unit 10 the post war era and the cold war

harry truman

- fdr's vice president and became president after fdr's death
- dropped the atomic bombs on japan
- "cold war" starts in his presidency
- vowed to fight the spread of communism with "containment" policy

potsdam conference

- 1945
- meeting between truman and stalin to decide what would be done with germany after ww2
- divided germany and berlin into 4 zones; each occupied by the us, france, britain, and soviet union

nato

- a formal military alliance between the territories of north american and europe
- its main purpose was to defend each other from communist/soviet union aggression

truman doctrine

president truman's pledge to provide military aid to any country that need help to keep communism for taking hold

berlin airlift

- to try and get the other 3 nations to leave berlin, stalin blockaded west berlin
- the us and other allied nation dropped in supplies (food, clothing, medicine, etc.)

sputnik

- 1st satellite launched into space by the russians
- after, the us began focusing on science and math in schools
- nasa was created for space exploration

korean war

- began in 1950 when the communist north korea crossed the 38th parallel into democratic south korea
- first major fighting of cold war over the spread of communism

mao zedong

- leader of the communist revolution against the nationalists in the chinese civil war
- established the peoples republic of china
- used brutal tactics to purge of anyone against communism

executive order 9981

harry truman's order to end segregation in the armed forces and federal government

marshall plan

program to send money and provide financial assistance to western european countries after ww2 so they would not be tempted to turn to communist governments

dwight d eisenhower

- nicknamed "ike"
- both parties wanted him as their candidate (very popular)
- interstate highway system began in his presidency

domino theory

the idea that if one country in a region (like southeast asia) fell to communism then all the countries in that region would also fall to communism

interstate highway system

created to allow for easy transport of military equipment, missile systems, and to allow for the rapid evacuation of urban areas in the event of a nuclear threat

john f kennedy

- 1st televised presidential debate
- 3 of the most significant cold war crises
- created the peace corps and the green berets
- assassinated by lee harvey oswald

1960 presidential debates

- nixon vs kennedy
- significant because they were not only the first televised debates, but also the first presidential debates
- nixon won on the radio for speaking better
- kennedy won on the tv for looking better

berlin wall

begun in 1961, the soviet union built the wall to stop east germans from leaving the east (communists control) and going to the west (democracy and freedom)

bay of pigs (invasion)

- epic foreign policy disaster
- failed attempt by kennedy (and the cia) to overthrow fidel castro's communist government in cuba

cuban missile crisis

- a kennedy cold war crisis that saw the soviets attempting to place nuclear tipped missiles in cuba, pointed at the united states that if launched could reach 1000-2000 miles into the us and canada
- ended when khrushchev turned the ships with the missiles away from cuba and the us agreed to remove our missiles from turkey and we would not invade cuba again

brinkmanship

the policy of a nation being willing to right up to the edge, or brink, of all-out war to get what they want or to stop something (like the spread of communism)

space race

- competition between the united states and the ussr for space
- the soviets were consistently ahead of the us until we win with the moon landing in 1969

warren commission

- the investigative commission of kennedy's assassination
- lee harvey oswald acted alone in the killing and there was no conspiracy to assassinate the president

gi bill of rights

- program that offers veterans low-interest loans for mortgages and a free education
- leads to massive suburbanization

suburbanization

movement to the suburbs from the cities

satellite nations

term for countries in eastern europe (behind the iron curtain) that were under the control, influence, and authority of the soviet union

arms race

- competition between the us and soviet union to see who can have the most powerful weapons
- both countries were trying to get the hydrogen bomb, which they both did, so the "race" ended

iron curtain

the figurative, or symbolic, term for the division between communist-controlled eastern europe and the democratic western europe

communism

political and economic theory in which the "state" (or government) control all economic activity

capitalism

economic activity is controlled by the people

joseph mccarthy

- senator
- anti-communist
- second red scare: hunted communists in the united states

impact of the television

- replaced the radio as the most important and impactful form of media
- helped turn the us into a "consumer society" through advertising
- influenced the 1960 presidential election

duck and cover (bert the turtle)

- drills in school to teach children how to prepare and survive a nuclear attack
- bert the turtle was the star of a film teaching children about "duck and cover" drills

levittown

- mass produced, assembly line-like, cookie cutter homes
- built post ww2
- facilitated the massive suburbanization in the 1950s