8.1-8.4

Cold War

The political, economic, and military conflict, short of direct war on the battlefield, between the United States and the Soviet Union between 1945 and 1991.

Potsdam Conference

Meeting in July of 1945 in Germany, between Truman and Stalin. The two leaders agreed to free elections in Eastern Europe, Soviet withdrawal from Northern Iran, and creation of four Allied occupation zones in Germany.

Containment

Belief that the Soviet Union desired the spread of communism throughout the world. To prevent this spread U.S. diplomat George Kennan advocated a strict policy of containing communism where it already existed and preventing its spread.

Iron Curtain

Term coined by Churchill that described the ideological and political divide between the Communist Soviet Union and the non-Communist western world.

Totalitarianism

Type of government that puts the state first, with all other parts of life designed to support and sustain the government first and foremost.

Truman Doctrine

U.S. pledge to contain the expansion of communism around the world. Based on the idea of containment, was the cornerstone of American foreign policy throughout the Cold War.

Marshall Plan

Post World War II European economic aid package developed by Secretary of State George Marshall. The plan helped rebuild Western Europe and served American political and economic interests in the process.

Imperial presidency

Term used to describe the growth of presidential powers during the Cold War, particularly with respect to war-making powers and the conduct of national security.

National Security Council

Council created by the 1947 National Security Act to advise the president on military and foreign affairs. consists of the national security adviser and the secretaries of state, defense, the army, the navy, and the air force.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Intelligence organization established by the 1947 National Security Act. is part of the executive branch and is responsible for gathering and conducting espionage in foreign nations. Originally created to counter Soviet spying operations.

Berlin Airlift

The mass-scale transport of food and supplies to West Berlin by U.S. and British government air forces during the Soviet blockade of Berlin from 1948 to 1949.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Cold War military alliance intended to enhance the collective security of the United States and Western Europe.

Warsaw Pact

Russian military alliance with seven satellite nations in response to the U.S. Marshall Plan and establishment of NATO.

NSC-68

April 1950 National Security Council document that advocated the intensification of the policy of containment both at home and abroad.

Korean War

Conflict fought between the northern Communist, Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the United Nations-backed southern Republic of Korea between 1950 to 1953.

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

U.S. House of Representatives Committee established in 1938 to investigate domestic communism. After World War II, conducted highly publicized investigations of Communist influence in government and the entertainment industry.

Smith Act

Law signed by Franklin Roosevelt in 1940, which prohibited teaching or advocating for the destruction of the United States government.

Second Red Scare

Fear of Communist influence infiltrating the United States and threatening national security in the 1940s and 1950s. Such fears resulted in the creation of government-controlled programs and entities such as the House Un-American Activities Committee and the Federal Employee Loyalty Program.

Federal Employee Loyalty Program

Program established by President Truman in 1947 to investigate federal employees suspected of disloyalty and Communist ties

Dennis V. United States

1951 Supreme Court decision upholding the conviction of Communist leaders on the grounds they posed a "clear and present danger," despite the absence of any evidence of an immediate uprising or plot.

McCarran Internal Security Act

1950 Republican-supported legislation proposed by Senator Pat McCarran, which required Communist organizations to register with the federal government, established detention camps for radicals, and denied passports to American citizens who had communist affiliations. Truman vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode his veto making the act law.

McCarthyism

Term used to describe the harassment and persecution of suspected political radicals. Senator Joseph McCarthy was one of many prominent government figures who helped incite anti-Communist hysteria in the early 1950s.

Yates v. United States

1957 Supreme Court ruling establishing that the Justice Department could not prosecute someone for merely advocating an abstract doctrine favoring the violent overthrow of the government. The ruling was seen as a severe blow to the enforcement of the 1940 Smith Act.

Servicemen's Readjustment Act

1944 act that offered educational opportunities and financial aid to veterans as they readjusted to civilian life. Known as the GI Bill, the law helped millions of veterans build new lives after the war.

Taft-Hartley Act

1947 law that curtailed unions' ability to organize. It prevented unions from barring employment to non-union members and authorized the federal government to halt a strike for eighty days if it interfered with the national interest.

Dixiecrats

Southern Democrats who created a segregationist political party in 1948 as a response to federal extensions of civil rights. advocated for a state's right to legislate segregation. The Party ran Strom Thurmond in an unsuccessful bid for the presidency in 1948 against Truman.

Baby Boom

Sharp population increase between 1946 and 1964 as a result of the end of World War II, increased economic prosperity, improvements in healthcare, and a trend toward marriage at younger age.

Federal Housing Administration

Agency created in 1934 by the Franklin Roosevelt Administration to devise housing construction standards and provide long-term mortgages to qualified buyers at low interest rates.

Levittown

Suburban subdivision built in Long Island, New York in the 1950s in response to the postwar housing shortage. Subsequent Levittowns were built in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Sun Belt

The southern and western part of the United States to which millions of Americans moved after World War II. Migrants were drawn by the region's climate and jobs in the defense, petroleum, and chemical industries.

Beats

A small group of young poets, writers, intellectuals, musicians, and artists who challenged mainstream American politics and culture in the 1950s.

McCarran-Walter Immigration Act

1952 legislation that made it possible for Japanese non-citizens to become U.S. citizens. However, the act still maintained a race-based system of discriminatory national-origin quotas.