apush 8 (copy)

Cold War

The intense rivalry between the Soviet Union and the USA. They competed directly through diplomacy and indirectly through armed conflicts among allies, but rarely through direct military actions against each other. However, in several instances, this conflict took the world dangerously near nuclear war.

Soviet Union

A Communist nation, consisting of Russia and 14 other states, that existed from 1922 to 1991, engaged in the Cold War against the US.

Joseph Stalin

Bolshevik revolutionary, head of the Soviet Communists after 1924, and dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953. He led the Soviet Union with an iron fist, using Five-Year Plans to increase industrial production and terror to crush opposition

United Nations

An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation. The General Assembly was formed to provide representation to all member nations, which the 15-member security council was given the primary responsibility for maintaining international security and authorizing peacekeeping missions.

satellites

The Soviet Union est Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia as THESE, or nations under the control of a great power. Soviet apologists argued that Russia needed these "buffet states" as protection against another Hitler-like invasion from the West.

Winston Churchill

Former Prime Minister of Great Britain who declared "an iron curtain has descended across the continent" of Europe in a speech that called for a partnership betw Western democracies to stop the expansion of communism.

Iron Curtain

A metaphor used to refer to the division between the US allies in Western Europe and the Soviet allies of Eastern Europe, coined by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

containment policy

Early in 1947, Truman adopted this policy designed to prevent Soviet expansion without starting a war. The plan would guide US foreign policy for decades and was formulated by 3 top advisors: Secretary of State General George Marshall, Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson, and an expert on Soviet affairs, George F Kennan.

George Marshall

United States secretary of state who formulated both the plan for the containment policy and the European Recovery Program, a program providing economic aid to European countries after World War II.

Truman Doctrine

The president 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. While this alarmist speech may have oversimplified the situation in Greece and Turkey, it gained bipartisan support from Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

Berlin airlift

US airlift in 1948 that supplied food and fuel to citizens of West Berlin when the Soviets closed off land access to Berlin...Stalin decided not to challenge the airlift

West Germany

AKA the Federal Republic of Germany, a US ally after the Berlin crisis

East Germany

AKA the German Democratic Republic, a Soviet satellite after the Berlin crisis

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

After Truman's recommendation that the US join a military defense pact to protect Western Europe, ten European nations joined the US and Canada in creating THIS, a military alliance for defending all members from outside attack.

Warsaw Pact

The Soviet Union countered the containment policy and NATO in 1955 by forming this, a military alliance for the defense of Communist states of Eastern Europe.

National Security Act

The United States had begun to modernize its military capability in 1947 by passing this act, which provided for (1) a centralized Department of Defense (replacing the War Department) to coordinate the operation 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. In 1948, the Selective Service System and a peacetime military draft were instituted.

arms race

After the Berlin Crisis, teams of scientists in both the Soviet Union and the USA were engages in an intense competition to develop superior weapon systems.

Douglas McArthur

This general took firm charge of reconstruction of Japan. Under his guidance, the new constitution adopted in May 1947 set up a parliamentary democracy. This man also took charge of troops during the Korean War, and urged Truman to use another atomic bomb before being fired.

Mao Zedong

As soon as WW2 ended, a civil war dating back to the 1930s was renewed in China between Chiang's Nationalists and the Chinese Communists led by THIS PERSON. The Nationalists were losing loyalty of millions of Chinese because of runaway inflation and widespread corruption, while the well-organized Communists successfully appealed to poor, landless peasants.

People's Republic of China

After the collapse of Chiang and the Nationalists in China, this Communist government was set up by Mao Zedong... the US refused to recognize this regime until 30 years later

38th parallel

After the defeat of Japan, its former colony Korea was divided along this line by the victors. Soviet armies occupied Korean territory north of the line, while US forces occupied territory to the south.

Korean War

Conflict that began with North Korea's invasion of South Korea and came to involve the United Nations (primarily the United States) allying with South Korea and the People's Republic of China allying with North Korea.

John Foster Dulles

The experienced diplomat who helped to shape US foreign policy throughout Eisenhower's presidency... Eisenhower's tough-talking secretary of state who wanted to "roll back" communism and "liberate captive nations" of Eastern Europe. Believed containment policy of Truman to be too passive

brinkmanship

Dulles policy of pushing Communist powers to the edge of war, hoping they would back down because of American nuclear superiority

massive retaliation

The "new look" defense policy of the Eisenhower administration of the 1950's was to threaten THIS with nuclear weapons in response to any act of aggression by a potential enemy.

Korean armistice

In July 1953, China and North Korea agreed to a peace that would divide Korea into North Korea and South Korea near the 38th parallel.

Nikita Khrushchev

A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also famous for denouncing Stalin and supported "peaceful coexistence" with the West

Sputnik

First artificial Earth satellite, it was launched by Moscow in 1957 and sparked U.S. fears of Soviet dominance in technology and outer space. It led to the creation of NASA and the space race.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

in 1958, Congress created this organization to direct the US efforts to build missiles and explore outer space. Billions were appropriated to compete with the Russians in the Space Race.

U-2 Incident

The incident when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The U.S. denied the true purpose of the plane at first, but was forced to when the U.S.S.R. produced the living pilot and the largely intact plane to validate their claim of being spied on aerially. The incident worsened East-West relations during the Cold War and was a great embarrassment for the United States.

Fidel Castro

A revolutionary who overthrew the Cuban dictator Batista in 1959, becoming the dictator. After nationalizing American-owned businesses in Cuba, he revealed he was a Marxist and turned to the Soviets for support.

military-industrial complex

Eisenhower first coined this phrase when he warned American against it in his last State of the Union Address. He feared that the combined lobbying efforts of the armed services and industries that contracted with the military would lead to excessive Congressional spending.

Bay of Pigs

In April 1961, a group of Cuban exiles organized and supported by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency landed on the southern coast of Cuba in an effort to overthrow Fidel Castro. When the invasion ended in disaster, President Kennedy took full responsibility for the failure and Castro used the failed invasion to get more aid from the Soviet Union and to strengthen his grip on power.

Berlin Wall

A wall separating East and West Berlin built by East Germany in 1961 to keep citizens from escaping to the West

Cuban missile crisis

The most dangerous moment of the US-Soviet relations came in October 1962. In response to the Bay of Pigs invasion, Castro invited Soviets to build underground missile sites that could launch offensive missiles capable of reaching the US in minutes. The Soviets agreed. US reconnaissance planes soon discovered evidence of construction. Kennedy responded by announcing to the world that he was setting up a naval blockade of Cuba until the weapons were removed. If Soviet ships challenged the US naval blockade, a full scale nuclear war might result. After 13 days of tension, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba.

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

In the wake of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Khrushchev and Kennedy along with nearly 100 other nations agreed sign this to prohibit all above ground nuclear tests.

flexible-response policy

JFK's defense strategy to fight a non-nuclear war through increasing defense spending on traditional military forces (non-nuclear forces) - army and navy. While this policy reduced the risk of using nuclear weapons, it also increased the temptation to send elite special forces, such as the Green Berets, into combat all over the globe.

Non-Proliferation Treaty

In 1968, the US, Britain, and the Soviet Union signed this treaty, in which each signatory agreed not to help other countries develop or acquire nuclear weapons.

Henry Kissinger

Along with Nixon, he fashioned a realist or pragmatic foreign policy that ended the war in Vietnam and reduced the tensions of the Cold War.

detente

A policy of reducing Cold War tensions that was adopted by the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

antiballistic missiles (ABMs)

Nixon used his relationship with China to pressure the Soviets to agree to a treaty limiting these, a new technology that would have expanded the arms race.

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)

Negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union that reduced the two nations' supply of long-range nuclear weapons. After the first round of these, US diplomats secured Society consent to freeze on the number of ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads.

Loyalty Review Board

In 1947, the Truman administration set up THIS to investigate the background of more than 3 million federal employees. Thousands of officials and civil service employees either resigned or lost their jobs in a probe that went on for years.

Dennis et al. v. United States

In 1951, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Smith Act.

Smith Act (1940)

Made it illegal to advocate or teach the overthrow of the US government by force or to belong to an organization with this objective

McCarran Internal Security Act

made it unlawful to advocate or support the establishment of a totalitarian government, restricted the employment and travel of those joining Communist-front organizations, and authorized the creation of detention camps for subversives.

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

In the HoR, this group, originally est to seek out Nazis, was reactivated in postwar years to find Communists. The committee not only investigated govt officials but also looked for Communist influence in such organizations as the Boy Scouts and in the Hollywood film industry.

Alger Hiss

A former State Department official who was accused of being a Communist spy and was convicted and jailed of perjury. The case was prosecuted by Richard Nixon.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

Arrested in the Summer of 1950 and executed in 1953, they were convicted of conspiring to commit espionage by passing plans for the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.

McCarthyism

The term associated with a senator who led the search for communists in America during the early 1950s through his leadership in the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Harry S. Truman

Became president when FDR died; matured into a decisive leader whose basic honesty and unpretentious style appealed to average citizens. He attempted to continue New Deal economic policies but faced growing conservative opposition

Employment Act of 1946

Enacted by Truman, it created the Council of Economic Advisors to advise the president and Congress on means of promoting national economic welfare.

Servicemen's Readjustment Act (GI Bill of Rights or GI Bills)

Helped more than 2 million GIs attend college and more than 5 million more receive other training, creating a postwar boom in post-high school education. The veterans also received more than $16 billion in low-interest, govt backed loans to buy homes and farms and to start businesses. However, these govt benefits helped white veterans far more than Black veterans.

baby boom

One sign of confidence among young people was an explosion of marriages and births. Earlier marriages and larger families resulted in 50 million babies entering the US population between 1945 and 1960. As this generation gradually passed from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, it profoundly affected the nation's social institutions and economic life in the last half of the 20th century.

Levittown

William J Levitt led in the development of postwar suburbia with his building and promotion of this town, a project of 17,000 mass-produced, low-priced family homes on Long Island, New York. Low interest rates on mortgages that were both govt insured and tax deductible made the move from city to suburb affordable for even families of modest means. However, this town was only for white families, and Black families were not allowed to buy homes there.

22nd Amendment

Reaction against the election of Roosevelt as president four times, the Republican-dominated Congress proposed this constitutional amendment to limit a president to a maximum of two terms. This amendment was ratified by the states in 1951.

Taft-Hartley Act

In 1947, Congress passed this probusiness act with the purpose of checking the growing power of unions. Its provisions included: (1) requiring workers to join a union before being hired, (2) permitting states to pass laws outlawing workers to join unions after being hired, (3) outlawing secondary boycotts, (3) giving the president the power to invoke an 80-day cooling off period before a strike endangering the national safety could be called

Fair Deal

Truman's ambitious reform program, in which he urged Congress to enact national health insurance, federal aid to education, civil rights legislation, funds for public housing, and a new farm program. Most of these bills were defeated by conservatives in Congress aside from an increase in minimum wage and the inclusion of more workers in Social Security.

Dwight D. Eisenhower

The president who personified the 1950s. The Republican slogan, "I like Ike," expressed the genuine feelings of millions of middle-class Americans. They liked his winning smile and trusted and admired the former general who had successfully commanded Allied forces in Europe in WWII.

modern Republicanism

President Eisenhower's views. Claiming he was liberal toward people but conservative about spending money, he helped balance the federal budget and lower taxes without destroying existing social programs.

Highway Act

The most permanent physical legacy of the Eisenhower years was the passage of this act, which authorized the construction of 42,000 miles of interstate highways linking all the nation's major cities.

New Frontier

The campaign program advocated by JFK in the 1960 election. He promised to revitalize the stagnant economy and enact reform legislation in education, health care, and civil rights.