Winston Churchill
British Prime Minister during WWII; coined the term "Iron Curtain"
Adolf Hitler
Dictator of Nazi Germany during WWII
Japanese Americans
Internment camps in the US; treated poorly during WWII
Douglas MacArthur
US Commander in the Philippines WWII
Joseph Stalin
Dictator of Soviet Union WWII
Harry S. Truman
President who made the decision to drop the atomic bomb in WWII
Appeasement
Policy used by the US and Great Britain that gave into Germany's demands to seize territory pre-WWII
D-Day
June 6, 1944; Allied invasion led by Eisenhower at the beaches of Normandy, France.
Hiroshima
First Japanese city to be bombed with an atomic bomb; "Little Boy"; August 6,1945
Holocaust
1932-1945; mass killings of Jews, gypsies, Africans, handicapped people and more under the control of Hitler
Lend-Lease Act
Law permitting the sell of weapons by the US to other Allied countries during WWII
Manhattan Project
A secret project of developing an atomic bomb
Neutrality Acts
Illegal for Americans to sell weapons to any country at war; banned the sale of arms to either side in a civil war
Pearl Harbor
December 7,1941; "A day that who live in infamy"-FDR
United Nations
International organization, 1945 to resolve conflicts between nations
Dwight D. Eisenhower
1953; Allied commander in WWII, helped plan D-Day
Nikita Khrushchev
Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis
Mao Zedong
Leader of communist China
George C. Marshall
Secretary of State; Marshall Plan- June 1947
Joseph McCarthy
Senator; Accused innocent people of being communist; Salem Witch Trials -> communist version
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
1950; Accused of running Soviet Spy Network; 1st civilians executed for espionage in 1953
Berlin Airlift
US and British effort to keep West Berlin supplied during the Soviet blockade of the city
Blacklist
A list of persons who are disapproved of or who are to be punished or boycotted
Containment
US policy to stop the spread of communism
Iron Curtain
The political and military barrier that isolated Soviet-controlled countries of Eastern Europe after WWII
Korean Way
38th parallel; containment of communism to the North--who was supported by communists; democratic power to the South-- who was supported by UN forces; 1950-1953
Marshall Plan
George C. Marshall's plan~ would give European nations American aide to rebuild their economies
NATO
military alliance of the US and 11 other countries; set up to defend each other post WWII
Sputnik
USSR's lead in the Space Race; first artificial satellite
Truman Doctrine
US policy of economic support for countries fighting against communism
Yalta Conference
Germany divided and reparations set; Poland's government; free elections
Elvis Presley
"King of Rock and Roll"
Jonas Salk
developer of the polio vaccine
Baby Boomers
sharp rise in the number of births after WWII and 1960s
Fair Deal
Increase minimum wage to 75¢ an hour; increase social security by 75% and extended them to 10 million people; provided construction of low-income housing
G.I. Bill of Rights
Servicemen's Readjustment Act; provided general funds to veterans
Neil Armstrong
First man on the moon; Apollo 11; 1969
Fidel Castro
Cuban communist leader; Bay of Pigs; Cuban Missile Crisis
John Glenn
First astronaut to orbit Earth
Lyndon B. Johnson
JFK's VP; became President on Air Force One after JFK was assassinated
John F. Kennedy
Involved in the Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis and forming the Peace Corps
22nd Amendment
Two term limit on the presidency
Apollo 11
First spaceship to land on the moon
Bay of Pigs
Kennedy approved play to start an uprising in Cuba; FAIL!
Berlin Wall
Divided East Germany from West Germany; stood as a visible symbol of Cold War divisions
Cuban Missile Crisis
Kennedy ordered a blockade that forced the USSR to remove weapons from Cuba
Great Society
LBJ's goal to build a better society "where leisure is a welcome chance to build and reflect..."
Medicare
Federal health care program for people over the age of 65
New Frontier
JFK's hope to increase aid to education, provide health insurance to the elderly and create a Department of Urban Affairs
Peace Corps
An organization that sent Americans to provide humanitarian services in less developed nations
Warren Commission
Stated that Lee Harvey Oswald was a lone assassin
Martin Luther King Jr.
Non-violent civil rights leader, March on Washington, Montgomery Bus Boycott
Thurgood Marshall
First African-American Supreme Court Justice
Rosa Parks
Her actions and arrest set off a historic bus boycott
Brown v. Board of Education
1945 Supreme Court ruling "separate but equal" in schools was NOT constitutional
Civil Disobedience
Refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Made segregation illegal
Freedom Rides
African Americans and white volunteers that traveled into the South on buses to draw attention to bus terminals
Integration
Incorporating a racial and religious group into a community
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Action taken to protest discrimination (segregation) on public transportation
Plessy v. Ferguson
"Separate but equal" 1896
Cesar Chavez
Latino American farmer that went on strike and demanded union recognition, increased wages, and better benefits
Betty Friedan
Created NOW
NOW
Nation Organization for Women; organization to promot feminist goals
Ho Chi Minh
Communist leader of North Vietman
25th Amendment
This provides for the filling of the office of VP if a vacancy occurs
26th Amendment
Lowering the voting age from 21 to 18
Domino Theory
The theory if one country falls to communism those around it will also fall
Tet Offensive
Massive surprise attack; Guerrilla fighters attacked most American airbases in South Vietnam and most of the South's major cities
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
1964 "Blank Check"; Congress authorizes President Johnson to use all necessary measures to repel armed attacks against US force in Vietnam
War Powers Act
Way to reestablish some limits on executive power; required the president to inform Congress of any commitment of troops abroad within 48 hours and to withdraw them within 60-90 days, unless Congress approved of sending troops
Richard Nixon
Watergate; Vietnam; Kent State
Henry Kissinger
Nixon's Security Advisor
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein
Journalists who broke the Watergate story
Camp David Accords
An agreement between Israel and Egypt to end 30 years of war in the Middle East; Cater
Détente
A thawing of Cold War tensions during the 1970s
EPA
Environment Protection Agency; set and enforce pollution standards, promoted research and directed antipollution activities with state and local governments
Inflation
A sharp, widespread rise in prices
Iran Hostage Crisis
1979; The Ayatollah Khomeini led revolution in Iran; Took 60+ Americans for 444 days
OPEC
Founded by all exporting countries to set oil prices
SALT
Talks between US and USSR that led to a treaty limiting the numbers and types of long range missiles each country could have; Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
Silent Spring
1962; Book- concluded that DDT(an insecticide) was harmful; Rachel Carson
Three Mile Island
1979;Accident; raised new questions about the safety of nuclear power
Watergate
Scandal in which President Nixon authorized the cover up of a break in at the Democratic National (DNC) Headquarters which later led to his resignation
Mikhail Gorbachev
Opened a new era of US-Soviet relations; dismantled the Soviet "Empire" in Eastern Europe
Saddam Hussein
1990- Iraq dictator invaded Kuwait (for oil)
Sandra Day O'Conner
First female Supreme Court Justice
Ronald Reagan
Conservative Republican; won election of 1990 (beat President Carter); Best known as an actor
AIDS
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
Iran-Conta Affair
Secretly sold weapons to Iran in exchange for American hostages; profits were sent to the contras
Glasnost
"Openess"; Allowed more freedom of religion and speech enabling people to discuss politics openly (USSR)
Perestroika
"Reconstructing" of Soviet economy; Allowed some private enterprise and profit making
Persian Gulf War
Operation Desert Storm's UN invasion led by US to force Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait
Reaganomics
Belief that the federal budget could be balanced by cutting taxes
Tianamen Square
1989, Chinese students and workers held demonstrations for democracy
Madeleine Albright
First woman who served as Secretary of State
George H. W. Bush
Republican nominated president in 1988
Bill Clinton
Elected in 1992(reelected in 1996)-Democrat; 2nd President to be impeached~but he still fulfilled all 8 years!; Whitewater (Clinton name attached to real-estate company that committed fraud, not found guilty)
Hillary Clinton
New York Senator; Secretary of State; Democratic presidential candidate (2008)
Bill Gates
Founder of Microsoft
Brady Bill
Created a 5 day waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks
Global Warming
An increase in average world temperatures overtime
NAFTA
Trade agreement between US, Mexico and Canada
World Wide Web
Allows users to post information in the form of webpages and click on links to jump from website to website; internet
Osama Bin Laden
Leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist group
George W. Bush
Elected President in 2000; Republican; 8 months into presidency, America was attacked
Barrack Obama
Elected President in 2008; First African American to win presidency
September 11,2001
Terrorist attacks in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania (4 airplane hijacked)
War on Terror
US military action to avenge acts of terrorism
Kim Il Sung
Previous leader of North Korea
Kim Jong Un
Death of Kim Jong-Il and took over; CURRENT LEADER OF NORTH KOREA