US History Vocabulary 15.1-15.3

Douglas MacArthur

-(1880-1964) commanded American troops in World War I, where he developed a reputation for bravery. As supreme commander of Allied forces in the Pacific (1942-1945) he accepted Japan's surrender to end World War II. In 1950, he became commander of UN forces in the Korean War. He retired after his controversial removal from command in 1951, following a dispute with President Harry Truman. -Truman announced that the United States would aid South Korea in the Korean War, after North Korea invaded South Korea, and the UN Security Council unanimously voted to follow. By September 1950, the UN forces were ready to counterattack. General Douglas MacArthur, the World War II hero, had a bold plan to drive the invaders from South Korea. He suspected that the rapid advance of North Korean troops had left North Korea with limited supply lines. He decided to strike at this weakness by launching a surprise attack on the port city of Inchon, well behind enemy lines. Because Inchon was such a poor landing site, with swift currents and treacherous tides, MacArthur knew that the enemy would not expect an attack there. MacArthur's bold gamble paid off, On the morning of September 15, 1950, U.S. Marines landed at Inchon and launched an attack on the rear guard of the North Koreans. Communist forces in South Korea began fleeing back to North Korea. By October 1950, the North Koreans had been driven north of the 38th parallel. With the retreat of North Korean forces, U.S. officials had to decide what to do next. Truman was concerned about the actions China would take if the United States carried the war into North Korea. Chinese leaders publicly warned the Americans not to advance near its borders. But MacArthur did not take this warning seriously. He assured Truman that China would not intervene in the war. Based on this advice, the United States pushed a resolution through the UN, calling for a "unified, independent, and democratic" Korea. Highly confident, MacArthur attacked north of the 38th parallel, Despite mountainous terrain and freezing temperatures, by Thanksgiving the Allie advance had reached the Chinese border at the Yalu River. Then, on November 25, 1950, some 300,000 Chinese soldiers attacked South Korean and U.S. positions. Badly outnumbered, the UN troops were forced back,

Jiang Jieshi

-(1887-1975), also known as Chiang Kai-shek, was a Chinese Nationalist leader who opposed Mao Zedong's communist forces during the Chinese civil war. After the fall of mainland China, Jiang became the leader of a Nationalist government on the island of Taiwan -Before Japan invaded China in 1937, Nationalist leader Jiang Jieshi, known in the United States as Chiang Kai-shek, had been fighting a civil war against communists led by Mao Zedong. Although Jiang and Mao temporarily joined forces in an uneasy alliance to fight Japan, the civil war resumed with a new fury after the war ended. The Soviet supported Mao, while the United States sent several billion dollars in aid to Jiang. American leaders feared that Jiang's defeat would create a communist superpower spanning most of Asia. Jiang's regime proved unequal to the task. Nationalist generals were reluctant to fight. And, while masses of Chinese people faced starvation, corrupt officials diverted U.S. aid dollars into their own pockets. By promising to feed the people, Mao won increased support, In 1948, Mao's forces dominated the war. Jing appealed for American military intervention. However, the U.S. government had no intention of sending American troops to support the corrupt Jiang. In 1949, Jiang fled to Chinese mainland, taking control of the large offshore island of Taiwan. Mao's communists then took control of the world's most populous country, renaming it the People's Republic of China.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

-U.S. intelligence-gathering organization -The Eisenhower administration also used the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in its struggle against communism. Congress had created the CI in 1947 as an intelligence-gathering organization. Eisenhower gave it a new task. He approved covert, or secret, CIA operations to protect American interests. In 1953, the CIA aided a coup that installed a new government in Iran. In 1954, it accomplished a similar mission in Guatemala. While both operations helped to place anticommunist leaders in power, they also created long-term resentment against the United States.

Warsaw Pact

-military alliance of the Soviet Union and its satellite states -In response to NATO, the Soviet Union and its satellite states formed a rival military alliance, called the Warsaw Pact. All the communist states of Eastern Europe except Yugoslavia were members. Like members of NATO, nations of the Warsaw Pact pledged to defend one another if attacked. Although members agreed on paper not to interfere in one another's internal affairs, the Soviet Union continued to exert firm control over its Warsaw Pact allies.

Eisenhower Doctrine

-policy of President Eisenhower that stated that the United States would use force to help any nation threatened by communism -Eisenhower's response to the attempted seizure of the Suez Canal did not mean that he was unconcerned with communist influence in the Middle East. In response to Soviet influence there and elsewhere, the President made a statement in January 1957 that became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine. Eisenhower announced that the United States would use force to help any Middle Eastern nation threatened by communism. Eisenhower used his doctrine in 1958 to justify sending troops to Lebanon to put down a revolt against its pro-American government.

containment

-policy of keeping communism contained within its existing borders -George F. Kennan developed the blueprint for this policy of keeping communism contained within its existing borders.

massive retaliation

-policy of threatening to use massive force in response to aggression -In 1954 Dulles announced the policy of massive retaliation. The United States would respond to communist threats to its allies by threatening to use crushing, overwhelming force, perhaps even nuclear weapons.

Berlin airlift

-program in which U.S. and British pilots flew supplies to West Berlin during a Soviet blockade -West Berlin was, as one of Soviet leader later described it, " a bone in the throat" of the Soviet Union. Its relative prosperity and freedom stood in contrast to the bleak life of East Berliners. Stalin was determined to capture West Berlin or win other concessions from the Western allies. In June 1948, he stopped all highway, railway, and waterway traffic from western Germany into West Berlin. Without any means of receiving aid, West Berlin would fall to the communists. Stalin was able to close roads, stop barges, and block railways, but he could not blockade the sky. As s result, the United States and Britain supplied West Berlin through a massive airlift that lasted nearly one year. Food, fuel, medical supplies, clothing, toys--everything the residents of West Berlin needed was flown into the city. Even through rain and snow, goods arrived regularly. The Berlin airlift demonstrated to West Berlin, the Soviet Union, and the world how far the United States would go to protect noncommunist parts of Europe and contain communism.

iron curtain

-term coined by Winston Churchill to describe the border between the Soviet satellite states and Western Europe -President Truman was not the only word leader who believed that Stalin had aspirations toward world domination. Winston Churchill also spoke out forcefully against the Soviet Union. On March 5, 1956, he gave an important speech at Fulton College in Missouri, Truman's home state. Referring to a map of Europe, Churchill noted that "an iron curtain has descended across the Continent." East of that iron curtain, the Soviet Union was gaining more control by installing communist governments and police states and by creating political and religious dissent.

nationalize

-to place a private resource under government control -The United States found itself involved in another Cold War conflict, this time in the Middle East. As Cold War tensions intensified, Egypt's president Gamal Abdel Nasser tried to use the U.S.-Soviet rivalry to his advantage. Nasser wanted to construct a dam on the Nile River at Aswan. The United States and Britain initially offered to fund the project, but when Nasser recognized the communist People's Republic of China and opened talks with the Soviet Union, the Eisenhower administration withdrew its offer. In response, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, placing it under government control. Israel viewed Egypt's nationalization of the canal s a violation of international law and wanted to preserve freedom for Israeli shipping.

limited war

-war fought to achieve only specific goals -With China now in the Korean War, the United States confronted a major land war in Asia. It was possible that this war could not be won without huge commitments of troops and even atomic weapons. Truman steadfastly ruled out both of these options. MacArthur, who favored an invasion of China, was enraged. He distrusted Truman's policy of a limited war fought to achieve only specific goals. As a soldier, MacArthur favored total victory.

Cold War

-worldwide rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union -Truman left Potsdam believing that the Soviet Union was "planning world conquest" and that the alliance with the Soviet Union was falling apart. With the Soviet Red Army at his command, Stalin seemed to present a real threat. Thus, the stage was set for a worldwide rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. The 46-year struggle became known as the Cold War because the two superpowers never faced each other directly in a "hot" military conflict.

mutually assured destruction

policy in which the United States and the Soviet Union hoped to deter nuclear war by building up enough weapons to steer one another -During the next four decades, the United States and the Soviet Union developed and stockpiled increasingly powerful nuclear weapons. They armed planes, submarines, and missiles with nuclear warheads powerful enough to destroy each country many times over. Both sides hoped that this program of mutually assured destruction would prevent either country from actually using a nuclear device against the other. Still, the threat of nuclear destruction seemed to hang over the world like a dark cloud.

John Foster Dulles

-(1888-1859) was a diplomat and political thinker. A strong anti-communist, he helped organize the United Nations after World War II and later served as Secretary of State under President Dwight Eisenhower. In this role, he helped formulate the Cold War policies of brinkmanship and "massive retaliation." -Eisenhower accepted much of Truman's foreign policy. He believed strongly in a policy to actively contain communist aggression. Eisenhower's secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, was an experienced diplomat who had helped organize the United Nations after World War II. Dulles endorsed the President's vision of the role the United States should play in the world and had stood firmly behind U.S. efforts to contain communism through involvement in Korea. Containment, Dulles believed, could prevent the possibility of a "domino effect" throughout Southeast Asia with one country after another falling under communist rule. In their approach toward foreign policy, Eisenhower and Dulles differed significantly from both Truman and his Secretary of State, Dean Acheson. Both teams of men considered the spread of communism the greatest threat to the free world. But Eisenhower believed that Truman's approach to foreign policy had dragged the United States into an endless series of conflicts begun by the Soviet Union. These limited, regional conflicts threatened to drain the country's resources. Dulles announced and believed in the policy of massive retaliation and the approach that became known as brinkmanship. Dulles also talked about "rolling back" communism and liberating the countries under Soviet rule.

Mao Zedong

-(1893-1976) was a Chinese leader who successfully led a communist revolution in mainland China. He was chairman of the communist People's Republic of China from 1949 to 1959, and chairman of the country's Communist Party until 1976. -Before Japan invaded China in 1937, Nationalist leader Jiang Jieshi, known in the United States as Chiang Kai-shek, had been fighting a civil war against communists led by Mao Zedong. Although Jiang and Mao temporarily joined forces in an uneasy alliance to fight Japan, the civil war resumed with a new fury after the war ended. The Soviet Union supported Mao, while the United States sent several billion dollars in aid to Jiang. American leaders feared that Jiang's defeat would create a communist superpower spanning most of Asia. By promising to feed the people, Mao won increased support, In 1948, Mao's forces dominated the war. Jing appealed for American military intervention. However, the U.S. government had no intention of sending American troops to support the corrupt Jiang. In 1949, Jiang fled to Chinese mainland, taking control of the large offshore island of Taiwan. Mao's communists then took control of the world's most populous country, renaming it the People's Republic of China. Mao's victory was an immense shock to Americans. Not only was China under the control of sworn enemies of the United States, but communist regimes now controlled about one fourth of the world's landmass and one third of its population.

Nikita Khrushchev

-(1894-1971) was a Communist Party leader who served as premier of the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964. He led the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but lost power soon afterwards. -On March 5, 1953, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin died, setting off a short power struggle. Nikita Khrushchev soon emerged as the new head of the Soviet Union. Although a communist and a determined opponent of the United States, Khrushchev was not as suspicious or as cruel as Stalin. He condemned the excesses of the Stalin regime and inched toward more peaceful relations with the democratic West. In July 1955, Khrushchev met with Eisenhower at a conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Although the meeting yielded few significant results, it did seem to be a small move toward "peaceful coexistence" of the two powers. America's talk of "rolling back" communist borders and Khrushchev's talk of "peaceful nonexistence" were taken seriously by people in Soviet-dominated countries behind the iron curtain. People in Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia resented the control exerted by the Soviet Union. Many hungered for more political and economic freedom. In 1956, two uprisings shook Eastern Europe. First, workers in Poland rioted against Soviet rule and won greater control of their government. Since the Polish government did not attempt to leave the Warsaw Pact, Soviet leaders permitted the actions. Then, encouraged by Khrushchev's words and Poland's example, Hungarian students and workers organized huge demonstrations. They demanded that pro-Soviet Hungarian officials be replaced, the Soviet troops be withdrawn, and that noncommunist political parties be organized. Khrushchev responded brutally, sending Soviet soldiers and tanks to crush the Hungarian revolution. The Soviets executed many of the resolution's leaders, killed hundreds of other Hungarians, and restored hard-line communists to power.

George F. Kennan

-(1904-2005) was an American diplomat who spent several years serving in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. His observations about Soviet political attitudes and actions contributed to the formation of the U.S. policy of containment. -In the July 1947 issue of the magazine "Foreign Affairs," a writer who called himself "X" published an article titled "The Sources of Soviet Conduct." The author was really George F. Kennan, an American diplomat and a leading authority on the Soviet Union. His article presented a blueprint for the American policy that became known as containment because its goal was to keep communism contained within its existing borders. Kennan contended that while Stalin was determined to expand the Soviet empire, he would not risk the security of the Soviet Union for expansion. In Kennan's view, the Soviet Union would only expand when it could do so without serious risks. Stalin would certainly not chance war with the United States--a war that might destroy his power in the Soviet Union--just to spread communism. Kennan cautioned his readers that there would be no quick, easy solution to the Soviet threat. Containment would require a full commitment of American economic, political, and military power.

Truman Doctrine

-President Truman's promise to help nations struggling against communist movements -On March 12, 1947, President Truman addressed both houses of Congress. With emotion in his voice, Truman described the plight of the Greek and Turkish people. The fight they were waging, he said, was the fight that all free people had to confront. Truman requested money from Congress "to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation [conquest] by armed minorities or by outside pressures." If the United States retreated into isolationism, he warned, the peace of the world and the welfare of the nation would be in danger. The fall of a nation to communism, Truman argued, could lead its neighbors into communism as well. Congress responded by voting to give $400 million in aid for Greece and Turkey. President Truman's promise to aid nations struggling against communist movements became known as the Truman Doctrine, and it set a new course for American foreign policy.

Suez crisis

-attempt by France and Great Britain to seize control of the Suez Canal in 1956 -The United States found itself involved in another Cold War conflict, this time in the Middle East. As Cold War tensions intensified, Egypt's president Gamal Abdel Nasser tried to use the U.S.-Soviet rivalry to his advantage. Nasser wanted to construct a dam on the Nile River at Aswan. The United States and Britain initially offered to fund the project, but when Nasser recognized the communist People's Republic of China and opened talks with the Soviet Union, the Eisenhower administration withdrew its offer. In response, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, placing it under government control. The canal, which connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, had originally been managed by a British-French company and was protected by British armed forces. Nasser's action threatened the flow of Middle Eastern oil to Europe. Without consulting with Eisenhower, Britain and France plotted to get the canal back in Western hands. They joined forces with Israel, a young nation that had long suffered from raids along its border with Egypt. Britain and France used the Suez crisis as an excuse to seize control of the Suez Canal. Israel viewed Egypt's nationalization of the canal as a violation of international law and wanted to preserve freedom for Israeli shipping. President Eisenhower was outraged by these actions. Rather than support his Western allies, Eisenhower criticized them and refused to supply them with U.S. oil. The three nations had counted on Eisenhower's support, and when it did not come, they were forced to withdraw their troops from Egypt.

brinkmanship

-belief that only by going to the brink of war could the United States protect itself against Soviet aggression -Dulles further believed that only by going to the brink of war could the United States protect its allies, discourage communist aggression, and prevent war. "You have to take some chances for peace, just as you must take chances in war," he said in 1956. Dulles's approach became known as brinkmanship.

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)

-defensive alliance aimed at preventing communism aggression in Asia -A new alliance underscored U.S. interest in Asia. Like NATO, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was a defensive alliance aimed at preventing the spread of communism. Its members included Pakistan, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, France, Britain, and the United States.

38th parallel

-dividing line between North and South Korea -The focus of attention turned to the peninsula of Korea, separated from northeast China by the Yalu River. Once controlled by Japan, Korea had been divided into two independent countries by the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. The dividing line was set as the 38th parallel. The Soviets installed a communist government and equipped the armed forces in North Korea. The United States provided smaller amounts of aid to noncommunist South Korea.

Marshall Plan

-foreign policy that offered economic aid to Western Europe after World War II -The containment policy's first great success was in Western Europe. After World War II, people there confronted severe shortages of food, fuel, and medical supplies, as well as brutally cold winters. In this environment of desperate need, Secretary of State George C. Marshall unveiled a recovery plan for Europe. In a speech at Harvard University, he warned that without economic health, "there can be no political stability and no assured peace." In early 1948, Congress approved the Marshall Plan. Over the next four years, the United States gave about $13 billion in grants and loans to nations in Western Europe. The program provided food to reduce famine, fuel to heat houses and factories, and money to jump-start economic growth. Aid was also offered to the Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe, but Stalin refused to let them accept it. The Marshall Plan provided a vivid example of how U.S. aid could serve the ends of both economic and foreign policy. The aid helped countries that desperately needed assistance. The prosperity it stimulated then helped the American economy by increasing trade. Finally, the good relationships that the aid created world against the expansion of communism.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

-government agency that coordinates U.S. efforts in space -The Soviet Union's pace launches shocked many Americans, who had long believed that superior technology would keep the United States ahead of the Soviet Union. In a state of crisis, Congress quickly approved the National Defense Education Act, a $1 billion program intended to produce more scientists and science teachers. The act authorized money for loans to enable high school and college graduated to continue their education in science. In addition, Congress created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to coordinate the space-related efforts of American scientists and the military. The space race and arms race provided some unexpected benefits that improved Americans' quality of life, as technologies originally intended for military or space use, such as the microwave and the internet, eventually became available among the wider population.

satellite state

-independent nation under the control of a more powerful nation -At the Yalta Conference, Stalin agreed to establish "broadly representative" governments and free elections in Eastern Europe and to divide Germany only temporarily into zones of occupation. Despite Stalin's promises, nearly all of the lands occupied by the Soviet Red Army in the spring of 1945 remained under Soviet control after the war. The Eastern European countries of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, become satellite states controlled by the Soviet Union.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

-military alliance formed to counter Soviet aggression -The Berlin airlift demonstrated that Stalin could be contained if Western nations were prepared o take forceful action. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), formed in 1949, provided the military alliance to counter Soviet expansion. Twelve Western Europe and North American nations agreed to act together in the defense of Western Europe. Member nations agreed that "an armed attack against one or more of them...shall be considered an attack against all of them." This principle of mutual military assistance is called collective security. In 1955, West Germany became a member of NATO.