Review Sheet for Final Exam
Key Terms:
Isolationism and Neutrality: Washington Naval Conference, Kellogg-Briand Pact, Nye Commission, Neutrality Acts of 1935-37, Destoyer for Land Bases Act, Cash and Carry, Lend Lease, USS Panay incident, "Good Neighbor Policy."
World War II: Nazi Party, Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf, Krystallnact, the Holocaust, Atlantic Charter, Pearl Harbor, Jeanette Rankin, Oveta Culp Hobby, A. Phillip Randolph, “Double-V” Campaign, Fair Employment Practices Commission, Bracero Program, Zoot Suit Riots, Internment Camps, D-Day, Island Hopping, Manhattan Project.
Cold War: Containment, George Kennan/Mr. X, Domino theory, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, Bretton Woods, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, NATO, ANZUS, SEATO, Berlin Airlift, Alger Hiss, Whitaker Chambers, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, Korean War, Third World/Third World Nationalism, Cold War Imperative/Ethos, Iran/Operation AJAX, Mohammed Mossadegh, Guatemala/Operation PBSUCCESS, Jacobo Arbenz, John Foster Fulles, Stephen Dulles, United Fruit Company (UFCO), Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, McCarthyism, House Un-American Activities Committee, 2nd Red Scare, Smith Act, McCarran Act, Military Industrial Complex, massive retaliation, NSC-68, Sputnik, Cross of Iron Speech.
US Society: Rock ‘n Roll, “Girl band phase,” Roth Case, parietals, Gidoen v. Wainright, Miranda, v Arizona, Angle v Vitale, Tinker v Des Moines.
Vietnam: flexible response, Dien Bien Phieu, Geneva Accords, Ho Chi Minh, Ngo Dien Diem, Viet Cong, National Liberation Front, Tonkin Gulf Resolution, gradual escalation, Tet Offensive, Arthur Goldberg, “peace with honor,” “Madman theory,” détente, Vietnamization, My Lai, “Christmas bombings, Powell Doctrine.
Civil Rights: Executive Order 9098 (President’s Committee on Civil Rights), Executive Order 9981 (Desegregation of the Military), Truman’s 10-point Plan, Sweatt v Painter, Brown v Board of Ed., Thurgood Marshall, Little Rock Central High, Rosa Parks, Montgomery Bus Boycott, Martin Luther King Jr., Emmett Till, Sit-ins, Freedom Rides, SNCC, CORE, Black Power, Black Nationalism, Malcolm X, Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, 24th Amendment, Crystal City TX, Cesar Chavez, Reies Lopez Tijerina, Alianza Federal de Mercedes (Federal Alliance of Land Grants), La Raza Unida, United Mexican American Students, Congress of Mexican American Unity, National Indian Youth Council, Indian Historical Society, Native American Rights Fund, American Indian Movement.
Review Questions
1. One group of Americans saw its civl liberties infringed upon during World War II. Which group? What happened?
2. Why did President Truman drop the atomic bomb on Japan? What alternatives were available to him? How do Truman's supporters defend his decision? What do critics of the decision argue?
3. Why did the US enter the Korean War? What consequences did involvement in Korea have for American foreign policy?
4. Trace the gradual growth of American involvement in Vietnam. Why did the US assume the financial costs of France's war effort? Why did conventional tactics like massive bombing fail in Vietnam?
Potential Essays
1. Discuss the protest movements that began in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Why did they form? What were their goals? How did the movements change over time (hint – were there different phases)? Did they accomplish their goals? How and to what extent? Make sure to address dissent within the movement, why the dissent occurred, and what was done about it. You must discuss the "Civil Rights Movement" as a whole, including Brown Power and Red Power. What were some similarities? How did earlier movements affect later movements (for example, did African American success influence other groups to push forward? Did earlier successes in the “Civil Rights Movement” spur new outlooks within the movements themselves?) ?
2. Discuss American involvement in Vietnam form the 1950s through the mid-1970s. Be sure to discuss how US involvement different from the Truman administration though the Nixon administration including what was involved and what the US hoped to accomplish. Discuss the specific actions taken by each president with regard to Vietnam and the factors leading to their choices – in particular you MUST discuss (and attribute properly) the Cold War ethos/support for France, Dien Bien Phou and its aftermath, the Geneva Accords, Tonkin Gulf Resolution, Gradual Escalation, and Vietnamization. Discuss relative successes and failures, and what led to those failures. ?