Home / Courses / US History / Unit 8

US History Unit 8: Period 8: 1945–1980

The Cold War shaped foreign and domestic policy while prosperity, the civil rights movement and protest transformed American society.

Covers: The Cold War and containment, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, McCarthyism, postwar prosperity and suburbs, the civil rights movement, the Great Society, protest movements of the 1960s–70s

Study guide

After World War II, the US and Soviet Union became rivals in the Cold War. The US adopted containment: the Truman Doctrine aided nations resisting communism, the Marshall Plan rebuilt Western Europe, the Berlin Airlift resisted a Soviet blockade, and NATO formed a military alliance. China became communist in 1949, the Soviets built atomic bombs, and the Korean War (1950–1953) ended in stalemate. Fear of communism at home produced McCarthyism. Under Eisenhower, the arms race, the CIA's covert actions and Sputnik shaped policy; under Kennedy, the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) brought the world close to nuclear war.

Postwar prosperity created a booming middle class. The GI Bill helped veterans attend college and buy homes, suburbs like Levittown grew (often excluding Black families), the baby boom expanded families, and television and consumer culture spread. Critics questioned conformity, and the Beat writers and early rock and roll challenged it.

The civil rights movement fought segregation. Brown v. Board of Education (1954) overturned "separate but equal"; the Montgomery bus boycott, sit-ins, Freedom Rides, the March on Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent leadership built pressure for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, while Malcolm X and Black Power offered different approaches. Lyndon Johnson's Great Society launched Medicare, Medicaid and the War on Poverty. The Vietnam War escalated after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, and the Tet Offensive (1968) turned opinion against it, fueling antiwar protest. Other movements included women's rights (NOW, Title IX), Chicano and American Indian activism, environmentalism (the EPA) and gay rights after Stonewall. Nixon pursued détente with China and the USSR, but Watergate led to his resignation in 1974, and the 1970s brought stagflation, the energy crisis and a growing conservative movement.

Under Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Supreme Court expanded individual rights. Mapp v. Ohio, Gideon v. Wainwright and Miranda v. Arizona protected people accused of crimes, and Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) upheld students' right to free speech. Eisenhower's 'domino theory' held that if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, its neighbors would follow. This belief led the US to support South Vietnam after France's defeat in 1954. The Eisenhower Doctrine (1957) extended containment aid to the Middle East.

The Federal-Aid Highway Act (1956) built the interstate highway system, which sped up suburban growth and car culture. It also helped people and industry move to the South and West, known as the Sun Belt. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 ended the 1920s national-origins quotas and opened the way for large-scale immigration from Asia and Latin America.

Conservatives rallied behind Barry Goldwater's 1964 campaign against big government. Nixon later appealed to a 'silent majority' and used a 'Southern strategy' to win white Southern voters. Roe v. Wade (1973) legalized abortion and helped mobilize religious conservatives. César Chávez and Dolores Huerta's United Farm Workers used strikes and a national grape boycott to win better pay and conditions for farm laborers, many of them Mexican American and Filipino American.

Key ideas

• Containment guided US foreign policy throughout the Cold War.
• Fear of communism produced McCarthyism at home.
• Postwar prosperity built suburbs and a large middle class, unequally shared.
• The civil rights movement won major legal and legislative victories.
• Vietnam, Watergate and stagflation eroded trust in government.

Formulas and rules

Common mistakes

• Thinking the Korean War ended in a US victory; it ended in stalemate near the 38th parallel.
• Treating the civil rights movement as only MLK; it included many groups and strategies.

Words to know

Cold War

The US-Soviet rivalry from about 1947 to 1991.

Containment

US policy of stopping the spread of communism.

Truman Doctrine

The 1947 pledge to help nations resisting communism.

Marshall Plan

US aid to rebuild Western Europe after WWII.

NATO

The 1949 Western military alliance against the Soviet Union.

McCarthyism

Reckless accusations of communism in the early 1950s.

Korean War

1950–1953 war that ended in stalemate at the 38th parallel.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The 1962 standoff over Soviet missiles in Cuba.

GI Bill

Benefits for veterans, including college tuition and home loans.

Brown v. Board of Education

The 1954 ruling that school segregation was unconstitutional.

Montgomery bus boycott

The 1955–1956 boycott sparked by Rosa Parks' arrest.

Civil Rights Act of 1964

Banned segregation in public places and job discrimination.

Voting Rights Act of 1965

Banned literacy tests and protected Black voting rights.

Great Society

LBJ's programs including Medicare, Medicaid and the War on Poverty.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

The 1964 resolution that let Johnson escalate the Vietnam War.

Tet Offensive

The 1968 North Vietnamese attack that turned US opinion against the war.

Watergate

The scandal that led to Nixon's resignation in 1974.

Stagflation

High inflation plus high unemployment, as in the 1970s.

Sample practice questions

5 more questions like these, from level 1 to 5, are in the practice set.