Cold War Origins
The two competing economic and political systems at the center of the Cold War.
Capitalism and communism
The U.S. program that provided economic aid to help rebuild Europe after WWII.
The Marshall Plan
The Soviet action that cut off land access to West Berlin.
The Berlin Blockade
This law helped veterans pay for college and purchase homes after WWII.
GI Bill
Fear of communist influence in the United States during the early Cold War.
The Red Scare
The Soviet leader who established communist governments throughout much of Eastern Europe after WWII.
Joseph Stalin
The U.S.-led military alliance formed with Western European countries in 1949.
NATO
The operation used by the United States and Britain to supply West Berlin during the blockade.
The Berlin Airlift
The movement of many Americans from cities into newly developed communities outside cities.
Suburbanization
The term for accusations of communist activity made without sufficient evidence, especially associated with Senator Joseph McCarthy.
McCarthyism
The term for the division between communist Eastern Europe and democratic Western Europe.
The Iron Curtain
The Soviet-led military alliance created in response to NATO.
The Warsaw Pact
The event that began the Korean War in 1950.
North Korea invaded South Korea.
These became increasingly important parts of American life and consumer culture during the 1950s: cars, television, advertising, and ______.
Credit
Why were fallout shelters promoted during the Cold War?
To protect people from radioactive fallout after a nuclear explosion.
The U.S. strategy designed to prevent communism from spreading to new areas.
Containment
The Soviet satellite that shocked Americans and intensified competition in space.
Sputnik
The country that entered the Korean War after U.S. forces pushed north toward its border.
China
The music and youth culture that helped give teenagers new forms of entertainment and identity.
Rock'n'roll
What did the Doomsday Clock symbolize during the Cold War?
How close humanity was to a global catastrophe, especially nuclear war.
The main reason the United States and Soviet Union became rivals after World War II.
They had competing political, economic, and security interests for the future of Europe and the world.
The competition between the United States and Soviet Union to develop increasingly powerful nuclear weapons.
The Arms Race
The 1962 crisis that brought the United States and Soviet Union dangerously close to nuclear war.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Why did not every American experience the prosperity of the 1950s in the same way?
Differences in income, race, and economic opportunity affected access to the new consumer lifestyle.
Why was nuclear war considered a threat beyond the destruction of individual cities?
Nuclear war could cause widespread destruction, radioactive fallout, environmental damage, and long-term global consequences.