American Republic 5th ed Chapter 24

baby boom

A rapid increase in births in the United States after World War II, especially from 1946–1964.

Fair Deal

President Harry Truman’s program that expanded upon the New Deal with proposals for social and economic reforms.

United Nations

An international organization formed in 1945 to promote peace, cooperation, and security among nations.

General Assembly

The branch of the United Nations in which all member nations have representation and voting rights.

Cold War

A long period of political and military tension between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II.

iron curtain

A term used by Winston Churchill to describe the division between Communist Eastern Europe and non-Communist Western Europe.

Third World

Nations that were less developed and not closely aligned with either the United States or the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Containment

The American policy of preventing the spread of communism to other nations.

Truman Doctrine

President Truman’s policy of giving aid to countries threatened by communism.

Marshall Plan

A United States program that provided economic aid to help rebuild Europe after World War II.

Berlin airlift

A mission in which the United States and its allies flew supplies into West Berlin after the Soviet blockade in 1948–1949.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

A military alliance formed in 1949 between the United States, Canada, and Western European nations for mutual defense.

Warsaw Pact

A military alliance of the Soviet Union and Communist Eastern European countries formed in 1955.

Brown v. Board of Education

The 1954 Supreme Court case that ruled racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional.

Montgomery bus boycott

A protest begun in 1955 in which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, after Rosa Parks was arrested.

New Frontier

President John F. Kennedy’s program that promoted reform and progress in domestic and foreign affairs.

Twenty-Third Amendment

The constitutional amendment that gave residents of Washington, D.C., the right to vote in presidential elections.

Peace Corps

An organization established by President Kennedy that sent American volunteers to help people in developing nations.

Berlin Wall

A wall built by East Germany in 1961 to prevent people from fleeing to West Berlin.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

A United States government agency responsible for gathering intelligence and conducting foreign operations.

Bay of Pigs

A failed 1961 invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles supported by the United States.

Cuban missile crisis

A 1962 confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba.

Sputnik I

The first artificial satellite launched into space by the Soviet Union in 1957.

Thomas Dewey

The Republican governor of New York who lost the 1948 presidential election to Harry Truman.

Jackie Robinson

The first African American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

George C. Marshall

An American general and statesman who proposed the Marshall Plan for rebuilding Europe.

Chiang Kai-shek

The Nationalist Chinese leader who fought against the Communists led by Mao Zedong.

Mao Zedong

The Communist leader who established the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

Joseph McCarthy

A United States senator who claimed Communists had infiltrated the government, leading to the Red Scare of the 1950s.

Rosa Parks

An African American woman whose refusal to give up her bus seat sparked the Montgomery bus boycott.

Ho Chi Minh

The Communist leader of North Vietnam who sought to unify Vietnam under Communist rule.

Nikita Khrushchev

The leader of the Soviet Union during much of the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis.

Fidel Castro

The Communist dictator who took control of Cuba in 1959.

John F. Kennedy

The thirty-fifth president of the United States who led the nation during the Cold War and the Space Race.

Martin Luther King Jr.

A civil rights leader who promoted nonviolent protest to end racial segregation and discrimination.