Unit 8 APUSH Vocab

Soviet Union

communist, authoritarian superpower and the primary antagonist to the US during the Cold War

Security Council

the 15 main members of the UN, United States, Great Britain, France, China, and the Soviet Union, were given the primary responsibility for maintaining international security and authorizing peacekeeping missions by being granted permanent seats and veto power

Satellite States

nations under the control of a great power, Russia wanted this as protection against another Hitlerlike invasion from the West

Iron Curtain

metaphor used throughout the Cold War to refer to the division between the US allies in Western Europe and Soviet allies of Eastern Europe; So communism vs capitalism

George F. Kennan

designed the containment policy and wrote that only “a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies” would eventually cause the Soviets to back off their plan to spread communism and to live in peace with other nations.

Kennan

designed the containment policy and wrote that only “a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies” would eventually cause the Soviets to back off their plan to spread communism and to live in peace with other nations

Containment Policy

Adopted by Truman to prevent soviet expansion without starting a war

Truman Doctrine

Truman asked Congress in March 1947 for $400 million in economic and military aid to assist the “free people” of Greece and Turkey against “totalitarian” regimes to stop the spread of communism

George C. Marshall

American military leader and statesman, serving as Army Chief of Staff during WWII and Secretary of State/Defense under Truman; he is best known for developing the 1948 Marshall Plan.

Marshall Plan

a $17 billion European Recovery Program; In 1948, it was a $12 billion plan in aid, and was approved, for distribution to the countries of Western Europe over a four-year period to help them economically. The soviets refused this help from the US.

Berlin Airlift

massive humanitarian operation initiated in 1948 to supply West Berlin with food and other essential goods after the Soviet Union

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

a military alliance for defending all members from outside attack

Warsaw Pact

A Soviet counter to Nato; military alliance for the defense of the Communist states of Eastern Europe

National Security Act

provided for (1) a centralized Department of Defense (replacing the War Department) to coordinate the operations of the army, navy, and air force; (2) the creation of the National Security Council (NSC) to coordinate the making of foreign policy; and (3) the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to gather information on foreign governments; was made by US to modernize its military capabilities

Douglas MacArthur

US general who took firm charge of the reconstruction of Japan

Mao Zedong

led the communism in china and took control of china after overthrowing Chiang’s nationalists

Korean War

conflict that lasted from 1950 to 1953, involving North Korea, South Korea, and their respective allies, primarily the United States and China

38th Parallel

Where Korea is divided along, and where the stalemate was after the war ended

Stalemate

neither side in a war wins or loses

Brinkmanship

Dulles declared that, if the United States pushed Communist powers to the brink of war, they would back down because of American nuclear superiority

“Spirit of Geneva”

in a summit meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, between Eisenhower and the new Soviet premier, Nikolai Bulganin, US proposed policy open to aerial photography by the opposing nation to eliminate the chance of a surprise nuclear attack, which Soviets rejected; press thought it was beginning of the end of the cold war

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader in early 1956 who denounced the crimes of Joseph Stalin and supported “peaceful coexistence” with the West

Sputnik

the first artificial satellite launched into space by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957; marked the beginning of the Space Age and highlighted the intense competition between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research

U-2 Incident

Russians shot down a high-altitude US spy plane over the Soviet Union exposing a secret US tactic for gaining information to find out about its enemy’s missile program

Fidel Castro

Overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista and took over, made Cuba communist and was a Marxist himself

Military industrial complex

the informal, symbiotic alliance between a nation's military, defense contractors, and government, which shapes public policy and spending

Berlin Wall

Made to stop East Germans from fleeing to West Germany; it separated communist east berlin and capitalist west berlin

Bay of Pigs

Failed plan for US to get Cuba using the revolutionaries there,it caused Castro to get more aid from the Soviet Union and to strengthen his power

Cuban Missile Crisis

a 13-day October standoff where Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba brought the US and USSR to the brink of nuclear war until Khrushchev finally agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba in exchange for Kennedy’s pledge not to invade the island nation and to later remove some US missiles from Turkey; caused the creation of a hotline between Washington and Moscow

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

In 1963, the Soviet Union and the United States, and nearly 100 other nations, signed this to end the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere

John F Kennedy

35th US President, known for his "New Frontier" domestic program, the Cold War "Flexible Response" strategy, involvement in Vietnam war, and advancing civil rights

Lyndon B. Johnson

36th president who made expansion of liberalism aimed at eliminating poverty and racial injustice, and his escalation of the Vietnam War.

Non-Proliferation Treaty

In July 1968, the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union signed this, in which each signatory agreed not to help other countries develop or acquire nuclear weapon

Henry Kissinger

secretary of state during Nixon’s second term who helped decrease tensions from cold war, conduct secret meetings with North Vietnam’s foreign minister, Le Duc Tho; and strengthened the US position in the world by taking advantage of the rivalry between the two Communist giants, China and the Soviet Union

Détente

deliberate reduction of Cold War tensions; Kissinger and Nixon did this

Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (SALT I)

US diplomats secured Soviet consent to a freeze on the number of ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads

Soviet Afghan War

decade long conflict in which the Soviet Union militarily intervened to support a faltering communist government in Afghanistan against widespread rebellion

McCarran Internal Security Act

over Truman’s veto, Congress (1) made it unlawful to advocate or support the establishment of a totalitarian government, (2) restricted the employment and travel of those joining Communist-front organizations, and (3) authorized the creation of detention camps for subversives

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

originally established in 1939 to seek out Nazis, was reactivated in the postwar years to find Communists looking at gov officials, actors, directors, and writers

Alger Hiss

a prominent official in the State Department who had assisted Roosevelt at the Yalta Conference. He denied the accusations that he was a Communist and had given secret documents to Chambers; in 1950 he was convicted of perjury and sent to prison

Julius Rosenberg

British scientist who had worked on the Manhattan Project and suspected of giving secrets to the Russian; was found guilty of treason and executed in 1953

Joseph R. McCarthy

Republican US Senator from Wisconsin who became the face of anti communist hysteria.

McCarthyism

period of intense anti-communist suspicion in the US during the early 1950s, characterized by unsubstantiated accusations and political repression led by Senator Joseph McCarthy

Second Red Scare

period of intense anti-communist sentiment in the United States that occurred from the late 1940s into the early 1950s

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (or GI Bill of Rights)

crucial legislation providing WWII veterans with education, housing, and unemployment benefits; mainly helped white veterans

Baby Boom

Earlier marriages and larger families resulted in 50 million babies entering the US population between 1945 and 1960

Levittown

project of 17,000 mass-produced, low-priced family homes on Long Island, New York promoted by William J Levitt

Sun Belt

Americans moved to states like Florida to California frequently in the postwar era for warmer climate, lower taxes, and economic opportunities in defense-related industries

22nd Amendment

Limits a president to serving a maximum of two terms, or up to 10 years if they ascended from vice president ade after Franklin Roosevelt

Fair Deal

Truman urged Congress to enact national health insurance, federal aid to education, civil rights legislation, funds for public housing, and a new farm program; Congress blocked most of the proposed reforms, except for an increase in the minimum wage and more workers under Social Security

Dwight D. Eisenhower

34th US President and former Allied Supreme Commander in WWII who focused on Cold War containment, the Interstate Highway System, and maintaining economic stability, often used brinkmanship

Interstate Highway Act

authorized the construction interstate highways linking all the nation’s major cities becoming a model for the rest of the world; improved national defense, created jobs, promoted the trucking industry, accelerated the growth of the suburbs, and contributed to a more homogeneous national culture

New Frontier

a domestic and foreign policy agenda aimed at boosting the economy, addressing poverty, advancing civil rights, and funding space exploration by Kennedy

Great Society

set of domestic programs launched by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s aimed at eliminating poverty and racial injustice.

New Federalism

Congress gave local governments $30 billion in block grants over five years to address local needs as they saw fit

Richard Nixon

president whose term focused on détente with communist nations and trying to end the Vietnam War, while fixing stagflation

Stagflation

US economy throughout the 1970s faced the unusual combination of economic slowdown and high inflation; stagnation plus inflation; which Nixon tries to stop

Rock and roll

a blend of African American rhythm and blues sounds with White country music, popularized by the gyrating Elvis Presley that teens loved

Beatniks

group of rebellious writers and intellectuals led by Jack Kerouac and poet Allen Ginsberg, they advocated spontaneity, use of drugs, and rebellion against societal standards; they became models for the youth rebellion of the 1960s

Kennedy Assassination

November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Tx, Lee Harvey Oswald, shocked the nation by doing this

Warren Commission

headed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin; Americans doubted this heavily causing loss of credibility in the government

Committee on Civil Rights

Truman created this in 1946 to challenge racial discrimination

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

interracial civil rights organization established to combat racial violence and discrimination against African Americans

Jackie Robinson

broke the MLB color barrier on April 15, 1947, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers, which signaled a major step in the integration of American society

Brown v Board of Education

ruled that (1) “separate facilities are inherently unequal” and hence unconstitutional, and (2) school segregation should end with “all deliberate speed” arguing that it violated student’s 14th amendment

Thurgood Marshall

American civil rights lawyer, NAACP chief counsel, and the first African American Supreme Court Justice, and he won Brown v Board of Education

Earl Warren

14th Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court whose liberal court revolutionized American law, significantly expanding civil rights, civil liberties, and federal power; he led a unanimous court in Brown v Board of Education

desegregation

the process of ending enforced racial separation in public institutions, schools, and facilities

Little Rock Nine

nine African American students who integrated Central High School in Arkansas in 1957, following the Brown v Board of Education ruling

Rosa Parks

In 1955, as a Montgomery, Alabama, bus took on more White passengers, the driver ordered a middle-aged Black woman to give up her seat to one of them, this person, an active member of the local chapter of the NAACP, refused

Montgomery Bus Boycott

foundational 381 day protest against segregated public transit in Alabama, sparked by Rosa Parks's arrest

Emmitt Till

14 year old African American boy from Chicago brutally lynched in Mississippi in 1955 for allegedly offending a white woman

Martin Luther King Jr

minister of a Montgomery Baptist church, soon emerged as the inspirational leader of a nonviolent movement to end segregation
Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

young activists organized this to promote voting rights and to end segregation

Covert action

secret US government operations designed to influence foreign political, economic, or military conditions without revealing American involvement

Suez Canal

Was captured by Arab nationalist General Gamal Abdel Nasser, who wanted to build the Aswan Dam project on the Nile River and seized in July 1956 because no one would supply money for this project; causing Britain, France, and Israel to launch a surprise attack against him

Eisenhower Doctrine

United States in 1957 pledged economic and military aid to any Middle Eastern country threatened by Communism seeing growing Soviet influence in Egypt and Syria

Organization of Petroleum Exporting (OPEC)

in 1960, the Middle Eastern states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran joined with the South American state of Venezuela to form this to expand their political power by coordinating their oil policies

Yom Kippur War

a surprise, two front attack on Israel by Egypt and Syria during the Jewish holy day, aiming to regain territory lost in 1967

Oil Embargo

pivotal economic and political crisis where Arab OPEC members stopped selling oil to the US and allies supporting Israel in the Yom Kippur War

Camp David Accords

provided a framework for a peace settlement between Egypt and Israel

Iran Hostage Crisis

diplomatic standoff between the United States and Iran that lasted from November 4, 1979, to January 20, 1981, during which 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage at the US Embassy in Tehran

The Peace Corps

an organization made by Kennedy that recruited young American volunteers to give technical aid to developing countries

Panama Canal

51mile, USbuilt waterway (completed 1914) connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, slashing maritime travel times

Vietnam War

prolonged Cold War conflict in Southeast Asia, pitting the US backed South Vietnam against communist North Vietnam

Domino theory

if South Vietnam fell under Communist control, one nation after another in Southeast Asia would also fall, until Australia and New Zealand were in dire danger

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

Congress approved giving the president, as commander in chief, a blank check to take “all necessary measures” to protect US interests in Vietnam

Credibility gap

Misinformation from military and civilian leaders combined with Johnson’s reluctance to speak frankly to the American people about the scope and the costs of the war

Hawks vs Doves

prowar believed it was an act of Soviet backed Communist aggression against South Vietnam; antiwar viewed the conflict as a civil war fought by Vietnamese nationalists.

Tet Offensive

massive, coordinated surprise attack by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces on over 100 South Vietnamese cities during the Lunar New Year

Vietnamization

President Richard Nixon’s 1969 strategy to end US involvement in the Vietnam War by gradually withdrawing American troops while training and equipping South Vietnamese forces to assume full combat responsibility

Kent State Massacre

On May 4, 1970, Ohio National Guardsmen fired into a crowd of unarmed students protesting the Vietnam War

My Lai Massacre

brutal murder of unarmed Vietnamese civilians by US troops from Charlie Company in South Vietnam

Pentagon Papers

a secret government study documenting the mistakes and deceptions of government policymakers in dealing with Vietnam; leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, a former Defense Department analyst

Paris Accords

promised a cease-fire and free elections; in practice, however, the armistice did not end the war between the North and the South and left tens of thousands of enemy troops in South Vietnam

War Powers Act

law required Nixon and any future president to report to Congress within 48 hours after taking military action. It further provided that Congress would have to approve any military action that lasted more than 60 days

Fall of Saigon

In April 1975, the US supported government in Saigon fell to the enemy, and Vietnam was reunified under the Communist government in Hanoi (North Vietnam’s capital)

Ho Chi Minh

establishes communist dictatorship in North Vietnam after leading the Viet Minh guerrillas

Viet Cong

South Vietnamese communist guerrilla insurgency supported by North Vietnam