WWII and Cold War Key Terms: Agencies, Battles, and Policies

War Production Board (WPB)

Established by executive order, this agency halted non-essential building and directed the nation's industrial output toward the war effort.

Office of Price Administration (OPA)

To combat the inflation caused by scarce consumer goods, the OPA set price ceilings and managed a rigorous rationing system for meat, butter, and gasoline.

Smith-Connally Act (1943)

Passed over FDR's veto, it authorized the federal government to seize and operate industries threatened by strikes, making it a crime to incite strikes against government-run plants.

Henry J. Kaiser

Dubbed 'Sir Launchalot,' he utilized assembly-line techniques to build Liberty ships in as little as 14 days.

A. Philip Randolph

Head of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters; he threatened a 'March on Washington' in 1941 to demand equal opportunities for African Americans in war jobs.

Fair Employment Practice Commission (FEPC)

Created by FDR in response to Randolph's pressure, this agency was tasked with monitoring and enforcing the ban on racial discrimination in defense industries.

"Double V"

A popular slogan among African Americans, standing for victory over dictators abroad and victory over racism at home.

Japanese Internment Camps

Authorized by Executive Order 9066, approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated to inland camps due to post-Pearl Harbor hysteria.

Braceros

An agreement with Mexico in 1942 that brought thousands of Mexican agricultural workers across the border to harvest crops.

Chester W. Nimitz

The Admiral who commanded the U.S. Pacific Fleet; he coordinated the naval and air strikes that proved essential to stopping Japanese expansion.

Battle of Midway (1942)

Often called the 'turning point' in the Pacific; U.S. forces sank four Japanese carriers, breaking the back of the Imperial Navy.

"Island Hopping"

The U.S. strategy of bypassing heavily fortified Japanese-held islands to seize smaller, strategic 'stepping stones' that could host airfields.

Douglas MacArthur

The General who famously promised 'I shall return' when forced out of the Philippines; he led the Allied ground forces in the Pacific.

Joseph Stalin

The Soviet leader who constantly pressured the U.S. and Britain to open a 'second front' in Western Europe.

Tehran Conference (1943)

The first meeting of the 'Big Three' (Stalin, FDR, Churchill), where they coordinated the cross-channel invasion of France.

Battle of Stalingrad

A catastrophic defeat for Hitler's forces in Russia; it marked the end of German expansion in the East.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Chosen as the Supreme Allied Commander, he was the organizational genius behind the D-Day invasion.

D-Day (June 6, 1944)

Codenamed Operation Overlord, this massive amphibious assault on the beaches of Normandy opened the long-awaited Western Front.

George Patton

A flamboyant and aggressive tank commander who led the U.S. Third Army in a rapid sweep across France and Germany.

V-E Day (May 8, 1945)

'Victory in Europe' Day, following the unconditional surrender of the German government after Hitler's suicide.

Casablanca Conference (1943)

FDR and Churchill met and agreed to step up the Pacific war and to accept nothing less than 'unconditional surrender' from the Axis powers.

Potsdam Conference (1945)

The final wartime meeting where Truman, Stalin, and Clement Attlee issued an ultimatum to Japan: surrender or be destroyed.

Albert Einstein

The physicist whose 1939 letter to FDR warned that Germany might be developing atomic energy.

Manhattan Project

The top-secret, $2 billion research project that successfully developed the first atomic bombs.

Harry S. Truman

Took office after FDR's death in April 1945; he made the monumental decision to use the atomic bomb.

V-J Day (August 15, 1945)

'Victory in Japan' Day, marked by the Japanese surrender shortly after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Thomas E. Dewey

The Republican Governor of New York who unsuccessfully challenged FDR in 1944.

Yalta Conference (1945)

The final meeting of the 'Big Three' where they discussed the division of Germany and the Soviet promise to hold free elections in Poland.

Cold War

A 45-year state of political hostility and military tension between the U.S. and USSR.

Iron Curtain

A term popularized by Winston Churchill to describe the ideological and physical boundary dividing Europe.

Containment

Developed by George Kennan, this was the core U.S. strategy to prevent the spread of communism.

Truman Doctrine

Truman's pledge to provide military and economic aid to any nation resisting 'armed minorities' or 'outside pressures.'

Marshall Plan

A massive economic recovery program that gave billions in aid to rebuild Western Europe.

Berlin Airlift

After the Soviets blockaded West Berlin in 1948, the U.S. and allies flew in food and fuel for nearly a year.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

A landmark defensive military alliance formed by the U.S. and Western European nations.

HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee)

A congressional committee that investigated 'subversive' activities, famously targeting the film industry.

Joseph McCarthy

A Wisconsin Senator who rose to power by claiming he had lists of communists working in the State Department, fueling a climate of fear known as McCarthyism.

McCarran Act

Passed over Truman's veto, it authorized the president to arrest and detain 'suspicious' people during internal security emergencies.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

An American couple executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage by passing atomic secrets to the Soviets.

Loyalty Review Board

Established by Truman to investigate over 3 million federal employees for 'disloyalty,' resulting in thousands of resignations and dismissals.

Taft-Hartley Act

A 'slave-labor' law (according to unions) that restricted the power of labor unions by outlawing 'closed shops' and requiring union leaders to take non-communist oaths.

GI Bill of Rights

Provided returning WWII veterans with low-interest mortgages and stipends for college or vocational school, fueling the growth of the middle class.

Sunbelt

A 15-state area stretching from Virginia through Florida and Texas to Arizona and California, which saw a massive population surge due to jobs and lower taxes.

White Flight

The mass movement of white middle-class families from racially mixed cities to the homogeneous suburbs, leaving inner cities impoverished.

Baby Boom

The explosion in birth rates between 1946 and 1964, which added 50 million people to the U.S. population and shaped the economy for decades.

Benjamin Spock

Author of The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, which revolutionized parenting by encouraging parents to treat children as individuals rather than with strict discipline.

Fair Deal

Truman's ambitious domestic agenda that called for improved housing, full employment, and a higher minimum wage; most of it was blocked by a conservative Congress.

Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek)

The leader of the Nationalist Party in China who fled to Taiwan after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong's communists in 1949.

NSC-68

A pivotal National Security Council paper that recommended a massive four-fold increase in U.S. military spending to meet the Soviet threat.

38th Parallel

The line of latitude that served as the boundary between North and South Korea before and after the Korean War.

Inchon Landing

General Douglas MacArthur's daring amphibious assault behind North Korean lines that successfully pushed communist forces back toward the Chinese border.

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)

The landmark Supreme Court case that ruled 'separate but equal' facilities were inherently unequal, effectively overturning Plessy v. Ferguson and demanding school integration.

Earl Warren

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court whose 'Warren Court' became a powerhouse for social reform, moving far ahead of Congress and the President on civil rights issues.

Rosa Parks & Montgomery Bus Boycott

Parks's refusal to give up her seat on a bus in Alabama sparked a year-long boycott, which eventually led to the Supreme Court ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional.

Martin Luther King Jr.

A young Baptist minister who rose to national prominence during the boycott; he formed the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) to use nonviolent resistance against Jim Crow laws.

Sit-in Movement

Started by four college students in Greensboro, NC, this tactic of peacefully occupying 'white only' lunch counters spread across the South, leading to the formation of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee).

Desegregation

The active process of integrating schools and public spaces. This reached a boiling point in 1957 when Eisenhower had to send federal troops to escort the 'Little Rock Nine' into a high school in Arkansas.

Massive Retaliation

A policy advocated by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles; it threatened the use of nuclear weapons in response to any communist aggression, moving away from conventional army build-ups.

Sputnik (1957)

The first man-made satellite, launched by the USSR. It shattered American confidence and led to the Space Race and the creation of NASA.

National Defense Education Act (NDEA)

A direct response to Sputnik, this law provided millions in federal loans to students and funds to improve teaching in sciences and foreign languages.

Eisenhower Doctrine

A pledge that the U.S. would use military force to assist any Middle Eastern nation threatened by 'communist aggression.'

U-2 Incident

In 1960, a U.S. spy plane was shot down deep inside Soviet territory. Eisenhower initially denied it was a spy mission, but the Soviets produced the captured pilot (Francis Gary Powers), ruining a planned peace summit.

Fidel Castro

The revolutionary who overthrew the Cuban government in 1959. When he began seizing American properties and aligning with the USSR, the U.S. cut off trade and began planning his ouster.

Ho Chi Minh

The Vietnamese nationalist and communist leader who led the struggle against French colonial rule and later against U.S.-backed South Vietnam.

Geneva Conference (1954)

Following the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, this meeting divided Vietnam at the 17th Parallel, with the promise of future elections to unify the country (which never happened).

Ngo Dinh Diem

The pro-Western, anti-communist leader of South Vietnam supported by the U.S. to prevent a total communist takeover of the peninsula.

SEATO

An Asian version of NATO, designed to provide collective security and prevent the 'domino effect' of communism in Southeast Asia.

Military-Industrial Complex

In his 1961 farewell address, Eisenhower warned that the close relationship between the massive military establishment and the permanent arms industry could endanger American liberties.

Creeping Socialism

A term used by critics (and sometimes Eisenhower) to describe the gradual expansion of federal government programs, though Eisenhower actually kept many New Deal programs intact.

Feminism

While the 1950s emphasized the 'cult of domesticity,' the seeds of the new feminist movement were being sown as more women entered the workforce, eventually leading to Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique.

The 'Good Marshal'

A nickname for Eisenhower that highlighted his calm, professional, and non-partisan leadership style—qualities that made him one of the most popular presidents of the 20th century.