The Cold War

Containment

The US foreign policy to help free people resist communist aggression and takeover.

Marshall Plan

Sending economic aid to Western Europe to prevent the spread of communism.

Winston Churchill

Claimed that an 'iron curtain' separates Eastern and Western Europe.

Warsaw Pact

Military alliance of the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries created in 1955.

UN Security Council

Five nations with veto power: the United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and China.

Red Scare

Period intensified by Senator Joe McCarthy, claiming the State Department was infested with Communists.

NATO

A military alliance of the United States, Canada, and 10 Western European nations created in 1949.

Sputnik

The first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957.

Richard Nixon

Freshman Congressman from California known for his anti-communist investigations on HUAC.

Alger Hiss

Former State Department member accused of being a spy for the Soviet Union and convicted of perjury.

East Germany

Country where West Berlin was located prior to 1990.

Mao Zedong

Leader of China when it fell to Communist rule in 1949.

Truman Doctrine

Congress provided $400 million to aid Greece and Turkey in resisting communism.

Julius & Ethel Rosenberg

Couple convicted and executed for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets.

Francis Gary Powers

Pilot of an American U-2 spy plane captured by the Soviets in May 1960.

Police Action

Term for the Korean Conflict since the US never officially declared war.

Douglas MacArthur

US/UN Commander during the Korean War.

38th Parallel

The dividing line between North and South Korea.

Yalu River

Serves as a divider between China and North Korea.

Operation Chromite

A daring US maneuver led by MacArthur to save South Korea by landing at Inchon.

North Korea

Country that started the Korean Conflict by invading the South in June 1950.

Insubordination

What President Truman fired the US/UN Commander for during the Korean War.

Korean War

The conflict fought from 1950 to 1953.

Forgotten War

Another name for the Korean War due to its positioning between World War II and Vietnam.

United Nations

International peacekeeping organization created in 1945.

Berlin Blockade

Stalin's action that banned all shipments through his sector, lasting 11 months.

McCarthyism

Term used to describe Senator McCarthy's anti-communist tactics.

Hollywood Ten

Group in the film industry jailed for refusing to answer Congress's questions about communism.

Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA)

Agency created to inform Americans about how to survive nuclear attacks.

Harry Truman

President of the United States when the Korean War began.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

President of the United States when the Korean War ended.

Jiang Jieshi/Chiang Kai-Shek

Leader whose followers fled to Taiwan after the Communist takeover in China.

Brinkmanship

Eisenhower's foreign policy of being on the verge of war without actually going to war.

Collective Security

NATO's principle that an attack against one is an attack against all.

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader from 1958 to 1964, known for a brief period of détente with the US.

Operation Little Vittles

Aimed to drop candy to children in Berlin during the blockade.

Cold War

The ideological conflict between the United States and Soviet Union for global power and influence.

Satellite Nations

Countries overtaken by the Soviet Union to create a buffer zone in Eastern Europe.

Joseph Stalin

Soviet leader until his death in 1953.

John Foster Dulles

Eisenhower's Secretary of State who believed containment was inadequate and advocated for nuclear deterrence.

George C. Marshall

Truman's Secretary of State who won the Nobel Peace Prize for the European Recovery Program.