Key Terms You Must Know

📖 Key Terms You Must Know

GI Bill (Servicemen's Readjustment Act, 1944)

Law providing returning veterans with free college education, low-interest home loans, and job training. About 8 million veterans used it for higher education. It created the American suburban middle class — but its benefits were largely denied to Black veterans through discriminatory local administration. One of the most significant laws of the 20th century, but deeply unequal in practice.

McCarthyism

The political movement associated with Senator Joseph McCarthy (Republican, Wisconsin), who from 1950 to 1954 made sensational accusations that communists had infiltrated the US government, military, and Hollywood. Few of his specific claims were verified, but the fear he exploited was real — the USSR had nuclear weapons, China had become communist (1949), and the Korean War was being fought. McCarthyism destroyed careers through association and accusation rather than evidence. The term now means any campaign of baseless political persecution.

HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee)

Congressional committee established in 1938 to investigate communist influence in American life. Its most famous investigations targeted Hollywood, leading to the imprisonment of the "Hollywood Ten" — directors and screenwriters who refused to answer questions — and the blacklisting of hundreds more. Also investigated trade unions and civil rights organisations, viewing them as communist fronts. A tool of political repression in the early Cold War period.

"Double V" Campaign

Campaign begun by the Pittsburgh Courier (a Black American newspaper) in 1942, calling for "Double Victory" — victory over fascism in Europe AND victory over racism at home. Captured the fundamental contradiction of Black Americans fighting for democracy abroad while being denied it at home. The campaign grew to 200,000 subscribers and became a rallying point for the Civil Rights movement.

Baby Boom

The dramatic increase in birth rates following WW2 (1946-1964). Returning veterans started families, creating a population surge. The baby boom generation — about 76 million Americans — grew up in suburbs, went to college on the GI Bill's legacy, and became the generation of the 1960s social movements. Population grew from 140 million (1945) to 180 million (1960).

Cold War

The state of political and military tension between the USA and USSR (1947-1991) that shaped all of post-war American life. Not a shooting war between the superpowers directly, but expressed through proxy wars (Korea, Vietnam), nuclear arms race, espionage, and ideological competition. The Cold War gave the Civil Rights movement unexpected leverage — America's treatment of Black Americans was a propaganda gift to the Soviet Union, pressuring US presidents to act.