Midterm 2 HIST 2112 Study Guide
United Nations
- An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.
Palmer Raids
- 1919 - Directed by J. Edgar Hoover - Nationwide raids on radical headquarters in 12 cities(of suspected communists) - during first red scare - Resulted in the arrests of 4,000 alleged american radicals who were detained for weeks in overcrowded cells - Almost 250 of those arrested were deported on board the ship called "the soviet ark" - captured mostly Italian and eastern European immigrants
Scopes Trial
- 1925 court case in which Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan debated the issue of teaching evolution in public schools - Scopes was found guilty and the teaching of evolution was voted against
Scottsboro Boys
- 1931 - nine black boys, who had been riding the rails were arrested for vagrancy and disorderly conduct after an altercation with white travelers on the train - two white women who had been dresses as boys, traveling with a group of white boys said the black boys had raped them - despite significant evidence that the women had not been raped at all (also one of the women recanted her testimony) - an all white jury quickly sentenced all but one of the boys to death - the verdict resulted in widespread protests
Emergency Banking Act
- 1933 resulted from the banking crisis of mass closure of banks and people making "bank runs" - Roosevelt proclaimed an official bank holiday to address the crisis - officially took the country off the gold standard which severely limited the circulation of paper money - those who held gold were told to send it to the U.S. treasury for a discounted rate - dollar bills were no longer redeemable in gold - gave the comptroller of currency the power to reorganize all national banks faced with insolvency
Atlantic Charter
- 1941 - declaration by Roosevelt and Chruchill - Was the blueprint of anglo-american cooperation during world war II - Stated that the US and britain sought no territory from the conflict - Proclaimed that citizens of all countries should be given the right of self determination, self government should be restored in places where it had been eliminated, and trade barriers should be lowered - Mandated freedom of the seas, renounced use of force to settle international disputes and called for post war disarmament
Truman Doctrine
- 1947, President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helped Greece and Turkey
Joseph McCarthy
- 1950s; Wisconsin senator - claimed to have list of communists in American gov't, but no credible evidence - took advantage of fears of communism post WWII to become incredibly influential; - "McCarthyism" was the fearful accusation of any dissenters of being communists
Lusitania
- A British passenger ship that was sunk by a German U-Boat on May 7, 1915. - 128 Americans died. - The sinking greatly turned American opinion against the Germans, helping the move towards entering the war.
Containment
- A U.S. foreign policy adopted by President Harry Truman in the late 1940s, - the United States tried to stop the spread of communism by creating alliances and helping weak countries to resist Soviet advances
Marshall Plan
- A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe (1948-1952) - giving them money. This would increase foreign trade and prevent communism.
Levittowns
- A community that utilized prefabricated construction techniques that allowed houses to be built and painted in a day. - Named after developer William Levitt who was one of the first to take advantage of the method - The name Levittown became synonymous with suburban tract housing, in which entire neighborhoods were built to either a single plan or a mere handful of designs.
New Consumer of 1920's
- A product of a rise of mass national culture - Result from radio, magazines, ect - Emphasis on leisure, comfort, amusement - Credit facilitated this buying (could buy a car with credit) - advertising boomed - by 1929 spent 2.6 billion on advertising
Manhattan Project
- A secret U.S. project for the construction of the atomic bomb. - built by US, UK, and Canada - U-235 - Robert Oppenheimer, director project - the gadget - first bomb - little boy - first atomic weapon in Hiroshima - Fat man - Nagasaki
Welfare Capitalism
- A set of policies that large companies adopted that were designed to make their employees happier - proposed to combat labor unionization - Pensions: work for a company for an extended period of time and when you retire the company will pay you a portion of your salary in your old age - Recreation, Paid Vacations -Union membership declined from this
Fascism
- A system of government characterized by strict social and economic control and strong, centralized government headed by a dictator - Heightened focus on national unity, militarism, social darwinism, and loyalty to the state - Italy and germany both became one party totalitarian state - Italy with Mussolini and Germany with Hitler
Taft-Hartley Act
- Act that provides balance of power between union and management by designating certain union activities as unfair labor practices; also known as Labor-Management Relations Act (LMRA)
Warren G. Harding
- Advocated for American healing, normalcy, and restoration - When he won his cabinet reflected a pro business agenda - Put out tax rate cuts as well as the country's first formal budgeting process - His Policies helped to reduce the debt the US had incurred from WWI - Economy Tariff of 1921 - Worked to preserve peace through international cooperation and the reduction of armaments around the world - Worked with Germany and Austria to secure a formal peace
Executive Order 8802
- Also known as the Fair Labor Standards Act, - this banned racial discrimination in the war industries. - It was the first federal action, though not a law, to promote equal opportunity and prohibit employment discrimination in the United States.
Huey Long
- As senator in 1932 of Washington - stated Roosevelt was not doing enough to help people and proposed his "Share Our Wealth" programs. - It was a 100% tax on all annual incomes over $1 million and appropriation of all fortunes in excess of $5 million. - With this money Long proposed to give every American family a comfortable income, etc - (ADD MORE INFO)
Harlem Renaissance
- Black literary and artistic movement centered in Harlem New York that lasted from the 1920s into the early 1930s - center for art, music, poetry, and politics - celebrated and lamented black life in America - rediscovery of black culture and encouraged racial pride - Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston were two famous writers of this movement. Negro Nationalism - Marcus Garvey
America First
- Charles Lindburg's speech advocating for isolationism - The largest of the isolationist groups was the America First organization - Lindbug believed that American ideals and way of life would not gain through an unsuccessful war Wanted to stay out of world war II
Model T Ford
- Created by Henry Ford - Made car ownership available to the average american - Ford used mass production to manufacture automobiles - Perfected the assembly line ---- moving assembly line - assembly line enabled him to lower the Model T's price from 850 to 300 and reduce labor costs - Ford did not allow his workers to unionize and the boring repetitive work created a high turnover rate - To combat he doubled wages and had 8 hour work days
Military-Industrial complex
- Eisenhower first coined this phrase when he warned American against it in his last State of the Union Address. - He feared that the combined lobbying efforts of the armed services and industries that contracted with the military would lead to excessive Congressional spending.
War Labor Board
- Established to mediate labor disputes - Pushed for minimum wage, eight hour work days, and the rights of workers to form unions, and equal pay for women - Wages rose substantially, working conditions improved, and union membership increased -
Billy Graham
- Evangelical Christian and strong anti-communist crusader of the period - Preached at Madison Square Garden - Preached to thousands as fears of "godless communism and nuclear war" cause church membership to double between 1945 and 1970 - The phrase "under God" was added to Pledge in '50s
Sputnik
- First artificial Earth satellite - it was launched by Moscow in 1957 and sparked U.S. fears of Soviet dominance in technology and outer space - It led to the creation of NASA and the space race.
Agricultural Adjustment Act 1933
- Gave farmers money to reduce crop size to reduce production and bring up the value of crops - farmers received 4.5 million through relief programs - paid southern farmers to reduce their production: wheat, cotton, corn, hotdogs, tobacco, rice, and milk farmers were all eligible - designed to boost prices to a level that would be alleviate rural poverty and restore profitability to American agriculture - attempt tp help farmers dress the problems of overproduction and lower commodity prices - critics saw it as corrupt capitalism: a gov destroying food, while its citizens were starving, ion order to drive up prices
Biill Haley
- In 1954, the band Bill Haley and His Comets provided youth with an anthem for their rebellion—" Rock Around the Clock" - Haley illustrated how white artists could take musical motifs from the African American community and achieve mainstream success.
Appeasement
- Instituted in the hope of avoiding war - Britain and France's policy in the 1930's of allowing Hitler to expand Germany territory unchecked in hope that the Nazis could be satisfied without war - They agreed to the partial dismemberment of Czechoslovakia and the occupation of Sudetenland
The Grapes of Wrath
- John Steinbeck's novel about a struggling farm family during the Great Depression. - Gave a face to the violence and exploitation that migrant farm workers faced in America - based on displaced farmers known as Okies and represented the failure of the American breadbasket
Chinese Communist Victory
- Mao Zedong army surrounded the Beijing, crossed Chang Jiang, and occupied shanghai - won the Chinese civil war
NSC-68
- National Securtiy Council memo #68 US "strive for victory" in cold war - pressed for offensive and a gross increase ($37 bil) in defense spending - determined US foreign policy for the next 20-30 yrs
Works Progress Administration 1935
- New Deal agency that helped create jobs for those that needed them. - It created around 9 million jobs working on bridges, roads, and buildings. included artists and youth - funded the construction of hospitals, schools, roads - created the Federal Project Number One: employed people in artistic fields
NATO
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization; - an alliance made to defend one another if they were attacked by any other country; - US, England, France, Canada, Western European countries
Executive Order 9066
- Ordered that all foreigners and Americans of Japanese, descent be confined in concentration camps for the purpose of national security, - 112,000 Japanese-Americans forced into camps causing loss of homes and businesses - Cleared the way for deportation of Japanese Americans, made the West coast of the United States a hostile military zone, and made all Japanese Americans "enemies of the state
Neutrality Act of 1937
- Prohibited the transportation of weapons or passengers to belligerent nations on board American ships - Prohibited American citizens from traveling on board the ships of nations at war
Rise of Radio
- Radio's became a common feature in the 1920's - Radio stations began popping up all over the decade - Broadcasted news, serial stories, and political speeches - Sped up the process of nationalization and homogenization - Created and pumped out american culture - Syndicated radio programs - Amos n Andy (on other platforms as well) - Introduced play by play descriptions of sporting events (Helped popularize sports figures)
Bretton Woods
- Representatives from 44 countries a - An international conference in New Hampshire in July 1944 that established the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Gerald Nye
- Senator who encouraged nonintervention with nazi agression in Europe and Japanese aggression in Asia - He claimed that the United States had been tricked into participating in World War I by a group of industrialists and bankers who sought to gain from the country's participation in the war - He urged that the United States should not be drawn into a international dispute over matters that did not concern it
"Long Telegram"
- Telegram sent from George Kennan to the USSR outlining the policy of containment. - USSR saw US as A threat to communism and that the USSR wanted to destroy the west - said USSR was building up military power - established USSR as a threat
HUAC
- The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) - investigating committee which investigated what it considered un-American propaganda
Treaty of Versailles
- The Japanese, French, and British succeeded in carving up many of Germany;s colonial holdings in Africa and Asia - Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire - created new nations such as Iraq and Palestine - France gained much of the disputed territory along their border with Germany - "War Guilt Clause" - demanded Germany take public responsibility for staring and prosecuting the war - Germany paid reparations in excess of 33 billion to the Allies - Created League of Nations - Article X - In the US republicans known as Irreconcilables opposed the treaty
Lend Lease
- The US could sell, lease, or transfer armaments to any nation deemed important to the defense of the United States - Effectively ended the policy of nonintervention and dissolved america's pretense of being a neutral nation - Distributed some $45 billion worth of weaponry and supplies to britain, the soviet union, china, and other allies
Double-V Campaign
- The World War II-era effort of black Americans to gain "a Victory over racism at home as well as Victory abroad."
Korean War
- The conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. - The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea. - 54,000 Americans died - billions of dollars spent
Liberal Consensus
- The idea of Affluence, relatively easy to put aside political differences when everyone is doing well; - "Growth Liberalism": everyone could do better simply through economic growth (pie example, as pie gets bigger, everyone gets a bigger slice) - Anti-Communism: joint fear and disapproval of communism: anything too liberal is communist and having to prove American democracy in the face of Communism forced conservative to move more central leaning as well - New Deal Confirmed: many of the important pieces of legislation passed during the New Deal remained and became a part of accepted US society (e.g Social Security)
Fair Deal
- Truman's expansion of the New Deal - Key Pillar this "Fair Deal" was guaranteed full employment ----> led to Employment Act of 1946 - OG plan of Truman for this act was the federal govt would automatically have job creation programs if unemployment rose above a certain level (faced fierce opposition and the eventual act aka the Employment Act was VERY watered down)
Highway Act
- Under the Eisenhower administration and it laid the groundwork for the modern interstate highway system - Authorized the construction of 42,000 miles of interstate highways linking all the nation's major cities.
Fourteen Points
- Wilson's postwar peace plan - called for openness in all matters of diplomacy and trade, specifically free trade, freedom of the seas, an end to secret treaties and negotiations, promotion of self determination of all nations - called for creation of a league of nations to promote the new order and preserve territorial integrity through open discussions and in place of intimidation and war
"New Woman"
- a woman of the turn of the 20th century often from the middle class who dressed practically, moved about freely, lived apart from her family, and supported herself - women started including new forms of social expression such as dance, fashion, women's clubs, and forays into college and the professions - Sheppard-Towner Act: created well-baby clinics and educational programs - Alice Paul promoted an Equal Rights Amendment promising to end all sex discrimination
Zoot Suit Riots
- after a group of sailors stated that they had been attacked by a group of Mexican American zoot-suiters - The Zoot Suit Riots were a series of riots in 1943 during World War II that broke out in Los Angeles, California, between Anglo American sailors and Marines stationed in the city, and Latino youths, who were recognizable by the zoot suits they favored. - Mexican Americans and white military personnel were the main parties in the riots, and some African American and Filipino/Filipino American youths were involved as well.
John Maynard Keynes
- argued that deficit spending was necessary in advanced capitalist economies in order to maintain employment and stimulate consumer spending - from his ideas Roosevelt asked congress for additional emergency relief spending
Sacco-Vanzetti Trial
- came from the fear and anxiety over rising immigration - Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants charged with murdering a guard and robbing a shoe factory in Braintree, Massachusetts. - Convicted on circumstantial evidence; many believed they had been framed for the crime because of their anarchist and pro-union activities. - both men were executed in 1927 - verdict sparked protests from Italian and other immigrant groups
Committee of Public Information
- created by Woodrow Administration - Run by George Creel Creel employed artists, speakers, writers, and filmmakers to develop a propaganda machine - goal was to encourage all Americans to make sacrifices during the war and to hate all things German - Established the "loyal leagues" in ethnic immigrant communities
War Industries Board
- created by Woodrow Wilson - was run by Bernard Baruch - created to ensure adequate military supplies - had the power to direct shipments of raw materials, as well as control government contracts with private producers - Baruch used lucrative contracts with guaranteed profits to encourage several private companies to shift their production to wartime materials
Reconstruction Finance Corporation
- federal relief program introduced by hoover in 1932 - set aside $2 billion in taxpayer money to rescue banks, credit unions, and insurance companies - the goal was to boost confidence in the nation's financial institutions by ensuring that they were on solid footing - program was flawed because to only lent money to banks with sufficient collateral, which meant most of the aid went to large banks - of the first 61 million landed, 41 million went to just 3 banks - small town and rural banks got almost nothing
Ku Klux Klan (1920's)
- formed from the concern that white, protestant, Anglo-Saxon US was under siege by throngs of undesirables - experienced a resurgence of attention following the release of The Birth of a Nation - second incarnation established at Stone Mountain, GA a few months after the film's release - Under the leadership of William Simmons - Klan was publicly violent and received mainstream support - wanted stricter immigration policies - included both women and men - publicly denounced catholics and jews - had 6 milloin members - the Great Depression put an end to the Klan
Nineteenth Amendment
- gave women the right to vote - prohibited all efforts to deny the right to vote on the basis of sex - women were able to vote in the presidential election of 1920
GI Bill (Servicemen's Readjustment Act)
- honorable discharge: eligible to receive a year's worth of unemployment compensation. - Also paid for tuition at a college or vocational school - development of the middle class and a well-educated/skilled labor force that boosted the US economy - financial and educational, training, loans, unemployment, compensation, job counseling assistance to veterans for college and housing
Neutrality Act of 1935
- made it illegal for Americans to sell arms to any country at war
The Birth of a Nation
- motion picture directed by D. W. Griffith - Based on The Clansmen, a 1915 novel buy Thomas Dixon - the film offers a racist, white-centric view of the reconstruction era - depicts noble white southerners made helpless by northern carpetbaggers who empower freed slaves to abuse white men and violate women - president Wilson agreed with the film and its "accuracy"
Bonus Army
- one of the most notable protest movements centered on the Bonus Expeditionary Force - 1932 - in this protest approximately 15,000 WWI veterans marched on Washington to demand early payment of their veteran bonuses - the group camped out in vacant federal buildings and set up camps in Anacostia Flats near the capitol building - many veterans remained in the city in protest for nearly two months - the US senate ended up rejecting their request
Selective Service Act
- passed in 1917 - created in order to compose a fighting force, initially required all man aged 21-30 to register for the draft - in 1918 it was expanded to all men between 18-45 - promoted through campaign of patriotic appeals and local draft boards - By the war's end 22 million men had registered for the US Army draft
Eighteenth Amendment
- ratified in 1919 - prohibited the manufacture, sale, and transportation of intoxicating liquors did not however prohibit the drinking of alcohol - during period of prohibition - public wanted to conserve food and grain - which made alcohol - Volstead Act: created enforceable ban on the consumption of alcoholic beverages, and regulating the scientific industrial uses of alcohol
Social Security Act 1935
- second new deal - guaranteed retirement payments for enrolled workers beginning at age 65; - set up federal-state system of unemployment insurance and care for dependent mothers and children, the handicapped, and public health - included a pension fund for all retired people (except domestic workers and farmers)
Franz Ferdinand
- the archduke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire - was murdered by a Serbian nationalist - His murder is considered the most immediate cause of World War I - when Serbia failed to accede to Austro-Hungarian demands they declared war on Serbia with the backing of Germany, and Russia joined to back Serbia
Zimmerman Telegram
- the final element that led American involvement in WWI - British intelligence intercepted and decoded a top secret telegram from German foreign minister to the German ambassador in Mexico inviting Mexico to join the war effort on the German side should the US declare war on Germany - telegram encouraged Mexico to invade the US and in exchange offered to return land such as Arizona, New Mexico, Texas Made a powerful argument from a declaration of war
Babe Ruth
- the home run king - The "sultan of Swat" - America's first baseball hero - He changed the game of baseball from a low scoring one dominated pitchers to one where his hitting became famous
"Second front"
- the invasion of western Europe by the U.S ,British, and French in 1944. - This invasion was to take presure off the Russians and divide the Germans. - It was established by the D-Day Invasion.
Prohibition
- the period from 1920 to 1933 when the sale of alcoholic beverages was prohibited in the United States through the introduction of the eighteenth amendment - started by temperance groups and the Anti-saloon league - law was difficult to enforce as illegal alcohol poured in from other places - sparked a rise in organized crime
Rise of television
- the technology had been developed in the late 1920s, through much of the 1940s, only a fairly small audience of the wealthy had access to it. - post-World War II economic boom, all this changed. - Where there had been only 178,000 televisions in homes in 1948, by 1955, over three-quarters of a million U.S. households, about half of all homes, had television
Hoover and rugged individualism
- this belief its that the people should be self reliant and not depend upon the federal government for assistance - hoover eventually broke out of his individualism and accepted the fact that the welfare of the people during a catastrophe, such as the GD, is an important and major concern of the government
Marcus Garvey
- was a prominent advocator for negro nationalism - a Jamaican immigrant - promoted a "back to Africa" movement - to return African Americans to a presumably more welcoming home in Africa he created the Black Star Steamship Line - started the United Negro Improvement Association - his legacy set the stage for Malcom X and the black power movement
Speculation
- where investors purchases into high-risk schemes that they hoped would pay off quickly - became the norm in the 1920's - the federal government set interest rates artificially low and eased the reserve requirements on the nation's largest banks encouraging this behavior - banks began to offer easy credit, allowing people to invest even when they lacked the money to do so -speculation occurred in the stock market: buyers purchased stock "on margin" buying with a small down payment with borrowed money, with the intention of selling quickly at a much higher price
