Recent American History Course Review

Recent American History Course Review Course Level: Academic Grade: 10 Revised June 2008 Book: The Americans, McDougal Littell

Unit I: The Early Cold War Period: 1945-1965 (Chapters 18 and 20 Section 1) 1. Explain the fundamental differences between the U.S. and Soviet positions regarding the future of Eastern Europe when World War II ended in 1945. Make specific reference to the Yalta and Potsdam agreements in your answer. 2. Explain the fundamental differences between Soviet Communism and the capitalist and democratic system of the United States. How did these difference lead to tensions between the two countries? 3. What was the Cold War? Summarize various explanations of the causes of the Cold War. 4. Explain how President Truman dealt with each of the following crises during his presidency: a. The Berlin blockade. b. Soviet acquisition of the atomic bomb. c. The Chinese Civil War. 5. Explain the goals, and results of each of the following. How does each reflect the policy of containment? a. The Truman Doctrine. d. The Berlin Airlift b. The Marshall Plan. e. American intervention in the Korean War. c. NATO f. American support for the Chinese Nationalists. 6. Explain the origin of the term “iron curtain.” Where was the “iron curtain” located? 7. Briefly describe the major events during the Korean War and discuss the reasons for conflict between President Truman and General MacArthur. Why was MacArthur fired? 8. Explain the outcome of the Korean War on the Korean Peninsula and on US foreign, domestic and military policies. 9. Explain how each of the following contributed to the "Red Scare" that swept America during the early years of the Cold War. a. Communist expansion in Europe and Asia. d. The Alger Hiss case b. Soviet acquisition of the atomic bomb. e. The Rosenberg trial. c. HUAC investigations f. McCarthyism. 10. Explain how President Kennedy responded to each of the following during his presidency. a. Third World poverty. e. The discovery of Soviet nuclear missiles in b. The space race. Cuba. c. The construction of the Berlin Wall. f. Nuclear testing. d. The emergence of a communist government in Cuba. 11. Key Terms: communism Yalta and Potsdam limited war agreements the “Red Scare” covert CIA operations Iron Curtain speech McCarthyism Sputnik United Nations witch hunt Peace Corps containment blacklisting Bay of Pigs invasion Warsaw Pact hydrogen bomb Berlin Wall brinkmanship Cuban missile crisis 12. Key Names: Harry S Truman Alger Hiss John Foster Dulles Joseph Stalin Fidel Castro Winston Churchill Joseph McCarthy John F Kennedy Douglas MacArthur Mao Zedong the Rosenbergs Nikita Khrushchev Dwight D. Eisenhower

Unit II: Post-War America, New Frontier and Great Society (Chapters 19 and 20) 1. Describe the policy and goals of the GI Bill of Rights. Explain the long-term impact the GI Bill had on the U.S. 2. Describe the economic and social conditions in the United States immediately following World War II. How did President Truman address these issues? 3. Explain the impact of the following social/economic/demographic/cultural conditions that existed in the U.S. during the 1950s a. Middle-class migration to the suburbs and e. Consumerism and status consciousness. development of suburban culture f. The role of women b. The baby-boom. g. Rock 'n Roll c. Post-war economic prosperity. h. Television d. Middle class conformity. i. The automobile culture. 4. Describe the candidates, events, and results of the 1948 and 1960 presidential elections. 5. Explain each of the following as it relates to the presidency of John F. Kennedy. a. Inaugural Address b. “The New Frontier” c. Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963 d. Warren Commission 6. What was the Great Society? Explain the goals and programs of the Great Society related to. a. poverty. b. Medical care. c. education. d. public housing. e. immigration f. civil rights 10. Explain how rulings of the Warren Court during the 1960s affected the following? a. Integration. b. Rights of the accused. c. Separation of church and state (school prayer). d. Representation in Congress 11. Key Terms: 1948 whistle-stop campaign “Dixiecrats” “Dewey defeats Truman” Nixon's Checkers speech "I Like Ike" “peace, progress and prosperity” beatniks Levittown activist government The “War on Poverty” Medicare and Medicaid Head Start Space race Unit III: Equality and Social Reform (Chapters 21, 23 and 24 section 4) 1. Explain each of the following as background to the civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties. a. the equal protection clause c. Plessy v. Ferguson b. “Jim Crow” laws. d. The “'separate but equal” doctrine 2. Explain the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) Why is this decision historically important? 3. What was the civil rights movement? Explain the goals of the civil rights movement related to each of the following: a. Segregation. b. Discrimination (equal protection under the law). c. Expanded voting rights. 4. Explain the significance of each of the following events that were part of the civil rights movement: a. The Montgomery bus boycott f. Birmingham and Selma marches b. The Little Rock crisis. g. Passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. c. Freedom Rides. h. Passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. d. Lunch counter sit-ins i. Assassination of Martin Luther King e. 1963 march on Washington (King's "I Have a Dream" speech). 5. Explain and give examples of the following methods through which participants in the civil rights movement tried to achieve their goals: a. Boycotts. b. Sit-ins. c. Civil disobedience. d. Non-violent protest. 6. Explain how the black power and black separatist movements marked a change in the goals and strategies of the modern civil rights movement. 7. What were the goals of the women's liberation movement? Explain how each of the following is related to that movement: a. The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan b. NOW c. Roe v Wade (1973) 8. Describe the goals and lifestyles of both the "counterculture” and the "New Left" political movement of the sixties. How were the goals of the two groups different? 9. Use specific examples from this unit to assess the relative effectiveness of working within the system or outside of the system to achieve significant social and/or political change. 10. Key terms: de facto segregation SCLC women's liberation de jure segregation Black Panthers movement "Jim Crow" laws Counterculture Silent Spring NAACP Woodstock Hippies discrimination free speech movement Baby boomers racism SDS SNCC generation gap 11. Key Names: Thurgood Marshall Rosa Parks Gloria Steinem John F. Kennedy Lyndon Johnson Martin Luther King, Jr. Malcolm X Earl Warren Phyllis Schlaffly Unit IV: The Vietnam War and the1970’s (Chapters 22 and 24) 1. Explain the roots of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Explain how the U.S. government, from the Truman Administration through the Johnson Administration, justified U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. 2. Identify and explain the significance of each of the following. Explain the impact (if any) each had on the American public's support for or opposition to the Vietnam War. a. Gulf of Tonkin incident f. Mylai massacre. b. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution g. Kent State c. Escalation, 1965-1968 h. Media coverage of the war. d. Tet offensive. i. Vietnamization e. The Pentagon Papers. j. U.S. invasion of Cambodia 3. Describe the experience of soldiers fighting in Vietnam. 4. What were the main arguments of the antiwar movement in America? What methods did the antiwar protesters use to protest the war? What was the impact of the antiwar movement? The backlash? 5. Explain the impact of the Vietnam War on presidential politics in 1968. Demonstrate an understanding of the significance of the 1968 Democratic Convention in your answer. 6. How did the Vietnam War compare with earlier American wars regarding each of the following? a. Casualties. c. Battles won. b. The draft d. The outcome. 7. Explain how American involvement in Vietnam ended by tracing the political, military and foreign policy events that led to the fall of Saigon in 1975. 8. What has been the long-term legacy of the Vietnam War regarding each of the following? a. Conflict between the president and Congress. b. Trust/mistrust of government in America. 9. Describe Nixon’s foreign policies regarding each of the following and discuss the extent to which each policy was successful: a. Détente b. Nuclear weapons c. China 10. Describe the Watergate crisis and why it led to Nixon’s resignation as President.

11. Key Terms: 1954 Geneva Accords anti-war movement conscientious objectors War Powers Act the "Silent Majority" Draft resistance the Pentagon papers New Left Vietnamization Generation Gap Kent State CREEP Vietcong Nuclear Regulatory Commission Peace with honor Camp David Accords “Hawks” vs. “Doves” Stagflation 1973 cease-fire agreement

12. Key Names: Ho Chi Minh George McGovern Eugene McCarthy George C. Wallace Robert Kennedy Rachel Carson Hubert H. Humphrey John Dean Henry Kissinger H.R. Haldeman William Westmoreland Woodward and Bernstein Ayatollah Khomeini Unit V: The Conservative Tide (Chapter 24 sections 3 and Chapter 25) 1. To what extent was the focus of Jimmy Carter’s foreign policy a dramatic change from previous Cold War presidents? Consider idealism, human rights and détente in your discussion 2. Describe the characteristics of “Reaganomics.” Discuss how Reaganomics relates to each of the following: a. Taxes b. Federal budget deficits and debt c. Economic growth d. Deregulation of business activity e. The environment. 3. Discuss the role of Presidents Reagan and Bush (41) in the end of the Cold War. Describe the factors that led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union. 4. Describe the Iran-Contra scandal. How was it both a foreign policy issue and a struggle between the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government? 5. Key Terms a. Moral Majority f. Glasnost b. Evangelical Christians g. Perestroika c. SDI h. Sandinistas d. Pay equity i.Contras e. Affirmative action j. Operation Desert Storm

Unit VI: Passage to a New Century (Chapter 26) 1. Why was President Clinton impeached? What effects did the impeachment have on the U.S.? 2. Discuss the factors that led to the controversy surrounding the 2000 election. Why were the state of Florida and the Electoral College particularly significant in this election? 3. Explain the significance of September 11, 2001. 4. Key Terms a. Al-Qaeda 5. Key Names a. Bill Clinton b. Al Gore c. George W. Bush