1950s Terms

Terms in this set (26)

J. William Fullbright
Leading opponent of the war in Congress. Rhodes Scholar from Arkansas. Had been a friend of LBJ and helped him pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, but by 1965 had become very opposed to the war, which obviously angered Johnson. Convened the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for special hearings on the war beginning in Feb 1966. LBJ tried to big-dick him and held a conference in Honolulu with Ky, Thieu, and others. Felt the situation in Vietnam was a civil war that the US had nothing to do with and that it was an oversimplification to claim that it was a war built around North Vietnamese aggression.
Taft-Hartley Act
(HT) 1947, , The Act was passed over the veto of Harry S. Truman on the 23rd June, 1947. When it was passed by Congress, Truman denounced it as a "slave-labor bill". The act declared the closed shop illegal and permitted the union shop only after a vote of a majority of the employees. It also forbade jurisdictional strikes and secondary boycotts. Other aspects of the legislation included the right of employers to be exempted from bargaining with unions unless they wished to. The act forbade unions from contributing to political campaigns and required union leaders to affirm they were not supporters of the Communist Party. This aspect of the act was upheld by the Supreme Court on 8th May, 1950.
Dixiecrats
Southern Democrats who opposed Truman's position on civil rights. They caused a split in the Democratic Party.
Strom Thurmond
He was an American politician who served as governor of South Carolina and as a United States Senator. He also ran for the presidency of the United States in 1948 under the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party banner.
Alger Hiss
A former State Department official who was accused of being a Communist spy and was convicted of perjury. The case was prosecuted by Richard Nixon.
Harry Dexter White
US Treasury official, In charge of Bretton Woods Conference that created the World Bank, Member of the CFR, later exposed as Soviet Agent
Whittaker Chambers
TIME magazine editor and former communist. Confessed to spying for the Soviet Union during the 1930's. Named fellow spies, some of them in Roosevelt's cabinet.
anti-Communism
Opposition to communism. Extreme anti-communism was manifested in the "Red Scare" of the 1920s and McCarthyism of the 1950s.
House un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
Committee in the House of Representatives founded on a temporary basis in 1938 to monitor activities of foreign agents. Made a standing committee in 1945. During World War II it investigated pro-fascist groups, but after the war it turned to investigating alleged communists. From 1947-1949, it conducted a series of sensational investigations into supposed communist infiltration of the U.S. government and Hollywood film industry.
"naming names"
naming supposed Communists
blacklisting
A blacklist is a list or register of people who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, or mobility
Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R-WI)
1950s- Wisconsin senator claimed to have list of communists in American government, 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
McCarthyism
unscrupulously accusing people of disloyalty (as by saying they were Communists)
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Arrested in the Summer of 1950 and executed in 1953, they were convicted of conspiring to commit espionage by passing plans for the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.
Sputnik
The world's first space satellite. This meant the Soviet Union had a missile powerful enough to reach the US.
"brinksmanship"
The principle of not backing down in a crisis, even if it meant taking the country to the brink of war. Policy of both the U.S. and U.S.S.R. during the Cold War.
recession
the state of the economy declines
inflation
a general and progressive increase in prices
"arrogance of power"
the idea that the US has the solution and that its power can be used to reach the outcomes that the US wants; believed that if they exerted its massive fire power, they could create a state in Vietnam
"affluent society"
term used by economist John Kenneth Galbraith to describe the American economy in the 1950s, during which time many Americans became enraptured with appliances and homes in the suburbs
Interstate Highway System
A system of limited access roadways that connects all major cities in the US. The system was designed to give troops faster routes to get to destinations across the US in the event of an attack on the US. The system's main purpose now is travel by civilians.
baby boom
the larger than expected generation in United States born shortly after World War II
John Maynard Keynes
English economist who advocated the use of government monetary and fiscal policy to maintain full employment without inflation (1883-1946)
Keynesian economics
Theory based on the principles of John Maynard Keynes, stating that government spending should increase during business slumps and be curbed during booms.
bracero
a Mexican laborer who worked in the United States on farms and railroads in order to ease labor shortages during World War II
Chicano
a term meaning "Mexican American", it's positive and it demonstrates a love for one's indigenous roots
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