1. What was the Cold War and how did it shape American foreign policy and domestic life from 1945 to 1980?

2. How did the Cuban Missile Crisis demonstrate the dangers of Cold War tensions between the United States and Soviet Union?

3. How did Cold War concerns about communism influence American attitudes toward civil rights and segregation?

1. What was the Red Scare after World War II and what institutions did Americans suspect of harboring communists?

2. How did Cold War fears about communism contribute to the Vietnam War and the social divisions it created?

3. How did Cold War tensions fluctuate between periods of confrontation and periods of détente or coexistence?

1. Why did the American economy experience robust growth during the 1950s and 1960s?

2. How did returning veterans and government programs like the GI Bill reshape American geography and society?

3. What pent-up demands drove consumer spending and suburban development after World War II?

1. How did the civil rights movement of African Americans in the 1950s and 1960s challenge Cold War narratives about American democracy?

2. What social justice movements emerged in the 1970s beyond the African American civil rights movement?

3. How did postwar liberalism expand the role of government and what responses did it generate?

1. What factors weakened the Democratic majority and the liberal consensus by the late 1960s?

2. How did economic changes, including the loss of manufacturing jobs, affect American confidence in government and institutions?

3. How did the shift from postwar optimism to pessimism contribute to the rise of conservatism in the mid-1970s?