US History 2nd Semester Study Guide
Name_____________________________
Page 9 Letters from the Depression
1. Explain the Smoot-Hawley Tariff.
raised tariffs (taxes) on imported goods
2. Who was President when it became a law? Hoover
3. What problems did it cause for Americans?
hurt business b/c buyers bought less imported goods
Page 3 Dust Bowl
4. List the five states that the Dust Bowl affected the
most. Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado
11. List the men on Mount Rushmore. TR, Lincoln,
Jefferson, Washington
Page 12 FDR’s Presidency
12. Describe the election of 1932. (candidates, results
in detail) FDR, Hoover: FDR won in a landslide
13. What was FDR’s first act as President? (which
amendment was that) repeal Prohibition (21st)
14. What are the three R’s of the New Deal? Relief,
recovery, reform
15. List the three nicknames that used the name
“Hoover” and what they represented. Hotel—tent,
Flag—empty pocket, Ville—group of tents/shacks
Page 7 The Rest of the World…
5. List 3 environmental/economic causes of the Dust
Bowl. Overgrazing of cattle, extreme drought, loose soil
16. What was Adolf Hitler’s official title? Chancellor
Page 5 FDR and the New Deal
18. What was the ultimate goal of the Nazi party?
Create an Aryan nation
6. What was the “New Deal?” economic plan that
created dozens of new govt programs
7. Whose idea was it and why was there a need for it?
FDR, needed recovery from Great Depression
8 . List the names for these programs
17. What is an “Aryan?” white skin, blonde hair, blue
eyes
World War II Page 18-20
Dates—list the event that occurred on the date
Dec 7, 1941
Pearl Harbor
June 6, 1944
Invasion of Normandy, D-Day
May 8, 1945
FHA Federal Housing Admin
Aug 6, 1945
Surrender of Germany, Victory
in Europe Day
Bombing of Hiroshima
SSA Social Security Admin
Aug 9, 1945
“” “ Nagasaki
9. If a bank is a member of FDIC, what does that mean?
Aug 13, 1945
VJ Day, Japan surrenders
WPA Works Progress Admin
Deposits are insured up to $100K
Page 6 Bust: Video
Page 23 Vocab
10. What happened on Black Sunday, and what was the
date? Large dust storm April 13, 1935
19. Fat Man atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima
20. Little Boy atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
21. “the blitz” Nazi air attack on London
22. appeasement (who was being appeased?) giving
someone what they want hoping they will stop
undesired behavior: Hitler—invading other countries
and given the Sudetenland
23. Big 3 FDR, Churchill, Stalin
34. Who were the two sides of the Korean War? What
was the result of this war? North Korean (Communist)
vs South Korea and UN; it ended with both sides still
divided at 38th parallel
24. Why was Neville Chamberlain replaced by Winston
Churchill? English felt he was soft with Hitler
35. What was NATO and who was in it? North Atlantic
Treaty Organization; US and Western European
countries
25. Who started the UNITED NATIONS and what was its
original purpose? FDR, unite the allies against the Axis
Powers
36. Who was Joseph McCarthy and what
“McCarthyism?” Senator from Wisconsin; a fear that
communists were sneaking into the government
26. What was Operation Barbarossa and what affect
did it have on Hitler’s success in the war?Codename for
the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, it was a massive
failure and led to his defeat
PART 2 TOMORROW
27. Who was the leader of the Manhattan Project and
what was it? J Robert Oppenheimer, top secret plan to
build the atomic bomb\
Page 27 INTRO TO THE COLD WAR
28. Compare two ways that the USSR and USA were the
same, and two that they were different. Same: super
powers, victorious in WW2 Different: USA—
democracy, USSR communist; USA: part of NATO, USSR
part of WARSAW PACT
29. What happened at the Berlin Airlift? US troops
brought supplies to trapped citizens of Berlin
Page 31 and 32 TRUMAN AND EISENHOWER
30. Why did Harry Truman become the US President?
FDR died
31. What major decision did Truman have to make?
Whether or not to drop the atomic bomb
32. What other war did the US fight when he was
President? Korean War
Page 28 Cold War 1945-1955
33. What was the Iron Curtain and who gave it that
name? imaginary dividing line in Europe (Free and
communist); Winston Churchill
50’s A Decade of Change
34. Who was Charles Houston and what was unique
about him? US attorney for NAACP, had plan to change
civil rights
35. Describe Oliver Brown’s influence on Civil Rights.
His daughter was the subject of the landmark Brown v
Board of Education case
36. What was the result of Brown v Board of
Education? Schools were ordered to be desegregated
37. Who were the Little Rock Nine? 9 black students
who tried to go to high school and had to be escorted
by federal troops
Cold War in the 1950s
38. Describe steps taken by the US and USSR in the
“arms race.” Both continued to develop atomic and
then nuclear weapons
39. What was the original purpose of the CIA? Spy on
the Soviet Union
40. What was the CIA’s Russian counterpart? KGB
41. Who was Yuri Gagarin? Soviet: first man in space
Gate—old gate blocked by Soviets, Death Strip—100
yard space between walls
48. What was life like on each side of the wall? West
side: free and successful East side: communist and lots
of poverty
49. Write two famous Presidential quotes spoken at the
wall and who said them. Ich bin ein Berliner—JFK
Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall! JFK
38 Cuban Missile Crisis
50. Describe the basic circumstances of this crisis.
Soviets had placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, and JFK had
to get them out
51. What main course of action did JFK take to end this
crisis? Negotiation with Soviet Nikita Khrushchev
52. What was the final result? The missiles were taken
out of Cuba, but the US agreed to never invade Cuba
and remove missiles from Turkey
39 JFK Assassination
53. What was the date and location of JFK’s death? Nov
22, 1963 Dealey Plaza Dallas TX
54. Who killed him? Lee Harvey Oswald
37 Presidential Election of 1960
43. Who were the candidates for the 60 election? JFK
and Nixon
44. Who won and what was a major factor in his
victory? JFK, his calm appearance on TV debates
45. What nickname was given to JFK’s administration
and what was its relevance? Camelot, referring to the
youth and confidence of JFK and Jacqueline (like King
Arthur and Guinevere)
36 The Berlin Wall
46. What year was it built? 1961
47. List AND describe three spots along the wall.
Checkpoint Charlie (small boothed gate), Brandenburg
55. Why is there a controversy over this event? Many
think Oswald did not work alone
56. Who was Jack Ruby? Mafia member who shot Lee
Harvey Oswald
45 Martin Luther King, Jr
57. What type of protests did MLK encourage?
Boycotts, sit ins (non-violent)
58. What were his two major influences? Gandhi and
the Bible
59. What award was he given at age 35? Nobel Peace
Prize
60. Who shot him and when? James Earl Ray, 1968
48 Assassinations of the 1960s
61 List 3 people who were assassinated, where it
happened, and their assassins.
MLK—Memphis Tennessee—James Earl Ray
Robert Kennedy—Sirhan Sirhan—Hotel in LA
Malcolm X—members of Black Muslims--NYC
44 Watergate
62. Where did this scandal get its name? from the hotel
where the burglary occurred
63. Who is the main target of this scandal? Richard
Nixon
64. What was the result of Watergate? Nixon resigned
before being impeached
50 Ronald Reagan
65. What political party did he belong to? Republican
66. List his 5 main beliefs:
Low taxes, big military spending, trickle down
economics
67. What was decided by the Supreme Court Case “Roe
v Wade?” abortion is made legal
51 Last Presidents Video
68. What was George HW Bush’s campaign slogan?
Read My Lips: No New Taxes
69. How did this get him into trouble? He had to raise
taxes at the end of his 1st and only term as pres
70. Who was Monica Lewinsky and what effect did she
have on politics in the late 1990s? White House intern
who had an affair with President Clinton
71. Who ran against George W Bush in 2000? Al Gore
72. What was unique about this election? Al Gore won
the popular vote but GWB won the electoral college