APUSH Period 8 Key Terms and Concepts

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. Military alliance established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) of April 4, 1949, which sought to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in central and eastern Europe after World War II. Its original members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Brown vs. Board of Education

1954- court decision that declared state laws segregating schools to be unconstitutional. Overturned Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

Little Rock Crisis

1957 - Governor Faubus sent the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine Black students from entering Little Rock Central High School. Eisenhower sent in U.S. paratroopers to ensure the students could attend class.

Civil Rights Act (1957, 1960, 1964)

1957-> (Eisenhower) Established a permanent commission on civil rights with investigative powers but it did not guarantee a ballot for blacks. It was the first civil-rights bill to be enacted after Reconstruction which was supported by most non-southern whites. 1960-> (Eisenhower) established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote. 1964-> Passed under the Johnson administration, this act outlawed segregation in public areas and granted the federal government power to fight black disfranchisement. The act also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to prevent discrimination in the workplace.

Vietnamization

A strategy that aimed to reduce American involvement in the Vietnam War by transferring all military responsibilities to South Vietnam. The increasingly unpopular war had created deep rifts in American society. Nixon believed that this strategy, which involved building up South Vietnam's armed forces and withdrawing U.S. troops, would prepare the South Vietnamese to act in their own defense against a North Vietnamese takeover and allow the United States to leave Vietnam with its honor intact. But the Vietnamization process was deeply flawed from the beginning.

Taft-Hartley Act

Act passed in 1947 that put increased restrictions on labor unions. Also, it allowed states to pass "right to work" laws: prohibited "union" shop (= workers must join union after being hired). It also prohibited secondary boycotts and established that the President has power to issue injections in strikes that endangered national health & safety ("cooling off" period). formally Labor-Management Relations Act, (1947), in U.S. history, law—enacted over the veto of Pres. Harry S. Truman—amending much of the pro-union Wagner Act of 1935. A variety of factors, including the fear of Communist infiltration of labour unions, the tremendous growth in both membership and power of unions, and a series of large-scale strikes, contributed to an anti-union climate in the United States after World War II. Republican majorities in both houses of Congress—the first since 1930—sought to remedy the union abuses seen as permitted under the Wagner Act.

Great Society (Lyndon Johnson)

An ambitious series of policy initiatives, legislation and programs spearheaded by President Lyndon B. Johnson with the main goals of ending poverty, reducing crime, abolishing inequality and improving the environment. In May 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson laid out his agenda for a "Great Society" during a speech at the University of Michigan. With his eye on re-election that year, Johnson set in motion his Great Society, the largest social reform plan in modern history.

Watts Riots

August 1965 *Six-day riots in Watts, a depressed African American section of Los Angeles *Causes included a drunk-driving arrest of a young African American and claims of police brutality *Thirty-four deaths and over $200 million worth of property damage resulted *Sparked other riots throughout the country

Medicaid

Created by LBJ. Medicaid. a federal and state assistance program that pays for health care services for people who cannot afford them (low-income families).

Betty Friedan- Feminine Mystique

Friedan-> An American feminist, activist and writer, best known for starting what is commonly known as the "Second Wave" of feminism through the writing of a book. Book-> A landmark book by Friedan published in 1963 that described the pervasive dissatisfaction among women in mainstream American society in the post-World War II period. She coined the term feminine mystique to describe the societal assumption that women could find fulfillment through housework, marriage, sexual passivity, and child rearing alone. Further, prevailing attitudes held that "truly feminine" women had no desire for higher education, careers, or a political voice; rather, they found complete fulfillment in the domestic sphere. Denounced the "housewife trap" which caused educated women to hold even themselves inferior to men

Freedom Riders

Groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Rides, bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. Freedom Riders tried to use "whites-only" restrooms and lunch counters at bus stations in Alabama, South Carolina and other Southern states. The groups were confronted by arresting police officers—as well as horrific violence from white protestors—along their routes, but also drew international attention to their cause.

Berlin Airlift

On June 24, 1948, the Soviet Union blocked all road and rail travel to and from West Berlin, which was located within the Soviet zone of occupation in Germany. The Soviet action was in response to the refusal of American and British officials to allow Russia more say in the economic future of Germany. In response to the Soviet blockade of land routes into West Berlin, the United States begins a massive airlift of food, water, and medicine to the citizens of the besieged city. For nearly a year, supplies from American planes sustained the over 2 million people in West Berlin; The Soviets persisted with the blockade until May 1949. The unbelievably successful American airlift also backfired against the Russians by highlighting the technological superiority of the United States. By the time the Soviets ended the blockade, West Germany had become a separate and independent nation and the Russian failure was complete.

Highway Act (1956)

On June 29, 1956, a hospitalised President Dwight Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The bill created a 41,000-mile "National System of Interstate and Defense Highways" that would, according to Eisenhower, eliminate unsafe roads, inefficient routes, traffic jams and all of the other things that got in the way of "speedy, safe transcontinental travel." At the same time, highway advocates argued, "in case of atomic attack on our key cities, the road net [would] permit quick evacuation of target areas." For all of these reasons, the 1956 law declared that the construction of an elaborate expressway system was "essential to the national interest."

Peace Corps

On March 1, 1961, President Kennedy issued Executive Order #10924, establishing the Peace Corps as a new agency within the Department of State. The same day, he sent a message to Congress asking for permanent funding for the agency, which would send trained American men and women to foreign nations to assist in development efforts. The Peace Corps captured the imagination of the U.S. public, and during the week after its creation thousands of letters poured into Washington from young Americans hoping to volunteer. Volunteers who help third world nations and prevent the spread of communism by getting rid of poverty, Africa, Asia, and Latin America

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

Organized in the fall of 1960 by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. as a student civil rights movement inspired by sit-ins, it challenged the status quo and walked the back roads of Mississippi and Georgia to encourage Blacks to resist segregation and to register to vote. It had students whose purpose was coordinate a nonviolent attack on segregation and other forms of racism

Iranian Hostage Crisis

The 444 days, from November 1979 to January 1981, in which American embassy workers were held captive by Iranian revolutionaries. The Iranian Revolution began in January 1979 when young Muslim fundamentalists overthrew the oppressive regime of the American-backed shah, forcing him into exile. Deeming the United States "the Great Satan," these revolutionaries triggered an energy crisis by cutting off Iranian oil. The hostage crisis began when revolutionaries stormed the American embassy, demanding that the United States return the shah to Iran for trial. The episode was marked by botched diplomacy and failed rescue attempts by the Carter Administration. After permanently damaging relations between the two countries, the crisis ended with the hostages' release the day Ronald Reagan became president, January 20, 1981.

Iron Curtain

The political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas. The restrictions and the rigidity of the Iron Curtain were somewhat reduced in the years following Joseph Stalin's death in 1953, although the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 restored them. During the Cold War the Iron Curtain extended to the airwaves. The attempts by the Central Intelligence Agency-funded Radio Free Europe (RFE) to provide listeners behind the Curtain with uncensored news were met with efforts by communist governments to jam RFE's signal. The Iron Curtain largely ceased to exist in 1989-90 with the communists' abandonment of one-party rule in eastern Europe.

Kent State Riot

The shootings on May 4, 1970, of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, during a mass protest against the bombing of Cambodia by United States military forces.

House Un-American Activities Committee

(HUAC) A committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, investigated allegations of communist activity in the U.S. during the early years of the Cold War (1945-91). Established in 1938, the committee wielded its subpoena power as a weapon and called citizens to testify in high-profile hearings before Congress. This intimidating atmosphere often produced dramatic but questionable revelations about Communists infiltrating American institutions and subversive actions by well-known citizens. HUAC's controversial tactics contributed to the fear, distrust and repression that existed during the anticommunist hysteria of the 1950s.

National Organization for Women (NOW)

Inspired by Betty Frieden, a reform organization that battled for equal rights with men by lobbying and testing laws in court. NOW wanted equal employment opportunities, equal pay, ERA, divorce law changes, and legalized abortion.

Miranda vs. Arizona

(1966) The Supreme Court ruled that detained criminal suspects, prior to police questioning, must be informed of their constitutional right to an attorney and against self-incrimination, therefore creating the now-known Miranda Rights. The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision written by Chief Justice Earl Warren, ruled that the prosecution could not introduce Miranda's confession as evidence in a criminal trial because the police had failed to first inform Miranda of his right to an attorney and against self-incrimination. The police duty to give these warnings is compelled by the Constitution's Fifth Amendment, which gives a criminal suspect the right to refuse "to be a witness against himself," and Sixth Amendment, which guarantees criminal defendants the right to an attorney.

Atlantic Charter

1941-Pledge signed by US president FDR and British prime minister Winston Churchill not to acquire new territory as a result of WWII amd to work for peace after the war. Fifth Clause - fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field Sixth Clause - safety within national boundaries, freedom from fear and want Seventh Clause - traversing the high seas without hindrance Eighth Clause - abandonment of the use of force

National Security Act

1947; enacted to back up the Truman Doctrine; established the National Security Council to advise the president, established the Central Intelligence Agency to gather information abroad and engage in covert activities in support of the nation's security, began the processes of transforming the old War and Navy Depts into the Department of Defense, and combined the leadership of the army,navy, and air force under the Joint Chiefs of Staff; showed Truman's and Americans' fears of communist invasion after WWII. *Created the Central Intelligence Agency *Created the National Security Council *Reorganized the military under one Department of Defense head

Brinkmanship

A 1956 term used by Secretary of State John Dulles to describe a policy of risking war in order to protect national interests

Containment

A U.S. foreign policy adopted by President Harry Truman in the late 1940s, in which the United States tried to stop the spread of communism by creating alliances and helping weak countries to resist Soviet advances.

Title IX

A United States law enacted on June 23, 1972 that states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)

A constitutional amendment originally introduced in Congress in 1923 and passed by Congress in 1972, stating that "equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex." Despite public support, the amendment failed to acquire the necessary support from three-fourths of the state legislatures.

Berlin Wall

A fortified wall surrounding West Berlin, Germany, built in 1961 to prevent East German citizens from traveling to the West. Its demolition in 1989 symbolized the end of the Cold War. This wall was both a deterrent to individuals trying to escape and a symbol of repression to the free world.

Environmental Protection Agency

A governmental organization signed into law by Richard Nixon in 1970 designed to regulate pollution, emissions, and other factors that negatively influence the natural environment. The creation of the it marked a newfound commitment by the federal government to actively combat environmental risks and was a significant triumph for the environmentalist movement.

Military Industrial Complex

A network of individuals and institutions involved in the production of weapons and military technologies. It attempts to marshal political support for continued or increased military spending by the national government. First used by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his Farewell Address on January 17, 1961. Eisenhower warned that the United States must "guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence...by the military-industrial complex," which included members of Congress from districts dependent on military industries, the Department of Defense, and privately owned military contractors. Eisenhower believed that the military-industrial complex tended to promote policies that might not be in the country's best interest (such as participation in the nuclear arms race), and he feared that its growing influence, if left unchecked, could undermine American democracy.

Medicare

A program added to the Social Security system in 1965 that provides hospitalization insurance for the elderly and permits older Americans (65 or older) to purchase inexpensive coverage for doctor fees and other health expenses. Created by LBJ

Black Panthers

Also known as the Black Panther Party, was a political organization founded in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale to challenge police brutality against the African American community. Dressed in black berets and black leather jackets, the Black Panthers organized armed citizen patrols of Oakland and other U.S. cities. At its peak in 1968, the Black Panther Party had roughly 2,000 members. The organization later declined as a result of internal tensions, deadly shootouts and FBI counterintelligence activities aimed at weakening the organization.

Marshall Plan

Also known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. It was enacted in 1948 and provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent. The brainchild of U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall, for whom it was named, it was crafted as a four-year plan to reconstruct cities, industries and infrastructure heavily damaged during the war and to remove trade barriers between European neighbors - as well as foster commerce between those countries and the United States.

Immigration Act 1965

Also known as the Hart-Celler Act, abolished an earlier quota system based on national origin and established a new immigration policy based on reuniting immigrant families and attracting skilled labor to the United States. Over the next four decades, the policies put into effect in 1965 would greatly change the demographic makeup of the American population, as immigrants entering the United States under the new legislation came increasingly from countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, as opposed to Europe.

Freedom Summer

Also known as the the Mississippi Summer Project, a 1964 voter registration drive sponsored by civil rights organizations including the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Aimed at increasing black voter registration in Mississippi, the Freedom Summer workers included black Mississippians and more than 1,000 out-of-state, predominately white volunteers. The Ku Klux Klan, police and state and local authorities carried out a series of violent attacks against the activists, including arson, beatings, false arrest and the murder of at least three people.

Sputnik/NASA

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.

Rachel Carson- Silent Spring

Carson-> An American marine biologist wrote in 1962 about her suspicion that the pesticide DDT, by entering the food chain and eventually concentrating in higher animals, caused reproductive dysfunctions. In 1973, DDT was banned in the U.S. except for use in extreme health emergencies. Book-> An environmental science book by Carson. The book was published on 1962, documenting the adverse environmental effects caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Carson accused the chemical industry of spreading disinformation, and public officials of accepting the industry's marketing claims unquestioningly.

The New Left

Coalition of younger members of the Democratic party and radical student groups. Believed in participatory democracy, free speech, civil rights and racial brotherhood, and opposed the war in Vietnam.

OPEC Oil Embargo

During the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an embargo against the United States in retaliation for the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military and to gain leverage in the post-war peace negotiations.

Employment Act of 1946

Enacted by Truman; legislation declaring that the government's economic policy should aim to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power, as well as to keep inflation low. A general commitment that was much shorter on specific targets and rules than its liberal creators had wished. The Act created the Council of Economic Advisers to provide the president with data and recommendations to make economic policy.

Clean Water Act (1972)

Established the basic structure for regulating pollutant discharges into the waters of the United States. Gave EPA the authority to implement pollution control programs such as setting wastewater standards for industry.

War on Poverty

Expansive social-welfare legislation introduced in the 1960s by the administration of U.S. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson and intended to help end poverty in the United States. It was part of a larger legislative reform program, known as the Great Society, that Johnson hoped would make the United States a more equitable and just country. Johnson announced an "unconditional war on poverty" in his first State of the Union address, in January 1964. He considered the depth and extent of poverty in the country (nearly 20 percent of Americans at the time were poor) to be a national disgrace that merited a national response. He identified the cause of poverty not as the personal moral failings of the poor but as a societal failure

Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

Founded in 1942, became one of the leading activist organizations in the early years of the American civil rights movement. In the early 1960s, CORE, working with other civil rights groups, launched a series of initiatives: the Freedom Rides, aimed at desegregating public facilities, the Freedom Summer voter registration project and the historic 1963 March on Washington.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

Founded in 1962, the SDS was a popular college student organization that protested shortcomings in American life, notably racial injustice and the Vietnam War. It led thousands of campus protests before it split apart at the end of the 1960s. An anti-establishment New Left group, founded in 1960, that called for greater individual freedom and responsibility

Jonas Salk

In 1947, Salk took a position at University of Pittsburgh, where he began conducting research on polio, also known as infantile paralysis. By 1951, Salk had determined that there were three distinct types of polio viruses and was able to develop a "killed virus" vaccine for the disease.

Levittown

In 1947, William Levitt used mass production techniques to build inexpensive homes in suburban New York to help relieve the postwar housing shortage. Levittown became a symbol of the movement to the suburbs in the years after WWII.

Stonewall Riot

In the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village in New York City. The raid sparked a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughly hauled employees and patrons out of the bar, leading to six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement outside the bar on Christopher Street, in neighboring streets and in nearby Christopher Park. The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

Beatniks

Known as the Beat Generation; A group of rebellious writers and intellectuals led by Jack Kerouac (On the Road in which the characters travel for the joy of traveling) and poet Allen Ginsberg ("Howl" about the evils of modern society). This group advocated spontaneity, use of drugs, and rebellion against societal standards. This group became the models for the youth rebellion of the sixties.

American Indian Movement (AIM)

Militant American Indian civil rights organization, founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1968 by Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellecourt, Eddie Benton Banai, and George Mitchell, involved in many highly publicized protests. It was one of the Indian groups involved in the occupation (1969-71) of Alcatraz Island, the march (1972) on Washington, D.C., to protest violation of treaties (in which AIM members occupied the office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs), and the takeover (1973) of a site at Wounded Knee to protest the government's Indian policy.

Weatherman Underground (WUO)

Militant group of young white Americans formed in 1969 that grew out of the anti-Vietnam War movement. The Weather Underground, originally known as Weatherman, evolved from the Third World Marxists, a faction within Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the major national organization representing the burgeoning New Left in the late 1960s. Members of the Weather Underground sought to advance communism through violent revolution, and the group called on America's youth to create a rearguard action against the U.S. government that would bring about its downfall.

NAACP

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Interracial organization founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination and to achieve political and civil rights for African Americans.

"Malaise" Speech

National address by Jimmy Carter in July 1979 in which the President chided American materialism and urged a communal spirit in the face of economic hardships. Although Carter intended the speech to improve both public morale and his standings as a leader, it had the opposite effect and was widely perceived as a political disaster for the embattled president.

Bay of Pigs

On January 1, 1959, a young Cuban nationalist named Fidel Castro (1926-) drove his guerilla army into Havana and overthrew General Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973), the nation's American-backed president. For the next two years, officials at the U.S. State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) attempted to push Castro from power. Finally, in April 1961, the CIA launched what its leaders believed would be the definitive strike: a full-scale invasion of Cuba by 1,400 American-trained Cubans who had fled their homes when Castro took over. However, the invasion did not go well: The invaders were badly outnumbered by Castro's troops, and they surrendered after less than 24 hours of fighting.

Truman Doctrine

President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces such as communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helping Greece and Turkey. The Truman Doctrine effectively reoriented U.S. foreign policy, away from its usual stance of withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly involving the United States, to one of possible intervention in far away conflicts.

Counterculture Movement

Protest movement in the 1960s that rejected traditional American values and culture *Began at Berkeley with free speech movement *Beliefs included women's liberation, anti-materialism, and opposition to the war in Vietnam *Experimented with drugs and sex *Young people who favored the counterculture were called "hippies" *The Woodstock Music and Art Festival in NY State (1969) marked the culmination of the counterculture movement

Cuban Missile Crisis

Tense, 13-day political and military standoff between the US and the USSR in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. In a TV address on October 22, 1962, President John Kennedy (1917-63) notified Americans about the presence of the missiles, explained his decision to enact a naval blockade around Cuba and made it clear the U.S. was prepared to use military force if necessary to neutralize this perceived threat to national security. Disaster was avoided when the U.S. agreed to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's (1894-1971) offer to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for the U.S. promising not to invade Cuba. Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.

Silent Majority

Term used by President Nixon to describe Americans who opposed the counterculture. A phrase used to describe people, whatever their economic status, who uphold traditional values, especially against the counterculture of the 1960s That group of quiet honest hard-working middle class Americans who do their job, respect their country and support gov.; Nixon wants their votes in 1968 and 1972

Massive Retaliation

The "new look" defense policy of the Eisenhower administration of the 1950's was to threaten "massive retaliation" with nuclear weapons in response to any act of aggression by a potential enemy by making nuclear war too destructive to fight, and by making the distinction between victor and loser in such a conflict increasingly meaningless, the deterrent strategy aimed at eliminating war itself.

Exxon Valdez Accident

The Exxon Valdez oil spill was a man made disaster that occurred when Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker owned by the Exxon Shipping Company, spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989. It was the worst oil spill in U.S. history until the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. The Exxon Valdez oil slick covered 1,300 miles of coastline and killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds, otters, seals and whales.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a civil-rights protest during which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The boycott took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, and is regarded as the first large-scale U.S. demonstration against segregation. Four days before the boycott began, Rosa Parks, an African-American woman, was arrested and fined for refusing to yield her bus seat to a white man. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system, and one of the leaders of the boycott, a young pastor named Martin Luther King, Jr., emerged as a prominent leader of the American civil rights movement.

Roe vs. Wade

The U.S. supreme Court ruled that there is a fundamental right to privacy, which includes a woman's decision to have an abortion. Up until the third trimester the state allows abortion.

Watergate

The Watergate scandal began early in the morning of June 17, 1972, when several burglars were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate complex of buildings in Washington, D.C. This was no ordinary robbery: The prowlers were connected to President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign, and they had been caught wiretapping phones and stealing documents. Nixon took aggressive steps to cover up the crime afterwards, and in August 1974, after his role in the conspiracy was revealed, Nixon resigned. The Watergate scandal changed American politics forever, leading many Americans to question their leaders and think more critically about the presidency.

McCarthyism

The act of accusing people of disloyalty and communism. Name given to the period of time in American history that saw Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy produce a series of investigations and hearings during the 1950s in an effort to expose supposed communist infiltration of various areas of the U.S. government. McCarthy was elected to the Senate in 1946 and rose to prominence in 1950 when he claimed in a speech that 205 communists had infiltrated the State Department. McCarthy's subsequent search for communists in the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department, and elsewhere made him an incredibly polarizing figure. Although he failed to make a plausible case against anyone, his colourful and cleverly presented accusations drove some persons out of their jobs and brought popular condemnation to others.

New Frontier

The campaign program advocated by JFK in the 1960 election. He promised to revitalize the stagnant (dormant) economy and enact reform legislation in education, health care, and civil rights. Aimed at improving the economy, fighting racial discrimination, and exploring space

Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT)

The first agreements, known as SALT I and SALT II, were signed by the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1972 and 1979, respectively, and were intended to restrain the arms race in strategic (long-range or intercontinental) ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons. (SALT I) Signed in 1972 by Nixon, it limited each of the superpowers to 200 anti-ballistic missiles and set quotas for intercontinental and submarine missiles

Camp David Accords (1978)

The meeting between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and the US President Jimmy Carter. President Carter helped negotiate Middle East peace agreements between Jordan and Egypt and Israel. They agreed that Egypt would never again invade Israel if Israel turned over the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt and to be expelled from the Arab league; created a power vacuum that Saddam hoped to fill; first treaty of its kind between Israel and an Arab state.

Three Mile Island

Three Mile Island is the site of a nuclear power plant in south central Pennsylvania. In March 1979, a series of mechanical and human errors at the plant caused the worst commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history, resulting in a partial meltdown that released dangerous radioactive gasses into the atmosphere. Three Mile Island stoked public fears about nuclear power—no new nuclear power plants have been built in the United States since the accident.

Clean Air Act (1970)

U.S. federal law, passed in 1970 and later amended, to prevent air pollution and thereby protect the ozone layer and promote public health. It gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the power it needed to take effective action to fight environmental pollution. Required EPA to develop and enforce regulations to protect the public from airborne contaminants; forced states to follow and make sure the laws for followed in relation to the EPA. States allowed to decide officials for enforcement.

Wounded Knee

Wounded Knee, located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota,was the site of two conflicts between North American Indians and representatives of the U.S. government. An 1890 massacre left some 150 Native Americans dead, in what was the final clash between federal troops (Calvary) and the Sioux. In 1973, members of the American Indian Movement occupied Wounded Knee for 71 days to protest conditions on the reservation.

Blackboard Jungle

a 1955 fictional film about juvenile delinquency that tied rock music to teen rebellion; first movie to have a rock n roll soundtrack; inadvertently propelled "Rock Around the Clock", by Bill Haley to a number one hit.

Nixon Doctrine

a foreign policy of the U.S. government, announced by U.S. Pres. Richard Nixon in 1969, whereby the United States would thereafter support allies facing military threats with economic and military aid rather than with ground troops. It was announced during the Vietnam War (1954-75). Nixon stated that the United States could no longer afford to defend its allies fully. He added that, although the United States would continue to uphold all of its treaty obligations, it would expect its allies to contribute significantly to their own defense, and assured U.S. allies that the United States would continue to use its nuclear arsenal to shield them from nuclear threats.

Voting Rights Act (1965)

signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.