People-to-know Social Studies UIL the Cold War and the Cuban Missle Crisis 2025-26 terms to know

I was completely dependent on the Quizlet flashcards released annually for the social studies UIL, and the school blocked Quizlet last year so this became the better alternative.

Konrad Adenauer

First chancellor of West Germany (1949–1963); Christian Democrat who was staunchly anti-communist and worked with the US to build NATO and European cooperation.

Salvador Allende

First socialist president of Chile (1970–1973); elected from Popular Unity; overthrown and died in a US-backed military coup led by Augusto Pinochet in 1973.

Aldrich Ames

CIA analyst (1962–1994) who acted as a double agent for the USSR/Russia, exposing US spies and receiving nearly $3 million.

Yuri Andropov

Head of the KGB (1967–1982) and General Secretary of the USSR (1982–1984); involved in repression and led briefly after Brezhnev.

Jacobo Árbenz

Guatemalan president (1951–1954) whose land reforms angered powerful interests; CIA-backed coup led to his resignation in 1954 and exile.

Bernard Baruch

Presidential adviser to Wilson, FDR, and Truman; popularized the term Cold War and proposed international cooperation and joint control of atomic weapons.

Lavrenti Beria

Director of the NKVD (1938–1953); rose under Stalin, briefly led the USSR after Stalin’s death, and was executed following a coup orchestrated by Khrushchev.

Ernest Bevin

British Minister of Labour (1940–45) and Foreign Secretary (1945–51); helped architect the Brussels Treaty and strengthen ties to counter communism.

George Blake

British diplomat and MI‑6 officer who became a Soviet double agent; defected during the Korean War era, sentenced in 1961, escaped in 1966.

Willy Brandt

Leader of the Social Democratic Party; Mayor of West Berlin (1957–66); Chancellor (1969–74) awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Ostpolitik (1971) establishing treaties with the East.

Leonid Brezhnev

Leader of the USSR (1964–1982); de facto leader as general secretary; authorized invasion of Czechoslovakia and pursued détente with the West in the 1970s.

Carlos Castillo Armas

President of Guatemala (1954–1957) installed by a US/United Fruit-backed coup; used military power to suppress reforms; assassinated in 1957.

Fidel Castro

Leader of Cuba (1959–2008); led the revolution against Batista, aligned with the USSR, allowed Soviet missiles in Cuba, and supported revolutions abroad.

Nicolae Ceaușescu

Leader of Romania (general secretary 1965–1989; president 1967–1989); Stalinist-era authoritarian ruler whose regime was overthrown and executed in 1989.

Chiang Kai-shek

Leader of Nationalist China (KMT) from 1928 to 1949; retreated to Taiwan; anti-communist ally of the US; built an authoritarian but economically developed state.

Konstantin Chernenko

Leader of the Soviet Union (Feb 1984–Mar 1985); health issues limited his impact; succeeded Brezhnev.

Winston Churchill

UK Prime Minister (1940–45, 1951–55); key WWII ally and postwar leader; delivered the Iron Curtain speech (1946); promoted Western alliance and European cooperation.

Lucius D. Clay

US Army officer; directed civilian administration in postwar Germany; oversaw the Berlin Airlift (1948–49) and Checkpoint Charlie crisis (1961).

Charles De Gaulle

French leader; Provisional Government post-WWII; PM (1958–59), President (1959–1969); sought French autonomy from NATO and aligned with Europe.

Deng Xiaoping

PRC leader (1978–1989); architect of market reforms and modernization; sought closer ties with the West; ended reforms after Tiananmen crackdown.

Anatoly Dobrynin

Soviet ambassador to the US (1962–1986); involved in tense negotiations including the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Alexander Dubček

First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (1968–1969) during the Prague Spring; promoted liberalization and was forced to retract after Warsaw Pact invasion.

Allen Dulles

Director of the CIA (1953–1961); oversaw coups in Iran and Guatemala; involved in U-2 program; dismissed after Bay of Pigs failure.

John Foster Dulles

US Secretary of State under Eisenhower; helped establish NATO, SEATO, and CENTO; staunch anti-communist.

Klaus Fuchs

Nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project for the UK and passed secret information to the USSR; arrested in 1950.

Costas Georgiou

Greek-Cypriot mercenary (Colonel Callan) fought for FNLA in Angola; brutal commander; executed in 1976.

Władysław Gomułka

Polish leader who initiated the Polish Thaw (1956) but later enacted repressive measures; forced to resign amid economic trouble.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Soviet leader (1985–1991) who introduced glasnost and perestroika; ended Brezhnev Doctrine; helped end the Cold War; Nobel Peace Prize 1990.

Oleg Gordievsky

Colonel in the KGB; London bureau chief; served as a double agent for MI6; betrayed by Aldrich Ames.

Klement Gottwald

Czechoslovak leader (Prime Minister 1946–48; President 1948–1953); established a Stalinist regime with Soviet support; died in 1953.

Andrei Gromyko

Soviet foreign minister (1957–1985); long-time diplomat who represented USSR at the UN and shaped Cold War diplomacy.

Ernesto Guevara (Che Guevara)

Argentine revolutionary who helped lead the Cuban revolution; guerrilla leader; later involved in other Latin American movements; executed in Bolivia (1967).

Ho Chi Minh

Founder of the Indochina Communist Party (1930) and leader of North Vietnam (1945–1969); built a communist state and supported liberation struggles.

Erich Honecker

Leader of East Germany (1971–1989); maintained authoritarian regime; forced to resign amid protests; left for Chile in 1993 due to ill health.

Enver Hoxha

Leader of communist Albania; isolationist Stalinist regime; aligned with China for a period before isolating himself from broader socialist movement.

Wojciech Jaruzelski

Last communist leader of Poland; imposed martial law (1981) to suppress Solidarity; later pursued reforms and was replaced by Lech Wałęsa.

George Kennan

Leading US diplomat and policy analyst; advocated containment (Long Telegram); influential in shaping US Cold War strategy.

Patrice Lumumba

First prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo (1960); sought independence from Belgian influence; executed after a Belgian-supported coup.

Madame Nhu

First Lady of South Vietnam (1955–1963); sister-in-law of Ngo Dinh Diem; known for controversial anti-Buddhist rhetoric.

Georgi Malenkov

Soviet politician who briefly led after Stalin; later marginalized; attempted coup against Khrushchev (1957) and fell from influence.

Mao Zedong

Founder of the People’s Republic of China; leader since 1949; promoted Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution; broke with the USSR before thawing relations with the US.

Margaret Thatcher

UK Prime Minister (1979–1990); known as the Iron Lady; staunch anti-communist; aligned with Reagan and later engaged with Gorbachev.

George Marshall

US General and statesman; creator of the Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program); Nobel Peace Prize 1953.

Jan Masaryk

Czechoslovakia’s foreign minister in exile and later postwar government; advocated Marshall Plan funds; died under suspicious circumstances in 1948.

Suzanne Massie

Advisor to Reagan on the USSR; Russian historian who aided communication with Gorbachev.

Robert McNamara

US Secretary of Defense (1961–1968); pivotal during the Cuban Missile Crisis; later involved with Vietnam War debates and the Pentagon Papers; president of the World Bank (1968–1981).

Erich Mielke

Head of East German Stasi (1957–1989); “Master of Fear” who built a vast surveillance state; imprisoned in 1990 and released in 1995."

Golda Meir

Israel’s first female prime minister (1969–1974); former labor minister; led the country during the Yom Kippur War.

Vyacheslav Molotov

Soviet foreign minister (1939–1949, 1953–1956); key wartime diplomat; removed after 1957 power struggle; later ambassador to Mongolia.

Mohammad Mosaddegh

Iranian prime minister (1951–1953); nationalized oil; toppled in a US/UK-backed coup; died under house arrest in 1967.

Imre Nagy

Hungarian prime minister (1953–1956) who advocated reforms and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact; executed after the 1956 Soviet invasion.

Gamal Abdel Nasser

Egyptian president (1954–1970); nationalized the Suez Canal; led non-aligned movement; brokered Suez Crisis settlement.

Agostinho Neto

First president of independent Angola (1975–1979); MPLA leader; received Soviet/Cuban support.

Ngo Dinh Diem

First president of South Vietnam (1955–1963); autocratic; repressed Buddhists; assassinated in 1963 with US involvement.

Kwame Nkrumah

First president of Ghana (1960–1966); Pan-Africanist; used USSR aid to modernize; overthrown in 1966.

Mohammad Reza Pahlavi

Shah of Iran (1941–1979) whose modernization and secular rule faced opposition; deposed during the 1979 Revolution.

Oleg Penkovsky

GRU colonel and double agent for the US/UK; provided crucial intelligence on Soviet missiles; arrested and executed in 1963.

Stanislav Petrov

Soviet duty officer who correctly interpreted a false alarm in 1983, averting a potential nuclear war.

Harold ‘Kim’ Philby

MI6 officer and Soviet double agent; connected with Cambridge spies; defected to Moscow in 1963.

Augusto Pinochet

Chilean dictator (1974–1990) who ousted Allende in a US-supported coup; regime known for human rights abuses; arrested abroad and died before prosecution.

Ernst Reuter

Mayor of West Berlin during the 1948–49 airlift; led the city’s resistance against the Soviet blockade.

Syngman Rhee

First president of South Korea (1948–1960); anti-communist; opposed armsistice negotiations; forced to resign in 1960.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

US couple executed in 1953 for espionage on behalf of the USSR; related to nuclear weapons secrets.

Dean Rusk

US Secretary of State (1961–1969) under Kennedy and Johnson; advocated diplomacy during the Cuban Missile Crisis, supported Vietnam escalation.

Anwar al-Sadat

Egyptian president (1970–1981); Nobel Peace Prize 1978 for Camp David Accords; expelled Soviet advisers; assassinated 1981.

Andrei Sakharov

Soviet nuclear physicist and human rights advocate; Nobel Peace Prize 1975; pushed for disarmament and reform; exiled internally and later rehabilitated.

Eduard Shevardnadze

Soviet foreign minister (1985–1990); Georgia leader (1992–2003); helped implement Gorbachev reforms; involved in INF/START I; resigned 1990 in protest.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Russian writer; Nobel Prize in Literature (1970); exposed Gulag life in The Gulag Archipelago; exiled in 1974. Rehabilitated in 1990.

Anastasio Somoza Debayle

Nicaraguan president (1967–1979); Somoza dynasty; martial rule and suppression of rebels; assassinated in Paraguay (1980) after US waned support.

Josef Stalin

Leader of the USSR (1924–1953); consolidated power through purges; pursued a global communist influence and developed a centralized, repressive state; died 1953.

Valentina Tereshkova

First woman in space (Vostok 6, 1963); cosmonaut and later Duma member; long career in Soviet public life.

Josip Broz Tito

Leader of Yugoslavia; Partisan resistance hero; President for life (1953–1980); created the Non-Aligned Movement; kept a federation together until his death.

Walter Ulbricht

East German leader (SED First Secretary 1950–1971); pushed for the Berlin Wall and maintained strict control until retirement.

Lech Wałęsa

Leader of Solidarity; Nobel Peace Prize (1983); first democratically elected President of Poland (1990–1995); pivotal in ending communist rule.

Boris Yeltsin

First President of Russia (1991–1999); played a key role in dissolving the USSR and pursued market reforms; championed Russian sovereignty. 1991 after becoming the first ever democratically elected leader of Russia, he founded the Russian Federation effectively ending the USSR.

Zhou Enlai

Chinese Premier (1949–1976); key figure in establishing diplomatic relations and modernizing China's economy.