"Ask not what your country can do for you — Ask what you can do for your country."
-President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961
-President John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 1961
Period 8: 1945-1980
The Modern State and the Age of Liberalism
After World War II, the United States grappled with prosperity and unfamiliar international responsibilities while struggling to live up to its ideals.
Key Concept 8.1: The United States responded to an uncertain and unstable postwar world by asserting and working to maintain a position of global leadership, with far-reaching domestic and international consequences.
Key Concept 8.2: New movements for civil rights and liberal efforts to expand the role of government generated a range of political and cultural responses.
Key Concept 8.3: Postwar economic and demographic changes had far-reaching consequences for American society, politics, and culture.
- United States policymakers engaged in a Cold War with the authoritarian Soviet Union, seeking to limit the growth of Communist military power and ideological influence, create a free-market global economy, and build an international security system.
- Cold War policies led to public debates over the power of the federal government and acceptable means for pursuing international and domestic goals while protecting civil liberties.
Key Concept 8.2: New movements for civil rights and liberal efforts to expand the role of government generated a range of political and cultural responses.
- Seeking to fulfill Reconstruction-era promises, civil rights activists and political leaders achieved some legal and political successes in ending segregation, although progress toward racial equality was slow.
- Responding to social conditions and the African American civil rights movement, a variety of movements emerged that focused on issues of identity, social justice, and the environment.
- Liberalism influenced postwar politics and court decisions, but it came under increasing attack from the left as well as from a resurgent conservative movement.
Key Concept 8.3: Postwar economic and demographic changes had far-reaching consequences for American society, politics, and culture.
- Rapid economic and social changes in American society fostered a sense of optimism in the postwar years.
- New demographic and social developments, along with anxieties over the Cold War, changed U.S. culture and led to significant political and moral debates that sharply divided the nation.
Period 9: 1980-Present
Global Capitalism and the End of the American Century
As the United States transitioned to a new century filled with challenges and possibilities, it experienced renewed ideological and cultural debates, sought to redefine its foreign policy, and adapted to economic globalization and revolutionary changes in science and technology.
Key Concept 9.1: A newly ascendant conservative movement achieved several political and policy goals during the 1980s and continued to strongly influence public discourse in the following decades.
Key Concept 9.2: Moving into the 21st century, the nation experienced significant technological, economic, and demographic changes.
Key Concept 9.3: The end of the Cold War and new challenges to U.S. leadership forced the nation to redefine its foreign policy and role in the world.
- Conservative beliefs regarding the need for traditional social values and a reduced role for government advanced in U.S. politics after 1980.
Key Concept 9.2: Moving into the 21st century, the nation experienced significant technological, economic, and demographic changes.
- New developments in science and technology enhanced the economy and transformed society, while manufacturing decreased.
- The U.S. population continued to undergo demographic shifts that had significant cultural and political consequences.
Key Concept 9.3: The end of the Cold War and new challenges to U.S. leadership forced the nation to redefine its foreign policy and role in the world.
- The Reagan administration promoted an interventionist foreign policy that continued in later administrations, even after the end of the Cold War.
- Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, U.S. foreign policy efforts focused on fighting terrorism around the world.
Chapter 25: Cold War America (1945-1963)
Aim: How does the U.S. and U.S.S.R. go from allies to rivals?
“Communism holds that the world is so deeply divided into opposing classes that war is inevitable. Democracy holds that free nations can settle differences justly and maintain lasting peace.”
-President Harry S. Truman, Inaugural Address, January 20th, 1949
-President Harry S. Truman, Inaugural Address, January 20th, 1949
Chapter 25 | |
File Size: | 6375 kb |
File Type: |
Chapter 26: Trimph of the Middle Class (1945-1963)
Aim: What was the Cold War like in America?
“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.”
-President Dwight D. Eisenhower
-President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Chapter 26 | |
File Size: | 2347 kb |
File Type: |
Chapter 27: Walking into Freedom Land: The Civil Rights Movement (1941-1973)
Aim: Why was the Civil Rights movement so "uncivil"?
“We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of “separate but equal” has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
-Earl Warren, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, May 17, 1954
-Earl Warren, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, May 17, 1954
Chapter 27 | |
File Size: | 1990 kb |
File Type: |
Chapter 28: Uncivil War: Liberal Crisis and Conservative Rebirth (1961-1972)
Aim: What makes the 1960s & 70s so different than any other time in our history?
“If, when the chips are down, the world’s most powerful nation, the United States, acts like a pitiful, helpless giant, the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy will threaten free nations and free institutions throughout the world.”
-Richard Nixon, Address to Nation, April 30th, 1970
-Richard Nixon, Address to Nation, April 30th, 1970
Chapter 28 | |
File Size: | 4341 kb |
File Type: |
Chapter 29: The Search for Order in an Era of Limits (1973-1980) &
Chapter 30: Conservative America in the Ascent (1980–1991)
Aim: How did the 1970s- 2000s shape American foreign policy?
"In the present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
-President Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981
-President Ronald Reagan, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1981
Chapter 29 & 30 | |
File Size: | 1823 kb |
File Type: |
Homework and Document Assignments:
Chapter 25 I.D. Terms | |
File Size: | 17 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Chapter 25 Document HW | |
File Size: | 4446 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Chapter 26 I.D. Terms | |
File Size: | 17 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Chapter 27 I.D. Terms | |
File Size: | 20 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Chapter 28 I.D. Terms | |
File Size: | 18 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Chapter 29 & 30 I.D. Terms | |
File Size: | 18 kb |
File Type: | docx |