Chapter 25: Origins of the Cold War (1945–1960)

Iron Curtain

Term coined by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in a March 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri; Churchill forcefully proclaimed that the Soviet Union was establishing an "iron curtain" between the free countries of Western Europe and the Communistcontrolled countries of Eastern Europe

Containment Policy

Policy devised by American diplomat George F. Kennan; Kennan believed that the United States needed to implement longterm military, economic, and diplomatic strategies in order to "contain" the spread of communism

Truman Doctrine

Articulated in 1947, this policy stated that the United States would support any democratic nation that resisted communism

Marshall Plan

American plan that spent $12 billion for the rebuilding of Western Europe after World War II; the plan helped produce an economic revival and helped stave off the growth of Communist influence

Berlin Airlift

American effort that flew in supplies to West Berlin after the Soviet Union and the East German governments blocked the roads to that city beginning in June 1948; American airplanes flew in supplies for 15 months, causing the Soviet Union to call off the blockade

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

A military alliance between the United States and Western European countries that was formed in April 1949

Warsaw Pact

military pact formed in 1955 between the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellite countries

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

In 1947 this committee began to investigate the entertainment industry for Communist influences

Blacklist

List created by HUAC and various private agencies indicating individuals in the entertainment industry who might be Communists or who might have been influenced by Communists in the past; many individuals named in the blacklist could not find work in the industry until the 1960s

McCarthyism

Term used to describe the accusations by Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy and his supporters in the early 1950s that certain people in government, academia, and the arts were secret Communists

Domino theory

Theory that if one country in a region fell under Communist rule, then other countries in the region would follow; this theory would be used to justify American involvement in Vietnam

Sputnik

First artificial satellite, launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union; the fact that the Soviets launched a satellite before the United States shocked many in the American scientific community

1945

Yalta Conference

1946

Winston Churchill gives "iron curtain" speech

1947

HUAC begins probe into movie industry

1948

Berlin Airlift

1949

NATO established

1950

Joseph McCarthy gives speech on Communists in the State Department

1952

Dwight Eisenhower elected president

1953

CIA orchestrates return of Shah of Iran to power

1954

Army-McCarthy hearings Government in Guatemala overthrown French defeated at Dien Bien Phu Geneva Conference

1955

Creation of the Warsaw Pact

1956

Hungarian Revolt suppressed by Soviet Union

1957

Sputnik launched by Soviet Union

1959

Castro comes to power in Cuba; United States halts trade with Cuba

1960

U-2 incident

1945

Harry Truman becomes president

1945

Potsdam Conference

1946

Article by George Kennan on containment

1947

President Truman articulates Truman Doctrine

1947

Introduction of Federal Employee Loyalty program

1948

Implementation of Marshall Plan

1948

Creation of nation of Israel

1948

Alger Hiss implicated as a Communist

1949

Soviet Union successfully tests atomic bomb

1949

Mainland China turns Communist

1950

Alger Hiss convicted of perjury

1950

McCarran Internal Security Act enacted

1950

Beginning of Korean War

1953

Death of Joseph Stalin

1953

Execution of the Rosenbergs

1956

Suez crisis

1960

John Kennedy elected president

**totalitarian tyranny**

The US, UK, and USSR defeated Nazi Germany in World War II, but US-UK ties were far tighter than those with the USSR. The US and UK were democratic, but the USSR was a ___________.

**soft on communism**

American business relied on defense. Politicians needed to show they were not "_____________."

Joseph Stalin

After World War II, Soviet leader _________ promised democratic elections in Poland, but he meant to convert Eastern European nations his soldiers had seized into a circle of Communist satellite republics barring Western invasion routes.

**Clement Atlee**

After Winston Churchill's election, **___________** represented Britain. The Nazi leadership was tried for war crimes. Nuremberg was the most renowned trial.

long cable

In a 1946 "____________" from the U.S. embassy in Moscow and an anonymous essay in Foreign Affairs magazine in July 1947, Kennan contended that Marxist-Leninist doctrine and historic Russian fear drove the Soviet leadership to attack the West and increase its power.

Truman Doctrine

In March, the president declared the ___________, which pledged US assistance for any nation endangered by Communist assault or subversion.

Marshall Plan

In June, Congress approved and financed the ________ in 1948 after Secretary of State George Marshall presented it in June 1947.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

The US, Canada, and 10 western European nations formed the _________ to counter the feared Soviet threat.

West Berlin

A possible escape route for Easterners escaping Communism in the Soviet occupation zone, already irritated Stalin.

Warsaw Pact

In 1955, the Soviet Union formed this Pact.

Peking

On October 1, 1949, Communist armies took _________ and declared the People's Republic of China.

Formosa

Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists fled to __________ (now Taiwan).

**British coup of Mossadeq**

The US originally opposed the **_____________**. Mossadeq had exhausted Americans by 1953, when Eisenhower came president.

Shah

The ______ ruled repressively until 1979. Iranians identified the US with the _, and the 1979 seizure of the US embassy was partly driven by 1953 resentments.

**1940 Smith Act**

Some American Communist Party leaders were prosecuted under the **___________** by Truman. Organizations that sought violent subversion of the US government were banned under the Act.

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

The __________ was founded in the 1930s to investigate Nazi infiltration into the US.

**Hollywood Ten**

The **_____________** were Communist-affiliated writers and filmmakers. They didn't answer HUAC queries. For contempt of Congress, they received one-year imprisonment.

blacklist

To show their patriotism, major movie studio executives created a _________ of politically suspicious actors, writers, and directors.

fronts

Using pseudonyms or "___________," several banned authors continued to write. Broadway actors faced a similar blacklist.

McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950

The ______________ forced all Communist or Communist-front groups to register with the government and barred members from working in national defense positions.

influx of communism

To avoid a "___________" entering the US, the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 limited Asian and Eastern European immigrants.

Alger Hiss

A former State Department employee and Franklin Roosevelt's Yalta Conference adviser, was probed by HUAC in 1948.

McCarthyism

In the Second Red Scare, _________ became the phrase for accusing persons of Communism.

John Foster Dulles

Secretary of State _______________ was the administration's foreign policy spokesperson. Secretary Dulles said that the US must "make communism withdraw" and move beyond containment.

John Foster Dulles

Secretary of State _______________ was the administration's foreign policy spokesperson. Secretary Dulles said that the US must "make communism withdraw" and move beyond containment.

massive vengeance

If a Communist force invaded the free world, Dulles threatened "__________."

Nikita Khrushchev

____________, the new Soviet leader, spoke of "peaceful cohabitation" with the US. In 1956, he repressed the Hungarian uprising against Soviet rule.

Ho Chi Minh

________'s nationalist insurgency in Vietnam has been fought by France since 1946.

Dien Bien Phu

The French lost in ____________in 1954. As Dien Bien Phu worsened, the French begged the US to intervene with military force, including atomic bombs.

Geneva Accords

The ___________ concluded the Indochina War by dividing Vietnam into North Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam under anti-Communist Vietnamese.

**Colonel Gamal Abdul Nasser**

**_________________**, the Egyptian commander building the Aswan Dam, received US support. He wants to buy plenty of American weapons.

Eisenhower Doctrine

In January 1957, the president issued the _________, which pledged military aid to any Middle Eastern nation endangered by Communism.

Lebanon

The Eisenhower Doctrine was executed in July 1958 when American soldiers were dispatched to ________ to support the pro-Western government.

**Rio Pact**

Most Western Hemisphere states joined the **_________**, a collective security accord, in 1947. The US policed the hemisphere when it feared Soviet supporters threatened American interests.

United Fruit Company

In 1954, President Eisenhower ordered a CIA coup to depose a Guatemalan president who had taken ________________ territory.

**Fidel Castro**

In 1959, Cuban tyrant Fulgencio Batista was overthrown by **___________**. He established a dictatorship and declared his aim to start a Communist revolution in Cuba.

**hydrogen bombs**

In the 1950s, the US and USSR greatly expanded their nuclear arsenals. By August 1953, both had detonated ___________, several times more powerful than atomic bombs.

missile gap

The US worried that the Soviets were acquiring a missile advantage, creating a "______________."

Sputnik

In 1957, Americans were astonished to discover that the Soviet Union had launched the ___________ satellite. American watchers saw Sputnik circling Earth.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

To "keep up" with the Soviets, American schools emphasized math and science. ______________ was founded in 1958 by President Eisenhower to further the American space program.

**Francis Gary Powers**

Initially, the Americans claimed that a NASA test jet in Turkey had gone missing, not an American plane spying over the Soviet Union. ____________, the pilot, was released by the Soviets.

U-2 espionage

The Soviets shot down an American __________ aircraft in May 1960, embarrassing the U.S.

U-2 spy operation

With the American cover narrative shattered, President Eisenhower claimed full responsibility for the ________________.

U-2 incident

The Paris peace meeting between Eisenhower and Khrushchev failed due to the ____________.