Cold War Vocabulary
This term describes the imaginary line dividing communist Eastern Europe and democratic Western Europe.
Iron Curtain
The international organization was created in 1945 to maintain peace after World War II.
United Nations
In June 1950, this country invaded South Korea, starting the Korean War.
North Korea
The first artificial satellite was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, shocking Americans and starting the Space Race.
Sputnik
What period of rapid economic growth hit the United States after both World Wars?
Economic Boom
90% of American households had this device by the end of the 1950s.
TV or Television
What 1949 military alliance was formed between the U.S., Canada, and Western European countries to stop the spread of communism?
NATO
A senator who claimed in 1950 that he had a list of communists working in the U.S. government.
Joseph McCarthy
The U.S. policy was designed to stop the spread of communism to other countries.
Containment
In 1948–1949, the U.S. and Britain flew supplies into West Berlin after Stalin blocked land access.
Berlin Airlift
The international organization that the United States turned to for help in the Korean War.
United Nations
This U.S. government agency was created in 1958 to lead American space exploration and compete with the Soviet Union.
NASA
What generation was born between 1946 and 1964?
Baby Boomers or Boomers
From what style of music did Rock and Roll originate?
Rythem and Blues
What military alliance did the Soviet Union create in 1955 to counter NATO?
Warsaw Pact
This 1950s investigation committee questioned Americans suspected of having communist ties.
House of Un-American Activities (HUAC)
A strategy of pushing situations to the brink of war to force the other side to back down.
Brinkmanship
The U.S. economic aid program designed to rebuild Western Europe and stop communism.
Marshall Plan
The 1953 agreement that ended the fighting in the Korean War without a peace treaty.
The Armistice
The Soviets were the first to develop this kind of weapon capable of reaching enemies across continents.
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBMs)
What are the communities outside cities where millions of Americans moved during the 1950s?
Suburbs
This type of TV show promoted ideal families and conformity.
Sitcoms
A policy was announced in 1947 promising U.S. support to countries resisting communism. What was the name of that policy?
The Truman Doctrine
A married couple accused of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.
Julius and Ethel Rosenburg
The belief that if one country fell to communism, neighboring countries would also fall.
Domino Theory
The year when the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb, escalating the arms race.
1949
The line dividing North and South Korea after World War II.
The 38th Parallel
This country was able to launch the first man into space in 1961.
The Soviet Union
In 1956, what law created 41,000 miles of highways across the United States?
Interstate-Highway Act
What DJ host popularized Rock and Roll in the 1950s?
Alan Freed
This Cold War strategy promised the U.S. would respond to aggression with overwhelming military force.
Massive Retaliation
What organization did Joseph McCarthy accuse of having communists within its ranks in 1954?
US Army
A nuclear strategy where both sides have enough weapons to destroy each other, preventing either from starting a war.
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)
The communist leader who established the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
Mao Zedong
The Chinese river where U.S. forces encountered hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers.
The Yalu River
By the end of the Apollo program in the late 1960s and early 1970s, many American astronauts had successfully walked on the Moon.
12
In the 1950s, what ideal family structure had a working father, a homemaker mother, and children?
Nuclear Family
What type of fear did Americans live with during the Cold War, that nuclear war could break out at any moment?
Nuclear Anxiety
This Cold War competition between the U.S. and USSR focused on building larger and more powerful nuclear weapons.
Arms Race
Many Hollywood writers, actors, and directors were denied jobs because they were suspected of having communist ties.
Hollywood Blacklist