Modern Era & Cold War Flashcards

Progressive-era investigative journalists who exposed corruption and abuses (Upton Sinclair on meatpacking in The Jungle, Ida Tarbell on Standard Oil, Jacob Riis on tenement conditions).

Authorized the federal income tax. Provided the revenue base for the modern federal government and shifted tax burden from tariffs to income.

Granted women the right to vote nationally. Built on decades of suffragist organizing led by Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and Carrie Chapman Catt.

Domestic program targeting three areas: control of corporations (trust-busting), consumer protection (Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act), and conservation of natural resources.

US victory acquired Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, making the United States a global imperial power. Triggered an anti-imperialist debate that shaped foreign policy debate for decades.

Ended World War I. Imposed war guilt and reparations on Germany, redrew European borders, and created the League of Nations. The US Senate rejected the treaty, keeping the US out of the League.

Set the 'clear and present danger' standard for limiting free speech. Allowed the federal government to prosecute speech that threatened national security during wartime, a precedent revisited many times since.

Movement of roughly 6 million African Americans from the rural South to northern and western cities between 1910 and 1970. Reshaped American demographics, politics, and culture.

African American cultural and intellectual movement of the 1920s centered in Harlem. Featured writers (Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston) and musicians (Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong) who reshaped American culture.

Relief (emergency aid: CCC, WPA, FERA), Recovery (economic restoration: NRA, AAA), and Reform (long-term change: Social Security Act, Wagner Act, SEC, FDIC).

Guaranteed workers the right to form unions and bargain collectively. Created the National Labor Relations Board to enforce labor rights. Triggered massive growth in union membership.

Created old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid for dependent children, the disabled, and widows. Expanded the federal role in providing economic security and remains a foundation of US social policy.

Supreme Court upheld the WWII internment of Japanese Americans as a wartime necessity. Widely condemned today; formally repudiated by the Court in Trump v. Hawaii (2018).

Pledged US support to free peoples resisting communist aggression. Initially aimed at Greece and Turkey but became the foundation of containment policy throughout the Cold War.

1948 program providing $13 billion in US economic aid to rebuild Western Europe after WWII. Strengthened anti-communist allies, restored European markets, and cemented US global leadership.

Unanimous Supreme Court decision overturning Plessy v. Ferguson and ruling that racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional. Catalyzed the modern civil rights movement.

13-day standoff after the US discovered Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Ended with Soviet withdrawal in exchange for a US pledge not to invade Cuba and the secret removal of US missiles from Turkey. Closest the Cold War came to nuclear war.

Banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in employment and public accommodations. Strengthened federal authority to enforce desegregation.

Banned literacy tests and authorized federal oversight of voter registration in jurisdictions with histories of discrimination. Dramatically increased African American voter registration in the South.

Coordinated North Vietnamese attacks on cities across South Vietnam during the Lunar New Year. Although a tactical defeat for the North, it shattered American confidence that the war could be won and turned public opinion against escalation.

Recognized a constitutional right to abortion based on the right to privacy. Set a trimester framework. Overturned by Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022.

Reagan-era economic policy combining tax cuts (especially on top brackets), deregulation, reduced domestic spending, and increased military spending. Shifted the political consensus toward supply-side economics for a generation.

Marshall Plan (1948), Korean War (1950-53), Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), fall of the Berlin Wall (1989).