APUSH Unit 8 Key Terms — Period 8: 1945–1980

APUSH Period 8 (1945–1980) covers the Cold War at home and abroad, the civil rights movement, and the political realignment that ended the New Deal coalition — roughly 17% of the exam. Civil rights is almost always on a DBQ or LEQ; Cold War containment is the other dominant theme.

Cold War: Origins and Containment

Truman Doctrine (1947) — US would support "free peoples" resisting communist takeover; first articulation of containment ideology. Marshall Plan (1948) — $13 billion US aid to rebuild Western Europe; prevent communist influence in economically devastated countries. NATO (1949) — collective defense alliance; first US peacetime alliance since Washington's Farewell Address warning. Korean War (1950–53) — "police action"; ended in stalemate at 38th parallel; demonstrated limits of containment. NSC-68 (1950) — classified document calling for massive military buildup; Cold War militarized US foreign policy and economy permanently.

Cold War at Home

Second Red Scare / McCarthyism — Senator Joseph McCarthy's reckless accusations of Communist infiltration; HUAC, Hollywood blacklists; atmosphere of fear; ultimately discredited after Army-McCarthy hearings (1954). Levittown — mass-produced suburbs; GI Bill (1944) funded education and mortgages for veterans; white suburbs, redlining excluded Black Americans. Military-industrial complex — Eisenhower's farewell warning about dangerous alliance between military and defense industry; permanent war economy.

Civil Rights Movement

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) — overturned Plessy v. Ferguson; separate educational facilities inherently unequal; massive resistance in South. Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56) — Rosa Parks, MLK; demonstrated economic power of collective action; launched King to national prominence. Civil Rights Act (1964) — banned discrimination in public accommodations and employment; Title VII. Voting Rights Act (1965) — banned discriminatory voting practices; federal oversight of elections in Southern states; immediately registered millions of Black voters. Malcolm X and Black Power — challenged integrationism; Black Pride, self-determination; Nation of Islam; shift after 1966 toward political and economic power over legal equality.

Great Society and Vietnam

Great Society (LBJ) — Medicare/Medicaid (1965), Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Voting Rights Act, Immigration Act (1965 — ended national origins quotas); expanded federal role in domestic life. Vietnam War — escalation under LBJ (Gulf of Tonkin Resolution 1964); massive protests; Tet Offensive (1968) shattered public confidence; Nixon's "Vietnamization"; War Powers Act (1973) — limited presidential war-making; Fall of Saigon (1975). Rise of conservatism — "Silent Majority" (Nixon), Southern Strategy, backlash against Great Society, stagflation → set up Reagan Revolution.

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