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