APUSH Period 8 review

1
APUSH Period 8 review

• 1945 to 1980 redux

2
How does the College Board summarise this period?

• After World War II, the United States grappled
  with prosperity and unfamiliar international
  responsibilities while struggling to live up to
  its ideals.
• In short, its a time of American hegemony, and
  yet, at the same time, America has never felt
  more insecure. We are the undisputed leaders of
  the free world, and this is a responsibility we
  find difficult to bear.

3
Whats the first key concept?

• The United States responded to an uncertain and
  unstable postwar world by asserting and
  attempting to defend a position of global
  leadership, with far-reaching domestic and
  international consequences.
• This key concept asks us to look at the US
  foreign policy, particularly how it reacts to the
  rise of the Soviet Union as a superpower. Our
  foreign policy largely defines our government for
  this period.

4
Whats the second key concept?

• Liberalism, based on anticommunism abroad and a
  firm belief in the efficacy of governmental and
  especially federal power to achieve social goals
  at home, reached its apex in the mid- 1960s and
  generated a variety of political and cultural
  responses.
• Specifically, this key concept is referring to
  the presidencies of JFK and LBJ, who worked to
  enact much of our present-day welfare system.
  Liberalism waned around the 80s, the end of the
  period.

5
Whats the third key concept?

• Postwar economic, demographic, and technological
  changes had a far-reaching impact on American
  society, politics, and the environment.
• This is a very broad-reaching concept, but it
  essentially asks us to look at the historical
  events that led American society to be what it is
  today. We went from barely understanding flight
  to neutron bombs and moon-landings, and it
  reshaped our national psyche drastically.

6
What were the important events from 1945 to 1964?

• 1945 - World War II ends with overwhelming
  American victory and bombing of Japan
• 1947 - Truman Doctrine unveiled Stalin orders
  his satellite nations not to accept US aid
• 1948 - Truman elected President over Dewey to
  national surprise brings fresh life to New Deal
  Coalition
• 1949 - Soviet Union tests first nuclear weapon
  first steps towards Soviet-US military parity
• 1952 - Eisenhower elected thanks to Draft
  movement maintains status quo and contains
  Communism
• 1953 - Stalin dies, ushering in potential change
  for Soviet Union Korean War ended
• 1954 - Landmark Brown v. Board of Education
  decision educational segregation now illegal
• 1957 - Sputnik launched, inciting massive
  paranoia and a push towards the maths and
  sciences
• 1960 - JFK elected as youngest ever President,
  representing the nations hope for the era
• 1963 - JFK assassinated in a moment of national
  trauma LBJ becomes President
• 1964 - Civil Rights Act passed thanks to LBJ LBJ
  passes a great deal of legislation

7
What were the important events from 1964 to 1975?

• 1964 - LBJ trounces Barry Goldwater in a firm
  rejection of hardline conservative Republicanism
• 1964 - Economic Opportunity Act passed,
  initiating some of Americas first concerted
  anti-poverty efforts
• 1964 - Gulf of Tonkin Resolution begins Americas
  first formal war in Vietnam
• 1965 - Voting Rights Act passed black voter
  registration in South skyrockets
• 1965 - Medicare and Medicaid launched, providing
  healthcare to millions of the disadvantaged and
  elderly
• 1969 - Apollo 11 lands the first ever man on the
  Moon the US is seen as having won the Space Race
• 1969 - Woodstock Festival occurs, signifying apex
  of counterculture/hippie movement
• 1971 - Bretton Woods status quo ends US dollar
  no longer convertible to gold
• 1972 - Equal Rights Amendment passed by Congress
  failed to be ratified due to conservative women
• 1973 - Yom Kippur War spurs OPEC to end shipments
  of oil to nations supporting Israel
• 1973 - Roe v. Wade makes official American
  womens rights to have an abortion in all states
• 1974 - Nixon resigns due to Watergate scandal
  Ford becomes President and pardons Nixon
• 1975 - South Vietnam and the US formally lose the
  Vietnam War Saigon has fallen after US retreat

8
What were the important events from 1975 to 1980?

• 1975 - American cities reach the nadir of their
  decline NYC requests a bailout and Ford denies
  it
• 1976 - Jimmy Carter, a Georgia political
  outsider, becomes the first postbellum President
  from the South
• 1979 - Iranian Hostage Crisis begins
  simultaneous massive economic recession
• 1979 - Ties are formally restored with China,
  culminating Nixons feat of diplomacy

9
Review in Pictures

• The Allied leaders at the Yalta Conference in
  1945 this summit established the post-World War
  II status quo
• (Key Concept 1)

10

• The Space Race is seen by many as concluded with
  the United States historic landing on the Moon
  in 1969
• (Key Concept 3)

11

• The Korean War was the United States first major
  Cold War-era proxy war, costing nearly 40k
  American lives
• (Key Concept 1)

12

• The United States began to migrate from the dense
  inner-cities to generic suburbs like Levittown in
  the 1950s
• (Key Concept 3)

13

• The March on Washington was the height of the
  Civil Rights Movement, enabling a path from
  institutionalised racism
• (Key Concept 2)

14

• Forces on both sides committed atrocities in the
  Vietnam War effort to contain communism and/or
  imperialism
• (Key Concept 1)