United Nations (UN)
an international peacekeeping organization to which most nations in the world belong, founded in 1945 to promote world peace, security, and economic development.
satellite nation
a country that is dominated politically and economically by another nation
containment *
the blocking of another nation's attempts to spread its influence—especially the efforts of the United States to block the spread of Soviet influence during the late 1940s and early 1950s, A policy of acting to prevent the spread of Communism to new countries, while accepting Communist governments where they were already established.
iron curtain
a phrase used / coined by Winston Churchill in 1946 to describe an imaginary line that separated Communist countries in the Soviet bloc of Eastern Europe from countries in Western Europe
Cold War
the state of hostility, without direct military conflict, that developed between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II
Truman Doctrine
a U.S. policy, announced by President Harry S. Truman in 1947, of providing economic and military aid to free nations threatened by internal or external opponents
Marshall Plan
the program, proposed by Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947, under which the United States supplied economic aid to European nations to help them rebuild after World War II
Berlin airlift
a 327-day operation in which U.S. and British planes flew food and supplies into West Berlin after the Soviets blockaded the city in 1948
North AtlanticTreaty Organization (NATO) *
a defensive military alliance formed in 1949 by ten Western European countries, the United States, and Canada
Chiang Kai-shek
leader of the nationalist government in China. US supported Chiang by giving aids
Mao Zedong *
leader of the Communist. Relied heavily on aid from the Soviet Union
Taiwan
In May 1949, Chiang and the remnants of his Nationalist government fled to Taiwan
38th parallel
The line dividing Korea into two countries, the North Korea and South Korea
Korean War *
a conflict between North Korea and South Korea, lasting from 1950 to 1953, in which the United States, along with other UN countries, fought on the side of the South Koreans and China fought on the side of the North Koreans with help from Russia
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
a congressional committee that investigated Communist influence inside and outside the U.S. government in the years following World War II
Hollywood Ten
ten witnesses from the film industry who refused to cooperate with the HUAC's investigation of Communist influence in Hollywood
blacklist
a list of about 500 actors, writers, producers, and directors who were not allowed to work on Hollywood films because of their alleged Communist connections
Alger Hiss
In 1948, he was accused by a former Communist spy, Whittaker Chambers, of spying for the Soviet Union.
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
minor activists in the American Communist Party who were accused of giving the Soviet Union information about America's atomic bomb, they were convicted and sentenced to death
Joseph McCarthy
Republican Senator from Wisconsin who made unsubstantiated accusations on suspected Communists
McCarthyism *
the attacks, often unsubstantiated, by Senator Joseph McCarthy and others on people suspected of being Communists in the early 1950s
H-bomb
the hydrogen bomb—a thermonuclear weapon much more powerful than the atomic bomb
Dwight D. Eisenhower
President during the Cold War. , ..., leader of the Allied forces in Europe during WW2--leader of troops in Africa and commander in DDay invasion-elected president-president during integration of Little Rock Central High School
John Foster Dulles *
Dwight D. Eisenhower's secretary of state, an anti-Communist who supported full-on military retaliation against Communist nations, called for more radical measures to roll back communism where it had already spread (containment too cautious)
brinkmanship *
the practice of threatening an enemy with massive military retaliation for any aggression, , A 1956 term used by Secretary of State John Dulles to describe a policy of risking war in order to protect national interests.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) *
the Central Intelligence Agency—a U.S. agency created to gather secret information about foreign governments, CIA, -analyzes, gathers, transmits info from other countries that might be important to the security of the nation. They over threw several governments
Warsaw Pact
military alliance formed in 1955 by the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites, ..., treaty signed in 1945 that formed an alliance of the countries behind the Iron Curtain; USSR, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania
Eisenhower Doctrine
a U.S. commitment to defend the Middle East against attack by any communist country, announced by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957. U.S.A. failed to come to the aid of several countries asking for assistance
Nikita Khrushchev *
leader of Soviet Union who believed in peaceful triumph of the Communism, the leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also famous for denouncing Stalin and allowed criticism of Stalin within Russia.
Francis Gary Powers
one of the U-2 American pilot whose spy plane was shot down over Russia and were sentenced to 10 years in Soviet prison, however he was exchanged and was released after 10 months
U-2 Incident *
the downing of a U.S. spy plane and capture of its pilot, Francis Gary Powers by the Soviet Union in 1960