Cold War Day One

Truman Doctrine

A foreign policy that committed the U.S. to a policy of containment regarding communism, specifically by providing economic and military aid (400 million) to Greece and Turkey to prevent them from falling under Soviet influence.

Containment policy

The overarching U.S. strategy during the Cold War aimed at preventing the spread of communism, suggested by George Kennan and based on the idea that global communism would eventually collapse if it were denied the opportunity to expand.

Iron Curtain

A term coined by Winston Churchill in 1946 to describe the physical and ideological division between the democratic nations of Western Europe and the communist nations of Eastern Europe.

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, established in 1949 as a collective security alliance between the U.S., Canada, and Western European nations to defend against potential Soviet aggression.

Warsaw Pact

A military alliance formed in 1955 by the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellite nations in direct response to West Germany joining NATO.

Fair Deal

President Truman's package of domestic reforms intended to extend FDR's New Deal. Key proposals included:

• National health insurance
• Federal aid to education
• Civil rights legislation
• Expansion of Social Security and a higher minimum wage

Red Scare

The period during the late 1940s and 1950s characterized by intense fear and suspicion that communists were infiltrating the U.S. government, military, and various sectors of American society.

Smith Act

The Alien Registration Act of 1940, which made it a criminal offense to advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. government or to be a member of any organization that advocated such actions.

Hollywood Ten

A group of writers and directors who refused to answer questions from HUAC regarding their alleged communist affiliations, citing their constitutional rights; they were subsequently jailed for contempt and blacklisted by the film industry.

McCarthyism

Named after Senator Joseph McCarthy, the practice of making public and damaging accusations of subversion or treason without providing sufficient evidence, particularly directed at alleged communists in the government.

Rosenberg Case

The trial and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1953 after they were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage by passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.

George Kennan

An American diplomat and historian famously known as the "father of containment" for his influential assessments of the Soviet Union in his 1946 "Long Telegram" and 1947 "Article X."

Marshall Plan

The European Recovery Program, which provided over $13 billion in aid to rebuild the economies of Western Europe after WWII to ensure political stability and discourage the spread of communism.

Loyalty Security Program

An initiative established by President Truman's Executive Order 9835 in 1947 to investigate the loyalty of federal employees and eliminate subversive influences within the government.

Alger Hiss

A former State Department official who was accused of being a Soviet spy; though he was not convicted of espionage, he was sentenced to prison for perjury in 1950.

HUAC

The House Un-American Activities Committee, a congressional committee that investigated suspected communist subversion in the U.S. through highly publicized and often controversial hearings.

Berlin Airlift

The logistics operation from 1948 to 1949 led by the U.S. and its allies to supply West Berlin with food and fuel after the Soviet Union blocked all ground routes into the city.

38th Parallel

The latitude line chosen as the boundary between the communist-controlled North Korea and the democratic-controlled South Korea after WWII and maintained following the Korean War.

GI Bill of Rights

The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, which provided veterans with benefits for higher education, low-interest home loans, and unemployment compensation, facilitating the growth of the suburban middle class.

Taft-Hartley Act

A 1947 law passed over Truman's veto that limited the power of labor unions by banning closed shops and permitting states to pass "right-to-work" laws.

Mao Zedong

The leader of the Communist Party of China who overthrew the Nationalist government in 1949, leading to the "loss of China" and intensifying the Red Scare in the U.S.

Executive Order 9981

A landmark executive order issued by President Truman in 1948 that ended racial segregation in the U.S. military and mandated equality of treatment and opportunity regardless of race.

Election of 1948

A major political upset in which President Truman defeated Republican Thomas Dewey, despite early polls and newspaper headlines famously predicting a landslide victory for Dewey.