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Cuban Missile Crisis
A 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union in October 1962 over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba, marking the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.
Bay of pigs
A failed invasion of Cuba in April 1961 by Cuban exiles sponsored by the U.S. government. The invasion was intended to overthrow Fidel Castro's communist government but ended in disaster.
Taft-Hartley Act
A 1947 federal law that restricted the activities and power of labor unions. It was passed over President Truman's veto and aimed to balance the rights and power between labor and management.
United Nations
An international organization founded in 1945 after World War II to promote peace, security, and cooperation among member states. It replaced the League of Nations and has various specialized agencies.
Berlin Airlift
A military operation in 1948-1949 that supplied food and fuel to citizens of West Berlin when the Soviet Union blockaded all ground routes into the city, demonstrating the Western Allies' commitment to the people of Berlin.
GI Bill
Officially known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, it provided various benefits, including financial assistance for education and housing, to World War II veterans, significantly impacting American society.
“Iron Curtain”
A term popularized by Winston Churchill in a 1946 speech to describe the division between the Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe and the Western democracies, symbolizing the ideological conflict and physical boundary of the Cold War.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
A military alliance formed in 1949 by Western nations to counter the Soviet threat, based on collective defense where an attack against one member is considered an attack against all.
Korean War
A conflict from 1950 to 1953 between North Korea (with support from China and the Soviet Union) and South Korea (with support from the United Nations, primarily the United States), resulting from North Korea's invasion of South Korea.
Space Race
A Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve significant accomplishments in space exploration, highlighted by the launch of Sputnik in 1957 and the U.S. moon landing in 1969.
Marshall Plan
An American initiative passed in 1948 to aid Western Europe, in which the U.S. provided over $12 billion in economic assistance to help rebuild Western European economies after World War II.
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
A committee of the U.S. House of Representatives that investigated alleged disloyalty and subversive activities by private citizens, public employees, and organizations suspected of having communist ties, active mainly during the late 1940s and 1950s.
Containment
A U.S. policy during the Cold War aimed at preventing the spread of communism beyond its existing borders by providing political, military, or economic assistance to threatened nations.
Fair Deal
A set of proposals put forward by President Harry S. Truman in 1949 that aimed to continue and expand New Deal reforms, focusing on social welfare, civil rights, and economic stability.
Rosenberg Case
The trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in the early 1950s for conspiracy to commit espionage by passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union, fueling anti-communist sentiment in the U.S.
Truman Doctrine
A policy announced by President Harry S. Truman in 1947, stating that the U.S. would provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces.
Levittown
A name given to large suburban developments created by William Levitt after World War II, which epitomized the post-war suburbanization trend with affordable housing for returning veterans and their families.
McCarthyism
A term referring to the period of intense anti-communist suspicion in the U.S. during the early 1950s, marked by Senator Joseph McCarthy's aggressive investigations and accusations of communist infiltration in the government and other sectors.
Federal Highway Act of 1956
A law signed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower that authorized the construction of a 41,000-mile network of interstate highways across the U.S., facilitating suburban growth and economic development.
National Security Act of 1947
A major restructuring of the U.S. government's military and intelligence agencies after World War II, creating the National Security Council (NSC), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Department of Defense.
