Its Gettin' Cold
This policy led the U.S. to get involved in many wars and conflicts during the Cold War
Containment
This Cold War nuclear weapon, far more powerful than the atomic bomb, was first tested by the United States in 1952 and by the Soviet Union in 1953.
The hydrogen bomb (H-bomb)
This civil rights leader promoted “soul force” and used nonviolent resistance, including civil disobedience and mass demonstrations, to fight segregation.
Martin Luther King Jr.
This Cold War theory suggested that if one country fell to communism, neighboring countries would also fall like a row of dominoes.
Domino Theory
This political scandal involved a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and a subsequent attempt by the Nixon administration to cover it up by destroying evidence and silencing those involved.
Watergate Scandal
These two Americans were convicted of espionage and executed after being accused of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
This Cold War situation describes the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to build larger and more advanced nuclear arsenals.
Arms Race
This 1965 civil rights event in Alabama included a deadly attack on demonstrators and a nationally televised march led by Martin Luther King Jr. that helped lead to the Voting Rights Act.
Selma to Montgomery marches
This Communist guerrilla force in South Vietnam fought against the U.S.-backed government during the Vietnam War.
Vietcong
This 1990–1991 conflict followed Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait after the Iran-Iraq War left Saddam Hussein heavily in debt and ended with a U.S.-led coalition freeing Kuwait.
Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm)
This U.S. senator became known for leading aggressive, often unproven accusations against suspected Communists, a practice that came to be called McCarthyism.
Senator Joseph McCarthy
This Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union began after the 1957 launch of Sputnik and ended with the U.S. moon landing.
The Space Race
This civil rights leader shifted from advocating Black separatism and self-defense to supporting political participation after a transformative pilgrimage to Mecca.
Malcolm X
These tactics in the Vietnam War included the use of extensive tunnel networks and booby traps used by Communist forces to fight a stronger U.S. military.
Guerilla Warfare
This U.S. president pursued a “law and order” agenda, aimed to reduce domestic unrest, and took steps to end the Vietnam War.
Richard Nixon
This conflict was labeled a UN “police action” because Congress never formally declared war, and it was led in part by General Douglas MacArthur commanding South Korean, U.S., and UN forces.
Korean War
This U.S. agency was created during the Cold War to gather intelligence through spies and carry out secret operations against hostile governments.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
This NAACP lawyer led the legal strategy that challenged segregation in public schools and won most of the civil rights cases argued before the Supreme Court.
Thurgood Marshall
This Vietnamese leader founded the Indochinese Communist Party and led the movement for Vietnamese independence.
Ho Chi Minh
This U.S. president won election in 1988 by emphasizing conservative values and promising “no new taxes,” though that promise later became controversial.
George H.W. Bush
This U.S. general was fired by President Harry Truman after repeatedly pushing to expand the Korean War into China.
General Douglas MacArthur
This Cold War barrier was built by East Germany in 1961 to stop people from fleeing to the West, physically dividing a major city for decades.
The Berlin Wall
These two labor and civil rights activists co-founded the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee to improve wages and working conditions for farmworkers.
César Chávez and Dolores Huerta
These controversial weapons used by the U.S. in Vietnam included a firebomb that burned jungle areas and a chemical defoliant that destroyed vegetation and caused long-term health effects.
Napalm and Agent Orange
This U.S. president promoted human rights in foreign policy, emphasized honesty in government, and used informal “fireside chats” to communicate with the public.
Jimmy Carter
This U.S. intelligence effort decoded Soviet communications and revealed that hundreds of Americans had secret ties to the USSR.
Venona Project
This Soviet leader introduced reforms like glasnost (“openness”) and perestroika to modernize the USSR and allow more political and economic freedom.
Mikhail Gorbachev
These civil rights activists rode interstate buses into the South to challenge segregation and were often met with violent attacks, including a bus being firebombed.
Freedom Riders
These two labels were used during the Vietnam War to describe people who either opposed U.S. involvement or supported escalating military action.
Doves and Hawks
This 1980 presidential candidate, known as the “Great Communicator,” won the election by focusing on the weak economy, the Iran hostage crisis, and conservative values, taking 44 states and helping Republicans gain control of the Senate.
Ronald Reagan
This island became the refuge of Chinese Nationalists after their defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, forming a separate government from mainland China.
Taiwan
This failed 1961 CIA-backed invasion of Cuba by exiles ended in disaster and became a major embarrassment for the Kennedy administration.
Bay of Pigs Invasion
This 1957 civil rights crisis occurred when the governor of Arkansas used the National Guard to block Black students from entering a desegregated high school.
Little Rock Crisis
This 1964 congressional measure gave President Lyndon B. Johnson broad authority to escalate U.S. military involvement in Vietnam after reported attacks in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
This conservative movement of the late 20th century opposed affirmative action and promoted traditional values through grassroots activism focused on specific social issues.
New Right
This line of latitude divided Korea after Japan’s surrender in WWII, with Soviet forces occupying the north and U.S. forces occupying the south.
38th Parallel
This 1960 Cold War incident involved the shooting down of an American spy plane over the Soviet Union, which led to a failed summit and renewed tensions between the superpowers.
The U-2 incident
This famous 1963 document was written by Martin Luther King Jr. while he was jailed in Birmingham, defending nonviolent protest and civil rights activism.
Letter from Birmingham Jail
This 1968 surprise attack by Vietcong and North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnamese New Year marked a major turning point in the Vietnam War.
Tet Offensive
This 1978 diplomatic agreement, brokered by President Jimmy Carter, brought together Egyptian and Israeli leaders at Camp David and led to a peace treaty between the two nations.
Camp David Accords
This Cold War-era program created by President Truman investigated federal employees for suspected disloyalty, reviewing millions of workers and leading to dismissals and resignations.
Federal Employee Loyalty Program
This Cold War communication system was created to allow direct contact between U.S. and Soviet leaders to prevent misunderstandings during crises.
The "hot line"
This Native American rights organization, founded in 1968, initially focused on self-defense against police brutality and later demanded land rights and treaty protections.
American Indian Movement (AIM)
This 1960s youth-led movement of college students called for major social and political change and strongly opposed the Vietnam War.
New Left
This U.S. president’s economic policies in the 1970s included the WIN program (“Whip Inflation Now”), reduced government spending, and tight money measures that contributed to a recession.
Gerald Ford