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House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
The HUAC was established by the House of Representatives to investigate suspected communist activities among U.S. citizens. -
G.I. Bill (Servicemen's Readjustment Act 1944)
The G.I. Bill was signed by President F.D.R to give WWII verterans money to pay for college, unemployment insurance, and housing as a thanks for serving their country. -
Baby Boom Generation
The baby boom generation was the generation of people born when the troops came back from WW2. It was the biggest population increase in U.S. history. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was a name given to the divide between the Soviet Bloc and the rest of Europe. -
Cold War
The Cold War was tension between the worlds most powerful nations, the communist Soviet Union and the capitolist United States. Both nations were trying to prove that their economic system was the best. It called for dramatic increase in military production and technology. It included the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, the Space Race, and the Red Scare. -
Containment Policy
The Containment Policy included the Truman Doctrin, Marshall Plan, and the wars involved in the Cold War. Really it was all the things that contributed to the United States Attempt to stop the spread of communis. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine stated that the United States would provide military, political, and economic assistance to any country who was not communist in an attempt to gain allies and fight off communism. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall plan was when the United States gave $13 billion to western european countries after WWII in an attempt to make peace with them and gain allies who would aid in the stop of the spead of communism. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift happened when the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall on its side of Germany to stop aid from being recieved from the United States, France, and Britian. The airlift was literally when U.S. plans dropped supplies over the wall and into East Germany to help the citizens. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
NATO is a treaty of safeguard the freedom and security of the nations involved through military and political means. NATO includes most of Western Europe and the Americas. NATO was created to provide security against the Soviet Union but today it is mostly used for peacekeeping. -
Beatniks
A beatnik is a person in a social movement of the 1950s and early 1960s which stressed artistic self-expression and the rejected traditional society -
1950s Prosperity
During the 1950s, the economy was booming, and people could afford to buy luxury items. Cars were very popular and affordable, so people could live away from the cities. This introduced the suburbs, a place between the city and country. Many europeans heard that the United States had available jobs and lots of money to make, so they moved to the united states, this was called the White Flight. -
1950s Culture
In the 1950s, the United States could afford to do almost anything. People bought things they didn't need and people had the mentality of "If you don't have it, thats why you need it" and they were okay with treating themselves. -
Rock n' Roll
Rock and Roll began in the 50s in the United States. It was very popular with the youth because they could relate the the subjects that the songs were about. Usually drugs, love, alcohol, school, cars, and clothing. It was a form of artistic expression against the norm of society. -
Rosenberg Trial
The Rosenberg Trial was a trial against the couple Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. They were accused for selling United States nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War. They were sentenced to electrocution and this was the start of the Red Scare. -
Korean War
The Korean War was almost the exact same thing as the Vietnam War, except it was in Korea. Also North Korea was fighting for communism againt the Capitolist South. It ended in the division of the country into two and it is still that way today. -
Domino Theory
Domino Theory was the idea that if one country were to give in to communism, the surrounding countries would follow. Domino Theory was used to justify the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. -
McCarthyism
McCarthy was a man who accused many people of being communists during the Cold War. He cost many people their reputations and jobs. He was put on trial for accusing people without proper evidence. The Crucibal was written about this. McCarthyism is the act of accusing someone of treason without proper evidence or out of spite. -
Interstate Highway Act
President Eisenhower signed this act to build interstate highways all across the united states to help citizens travel and connect military bases across the country during the cold war. It was the biggest public workds project at the time. -
Space Race (Sputnik and Moon Landings)
In the 1950s, the Unites States and the Soviet Union were still competing for superiority. Capitolism and Communism found a new arena in space. The Soviets and Americans both were trying to advance their technology to get to space first. The two main space programs were Sputnik and Moon landings.
Sputnik was the first artificial Earth satilite created by the Soviet Union.
The Moon Landings, Apollo 11, actually did land on the moon and the United States was the first to put a man on the moon. -
Anti-War Movement
The Anti-War Movement took place in the United States in the 1960s to demonstrate the increasing opposition to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. -
1960s Culture
The 1960s was the decade of the Hippies. Psychedelic rock, free love, and peace were all major points. But the hippie lifestyle was more about philosophy than fashion. This was during the Anti-War Movement so protests, mostly peaceful, were common. This decade was all about the people rather than the government. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs invasion was a failed coup to overthrow the communist leader of Cuba, Fidel Castro -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis occured when the Soviets put missiles in Cuba to help defent itself. Cuba was already communist and had a communist dictator which the united states thought would attact the U.S. if provoced. The Crisis was when the United states and Soviet Union can super close to nuclear war because of misscommunication and distrust between the two sides. -
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennidy was the 35th president of the United States. He was involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis and started the space expiditions in the United States. He was assassinated in Dallas Texas on Novermber 22, 1963. -
Great Society
Great Society was a set of domestic programs started by president LBJ to eliminate poverrty and unemployment in the United States during the 1960s. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was signed and passed by President Johnson, authorizing the president to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote international peace and security in southeast Asia. -
Miranda v. Arizona
This case Ernesto Mirandawas accused of rape and gave a confessiona dnwas sentenced guilty. But his lawyer argued that he was not told his rights before he confessed and that is unconstitutional. The importance of this case was the all arrests and interogations must be started with a reading of the accused or suspecteds rights. They were named Miranda Rights after the man accused. -
Tet Offensive 1968
The Tet Offensive was a series of attacks made by North Vietnam against the South starting on the Vietnamese Holiday Tet, lunar new year. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower was responsible for ending the Korean War and signed the Civil RIghts Act of 1957 and 1960. He was the 34th president of the United States. -
Vietnamization
Vietnamization was president Richard Nixon's strategy to end U.S. involvement in Vietnam by turing all military responsibilities to South Vietnam and withdraw Americna troops from Vietnam. South Vietnam fell to the communist North anyway. -
Rust Belt and Sun Belt
The Rust Belt was located in the Widwestern and North Eastern that had a lot of factories and was a key spot for industrialization.
The Sun Belt was located in the Southern United States. This area was great for agriculture.
People moved to these places for job opportunites. -
1970s Culture
the economy finally crashed int eh 1970s and a lot of poeple lost their jobs. People turned to drug use as a way to cope with how terrible their lives were. From this hardship came music to make people get up and feel good, disco. -
26th Amendment
The 26th Amendment of the United States gave all citizens, including all races and genders, the right to vote at the age of 18. -
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson was the 35th president of the United States who was sworn into office after JFK's assassination. He is mostly known for being involved in the Apollo 8 mission, passed the Voting RIghts Act of 1965, and kept the United States involved in the VIetnam War. -
War Powers Act
The War Powers act of 1973 was put in place so that the president at the time, Nixon, could not just send troops overseas without the concent of the executive brance. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam war was two different things. For Americans, the Vietnam War was a fight against communism. For Vietnam, the war was a fight for independence. The United States got involved to stop Vietnam and the rest of Southeast Asia from adopting communism, as is predicted from the Domino Theory. It was not a fight for the United States to get involved in, and it did more harm to us and the Vietnamese than helped. The United States defended the Capitolist South against the communist North. -
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon was when the Vietcong captured the capitol of South Vietnam, Saigon. This was when Vietnam finally united into one country under communism. The South surrendered to the North in the name of Vietnamese nationality. -
1980s Culture
The 1980s were all about making America great again. We had an actor for a president (Ronald Reagan) and the Space Race had calmed down a bit. People felt good about their country and they indulged in commercial once again. The 1980s were nutorious for movies, video games, and all other kinds of technology that was now available for the average person. -
Ray Kroc
Ray Kroc was a buisnessman who invested in McDonalds in 1954 and made it into the biggest fast food organization in the world even today. -
Abbie Hoffman
Abbie Hoffman was an American politician, anarchist, and social activist who cofounded the Youth Internation Party, also known as Yippies. -
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, he ended U.S. involvement in Vietnam after increasing it, which was not popular with U.S. citizens. He also tapped the democratic party's phones during his second term, the Watergate Scandle. He was the first and only president to resign from presidency and would have been the first to be impeached if he hadn't resigned. -
Jonas Salk
Jonas Salk was the discoverer and developer of the first polio vaccine in March, 1953. -
Roy Benavidez
Benavadez was a U.S. soldier during the Vietnam War. He helped citizens evacuate Vietnam and in the process, he stepped on a landmine which wounded him severly. He recieved the Medal of Honor from Ronald Reagan. -
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan was a women's rights activist and cofounded of of National Organization for Women. She published the book The Feminine Mystique in 1963.
