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Define the Great Depression
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What were three major causes of the Great Depression?
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History SOL Mania 2
Mr. Poley U.S. History SOL mania part 2
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Define the Great Depression | Great Depression = a period of severe economic hardship lasting from 1929 to World War II |
| What were three major causes of the Great Depression? | 1) Stock market crash2) Collapse of nation’s banking system3) High protective tariffs |
| Define speculation. | speculation = buying something at a low price in the hope of selling it later at a profit |
| What is one way people make money from stock? | speculation |
| What is the largest stock market in the United States? | New York Stock Exchange |
| What happened to stock prices on the New York Stock Exchange between 1920 and 1929? | Steadily increased |
| How did the increase in stock prices during the 1920s affect many stock market speculators? | They became very wealthy. |
| What does it mean to buy stock on margin? | Buy stock on credit |
| To what did margin buying lead? | Overspeculation |
| What did many investors do when the stock market dropped, and how did their actions affect stock prices? | Sold their stock; stock prices dropped even further |
| What happened to the New York Stock Exchange as a result of the downward cycle in the stock market? | Crashed |
| What functions as the central bank of the United States? | The Federal Reserve System |
| What type of bank is a Federal Reserve Bank? | A banker’s bank |
| Explain how a Federal Reserve Bank works? | If a bank needs to borrow money, it may do so from the Federal Reserve Bank. However, a bank must pay interest on its loans from the Federal Reserve. |
| Who appoints the members of the Federal Reserve Board? | The president |
| What are two functions of the Federal Reserve Board? | 1) oversees the actions of the Federal Reserve Banks2) sets the interest rate which banks must pay to borrow money from the Federal Reserve |
| Why is the Federal Reserve Board’s power to set interest rates important? | enables the Federal Reserve to control the nation’s money supply |
| Under what circumstances might the Federal Reserve Board cut interest rates? | if the Federal Reserve believes the American economy is slowing down |
| Under what circumstances might the Federal Reserve Board raise interest rates? | if the Federal Reserve believes the American economy is overheating and thereby causing inflation |
| Define inflation. | inflation = when prices increase and the dollar buys less when prices increase and the value of the dollar decreases |
| Was the Federal Reserve Board able to prevent the 1929 stock market crash from triggering the Great Depression? | no |
| Why did many banks fail when the stock market crashed? | 1) banks had invested savings deposits in the stock market2) banks had loaned money to stock speculators who were buying stock on margin |
| How did bank failures after the stock market crash affect Americans’ confidence in the nation’s banking system? | Americans lost confidence |
| What did thousands of Americans do when they began to lose confidence in the nation’s banking system? | Withdraw their savings from the banks, before they closed |
| How many American banks failed during the first three years of the Great Depression? | 5,000 |
| How many Americans lost their savings as a result of bank failures during the first three years of the Great Depression? | 9 million |
| What was the result of the widespread collapse of the American banking system between 1929 and 1932? | led to a severe contraction in the nation’s money supply |
| What is a protective tariff? | protective tariff = a tax on imports that is so high Americans cannot afford to buy foreign goods |
| After the 1929 stock market crash, how id Congress try to help American business? | passed the Hawley-Smoot Tariff (the Tariff Act of 1930) |
| Identify the Hawley-Smoot Tariff (Tariff Act of 1930). | a protective tariff that set the highest tariff rates in American history |
| Congress intended the Hawley-Smoot Tariff to help business. Why do most historians believe it actually hurt business? | encouraged foreign countries to retaliate (to return like for like; do unto others, as they do unto you) by passing high tariffs of their own |
| What was the result of retaliatory tariffs passed by foreign countries | foreigners could not afford to buy American goods |
| How did the erection of trade barriers by all of the world’s major industrial powers affect world trade? | strangled world trade |
| What four-pronged effect did the Great Depression have on the United States? | 1) unemployment increased 2) banks closed 3) political unrest 4) farm foreclosures |
| What was the unemployment rate among Americans by 1932? | 25 % |
| What became more militant during the Great Depression? | labor unions |
| What did some Americans question during the Great Depression? | whether capitalism was the best economic system for the United States |
| What effect did farm foreclosures have on farm families? | caused thousands of farm families to migrate |
| Whom did most Americans blame for the Great Depression? | President Herbert Hoover |
| To what political party did Herbert Hoover belong? | Republican |
| Who ran for president in 1932, what was each candidate’s political party, and who won this election? | Franklin Roosevelt (Democrat)Herbert Hoover (Republican)Roosevelt won |
| Who told the American people in 1933 that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”? | Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) |
| What did President Franklin Roosevelt offer the American people? | a “New Deal” |
| Identify the New Deal. | FDR’s program to end the Great Depression |
| Name three ways in which the New Deal changed the role of the federal government. | 1) federal gov’t. would actively try to solve the nation’s problems2) power of federal gov’t. increased3) federal gov’t. was responsible for American economy |
| What was the New Deal’s three-pronged strategy, and for what did each “R” stand? | “three R’s”: relief, recovery, and reform |
| What was the purpose of the New Deal’s relief programs? | to ease the suffering of the unemployed |
| What did relief measures do? | provided direct payments to people for immediate help |
| Give one example of a New Deal relief program. | Works Progress Administration (WPA) |
| Define public works. | public works = construction projects that benefit the whole society, like highways, bridges, schools, post offices, and parks |
| What was the purpose of the New Deal’s recovery program? | to bring about the recovery of American business |
| Give one example of a New Deal recovery program and explain what it did. | Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA); tried to raise farm prices by paying farmers not to grow crops and not to raise livestock |
| What was the purpose of the New Deal’s reform programs? | change for the better; to help prevent future economic crises and provide some financial security for the most needy Americans |
| Identify the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). | Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation = protects the money of depositors in insured banks; today FDIC insures deposits up to $100,000 |
| Identify the Social Security Act. | Social Security Act = offered safeguards for workers, including unemployment insurance and retirement benefits |
| What did Americans come to believe was a purpose of the federal government? | to provide care for those Americans, who through no fault of their own could not take care of themselves |
| When did the Great Depression end? | World War II |
| List five short-term and lasting results of the New Deal. | 1) gave hope to Americans2) changed the role of the American gov’t. in the economy: (federal gov’t. now responsible for the economy)3) encouraged changes in people’s attitudes toward responsibilities of the federal gov’t.: (Americans expected more fro |
| What three basic rights did organized labor acquire or gain during the New Deal? | 1) right to form a union, 2) right to strike, 3) minimum wage |
| What organization did the Allies found in 1945 near the end of World War II? | United Nations |
| Identify the United Nations. | U.N. = an international organization to promote world peace and progress |
| What organization did the United Nations replace? | League of Nations |
| What did the world’s nations hope to prevent by creating the United Nations? | future global wars |
| Contrast the American belief regarding the United States’ role in the world after World War I with that after World War II. | After World War II, Americans believed the U.S. had an important role to play in world affairs, while after World War I Americans retreated into isolationism (refused to join the League of Nations). |
| What country did American forces occupy in August 1945? | Japan |
| What happened to Japan when it was under American direction? | Japan’s government became democratic, Japan became a strong ally (friend) of the United States |
| What was the condition of Europe at the end of World War II? | Europe lay in ruins. |
| What country’s military forces occupied most of Eastern and Central Europe and the eastern portion of Germany at the end of World War II? | Soviet Union |
| What nations’ forces occupied West Germany at the end of World War II? | United States, Britain. and France |
| What did the Allies do to Germany after World War II? | divided Germany into East and West Germany |
| What did West Germany do a few years after World War II? | West Germany became democratic. |
| What happened to East Germany after World War II? | East Germany became communist and stayed under the control of the Soviet Union. |
| What war began soon after World War II ended? | the Cold War |
| Identify the Cold War. | Cold War = an uneasy peace after World War II, marked by a fierce rivalry between the U.S. and the Soviet Union |
| What type of war was the Cold War and how long did it last? | a war of words between the United States and the Soviet Union; until 1991, about 45 years |
| What set the framework for global politics for the first forty-five years after World War II? | the Cold War |
| In what three ways did the Cold War influence the United States after 1945? | 1) American domestic politics (issues inside the U.S.)2) conduct of foreign affairs3) role of American gov’t. in the economy after 1945 |
| Describe the fundamental values of the American-led western nations during the Cold War. | Values of western nations, including the U.S.: believed in democracy, individual freedom, free market economic system based on private property and profit |
| Describe the fundamental values of the Soviet Union and its allies during the Cold War. | Values of Soviet Union: totalitarian gov’t. (dictatorship) ruled by communists and a communist or socialist economic system |
| Define socialism. | Socialism = an economic system in which the gov’t. owns and controls the means of production; for example, under socialism, the gov’t. owns power plants, transportation and communication companies, mines, and steel mills |
| What anti-communist policy did the United States adopt after World War II? | containment |
| Identify containment. | containment = the post-World War II American foreign policy that tried to check the expansion of the Soviet Union and communism through diplomatic, economic, and military means |
| What did the United States try to accomplish through the containment policy? | contain or restrict communism to those countries where it already existed; keep communism from spreading to other countries |
| Identify the Truman Doctrine. | Truman Doctrine = President Harry S. Truman’s promise that the U.S. would defend free peoples from subversion (overthrow of the gov’t.) or outside pressure |
| What precedent did the Truman Doctrine set? | set precedent that the containment of communism would be the basic principle of American foreign policy throughout the Cold War |
| Identify the Marshall Plan. | Marshall Plan = a massive American financial aid program (1947) to help European nations recover economically from World War II |
| What was the dual purpose of the Marshall Plan? | 1) rebuild European economies2) prevent the spread of communism |
| For what does NATO stand? | NATO = North Atlantic Treaty Organization |
| What was the purpose of NATO? | Purpose of NATO: a defensive military alliance between the U.S. and Western European countries to prevent a Soviet invasion of Western Europe |
| Identify NATO. | NATO = an alliance of the U.S., Western European democracies, and Canada to provide mutual aid in the event of armed attack |
| When and where did communism spread to Asia? | 1949 China |
| Who was Mao Zedong? | Mao = the leader of the communist Chinese |
| Who was Chiang Kai-shek? | Chiang Kai-shek = leader of the anti-communist Chinese |
| Where did Mao force Chiang to flee? | the island of Formosa off the coast of China |
| What government did Chiang set up after he fled to Formosa? | Taiwan |
| What two events in 1949 increased American fears of communist domination of most of the world? | 1) China became communist 2) Soviet Union exploded an atomic bomb |
| Why did many Americans fear that communist spies held important positions in the federal government? | the trials of Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs |
| Identify Alger Hiss. | Alger Hiss: federal gov’t. official who was accused of passing secret documents to the Soviets in the late 1930s; although Hiss claimed he was innocent, he was convicted of perjury; many Americans believed Hiss was guilty of treason. |
| What secrets did a spy ring give to the Soviets? | atomic secrets |
| Identify Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. | Julius and Ethel Rosenberg: Americans who had worked on the United States’ atomic project; were arrested for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets, convicted of espionage, and executed |
| What happened to the Rosenbergs in 1953? | convicted of espionage (spying) and executed |
| Whose political career was advanced by American fears of communism? | Senator Joseph McCarthy |
| How did Senator Joseph McCarthy play on American fears of communism? | accused many American officials of being communists |
| Identify the Army-McCarthy hearings. | Army-McCarthy hearings = the televised investigations in 1954 of alleged Communist influence in the United States army |
| Define McCarthyism. | McCarthyism = unfairly accusing others of disloyalty and subversion (threatening to overthrow the government) |
| What event in 1950 was a major test for America’s containment policy? | the Korean War: when communist North Korea invaded non-communist south Korea |
| What country entered the Korean War after the American military forces counterattacked and drove deep into North Korea? | communist China |
| Who won the 1952 presidential election? | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| When did the Korean War end, and what were its results? | 1953; ended in stalemate with South Korea still free of communism |
| Why did the Korean War cause an increase in the United States’ confidence in the containment policy? | because the U.S. had prevented South Korea from falling under communist control |
| What did President Eisenhower adopt as a part of containment? | “massive retaliation” |
| Identify “massive retaliation.” | “massive retaliation” = the Eisenhower administration’s threat of swift, all-out military actions against a nation committing aggression (attack) |
| What position did later presidents take on “massive retaliation”? | backed away from “massive retaliation” |
| What promise did American presidents refuse to make to the Soviet Union during the Cold War? | not to make a first strike nuclear attack |
| What happened in Cuba in 1959? | Fidel Castro lead a communist revolution that took over Cuba |
| To what place did many Cubans flee in order to escape communist rule? | Florida |
| What action did President Eisenhower encourage the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to take in regard to Cuba? | develop a secret plan to overthrow Castro |
| Identify the CIA. | CIA = a federal agency that coordinates the spy activities of the United States gov’t |
| What action did the CIA plan in Cuba? | Bay of Pigs invasion; CIA trained anti-communist Cubans and landed them on the Cuban coast in an attempt to lead the Cuban people in a revolt against Castro |
| Who became president of the United States in 1961? | John F. Kennedy |
| What happened during the Bay of Pigs invasion? | it was a complete disaster; the popular uprising against Castro never happened; Castro’s army had captured or killed most of the American-supported invaders |
| What country placed nuclear missiles in Cuba in 1962? | Soviet Union |
| How did President Kennedy learn that the Soviet Union had placed missiles in Cuba? | American spy-plane photographs |
| What action did President Kennedy take to end the Cuban Missile Crisis? | naval blockade of Cuba; threatened to take further steps if the Soviets didn’t remove their missiles |
| With what type of war was the world threatened during the Cuban Missile Crisis? | nuclear war |
| Who was the leader of the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis? | Nikita Khrushchev |
| What type of deal did the United States make with the Soviet Union to end the Cuban Missile Crisis? | The Soviets agreed to withdraw their missiles from Cuba, and in exchange the United States would remove its outdated missiles from Turkey |
| What threat was always present during the Cold War? | nuclear war |
| Name two ways in which Americans tried to prepare for a possible nuclear attack. | 1) school drills to train children in case of nuclear attack 2) built bomb shelters in their basements |
| How did the Supreme Court rule in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson? | that “separate but equal” facilities did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment |
| What did the Supreme Court allow the Southern states to do by the Plessy v. Ferguson decision? | Southern states could legally segregate whites and blacks, as long as the separate facilities were equal. |
| What laws did the Supreme Court uphold by the Plessy decision? | the Southern states’ segregation laws |
| What were Jim Crow laws? | segregation laws |
| When had the Southern states passed Jim Crow laws? | in the late nineteenth century |
| What precedent did Plessy v. Ferguson set? | set precedent for the Southern states to segregate all areas of Southern life |
| Did the Southern states truly obey the Plessy decision? Explain | No. The separate facilities, which the Southern states provided African-Americans, were always separate, but seldom if ever equal. |
| What was the purpose of the NAACP? | to secure the legal rights of African-Americans |
| When and by whom was the NAACP formed? | by an interracial group of reformers in 1909 |
| For what two things did the NAACP consistently work? | 1) to end legal segregation in the Southern states2) to gain the right to vote for Southern blacks |
| Who was one of the early leaders of the NAACP? | W.E.B. DuBois |
| On what basis did the NAACP attack Jim Crow laws before World War II? | Before the end of World War II, the NAACP attacked the “equality” issue of the “separate but equal” doctrine. The NAACP argued that the Southern states were violating the Plessy decision, because the separate facilities were not equal. |
| How did the NAACP’s attacks on Jim Crow laws change after World War II? | After World War II, the NAACP directly attacked Plessy’s idea that racial segregation could be constitutional. The NAACP argued that racial segregation was wrong and violated the Constitution under any and all circumstances. |
| Identify the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. | The NAACP Legal Defense Fund was a team of lawyers who filed lawsuits against racial segregation in several public school systems in the South. Actually, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed lawsuits against all kinds of racial discrimination |
| Who served as chief counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund? | Thurgood Marshall |
| Identify Oliver Hill. | chief counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Team in Virginia |
| On what desegregation case did Oliver Hill work? | the Prince Edward County school desegregation case |
| How did the Supreme Court rule in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka? | The Supreme Court declared racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. It said public school segregation violated the “equal protection” clause of the 14th Amendment. |
| To what other desegregation case did the Brown decision apply besides the one from Topeka, Kansas? | the Prince Edward County, Virginia school desegregation case |
| Was Virginia still part of the Solid South immediately after World War II? | Yes. |
| Define the term Solid South. | a term that indicated the Democratic Party’s complete control of Southern politics during the first half of the 20th century |
| Who was Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr.? | the leader of the small group of Democrats who controlled Virginia’s politics |
| After the Supreme Court handed down the Brown decision, what policy did Virginia’s governor and state legislature adopt under Senator Byrd’s leadership? | Massive Resistance |
| What is the name of Virginia’s state legislature? | the Virginia General Assembly |
| What were Virginia’s Massive Resistance laws? What did the Massive Resistance laws instruct Virginia’s governor to do as a last resort? | state laws that made it illegal for Virginia public schools to desegregate, even when they were under federal court order to do so |
| What did it mean to desegregate public schools? | allow white children and African-American children to attend the same school |
| Define the term integration. | integration = desegregation = whites and blacks together |
| Did integration and desegregation mean the same thing? | Yes |
| What two things happened when Virginia’s Massive Resistance movement reached a climax in 1959? | 1) Virginia’s governor closed several public schools, rather than obey federal court orders to integrate them. 2) Upper and middle class whites started private academies so that they could avoid sending their children to integrated public schools |
| What action did many white families in Virginia take during the sixties and seventies? | White families moved from the cities to the suburbs so that their children could attend predominantly white public schools. White flight to the suburbs |
| Did Virginia continue Massive Resistance for very long? | No. |
| What did Virginia do when it reversed its Massive Resistance policy? | At first, Virginia accepted federal court ordered school desegregation on a case-by-case basis. By the mid-seventies, Virginia had completely ended its dual school system. Children of all races attended the same public schools. |
| What effect did the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education have on the American South? | It created a social revolution. |
| What did the Brown decision show the Supreme Court could do when it interpreted its powers broadly? | reshape American society |
| What two actions did African-Americans take during the 1950s and 1960s to reshape American public opinion and secure the passage of federal civil rights legislation? | 1) worked through the federal court system (filed racial discrimination cases in federal court) 2) used mass protest (non-violent resistance) |
| When did the modern civil rights movement begin? | 1954 (the Brown decision) |
| How did Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gain national television coverage in 1956? | Dr. King led the Montgomery Bus Boycott |
| What happened in the Montgomery Bus boycott? | Montgomery Bus Boycott = the 1955-56 boycott by black citizens of the Montgomery, Alabama bus system to protest segregated seating. The term boycott means African-Americans refused to ride the city buses until the bus company ended segregated seating. T |
| What constitutional argument did the Supreme Court use to rule that segregation on Montgomery, Alabama city buses was unconstitutional? | The Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation on city buses was unconstitutional, because it violated the 14th Amendment by denying Montgomery’s African-American citizens “equal protection of the laws.” |
| What precedent did the Supreme Court use to make its decision in the Montgomery bus segregation case? | the Brown decision |
| What was the purpose of the 1963 March on Washington? | to lobby Congress for passage of major civil rights laws |
| Who made the most famous speech at the 1963 March on Washington, and what was the most famous line of this speech? | Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; “I have a dream….” |
| How many Americans participated in the 1963 March on Washington? | 250,000 |
| For what two reasons was the 1963 March on Washington important? | 1) Helped influence public opinion to support major civil rights legislation2) Showed the power of non-violent, mass protest |
| What president was assassinated in November 1963, and who became president? | John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and Lyndon B. Johnson became president. |
| What president played an important role in gaining Congressional passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1968? | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Identify the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Please be complete. | 1964 Civil Rights Act: 1) outlawed racial, religious, and sex discrimination by employers 2) outlawed racial, religious, and sex discrimination in public places; it made it illegal to segregate public buildings or parks; it also made it illegal for h |
| What were the two parts of the 1965 Voting Right Act? | 1965 Voting Rights Act: 1) outlawed literacy tests as a requirement for voter registration 2) sent federal registrars to the South to register voters |
| What was a literacy test, and how had Southern states used the literacy test? | literacy test = a test to determine if a person could read and write before allowing them to register to vote; Southern states had used literacy tests as a means to deny African-Americans the right to vote |
| What was the result of the 1965 Voting Rights Act? | a large increase in the number of African-American voters throughout the South |
| Who was assassinated in 1968? | Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. |
| What did the Civil Rights Act of 1968 do? | outlawed racial discrimination in the sale or rental of housing |
| Who became president in 1961? | John F. Kennedy |
| Who said the United States would “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty”? | John F. Kennedy |
| Who said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country?” | John F. Kennedy |
| What made foreign policy a major issue in every presidential election between 1948 and 1992? | the Cold War |
| How did national defense spending during the Cold War affect Virginia’s economy? | benefited Virginia’s economy more than that of any other state; helped Va.’s economy a great deal |
| In what two areas of Virginia was heavy military spending during the Cold War most important? | Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia |
| What Cold War policy resulted in American involvement in Vietnam? | containment |
| After World War II, from what country did Vietnamese nationalists fight for independence? | France |
| Who was the leader of the Vietnamese independence movement? | Ho Chi Minh |
| What type of government did Ho Chi Minh want an independent Vietnam to have? | communist |
| Why did the United States support France’s attempt to keep Indochina as a colony after World War II? | because Ho Chi Minh was a communist |
| What action did France take after its army was defeated by Ho Chi Minh’s forces? | France withdrew from Indochina |
| What happened to Vietnam after France’s withdrawal from Indochina? | Vietnam was divided into communist North Vietnam and non-communist South Vietnam |
| Why were reunification elections that had been scheduled for the mid-fifties cancelled? | the Eisenhower administration feared Ho Chi Minh would win and all of Vietnam would become communist |
| What did the communist government of North Vietnam attempt to install in South Vietnam during the fifties and early sixties? | a communist government |
| Who were the Vietcong? | South Vietnamese communists who wanted to reunify all of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh; southern revolutionaries who formed the National Liberation Front |
| What was the National Liberation Front? | the official name of the Vietcong |
| What action did the Eisenhower administration take to counter North Vietnam’s efforts to take over South Vietnam? | sent large amounts of economic and military aid to South Vietnam |
| Under what president did the American military buildup in Vietnam begin? | John F. Kennedy |
| What happened to President Kennedy in 1963? | Kennedy was assassinated |
| Who succeeded John F. Kennedy as president? | Lyndon B. Johnson |
| What action did President Johnson take in Vietnam in 1965? | escalated or increased the American military buildup in Vietnam |
| How many American troops were stationed in Vietnam by 1968? | more than 500,000 |
| What did it mean for the United States to fight a “limited war” in Vietnam? | limited war” = avoid any military action which might widen the war to include the Soviet Union or communist China |
| What policy was the United States following in South Vietnam? | containment |
| Why did the United States fight a “limited war” in Vietnam? | to avoid either a nuclear war or a third world war |
| What was the position of the American people on the Vietnam War by 1968? | divided: many Americans supported the war, while many others opposed the war |
| What was the center of active opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War? | College campuses |
| Who won the 1968 presidential election? | Richard Nixon |
| During the 1968 presidential campaign, what pledge did Richard Nixon make regarding the Vietnam War? | to bring the Vietnam War to an honorable end; “peace with honor” |
| What policy did President Nixon institute (start) in Vietnam? | “Vietnamization” |
| Define “Vietnamization.” | “Vietnamization” = the Nixon administration’s policy of building up South Vietnamese forces while gradually withdrawing American troops |
| Did “Vietnamization” succeed or fail? | failed |
| What country supplied the North Vietnamese Army? | the Soviet Union |
| What political scandal caused President Nixon to resign as president in 1974? | Watergate |
| Define Watergate. | Watergate scandal = the public exposure of a burglary and its cover-up by the Nixon administration |
| Who succeeded Richard Nixon as president? | Gerald Ford after Richard Nixon was forced to resign as president |
| What happened in Vietnam during Gerald Ford’s presidency? | North Vietnamese troops overran South Vietnam, and both North and South Vietnam merged under communist rule |
| What did many Vietnam veterans face in the United States when they returned home? | indifference or outright hostility |
| Who served as President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state in 1972? | Henry Kissinger |
| By 1972 what did President Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger realize regarding the relationship between the Soviet Union and China? | instead of being strong allies, China and the Soviet Union had become rivals for power |
| During the early seventies, what policy did Nixon and Kissinger initiate (start) towards the Soviet Union and China? | by talking with both the Soviet Union and China, the U.S. hoped to play the two communist countries off against each other |
| What did the United States begin to establish with communist China in 1972? | formal diplomatic relations |
| With what Chinese leader did President Nixon meet in 1972? | Mao Zedong |
| What is China’s capital? | Beijing |
| To what other communist country did President Nixon travel in 1972? | the Soviet Union |
| Who was the leader of the Soviet Union? | Leonid Brezhnev |
| What was the Soviet Union’s capital? | Moscow |
| What treaty did the United States and the Soviet Union sign in 1972? | the SALT Treaty |
| Out of what talks did this treaty grow? | the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) |
| Define the SALT talks. | SALT talks = the Soviet-American discussions (1969) to establish limits on the number of strategic nuclear weapons held by both sides |
| Why was the SALT treaty so important, in spite of its many loopholes? | the SALT Treaty was the first step toward ending the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union |
| What caused the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War? | both internal and external pressures in the 1980s |
| Who became president in 1981and to which political party did the new president belong? | Ronald Reagan ; Republican |
| What did President Reagan try to assert throughout the world during his first term? | American power |
| What did Reagan publicly call the Soviet Union? | an evil empire |
| Under Reagan’s leadership, what did the United States launch? | a massive military buildup |
| How did Reagan’s new policy affect the United States relationship with the Soviet Union? | tension with the Soviet Union increased |
| Under what conditions would President Reagan consider reductions in nuclear arms? | when Reagan was convinced that the United States was at least equal to the Soviet Union in military power |
| What action did President Reagan take in Western Europe during his first term? | placed new nuclear missiles in Western Europe |
| How did the renewal of the arms race affect the Soviet Union? | forced the Soviet Union to increase its military budget in order to compete with the United States |
| Why was the need to increase military spending a serious problem for the Soviet leadership? | because the Soviet economy was very inefficient |
| Who became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985? | Mikhail Gorbachev |
| What was the dual purpose of the new policies immediately adopted by Mikhail Gorbachev? | 1) revive the Soviet economy2) reform the Soviet system |
| What does the Russian word glasnost mean? | glasnost = openness |
| Under Glasnost, what did Gorbachev allow in Soviet society for the first time? | open criticism of the Soviet government |
| Define the term Glasnost. | Glasnost = Gorbachev’s policy of encouraging freedom of expression in the Soviet Union |
| What did the Russian word perestroika mean? | perestroika = restructuring of Soviet society |
| Under perestroika, what types of economic and political changes did Gorbachev want to occur in Soviet society? | 1) less government control of the economy2) some private enterprise3) steps toward establishing democracy |
| What lay at the heart of perestroika? | economic restructuring |
| What Soviet leader said the Soviet people needed “to teach and to learn democracy”? | Gorbachev |
| Among what group did Gorbachev’s new policies raise high expectations? | among millions of well-educated Russians |
| What expectations did Gorbachev’s new policies raise among the Soviet people? | 1) improvement in their standard of living2) increased freedom in Soviet society |
| How did Gorbachev’s reforms affect the communist system? | placed even greater internal pressure on the communist system |
| What other movement did the Gorbachev government face during the late eighties? | rising nationalism within the Soviet republics |
| To what in the United States were the Soviet republics equivalent? | Soviet republics = American states |
| From what two sources did external pressures on the Soviet government come? | 1) from its eastern European communist satellites2) President Ronald Reagan |
| What feeling were the eastern European communist nations experiencing during the late eighties? | rising feeling of nationalism |
| Define the term satellite. | satellite = a nation that is formally independent but dominated by another power |
| What nations became satellites of the Soviet Union after World War II? | nations of Eastern Europe |
| List the Russian satellites. | Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania |
| What movement created great unrest in Poland during the 1980s? | the Solidarity labor movement |
| In what other Soviet satellite did the citizens hold mass protests during the late eighties? | East Germany |
| What western leader added pressure on the Soviet Union by traveling to the Berlin Wall and saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”? | President Ronald Reagan |
| What structure divided communist East Berlin from democratic West Berlin? | the Berlin Wall |
| What structure in Berlin, Germany was the best-known symbol of the Cold War? | the Berlin Wall |
| What government had built the Berlin Wall? | the East German government |
| When and why was the Berlin Wall built? | 1961 ; to keep East German citizens from escaping to democratic West Germany |
| By late 1989, what happened in Berlin as a result of the instability of the East German government? | German citizens began to tear down the Berlin Wall, and the East German government did not try to stop them. |
| What happened in Germany in late 1990? | Germany was formally reunified under the democratic leadership of West Germany. |
| After Germany’s reunification, what quickly happened in the Soviet Union’s other Eastern European satellites? | Communist governments fell from power. |
| What happened to the Soviet Union in 1991? | It fell apart. |
| What made up the Soviet Union? | 15 republics |
| What action did the three Baltic republics take in 1991? | declared their independence from the Soviet Union |
| What precedent did the three Baltic republics set by this action? | set precedent for other Soviet republics to declare their independence |
| By the end of 1991 what did Gorbachev agree to do? | dismantle (take apart) the entire Communist system, including the Soviet Communist Party |
| What action did Gorbachev take on Christmas Day, 1991? | resigned and declared the Soviet Union had ended |
| What war had ended by the end of 1991? | the Cold War |
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