Cold War?
-Tensions between the US and USSR since the Russian Revolution (US didn’t like the idea of communism)
-Joseph Stalin kept Soviet troops in Central and Eastern European countries even tho the allies agreed to let those countries have free elections
-Made of those nations communist satallite states^
-USSR wanted Germany to be weak so they could pose less of a threat and extract reparations while Allies wanted a revitalized Germany for a strong, stable Europe
How did America respond to communism?
Containment
What was the Truman Doctrine?
Advocated for the containment of communism by lending support to any nation threatened by it
What was the Marshall Plan?
It allocated almost $13 billion for European countries to rebuild;
“If nations had a healthy economy, they would be more likely to opt for democracy than communism.”
What was the Berlin Blockade?
Soviet blockage of transportation by which Western supplies West Berlin
How did America respond to the Berlin Blockade?
Berlin Airlift;
US used supplies by plane to western Berlin instead
What was NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)?
Members entered a military alliance to resist any aggressive actions of the Soviet Union
What was the Warsaw Pact?
Members entered a military alliance to resist any aggressive actions the US
Was there an arms race between the US and the USSR?
Yes, they even developed the more powerful hydrogen bomb
What were two important proxy wars that happened during this period?
Vietnam and Korea War
After WWII, Korea was divided by the 38th parallel. What happened in the Korean War?
North Koreans invaded South Korea using soviety munitions and supplies;
UN responded by sending troops led by General MacArthur;
Send North Korean troops all the way to the border of China, which prompted China to send troops to repel the UN troops back below the 38th parallel
What did the Korean War illustrate?
-A proxy war
-Direct result of Truman’s containment policy
What was the (Second) Red Scare?
Americans being afraid of communism
What was the Taft-Hartley Act?
Made it more difficult for workers to strike;
(May not be included) Union leaders were made to pledge that they were not members of the communist party
What was the UnAmerican Activities Committee?
Searched for communist influence in every crack of American society, especially in Hollywood (resulting in the Hollywood Ten)
Who was Senator Joe McCarthy?
Claimed that there were communists in the state department;
Made people think that American society was crawling with secret communists
What was the Rosenberg case?
In which a couple sharing Rosenberg as their last name were accused of being involved in the espionage that allowed the USSR to develop and test their atomic bomb
What were the causes of economic growth in the years after WWII?
-Increased productivity (holdover for the massive spike in productivity during the war)
-Massive spending on infrastructure (think Interstate Highway System)
What happened as a result of economic prosperity during this time period?
The Baby Boom, which brought about the need for housing (suburbs in particular)
What was Levittown?
A suburban community built by William Levin;
He brought a lot of land and produced loads of mass-produced, low-cost homes
Why did people migrate to the Sun Belt region of the US?
The newly minted highway system that made interstate migration far easier
Who usually migrated to the Sun Belt?
GI’s and their families looking for opportunities in the defense industry
How did migration to the Sun Belt affect the economy?
Tax dollars devoted to defense spending shifted to the Sun Belt states and shifted political power from the NE and MW to the S and W
What is mass culture?
The culture to which many Americans subscribed
Where did the pressure to conform culturally come from?
-McCarthyism
-Widespread use of the television provided a platform for the consumption of mass culture
-Advertising
-Rock n’ Roll (especially for young people)
What did the widespread use of credit cards mean for American citizens?
Meant that people could buy more than they could afford
How was the Civil Rights movement championed in teh government?
-Truman issues an order that banned segregation in the US armed forces
-Congress passed the 24th Amendment, which abolished the poll tax
-In the Brown v. The Board of Education case, the Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson arguing that separate educational facilities were inherently unequal
What was the Southern Manifesto?
Argued that the Supreme Court had engaged in an abuse of power in the Brown decision
With decolonization came the rise of young nationals with unstable political and economic scenes. They needed aid. Why was this important in the context of the Cold War?
It meant that these newly developed nations were valuable assets for either the US or the USSR to attain and influence in their mission to spread their ideologies
Why did the U.S. send the CIA to overturn Arbenz, the person who the Guatemalans elected as their leader in 1951?
He was a little too socialist;
He nationalized land on which some American fruit companies grew their bananas
What did Fidel Castro do?
Overthrew the military dictatorship government and rose to the seat of power itself;
He was a communist
What was the Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)?
In which trained insurgents to the Castro regime attempted to overthrow it;
It was a failure and led to a more communist embrace
What was the Cuban Missile Crisis (1963)?
In which Soviet missiles were discovered on Cuban land;
Note that the Americans did the same thing by stockpiling nuclear weapons in Turkey
In 1953, why did the US want to overthrow Iran’s prime minister?
Because the Iranian prime minister wanted to nationalize Iran’s oil industry and thus have firmer control over it;
Many nations, US included, depended on this oil
Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel until an election could be held. North was communist and South was democratic. What did this set the stage for?
The Vietnam War
What was the Domino Theory that Eisenhower used to send financial aid to South Vietnam?
He argued that if South Vietnam fell to communism, other nations would fall to communism too
Who led the Communist North Vietnam?
Ho Chi Minh
What spurred Johnson to get the US militarilty involved in the Vietnam War?
Supposedly, the North Vietnamese attacked a US battleship in the Gulf of Tonkin
What is the Credibility Gap?
States that the president is lying to the American people about the progress of the war
What was the Tet Offensive?
A massive surprise attack conducted by the North Vietnamese and resulted in heavy casualties
Why did the Tet Offensive prompt Johnson to stop military involvement?
Because continuing the war required hundreds of thousands of more troops
What was Vietnamization, a policy adopted by Nixon?
The removal of federal troops from Vietnamese while still lending financial aid
What was the Great Society?
-Almost like FDR’s New Deal
-Used programs that mirrored the limited wellfare state created by the New Deal to abolish poverty
What was the Office of Economic Opportunity?
Implemented self-help programs like literacy and vocational training to the destitute
What programs did the Great Society issue?
-Medicare program (federally funded health insurance for seniors)
-Medicaid program (federally funded health insurance for the destitute)
-Abolished immigration quotas
What was the time of the Great Society a political golden age for?
The Liberals
What is the significance of the Warren Court?
Expanded the application of expanding Liberalism
What was the message of the Great Society?
That government action can right societal wrongs
What happened in the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955)?
Rosa Parks’ arrest for refusing to give up her seat to a white customer led to a bus boycott;
Led to the company stopping segregation
What was the sit-in movement?
In which a group would sit at lunch counters that were reserved for white people and demand service;
Led to establishments changing their policies
What was the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement?
March on Washington, where thousands of civil rights activists gathered before the Lincoln Memorial
What did Malcom X believe in?
Stated that the only way to acquire equality was to counter white violence with black violence
What was the Civil Rights Act (1964)?
Discrimination on race, religion, or sex is illegal
What was the Voting Rights Act (1965)?
Outlawed racial discrimination in the voting booth
What was “The Feminine Mystique” by Friedan (1963)?
Explored the imprisonment of the housewife
What was Ms. Magazine by Steinem?
A magazine that advanced the womens rights movement
What was the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)?
Would ultimately prevent discrimination on the basis of sex, but Schaflay worked to squash it through her STOP ERA efforts
What was the Sexual Revolution?
Made casual sex a norm;
Allowed for different and more explicity forms of sexuality and expression
What is the significance of Roe v. Wade (1973)?
Kept abortion legal
What was the American Indian Movement?
-Reclaim heritage and tribal customs
-Address that systemic poverty shared by many American Indians
What was the key moment of the Gay Liberation Movement?
Raid on Stonewall Inn, a gathering place of gay people
Where did most opposition to existing policies and values come from?
Young people
What was the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)?
Challenged the prevailing norm that every effort must be made to stop the spread of communism
Why did the SDS care about the Vietnam War?
Because once they graduated, they would be drafted to what they regarded as an immoral war
What was the Kent State Massacre?
In which students protesting the latest development in the Vietnam War were open fired upon
What was the Counterculture movement defined by?
The Hippie, who wore unique clothing, engaged in experimental drug use, and advocated for free love
What prompted policymakers to look for different alternatives to energy?
The shortage of oil as a result of OPEC raising prices on oil and reducing exports to America
What alternatives were explored because of the oil shortage?
Nuclear energy (think of the Three Mile Island disaster, in which a nuclear reactor melted down)
What was the EPA (made by Nixon)?
Manage pollution control programs and oversee industries that engaged in pollution
What did the conservatives do in response to liberalism’s Golden Age?
-The creation of the New Right
-The John Birch Society, opposed communism and had conspiracies
What was the Religion Right?
Conservative Christians who opposed liberal trends
What is stagflation?
Inflation combined with economic stagnation
What was the Watergate Scandal?
In which Nixon’s re-election committee were caught breaking into a complex that housed the Democratic Party’s headquarters
