APUSH Ch. 36 Vocab

Taft-Hartley Act

(1947) It outlawed the "closed" shop, made unions liable for damages that resulted from jurisdictional disputes among themselves, and required union leaders to take a non-communist oath

McCarran Act

Authorized by the president to arrest and detain suspicious people during an international security emergency. Truman vetoed it in 1950, but it was enacted over his veto

NSC-68

First drawn up in 1950, this document was buried until the Korean crisis later that year. This document suggested that the US could afford to spend upward of 50% of its gross national product for security

Richard Nixon

He was a committee member of the House of Representatives, Committee on Un-American Activities. He tried to catch Alger Hiss who was accused of being a communist agent in the 1930s. This brought him to the attention of the public. in 195 he was Eisenhower's Vice President

Douglas MacArthur

He was a supreme allied commander during the Cold War in 1945. After WWII, he was put in charge of putting Japan back together. In the Korean War, he commanded the US troops. He was later fired by Truman for insubordination

J. Strom Thurmond

He was nominated for president as a States' Rights Party (Dixiecrats) in the 1948 election. Split the Democrats from the party due to Truman's stand in favor of Civil Rights for African Americans. He only got 39 electoral votes

Marshall Plan

Issued in response to struggling European countries, this would allow the US to give financial assistance to certain countries

NATO

Military alliance between the US, Canada and 10 European nations signed on April 4, 1949. It was committed to building military defense of Europe against communist Russia.

National Security Act

Passed by Congress in 1947 and it created the Department of Defense. It also established the National Security Council to advise the president on security matters and a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to coordinate the government foreign fact-gathering

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

They were convicted in 1951 of giving atomic bomb data found by American scientists to the Soviet Union. They are the only Americans ever executed during peacetime for espionage

Truman Doctrine

Truman wanted to prevent the spread of communism. He wanted it "contained".

Point Four Program

Truman's plan developed after his election victory in 1948, planning to end US spending and technical aid to underdeveloped lands to help them protect themselves

Joseph McCarthy

a Republican Senator from Wisconsin who was strongly against communism. He claimed there were many communists in the State Department. He was censored by Congress and lost his seat

George F. Kennan

a brilliant young diplomat, and a Soviet specialist, who crafted the "containment doctrine"

Yalta Conference

a conference between Stalin and FDR in an attempt to get Russian support in the highly anticipated invasion of Japan. Russia, in return, received the southern part of Sakilin Island that it had lost to Japan and joint control of Manchuria's railroads. The Allies also reluctantly allowed Poland to become communist. Many Americans saw this deal as a failure

United Nations

conference that took place on April 25, 1945-- it featured a Security Council dominated by the US, Britain, USSR, France, and China who could veto, and an Assembly that could be controlled by smaller countries

38th Parallel

the line dividing Korea into two sections