About Quizzes

Postwar America

The era after World War II marks the beginning of Contemporary America: an age of rapid communication, globalism, increasing reliance on science, a struggle for civil rights and equality, and the notion of America as a beacon of democracy and exceptionalism.

Fear of communism and the Cold War dominated the political landscape in the 1950s. Rock n’ roll became a popular genre of music, the fight for civil rights began, and space became the new frontier for exploration and dominance.

    POST WAR & COLD WAR

  • Nuremberg Trials - The Nuremberg Trials is the general name for two sets of trials of Nazis involved in crimes committed during the Holocaust of World War II.... Continue Reading
  • Marshall Plan - "The modern system of the division of labor upon which the exchange of products is based is in danger of breaking down. The truth of the matter is that Europe's requirements for the next three or four... Continue Reading
  • Berlin Airlift - Although a wartime alliance between the western democracies and the Soviet Union had united disparate governments in the effort to defeat Adolf Hitler, strains began to appear even before World War II... Continue Reading
  • Cold War - Conflicts of national interest caused the World War II alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union to be replaced by a Cold War that lasted 45 years.... Continue Reading
  • McCarthy - Little in the early career of Joseph McCarthy marked him as exceptional, but beginning in 1950, his political activities spawned an entirely new word that has become a permanent part of the American l... Continue Reading
  • Hollywood Blacklist - The Hollywood Blacklist came into being in 1947 when the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) began to summon certain Hollywood entertainment professionals on the suspicion that their work... Continue Reading
  • Julius and Ethel Rosenberg - In one of the most controversial capital punishment trials of the 20th century, a man and his wife were charged, tried, convicted, and executed, for the crime of “conspiracy to commit espionage agains... Continue Reading
  • Korean War - The Korean War was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea that served also as an arena of war for Cold War juggernauts China, the Soviet Union, and the United States. It officially began on Ju... Continue Reading
  • Eisenhower - There must be no second-class citizens in this country. - President Dwight D. Eisenhower.... Continue Reading
    • FIGHT FOR CIVIL RIGHTS BEGINS

  • Civil Rights Movement- Rapid expansion of civil liberties and rights in America occurred during the last half of the 20th century.... Continue Reading
  • Brown v. Board of Education- On May 17, 1954, in a case argued by NAACP attorney... Continue Reading
  • Rosa Parks- Known throughout the world as the “Mother of the civil rights movement,” Rosa Parks' courageous act on December 1, 1955, changed the course of American history.... Continue Reading
    • EXPLORATION & ENTERTAINERS

  • Elvis - Elvis Presley was an American singer, actor and song producer. He also was known as the King of Rock `n Roll. More than one billion Elvis records have sold worldwide, with 120 singles in the U.S. top ... Continue Reading
  • Buddy Holly - When anyone says "Rock `n Roll pioneers," only a few musicians qualify as being influential in establishing the genre, circa mid 1950s. Chuck Berry is one. Elvis Presley is another. But in the brief s... Continue Reading
  • Space Race - The Space Race entered the American consciousness fully with the Soviet launch of their satellite Sputnik on October 4, 1957. Suddenly, Americans who had always assumed that they were ahead of everyon... Continue Reading