Chapter 23 The United States and the Cold War, 1945-1953

Comprised of the United States, Canada, and ten western European nations, the Warsaw Pact was launched as a collective deterrent against Soviet aggression.

False

George Kennan was a Soviet spy working in the American embassy in Moscow.

False

Two outspoken critics of the domestic anticommunist crusade were:

Paul Robeson and W. E. B. Du Bois.

George Kennan was:

the originator of the containment policy.

Which of the following was not a contributing factor behind the rise of the Cold War?

Churchill's call for the construction of a great wall between East and West Germany

The United Nations committee that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was led by:

Eleanor Roosevelt.

"Dixiecrats" nominated Hubert Humphrey for president in 1948.

False

Alger Hiss, an editor at Time magazine, accused Whittaker Chambers, a high-ranking State Department official, of giving him secret government documents to pass along to the Soviet Union.

False

Although the United States was instrumental in the rebuilding of German industry, it did not significantly contribute to similar efforts in Japan.

False

Human rights and the notion of freedom were not a major focus of American leaders during the Cold War.

False

In Dennis v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that the imprisonment of Communist leaders violated the right of free expression.

False

Jackson Pollock's paintings were viewed as communistic by the CIA and defunded.

False

President Harry Truman was defeated by Thomas Dewey in the election of 1948.

False

The 1946 congressional elections marked a resounding triumph for Truman's Fair Deal program.

False

The term "iron curtain" was coined by President Harry Truman.

False

Under the Truman Doctrine, only those governments that respected the democratic rights of citizens and the sovereignty of other peoples could expect friendship and support from the United States.

False

Who was the person who sent the Long Telegram from Moscow in 1946 that lay the foundation for what became known as the policy of "containment"?

George F. Kennan

Which of the following series of events is listed in proper sequence?

George Kennan's Long Telegram; unveiling of Truman Doctrine; start of Korean War; founding of Warsaw Pact

In the context of postwar civil rights, what baseball player joined the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, challenging the longstanding exclusion of black players from Major League Baseball?

Jackie Robinson

Who was the United States senator from Wisconsin who announced in February 1950 that he had a list of 205 Communists working for the State Department, and whose name later entered the political vocabulary as shorthand for character assassination, guilt by association, and abuse of power in the name of anticommunism?

Joseph R. McCarthy

The first "hot war" of the Cold War—beginning in June 1950—took place in:

Korea

The 1950 National Security Council manifesto that called for a permanent military buildup to enable the United States to pursue a global crusade against communism, describing the Cold War as an epic struggle between "the idea of freedom" and the "idea of slavery under the grim oligarchy of the Kremlin" was:

NSC-68.

What was the name of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) campaign to bring unionization to the South, by which more than 200 labor organizations entered the region in an effort to organize workers?

Operation Dixie

Which is not true of the Korean War (1950-1953)?

President Truman acknowledged and accepted General MacArthur's push toward the Chinese border and his threat to use nuclear weapons against the Chinese.

The young California congressman who first gained national prominence through his membership on the House Un-American Activities Committee was:

Richard Nixon.

The "Dixiecrat" presidential ticket of 1948 was led by:

Strom Thurmond.

Which was not a development of 1949?

The Soviets formalized their own eastern European alliance, the Warsaw Pact.

American officials used anticommunist sentiment to investigate political dissenters and to otherwise widen their powers.

True

As part of the cultural Cold War, the CIA secretly funded an array of overseas publications, conferences, publishing houses, concerts, art exhibits, and jazz performances.

True

By 1949, the world's largest country measured by land area (the Soviet Union), and the world's largest country by population (China) were both communist.

True

George Kennan's Long Telegram provided an early formulation of the policy of "containment."

True

In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) launched hearings into communist influence in Hollywood, and, in consequence, actors, directors, and screenwriters were blacklisted or jailed.

True

In July 1948, President Harry S. Truman issued an executive order desegregating the armed forces.

True

In the atmosphere of the Cold War, the United States tended to define "human rights" in terms of political liberty, while the Soviet Union emphasized social and economic entitlements.

True

In the context of the Cold War, no matter how repressive a nation was, so long as it supported the United States it was counted as a member of the Free World.

True

Race relations in the United States were a major ideological concern, and even an embarrassment, for American leaders during the Cold War.

True

Republicans swept the congressional elections of 1946 to control both houses of Congress for the first time since the 1920s.

True

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) quietly subsidized artists it considered useful in the "cultural Cold War."

True

The Democratic Party platform of 1948 was the most progressive in the party's history.

True

The Marshall Plan sought to contain Soviet communism by promoting economic recovery and providing humanitarian aid.

True

The United States emerged from World War II as the world's greatest power; it had the world's most powerful navy and air force and accounted for half the world's manufacturing capacity.

True

The first confrontation of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union occurred in the Middle East, in Iran.

True

The term "totalitarianism" originated in Europe between World War I and World War II to describe aggressive, ideologically driven states that sought to subdue all civil society, including churches, unions, and other voluntary associations.

True

While the anticommunist hysteria of the postwar years came to be known as "McCarthyism," it arose well before Senator Joseph McCarthy entered the scene.

True

Which of the following was not a key provision of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act?

Unions cannot discriminate on the basis of race.

Anticommunism was used by U.S. leaders to:

all of the above.

The Truman Doctrine in March 1947:

asserted that the United States, as the leader of the "free world," must take up responsibility for supporting "freedom-loving peoples" wherever communism threatened them.

Which of the following was not a common target of the anticommunist crusade?

laissez-faire conservatism

The Truman administration responded to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin by:

leading efforts to break the blockade by airlifting supplies to the city.

Which of the following was not a dramatic feature of the 1948 presidential election?

lively debate between supporters and critics of the Korean War

In 1949, the containment policy suffered a major setback in the form of:

the "loss" of China to communism.

In June 1948, when the United States, Britain, and France introduced a separate currency in their zones of control in the city of Berlin, the Soviet Union responded with:

the Berlin blockade.

President Harry S. Truman's program that focused on improving the social safety net and raising the standard of living of ordinary Americans—calling on Congress to increase the middle wage, enact a program of national health insurance, and expand public housing, social security, and aid to education—was:

the Fair Deal.

The June 1947 United States foreign policy initiative that envisioned a New Deal for Europe, and pledged billions of dollars to finance European economic recovery was:

the Marshall Plan.

What was the 1947 law that sought to reverse gains made by organized labor in the preceding decade, and authorized the president to suspend strikes by ordering an eighty-day cooling-off period, banned sympathy strikes and secondary boycotts, outlawed the closed shop, and authorized states to pass "right to work" laws?

the Taft-Hartley Act

The 1948 United Nations-approved document that called for a range of rights to be enjoyed by people everywhere, including freedom of speech and religion, as well as social and economic entitlements, including the right to an adequate standard of living, access to adequate housing, education, and medical care was called:

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Which of the following was not a step toward racial equality in postwar America?

the defeat of Operation Dixie

In 1950, a serious challenge to the containment policy occurred with:

the invasion of South Korea.

"Containment" in the context of post-World War II international diplomacy on the part of the United States referred to:

the policy by which the United States committed itself to preventing any further expansion of Soviet power.