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House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
The HUAC was created to investigate potential threats of subversion and espionage inside of the federal government, and sometimes the common people. This government committee had increased powers during the Cold War, and was quite similar to the girls involved in the Salem Witch Trials in the 1600s. Eventually the committee was disbanded and it's powers were moved over to the judiciary systems. -
G.I. Bill (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act 1944)
The G.I. Bill was passed by President Roosevelt in 1944 and detailed benefits for returning veterans from WW2 to help them integrate back into society. Before it was passed there was lots of arguing on the benefits veterans should get because people wanted to avoid post war confusion. The G.I. Bill is still in place today and continues to help Veterans integrate along with other benefits. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the name for the boundaries between the Communist controlled USSR and the Democratic/Capitalist controlled Nato. The Warsaw pact in a way defined the wall as well and it's significance was heightened by the fear of "Domino Theory" and the idea that communism had to be stopped. The term Iron Curtain was made popular by winston Churchill when he used it in his speech following WW2. -
Domino Theory
The idea that if one country became a communist country, the others would follow in a domino effect. This theory was mainly prominent from the 1950's to the 1980's. This was used by America to justify interfering in other countries around the world. -
Baby Boom Generation
The Baby Boom Generation was a massive population jump caused by the end of WW2. It's estimated to be approximately 18 years and 76 million people were produced in America by the boom. The Baby Boom Generation would grow up and make up a portion of the anti-war protestors and the "hippies". -
Containment Policy
Truman's Containment Policy was the first policy meant to slow down and stop the spread of communism. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a response to the rising communist threat, which told other countries that they would get aid if they weren't communist and weren't converting into a communist country. This was in the name of slowing down and stopping the spread of communism but it was partially hidden as a recovery act from the destruction in Europe caused by WW2. The Truman Doctrine later got changed to basically aid against communism. -
McCarthyism
McCarthyism was a fear of communism and spies in the american government that spread through the people via Joseph McCarthy. It led to many people's jobs being taken from them and two people actually being convicted and executed, though only one of them was an actual spy. It started officially with President Truman's executive order forcing government employees to be screened. -
Cold War
The Cold War was an intense period of time where the U.S. and the U.S.S.R were having extreme tensions over the use of nuclear weapons. The Cold War caused the space race, the cuban crisis, the rise and fall of the Berlin wall, and among other things.The Cold War was also the cause of several proxy wars, such as Vietnam and Korea. The Cold War started around 1947 and didn't end until 1991 -
Levittown
Levittown was the start of a massive housing boom caused by the Baby Boom and the end of WW2. Levittown was composed of many small houses arrayed exactly the same, and designed to be built as fast as possible. This was perfect for the massive demand for houses and new small families. This design would be copied around America and create the giant suburb. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was similar to the Truman Doctrine in the sense that it aided countries that were non-communist. However the Marshall Plan's main goal was in fact to help people recover from the damage and destruction caused by WW2. Europe and it's economy was in ruins and would likely have remained so for quite some time if countries outside of ground zero hadn't helped. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift was an operation where the United States and United Kingdom airlifted food and water into Berlin. This was due to the blockade put into place by the USSR. This also turned out to be a major political win in the eyes of the world. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a treaty that made it so that in the case one of the countries involved would go to war with another country not involved, the other countries that were in the organization/treaty would come to the aid of the first country. This was a massive counter to the Warsaw pact made by the Soviet Union and was a response to World War 2. NATO is still an organization binding people. -
Rock n' Roll
Rock and roll was an emerging music style that was named in the 1950's. Rock and roll had blues elements and was used in certain civil rights demonstrations. Rock and roll was also a massive part of the counter culture to the "normalcy" that had inhabited americans following world war 2. -
Korean war
The Korean war was a war between North Korea and South Korea. Though they had an armistice that separated the two, the war was never actually finished/concluded. The north was communist and supported by the USSR while the south was Democratic and was supported by the US. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States as well as an army general. Dwight was president from January 20, 1953 to January 20, 1961. Dwight was president in the middle of the cold war and contributed to several major decisions and growth including the space race and the creation of the Interstate Highways. -
Rosenberg Trial
The Rosenberg Trial's were trials convicting Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of conspiring to commit espionage. Julius and Ethel tried just about everything to avoid being convicted, including asking the Presidents Truman and Eisenhower but ultimately ended up being convicted. The problem with this particular case was that because they were being charged with conspiracy to do something the court needed no tangible evidence, so the testimony from their in laws doomed them for execution. -
1950's Prosperity
The economy during the 1950's saw a dramatic increase with an overall growth of 37% likely being caused by the aftermath of World War 2 and President Eisenhower's determination to balance the federal budget. A lot of the growth was pushed by the expected conformity of small families and the growth of consumerism. The Interstate Highways also helped grow the automobile market and lead to longer distance jobs and suburban expansion. -
Ray Kroc
Ray Kroc was the man who set up Mcdonalds to become what it is today. He introduced the idea of letting individual entrepreneur set up their own Mcdonalds instead of the bigger company doing all of the work and made Mcdonalds the franchise instead of the individual store owner. Ray was initially frustrated with the small mindset the two brothers who created Mcdonalds had, and led to many of the innovations that is a part of fast food today. -
Jones Salk
Jones Salk was a doctor and a physician who studied polio in a massive survey conducted in the 50's. After 1,800,000 children diagnosed with polio were tested it was confirmed that Jones Salk had come up with a vaccine for polio that worked a majority of the time. Just after this on the April 12, Jones was called a "miracle worker". -
Beatniks
Beatniks was a term to define people who came from the Beat Generation. Beatniks were generally portrayed through media in a superficial light, or as hippies. Beatniks were younger and listened to music like jazz. -
Space Race
The Space Race was a race between the Soviet Union and the United States to achieve supremacy in flight. The Soviets won at first with the satellite Sputnik but the United States was the first country to have a man land on the moon. The USSR never achieved a man on the moon by itself but when it worked with the U.S. achieved one. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam war or the second Indochina war, was a war between north and south Vietnam, with south Vietnam having support from many anti-communist countries during the cold war, making it a sort of proxy war during the cold war. The war had mass amounts of bombings and destructive nonsense from the U.S. increasing the number of communist and north Vietnam supporters in the south, with the U.S. eventually pulling out and North Vietnam winning the war. -
Interstate Highway Act
The Interstate Highway Act was an act put into place by President Eisenhower. It was supposed to be a way to connect the different Air Force bases across the country in case of a attack where reinforcements or retreat was necessary. It however also became a massively used form of transport across the country and for it's time was the biggest publics work project. -
Sputnik
The sputnik was the first satellite to be launched into orbit. It was made by the Soviet Union and was a big blow to the United States due to their first loss in the space race and the intelligence boost it would likely give the soviets. Sputnik burnt up when reentering the earths atmosphere just 3 months later. -
John F. Kennedy JFK
JFK was the 35th president of the United States. To put it simply a lot happened during JFK's presidency, a lot of which was caused by the high tensions with the Soviet Union and the spread of communism. JFK dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis in the best way to maintain peace, as well as cooling down the war that was quickly becoming heated between the USSR and the US. JFK also dealt with the civil rights movements and Immediately after his death the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs invasion was a attempted military coup of Cuba after Castro's take over sponsored by the American CIA. This was mainly due to the animosity and fear towards Communism and the USSR's involvement in Cuba, primarily the ballistic missiles put there. The take over ultimately failed however and led to increased heat in the cold war. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the most dangerous moments in human history. The Crisis almost led to nuclear annihilation of the entire northern hemisphere and likely fallout for the southern. The Cuban Missile Crisis was caused by the increasing tensions in the Cold War, and the deployment of USSR Ballistic Missiles in the communist country Cuba, which was well within range of the United States. Fortunately Kennedy was able to make peace with the Soviets for a time. -
Betty Friedan
Betty Friedan was a political activist and feminist and was largely responsible for the second women's rights movement with the writing of her book The Feminine Mystique which came out in 1963. Betty also led marches which attracted people of up to the range of 50 thousand people. Betty also wrote 6 other books. -
Lyndon B. Johnson LBJ
Lyndon B. Johnson was the 36th president of the United States and followed JFK immediately after he was assassinated. Johnson would remain in office for the next 6 years running again. He also was majorly involved with the war in Vietnam and a massive influence on the civil rights movement with his passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. -
Great Society
The Great Society was a set of programs put into place by President Johnson in an attempt to decrease poverty and racial injustice. A lot of government spending programs sought to improve school, medical, environmental, and other important parts of society that needed improving. Some of the anti-war democrats complained that the war took away from The Great Society. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was something in acted by congress during the war of Vietnam. This resolution was special because it gave Johnson conventional war powers when no official war had been declared. -
Anti-War Movement
The Anti-War Movement prominent during the Vietnam War was mostly motivated by college students and peace activists. But as time went on and it became that the war was going to be a war of attrition and wouldn't likely end before both sides had sustained massive casualties, people began to question why they were involved in Vietnam in the first place. After war crimes were revealed to the public people the Anti-War movement grew even more, eventually forcing Nixon to pull us out. -
Tet Offensive 1968
The Tet Offensive was an attack launched across South Vietnam by the North. The U.S. and South Vietnam did hold off the attack, and the North did suffer heavy casualties, however the North considered it a strategic win and the U.S. gained more anti-war sentiment. It also marked the begin of America's withdrawal from Vietnam. -
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States and served as the vice president under Eisenhower before. Nixon entered office in the middle of the Vietnam war with loud protests coming from all over America. Nixon ended up pulling us out of Vietnam using what he called Vietnamization, replacing our troops with south vietnams troops. -
Vietnamization
Vietnamization was a war policy created by president Nixon in order to end U.S. involvement in Vietnam. -
Moon Landing
The Moon Landing was the first manned moon landing. The U.S. achieved this in 1969 and beat the USSR in the space race in that sense. Several more Moon Landings occurred but there are suspicions that the Moon Landings were faked. -
26th Amendment
The 26th Amendment was passed by Nixon and ratified by the states in 1971. The 26th Amendment was made in response to 18 year olds complaining that they could be drafted for the war but couldn't vote for the president until they were 21. So the age was changed to 18 and ended the age old debate. -
War Powers Act
The War Powers Act was an act established to control/limit the power of the President during a time of war. Everything the president does when it comes to moving troops must be reported to congress within 48 hours. Also whenever the president sends men into an area he has 60 days to get a it continued or the troops are pulled back in a 30 day withdrawal period. -
Rust Belt vs Sun Belt
The Rust Belt was an area in the north where industrial factories were big. Following WW2 it was a booming industry but because of the increase in foreign trade and cheaper items from foreign countries the industrialization in the north died, so families had to look elsewhere for economic opportunities such as the south, or the Sun Belt. This led to massive migration to the south and one of the largest human migrations in American History.
