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Korean War

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a war between North and South Korea

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Sputnik

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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.

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Great Society

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the name given to the programs of President Lyndon B. Johnson, which elevated the federal government to the most prominent role it would play in the twentieth century. the philosophy of this program was that government should try to solve large social problems like hunger and poverty.

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HUAC

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a congressional Committee that investigated Commmunist influence inside and outside the US gov. after WWII

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Warsaw Pact

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treaty signed in 1945 that formed an alliance of the Eastern European countries behind the Iron Curtain; USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania

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NATO

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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

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Cold War

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This period of time following World War II is where the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers and faced off in an arms race that lasted nearly 50 years.

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Cuban Missile Crisis

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an international crisis in October 1962, the closest approach to nuclear war at any time between the U.S. and the USSR. When the U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, President John F. Kennedy demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of the island; the Soviet leader Khrushchev acceded to the U.S. demands a week later.

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Brinksmanship

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Eisenhower Policy of using the threat of massive retaliation with nuclear weapons as a diplomatic tool. Example: \"willing to go to the edge.\"

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Search and Destroy

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US tactics of looking for and rooting out VC guerillas in S. Vietnam - Zippo raids

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Voting Rights Act

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(LBJ) , 1965 act which guaranteed the right to vote to all Americans, and allowed the federal government to intervene in order to ensure that minorities could vote

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Joe McCarthy

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Winsconsin Senator that created a national witch hunt for socialist and communists inside the United States after WWII; chairman of Senate subcommittee on investigations, led US public to believe Communists had infiltrated the gov't, turned the investigation into a witch-hunt → McCarthyism, lost popularity after censure

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Eisenhower Doctrine

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It pledged US military and economic aid to Middle Eastern nations threatened by Communist aggression

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Truman Doctrine

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President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology.

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Bay of Pigs

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In April 1961, a group of Cuban exiles organized and supported by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency landed on the southern coast of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro. When the invasion ended in disaster, President Kennedy took full responsibility for the failure.

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Literacy Test

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Literacy requirements some states imposed as a condition of voting, generally used to disqualify black voters in the South; now illegal.

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Ia Drang Valley

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• 1965- First conventional battle between U.S. and Viet Kong. Vietname escalates in '65. LBJ changed it from an advisory position to full on combat. From 20,000 to 200,000.

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Tonkin incident

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After 2 U.S destroyers in the Gulf of Tunkin, off the coast of North Vietnam, reported attacks by North Vietnamese patrol boats, Johnson ordered retaliatory air strikes against bases in North Vietnam

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Tonkin Resolution

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a resolution adopted by Congress in 1964, giving the president broad powers to wage war in Vietnam

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Chuck Berry

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An African-American rock 'n' roll musician and composer, who influenced many musicians of the 1950s and 1960s, including the Beatles and Bob Dyan., Was jailed for taking a 14-year-old girl across state lines for immoral purposes.

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YIPPIES

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Youth International Party, offshoot of FSM; started by Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman; get in trouble for protesting at the 1968 Dem. Convention in Mayor Daley's Chicago; seven arrested and tried for conspiring to start a riot; the \"Chicago Seven\"

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Hippies

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a youth subculture (mostly from the middle class) originating in San Francisco in the 1960s

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Kent State

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Kent State gained national attention on May 4, 1970 when an Ohio National Guard unit shot at students in response to war protests on and around campus, killing four and wounding nine. This event, known as the Kent State shootings, propagated intense national response as hundreds of schools closed due to an eight million student strike.

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Agent Orange

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chemical the U.S. used to destroy plant life in the jungle, but comtaminated drinking water and caused birth defects from those who were contaminated, chemical that kills plants; used in Vietnam to expose Viet Cong hideouts

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Napalm

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Gasoline-based bombs that stick to what they land and burn fiercely.

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Viet Cong

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a Communist-led army and guerrilla force in South Vietnam that fought its government and was supported by North Vietnam.

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Freedom Rides

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civil rights campaign of the Congress of Racial Equality in which protesters traveled by bus through the South to desegregate bus stations; white violence against them prompted the Kennedy administration to protect them and become more involved in civil rights.

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Sit-ins

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protests by black college students, 1960-1961, who took seats at \"whites only\" lunch counters and refused to leave until served; in 1960 over 50,000 participated in sit-ins across the South. Their success prompted the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.

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Bull Conner

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police chief in Birmingham, sent out police dogs and water hoses on protesting blacks

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Ku Klux Klan

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founded in the 1860s in the south; meant to control newly freed slaves through threats and violence; other targets: Catholics, Jews, immigrants and others thought to be un-American

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Jim Crow

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The system of racial segregation in the South that was created in the late nineteenth century following the end of slavery. Jim Crow laws written in the 1880s and 1890s mandated segregation in public facilities.

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Plessy vs. Ferguson

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(1896) The Court ruled that segregation was not discriminatory (did not violate black civil rights under the Fourteenth Amendemnt) provide that blacks received accommodations equal to those of whites.

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Brown vs. Board of Education

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

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NAACP

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National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, founded in 1909 to work for racial equality

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SNCC

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Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, college kids participate in Civil Rights, stage sit-ins and such

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de facto

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actually existing or in effect, although not legally required or sanctioned; in reality, actually

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de jure

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by law

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segregation

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a social system that provides separate facilities for minority groups

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Title IX

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federal legislation that prohibited discrimination in education whether in academics or athletics

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Watergate

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a political scandal involving abuse of power and bribery and obstruction of justice

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impeachment

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charges against a president approved by a majority of the house of representatives

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Environmental Protection Agency

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(RN), 1970 an independent federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment

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Special Forces

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Elite antiguerilla military units expanded by Kennedy as part of his doctrine of \"flexible response\"

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Flexible Response

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Flexible response calls for mutual deterrence at strategic, tactical, and conventional levels, giving the United States the capability to respond to aggression across the spectrum of warfare, not limited only to nuclear arms.

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Saturday Night Massacre

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dismissal of independent special prosecutor Archibald Cox, and the resignations of Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus during the Watergate scandal 1973

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Henry Kissinger

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United States diplomat who served under President Nixon and President Ford (born in 1923)

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Shuttle Diplomacy

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This is the name given to Henry Kissinger travelling back and forth to Isreal, Egypt, and Syria to help end the oil embargo

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Realpolitik

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politics based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations

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Berlin Crisis

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Standoff between Khrushchev and Kennedy over control of West Germany. West Germany stays under western control, but Khrushchev builds the Berlin Wall as a result. (major foreign policy tests faced by the Kennedy Administration)

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Berlin Wall

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

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Iranian Revolution

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J. Carter - (1979) a revolution against the shah of Iran led by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which resulted in Iran becoming an Islamic republic with Khomeini as its leader

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Iranian Hostage Crisis

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In 1979, Iranian fundamentalists seized the American embassy in Tehran and held fifty-three American diplomats hostage for over a year. The Iranian hostage crisis weakened the Carter presidency; the hostages were finally released on January 20, 1981, the day Ronald Reagan became president.

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Space Defense Initiative

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Reagan - Space defense program to counter USSR nuclear threat

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Ho Chi Minh

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Communist leader of North Vietnam; he and his Viet Minh/Viet Cong allies fought French and American forces to a standstill in Vietnam, 1946-1973. Considered a nationalist by many, others viewed him as an agent of the Soviet Union and China.

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17th Parallel

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line of latitude that separated North and South Vietnam

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38th Parallel

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line of latitude that separated North and South Korea

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TET Offensive

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1968; National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese forces launched a huge attack on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet), which was defeated after a month of fighting and many thousands of casualties; major defeat for communism, but Americans reacted sharply, with declining approval of LBJ and more anti-war sentiment - Turning point in war

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My Lai

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Lt. Calley,1968 - An American unit destroyed the village of My Lai, killing many women and children. The incident was not revealed to the public until 20 months later. Lt. Calley, who led the patrol, was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years for killing 20 people. - He served 3.5 years

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General Westmoreland

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was an American General who commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War at its peak from 1964 to 1968 and who served as US Army Chief of Staff from 1968 to 1972.

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Pentagon Papers

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secret government documents published In 1971; revealed that the u.s. government had misled americans about the vietnam war.

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Stagflation

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a period of slow economic growth and high unemployment (stagnation) while prices rise (inflation)

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Pol Pot

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(1925-1998) Leader of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979. Pol Pot is responsible for the deaths of almost 2 million of his own people due to starvation, execution, and beatings.

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Geneva Accords

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a 1954 peace agreement that divided Vietnam into Communist-controlled North Vietnam and non-Communist South Vietnam until unification elections could be held in 1956

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Khe Sanh

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Marines under siege for 77 days - 1968

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Hanoi Hotel

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Americans were held prisoner and tortured

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Malcolm X

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Black Muslim leader who said Blacks needed to have separate society from whites, but later changed his views. He was assasinated in 1965.

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Black Panthers

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Led by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, they believed that racism was an inherent part of the U.S. capitalist society and were militant, self-styled revolutionaries for Black Power.

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Ali

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United States prizefighter who won the world heavyweight championship three times (born in 1942)

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Vietnamization

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during the Vietnam War to reduce United States troop strength in Vietnam and train the South Vietnamese to take over the fighting themselves

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Chuck Yeager

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First Person to Break the Sound Barrier

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John Glenn

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made the first orbital rocket-powered flight by a United States astronaut in 1962

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Buzz Aldrin

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Who landed on the moon with Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969?

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Neil Armstrong

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1st person to walk on the moon; U.S. Apollo 11; July, 1969; his famous words - \"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.\"

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Alliance for Progress

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a program in which the United States tried to help Latin American countries overcome poverty and other problems

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Peace Corps

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(JFK) , volunteers who help third world nations and prevent the spread of communism by getting rid of poverty, Africa, Asia, and Latin America

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Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

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(JFK) 1963, Wake of Cuban Missile Crisis (climax of Cold War, closest weve ever come to nuclear war) Soviets & US agree to prohibit all above-ground nuclear tests, both nations choose to avoid annihilating the human race w/ nuclear war, France and China did not sign

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War Powers Act

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Limits the ability of the president to commit troops to combat-48 hours to tell Congress when and why the troops were sent, they have 60-90 to bring them home if they disagree

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George Wallace

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Alabama governor, segregationist, presidential candidate - carried southern electoral votes in 1968. Shot and left paralyzed.

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Dr. King

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SCLCcharismatic civil rights leader and Baptist minister who campaigned against the segregation of Blacks (1929-1968)

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SCLC

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Southern Christian Leadership Conference, churches link together to inform blacks about changes in the Civil Rights Movement, led by MLK Jr., was a success

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