Cold War Terms

Truman Doctrine

1947, President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, mainly helped Greece and Turkey

Joseph McCarthy

1950s; Wisconsin senator claimed to have list of communists in American gov't, but no credible evidence; took advantage of fears of communism post WWII to become incredibly influential; "McCarthyism" was the fearful accusation of any dissenters of being communists

Harry Truman

33rd President of the United States. Led the U.S. to victory in WWII making the ultimate decision to use atomic weapons for the first time. Shaped U.S. foreign policy regarding the Soviet Union after the war.

Nikita Khrushchev

A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also famous for denouncing Stalin and allowed criticism of Stalin within Russia.

Marshall Plan

A United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe (1948-1952)

Montgomery GI Bill

A bill passed in 1944 that provided federal grants for education to returning World War II veterans. Also known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, the bill also awarded federal loans to vets to purchase new homes, farms, and businesses. Millions of veterans took advantage of these grants and loans to go back to school and purchase new suburban homes, making the act one of the most significant pieces of postwar legislation.

Space Race

A competition of space exploration between the United States and Soviet Union.

House Un-American Activities Committee

A congressional committee created to search out disloyal Americans & Communists.

Glasnost

A policy of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev which called for more openness with the nations of West, and a relaxing of restraints on Soviet citizenry.

Detente

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

Flexible Response

A policy, developed during the Kennedy administration, that involved preparing for a variety of military responses to international crises rather than focusing on the use of nuclear weapons.

Iron Curtain

A political barrier that isolated the peoples of Eastern Europe after WWII, restricting their ability to travel outside the region

Vietnam War

A prolonged war (1954-1975) between the communist armies of North Vietnam who were supported by the Chinese and the non-communist armies of South Vietnam who were supported by the United States.

Domino Theory

A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.

Dien Bien Phu

A town of northwest Vietnam near the Laos border. The French military base here fell to Vietminh troops on May 7, 1954, after a 56-day siege, leading to the end of France's involvement in Indochina.

George Kennan

American diplomat who stressed the need to contain communism within its current borders

Warsaw Pact

An alliance between the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations. This was in response to the NATO

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

Hanoi

Capital of North Vietnam

Saigon

Capital of South Vietnam where the US carried a last-minute evacuation before the city fell to the Communists in April 1975

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.

Fidel Castro

Cuban socialist leader who overthrew a dictator in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba (born in 1927)

Containment Policy

Established by the Truman administration in 1947 to contain Soviet influence to what it was at the end of World War II.

Red Hunts

It was anti-communist hysteria that cast a cloud of suspicion over government, academia, even Hollywood.

Suez Crisis

July 26, 1956, Nasser (leader of Egypt) nationalized the Suez Canal, Oct. 29, British, French and Israeli forces attacked Egypt. UN forced British to withdraw; made it clear Britain was no longer a world power

NATO

North Atlantic Treaty Organization; an alliance made to defend one another if they were attacked by any other country; US, England, France, Canada, Western European countries

National Security Act

Passed in 1947 in response to perceived threats from the Soviet Union after WWII. It established the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Council.

Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2

Russia launches the first two Earth-orbiting satellites. What are their names?

Ngo Dinh Diem

South Vietnamese president that was catholic and strongly opposed communism. His poor leadership and corrupt government spelled doom

Cuban Missle Crisis (1962)

Standoff between John F. Kennedy and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev in October 1962 over Soviet plans to install nuclear weapons in Cuba. Although the crisis was ultimately settled in America's favor and represented a foreign-policy triumph for Kennedy, it brought the world superpowers perilously close to the brink of nuclear confrontation.

Massive Retaliation

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

17th Parallel

The DMZ-Demilitarized zone separating North and South Vietnam after the French ended war. War continued when US encouraged South Vietnam not to hold elections due to fear of communist win

DEFCON

The US 'defense readiness condition', ranging from DEFCON 5 (peace) to DEFCON 1 (imminent war).

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.

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.

Perestrioka

The restructuring of the failing Soviet economy, which allowed for limited free enterprise under leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnamese communist statesman who fought the Japanese in World War II and the French until 1954 and South Vietnam until 1975 (1890-1969)

Berlin Airlift

airlift in 1948 that supplied food and fuel to citizens of west Berlin when the Russians closed off land access to Berlin

Bay of Pigs Invasion

failed invasion of Cuba in 1961 when a force of 1,200 Cuban exiles, backed by the United States, landed at the Bay of Pigs.

John F. Kennedy

president during part of the cold war and especially during the superpower rivalry and the cuban missile crisis. he was the president who went on tv and told the public about the crisis and allowed the leader of the soviet union to withdraw their missiles. other events, which were during his terms was the building of the Berlin wall, the space race, and early events of the Vietnamese war.

Domino Theory

the political theory that if one nation comes under Communist control then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control