MUSH MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE

12/17/25

chapter one

cold war

tension between the soviet union and the US

hammer and sickle

symbol for communism

superpower

a nation that has influence on power on a global level

ideology

a system of beliefs

communism

wealth & property is owned by the community/government

capitalism

wealth & property owned by the individual

democracy

elects representatives

totalitarianism

total control over citizens

potsdam conference

agreed to divide germany and berlin into 4, united nations and denazification, they disagreed on stalin wanting reparations and communist dictatorship while truman wanted self-government

joseph stalin

dictator of USSR

harry truman

president of US

united nations

relations amongst nations to help keep peace and security

reparations

getting money back after a tragic incident

self-determination

a country determines its own statehood

sphere of influence

east europe goes to USSR, west europe goes to US

iron curtain

winston made a speech, saying the US needs to stand up to the soviets. iron curtain is a line separating blue & red countries

truman doctrine

US will give money to countries under communism

marshall plan

US’s loan to eastern europe to rebuild the economy

nato

defensive military alliance

warsaw pact

communism defensive alliance

eastern bloc

communist soviet aligned countries of eastern europe

berline blockade/airlift

USSR blocked of US’s way to get into berlin, so they used a plane to give out things people needed

arms race

the race to nuclear weapons

bert the turtle

a commercial that taught you what to do in a state of nuclear war

korean war

japan occupied the korean peninsula

kim il sung/dprk

wanted communism with the chinese

38th parallel

the split line between north & south korea

dmz

demilitarized zone

space race

the race to reach the moon

dwight david eisenhower

: the president at the time who established nasa

nikita khrushchev

successor after stalin

icbm

a nuclear missile (inter-continental ballistic missile)

sputnik

the first object in space from russia

nasa

a space engineering industry

wernher von braun

former nazi rocket scientist who engineered icbms

space race achievements

russia had the first everything but then america won with the first man on the moon (neil armstrong)

gi bill

paid for student loans, reduced interest rates on mortgages and made veteran administration hospitals

va system

veteran administration hospitals

executive order 9066

the internment of japanese-americans and their loss of property in WWII

zoot suit riots

anti-hispanic violence caused by americans in california during WWII

bracero program

policy that brought mexican workers into the US to replace american farmworkers

baby boom

increase of american birthrates from 1946-1964

unionization

organizing workers into unions to collectively negotiate for better wages

exports

goods & services sold by one country to another

gdp

gross domestic product, total value of all goods produced within a country in a specific time period

suburbanization

creating suburbs

levittowns

suburban developments that had the same houses

consumerism

encourages the acquisition of goods & services in ever-increasing amounts

nuclear family

small families changed to the traditional structure of a family

third party

a political party that wasn’t democratic or republican

dixiecrats

segregationist political party that came in the 1948 election

executive order 9981

desegregate the armed forces

red scare

fear of communism in the US

alger hiss

gov’t official accused of being a soviet spy

elizabeth bentley

former soviet spy who ratted on the other spies within the government

joseph mccarthy

US senator known for anti-communist activities & leading the charge during the red scare

edward r murrow

american broadcast journalist who challenged mccarthyism

the rosenbergs

a couple executed for espionage for giving secrets about atomic bombs to the soviets

lavender scare

campaign that wanted to purge homosexuals from gov’t service

house unamerican activities committee

investigate anti-govt activities amongst govt employees

hollywood 10

screenwriters and directors who were blacklisted because they refused to testify to the HUAC

jfk

president after ike who was assassinated

richard nixon

ran against jfk, he was more experienced and helped prosecute alger hiss

political platform

what politicians running for presidents claimed what they were going to do once they became president

lyndon b johnson

vice president for kennedy who was a democrat

swing state

states that could go either to the republican or democratic side

exit polls

surveys of voters taken after they leave the polling box

coup d’etat

overthrow of the gov’t, executed by a small group or military force

che guevara

argentinian doctor led the cuban revolution with fidel castro

fidel castro

leader of cuba who took over and kicked out american gangsters and started working with the USSR

bay of pigs invasion

tried to overthrow cuba, but failed terribly by the US

cuban missile crisis

13 day crisis between the US and soviets over ballistic missiles that soviet gave to cuba