Upgrade to remove ads
Only $2.99/month

American History Final

Terms in this set (48)

Eisenhower
American general and the 34th president of the United States (1953-1961). As supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, he launched the invasion of Normandy and oversaw the final defeat of Germany. His presidency was marked by the domestic racial problems, the Cold War with the Soviet Union, and a break in diplomatic relations with Cuba
Lebanon crisis
part of the Eisenhower Doctrine; a Lebanese political crisis caused by political and religious tensions in the country that included a U.S. military intervention. The intervention lasted around three months until President Camille Chamoun, who had requested the assistance, completed his term as president of Lebanon
Formosa
a bill enacted by the U.S. Congress that established an American commitment to defend Formosa (Taiwan). As a matter of American foreign policy, President Eisenhower promised to protect "territories in the West Pacific under the jurisdiction of the Republic of China" against invasion by the People's Republic of China. The legislation provided the President with the power to intervene if the island was attacked
Little Rock
A group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957 whose enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. They then attended after the intervention of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Civil Rights Act of 1957
A voting right bill to enable ever American to be able to vote; If whites pulled the Jim Crow Laws on the blacks, they could go to the federal judge and get an injunction to let them vote
Civil Rights Act of 1960
A United States federal law that established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote
Geneva Conference
A conference which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, whose purpose was to attempt to find a way to settle outstanding issues on the Korean peninsula and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina.The Soviet Union, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and the People's Republic of China were participants throughout the whole conference; talked about Open Skies and Vietnam
Suez canal crisis
A major international incident that arose in 1956 from the decision by Gamal A. Nasser of Egypt to nationalize the Suez Canal, which long had been controlled by Great Britain. After Nasser took over the canal, Britain and France induced Israel to provoke a conflict with Egypt that would serve as a pretext for an Anglo-French invasion of Egypt. The United States, which had been excluded from the planned invasion, denounced it. The incident severely damaged Anglo-American relations
Sputnik
The first satellite put in orbit in space by Russia
National Defense Education Act
Was signed into law on September 2, 1958, providing funding to United States education institutions at all levels
Brown vs Board
A landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional
U-2 incident
An incident in May 1960 when a US U-2 spy plane was shot down over the USSR
D-Day (Normandy)
The day of the initial assaults on Normandy, was Tuesday June 6. 1944. The Invasion of Normandy was the invasion by and establishment of Western Allied forces in Normandy, during Operation Overlord in 1944 during World War II; the largest amphibious invasion to ever take place.
MIA (Montgomery Improvement Association)
An organization that African American leaders put in charge of the Montgomery boycotts; MLK was elected to be the leader
Medicare
A federal system of health insurance for people over 65 years of age and for certain younger people with disabilities; party of Eisenhower's liberal policy
Hippies
Members of a subculture that was originally a youth movement that emerged in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world
Vietminh
Ho Chi Minh's organization whose forces fought against the Japanese and especially against the French in Indochina: officially in existence 1941-51
Ngo Dinh Diem
educated in French and by the French; took over the south; first president of South Vietnam
Cambodia (campaign)
A series of military operations conducted in eastern Cambodia during mid-1970 by the United States and South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. These invasions were a result of the policy of President Richard Nixon
Pentagon Papers
A classified study of the Vietnam War that was carried out by the Department of Defense. An official of the department, Daniel Ellsberg, gave copies of the study to the New York Times and Washington Post
President Carter
The 39th president from 1977 to 1981. He was a peanut farmer who had been a naval officer and the governor of Georgia; he stood outside the main power groups of the Democratic party. He gained the party's nomination, however, and defeated Gerald Ford in the election of 1976
26th Amendment- Vote 18
Prohibits the states and the federal government from using age as a reason for denying citizens of the United States who are at least eighteen years old the right to vote
George McGovern
Ran against Nixon in 1972 presidential election and lost
Boycott Olympics
President Jimmy Carter decided that the United States would boycott the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan
Camp David Accords
Peace treaty between Israel and Egypt issuing from talks at Camp David between Egyptian President, Israeli Prime Minister, and the host, U.S. President Carter
Ronald Reagan Conservative- Business*
??????
Sandinistas
a member of the Nicaraguan revolutionary movement that took control of Nicaragua in 1979
Iran Hostage Crisis
The 444 days in which American embassy workers were held captive by Iranian revolutionaries after young Muslim fundamentalists overthrew the oppressive regime of the American-backed shah, forcing him into exile. These revolutionaries triggered an energy crisis by cutting off Iranian oil. The crisis began when revolutionaries stormed the American embassy, demanding that the United States return the shah to Iran for trial. After permanently damaging relations between the two countries, the crisis ended with the hostage's release the day Ronald Reagan became president
Starwars
Name for Reagan's proposed space-based nuclear defense system, officially called the Strategic Defense Initiative
Atomic bomb
Used by US in Nagasaki and Hiroshima; raised problems in Soviet-American relations; led to postwar nuclear arms race
New Deal
Roosevelt's precursor of the modern welfare state (1933-1939); programs to combat economic depression enacted a number of social insureance measures and used government spending to stimulate the economy; increased power of the state and the state's intervention in U.S. social and economic life
Iron Curtain
Winston Churchill reviewed the international response to Russian aggression and declared that this had descended across Eastern Europe, referring to the rise of communism there as satellite nations under the USSR
Korean War
In 1950, after the Russians had withdrawn, leaving a communist government in the North, the North invaded the South. The U.N. raised an international army led by the U.S. to stop the North. It was the first use of U.N. military forces to enforce international peace. Called a limited war, because the fighting was to be confined solely to the Korean peninsula, rather than the countries involved on each side attacking one another directly
Cuban Missile Crisis
an incident where Soviet missiles were placed in Cuba as a response for help. The event greatly increased tensions between the Soviets and the Americans. As a result, a hotline was established between the two nations to avoid any accidents
Domino Theory
President Eisenhower's theory. The theory stated that if one country turned communist the rest would. This theory intialized the policy of containment
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress passed in direct response to a minor naval engagement known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. It is of historical significance because it gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of military force in Southeast Asia
Ho Chi Minh
Vietnamese revolutionary nationalist leader, who organized Vietnamese opposition to foreign occupation, first against the Japanese and then the French; became leader of North Vietnam. He led the war to unify the country in the face of increased military opposition from the United States
Iran Contra Affairs
Scandal that erupted after CIA sold weapons to Iran in hopes of freeing American hostages in Lebanon; money from the arms sales was used to aid the Contras in Nicaragua, even though Congress had prohibited this assistance
Berlin Wall
A fortified wall made up of concrete and barbed wire made to prevent East Germans escaping to West Berlin
NAACP
Founded in 1909 to abolish segregation and discrimination, to oppose racism and to gain civil rights for African Americans, got Supreme Court to declare grandfather clause unconstitutional
James Meredith
First black student admitted to the University of Mississippi, shot during a civil rights march in 1966
Watergate
five men arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee's executive quarters in the Watergate Hotel. This scandal revealed several other dirty plays Nixon's administration did the years leading up to the election and forced him to resign and killed the faith the public had in the government. Senate hearing began in May 1973, Nixon admitted to complicity in the burglary. In July, 1974, Nixon's impeachment began, so he resign with a disbarment
Capitalism
A system of economic production based on the private ownership of property and the contractual exchange for profit of goods, labor, ad money; supply and demand
SEATO
An Asian alliance, set up by Secretary Dulles on the model of NATO, to help support the anti-communist regime in South Vietnam
TET Offensive
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
My Lai Massacre
In 1968, American troops had brutally massacred innocent women and children in the village of My Lai, also led to more opposition to the war
General Westmoreland
American General who commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War at its peak from 1964 to 1968; He developed the strategy of "Search and destroy" and measured success of the war by the number of enemy deaths.
Guerilla Warfare
a hit-and-run technique used in fighting a war; fighting by small bands of warriors using tactics such as sudden ambushes
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...