Unit 15

By jesaly

  • Containment

    George F. Kennan came up with the "containment doctrine," which explain the behavior of the USSR. It stated that the USSR was relentlessly expansionary and that the USSR could be contained by being firm and vigilant. It was embraced by President Truman in 1947 when Congress passed the Truman Doctrine. This gave financial support to Greece to resist communist pressures. Truman declared that it must be the policy of the United States to aid any country that was resisting communist aggression.

  • Economic Boom

    From 1950s to the 1970s, the American economy grew. Incomes rose, the middle class expanded, and Americans accounted for 40% of the planet's wealth. The economic growth changed the face of politics and society. It paved the war for the success of the civil rights movement; it funded new welfare programs; and it gave Americans the confidence to exercise international leadership in the Cold War era.

  • Desegregation in the South

    In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unequal and, thus, unconstitutional.

  • Civil Rights Movement

    In 1957, Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act since Reconstruction Days. It set up a permanent Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of civil rights and it authorized federal injunctions to protect voting rights.
    Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957. It sought to mobilize the power of black churches on behalf of black rights.

  • Cultural Upheal

    A negative attitude toward all kinds of authority took hold. The Free Speech Movement was one of the first organized protests against established authority. Educated people became more secular and uneducated people became more religious.They're was also a "sexual revolution." The introduction of the birth control pill made unwanted pregnancies easy to avoid. Gay men and lesbians were increasingly emerging and demanding sexual tolerance.

  • Kennedy's Assassination

    President Kennedy was shot and killed as he was riding in an open limousine in Dallas, Texas. The gunman was Lee Harvey Oswald. Oswald was shot and killed by self-appointed avenger, Jack Ruby. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn into office, retaining most of Kennedy's cabinet. Kennedy was praised more for his ideals than what he had actually achieved.