the feminine mystique
A book written by Betty Friedan in 1963 that launched the feminist movement.
rock 'n' roll
A new type of music invented by Elvis Presley in the 1950s that mixed black and white music styles.
checkers speech
A speech that Richard Nixon made during the election of 1952 about a dog he got as a campaign gift that saved his image and his spot on the ballot.
mccarthyism
The name for a tactic used by controversial Senator member Joseph McCarthy where he would call people Communists until the "ratted out" other "Communists."
army-mccarthy hearings
A series of hearings that happened after McCarthy accused the U.S. Army of being full of Communists.
jim crow
The name of the man who created segregation through the ideology of "separate but equal" facilities in America.
montgomery bus boycott
Perhaps the biggest boycott of the African American Civil Rights Movement where they would take up bus seats by not leaving them.
brown v. board of education of topeka, kansas
A Supreme Court case in May 1954 that proved that the public schools in Kansas were unequal.
student nonviolent coordinating committee (SNCC)
A committee made by black students in the South to support the Civil Rights Movement.
operation wetback
An operation headed by Eisenhower in 1954 that reversed the Bracero program by sending about 1 million Mexicans back to Mexico.
federal highway act of 1956
A monumental act devised by Eisenhower that spent $27 billion on making highways for national defense and in the long run economic growth.
policy of boldness
A policy made by Eisenhower where the army and navy would be cut back, but America would emphasize power through bombers loaded with nuclear weapons.
hungarian uprising
An uprising in Hungary that was crushed by the Soviet Union. America could not help Hungary because they did not want to use nuclear weapons to settle such a small issue.
battle of dien bien phu
A battle that resulted in a Communist victory for Ho Chi Minh and split Vietnam in two.
suez crisis
A crisis involving the Suez Canal where President Nasser of Egypt started being on friendly terms with the Soviet Union.
organization of petroleum exporting countries (OPEC)
An organization including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, and Venezuela that regulated petroleum and oil.
sputnik
The first man-made satellite created and launched by the Soviet Union that started "rocket fever" for America.
kitchen debate
A debate between Richard Nixon and Krushchev that made the former well-known throughout America.
abstract expressionism
A new style of American art that replaced realistic representation.
international style
A new style of American architecture that was reflected in the newly constructed skyscrapers in the middle of large cities that happened during the Civil Rights Movement.
beat generation
A group of American writers who emerged following the end of World War II.
southern renaissance
A burgeoning of Southern culture mainly through literature that was led by Mississippi author William Faulkner.