U.S. History EOC/STAAR Review Part 2 Flashcards
Interstate Commerce Act
Law passed to regulate (by the government)
railroad and other interstate businesses.
Iran-Contra Affair
This involved high officials in the Reagan administration secretly selling arms to Iran (in return for the release of Western hostages in the Middle East) and illegally using the proceeds to finance the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.
Iraq War
An armed conflict in Iraq that consisted of two phases. an invasion force led by the United States and a phase of fighting, in which an insurgency emerged to oppose coalition forces
Island Hopping
A military strategy used during World War II that involved selectively attacking specific enemy-held islands and bypassing others
Isolationism
A national policy of avoiding involvement in world affairs
Jacob Riis
Early 1900’s muckraker who exposed social and political evils in the U.S. with his novel “How The Other Half Lives” exposed the poor conditions of the poor tenements in NYC
Jane Addams
The founder of Hull House, which provided English
lessons for immigrants, daycares, and child care classes
Jazz
A popular style of music created in New Orleans in the 1920s
John Rockefeller
Creator of the Standard Oil Company who made a fortune on it and joined with competing companies in trust agreements that in other words made an amazing monopoly.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Arrested in the Summer of 1950 and executed in 1953, they were convicted of conspiring to commit espionage by passing plans for the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.
Kamikaze
Japanese suicide pilots who loaded their planes with
explosives and crashed them into American ships.
Knights of Labor
1st effort to create National union. Open to everyone but lawyers and bankers. Vague program, no clear goals, weak leadership and organization. Failed
Korean War
The conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea. 1950-1953
Labor Union
An organization of workers that tries to improve working conditions, wages, and benefits for its members
Laissez-Faire
No government intervention in business.
League of Nations
A world organization established in 1920 to promote international cooperation and peace. It was first proposed in 1918 by President Woodrow Wilson, although the United States never joined the League. Essentially powerless, it was officially dissolved in 1946.
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
Fought to desegregate schools, public facilities, and housing in Southern California and the Southwest; fought for Hispanic rights
Lend-Lease Act
Law passed after the fall of Britain during WWII; allowed the U.S. to loan munitions to Allies in WWII; kept U.S. boys at home
Limited War
A war fought to achieve a limited objective, such as containing communism
Malcolm X
Black Muslim leader who said Blacks needed to have separate society from whites, but later changed his views. He was assassinated in 1965.
Manhattan Project
Code name for the secret United States project set up in 1942 to develop atomic bombs for use in World War II
Manifest Destiny
A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific.
March on Washington
Held in 1963 to show support for the Civil Rights Bill in Congress. Martin Luther King gave his famous “I have a dream…” speech. 250,000 people attended the rally
Marcus Garvey
African American leader during the 1920s who founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and advocated mass migration of African Americans back to Africa
Marshall Plan
A plan that the US came up with to revive war-torn economies of Europe. This plan offered $13 billion in aid to western and Southern Europe.
McCarthyism
The term associated with Senator Joseph McCarthy who led the search for communists in America during the early 1950s through his leadership in the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Mikhail Gorbachev
The last General secretary of the Soviet Union. He brought about massive economic, social, and political
changes and helped bring an end to both the Soviet Union and the Cold War. His reforms included giving citizens the ability to freely voice their opinions (glasnost) and entirely restructuring the Soviet Union’s economy (Perestroika).
Monopoly
A market in which there are many buyers but only one seller.
Montgomery Bus Boycott
In 1955, after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus, Dr. Martin L. King led a boycott of city busses. After 11 months the Supreme Court ruled that segregation of public transportation was illegal.
Nativists
U.S. citizens who opposed immigration because they were suspicious of immigrants and feared losing jobs to them
Navajo Code Talkers
Native Americans from the Navajo tribe used their own language to make a code for the U.S. military that the Japanese could not decipher
New Deal
A plan by President Franklin Roosevelt intended to bring economic relief, recovery, and reforms to the country after the Great Depression
North Atlantic Trade Agreement (NATO)
International Organization set up in 1949 to provide for the defense of western European countries and the United States from the perceived Soviet threat
Oil Crisis
Economic crisis of 1973 that occurred when OPEC
nations refused to export oil to Western nations
Omar Bradley
A general of the twentieth century. Bradley commanded the United States ground forces in the liberation of France and the invasion of Germany in World War II.
Open Door Policy
A policy proposed by the US in 1899, under which ALL
nations would have equal opportunities to trade in China.
Palmer Raids
A 1920 operation coordinated by Attorney General Mitchel Palmer in which federal marshals raided the homes of suspected radicals and the headquarters of radical organization in 32 cities
Panama Canal
A ship canal 40 miles long across the Isthmus of Panama built by the United States (1904-1914)
Patriot Act
This law passed after 9/11 expanded the tools used to fight terrorism and improved communication between law enforcement and intelligence agencies
Pearl Harbor
7:50-10:00 AM, December 7, 1941 - Surprise attack by the Japanese on the main U.S. Pacific Fleet harbored in Pearl Harbor
Persian Gulf War
(1990 - 1991) Conflict between Iraq and a coalition of countries led by the United States to remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait which they had invaded in hopes of controlling their oil supply. A very one sided war with the United States; coalition emerging victorious.
Philanthropy
Giving money to help the poor
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Supreme court case that ruled that separate-but-equal
facilities for blacks and whites did not violate the constitution.
Polio Vaccine
Created by Dr. Jonas Salk. worked by introducing killed or weak pieces of the virus to allow body to develop antibodies thus preventing polio
Political Boss
representative for or head of the political machine;
gained votes for their parties by doing favors for people.
Political Machines
Corrupt organized groups that controlled political parties in the cities. A boss leads the machine and attempts to grab more votes for his party.
Populists
Third party political movement to address farmers’ plight
Potsdam Conference
The final wartime meeting of Truman, Churchill, and Stalin discussed the future of Europe but their failure to reach meaningful agreements soon led to the onset of the Cold War.
President Coolidge
He became president after Harding died in office. He fired those involved in the scandals; increased government support of business and encouraged a continuation and expansion of Harding’s policies.
President Harding
This president promised a “return to normalcy” when he was elected. His administration was full of scandal and corruption, including the Teapot Dome scandal.
Progressive Era
Time at the turn of the 20th century in which groups sought to reform America economically, socially, and politically
Prohibition
The period from 1920 to 1933 when the sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited in the United States by a constitutional amendment
Propaganda
Ideas spread to influence public opinion for or against a cause.
Pure Food and Drug Act
The act that prohibited the manufacture, sale, or shipment of impure of falsely labeled food and drugs
Push and Pull Factors
The push factor involves a force which acts to drive people away from a place and the pull factor is what draws them to a new location.
Reaganomics
These policies combined a monetarist fiscal policy, supply-side tax cuts, and domestic budget cutting. Their goal was to reduce the size of the federal government and stimulate economic growth.
Red Scare
A social/political movement designed to prevent a socialist/communist/radical movement in this country by finding “radicals” incarcerating them, deporting them, and subverting their activities
Roaring Twenties
Nickname for the 1920s because of the booming
economy and fast pace of life during that era
Robber Baron
A negative term for business leaders that implied they built their fortunes by stealing from the public
Ronald Reagan
1980 and 1984; Republican; reduce reliance on government; Reagonomics: supply-side, laissez-faire,
send troops to Grenada, escalated the Cold War: “rollback” of communism, Strategic Defense Initiative
(Star Wars); War on Drugs, Iran-Contra affair, second term-ended cold war (tear down this wall” (Berlin Wall)
Samuel Gompers
He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers
Sam Walton
The most successful discount retailer and the founder of Wal-Mart
Sandra Day O’Connor
(b. 1930) Arizona state senator from 1969 to 1974, appointed to the Arizona Court of Appeals in 1979. Reagan appointed her to the U.S. Supreme Court,
making her the first female Justice of the Supreme Court.
Scopes Monkey Trial
1925, the trial that pitted the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution against teaching Bible creationism
Sedition Act
1918 law that made it illegal to criticize the government
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
First United States law to limit trusts and big business. Said that any trust that was purposefully restraining interstate trade was illegal.
Social Darwinism
19th century of belief that evolutionary ideas theorized
by Charles Darwin could be applied to society.
Social Security Administration (SSA)
A branch of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services which provides benefits for retirement, survivors. insurance, disability, health insurance, and death.
Sonia Sotomayor
Appointed by President Obama in 2009, first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)
1957 group founded by Martin Luther King Jr. to
fight against segregation using nonviolent means
Space Race
A competition of space exploration between the
United States and Soviet Union
Spanish American War
In 1898, a conflict between the United States and Spain, in which the U.S. supported the Cubans’ fight for independence
Strikes
Times when workers refuse to work until owners
improve conditions
Suburbs
Areas of living outside the cities where middle class families went to live to escape the city
Susan B. Anthony
Key leader of woman suffrage movement, social reformer who campaigned for women’s rights, the temperance, and was an abolitionist, helped form the National Woman Suffrage Association
Teapot Dome Scandal
Scandal during the Harding administration involving the granting of oil-drilling rights on government land in return for money
Tenement
A building in which several families rent rooms or
apartments, often with little sanitation or safety
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
A relief, recovery, and reform effort that gave 2.5 million poor citizens jobs and land. It brought cheap electric power, low-cost housing, cheap nitrates, and the restoration of eroded soil.
Tet Offensive
1968; National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese forces launched a huge attack on the Vietnamese
New Year (Tet), which was defeated after a month of fighting and many thousands of casualties; major
defeat for communism, but Americans reacted sharply, with declining approval of LBJ and more anti-war
sentiment
Theodore Roosevelt
26th President of the United States, 26th president, known for: conservationism, trust-busting, Hepburn Act, safe food regulations, “Square Deal,” Panama Canal
Thomas Edison
American inventor best known for inventing the electric light bulb, acoustic recording on wax cylinders, and motion pictures.
Thurgood Marshall
American civil rights lawyer, first black justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. Marshall was a tireless advocate for the rights of minorities and the poor.
Transcontinental Railroad
Completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah, it linked the eastern railroad system with California’s railroad system, revolutionizing transportation in the west
Treaty of Versailles
The treaty imposed on Germany by the Allied powers in 1920 after the end of World War I which demanded exorbitant reparations from the Germans
Trench Warfare
Fighting with trenches, mines, and barbed wire. Horrible living conditions, great slaughter, no gains, stalemate, used in WWI.
Truman Doctrine
President Truman’s policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helped Greece and Turkey
Tuskegee Airmen
All black unit of fighter pilots. trained in Tuskegee Alabama. won many awards for bravery and never lost a single pilot
Upton Sinclair
Muckraker who shocked the nation when he published The Jungle, a novel that revealed gruesome details about the meat packing industry in Chicago. The book was fiction but based on the things Sinclair had seen.
US Entry in WWI: M.A.I.N.
-1915: Lusitania sunk by Germans (killed 125 Americans) -President Wilson sent ultimatum to Germans (you
don’t change your ways with subs, we’re your enemies) -Germans did change, but reverted back to their
ways in 1917 -Zimmerman telegram (created by Germans to provoke a war between Mexico and US to
distract them) in 1917 was the trigger, then US declared war on Germany
Victory Gardens
Backyard gardens; Americans were encouraged to
grow their own vegetables to support the war effort
War Bonds
Certificates sold by the United States government to pay for the war.
Watergate
The events and scandal surrounding a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in
1972 and the subsequent cover-up of White House involvement, leading to the eventual resignation of
President Nixon under the threat of impeachment, Ford becomes President
W.E.B Du Bois
Believed that African Americans should strive for full rights immediately; founded the NAACP
Westward Expansion
the movement of people to the western and mid-western states to find new opportunities (ex. jobs, land, and gold).
White Flight
Working and middle-class white people move away from racial minority suburbs or inner-city neighborhoods to white suburbs and exurbs
William Jennings Bryan
United States lawyer and politician (ran for President) who advocated free silver and prosecuted John Scopes (1925) for teaching evolution in a Tennessee high school
Winston Churchill
A noted British statesman who led Britain throughout most of World War II and along with Roosevelt planned many allied campaigns. He predicted an iron curtain that would separate Communist Europe from the rest of the West.
WWI Technology
Airplanes, poisonous gas, tanks, machine guns,
zeppelins, flamethrowers, barbed wire, submarines
Yellow Journalism
Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the
news to create sensations and attract readers
