Postwar/ Cold War Vocabulary
Organization founded in 1945
to promote peace
Independent nation under the
control of a more powerful
nation
United Nations
Term coined by Churchill to
describe border between the
Soviet satellite states & Western
Europe
Satellite State
Worldwide rivalry between the
U.S. and the Soviet Union
Cold War
Iron Curtain
policy of keeping
communism contained within
its existing borders
President Truman’s promise to
help nations struggling against
communist movements
Foreign policy that offered
economic aid to Western
European countries after WWII
Program in which U.S. & British
pilots flew supplies to West Berlin
during Soviet blockade
Containment
Truman Doctrine
Marshall Plan
Berlin Airlift
North Atlantic Treaty
Organization: military
alliance formed to counter
Soviet expansion
Military alliance of the
Soviety Union and its satellite
states
The principle of mutual military
assistance among nations
Attack on one attack on all
Soviet response – Warsaw Pact
Communist leader of China
Led the takeover and created the
People’s Republic of China
NATO
Leader of China forced out
by Mao Zedong
Withdrew to the isaland of
Taiwan and created the
Republic of China claiming
to be the legitimate
government of the entire
Chinese nation
Warsaw Pact
Congressional committee that
investigated possible
subversive activities within the
United States
Collective security
Group of movie writers, directors
and producers who refused to
answer HUAC questions about
communist ties
House un American
Activities Committee
(HUAC)
Hollywood Ten
Former state Department
official investigated as a
possible Communist spy by
HUAC after WWII
Convicted of perjury in 1950
Case was debated for many
years in for many it seemed to
prove a real Communist threat
in the U.S.
General Agreement on Tariffs
and Trade: international
agreement first signed in 1947
aimed at lowering trade barriers
Moa Zedong
List of person who were not hired
because of susupected communist
ties
blacklist
Jiang Jeishi (Chiang Kai
Shek)
Policy in which the U.S. &
Soviet Union hoped to deter
nuclear war by building up
enough weapons to destroy
one another
Mutually assured
destruction
Fear that communists were
working to destroy the
American way of life
Red Scare
Alger Hiss
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
Government agency that
coordinates U.S. efforts in
space
Latitude line that divided North
and South Korea at approximately
the midpoint of the peninsula
38th Parallel
GATT
President Truman’s program to
expand New Deal reforms
Negative catchword for
extreme, reckless charages of
disloyalty
Fair Deal
McCarthyism
NASA
A law that restricted the
power of labor unions
Taft-Hartley Act
The 1st artificial satellite to
orbit Earth, launched by the
Soviets in 1957
Showed the technology gap
between US and USSR
Added to Americans fear
(hydrogen capabilities)
The policy of making the
military power of the US so
strong that no enemy would
attack for fear of retaliation
Belief that only by going to the
bring of war could the U.S.
protect itself against communist
aggression
Deterrence
A 1960 incident in which the
Soviet military used a guided
missile to shoot down on
American U-2 spy plane over
Soviet territory
Brinkmanship
U2 Incident
Sputnik
Easted the return of WWII
veterans by providing
education and employment
aid
Small group of writers & artist
in the 1950s & early 1960s
who were critical of American
society
GI bill of Rights
Beatniks
Corporation made up of 3 or 4
more unrelated businesses
Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
Long range rockets used by the
Soviets
ICBM’s
A business that contracts with a
large parent company to offer
certain goods and services
Conglomerate
Franchise