Unit 9: Important Concepts

Question 1

Military-industrial complex

Answer 1

Created by Dwight D. Eisenhower in his farewell speech. A cooperative relationship between nation’s military, economy, and politics.

Question 2

Containment

Answer 2

A foreign policy developed by diplomat George Kennan that claimed that the only way to stop Russia and expansionist ways was to contain it.

Question 3

McCarthyism

Answer 3

Practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. Made by McCarthy because of is methods of accusing people of being communists.

Question 4

38th Parallel

Answer 4

The dividing line between North and South Korea, across which the fighting between communists and United Nations forces ebbed and flowed during the Korean War

Question 5

Balance of Terror

Answer 5

It was the equality between destructive ability between America and the Soviet Union and it was what prevented a nuclear war from breaking out.

Question 6

U-2 incident

Answer 6

The incident when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The U.S. denied the true purpose of the plane spying on people. The incident worsened East-West relations during the Cold War and was a great embarrassment for the United States.

Question 7

The Other America-Poverty in America- Michael Harrington

Answer 7

Books that caused driving force behind the “war on poverty.”

Question 8

Conformity

Answer 8

Strong patriotism and need to conform to try to avoid blame during red scare, non-churchgoers, unmarried, and critics suspected as communists

Question 9

Beatnik

Answer 9

A group of rebellious writers and intellectuals. They advocated spontaneity, use of drugs, and rebellion against social standards.

Question 10

New Frontier

Answer 10

The campaign program advocated by JFK in the 1960 election. He promised to revitalize the stagnant economy and enact reform legislation in education, health care, and civil rights.

Question 11

Cold War

Answer 11

Sustained state of political and military tension between powers in the Western Bloc (the United States with NATO and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its allies in Warsaw Pact)

Question 12

“Massive retaliation”

Answer 12

The concept that once someone started fighting (Soviet Union or America), massive retaliation would follow the first attack. Considering attacks would involve nukes, it basically meant world distruction

Question 13

Iron Curtian

Answer 13

Concept created by Winston Churchill. It was the referring to the rise of communism there as satellite nations under the USSR

Question 14

White Flight

Answer 14

The sociological and demographic term denoting a trend wherein whites leave urban communities as the minority population increases

Question 15

Desegregation

Answer 15

The integration of blacks and whites into schools, jobs, and public facilities

Question 16

ICBM’s

Answer 16

Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile. Gave Soviet Union the ability to bomb almost any part of the world within a very short period of time. It caused a feeling of uneasiness to spread around the world.

Question 17

Levittowns

Answer 17

Utilized mass production techniques to build inexpensive homes in suburban NY to relieve postwar housing shortage; became symbol of movement to suburbs; conformity of houses; diverse communities; home for lower-middle class families

Question 18

Shopping centers

Answer 18

Created to accommodate all the new suburbs that people could reach by car.

Question 19

“beat” Generation

Answer 19

Group of American writers who came to prominence in the 1950s, and also the cultural phenomena that they wrote about and inspired. Included a rejection of mainstream American values, experimentation with drugs and alternate forms of sexuality, and an interest in Eastern spirituality

Question 20

United Nations

Answer 20

International body formed to bring nations into dialogue in hopes of preventing further world wars; much like the former League of Nations in ambition, it was more realistic in recognizing the authority of the Big Five Powers in keeping peace in the world, thus guaranting veto power to all permant members of its Security Council (Britian, China, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States)

Question 21

Truman Doctrine

Answer 21

Stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere. Stopping the spread of the sphere of communist influence.

Question 22

Fair Deal

Answer 22

Domestic reform proposals of the second Truman administration (1949-53); included civil rights legislation and repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act, but only extensions of some New Deal programs were enacted.

Question 23

Integration

Answer 23

The integration of blacks and whites into schools, jobs, and public facilities

Question 24

Massive Resistance

Answer 24

Southerners reacted to desegregation with this. They worked through local governments and organizations to obstruct desegregation. Produced delays.

Question 25

Suburbs

Answer 25

Policies of the Federal government in the post-World War II era, such as the building of an efficient network of roads, highways and superhighways, and the underwriting of mortgages for suburban one-family homes made suburbs grow.

Question 26

The “organization” man

Answer 26

Written by William Whyte; attacked the way businesses wanted every employee to be just like the others to keep any individual from dominating or being a threat

Question 27

Modern Republicanism

Answer 27

Eisenhower’s government plan: “conservative when it comes to economics, more Liberal when it comes to social programs “