APUSH Unit 8-9 2024

Cold War

A conflict that was between the US and the Soviet Union. The nations never directly confronted each other on the battlefield but deadly threats went on for years.

Yalta Conference

FDR, Churchill and Stalin met here. Russia agreed to declare war on Japan after the surrender of Germany and in return FDR and Churchill promised the USSR concession in Manchuria and the territories that it had lost in the Russo-Japanese War

Potsdam Conference

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. Gave Japan an ultimatum "surrender or be destroyed".

United Nations

International organization founded in 1945 to promote world peace and cooperation. It replaced the League of Nations.

Satellite Nations

A nation that is independent but relies on a larger nation for political and/or economic direction and support. Eastern European countries that were controlled by a Communist Soviet Union.

Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill's term for the Cold War division between the Soviet-dominated East and the U.S.-dominated West.

Mao Zedong

Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew Jiang Jieshi and the Nationalists. Established China as the People's Republic of China.

Containment

A U.S. foreign policy in which the United States tried to stop the spread of communism by creating alliances and helping weak countries to resist Soviet advances.

Truman Doctrine

President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology. used to give aid to Greece and Turkey.

Domino Effect

It was president Eisenhower's theory that stated that if one country turned communist the rest would.

Marshall Plan

The U.S. would help to rebuild Europe after WWII if those nations would be democratic. Aid to European countries so they could resist Communism.

National Security Act

Passed in 1947 in response to perceived threats from the Soviet Union after WWII. It established the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Council.

CIA

A civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. Its primary function is obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and persons in order to advise public policymakers.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

1949 alliance of nations that agreed to band together in the event of war and to support and protect each nation involved.

Warsaw Pact

Treaty signed in 1945 that formed an alliance of the Eastern European countries behind the Iron Curtain; they were against democracy. This was formed in response to NATO.

Berlin Airlift

The joint effort by the US and Britain to fly food and supplies into West Berlin after the Soviet blocked off all ground routes into the city.

NSC-68

Top-secret government report of April 1950 warning that national survival in the face of Soviet communism required a massive military buildup.

Korean War

The conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea.

Douglas MacArthur

U.S. general. Commander of U.S. (later Allied) forces in the southwestern Pacific during World War II, he accepted Japan's surrender in 1945 and administered the ensuing Allied occupation. He was in charge of UN forces in Korea 1950-51, before being forced to relinquish command by President Truman.

38th Parallel

Line that divided Korea - Soviet Union occupied the north and United States occupied the south, during the Cold War.

HUAC

An investigating committee which investigated what it considered un-American propaganda; Richard Nixon was a significant leader on this committee

Hollywood Ten

Ten witnesses from the film industry who refused to cooperate with the HUAC's investigation of Communist influence in Hollywood.

Rosenbergs

Husband and wife tried/executed for treason under suspicion of communist influence and trading atomic bomb secrets with the Soviet Union

McCarthyism

The act of accusing people of disloyalty and communism. A Communist witch hunt organized by a Wisconsin Senator.

Brinkmanship

The willingness to go to the brink of war to force an opponent to back down

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Leader of the Allied forces in Europe during WW2. He was the leader of troops in Africa and commander in the D-Day invasion. He was elected president. During his presidency, he helped with the integration of Little Rock Central High School.

John Foster Dulles

As Secretary of State. he viewed the struggle against Communism as a classic conflict between good and evil. Believed in containment and the Eisenhower doctrine.

Eisenhower Doctrine

The policy of the US that it would defend the Middle East against attack by any Communist country.

Nikita Khrushchev

A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also famous for denouncing Stalin and allowed criticism of Stalin within Russia.

Sputnik

First artificial Earth satellite, it was launched by Moscow in 1957 and sparked U.S. fears of Soviet dominance in technology and outer space. It led to the creation of NASA and the space race.

U-2 Incident

The incident when an American spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960. The incident worsened East-West relations during the Cold War.

Election of 1960

Kennedy vs. Nixon, Kennedy (due to televised charisma) won over Nixon (pale and nervous).

John F. Kennedy

President of the US during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Assassinated on 11/22/63.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

In April 1961, a group of Cuban exiles organized and supported by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency landed on the southern coast of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro. When the invasion ended in disaster, President Kennedy took full responsibility for the failure.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 crisis that arose between the United States and the Soviet Union over a Soviet attempt to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Berlin Wall

A wall separating East and West Berlin built by East Germany in 1961 to keep citizens from escaping to the West.

Peace Corps

A federal program established to send volunteers to help developing nations. The program was started by JFK.

Lee Harvey Oswald

On November 22, 1963, he assassinated President Kennedy who was riding downtown Dallas, Texas. He was later shot in front of television cameras by Jack Ruby.

Alliance for Progress

A program in which the United States tried to help Latin American countries overcome poverty and other problems. Under JFK, the build-up of Latin American economies so they could buy American goods.

Lyndon B. Johnson

36th U.S. President. Most know for creating Medicare and Medicaid. Also set up the Great Society, the Economic Opportunity Act, and other programs that provided food stamps and welfare to needy families. Signed the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act. Sent ground troops to Vietnam after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

Great Society

A domestic program in the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson instituted federally sponsored social welfare programs. most prominently know were Medicare and Medicaid.

Barry Goldwater

An American senator for Arizona ran against Johnson for president. His extreme conservatism scared many into voting for Johnson. He wanted to eliminate many Great Society programs

HUD

Oversees federal programs designed to help Americans meet their housing needs. Program of the Great Society; helped people secure loans for affordable housing

Immigration Act of 1965

Abolished the national-origins quotas. Established new immigration system that allowed more immigrants into the U.S.

Robert Kennedy

He was a Democrat who ran for president in 1968 promoting civil rights and other equality based ideals. He was ultimately assassinated in 1968, leaving Nixon to take the presidency but instilling hope in many Americans.

Malcolm X

Black Muslim who argued for separation, not integration. He changed his views, but was assassinated in 1965.

James Meredith

The first African American student at the University of Mississippi. He was a WWII veteran who attended the university after JFK sent in troops.

Freedom Summer

In 1964, when blacks and whites together challenged segregation and led a massive drive to register blacks to vote.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

A law designed to help end formal and informal barriers to African-American suffrage.

The Other America

This novel was an influential study of poverty in the U.S., published by Michael Harrington & it was the driving force behind the "war on poverty." 1/5 of the U.S. was living below the poverty line.

Betty Friedan

United States feminist who wrote the Feminine Mystique and founded the National Organization for Women.

National Organization for Women

Founded in 1966, called for equal employment opportunity and equal pay for women. Also championed the legalization of abortion and passage of an equal rights amendment to the Constitution.

Students for a Democratic Society

Founded in 1962, it was a popular college student organization that protested shortcomings in American life, notably racial injustice and the Vietnam War.

Election of 1968

Election in which Republican candidate Richard Nixon appealed to a nation tired of violence and unrest as the "law and order" candidate. Nixon vowed he would end the Vietnam War and win "peace with honor."

Black Panthers

A militant Black political party founded in 1965 to end political dominance by Whites.

George Wallace

Alabama governor who stood in the door of the University of Alabama to block African American students from entering.

Free Speech Movement

A New Left organization that originated in a 1964 clash between students and administrators at the University of California at Berkeley

New Left

The new political movement of the late 1960s called for radical changes to fight poverty and racism.

Counterculture

A way of life and set of attitudes opposed to or at variance with the prevailing social norm.

Woodstock

3 day rock concert in upstate N.Y. August 1969, exemplified the counterculture of the late 1960s.

Vietminh

an organization lead by Ho Chi Minh whose goal was to win Vietnam's independence from foreign rule. Communist.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam

Geneva Conference

A conference between many countries that agreed to end hostilities and restore peace in French Indochina and Vietnam. Tied to prevent a war in Vietnam diplomatically by organizing elections to unify the country.

Green Berets

Elite anti-guerrilla military units expanded by Kennedy as part of his doctrine of "flexible response"

Ngo Dinh Diem

South Vietnamese president that was catholic and strongly opposed communism. Caused the Communist Viet Cong to thrive in the South and required increasing American military aid to stop a Communist takeover.

National Liberation Front

Ho Chi Minh wanted to unite Vietnam under Northern rule and aided what group of communist rebels trying to overthrow Diem in the south. They lead an uprising against Diem's repressive regime in the South. Known as the Vietcong.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

1964 Congressional resolution authorizing President Johnson to take military action in Vietnam.

Tet Offensive

Attack by the Viet Cong in South Vietnam in 1968 during the Vietnamese lunar new year; turned the United States public against United States involvement in the Vietnam War.

Vietnamazation

President Nixon's strategy for ending U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, involving the gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops and their replacement with South Vietnamese forces.

Henry Kissinger

The main negotiator of the peace treaty with the North Vietnamese; Secretary of State during Nixon's presidency.

Kent State Massacre

Four killed, nine wounded by Ohio National Guard during protest of U.S. invasion of Cambodia.

My Lai

American troops had brutally massacred innocent women and children in a village. This led to more opposition to the war.

American Indian Movement

Purpose was to obtain equal rights for Native Americans; protested at the site of the Wounded Knee massacre

Cesar Chavez

Farm worker, labor leader, and civil-rights activist who helped form the National Farm Workers Association, later the United Farm Workers.

Stonewall Riots

Series of protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid of bars/nightclubs in Greenwich Village in New York City

Gay Liberation Movement

The movement aimed at liberating homosexuals from legal or social or economic oppression.

New Feminism

Women's emancipation movement in the social, economic, cultural, and sexual spheres.

Equal Rights Amendment

A proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution outlawing discrimination based on sex. This was not ratified.

Roe v. Wade

Legalized abortion on the basis of a woman's right to privacy.

Rachel Carson

United States biologist remembered for her opposition to the use of pesticides that were hazardous to wildlife. Wrote Silent Spring.

Ho Chi Minh Trail

A network of jungle paths winding from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam, used as a military route by North Vietnam to supply the Vietcong during the Vietnam War.

Richard Nixon

Advocated for "Vietnamization", created the Environmental Protection Agency, was president during the first moon landing, and because of the Watergate scandal he became the first and the only president to resign.

Watergate

A political scandal involving abuse of power and bribery and obstruction of justice. Nixon's involvement in the break-in of the Democratic Headquarters prior to the 1972 election.

CREEP

Richard Nixon's committee for re-electing the president. They were involved in the infamous Watergate cover-up.

Detente

The policy of the US government to relax tensions with communist countries.

SALT

Negotiations between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. This was designed to limit both countries' stock of nuclear weapons

Gerald Ford

Solely elected by a vote from Congress. He pardoned Nixon of all crimes that he may have committed. Evacuated nearly 500,000 Americans and South Vietnamese from Vietnam, closing the war.

Jimmy Carter

(1977-1981), Created the Department of Energy and the Department of Education. Boycotted the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and his last year in office was marked by the takeover of the American embassy in Iran.

Camp David Accords

A peace treaty between Israel and Egypt where Egypt agreed to recognize the nation state of Israel.

Iran Hostage Crisis

A group of Iranians overran the American embassy in Iran's capital of Tehran and took 52 hostages.

Title IX

A law that bans gender discrimination in schools that receive federal funds.

Ronald Reagan

First elected president in 1980 and elected again in 1984. He ran on a campaign based on the common man and "populist" ideas. He cut out many welfare and public works programs. He used the Strategic Defense Initiative to avoid conflict.

Reagonomics

Supply side economics of low taxes, spending; failed economically, worked politically.

Star Wars Program

A program first initiated under President Ronald Reagan. The intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union.

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.

George H.W. Bush

President during the Gulf War, ability to quickly bring the war to a conclusion while suffering relatively few casualties.

Persian Gulf War

Saddam Hussein (the dictator of Iraq) invaded Kuwait, so the US, UN, and other Middle East countries joined to defeat Saddam. Desert Storm.

Sandra Day O'Connor

First woman supreme court justice. appointed by Reagan.