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US History - The Cold War Era

Terms in this set (41)

Cold War
(1945-1990)
Political, economic, and social rivalry between the US and Soviet Union after WWII
Weapons of the Cold War
1) War of words (propaganda)
2) Scientific competition
3) Space Race
4) Spies (CIA and KGB)
5) Arms race
6) Competition in Developing Nations
Yalta Conference
Feb. 1945
-meeting of the Big Three to discuss how to reorganize Europe after WWII
-Germany and Berlin split into 4 occupied zones
Iron Curtain
Imaginary line dividing the nations of Western Europe and communist nations of Eastern Europe
Marshall Plan
(a.k.a.) European Recovery Program 1947
US sponsored program (loans)
-to prevent communism from spreading east of Iron Curtain
-loans to European nations to assist in wartime recovery
Truman Doctrine
1947
US policy of containment of communism
-Greece and Turkey threatened by communism (policy issued)
-pledged US support for countries battling communism
containment
American policy of resisting further expansion of communism around the world
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
1949)
-led by US
-allied with Canada and most of Western Europe against Soviets
Warsaw Pact
USSR alliance with eastern Europe satellites
-Cold War intensifies when USSR got the atomic bomb
U-2 Incident
(U-2 = secret, high altitude spy planes that the U.S. flew over USSR)
-May 1960 Soviets shot down U-2 plane and captured pilot; held him for 10 months
-brought mistrust and tension between superpowers
Berlin Wall
Used to keep East Germans from going to West land (created by Soviet Union)
MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction)
-US and Soviet Union agreed concept as guiding principle behind nuclear strategy
-US strategy: have enough nukes to assure destruction of Soviet Union even if they launched first
Communism
-political and economic philosophy
-common property and ownership by the state
-based on equality
HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee)
-investigating committee which investigated what it considered un-American propaganda
McCarthy/McCarthyism
-bullied and berated endless parade of suspected Communists in the government, entertainment industry, and education
-fear, suspicion, and scapegoating that surrounded his accusations
Korean War
The "Forgotten War"
-divided into North and South at 38th Parallel after WWII
-Soviet backed North
-pro-Western backed South
-North communist; South noncommunist
-both wanted to reunify country under their own rule
-1st "hot" war in the Cold War
-US backs South; China backs North
-ceasefire in 1953; no peace treaty ever signed
-more than half dead were civilians
Domino theory
Theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control
Guatemala
-US overthrew leader due to their communist acts
-CIA with a hit list of certain suspected Communists
Fidel Castro
Came into power in Cuba after the Cuban Revolution
-led socialist government
Bay of Pigs
-US (led by Eisenhower) organized CIA and mafia to overthrow Castro
-invaded area and failed their mission
-humiliation for US
-Cuba later establishes stronger ties with USSR
-Cuba allowed USSR missiles to be stationed in Cuba
Cuban Missile Crisis
1962 crisis that arose between the United States and the Soviet Union over a Soviet attempt to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba
(Vasili Arkhipov stopped missiles from deploying)
My Lai
-American troops had brutally massacred innocent women and children
-led to more opposition to the war
Vietnamization
-gradual withdrawal of American troops
-South Vietnam expected to take on more active combat
Dien Bien Phu
French defeated by Vietnamese in this battle
Ngo Dinh Diem
-"won" election against Minh
-had a reign of terror
-corrupt administration
-discriminated against Buddhism
-assassinated by Vietnamese generals with support of US
-South Vietnam collapses without him
Ho Chi Minh
-formed guerrilla army called Vietcong
-communist leader of North Vietnam
-brilliant strategy drew out war and made it unwinnable
Vietminh/Vietcong
-guerrilla army formed by Ho Chi Minh
-North Vietnam army
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Allowed the president to take military measures against North Vietnam without declaring war
Pentagon Papers
-government drawn plans to enter Vietnam War
-no plan to end as long as N. Vietnam persists
-confirmed government being dishonest to the people
Kent State
-protesters of the Vietnam War were massacred by National Guardsmen
-killed four
Free Speech Movement
-students protested school ban on political organizations and activities
-limited freedoms restored both Democratic and Republican ideas
Draft
1969 Vietnam War
-first time since 1942
-after 1970, all are 19
Hawk
advocated war during Vietnam War
Dove
advocated peace during Vietnam War
New Left
-coalition of younger members of the Democratic party and radical student groups
-believed in participatory democracy, free speech, civil rights and racial brotherhood, and opposed the war in Vietnam
Students for a Democratic Society
-leftwing group (Democrat)
-nonviolent political activity
-civil rights focus
-anti-Vietnam War
-anti-drafting (esp. for students)
-became more militant and broke into other groups
Weathermen
-branched from SDS
-decided to protest by "bringing to war home"
-bombed federal buildings (called ahead to not kill people)
Robert McNamara
US Secretary of Defense during the Cold War
Richard Nixon
-president after LBJ
-angered Congress by bombing and invading Cambodia without notifying Congress
-ended the Vietnam War for US
Watergate
-Nixon spied on DNC
-Nixon arranged hush money for burglars and ordered CIA to stop FBI from investigating the stolen tapes
-Resigned before he could be impeached
Start of the Vietnam War
-Communist in the North (led by Ho Chi Minh)
-Democratic in the South (led by Ngo Dinh Diem, US backed)
-divided at the 17th Parallel
-war broke out after Diem was assassinated (South was collapsing)
-US involved with South against North's Vietcong
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