COLD WAR 1
This phrase, popularized by Winston Churchill in a 1946 speech, described the ideological and physical divide between communist and Western Europe
The Iron Curtain
In 1948, the Soviet Union cut off all land and water access to this divided city in an attempt to force out Western powers
Berlin
This wave of anti-communist fear swept the U.S. from 1917 to 1920, following the Bolshevik Revolution.
The First Red Scare
With the help of Che Guevarra, this man led an unlikely revolution that toppled the Cuban regime in 1959
Fidel Castro
This country colonised Vietnam starting in 1887, controlling administration, law, and taxation while keeping the emperor as a figurehead
France
This term describes Eastern European nations that were nominally independent but politically and economically controlled by the USSR
satellite states
This Western military alliance, founded in 1949, was designed to provide collective defense against Soviet aggression.
NATO
This congressional committee investigated alleged communist influence in American life, most notoriously in Hollywood.
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
This Soviet premier ordered the installation of nuclear missiles in Cuba
Nikita Khrushchev
This nationalist leader, who had lived in exile for decades, founded the Viet Minh in 1941 and later declared Vietnam's independence in 1945.
Ho Chi Minh
This 1947 US policy pledged American support to nations resisting communist takeover, beginning with aid to Greece and Turkey
Truman Doctrine
After WWII, Germany was divided into four occupation zones, controlled by these countries
US, UK, France, and USSR
This Wisconsin senator became the face of aggressive anti-communist accusations in the early 1950s.
Joseph McCarthy
This failed 1961 invasion attempt by Cuban exiles heightened tensions before the crisis.
Bay of Pigs
This league, formed in 1941, was organised by the Indochinese Communist Party but presented as a broad nationalist front
Viet Minh
This US foreign policy strategy aimed to stop the spread of communism without directly rolling back existing communist states
Containment
This Eastern Bloc military alliance was formed in 1955, largely in response to NATO admitting West Germany
Warsaw Pact
This term describes the practice of denying employment to entertainment industry figures suspected of communist ties
Blacklisting
Kennedy announced this term for the naval blockade to avoid the more aggressive-sounding word "blockade."
Quarantine
This incendiary weapon, used extensively by US forces for its burning effect on jungle and villages, became a powerful symbol of the war's brutality, especially after a famous 1972 photograph of a fleeing child
Napalm
This 1948 US program provided massive economic aid to rebuild war-torn Western European economies and resist communism
Marshall Plan
This doctrine holds that neither superpower would launch a nuclear first strike because it would guarantee total annihilation of both sides
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)
This group of screenwriters and directors were blacklisted and jailed in 1947 for refusing to testify before HUAC.
Hollywood Ten
This type of U.S. spy plane was shot down over Cuba on October 27, 1962, killing its pilot, Major Rudolph Anderson
U-2
This uprising in August 1945 saw Viet Minh forces seize government buildings in Hanoi, Hue, and Saigon after Japan's surrender.
August Revolution
This 1946 dispatch, sent by a US diplomat in Moscow, urged a firm policy of containment against Soviet expansion
The Long Telegram
This 1950-1953 conflict saw US-led UN forces defend the South against a Soviet- and Chinese-backed North
The Korean War
This married couple was executed in 1953 after being convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
The Soviets secretly agreed to remove missiles from Cuba in exchange for the U.S. removing these missiles from Turkey
Jupiter
This 1968 coordinated surprise attack by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces struck dozens of South Vietnamese cities simultaneously, shocking the American public despite ending in a military defeat for the attackers.
Tet Offensive
This term, coined by Hungarian communist Mátyás Rákosi, describes eliminating political opposition one small slice at a time
salami tactics
This term describes a conflict in which two rival powers support opposing sides without fighting each other directly
Proxy War
This program, established by executive order in 1947, resulted in over 3 million Americans being investigated for potential ties to the USSR.
Federal Employee Loyalty Program
This U.S. Attorney General played a key diplomatic role during the crisis, negotiating with Soviet ambassador
Robert F Kennedy
This 1954 agreement divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel and planned for reunification elections in 1956 that never happened
Geneva Accords
This 1949 Soviet-led economic organization coordinated the economies of Eastern Bloc communist states
Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance)
This military strategy involves maintaining enough strength to discourage an enemy from attacking in the first place
Deterrence
A remnant from the era, this term - named after its worst abuser - describes making accusations of disloyalty without proper evidence
McCarthyism
The special advisory group of top officials convened by Kennedy to manage the crisis had this acronym
ExComm
In 1971, this man asked senators at a congressional testimony, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
John Kerry
This July 1945 conference brought together Truman, Stalin, and (initially) Churchill to decide the fate of postwar Germany
Potsdam
This parallel of latitude became the dividing line between North and South Korea after the war.
38th parallel
This head of the FBI, who had his own secrets, investigated 3 million federal employees
J. Edgar Hoover
This term refers to the U.S. military readiness level raised to its second-highest stage during the crisis.
DEFCON-2
This operation, launched in March 1965 following the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, was the sustained US bombing campaign against North Vietnam
Operation Rolling Thunder
Established in 1947, this organization coordinated communist parties across Europe and enforced Soviet ideological control
Cominform
American pilot Gail Halvorsen earned this nickname for dropping sweets to children during the Berlin Airlift.
The Chocolate Flier
This 1951 defection incident involving a Soviet diplomat in Australia exposed Soviet espionage networks and triggered a major political crisis there
The Petrov Affair
This Air Force general and head of Strategic Air Command was among the most vocal advocates for military action against Cuba
Curtis Le May
This general engineered the Viet Minh's logistical triumph at Dien Bien Phu by hauling artillery up mountains by hand
Vo Nguyen Giap