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AP US History Period 8 (1945-1980) Flashcards

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6556026925LevittownIn 1947, a builder used mass production techniques to build inexpensive homes in surburban New York to help relieve the postwar housing shortage. It became a symbol of the movement to the suburbs in the years after WWII.0
6556026926Iron CurtainA political barrier that isolated the peoples of Eastern Europe after WWII, restricting their ability to travel outside the region1
6556026927Truman Doctrine1947, President's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helped Greece and Turkey2
6556026928Marshall PlanA United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe (1948-1952)3
6556026929Berlin BlockadeThe blockade was a Soviet attempt to starve out the allies in Berlin in order to gain supremacy. The blockade was a high point in the Cold War, and it led to the Berlin Airlift.4
6556026930Korean WarThe conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea.5
6556026931McCarthyismThe term associated with the Senator who led the search for communists in America during the early 1950s through his leadership in the House Un-American Activities Committee.6
6556026934Interstate Highway Act1956 law that authorized the spending of $32 billion to build 41,000 miles of highway7
6556026936SputnikFirst 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. Led the US to focus on Math & Science in American schools.8
6556026938NASAThe United States government agency responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.9
6556026939Berlin WallA fortified area 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.10
6556026940Bay of PigsIn 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.11
6556026941Freedom Rides1961 event organized by CORE and SNCC in which an interracial group of civil rights activists tested southern states' compliance to the Supreme Court ban of segregation on interstate buses12
6556026942Cuban Missile CrisisAn 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, on condition that US doesn't invade Cuba13
6556026943Rachel CarsonUnited States biologist remembered for her opposition to the use of pesticides that were hazardous to wildlife (1907-1964) in her book Silent Spring. Considered the birth of environmentalism14
6556026946Civil Rights Act of 1964Banned discrimination in public acomodations, prohibited discrimination in any federally assisted program, outlawed discrimination in most employment; enlarged federal powers to protect voting rights and to speed school desegregation; this and the voting rights act helped to give African-Americans equality on paper, and more federally-protected power so that social equality was a more realistic goal15
6556026947Voting Rights Act of 1965Invalidated the use of any test or device to deny the vote and authorized federal examiners to register voters in states that had disenfranchised blacks; as more blacks became politically active and elected black representatives, it rboguth jobs, contracts, and facilities and services for the black community, encouraging greater social equality and decreasing the wealth and education gap16
6556026948Gulf of Tonkin Resolution1964 Congressional resolution that authorized President Johnson to commit US troops to south vietnam and fight a war against north Vietnam17
6556026949Cesar Chavez1927-1993. Farm worker, labor leader, and civil-rights activist who helped form the National Farm Workers Association, later the United Farm Workers.18
6556026950Malcolm X1952; renamed himself X to signify the loss of his African heritage; converted to Nation of Islam in jail in the 50s, became Black Muslims' most dynamic street orator and recruiter; his beliefs were the basis of a lot of the Black Power movement built on seperationist and nationalist impulses to achieve true independence and equality. Assassinated in 1965 by the Nation of Islam.19
6556026951Stonewall RiotIn New York City, 1969 - Triggered activist protests among gays and lesbians - police raided gay bar - people fought back - became symbol of oppression of gays, began the gay pride movement20
6556026952WoodstockA free music festival that attracted more than 400,000 young people to a farm in upstate New York in August 196921
6556026953Earth DayA holiday conceived of by environmental activist and Senator Gaylord Nelson to encourage support for and increase awareness of environmental concerns; first celebrated on March 22, 197022
6556026954Kent State MassacreProtests to the war that lead to National Guard being called in and shot students because they burned the ROTC building. Three students were killed, 1970.23
6556026955Nixon in ChinaFebruary 21, 1972 - Nixon visited for a week to meet with Chairman Mao Tse-Tung for improved relations with China, Called "ping-pong diplomacy" because Nixon played ping pong with Mao during his visit. Nixon agreed to support China's admission to the United Nations.24
6556026956SALT I TreatyA five-year agreement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, sighned in 1972, that limited the nations' numbers of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched missiles.25
6556026957Roe v WadeEstablished national abortion guidelines; trimester guidelines; no state The 1973 Supreme Court decision holding that a state ban on all abortions was unconstitutional. The decision forbade state control over abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy, permitted states to limit abortions to protect the mother's health in the second trimester, and permitted states to protect the fetus during the third trimester.26
6556026958Watergate1972; Nixon feared loss so he approved the Commission to Re-Elect the President to spy on and espionage the Democrats. A security gaurd foiled an attempt to bug the Democratic National Committe Headquarters, exposing the scandal. Seemingly contained, after the election Nixon was impeached and stepped down27

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