early cold war and mid cold war

United Nations

An international organization formed in 1945 to promote international cooperation and prevent future conflicts.

Cold War

A period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and its satellite states and the United States and its allies.

Communism

A political and economic system in which the state owns the means of production and seeks to create a classless society.

Socialism

A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Capitalism

An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.

Iron curtain

The political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union to seal off itself and its dependent eastern and central European allies from open contact with the West.

Containment

A U.S. foreign policy strategy used to prevent the spread of communism abroad.

Truman Doctrine

A U.S. policy providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology.

Marshall Plan

A U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II.

GI Bill

A law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans.

Suburbs

Residential areas on the outskirts of a city, which grew rapidly in the post-WWII era.

Rock-n-Roll

A genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Conformity

A social trend during the 1950s characterized by pressure to fit in with the middle-class norm.

22nd Amendment

A constitutional amendment that limits an elected president to two terms in office.

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 European and North American countries.

Warsaw Pact

A collective defense treaty among the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states of Central and Eastern Europe.

Berlin Wall

A guarded concrete barrier that physically and ideologically divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989.

Berlin Airlift

A military operation in the late 1940s that brought food and other needed goods by air into West Berlin after the government of the Soviet Union blockaded all other routes.

Domino theory

A geopolitical theory that suggested if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow.

Korean War

A war between North Korea (supported by China and the Soviet Union) and South Korea (supported by the United Nations and the U.S.).

38th Parallel division

The circle of latitude that was used as the pre-Korean War boundary between North Korea and South Korea.

McCarthyism

A campaign or practice that endorses the use of unfair allegations and investigations, especially in the pursuit of alleged communists.

HUAC

House Un-American Activities Committee, an investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives tasked with uncovering citizens with Nazi or communist ties.

Blacklisted

A list of people or products viewed with suspicion or disapproval, specifically those in the entertainment industry suspected of communist sympathies.

Red Scare

A period of intense fear of communism within the United States.

Sputnik

The first artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, which triggered the Space Race.

Space Race

A 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the Soviet Union and the United States, to achieve firsts in spaceflight capability.

NASA

National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the U.S. agency responsible for the civilian space program and aeronautics and space research.

Arms Race

A competition between nations for superiority in the development and accumulation of weapons.

John F. Kennedy

The 35th U.S. President who served during the height of the Cold War and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Fidel Castro

The communist revolutionary who governed the Republic of Cuba as Prime Minister and then President.

Bay of Pigs

A failed landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles opposed to Castro.

Nikita Khrushchev

The First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union who led the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Cuban Missile Crisis

A 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey and Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba.

When?

1945