APUSH VOC-26

Serviceman’s Readjustment Act (GI Bill) (1944)

The G. I. Bill of Rights or Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 provided for college or vocational education for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as GIs or G. I.s) as well as one-year of unemployment compensation. It also provided loans for returning veterans to buy homes and start businesses.

Baby boom

many countries around the globe, notably those of Europe, Asia, North America, and Australasia experienced a baby boom. By the end of the decade, about 32 million babies had been born, compared with 24 million in the lean 1930s. In 1954, annual births first topped four million and did not drop below that figure until 1965, when four out of ten Americans were under the age of twenty

Suburban growth

policies of the Federal government in the post-World War II era, such as the building of an efficient network of roads, highways and superhighways, and the underwriting of mortgages for suburban one-family homes made suburbs grow. In effect, the government was encouraging the transfer of the middle-class population out of the inner cities and into the suburbs.

Sunbelt

Region, south and southwestern U.S. It is characterized by a warm climate, rapid population growth since 1970, and relatively conservative voting patterns. Comprising 15 states, it extends from Virginia and Florida in the southeast through Nevada in the southwest, and includes southern California.

Employment act of 1946

Its main purpose was to lay the responsibility of economic stability onto the federal government.

Committee of Civil Rights

established by U.S. President Harry Truman’s Executive Order 9808 on December 5, 1946. The committee was instructed to investigate the status of civil rights in the United States and propose measures to strengthen and protect the civil rights of American citizens.

Taft-Hartley Act (1947)

A United States federal law that greatly restricts the activities and power of labor unions. The Act, still largely in effect, was sponsored by Senator Robert Taft and Representative Fred A. Hartley, Jr. U.S. President Harry S. Truman described the act as a "slave-labor bill" and vetoed it, adding that it would "conflict with important principles of our democratic society". The Senate followed the House of Representatives in overriding Truman’s veto on June 23, 1947, establishing the act as a law. The Taft-Hartley Act amended the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA, also known as the Wagner Act), which Congress had passed in 1935.

Henry Wallace

FDR’s vice president in 1940. Headed the Board of Economic Warfare, a position vital to US entry into WWII. After the declaration of the Truman Doctrine, he made an unsuccessful run as the Progressive Party Candidate in 1948, advocating an end to segregation, full voting rights for blacks, and universal health insurance.

States’ Rights party (dixiecrats)

Splinter party of the Democrats who aimed to protect states’ rights and the southern way of life from the expanding federal government; supporters of racial segregation, the party formed after delegates walked out of the Democratic convention when Truman endorsed the Civil Rights card.

Strom Thurmond

An American politician who served as governor of South Carolina and as a United States Senator representing that state. He also ran for the presidency of the United States in 1948 under the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party banner. He garnered 39 electoral votes in that race, making him the first third party presidential candidate to receive electoral votes since Robert LaFollette in 1924. He later represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to April 1956 and November 1956 to 1964 as a Democrat and from 1964 to 2003 as a Republican.

Thomas Dewey

Republican candidate in 1944 and 48. In 48 he was widely expected to beat Truman, who was losing popularity, so Dewey centered his campaign around doing and saying nothing. His political stances revolved around clever witticisms like, "Our future lies ahead."

Fair Deal

Truman’s policy of social improvement, which included support for increasing welfare, slum clearance, and civil rights. Most of his Fair Deal bills were shot down, save his initiative to expand unemployment benefits.

Cold War

A constant nonviolent state of hostility between the Soviet Union and the US; began shortly after WWII with the rapid extension of Soviet influence over eastern Europe and North Korea; ended with the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

United Nations

An international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate co-operation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress and human rights issues. It was founded in 1945 at the signing of the United Nations Charter by 50 countries, replacing the League of Nations, founded in 1919.

World Bank

an international bank established in 1944 to help member nations reconstruct and develop, esp. by guaranteeing loans: a specialized agency of the United Nations. Officially named the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Communist Satellites

Refers to a country formally independent but primarily subject to the domination of another, larger power initially used to refer to Central and Eastern European countries of the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War. It implied that the countries in question were "satellites" under the hegemony of the Soviet Union

Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill reviewed the international response to Russian aggression and declared an "iron curtain" had descended across Eastern Europe, referring to the rise of communism there as satellite nations under the USSR

Winston Churchill

(1874-1965) An English statesman, solder and author, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. Well-known as an orator, strategist, and politician, Churchill was one of the most important leaders in modern British and world history. He won the 1953 Nobel Prize for Literature for his many books on English and world history.

George Kennan

U.S. diplomat and historian. Among the most influential Americans in the Foreign Service in the 20th century he served from 1927 in various diplomatic posts in Europe. He sent his Long Telegram (1946), which with his 1947 Foreign Policy article (published under the pseudonym X) was pivotal in the establishment of the cold war U.S. policy of Soviet containment. In 1947 he became chairman of the policy-planning staff of the Dept. of State, and contributed to the development of the Marshall Plan . He also was influential in the development of what became the Central Intelligence Agency’s clandestine service.

Dean Acheson

(1893-1971) American statesman and lawyer; as U.S. Secretary of State in the late 1940s, he played the central role in defining American foreign policy for the Cold War. He likewise played a central role in the creation of many important institutions including Lend Lease, the Marshall Plan, NATO, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, together with the early organizations that later became the European Union and the World Trade Organization. His most famous decision was convincing the nation to intervene, in June 1950, in the Korean War.

Containment Policy

Refers to the foreign policy strategy of the U.S. in the early years of the Cold War in which it attempted to stop what it called the domino effect of nations moving politically towards Soviet Union-based communism, rather than European-American-based democracy.

Truman Doctrine

Truman wanted to prevent the spread of communism. He wanted it "contained". The first implementation of the Truman Doctrine was $400 million given to aid Greece and Turkey to prevent a communist takeover.

Germany’s Division

In 1945 occupied Germany was divided into U.S., British, French, and Soviet zones. In 1949 the U.S., British, and French zones were combined as West Germany, while the Soviet zone became a communist state as East Germany. Declared a sovereign country in 1955, it became a founding member of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet bloc’s equivalent of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

(NATO) a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. With headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, the organization establishes a system of collective security whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

Arms race

competition between two or more parties for military supremacy. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation. the most prominent instance of such a competition was the rapid development by the United States and the Soviet Union of more and better nuclear weapons during the Cold War ( nuclear arms race)

Chiang Kai-shek

Chinese Nationalist leader. He was also called Chiang Chung-cheng. After the war ended Chiang failed to achieve a settlement with the Communists, and civil war continued. In 1948 Chiang became the first president elected under a new, liberalized constitution. He soon resigned, however, and his moderate vice president, Gen. Li Tsung-jęn, attempted to negotiate a truce with the Communists. The talks failed, and in 1949 Chiang resumed leadership of the Kuomintang to oppose the Communists, who were sweeping into S China in strong military force and reducing the territories held by the Nationalists.

Taiwan

Following the end of World War II in 1945, under the terms of the Instrument of Surrender of Japan, which is an armistice and Modus Vivendi ending the WWII, Japan provisionally accepted the Potsdam Declaration which referenced the Cairo Declaration under which the island was to be transferred to China. The ROC troops were authorized to come to Taiwan to accept the surrender of Japanese military forces in General Order No. 1 issued by General Douglas MacArthur on September 2, 1945, and were later transported to Keelung by the U.S. Navy. The ROC troops were initially hesitant to accept the surrender of the Japanese garrison and undertake military occupation of the island.

Mao Zedong

Ld the Communist Party of China (CPC) against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War, allowing the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Caused many Chinese deaths

People’s Republic of China

The Chinese Civil War ended in 1949 with the Communist Party of China in control of the mainland, and the Kuomintang (KMT) retreating to Taiwan and some outlying islands of Fujian. On October 1, 1949 Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China, declaring "the Chinese people have stood up.

Joseph Stalin

After Lenin died in 1924, he defeated Trotsky to gain power in the U.S.S.R. He created consecutive five year plans to expand heavy industry. He tried to crush all opposition and ruled as the absolute dictator of the U.S.S.R. until his death.

Kim II Sung

the leader of North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death. He held the posts of Prime Minister from 1948 to 1972 and President from 1972 to his death. He was also the General Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party where he exercised autocratic power.

Syngman Rhee

the first president of South Korea. His presidency, from August 1948 to April 1960, remains controversial, affected by Cold War tensions on the Korean peninsula and elsewhere. Rhee was a strong anti-Communist, and led South Korea through the Korean War. His presidency ended in resignation following popular protests against a disputed election. He died in exile in Hawaii.

Korean War; U.N. Police fiction

occurring between June 25, 1950 and a ceasefire on July 27, 1953, was a civil war between the states of North Korea and South Korea that were created out of the post-World War II Soviet and American occupation zones in Korea, with large-scale participation by other countries. The principal support on the side of the North Korean communists was the People’s Republic of China, with limited assistance by Soviet combat advisors, military pilots, and weapons. South Korea was supported by United Nations (UN) forces, principally from the United States, although many other nations also contributed personnel.

38th parallel

Dividing line between North and South Korea first established to separate Soviet and US occupation zones after Japan’s defeat in 1945; the Korean War began in 1950 after North Korean communists crossed the parallel into South Korea.

Dennis et al. v. United States

1951, The Supreme Court upheld the conviction clearing the way for prosecution of other communist leaders. In July 1048, the administration charged eleven top communists with violating the Smith Act of 1940, which made it a crime to conspire to "advocate and teach" the violent overthrow of government. After ten months of trial and deliberation, a lower court declared the Smith Act constitutional and the communists guilty.

Smith Act (1940)

Required fingerprinting and regulating of all aliens in the US. It made it a crime to teach or advocate the violent overthrow of the government. The basis of later prosecutions of members of the Communist and Socialist Workers parties.

McCarran Internal Security Act (1950)

Passed by Congress in 1947 and it created the Department of Defense. It also established a National Security Council (NSC) to advise the president on security matters and a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to coordinate the government foreign fact-gathering.

House Un-American Activities Committee

(HUAC) Created on temporary basis to monitor activities of foreign agents. Made a standing committee in 1945. During WWII most investigations involved fascists, following the war the committee focused on communists.

Alger Hiss

A former State Department official who was accused of being a Communist spy and was convicted of perjury. The case was prosecuted by Richard Nixon.

Whittaker Chambers

An American writer/editor who was a defected communist and soviet union spy. Best known for his testimony against Alger Hiss.

Rosenberg case

Involved Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were American communists. They were executed for passing nuclear weapons secrets to the USSR.

Joseph McCarthy

Wisconsin Senator who began sensational campaign in February, 1950 by asserting that the U.S. State Department had been infiltrated by Communists. In 1953 became Chair of the Senate Sub- Committee on Investigations and accused the Army of covering up foreign espionage. The Army-McCarthy Hearings made McCarthy look so foolish that further investigations were halted.