APUSH Unit 8 Vocab

Soviet Union

The USSR; communist superpower and main U.S. rival during the Cold War.

Security Council

UN body for international peace; the U.S. and USSR each held veto power.

Satellite States

Eastern European nations (Poland, Hungary, etc.) dominated by the Soviet Union after WWII.

Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill's term for the divide between Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe and the democratic West.

George F. Kennan

U.S. diplomat who wrote the intellectual foundation for the containment strategy.

Containment Policy

U.S. Cold War strategy to prevent the further spread of Soviet communism.

Truman Doctrine

1947 pledge of U.S. support for nations resisting communist takeover, first applied in Greece and Turkey.

George C. Marshall

Secretary of State who proposed the Marshall Plan; also WWII Army Chief of Staff.

Marshall Plan

1948 U.S. program providing $12+ billion to rebuild Western European economies and prevent communist takeovers.

Berlin Airlift

1948–49 U.S./Allied response to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin; a key early Cold War victory.

NATO

1949 mutual defense alliance among the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe.

Warsaw Pact

Soviet-led military alliance of Eastern Bloc nations formed in 1955; the communist counterpart to NATO.

National Security Act

1947 law creating the Department of Defense, CIA, NSC, and Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Douglas MacArthur

Oversaw Japan's postwar occupation; commanded UN forces in Korea until Truman fired him for insubordination.

Mao Zedong

Communist leader who took control of China in 1949, intensifying Cold War fears

Korean War

1950–53 conflict between UN/U.S. forces and communist North Korea; ended in armistice at the 38th Parallel.

38th Parallel

The line dividing North and South Korea before and after the Korean War.

Stalemate

The military deadlock in Korea by 1951 that led to armistice negotiations.

Brinkmanship

Eisenhower-era policy of pushing crises to the "brink" of war to force the enemy to back down.

"Spirit of Geneva”

Brief optimism about U.S.-Soviet relations following the 1955 Geneva Summit.

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader (1953–64) who launched Sputnik and managed the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Sputnik

World's first artificial satellite, launched by the USSR in 1957; triggered the Space Race.

NASA

Federal agency created in 1958 in response to Sputnik to lead U.S. space efforts.

U-2 Incident

1960 crisis when the Soviets shot down a U.S. spy plane, derailing superpower diplomacy.

Cuba

Caribbean nation whose 1959 communist revolution made it a central Cold War flashpoint.

Fidel Castro

Communist revolutionary who took power in Cuba in 1959 and allied with the USSR.

Military-industrial complex

Eisenhower's farewell warning about the dangerous political influence of the defense industry.

Berlin Wall

Built in 1961 to stop East Germans from fleeing to the West; the defining symbol of the Iron Curtain.

Bay of Pigs

1961 failed CIA-sponsored invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles; a major embarrassment for Kennedy.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 thirteen-day standoff after the U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba; the closest the Cold War came to nuclear war.

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

1963 agreement banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, underwater, and in space.

John F. Kennedy

35th president (1961–63); navigated the Cuban Missile Crisis and was assassinated in Dallas.

Lyndon B. Johnson

36th president; architect of the Great Society but consumed by Vietnam War escalation.

Non-Proliferation Treaty

1968 agreement aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.

Henry Kissinger

Nixon's key foreign policy architect; designed détente, the China opening, and SALT I.

Détente

Nixon/Kissinger policy of easing Cold War tensions through diplomacy and arms control.

SALT I

1972 U.S.-USSR agreement limiting nuclear missiles; the first major arms control treaty.

Soviet-Afghan War

1979–89 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan; the U.S. armed Afghan fighters; often called the USSR's "Vietnam."

McCarran Internal Security Act

1950 law requiring communist organizations to register with the government.

HUAC

Congressional committee that investigated suspected communist infiltration; famous for Hollywood blacklisting.

Alger Hiss

State Department official convicted of perjury after accusations of Soviet espionage, boosting Cold War fears.

Julius Rosenberg

Executed in 1953 with his wife Ethel for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets.

Joseph R. McCarthy

Wisconsin senator who led anti-communist witch hunts; censured by the Senate in 1954.

McCarthyism

Making unfounded accusations of communist sympathies; created widespread fear and ruined careers.

Second Red Scare

Post-WWII wave of anti-communist hysteria fueled by Soviet expansion, spy cases, and the Korean War.

GI Bill of Rights

1944 law providing veterans with college tuition, home loans, and unemployment benefits; expanded the middle class.

Baby Boom

Surge in birth rates from 1946 to 1964 as returning veterans started families; produced 76 million "boomers."

Levittown

Mass-produced postwar suburb; symbol of white flight and suburban expansion.

Sun Belt

Southern and southwestern states that boomed in population and economy after WWII.

22nd Amendment

1951 amendment limiting presidents to two terms, passed in reaction to FDR's four terms.

Fair Deal

Truman's domestic program proposing national health insurance, civil rights legislation, and more; largely blocked by Congress.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

34th president; ended the Korean War, managed early Cold War crises, warned of the military-industrial complex.

Interstate Highway Act

1956 law creating the 41,000-mile national highway system; transformed transportation and suburbanization.

New Frontier

Kennedy's domestic program emphasizing optimism about space, economic growth, and social reform.

Great Society

LBJ's sweeping agenda: Medicare, Medicaid, Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, and anti-poverty programs.

New Federalism

Nixon's policy of redirecting federal power back to states and localities.

Richard Nixon

37th president; pursued détente and Vietnamization but resigned over the Watergate scandal.

Stagflation

The painful 1970s combination of high unemployment and high inflation.

Rock and roll

Music blending R&B and country that emerged in the 1950s and challenged racial and social norms.

Beatniks

1950s counterculture of writers and artists who rejected mainstream conformity and materialism.

Kennedy Assassination

JFK was shot on November 22, 1963 in Dallas; Lee Harvey Oswald was charged but killed before trial.

Warren Commission

Official investigation concluding Oswald acted alone in killing JFK; findings remain controversial.

Committee on Civil Rights

Truman's 1946 committee that documented racial injustice and recommended federal civil rights legislation.

NAACP

Oldest U.S. civil rights organization; used legal challenges like Brown v. Board to fight segregation.

Jackie Robinson

First Black player in Major League Baseball (1947); his breakthrough was a milestone in the civil rights struggle.

Brown v. Board of Education

1954 Supreme Court ruling unanimously declaring school segregation unconstitutional.

Thurgood Marshall

NAACP lawyer who argued Brown v. Board; later the first Black Supreme Court Justice.

Earl Warren

Chief Justice who led the unanimous Brown v. Board decision and oversaw landmark civil liberties rulings.

Desegregation

The process of ending racial separation in schools and public institutions; met with fierce Southern resistance.

Little Rock Nine

Nine Black students who enrolled at a Little Rock, Arkansas high school in 1957; Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce desegregation.

Rosa Parks

NAACP member whose 1955 arrest for refusing to give up her bus seat triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

1955–56 campaign in which Black residents boycotted Montgomery buses for 381 days, led by MLK; ended in a desegregation ruling.

Emmett Till

14-year-old Black boy murdered in Mississippi in 1955; his open-casket funeral galvanized the civil rights movement.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Preeminent civil rights leader; advocated nonviolent direct action; led the Montgomery Boycott and March on Washington; assassinated in 1968.

SCLC

Civil rights organization founded by MLK in 1957, using Black churches as a base for nonviolent campaigns.

SNCC

Student-led civil rights group (1960) that organized sit-ins, Freedom Rides, and voter registration; later embraced Black Power.

Covert action

Secret CIA operations (coups, assassinations, funding foreign groups) used to advance Cold War interests.

Suez Canal

1956 crisis in which Eisenhower pressured Britain, France, and Israel to withdraw from Egypt after they invaded over canal nationalization.

Eisenhower Doctrine

1957 pledge of U.S. military aid to Middle Eastern countries threatened by communism.

OPEC

Cartel of oil-producing nations that used oil as a political weapon, especially during the 1973 embargo.

Yom Kippur War

1973 Arab-Israeli war; U.S. support for Israel triggered the Arab oil embargo.

Oil Embargo

1973 OPEC embargo causing fuel shortages and economic crisis in the U.S.

Camp David Accords

1978 Carter-brokered peace agreement between Egypt and Israel; the first Arab-Israeli peace treaty.

Iran Hostage Crisis

1979–81: 52 Americans held hostage for 444 days by Iranian revolutionaries; devastated Carter's presidency.

Peace Corps

JFK's 1961 volunteer program sending Americans to developing nations to provide aid and improve U.S. image abroad.

Panama Canal

Carter's 1977 treaties gradually transferring canal control to Panama; controversial domestically.

Vietnam War

1955–75 conflict in which the U.S. supported South Vietnam against communist North Vietnam; ended in communist victory.

Domino theory

Belief that if one country fell to communism, neighboring countries would follow; the main justification for Vietnam involvement.

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

1964 congressional authorization giving LBJ broad power to use military force in Southeast Asia; the legal basis for Vietnam escalation.

Credibility gap

Growing public distrust of the Johnson administration's optimistic claims versus the grim reality of the Vietnam War.

Hawks vs. Doves

Hawks favored military escalation; Doves favored negotiation and withdrawal — reflecting a massive split in public opinion over Vietnam.

Tet Offensive

January 1968 coordinated North Vietnamese/Viet Cong attacks across South Vietnam; a psychological turning point that shattered public confidence in the war.

Vietnamization

Nixon's strategy of gradually withdrawing U.S. troops and transferring combat responsibility to South Vietnamese forces.

Kent State Massacre

May 1970: National Guard soldiers killed four student anti-war protesters at Kent State University in Ohio.

My Lai Massacre

1968: U.S. soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians; when exposed in 1969, it devastated public opinion about the war.

Pentagon Papers

Classified Defense Department study leaked in 1971 revealing government deception about Vietnam War decision-making.

Paris Accords

1973 peace agreement ending direct U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.

War Powers Act

1973 law limiting the president's ability to commit troops without congressional approval; a direct response to Vietnam.

Fall of Saigon

April 30, 1975: North Vietnam captured South Vietnam's capital, unifying the country under communism and ending the war.

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnamese communist revolutionary and nationalist who led North Vietnam and inspired resistance to French and American forces.