ASSIGNMENT 1:
Sources:
  • textbook --> 882 - 890.
  • AMSCO --> pp.  570 - 572;  581 - 584 [Doc. D].
  • PowerPoint Presentation on the Culture of the 1950s.
Terms :
*  "New Republicanism" *  franchise
*  Federal Highway Act of 1956 *  Dr. Benjamin Spock
*  urban renewal *  The Affluent Society
*  suburbia *  The Other America
*  consumerism *  The Power Elite
*  The Organization Man *  the Beats
*  "Baby Boom" *  Elvis Presley
Questions:
  1. Identify the candidates and outcome of the presidential election of 1952.
  2. What was the meaning of the term "New Republicanism?"
  3. Why did the economy grow during the 1950s?  Explain its impact on America's national image and the way in which the nation identified and characterized itself.
  4. What was the impact of economic growth on African-Americans and Native Americans during the 1950s?
  5. How did urban renewal transform American cities in the 1950s?
  6. What were the provisions of the Federal Highway Act of 1956?  What was the impact of massive road construction on American society and culture?
  7. Describe the impact of television programming on the American family, especially on the image of American women.
  8. What was the importance of the emerging youth culture in America during the 1950s?
  9. What was the connection between government and God during the 1950s?  How did this impact on the popularity of religion?
  10. Identify the major scholars who addressed the issue of American affluence during the 1950s.
  11. Who were the "Beats?"  How did their challenge of American affluence reveal the limitations and dangers of national economic abundance?
 

                          ASSIGNMENT 2:
Sources:
  • textbook --> pp. 890 - 896.
  • AMSCO --> pp.  572 - 578 [Docs. A & B].
Terms :
*  Third World *  Mohammed Mossadegh
*  massive retaliation *  Ho Chi Minh
*  M. A. D. *  Dien Bien Phu
*  "Duck-and-Cover"(1)   (2) *  Ngo Dinh Diem
*  National Aeronautics and
   Space Administration [NASA]		 *  Southeast Asia Treaty
   Organization [SEATO]
*  ICBM *  "Kitchen Debate"
*  Sputnik I *  U-2 Incident
Questions:
  1. What was the political style of Dwight D. Eisenhower?
  2. Explain Eisenhower's doctrine of massive retaliation in terms of its impact on American foreign relations during the 1950s, as well as its impact on increasing American fear of nuclear war.
  3. What was the significance of the Soviet launch of the Sputnik I?  What was the American response to that event?
  4. List the major examples of American intervention in Third World political affairs during the 1950s.
  5. What was the historical context for the future Vietnam conflict of the events in Southeast Asia in the 1950s?
  6. Why were there so many misunderstandings in the typical Soviet-American relationship during the 1950s?
  7. What was the importance of the U-2 Incident?
 

                         ASSIGNMENT 3:
Sources:
  • textbook --> pp. 899 - top of pg. 902.
  • AMSCO --> pp.  579 - 581 [Doc. C].
Terms :
*  Brown v. Board of Education,
   Topeka, KS		 *  Montgomery, AL Bus Boycott
*  desegregation *  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
*  Southern Manifesto *  Southern Christian Leadership
   Conference [SCLC]
*  Gov. Orval Faubus [AR] *  Student Non-Violent Coordinating
   Committee [SNCC]
*  "Little Rock Nine" *  Greensboro, NC "Sit-In"
*  Rosa Parks *  Charles Hamilton Houston
Questions:
  1. What was the importance of the role played by Howard University's Charles Hamilton Houston in developing the modern civil rights movement?
  2. What was the historical significance of the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS?
  3. What was the intent of the Southern Manifesto?
  4. List the crises occurring between 1954 and 1960 that indicated the difficulty of carrying out the Brown decision "with all deliberate speed."
  5. Why was the Montgomery bus boycott important in the civil rights struggle?
  6. What was the role of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the American civil rights movement?
  7. Identify the various Africa-American organizations that were created during the 1950s to fight segregation and racism.  What tactics did they support?