Unit 9 American Dilemma

Question 1

Author of The Feminine Mystique (1963), which raised the issue of a woman’s place in society and how deadening suburban “happiness” could be for women; her ideas sparked the women’s movement to life in the 1960s.

Answer 1

Betty Friedan

Question 2

Proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution passed by Congress and submitted to the states for ratification in 1971; outlawing discrimination based on gender, it was at first seen as a great victory by women’s-rights groups. The amendment fell 3 states short of the 38 required for ratification. However, many states have adopted similar amendments to their state constitutions.

Answer 2

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

Question 3

U.S.-supported invasion of Cuba in April 1961; intended to overthrow Communist dictator Fidel Castro, the operation proved a fiasco. Castro’s forces killed 114 of the invaders and took nearly 1,200 prisoners. The disaster shook the confidence of the Kennedy administration and encouraged the Soviet Union to become more active in the Americas.

Answer 3

Bay of Pigs

Question 4

A confrontation between the United States and the USSR resulting from a Soviet attempt to place long-range nuclear missiles in Cuba (October 1962); Kennedy forced the Soviets to remove them with a blockade and the threat of force. The crisis enhanced Kennedy’S standing but led to a Soviet arms buildup.

Answer 4

Cuban Missile Crisis

Question 5

French fortress in northern Vietnam that surrendered in 1954 to the Viet Minh; the defeat caused the French to abandon Indochina and set the stage for the Geneva Conference, which divided the region and led to American involvement in South Vietnam.

Answer 5

Dien Bien Phu

Question 6

Communist leader of Cuba who led a rebellion against the U.S.-backed dictator and took power in 1959; President Kennedy tried to overthrow him with the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 but failed. Castro became closely allied with the Soviet Union, making the Kennedy Administration increasingly concerned about Soviet influence in the Western Hemisphere.

Answer 6

Fidel Castro

Question 7

An authorization by Congress empowering President Johnson “to take all necessary measures” to protect U.S. forces in Vietnam; it was issued following reported attacks on U.S. destroyers off the Vietnam coast. Congress later regretted this action as the Vietnam War escalated, and questions emerged about the legitimacy of the attacks.

Answer 7

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)

Question 8

Advisor to Presidents Nixon and Ford; he was architect of the Vietnam settlement, the diplomatic opening to China, and détente with the Soviet Union.

Answer 8

Henry Kissinger

Question 9

Communist leader of North Vietnam; he and his Viet Minh/ Viet Cong allies fought French and American forces to a standstill in Vietnam, 1946-1973. Considered a nationalist by many, others viewed him as an agent of the Soviet Union and China.

Answer 9

Ho Chi Minh

Question 10

American ally in South Vietnam from 1954 to 1963; his repressive regime caused the Communist Viet Cong to thrive in the South and required increasing American military aid to stop a Communist takeover. He was killed in a coup in 1963.

Answer 10

Ngo Dinh Diem

Question 11

Soviet leader, 1954-1964; he was an aggressive revolutionary who hoped to spread Communism into Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Blame for the Cuban Missile Crisis eventually cost him his leadership position in the USSR.

Answer 11

Nikita Khrushchev

Question 12

A series of Communist attacks on 44 South Vietnamese cities; although the Viet Cong suffered a major defeat, the attacks ended the American view that the war was winnable and destroyed the nation’s will to escalate the war further.

Answer 12

Tet Offensive (January 1968)

Question 13

Rallying cry for many black militants in the 1960s and 1970s; it called for blacks to stand up for their rights, to reject integration, to demand political power, to seek their roots, and to embrace their blackness.

Answer 13

Black Power

Question 14

Supreme Court decision that overturned the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision (1896); led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Court ruled that “separate but equal” schools for blacks were inherently unequal and thus unconstitutional. The decision energized the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 196Os.

Answer 14

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Question 15

Truman’s legislative program; it was largely an extension of the New Deal of the 1930s, and Truman had little success convincing Congress to enact it.

Answer 15

Fair Deal

Question 16

Largest public works project in United States history; Eisenhower signed the law, which built over 40,000 miles of highways in the United States at a cost of $25 billion and created the interstate highway system.

Answer 16

Federal Highway Act (1956)

Question 17

Civil rights campaign of the Congress of Racial Equality in which protesters traveled by bus through the South to desegregate bus stations; white violence against them prompted the Kennedy administration to protect them and become more involved in civil rights.

Answer 17

Freedom rides

Question 18

Liberal senator from Minnesota and Lyndon Johnson’s vice president who tried to unite the party after the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago; he narrowly lost the presidency to Richard Nixon that year.

Answer 18

Hubert Humphrey

Question 19

President, 1961-1963, and the youngest president ever elected, as well as the first Catholic to serve; he had a moderately progressive domestic agenda and a hardline policy against the Soviets. His administration ended when Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated him.

Answer 19

John Kennedy

Question 20

President, 1963-1969, who took over for Kennedy and created the Great Society, a reform program unmatched in the twentieth century; however, his Vietnam policy divided the country and his party, and he retired from politics in 1969.

Answer 20

Lyndon Johnson

Question 21

Militant black leader associated with the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims); he questioned Martin Luther King’s strategy of nonviolence and called on blacks to make an aggressive defense of their rights. He was assassinated by fellow Muslims in 1965.

Answer 21

Malcolm X

Question 22

America’s greatest civil rights leader, 1955-1968; his nonviolent protests gained national attention and resulted in government protection of African American rights. He was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Answer 22

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Question 23

Controversial vice president, 1953-1961, and president, 1969-1974, who made his political reputation as an aggressive anticommunist crusader; his presidency ended with his resignation during the Watergate scandal.

Answer 23

Richard Nixon

Question 24

John Kennedy’s brother who served as attorney general and gradually embraced growing civil rights reform; later, as senator from New York, he made a run for the Democratic presidential nomination. An assassin ended his campaign on June 6, 1968.

Answer 24

Robert Kennedy

Question 25

NAACP member who initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 when she was arrested for violating Jim Crow rules on a bus; her action and the long boycott that followed became an icon of the quest for civil rights and focused national attention on boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

Answer 25

Rosa Parks

Question 26

Protests by black college students, 1960-1961, who took seats at “whites only” lunch counters and refused to leave until served; in 1960 over 50,000 participated in sit-ins across the South. Their success prompted the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.

Answer 26

Sit-ins

Question 27

Democratic governor of South Carolina who headed the States’ Rights Party (Dixiecrats); he ran for president in 1948 against Truman and his mild civil rights proposals and eventually joined the Republican Party.

Answer 27

Strom Thurmond

Question 28

Anti-labor law passed over Truman’s veto; it provided a “cooling off” period wherein the president could force striking workers back to work for 80 days. It also outlawed closed shops and allowed states to pass right-to-work laws.

Answer 28

Taft-Hartley Act (1946)

Question 29

Twice-defeated Republican candidate for president (1944,1948); his overconfidence and lackadaisical effort in 1948 allowed Truman to overcome his large lead and pull off the greatest political upset in American history.

Answer 29

Thomas Dewey