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APUSH Period 8 Review (1945-1980)

6 min read•july 11, 2024

AP US History 🇺🇸

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Period 8: The Cold War (1945-1980)

In AP® US History, period 8 spans from 1945 to 1980 CE. The following guide will be updated periodically with hyperlinks to excellent resources. As you are reviewing for this era, focus on the key concepts and use the essential questions to guide you.

PERIOD 8 DATES TO KNOW

🎥Live Stream Replay - Period 8 and 9 Review

STUDY TIP: You will never be asked specifically to identify a date. However, knowing the order of events will help immensely with cause and effect. For this reason, we have identified the most important dates to know.

1945-1991 - Cold War

1947 - Truman Doctrine

1950-1953 - Korean War

1950s - McCarthyism

1954 - Brown v. Board of Ed.

1955 - Montgomery Bus Boycott

1957 - Sputnik

1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis

1963 - March on Washington

1963 - JFK assassinated

1964 - Civil Rights Act

1968 - MLK killed, RFK killed

1968 - Tet Offensive

1968 - Chicago Convention

1969 - moon landing

1972 - Watergate break-in

1973 - Roe v. Wade

1979 - Iranian hostage crisis

PERIOD 8 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

STUDY TIP: Use the following essential questions to guide your review of this entire unit. Keep in mind, these are not meant to be practice essay questions. Each question was written to help you summarize the key concept.

How did America foreign policy change and stay the same throughout the Cold War?
What were the goals and achievements of liberal movements during the 1960s?
How did post-WWII demographic shifts affect the United States?

Study Guide: Post-War Context

Past Essay Questions from Period 8

STUDY TIP: Content from the this era has appeared on the essays seventeen times since 2000. Take a look at these questions before you review the key concepts & vocabulary below to get a sense of how you will be assessed. Then, come back to these later and practice writing as many as you can!

*The APUSH exam was significantly revised in 2015, so any questions from before then are not representative of the current exam format. You can still use prior questions to practice, however DBQs will have more than 7 documents, the LEQ prompts are worded differently, and the rubrics are completely different. Use questions from 2002-2014 with caution. Essays from 1973-1999 available here.

2018 - SAQ 4: Internal migration patterns

2017 - SAQ 4: Vietnam Conflict

2016 - DBQ: Rise of Feminism

2015 - DBQ: Conservatism in America

2014 - LEQ 4: New Right Conservatism

2013 - LEQ 5: Reasons for protest

2012 - LEQ 5: Cold War foreign policies

2011 - DBQ: Nixon’s responses to challenges

2010 - LEQ 5: Population movements

2008 - DBQ: Vietnam Conflict

2007 - LEQ 5: Landslide Presidential elections

2006 - LEQ 5: Critiques of American society

2005 - LEQ 5: Movements of the 60s and 70s

2004 - LEQ 5: Containment

2002 - LEQ 5: Civil Rights Movement

2001 - DBQ: Cold War fears after WWII

2000 - LEQ 5: Cultural change in the 1960s

PERIOD 8 KEY CONCEPTS - COURSE OUTLINE

*The following outline was adapted from the AP® United States History Course Description as published by College Board in 2019 found here. This outline reflects the most recent revisions to the course.

8.1. The Cold War

🎥Live Stream Replay - The Cold War

🎥Live Stream Replay - The Vietnam War

US policymakers sought to contain the expansion of communism and create a free-market.
1. After WWII, the alliance between the US and USSR dissolved and the US developed foreign policy that would protect non-Communist nations.
2. The US engaged in military action abroad to contain Communism (Korea & Vietnam).
3. The Cold War included direct and indirect action, then periods of coexistence.
4. Decolonized nations were caught in between the US & USSR, with many nonaligned.
5. Competition extended to Latin America where the US supported non-Communists.
The Cold War sparked debate about means of pursuing goals while protecting liberties.

Some policies were designed to expose Communists within the US.

☭ Study Guide: The Red Scare

The Vietnam War inspired huge antiwar protests, unlike previous military actions.
Debates over nuclear weapons, military-industrial complex, and the power of the President in pursuing military action dominated this era.
US involvement in the Middle East increased.

8.2. Civil Rights & Liberal Movements

🎥Live Stream Replay - The Civil Rights Movement

⚡️ Study Guide - The Civil Rights Movement

Activists and leaders achieved slow progress toward equality.
1. Civil rights leaders used the courts, direct action, and nonviolent protest tactics.
2. All branches of government used measures including desegregating the armed forces through executive action, desegregating schools through the courts, and the legislative passage of the Civil Rights Act.
3. Racial equality progressed slowly, which questioned the efficacy of nonviolence.
The Civil Rights Movement inspired other liberal movements.
1. Feminist and gay rights activists mobilized to achieve equality.
2. Latino, American Indian, and Asian American movements demanded equality.
3. Poverty became highlighted as a national problem.
4. Environmental activists pushed for more regulations to protect natural resources.
Liberalism influenced politics and court decisions, but was also attacked by the left & right.
1. Liberalism as an anti-communist & pro-democratic policy reached high in the 1960s.
2. Liberal ideas were expressed through LBJ’s Great Society and Supreme Court cases.
3. Conservatives in the 1960s challenged liberal laws to limit the role of government.
4. Some activists on the left rejected liberal policies as not transformative enough.
5. Confidence and trust in government reached a low in the 1970s with scandals and crises dominating political conversations.
6. Conservatives and liberals continued to clash over the power of government and movements for greater individual rights.

8.3. Economic & Demographic Shifts After WWII

🎥Live Stream Replay - The 1970s

Economic and social changes after WWII created optimism in the postwar era.
1. Economic growth after WWII spurred by technology, spending, and the baby boom.
2. Social mobility because of higher education opportunities encouraged the migration of the middle class to the suburbs.
3. New immigration laws led to new waves of migrants seeking opportunities.
New demographics and Cold War anxieties led to divisive political and moral debates.
1. ♀️ Study Guide: Culture After 1945 and Youth Culture in the 1960s
2. Artists and intellectuals challenged conformity in the 1950s and 1960s.
3. Feminists and the young counterculture rejected social and sexual norms.
4. The evangelical Christian right grew substantially and became politically involved.

LIST OF CONCEPTS & VOCABULARY FROM PERIOD 8

STUDY TIP: These are the concepts and vocabulary from period 8 that most commonly appear on the exam. Create a quizlet deck to make sure you are familiar with these terms!

Deep breath. This one of the most vocab heavy units.