American/AZ History Semester 2 Final
Agricultural Adjustment Act
(AAA) A law enacted in 1933 that sought to raise crop prices by lowering production, which the government achieved by paying farmers to leave a certain amount of every acre of land unseeded. The theory was that reduced supply would boost prices. In some cases, crops were too far advanced for the acreage reduction to take effect. As a result, the government paid cotton growers $200 million to plow under 10 million acres of their crop and also paid hog farmers to slaughter 6 million pigs. This policy upset many Americans, who protested the destruction of food when many people were going hungry. It did, however, help raise farm prices and put more money in farmers' pockets.
De Lome Letter
(Spanish American War) In February 1898, the New York Journal published a private letter written by Enrique Dupuy de Lome, the Spanish minister to the US. A Cuban rebel stole the letter from a Havana post office and leaked it to the newspaper, which was thirsty for scandal. The De Lome letter criticized President McKinley, calling him "weak" and "a bidder for the admiration of the crowd." The embarrassed Spanish government apologized, and the minister resigned. Americans were still angry over the insult to their president. *rallied the American public against Spain
Mao Zedong
- Communist leader - Ruled northern China - Relied heavily on financial aid from Soviet Union - Attracted peasants with promises of land reform - Benefited from experienced guerrilla army and a highly motivated leadership *Defeated the nationalists
Goals of the Progressive Movement
1. Protecting social welfare 2. Promoting moral improvement 3. Creating economic reform 4. Fostering efficiency
16th-19th Amendments
16th: income tax 17th: direct election of senators 18th: prohibition of alcoholic beverages 19th: women's suffrage
38th Parallel
38º North latitude -As WWII ended, Japanese troops north of the 38th parallel surrendered to the Soviets while Japanese troops south of the parallel surrendered to the Americans. -By the end of the Korean War, they were still at the 38th parallel and hadn't really moved.
Truman Doctrine
A US policy, announced by President Harry S. Truman in 1947, of providing economic and military aid to free nations threatened by internal or external opponents. Congress agreed with this policy and decided the doctrine was essential to keeping Soviet influence from spreading. Between 1947 and 1950, the US sent $400 million in aid to Turkey and Greece which greatly reduced the danger of communist takeover in those nations.
Initiative
A bill originated by the people rather than the lawmakers. Followed by referendum and recall. All of them together represent the Progressive Era because it was expanding the people's power
Medicare
A federal program established in 1965 by Lyndon B. Johnson and Congress that changed Social Security by establishing Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare provided hospital insurance and low-cost medical insurance to Americans aged 65 and over.
Bonus Army
A group between 10,000 and 20,000 WWI veterans and their families who marched on Washington, D.C., in 1932 to demand the immediate payment of a bonus they had been promised for military service. They were never paid and Hoover sent the military in to "deal" with them. Military guys and the Veterans were kind of in a riot and it was the end of Hoover's political life
Warren Commission and conclusions
A group, headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, that investigated the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963 and concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald was alone responsible for it. Later, in 19679, a reinvestigation concluded that Oswald was part of a conspiracy. Investigators also said that two persons may have fired at the president.
Lend-Lease Act
A law passed in 1941 that allowed the US to ship arms and other supplies, without immediate payment, to nations fighting the Axis powers, mostly Great Britain.
Eleanor Roosevelt
A niece of Theodore Roosevelt and a distant cousin of her husband, Franklin, Eleanor Roosevelt lost her parents at an early age. She was raised by a strict grandmother. As first lady, she often urged the president to take stands on controversial issues. A popular public speaker, Eleanor was particularly interested in child welfare, housing reform, and equal rights for women and minorities.
Great Depression - causes and effects
A period, lasting from 1929 to 1940, in which the US economy was in severe decline and millions of Americans were unemployed. Detailed causes and effects: 1. Cause: Crash of the stock market. Effects: Hastened the collapse of the economy and made the depression more severe. 2. Cause: Many panicked and withdrew their money from banks, but some could't because the banks had invested in the stock market. Effect: 600 banks closed in 1929 and by 1933, 11,000 of the nation's 25,000 banks had failed and the government did not protect or insure bank accounts, so millions of people lost their savings accounts. 3. Cause: the nation's total output of goods and services was cut nearly in half. Effects: Approximately 90,000 businesses went bankrupt and unemployment leaped from 3% to 25% and those who kept their jobs faced pay cuts and reduced hours. 4. Cause: The Great Depression limited America's ability to import European goods. Effect: This made it difficult to sell American farm products and manufactured goods abroad. *Common set of causes: -tariffs and war debt policies that cut down the foreign market for American goods -a crisis in the farm sector -the availability of easy credit -an unequal distribution of income
Vietnamization
A plan created by Nixon and Henry Kissinger to end America's involvement in Vietnam. It called for the gradual withdrawal of US troops in order for the South Vietnamese to take on a more active combat role in the war. By August of 1969, the first 25,000 US troops had returned home from Vietnam and over the next three years, the number of American Troops in Vietnam dropped from more than 500,000 to less than 25,000.
Grandfather Clause
A provision that exempts certain people from a law on the basis of previously existing circumstances; especially a clause formerly in some southern states' constitutions that exempted whites from the strict voting requirements used to keep African Americans from the polls
Saturday Night Massacre
A year-long battle for the "Nixon tapes" began. Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor whom Elliot Richardson had appointed to investigate the case, took the president to court in October 1973 to obtain the tapes. Nixon refused and ordered Attorney General Richardson to fire Cox. In what became known as the Saturday Night Massacre, Richardson refused the order and resigned. The deputy attorney general also refused the order, and he was fired. Solicitor General Robert Bork finally fired Cox. However, Cox's replacement, Leon Jaworski, proved equally determined to get the tapes. Several months after the "massacre" the House Judiciary Committee began examining the possibility of an impeachment hearing. The entire White House appeared to be under siege and just days before the Saturday Night Massacre, VP Spiro Agnew has resigned after it was revealed that he had accepted bribes from engineering firms while governor of Maryland. After he resigned, Nixon nominated Gerald R. Ford as his new vice-presidnet.
Roosevelt Corollary
Added to the Monroe Doctrine (which told Europe to stay out of the affairs of the Americas; no more colonies) by Roosevelt. It was an extension of the Monroe Doctrine, announced by President Roosevelt in 1904, under which the US said that they would be involved in everything in the Americas and that Europe didn't need to intervene.
ARVN
Also known as the South Vietnamese army, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam were the southern Vietnamese soldiers with whom US troops fought against communism and forces in the North during the Vietnam War.
Education in the 1900s (who attended and what was the focus)
Although most states had established public schools by the Civil War, many school-age children still received no formal schooling. The majority of students who went to school left within four years, and few went to high school. Compulsory attendance laws, though slow to be enforced, helped fill classrooms at the turn of the 20th century. Schools for children emphasized reading, writing, and arithmetic. However, the emphasis on rote memorization and the uneven quality of teachers drew criticism. Strict rules and physical punishment made students miserable. In 1900, the number of kindergartens surged to 3,000 from the 200 in 1880. By early 1900, more than half a million students attended high school where the curriculum expanded to include courses in science, civics, and social studies. New vocational courses prepared male graduates for industrial jobs in drafting, carpentry, and mechanics, and female graduates for office work. African Americans were mostly excluded from public secondary education. In 1890, fewer than 1% of black teenagers attended high school. By 1910, about 3% of African Americans between the ages of 15 and 19 attended high school, but a majority still attended private schools. Unlike African Americans, immigrants were encouraged to go to school. Most immigrants sent their children to America's free public schools, where they quickly became "Americanized." *Women were
Goal of US in Vietnam
America's involvement in Vietnam began in 1950, during the French Indochina War. Seeking to strengthen its ties with France and to help fight the spread of Communism, the US provided the French with massive economic and military support. *Prevent the spread of Communism, strengthen ties with France, and create "peace with honor" (Pres. Nixon)
Plessy v. Ferguson
An 1896 case in which the Supreme Court ruled that separation of the races in public accommodations was legal, thus establishing the "separate but equal" doctrine
Speculation
An involvement in risky business transactions in an effort to make a quick or large profit. A cause of the Great Depression
Chinese Civil War and results
As soon as the defeated Japanese left China at the end of WWII, cooperation between the Nationalists and the Communists ceased and Civil war erupted again between the two groups. American policy favored the Nationalists because they opposed communism. From 1944 to 1947, the US played peacemaker between the two groups while still supporting the Nationalists. However, they repeatedly failed to negotiate peace and Truman refused to commit American soldiers to back up the nationalists, but the US did send $2 billion worth of military equipment and supplies. The aid wasn't enough to save the Nationalists, whose weak military leadership and corrupt, abusive practices drove the peasants to the Communist side. In May 1949, Chiang Kai-shek and the remnants of his demoralized government fled to the island of Taiwan. After more than 20 years of struggle, the Communists ruled all of mainland China and established a new government, the People's Republic of China, which the US refused to accept as China's true government and the American public was stunned that China had become Communist. *Nationalists lost to the communists and Mao Zedong was the communist leader of China
Flapper
Flappers were young women in the twenties. They were emancipated young women who embraced the new fashions and urban attitudes of the day. They wore close-fitting felt hats, bright waistless dresses an inch above the knees, skin-toned silk stockings, sleek pumps, and strings of beads replaced the dark and prim ankle-length dresses, whalebone corsets, and petticoats of Victorian days. They also clipped their long hair into boyish bobs and dyed it jet black. Many young women became more assertive and began to smoke cigarettes, drink in public, and openly talk about sex. They had new dances and would even compete in dance competitions. Attitudes towards marriage changed, but both agreed that housework and child-rearing remained a woman's job.
William Westmoreland
General William Westmoreland was the American commander in South Vietnam. He was a West Point graduate who had served in WWII and Korea, and he was less than impressed with the fighting ability of the South Vietnamese Army (the Army of the Republic of Vietnam - ARVN). He requested more troops even though by the end of 1965 the US government had already sent more than 180,000 Americans to Vietnam. His strategy for defeating the Vietcong was to destroy their morale through a war of attrition, or the gradual wearing down of the enemy by continuous harassment. He believed that as the number of Vietcong dead rose, the guerrillas would inevitably surrender, but they had no intention of quitting their fight. Westmoreland later said that the US never lost a battle in Vietnam, and whether this was true or not, they underscored the degree to which America misunderstood its foe. The US saw the war strictly as a military struggle while the Vietcong saw it as a battle for their very existence, and they were willing to pay a large price for it.
Harlem Renaissance
In the 1920s, there was a flowering of creativity called the Harlem Renaissance, a literary and artistic movement celebrating African-American culture. Many African American who migrated north moved to Harlem, a neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan Island. It became the world's largest black urban community in the 20s, with residents from the South, the West Indies, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Haiti and like many other urban neighborhoods was suffering from overcrowding, unemployment, and poverty, but this all change with the Harlem Renaissance. Some popular people from this time were Paul Robeson (major dramatic actor), Claude McKay (novelist and poet), Langston Hughes (the movement's best known poet), Louis Armstrong (jazz trumpet player), Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (jazz pianist and composer) and Bessie Smith (female blues singer).
Nonaggression Pact with Germany
In the spring of 1939, Hitler began to charge that Germans in Poland were mistreated by the Poles and needed his protection. As tensions rose over Poland, Stalin surprised everyone by signing a nonaggression pact (an agreement in which two nations promise to not go to war with each other) with Hitler. Once bitter enemies, fascist Germany and communist Russia promised to never attack each other on August 23, 1939. Germany and the Soviet Union also signed a second, secret pact, agreeing to divide Poland between them. The fate of Poland was now sealed with the danger of a two-front war being eliminated. *Germany could've had Russia as an ally for the war, but they broke the pact and had to fight against them. They lost many battles in Russia.
Battle of Stalingrad
In the summer of 1942, the Germans took the offensive line in the southern Soviet Union. Hitler hoped to capture Soviet oil fields in the Caucasus Mountains and also wanted to wipe out Stalingrad, a major industrial center on the Volga River. The German army confidently approached Stalingrad in August 1942. The Luftwaffe (the German air force) prepared the way with nightly bombing raids over the city. Nearly every wooden building in Stalingrad was set ablaze and the situation looked so desperate that Soviet officers in Stalingrad recommended blowing up the city's factories and abandoning the city. Stalin was furious and ordered them to defend his namesake city no matter what the cost. For weeks the Germans pressed in on Stalingrad, conquering it house by house in brutal hand-to-hand combat and by the end of September, they controlled 9/10 of the city - or what was left of it. When winter set in, the Soviets saw it was an opportunity to roll fresh tanks across the frozen landscape and begin a massive counterattack. The Soviet army closed around Stalingrad, which trapped the Germans in and around the city and cut off their supplies. The German commander surrendered on January 31, 1943 and two days later, his starving troops also surrendered. The Soviets lost a total of 1,100,000 soldiers defending Stalingrad, but despite this, the Soviet victory marked a turning point in the war and they began to move westward toward Germany.
New Frontier initiatives
John F. Kennedy set out to transform his broad vision of progress into what he called the New Frontier. He called on Americans to be "new pioneers" and explore "uncharted areas of science and space... unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus." He had a difficult time turning his vision into reality, but offered Congress proposals to: -provide medical care for the elderly -rebuild blighted urban areas -aid education -bolster the national defense -increase international aid -expand the space program
Immediate Cause of WWI
M- militarism A- alliances N- nationalism I- imperialism A- assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand *The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Bosnia in Eastern Europe by Bosnian people was the immediate cause of WWI *The sinking the of the Lusitania was the reason that the U.S. entered the war
Presidential candidates of 1932
The 1932 presidential election showed that Americans were clearly ready for a change. The Republicans nominated President Hoover as their candidate but realized he had little chance of winning because too many Americans blamed him for doing too little about the depression and wanted a new president. The Democrats pinned their hopes on Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) who was the two-term governor of New York. As governor, FDR had proved to be an effective, reform-minded leader, working to combat the problems of unemployment and poverty. Unlike Hoover, FDR had a "can-do" attitude and projected an air of friendliness and confidence that attracted voters. Roosevelt won an overwhelming victory, nearly 23 million votes to Hoover's 16 million votes.
Espionage and Sedition Acts
The Espionage Act was passed in June 1917 and the Sedition Act was passed in May 1918. Under the Espionage and Sedition Acts, a person could be fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to 20 years in jail for interfering with the war effort or for saying anything disloyal, profane, or abusive about the government or the war effort. These laws violated the spirit of the First Amendment and targeted socialists and labor leaders.
Great Society
The Great Society brought profound changed to the nation's immigration laws and the Immigration Act of 1965 opened the door for many non-European immigrants to settle in the US by ending quotas based on nationality. It was President Lyndon B. Johnson's program to reduce poverty and racial injustice and to promote a better quality of life in the US. It gave many people a promise of a better life which was significant.
Teapot Dome Scandal
The government had set aside oil-rich public lands at Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California, for use by the US Navy. Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall, a close friend of various oil executives, managed to get the oil reserves transferred from the navy to the Interior Department. Then, Fall secretly leased the land to two private oil companies, including Henry Sinclair's Mammoth Oil Company at Teapot Dome. Although Fall claimed the contracts were in the government's interest, he suddenly received more than 400,000 in "loans, bonds, and cash" and was later found guilty of bribery and became the first American to be convicted of a felony while holding a cabinet post. *Scandal about oil
US Development of the Hydrogen Bomb
The hydrogen bomb was a thermonuclear weapon that was much more powerful than the atomic bomb. Despite the concerns of creating a destructive weapon that was extremely dangerous and deadly, the US entered into a deadly race with the Soviet Union to see which country would produce an H-bomb first. On November 1, 1952, the US won the race when it exploded the first H-bomb ever. However, the American advantage lasted less than a year because in August 1953, the Soviets exploded their own thermonuclear weapon.
Spanish American War
(1898) Lasted 15 weeks. It was a conflict between the US and Spain that ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas and resulted in US acquisition of territories in the western Pacific and Latin America. The war originated in the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain, which began in 1895. Spain's brutally repressive measures to halt the rebellion were graphically portrayed for the US public by several sensational newspapers (yellow journalism), and American sympathy for the rebels rose. Public opinions in the US were split, though, since many business people wanted the government to support Spain in order to protect their investments.In 1898, President McKinley ordered the U.S.S. Maine to Cuba to bring home American citizens in danger from the fighting and to protect American property. On February 15, 1898, the ship blew up in the harbor of Havana. "Remember the Maine!" became the rallying cry for US intervention in Cuba. On April 20th, the US declared war after a week of debate in Congress. George Dewey led the US into Manila Bay in the Philippines and destroyed every Spanish ship there. About 125,000 Americans had volunteered to fight but were sent to training camps that lacked adequate supplies and effective leaders. Despite these handicaps, American forces landed in Cuba in June 1898 and began to converge on the port city of Santiago. The army of 17,000 included four African-American regiments of the regular army and the Rough Riders, a volunteer cavalry under the command of Leonard Wood and Roosevelt. Two days after the strategically important battle of San Juan Hill was victorious, the Spanish fleet tried to escape the American blockade of the harbor at Santiago. The naval battle that followed ended in the destruction of the Spanish fleet. American troops invaded Puerto Rico on July 25. The US and Spain signed an armistice on August 12, ending the war. On December 10, 1898, the US and Spain met in Paris to agree on a treaty (Treaty of Paris). At the peace talks, Spain freed Cuba and turned over the islands of Guam and Puerto Rico to the US and Spain also sold the Philippines to the US for $20 million. *Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders went into Cuba and fought the Spanish and were successful and the U.S. won the war
Selective Service Act
(1917) This was passed to meet the government's need for more fighting power. The act required men to register with the government in order to be randomly selected for military service.
Nixon's resignation
Because of his role in the Watergate scandal, Nixon was going to be impeached. Before Congress could take any further action against him, he resigned as president. Nixon's reassignment, the first by a US president, was the climax of a scandal that led to the imprisonment of 25 government officials and caused the most serious constitutional crisis in the US since the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1868. The Watergate scandal centered on the Nixon administration's attempt to cover up a burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office and apartment complex in Washington, D.C. However, the Watergate story began long before the actual burglary. The 5 burglars caught on June 1, 1972 were planning to photograph documents outlining Democratic Party strategy and to place wiretaps on the office telephones. The cove-up quickly began after H. R. Haldeman noted in his diary Nixon's obsession with how to respond to the break-in. Workers shredded all incriminating documents in Haldeman's office and the White House, under Nixon's consent, asked the CIA to urge the FBI to stop its investigations into the burglary on the grounds of national security. In addition, the CPR passed out nearly $450,000 to the Watergate burglars to buy their silence after they were indicted in September of 1972. In January 1973, the trial of the Watergate burglars began and the judge, John Sirica, made clear his belief that the men had not acted alone and also hinted that powerful members of the Nixon administration had been involved in the break-in. Throughout the whole trial and even after, Nixon maintained that he had done nothing wrong. On August 8, 1974, he was going to be impeached but resigned before the full House vote on the articles of impeachment began.
Cesar Chavez
Chavez was a Mexican-American farm worker trying to organize a union for California's mostly Spanish-speaking farm workers. He wanted the women to be involved, too, because, "they're the ones working out in the fields with their husbands." In 1962, Chavez and Dolores Huerta established the National Farm Workers Association. Four years later, this group merged with a Filipino agricultural union (also founded by Huerta) to form the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC). In 1965, when California's grape growers refused to recognize the union, Chavez launched a nationwide boycott of the companies' grapes. Like MLK Jr., Chavez believed in using nonviolence to reach his goal. His work finally paid off in 1970 when Huerta negotiated a contract between the grape growers and the UFWOC. Union workers would finally be guaranteed higher wages and other benefits that they had been long denied.
Phyllis Schlafly
Conservative Phyllis Schlafly, along with conservative religious groups, political organizations, and many anti-feminists, felt that the Equal Rights Amendment would lead to "a parade of horribles," such as the drafting of women, the end of laws protecting homemakers, the end of a husband's responsibility to provide for his family, and same-sex marriages. Schlafly said that radical feminists "hate men, marriage, and children" and were oppressed "only in their distorted minds."
Counterculture - who were they and what did conservatives think of them?
Counterculture was a movement made up mostly of white, middle-class college youths who had grown disillusioned with the war in Vietnam and injustices in America during the 1960s. Instead of challenging the system, they turned their backs on traditional America and tried to establish a whole new society based on peace and love. Although their heyday was short-lived, their legacy remains. Members of the counterculture, known as hippies, shared some of the beliefs of the New Left movement. Specifically, they felt that American society - and it's materialism, technology, and war - had grown hollow. They embraces the credo of Harvard psychology professor and counterculture philosopher Timothy Leary: "Tune in, turn on, drop out." Throughout the mid-and late 1960s, tens of thousands of idealistic youths left school, work, or home to create what they hoped would be an idyllic community of peace, love, and harmony. The hippie era was marked by rock n roll music, outrageous clothing, sexual license, and illegal drugs such as marijuana and LSD. *Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco was known as the hippie capital, mainly because California did not outlaw hallucinogenic drugs until 1966.
OPEC
During the 1960s, America received much of its petroleum from the oil-producing countries of the Middle East. Many of these countries belonged to a cartel called Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. During the 1960s, OPEC gradually raised oil prices and in 1973, the Yom Kippur War broke out, with Israel against Egypt and Syria. When the US sent massive military aid to Israel, its longtime ally, the Arab OPEC nations responded by cutting off all oil sales to the US and when they resumed selling their oil to the US in 1974, the price had quadrupled which only worsened the problem of inflation.
Pearl Harbor
Early in the morning on December 7, 1941, a Japanese dive-bomber swooped low over Pearl Harbor- the largest US naval base in the Pacific. The bomber was followed by more than 180 Japanese warplanes launched from six aircraft carriers. As the first Japanese bombs found their targets, a radio operator flashed this message: "Air raid on Pearl Harbor. This is not a drill." For an hour and a half, the Japanese planes were barely disturbed by US antiaircraft guns and blasted target after target. In less than two hours, the Japanese had killed 2,403 Americans and wounded 1,178 more. The surprise raid had sunk or damaged 21 ships, including 8 battleships, which was nearly the whole US Pacific fleet and more than 300 aircrafts were severely damaged or destroyed. These losses constituted greater damage than the US Navy had suffered in all of WWI. Congress quickly approved Roosevelt's request for a declaration of war against Japan and three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the US.
First and Second New Deal
First New Deal: This program, designed to alleviate the problems of the Great Depression, became known as the New Deal, a phrase then from a campaign speech in which Roosevelt had promised "a new deal for the American people." New Deal policies focused on three goals: 1. Relief for the needy 2. Economic recovery 3. Financial reform During a period of intense activity launched by the Roosevelt administration known as the Hundred Days, Congress passed more than 15 major pieces of New Deal legislation. These laws significantly expanded the federal government's role in the nation's economy. By the end of the Hundred Days, millions of Americans had benefited from the New Deal programs, but it did not end the depression since he was reluctant with deficit spending (spending more money than the government receives in revenue). This caused opposition to grow among some parts of the population and many thought it interfered with the workings of a free-market economy. Second New Deal: By 1935, the Roosevelt administration was seeking ways to build on the programs established during the Hundred Days. FDR's first two years in office had improved the economy, but not as much as he had expected. Unemployment remained high despite his government work programs, and production levels still lagged behind the levels of the 1920s. FDR launched a second burst of activity, often called the Second New Deal or Second Hundred Days. During this phase, the president called on Congress to provide more extensive relief for both farmers and workers. A series of programs to help youths, professionals, and other workers was set up as a part of the Second New Deal. It also attempted to help sharecroppers, migrant workers, and many other poor farmers.The president was prodded in this direction by his wife, Eleanor, who was a social reformer. The Second New Deal was under way by the time of the 1936 election. Roosevelt won for a second term and the election was a vote of confidence in FDR and the New Deal.
Views of conservatives during the 80's
Goals of the conservative movement: 1. Shrink the size of the federal government and reduce spending 2. Promote family values and patriotic ideas 3. Stimulate business by reducing government regulations and lowering taxes 4. Strengthen the national defense Reagan was conservative and was elected to be the president in 1980. He was a true believer in less government, lower taxes, and traditional values. Once elected, he worked to translate the conservative agenda into public policy. Conservative voters who highly approved of Reagan's policies included the following people along with their views: 1. Business people - who wanted to deregulate the economy 2. Southerners - who welcomed the limits on federal power 3. Westerners - who resented federal controls on minimizing and grazing 4. Reagan Democrats - who agreed with Reagan on limiting federal government and thought that the Democratic Party had drifted too far to the left
Muckrakers
Going on during the Progressive Era. Magazine journalists who exposed the corrupt side of business and public life in the early 1900s. Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle which exposed the meat packing industry. Ida Tarbell was another muckraker.
Charles Lindberg
He was America's most beloved hero of the time. He was a small-town pilot who made the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic. He decided to go after a $25,000 prize offered for the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight and on May 20, 1927, he took off near New York City in the "Spirit of St. Louis", flew up the coast to Newfoundlandm and headed over the atlantic. After 33 hours and 29 minutes, he set down at Le Bourget airfield outside of Paris, France, amid beacons, searchlights, and mobs of enthusiastic people. Paris threw a huge part and on is return to the US, New York showered him with ticker tape, the president received him at the White House, and America made him its idol.
Douglas MacArthur
He was a General who was in command of Allied forces on the islands during the time of the Japanese invasion in 1941. In the Philippines, 80,000 American and Filipino troops battled the Japanese for control. When Roosevelt ordered him to leave Bataan, he left with his wife, son, and staff and pledged to the thousands of men who did not make it out, "I shall return." *Head of the allied forces in WWII
U.S. Imperialism - why?
Imperialism is the policy in which stronger nations extend their economic, political, or military control over weaker territories. Many American leaders had become convinced that the US should join the imperialist powers of Europe and establish colonies overseas after being against it for a long time. There was: 1. global competition 2. desire for military strength 3. thirst for new markets and 4. belief in cultural superiority. Because of imperialism, the U.S. got Alaska and Hawaii.
Acquiring Alaska - when - from who?
In 1867, William Seward, Secretary of State under presidents Lincoln and Johnson, arranged to buy Alaska from the Russians for $7.2 million. Seward had some trouble persuading the House of Reps to approve funding, but in 1959, Alaska became a state. It was purchased for about two cents an acre. *It made sense to purchase because it was right next to Russia because it gives us influence over by Asia and later gold and oil were discovered there.
Red Scare
In 1919, panic began in the US after revolutionaries in Russia overthrew the czarist regime. Vladimir I. Lenin and his followers, or Bolsheviks ("the majority"), established a new Communist state. Communists, or "Reds" cried out for a worldwide revolution that would abolish capitalism everywhere. When a Communist Party formed in the US, 70,000 radicals joined, including some from the Industrial Workers of the World. When several dozen bombs were mailed to government and business leaders, the public grew fearful that the Communists were taking over. Mitchell Palmer tried to take action to combat this "Red Scare" and began the Palmer Raids. Palmer raids basically just arrested people for being communist. The Cold War was all about the U.S. versus the Soviet Union who was communist. Everything after WWII was basically about communism
Silent Spring
In 1962, Silent Spring, a book by marine biologist Rachel Carson, had exposed a hidden danger: the effects of pesticides on the environment. Carson's book and the public's outcry resulted in the Water Quality Act of 1965, which required states to clean up rivers. In her book, she warned against the growing use of pesticides and argued that they poisoned the very food they were intended to protect and as a result killed many birds and fish. She also cautioned that America faced a "silent spring," in which birds killed off by pesticides would no longer fill the air with song and added that all of the weapons used in "man's war against nature," pesticides were some of the most harmful. Within 6 months of the publication, it sold nearly half a million copies. Many chemical companies called the book inaccurate and threatened legal action. Shortly after the book's publication, Kennedy established an advisory committee to investigate the situation and with Carson's prodding, the nation slowly began to focus more on environment issues, even though she wasn't alive to see the US government outlaw DDT in 1972.
Nixon's visit to China
In 1972 when President Nixon - who had risen in politics as a strong anti-Communist - visited Communist China, one of the most startling applications of détente (a policy aimed at easing Cold War tensions) came from Nixon. Since the takeover of mainland China by the Communists in 1949, the US had not formally recognized the Chinese Communist government but in late 1971, Nixon reversed that policy by announcing to the nation that he would visit China "to seek the normalization of relations between the two countries." By gong to China, Nixon was trying, in part, to take advantage of the decade-long rift between China and the Soviet Union. China had long criticized the Soviet Union as being too "soft" in its policies against the West and the two superpowers officially broke ties in 1960. Besides its enormous symbolic value, Nixon's visit also was a huge success with the American public and observers note that it opened up diplomatic and economic relations with the Chinese and resulted in important agreements between China and the US in which the two nations agreed that neither would try to dominate the Pacific and that both would cooperate in settling disputes peacefully and also agreed to participate in scientific and cultural exchanges as well as to eventually reunite Taiwan with the mainland.
Strategic Defensive Initiative
In 1983, Reagan asked the country's scientists to develop a defense system that would keep Americans safe from enemy missiles which became officially known as the Strategic Defense Initiative. The system quickly became known as Star Wars, after the title of the popular movie. The Defense Department estimated that the system would cost trillions of dollars.
American Indian Movement (AIM)
Many young Native Americans were dissatisfied with the slow pace of reform which fueled the growth of the American Indian Movement, an often militant Native American rights organization. It began in 1968 largely as a self-defense group against police brutality, but soon branched out to include protecting the rights of large Native American populations in northern and western states. They sometimes violently confronted the government. In 1972, AIM leader Russell Means organized the "Trail of Broken Treaties" march in Washington D.C. to protest the US government's treaty violations throughout history. A year later,AIM led nearly 200 Sioux to the tiny village of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where the US cavalry had massacred a Sioux village in 1890. In protest against both tribal leadership and federal policies, the Sioux seized the town, taking hostages. After tense negotiations with the FBI and a shootout that left 2 Native Americans dead and others wounded, the confrontation ended with a government promise to reexamine Native American treaty rights. As a result, in 1972, Congress passed the Indian Education act and in 1975 passed the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance act which both gave tribes greater control over their own affairs and over their children's education. Armed with copies of old land treaties the US government had broken, Native American went to federal court and regained some of their rights to land such as the Blue Lake and a portion of its surrounding forestland.
Mechanized warfare of WWI
Mechanized warfare is warfare that relies on machines powered by gasoline and diesel engines. Some of the weapons were new, but others, like the machine gun, had been so refined that they changed the nature of warfare. The two most innovative weapons were the tank and the airplane which together heralded mechanized warfare. The early airplanes were very flimsy and many were shot at by antiaircraft guns. The planes began carrying mounted machine guns, but the planes' propeller blades would get in the way of the bullets. Then, the Germans introduced an interrupter gear that permitted the stream of bullets to avoid the blades. Airplanes were being built to travel faster and carry heavy bomb loads. By 1918, the British had built up a strategic bomber force of 22,000 places to attack German weapons factories and army bases. Observation balloons were also used extensively by both sides in the war in Europe and became prime targets for Eddie Rickenbacker and other ace pilots. Tanks were sued as well to "mow down" barbed wire and soldiers. *Planes and tanks were the big two weapons of the war
Sacco and Vanzetti
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a shoemaker and a fish peddler, were Italian immigrants and anarchists who had both evaded the draft during WWI. In May 1920, they were arrested and charged with the robbery and murder of a factory paymaster and his guard in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Witnesses had said the criminals had appeared to be Italians. Sacco and Vanzetti asserted their innocence and provided alibis, the evidence against them was circumstantial, and the presiding judge made prejudicial remarks. Nevertheless, the jury still found them guilty and sentenced them to death. Protests rang out in the US, Europe, and Latin America and many thought Sacco and Vanzetti were mistreated because of their radical beliefs and others thought it was because they were immigrants. In 1961, new ballistics tests showed that the pistol found on Sacco was the one used to murder the guard, but there was no proof that Sacco pulled the trigger. *Immigrants blamed for murder and robbery who were later tried and killed just because they were immigrants and communist
Battles of Okinawa and Iwo Jima
Okinawa: In April 1945, US Marines invaded Okinawa. During the Okinawa campaign, the Japanese unleashed more than 1,900 kamikaze attacks on the Allies which sunk 30 ships, damaged more than 300 more, and killed almost 5,000 seamen. By the time the fighting ended on June 21, 1945, more than 7,600 Americans had died. But in defending Okinawa, the Japanese had paid an even bigger price - 110,000 lives including two generals who chose ritual suicide over the shame of surrender. *Led by Chester Nimitz Iwo Jima - where the famous picture is taken of the U.S. Raising the flag. The allied troops were led by Chester Nimitz
US invasion of Cambodia
On April 30, 1970, President Nixon announced that US troop had invaded Cambodia to clear out North Vietnamese and Vietcong supply centers. The president defended his actions. Upon hearing of the invasion, college students across the country burst out in protest and more than 1.5 million students closed down some 1,200 campuses in what became the first general student strike in the nation's history. The president of Columbia University called the month that followed the Cambodian invasion "the most disastrous month of May in the history of... higher education." Disaster struck hardest at Kent State University in Ohio, though, where a massive student protest led to the burning of the ROTC building. Nine people were wounded and four were killed, two not even participating in the rally, from gunfire from the Nation Guard who was called in by the local mayor.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
On August 2, 1964, a North Vietnamese patrol boat fired a torpedo at an American destroyer, the USS Maddox, which was patrolling in the Gulf of Tonkin off the North Vietnamese coast. The torpedo missed its target, the the Maddox returned fire and inflicted heavy damage on the patrol boat. Two days later, the Maddox and another destroyer were again off the North Vietnamese coast and in spite of bad weather that could affect visibility, the crew reported enemy torpedo and the American destroyers began firing. The crew of the Maddox later declared, however, that they had neither seen nor heard hostile gunfire. The alleged attack on the US ships prompter President Johnson to launch bombing strikes on North Vietnam, so he asked Congress for power to take "all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the US and to prevent further aggression." Congress approved his request and adopted the Tonkin Gulf Resolution on August 7. It wasn't a declaration of war, but it granted Johnson broad military powers in Vietnam. He used his newly granted powers in February of 1965 and in response to a Vietcong attack that killed 8 Americans, he unleashed "Operation Rolling Thunder," the first sustained bombing of North Vietnam. By June more than 50,000 US soldiers were battling the Vietcong and the Vietnam War had become Americanized.
Battle of the Bulge
On December 16, eight German tank divisions broke through weak American defenses along an 80-mile front. Hitler hoped that a victory would split American and British forces and break up Allied supply lines. Tanks drove 60 miles into Allied territory, creating a bulge in the lines that gave this desperate last-ditch offensive its name. Germans captured 120 American GIs and herded the prisoners into a large field and mowed them down with machine guns and pistols. The battle raged for a month and when it was over, the Germans had been pushed back, and little seemed to have changed, but events had taken a decisive turn. The Germans lost 120,000 troops, 600 tanks and assault guns, and 1,600 planes in this battle and from that point on, the Nazis could do little but retreat. *The last chance for Germany to go on the offensive. They ended up losing anyways.
Truman and the Atomic Bomb
On July 25, 1945, President Truman ordered the military to make final plans for dropping two atomic bombs on Japanese targets in hopes that they would bring the war to an end. On August 6, a B-29 bomber named Enola Gay released an atomic bomb, code-named Little Boy, over Hiroshima, an important Japanese military center. 43 seconds later, almost every building in the city collapsed into dust from the force of the blast. Hiroshima had ceased to exist. Still, Japanese leaders hesitated to surrender. Three days later, a second bomb, code-named Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki, leveling half of the city. By the end of the year, an estimated 200,000 people had died as a result from injuries and radiation poisoning caused by the atomic blasts. Emperor Hirohito was horrified by the destruction wrought by the bomb and ordered Japan's leaders to draw up papers to end the war. On September 2, formal surrender ceremonies took place on the US battleship "Missouri" in Tokyo Bay.
U.S. Open Door Policy
Open Door Notes were messages sent by Secretary of State John Hay in 1899 that were addressed to the leaders of imperialist nations (Germany, Russia, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan) proposing that the nations share their trading rights with the US, thus creating an open door. That meant that no single nation would have monopoly on trade with any part of China. The other imperialist powers reluctantly accepted this policy. *The whole point of it was to protect US trade
Hoover Dam
Originally called the Boulder Dam, it was proposed by Hoover. In an aim to minimize federal intervention, he proposed to finance the dam using profits from sales of the electric power that the dam would generate. It won congressional approval in 1928 as part of a $700 million public work program, but by this time Hoover had already been elected into the White House and in the fall of 1929 was finally able to authorize the construction of it. It was constructed to provide electricity and flood control and also provided a regular water supply which enabled the growth of California's massive agricultural economy. Today, it helps to provide water for cities such as Los Angeles and Las Vegas. *Took a ton of people to build it so many jobs were created
War Powers Act
Passed by Congress in 1973 as a step to curb the president's war-making powers. This act stipulated that a president must inform Congress within 48 hours of sending forces into a hostile area without a declaration of war. In addition, the troops may remain there no longer than 90 days unless Congress approves the president's actions or declares war. *Main goal was to decrease presidential power in war
Pure Food and Drug Act
Passed by congress in 1906 which halted the sale of contaminated foods and medicines and called for truth in labeling.
Prohibition
Prohibition was an era during which the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic beverages were legally prohibited. (18th Amendment - went into effect in January 1920)
Meat Inspection Act
Pushed by Roosevelt in 1906 to be passed. It dictated strict cleanliness requirements for meat packers and created the program of federal meat inspection that was in use until it was replaced by more sophisticated techniques in the 1990s
Reagan's presidency and policies
Reaganomics were his economic policies that consisted of three parts: 1. Budget cuts 2. Tax cuts 3. Increased defense spending -He worked to reduce the size and influence of the federal government, which he though would encourage private investment - His strategy for downsizing the federal government included deep cuts in government spending on social programs, but his cuts did not affect all segments of the population equally -Reaganomics rested heavily upon supply-side economics (the theory held that if people paid fewer taxes, they would save more money, and banks could then loan that money to businesses, which could invest the money in resources to improve productivity). - Increased military spending that more than offset cuts in social programs - Reagan reduced the size and power of the federal government in part by cutting federal entitlement programs but also through deregulation (the cutting back of federal regulation of industry). - Reagan was loved by some and hated by others
1968 presidential candidates and their views on the war
Richard Nixon ran for the Republican party, Hubert Humphrey ran for the Democrat party, and George Wallace came into the race as a third-party candidate running for the American Independent party. Nixon's Views: wanted to restore "law and order" and in vague, but appealing terms, promised to end the war in Vietnam. He eventually would, but not before his war policies created even more protest and uproar within the country Humphrey's Views: antiwar Wallace's Views: antiwar
Hoovervilles
Shantytowns were neighborhoods in which people lived in makeshift shacks. Hoovervilles were what "shantytowns" in American cities became known as. It was a direct slap at the president's policies. Homeless people called the newspapers they wrapped themselves in "Hoover blankets." Empty pockets turned inside out were "Hoover flags."
Supply-side economics
Supply-side economics was the theory that if people paid fewer taxes, they would save more money, and banks could then loan that money to businesses, which could invest the money in resources to improve productivity. Ergonomics rested heavily upon this theory.
Taft's Presidency (weakness)
Taft came after Roosevelt who was known for his three C's (conservation, control of corporations, and consumer protection). Taft was handpicked by Roosevelt to run against William Jennings Bryant (Democrat). He was cautious and hesitated to use the presidential bully pulpit to influence public opinion. Roosevelt felt betrayed because he was going against everything that he had set up. He was mad and created a new party, the Bull Moose Party, to run against him in the next election.
Big Four
The "Big Four" were Woodrow Wilson (US President), Georges Clemenceau (French premier), David Lloyd George (British Prime Minister), and Vittorio Orlando (Italian Prime Minister). They came together and worked out the (Fourteen Points) treaty's details among themselves. On June 28, 1919, they came together with the leaders of the defeated nations in the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of versailles to sign the peace treaty (Treaty of Versailles) which established nine new nations and shifted the boundaries of other nations, barred Germany from maintaining an army and required them to pay reparations amounting to $33 billion to the Allies, and contained a war-guilt clause which forced Germany to admit sole responsibility for starting WWI. *just know who the 4 leaders of the war were
HUAC
The House Un-American Activities Committee was the most famous of the agencies that investigated possible Communist influence, both inside and outside the US government. It first made headlines in 1947, when it began to investigate Communist influence in the movie industry. They believed that Communists were sneaking propaganda into films and they pointed to the pro-Soviet films made during WWII when the Soviet Union had been a US ally. HUAC subpoenaed 43 witnesses from the Hollywood film industry in September 1947. Many of the witnessed were "friendly", supporting the accusation that Communists had infiltrated the film industry. Gary Cooper said he had "turned down quite a few scripts because I thought they were tinged with Communistic ideas," but when asked which scripts, he said he couldn't remember. Ten "unfriendly" witnessed were called to testify but refused, and became known as the Hollywood Ten. They decided not to cooperate because they believed the hearings were unconstitutional. Because they refused to answer questions, they were sent to prison. In response to the hearings, Hollywood executives instituted a blacklist of approximately 500 actors, writers, producers, and directors of whom they condemned for having a Communist background, thus ruining their careers.
Targets of the KKK
The KKK was devoted to "100% Americanism." They also believed in keeping blacks "in their place," destroying saloons, opposing unions, and driving Roman Catholics, Jews, and foreign-born people out of the country. *Blacks, saloons, unions, Roman Catholics, Jews, and foreign-borns were the targets
Bull Moose Party
The Progressive Party became known as this after Roosevelt's boast that he was "as strong as a bull moose." The party's platform called for the direct election of senators and the adoption in all states of the initiative, referendum, and recall. It also advocated woman suffrage, workmen's compensation, an eight-hour workday, a minimum wage for women, a federal law against child labor, and a federal trade commission to regulate business.
Scopes Trial
The Scopes Trial was a fight over evolution and the role of science and religion in public schools and in American society. In March 1925, Tennessee passed the nation's first law that made it a crime to teach evolution. The American Civil Liberties Union promised to defend any teacher who would challenge the law. John T. Scopes, a young biology teacher in Dayton accepted the challenge. The trial opened July 10, 1925 and became an international sensation almost overnight. Clarence Darrow was hired to defend Scopes. William Jennings Bryan served as a special prosecutor. Even though Bryan admitted that the Bible might be interpreted in different ways, Scopes was found guilty and fined $100. The Tennessee Supreme Court later changed the verdict on a technicality, but the law outlawing the teaching of evolution remained in effect. *Big idea: science vs. religion
Eisenhower Doctrine
The Soviet Union's prestige in the Middle East rose because of its support for Egypt. To counterbalance this development, President Eisenhower issued a warning in January 1957 that was known as the Eisenhower Doctrine, which said that the US would defend the Middle Eat against an attack by any communist country. In March, Congress officially approved the doctrine. Although it had promised to support free peoples who resisted communism, the US did nothing to help Hungary break free of Soviet control, and Hungarians were bitterly disappointed. *Attempt to stop the spread of communism
Tet Offensive - what? - significance?
The Tet offensive was a massive surprise attack by the Vietcong on South Vietnamese towns and cities early in 1968. The simultaneous strikes, while ending military defeat for the Communist guerrillas, stunned the American public. Many people with moderate views began to turn their back on the war. The Tet is known in Vietnam as the beginning of the lunar new year festivities and on that day, there were many funerals being held at the same time as the festivities. The coffins they had contained weapons and many of the villagers were Vietcong agents. That night the Vietcong launched an overwhelming attack on over 100 towns and cities in South Vietnam, as well as 12 US air bases. The Vietcong even attacked the US embassy in Saigon, killing five Americans. The Tet offensive continued for about a month before US and South Vietnamese forces re-gained control of the cities. General Westmoreland claimed the Vietcong were defeated in this attack since they lost about 32,000 soldiers during the month-long battle, while the American and ARVN forces lost little more than 3,000. The Tet offensive changed millions of minds about the war.
US Neutrality
The US had remained neutral for three years. When Congress voted in favor of US entry into WWI, they abandoned this neutrality. Public opinion about joining the war or remaining neutral was divided. Despite Germany's explanation of the sinking of the Lusitania in which 128 Americans were lost, American public opinion turned against Germany and the Central Powers. On January 31, the kaiser announced that U-boats would sink all ships in British waters-hostile or neutral-on sight. The German decision meant that the US would have to go to war. Wilson held back, though, saying that he would wait for "actual overt acts" before declaring war. The first one that came was the Zimmerman Note, which proposed an alliance between Mexico and Germany and that if war broke out, Germany would support Mexico in recovering "lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona." Second was the sinking of four unarmed American merchant ships, with a loss of 36 lives. Finally, the oppressive Russian monarchy was replaced with a representative government, and now supporters of American entry into the war could claim it was a war of democracies against brutal monarchies. The hope of neutrality was shattered, and the US prepared for war.
Warren Court
The Warren Court banned prayer in public schools and declared state-required loyalty oaths unconstitutional. It limited the power of communities to censor books and films and said that free speech included the wearing of black armbands to school by antiwar students. Furthermore, the Court brought about change in federal and state reapportionment (the way in which states redraw election districts based on the changing number of people in them) and the criminal justice system. In Baker v. Carr (1962), the Court asserted that the federal courts had the right to tell states to reapportion their districts for more equal representation and in later decisions ruled that congressional district boundaries should be redrawn so that districts would be equal in population and extended the principle of "one person, one vote" in Reynolds v. Sims (1964). In Mapp v. Ohio (1961), the Court ruled that evidence seized illegally could not be used in state courts (known as the exclusionary rule). In Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), the justices required criminal courts to provide free legal counsel to those who could not afford it. In Escobedo v. Illinois (1964), the justices ruled that an accused person has a right to have lawyer present during police questioning. In 1966, they went a step further in Miranda v. Arizona, where it ruled all suspects must have their rights read before questioning. These rulings greatly divided public opinion.
Soviet Blockade of West Berlin
The western part of Berlin, which had been occupied by the French, British, and Americans, was surrounded by Soviet-occupied territory. Although the three nations had intended to unify their zones, they had no written agreement with the Soviets guaranteeing free access to Berlin by road or rail, and Stalin saw this as a loophole as an opportunity to take over the part of Berlin held by the three Western powers if he moved quickly. In June 1948, Stalin closed all highway and rail routes into West Berlin and as a result, no food or fuel could reach that part of the city, and the 2.1 million residents of the city only had enough food to last for about five weeks. In attempt to break the blockade, American and British officials started the Berlin airlift to fly food and supplies into West Berlin, and for 327 days, planes took off and landed every few minutes, around the clock. In 277,000 flights, they brought in 2.3 million tons of supplies (everything from food, fuel, and medicine to Christmas presents that the planes' crews bought with their own money). West Berlin survived because of this airlift and in addition, the mission to aid Berlin boosted American prestige around the world. By May 1949, the Soviet Union realized it was defeated and lifted the blockade.
Civil Rights Act of 1968
This act ended discrimination in housing.
Camp David Accords
Through negotiation and arm-twisting, Carter helped forge peace between long-time enemies Israel and Egypt. In 1977, the Egyptian president and Israeli prime minister met in Jerusalem to discuss an overall peace between the two nations and in 1978, Carter seized on the peace initiative. When the peace talks stalled, he invited Sadat and Begin to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland. After 12 days of intense negotiations, the three leaders reached an agreement known as the Camp David Accords. Under this first signed peace agreement with an Arab country, Israel agreed to withdraw form the Sinai Peninsula, which it had seized from Europe during the Six-Day War in 1967. Egypt, in turn, formally, recognized Israel's right to exist. Still, many issues were left unresolved.
Brown v. Board of Education
Thurgood Marshall's most stunning victory came on May 17, 1954, in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. In this case, the father of 8 year old Linda Brown had charged the board of education of Topeka, Kansas, with violating Linda's rights by denying her admission to an all-white elementary school which was four blocks from her house, while the nearest all-black elementary school was 21 blocks away. In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court unanimously struck down segregation in schooling as an unconstitutional violation of the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. The Brown decision was relevant for some 12 million schoolchildren in 21 states. Official reaction to the ruling was mixed, and some resisted school desegregation.
A. Mitchell Palmer
US Attorney General. He took action to combat the "Red Scare" of Communists taking over. In August 1919, Palmer, J. Edgar Hoover, and their agents hunted down suspected Communists, socialists, and anarchists. They trampled people's civil rights, invades private homes and offices and jailed suspects without allowing them legal counsel. The raids failed to turn up evidence of a revolutionary conspiracy-or even explosives. Soon, the public decided Palmer didn't know what he was talking about.
Speakeasies
Underground hidden saloons and nightclubs that people would go to in order to obtain liquor illegally during Prohibition. They were called speakeasies because when inside of them, one spoke quietly, or "easily," to avoid detection. They could be found everywhere - in penthouses, cellars, office buildings, rooming houses, tenements, hardware stores, and tearooms. To be admitted in, you had to present a card or password.
Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois
Washington was a prominent African American educator who believed that racism would end once blacks acquired useful labor skills and proved their economic value to society. He headed the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama. Du Bois was the first African American to receive a doctorate from Harvard in 1895 and strongly disagreed with Washington's gradual approach. In 1905, he founded the Niagara Movement, which insisted that blacks should seek a liberal arts education so that the African American community would have well-educated leaders
Civil Rights Act of 1964
When an assassin shot and killed JFK, his successor Lyndon B. Johnson pledged to carry on Kennedy's work. On July 2, 1964, Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination because of race, religion, national origin, and gender. It gave all citizens the right to enter libraries, parks, washrooms, restaurants, theaters, and other public accommodations.
Annexation of Hawaii
When the McKinley Tariff of 1890 provoked a crisis by eliminating the duty-free status of Hawaiian sugar, they faced competition in the American market. As a result, American planters in Hawaii called for the US to annex the islands so they wouldn't have to pay the duty. That same year, when Sanford B. Dole overthrew the queen and refused to surrender power back to her, Cleveland formally recognized the Republic of Hawaii, but refused to consider annexation unless a majority of Hawaiians favored it. In 1897, McKinley, who favored annexation, succeeded Cleveland as president. On August 12, 1898, Congress proclaimed Hawaii an American territory, although Hawaiians never got the chance to vote. In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state of the US *Queen Liliuokalani was the one who really wanted to fight to keep Hawaii as Hawaii and not turn it into the United States
Results of U-2 Incident
When the Soviets had leaped to an early lead in what came to be known as the Space Race, Americans were shocked at being beaten and poured money into their own space program and US scientists worked frantically to catch up with the Soviets. The first attempt at an American satellite launch was a humiliating failure, but on January 31, 1958, the US successfully launched its first satellite. When Eisenhower rejected the "open skies" proposal at the 1955 Geneva summit conference, the CIA began making secret high-altitude flights over Soviet territory using a plane known as the U-2. As a U-2 passed over the Soviet Union, its infrared cameras took detailed photos of troop movement and missile sites. By 1960, many US officials were nervous about the program because 1. the existence and purpose of the U-2 was an open secret among some members of the American press and 2. the Soviets had been aware of the flights since 1958. Finally, Eisenhower himself wanted the flights discontinued but Dulles persuaded him to authorize one last flight. That flight took place on May 1, and the pilot was Francis Gary Powers. Four hours after Powers entered Soviet airspace, a Soviet pilot shot down his plane and he was forced to parachute into Soviet-controlled territory where they sentenced Powers to ten years in prison. Khrushchev demanded an apology for the spying flights and a promise to halt them. Eisenhower agreed to stop the flights, but would no apologize. Because of this incident, the 1960 opened with tension between the US and Soviet Union as great as ever. *heighten the Cold War tensions
Upton Sinclair
a muckraker journalist who wrote a book in 1906 called "The Jungle". It was supposed to be about the human condition in the stockyards of Chicago, but most people were shocked by the sickening conditions of the meat packing industry that were revealed.
Jim Crow Laws
laws enacted by Southern state and local governments to separate white and black people in public and private facilities
"Bully Pulpit"
the president's use of his prestige and visibility to guide or enthuse the American public. Teddy Roosevelt used it largely
Suffrage
the right to vote. Women's suffrage was allowed with the passage of the 19th amendment