Who was Sanford Dole?

-Became president of Hawaii territory and later governor
-asked for Hawaii’s annexation in DC
-only person on Hawaii to be an American chief executive

Who was Minor Keith?
-Created a banana republic in Costa Rica
-exported 50 million bananas to the US every year until 1913
-owned Central American Steamship Company
-Turned Guatemala and Honduras to banana republics as well

Who was William McKinley?
-started Spanish American War in 1898
-Passed the Dingley Tariff Act (reduced taxes and created growth for industries and employees)
-Wasn’t up for the war initially, but was interested when the USS Maine blew up
-Claimed that the Philippines were a “gift from God”
-open door policy in China

Theodore Roosevelt
-President after McKinley’s assassination in 1901
-Wanted US to be a global power, built a large navy because he believed that the largest navy would dominate the world
-Believed that whites (and Japanese) were superior because they were civilized
-Led the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American war
-Won a Nobel Peace Prize for making the Square Deal (created peace between Japan and Russia)
-First president to leave the country during term by visiting the Panama canal in 1906

William Howard Taft
-suggested stable government with elected legislative assembly
-Dollar Diplomacy: US invested in South/Central America, Caribbean, and far east; loans to foreign countries
-16th Amendment: income tax
-rescued Honduras from debt with loans and grants
-stabilized Nicaragua’s conservatives with 2700 US Marines

Woodrow Wilson
-Not interested in foreign affairs
-Led the progressive movement
-helped make the Haitian Constitution
-bought the Virgin Islands for $25 million
-signed a treaty with Nicaragua so no one else could make a canal
-doesn’t support “government of butchers” in Mexico
-didn’t join League of Nations
-tried to stay out of WWI but pressured when US cargo ships were attacked by German subs

Franklin Roosevelt
-New Deal, guy who won the war
-Victory over reform, good neighbor policy
-Mobilized US economy to support war effort
-Atlantic charter with Churchill

Harry Truman
-New deal into Fair deal
-shift from wartime to peacetime
-raised minimum wage and expanded social security
-Nat’l Housing Act of 1949: constructed 810,000 houses
-against discrimination in hiring and segregation in armed forces
-used atomic weapons on japan
-helped create UN and NATO
-Marshall Plan: helped rebuild Europe
-Oversaw Berlin Airlift
-Started Korean War, approved by UN because Soviets boycotted
-Truman Doctrine: US would provide to countries threatened by communism

Dwight Eisenhower
-most inexperienced and most popular presidents of the wartime era
-5-star war general in WWII
-gave power positions to people controlling business
-didn’t settle conflict between US and SU
-Federal Highway Act of 1956: $25 million towards developing freeways
-in farewell address, gives warning of “unwarranted influence” from a vast “military-industrial complex”
-Signed first civil rights act

Douglas MacArthur
-Arthur MacArthur’s grandson, old Civil War hero
-5-star WWII general, commanded forces in Philippines
-Fired by Truman because he wanted to invade China

Lyndon Johnson
-Great Society: civil rights, public broadcasting, medicare/medicaid, war on poverty, immigration reform
-VP for JFK, took over after JFK was killed
-escalated US involvement in Vietnam
- unpopular for his inability to stop Vietnam war, only served 1 term because of that

Richard Nixon
-would get the US out of Vietnam by making it look like the war is South Vietnam’s fault
-lied to the people about Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, etc.
-war in Vietnam continued without the US for 2 years
-“Watergate Scandal”, resigned before he could be impeached

Ho Chi Minh
-Leader of North Vietnamese political party (communist)
-went to Paris Peace Conferences to look for liberation
-wrote many letters to U.S., no response
-Asked Russia to help get France out of Vietnam

Ngo Dinh Diem
-First president of South Vietnam (1955–1963)
-Right wing dictatorship over South Vietnam
-everyone hated him, stayed in power only because US had his back
-lost US support after self-immolation of a Buddhist monk, assassinated shortly afterwards

Monroe Doctrine: When: 1823 What: any affairs with Europe over land in the Americas would be seen as aggression and threat of intervention

Banana Republics

countries whose governments are less powerful than the leader of a US industry occupying that country, usually exporting a single product. i.e. Costa Rica and Hawaii

Yellow Journalism Exaggerated reporting, not well-researched, famous for stories about Cuba. Created fierce competition between the NY World and the NY Morning papers.

Why were the Philippines taken? couldn’t be returned to Spain (sign of weakness), people weren’t fit for self-government

Why did the US resist/approve occupation of the Philippines? resist: it was immoral, workers feared cheap labor
approve: reinvigorate nation, more trade, new territory

What was the Roosevelt Corollary?

declaration that US would collect/distribute debts to repay to Europe, in return they could intervene in Latin American affairs. Theo Roosevelt used this to suppress revolutionary forces in 1906 in Latin America

What was the Great White Fleet? “The big stick”, Theo Roosevelt’s way to show off his big navy to the world.

What was the open door policy? America and Europe was carving their own spheres in China, this policy made each country’s sphere equal in opportunity. secretly made to protect America’s sphere.

 

“Big stick diplomacy” “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” — let everyone know that you’re powerful and you can open a can of whupass if they get on your bad side

What happened in the Dominican Republic and why did the US intervene? US initially helped them settle their debt to Europe, but DR was still deep in debt after a revolution. US played “banker” for 3 years and fixed stuff

What happened in Panama and why did the US intervene? US wanted to build a canal here, so Teddy made a deal: US helps liberate them, but US has rights over Panama

Dollar Diplomacy President Taft used this in Latin America and East Asia to guarantee them loans and promoted US investment in those areas

Wilson’s 14 points basically, let new nations have self-determination, introduce international conduct, and League of Nations

When did the US enter WWI and why? 1917, US was neutral to Germany until they attacked several American civilian ships (Lusitania).

What did the US do in WWI? Helped Great Britain blockade Germany, supplied resources to Britain/France

What was happening in the US during/after WWI? During: increase of women in workforce (60%), African Americans used as bargaining tool in the war, Native Americans fought in the war
After: Prohibition, PTSD, “lost generation”

Sabotage Act of 1918 illegal to express opposition to the war publicly

Sedition Act of 1918 isolated people who were of the ethnicity of people fought against in the war

What was the debt cycle in the 1930s? Germany had to pay reparations to France and GB, who owed the US a lot of $$ anyway, US loaned Germany $$ who would pay back France and GB, who would pay back the US what they spent + interest.

Neutrality acts

1935 — only trade non-military goods with nations at war
1936 — president to warn Americans from travelling in hostile waters
1937 — “Cash and Carry” policy

“Cash and Carry” policy European waters were dangerous, so European countries would come to the US with "cash", then “carry” their goods back to their countries.

Lend-Lease program the US could lend armaments to anyone on the US’s side

Good Neighbor Policy Announced by Roosevelt in his inaugural address, he would oppose armed intervention in the increasing tensions in Latin American countries.

Atlantic Charter (what did it aim for?) aimed for certain common principles on which to base a better future for the world. (translation: destroy the Nazis)

When exactly was Pearl Harbor attacked? 12-7-1941

what events led up to Pearl Harbor

1931, Japanese take over Manchuria
1937, take over northern China, US sends aid to China.
1941, take over French Indochina, Roosevelt cuts off their oil supply from America.

What happened in Coral Sea? First battle between aircraft carriers, stopped a possible Japanese invasion of Australia. (May 1942)

What happened at the Battle of Midway? “Turning point”, first victory against Japanese, decimated Japanese army (June 1942)

What happened at Battle of the Bulge? Dec. 1944–Jan 1945, Germans lost ground and were being pushed back by the Allies, try to stand one more offensive but fail, become too crippled to fight back anymore.

What was the Potsdam Conference?

7/26/1945, series of demands Japan must accept or it would face “prompt and utter destruction”. These were:
-end militarism in Japan
-Disarm entire Japanese army
-Japan would be allowed to maintain an industrial economy
-War criminals would be punished
-Japan would be occupied until conditions are met

What was the Yalta conference? Feb 1945, Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt decided on unconditional surrender for Germany. Germany was split into 4 occupation zones and demilitarized, SU would go to war with Japan for three months, then peace in Europe and SU joins UN

What were arguments for dropping the bomb on Hiroshima/Nagasaki?

-only way to stop them
-didn’t want to waste the special bombs they made
-an invasion would kill more people
-those cities will have been firebombed anyway
-prevented further use of the bombs by observing their devastation
-halted the war quickly so Russia didn’t get to joint occupy Japan

What were arguments against dropping the bomb on Japan?

-Japan was close to surrendering
-The bomb could have been done in the Tokyo harbor and cause the same effect without as much harm
-those cities had low militaristic value
-firebombing would cause less long-term effects (radiation)

When was VE Day? 5-7-1945

When was VJ Day? 8-15-1945

When was D Day? 6-6-1944 (allies retake Europe mainland)

Who was in the UN at first and how was it structured? China, France, Russia, UK and US. They would stop wars from coming again, these five have veto powers, US vetoed less at first but now a lot, Russia vetoed a lot at first.

What was the first Red Scare? worker (socialist) revolution and political radicalism

What was the second red scare? “McCarthyism”, the promotion of fear against communism in the US.

Who owned parts of Germany? Zones of occupation GB, Russia, France, and America.

What was the Berlin Airlift? SU blockaded America’s Berlin area, they had to fly in all their supplies for about a year.

Who were Ethel and Julius Rosenberg? Suspected communist spies, caught supplying info on A-bombs, tried and found guilty of espionage, died of electric chair in 1953

What was Containment, what were they containing? America’s effort to contain communism and prevents its spread into other countries, in fear of “domino theory”

What and when was the Marshall Plan? Attempt to slow communism, offered economic aid to Europe, June 1947

What was the Domino Theory? The American fear that countries would fall to communism if a neighboring country falls to communism.

What did MacArthur want to accomplish in Korea? Wanted war in China and more military in Korea, complete opposite of Truman’s plan.

When was Vietnam colonized by the French, and what was its fate? Colonized in 1874, fought for independence after WWII but US took over.

What was the Geneva Conference? Vietnam would be split over the 17th parallel, North being communist and South being Western.

What was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and what caused it? US ship supposedly attacked by Vietnamese, president sent in military aid, escalated to war in Vietnam.

Who were the Viet Cong and the Viet Minh? Cong: communist guerilla party
Minh: political power fighting for independence

What happened on the Tet offensive and why? Tet is the Vietnamese new year, so the Viet Cong launched a major attack with the intent of getting rid of all the US occupiers. It succeeds.