American History - Unit 10

NATO

A military alliance of countries from North America and Europe that was formed in 1949. Its main purpose is collect defense, meaning if one member is attacked, the others agreed to defend it together.

Cold War

The era when the two superpowers, US and USSR, never directly fought each other, but competed in weapons and in space

Iron Curtain

East of this line, the USSR had gained control of nations that were made of single-party communist governments. West of this line there were capitalist democracies of Europe.

Containment

The policy that the west should respond by becoming strong enough to wait until the USSR became less hostile and to keep communism from spreading any farther than it already had

Truman Doctrine

A US foreign policy that asked Congress for money to help the governments of Turkey and Greece, expressing the policy of containment while helping keep governments from becoming communist

Marshall Plan

An economic recovery program that gave nations grants and loans that had to be used to buy American made goods, fueling the post war recovery in the US

Jiang Jieshi

The leader of China’s Nationalist Party who lost the civil war to the communists and fled to Taiwan in 1949

Mao Zedong

The leader of the Chinese Communist Party who founded the People’s Republic of China

38th Parallel

The dividing line that split Korea into 2 separate regions: North Korea and South Korea

Douglas MacArthur

A U.S. general who led forces in WWII and the Korean War and was later fired by President Truman

Limited War

War fought only to achieve specific goals, not total victory

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)

A Cold War alliance formed by the US and other countries to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia

Red Scare

A period of intense fear in the US that communists were secretly trying to take over the government in society, especially in the late 1940s and 1950s

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

an organization created by the House of Representatives to investigate possible subversive activities by fascists, Nazis, or communists

Hollywood 10

A group of left-wing writers, directors, and producers who refused to answer questions after being accused of being communists

Blacklist

A list of people, especially in Hollywood, who were suspected of being communists and we were denied jobs or opportunities

Alger Hiss

A US government official who is accused of spying for the Soviet Union and was leader convicted of perjury

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

A married couple who were convicted of passing atomic bomb secrets to the Soviet Union and were executed

Joseph McCarthy

A US senator, who claimed that many communists had infiltrated the government, often without strong evidence

McCarthyism

The practice of making accusations of disloyalty or communism without proper evidence, leading to fear and unfair treatment

Central Intelligence Agency

A secret foreign intelligence gathering organization used to carry out operations outside of the US to protect political and economic American interests

Coup

A sudden, typically violent and illegal, seizure of government power sometimes done by military, sometimes by existing politicians, and sometimes can be fake

Article 5

NATO’S rule that an attack on one member is treated as an attack on all members, requiring collective defense

Duck and cover

A Cold War civil defense practice taught in the US to help people protect themselves during a nuclear attack by dropping to the ground and covering their heads

Chinese Civil War

A conflict in China between the Chinese communist party and the nationalist government ending with the communist, taking control of mainland China

Korean War Cause

Caused when in 1950 North Korea, supported by communist allies, invaded South Korea in an attempt to reunify the Korean Peninsula under communism during Cold War tensions

Korean War Course

The course was started with North Korea invading South Korea, involving UN/US forces pushing North Korea back, then Chinese interventions pushed you and forces south again, ending in a steel meet near the 38th parallel

Korean War Consequences

Ended in a steel mate, keeping career divided at the 38th parallel with a fortified border, causing heavy casualties and destruction, and increasing Cold War tensions between the US, China, and the Soviet Union

Operation Ajax

A CIA and British operation that over through Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh and restored the Shah to power, mainly because of concerns of oil nationalization in Cold War influence