AMH 2020
Identifications for AMH 2020 (American History 1877-present)
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- Summer of Love
- 1967; 20 thousand inhabitants of Haight-Ashbury gathered for a festival to celebrate their hippie lifestyle; attracted enough media attention to popularize the movement, and create lasting effects of the hippie moveemnt (music, clothes, tolerance) despite the overcommercialization of Haight-Ashbury that occured as a result
- The Hundred Days
- March 9-June 16, 1933; Congress enacted more than a dozen Progressive-inspired measures expanding federal involvement in national economic life; ambitious beginning of relief and recovery programs; symbolized both dynamism and confusion of the New Deal
- NOW
- 1966; national organization for women started by Betty Friedan and others in response to disappointment at the effectiveness of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission formed to enforce the Civil rights Act of 1964; sought liberal change for women through the political system; lobbied for equal opportunity, filed lawsuits for gender discrimination, and mobilized public opinion against sexism
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- 1980s; sovie leader's economic problems encouraged relations with the US which eventually led to disarmament and the end of the Cold War
- Miles Davis
- 1940s&50s; black jazz musician invented bebop, rejecting white expectations for black music; challenged traditions, spontaneous, FREE; inspired challenging of authority and encouraged people to stand up for civil rights
- Kosovo
- 1990s; fall of USSR caused tensions between diverse ethnic groups in tis region of Yugoslavia; war broke out and Clinton's diplomacy failed and he sent in troops; illustrated struggles America faced as the world superpower trying to keep peace
- Brown v. Board of Education
- 1954; supreme court decision overruling "seperate but equal" decision of Plessy v. Ferguson; outraged conservatives; difficult to enforce in the South due to huge public opposition; this and other "liberal" supreme court decisions caused the white south to begin "White Citizens Councils" and reform the KKK
- Ho Chi Minh
- 1950s and 60s; communist leader of North Vietnam; used geurilla warfare to fight anti-comunist, American-funded attacks under the Truman Doctrine; brilliant strategy drew out war and made it unwinnable
- Huey Long
- Early 1930s; LA senator; rival of FDR as the New Deal encountered problems, preached a welth re-distribution program called "Share Our Wealth" proclaiming "Every man a King." Killed by assasin in 1935; illustrated American's disappointment at the persistence of the depression at the beginning of the New Deal
- Monica Lewinsky
- 1990s; had affair with Clinton who denied it under oath, but there was physical evidence; he was impeached for perjury and his resulting political battles kept him from being productive in his final term paving way for the seemingly moral Bush in 2000
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
- 1950s; civil rights leader advocated non-violence and civil disobedience as tools for change; organized protests such as the March on Washington, as well as indirectly inspired sit-ins and protests across the nation
- Federal Housing Administration
- 1950s; Truman's admin. gave loans to people moving to suburbs to promote middle class living; caused central cities to decay while promoting suburbanization
- Mario Savio
- 1964; student leader of activism on Berkely's UC campus who founded the Free Speech Movement to protest the University's ban on political activity and other grievances such as research for the military-industrial complex, compulsory ROTC, dress codes, etc.; demonstration of increasing youth involvement in politics
- Civil Rights Act of 1964
- 1964; banned discrimination in public acomodations, prohibited discrimination in any federally assisted program, outlawed discrimination in most employment; enlarged federal powers to protect voting rights and to speed school desegregation; this and the voting rights act helped to give African-Americans equality on paper, and more federally-protected power so that social equality was a more realistic goal
- Henry Marrow
- 1970; black man murdered by whites in Granville County, NC for allegedly making a pass at a white woman; recounted by Tim Tyson in "Blood Done Sign My Name"; spurned the first stirrings of the civil rights movement in the area, causing violent protest by the black community; illustrated the tense race relations at the time, and the continuing inequalities following the civil rights acts of the 1960s
- March on Washington
- 1963; 250k people, including some 50k whites gathered in the largest political assembly to date to protest discrimination against blacks; did not stop discrimination, but brought the civil rights movement into public focus because of its huge size
- Tet Offensive
- 1968; National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese forces launched a huge attack on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet), which was defeated after a month of fighting and many thousands of casualties; major defeat for communism, but Americans reacted sharply, with declining approval of LBJ and more anti-war sentiment
- The New Right
- 1980s; after the failed Carter liberal administration, a conservative backlash idealizing Brry Goldwater, calling for more conservative legislation and patriotic attitudes paved the way for the Reagan revolution
- John Hersey
- 1940s; newspaper reporter for Time and The New Yorker during WWII, reported on both Europe and Asia; wrote "Hiroshima," an article turned book about six inhabitants of the city and their experiences during the bombing; humanization of bombing caused ethical questions to be raised about the use of the bomb
- Pearl Harbor
- 12/7/41; Japanese bomb Hawaiian base; FDR declares entry into WWII
- Equal Rights Amendment
- 1972; as the women's rights movement gined political clout, legislation was passed such as the ERA, prohibiting discrimination based on sex; helped women change their social roles from stay at home moms to working women
- Domino Theory
- 1954; Eisenhower warned that if Vietnam became communist, all of Asia woudl follow; caused the foration of the SouthEastern Asia Treaty Organization patterned on NATO and refused to sign the Geneva Peace Accords
- Election of 1968
- 1968; McCarthy challenged LBJ, who was politically wounded by the Tet Offensive and the Vietnam War; LBJ stepped down from the running, and Kennedy and McCarthy were left on the Democratic ballot; but Americans turned to Republican Nixon to restore social harmony and end the war
- Phyllis Schlafly
- 1970s; a new right activist that protested the women's rights acts and movements as defying tradition and natural gender division of labor; demonstrated conservative backlash against the 60s
- National Security Act
- 1947; enacted to back up the Truman Doctrine; established the National Security Council to advise the president, established the Central Intelligence Agency to gather information abroad and engage in covert activities in support of the nation's security, began the processes of transforming the old War and Navy Depts into the Department of Defense, and combined the leadership of the army,navy, and air force under the Joint Chiefs of Staff; showed Truman's and Americans' fears of communist invasion after WWII
- radical feminism
- 1960s and 70s; employed a variety of publicity generating and confrontational tactics (such as crowning a sheep Miss America at the 1968 pageant) to protest for greater equality for women; believed that patriarchy (the power of men) in American society was the cause of women's oppression); started organizations, centers, programs, etc. for women's protection, aid, and education; did much to publicize the movement
- Executive Order 9066
- 2/19/42; 112,000 Japanese-Americans forced into camps causing loss of homes & businesses, 600K more renounced citizenship; demonstrated fear of Japanese invasion
- Marshall Plan
- 1947; massive US assistance in European recovery through $17 billion in aid to Western Europe in order to relieve the economic devastation believed to spawn communism; during the plan, industrial production in Western Europe rose 200% and the region became a major center of American trade and investment, promoting prosperity for all involved nations; some thought it was imperialist because ti spread American influence, and the plan combined with the Truman Doctrine caused Stalin to tighten his grip on Eastern Europe (ex: blockade of Berlin)
- The Beats
- 1950s; celebrated spontaneity (ex: Kerouac and the Merry Pranksters) jazz, drugs, sexuality; challenged conformity and authority of America by rejecting traditions and emphasizing individualism; inspiration for counterculture of 1960s
- Elvis Presley
- 1950s; a symbol of the rock-and-roll movement of the 50s when teenagers began to form their own subculture, dismaying to conservative parents; created a youth culture that ridiculed phony and pretentious middle-class Americans, celebrated uninhibited sexuality and spontaneity; foreshadowed the coming counterculture of the 1960s
- NATO
- 1949; North Atlantic Treaty Organization; an attack against one of the member nations would be viewed as an attack against them all; protected member nations under American nuclear power; first US peacetime military alliance in history, formal end to US isolationism; inspired Soviet Union to create the German Democratic Republic (Eastern Germany) and explode an atomic bomb in 1949, and set up rival eastern bloc military alliance, the Warsaw Pact in 1955; sparked the massive arms race known as the Cold War
- Malcolm X
- 1952; renamed himself X to signify the loss of his African heritage; converted to Nation of Islam in jail in the 50s, became Black Muslims' most dynamic street orator and recruiter; his beliefs were the basis of a lot of the Black Power movement built on seperationist and nationalist impulsesto achieve true independence and equality
- Watergate
- 1972; Nixon feared loss so he approved the Commission to Re-Elect the President to spy on and espionage the Democrats. A security gaurd foiled an attempt to bug the Democratic National Committe Headquarters, exposing the scandal. Seemingly contained, after the election Nixon was impeached and stepped down
- Reaganomics
- 1980s; Reagan's economic program which cut taxes and government regulation in order to increase productivity, nd eventully increase tax revenue as cash flowed in the economy
- Voting Rights Act of 1965
- 1965; invalidated the use of any test or device to deny the vote and authorized federal examiners to register voters in states that had disenfranchised blacks; as more blacks became politically active and elected black representatives, it rboguth jobs, contracts, and facilities and services for the black community, encouraging greater social equality and decreasing the wealth and education gap
- The War on Poverty
- 1960s; part of LBJ's 'Great Society' plan to eliminate poverty and racial injustice; instate welfare programs like medicare and medicaid that were reduced by later presidents; as America became wealthy in the 50s and 60s, LBJ wanted to ensure that all citizens were provided for in the "great american society" he was creating
- Joseph McCarthy
- 1950s; Wisconsin senator claimed to have list of communists in American gov't, but no credible evidence; took advantage of fears of communism post WWII to become incredibly influential; "McCarthyism" was the fearful accusation of any dissenters of being communists
- Port Huron Statement
- 1962; adopted by 60 students determined not to be a "silent generation," it was a broad critique of American society and called for more genuine human relationships; proclaimed a "new left" and formed the "Students for a Democratic Society" envisioning a nonviolent youth movement transforming the US into a "participatory democracy" as an end to materialism, militarism, and racism; demonstrated the feelings of a disillusioned generation (JFK's death, police brutality) that made them work for change in the second half of the 20th century
- Bush Strategic Doctrine
- 2002; new foreign policy following september 11 that stated the American dedication to ensuring democracy, security and freedom for all nations; set framework for middle east conflict
- Betty Friedan
- 1960s; wrote "The Feminine Mystique," an account of housewives' lives in which they suboordinated their own aspirations to the needs of men; bestseller was an inspiration for many women to join the women's rights movement
- Barry Goldwater
- 1964; Republican contender against LBJ for presidency; platform included lessening federal involvement, therefore opposing Civil Rights Act of 1964; lost by largest margin in history
- Truman Doctrine
- 1947; Truman's statement of a new policy of active engagement to contain communism in response to communist uprisings in Greece and Turkey; persisted long after Mediterranean crisis, setting foundation for Cold War policy
- Ethel & Julius Rosenberg
- 1951; convicted of treason for spying for the soviets, executed; raised question of fairness of American policy; demonstrated fears of communism
- Roe v. Wade
- 1973; supreme court proclaimed women's constitutional right to abortion; giving women control of their bodies helped women to gain status in the workforce and in society because they were no longer bound to motherhood
- Social Security Act
- 1935; marked the end of the Second New Deal; established mixed federal-state system of workers' pensions, unemployment insurance, survivors' benefits for victims of industrial accidents, and aid for disabled persons and dependent mothers with children through taxes withheld from paychecks and employer taxes; intially minimally effective, but established principle of federal responsibility for social welfare, laying foundations for expanded welfare programs in the future; longest lasting New Deal legislation
- The Holocaust
- Early 1940s; Nazi systematic extermination of 6 million European Jews under the Third Reich; acknowledged by USA in 1942, but doubted by many due to lack of evidence until Eisenhower sent for congressional leaders and newspaper editors to report back to Americans
- Saddam Husein
- 1990; decided to assert Iraqi power by invading Kuwait so Bush Sr. activated troops, ordered air strikes, organized International Coalition for freedom of Kuwait; awesome victory gained popularity for Bush and demonstrated problems in middle east