HomeDepartmentsSocial StudiesTeachersMr. D. RiderAP US HistoryUnit 7
Unit 7 – The Postwar World – Adjusting to Change
The end of WWII marked a major watershed in American history. The year 1945 ushered in the Atomic Age, the Cold War, the United Nations, and the beginning of the end of colonialism in Asia and Africa. The major developments of this fifty year period stem from WWII experiences. Cold War foreign policy, the Civil Rights Movement, women's liberation, early postwar economic prosperity, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War all have their origins in that great war.
At the conclusion of this unit, you should be able to answer the following basic questions:
- Why would the Soviet Union view origins of the Cold War differently from the United States?
- To what extent did the Truman Doctrine set a precedent for a sound foreign policy in the future?
- How did McCarthyism affect American thinking?
- Why did President Truman fire Gen. MacArthur?
- How effectively did Presidents Truman and Eisenhower build on prosperity stemming from wartime savings?
- To what extent were the New Frontier and the Great Society the logical successors of the new Deal?
- Why did the United States become involved in the Vietnam War?
- Why did the Civil Rights Movement become more violent in the mid-1960s?
- To what extent did the women's liberation movement change the roles and status of women?
- Why was President Nixon forced to resign as a result of the Watergate break-in?
- How effective have recent presidents been in solving key issues of domestic and foreign policy?
- In what ways does contemporary American art mirror the values of American society?
AMSCO chapters 28 – 29
Norton chapters 28, 30 – 32
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