Cold war

douglas MacArthur

(1880-1964), U.S. general. Commander of U.S. (later Allied) forces in the southwestern Pacific during World War II, he accepted Japan's surrender in 1945 and administered the ensuing Allied occupation. He was in charge of UN forces in Korea 1950-51, before being forced to relinquish command by President Truman.

Mao Zedong

(1893-1976) Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew Jiang Jieshi and the Nationalists. Established China as the People's Republic of China and ruled from 1949 until 1976.

chinese civil war

(1927-1949): Chiang Kai-shek fights to purge nationalist party of communists, weakening China. Large coastal regions controlled by foreigners (due to internal weakness)

loyalty review board

(1947) federal board set up by President Truman that checked up on government workers, and dismissed those found to be communist.

marshall plan

..., A plan that the US came up with to revive war-torn economies of Europe. This plan offered $13 billion in aid to western and Southern Europe.

korean war

..., The conflict between Communist North Korea and Non-Communist South Korea. The United Nations (led by the United States) helped South Korea.

McCarthyism

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

taiwan

..., a government on the island of Taiwan established in 1949 by Chiang Kai-shek after the conquest of mainland China by the communists led by Mao Zedong

baby boom

30 million war babies were born between 1942 and 1950.

soviet union

A Communist nation, consisting of Russia and 14 other states, that existed from 1922 to 1991.

council of economic advisers

A board of three professional economists was established in 1946 to advise the president on economic policy.

Whittaker Chambers

A confessed Communist and a star witness for the HUAC in 1948 when he testified against Alger Hiss.

cold war

A conflict that was between the US and the Soviet Union. The nations never directly confronted each other on the battlefield but deadly threats went on for years.

henry wallace

A former Democratic who ran on the New Progressive Party due to his disagreement on Truman's policy with the Soviets. He caused the Democratic party to split even more during the election season.

Alger Hiss

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

george kennan

A member of the State Department, he felt that the best way to keep Communism out of Europe was to confront the Russians wherever they tried to spread their power.

winston churchill

A noted British statesman who led Britain throughout most of World War II and along with Roosevelt planned many allied campaigns. He predicted an iron curtain that would separate Communist Europe from the rest of the West.

sunbelt

A region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the South and Southwest that has seen substantial population growth in recent decades, partly fueled by a surge in retiring baby boomers who migrate domestically, as well as the influx of immigrants, both legal and illegal.

world bank

A specialized agency of the United Nations that makes loans to countries for economic development, trade promotion, and debt consolidation. Its formal name is the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

taft-Hartley act 1947

Also called the Labor Management Relations Act. This act was Congress' response to the abuse of power. Outlawed closed shops; prohibited unions' unfair labor practices, and forced unions to bargain in good faith.

progressive party

Also known as the "Bull Moose Party", this political party was formed by Theodore Roosevelt in an attempt to advance progressive ideas and unseat President William Howard Taft in the election of 1912.

joseph McCarthy

American Senator and anti-communist who claimed that communists worked in the U.S. government.

22nd amendment

An amendment to the Constitution stating that no president can be elected to said office more than twice, and no person who inherits the presidency due to death can be elected more than once. This amendment had little, if any, awareness published about it, as people had little concern for it and weren't very involved.

Peoples republic china

new communist gov., formedd 1949

j. storm thurmond

nominated as presidential candidate for Dixiecrat (states rights) party

nuclear arms race

the Cold War competition between superpowers to develop more powerful and greater numbers of nuclear weapons

inflation and labor unions

the US faced inflation and labor unrest at home--trade unionists demanded pay increased and employers refused

"soft on communism"

this charge was brought on democrats (by republicans) who claimed that democrats did little to oppose the Soviets and their beliefs

fair deal

An economic extension of the New Deal proposed by Harry Truman that called for higher minimum wage, housing and full employment. It led only to the Housing Act of 1949 and the Social Security Act of 1950 due to opposition in congress.

united nations

An international organization formed after WWII to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.

Smith Act 1940

Anti-sedition Law, made it illegal to advocate the overthrow of the US government by force or violence

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

west germany

British, American and French zone of Germany and was democratic.

kim II sung

Communist leader of North Korea; his attack on South Korea in 1950 started the Korean War. He remained in power until 1994.

U.N. police action

Congress supported the use of U.S. troops in the Korean crisis but failed to declare war, accepting Truman's characterization of U.S. intervention as this term.

east germany

German Democratic Republic

occupation zones

Germany split into four between the USSR, the U.S., Britain, and France; Berlin split into four as well, with the USSR controlling the Eastern half and the remaining half split between the remaining three nations

dean acheson

He was Secretary of State under Harry Truman. It is said that he was more responsible for the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine than those that the two were named for.

thomas dewey

He was the Governor of New York (1943-1955) and the unsuccessful Republican candidate for the U.S. Presidency in 1944 and 1948. As a leader of the liberal faction of the Republican party he fought the conservative faction led by Senator Robert A. Taft, and played a major role in nominating Dwight D. Eisenhower for the presidency in 1952.

hollywood blacklists

Individuals who were prevented from working in the film industry because of their suspected involvement with Communist interests.

Rosenberg case

Involved Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were American communists. They were executed for passing nuclear weapons secrets to the USSR.

berlin airlift

Joint effort by the US and Britian to fly food and supplies into W Berlin after the Soviet blocked off all ground routes into the city

syngman rhee

Korean leader who became president of South Korea after World War II and led Korea during Korean War.

nsc-68

National Securtiy Council memo #68 US "strive for victory" in cold war, pressed for offensive and a gross increase ($37 bil) in defense spending, determined US foreign policy for the next 20-30 yrs

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.

communist satellites

Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, all of these were satellites, or nations under the control of a great power; in this situation, the Soviet Union.

early marriages

Rare. Marriages were not encouraged until the groom can show that they can support a wife and family, that he was a good provider

suburban growth

Resulted as a desperate need for housing arose following the war; Levittown= project of 17000 family homes on Long Island, NY.

freedom of expression in arts

Right of people to speak, publish, and assemble

iron curtain

Term used by Churchill in 1946 to describe the growing East-West divide in postwar Europe between communist and democratic nations

house un-american Activities Commitee

The House of Representatives established the Committee on Un-American Activities, popularly known as "HUAC," in order to investigate "subversion."

racial integration of military

The first important effort to end segregation in the post war era

committee on civil rights

Truman bypassed the southern Democrats in key seats in Congress and established this committee to challenge racial discrimination in 1946.

election of 1948

Truman defeats Dewey in a stunning upset--Henry Wallace leds new Progressive party--Dewey Rublications

McCarran internal security act 1940

1950 - Required Communists to register and prohibited them from working for the government. Truman described it as a long step toward totalitarianism. Was a response to the onset of the Korean war.

servicemen's readjustment act

1944, job training, edu, unemployment compensation, low-interest loans; helped economy, GI Bill

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

38th parallel

Dividing line between North and South Korea

employment act of 1946

Enacted by Truman, it committed the federal government to ensuring economic growth and established the Council of Economic Advisors to confer with the president and formulate policies for maintaining employment, production, and purchasing power

containment policy

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

harry trueman

First president of the US during the Cold War era. Was determined to keep Soviet influence contained within existing boundries

security council

Five permanent members( US, UK, France, China, USSR) with veto power in the UN. Promised to carry out UN decisions with their own forces.

chiang kai-shek

General and leader of Nationalist China after 1925. Although he succeeded Sun Yat-sen as head of the Guomindang, he became a military dictator whose major goal was to crush the communist movement led by Mao Zedong.

levittown

In 1947, William Levitt used mass production techniques to build inexpensive homes in surburban New York to help relieve the postwar housing shortage. Levittown became a symbol of the movement to the suburbs in the years after WWII.

states-rights party

In 1948, a group of southern Democrats known as the dixiecrats bolted from their party and supported Governor Strom Thurmond of South Carolina as the presidential candidate of the States Rights party.

U.S. japanese security treaty

The treaty was signed during the Cold War era in which Japan would support the Western Allies during the time period while they would recieve future compensation.

origins of the cold war

US and USSR emerge from WWII as the two powerful nations competing to project their visions of post-WWII world. US wanted economic stability globally with new institutions like the world bank. Capitalism vs. Communism