Rosa Parks

1. Rosa Parks 1001

2. Rosa Parks was a quiet black seamstress who sparked the Montgomery bus boycott by refusing to give up her bus seat for a white man in December 1955. 1002

3. New Look 1003

4. Reflecting Eisenhower’s preferences for nuclear deterrence rather than ground force involvement against the Soviet Union, the New Look emphasized the massive retaliatory potential of a large nuclear stockpile. Eisenhower worked to increase nuclear spending and decrease spending on ground troops. 1004

5. New York Times Co. v. U.S. 1005

6. In 1971, New York Times Co. v. U.S. firmly protected freedom of the press. The Justice Department tried to block The New York Times from publishing the Pentagon Papers. The Supreme Court, however, overturned the Justice Department’s order to restrict free press in the interests of national security. 1006

7. Nixon Doctrine 1007

8. Announced in July 1969 as a corollary to Nixon’s efforts to pull American troops out of Vietnam, the Nixon Doctrine pledged a change in the U.S. role in the Third World from military protector to helpful partner. 1008

9. Richard Nixon 1009

10. Richard Nixon, a Republican, served as President from 1969 until his resignation on August 9, 1974. Nixon oversaw a moderately conservative domestic program, gradually pulled troops out of Vietnam, and improved relations with the nation’s communist enemies. He was forced to resign after being implicated in the Watergate scandal. 1010

11. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 1011

12. Formed in 1949 too counter the Soviet threat in Eastern Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization prepared Western European powers and the U.S. to fight as a unified coalition. Throughout the Cold War, NATO was the primary Western alliance in opposition to communist forces. 1012

13. Oliver North 1013

14. Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North, a member of the National Security Council, was involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. In 1987, investigations revealed that North had headed the initiative to funnel funding from arms sales to Iran secretly and illegally to the Contras in Nicaragua, who fought against an anti-U.S. regime. North was later convicted of obstructing justice and lying to Congress. 1014

15. Mikhail Gorbachev 1015

16. Mikhail Gorbachev was the last Soviet political leader, becoming general secretary of the Communist Party in 1985 and then president of the USSR in 1988. Gorbachev helped ease tension between the U.S. and the USSR, work that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. he oversaw the fall of the Soviet Union and resigned as president on December 25, 1991. 1016

17. Thurgood Marshall 1017

18. Thurgood Marshall, a black attorney, successfully argued the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka in front of the Supreme Court in 1954. In 1967, Marshall became the first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court. 1018

19. McCarthyism 1019

20. McCarthyism refers to the extreme anticommunism in American politics and society during the early 1950s. The term derives from the actions of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who led an intense campaign against alleged subversives during this period. 1020

21. Medical Care Act 1021

22. An element of President Johnson’s Great Society program, in 1965, the Medical Care Act created Medicare to provide senior citizens with medical insurance and Medicaid to provide welfare recipients with free health care. 1022

23. Miranda v. Arizona 1023

24. Miranda v. Arizona (1966) is a Supreme Court case that protects the rights of the accused. The arresting officer in the Miranda case did not make the defendant aware of his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Police are required to make suspects aware of their “Miranda rights,” as they are now known, which includes the right to remain silent and the right to have an attorney present during questioning. 1024

25. New Frontier 1025

26. John F. Kennedy’s domestic policy, the “New Frontier,” focused on reform at home and victory in the Cold War abroad. 1026

27. National Organization for Women (NOW) 1027

28. The National Organization for Women, formed in 1966, functions to advocate for, and raise public awareness of, women’s issues. NOW was a central part of the 1960s women’s liberation movement. 1028

29. Engle v. Vitale 1029

30. In 1962, Engle v. Vitale ruled that school prayer is unconstitutional. New York state had permitted “nonsectarian” prayer in public schools, but Engle v. Vitale ruled that this was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court later ruled that Bible could not be read in public schools. 1030

31. Medgar Evers 1031

32. Medgar Evers was an NAACP leader in Mississippi. In 1963, following President Kennedy’s speech for civil rights, Medgar Evers was assassinated in Jackson, Mississippi. 1032

33. Fair Deal 1033

34. The Fair Deal was Harry S. Truman’s attempt to extend the policies of the New Deal. Beginning in 1949, the Fair Deal included measures to increase the minimum wage, expand Social Security, and construct low-income housing. 1034

35. The Feminine Mystique 1035

36. Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, published in 1963, was a rallying cry for women’s liberation movement. It denounced the belief that women should be tied to the home and encouraged women to get involved in activities outside their home and family. 1036

37. Loving v. Virginia 1037

38. This 1967 case declared all laws against interracial marriage unconstitutional. 1038

39. March Against Death 1039

40. The March Against Death was a high point for the student antiwar movement and a poignant symbol of antiwar sentiment in the U.S. In November 1969, 300,000 people marched in a long, circling path through Washington, D.C., for 40 hours straight, each holding a candle and the name of a soldier killed or a village destroyed in Vietnam. 1040

41. Moon landing 1041

42. On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong and Colonel Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr. became the first people to walk on the moo. They went to the moon in Apollo 11, and used a landing module called the Eagle. The moon landing was televised, and symbolized the scientific political power of the U.S. 1042

43. Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) 1043

44. The U.S. policy of MAD, acknowledged that both the U.S. and the Soviet Union had large enough nuclear arsenals to destroy each other many times over. Developed in the early 1960s, it was America’s form of defense against Soviet attack: MAD promised that whoever launched an attack would, in turn, be attacked, resulting in absolute nuclear devastation on both sides. 1044

45. NASA 1045

46. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was founded in 1958 to compete with Russia’s space program. During the late 1960s to early 1980s, NASA sent expeditions to the moon, and developed and managed the space station and space shuttle programs. 1046

47. John F. Kennedy 1047

48. John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, served as president from 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. A young charismatic leader, he cultivated a glorified image in the eyes of the American public. Kennedy’s primary achievements came in the realm of international relations, most notably the peaceful resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis. 1048

49. Martin Luther King Jr. 1049

50. King first rose to national prominence as a civil rights leader during the 1956 Montgomery bus boycott. Throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, King tirelessly led the struggle for integration and full equality through nonviolent means. He was assassinated in 1968. 1050