The 1970s Vocabulary List

Vietnamization Definition: ● The United States policy of withdrawing its troops and transferring the responsibility and direction of the war effort to the government of South Vietnam.

The Ho Chi Minh Trail Definition: ●A network of of jungle paths winding from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia into South Vietnam, used as a military route by North Vietnam to supply the Vietcong during the Vietnam War.

Foreign Policy Definition: ●A government’s strategy in dealing with other nations.

Activist Definition: ●A person who campaigns for some type of social change.

Escalation Definition: ●To become worse or to make something worse or more severe.

The Vietcong Definition: ●A member of the communist guerrilla movement in Vietnam that fought the South Vietnamese government forces from 1954 to 1975 with the support of the North Vietnamese army, and opposed the South Vietnamese and United States forces in the Vietnam War.

Communism Definition: ●A way of organizing a society in which the government owns the things that are used to make and transport products (such as land, oil, factories, ships, etc.), and there is no privately owned property.

Detente Definition: ●An ending of hostile or unfriendly relations between countries.

Containment Definition: ● Actions that are intended to prevent an unfriendly government from gaining more power.

Diplomacy Definition: ●The work of maintaining good relations between the governments of different countries.

Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) Definition: ●A treaty signed between the United States and the Soviet Union in ●The treaty stated that the United States and Soviet Union would both agree to stop producing nuclear weapons, and limit the the number of antiballistic missiles in their respective arsenals.

Domestic Policy Definition: ●The set of decisions that a government makes relating to things that directly affect the people in its own country.

Clean Air Act (1970) Definition: ●A federal law created to regulate (control) the amount of air pollution in the United States.

Environmental Protection Agency (1970) Definition: ●A federal agency created to set and enforce rules and standards that protect the environment and control pollution.

New Federalism Definition: ●President Nixon’s plan to turn over the control of some federal programs to state and local governments.

The Pentagon Papers Definition: ●A classified study of the Vietnam War that was carried out by the Department of Defense. An official of the department, Daniel Ellsberg, gave copies of the study to the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Impeachment Definition: ●The process in which the United States Congress presents formal charges against a government official of the United States. ●The House of Representatives votes on which charges will be filed against the government official. ●The U.S. Senate holds the official trial, and votes to determine if if the official would be found guilty or innocent.

United States v. Richard Nixon Definition: ●A U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled President Richard Nixon must turn over 64 tapes containing secretly recorded telephone conversations between President Nixon and his advisors to the special prosecutor of the Watergate trial, Leon Jaworski.

The Watergate Scandal Definition: ●A White House political scandal that came to light during the 1972 presidential campaign, growing out of a break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate apartment- office complex in Washington, D.C., and after Congressional hearings, culminating in the resignation of President Nixon in 1974.

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Definition: ●An organization of oil-producing nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America that gained substantial power over the world economy in the mid-to-late 1970s.

Embargo Definition: ●An official ban on trade or other commercial activity with a particular country.

Inflation Definition: ●A general increase in the prices and fall in the purchasing value of money.

Stagnation Definition: ●A failure to develop, progress, or advance (a nation’s economy).

Stagflation Definition: ● An economic situation in which prices of goods and services continually increase, many people do not have jobs, and businesses are not very successful.

The Camp David Accords Definition: ●A 1978 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, negotiated by President Jimmy Carter, signed at Camp David, a presidential retreat near Washington, D.C.

Militant Definition: ●Having or showing a desire to use strong, extreme, and sometimes forceful methods to achieve something.

Revolution Definition: ●The usually violent attempt by many people to end the rule of one government and start a new one.

Ayatollah Definition: ●A religious leader among Shiite Muslims.

Assets Definition: ●The total amount of a nation’s money and property.

The Iran Hostage Crisis Definition: ●Protracted crisis that began in 1979 when Islamic militants seized the American embassy in Tehran, Iran, and held 52 American employees hostage. The crisis lasted for 444 days.

Stalemate Definition: ●A situation in which neither side can gain an advantage or win.