Unit 11 ALL Key Terms

United Nations

1945, international body formed to bring nations into dialogue in hopes of preventing future world wars; like the League of Nations in ambitions but more realistic in recognizing the Big Five Power's authority in keeping peace; guaranteed veto powers to all permanent members of the Security Council (US, Britain, France, and Soviet Union)

Cold War

1945-1991, 45 year diplomatic tension between US and Soviet Union; divided the world as capitalist vs communist; most international conflicts, particularly in the developing world, can be traced to the competition

Iron Curtain

term used by Churchill for the political barrier that isolated Eastern Europe after WW2; symbolized ideological fighting and physical boundary

Containment

US strategy against Soviet Union based on George Kennan's ideas; declared Soviet Union and communism as expansionist and had to be stopped from spreading through both military and political pressure

Truman Doctrine

1947, Truman's pledge of support for those fighting the communist threat; Truman presented this to Congress in support of his request for $400 million to defend Greece and Turkey against Soviet-backed insurgencies

Marshall Plan

1948, massive transfer of aid money to help rebuild postwar Western Europe; intended to bolster capitalist and democratic goverments and prevent communists from riding poverty/misery to power

Berlin Airlift

1948, year-long mission of flying supplies to blockaded West Berliners because Soviet Union cut them off in the 1st crisis of the Cold War

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

1949, military alliance of US, Canada, and Western European powers to defend against the Soviet Union; marked step toward European unity and American internationalism

New Look

1955, Eisenhower's defense policy; stressed reliance on nuclear weapons as an alternative to conventional ground forces in an effort to balance the budget and maintain US superiority

Massive Retaliation

advocated full use of US nuclear weapons as a response to Soviet attacks

Brinkmanship

policy of threatening war in response to any enemy aggression

Sputnik I

1957, Soviet satellite 1st launched into orbit on October 4; 1st human made object in space and put Soviet Union ahead in the Space Race; prompted more US effort and raised American fear of Soviet superiority

Space Race

competition of space exploration between US and Soviet Union

Nikita Khruschev

succeeded Stalin; greater measure of cultural and intellectual freedom; Cuban Missile Crisis

Peaceful Coexistence

idea where the US and Soviet Union could compete without war

Flexible Response

preparing for a variety of military responses, not just nuclear weapons

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962, standoff over Soviet plans to nuclear missiles in Cuba; ended in the US's favor; brought the superpowers too close to nuclear war

Limited Test Ban Treaty

1963, agreement between US and Soviet Union; nuclear weapons could only be tested underwater or underground

Hydrogen Bomb

1952, 1,000x more powerful than the atomic bomb

Detente

policy of relaxing tensions between US and Soviet Union (thaw) during the Cold War

Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty I (SALT I)

1972, treaty between US and Soviet Union to limit offensive nuclear weapons and defensive antiballistic missile systems

Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II (SALT II)

1979, treaty between US and Soviet Union to limit the number of strategic nuclear missiles in each country; Congress didn't ratify because of Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

Nixon Doctrine

Nixon's plan for 'peace with honor"; required countries threatened by communism to assume most of the military burden, with US offering political and economic support; countries would fight their own wars

Fellow Traveler

someone who sympathizes with a group (ex: communists), but is not an actual member

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

1938, investigative body formed to root out "subversion"; sought to expose communist influence

Alger Hiss

government employee who was in 1948 accused of spying for Soviet Union; 1950 - convicted of perjury and sentenced to 5 years in jail, after highly publicized hearings and trials; prosecuted by Nixon; emboldened conservatives to root out subversives in the government

McCarran Internal Security Act

1950, required communists to register with the US government and made it a crime to conspire to establish a totalitarian government within the US; allowed for detention of dangerous, disloyal, or subversive persons

McCarran-Walter Act

1952, immigration law that permitted deportation and denial of entry to the US for ideological reasons; tried to keep people from communist nations out; kept limits based on ethnicity, but made allowances for those displaced because of WW2

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

1953, executed when found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage in relation to passing information on the US's atomic bomb to the Soviet Union

Joseph McCarthy

Republican Senator who accused hundreds of Democrats as being communists; did the mist damage to US traditions of fair play and free speech; removed when he started accusing those in the US Army

McCarthyism

brand of vitriolic, fear-mongering, anticommunism; refers to dangerous forces of unfairness and fear because of anticommunist paranoia

Army-McCarthy Hearings

1954, televised Congressional hearings to accuse members of the Army of communist ties; McCarthy finally went too far for the public and exposed his extremism

National Security Council

1947, executive agency composed of the president, vice president, and 4 cabinet members; established to coordinate strategic policies and defense of the US

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

1947, government agency created to gather and evaluate military, political, social, and economic information on foreign nations

Chinese Civil War

war between Chinese government forces led by Chiang Kai-shek and Communist forces led by Mao Zedong; 1949 - Chiang and his forces fled to Taiwan and set up a separate Nationalist government

Korean War

1950-1953, 1st "hot war" of the Cold War; Soviet-backed North Koreans invaded South Korea before meeting a counter-offensive by UN forces dominated by US; ended in a stalemate

Mohammad Mossadegh

Nationalist leader of Iran who was overthrown with the help of the American CIA; replaced by Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi in 1953

Gamal Abdel Nasser

leader of Egypt who successfully opposed the French and British imperial powers during the 1956 Suez Crisis

Ho Chi Minh

nationalist leader of Vietnam who opposed the US during the Vietnam War

Vietnam (Eisenhower Administration)

1954-1961, 1954 - French colonists forced out of Vietnam, nation was divided into North and South, 1956 - elections to unify were canceled, US sent aid and advisors to Vietnam; Eisenhower said US had to keep South Vietnam out of communist control

Domino Theory

belief that if one nation fell to communist control, nearby nations would fall also; led to US sending military forces to aid South Vietnam

Vietnam (Kennedy Administration)

1961-1963, US increased the number of advisors in South Vietnam and sent in special forces to fight; Kennedy wanted low-intensity warfare and training the South Vietnamese military

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

1964, joint resolution of Congress passed in response to minor naval engagement; gave Johnson authorization to for use of military force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war by Congress

Vietnam (Johnson Administration)

1965-1969, after increasingly escalating the number of US forces in South Vietnam, Johnson slowly realized he was fighting a war against Vietnamese nationalism he couldn't win; anti-war sentiment; 1968 - Johnson withdrew from the presidential election and called for peace talks to end the war

Vietcong

communist-led army/guerrilla force in South Vietnam; fought against its government and was supported by North Vietnam

Tet Offensive

1968, National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese forces launched an attack on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet); defeated after a month of fighting and 1000s of causalities; major defeat for communism and US reacted with more anti-war sentiment

Eugene McCarthy

1st to challenge Johnson for the Democratic nomination; anti-war platform; victory in NH led Johnson to withdraw and brought Robert Kennedy into the contest; ran 5 times total

Robert Kennedy

ran in 1968 election; stirred a response from minorities; would've been nominated but was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan after speech in CA primary

My Lai Massacre

March 16, 1968, military assault on a small Vietnamese village; US soldiers under 2nd Lt William Calley murdered 100s of unarmed civilians, mostly women and children; produced outrage and reduced support in US and around the world when details and the attempted cover-up were revealed in 1971

Vietnam (Nixon Administration)

1969-1973, vietnamization, gradual removal of US troops from Vietnam

Vietnamization

military strategy launched by Nixon; reduced number of US combat troops and left more fighting to the South Vietnamese with US supplies

US withdrawal from South Vietnam

1973, "peace with honor", removal of US troops

War Powers Act

1973, limited the president's ability to wage war without Congress's approval; required the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing troops to a foreign conflict; sought to reduce the President's unilateral authority in military matters

Fall of South Vietnam

1975, North Vietnam fully invaded South Vietnam; Ford requested aid and was rejected by Congress; South Vietnam quickly fell to communism; last of Americans evacuated in April

Students for a Democratic Society

1960, campus-based political organization founded by Tom Hayden that became an iconic representation of the New Left; originally geared toward the intellectual promise of "participatory democracy"; emerged at the forefront of the civil rights, antipoverty, and antiwar movements of the '60s

Kent State

May 4, 1970, massacre of 4 college students by National Guardsmen; in response to Nixon's expanding the war into Cambodia, colleges exploded in violence; April 14 and 15 - students at historically black Jackson State in MS were protesting the war and Kent State shooting when highway patrolmen shot 2 students in the dorms

Pentagon Papers

secret US government report detailing early planning and policy decisions regarding the Vietnam War under JFK and LBJ; 1971 - leaked to the New York Times and revealed government secrecy, lies, and incompetence in prosecution of the war

Organization of American States

organization of most nations in North America, South America, and the Caribbean; designed to fight communism in the western hemisphere and deal with mutual concerns

Alliance for Progress

1961, "Ten Year Plan for Americans"; $20 billion partnership with US and Latin America to reverse the poverty cycle and stimulate economic growth

Bay of Pigs

1961, CIA plot to overthrow Castro by training Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and supporting them with US air power; failed and became a public relations disaster early in JFK's presidency

Mann Doctrine

1964, called for stability in Latin America instead of political/economic reform

US Occupation of the Dominican Republic

1965, intended to stop what Johnson said would be a "communist dictatorship" in the Dominican Republic; invasion provoked protests in Latin America and criticism in US

Salvador Allende

Chilean president; 1st democratically elected Marxist; 1973 - killed in a US-backed overthrow

Panama Canal Treaty

1977, treaty that said US would abandon rights to the canal in 1999

Sandinista Liberation Front

1979, leftist guerilla movement that established a revolutionary government in Nicaragua under Daniel Ortega

Palestine

1948, Middle East region partitioned by the UN to allow creation of a Jewish state (Israel) and a Palestinian state, which was never established

Suez Crisis

1956, international crisis launched when Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal; US, Soviet Union, and UN forced Britain, France, and Israel to withdraw; turning point in post-colonial Middle East and highlighted the importance of oil

Eisenhower Doctrine

policy of providing military and economic aid to Arab nations in the Middle East to help defeat communist-nationalistic rebellions

Yom Kippur War

1973, Israel and Syria attacked Israel; Israeli military defeated the Arab armies; US support of Israel led to an Arab boycott of oil to US

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

economic alliance of oil producing countries, mostly Arab; aimed to control access to and process of oil, taking power from Western oil companies/investors; gradually strengthened the hold of non-Western powers on the world stage

Camp David Accords

1979, treaty between Israel and Egypt negotiated by US President Carter; Israel would return occupied Egyptian territory and Egypt would recognize Israel as a nation

Mujahedeen

Afghan resistance group that fought against the Soviet because of the 1979 invasion US supported them with weapons

Carter Doctrine

1979, US would use force against those who tried to control the Persian Gulf; response to Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan

Southern Manifesto

1954, statement issued by 100 Southern congressmen where they pledged to oppose racial desegregation; came after Brown vs Board

Rosa Parks

African American woman who refused to give up her seat to a white man on a bus in Montgomery, AL; triggered a boycott of the bus system that sparked the civil rights movement

Martin Luther King Jr.

minister and civil rights leader committed to nonviolence; led significant protests in the 1950s and '60s, starting with the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

1957, organization formed by MLK and others after the bus boycott; became the backbone of the movement to achieve civil rights through nonviolence

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

1960, youth organization founded by Southern black students to promote civil rights; drew on members' youthful energy and coordinated demonstrations, sit-ins, and voter registration drives

Sit-In

occupying an area of a segregated establishment to protest racial segregation; kicked off in Greensboro, NC in 1960

Freedom Rides

1961, mixed-race groups who rode interstate buses deep into the South to draw attention and protest segregation

Grisworld vs Connecticut

1963, recognized citizen's right to privacy; states couldn't prohibit adults' use of contraceptives

Public Order Laws

laws passed in Southern communities to stop civil rights protests by allowing the police to arrest anyone suspected of intending to disrupt public order

James Meredith

1st black student admitted to the University of Mississippi; 1966 - shot during a civil rights march

March on Washington

1963, massive civil rights demonstration in support of Kennedy-backed legislation to secure legal protection for blacks; MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech

Freedom Summer

1964, voter registration drive in MS by a collaboration of civil rights groups; drew the activism of 1000s of black and white civil rights workers (mostly students from the North); marred by abduction/murder of 3 workers by white racists

March from Selma to Montgomery

1965, black protestors petition for the right to vote outside Selma's city hall and were ignored; they then marched to Montgomery and were met by police with tear gas and clubs

Watts

1965, neighborhood in Los Angeles, CA; race riot broke out with millions of dollars in damage and 28 African Americans dead

Black Power

1965, doctrine of militancy and separatism; rejected MLK's pacifism and desire for integration; promoted pride in African heritage and militant defense of rights

Nation of Islam (Black Muslims)

founded by Elijah Muhammad; Islamic beliefs, separatism, and self-improvement for blacks

Malcolm X

Nation of Islam member; advocated self-defense and black vs white violence; assassinated in 1965

Black Panthers

CA 1966, armed black militants to protect black rights; growing dissatisfaction with nonviolence

Race Riots

nationwide reaction in 100+ cities to MLK's assassination

George Wallace

governor who represented "white backlash" to the civil rights movement; opposed desegregation; 1968 - ran for president as an independent candidate

Desegregation of the Armed Forces

1948, Truman ended racial discrimination and segregation in the US Armed Forces through en executive order

Brown vs Board of Education

Topeka, KS 1954, overturned Plessy vs Ferguson and abolished racial segregation in public schools; Court reasoned "separate" was "unequal", rejecting the foundation of Jim Crow Laws; 1st major step toward the legal end of racial segregation

Civil Rights Act of 1957

1st significant civil rights legislation since Reconstruction; created the US Commission on Civil Rights and the Civil Rights Commission of the Justice Department

Civil Rights Act of 1964

barred segregation in public facilities and forbade employers to discriminate on basis of race, religion, gender, or national origin; empowered EEOC to regulate fair employment

Voting Rights Act of 1965

prohibited ballot-denying tactics; successor to the Civil Rights Act of 1964; sought to make racial disenfranchisement explicitly illegal

American GI Forum

TX 1948, organization of Mexican-American veterans to overcome discrimination and provide support for vets and all Hispanics; led to an end of segregation of Hispanic children in schools

The Feminine Mystique

1963, best seller by feminist thinker Betty Friedan; challenged women to move beyond housewifery and helped launch the 2nd wave of feminism