APUSH Cold War Key Terms

Chapter 26: Cold War America

Yalta Conference(Feb. 1945) A wartime meeting between the Big Three to discuss Europe’s postwar reorganization. The division of Germany was later decided at the Potsdam conference.

Baruch Plan(1946) A proposal by the US to the UN Atomic Energy Commission (UNAEC) to allow the exchange of basic scientific information, control the use of atomic energy, eliminate weapons of mass destruction and establish safeguards by way of inspection.

George Kennan(1904-2005) “The father of containment” His "Long Telegram" (1946), "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" (1947) argued that the Soviet regime’s influence had to be "contained" in areas of vital strategic importance to the United States.

Containment Containment was a United States policy uniting military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to limit the spread of Communism, enhance America’s security and influence abroad, and prevent a "domino effect".

Truman Doctrine(March 1947) A foreign policy declared by President Truman in an address to Congress asking for $400M in aid to Greece and Turkey to prevent their falling to Soviet Control. -> The US believes in “a way of life free of coercion.”

Marshall Plan(July 1947) Aka European Recovery Program (ERP). Named for Sec. Of State George Marshall, it was the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding Western Europe and repelling communism. It was largely successful in each country it had been implemented in.

NATO(1949) North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It was a military alliance established by the North Atlantic treaty in April 1949. It constitutes a system of collective defense whose purpose was "to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down".

Mao Zedong(1893-1976) Mao led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War and was the leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from 1949 to his death in 1976.

National Security Act(1947) Signed by Pres. Truman in 1947. It merged the Dept. of War with Dept of Navy to create the National Military Establishment (later DOD, dept of defense). It established the National Security Council and also the Central Intelligence Agency.

NSC-68(April 1950) National Security Council Report 68 was a report by the US NSC on April 14, 1950. It basically argued that the US should use military action to pursue containment and protect the world from communism.

38th Parallel After Japanese surrender in 1945, Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel of the US State-War Navy Coordinating Committee established it as the boundary between North and South Korea during August 1945.

Taft-Hartley Act(1947) Aka Labor-Management Relations Act. It was a US federal law that greatly restricted activities and power of labor unions. It was in response to the post-WWII labor upsurge of 1946 (5M workers were involved in strikes that year).

Fair Deal(1949) Mentioned in his State of the Union address in 1949, it was a series of social and economic reforms. The Fair Deal addressed the NAACP, passed the Housing Act of 1949 (public housing) and the Social Security Act of 1950.

HUAC(1938) House Committee on Un-American Activities. It was chaired by Martin Dies Jr. and launched an investigation into internal subversion of the government and other organizations. HUAC is associated with McCarthy and the Hollywood Ten.

Blacklist A blacklist is a list of persons who are being denied something. An example is the 1947 Hollywood blacklist which contained people who refused to provide evidence for a HUAC investigation.

McCarthyism(1950s) McCarthyism is the politically motivated practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. This refers to the anti-communist pursuits of Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Liberal Conscience A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are each expected to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party.??

Domino Theory(1954) A foreign policy theory that speculated that if one land in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino theory.

MAD A doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender.

“military-industrial complex” MIC is a concept that refers to policy relationships between governments, armed forces and industrial support. Governments pay for military related R&D which benefits industries which in turn benefits governments.

Chapter 27: The Age of Affluence

Bretton Woods System(1944) A UN conference in New Hampshire that set up the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) aka World Bank, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Affluent Society(1958) A book by economist John Kenneth Galbraith. The book outlined how post-WWII America was becoming wealthy while many remained poor.

Shelley v. Kraemer(1948) A black family purchased a house in Missouri in 1945. However, a restrictive covenant, enforced by their neighbors, kept them out. The Supreme Court ruled that restrictive covenants were illegal although the practice remained for some time.

The Feminine Mystique(1963) Betty Friedan. The book brought to light the lack of fulfillment in many women’s lives, which was generally kept hidden.

Peace Corps(1961) Established in 1961 by the Peace Corp Act, the Peace Corps’ purpose was to “promote world peace and friendship” by providing “trained manpower” to people of countries that need it.

The Warren Court(1953-1969) The Warren Court ended racial segregation, incorporated the Bill of Rights, and ended officially-sanctioned mandatory prayer in public schools. Some famous cases: Brown vs. Board of Education, Miranda v. Arizona, and Engel v. Vitale.

Brown v. Board of Education(1954) This was a landmark Supreme Court case that ended the era of legal segregation that had been established by the 1896 case Plessy v. Furgeson. -> civil rights movement.

Montgomery bus boycott(1955) After Rosa Parks was arrested, a year of boycotting the Montgomery buses ensued, with some boycotts being led by Marin Luther King Jr. The boycotts were largely the impetus for the Civil Rights Movement.

SNCC(est. 1960) Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. It started from student meetings led by Ella Baker. The SNCC played a major role in sit-ins and freedom rides, and especially in the 1963 March on Washington.