Cold War VFL

United Nations (UN)

An international peacekeeping organization to which most nations in the world belong. Founded in 1945 to promote world peace, security, and economic development.

Satellite Nation

A country that is dominated politically and economically by another nation.

Containment

The blocking of another nation’s attempts to spread its influence. Taking measures to prevent any extension of communist rule to other countries.

Iron Curtain

A phrase used by Winston Churchill in 1946 to describe an imaginary line that separated communist countries in the Soviet bloc of Eastern Europe from countries in Western Europe.

Cold War

The state of hostility, without direct military conflict, that developed between the U.S. and the Soviet Union after WWII. Neither nation directly confronted the other on the battlefield.

Truman Doctrine

A U.S. policy, announced by President Harry S Truman in 1947, of providing economic and military aid to free nations threatened by internal or external opponents. Doctrine was essential to keep Soviet influence (communism) from spreading.

Marshall Plan

The program, proposed by Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947, under which the U.S. supplied economic aid to European nations to help them rebuild after WWII.

Berlin Airlift

A 327-day operation in which U.S. and British planes flew food and supplies into West Berlin after the Soviets blockaded the city in 1948. West Berlin survived because of the airlift and by May 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the blockade.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

an alliance between 12 countries that pledged military support to one another in case any member was attacked. It was the first time in history that the U.S. had entered a military Treaty during peacetime.

Mao Zedong

Led the communists in China. Attracted peasants with promises of land reform.

Taiwan

The island that Chiang and the remnants of his government fled to. AKA: Formosa

38th Parallel

(38 North Latitude) line that split Korea into North and South.

Korean War

a conflict between North Korea and South Korea, lasting from 1950 to 1953, in which the U.S., along with other UN countries, fought on the side of the South Koreans and China fought on the side of the North Koreans.

HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee)

a Congressional committee that investigated Communist influence inside and outside the U.S. government in the years following WWII. The committee believed that Communists were sneaking propaganda into films.

Hollywood Ten

10 witnesses from the film industry who refused to cooperate with the HUAC’s investigation of Communist influence in Hollywood.

Blacklist

a list of people that were condemned for having a Communist background. Approximately 500 actors, writers, producers, and directors were ______ and had their careers ruined because they could no longer work.

Alger Hiss

accused of spying for the Soviet Union. Too many years had passed for Hiss to be charged with espionage, but he was sent to jail for perjury. He claimed he was innocent, but later evidence proving his guilt was released.

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg

Couple who was accused of spying to help the Soviets develop an atomic bomb. They claimed they were being persecuted both for being Jewish and for holding radical beliefs. They were found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death.

Joseph McCarthy

famous anti-communist activist and republican senator from Wisconsin. Reputation for being an ineffective legislator and in order to change that he charged that communists were taking over the government.

McCarhtyism

unsupported accusations on suspected communists by Joseph McCarthy and others in the early 1950s.

H-bomb

the hydrogen bomb- a thermonuclear weapon much more powerful than the atomic bomb.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

President of the U.S. who practiced brinkmanship during the Cold War.

Brinkmanship

the practice of threatening an enemy with massive military retaliation for any aggression. Going to the very edge of all-out war.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

a U.S. Agency created to gather secret information about foreign governments. Use spies to gather information abroad, carry out secret operations to weaken/overthrow governments unfriendly to the U.S.

Warsaw Pact

a military alliance formed in 1955 by the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites. Was formed when the Soviets grew fearful after the formation of NATO.

Eisenhower Doctrine

a U.S. commitment to defend the Middle East against attack by any communist country, announced by President Eisenhower.

Nikita Krushchev

the man who took over after Stalin’s death in 1953. He believed, like Stalin, that communism would take over the world, but he believed it could triumph peacefully. Favored peaceful coexistence where the two powers would compete economically and scientifically.

U-2 Incident

the downing of a U.S. spy plane and capture of its pilot by the Soviet Union in 1960.