Primary Sources
“The main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies… The United States has it in its power to increase enormously the strains under which Soviet policy must operate.”
— George F. Kennan, “Long Telegram” / “X Article,” 1946–1947
This document helped shape this U.S. policy of limiting the spread of communism after World War II.
What is Containment?
The political and economic system practiced by the Soviet Union, based on government control of industry and one-party rule.
What is Communism?
This U.S. senator from Wisconsin became the most famous face of anti-communist investigations in the 1950s., accusing hundred of State Department officials of being communists without evidence.
Who is Joseph McCarthy?
This 1950–1953 war was the first armed conflict of the Cold War, where U.S. and UN forces fought communist forces in Asia.
What is the Korean War?
President Eisenhower negotiated an armistice just months into his presidency, effectively ending the Korean War in 1953, with this dividing line separating the two Koreas to this day.
What is the 38th Parallel?
This speech marked the beginning of the United States’ policy of containment and led to American aid to Greece and Turkey to prevent the spread of communism.
“I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."
What is the Truman Doctrine
The Cold War began when the Soviet Union forcefully imposed communist governments in Eastern European countries, such as Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, turning these countries into these states.
(hint: The word describes objects in space that orbit larger objects.)
What are satellite states?
In 1947, this congressional committee held widely publicized hearings investigating communist influence in Hollywood.
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)?
In 1961, this failed U.S.-backed invasion of Cuba aimed to overthrow Fidel Castro.
What is the Bay of Pigs invasion?
In 1956, President Eisenhower averted a major international crisis when he prevented Britain, France, and Israel from invading Soviet-aligned Egypt after it nationalized this Middle Eastern waterway that links Europe with Asia.
What is the Suez Canal?
Congress passed this economic aid program to Europe after World War II in response to this speech given in 1947:
“Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.”
What is the Marshall Plan
This Soviet-led military alliance was created in response to NATO and formalized the division of Europe during the Cold War.
What is the Warsaw Pact?
This practice during the 1940s–1950s barred suspected communists or sympathizers from working in Hollywood, entertainment, and other industries.
What is blacklisting?
In 1962, the discovery of Soviet nuclear weapons on an island just 90 miles from Florida sparked a 13-day nuclear standoff, known as this.
What is the Cuban Missile Crisis?
This 1960 incident, in which a U.S. spy plane was shot down over the USSR, worsened Cold War tensions.
What is the U-2 incident?
This collective security organization founded in 1949 was America's first permanent military alliance.
“The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all; and consequently they agree that… each of them will assist the Party or Parties so attacked.”
What is NATO?
The Soviets shocked America- and the world- when they tested this in 1949, after learning the secrets of its construction from spying on the U.S.
What is the atomic bomb?
This former U.S. State Department official was accused of being a Soviet spy (or a "snake") and convicted of perjury in 1950. Speaking of snakes, his last name is the sound a snake makes.
Who is Alger Hiss?
He led Communist forces to victory in a 1949 civil war, establishing the Peoples Republic of China, and supported North Korea in its invasion of South Korea.
Who is Mao?
President Eisenhower refused to militarily intervene in this 1956 uprising in a Soviet satellite country that was crushed by Soviet tanks, shocking the West.
What is the Hungarian Revolution?
“For nearly eleven months, the people of Berlin have been sustained entirely by air. Aircraft of the United States and Great Britain have delivered food, fuel, and other necessities to a city cut off by Soviet forces.”
— U.S. government report, 1949
Truman's response to this blockade involved dropping supplies, in what became known as this.
What is the Berlin Airlift
The name of the first man-made satellite ever launched into space by the Soviets in 1957.
What is Sputnik?
This married couple was executed in 1953 for allegedly passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.
Who are Julius and Ethel Rosenberg?
This village on the Korean Demilitarized Zone became the site of armistice talks that ended active fighting in the Korean War in 1953.
What is Panmunjom?
This 1963 treaty proposed by President Kennedy, signed by the U.S., USSR, and UK, banned nuclear tests in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water.
What is the nuclear test ban treaty?