18-19 Vocab

Front 1

Satellite Nations

Back 1

A country that is dominated politically and economically by another nation.

Front 2

Containment

Back 2

The Blocking of another nation’s attempts to spread its influence—especially the efforts of the United States.

Front 3

Cold War

Back 3

The state of hostility without direct military conflict that developed between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II.

Front 4

Truman Doctrine

Back 4

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.

Front 5

Marshall Plan

Back 5

The program, proposed by secretary of state George Marshall in 1947, under which the US supplied economic aid to European nations to help them rebuild after World War II.

Front 6

Iron Curtain

Back 6

A Phrase used by Winston Churchill in 1946 to describe an imaginary line that separated communist countries in the soviet block of Eastern Europe from countries in Western Europe.

Front 7

Berlin Airlift

Back 7

A 327 day operation in which US and British planes flew food and supplies into West Berlin after the Soviets blockaded the city in 1948.

Front 8

NATO

Back 8

North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A defensive military alliance farmed in 1949 by ten western European Countries, the United States, and Canada.

Front 9

Mao Zedong

Back 9

Communist leader. Who ruled in northern China, relied heavily on financial aid from Soviet Union, Attracted peasants with promises of land reform benefited from experienced guerrilla army and a highly motivated leadership.

Front 10

Chiang Kai-Sheik

Back 10

A nationalist government in China, which the United States supported.

Front 11

Taiwan

Back 11

In May 1949, Chaing and the remnats of his demoralized government fled to the island of Taiwan. (Also known as Formosa by Westerners.)

Front 12

38th parallel

Back 12

38 degrees North Latitude.

Front 13

Korean War

Back 13

A conflict between North Korea and South Korea, lasting from 1950 to 1953, in which the US, along with other UN countries, fought on the side of the South Koreans, and China fought on the side of the North Koreans.

Front 14

NSC – 68

Back 14

would shape U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War for the next 20 years and has subsequently been labeled its "blueprint."

Front 15

HUAC

Back 15

House Un-American Activities Committee. Made headlines in 1947 when it began to investigate communist influence in the movie industry, because they believed that communists were sneaking propaganda into films.

Front 16

Hollywood Ten

Back 16

Ten unfriendly witnesses who were called to testify but refused. They believed that the hearings were unconstitutional. Since they refused to answer questions, they were sent to prison.

Front 17

Blacklist

Back 17

A list of people who were blacklisted had their careers ruined because they could no longer work.

Front 18

McCarran Act

Back 18

a United States federal law that required the registration of Communist organizations with the United States Attorney General.

Front 19

Alger Hiss

Back 19

Accused of spying on the Soviet Union by Whittaker Chambers in 1948.

Front 20

Rosenbergs

Back 20

Minor activists in the American communist party. They were found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death. Judge Irving Kaufman declared their crime “worse than murder.” To him, they were directly responsible for one of the deadliest clashes of the cold war.

Front 21

Senator Joseph McCarthy

Back 21

Famous anti-communist and Republican senator from Wisconsin.

Front 22

McCarthyism

Back 22

attacks on suspected communists in the early 1950s. McCarthy made one unsupported accusation after another to take advantage of peoples concerns about communism.

Front 23

H-Bomb

Back 23

The hydrogen bomb—a thermonuclear weapon much more powerful than the atomic bomb.

Front 24

Brinksmanship

Back 24

the practice of threatening an enemy with massive military retaliation for any aggression.

Front 25

John Foster Dulles

Back 25

Eisenhower’s secretary of state, who was staunchly anti-communist. Proposed that the US could prevent the spread of communism by promising to use all of its force.

Front 26

Dwight Eisenhower

Back 26

president by the time both countries had the H-Bomb.

Front 27

CIA

Back 27

Central Intelligence Agency. A US agency created to gather secret information about foreign governments.

Front 28

Warsaw Pact

Back 28

A military alliance formed in 1955 by the Soviet Union and it’s Eastern European satellites.

Front 29

Nikita Khrushchev

Back 29

Gained power of the Soviet Union. Like Stalin, Khrushchev believed that communism would take over the world, but Khrushchev thought it could triumph peacefully where two powers would compete economically and scientifically.

Front 30

Eisenhower Doctrine

Back 30

A US commitment to defend the Middle East by president Dwight Eisenhower in 1957.

Front 31

Francis Gary Powers

Back 31

A U-2 Pilot.

Front 32

U-2 Incident

Back 32

Eisenhower had denied that the U-2 had been spying. However, The soviets had evidence, and Eisenhower finally had to admit it. Khrushchev demanded an apology for the flights, and demanded they be stopped. Eisenhower agreed to stop them, but would not apologize.

Front 33

GI BILL OF RIGHTS

Back 33

A name given to the serviceman’s readjustment act, a 1944 law that provided financial and educational benefits for World War II veterans.

Front 34

LEVITTOWN

Back 34

“cookie cutter houses”

Front 35

SUBURBS

Back 35

A residential town or community near a city.

Front 36

“THE AFFLUENT SOCIETY”

Back 36

a 1958 book by Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith.

Front 37

TAFT-HARTLEY ACT

Back 37

a United States federal law that monitors the activities and power of labor unions.

Front 38

PRESIDENTS COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

Back 38

a bipartisan, independent, commission of the U.S. federal government charged with the responsibility for investigating, reporting on, and making recommendations concerning civil rights issues that face the nation.

Front 39

DIXIECRATS

Back 39

Southern delegates who walked out of the 1948 Democratic national convention and formed the states rights Democratic party, in order to protest President Truman’s civil rights policy.

Front 40

STROM THURMOND

Back 40

an American politician who served as the 103rd Governor of South Carolina and as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrat) candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes.

Front 41

FAIR DEAL

Back 41

President Truman’s economic program—an extension of Roosevelt’s new deal.

Front 42

CHECKERS SPEECH

Back 42

an address made by United States Senator from California and Republican vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon on television and radio on September 23, 1952.

Front 43

BROWN VS BOARD OF EDUCATION

Back 43

a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students and denying black children equal educational opportunities unconstitutional.

Front 44

CONGLOMERATES

Back 44

Major corporations that own a number of smaller companies in unrelated businesses.

Front 45

FRANCHISE

Back 45

A business that has bought the right to use a parent company’s name and methods, thus becoming one of a number of similar businesses in various locations.

Front 46

THE ORGANIZATION MAN

Back 46

Whyte wrote a 1956 bestseller titled The Organization Man after Fortune Magazine sponsored him to do extensive interviews on the CEOs of corporations such as General Electric and Ford.

Front 47

BABY BOOM

Back 47

The sharp increase in the US birthrate following World War II.

Front 48

DR JONAS SALK

Back 48

Developed a vaccine for the crippling disease poliomyelitis.

Front 49

INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM

Back 49

a network of limited-access highways (also called freeways or expressways) in the United States.

Front 50

CONSUMERISM

Back 50

A preoccupation with the purchasing of material goods.

Front 51

PLANNED OBSOLESCENCE

Back 51

The designing of products to wear out or to become outdated quickly, so that people will feel a need to replace their possessions frequently

Front 52

MASS MEDIA

Back 52

The means of communication—such as TV, newspapers, and radio.

Front 53

FCC

Back 53

Federal communications commission. An agency that regulates US communications industries, including radio and television broadcasting.

Front 54

BEAT MOVEMENT

Back 54

A social and artistic movement of the 1950’s, stressing unrestrained literary self-expression and non-conformity with the mainstream culture.

Front 55

JACK KEROUAC

Back 55

American novelist and poet.

Front 56

ROCK N ROLL

Back 56

A form of American popular music that evolved in the 1950s.

Front 57

WHITE FLIGHT

Back 57

he sociologic and demographic term denoting a trend wherein whites flee urban communities as the minority population increases, and move to other places like commuter towns.

Front 58

URBAN RENEWAL

Back 58

a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high-density urban land use.

Front 59

HUD

Back 59

Cabinet department in the Executive branch of the United States federal government.

Front 60

BRACEROS

Back 60

experienced farm laborers who came from places such as "la Comarca Lagunera," Coahuila, and other important agricultural regions of México. They stopped working their land and growing food for their families with the illusion that they would be able to earn a vast amount of money on the other side of the border.

Front 61

INDIAN REORGANIZATION ACT

Back 61

a U.S. federal legislation that secured certain rights to Native Americans, including Alaska Natives.