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MODERN AMERICA
FINAL REVIEW GUIDE
Directions: The following guide contains terms, people, dates, events, and concepts that
students should be familiar with for their Final Examination.
(General) Government
Constitution – The “Blue Print” of our government. The document that defines the basic
functions of our government.
Bill of Rights – First ten amendments of the Constitution; Basic protections of citizen’s
freedoms.
Amendment – a change to the Constitution
House of Representatives – House of Congress (1 of 2) in which representation is based
on a state’s population.
Senate – House of Congress (1 of 2) in which representation is EQUAL.
Electoral College –A system which a body of electors, chosen by each state, elect the
president. The “point system” to win the presidency (270 electoral votes are needed to
win)
Electoral Votes required for winning presidency – 270
(In the following three, write the duty of each and associate them with a building in
Washington D.C.)
Legislative Branch – makes laws
Executive Branch – executes/enforces laws
Judicial Branch – interprets laws
President’s cabinet – Appointed by the president, the cabinet is the head of each
executive branch department (ex. Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State)
Secretary of State – Oversees U.S. and its relationship with foreign countries.
Amount of Senators per state – 2
PA electoral votes: 21
PA amount of representatives: 19
Representation in the House of Representatives is based on a state’s: population
Current President of the United States:
Current Vice President of the United States:
Behind the Vice President in the line of succession for the Presidency:
Three levels of government:
1. FEDERAL (U.S.) 2. STATE (for us, PA) 3. LOCAL (for most of us; Media)
(be able to associate each with a location if asked)
ex. Media is an example of which level of government?
1920’s
Warren Harding – Republican President 1921-23 (dies in office)
Calvin Coolidge – Republican President 1923-29
Herbert Hoover – Republican President 1929-1933
“Roaring Twenties” – Nicknamed “roaring” because the economy was “roaring” (Strong
more cycle)
Prohibition – Period of time in which the sale of alchohol was illegal.
Speakeasies – illegal bars during Prohibition
Bootleggers – People who illegally made, bought, and/or sold alcohol during Prohibition
Harlem Renaissance – Period of African American culture expressed through art and
adopted by many Whites (began in New York’s Harlem neighborhood)
Jazz – music that became popular in the 1920’s (promoted improvisation)
19th Amendment – Gave women the right to vote
Radio – widespread technology in the 1920’s that led to a uniting of U.S. culture through
radio programs and live broadcasts/news.
Assembly line – perfected by Henry Ford, used to assemble items. In the assembly line
the parts of the machine/item of production moved, NOT the people.
Model T – first widely available, affordable automobile, made by Ford Motor Company
Suburbs – The areas surrounding the city boundaries. Urban = city Rural = farm
Suburban is areas in between the farms and the cities (Media is an example of a suburb)
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1930’s
The Great Depression – greatest economic disaster in U.S. history.
Stock Market Crash of 1929 – trigger event that began the Great Depression
Hoover’s policy toward the Great Depression – “hands off” = laissez-faire approach to
the problem; let charities and soup kitchens NOT government provide aid.
Credit – The ability to buy something an pay for it over time.
Foreign debt – Money owed to other countries.
Overproduction – when factories produce too much of one item
Franklin Roosevelt – Democrat President from 1933-45 (dies in office)
“New Deal” – Economic relief program designed by F.D.R.
Civilian Conservation Corps – (CCC)
Agricultural Adjustment Act – (AAA)
National Recovery Administration – (NRA)
Tennesee Valley Authority – (TVA)
AFL-CIO – largest untnion made up of the American Federation of Labor and the
Congress of Industraial Organizations
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World War II
What two things influenced U.S. foreign policy in the 1930’s?
Great Depression; Rise of dictators
Axis Powers – Japan; Germany; Italy
Fascism – Authoritarian governments in which force and militarism is glorified.
What economic situation helped give rise (allow to come to power) to the dictators?
Poverty/high unemployment
What is propaganda used for?
Glorify your cause and demonize enemies.
Match the leader with a country:
Mussolini:
Hitler:
Stalin:
Franco:
While World War II began, what did most Americans believe the focus of the
government should be?
Sudetenland – region Hitler wished to take-over during the Munich Conference
Munich Conference – Conference resulting in Hitler’s eventual invasion of the
Sudetenland
Prime Minister Chamberlain – Leader of Britian
Policy of Appeasement (who was being appeased? what was the danger of this
policy?):
What “trigger” event marked the beginning of World War II?
Blitzkrieg – “lightning war” (German war strategy)
Pearl Harbor – U.S. Naval Base/Harbor attacked by Japanese
Battle of Britain – Battle in which the Nazis failed to invade London/Britain
Battle of the Bulge – Last major German offensive of the war.
Yalta Conference – Conference amongst Allied countries discussing the post war World.
Harry Truman – Democrat President 1945-1953
Winston Churchill – British Prime Minister during much of WWII
Nagasaki – 1 of 2 cities in which the U.S. used the nuclear bomb
Hiroshima – 1 of 2 cities in which the U.S. used the nuclear bomb
D-Day – Day in which Allied forces invaded Normandy France
VJ Day – Victory Japan Day (Japan surrenders)
Holocaust – Planned execution of Jews and other “undesirables” by German Nazis.
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1946-1960
The Cold War – 1945-1991 (constant state of tension and near war exists bwteen U.S.
and Soviet Union [U.S.S.R.] )
Containment Policy/Truman Doctrine – theory that communism would spread throughout
the World unless contained
GI Bill – allowed many troops coming home from WWII to go to college and have it paid
for by the government.
Marshall Plan – Plan which sent U.S. economic aid to help rebuild Europe and help it
resist communism.
United Nations (purpose) – Help promote peace and justice throughout the World.
“Iron Curtain” – The eastern countries of Europe, and part of Germany, that had fallen
under the control of Russia/Soviet Union
Berlin Airlift – U.S. airlifted supplies to Berlin after the Soviets closed-off Eastern Berlin
from the rest of Germany.
NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization (group of U.S. and its allies against the
Soviet Union, an attack against one would be considered an attack against all)
Korean War: ____________ Korea invades __________ Korea in 1950.
The South Koreans were helped by the __________ Nations.
President Truman called the U.S. and U.N. action in Korea an __________ action.
General MacArthur – General during Korean Conflict
What does Truman do to General MacArthur? Fires him because he publicaly spoke out
against Truman during the war effort in Korea.
Parallel separating North Korea from South Korea: 38th
Nuclear War – Countries employ/use nuclear weapons.
Dwight D. Eisenhower – Republican President 1953-1961
McCarthyism – fear tactic used by Joseph McCarthy (Senator from Wisconsin) to pursue
a “witch hunt” to find Communists living within the U.S. (not one true Communist is
uncovered, many reputations were ruined by the Senator’s groundless accusations)
Civil Rights Movement – Era in which Blacks/African Americans sought an end to
segregation and inequality.
NAACP – group founded to protect and speak for the interests of African
Americans/Blacks
Rosa Parks – Refused to give up her seat on a bus while sitting in the ‘White Only’
section – typically
Thurgood Marshall – African American lawyer in Brown case; later first Black Supreme
Court Justice
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas – Separate is inherantly (naturally)
unequal) – ENDS legal segregation
Martin Luther King Jr. – most prominent Civil Rights Leader
The Space Race – Competition between U.S. and Soviet Union to achieve dominance in
space.
Sputnik – first satellite launched into space (by Soviets)
NASA – U.S. Space Program (know acronym, what it stands for) write below:
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1960’s
1960 election – Kennedy defeats Nixon
John F. Kennedy – Democrat President 1961-1963
1960 election was the first televised debate between:
Bay of Pigs – failed attempt of the U.S. to remove Castro from power and
invade/overthrow Cuban government.
Cuban Missile Crisis – Closest U.S. and Soviets come to nuclear war during Cold War.
Begins when the Soviets attempted to place missile silos in Cuba that could launch
nuclear weapons.
Nikita Khrushchev – leader of Soviet Union throughout most of the 1950’s 60’s
Fidel Castro – leader of Cuba from 1959 and for the rest of the Cold War
Berlin Wall – Constructed in 1962 by Soviets, it separated Western and Eastern Berlin
(Eastern side was Communist)
Naval Blockade – used by U.S. to stop construction of missile silos in Cuba
Desegregation – to un-segregate
March on Washington – March held in August of 1963 in support of Civil Rights Act
(MLK’s I Have a Dream Speech was given at this march).
Kennedy’s Assassination - Where? Dallas, TX
By who? Lee Harvey Oswald
Lyndon B. Johnson – Democrat President 1963-1969
“Great Society” – Vast social welfare program promoted by Lyndon Johnson to help
combat poverty. “A hand up instead of a hand-out”
Civil Rights Act of 1964 – ended segregation in public places
1968 Assassinations (2 – listed below, who are they):
RFK – Robert Kennedy
MLK –Martin Luther King Jr (Memphis, TN)
Kent State University – University in which the National Guard opened fire on innocent
protestors – some were killed.
Vietnam War: Attempted containment of Communism by U.S. in the Indo-Chinese
Peninsula. The U.S. failed to contain communism. The war began in the 1960’s and
ended in the 1975 when North Vietnam invaded the South making it a Communist
country. It is largely viewed as the only was the U.S. has ever lost as a unified country.
President responsible for drastically escalating U.S. involvement in Vietnam:
Lyndon Johnson
U.S. supported: South
Which side was Communist: North
Date of the end of the Vietnam War: 1955-1975
What president ends our involvement in Vietnam: Richard Nixon
Election of 1968 (winner) – Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon – Republican President 1969-1974
SALT – Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (between U.S. and Soviet Union)
First President to visit China – Nixon
Watergate Scandal – conspiracy to streal Democrat’s secrets in 1972 Presidential
elections (Nixon was aware of the conspiracy and it ultimately forced him to resign)
Only President to resign the office of Presidency – Richard Nixon
Watergate Hotel – home to Democrat Headquartes in 1972; name for which the
Watergate scandal gets its name. Was the hotel that was broken into by the CRP.
Sprio Agnew – Vice President of Nixon that resigns for tax evasion and extortion
Gerald Ford – Vice President of Nixon, later Republican President 1974-1977 (pardons
Nixon)
Pardon – Presidential pardons can clear someone of all wrongdoing. (Nixon was
pardoned by President Ford in relation to the Watergate Scandal)
Bicentennial – 200 year anniversary (U.S. bicentennial was 1976)
Jimmy Carter – Democrat President 1977-1981
Camp David Accords – Meeting hosted by President Jimmy Carter at the Presidential
retreat (Camp David) in which Egypt agreed to recognized Israel’s right to exist in the
Middle East.
Iran Hostage Crisis – U.S. hostages taken in Iran in 1979 at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran,
Iran. Hostages were held for over 1 year. This crisis cost Jimmy Carter the 1980 election.
Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan – (1979). This was the Soviet’s version of Vietnam
SALT II – 2nd Arms limitation treaty between U.S. and Soviet Union
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1980’s
Ronald Reagan – Republican President 1981-1989
Reaganomics/Supply-Side Economics – economic concept that calls for cutting taxes to
stimulate the economy
New Federalism – Reagan’s belief that the government had grown “too big” and that the
people had become to dependent on government. His goal was to shrink government
spending and cut government programs.
John Hinckley Jr. – attempted assassin of Ronald Reagan
Sandra Day O’Connor – first female Supreme Court Justice
Challenger – space shuttle that exploded before leaving the atmosphere in 1986. It has a
female teacher on board. All died – it served as a reminder of the dangers of space travel.
Iran-Contra Scandal – Scandal in which the U.S, secretly under Ronald Reagan, sold
weapons to Iran in exhange for the return of U.S. hostages and the funnelling of money to
the Contras in Nicaragua (whom the Reagan Adminsitration supported in a Civil War
against the Sandanistas)
Mikhail Gorbachev – Leader of Soviet Union in the 1980’s
George H.W. Bush –
Jesse Jackson –
Fall of Communism – Berlin wall falls in 1989, symbolically marking the fall of
Communism.
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1990’s
Glasnost –
Perestroika –
Reunification of Germany – 1991 east and west Germany becomes one
George H.W. Bush – Republican President 1989-1993
Boris Yeltsin – leader of Russia in the 1990’s
Vladamir Putin – Current leader of Russia (has been in power since 2000)
Persian Gulf War:
Iraq invaded: Kuwait
The U.S. and _______ helped liberate (free) Kuwait.
Operation Desert Storm –
Saddam Hussein – dictator of Iraq
Bill Clinton – Democrat President 1993-2001
Al Gore – Vice President of Bill Clinton
NAFTA – North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement
World Trade Center Bombing (1993) – Terrorist attack on the WTC in which a bomb
was set-off in the parking garage of the WTC killing only a few, but making terrorism a
new topic of focus.
Oklahoma City Bombing – Carried-out by Timothy McViegh, an example of homegrown terroristm. McVeigh was upset with the government and chose the Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City as his target. The bomb was place in the back of a UHaul
Truck which was parked in front of the building and then detonated, destroying much of
the building and killing over one hundred innocent people.
New Millenium –
Y2K –
2000 Election:
Winner –
Republican Candidate Democrat Candidate –
Florida – state in which the 2000 election became a focal point as votes were questioned
on both sides.
Role of Supreme Court in 2000 Election – decided to stop the re-count of votes in Florida
leading to George W. Bush Republican 2001-2009) becoming President.
Important Dates you should be familiar with the events that occurred on these dates:
September 11, 2001
December 7, 1941
October 1929