Cold War

NSC-68

A document that pushed for a large build up of the U.S military. It allowed the U.S to quickly build up its military for the Korean conflict. Increase in nuclear powers.

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.

Operation Ajax

A joint CIA-British operation to overthrow the elected Iranian government of Mohammad Moseddegh and return the Shah Reza Pahlavi to power, because Moseddegh had nationalized the BP controlled oil fields.

Consequences of Korean War

Accelerated implementation of NSC-68 Changes in Defense Spending US continued aiding France against independence revolt in Indochina (Vietnam) US increased anticommunist commitment Expanded executive branch

National Security Counsel

An office created in 1947 to coordinate the presidents foreign and military policy advisors. Its formal members are the president, vice president, secretary of state, and secretary of defence.

United Nations

An organization of independent states formed in 1945 to promote international peace and security; it replaced the League of Nations.

People's Republic of China

Communist government of mainland China; proclaimed in 1949 following military success of Mao Zedong over forces of Chiang Kai-shek and the Guomindang.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam; he and his allies fought French and American forces to a standstill in Vietnam, 1946-1973. Considered a nationalist by many, others viewed him as an agent of the Soviet Union and China.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

Communists who received international attention when they were executed having been found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage in relation to passing information on the American atomic bomb to the Soviet Union

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.

Adlai Stevenson

Democratic nominee in the elections of 1952 and 1956. Both times he was defeated by the republican candidate (Eisenhower). During the campaigns, Stevenson criticised McCarthy and other republicans calling them "Fear mongers".

Allen Dulles

Director of the CIA, promised Eisenhower the U-2's Pilots were guaranteed to be dead if shot down.

Geneva Summit Conference

Eisenhower attempted to make peace with the new Soviet Union dictator Nikita Khrushchev but peace negotiations were rejected

Eisenhower Doctrine

Eisenhower proposed and obtained a joint resolution from Congress authorizing the use of U.S. military forces to intervene in any country that appeared likely to fall to communism. Used in the Middle East.

John Foster Dulles

Eisenhower's secretary of state, 1953-1959; moralistic in his belief that Communism was evil and must be confronted with "brinkmanship" (the readiness and willingness to go to war) and "massive retaliation" (the threat of using nuclear weapons).

CIA

Engaged in various covert activities during the Cold War, ranging from spying to assassination attempts

Yalta Conference

February 1945, Allies agree to meet to discuss how to replace League of Nations (becomes United Nations); US and USSR disagree about future of formerly-Nazi-controlled territory (USSR wants it to be Communist, US wants it to be democratic), which starts the Cold War

NASA

Formed to create satellites and missiles to compete with the USSR after Sputnik.

Israel 1948

From the UN General Assembly on April 28, 1947, the Palestine partition of Arab and Jewish states. On May 14, 1948 Israel proclaimed independence and US recognized the new state but the Arabs rejected the proclamation and declared war against Israel. Admitted in U.N in 1949. US wanted access to oil.

George Kennan

He was an American diplomat and ambassador best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War.

HUAC

House Un-American Activities Committee- accused people of being communists and "blacklisted" them. Hollywood 10

Dien Bien Phu

In 1954, Vietminh rebels besieged a French garrison at Dien Bien Phu, deep in the interior of northern Vietnam. In May, after the United States refused to intervene, Dien Bien Phu fell to the communists.

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

38th Parallel

Latitudinal line that divided North and South Korea at approximately the midpoint of the peninsula

MacArthur in the Korean War

Mao Zedong warned that he would not "stand idly by". Thirty-three Chinese divisions invaded South Korea. Mac Arthur again reached 38th parallel after months of fighting Chinese. Mac Arthur requested use of atomic bomb and blockade of China. Truman then removed Mac Arthur from command

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 Defense Education Act

Passed in response to Sputnik, it provided an oppurtunity and stimulus for college education for many Americans. It allocated funds for upgrading funds in the sciences, foreign language, guidance services, and teaching innovation.

Truman Doctrine

President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology.

John Birch Society

Right-wing group named for an American missionary to China who had been executed by Communist troops. They opposed the liberal tendencies of the Great Society programs, and attempted to impeach Earl Warren for his liberal, "Communist" actions in the Supreme Court.

Ngo Dinh Diem

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

Paul Nitze

State Department official who directed the drafting of NSC 68

Potsdam Conference

The July-August 1945 meeting of Truman, Stalin, and Clement Atlee of Great Britain, at which disagreements arose over the permanent borders of Germany and free elections in East European countries. Stalin refused to hold free elections, in fear of anti-Soviet governments.

Berlin Blockade

The blockade was a Soviet attempt to starve out the allies in Berlin in order to gain supremacy. The blockade was a high point in the Cold War, and it led to the Berlin Airlift.

Cold War

The ideological struggle between communism (Soviet Union) and capitalism (United States) for world influence. The Soviet Union and the United States came to the brink of actual war during the Cuban missile crisis but never attacked one another.

Long Telegram

The message written by George Kennan in 1946 to Truman advising him to contain Communist expansion. Told Truman that if the Soviets couldn't expand, their Communism would eventually fall apart, and that Communism could be beaten without going to war.

Suez Canal

The nationalism of the suez canal by Gamel Nasser led to further isolation of Britain and France. Britain, France and Israel in turn invaded the Sinai peninsula.

Domino Theory

The political theory that if one nation comes under communist control then neighboring nations will also come under communist control.

Sputnik

The world's first space satellite. This meant the Soviet Union had a missile powerful enough to reach the US.

Smith Act 1940

This act made it illegal to advocate or teach the overthrow of the government by force or to belong to an organization with this objective.

Mao Zedong

This man became the leader of the Chinese Communist Party and remained its leader until his death. He declared the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and supported the Chinese peasantry throughout his life.

Federal Employee Loyalty Program

Truman instituted program to evaluate the loyalty of government employees, investigated federal employees and the FBI checked suspects and they testified in front of a board

1 - Summary

Truman: The "Gutty" Man from Missouri The first president without a college education in many years, President Harry S Truman was known as "average man's average man." He had down-home authenticity, few pretensions, rock-solid probity, and the political ability called "moxie" - the ability to face difficulty with courage. Yalta: Bargain or Betrayal? February 1945, the Big Three (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) met in Yalta to discuss the war's end. Final plans were laid for smashing the German lines and shackling the beaten Axis enemy. Stalin agreed that Poland, with revised boundaries, should have a representative government based on free elections-a pledge he soon broke. Bulgaria and Romania were likewise to have free elections-a pledge also broken. The Big Three also announced plans for fashioning a new international peacekeeping organization-the United Nations. The most controversial decision concerned the Far East. With the atomic bomb not yet tested, Washington analysts expected high American casualties in the assault on Japan. Roosevelt felt that Stalin should enter the Asian war, pin down Japanese troops in Manchuria and Korea, and lighten American losses. But with Soviet casualties already extremely high, Stalin needed incentive to join in the Far East. Stalin agreed to attack Japan within 3 months after the collapse of Germany. In return, the Soviets were promised the southern half of Sakhalin Island, lost by Russia to Japan in 1905, and Japan's Kurile Islands. The Soviet Union was also granted control over the railroads of China's Manchuria and special privileges in the two key seaports of that area, Dairen and Port Arthur. These concessions gave Stalin control over vital industrial centers of America's weakening Chinese ally. The United States and the Soviet Union The United States terminated vital lend lease aid to a battered USSR in 1945 and ignored Moscow's plea for a $6 billion reconstruction loan-while approving a similar loan of $3.75 billion to Britain in 1946. Different visions of the postwar world separated the two superpowers. Stalin aimed above all to guarantee the security of the Soviet Union. He made it clear from the outset of the war that he was determined to have friendly governments along the Soviet western border. By maintaining a Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern and Central Europe, the USSR could protect itself and consolidate its revolutionary base as the world's leading communist country. These spheres of influence contradicted President FDR's Wilsonian dream of an "open world," decolonized, demilitarized, and democratized. Unaccustomed to their great-power roles, the Soviet Union and the United States provoked each other into a tense, 40-year standoff known as the Cold War. Shaping the Postwar World In 1944, the Western Allies met at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire and established the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to encourage world trade by regulating currency exchange rates. They also founded the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) to promote economic growth in war-ravaged and underdeveloped areas. Unlike after WWI, the United States took the lead in creating the important international bodies and supplied most of their funding after WWII. The Soviets declined to participate. The United Nations Conference opened on April 25, 1945. Meeting at the San Francisco War Memorial Opera House, representatives from 50 nations made the United Nations charter. It included the Security Council, dominated by the Big Five powers (the United States, Britain, the USSR, France, and China), each of whom had the right of veto, and the Assembly, which could be controlled by smaller countries. The Senate overwhelmingly passed the document on July 28, 1945. Through such arms as the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization), and WHO (World Health Organization), the U.N. brought benefits to people around the world. In 1946, Bernard Baruch called for a U.N. agency, free from the great-power veto, with worldwide authority over atomic energy, weapons, and research. The plan quickly fell apart as neither the United States nor the Soviet Union wanted to give up their nuclear weapons. The Problem of Germany At Nuremberg, Germany from 1945-1946, Nazi leaders were tried and punished for war crimes. Punishments included hangings and long jail times. Beyond the Nuremberg Trials, the Allies could agree little about postwar Germany. At first, Americans wanted to dismantle German factories and reduce the country to nothing. The Soviets, denied of American economic assistance, were determined to rebuild their nation through reparations from Germany. Eventually, Americans realized that a flourishing German economy was indispensable to the recovery of Europe. The Soviets refused to realize this. At the end of the war, Austria and Germany had been divided into 4 military occupation zones, each assigned to one of the Big Four powers (France, Britain, America, and the USSR). As the USSR spread communism to its Eastern zone in Germany and the Western Allies promoted the idea of a reunited Germany, Germany became divided. West Germany eventually became an independent country, and East Germany became bound the Soviet Union as an independent "satellite" state, shutoff from the Western world by the "iron curtain" of the Soviet Union. Berlin, still occupied by the Four Big powers, was completely surrounded by the Soviet Occupation Zone. In 1948, following controversies over German currency reform and four-power control, the Soviet Union attempted to starve the Allies out of Berlin by cutting off all rail and highway access to the city. In May 1949, after America had flown in many supplies, the blockade was lifted. In 1949, the governments of East and West Germany were established. Crystallizing the War In 1946, Stalin, seeking oil concessions, broke an agreement to remove his troops from Iran's northernmost province. He used the troops to aid a rebel movement. When Truman protested, Stalin backed down. In 1947, George F. Kennan formulated the "containment doctrine." This concept stated that Russia, whether tsarist or communist, was relentlessly expansionary. Kennan argued that the Soviet Union was also cautious, and the flow of Soviet power could be stemmed by firm and vigilant containment. President Truman embraced the policy in 1947 when he stated that Britain could no longer bear the financial and military burden of defending Greece against communist pressures. If Greece fell, Turkey and the rest of the eastern Mediterranean would collapse to the Soviet Union. On March 12, 1947, President Truman came before Congress and requested support for the Truman Doctrine. He declared that it must be the policy of the United States to aid any country that was resisting communist aggression. In 1947, France, Italy, and Germany were all suffering from the hunger and economic chaos caused in that year. Secretary of State George C. Marshall invited the Europeans to get together and work out a joint plan for their economic recovery. If they did so, then the United States would provide substantial financial assistance. Marshall offered the same aid to the Soviet Union and its allies, but the Soviets refused it. Although quite expensive, legislators passed the plan after realizing that the United States had to get Europe back on its feet. Within a few years, Europe's economy was flourishing. The Marshall Plan led to the eventual creation of the European Community (EC). Access to Middle Eastern oil was crucial to the European recovery program and to the health of the U.S. economy. Despite threats from the Arab nations to cut off the supply of oil, President Truman officially recognized the state of Israel on May 14, 1948. America Begins to Rearm The Cold War, the struggle to contain Soviet communism, was not a war, yet it was not a peace. In 1947, Congress passed the National Security Act, creating the Department of Defense. The department was headed by a new cabinet officer, the secretary of defense. Under the secretary were the civilian secretaries of the navy, the army, and the air force. The uniformed heads of each service were brought together as the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The National Security Act also established the National Security Council (NSC) to advise the president on security matters and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to coordinate the government's foreign fact-gathering. In 1948, the United States joined the European pact, called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). American participation strengthened the policy of containing the Soviet Union and provided a framework for the reintegration of Germany into the European family. The pact pledged each signed nation to regard an attack on one as an attack on all. The Senate passed the treaty on July 21, 1949. The NATO pact marked a dramatic departure from American diplomatic convention, a gigantic boost for European unification, and a significant step in the militarization of the Cold War. Reconstruction and Revolution in Asia General Douglas MacArthur took control of the democratization of Japan. The Japanese people cooperated to an astonishing degree; they saw that good behavior and the adoption of democracy would speed the end of the occupation. In 1946, a MacArthur-dictated constitution was adopted. It renounced militarism and introduced western-style democratic government. From 1946-1948, top Japanese "war criminals" were tried in Tokyo. Although there was much success in Japan, China was another story. In late 1949, the Chinese Nationalist government of Generalissimo Jiang Jieshi was forced to flee the country to the island of Formosa (Taiwan) when the communists, led by Mao Zedong, swept over the country. The collapse of Nationalist China was a depressing loss for America and its allies in the Cold War as ¼ of the world's population fell to communism. In September 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb, 3 years before experts thought possible. To stay one step ahead, Truman ordered the development of the H-bomb (Hydrogen Bomb). The first H-bomb was exploded in 1952. The Soviets exploded their first H-bomb in 1953, and the nuclear arms race entered a dangerously competitive cycle. Feeling Out Alleged Communists In 1947, President Truman launched the Loyalty Review Board to investigate the possibility of communist spies in the government. In 1949, 11 communists were sent to prison for violating the Smith Act of 1940 (first antisedition law since 1798) in advocating the overthrow of the American government. The ruling was upheld in Dennis v. United States (1951). In 1938, the House of Representatives established the Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) to investigate "subversion." In 1948, Congressman Richard M. Nixon led the hunt for and eventual conviction of Alger Hiss, a prominent ex-New Dealer and a distinguished member of the "eastern establishment." Americans began to join in on the hunt for communist spies of who were thought to riddle America. In 1950, Truman vetoed the McCarran Internal Security Bill, which authorized the president to arrest and detain suspicious people during an "internal security emergency." Congress overrode Truman's veto and passed the bill. In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted and sentenced to death for stealing American atomic bomb plans and selling them to the Soviet Union. They were the only people in history to be sentenced to death for espionage. Democratic Divisions in 1948 In 1948, the Republicans chose Thomas E. Dewey to run for president. After war hero Dwight D. Eisenhower chose not to run for the presidency, the Democrats chose Truman. Truman's nomination split the Democratic Party. Southern Democrats met and nominated Governor J. Strom Thurmond. The new Progressive party nominated Henry A. Wallace. Expected to lose, but not ready to give up, Truman traveled the country, giving energetic speeches. On Election Day, Truman, although not winning the popular vote, beat Dewey and was reelected as president. Truman's victory came from the votes of farmers, workers, and blacks. President Truman called for a "bold new program" ("Point Four"). The plan was to lend U.S. money and technical aid to underdeveloped lands to help them help themselves. He wanted to spend millions to keep underprivileged people from becoming communists. At home, Truman outlined a "Fair Deal" program in 1949. It called for improved housing, full employment, a higher minimum wage, better farm price supports, new TVAs, and an extension of Social Security. The only major successes came in raising the minimum wage, providing for public housing in the Housing Act of 1949, and extending old-age insurance to many more beneficiaries in the Social Security Act of 1950. The Korean Volcano Erupts (1950) When Japan collapsed in 1945, Korea had been divided up into two sections: the Soviets controlled the north above the 38th parallel and the United States controlled south of that line. On June 25, 1950, the North Korean army invaded South Korea. President Truman's National Security Council had recommended NSC-68, calling for the quadrupling of the United States' defense spending. Truman ordered a massive military buildup, well beyond what was necessary for the Korean War. NSC-68 was a key document of the Cold War because it not only marked a major step in the militarization of American foreign policy, but it reflected the sense of almost limitless possibility that encompassed postwar American society. On June 25, 1950, President Truman obtained from the United Nations Security Council a unanimous condemnation of North Korea as an aggressor. (The Soviet Union was not present at the meeting.) Without Congress's approval, Truman ordered American air and naval units to be sent to support South Korea. The Military Seesaw in Korea On September 15, 1950, General MacArthur succeeded in pushing the North Koreans past the 38th parallel. On November 1950, though, hordes of communist Chinese "volunteers" attacked the U.N. forces, pushing them back to the 38th parallel. Due to General MacArthur's insubordination and disagreement with the Joint Chiefs of Staff about increasing the size of the war, President Truman was forced to remove MacArthur from command on April 11, 1951. In July 1951, truce discussions dragged out over the issue of prisoner exchange. The Advent of Eisenhower Lacking public support for Truman, Democrats nominated Adlai E. Stevenson to run for the presidency in the election of 1952. Republicans chose General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Richard M. Nixon was chosen for vice-president to satisfy the anticommunist wing of the Republican Party. During the presidential campaign, reports of Nixon secretly tapping government funds arose. After Eisenhower considered dropping Nixon from the ballot, Nixon went on television and stated his apologies in the "Checkers speech"-this saved his place on the ballot. The new technology of black-and-white television changed political campaigning. Television often over-simplified the complicated issues of the time. Dwight Eisenhower won the election of 1952 by a large majority. "Ike" Takes Command True to his campaign promise, President Eisenhower attempted to end the Korean War. In July 1953, after Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons, an armistice was signed, ending the Korean War. Despite the Korean War, Korea remained divided at the 38th Parallel. Eisenhower's leadership style of sincerity, fairness, and optimism helped to comfort the nation after the war. The Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy In February 1950, Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy made a speech accusing Secretary of State Dean Acheson of knowingly employing 205 Communist party members. Even though the accusations later proved to be false, McCarthy gained the support of the public. With the Republican victory in the election of 1952, his rhetoric became bolder as his accusations of communism grew. Though McCarthy was not the first red-hunter, he was the most ruthless, doing the most damage to American traditions of fair play and free speech. In 1954, McCarthy went too far and attacked the U.S. Army. Just a few months later, he was condemned by the Senate for "conduct unbecoming a member." Desegregating the South All aspects of life of African Americans in the South were governed by the Jim Crow laws. Blacks dealt with an array of separate social arrangements that kept them insulated from whites, economically inferior, and politically powerless. Gunnar Myrdal exposed the contradiction between America's professed belief that all men are created equal and its terrible treatment of black citizens in his book An American Dilemma (1944). World War II had generated a new militancy and restlessness among many members of the black community. In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled the "white primary" unconstitutional, undermining the status of the Democratic Party in the South as a white person's club. In the Supreme Court case of Sweatt v. Painter (1950), the Court ruled that separate professional schools for blacks failed to meet the test of equality. In December 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her arrest sparked a yearlong black boycott of the city busses and served notice throughout the South that blacks would no longer submit meekly to the absurdities and indignities of segregation. Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution Hearing of the lynching of black war veterans in 1946, President Harry S Truman commissioned a report titled "To Secure These Rights." Truman ended segregation in federal civil service and order "equality of treatment and opportunity" in the armed forces in 1948. When Congress and new President Eisenhower ignored the racial issues, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren stepped up to confront important social issues-especially civil rights for African Americans. In the case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unequal and thus unconstitutional. The decision reversed the previous ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). States in the Deep South resisted the ruling, and more than 100 senators and congressman signed the "Declaration of Constitutional Principles" in 1956, pledging their unyielding resistance to desegregation. Crisis at Little Rock President Eisenhower was little inclined toward promoting integration. He shied away from upsetting "the customs and convictions of at least two generations of Americans." In September 1957, Orval Faubus, the governor of Arkansas mobilized the National Guard to prevent nine black students from enrolling in Little Rock's Central High School. Confronted with a direct challenge to federal authority, Eisenhower sent troops to escort the children to their classes. In 1957, Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act since Reconstruction Days. It set up a permanent Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of civil rights and authorized federal injunctions to protect voting rights. Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957. It aimed to mobilize the vast power of the black churches on behalf of black rights. On February 1, 1960, 4 black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina demanded service at a whites-only lunch counter. Within a week, the sit-in reached 1,000 students, spreading a wave of wade-ins, lie-ins, and pray-ins across the South demanding equal rights. In April 1960, southern black students formed the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to give more focus and force to their efforts. Eisenhower Republicanism at Home When dealing with people, President Eisenhower was liberal, but when dealing with the economy and the government, he was conservative. He strived to balance the federal budget and to guard America from socialism. True to his small government philosophy, Eisenhower supported the transfer of control over offshore oil fields from the federal government to the states. In 1954, giving in to the Mexican government's worries that illegal Mexican immigration to the United States would undercut the bracero program of legally imported farmworkers, President Eisenhower rounded up a million illegal immigrants in Operation Wetback. Eisenh

George Marshall

United States secretary of state who formulated a program providing economic aid to European countries after World War II. The Marshall Plan provided massive American economic assistance to help Europe recover from the war.

Chang Kai-Shek

When Mao Zedong won the Chinese civil war in 1949, this leader of nationalist Chinese republicans withdrew to the island of Taiwan.

Yalu River

Where MaCarthur drives communists back to the river that borders China, China wants them to pull back to 38th parallel

Joseph McCarthy

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

Atomic Energy Commission

a former executive agency (from 1946 to 1974) that was responsible for research into atomic energy and its peacetime uses in the United States

Strategic Air Command

a part of the US Air Force formed in the late 1940s, to engage in long-range bombing missions and to prepare for nuclear strikes, bases around the world

Iron Curtain

a political barrier that isolated the peoples of communist and capitalist after WWII

Nikita Kruschev

emerged as a leader in the Soviet Union after the death of dictator Josef Stalin. In 1956, he advocated reform and indirectly criticized Stalin and his methods.

Kitchen Debates

o The Kitchen Debate was a series of impromptu exchanges (through interpreters) between then U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev at the opening of the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow on July 24, 1959 o For the exhibition, an entire house was built that the American exhibitors claimed anyone in America could afford. It was filled with labor-saving and recreational devices meant to represent the fruits of the capitalist American consumer market o Both men argued for their country's industrial accomplishments, with Khrushchev stressing the Soviets' focus on "things that matter" rather than luxury o American's broadcast it first, Soviets 3 days later

U-2 Plane

the US had been sending planes to spy on russia one was shot down and the pilot was captured, later released in exchange for a russian spy release

Bikini Atoll

the isolated reef, located in the Marshall Islands of the central Pacific, that was the site of U.S. nuclear bomb tests, consequently contaminating the atoll with high levels of radiation and driving its inhabitants away

Warsaw Pact

treaty signed in 1945 that formed an alliance of the Eastern European countries behind the Iron Curtain; USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.

Gary Powers

was the U-2 Spy Plane pilot that was captured by the Soviet Union