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House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. It was originally created in 1938 in order to uncover citizens with Nazi ties inside the United States, but it concentrated its efforts instead on investigating possible Communist Party infiltration. -
G.I. Bill
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 known informally as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans. This gave them and education, helped the get homes, and provided them with unemployment insurance. This was a great help to veterans. -
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. -
Baby Boom Generation
The Baby Boom happened after world war 2 when the veterans returned home. They went crazy partying and having babies non-stop. The time frame was 1946-1964, this considered you to be a baby boomer. -
Containment Policy
It is known for the Cold war and was made to stop the enemy from spreading communism. It was created by Harry S. Truman in 1947. He thought that if this policy worked it would cut off the enemies and communism would die. -
Levittown
Levittown was developed on Long Island in 1947. It was affordable suburb living for many families. This started an outbreak of many suburb towns because they were so popular. -
Cold War
The cold war happened because of America's fear of communism. We were scared that we would become communist and we did not want that to happen. It didn't help that Truman and Stalin didn't like each other. There was also the threat of nuclear war that both America and the Soviet Union were afraid of. -
Truman Doctrine
Harry S. Truman created the Truman Doctrine on March 12, 1947. This was created to ask for help from the government for economic assistants. This basically started the cold war which was not good. -
Marshall Plan
This was America trying to look good by helping out western European countries. We were scared of communism and would do anything to avoid becoming communist. We gave over 13 million dollars to help those countries rebuild their economy. -
Berlin Airlift
Truman didn't want to start another World War, so he sent an airlift to Berlin with supplies. We wanted Berlin to feel like we were helping a great deal because they were hungry and had no supplies. We didn't want a WW3 so we tried to make peace as best as we could. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created as kind of a peace treaty between the Soviet Union. NATO was also created to strengthen western allies. It was made to defend communism. -
McCarthyism
This is basically accusing someone of something without actual evidence. This was created in 1950 and it prevented from known communist to have jobs or anything else basically. It sucked for some people because most of the accused were innocent. -
1950's Prosperity
The economy was very bad after World War 2 so it was very good when the economy grew 37%. This was good for middle or upper class families who received 30% more in purchasing power. This helped technology improve and allowed cheaper oil. -
Beatniks
This was a stereotypical name for someone in the 1950's who was apart of the "beat generation." Herb Caen came up with the word, and he got beat from bear generation and nik from the suffix of sputnik. -
Rock 'n' Roll
Rock 'n' Roll was known as the devils music and was a big cause for teenage rebel. Rock was influenced by African Americans, but was made "more acceptable" to a wider audience by white people. -
Rust Belt vs Sun Belt
The Rust belt and Sun belt was known as regions in the U.S. This was a migration of lots of americans after the war. They either went to the south or midwestern areas. -
Korean War
North Korea who was ran by Kim 11-Sung who believed in communism. He wanted South Korea to be communism as well and he wanted Korea to be united as one. So Kim called up Russia and asked if they would back North Korea if they invaded South Korea. When the U.S got involved they created something called the United Nations and sent troops to fight with South Korea to help them out. -
Rosenberg Trial
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were tried and executed by the United States government for spilling nuclear war secrets. They were U.S citizens but they worked for the Soviet Union as spies. The couple received their information from a brother-in-law who was fired. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower was the 34th president and was the president during the cold war. He strengthened social security and created the highway system. He was also a big icon during World War 2. -
Jonas Salk
Jonas Salk was a medical researcher and American Physician. He came up with the three types of polio viruses. In 1953 Salk discovered the polio vaccine that saved many people. -
Ray Kroc
Ray Kroc purchased Mcdonalds from two brothers. He was known as the father of Mcdonalds. This was the first fast food chain restaurant. Kroc made tons of money. -
Domino Theory
It was a theory that if a nation fell into communism that everyone would follow behind like falling dominoes. This made people fear communism even more because they were taught that communism is bad, so they were scared that their nation would fall under communism. This influenced the Truman doctrine. -
Vietnam War
The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam. America was scared of communism and didn't want other countries to be communism in fear that it might get to America. -
Interstate Highway Act
The interstate highway act was a 41,000-mile network of highways that went across the nation. They made transportation easier and faster for people. This also gave the government more tax revenues. -
Space Race
This was basically a race to see who could get to space first. It was fought between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although the soviet union beat the U.S multiple time, the U.S were actually the first to have a man land on the moon. We hated the Soviet Union so we wanted to beat them at everything so why not have another competition to prove that. -
Sputnik
This was the first satellite to go up into space. The Soviets launched it into low Earth orbit. This made America very scared and nervous because we thought they were spying on us. -
John F. Kennedy
Kennedy served as the 35th president of the United States. Kennedy sent troops to try to overthrow Cubas government but he failed miserably as Cuba people liked Castro. He also came up with the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty and initiated the Alliance for Progress. He is also known for his Berlin Wall speech. He was assassinated in 1963. -
Bay of Pigs
This was an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Castro in Cuba. It backfired because the Cuban people loved Castro and they did not support the U.S. This made Kennedy look bad and now he had to work harder to look better. Bay of pigs is the name of the place where the U.S troops landed. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
A 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning Soviet ballistic missiles deployment in Cuba. The people were afraid of nuclear war with the news of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The U.S and soviet union both made agreements to avoid nuclear war. -
Betty Friedan
She was a big activist in women's rights. She wrote a book called The Feminine Mystique in 1963. She wanted to inform women that they didn't have to follow their typical gender rolls. She is also a founder of the National Organization for Women. -
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson was the 36th president of the United States. He is known for his social service programs, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and expanding U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He was the vice president until Kennedy was assassinated and Johnson took over. -
Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States. President Lyndon B. Johnson came up with it in 1964. The main goal was the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. It also helped to reduce crime. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
It is also known as the USS Maddox incident. It is a big reason that the United States got involved in Vietnam. It was events that took place in the Gulf Tonkin waters and made the U.S kind of mad. -
Anti-war Movement
This started around 1965 during Vietnam war. Anti-war protest broke out in saying bring home our troops and were tired of war. There were lots of people involved in the anti-war movement as a lot of people saw no point for us to be in the Vietnam War. -
Tet Offensive 1968
The Tet Offensive played an important role in weakening U.S. public support for the war in Vietnam. This was numerous attacks launched on South Vietnam to help end the war. -
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States. He is known for being the first and only president to resign from office. He was the first to visit China since it had been established in 1949. He was trying to better China and then United States relationship. -
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." -
Moon Landing
The moon landing occurred in 1969. We beat the soviet union to the moon and that was a big accomplishment for the U.S. Armstrong was the first one on the moon and said the famous words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." -
26th Amendment
The 26th amendment which was put into action in 1971, was a law that age didn't matter when voting. This made 18 and up able to vote. They thought well if an 18 year old could fight for this country they should be able to vote. -
War Powers Act
This was a law passed in 1973 and it allowed congress to be in charge of the presidents limits with the armed forces. If the president wants to send troops somewhere he needs to get permission 48 hours prior before he sends them anywhere. Congress also must approve for the soldiers to stay there longer than 90 days.
