IB History of the Americas: Cold War and the Americas, 1945-1981

Cold War

the state of hostility, without direct military conflict, that developed between the US and the Soviet Union after World War II

United Nations

an international peacekeeping organization to which most nations in the world belong, founded in 1945 to promote world peace, security, and economic development

Containment

the blocking of another nation's attempts to spread its influence - especially the efforts of the US to block the spread of Soviet influence during the late 1940's and early 1950's

Truman Doctrine

a US policy, announced by President Harry S. Truman in 1947, of providing economic and military aid to free, friendly nations threatened by internal or external opponents

Berlin Blockade

one of the first major international crises of the Cold War; during the multinational occupation of post-World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under allied control (1 April 1948 - 12 May 1949)

Berlin Airlift

a 327 day operation in which US and British planes flew food and supplies into West Berlin after the Soviets blockaded the city in 1948

Collective Security

one type of coalition building strategy in which a group of nations agree not to attack each other and to defend each other against an attack from one of the others, if such an attack is made

Marshall Plan

the program, proposed by Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947, under which the US supplied economic aid to European nations to help them rebuild after World War II

NATO

the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4 1949; made to "keep the Soviets out, the Germans down, and the Americans in"

Warsaw Pact

(formally, the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance, sometimes, informally WarPac, akin in format to NATO) was a collective defense treaty among eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War

COMECON

the Eastern Block's reply to the formation of the Organization for European Economic Co-Operation in Western Europe; sends a representative from each country behind the Iron Curtain and a representative from Soviet to discuss their resources and how it would be divided

Red Scare

the promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism or radical leftism, used by anti-leftist proponents

McCarthyism

the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence

HUAC

the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives; it was originally created in 1938 to uncover citizens with Nazi ties within the United States

Hollywood Ten

a 1950 American 16mm short documentary film, in the film, each member of the Hollywood Ten made a short speech denouncing McCarthyism and the Hollywood blacklisting

blacklist

a list of people or products viewed with suspicion or disapproval

Domino theory

a theory prominent from the 1950s to the 1980s, that speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect

Korean War

a war between North and South Korea, in which a United Nations force led by the United States of America fought for the South, and China fought for the North, which was also assisted by the Soviet Union

Covert Activities

Eisenhower Doctrine

a speech by President Dwight David Eisenhower on 5 January 1957, within a "Special Message to the Congress on the Situation in the Middle East", under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a Middle Eastern country could request American economic assistance or aid from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression from another state; Eisenhower singled out the Soviet threat in his doctrine by authorizing the commitment of U.S. forces "to secure and protect the territorial integrity and political independence of such nations, requesting such aid against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by international communism

New Look

build up of nuclear weapons by Eisenhower

brinkmanship

the practice of pushing dangerous events to the brink of disaster in order to achieve the most advantageous outcome

Sputnik

the world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a basketball, weighed only 183 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path; that launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments and it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.

U-2 Spy Plane Incident

an international diplomatic crisis erupted in May 1960 when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) shot down an American U-2 spy plane in Soviet air space and captured its pilot, Francis Gary Powers

Berlin Crisis

the last major politico-military European incident of the Cold War about the occupational status of the German capital city, Berlin, and of post-World War II Germany; the USSR provoked the Berlin Crisis with an ultimatum demanding the withdrawal of Western armed forces from West Berlin—culminating with the city's de facto partition with the East German erection of the Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall

a barrier that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989, constructed by the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off (by land) West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin until it was opened in November 1989

peaceful coexistence

a theory developed and applied by the Soviet Union at various points during the Cold War in the context of primarily Marxist-Leninist foreign policy and was adopted by Soviet-influenced "Socialist states" that they could peacefully coexist with the capitalist bloc (i.e., non-socialist states)

Geneva Conference 1954

the conference produced a set of documents known as the Geneva Accord; these agreements temporarily separated Vietnam into two zones, a northern zone to be governed by the Việt Minh, and a southern zone to be governed by the State of Vietnam, then headed by former emperor Bảo Đại.

SEATO

the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, Philippines

17th Parallel

the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone was established as a dividing line between North and South Vietnam as a result of the First Indochina War; during the Second Indochina War (popularly known as the Vietnam War), it became important as the battleground demarcation separating North Vietnamese territory from South Vietnamese territory.

Vietnam War

the Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, and also known in Vietnam as Resistance War Against America or simply the American War, was a Cold War-era proxy war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

on August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia

Bay of Pigs

a failed military invasion of Cuba undertaken by the CIA-sponsored paramilitary group Brigade 2506 on 17 April 1961

Cuban Missile Crisis

a 13-day confrontation in October 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet ballistic missiles deployed in Cuba

Alliance for Progress

initiated by U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1961, it aimed to establish economic cooperation between the U.S. and Latin America

War Powers Act

an American emergency law that increased Federal power during World War II

"Red Sandwich"

Panama Canal Treaty

treaty signed by the United States and Panama in Washington, D.C., on September 7, 1977, which abrogated the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903; the treaty guaranteed that Panama would gain control of the Panama Canal after 1999, ending the control of the canal that the U.S. had exercised since 1903

Human Rights

rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status

Disarmament

the reduction or withdrawal of military forces and weapons

SALT

the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were two rounds of bilateral talks and corresponding international treaties involving the United States and the Soviet Union—the Cold War superpowers—on the issue of armament control

START

START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms

"Star Wars"

the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI): Star Wars. The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as Star Wars, was a program first initiated on March 23, 1983 under President Ronald Reagan

Nuclear Proliferation

the spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as "Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons, also known as the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty or NPT

Harry Truman

the 33rd President of the United States

Henry Kissinger

an American diplomat and political scientist; he served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford

Mao Zedong

a Chinese Communist revolutionary and the founding father of the People's Republic of China

Seoul

the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea

George C. Marshall

an American soldier and statesman famous for his leadership roles during World War II and the Cold War; he was Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense

Gerald Ford

the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and, prior to this, was the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974 under President Richard Nixon

Douglas MacArthur

an American five-star general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army; he was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II

Pyongyang

the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the largest city in the country

Dwight Eisenhower

the 34th President of the United States from 1953 until 1961; he was a five-star general in the United States Army during World War II and served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe

Jimmy Carter

an American politician, author, and member of the Democratic Party who served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981

Synghman Rhee

a Korean statesman and the first president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea as well as the first president of South Korea

Korea

an East Asian territory that is divided into two distinct sovereign states, North Korea (a.k.a. Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK) and South Korea (a.k.a. Republic of Korea, or ROK)

John Foster Dulles

served as U.S. Secretary of State under Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959; he was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world

Ronald Reagan

the 40th President of the United States; before his presidency he served as the 33rd Governor of California and was also an actor from 1937-1964

Ngo Dien Diem

the first president of South Vietnam; in the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam

Taiwan

a sovereign state in East Asia

John F. Kennedy

an American politician who served as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963

Joseph McCarthy

an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957

Fidel Castro

a Cuban politician and revolutionary who served as Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and President from 1976 to 2008

Vietnam

the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia

Richard Nixon

the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974; the only U.S. president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a U.S. representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961

Kim II Sung

trained as a Communist in Moscow; the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly referred to as North Korea, for 46 years, from its establishment in 1948 until his death in 1994

Salvador Allende

a Chilean physician and politician, known as the first Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through open elections

Hanoi/Saigon

National Security Act of 1947

Defense Department created to combine functions of all branches (it replaced the War and Navy Departments); formed the new National Security Council and created the Central Intelligence Agency which would be responsible for both overt and covert operations for collecting information

38th Parallel

the line at which North Korea and South Korea were divided