Unit 8 Flashcards
A massive push after WWII to root our communism from the U.S. and to resist it spreading around the world.
Red Scare
Passed in response to massive labor union strikes across the nation and made it more difficult for workers to strike. Additionally, the act made union members pledge that they were not apart of the communist party.
Taft-Hartley Act of 1947
Executive order from Truman passed in 1947 that made federal employees swear they were not communists and also began investigations into federal workers to see whether or not they are communist.
Federal Employee Loyalty and Security Program
Began searching for communist influence in every crack of American society (most notably in Hollywood)
Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC)
10 Hollywood directors got singled out at communists that were jailed.
The Hollywood 10
Gave speech in 1950 where he claimed to have the names of 205 known communists that had infiltrated the state department. Later claimed that the real number was only 57. But this made the red scare so much more intense, it became known as McCarthynism. Although he was not able to prove this and then later became a mediocre politician and was silenced.
Joseph McCarthey
August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb and many Americans became convinced that there wasn’t a way for them to develop the bomb without a spy in America. A couple, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were executed due to them being accused as communist spies that gave the Soviets nuclear blueprints.
Rosenberg Case
Passed in 1956, authorized the construction of a national network of highways.
Interstate Highway System
WWII vetrans were given much financial aid and free tuition.
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill)
A suburban community built by William J. Levin. Consisted of identical houses for cheaper prices.
Levittown
A group of poets that rejected conformity and U.S. culture
Beatnicks
Upheld racial segregation as the “law of the land”
Plessy v Ferguson
Executive order that Truman passed that banned racial segregation in the armed forces (didn’t enforce it until 2 years later in the Korean War)
Executive Order 9981
Abolished Poll Tax
24th Amendment
Court case that debated segregation in schools stating black schools had less educational resources.
Brown V Department of Education
The Great Society
Lyndon B. Johnson’s economic plan mimicking FDR’s New Deal
Place where nuclear reactor melted and released deadly nuclear pollution opening the eyes of environmentalists
Three Mile Island
Government agency that regulated pollution in the U.S. to protect the environment.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Court Case the legalized abortion
Roe v Wade
Inflation combined with economic stagnation
Stagflation
