United States History Final Exam

Warren Commission

Commission, headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, that investigated the assassination of President Kennedy. Made by LBJ after the killing of John F. Kennedy. (Point is to investigate if someone paid for the assassination of Kennedy.) Conclusion is that Oswald killed Kennedy on his own.

Opposition to the New Deal? Critics?

-The New Deal not doing enough: Despite the New Deal, many remained poor, African Americans and rural farmers still suffered -Huey Long + his opposition: Huey Long taxed big corporations and used the money to build houses, schools and hospitals, employed African Americans on the same deals as white people, supported the New Deal at first, then criticized it for not doing enough and being too complicated, proposed 'Share Our Wealth': all personal fortunes would be decreased - Government taxes would be shared by all Americans Townsend + his actions: Townsend Clubs to give pensions of 200$ per month for people over 60, who would spend it in the month and stimulate the economy.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam

What was the baby boom?

-With so many people working and making a better living than ever before, the baby boom that had begun in the mid-1940s continued. -The birthrate, which had fallen to 19 births per 1,000 people during the Depression, soared to more than 25 births per 1,000 in its peak year of 1957. -Seeking more room, growing families retreated from the noise and pollution of aging cities and bought new houses in suburbs that ringed the urban areas.

Domino Theory

Belief that if one country falls to Communism, neighboring countries will fall as well.

Purpose of the atomic bomb droppings

-Heavy American casualties at Iwo Jima and Okinawa were a factor in the committee's support for using the bomb. -The final decision, however, rested with President Truman, who considered the bomb to be a military weapon and had no doubt that it should be used. -On August 6, 1945, an American plane, the Enola Gay, dropped a single atomic bomb on Hiroshima, a city in southern Japan and the site of a large army base. A blast of intense heat annihilated the city's center and its residents in an instant. Many buildings that survived the initial blast were destroyed by fires spread by powerful winds.

What is appeasement and name a scenario where it was used.

*(Giving in to a competitor's demands in order to keep the peace) -When Hitler demanded the Sudetenland, an industrial region of western Czechoslovakia with a heavily German population and many fortifications crucial to Czechoslovakia's defense, Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, met with Hitler twice to try to resolve the issue and pursued a policy of appeasement. -However, Hitler kept increasing his demands, so Chamberlain and the French president, Édouard Daladier, met with Hitler and Mussolini in Munich, Germany, in September 1938. -Because Britain and France were unprepared for a conflict, they agreed to sacrifice the Sudetenland, in the hopes that Hitler's appetite for territory would be satisfied. -Although France was bound by treaty to defend Czechoslovakia, Daladier and Chamberlain agreed to let Hitler annex the Sudetenland on his own terms.

Brown v. Board of Education

-In 1951, Oliver Brown sued the Topeka, Kansas, Board of Education to allow his 8-year-old daughter Linda to attend a nearby school for whites only. -After appeals, the case reached the Supreme Court and Thurgood Marshall argued on behalf of Brown and against segregation in America's schools. -The Court declared that the "separate but equal" doctrine was unconstitutional and could not be applied to public education. -A year later, the Court ruled that local school boards should move to desegregate "with all deliberate speed." -African Americans rejoiced. Many white Americans, even if they did not agree, accepted the decision and hoped that desegregation could take place peacefully. -The ruling in Brown v. Board of Education caused many southern whites, especially in the Deep South, to react with fear and angry resistance. The KKK became more active, threatening those who advocated acceptance of the Brown decision. -The congressional representatives of states in the Deep South joined together to protest the Supreme Court's order to desegregate public schools. -Many believed that desegregation would lead to violence and chaos in several southern states. -As a result, they refused to comply with the court's ruling.

List some New Deal programs.

-1933 Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA): Helped states to provide aid for the unemployed -1933 Public Works Administration (PWA): Created jobs on government projects -1935 Works Progress Administration (WPA): Quickly created as many jobs as possible -1935 National Youth Administration (NYA): Provided job training for unemployed young people and part-time jobs for needy students -1933 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC): Which protected bank deposits up to $5,000, thus reassuring the Americans that their money were safe -1933 National Recovery Administration (NRA): Establish codes of fair competition -1934 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC): Supervised the stock market and eliminated dishonest practices -1933 Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA): Raise crop prices by lowering production and paying farmers to leave a certain amount of every acre of land unseeded; declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court on the ground that agriculture is a local matter and thus, the power to regulate agriculture should be given to states rather than federal government. -1933 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA): Developed the resources of the Tennessee Valley such as electrics -1935 Rural Electrification Administration (REA): Provided affordable electricity for isolated rural areas. -1933 Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC): Loaned money at low interest to homeowners who could not meet mortgage payments -1934 Federal Housing Administration (FHA): Insured loans for building and repairing homes -1935 Social Security Administration (SSA): provided old-age pensions, disability payments, and unemployment benefits.

Describe the Invasion of Poland.

-After Hitler took Czechoslovakia, British and French leaders warned him that any further German expansion would risk war. -On March 31, 1939, they formally pledged their support to Poland, agreeing to come to its aid if Germany invaded. -As in 1914, Germany could ill afford to fight a war on two fronts at the same time. -Hitler wanted to deal with Britain and France, his foes to the west, without having to fear an attack from the east. -In August, Stalin and Hitler signed a ten-year Nonaggression Pact, which eliminated the danger of a Soviet invasion from the east. -A secret document attached to the pact divided up the independent states of eastern Europe between Germany and the Soviet Union. -One week later, on September 1, 1939, Hitler invaded Poland. -On September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany.

LBJ's objective in Vietnam

-After winning the election in 1964, President Johnson started a gradual military escalation, or expansion, of the war. -Enemy gains in South Vietnam led Johnson to devote ever more American money and personnel to the conflict. -Initially, United States soldiers had gone to Vietnam to advise the South Vietnamese. -Now they took on the task of propping up the South Vietnamese government, which was led by military officer Nguyen Cao Ky.

What was the League of Nations?

-An international organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, created after WWI to provide a forum for resolving international disputes. -Though first proposed by President Wilson for an peace in Europe, the U.S. never became a member.

Describe some effects of Prohibition.

-Bootlegging: suppliers of illegal alcohol and operated stills—devices used to produce alcohol from corn, grain, potatoes, or other fruit and vegetable sources. Others smuggled liquor overland from Canada or by ship from the Caribbean. -Speakeasies: were bars that operated illegally and flourished in the cities. A customer could not just stroll into a speakeasy. A heavy gate usually blocked the entrance, and the customer had to show a membership card or be recognized by a guard. -Organized Crime: supplying illegal liquor was a complex operation, involving manufacture, transportation, storage, and sales. This complexity, and bootlegging's huge potential for profit, helped lead to the development of organized crime.

Describe the pros of conformity.

-Businesses seized the opportunity to sell products to the youth market. -Advertisements and movies helped to build an image of what it meant to be a teenager in the 1950s. -The girls were shown in bobby socks and poodle skirts, and the boys wore letter sweaters. -Magazines targeting youth, including Seventeen, Datebook, Teen, and Cool, offered plenty of advice to teenagers—not only on how to dress, but on how best to behave, especially when it came to dating. -Teenage girls collected items such as silver and linens in anticipation of marriage, which was often just after high school. -In the 1950s, Americans, who had drifted away from religion in earlier years, flocked back to their churches and synagogues. -Some looked to religion to find hope in the face of the threat of nuclear war. -Americans in the post-World War II years were keenly aware of the roles that they were expected to play as men and women. -These roles were defined by social and religious traditions that had broad appeal to Americans. -Men were expected to go to school and then find jobs to support wives and children. -Theirs was the public sphere, the world away from home, where they earned money and made important political, economic, and social decisions. -Women were expected to play a supporting role in their husbands' lives. -They kept house, cooked meals, and raised children. -Most middle-class women settled into the domestic role and took on the demands of raising children and maintaining their suburban homes.

March on Washington

-Civil rights leaders proposed a march on Washington, D.C. -The March on Washington took place in August 1963. -More than 200,000 people came from all over the country to call for "jobs and freedom," the official slogan of the march. -Labor leader A. Philip Randolph directed the march. -Participants included religious leaders and celebrities such as writer James Baldwin, entertainer Sammy Davis, Jr., and baseball player Jackie Robinson. -Leading folk singers of the early 1960s, such as Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, were also there. -The march was peaceful and orderly. After many songs and speeches, Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered what was to become his best-known address. -King's words echoed around the country. President Kennedy, watching the speech on television, was impressed with King's skill. But still the civil rights bill remained stalled in Congress.

What did the economic prosperity of the 1920s include?

-Consumer economy increased spending which leads to larger profits for businesses, which pushes up wages and encourages more spending. More buying in the 1920s, included higher wages, clever advertising, new products, lower costs, and credit. Electric power, persuasive advertising, and the installment plan all helped consumers go on a buying spree in the 1920s. -"Everybody Ought to Be Rich": People had unusually high confidence in the business world during the 1920s. -Welfare Capitalism: Employers raised wages and provided benefits as paid vacations, health plans, recreation programs, and English classes for recent immigrants, to strengthen company loyalty and morale. -Uneven Prosperity: The rich who got richer, huge corporations rather than small businesses dominated industry. -Personal Debt: Many Americans became accustomed to credit spending during the 1920s. However, the resulting increase in personal debt signaled trouble. The talk of unending prosperity eased worries about going into debt. Installment plans, boasting of "easy terms," made even luxury items seem affordable. -Playing the Stock Market: The climb of stock prices encouraged widespread speculation, the practice of making high-risk investments in hopes of getting a huge return. To attract less wealthy investors, stockbrokers encouraged a practice called buying on margin. This option allowed investors to purchase a stock for only a fraction of its price and borrow the rest. -Too Many Goods, Too Little Demand: By the late 1920s, the country's warehouses were overstocked; they held more goods than consumers would buy. Wages had risen, but people still could not afford to buy goods as fast as the assembly lines turned them out. Although the stock market kept rising, overproduction caused some industries to slow in the late 1920s.

1940s postwar economy

-During the postwar years, the United States embarked on one of its greatest periods of economic expansion. -The gross national product (GNP) more than doubled, jumping from $212 billion in 1945 to $504 billion in 1960. -Per capita income, the average annual income per person, increased from $1,223 to $2,219 during the same period. -Major corporate expansion accompanied economic growth. Industrialists fully intended to provide consumers the goods they desired, as they reconverted their businesses to civilian production at the end of the war. -Research and development—funded by the government—helped create a variety of new products, such as radar and the computer, that could be used in the civilian economy. -The Great Depression, however, had made many giant corporations wary of investing all their resources in a single business. -A conglomerate, a corporation made up of three or more unrelated businesses, was better able to defend against economic downturns. -Franchise agreements vary from one company to the next, but generally the contracts allow each owner to use the company's name, suppliers, products, and production methods. -Each franchise is operated as a small business whose owners profit from the parent company's guidance. -Franchise owners assume less risk than small business owners, in that they sell a product that is well known—and presumably liked by the consumer. The franchise system flourished in the 1950s.

Eisenhower's response to Little Rock Nine

-Eisenhower acted by placing the National Guard under federal command. -He then sent soldiers to Arkansas to protect the nine students.

What were the goals of Prohibition?

-Eliminate drunkenness and the resulting abuse of family members and others. -Get rid of saloons from prostitution, gambling, etc. -Prevent absenteeism and on-the-job accidents stemming from drunkenness. -Congress passed the Volstead Act in 1919 to enforce the Eighteenth Amendment, but it was widely ignored, especially in the large cities. Prohibition sharpened the contrast between urban and rural moral values during the 1920s.

A soldier's life during the Vietnam war

-Encountered all the frustrations of guerrilla warfare. -The Viet Cong; were familiar with the swamps and jungles of Vietnam, could find protection across the border in Cambodia and Laos, and could often count on the support of the local population. -American soldiers were trying to defend the freedom of the South Vietnamese, but the people seemed indifferent to the Americans' effort. -The Viet Cong lacked the sophisticated equipment of the United States troops, so they avoided head-on clashes and they used guerrilla warfare tactics, working in small groups to launch sneak attacks and practice sabotage. -They hid themselves in elaborate underground tunnels. -The various booby traps set by the guerrilla fighters posed constant hazards to the Americans. -The pressure of a footstep could set off a land mine—an explosive device planted in the ground. -Many soldiers were wounded or killed by grenades, which were triggered by concealed trip wires. -The war was also devastating for Vietnamese civilians because American soldiers were never sure who might be sympathetic to the Viet Cong, civilians suffered as much as soldiers. In April 1966, the Americans introduced the huge B-52 bomber into the war to smash roads and heavy bridges in North Vietnam that could drop thousands of tons of explosives over large areas aka saturation bombing. -Many of the bombs used in these raids threw pieces of their thick metal casings in all directions when they exploded aka fragmentation bombs. -United States forces also used chemical weapons against the Vietnamese such as an herbicide known as Agent Orange which kills the leaves and thick undergrowth, it exposed Viet Cong hiding places. -Agent Orange also killed crops. Later it was discovered that Agent Orange caused health problems in livestock and in humans, including Vietnamese civilians and American soldiers. -Napalm was also used which is this jellylike substance splattered and burned uncontrollably. -It also stuck to people's bodies and seared off their flesh.

Define: Harlem Renaissance

-For African Americans, New York City's Harlem was becoming the cultural center of the United States. -Not just a national center for jazz, Harlem also became the home of an African American literary awakening of the 1920s known as the Harlem Renaissance.

Plessy v. Ferguson

-For years the NAACP had tried to get the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision overturned. -That decision held that segregation of the races in public institutions and accommodations was constitutional as long as facilities were "separate but equal." -One of the NAACP's greatest assets was its legal team. -Leading the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund was Thurgood Marshall, who had joined the association in the 1930s. -Known as "Mr. Civil Rights," Marshall fought many battles over segregation in the courts and achieved great gains. -His success was bolstered by the support of an exceptional team of lawyers. -One lawyer in particular, Oliver Hill, from Virginia, won many civil rights suits that focused on issues of discrimination in education and wages. -According to the Washington Post, Hill's team of lawyers had succeeded in winning more than $50 million in higher pay and better educational facilities for black students and teachers. -Little by little, Marshall and Hill managed to chip away at the "separate but equal" clause of Plessy v. Ferguson.

Island hopping

-From Guadalcanal, American forces began island-hopping, a military strategy of selectively attacking specific enemy-held islands and bypassing others. -By capturing only a few crucial islands, the United States effectively cut off the bypassed islands from supplies and reinforcements and rendered those islands useless to the Japanese. -This strategy also allowed the Americans to move more quickly toward their ultimate goal—Japan itself.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

-In 1955, Rosa Parks did not give up her seat when a white man got on at the next stop and had no seat, -At the next stop, police seized her and ordered her to stand trial for violating the segregation laws. -Civil rights leaders in Montgomery quickly met and, after Jo Ann Robinson of the Women's Political Council (WPC) suggested the idea, decided to organize the Montgomery bus boycott. -The plan called for African Americans to refuse to use the entire bus system until the bus company agreed to change its segregation policy. -Martin Luther King, Jr. became the spokesperson for the protest movement. -Over the next year, 50,000 African Americans in Montgomery walked, rode bicycles, or joined car pools to avoid the city buses. -Despite losing money, the bus company refused to change its policies. -Finally, in 1956, the Supreme Court ruled that bus segregation, like school segregation, was unconstitutional.

Tet Offensive

-In 1967, Nguyen Van Thieu succeeded Ky as president of South Vietnam. -Ky and Thieu were more effective leaders than Diem had been, but they remained authoritarian. -Neither was able to put together an army that could successfully defend the country. -The Americans brought with them advanced weaponry and new tactics that achieved some success. -However, the American forces failed to drive out the Viet Cong, who were masters at jungle warfare. -Month after month the fighting continued. United States planes bombed North Vietnam, and the flow of American soldiers into the south increased. -Their number climbed to 385,000 by the end of 1966; to 485,000 by the end of 1967; and to 536,000 by the end of 1968. -Despite the large United States presence in South Vietnam, the Communist forces intensified their efforts. -Those efforts reached a climax early in 1968, during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. -On January 30, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese launched a major offensive. -The Tet Offensive included surprise attacks on major cities and towns and American military bases throughout South Vietnam. -In Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital, the Viet Cong attacked the American embassy and the presidential palace. Fierce fighting continued in Saigon for several weeks. -During the Tet Offensive, Communists were uncommonly brutal, slaughtering anyone they labeled an enemy, including minor officials, teachers, and doctors. -While the Communists had control of Hue, they ordered all civil servants, military personnel, and those who had worked for the Americans to report to special locations. -Of those who obeyed, some 3,000 to 5,000 were killed. -Their bodies were found in mass graves after American and South Vietnamese forces retook the city. Surrounded by brutality and under extreme distress, American soldiers also sometimes committed atrocities. Such brutality came into sharp focus at My Lai, a small village in South Vietnam. In response to word that My Lai was sheltering 250 members of the Viet Cong, a United States infantry company moved in to clear out the village in March 1968. Rather than enemy soldiers, the company found women, children, and old men. Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr., was in charge. First he ordered, "Round everybody up." Then he gave the command for the prisoners to be killed. Private Paul Meadlo later described what happened to one group of Vietnamese: "We huddled them up. We made them squat down.... I poured about four clips [about 68 shots] into the group.... Well, we kept right on firing.... I still dream about it.... Some nights, I can't even sleep. I just lay there thinking about it." Probably more than 400 Vietnamese died in the My Lai massacre. Even more would have perished without the heroic actions of a helicopter crew which stepped in to halt the slaughter. At great risk to himself and his crew, pilot Hugh Thompson landed the helicopter between the soldiers and the fleeing Vietnamese. He ordered his door gunner, 18-year-old Lawrence Colburn, to fire his machine gun at the American troops if they began shooting the villagers. Thompson got out, confronted the leader of the soldiers, and then arranged to evacuate the civilians. Thompson's crew chief, Glenn Andreotta, pulled a child from a ditch full of dead bodies. Such breaches of the rules of military combat did not go unpunished. Pilot Thompson testified about Calley's conduct at My Lai. Although at first his testimony was covered up, eventually, in 1971, Lieutenant Calley began serving a sentence of life in prison with hard labor for his role in the massacre. Many Americans saw him as a scapegoat, however, and public outcry was such that President Nixon reduced his life sentence to 20 years. Calley was released on good behavior three years later. The heroics of the helicopter crew also did not go unnoticed. In 1998, the United States honored all three men with the Soldier's Medal, the highest award for bravery unrelated to fighting an enemy. The Tet Offensive became a turning point in the war. Even though the Viet Cong were turned back with heavy losses, they had won a psychological victory. Secretary of State Dean Rusk commented on the American public's reaction to Tet: "Even though it was a considerable military set-back for the North Vietnamese and Vietcong out there on the ground, it was, in effect, a brilliant political victory for them here in the United States. I'm not sure I fully understand the reasons why that should have occurred, but it became very clear after the Tet offensive that many people at the grass roots, ... finally came to the conclusion that if we could not tell them when this was going to end, and we couldn't in any good faith, that we might as well chuck it." The Tet Offensive demonstrated that the Viet Cong could launch a massive attack on targets throughout South Vietnam. Furthermore, as images of the fighting flooded American television, many people at home began to express reservations about American involvement in Vietnam. Many Americans were discouraged, believing that U.S. troops had not been allowed to win the war. In spite of the vocal antiwar protesters, a majority of Americans supported a policy tougher than the one pursued by the administration. President Johnson, caught in the middle, saw his popularity plunge.

Nixon's presidency: New York Times leak and wiretapping

-In 1969, someone in the National Security Council appeared to have leaked secret information to the New York Times. -In response, Nixon ordered Henry Kissinger to install wiretaps, or listening devices, on the telephones of several members of his own staff. -He also ordered wiretaps on some news reporters' phones. These wiretaps, installed for national security reasons, were legal at the time. -In the spring of 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department official, handed the New York Times a huge, secret Pentagon study of the Vietnam War. -In June 1971, as you have read, the New York Times began to publish this study, which became known as the Pentagon Papers. The documents showed that previous Presidents had deceived Congress and the American people about the real situation in Vietnam. -Nixon approved a plan to organize a special White House unit to stop government leaks. The group, nicknamed the Plumbers, included E. Howard Hunt, a spy novelist and former CIA agent, and G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent. -In September 1971, with approval from White House chief domestic advisor John Ehrlichman, the undercover unit broke into the office of Ellsberg's psychiatrist. The Plumbers hoped to find and disclose damaging information about Ellsberg's private life. Their goal was to punish Ellsberg for leaking the Pentagon Papers.

Manhattan Project

-In August 1939, Roosevelt had received a letter from Albert Einstein suggesting that a new type of bomb could be built by the Germans. -Determined to build the bomb before Germany, Roosevelt organized the top secret Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb. -Scientists had already succeeded in splitting the nucleus of the uranium atom. -To make an atomic bomb, however, they had to discover how to create a chain reaction. -In such a reaction, particles released from the splitting of one atom would cause another atom to break apart, and so on. -In theory, the energy released by the splitting of so many atoms would produce a massive explosion. -In 1942, Enrico Fermi produced the first controlled chain reaction in a laboratory at the University of Chicago. -Scientists worked to design a bomb that could store the raw materials and trigger a much more powerful chain reaction on demand. -On July 16, 1945, Manhattan Project scientists field-tested the world's first atomic bomb in the desert of New Mexico, with a blinding flash of light, the explosion blew a huge crater in the earth and shattered windows 125 miles away.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

-In August 1964, Johnson made a dramatic announcement: North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked United States destroyers in the international waters of the Gulf of Tonkin, 30 miles from North Vietnam. -Johnson used the Gulf of Tonkin incident to deepen American involvement in Vietnam. -The President asked Congress for and obtained a resolution giving him authority to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." -Congress passed this Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7 by a vote of 416 to 0 in the House of Representatives and 88 to 2 in the Senate. -Johnson had been waiting for some time for an opportunity to propose the resolution, which, he noted, "covered everything." -The President now had nearly complete control over what the United States did in Vietnam, even without an official declaration of war from Congress.

Nixon's presidency: relationship between U.S. and China

-In January and February 1970, American and Chinese ambassadors met in Warsaw, Poland. -In October 1970, in a first for an American President, Nixon referred to China by its official title, the People's Republic of China. -In March 1971, the United States government lifted restrictions on travel to China. -In April 1971, an American table-tennis team accepted a Chinese invitation to visit the mainland, beginning what was called "ping-pong diplomacy." -In June 1971, the United States ended its 21-year embargo on trade with the People's Republic of China. -In July 1971, after extensive secret diplomacy by Kissinger, Nixon made the dramatic announcement that he planned to visit China the following year. He would be the first United States President ever to travel to that country. -The U.S. and other countries wanted to give China's seat in the United Nations to the People's Republic. In October 1971, Taiwan lost its seat in the United Nations to the People's Republic of China. -Nixon traveled to China in February 1972. -He met with Mao Zedong, the Chinese leader who had led the revolution in 1949. -He spoke with Premier Zhou Enlai about international problems and ways of dealing with them. -He and his wife Pat toured the Great Wall and other Chinese sights, all in front of television cameras that sent the historic pictures home.

Pearl Harbor

-In July 1940, Roosevelt began limiting what Japan could buy from the United States including; ending sales of scrap iron and steel, freezing Japanese financial assets in the United States, cutting off all oil shipments. -Japan desperately needed raw materials, and this embargo encouraged Japan to look to the lightly defended Dutch East Indies for new supplies of oil. -General Tojo Hideki, who supported war against the United States, became prime minister in October 1941. -More than a year earlier, American technicians had cracked a top-secret Japanese code. -By November 27, based on decoded messages, American military leaders knew that Japanese aircraft carriers were on the move in the Pacific. They expected an attack, but they did not know where. Its target was Pearl Harbor, the naval base on the Hawaiian island of Oahu that served as the home of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. -Shortly after 7:00 a.m. of December 7, an American army radar operator on Oahu noticed a large blip on his radar screen. -He called his headquarters to report that planes were headed toward the island. -The only officer on duty that Sunday morning believed that the planes were American. "Don't worry about it," the officer told the radar operator. -Less than an hour later, more than 180 Japanese warplanes streaked overhead. Half of the Pacific Fleet lay at anchor in Pearl Harbor, crowded into an area less than three miles square. -Japanese planes bombed and strafed (attacked with machine-gun fire) the fleet and the airfields nearby. -By 9:45, the attack was over. In less than two hours, some 2,400 Americans had been killed and nearly 1,200 wounded.

Who taught us about the Iron Curtain?

-In a February 1946 speech, Stalin predicted the ultimate triumph of communism over capitalism. -Stalin called on Communists to spread their system by other means establishing the Cominform, an agency intended to coordinate the activities of Communist parties around the world. -A month after Stalin's speech, Winston Churchill responded and called on Americans to help keep Stalin from enclosing any more nations behind the iron curtain of Communist domination and oppression. -For nearly 50 years, until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cold War was characterized by political and economic conflict and military tensions. -The rivalry stopped just short of a "hot" war—a direct military engagement—between the two competing nations. -However, United States military forces did engage in combat in other nations as part of the American effort to defeat Soviet-supported uprisings and invasions wherever they occurred.

Battle of the Bulge

-In mid-December 1944, Germany launched a counterattack in Belgium and Luxembourg. -The German attack smashed into the U.S. First Army and pushed it back, forming a bulge in the Allied line. -The resulting clash came to be known as the Battle of the Bulge. -Many small units, cut off from the rest of the American army, fought gallantly against overwhelming odds. -Eisenhower ordered more troops to the scene. General Patton rapidly moved his U.S. Third Army north to help stop the German advance. In just a few weeks, the First and Third armies, under the overall direction of General Omar N. Bradley, knocked the Germans back and restarted the Allied drive into Germany. -The Battle of the Bulge was the largest battle in Western Europe during World War II, and the largest battle ever fought by the United States Army. After this battle, most Nazi leaders recognized that the war was lost.

OPEC oil crisis

-In some ways, the United States had been heading toward an energy crisis long before Nixon took office. -The nation's growing population and economy used more energy each year. -Coal was plentiful, but environmental concerns discouraged its use. -Federal regulations imposed in the mid-1950s kept the price of natural gas low, which meant producers had little incentive to raise their output. -Furthermore, the nation's oil production began to decline in 1972. At the time, Americans depended on cheap, imported oil for about a third of their energy needs. -Nixon's oil price controls served to aggravate the energy problem. -Refineries let supplies run so low during the price freezes that demand could not be met after the controls were lifted. Unrest in the Middle East turned the energy problem into a crisis. -In 1973, Israel and the Arab nations of Egypt and Syria went to war. The United States backed its ally Israel. In response, the Arab members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) imposed an embargo, or ban, on the shipping of oil to the United States. OPEC, a group of nations that cooperates to set oil prices and production levels, also quadrupled its prices. The cost of foreign oil skyrocketed.

Little Rock Nine

-In the fall of 1957, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus declared that he could not keep order if he had to enforce integration, or the bringing together of different races. -In blatant defiance of the Supreme Court's Brown decision, Governor Faubus posted Arkansas National Guard troops at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and instructed them to turn away the nine African American students who were supposed to attend the school that year. -Outside the school, mobs of angry protesters gathered to prevent the entry of the black students.

Effects of Watergate

-In the months following the Watergate break-in, the incident barely reached the public's notice. -Behind the scenes in the White House, some of the President's closest aides worked feverishly to keep the truth hidden. -In the summer of 1972, Nixon advisors H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell, and others launched a scheme to bribe the Watergate defendants. -They distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal "hush money" to buy their silence. -Also, to shield the President, Mitchell and other top officials coached the defendants about how to commit perjury by lying under oath in court. -The trial of the Watergate burglars began in January 1973 before Judge John J. Sirica. -All the defendants either pleaded guilty or were found guilty. -Meanwhile, the White House and the President himself were becoming more deeply involved. -In March 1973, just before the judge handed down the sentences, Nixon personally approved the payment of "hush money" to defendant E. Howard Hunt. =To prompt the burglars to talk, Sirica sentenced them to long prison terms, up to 40 years. =Their sentences could be reduced, he suggested, if they cooperated with the upcoming Senate hearings on Watergate. -In February 1973, a Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities had begun to investigate the Watergate affair. -James McCord, one of the convicted Watergate burglars, responded to his lengthy prison sentence by testifying before the committee in secret session. -In April 1973, he forced Haldeman and Ehrlichman, his two closest aides, to resign. On national television he proclaimed that he would take final responsibility for the mistakes of others, for "there can be no whitewash at the White House." -In May 1973, the Senate committee, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin of North Carolina, began televised public hearings on Watergate. -John Dean, the President's personal legal counselor, sought to save himself by testifying that Nixon knew about the coverup. Other staffers described illegal activities at the White House. -The most dramatic moment came when Alexander Butterfield, a former presidential assistant, revealed the existence of a secret taping system in the President's office that recorded all meetings and telephone conversations. The system had been set up to provide a historical record of Nixon's presidency. Now those audiotapes could show whether or not Nixon had been involved in the coverup. -In an effort to demonstrate honesty, Nixon agreed in May 1973 to the appointment of a special Watergate prosecutor. -Archibald Cox, a Harvard law professor, took the post and immediately asked for the tapes. Nixon refused to release them. -When Cox persisted, Nixon ordered him fired on Saturday, October 20, 1973. This action triggered a series of resignations and firings that became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre." -After the "Saturday Night Massacre," Congress had begun the process to help them determine if they should impeach the President—to charge him with misconduct while in office. -On August 5, after a brief delay, Nixon finally obeyed a Supreme Court ruling and released the tapes. They contained a disturbing gap of 18½ minutes, during which the conversation had been mysteriously erased. Still, the tapes gave clear evidence of Nixon's involvement in the coverup. -Three days later, Nixon appeared on television and painfully announced that he would leave the office of President the next day. -On August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned, the first President ever to do so. -The scandal proved the strength of the nation's constitutional system, especially its balance of powers. When members of the executive branch violated the law instead of enforcing it, the judicial and legislative branches of government stepped in and stopped them.

What were Japanese Internment Camps used for?

-Japanese Americans suffered official discrimination during the war. -Hostility grew into hatred and hysteria after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. -The press increased people's fears with inaccurate reports leaving Americans feeling that Japanese spies were everywhere. -As a result of these prejudices and fears, the government decided to remove all "aliens" from the West Coast. -On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the Secretary of War to establish military zones on the West Coast and remove "any or all persons" from such zones. -The government set up the War Relocation Authority to move out everyone of Japanese ancestry—about 110,000 people, both citizens and non citizens. -They would be interned, or confined, in camps in remote areas far from the coast. -Relocation took place so fast that Japanese Americans had little time to secure their property before they left. Many lost their businesses, farms, homes, and other valuable assets. -Japanese Americans had no idea where they were going when they boarded buses and trains for the camps. -Families lived in wooden barracks covered with tar paper, in rooms equipped only with cots, blankets, and a light bulb. -People had to share toilet, bathing, and dining facilities. -Barbed wire surrounded the camps, and armed guards patrolled the grounds.

What is McCarthyism?

-Joseph McCarthy's accusations that there are Communists in the government sparked an anti-Communist hysteria and national search for subversives that caused suspicion and fear across the nation. -Piling baseless accusations on top of unprovable charges, McCarthy took his crusade to the floor of the Senate and engaged in the smear tactics that came to be called McCarthyism. -Merely being accused by McCarthy caused people to lose their jobs and reputations. -McCarthy soon took on larger targets. He attacked former Secretary of State George Marshall claiming that Marshall was involved in "a conspiracy so immense and an infamy so black as to dwarf any previous venture in the history of man," because of his inability to stop the Communist triumph in China. -Even other senators came to fear McCarthy. They worried that opposition to his tactics would brand them as Communist sympathizers. -Republican Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine presented a Declaration of Conscience to the Senate and denounced McCarthy for having "debased" the Senate "to the level of a forum of hate and character assassination sheltered by the shield of congressional immunity...."

Bomb Shelters

-Soviet Union had successfully tested an atomic bomb and Communist forces took control of China jolted Americans. -Truman's response to the Soviet atomic threat was to forge ahead with a new weapon to maintain America's nuclear superiority. -In early 1950, he gave approval for the development of a hydrogen, or thermonuclear, bomb that would be many times more destructive than the atomic bomb. -The first successful thermonuclear test occurred in 1952, reestablishing the United States as the world's leading nuclear power. -At about the same time, Truman organized the Federal Civil Defense Administration. -The new agency flooded the nation with posters and other information about how to survive a nuclear attack. -These materials included plans for building bomb shelters and instructions for holding air raid drills in schools.

Describe the election of 1960.

-Kennedy had served in the United States House of Representatives and Senate for 14 years, following distinguished service in the United States Navy in World War II. -Yet the senator faced serious obstacles in his quest for the presidency. John Kennedy was only 43 years old, and many questioned whether he had the experience needed for the nation's highest office. -In addition, Kennedy was a Roman Catholic, and no Catholic had ever been elected President. -Kennedy helped put an end to the religion issue when he won the primary of the largely Protestant state of West Virginia. -With that hurdle behind him, he campaigned hard, promising to spur the sluggish economy. -During the last years of the Eisenhower administration, the Gross National Product (GNP) had grown very slowly, and the economy had suffered several recessions. -Kennedy and his running mate, Lyndon B. Johnson, won the election by an extraordinarily close margin. -Although the electoral vote was 303 to 219 in Kennedy's favor, he won by fewer than 119,000 popular votes out of nearly 69 million cast. -In Illinois and Texas, Nixon could have inched by Kennedy with just a few thousand more votes, and accusations were made that the Democrats had won these states through fraud. -As a result of this razor-thin victory, Kennedy entered office without a strong mandate, or public endorsement of his proposals. -Without a mandate, Kennedy would have difficulty pushing his more controversial measures through Congress. -Kennedy nevertheless took office with vigor and confidence.

Realpolitik

-Kissinger had written his doctoral dissertation on Klemens von Metternich, an Austrian statesman and diplomat in the nineteenth century who had helped maintain stability in Europe amid liberal change. -Kissinger's studies in European history gave him an admiration for realpolitik, a German term meaning "practical politics." -Nations that follow this policy make decisions based on maintaining their own strength rather than following moral principles. -Kissinger would later apply this approach to his dealings with China and the Soviet Union.

Describe the Korean War

-Korea was divided into a Soviet-occupied northern zone and an American-occupied southern zone. -Koreans on both sides of the dividing line wanted to unify their nation. -In June 1950, the Korean War broke out when North Korean troops streamed across the 38th parallel, determined to reunite Korea by force. -The invasion took the United States by surprise alarming Americans, who were sure—wrongly, it turned out—that the action had been orchestrated by the Soviet Union. -Faced with what he viewed as a clear case of aggression, President Truman was determined to respond. -He commanded the American Seventh Fleet to protect Taiwan, and he ordered American air and naval support for the South Koreans and sent ground troops as well. -General Douglas MacArthur developed a bold plan to drive the invaders from South Korea. -With Soviet tanks and air power, the North Koreans had swept through South Korea in just weeks. -MacArthur suspected that the North Koreans' rapid advance had left their supply lines stretched thin. -He decided to strike at this weakness by first sending forces to defend Pusan and later in September 1950 he landed troops at Inchon in northwestern South Korea, and attacked enemy supply lines from behind. MacArthur's strategy worked. -Finally, a truce was signed in 1953, leaving Korea divided at almost exactly the same place as before the war, near the 38th parallel.

Explain the Red Scare of the 1920s

-Lenin and his followers or Bolsheviks, adopted the red flag as their party's emblem. -Lenin's Red Army, or Reds, met resistance from several armies, or Whites. -The new nation became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or the Soviet Union. -Lenin made it communist. -Russia's intention to spread communism to other countries alarmed many Americans. -Some Americans worried that among the masses of European immigrants entering the U.S. were Communists. -In 1919, Russian-backed Communists tried to overthrow the new German government, and Communists came to power in Hungary. -Similar chaos threatened to seep into the U.S. -In February, shipyard workers went on strike in Seattle, and the mayor proclaimed them "revolutionists." In April, a number of bombs were sent through the mail, addressed mainly to government officials—including Seattle's mayor. One of the bombs reached its destination and exploded, severely injuring a Georgia senator's housekeeper. Newspapers whipped up the public's anxiety with sensational stories about these events. The United States was in the grip of a Red Scare, an intense fear of communism and other politically radical ideas.

Detente

-Nixon and Kissinger's greatest accomplishment was in bringing about détente, or a relaxation in tensions, between the United States and the world's two Communist giants. China and the Soviet Union were sworn enemies of the U.S. -Nixon's willingness to conduct talks with them stunned many observers. In the 1950s, Nixon had been one of the most bitter and active anti-Communists in government. He had made his reputation by demanding that the United States stand firm against the Communist threat. -Nixon dealt imaginatively with both China and the Soviet Union. Nixon distrusted government bureaucracy, so he kept much of his diplomacy secret. Bypassing Congress, and often bypassing his own advisors, he and Kissinger reversed the direction of postwar American foreign policy. -Nixon drew on Kissinger's understanding that foreign affairs were more complex than a simple standoff between the United States and communism. The Soviet Union and China, once allies, had become bitter enemies.

Describe the cons of conformity.

-Not all Americans fit the model of American middle-class life described earlier, however. -Many women had enjoyed working outside the home during World War II and were reluctant to give up their good jobs. -Although the norm was for women to leave their jobs once they were married, not all women did. -Young people also challenged the norms of 1950s society. -Some young people rejected the values of their parents and felt misunderstood and alone. -Young people sought a style they could call their own. Teenagers across the nation became fans of the driving beat and simple melodies that characterized rock-and-roll.

Effect of television on Vietnam war

-Television played a major role in influencing public opinion. -Nightly news broadcasts brought the Vietnam War into the living rooms of more than 60 million American viewers. -Scenes of dying soldiers and desperate civilians let many viewers to question American involvement in Vietnam. -As a result of the Tet Offensive, polls showed for the first time that a majority of Americans opposed the war. News coverage of the Tet increased the impact that the attack had on the public.

Energy Shortages from OPEC oil crisis

-Oil shortages caused enormous frustration in the United States during the 1970s. -Lines at gas stations were long, often extending for blocks. -Many people began to buy energy-efficient foreign cars instead of the "gas-guzzling" American models. -Midwestern farmers had difficulty finding fuel to dry out their crops before they spoiled. -Winter heating-oil shortages led to school closings in Colorado. -Electricity shortages can also cause hardships. When disruption is minor, an area may experience a brownout, a temporary reduction in electrical power. -Blackouts, complete cuts to power, are more serious. Recently, electricity shortages forced "rolling blackouts" in California, shutting off power to selected areas at hours of peak usage. -Homes and businesses without alternative energy sources, such as gas-powered generators or solar energy, could not operate computers or other electrical machines and appliances. -Low supplies also meant higher prices, which demonstrators in California protested by burning their electricity bills. In any state, energy shortages can have serious negative effects on the economy. -Higher oil prices, in turn, worsened inflation. A loaf of bread that had cost 28 cents earlier in the 1970s now cost 89 cents. -Americans had paid 25 cents a gallon for gas but now paid 65 cents. -Consumers reacted to the higher prices by cutting back on spending. -The result was a recession.

John F. Kennedy's assassination

-On November 22, 1963, Kennedy traveled to Texas to mobilize support. -Texas Governor John Connally and his wife, Nelly rode through the streets of downtown Dallas in an open limousine, surrounded by Secret Service agents. -Newspapers had published the parade route ahead of time, and it was jammed with thousands of supporters hoping for a glimpse of the President. -The motorcade slowed as it turned a corner in front of the Texas School Book Depository. Its employees had been sent to lunch so they could watch the event outside. -Yet one man stayed behind. From a sixth-floor window, he aimed his rifle. Suddenly shots rang out. Bullets struck both Connally and Kennedy. Connally would recover from his injuries. The President, slumped over in Jacqueline's lap, was mortally wounded. -The motorcade sped to nearby Parkland Memorial Hospital, where doctors made what they knew was a hopeless attempt to save the President. Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1:00 p.m. -An aide delivered the news to a dazed Lyndon Johnson, addressing him as "Mr. President." -As the news spread by radio and TV bulletins, the country came to a halt in stunned disbelief. -By the time Air Force One arrived in Washington, thousands of people had gathered in the streets. -They stood in near silence, except for the sounds of weeping. America was shattered. -The prime suspect in Kennedy's murder was Lee Harvey Oswald, a former marine and supporter of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. -He was apprehended within an hour of the President's death, but revealed little information to the police. -Two days after Kennedy's assassination, the TV cameras rolled as Oswald was being transferred from one jail to another, Jack Ruby, stepped through the crowd of reporters and shot Oswald. -On November 29, President Johnson appointed The President's Commission on the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. -It was better known as the Warren Commission, after its chairman, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren. -After months of investigation, the Warren Commission determined that Oswald had acted alone in shooting the President.

What events led to the Cuban Missile Crisis?

-On October 16, 1962, photographs taken from an American spy plane revealed that the Soviets were building missile bases on Cuban soil. -After much consultation with his advisors, President Kennedy decided to authorize a naval "quarantine" around Cuba. He demanded that Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev cease construction of the missile bases. -President Kennedy ordered United States forces on full alert, U.S. bombers were armed with nuclear missiles, the navy was ready to move, and army and marine units prepared to invade Cuba. -A dozen more Soviet cargo ships were steaming toward the blockade. -The Soviet ships suddenly reversed direction. Khrushchev had called them back. -This action led to tremendous relief since confrontation, and the threat of nuclear war, had been avoided.

What were some of the goals and programs of the Great Society?

-Programs included major poverty relief, education aid, healthcare, voting rights, conservation and beautification projects, urban renewal, and economic development in depressed areas. -To gain conservatives' support for Kennedy's tax-cut bill, Johnson also agreed to cut government spending. Unemployment fell, and inflation remained in check. -The Economic Opportunity Act, passed in 1964, was created to combat several causes of poverty, including illiteracy, unemployment, and inadequate public services. Provided nearly $950 million for 10 separate projects, including work training programs. Gave poor people a voice in defining housing, health, and education policies in their own neighborhoods. Two of the best-known programs created under the act were Head Start (a preschool program for children from low-income families that also provides healthcare, nutrition services, and social services) and VISTA "Volunteers in Service to America" (sent volunteers to help people in poor communities) -The Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 provided $1.3 billion in aid to states, based on the number of children in each state from low-income homes. -In 1965, Johnson used his leadership skills to push through Congress two new programs, Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare provides hospital and low-cost medical insurance to most Americans age 65 and older. Medicaid provides low-cost health insurance coverage to poor Americans of any age who cannot afford their own private health insurance. -The Immigration Act of 1965 replaced the varying quotas with a limit of 20,000 immigrants per year from any one country outside the Western Hemisphere. The act set overall limits of 170,000 immigrants from the Eastern Hemisphere and 120,000 from the Western Hemisphere.

What's the deal with the Scopes Trial? How did it all begin?

-Religious traditionalists published 12 pamphlets called The Fundamentals. They stated a set of beliefs that are called fundamentalism. In addition to supporting traditional Christian ideas about Jesus, fundamentalists argued that God inspired the Bible, so it cannot contain contradictions or errors. They declared that the Bible is literally true. -The theory of evolution deeply disturbed fundamentalists and they then denounced the evolution theory, saying that it contradicts the history of creation as stated in the Bible. They worked for the passage of laws to prevent public schools from teaching evolution. When Tennessee passed such a ban in 1925, a science teacher named John T. Scopes agreed to challenge it as unconstitutional, thus denying him personal and religious freedom. He defied the law and was arrested for teaching evolution. Thus began the case popularly known as the Scopes trial. -In this new era of mass media, journalists swarmed around the courthouse and was the first trial ever broadcast over American radio.

How did Nixon and Brezhnev limit nuclear arms in their nations?

-Several months after his 1972 China trip, Nixon visited the Soviet Union. -In a series of friendly meetings between Nixon and Premier Leonid I. Brezhnev, the two nations reached several decisions. -They agreed to work together to explore space, eased longstanding trade limits, and completed negotiations on a weapons pact. -To address the issue of stockpiling of nuclear weapons in both the U.S. and the Soviet Union, they had begun the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in 1969. In 1972, the talks produced a treaty that would limit offensive nuclear weapons. -The first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, known as SALT I, included a five-year agreement that froze the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) at 1972 levels and included an agreement restricting the development and deployment of antiballistic missile defense systems (ABMs), which were designed to shoot down attacking missiles.

What were Kennedy's domestic programs?

-The "New Frontier" referred to his proposals to improve the economy, assist the poor, and speed up the space program. -To help end the economic slump, he proposed a large tax cut, reducing government income and create a budget deficit.(became stuck in Congress) -Hoped to to help the poor by stimulating the economy, Congress passed both an increase in the minimum wage + the Housing Act provided $4.9 billion for urban renewal. -Congress approved the Twenty-fourth Amendment outlawing the poll tax. -Equal Pay Act was passed and stated that all employees doing the same work in the same place must be paid equally. -Convinced by the success of Alan Shepard's flight, he issued the challenge of landing a man on the moon. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969.

Operation Overlord (D-Day)

-The Allies began a massive military buildup in southern England. Polish, Dutch, Belgian, and French troops joined the American, British, and Canadian forces already in place. -In response, the Germans strengthened their defenses along the French coastline, adding machine-gun nests, barbed-wire fences, land and water mines, and underwater obstructions. -They knew an invasion was coming, but they did not know where or when. The Allies took great pains to keep this information secret. -Shortly after midnight on June 6, 1944, some 4,600 invasion craft and warships slipped out of their harbors in southern England. As the ships crossed the English Channel, about 1,000 RAF bombers pounded German defenses at Normandy. -23,000 airborne British and American soldiers, in a daring nighttime maneuver, parachuted behind enemy lines. -At dawn on D-Day, the day the invasion of Western Europe began, Allied warships in the channel began a massive shelling of the coast. -Some 1,000 American planes continued the RAF's air bombardment. Then, around 150,000 Allied troops and their equipment began to come ashore along 60 miles of the Normandy coast in the largest landing by sea in history. -Despite the advice of his generals to launch a quick counterattack, Hitler hesitated. Thanks to a complex Allied deception, he feared a second, larger invasion at the narrowest part of the English Channel near Calais. -Nevertheless, the limited German force at Normandy resisted fiercely. At Omaha Beach, the code name for one landing site, the Allies suffered some 2,000 casualties. -In spite of the heavy casualties of D-Day, within a week a half million men had come ashore. By late July, the Allied force in France numbered some 2 million troops

Where did Americans join the struggle against the Axis?

-The Battle of the Atlantic: At sea, Britain and the United States struggled to control the Atlantic trade routes. German U-boats, or submarines, sailed out from ports in France and attacked and destroyed Allied merchant ships. -The North Africa campaign: From 1940 to 1943, the Allies and Axis battled in North Africa, with neither side gaining much of an advantage, until Allied armies finally trapped the Axis forces. About 240,000 Germans and Italians surrendered. -The invasion of Italy: In 1943, U.S. troops under General George S. Patton invaded the island of Sicily with British forces. Italians lost faith in Mussolini's leadership, and he was overthrown. Italy's new government surrendered to the Allies and declared war on Germany in October 1943. The Allied advance was stalled by fierce German resistance, but Germans in northern Italy finally surrendered in April 1945.

What were the goals of the Bay of Pigs invasion, and what was the outcome?

-The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was training a group of Cubans to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro in Guatemala, a nearby Central American country. -Kennedy and his advisors expected the Cuban people to help the invaders defeat Castro. -Resistance to the plan surfaced. -The Bay of Pigs invasion took place on April 17, 1961. It was a total disaster. -An airstrike failed to destroy Cuba's air force, and Cuban troops were more than a match for the 1,500 U.S.-backed invaders. -When Kennedy's advisors urged him to use American planes to provide air cover for the attackers, he refused and chose to accept defeat. -The invasion was clumsy and incompetent and America's support of an effort to overthrow another nation's government was exposed to the world.

War on Poverty

-The Economic Opportunity Act, passed in the summer of 1964, was created to combat several causes of poverty, including illiteracy, unemployment, and inadequate public services. -The act provided nearly $950 million for 10 separate projects, including work training programs. -The act also gave poor people a voice in defining housing, health, and education policies in their own neighborhoods. -Two of the best-known programs created under the act were Head Start and VISTA. -Head Start is a preschool program for children from low-income families that also provides healthcare, nutrition services, and social services. -Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) sent volunteers to help people in poor communities.

Describe the results of the Korean War.

-The Korean War caused enormous frustration in the United States. -Americans wondered why roughly 34,000 of their soldiers had been killed and 103,000 wounded for such limited results. -They questioned whether their government was serious about stopping communism. -On the other hand, Communist forces had been pushed back beyond the 38th parallel. -It seemed that Americans would have to get used to more limited wars and more limited victories. -The Korean War was the first war in which white Americans and African Americans served in the same units. -The Korean War also led to a huge increase in military spending. -At the same time, the United States came to accept the demands of permanent mobilization. -Over a million American soldiers were stationed around the world. -The Korean War also helped to shape future U.S. policy in Asia. -Hoping that Japan could help to maintain the balance of power in the Pacific, the United States signed a peace treaty with that nation in September 1951. -In addition, the Korean War further poisoned relations with Communist China, leading to a diplomatic standoff that would last more than 20 years.

Purpose and Goals of the New Deal

-The New Deal was the set of federal programs launched by President Franklin D. Roosevelt after taking office in 1933, in response to the Great Depression, and lasting until American entry into WWII in 1942. It had four major goals and achievements: •Economic Recovery: The New Deal stabilized the banks and cleaned up the financial mess left over from the Stock Market crash of 1929. It stabilized prices for industry and agriculture, aided bankrupt state and local governments, and injected a huge amount of federal spending to bolster aggregate incomes and demand. •Job Creation: The New Deal created a multitude of agencies to provide jobs for millions of workers and paid wages that saved millions of destitute families. •Investment in Public Works: The New Deal built hundreds of thousands of highways, bridges, hospitals, schools, theaters, libraries, city halls, homes, post offices, airports, and parks across America. These investments helped underwrite postwar prosperity and most of the New Deal infrastructure is still in use today. •Civic Uplift: The New Deal improved the lives of ordinary people and reshaping the public sphere. New Dealers who worked on New Deal programs believed they were not only serving their families and communities, but building the foundation for a great and caring society.

Describe Birmingham, Alabama during the 1950s and 60s.

-The Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, head of the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights, in Birmingham, invited Martin Luther King, Jr., and the SCLC to visit the city in April 1963. -Birmingham's population was 40 percent African American, but King called it "the most segregated city in America." -King and Shuttlesworth planned boycotts of downtown stores and attempts to integrate local churches. -When reporters wanted to know how long King planned to stay, he drew on a biblical story and told them he would remain until "Pharaoh lets God's people go." -The campaign began nonviolently with protest marches and sit-ins. -City officials declared that the marches violated a regulation prohibiting parades without a permit. -They obtained a court injunction, which directed the protesters to cease demonstrations. -King decided to disobey the court orders and set an example of civil disobedience. -King was arrested. -After more than a week, King was released on bail. -Soon after, he made a difficult decision: to let young people join the campaign. -Though dangerous, it would test the conscience of the Birmingham authorities and the nation. -As they marched with the adults, "Bull" Connor arrested more than 900 of the young people. -Police used high-pressure fire hoses, which could tear the bark from trees, on the demonstrators. -They also brought out trained police dogs that attacked marchers' arms and legs. -When protesters fell to the ground, policemen beat them with clubs and took them off to jail.

Berlin Wall

-The Soviets demanded a peace treaty that would make the division of the city permanent. -Their goal was to cut off the large flow of East Germans escaping into West Germany, particularly through Berlin. -Kennedy asked Congress for a huge increase of more than $3 billion for defense, doubled the number of young men being drafted into the armed services, called up reserve forces for active duty, and sought more than $200 million for a program to build fallout shelters across the country. -In August 1961, the Soviets responded by building a wall to separate Communist and non-Communist Berlin. -The Berlin Wall became a somber symbol of the Cold War. -Still, by stopping the flow of East Germans to the West, the Soviet Union had found a way to avoid a showdown over East Berlin. -Although the immediate crisis was over, the tensions of the Cold War continued. -Speaking in Frankfurt, Germany, in June 1963, Kennedy declared that the United States "will risk its cities to defend yours because we need your freedom to protect ours." -Two days later, the President addressed a cheering crowd near the Berlin Wall. -To symbolize his commitment to the city, he concluded his speech with the rousing words, "Ich bin ein Berliner," or "I am a Berliner.

Kent State University

-The U.S. invasion of Cambodia in 1970 fueled the protest movement on college campuses in the United States. -At Kent State University in Ohio, students reacted angrily to the President's actions. -They broke windows in the business district downtown. -They also burned the army Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) building, which had become a hated symbol of the war. -In response, the governor of Ohio ordered the National Guard to Kent State. -Tension mounted. When students threw rocks at them, the guardsmen loaded their guns and donned gas masks. -They hurled tear gas at the students, ordering them to disperse. -Then the guardsmen retreated to another position. -At the top of a hill, they suddenly turned and began firing on the students below. -Seconds later, four students lay dead, with nine others wounded. Two of the dead had been demonstrators 250 feet away from the guardsmen. The other two were bystanders, almost 400 feet away.

Richard Nixon's domestic policy: Inflation

-The economy was shaky because of rising spending for the Vietnam War, the government was spending more than it was taking in from taxes, so the budget deficit was growing, and unemployment was also growing. -Nixon began to consider deficit spending, or spending more money in a year than the government receives in revenues to stimulate the economy. -To slow the high rate of inflation, he imposed a 90-day freeze on wages, prices, and rents in August 1971, and a 60-day general price freeze in June 1973. Pressure from business and labor, however, led him to lift these controls, and inflation again soared.

Summarize "organized crime".

-The huge potential for profit, helped lead to the development of organized crime. -At first, local gangsters operated independently, competing to supply liquor. -Then some of them found that by joining forces they could create an organization large and efficient enough to handle the entire bootlegging operation. -When these organizations tried to expand their territory, they clashed with other gangs and fought for control w/ machine guns and sawed-off shotguns. The streets of American cities became a battleground. -Successful bootlegging organizations often moved into other illegal activities, like gambling, prostitution, and racketeering on which gangsters bribed police or other government officials to ignore their illegal operations and/or forced local businesses to pay a fee for "protection."

Space Race

-The size of this technology gap became apparent in 1957, when the Soviets used one of their rockets to launch Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth. -The realization that the rocket used to launch Sputnik could carry a hydrogen bomb to American shores added to American shock and fear. -When the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957, they also launched the space race. -NASA was established in 1958 to oversee an American space program that could compete with the Soviets. -However, in 1961, the Soviets scored another win: the first man in space. -Competition continued through the 1960s, but the Americans raised the stakes by landing on the moon in 1969. -The two nations also continued to launch orbiting satellites. -In 1973, the American Skylab became the first successful space station, but the Soviet Mir, launched in 1986, was the most successful, remaining in orbit until 2001. -And in 1998, when the United States and Russia began assembling the International Space Station, to which many nations will eventually contribute, a new era of cooperation had truly begun.

Arms Race

-Throughout the 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union waged an increasingly intense struggle for world leadership. -Nowhere was this competition more dangerous than in the arms race, the struggle to gain weapons superiority. -In August 1953, less than a year after the United States exploded its first thermonuclear device, the Soviet Union successfully tested its own hydrogen bomb. -As part of the policy of deterrence begun by President Truman, Eisenhower stepped up American weapons development. -Deterrence is the policy of making the military power of the United States and its allies so strong that no enemy would dare attack for fear of retaliation. -Between 1954 and 1958, the United States conducted 19 hydrogen bomb tests in the Pacific. -One of these explosions, in March 1954, was over 750 times more powerful than the atomic bomb that had been dropped on Nagasaki in World War II. -The test was a chilling warning that nuclear war could threaten the entire world with radioactive contamination.

Red Scare

-Throughout the Great Depression, tens of thousands of Americans had joined the Communist Party, which was a legal organization. -Many were desperate people who had developed serious doubts about the American capitalist system, partly because of the economic collapse of the 1930s. -After World War II, however, improved economic times, as well as the increasing distrust of Stalin, caused many people to become disillusioned with communism. -Most American Communists quit the party, although some remained members, whether active or not. -Now, as a new red scare began to grip America, their pasts came back to haunt them. -During the presidencies of Truman and his successor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, concern about the growth of world communism raised fears of a conspiracy to overthrow the government, particularly when a number of Communist spies were caught and put on trial. -These fears launched an anti-Communist crusade that violated the civil liberties of many Americans. -Anyone who had ever had Communist party ties and many who had never even been Communists were swept up in the wave of persecutions.

The Berlin blockade and airlift

-Western Allies merged their three occupation zones capitalist West Germany. -The western part of Berlin, which lay in the Soviet zone, would become part of West Germany. -The Soviets responded in 1949 by forming a Communist state, East Germany. -Eastern Europeans left their homes in Communist-dominated nations, fled to East Berlin, and then crossed into West Berlin. -Stalin decided to close this escape route by forcing the Western powers to abandon West Berlin. -He found his excuse in June 1948, when a new German currency was introduced in West Germany, including West Berlin and was considered the new currency and the new nation it represented to be a threat. -The Soviets used the dispute over the new currency as an excuse to block Allied access to West Berlin. -All shipments to the city through East Germany were banned. -The blockade threatened to create severe shortages of food and other supplies needed by the 2.5 million people in West Berlin. -Truman decided on an airlift, moving supplies into West Berlin by plane to deliver food, fuel, and other supplies. -The Soviets finally gave up the blockade in May 1949, and the airlift ended the following September.

Gerald Ford pardon

-When Ford assumed the presidency, the nation needed a leader who could take it beyond the ugliness of Watergate. In response to this public mood, President Ford declared that it was a time for "communication, conciliation, compromise and cooperation." Americans were on his side. -Ford lost some popular support. Barely a month after Nixon had resigned, Ford pardoned the former President for "all offenses" he might have committed, avoiding further prosecution. -Ford expected criticism of the pardon, but he underestimated the widespread negative reaction. -Many of Nixon's loyalists were facing prison for their role in Watergate. -The former President, however, walked away without a penalty. Although some people supported Ford's action, his generous gesture backfired. -Some people suggested that a bargain had been made when Nixon resigned. Many also criticized the new President's judgment. -Ford was occasionally booed when he made public speeches, just as Johnson and Nixon had been for their stands on the Vietnam War.

JFK's objective in Vietnam

-When President John F. Kennedy took office in 1961, he was determined to prevent the spread of communism at all costs. -This meant strengthening and protecting the government that the United States had helped create in South Vietnam. -Kennedy sent Vice President Lyndon Johnson to Vietnam to assess the situation there. -Diem told Johnson that South Vietnam would need even more aid if it was to survive. -In response, Kennedy increased the number of American military advisors to Vietnam. -Diem lacked support in his own country, he imprisoned people who criticized his government and filled many government positions with members of his own family. -Diem was a Catholic in a largely Buddhist country, when Diem insisted that Buddhists obey Catholic religious laws, serious opposition developed. -Kennedy finally realized that the struggle against communism in Vietnam could not be won under Diem's rule. -Military leaders staged a coup in November 1963 and seized control of the government and assassinated Diem as he tried to flee.

Levittowns

-William J. Levitt built new communities in the suburbs, pioneering mass-production techniques in home building. -He bought precut and preassembled materials, and built houses in just weeks instead of months. -Proud of his creations, Levitt gave his name to the new towns. -By the late 1940s, there was a Levittown on Long Island that included more than 17,000 homes. -Another in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, had about 16,000 homes, and a third Levittown in Willingboro, New Jersey, appeared in the late 1950s.

Nixon and Watergate

-Within the Committee to Reelect the President, a group formed to gather intelligence. -The group, which included "Plumbers" Liddy and Hunt, masterminded several outlandish plans. -One scheme called for wiretapping top Democrats to try to find damaging information about delegates at their convention. -Twice, Committee leader John Mitchell refused to go along—not because the plan was illegal, but because it was too expensive. -Finally, in March 1972, he approved a different idea. Liddy would oversee the wiretapping of phones at Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex in Washington, D.C. -The first break-in to install illegal listening devices failed. -A second attempt early on the morning of June 17, 1972, ended with the arrest of the five men involved. -One suspect was James McCord, a former CIA employee working as a security officer for the Committee to Reelect the President. -The Watergate burglars carried money that could be linked to the Committee, thus tying the break-in directly to Nixon's reelection campaign. -When the FBI traced the money carried by the Watergate burglars to the reelection committee, Nixon contacted the CIA. -He authorized that organization to try to persuade the FBI to stop its investigation on the grounds that the matter involved "national security." -Although he had not been involved in planning the break-in, Nixon was now part of the illegal cover up. -The break-in and the cover up became known as the Watergate scandal.

Describe a flapper.

-wide impact on fashion & behavior -Wore dresses shorter than their mothers did, to the dismay of some guardians of decency. -Bobbed their hair. -Wore heavy makeup. -Women's manners changed, they rarely drank anything much stronger than wine, much less smoked, in public. By the end of the decade, many women were doing both, in part to defy Prohibition, but also to express their new freedom.

Who was Henry Kissinger?

A Harvard government professor, he was Nixon's national security adviser and thin in 1973, Secretary of State.

What was the Emergency Relief Banking Act?

A bill passed during the administration of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in reaction to the financially adverse conditions of the Great Depression. The measure, which called for a four-day mandatory shutdown of U.S. banks for inspections before they could be reopened, sought to re-instill investor confidence and stability in the banking system. Banks were only allowed to re-open once they were deemed financially sound.

Counterculture

A culture with lifestyles and values opposed to those of the established culture.

What is a bank holiday?

A day where there is an emergency bank closure to avert a bank run.

What is containment?

American policy of resisting further expansion of communism around the world

End of the Vietnam War

As President Johnson's term drew to a close, he cut back on the bombing of North Vietnam and called for peace negotiations. The Paris peace talks began in May 1968, but failed to produce an agreement. Richard Nixon's claim that he had a secret plan to end the war in Vietnam helped him win the presidency in November. In June 1969, President Nixon announced a new policy known as Vietnamization. This involved removing American forces and replacing them with South Vietnamese soldiers. By 1972, American troop strength dropped to 24,000. As much as Nixon wanted to defuse antiwar sentiment at home, he was determined not to lose the war. Therefore, as he withdrew American troops, he ordered secret bombing raids on the major targets. President Nixon also widened the war beyond the borders of Vietnam. In April 1970, Nixon publicly announced that United States and South Vietnamese ground forces were moving into neighboring Cambodia. Their goal was to clear out Communist camps there, from which the enemy was mounting attacks on South Vietnam. The United States, he asserted, would not stand by like "a pitiful helpless giant" while the Viet Cong attacked from Cambodia: "We take this action not for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia but for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam and winning the just peace we all desire. We have made and we will continue to make every possible effort to end this war through negotiation at the conference table rather than through more fighting on the battlefield." Nixon knew that the invasion of Cambodia would not win the war, but he thought it would help at the bargaining table. He was willing to intensify the war in order to strengthen the American position at the peace talks. Nixon's actions, however, brought chaos and civil war in Cambodia and a fresh wave of protests at home. The war dragged on, as did the Paris peace talks. In January 1972, while running for a second term as President, Nixon announced that North Vietnam had refused to accept a proposed settlement. At the end of March, the North Vietnamese began a major assault on South Vietnam. This led Nixon to order the most intensive bombing campaign of the war. The United States bombed the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi and mined North Vietnamese harbors. Just days before the 1972 election, National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger announced, "Peace is at hand." As it turned out, the settlement was not actually final. After Nixon's reelection in November and another round of B-52 bombings of North Vietnam in December, peace finally arrived. In January 1973, the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Viet Cong signed a formal agreement in Paris. Among the provisions in the agreement were these: The United States would withdraw all its forces from South Vietnam within 60 days. All prisoners of war would be released. All parties to the agreement would end military activities in Laos and Cambodia. The 17th parallel would continue to divide North and South Vietnam until the country could be reunited. American involvement in the war came to an end in 1973, but the fighting between North and South Vietnam continued for another two years. Americans had believed that they could defend the world from communism anywhere, at any time. American technology and money, they assumed, could always bring victory. Vietnam proved that assumption to be false. After the withdrawal of American forces, South Vietnamese soldiers steadily lost ground to their North Vietnamese enemies. In the spring of 1975, the North Vietnamese launched a campaign of strikes against strategic cities throughout South Vietnam, the final objective being the seat of government in Saigon. South Vietnamese forces crumpled in the face of this campaign. On April 29, 1975, with Communist forces surrounding Saigon, the United States carried out a dramatic last-minute evacuation. American helicopters airlifted more than 1,000 Americans and nearly 6,000 Vietnamese from the city to aircraft carriers waiting offshore. On April 30, North Vietnam completed its conquest of South Vietnam, and the Saigon government officially surrendered. After decades of fighting, Vietnam was a single nation under a Communist government. One reason for American involvement in Vietnam was the belief in the domino theory. As you recall, this was the assumption that the entire region would collapse if the Communists won in Vietnam. With the North Vietnamese victory, two additional dominoes did topple—Laos and Cambodia. The rest of the region, however, did not fall. The suffering of the Cambodian people was one of the most tragic effects of the war in Vietnam. In April 1975, Cambodia fell to the Khmer Rouge, a force of Communists led by the fanatical Pol Pot. In five years of fighting, Cambodia had already suffered as many as a half million civilian casualties, mostly by American bombs. Worse was to come. The Khmer Rouge in effect declared war on anyone "tainted" with Western ways, and they killed as many as 1.5 million Cambodians—a quarter of the population. Many were shot, while the rest died of starvation, from disease, from mistreatment in labor camps, or on forced marches. Although not so extreme, Vietnam's new leaders also forced hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese soldiers, civil servants, and other professionals into "re-education camps." Meanwhile, more than 1.5 million Vietnamese fled their country by boat, leaving behind all personal possessions in their determination to escape. In addition to these refugees, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians and Laotians also fled their homelands, many making their way to the United States.

What movement were the hippies a part of?

Counterculture, the lifestyle with values and customs opposed by those of established society

Who won the presidential election of 1960? Describe the results.

First televised debate between JFK and Nixon and Kennedy wins.

Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact

In 1914, Germany could ill afford to fight a war on two fronts at the same time. -Hitler wanted to deal with Britain and France, his foes to the west, without having to fear an attack from the east. -In August, Stalin and Hitler signed a ten-year Nonaggression Pact, which eliminated the danger of a Soviet invasion from the east. -A secret document attached to the pact divided up the independent states of eastern Europe between Germany and the Soviet Union.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Making racial discrimination illegal and forbidding forms of job discrimination

What were Hoovervilles?

Shanty towns that the unemployed built in the cities during the early years of the Depression; the name given to them shows that the people blamed Hoover directly for the Depression.

Were we members of the League of Nations? Why?

No, although it was much of the work of President Woodrow Wilson America never joined the League of Nations. This was for several reasons, firstly America had suffered civilian casualties in the war, and many people in the USA wanted to keep America out of European affairs. This policy was called isolationism and was probably the main reason that America didn't join the League. Also joining the league meant that this might involve having to do things that might set back the economy or damage America otherwise.

Did the Montgomery Bus Boycott achieve its purpose quickly?

No, it took over a year.

Who were Sacco and Vanzetti? What was their deal?

On April 15, 1920, two gunmen robbed and killed the guard and paymaster of a shoe factory in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Later, police arrested two Italian immigrants in connection with the crime. -One, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, both anarchists. Police found guns on both men when they were arrested. Many Americans suspected that the two men were arrested mainly because they were immigrants with radical beliefs. -After their trial, a jury found Sacco and Vanzetti guilty. The two men were sentenced to death in April 1927, and despite mass protests, they died in the electric chair four months later.

Describe the Dust Bowl.

Parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas that were hit hard by dry topsoil and high winds that created blinding dust storms; this area of the Great Plains became called that because winds blew away crops and farms, and blew dust from Oklahoma to Albany, New York.

Conscientious Objectors

Person who refuses to enter the military or bear arms due to moral or religious reasons

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Provided jobs for young unmarried men to work maintaining forests, beaches,and parks. CCC workers earned only $30 a month but they lived in camps free of charge and received food, medical care, and job training.

Pick three words to describe the New Deal.

Relief Recovery Reform

African Campaign and Results

Starting in August 1940, a British Army had successfully battled Italian troops in the Egyptian and Libyan deserts of North Africa. Then in February 1941, Hitler sent General Erwin Rommel and a German division to reinforce the Italians. Rommel who earned the nickname "desert fox" for his shrewd tactics won several battles. The Germans pushed deep into British-controlled Egypt and threatened the Middle East. Rommel's offensive failed, however, in November 1942 and the British under General Bernard Montgomery won a decisive at El Alamein. The German army retreated West. A few days later, Allied troops landed in the French territories of Morocco and Algeria on the northwest coast of North Africa. This largely American force under the command of American General Dwight D Eisenhower, quickly pushed eastward. Meanwhile, British troops chased Rommel westward from Egypt. In response, Hitler sent some 20,000 combat troops across the Mediterranean Sea from Italy to reinforce Rommel's army in Tunisia. There, in February 1943, the inexperienced Americans suffered a major defeat of the war while trying to defend the Kasserine Pass. They learned from their defeat,however, and by early May 1943, the Allied armies had the Axis forces in North Africa trapped. Despite Hitler's instructions to fight to the death, about 240,000 Germans and Italians surrendered.

Define: demographics

The statistics that describe a population, such as data on race or income

What two key events took place between Cuba and the U.S.?

The Cuban Missile Crisis- Spy planes caught that the Soviet Union was adding missiles on Cuban land and they talked out the tension. The Bay of Pigs Invasion- Failed invasion of Cuba by a group of anti-Castro forces in 1961

Election of 1976

The United States presidential election of 1976 followed the resignation of President Richard Nixon in the wake of the Watergate scandal. It pitted incumbent President Gerald Ford, the Republican candidate, against the relatively unknown former governor of Georgia, Jimmy Carter, the Democratic candidate. Ford was saddled with a slow economy and paid a political price for his pardon of Nixon. Carter ran as a Washington outsider and reformer and won a narrow victory. He was the first president elected from the Deep South since Zachary Taylor in 1848.

Battle of Stalingrad

The cold Russian winter stopped Germany's advance in October, and the Soviets regained some of their lost territory. The next summer brought a new German offensive aimed at oil fields to the southeast. The Red Army decided to make its stand at Stalingrad, a major rail and industrial center on the Volga River. In mid-September 1942, the Germans began a campaign of firebombing and shelling that lasted more than two months. Soviet fighters took up positions in the charred rubble that remained of Stalingrad. There they engaged the advancing German troops in bitter house-to-house combat, but lost most of the city. In mid-November, taking advantage of harsh winter weather, Soviet forces launched a fierce counterattack. As Hitler had ruled out a retreat, the German army was soon surrounded in the ruined city with few supplies and no hope of escape. In late January, the Red Army launched a final assault on the freezing enemy. On January 31, 1943, more than 90,000 surviving Germans surrendered. In all, Germany lost some 330,000 troops at Stalingrad. Soviet losses are unknown, but estimates range as high as 1,100,000. The Battle of Stalingrad proved to be the turning point of the war in the east. Germany's seemingly unstoppable offensive was over. After their victory, Soviet forces began a long struggle to regain the territory lost to the Germans. As the Red Army slowly forced the German invaders back, Stalin continued to push for the long-promised Soviet invasion of Western Europe.

Lyndon Johnson wanted to run the Vietnam War. How did he achieve this?

The draft, Gulf of Tonkin

Define: mass media

The mass media are print, film, and broadcast methods of communicating information to large numbers of people.

What happened in Topeka, Kansas and Little Rock, Arkansas?

They integrated schools

Why would someone buy something "on-margin"?

To attract these less wealthy investors, stockbrokers encouraged this option which allowed investors to purchase a stock for only a fraction of its price and borrow the rest. The brokers charged high interest rates and could demand payment of the loan at any time. If the stock price went up, however, borrowers could sell the stock at a price high enough to pay off both the loan and the interest charges and still make money.

Presidents Kennedy and Johnson really wanted to help what aspect of our society?

To end poverty and civil rights.