Key Concepts
This U.S. foreign policy aimed to prevent the expansion of communism beyond its existing borders.
What is Containment?
This president articulated the policy of containment through a 1947 doctrine aimed at aiding Greece & Turkey.
Who is Harry S. Truman?
This leader established the People's Republic of China following a communist victory in 1949.
Who is Mao Zedong?
This U.S. president emphasized reliance on nuclear deterrence and alliances during the 1950s.
Who is Dwight D. Eisenhower?
This congressional committee investigated alleged communist influence in American society.
What is HUAC?
This term refers to the ideological and physical division between democratic Western Europe and communist Eastern Europe.
What is the Iron Curtain?
This economic recovery program provided extensive U.S. financial aid to rebuild Western European economies after WWII.
What is the Marshall Plan?
This Nationalist leader retreated to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War.
Who is Jiang Jieshi?
This Soviet leader promoted "peaceful coexistence" while still engaging in Cold War competition.
Who is Nikita Khrushchev?
This U.S. senator became known for making unsubstantiated claims about communist infiltration.
Who is Joseph R. McCarthy?
This term describes a nation that is formally independent but heavily influenced or controlled by a more powerful country.
What is a Satellite State?
This operation demonstrated U.S. commitment to West Berlin by supplying the city during a Soviet blockade.
What is the Berlin Airlift?
This geographic boundary became the dividing line between communist North Korea and democratic South Korea.
What is the 38th parallel?
This doctrine involved responding to aggression with overwhelming nuclear force.
What is massive retaliation?
This term describes the practice of making accusations of disloyalty without sufficient evidence.
What is McCarthyism?
This period was characterized by widespread fear of communist infiltration within the United States.
What is the Red Scare?
This 1949 alliance united Western nations in a collective security agreement against potential Soviet aggresion.
What is NATO?
This conflict marked the first major military test of the containment policy in Asia.
What is the Korean War?
This strategy involved pushing geopolitical tensions to the brink of war to force concessions.
What is brinkmanship?
This group of film industry professionals was blacklisted after refusing to testify before Congress.
Who are the Hollywood Ten?
This type of conflict involves restricted military objectives and limited engagement to avoid escalation.
What is a limited war?
This alliance, established in 1955, unified Eastern European communist states under Soviet leadership.
What is the Warsaw Pact?
This U.S. general was dismissed after publicly challenging presidential authority and advocating for expansion of the Korean War.
Who is Douglas MacArthur?
This doctrine held that nuclear war would result in total destruction for both sides.
What is mutually assured destruction (MAD)?
This espionage case resulted in the execution of a married couple accused of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.
Who are the Rosenbergs?