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Anti-War Movement
An antiwar movement is a social movement, in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts.n June 16, 1918, Eugene V. Debs made an anti-war speech and was arrested under the Espionage Act of 1917. -
Containment Policy
Containment is a geopolitical strategy to stop the expansion of an enemy. It is best known as the Cold War policy of the United States and its allies to prevent the spread of communism. In March 1919, French Premier Georges Clemenceau called for a cordon sanitaire, or ring of non-communist states, to isolate the Soviet Union. -
G.I. Bill
Law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). It was designed by the American Legion, who helped push it through Congress by mobilizing its chapters; the goal was to provide immediate rewards for all World War II veterans. It avoided the highly disputed postponed payout for World War I veterans that caused political turmoil for a decade and a half after that war. President Roosevelt signs the G.I. Bill into law on June 22, 1944. -
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the name for the 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. A term symbolizing the efforts by the Soviet Union to block itself and its satellite states from open contact with the West and non-Soviet-controlled areas. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the Soviet Union. -
Baby Boom Generation
Baby boomers are the demographic group born during the post–World War II baby boom, approximately between the years 1946 and 1964. This includes people who are between 53 and 71 years old in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.[1] However, according to the Strauss–Howe generational theory, baby boomers are defined as people born between 1943 and 1960, which would include people who are between 57 and 74 years old in 2017. -
Truman Doctrine
American foreign policy created to counter Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. It was first announced to Congress by President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947. American military force was usually not involved, but Congress appropriated free gifts of financial aid to support the economies and the militaries of Greece and Turkey. -
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term refers to U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy and has its origins in the period of the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from 1947 to 1956, spreading fear of influence on American institutions and of espionage by Soviet agents. It came from with President Truman's Executive Order 9835 of March 21, 1947, which required that all federal civil service employees be screened for "loyalty." -
Levittown
Levittown is the name of seven large suburban developments created in the United States of America by William Levitt and his company Levitt & Sons. Sales of the original Levittown began in March 1947, and 1,400 homes were purchased within the first three hours. -
Beatniks
Beatnik was a media stereotype prevalent throughout the 1950s to mid-1960s. Elements of the beatnik trope included pseudo-intellectualism, drug use, and a cartoonish depiction of real-life people along with the spiritual quest of Jack Kerouac's autobiographical fiction.Kerouac introduced the phrase "Beat Generation" in 1948, generalizing from his social circle to characterize the underground, anticonformist youth gathering in New York at that time. -
Marshall Plan
American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the US gave over $12 billion (approximately $120 billion in current dollar value as of June 2016) in economic support to help rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II. The plan was in operation for four years beginning April 8, 1948. The goals of the US were to rebuild war-devastated regions, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, make Europe prosperous once more, and prevent the spread of communism. -
Berlin Airlift
One of the first major international crises of the Cold War. Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. In response, the Western Allies organized the Berlin airlift (26 June 1948 – 30 September 1949) to carry supplies to the people of West Berlin, a difficult feat given the size of the city's population. -
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
An intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. Three NATO members (the United States, France and the United Kingdom) are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and are officially nuclear-weapon states. -
Korean War
The United Nations, and the United States, came to the aid of South Korea. China came to the aid of North Korea, and the Soviet Union gave some assistance. Korea was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the closing days of World War II. In August 1945, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, as a result of an agreement with the United States, and liberated Korea north of the 38th parallel. U.S. forces subsequently moved into the south. Date is when war officially started. -
Rosenberg Trial
The prosecution's primary witness, David Greenglass, stated that he turned over to his brother-in-law Julius Rosenberg a sketch of the cross-section of an implosion-type atom bomb. The Rosenbergs were convicted on March 29, 1951, and on April 5 were sentenced to death by Judge Kaufman under Section 2 of the Espionage Act of 1917, 50 U.S. Code 32 (now 18 U.S. Code 794), which prohibits transmitting or attempting to transmit to a foreign government information "relating to the national defense". -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
American politician and decorated military general who served as the 34th President of the United States from January 20, 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe. -
Domino Theory
Theory that a political event in one country will cause similar events in neighboring countries, like a falling domino causing an entire row of upended dominoes to fall. It was used by successive US administrations during the Cold War to justify the need for American intervention around the world. Though he never used the precise term "domino theory", U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower described the theory during an April 7, 1954, news conference, when referring to communism in Indochina. -
Jonas Salk
American medical researcher and virologist. He discovered and developed one of the first successful polio vaccines. Born in New York City, he attended New York University School of Medicine, later choosing to do medical research instead of becoming a practicing physician. In 1939, after earning his medical degree, Salk began an internship as a scientist physician at Mount Sinai Hospital. On April 12, 1955, the monitor of the test results, declared the vaccine to be safe and effective. -
Space Race
The competition began on August 2, 1955, The Soviet Union beat the US to launching a satellite, with the October 4, 1957 orbiting of Sputnik 1, and later beat the US to the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961. The race peaked with the July 20, 1969 US landing of the first humans on the Moon with Apollo 11. -
RocknRoll
Genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. According to Greg Kot, "rock and roll" can refer either to a style of popular music originating in the U.S. in the 1950s prior to its development by the mid-1960s into "the more encompassing international style known as rock music" Heartbreak hotel one of the most famous rocknroll songs when it came out by elvis presley. The single was release on january 27, 1956. -
Interstate Highway Act
The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act , was enacted on June 29, 1956, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law.The addition of the term "defense" in the act's title was for two reasons: First, some of the original cost was diverted from defense funds. Secondly, most U.S. Air Force bases have a direct link to the system. The purpose was to provide access in order to defend them during an attack. -
1950's Prosperity
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 expansion. The Cold War and its associated conflicts helped create a politically conservative climate in the country, as the intensified throughout the entire decade.The US federal government authorized the Interstate Highway Act in June 29,1956, and construction had begun by the fall of that same year it took a toll on economy. -
Sputnik
First artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on 4 October 1957. It was a 23 in diameter polished metal sphere, with four external radio antennae to broadcast radio pulses. It was visible all around the Earth and its radio pulses were detectable. This surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War. -
Moon Landing
Arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. This includes both manned and unmanned (robotic) missions.The first human-made object to reach the surface of the Moon was the Soviet Union's Luna 2 mission, on 13 September 1959. The United States' Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon, on 20 July 1969. There have been six manned U.S. landings (between 1969 and 1972) and numerous unmanned landings, with no soft landings happening from 22 August 1976 until 14 December 2013. -
John F. Kennedy
American politician who served as the 35th President of the United States from January 20, 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. The Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the establishment of the Peace Corps, developments in the Space Race, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Trade Expansion Act to lower tariffs, and the Civil Rights Movement all took place during his presidency. Kennedy was a member of the Democratic Party. -
Bay of Pigs
Failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506 on 17 April 1961. A counter-revolutionary military (made up of Cuban exiles who traveled to the United States after Castro's takeover), trained and funded by the United States government's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Brigade 2506 fronted the armed wing of the Democratic Revolutionary Front (DRF) and intended to overthrow the increasingly communist government of Fidel Castro. -
Cold War
The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension after World War II between powers in the Eastern Bloc and powers in the Western Bloc. Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common timeframe is the period (the second half of the 20th century) between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine was announced, and 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed. US President John F. Kennedy and the Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev at the Vienna summit, June 4, 1961. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
13-day (October 16–28, 1962) confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. In response to the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961, and the presence of American Jupiter ballistic missiles in Italy and Turkey, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev decided to agree to Cuba's request to place nuclear missiles on the island to deter future invasions. -
Lyndon B. Johnson
American politician who served as the 36th President of the United States from November 22,1963 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. A Democrat from Texas, he previously served as a United States Representative from 1937 to 1949 and then as a United States Senator from 1949 to 1961. -
Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. The main goal was the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. President Johnson first used the term "Great Society" during a speech at Ohio University, then unveiled the program in greater detail at an appearance at University of Michigan. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Enacted August 10, 1964, was a joint resolution that the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964, in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. It involved two separate confrontations involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. The original American report blamed North Vietnam for both incidents, but eventually became very controversial with widespread claims that either one or both incidents were false, and possibly deliberately so. -
Tet Offensive
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 Armed Forces, and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam. -
Richard Nixon
Was an American politician who served as the 37th President of the United States from January 20, 1969 until 1974, when he became the only U.S. president to resign from office. He had previously served as a U.S. Representative and Senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. -
Vietnamization
A policy to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops.The name "Vietnamization" came about accidentally. At a January 28, 1969 meeting of the National Security Council, General Andrew Goodpaster, stated that the Army of the Republic of Vietnam had been steadily improving, and the point at which the war could be "de-Americanized" was close. -
Rust Belt vs. Sun Belt
The Rust Belt is a term for the region from the Great Lakes to the upper Midwest States, referring to economic decline, population loss, and urban decay due to the shrinking of its once-powerful industrial sector, also known as deindustrialization.The term gained popularity in the U.S. in the 1980s. The Sun Belt is a region of the US generally considered to stretch across the SE and SW. Coined in 1969. -
Betty Friedan
American writer, activist, and feminist. In 1966, Friedan co-founded and was elected the first president of the National Organization for Women (NOW), which aimed to bring women "into the mainstream of American society now [in] fully equal partnership with men." In 1970 she organized the nationwide Women's Strike for Equality on August 26, the 50th anniversary of the 19thAmendment to the United States Constitution granting women the right to vote. -
26th Amendment
On March 23, 1971, a proposal to extend the right to vote to citizens eighteen years of age and older was adopted by both houses of Congress and sent to the states for ratification. The amendment became part of the Constitution on July 1, 1971, three months and eight days after the amendment was submitted to the states for ratification, making this amendment the quickest to be ratified. -
War Powers Act
The War Powers act is a federal law intended to check the president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress. It provides that the U.S. President can send U.S. Armed Forces into action abroad only by declaration of war by Congress, "statutory authorization," or in case of "a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces." Effective as of November 7, 1973. -
Ray Kroc
Joined McDonald's in 1954 and built it into the most successful fast food operation in the world. Kroc was included in Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century, and amassed a fortune during his lifetime. He owned the San Diego Padres baseball team from 1974 until his death in 1984. In 1974, Kroc decided to retire from being CEO of McDonald's. -
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
Investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The HUAC was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having communist ties. The House Committee on Internal Security was formally terminated on January 14, 1975, the day of the opening of the 94th Congress.[36] The Committee's files and staff were transferred on that day to the House Judiciary Committee -
Vietam War
Known in Vietnam as Resistance War Against America, was a war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. The North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies and the South Vietnamese army was supported by the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies. The war is therefore considered a Cold War-era proxy war
