Name: ___________________________________________
1950s and Cold War Origins Study Guide
1. Define the following terms:
Block: _____
Cold War (define this in your own words)
Communism - an economic system where people share work fairly and paid equally
Capitalism - an economic system where business is privately owned and money is used to
make more money
2. What technology was essential to the development of suburbanization?
Interstate Highway
3. What was the most lasting effect of the GI Bill? (THINK: education)
Obtain an education
4. What was the “Red Scare”? What Senator led the trials during the “Red Scare”?
The paranoia in the United States that led to mistrust of neighbors and accusations (most
without merit) of Russian spies in the U.S.
Senator Joseph McCarthy
5. Who were the two super powers during the Cold War?
USA and USSR
6. Complete the chart below:
United States
Soviet Union
Political System
Democracy
Dictatorship
Economic System
Capitalism
Communism
West
East
With which sides of Europe were
they allied? (East or West)
Name: ___________________________________________
Block: _____
7. Who was present at the Yalta Conference? (include their names)
The Big Three – Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill
8. What was the Policy of Containment, and explained why was it was created?
A policy to stop the spread of communism. Americans feared the spread of communism in
Western Europe; therefore, American government worked to stop the spread of communism.
9. What was the goal of the Marshall Plan? Who created it?
To stop the spread of communism.
George Marshall
10. What was the purpose of the “Iron Curtain”?
An imaginary line that divided democracy in Western Europe and a communism in Eastern
Europe
11. Who desegregated the military?
President Truman
12. Which president created the highway system?
President Eisenhower
13. What did the highway system help create?
The suburbs
14. List the reasons for the Baby Boom.
High incomes, war is over, better health care