Cold War And Great Society All Resources

Cold War Peaceful Co-Existence and Decade of Change.

Main Topics

GI Bill
U.S. gives veterans money to obtain an education and jobs

Communism
Economic system. Founded by Karl Marx – also called Marxism. All property is held in common by the People – shared. No God, only the state.

NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Alliance of western capitalist democracies, including US and Great Britain.

Warsaw Pact
Alliance of Eastern communist dictatorships, including USSR and East Germany.

Iron Curtain
The division down the center of Europe between capitalist and communist nations.

The Truman Doctrine
US will use force to contain expansion of communism.

Domino Theory
If one country falls to communism, nearby countries will soon fall to communism.

The Berlin Airlift.
Soviet Union closes off Berlin. U.S. responds by flying food into capitalist sector of Berlin.

Truman's Civil Rights Commission (1948)
Desegregates the military.

Taft-Hartley Act (1947).
Republicans control Congress and decrease power of Unions. No more closed shops. No more sympathy strikes. Right to work laws (allowing workers NOT to join a union and get a job).

Brown v. Board of Education (1954).
Separate but equal unlawful in public schools.

Montgomery Bus Boycott (1954-55).
Rosa Parks arrested for refusing to move to back of bus. African-Americans boycott buses.

MLK organizes a bus boycott. Supreme Court outlaws segregation on buses.

Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
Black civil rights leader who favored non-violent resistance to racism. Assassinated.

Little Rock (1957)
U. S. army forces integration of public school

The Red Scare/McCarthyism
U. S. Senator Joseph McCarthy leads a domestic witch hunt for communists (Reds). Communists were called traitors and fired. Results: American people fear Communist enemy and support the partnership between government and business.

The Korean War (1950-53).
Korea split into North (communist) and South (capitalist). Civil war, backed by superpowers (US vs. Communist China). US fights a 'limited war' to contain expansion of communism (No nuclear weapons, only $, military advisors, and a few troops. Result: stalemate; Korea remains split today.

The Alliance for Progress (1961).
Pres. Kennedy gives $$ to capitalist governments in Latin America.

The Bay of Pigs (1962).
U.S.-backed overthrow of Castro fails.

The Cuban Missile Crisis (1963).
U.S. discovers USSR nuclear missiles in Cuba and threatens war if not removed. USSR backs down.

Sputnik
Soviet Union sends satellite into space, starting 'the Race for Space.'

The Vietnam War
Like Korea, Vietnam splits into North (Communist) and South(capitalist). US backs south, kills many civilians, and leaves in defeat and disgrace.

Malcolm X
Black civil rights leader. Rejected integration and non-violence. Favored improving conditions for blacks "By any means necessary." Assassinated.

MLK Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963).
Explains his program of non-violence resistance to segregation.

March on Washington (1963)
To pressure Congress to pass a civil rights bill.

Civil Rights Act of 1964
Forbids racial discrimination regarding the use of federal funds in public facilities.

Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Forbids racial discrimination in voting.

The Great Society
Name for LBJ’s domestic program. Guns and Butter. Guns = Increased military spending to retaliate against USSR. Butter = Welfare (AFDC), Medicare (medical care for old people), and Medicaid (medical care for the poor).