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War Powers Act
an American emergency law that increased Federal power during World War II. -
GI Bill
Servicemen's Rejustment Act of 1944. Soldiers who faught in the war for long enough were given money depending on their rank. -
Baby Boom Generation
Baby boomers are people born during the demographic post–World War II baby boom approximately between the years 1946 and 1964. -
Truman Doctrine
President Truman presented this message, known as the Truman Doctrine, asking Congress for $400 million in military and economic assistance for Turkey and Greece. -
Cold War
The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in the Western Bloc and powers in the Eastern Bloc. Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but 1947–91 is common. -
containment policy
A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge its communist sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam. -
Marshall Plan
an American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the United States gave $13 billion in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II. -
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. -
Berlin Airlift
A military operation in the late 1940s that brought food and other needed goods into West Berlin by air after the government of East Germany had cut off its supply routes. -
1950s Culture
The United States in the 1950s experienced marked economic growth – with an increase in manufacturing and home construction amongst a post-World War II economic boom. -
Beatniks
a media stereotype prevalent throughout the 1950s to mid-1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s. -
Domino Theory
The domino theory was a theory prominent from the 1950s to the 1980s, that speculated that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. -
1950s Prosperity
After World War II, there was an expansion of the population. This caused the need for more housing and other needs of people. Most people resorted to homes outside the cities like suburbs because there it was cheaper. Every community in the suburbs were like it's own little town. They all had schools, churches and parks. Suburbs usually created the illusion of a perfect traditional family. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. This was the date of the start of his first term. -
rosenberg trial
A court case involving Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, an American couple who were executed in 1953 as spies for the Soviet Union. -
Jonas Salk
Jonas Edward Salk was an American medical researcher and virologist. He discovered and developed the first successful polio vaccine and first used it on this date. -
Rock n' Roll
a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, from a combination of African-American genres such as blues, boogie-woogie, jump blues, jazz, and gospel music, together with Western swing and country music. -
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. -
Rust Belt and Sum Belt
People begun to get more money from GI Bills and could now afford a house. -
Ray Kroc
an American businessman and philanthropist. He joined McDonald's in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. The date is when the first McDonald's was opened. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. -
Interstate Highway Act
The bill created a 41,000-mile “National System of Interstate and Defense Highways” that would eliminate unsafe roads, inefficient routes, traffic jams. -
1960s Culture
The decade was labeled the Swinging Sixties because of the fall or relaxation of social taboos especially relating to racism and sexism that occurred during this time. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed military invasion of Cuba. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning Soviet ballistic missiles deployment in Cuba. -
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan was an American writer, activist, and feminist. A leading figure in the women's movement in the United States -
John F. Kennedy
an American politician who served as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963 -
Lyndon B Johnson
the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969, assuming the office after serving as the 37th Vice President of the United States under President John F. Kennedy, from 1961 to 1963. -
Gulf of Tinkin Resolution
Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. -
Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by President Johnson to elimination of poverty and racial injustice. -
Miranda V. Arizona
This had a significant impact on law enforcement in the United States, by making what became known as the Miranda rights part of routine police procedure to ensure that suspects were informed of their rights. -
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974 when he became the only U.S. president to resign the office. -
Abbie Hoffman
Abbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman was an American political and social activist and anarchist who co-founded the Youth International Party. The date was when the YIP was created. -
Tet Offensive 1968
one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, launched on January 30, 1968, by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the United States, and their allies. -
Roy Benavidez
a member of the United States Army Special Forces and retired United States Army master sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for his valorous actions in combat near Lộc Ninh, South Vietnam on May 2, 1968. -
Space Race
a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States (US), for supremacy in spaceflight capability. -
Vietnamization
a policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops." -
Anti-War Movement Include
The late 1960s became increasingly radical as the activists felt their demands were ignored. Peaceful demonstrations turned violent. When the police arrived to arrest protesters, the crowds often retaliated. Students occupied buildings across college campuses forcing many schools to cancel classes. Roads were blocked and ROTC buildings were burned. -
1970s Culture
The hippie culture, which started in the latter half of the 1960s, waned by the early 1970s and faded towards the middle part of the decade, which involved opposition to the Vietnam War, opposition to nuclear weapons, the advocacy of world peace, and hostility to the authority of government and big business. -
26th Amendment
When you turn 18 you will be able to vote in all elections, be it state, local or federal. -
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
created to investigate disloyalty and subversive organizations. Its first chairman, Martin Dies, set the pattern for its anti-Communist investigations. -
1980s Culture
The 1980s represented a drastic change in American society, one not seen since the 1920s. Learn more about the decade, including its lifestyle trends, new consumer goods and expanding cultures, in this video lesson. -
Korean War
The Korean War was a war between North and South Korea, in which a United Nations force led by the United States fought for the South, and China fought for the North, which was also assisted by the Soviet Union. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the imaginary boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolized efforts by the Soviet Union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the west and non-Soviet-controlled areas.
