HIST 1302 Unit 3 Review: Key Terms (Chapters 24-26)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from WWII through the early Cold War, civil rights era, and related U.S. domestic policy.

Fascism

An authoritarian nationalist ideology that emphasizes centralized power, suppression of opposition, and militarism, led by a dictatorial leader.

Adolf Hitler

Leader of Nazi Germany; a fascist dictator whose regime pursued aggression and the Holocaust.

Mao Zedong

Leader of the Chinese Communist Party; pivotal figure in the Chinese Communist Revolution and founding of the People's Republic of China.

Benito Mussolini

Fascist dictator of Italy; allied with Hitler and led Italy during WWII.

Axis

The alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan during World War II.

Neutrality Acts

U.S. laws restricting arms sales and loans to nations at war to avoid entanglement.

Munich Agreement

1938 agreement permitting Nazi Germany’s annexation of the Sudetenland; seen as appeasement of Hitler.

Joseph Stalin

Leader of the Soviet Union; allied with the U.S. during WWII but became a central figure in the Cold War.

Poland

Country invaded in 1939, marking the start of World War II in Europe.

Battle of Britain

1940 air campaign in which Britain defended against the German Luftwaffe; a turning point against Nazi expansion.

Manhattan Project

Secret U.S. program that developed the first atomic bombs.

Lend-Lease Act

1941 policy allowing the U.S. to supply Allied nations with war material and support.

Operation Barbarossa

1941 German invasion of the Soviet Union; opened the Eastern Front of WWII.

Atlantic Charter

1941 joint statement by FDR and Churchill outlining postwar goals and free seas; laid groundwork for the UN.

Hideki Tojo

Japanese general and prime minister who led Japan’s war effort in WWII.

Pearl Harbor

Dec 7, 1941 Japanese attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet; brought the U.S. into WWII.

War Production Board

U.S. government agency coordinating wartime production and allocation of resources.

Bracero program

U.S. program (starting 1942) inviting Mexican laborers to work in American farms and industry during WWII.

Tuskegee Airmen

First African American military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Forces; highly effective during WWII.

Navajo Code Talkers

Navajo soldiers who created an unbreakable coded language for U.S. military communications in WWII.

Executive Order 9066/Japanese Internment

1942 order authorizing the internment of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast.

Casablanca Conference

1943 meeting of FDR and Churchill focusing on war aims and strategy, including unconditional surrender.

Operation Overlord/D-Day

1944 Allied invasion of Normandy; opened a Western front and hastened Germany’s defeat.

Yalta Conference

1945 meeting of Allies to discuss postwar Europe, Germany’s fate, and the formation of the United Nations.

Holocaust

Genocidal persecution and mass murder of six million Jews and millions of others by Nazi Germany.

Midway

1942 Pacific battle in which the U.S. defeated Japan, turning the tide of war in the Pacific.

Hiroshima

First atomic bombing of a city (August 6, 1945) by the United States.

Nagasaki

Second atomic bombing (August 9, 1945) leading to Japan’s surrender.

Iron Curtain

Churchill’s metaphor for the division between Western democracies and Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe.

Containment/Truman Doctrine

U.S. policy to stop the spread of communism; Truman Doctrine provided aid to Greece and Turkey.

Marshall Plan

U.S. program to rebuild Western Europe after WWII to prevent spread of communism.

Berlin airlift

1948-49 Allied operation to supply West Berlin by air during the Soviet blockade.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

1949 military alliance of Western nations for collective defense against aggression.

Taft-Hartley Act

1947 law restricting labor unions and limiting certain union practices.

Jackie Robinson

First African American to play Major League Baseball in the modern era, breaking the color line.

GI Bill

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (1944) providing education, housing, and unemployment benefits to veterans.

Fair Deal

Truman’s postwar domestic program expanding social welfare and civil rights initiatives.

Korean War

1950–1953 conflict; North Korea’s invasion of South Korea; U.S.-led UN coalition intervened.

Firing of Douglas MacArthur

1951 dismissal by President Truman after conflict over how to conduct the Korean War.

House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)

Congressional committee investigating alleged disloyalty and subversive activities by individuals in the U.S.

Alger Hiss

Former State Department official accused of perjury related to Communist allegations; implicated in anti-Communist era.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

Couple executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage by passing atomic secrets to the Soviets.

Federal Highway Act

1956 legislation funding the construction of the Interstate Highway System.

Levittown

Mass-produced suburban housing developments symbolizing postwar suburbanization.

Baby boom

Sharp rise in birth rates following World War II.

Operation Wetback

1954 immigration enforcement operation aimed at deporting undocumented Mexican workers.

Beat movement/beatniks

1950s counterculture and literary movement challenging mainstream conformity.

Elvis Presley

1950s rock ’n’ roll icon whose style helped popularize youth culture.

John Foster Dulles

U.S. Secretary of State under Eisenhower; advocate of staunch anti-communism and rollback.

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnamese revolutionary leader; founder of the Viet Minh and North Vietnam.

Dien Bien Phu

1954 battle that ended French colonial involvement in Indochina; led to Geneva Accords.

Domino theory

Idea that communism in one country will spread to neighboring nations.

Sputnik

1957 Soviet satellite first to orbit Earth; sparked the Space Race.

Joseph McCarthy

U.S. senator known for leading anti-Communist investigations (McCarthyism).

Eisenhower Doctrine

Policy promising U.S. aid to Middle Eastern nations resisting communist aggression.

Fidel Castro

Cuban revolutionary leader who overthrew Batista and led Cuba under communist rule.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Civil rights leader advocating nonviolent protest and racial equality; prominent in the 1950s–60s.

Rosa Parks

Activist whose refusal to give up her seat sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

Supreme Court ruling that segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

1955-56 boycott protesting segregated seating on Montgomery, Alabama buses.

Little Rock Nine

Group of African American students integrated into Little Rock Central High under federal protection.

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Civil rights organization led by MLK promoting nonviolent resistance.