Stock Market Crash / Black Tuesday

The collapse of stock prices on the NYSE beginning October 1929, triggering the Great Depression.

Dow Jones Index

Stock market index tracking major companies' share prices, fell ~90% from 1929-1932.

Income Distribution

By 1929, the wealthiest 1% held ~40% of national wealth, leading to extreme inequality.

Buying on Margin

Purchasing stocks by paying only ~10% upfront; brokers loaned the rest, leading to forced selling.

Gross National Product (GNP)

Total value of goods/services produced by a nation's residents, fell from ~$105B (1929) to ~$57B (1932).

Herbert Hoover

31st President (1929-1933) who believed in 'rugged individualism' and opposed direct federal relief.

Hawley-Smoot Tariff (1930)

Raised tariffs on 20,000+ imported goods, triggering retaliatory tariffs and collapsing international trade.

Debt Moratorium

Hoover's 1931 proposal for a one-year halt on WWI war-debt payments between nations.

Farm Board

Created by Agricultural Marketing Act (1929) to stabilize farm prices, but failed due to overproduction.

Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC)

1932 federal agency providing emergency loans to banks, railroads, and businesses.

Bonus March (1932)

~20,000 WWI veterans marched to D.C. demanding early payment of service bonuses.

Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR)

32nd President (1933-1945) who transformed the federal government's role through the New Deal.

Eleanor Roosevelt

Transformative First Lady who championed civil rights and the poor, and helped draft the UN Declaration.

Twentieth Amendment ('Lame-Duck')

Ratified 1933, moved presidential inauguration from March 4 to January 20.

First New Deal

FDR's initial wave of legislation (1933-34) focused on relief and recovery.

Relief, Recovery, Reform

The three R's summarizing New Deal goals: immediate aid, restarting the economy, fixing structural problems.

Brain Trust

FDR's informal group of academic advisers who helped shape New Deal policy.

Frances Perkins

First female Cabinet member and chief architect of Social Security and Fair Labor Standards Act.

Hundred Days

First 100 days of FDR's presidency (Mar-Jun 1933) where Congress passed 15 major laws.

Bank Holiday (1933)

FDR declared a 4-day national bank holiday to halt panic withdrawals.

Repeal of Prohibition

21st Amendment (1933) repealed the 18th Amendment, ending 13 years of federal alcohol ban.

Fireside Chats

FDR's radio addresses to the American public that made policies understandable.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

Created by Glass-Steagall Act (1933) to insure individual bank deposits.

Public Works Administration (PWA)

1933 agency that built roads, bridges, and schools, spending $6B on 34,000+ projects.

Harold Ickes

FDR's Secretary of the Interior and head of the PWA, known for anti-corruption oversight.

Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

1933 program that put unemployed young men to work in national forests, enrolling ~3 million men.

Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)

1933 federal agency that developed the Tennessee River valley and built 16 dams.

National Recovery Administration (NRA)

1933 agency that set industry-wide codes for wages, hours, and prices.

Schechter v. United States (1935)

Supreme Court case that ruled Congress unconstitutionally delegated power to the president via the NRA.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

Created 1934 to regulate the stock market and prevent fraud.

Federal Housing Administration (FHA)

Created 1934 to insure mortgages and enable 30-year fixed-rate loans.

Second New Deal

1935-36 wave of legislation that created Social Security and focused on workers and the poor.

Works Progress Administration (WPA)

1935 agency that employed ~8.5 million Americans and built 650,000 miles of roads.

Harry Hopkins

Head of the WPA and FDR's closest aide, believed work relief was better than handouts.

National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act (1935)

Gave workers the legal right to organize unions and bargain collectively.

Social Security Act (1935)

Created federal old-age pension, unemployment insurance, and aid for dependent children.

Father Charles Coughlin

Catholic 'Radio Priest' who initially supported FDR but later turned against the New Deal.

Francis Townsend

Proposed the 'Townsend Plan' — $200/month pension for Americans over 60.

Huey Long

Louisiana Governor/Senator; proposed 'Share Our Wealth' — cap fortunes, guarantee minimum income.

Supreme Court Reorganization Plan (1937)

FDR's plan to add up to 6 new justices for each one over 70 — Congress rejected it overwhelmingly.

Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO)

Organized workers by industry rather than craft; led by John L. Lewis.

John L. Lewis

Leader of the United Mine Workers; founder of the CIO.

Sit-Down Strike

Labor tactic where workers occupied factories and refused to leave.

Fair Labor Standards Act (1938)

Established first federal minimum wage (25¢/hr) and 40-hour work week.

New Democratic Coalition

Broad alliance FDR built that dominated politics for ~30 years.

John Maynard Keynes

British economist whose theories underpinned New Deal deficit spending.

Depression Mentality

Psychological mindset shaped by the Depression — fear of spending, saving obsessively.

Dust Bowl / Okies

Severe 1930s drought + poor farming practices caused massive topsoil erosion.

John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

1939 novel following the Joad family fleeing the Dust Bowl to California.

Marian Anderson

World-renowned Black contralto denied permission by the DAR to perform at Constitution Hall.

Mary McLeod Bethune

Prominent Black educator; founded Bethune-Cookman College.

Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC)

Created by Executive Order 8802 (1941) to prevent discrimination in defense industries.

A. Philip Randolph

Founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; threatened a 1941 March on Washington.

Indian Reorganization (Wheeler-Howard) Act (1934)

Reversed the Dawes Act; restored tribal self-government and allowed tribes to adopt constitutions.

Manchuria (Manchukuo)

Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931; created the puppet state of Manchukuo.

Stimson Doctrine (1932)

Secretary of State Stimson declared the U.S. would not recognize any territory acquired by force.

Good-Neighbor Policy

FDR's 1933 Latin America policy renouncing U.S. intervention.

London Economic Conference (1933)

66-nation conference aimed at stabilizing currencies and reviving trade.

Soviet Union Recognition (1933)

FDR formally recognized the USSR — 16 years after the Bolshevik Revolution.

Tydings-McDuffie Act (1934)

Granted the Philippines a 10-year transition to independence.

Cordell Hull

FDR's Secretary of State (1933-1944) — longest-serving ever.

Fascism

Ultranationalist, authoritarian ideology rejecting democracy, liberalism, and communism.

Benito Mussolini / Italian Fascist Party

Founded the first fascist state in Italy; ruled as Il Duce.

Adolf Hitler / German Nazi Party

Austrian-born demagogue; Chancellor then Führer of Germany (1933-45).

Axis Powers

Military alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Isolationism

American foreign policy tradition of avoiding European wars and entangling alliances.

Nye Committee (1934-36)

Senate committee concluding that bankers and munitions makers had pushed the U.S. into WWI for profit.

Neutrality Acts (1935-37)

Series of laws banning arms sales and loans to warring nations.

Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

Civil war between the elected Spanish Republic and Franco's Nationalist rebels.

Francisco Franco

Spanish general who led the Nationalist rebellion and established authoritarian dictatorship.

America First Committee

Leading non-interventionist organization opposing U.S. entry into WWII.

Appeasement

British/French policy of making concessions to Hitler.

Munich Agreement (1938)

Surrendered Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland.

Ethiopia

Italy invaded independent Ethiopia (1935) under Mussolini.

Rhineland (1936)

Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland (demilitarized under Versailles).

Czechoslovakia / Sudetenland

Munich Agreement (Sept 1938): Britain and France forced Czechoslovakia to cede its Sudetenland to Hitler.

Quarantine Speech (1937)

FDR speech in Chicago calling for international 'quarantine' of aggressor nations.

Poland / Blitzkrieg

Germany invaded Poland September 1, 1939 — started WWII in Europe.

Cash and Carry (1939)

Revision of Neutrality Act allowing belligerents to buy arms if they paid cash and transported goods themselves.

Selective Training and Service Act (1940)

First peacetime military draft in U.S. history.

Destroyers-for-Bases Deal (1940)

U.S. gave Britain 50 aging WWI destroyers in exchange for naval base leases.

Four Freedoms Speech (Jan 1941)

FDR's State of the Union articulating war aims: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, freedom from fear.

Lend-Lease Act (Mar 1941)

Authorized president to lend/lease weapons to any nation vital to U.S. defense.

Atlantic Charter (Aug 1941)

Joint statement of war aims between FDR and Churchill.

Pearl Harbor (Dec 7, 1941)

Japanese surprise attack on U.S. naval base in Hawaii.

Office of Price Administration (OPA)

Federal agency that prevented wartime inflation by controlling prices and rationing goods.

Smith v. Allwright (1944)

Supreme Court struck down white-only Democratic primaries in the South.

Korematsu v. United States (1944)

Supreme Court upheld FDR's order for Japanese American internment.

Harry S. Truman

33rd President (1945-1953). Dropped atomic bombs on Japan.

Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1945)

Longest continuous WWII campaign.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Supreme Allied Commander in Europe; later 34th President (1953-61).

D-Day (June 6, 1944)

Operation Overlord — largest seaborne invasion in history.

Battle of the Bulge (Dec 1944-Jan 1945)

Germany's last major offensive.

Holocaust

Nazi Germany's systematic murder of ~6 million Jews.

Battle of Midway (June 1942)

Decisive Pacific naval battle — turning point of the Pacific War.

Chester Nimitz

Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet during WWII.

Douglas MacArthur

Commanded Allied forces in Southwest Pacific.

Manhattan Project (1942-1945)

Secret U.S.-British-Canadian program to build an atomic bomb.

J. Robert Oppenheimer

Scientific director of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos.

Atomic Bomb / Hiroshima & Nagasaki

U.S. dropped 'Little Boy' on Hiroshima and 'Fat Man' on Nagasaki.

Big Three / Yalta (Feb 1945)

FDR, Churchill, and Stalin met at Yalta.

United Nations (1945)

International organization created at San Francisco Conference.

GI Bill / Servicemen's Readjustment Act (1944)

Provided veterans with low-cost mortgages, college tuition, and job training.

Baby Boom (1946-1964)

~76 million 'baby boomers' born as returning WWII veterans started families.

Suburban Growth

Postwar explosion of suburban housing enabled by GI Bill mortgages.

Sunbelt

Southern and western states that boomed with migration after WWII.

Employment Act of 1946

Required the federal government to promote maximum employment and purchasing power.

Taft-Hartley Act (1947)

Labor law passed over Truman's veto; outlawed closed shops, sympathy strikes, and secondary boycotts.

Dixiecrats / Strom Thurmond (1948)

Southern Democrats who bolted over Truman's civil rights platform; nominated Strom Thurmond for president.

Thomas Dewey (1948)

Republican nominee; widely expected to defeat Truman; Chicago Tribune ran premature headline 'DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN.'

Fair Deal

Truman's domestic program extending the New Deal; proposed national health insurance and civil rights laws.

Cold War (1947-1991)

Geopolitical and ideological rivalry between the U.S. and Soviet Union; shaped American domestic and foreign policy.

Iron Curtain

Term coined by Winston Churchill describing the division of Europe between the democratic West and Soviet-dominated East.

George Kennan

U.S. diplomat who articulated containment policy; wrote the 'Long Telegram' and 'X Article.'

Dean Acheson

Truman's Secretary of State; architect of NATO, Marshall Plan, and Korean War coalition.

Containment Policy

Core U.S. Cold War strategy to prevent Soviet expansion beyond its existing sphere.

Truman Doctrine (Mar 1947)

Truman's address requesting aid for Greece and Turkey; first formal statement of containment as U.S. foreign policy.

Marshall Plan (1948)

U.S. provided $12.4B to rebuild Western Europe; prevented desperation from driving nations toward communism.

Berlin Airlift (1948-1949)

Soviets blockaded West Berlin; U.S. and Britain supplied the city by air for 11 months.

NATO (1949)

Military alliance among U.S., Canada, and Western European nations; Article 5 states an attack on one is an attack on all.

National Security Act (1947)

Created the Department of Defense, CIA, NSC, and Joint Chiefs of Staff; foundation of the modern national security state.

NSC-68

1950 top-secret report recommending massively increasing defense spending from $13B to $50B/year.

Chinese Civil War (1949)

Communist Mao Zedong defeated Nationalist Chiang Kai-shek; Mao proclaimed People's Republic of China.

HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee)

Congressional committee investigating alleged communist influence in government and Hollywood.

Smith Act (1940) / Dennis v. United States

Smith Act made it illegal to advocate overthrow of the government by force; upheld in Dennis (1951).

McCarran Internal Security Act (1950)

Required communist organizations to register with the government; allowed internment of suspected subversives.

Alger Hiss / Whittaker Chambers

Hiss: senior State Dept official accused of being a Soviet spy; convicted of perjury.

Rosenberg Case (1953)

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets; executed in 1953.

Joseph McCarthy

Republican Senator who claimed to have a list of communists in the State Dept; known for reckless smear tactics.

Korean War / UN Police Action (1950-53)

North Korea invaded South Korea; Truman committed forces under UN flag without a congressional war declaration.

38th Parallel

Latitude line dividing North and South Korea; Korea was divided here in 1945.

Modern Republicanism

Eisenhower's moderate philosophy; accepted the New Deal welfare state but sought fiscal restraint.

John Foster Dulles / Brinksmanship

Eisenhower's Secretary of State; 'Brinksmanship' = willingness to go to the 'brink of war' to force Soviet concessions.

Massive Retaliation

Eisenhower's nuclear strategy promising devastating nuclear response to Soviet aggression.

Domino Theory

Belief that if one country fell to communism, neighbors would follow; articulated by Eisenhower.

SEATO (1954)

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization; regional collective defense alliance modeled on NATO.

Suez Canal Crisis (1956)

Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal; Britain, France, and Israel invaded; marked the end of British/French imperial power.

Eisenhower Doctrine (1957)

Authorized U.S. to use military force to help any Middle Eastern nation threatened by communist aggression.

OPEC

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries; cartel coordinating oil production and prices.

Founded 1960

Became extremely powerful during the 1973 oil embargo, quadrupling oil prices and causing global recession.

Nikita Khrushchev / Peaceful Coexistence

Soviet leader (1953-1964) who denounced Stalin's crimes and pursued 'peaceful coexistence' — Cold War competition without direct war.

Hungarian Revolt (1956)

Popular uprising against Soviet-backed government in Hungary. Rebels called for neutrality and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact.

Sputnik (Oct 1957)

Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, shocking Americans who assumed U.S. technological superiority.

NASA (1958)

Created in response to Sputnik to coordinate U.S. space efforts. Launched first U.S. satellite (Explorer 1, 1958).

U-2 Incident (1960)

American spy plane shot down over the Soviet Union; pilot Francis Gary Powers captured. Eisenhower had denied U.S. flew spy missions.

Military-Industrial Complex

Term coined by Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address. Warned against 'unwarranted influence' of the alliance between defense contractors and the military.

Interstate Highway Act (1956)

Authorized 41,000+ miles of interstate highways — largest U.S. public works project to that point.

Jackie Robinson (1947)

First African American to play in modern Major League Baseball (Brooklyn Dodgers). Endured intense hostility with discipline and grace.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Supreme Court unanimously ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Earl Warren

Chief Justice (1953-1969) who led the most activist Court in U.S. history. Wrote the Brown v. Board decision.

Little Rock Crisis (1957)

Arkansas Gov. Faubus called National Guard to prevent integration of Central High School. Nine Black students faced violent mobs.

Rosa Parks / Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56)

Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white man — arrested December 1, 1955.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Baptist minister and preeminent civil rights leader. Led Montgomery boycott; founded SCLC; organized Birmingham and Selma campaigns.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Founded 1957 by MLK and Black ministers after Montgomery boycott. Emphasized nonviolent direct action.

Nonviolent Protest

Civil rights strategy inspired by Gandhi. Protesters accepted arrest and violence to demonstrate moral authority.

Sit-In Movement (1960)

February 1, 1960: four Black students sat at a whites-only Woolworth's counter in Greensboro, NC.

SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee)

Student-led civil rights organization formed after Greensboro sit-ins (1960). Organized Freedom Rides and voter registration in Mississippi.

Civil Rights Acts of 1957 & 1960

First civil rights laws since Reconstruction. Created Civil Rights Commission and Justice Dept Civil Rights Division.

John F. Kennedy (JFK)

35th President (1961-63). Youngest elected; first Catholic. New Frontier domestic program; navigated Cuban Missile Crisis.

Bay of Pigs (Apr 1961)

CIA-trained Cuban exiles invaded Cuba to overthrow Castro — failed disastrously.

Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct 1962)

U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles being installed in Cuba. 13-day standoff — closest the Cold War came to nuclear war.

Berlin Wall (1961-1989)

East Germany built a wall dividing Berlin overnight (August 13, 1961) to stop mass emigration to the West.

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963)

Agreement between U.S., UK, and USSR banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, underwater, and in space.

Flexible Response

JFK's military strategy replacing massive retaliation. Built up conventional forces to respond at multiple levels.

Lyndon Johnson (LBJ)

36th President (1963-69). Succeeded JFK. Master legislator who passed landmark Great Society laws.

Great Society

LBJ's ambitious domestic program (1964-68) to eliminate poverty and racial injustice.

War on Poverty / Michael Harrington

LBJ declared 'unconditional war on poverty' (1964). Michael Harrington's The Other America (1962) exposed persistent poverty.

Medicare / Medicaid (1965)

Medicare: federal health insurance for Americans 65+. Medicaid: joint federal-state insurance for low-income Americans.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Landmark law banning discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Banned discriminatory voting practices (literacy tests). Authorized federal oversight of elections with histories of discrimination.

March on Washington / 'I Have a Dream' (Aug 1963)

~250,000 marchers gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to demand civil rights legislation.

Black Power

A movement advocating for Black self-determination, popularized by Stokely Carmichael in 1966.

Black Panthers

A group founded in Oakland in 1966 that advocated armed self-defense and radical social programs.

Malcolm X

Nation of Islam minister advocating Black nationalism and self-defense, assassinated in 1965.

Watts Riots

Six days of riots in Los Angeles in 1965 after a police beating, resulting in 34 dead and $40 million in damage.

Kerner Commission

A 1968 report stating America was 'moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.'

Warren Court Key Cases

Notable cases include Gideon v. Wainwright (right to counsel) and Miranda v. Arizona (rights of suspects).

Betty Friedan

Author of The Feminine Mystique, which sparked second-wave feminism and co-founded NOW.

The Feminine Mystique

A book published in 1963 that identified suburban women's dissatisfaction as 'the problem that has no name.'

Vietnam War

Conflict involving U.S. military engagement in Vietnam, leading to significant casualties and political turmoil.

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

1964 Congressional resolution authorizing the president to use military force in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war.

Tet Offensive

A massive attack by North Vietnam and Viet Cong in January 1968 that undermined public confidence in the war.

Henry Kissinger

Nixon's NSA and Secretary of State, known for his role in détente and Vietnamization.

Kent State

Site of a 1970 incident where National Guard fired on students protesting the Vietnam War, killing four.

My Lai

A 1968 massacre where U.S. soldiers killed approximately 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians.

Pentagon Papers

A leaked study in 1971 revealing government deception regarding the Vietnam War.

Paris Accords

A 1973 peace agreement that ended direct U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.

Détente

Nixon and Kissinger's policy aimed at relaxing Cold War tensions through diplomacy and trade.

SALT I

The first U.S.-Soviet agreement limiting nuclear weapons, signed in 1972.

Watergate

A political scandal involving a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and subsequent cover-up by Nixon.

United States v. Nixon

A Supreme Court case ruling that Nixon must release White House tapes, leading to his resignation.

War Powers Act

A 1973 law requiring the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of military engagement.

Stagflation

An economic condition characterized by high inflation and high unemployment occurring simultaneously.

OPEC Oil Embargo

A 1973 embargo by Arab OPEC nations that quadrupled oil prices and triggered a recession in the U.S.

New Federalism

Nixon's policy of transferring power and resources from the federal government to the states.

Gerald Ford

The only U.S. president to serve without being elected, known for pardoning Nixon.

Jimmy Carter

39th President (1977-1981) known for emphasizing human rights and facing multiple crises.

Camp David Accords

A peace agreement brokered by Carter between Egypt and Israel in 1978.

Iran Hostage Crisis

A crisis from 1979 to 1981 where 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days.

Afghanistan Invasion

The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, leading to U.S. sanctions and support for Afghan resistance.