us hist ch. 28
Terms
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- Truman's Fair Deal
- By President Truman; continued many of FDR's New Deal initatives; not very successfful because Truman isn't as politically skilled as Roosevelt
- Dixiecrat Party
- Formed when Conservative Southern Democrats did not like Truman's party's support of civil rights; they broke off and formed the dixiecrat party; ran Strom Thurmond for president
- Henry Wallace
- Ran for president with a new Progressive Party; the left wing of Truman's party abandonedTruman and joiend with Wallace
- Nixon's "Checkers Speech"
- Nixxon successfully defends himself when there are accusations about him that he had a secret slush fund
- Eisenhower's views before leaving office:
- (Republican of 1920s, pro-business) He swarned against the power of the military-industrial complex = private companies thatsupply weapons for military. Said that this was the greatest danger to US, not communism.
- Sputnik
- A soviet Satellite. Announced that it had successfuly rbited the earth. Challenged American confidence
- National Defense Education Act 1958
- Created by US in response to the creation of Sputnik. To adequately prepare a future generation of scientists and technicians
- McCarthyism
- Dark moment of Cold War when there was a hysterical fear of Communism and a constant fear of being accused of communism
- Federal Employee Loyalty Prgroam 1947
- Initiated by Truman to investiage federal employees for communist ties; also to quiet Republican critics who accused Truman of being soft on communism
- McCarren Internal Security Act 1950
- Passed by Congressional Republicans when they didn't hink Truman's Federal Employee Loyalty Progrma went far enough. Made it a crime to plan for the replacement of the US government with dictatorship
- The Houes Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
- Investigated many facets of American society, most notably the entertainment industry
- Hollywood Ten
- Group of movie directors, actors, and writers who refused to cooperate and were jailed for suspcions of communism. They tried to ressist HUAC. 1947
- Alger Hiss
- State Department employee who was accused of spying for the Soviet Union 1948. Convicted on perjury and sent to prison.
- The most famous spy case:
- Julius and Ethel Rosenberg: accused of passing atomic secrets to the Spies. Executed in 1953
- Joseph McCarthy
- Republican Senator who said that he had a list of State Department emplyees who were Communists 1950. Started the McCarthyism scare. Went overboard when he opened investigations against the Army (1954), Senate passed a censure motion against him in 1954
- William Levitt
- Applies mass production techniques to housing, building communities of nearly identical houses on former agricultural land near big cities.
- The first Levittown was built on:
- Long Island, NY
- G.I. Bill 1944
- Provided low interest loans to would-be homeowners
- Interstate Highway Act of 1956
- Built 1000s of miles of interstate highways and faciliated the commute from suburb to city
- "white flight"
- After WWII, many white families were alarmed to find blacks as neighbors so they moved to the suburbs
- "redlining"
- Some communities prohibited selling homes to blacks
- Dr. Benjamin Spock's "Common sense Book of Baby and Child Care"
- Encouraged women to devote themselves full time to mothering
- Betty Friedan
- Early feminist who challeneged notions of gender; book "The Feminime Mystique" 1963: critiqued the situation society created for women
- Paul Goodman's "Growing Up Absurd" 1960
- Critqued the expected roles for young people
- C. Wright Mill's "The Power Elite" 1956
- Examined the methods used by the "ruling class" to dominate society
- Beat literary movement
- Flaunted convention and embraced spontaneity, jazz, alcohol, and drug use, and open sexuality.
- Allen Ginsber
- "Howl"-long poem attacking contemporary American society
- Jack Kerouac's "On the Road"
- Often considered most important Beat text