Notes
The Cold War
- Containment aimed to stop the spread of communism: the Truman Doctrine (1947), the Marshall Plan (rebuilding Western Europe), NATO (1949), and the Berlin Airlift.
- The Korean War (1950–1953) ended in a stalemate. The arms race and fear of nuclear war shaped the era; the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) came close to war.
- The Vietnam War escalated after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964). It caused huge protests and distrust of government; the War Powers Act (1973) limited the president.
- At home, the Second Red Scare and McCarthyism led to accusations and blacklists.
Postwar society
- The GI Bill paid for veterans' college and home loans. Suburbs (Levittown), the baby boom, the interstate highway system, and television grew. Many suburbs excluded Black families through redlining and restrictive covenants.
- The Sun Belt grew as people moved South and West.
The civil rights movement
- Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruled school segregation unconstitutional, overturning Plessy.
- The Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–1956), sit-ins, Freedom Rides, the March on Washington (1963), and the Selma marches used nonviolent protest (Martin Luther King Jr.).
- Laws: the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (banned segregation in public places and job discrimination) and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (protected Black voting).
- Later, the Black Power movement (Malcolm X, the Black Panthers) emphasized self-reliance and pride.
- Other movements: the women's movement (Betty Friedan, NOW, Title IX), the Chicano movement (César Chávez, United Farm Workers), the American Indian Movement, gay rights (Stonewall, 1969), and environmentalism (Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, the EPA in 1970).
Liberalism and its critics
- LBJ's Great Society: Medicare, Medicaid, federal aid to education, and the War on Poverty.
- The Warren Court expanded rights: Gideon v. Wainwright (right to a lawyer), Miranda v. Arizona.
- The late 1960s brought the counterculture and political division. Watergate led Nixon to resign (1974). The 1970s saw inflation, oil shocks and a growing conservative movement.
Practice
Economic aid made communism less attractive.
It overturned Plessy v. Ferguson for schools.
The boycott lasted over a year and ended bus segregation there.
It sharply increased Black voter registration in the South.
Banks and the government rated these areas as risky.
Congress approved military action without declaring war.
Medicare (1965) gave health insurance to the elderly.
It warned about pesticides like DDT.
Free response
Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.
Free-response question
Answer (a), (b) and (c).
(a) Briefly describe ONE strategy civil rights activists used in the 1950s and 1960s.
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Nonviolent direct action, like sit-ins at segregated lunch counters, boycotts, and marches, drew national attention to injustice.
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(b) Briefly describe ONE federal action that supported civil rights in this period.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned segregation in public places and discrimination in employment.
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(c) Briefly explain ONE way another group was inspired by the civil rights movement.
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Mexican American farmworkers led by César Chávez used boycotts and strikes to win better pay and conditions, borrowing nonviolent tactics.
Check off the points you earned: