HIST 3305 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Roy Cohn, September 11 Attacks, Ngo Dinh Diem
History 1378
Dr. Buzzanco
Final Exam Review
Fall 2016
Part I: Identification Terms (30 points)
SIX of the following terms will appear on the exam, of which you will need to address THREE. Each
will be worth 10 points, for a total of 30 points for the whole section. A good ID will be more than a
sentence. It usually takes at least 4-5 sentences in order to respond to each ID, or about half a page.
Be sure that you use relevant information from both the lectures and class textbooks. You will be
tested on class material, so do not use Internet sources.
Each ID should have two parts: a basic definition of the term including who, what, where, when,
why, AND the significance of the term, or how it relates to a broader historical theme and/or event.
For example, if “sharecropping” were a term, you would want to both define it and also explain the
consequences of sharecropping, what it meant for ex-slaves, that it was part of the failure of social
reconstruction, etc.
Truman Doctrine
In March 1947, President Truman announced the creation of the Truman Doctrine which stated
that America would support “free peoples” who were under attack from “outside forces”. The
doctrine was created to “scare the hell out of” the American people so they would spend money
to aid other countries under the threat of communism, specifically Greece. Under the name of
“democracy” and anti-communism, the United States sent over troops to help the Greek secret
police and ended up supporting a terrible repression against the Greek people. Along with
increased control in Germany and increased weapon production, the Truman Doctrine signaled
that the U.S. plans for postwar power was progressing as expected. The Truman Doctrine was
historically important because it expanded the Cold War and it showed to the world the U.S. goal
of world hegemony. The U.S. would do what it had to do to expand its own power, and “human
rights” and “living standards” would be damned in the process.
Containment Theory
In early 1946, George Frost Kennan, recommended a U.S. policy of containment toward the
Russians, at the time when both countries were in conflict over the fate of Eastern Europe.
Containment assumes that one cannot totally eliminate a problem, so it must contain, or limit, it
to where it already exists. Kennan explained that the Soviet Union would try to expand
communism but the U.S. could contain it so that it would not gain influence outside the Eastern
European countries where the Russians had taken control of in the late stages of WWII.
However, government leaders assumed that containment would be a global military policy that
should be used not only in Eastern Europe but anywhere in the world that was under the threat of
Communism. The containment theory is historically important because it gave the American
government power to expand its global power after WWII which the government abused. U.S.
officials led by President Truman began to see any challenge or alternative to the U.S. economic
plan for the postwar would as a threat and began to describe any different views as
“Communist”.
Marshall Plan
Countries across Europe had a build up of debt as the aftermath of World War II. The
U.S. developed the Marshall Plan as a way to provide financial aid to these countries in need.
$17 billion was spent for 16 countries (such as Britain, France, Italy, etc), but it was not a way to
just offer help to countries in ruins by war, it was a strategic plan for the U.S. to rebuild its own
economical powers. In order to prevent another depression from occurring, the U.S. business
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needed more markets. Since Europe was deficient in funds, they were not able to buy American
goods. The creation of the Marshall Plan would help resolve this by offering money to Europe so
they can use the money to buy American goods and rebuild their countries. The result would be
an endless circulation of funds being passed around which not only benefit the U.S., but also
rebuilds the economic stability of Europe and contain the Soviet Union from expansion of
Communism. The Marshall Plan was historically significant because it was a big U.S. foreign
policy used to rebuild the U.S. economy through means of increasing consumption of other
countries.
NSC-68
The National Security Act was passed in 1947 which did lots of reform on foreign policy
and military defense. The act created the National Security Council (NSC) which gave
suggestions to the president on foreign policy. In 1950, the document, NSC-68 was the 68th
publication that analyzed the U.S Cold War policy. First, the document described all the
problems going on at the time which caused U.S. to enter a period of militarization (building
more weapons, have more troops, more money on the pentagon, more involvement to stop
Communism abroad, create more programs to keep American loyal. Second, it created a program
to increase military spending which was vital for the improvement of the economy. The
document caused the government to combine its military strength program and its plans for
economic power together. The NSC-68 also provided foreign military aid programs that gave
money to countries to defend themselves against Communists. This lead to support weapon
makers at home and also circulated the economy. This document was significant because it led to
a growth of rapid military spending to increase the national security of the US, but it left other
programs (education and healthcare) with not much funding.
NATO
NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization that was created in 1949 by
American leaders as a military alliance for the cold war. NATO helped bring together 12 nations
to agree to aid each other if they were ever under attack. The nations also agreed to create “free
institutions” through economic collaboration. NATO was historically important because it was
suppose to build up the military industry and hold “nationalistic tendencies” in Europe.
Therefore, the indirect goal of NATO was to expand America’s control and influence over in
Europe.
SDS
Students for a Democratic Society: a campus-based political organization founded in 1961 by
Tom Hayden that became an iconic representation of the New Left. Originally geared toward the
intellectual promise of "participatory democracy," SDS emerged at the forefront of the civil
rights, antipoverty, and anitwar movements during the 1960s. It led thousands of campus protests
before it split apart at the end of the 1960s.
Joe McCarthy
During the 1950s. He claimed that it was those who were wealthy and benefited from capitalism
that were the threat and that the real problem was the State Department and IB league diplomats.
Also claimed that bright young men that were turning on their country. Also claimed there was
205 known communist sympathizers in the state department. Senators were so scared to go
against him and 100,000 people lost their jobs and people were also scared to lose their jobs.
Significance: Led to a second red scare.
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Betty Friedan
1921-2006. American feminist, activist and writer. Best known for starting the "Second Wave" of
feminism through the writing of her book "The Feminine Mystique" - an account of housewives'
lives in which they subordinated their own aspirations to the needs of men; bestseller was an
inspiration for many women to join the women's rights movement. She founded the National
Organization for Women
W.E.B DuBois
William Edward Burhardt DuBois was the first Black to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard
University in 1895 and became a professor of sociology and an editor for the magazine called,
The Crisis. In 1909 he was the founder of National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) which was an organization that helped African American fight for their civil
rights. He believed that African-Americans should not accept White supremacy, encouraged
them seek educational opportunities, equal rights and to reach for higher goals. He wanted to
have the phrase, “make the world safe for democracy” apply to African Americans. Therefore,
he used the power of his words to sway and urge African Americans to support the Great War
and to be patriotic. He thought that these patriotic actions would help create a movement in civil
rights, it did not. DuBois is significant to history because he was the voice of African Americans
by telling them to stand their ground against the hatred they received from the Whites. He
believed that the African Americans and the Whites should not be separated due to their
differences, but work to live peacefully together.
“The Evil Empire”
In the area of foreign policy, he adopted a hostile attitude toward the Soviet Union, which he
described as the "Evil Empire." His vast defense expenditures and determination to battle
communist aggression everywhere contributed to the demise of the Soviet Union. Ronald
Reagan's Evil Empire speech, made in 1900, outlined his views on the Cold War and the USSR's
communist views on religion. He essentially expressed distaste and repugnancy towards the ideal
of an atheist communist government, believing that America was meant to win the Cold War
because they were the religious country; Reagan believed that their religion granted them a more
valid claim as a holistic global nation. The premise of his speech was, in essence, his views on
the Cold War, but underlining the entire statement were political and religious criticisms, headed
by one major statement that he quoted on the topic of communism; "I would sooner see my
children die in a country where they believed in God, than live out their lives in a state in which
they did not". Ronald Reagan used this quote from famous person to enunciate his speech and
make it more relatable to the American people that weren't as politically minded as others.
Roy Cohn
Senator Joe McCarthy created the Pink Scare, which was an accusation of government
officials being homosexuals. Being homosexual was as big of a treason as being Communist.
Ironically, his lead lawyer named Roy Cohn was gay but went along with McCarthy’s
belief…….
Yom Kippur/Ramadan War
The Yom Kippur or Ramadan War was a battle in 1973 between the Arab states and Israel
on the holy day of Yom Kippur. Egypt and Syria attacked Israel in order to regain stolen
territories. Egyptians struck Israeli forces in the air, crossed the Suez Canal, and went into Sinai.
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