Term | Definition |
Ray Kroc | Man who bought and franchised McDonald's. |
Interstate Highway Act (1956) | Eisenhower administration created interstate highway system, the largest public works project in U.S. history. |
National Security Act (1947) | Created the Department of Defense. |
John Kenneth Galbraith | |
Oligopoly | Domination of an industry by a few. |
Sloan Wilson | Wrote, "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit." About white collar workforce in America. |
The Mickey Mouse Club | A popular 1950's tv show. |
I Love Lucy | Popular 50's show. Starred Lucille Ball. |
Father Knows Best | Popular 50's show. |
Diner's Club International | Company offered first consumer credit card. |
George Orwell | Wrote an essay titled, "The White Elephant." |
Marshall Plan | U.S. helped rebuild West Germany and Japan after WWII. |
Block-busting | Sleazy tactic by real estate agents to scare white families into selling homes after a black family moves into the neighborhood. |
C. Wright Mills | Wrote, "The Power Elite." |
AFL and CIO | American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations |
COLA | Cost of Living Act - wages would rise for workers with the cost of living. |
Penicillin and Streptomycin | Innovative medicines of the 50's. |
William Levitt | Created suburban house model that became popular througout America. Example: Levittown. |
Leave It to Beaver | Popular 50's tv show. |
American Bandstand | Popular music program. |
Elvis Presley | Rock n' Roll legend, originally from Tupelo, Mississippi. |
Benjamin Spock | Wrote, "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care." |
Betty Friedan | Wrote, "The Feminine Mystique," a book about gender inequality. Many women were collateral damage. |
Peter Blake | Wrote, "God's Own Junkyard." About waste and trash in sprawling suburban America. |
Harvard Mark I | Early computer designed by Howard Aiken. |
ENIAC | First modern computer. |
Transistor | Basis for computational revolution - invented by John Bardeen, William Shockley, and Walter Brattain at Bell Labs. |
J.D. Salinger | Wrote, "Catcher in the Rye" |
Jack Kerouac | Wrote, "On the Road" |
Allen Ginsberg | Wrote famous poem, "Howl" |
Michael Harrington | Wrote, "The Other America" (1962) |
Jackie Robinson | First African-American Major League Baseball player. |
Executive Order 9981 | Truman desegregates the U.S. military. |
Brown v. Board of Education | Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson under Chief Justice Warren. |
Rosa Parks | Arrested for refusing to accept segregated seating on bus - fueled strikes lead by Martin Luther King, Jr. |
Little Rock Nine | Nine black girls in Little Rock, Arkansas, who had to be escorted to school by the 101st airborne. |
Civil Rights Act (1957) | Voting rights bill, first civil rights legislation passed by Congress since 1875. |
Civil Rights Act (1960) | Protected people's voting rights by inspecting polling places and establishing penalties for anyone obstructing another's right. |
Bracero Program | Allowed Mexican workers to obtain temporary worker visas to work in the U.S. |
Immigration and Nationality Act (1952) | Japanese could again immigrate to U.S., and immigrants could apply to bring their families. |
John F. Kennedy | First Catholic President |
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee | Responsible for the Woolworth sit-in that sparked a movement. |
Freedom Riders | Activists like John Lewis and James Meredith who rode interstate buses into the segregated South to protest. |
Bull Connor | Public Safety Commissioner in Mississippi who loosed dogs and firehoses on protesters |
Medgar Evers | Civil rights activist gunned down day after JFK speech. |
Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty | Nuclear weapons could only be tested underground |
March on Washington (1963) | Keynote speaker was Martin Luther King, Jr. |
Freedom Summer (1964) | Many people were killed while registering voters in a major civil rights push. |
Andrew Goodman, James Earl Chaney, and Michael Henry Schwermer | Three young men killed by corrupt police during Freedom Summer |
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) | Right to a lawyer |
Escobedo v. Illinois | Right to legal counsel |
Miranda v. Arizona | Right to be informed of rights |
Ralph Nader | Wrote, "Unsafe At Any Speed" |
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution | Congress authorized entry into the Vietnam War. |
Ernest Gruening and Wayne Morse | Senators, and only two members of Congress to vote against the Vietnam War |
Operation Rolling Thunder | Largest bombing campaign in history, during Vietnam War |
Tet Offensive | A military victory for the U.S. but a public relations defeat |
Eugene McCarthy | Decides to run for President, essentially forces LBJ to opt-out of reelection bid in 1968 |
George Wallace | Racist Governor of Alabama |
Theodore J. Lowi | Wrote, "The End of Liberalism" |
Richard M. Nixon | America's 37th President |
Henry Kissinger | Foreign policy expert in Nixon administration, political scientist |
Daniel Patrick Moynihan | Sociologist, foreign policy expert in the Nixon administration |
Clement Haynsworth and G. Harold Carswell | Men Nixon attempted to appoint to the Supreme Court from the South |
Harry Blackman | Nominated to Supreme Court by Nixon, wrote Roe v. Wade decision |
Swann v. Charlotte | Involved Mecklenburg Board of Education; resulted in the desegregation of busing. |
Boston busing crisis | White suburban communities sharply protested having their kids bused into city schools in the aftermath of white flight |
Allen Bokke | Medical student applying to Berkeley sues over reverse-discrimination |
Nixon (Guam) Doctrine | U.S. would support countries fighting communism, but would not supply the troops |
Vietnamization | Nixon policy to train the South Vietnamese |
Cambodian Campaign | Resulted in major protests |
Kent State shootings | U.S. National Guard opens fire on student protesters |
Pentagon Papers | 7,000 page document on how the Vietnam War was conducted |
Daniel Ellsberg | Exposed the Pentagon Papers |
Moscow Summit (1972) | Accomplishes Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) and SALT I |
Paris Peace Accords (1973) | Ended the Vietnam War |
James W. McCord, Jr. | Part of group that broke into the Watergate Hotel |
G. Gordon Liddy | Leader of 'the plumbers' who broke into Watergate |
Bob Woodward | Reporter who broke the Watergate story |
Carl Bernstein | Reporter; Bob Woodward's assistant |
John Dean | Legal counsel who gave testimony to Watergate Committee |
Deep Throat | Secret informant |
Alexander Butterfield | Deputy Assistant to Nixon who mentioned Nixon's tape records |
Judge John Sirica | Judge who presided over the Watergate hearings |
United States v. Nixon | Case that forced the Nixon administration to hand over tapes, Nixon would resign soon after |
Torrijos-Carter Treaty | Gave the Panama Canal back to Panama |
Camp David Accords | Anwar Sadat gave Sinai back to Israel |
Iranian Revolution | Carter allowed the Shah to receive medical treatment in the U.S. which sparked a hostage crisis |
Jerry Falwell | Leader of the 'moral majority' |
Reaganomics | Tax breaks for wealthy Americans |
Freeman v. Pitts | Case regarding oversight of desegregation in schools |
Jesse Jackson | Ran for President in '84 and '88 |
Rodney G. King | Beaten by Los Angeles police, sparking riots when officers were initially found innocent |
Webster v. Reproductive Health Services | Supreme Court ruling allowed states to restrict state funding for abortion counseling |
Planned Parenthood v. Casey | Supreme Court upheld right to seek an abortion |
The Strike that busted unions (1981) | |
Strategic Defense Initiative | Star Wars |
Iran-Contra Affair | Reagan administration sold/traded arms to Iran |
Black Monday (1987) | |
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty | Treaty between Reagan and Gorbachev |
Boris Yeltsin | 1st President of Russia |
H.W. Bush foreign policy team: | George H. W. Bush, James Baker, Brent Scowcroft |
"A World Transformed" | Book by George H. W. Bush and Brent Scowcroft |
Nelson Mandela | 1st black President of South Africa |
Lech Walesa | Leader of Polish solidarity movement |
START I Treaty | Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, between Bush and Gorbachev |
Francis Fukuyama | Wrote, "The End of History and the Last Man" |
Hart-Celler Act | Abolished national origins quota and instituted preference system based on job skills |
HIV Treatment | AIDS cocktail |
Sherman Alexie | Wrote, "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" |
Bosnian War | A war that involved ethnic cleansing and NATO bombing intervention |
Dayton Agreement | End of Bosnian War, organized by Richard Holbrooke |
Slobodan Milosevic | Corrupt leader tried for war crimes after the Bosnian War |
Yitzhak Rabin | Leader of Israel |
Yasser Arafat | Leader of PLO |
Seymour Hersh | Investigative reporter who covered the torture and abuses of POW's at Abu Ghraib |
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) | One measure of the size of the economy, by which China has passed the United States |