AP US History Vocab.

A. Philip Randolph

labor and civil rights leader in the 1940s who led the brotherhood of sleeping car porters; he demanded that FDR create a fair employment practives commission to investigate job discrimination in war industries. FDR agreed only afer Randolph threated a march on Washington by African Americans.

Agricultural adjustment administration

new deal program that paid farmers not to produce crops (1933) it provided farmers with income while reducing crop surpluses and helped stabilize farm production. The supreme court declared major parts of this law unconstitutional in 1936, helping lead FDR to his court-packing plan

Alfred Smith

first catholic ever nominated for president; he lost in 1928 becuase of the nations prosperity but his religion, urban background, and views on prohibition cost him votes as well

american liberty league

a conservative anti-new deal organization, members included alfred smith, john w. davis, and the du point family. it criticized the "dictorial" policies of roosevelt and what it percieved to be his attacks on the free enterprise system

atlantic charter

joint statement issued by president roosevelt and british prime minister winston churchill of principals and goals for an allied victory in World War II, it provided for self-determination for all conquered nations, freedom of seas, economic security, and free trade. Later, it became the embodiment of the united nations charter

black cabinet

an informal network of black officeholders in the federal government, led by mary McLeod Bethune, William Hastie, and Robert Weaver, they pushed for economic and political opportunities for African Americans in the 1930’s and 1940’s

bonus army

group of jobless World War I veterans who came to washington to lobby congress for immediate payment of money promised them in 1945; hoover opposed payment, and when he used the US army to drive the veterans out of the capital he was portrayed as cruel and cold hearted

Brain trust

named and applied to college professors from Columbia University who advised Roosevelt of economic matters early in the New Deal; the brain trust took on the role of an "unofficial cabinet" in the roosevelt administration

charles coughling

catholic priest who used his popular radio program to criticize the new deal; he grew incrasingly anti-roosevelt and anti-semitic until the catholic church pulled him off the air

court-packing plan

roosevelts proposal in 1937 to "reform" the Supreme Court by appointing an additional justice for every justice over the age of 70 followig the courts actions in striking down major new deal laws. FDR came to believe that some justices were out of touch with the nations needs. Congress believed Roosevelts proposal endangered the courts independence and said no

Fireside Chats

roosevelt’s informal radio address throughout his presidency; they gave the people a sense of confidence that he understood their problems and was trying to help solve them. With these "chats" FDR was the first president to use the electronic media to spread his word

Frances Perkins

roosevelt’s secretary of labor; the first woman to serve s a federal cabinet officer, she had a great influence on many new deal programs, most significantly the social security act.

Francis Townsend

retired physician who proposed an old age revolving pension plan to give every retiree over the age of 60 $200 per month, provided that the person spend ine money each month in order to recieve their next payment; the object was to help retired workers as well as stimulate spending in order to boost production and end the depression

Franklin D. Roosevelt

president (1933-1945) elected four times, he led the country’s recovery from the Depression and to victory in WWII. he died in office, however, just weeks before Germany’s surrender. He is generally considered the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.

Henry Hopkins

close advisor to Roosevelt and FDR’s czar of relief programs; he headed the Federal Emergeny Relief Administration, Civil Works Administration, and Works Program Administration and later undertook diplomatic missions to the USSR

Henry S. Truman

vice president who became president when FDR died in April 1945; he was elected on his own in 1948. Truman ordered the use of atomic bombs on Japan to end WWII, set the course of postwar containment of communism in the Cold War, and created a Fair Deal program to carry on the New Deal’s domestic agenda

Hawley-Smoot Tariff

raised the duties on imported foreign goods to all-time highs; intended to boost American industry and employment, it actually deepened the Depression when European countries could not repay their loans and retaliated against american exports

herbert hoover

president (1929-1933) who is blamed for the great depression; although he tried to use government power to bring on recovery, his inflexibiliy and refusal to give direct relief doomed his program and his presidency

hooversvilles

camps and shantytowns of unempoyed and homeless on the outskirts of major cities during the early days of the Depression. they were symbols of the failure of Hoover’s program and the way the nation held him responsible for the hard times

Huey Long

flamboyant Louisiana governor and US senator; he challenged FDR to do more for the poor and needy and proposed a popular "share out wealth" program to tax the wealthy in order to provide a guaranteed income for the poor. he was assassinated in 1935

Hundred Days

term applied to the first weeks of the Roosevelt Administration, during which Congress passed 13 emergency relief and reform measures that were the backbone of the early new deal, these included the Civilian Conservation Corp, the Glass Stegal Act (FDIC) Agricultural adjustment act, federal emergency relief act, and the National Industrail Recovery Act

Lend Lease

program authorizing the president to lend or lease equiptment to nations whose defense was deemed vital to the US security; it was designed to help a bankrupt Britian continue fighting the Nazis. By 1945, the United states has extended $50 billion in wartime aid to Britian and the Soviet Union

Nation Labor Relations Act

created a National Labor Relations Board that could compel employers to recognize and bargain with unions; this law helped promote the gorwth of organized labor in the 1930’s and for decades thereafter

National Recovery Administration

agency that created a partnership between business and government to fight the depression; it allowed major industry to fix prices in return for agreeing to fair practice codes, wage and hour standards, and labor’s right to organize. Major parts of the law that created the NRA were declared unconstitutional in 1935

Neutrality Acts

series of laws that provided Americans could not ship weapons, loan money, travel on belligerent ships, extend credit, or deliver goods to any belligerent countries; they were high tide of isolationism, and all were repealed between 1939 and 1941

New Deal

Roosevelt’s program of domestic reform and relief; the three R’s of Relief, REform and recovery did not end the Depression, but they gave hope and security and made government more responsive to the people in bad economic times

Pearl Harbor

unites states naval base in hawaii that was attacked by japan on december 7, 1941 with serious US losses; 19 ships sunk or destroyed and over 2,000 deaths; the attack brought the Unites Stated into WWII

Reconstruction Finance Corporation

Hoover’s economic recovery program that provided government loans to businesses, banks and ralroads; it was "pumping priming," but it was too little ($300 million) too late to make any eal improvements in the economy

Rugged Individualism

Hoover’s philospphy taht called on Americans to help each other during the Depression without direct governmet relief; he feared too much government help would weaken the American character, endanger liberty, and lead to tatalitarianism in the United States

Second Front

proposed Anglo-American invasion of France to relieve the Soviets, who were fighting a german invasion of the USSR; originally scheduled for 1942, it was not delivered until D-Day in June 1944. This was a divisive issue in Soviet relations with the US during the war and after

Second New Deal

name was given to a series of proposals that FDR requsted and congress passed to reinvigorate the NEw Deal as recovery from the Depression began to lag; they were antibusiness in tone and intent and included he Public Utility Holding Company Act, Social Security Act, National Labor Relaitons Act, and the Wealth Tax Act

Social Security Act

required both workers and their employer to contribute to a federally run pension fund for retired workers; it also provided federal disability and unemployment assistance. Although benefits were meager, it was the first significant government program to provide for retired, disabled, or unemployed Americans.

Bay of Pigs

us suported invasion of Cuba in April 1961; intended to overthrow communist dictator Fidel Castro, the operation proved a fiasco. Castro’s forces killed 114 of the invaders and took nearly 1,200 prisoners. The disaster shook the confidence of the Kennedy administration and encouraged the Soviet Union to become more active in America

Camp David Accords

1979 agreement reached between the leaders of Israel and Egypt after protracted negotiations brokered by President Carter; Israel surrendered land seized in earlier wars and Egypt recognized Israel as a nation. Despite high hoped, it did not lead to a permanent peace in region.

Chiang Kai Shek

ineffective and corrupt leader of China in 1930s and 1940s; he was a wartime ally of the United States, but was unable to stop Communists from seizing power in 1949. Chiang’s exile to Taiwan was a major American setback in the early days of the Cold War

Cuban Missle Crisis

a confrontation between the United States and the USSR resulting from a Soviet attempt to place long-range nuclear missiles in Cuba (October 1962); Kennedy forced the Soviets to remove them with a blockade and the threat of-force. The crisis enhanced Kennedy’s standing bu led to a Soviet arms build up

Dien Bien Phu

French fortress in northern Vietnam that surrendered i n1954 to the Veit Mihn; the defeat caused the French to abandon Indochina and set the stage for the Geneva Conference, which divided the region and led to American involvement in South Vietnam

Domino Theory

Eisenhower’s metaphor that when one country fell to Communism, its neighbors would be threatened and coppase one after another like a row of dominoes; this belief became a majoy rationale for US intervention in Vietnam

Douglas MacArthur

WWII hero who led United Nations forces during the Korean War; his outspoked opposition to President Truman’s decision to limit the war cost him his command. He wanted to bomb china, and Truman rejected the idea as too reckless

Fidel Castro

Comminist leader of Cuba who led a rebellion against the US-backed dictator and took power in 1959; President Kennedy tried to over-throw him with the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 but failed. Castro became closely allied with the Soviet Union, making the Kennedy Administration increasingly concerned about Soviet influence in the Western Hemisphere

George Kennan

State Department official who was architect of the containment concept; in his article "the source of soviet conduct" he said the USSR was historically and idiologically driven to expand and that the United States must practive "vigilant containment" to stop this expansion

Gulf of Tonkin Resolutions

an authorization by Congress empowering President Johnson "to take all necessary measures" to protect US forces in Vietnam; it was issued following repported attas on US destroyers off the Vietnam coast. congress later regretted this action as the Vietnam War escalated, and questions emerged about the legitimacy of the attacks

Henry Kissinger

advisor to President Nixon and Ford; he was architect of the Vietnam settlement, the diplomatic opening to China, and detente with the Soviet Union

Ho Chi Minh

communist leader of north vietnam; he and his vet Minh/ Viet Cong allies foufh French and American forces to a standstill in Vietnam, 1946-1973. Considered a nationalist by many, others viewed him as an agent of the Soviet Union and Cuba

Iran-Contra Affair

1986-1987; scandal that erupted after the Reagan administration sold weapons to Iran in hopes of freeing American hostages in Lebanon; money from the arms sale was used to aid the Contras in Nicaragua, even though congress had prohibited this assistance. Talk of Reagan’s impeachment ended when presidential aids took the blame

Iran Hostage Crisis

1979-1881; incident in which Iranian radicals, with government support, seized 52 Americans from the US embassy and held them for 444 days; ostensibly demanding the return of deposed Shah to stand trial, the fundamentalists clerics behing the seizure also hoped to punish the united states for other past wrongs

Jimmy Carter

president, 1977-1981. he aimed for a foreign policy "as good and great as the American people" his highlight was the Camp David Accortds; his low point, the Iran Hostage Crisis. Defeated for reelectoin after one term, he became very successful as an ex-president

John Foster Dulles

Eisenhowers secretary of state, 1925-1953; moralistic in his beliefs that Communism was evil and must be confronted with "brinkmanship" (the readiness and willingness to go to war) and "massive relatiation" (the threat of using nuclear weapons)

Joseph Stalin

ruthless leader of the Soviet Union from 1925-1953; he industrialized the nation and led it in WWII and the early stages of the Cold War

Lyndon Johnson

president, 1963-1969; his excalation of the Vietnam War cost him political support and destroyed his presidency. He increased the number of US troops in vietnam from 16,000 to in 1963 to 540,000 in 1968. After the Tet Offensice, he decided to not seek reelection

Mao Zedong

Communist chinese leader who won control of china in 1949; a wary of the soviet union, Mao was an implacable foe of the united states until 1970s

Marshall Plan

1947-1954; Secretary of Stae George Marshall’s economic aid program to rebuil war-torn Western Europe; it amounted to an enlarged version of the Truman Doctrine, with billions of dollars going to revive European economies and contain Communism

Massive retaliation

idea that united states should depend on nuclear weapons to stop Communist agression; prompted by the frustration of the Korean War stalemate and the desire to save money on military budgets, the concept reduced reliance on conventional forces

Ngo Dinh Diem

American ally in south vietnam from 1954-2693; his repressive regime caused the communist Viet Cong to thrive in the South and required increasing American Miliraty aid to stop a Communist takeover. He was killed in a coup in 1963

Nikita Khrushchev

soviet leader, 1954-1964; he was an agressive revolutionary who hoped to spread communism into Africa, asia and latin america. Blame for the Cuban Missile Crisis eventually cost him his leadership position in the USSr

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NATO 1949- military alliance of the United States, ten Wesern European countries, and Canada; it was considered a deterrent to Soviet aggression in Europe, with an attack on one BATO nation to be considered as an attack on all nations

Peaceful Coexistence

1955-1960-period in Soviet-American relations marked by less tension and by personal diplomacy betwen Khruschev and Eisenhower; the two leaders recognized that, in a nuclear age, cometition between their nations must be peaceful. This thaw in the Cold War was ended by the U-2 plane indicent over the Soviet Union in 1960

Richard Nixon

president, 1969-1974; he extracted the United States from Vietnam slowly, recognized Communist China, and improved relations with the soviet union. his foreign policy achievements were overshadowed by the Watergate scandal

Tet Offensive

January 1968- a series of Communist attacks on 44 south vietnamese cities; although the Viet Cong suffered a major defeat, the attacks ended the American view that the war was winnable and detroyed the nation’s will to escalate the war further

Truman Doctrine

1947- the announced policy of President Truman to provide aid to free nations who faced internal or external threats of a Communist takeover; announced in conjunction with a $400 million economic aid package to Greece and Turkey, it was successful in helping those countries to be the first US action of the Cold War

Yalta Conference

Febuary 1945- meeting of Roosevelt, Stalin and Winston Churchill to discuss postwar plans and Soviet entry into the war against Japan near the end of WWII; disagreements over the future of Poland surfaced. During the Red Scare of the 1950s, some Americans considered the meeting to have been a sellout to the Soviets

Alger Hise

State Department official accused in 1948 of spying for the soviet union; richard nixon became famous for his pursuit of Hiss, which resulted in a perjury conviction and prison for Hiss. Although Jonh seen as a victim of nixon’s ruthless ambition and the Red Scare, recent scholarship suggestions that Hiss was indeed a soviet agent

Barry Goldwater

unsuccessful presidential candidate against lyndon johnson in 1964; he called for dismantling the New Deal, escalation of the war in Vietnam and the status quo on civil rights. many see his as the grandfather of the conservative movement of the 1980s

Black Power

rallying cry for many black militants in the 1960s and 1970s; it called for blacks o stand up for their rights, to reject integration, to demand political power, to seek their roots, and t embrace their blackness

Brown vs. Board of Education

1954 supreme court decision that overturned the plessy v. ferguson decision; lead by chief justice earl warren, the court ruled that "seperate but equal" schools for blacks were inherently uneuqal and thus unconstitutional. The decision energized the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

propsed by John Kennedy and signed by Lyndon Johnson; it desegregated public accomodations, libraries, parks, and amusements and broadened the powers of federal government to protect individual rights and prevent job discrimination

Earl Warren

Controversial Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1953-1969); he led the court in far-reaching racial, social, and political rulings, including school desegregation and protecting rights of persons accused of crimes

Fair Deal

Truman’s legislative program; it was largly an extension of the New Deal of the 1930’s, and Truman had little success convincing Congress to enact it

Federal Highway Act

1956-largest public works project in the United States history; Eisenhower signed the law, which built over 40,000 miles of highways in the United States at a cost of $25 billion and created the interstate highway system

Freedom Rides

civil rights campaign of the Congress of Racial Equality in which protesters traveled by bus through the south to desegregate bus stations; white violence aganist them prompted the Kennedy Administration to protect them and become more involved in civil rights

George Wallace

Alabama governor and third-party candidate for president in 1968 and 1972; he ran on a segregation and law-and-order platform. Paralyzed by an attempted assassination in 1972, he never recovered politically

House Un-American Activities Committee

congressional committee formed in the 1930s to investigate percieved threats to democracy; in the 1940s, the committee laid foundation for the Red Scare as it investigated allegations of Communist subversion in Hollywood and pursued Alger Hiss

Hubert Humphyrey

liberal senator from Minnesota and Lyndon Johnson’s vice president who tried to unite the party after the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago; he narrowly lost the presidency to Richard Nixon that year

John Kennedy

president, 1961-1963, and the youngest president ever elected, as well as the first Catholic to serve, he has a moderately progressive domestic agenda and a hard-line policy against the Soviets. His administration ended when Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated him

Joseph McCarthy

junior from Wisconsin who charged hundresds of Americans with working for or aiding the Soviet Union during the Cold War; he had no evidence but terrorized people form 1950 to 1954, ruining their lives and careers with his reckless charges until Senate censured him in December 1954

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

an engineer and his wife who were accused, tried, and executed in the early 1950s for running an espionage ring in New York City that gave atomic secrets to the soviet union; long considered unjustly accused victims of the Red Scare, recent evidence suggests that Julius was indeed a soviet agent

Lydon Johnson

president, 1963-1969, who took over for Kennedy and created the Great Society, a reform program unmatched in the twentieth century, however, his Vietnam policy divided the country and his party, and he retired from politics in 1969

Malcolm X

militant black leader associated with the nation of Islam (Black Muslims) he questioned Martin Luther King’s strategy of nonviolence and called on blacks to make an aggressive defense of their rights. He was assassinated by fellow Muslims in 1965

Martin Luther King, Jr.

America’s greatest civil rights leader, 1955-1968; his nonviolent protests gained national attention and resulted in government protection of African American rights. He was assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, tennessee

National Defense Education Act

1958- law that authorized the use of federal funds to imporve the nation’s elementary and high schools; inspired by Cold War fears that the United States was faling behind the Soviet Union in the arms and space race, it was directed at improving science, math, and foreign-language education

Richard Nixon

controversial vice president, 1953-1961, and president, 1969-1974, who made his political reputation as an aggressive anti-communist crusader; his presidency ended with his resignation during the Watergate scandal

Robert Kennedy

John Kennedy’s brother who served as attorney general and gradually embraced growing civil rights reform; later, as a senator from New York, he made a run for the Democratic presidential nomination. An assassin edned his campaign on June 6, 1968

Rosa Parks

NAACP member who initiated the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 when she was arrested for violating Jim Crow rules on a bus; her action and the long boycott that followed became an icon of the quest for civil rights and focused national attention on boycott leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sit-ins

protests by black college stuents, 1960-1961, who took seats at "whites only" lunch counters and refused to leave until served; in 1960 over 50,000 participated in sit-ins across the South. Their success prompted the formation of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee

Sputnik

soviet satellite launched in September 1957; the launch set off a panic that the Communists were winning the space race and were superior in math and science education. It gave impetus for the Nation Defense Education Act of 1958 to improve schools

Strom Thurmond

Democratic governor of South Carolina who headed the States’ Right Party (Dixiecrats); he ran for president in 1948 against Truman and his mild civil rights proposal and eventaully joined the Republican Party

Taf-Hartley Act

1946-antilabor law passed over Truman’s veto; it provided a "cooling off" period wherein the president could force striking workers back to work for 80 days. It also outlawed closed shps and allowed states to pass rights -to-work laws

Thomas Dewey

teice-defeated Republican candidate for president; his overconfidence and lackadaisical effort in 1948 allowed truman to overcome his large lead and pull off the greatest political upset in american history

Thurgood Marshall

leading attorney for NAACP in 1940’s and 1950’s, who headed the team in Brown vs. the Board of Education case; later, Lyndom Johnson appointed him the first black justice on the unites states supreme court

Betty Friedan

author of the Feminine Mystique (1963)

Equal Rights Amendment

proposed amendment to the US constitution passed by congress and submitted to the states for ratification in 1971; outlawking discrimination based on gender, it was at first seen as a great victory boy women’s rights groups. the amendment fel 3 states short of the 38 required for ratification. Many states have adpoted similar ammedments to their state constitutions

George McGovern

unsuccessful Democratic candidate for president in 1972; he called for immediate withdrawl from Vietnam and a guaranteed income for the poor. When his vice presidential choice got in trouble, he waffled in his defense, which cost him further with the electorate

Gerald Ford

president, 1974-1977, who served without being electd either president or vice presidnt; appointed vice president under the terms of the twenty-fifth amendment when Spiro Agnew resigned, he assumed the presidency when Nixon resigned

H.R. Haldeman

a key aide to President Nixon who ordered the CIA and BI not to probe too deeply into the Watergate break-in; he helped provide money to keep the burglars quiet and was later sentenced to prison for his role in Watergate

Hippies

members of the youthful conuterculture that dominated many college campuses in the 1960s; rather than promoting a political agenda, they challenged conventional sexual standards, rejected tradition economical values and encouraged the use of drugs

James McCord

one of the "plumbers" who worked for the White House to plug "leaks" to the media; he committeed illegal break-ins and surveillances. His revelations in 1973 that he was being paid to keep quiet began the unraveling of the Watergate cover-up

John Dean

White House aide who participated in the Watergate cover-up; in a plea bargain he testified that President Nixon knew and participated in the cover-up. Many did not believe his testimony until the White house tapes surfaced

John Mitchell

Nxon’s first attorney general and his close friend and adviser; many people believe he ordered the Watergate break-in. He participated in the cover-up and served nineteen months in prison for his role

Kate Millett

author of sexual Politics a book that energized the more radical elements in the wormens liberation movement with its confrontational messages about the male-dominated power structure in american society.

New Left

label for the political radicals of the 1960s; influenced by "old left" of the 1930s which had criticized capitalism and supporetd successes of Communism. the New Left supported civil rights and opposed American foreign policy, especially in vietnam

National Organizatoin for Women

founded by Betty Friedan in 1966, it focused on womens rights in the workpace, fought against legal and economic discrimination against woemn, and lobbied for the equal rights ammendment

Organizaion of Petroleum Exporting Countries

OPEc. cartel of oil-exporting nations, which used oil as a weapon to alter america’s middle east policy; it organized a series of oil boycotts that rolled the united states economy through the 1970s

Reagan Revolution

the policies of the first Reagan administration, which increased defense spending, reduced social programs, and cut taxes; they were based on "supply side" theory of growing the economy by cutting government interference and taxes

Ronald Reagan

president, 1981-1989, who led a conservative movement against increased detente with the soviet untion and the growith of the federal government; some people credit him with america’s victory in the cold war while others fault his insesitive social agenda and irresponsible fiscal policies

Saturday Night Massacre

october 1973- name given to an incident in which nixon ordered attorney general Elliot Richardson to fire Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor who was relentlessly investigating Watergate; Richardson refused and resigned along with his deputy, who was also refused to carry out Nixon’s order. A subordinate then fired cox. the incident created protest

Silent Majority

label nixon gave to middle-class americans who supported him, obeyed the laws, and wanted "peace with honor" in vietnam, he contrasted this group with students and civil rights activists who disrupted the country with protests in the late 1960s and early 1970s

Spiro Agnew

vice president, 1969-1973, a vocal critic of antiwar and civil rights opponents of the Nixon administration; he resigned the vice presidency in 1973 when it was discovered he has accepted bribes as governor of maryland and as vice president

Stagflation

name given the economic condition throughout most of the 1970s in which prices rose rapidly (inflation) but without economic growth (stagflation). Unemployment rose along with inflation. In large part, these conditions were the economic consequences of rising oil prices

Students for a Democratic Society

radical political organization founded by Tom Hayden and others; it set forth its ideal in the port huron statement: government should promote equality, fairness, and be responsive to people. It was probably the most important student proest group of the 1960s

Warren Burger

Chief Justice of the supreme court, 1969-1989; although considered more conservative in leadership than earl warren, his court upheld schooling busing, a womans’s right to abortion, and ordered Nixon to surrender the watergate tapes

Watergate Scandal

name applied to a series of events that began when the Nixon White House tried to place illegal phone taps on Democrats in Jone 1972; the burglars were caught, and rather than acept the legal and political fallout, Nixon and his aides obstructed the investigation, which cost him his office and sent several of his top aides to prison

woodstock

a 3 dat rock music festival