U.S. History II Exam Four Study Guide PDF

**U.S. History II** **Exam Four Study Guide** **[PLEASE], in addition to this study guide, print off and go over the lecture notes from the classroom lectures. You will find that some exam questions are taken directly from the lecture note pages. Also, at the end of this Study Guide you will find...

**U.S. History II** **Exam Four Study Guide** **[PLEASE], in addition to this study guide, print off and go over the lecture notes from the classroom lectures. You will find that some exam questions are taken directly from the lecture note pages. Also, at the end of this Study Guide you will find the Essay Question. This is the exact question that will appear on the exam.** - **Comintern was the Communist's party's formal instrument of world revolution** - **The Tehran and Yalta Conferences were very important to formulate policy after World War II ended; The Tehran Conference planned a second front in France in the spring of 1944, established the concept of the "Four Policemen", planned to dismember Germany, demilitarize Germany, and discussed Poland's future** - **The Yalta Conference discussed postwar Eastern Europe, bringing the Soviet Union into war against Japan, dividing Germany and Austria, and replacing the League of Nations with the United Nations** - **The Potsdam Conference mainly discussed post-war Germany, while also discussing the Nazi war crime trials, the unconditional surrender of Japan and Truman informing Stalin of the American atomic bomb** - **The "iron curtain" was the phrase Winston Churchill used to describe what communism did to Eastern Europe and, indeed, what they would do to the world if possible** - **The Truman Doctrine basically was designed to contain the spread of communism** - **The Berlin Airlift was one of the first tests of resolve between the United States and Soviet Union after World War II, involving a relief effort to get supplies to West Berlin after the Soviet Union denied American access into the city** - **NATO was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization designed to provide mutual defense between the U.S., Canada, and several Western European nations** - **George Kennan wrote an article entitled *The Sources of Soviet Conduct* in 1946 which introduced the term "containment" into the Cold War lexicon; became known as the Long Telegram** - **The Containment Policy at the beginning of the Cold War involved three major things: 1)It seemed inevitable that the two major powers (U.S. and Soviet Union) from World War II would emerge from the war and come into conflict, 2) belief that Stalin was not keeping his promises of free elections in Poland that he said he would do at the Yalta Conference, 3) George Kennan's Long Telegram** - **The National Security Act of 1947 created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Council, and the Department of Defense** - **The Marshall Plan was the economic application of the containment policy; it envisioned a "New Deal" for Europeans; it proved to be one of the most successful foreign aid programs in history; it was also a prelude to European integration with no tariff trade barriers** - **President Harry S. Truman tried to begin the Civil Rights movement with Executive Order 9981; it was designed to abolish racial discrimination in the armed forces and eventually lead to end of segregation in the military** - **Truman ended up splitting the Democratic party when he: 1) advocated a civil rights program, 2) formally recognized the new nation of Israel in 1948, and 3) tried desegregating the U.S. military** - **Truman began the "Fair Deal" program, which Congress voted down at first; it was a series of domestic reforms including raising the minimum wage, expanding Social Security benefits, increasing federal spending to create jobs, building new public housing, and creating a system of national health insurance** - **Republicans countered Truman's "Fair Deal" with their own legislation** - **The "conflict" in Korea was another test of democracy and communism, ending up splitting the nation of Korea into a communist northern country and non-communist southern country, divided at the 38^th^ Parallel** - **Truman's "police action" in Korea instead of an outright declared war, but the United States still suffered many casualties as a result of the Korean conflict** - **Truman and American General Douglas MacArthur disagreed on strategy in Korea, with MacArthur wanting to take a more direct approach by invading China and heavily bomb North Korea; Truman ended up firing MacArthur** - **President Dwight Eisenhower ended up securing the peace treaty ending the Korean War** - **On one of the lecture note sheets, there is a section entitled Cold War Fears; be sure to know these five items** - **Dwight Eisenhower was the first Republican president for many years, after Democratic presidents FDR and Truman** - **Eisenhower employed a "middle of the road" domestic policy and an aggressive anti-communist foreign policy** - **McCarthyism, names for Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy was a low point in American for suspicions and allegations being charged by McCarthy at people, especially his enemies, as possibly being communists; the allegations were often just that, with no proof** - **The Federal Highway Act of 1956 added over 40,000 miles of interstate highways to the U.S.** - **Alaska and Hawaii became states during Eisenhower's administration** - **Eisenhower saw the creation of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare** - **The Space Age began during the Eisenhower administration** - **Be able to name, from the lecture notes, some of the countries where Eisenhower's foreign policy was challenged** - **Nikita Khrushchev was the Soviet leader that Eisenhower dealt with during his two terms as president** - **The United States, for the most part, had a booming economy during the Eisenhower administration** - **In the early 1950s, France was involved in fierce fighting against nationalist/communist rebels in its former colony of Vietnam; the French, asking for American help, were denied that help and they had to surrender; an agreement known as the Geneva Accords ended the war, but communism was brought into the northern part of the now split country; The Geneva Accords, provided for free elections as well, and the country was reunited; however, it would split again a few years later during the Vietnam Conflict (War) that the United States did become involved in** - **In the lecture notes, there are three items listed in the Voices of dissent section; be able to know about these three things: *Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS*, Montgomery, Alabama boycott, Little Rock, AR integration of schools** - **The Civil Rights movement was also known as the Freedom Movement** - **1896 Supreme Court case *Plessy v. Ferguson* justified the "separate but equal" doctrine; this case was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1954** - **Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery, Alabama and it sparked the bus boycott** - **Martin Luther King, Jr. was a major Civil Rights advocate who espoused the concept of nonviolent protesting; he led the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)** - **Orval Faubus was the Arkansas governor involved in the Central High School crisis in Little Rock** - **John F. Kennedy barely won the presidential election in 1960** - **The Berlin Wall construction and especially Cuban Missile Crisis were two issues that Kennedy had to face involving the further Cold War between the U.S. and Soviet Union** - **Kennedy had a two-step program enacted to deal with Cuba in the Cuban Missile Crisis; he ordered the quarantine of Cuba and threatened a nuclear strike if the Soviet Union didn't remove their missiles from Cuba** - **Kennedy's domestic program was known as the "New Frontier, which was an increase in government spending on social programs"** - **Lyndon B. Johnson, Kennedy's vice president, was sworn in as president shortly after Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas in November, 1963** - **Johnson's legislative program for social and domestic reform was more ambitious than Kennedy's had been; Johnson's program was known as the "Great Society"** - **Know the four main parts listed in the lecture notes of the "Great Society"** - **Johnson got the Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed; the law prohibited discrimination against African Americans in employment, voting, and public accommodations; it also banned any discrimination by race, color, sex, religion, or national origin** - **Civil Rights expanded with sit-ins and sit-downs** - **March on Washington, D.C. and the "I Have A Dream" speech of Martin Luther King, Jr.** - **Malcolm X was another Civil Rights leader, using a more direct approach than King did** - **Both Martin Luther King, Jr, and Senator Robert Kennedy were assassinated in 1968** - **NOW -- National Organization for Women; expanded women's rights in the 1960s** - **Cesar Chavez was a leading figure of the Civil Rights movement among Hispanic Americans, notably in the United Farm Workers (UFW) union** - **Lyndon Johnson's greatest challenge was in the Vietnam War/Conflict** - **Ho Chi Minh led North Vietnam and Ngo Dinh Diem led South Vietnam until his assassination** - **The war led to various protests, often at colleges/universities, in the U.S.** - **The "domino theory" stated that if one Asian nation falls to communism, it will cause a chain reaction leading to many falling to communism** - **Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave Johnson the right to "take all necessary measures" to repel any armed attack against American forces, escalating the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam to over 500,000 and beginning an intensive bombing campaign against North Vietnam** - **The Ho Chi Minh Trail, as it was called, was a network of roads, paths, and bridges connecting North and South Vietnam; it was heavily bombed after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution** - **The Tet Offensive against the North Vietnamese Vietcong was especially severe; images seen on American television further caused protests and the desire to end the Vietnam War** - **In 1968, Richard M. Nixon became president and he determined to end the Vietnam War; his strategy to do so, though, was to make it appear like the U.S. didn't lose the war; his attempt was threefold: 1) draft fewer men 2) withdraw troops slowly 3) expand bombing campaign in hopes North Vietnam would quit fighting** - **Although Nixon began the peace talks with Vietnam, the war would not officially end until 1975 in Gerald Ford's presidential administration** - **Nixon eased the tensions of the Cold War by visiting both China and the Soviet Union** - **Nixon appointed Henry Kissinger as his national security advisor; both men shared a belief in the doctrine of *realpolitik*, which is where policies based on national interest rather than ideology prevail; Kissinger later became Secretary of State** - **Nixon's domestic program was known as "New Federalism"** - **Nixon was responsible for OSHA and the EPA during his administration** - **OPEC also caused problems during the Nixon administration** - **Watergate became the crisis that ended Richard Nixon's presidency; Nixon ended up resigning when it was proved he ordered a cover up of an illegal break in at the Republican Party Headquarters (Watergate)** - **Spiro Agnew, Nixon's first vice-president, had resigned when he was accused of taking bribes as Governor of Maryland; Gerald R. Ford was appointed vice-president by Nixon, and after Nixon's resignation Ford became president** - **Ford was not regarded as being a very influential president** - **Inflation and unemployment were high during Ford's presidency** - **Ford worked to improve relations with China** - **With little experience in foreign affairs, though, Ford relied on Henry Kissinger, who he kept on as secretary of state** - **Jimmy Earl Carter was elected president in 1976; Carter became known as the "informal" president** - **Carter's foreign policy was based on human rights** - **The Iran problem hurt Carter; 52 hostages were taken from the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran, and kept for a long time; they were not released until after Carter was no longer president** - **The Soviets invaded Afghanistan during Carter's presidency, damaging the relationship with the Americans and Soviets, hurting *détente*** - **In the presidential election of 1980, Ronald Reagan (Republican) defeated Carter** - **Ronald Reagan became a popular president who served two terms as president** - **Reagan had a conservative philosophy that supported three main things: GET THIS LIST FROM THE LAST LECTURE NOTES** - **Reagan believed a tax cut would serve two main purposes, ALSO FOUND IN THE LAST LECTURE NOTES** - **The Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act of 1985 was designed to eliminate the federal deficit by 1991** - **During Reagan's second term he frequently worked with new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev** - **Several nuclear treaties were signed between the two leaders, especially the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty** - **The Cold War is symbolized as ending when the Berlin Wall was torn down, allowing East Berliners to go to West Berlin for the first time in years** - **After Reagan, his vice-president, George H.W. Bush, was elected president in 1988** - **START, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, was signed during Bush's presidency, marking the first time two nuclear powers agreed to destroy existing nuclear weapons** - **Lech Walesa, the leader of the Solidarity labor union in Poland, became a symbol of Polish resistance to communism** - **The Soviet Union was destabilizing and communism fell in the Soviet Union in late 1991** - **Foreign policy under Bush became linked with Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the starting of the First Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm** - **Domestically, Bush had several issues, but a fledgling economy hurt him** - **Bill Clinton defeated Bush in the election of 1992** - **Clinton wanted to reduce the budget deficit in the country; to do so, he called for three things: 1) cut government spending, 2) increase taxes on Americans who earned the most money, and 3) providing tax credits or savings for the poor** - **On the last lecture notes, know the FOUR components of Clinton's social agenda** - **Also on the last lecture notes, you will see Republicans hoped to win the 1994 CONGRESSIONAL elections; they promised to do SEVEN things; be able to recognize these things the Republicans called these seven things their "Contract With America"** - **Line-item veto -- allow the president to veto single items within a spending bill** - **Clinton increased the minimum wage and changed the welfare system during his second term, as he was reelected president in 1996** - **In Clinton's foreign policy, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was passed** - **George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush's son, was elected president in 2000** - **The election was very contested and wasn't called as a victory for Bush for five weeks** - **Bush proposed a large tax cut** - **Several good cabinet members marked Bush's presidency** - **Bush's main goal was to stimulate global economic growth** - **Terrorism, however, became one of the driving problems of the Bush administration and the "War on Terror" was declared by Bush on the terrorist groups of the world** - **Saddam Hussein of Iraq was captured and executed; Osama bin Laden, terrorist leader of Al Qaida, was also found and killed; the war on terror continues today** - **President Bush was reelected in 2004** **ESSAY QUESTION:\ ** **Discuss the major events of the Cold War. Which do you believe were the most significant? How did the Soviet Union and the United States react to these events? Who were the key leaders of the Soviet Union and the United States in the Cold War era? Use class lecture note sheets, the study guide, and textbook in helping you answer the question.**