History Unit 4 Terms

Chapter 15.1

• Satellite State: independent nation under the control of a more powerful nation

• Cold War: worldwide rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union

• Iron Curtain: term to describe the border between the Soviet satellite states and Western Europe

• Truman Doctrine: President Truman’s promise to help nations struggling against communist movements 

• Containment: policy of keeping communism contained within its existing borders

• Marshall Plan: foreign policy that offered economic aid to Western Europe after WW2

• Berlin Aircraft: program in which U.S. and British pilots flew supplies to West Berlin during a Soviet blockade

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): military alliance formed to counter Soviet aggression 

• Warsaw Pact: military alliance of the Soviet Union and its satellite states

Chapter 15.2

• Jiang Jieshi: Chinese Nationalist leader who opposed Mao Zedong’s communist forces during the Chinese civil war

• Mao Zedong: Successfully led a communist revolution in mainland China. 

• 38th Parallel: dividing line between North and South Korea

• Douglas MacArthur:commander of UN forces in the Korean War

• Limited War: war fought to achieve only specific goals 

• Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SATO): defensive alliance aimed at preventing communist aggression in Asia 

Chapter 15.3

• Mutually Assured Destruction: the concept that two powerful nations can completely annihilate each other with nuclear weapons

• John Foster Dulles: served as Secretary of State under president Dwight Eisenhower

• Massive Retaliation: policy of threatening to use massive force in response to aggression 

• Brinkmanship: belief that only by going to the brink of war could the United States protect itself against Soviet aggression 

• Nikita Khrushchev: Communist party leader who served as premier of the Soviet Union from 158-1964

• Nationalize: to place a private resource under government control

• Suez Crisis: attempt by France and Great Britain to seize control of the Suez Canal 

• Eisenhower Doctrine: policy of president Eisenhower that stated that the United States would use force to help any nation threatened by communism 

• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): U.S. intelligence-gathering organization 

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): government agency that coordinates U.S. efforts in space 

Chapter 15.4

• Red Scare: fear that communists were working to destroy the American way of life 

• Smith Act: law that made it unlawful to teach or advocate the violent overthrow of the United States government 

• House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC): congressional committee that investigated possible subversive activities within the United States 

• Hollywood Ten: group of movie directors, writers, and producers who refused to answer HUAC questions about communist ties

• Blacklist: list of persons who were not hired because of suspected communist ties

• Alger Hiss: investigated by HUAC as a communist spy, and later convicted of perjury 

• Julius & Ethel Rosenberg: an American married couple who were convicted of spying for the Soviet Union

• Venona Papers: a series of Cold War era secret Soviet Union documents intercepted and later released by U.S. intelligence officials 

• Joseph. R McCarthy: led a series of high profile investigations into Americans whom he accused of being disloyal to the United States 

• McCarthyism: negative catchword for extreme, reckless changes of disloyalty

Chapter 15.5

• Demobilization: sending home members of the army

• GI Bill of Rights: legislation that eased the return of WW2 veterans by providing education and employment aid

• Baby Boom: increase in births between 1945-1964

• Productivity: amount of goods and services produced given the amount of resources used

• Sunbelt: name given to the region of states in the South and the Southwest

• Service Sector: businesses that provide services rather than manufactured goods 

• Information Industry: businesses that provide informational services

• Franchise Business: to allow a company to distribute its products or services through retail outlets owned by independent operators

• Sam Walton: American retail pioneer who founded Walmart stores

• Estee Lauder: American businesswoman and philanthropist who founded a fragrance and cosmetics empire

• Multinational Corporation: company that produces and sells its goods and services all over the world

• AFL-CIO: in 1955, the American Federation of Labor, and the Congress of Industrial Organization, labor unions united

• Taft-Hartley Act: a law that restricted the power of labor unions

• Fair Deal: President Truman’s program to expand New Deal reforms

Chapter 15.6

• Interstate Highway Act: the 1956 law that authorized the spending of $32 billion to build 41,000 miles of highway 

• Consumerism: large-scale buying, much of it on credit

• Median Family Income: a measure of average family income

• Nuclear Family: a traditional household consisting of parents and their children

• Dr. Benjamin Spock: American pediatrician and author of  “Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care”, which was one of the most influential books on parenting

• Billy Graham: American evangelist who rose to prominence during the religious revival of the 1950’s in the United States

• California Master Plan: a plan that called for three tiers of higher education 

Chapter 15.7

• Beatniks: small group of writers and artists who were critical of American society

• Rock & Roll: popular music that grew out of the gospel and blues tradition of African Americans

• Elvis Presley: American musician who became known as the “King of Rock & Roll”

• Urban renewal: government programs for redevelopment of urban areas

• Termination policy: a policy ending all programs monitored by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It also ended the federal responsibility for the health and welfare of Native Americans.

Chapter 16.1

• De jure segregation: segregation imposed by law

• De facto segregation: segregation by unwritten tradition

• Thurgood Marshall:  the Supreme Court's first African-American justice

• Earl Warren: Chief justice of the supreme court from 1953-1969

• Orval Faubus: governor of Arkansas who ordered the National Guard to block 9 African American students from entering Little Rock High School

• Civil Rights Act of 1957: law that established a federal Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of civil rights

• Rosa Parks: began the Montgomery bus protest 

• Martin Luther King Jr: advocated nonviolent methods of protest, became the most influential leader of the civil rights movement