APUSH Chapters 25-27 – Flashcards
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Isolationism
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American foreign policy of the 1920s and 1930s based on the belief that it was in the best interest of the United States not to become involved in foreign conflicts that did not directly threaten American interests.
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Yalta Conference
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meeting held at Yalta in the Soviet Union between President Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in February 1945; at this meeting critical decisions on the future of postwar Europe were made. At Yalta it was agreed that Germany would be divided into four zones, that free elections would take place after the war in Eastern Europe, and that the Soviet Union would join the war against Japan.
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Bataan Death March
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after the Japanese landed in the Philippines in May 1942, nearly 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners were forced to endure a 60-mile forced march; during this ordeal, 10,000 prisoners died or were killed.
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Manhattan Project
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secret project to build an atomic bomb that began in Los Alamos, New Mexico, in August 1942; the first successful test of a bomb took place on July 16, 1945.
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Rosie the Riveter
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figure that symbolized American working women during World War II. After the war, women were expected to return to more traditional roles.
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Double V Campaign
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campaign popularized by American black leaders during World War II emphasizing the need for a double victory: over Germany and Japan and also over racial prejudice in the United States. Many blacks who fought in World War II were disappointed that the America they returned to still harbored racial hatreds.
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Internment Camps
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mandatory resettlement camps for Japanese-Americans from America's West Coast, created in February 1942 during World War II by executive order of President Franklin Roosevelt. In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled that the camps were illegal.
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America First Committee
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was an isolationist group that attracted nearly 820,000 members by 1940. THey believed that it was in America's best interest to stay out of foreign conflicts that did not directly threaten American interests. The significance of this committee was that it expressed the popularity of isolationism at the time.
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Neutrality Acts of 1935
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stated that if countries went to war, the United States would not trade arms of weapons with them for six months; in addition, any nonmilitary goods sold to nations at war would have to be paid for up front and would have to be transported in non-American ships (this was called the cash-and-carry). The significance of these acts were that the government still ended up siding with Great Britain and France because they hired average American merchants to privately sell weapons and goods to them when they entered the war.
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Neutrality Act of 1939
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allowed the cash-and-carry sale of arms to countries at war. This legislation was designed to make it easier for the sale of American arms to Britain and France. This bill was passed on a party line vote which meant that the Republicans did not support this decision.
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Lend-Lease Act
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Congress gave the president the ability to send immediate aid to Britain; Roosevelt immediately authorized nearly $7 billion in aid. In Roosevelt's speech shortly after he declared the United States as an arsenal of democracy.
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Atlantic Charter
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this was a document written by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt before America had entered World War II. In this document, the two leaders procalimed that they were opposed to territorial expansion for either country, and they were for free trade and self-determination. They also agreed that another world organization would have to be created to replace the League of Nations and that this new world body would have the power to guarantee the "security" of the world. Roosevelt also agreed that the United States would ship lend-lease materials bound for Britain as far as Iceland; this brought the United States one step closer to full support for the Allied cause.
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GIs
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referred to the Government Issued stamp that appeared on the uniforms, tools, weapons, and everything else the government issues to them.
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Revenue Act of 1942
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greatly expanded the number of Americans who had to pay federal income tax, thus increasing the amound of federal revenue.
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Battle of the Atlantic
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German torpedoes were dreadfully accurate (even though sonar was being used by the Americans). Between January and August of 1942, over 500 ships were sunk by German submarines.
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Battle of the Bulge
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Nearly 85,000 American soldiers were killed, wounded, or captured. The German attack moved the Allied lines back into Belgium, but reinforcement led by General George S. Patton again forced the Germans to retreat. Whwn the German general staff learned that they had not been victorious at the Battle of the Bulge, most admitted that Germany would soon be defeated.
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Satellite Countries
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Eastern European countries that came under the control of the Soviet Union after World War II; the Soviets argued that they had liberated these countries from the Nazis and thus they had a right to continue to influence developments there.
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Iron Curtain
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Term coined by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in a March 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri; Churchill forcefully proclaimed that the SOviet Union was establishing an "iron curtain" between the free countries of Western Europe and the communist-controlled countries of Eastern Europe.
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Containment Policy
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policy devised by American diplomat George F. Kennan; Kennan believe that the United States needed to implement long-term military, economic, and diplomastic strategies in order to "contain" the spread of communism. Kennan's ideas became official U.S. government policy in the late 1940s.
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Truman Doctrine
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articulated in 1947, this policy stated that the United States would support any democratic nation that resisted communism.
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Marshall Plan
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American plan that spent $12 billion for the rebuilding of Western Europe after World War II; the plan produced an economic revival and helped stave off the growth of communist influence.
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Berlin Airlift
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American effort that flew in supplies to Western Berlin after the Soviet Union and the East German government blocked the roads to that city beginning in June 1948; American airplanes flew in supplies for 15 months, causing the Soviet to call off the blockade. This was an over all success for America, but this event proved that there were major tensions between the Americans and the Soviet Union.
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NATO
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North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance between the United States and Western European countries that was formed in April of 1949.
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Warsaw Pact
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a military pact formed in 1955 between the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellite countries.
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HUAC
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House Un-American Activities Committee; in 1947 this commmittee began to investigate the entertainment industry for communist influences.
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Blacklist
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list created by HUAC and various private agencies indicating individuals in the entertainment industry who might be communists or who might have been influenced by communists in the past; many individuals named in the blacklist could not find work in the industry until the 1960s.
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McCarthyism
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term used to describe the accusations by Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy and his supporters in the early 1950s that certain people in fovernment, academia, and the arts were secret communists. McCarthy's charges were largely unsubstained.
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Domino theory
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theory that if one country in a region fell under communist rule, then other countries in that region would follow; this theory would be used to justify American involvement in Vietnam.
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Sputnik
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the first artificial satellite, launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union; the fact that the Soviets launched a satellite before the United States shockde many in the American scientific community.
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Levvitowns
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model communities that were affordable for the average American. The significance of these homes were that it gave more Americans the opportunity to afford homes in the suburbs. The soldiers were impacted by these homes the most because they were able to afford a place to raise a family. This ultimately ties to the baby boom which occured shortly after.
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Brown v. Board of Education
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Supreme Court decision stating that "seperate but equal" schools for white and black students were unconstitutional and that school districts across America must desegregate with "all deliberate speed"; controversy over enforcement of this decsion was to last for more than a decade.
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
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effort by blacks in Montgomery, Alabama, to have the local bus company end discriminatory seating and hiring policies. The movement started with the arrest of Rosa Parks for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man; the boycott was later led by the Rev. Martin Luther King J.R.
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Baby Boom
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From 1947 to 1962 Americans married and had children at a record pace; the "high point" of the baby boom was 1957.
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The Feminine Mystique
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book written by Betty Friedan describing the frustration felt by suburban women in the 1950s; this book was a landmark for feminists of the 1960s and 1970s.
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James Dean
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young actor whose character in the film Rebel Without a Cause inspired many rebellious young people of the 1950s.
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Beat Generation
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literary movement of the 1950s; writers of this movement rejected the materialistic American culture of the decade. Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs were key writers of this movement.
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GI Bill of 1944
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authorized low-interest mortgage loans for ex-servicemen as well as subsidies for education. Many of these recipients moved into Levittowns and were able to afford homes to start a family. This too was a factor into the baby boom.
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Taft-Hartley Act
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was passed by Congress in 1947 over the president's veto (several biographers claim that Truman's veto was primarily symbolic and was done for political reasons). This bill stated that if any strike affected the health and safety of the country, the president could call for an 80-day cooling off period, during which negotiations could take place and workers would go back to work, that the union contributions of individuals could not be used in federal elections and that union leaders had to officially declare they were not communists. Unions were angry with these restrictions.
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Fair Deal
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Truman declared this policy; he tried to ecpand the principles of the New Deal. He had plans for national health care and civil rights legislation. Truman also wanted to repeal the Taft-Hartley Act and increase government spending for public housing and education.
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Checkers Speech
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Nixon declared that he had done nothing wrong and that the only thing he had taken from anyone was his dog checkers (dog was a gift)..This speech saved his political career which made him one of the most dominate politicians in America for the following 25 years.
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Loyalty Review Board
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was created after Truman was told he was too "soft" on communism; this had the legal jurisdiction to investigate both new and experienced federal workers. Three to four million federal workers were examined by the board; as a result of these investigations, slightly over 100 workers were removed from their jobs.
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38th Parallel
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the divide between North and South Korea
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Hydrogen Bomb
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a bomb that was much more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman gave scientists the authorization to work on this project because he feared that the Soviet Union would create an even stronger bomb that they would launch on American territory.
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ration cards
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this was a way that average Americans contributed to the war; Goods such as gasoline, rubber, meat, sugar, and butter were rationed during the war. These cards determined which of these goods families could still buy during any given period. The significance was the unity that was taking place on the homefront and that many families recycled as much as they could.
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Enola Gay
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an airplane; dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and killed over 75,000 people. A few days later another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. The significance was that it ended World War II because the Japanese had finally surrendered. Even though it ended the war, the Japanese cities were destroyed and had no choice but to rely on American aid.
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Final Solution
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Hitler's plan to create a society without people that he did not accept. Many of these people were Jews or disabled. Over 6 million people were killed under Hitler's control. These unwanted people were sent to concentration camps where they were either killed or worked to death. The final solution is correlated to the Holocaust and showed the dangers a dictator with too much power could do.
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Internment Camps
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Franklin Roosevelt had signed Executive Order 9066; this ordered Japanese-Americans to camps. The American public officials told the Japanese that this was being done for their own protection; however, many Japanese noted when they got to their camps that the guns guarding these relocation centers were pointed inward and never outward. Many businesses and homes were lost by Japanese citizens. The significance was that it expressed the fear Americans had of Japanese spies after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
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Chapter 25 Timeline Card
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1933: Hitler comes to power in Germany 1939: Nazi-Soviet Pact Germany invades Poland; beginning of World War II 1940: Roosevelt is elected for his third term 1940: American selective service plan is instituted 1941: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor United States officially enters World War II 1942: American troops engage in combat in Africa Japanese internment camps opened Battle of Midway Casablanca is released 1944: D-Day invasion Roosevelt is elected for his fourth term 1945: Yalta Confrence Concentration camps discovered by Allied forces FDR dies and Truman becomes president Germany surrenders unconditionally Atomic bombs are dropped Japan surrenders World War II ends with an Allied victory
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Chapter 26 Timeline Card
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1945: Harry Truman is president Yalta Confrence Potsdam Confrence 1946: Churchill's iron curtain speech George Kennan introduces containment 1947: HUAC begins to prope movie industry Federal Employee Loyalty program Truman Doctrine is introduced 1948: Berlin airlift Marshall plan is introduced Alger Hiss is claimed to be a communist 1949: NATO is formed Soviet Union makes an atomic bomb China becomes communist 1950: McCarthyism Korean War begins 1952: Eisenhower is president
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Chapter 27 Timeline Card
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1944: GI Bill is enacted 1947: Taft-Hartley Act Jackie Robinson plays for the Dodgers 1948: Truman is surprisingly reelected Truman orders desegregation of armed forces 1952: Eisenhower becomes president 1953: Defense budget is at 47 billion dollars 1954: Brown v. Board of Education 1955: Bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama
