Key Terms I
An era of confrontation and competition between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted from about 1946 to 1990.
What is the Cold War?
The British Prime Minister who declared that an "iron curtain" had descended across Europe.
Who was Winston Churchill?
This doctrine pledged U.S. military and financial aid to nations fighting off external or internal communist threats.
What is the Truman Doctrine?
The act of transporting food and supplies by air during an emergency, such as the effort used to save West Berlin in 1948.
What is an airlift?
President Truman established this initiative to screen federal employees for any potential ties to communism.
What is the Loyalty Review Program?
An economic system characterized by private property and free trade with limited government interference.
What is capitalism?
The American diplomat who sent the Long Telegram (under the pseudonym "X") warning the U.S. about Soviet ambitions.
Who was George Kennan?
This U.S. economic initiative provided billions of dollars to rebuild Western European infrastructure and factories after WWII.
What is the Marshall Plan?
A system in which a group of nations acts as one to preserve the peace of all nations.
What is collective security?
This congressional committee investigated communist infiltration in American society and notoriously targeted the Hollywood film industry.
The money or materials that a defeated nation is required to pay for the damages is caused during a war?
What are reparations?
The world-famous physicist who wrote a letter to President Roosevelt in 1939 warning that Germany might develop an atomic bomb.
Who was Albert Einstein?
The U.S. and Western allies bypassed a Soviet land blockade of West Berlin by using this round-the-clock supply method for nearly a year.
What is the Berlin Airlift (or Operation Vittles)?
A policy suggesting that if one country falls to communism, its neighboring countries will also fall.
What is the domino theory?
Film studio heads used this secret practice to prevent actors, writers, and directors suspected of communist sympathies from getting hired.
What is blacklisting?
Nations in Eastern Europe that were officially independent but were actually controlled by the Soviet Union.
What are satellite nations?
The U.S. Senator who launched a wave of anti-Communist accusations in 1950 by claiming to have a list of Communists in the State Department.
Who was Joseph McCarthy?
The U.S. sent troops under a United Nations police action to defend this Asian nation after it was invaded across the 38th parallel in June 1950.
The political, economic, and military predominance or leadership of one nation over others.
What is hegemony?
Senator McCarthy's downfall began in early 1954 when he brought his reckless accusations against this major U.S. institution on live television.
What is the U.S. Army?
The strategic policy of using diplomatic, economic, and militaristic means to keep communism within its existing borders.
What is containment?
The husband-and-wife couple executed in 1953 after being convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.
Who were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg?
Truman described the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan as "two halves of the same" object due to their paired military and economic approach.
What is a walnut?
A war fought to achieve a specific objective rather than causing total destruction of the enemy.
What is a limited war?
In late 1954, the U.S. Senate issued this formal vote of disapproval against Joseph McCarthy, ending his political influence.
What is censure?