Unit 8 Part 3

Thirty-fifth President. Served 1961-1963. First Roman Catholic president. Narrowly elected over Richard Nixon, his term in office was dominated by the rising civil rights movement, such as the Freedom Riders, and escalating Cold War tensions. The early months of his presidency were dominated by the Bay of the Pigs and the building of the Berlin Wall. In October 1962, he dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Assassinated on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas by Lee Harvey Oswald.

• Kennedy

• Eisenhower

• Truman

• Nixon

A militarized concrete barrier separating East and West Berlin. Existed from 1961 to 1989. Constructed by the Soviets to halt a brain drain of East Germans. Its fall heralded German reunification and the twilight of the Cold War.

• The Berlin Wall

• The Border Wall

• The You Can't Leave East Berlin Wall

• The We Are All Donuts Wall

A confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the placement of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba. Occurred October 16-28, 1962. Considered one of the Cold War's tensest events. Resolved diplomatically, it bolstered President Kennedy's then-shaky reputation but led to the overthrow of Nikita Khrushchev.

• Cuban Missile Crisis

• Hey Your Nukes Are Close and Pointed At Us Crisis

• Bay of Pigs

• Domino Theory

Ruler of the Soviet Union, 1964-1982. He favored consensus and rule by committee. He reversed the cultural liberalization of the previous era. Crucially, he attempted no reforms of the Soviet economy. His 18 years in power saw the Soviet Union undergo economic stagnation and national decline. Internationally, he favored détente. He ordered the invasion of Afghanistan to support its communist government.

• Brezhnev

• Stalin

• Khruschev

• Putin

A series of international treaties and protocols negotiated in the aftermath of World War II which established humanitarian standards for wartime, updating protocols originally agreed to in 1929. Contested in the 2000s with the rise of non-state actors.

• Geneva Convention

• Kyoto Protocol

• Nuremburg Trials

• Military Industrial Complex

Vietnamese communist revolutionary leader. Stepped down from office in 1965 due to health problems. Died in 1969. After the fall of Saigon, it was renamed after him.

• Ho Chi Minh

• Jom Jom

• Mao Tse-Tung

• Conor

The idea that political revolutions in one country will cause similar revolutions in neighboring countries. Typically associated with the spread of communism, although a variant associated with spreading democracy gained currency during the 2003 Iraq War.

• Domino Theory

• Slippery Slope

• Red Revolution

• Iron Curtain

Thirty-sixth President. Senate Majority Leader 1955-1961. Vice President 1961-1963. Assumed the presidency upon the assassination of the president. Oversaw the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, as well as a series of landmark domestic legislation known as the Great Society. Escalated the Vietnam War. Declined to run for reelection in 1968. A domestic policy maestro but a foreign policy disaster.

• Johnson

• Kennedy

• Eisenhower

• Nixon

An August 1964 Congressional decision authorizing the president to wage war in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war.

• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• Operation Rolling Thunder

• Tet Offensive

• Pentagon Papers

Also called the Second Indochina War. Direct American involvement in this country began in 1955 and ended on April 30, 1975, with the Fall of the capital of the south. The war polarized American society. It killed more than 58,000 Americans and over 2 million people in the country.

• Korean War

• Vietnam War

• WWI

• War in the Pacific