-
The New Look Defense
-
Brinksmanship, massive retaliation
-
NATO, CENTO, SEATO
-
Flexible Response
-
Bay of Pigs Invasion
-
Cuban Missile Crisis
-
The Geneva Agreement
-
Ho Chi Minh
-
The dates of the Vietnam War and the major events associated with this war.
-
The nature of the war in Vietnam
-
Mines
-
Gulf of Tonkin Incident (This was the name for the alleged “attack” against US ships off the coast of Vietnam in 1964 that prompted Lyndon Johnson to ask for and receive the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.)
-
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
-
The Ia Drang Valley
The 1950s: This WRITTEN LECTURE shifted the focus of the lectures from foreign to domestic activities. At this point, the focus of the class moved from what was happening outside of the United States during the Cold War to what was taking place within. It considered economic policies, the emergence of modern industries in aerospace, plastics, telecommunications, the emergence of the credit card and the suburb. The second half considered the formal civil rights movement that began in the 1940s and involved Emmett Till, Brown Vs Board, Freedom Rides, Freedom Summer.
You need to know the following:
-
The eradication of Polio and Malaria
-
Naked vs encapsulated viruses
-
Doing your own research vs expert inquiry
-
The GI Bill
-
Housing assistance and the emergence of Levittowns
-
The industries of the 1950s
-
The consumerism of the 1950s
-
The domestic actions of the 1950s presidents – Truman and Eisenhower. Know their plans, the laws passed during their tenure, etc. I’m not going to list all of that here but be sure you know this information.
-
The fear evident within American society in the 1950s - evident in music, UFO sightings, etc.
-
The Rosenbergs
-
Movies and literature from the 1950s
-
McCarthyism
-
Conformity
-
The real nature of spies in the USA
-
Executive Order 9835
-
HUAC
-
The effects of the Cold War on young people
-
Redlining and how minorities were left out of housing assistance.
The Civil Rights Movement:
This written lecture covered the mature Civil Rights movement, picking up with efforts to desegregate schools and moving into the Emmett Till murdered, sit-ins, Martin Luther King and nonviolent protest, and the legislation that sought to end segregation.
-
Know the entire timeline of the Civil Rights Movement. Know each major event/development. Know all of the major players in the movement as well.
-
NAACP and why it chose to start desegregation lawsuits after WWII.
-
The Constitutional Amendment the NAACP focused on when it challenged segregation after WWII
-
WWII's effects on racism/segregation
-
Brown Vs Board and school desegregation activities
-
Earl Warren's ruling on Brown and what influenced him.
-
Emmett Till
-
Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott
-
Martin Luther King
-
SCLC and non-violent protest
-
Sit ins
-
Freedom Rides
-
The Birmingham Protests and bombings
-
Freedom Summer
-
The Civil Rights Act
-
Voting Rights Act
The 1960s: Having established that young people were starting to assume an important role in American society, lectures now turned to youth behavior in the 1960s. Here, the emphasis turned to the early 1960s and to the behavior of college students and political leaders. Two lectures on the 1960s examined the emergence of young people as important players in American society. It also examined how young people gradually began to lost faith that American culture could achieve meaningful change. Events like the Watts and Detroit riots were considered, along with Great Society legislation and the Vietnam War.
You need to know the following: (Be sure to place events in their proper dates.)
-
The numbers and activities of college students of the early 1960s
-
The importance of College in youth activism
-
The causes embraced by students of the 1960s
-
SDS
-
The Port Huron Statement and Tom Hayden
-
John F. Kennedy and his appeal to the young
-
The New Frontier - that's the name JFK gave to his domestic policies.
-
The Peace Corps
-
Lyndon Johnson
-
The Great Society and its components
-
The Berkeley Free Speech Movement and Mario Savio
-
What happened to student activism in the 1960s?
-
The impact of Vietnam
-
Student concerns about Vietnam
-
Who died in Vietnam
-
Civil Rights successes of the early 1960s
-
The Watts Riot
-
The Detroit Riots
-
The 1967 riots
-
Racial conditions in northern cities – 1960s
-
de facto segregation, the difficulties fighting it, and what it produced
-
Black Power
-
Black Panthers
-
Counterculture – San Francisco, Human Be-in, counterculture behaviors, dates.
-
Altamont, Woodstock
-
1968 – the year of upheaval. MLK assassinated. Robert Kennedy assassinated. The Tet Offensive. The My Lai Massacre. The Protests at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
THE MODERN UNITED STATES: This lecture briefly outlined some of the major trends of the 1970s and 1980s.
You should be familiar with the following:
-
The Kent State Massacre and Jackson State shootings.
-
The Mecklenburg and Lau Cases.
-
Felix Longoria and what his experience indicates.
-
The Feminine Mystique
-
Title IX
-
Stonewall
-
The effects of 1970s activism in regards to Civil Rights and the environment
-
Love Canal
-
The Cold War's effect on the American economy in the 1970s
-
The energy crisis and modern pipelines
-
The year and story of the Watergate Scandal
-
The Ford Pardon and its significance and its relationship to the election of Donald Trump.
-
The Chernobyl Accident and its effects on the Cold War.
-
Projected future trends
Note: I will NOT be testing you on all those specific years in which individual accomplishments in civil rights took place - when people were appointed to the Supreme Court and such. Just understand the trend that those dates are outlining.
NOW, FOR THE CUMULATIVE SECTION.
Ten or so questions on this exam go back to the beginning of the class. For this section, you will need to know the major events of US history since 1877, the major people of US history since 1877, and the arguments expressed in this class. The cumulative section is not extraordinarily picky. However, it will include what I hope is information that you're likely to remember from each section of the class.
LOOK FOR THINGS THAT ARE COMMON TO THE THREE PERIODS COVERED IN CLASS: Marches on Washington, depressions and recessions, wars, strikes, disasters, powerful presidents, etc.
You need to know the following: (Don't limit yourself to this study guide, for I’m not going to mention everything that could be tested.)
-
The dates of the periods covered in this class. If you don't know the Gilded Age, the middle section, the last section, you will have trouble.
-
The wars, disasters, depressions, assassinations, periods of major social upheaval covered in this class.
-
Be aware of where things in our modern society originated. Look at the role of cities, major "founding fathers" from each section of the class, the most significant events of each period of the class.
-
The individuals who helped to shape US history since 1877 (William Jennings Bryan, Alfred T. Mahan, Frederick Jackson Turner, Emmett Till, Theodore Roosevelt, John Waldron, Henry Grady, Martin Luther King, Gustavus Swift, J.P. Morgan, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Franklin Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, the flapper, George Kennan, etc.)
-
Major speeches of American history noted in this class.
-
Civil disobedience, strikes, instances of terrorism in the US since 1877.
-
African American history since 1877.
-
The groundbreaking laws or Supreme Court rulings since 1877.
-
There will be something theme questions as well - questions that reference themes that run through US history. I'm hoping that if you've been steady through the semester, these themes will be fairly obvious.