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US History II > 1950s and Cold War Era > Flashcards

1950s and Cold War Era Flashcards

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1
Q

At the end of WW2, US is_due to_

A

THE world power_atomic bomb)

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2
Q

How close were Soviets to developing the bomb?

A

Russians are close, kind of; they just lost 50 million in WW2 and Stalin’s Purge

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3
Q

Define Cold War Vs Hot War

A

direct vs indirect; military conflict vs none

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4
Q

What triggers end of Cold War?

A

collapse of Soviet Union on 12/26/91

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5
Q

Strength of nuclear bombs vs atomic?

A

100 times more powerful that those used on Japan

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6
Q

What does MAD stand for?

A

Mutually assured destruction

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7
Q

Phrase used when teaching kids about bomb response?

A

Duck and Cover

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8
Q

What was the “sphere of influence”

A

Division of conquered European countries between Soviet Union and Germany

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9
Q

What happened to “sphere of influence” after WW2?

A

Germany didn’t have any, Russia went ahead with theirs

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10
Q

Russian __ within their sphere

A

suppressed democratic tendencies

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11
Q

What happened to Germany after WW2?

A

Split into quadrants (zones of occupation) between Russia, UK, US, Italy

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12
Q

What happened to Berlin after WW2?

A

Split into quadrants

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13
Q

Plan to handle Germany’s culture after WW2?

A

Plan was to de-nazify the city and country

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14
Q

Soviet response to Allied plan post WW2?

A

Soviets didn’t have same plan

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15
Q

What was the Iron Curtain?

A

In Russia’s part of Germany, they attempted to influence German thinking

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16
Q

Who came up with the Containment Policy?

A

George Kennan

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17
Q

What approach was used before the Containment Policy?

A

ignore or go to war

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18
Q

How did some people feel like we should handle Soviets?

A

a. Nuke the bastards

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19
Q

What was the Containment Policy? Why was it preferred to using nuclear weapons?

A

a. Plan is to simply prevent it from growing, as US knows communism will collapse eventually
b. Although containment led to suffering of millions for 45 years, better than
hundreds of millions of dead

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20
Q

What was the Truman Doctrine?

A

Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces

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21
Q

Who was involved in first test of Truman Doctrine?

A

Greece and Turkey

22
Q

(Truman Doctrine) Who was helping who?

A

Communist rebels in Greece were supported by Soviets, Truman wanted to help Turkey.

23
Q

What did Soviets want with Turkey?

A

Soviets want Turkey’s ports (access to warm water ports), specifically Bosporus.
- Cold water ports freeze in winter and can’t be used

24
Q

How did Truman try to help Turkey?

A

asked congress for $400 million to aid “free people” in Turkey

25
Q

What was the Marshall Plan? Who couldn’t participate?

A
  • Requests economically recovery plan from every struggling country and pledges to give
    money (covertly fight against communism; struggling countries won’t feel need to turn to
    communism)
  • Many European countries take offer and prosper
  • Countries behind Iron Curtain are forbidden from taking money
  • Finland wasn’t too intimidated by USSR
  • $12 Billion given to Europe
  • Next step is to strengthen governments so that they can be resistant to communism
26
Q

What was the Berlin Blockade?

A
  • Allies want to unite Germany, Soviets won’t participate
  • Soviets blockade Berlin
  • Cut off all ground routes to Berlin
  • Some wanted to blast through blockade and nuke Soviets
  • Allies air dropped supplies over blockade (Berlin Airlift)
  • Some Soviets wanted to shoot down planes, but it didn’t happen
  • Soviets allowed air drops to continue for next year
27
Q

What was the communist-controlled part of Germany called?

A

German People’s Democratic Republic

28
Q

What was the Allied-controlled part of Germany called?

A

German Federal Republic

29
Q

Until what year was Germany divided?

A

1989

30
Q

What does NATO stand for?

A

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

31
Q

What was purpose of NATO, and who was involved?

A
  • Mutual military defense alliance
  • Started with 12 countries (now has about 30)
  • First commander was Dwight D Eisenhower
  • US is providing most of the military power at first
  • Used to intimidate Soviets
  • US in position to train and influence other military groups
32
Q

Where did containment succeed?

A
  • Successful; USSR eventually collapse
  • One success in Asia: Japan
  • US stayed and helped to rebuild
33
Q

Where did containment fail?

A

China, Korea

34
Q

What was the Loyalty Check

A
  • Was a background check for all federal employees to make sure that they weren’t a part
    of any “subversive” groups or took part in any questionable activity (like reading a
    commie book)
  • Came up with a list of subversive organizations (many of which were benign e.g., boy
    scouts, pittsburgh art club, etc)
  • Being associated with this list could lead to termination
35
Q

What was HUAC?

A

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

  • Want to start calling witnesses to help spot commie influences
  • Key witness was Whittaker Chambers
  • TIME magazine editor
  • Ex-communist
  • HUAC wanted him to give names of communist party members
  • Whittaker gave names (Like Alger Hiss)
36
Q

Who was Alger Hiss?

A

Former state employee
- Accused of passing info to commies
- Denies accusations
- Called by HUAC as a witness
- Hiss makes HUAC look bad, looks like he may go free
- Just before Hiss gets off, new HUAC member Richard Nixon steps in and
exposes cracks in Hiss’ story
- Whittaker provides 65 pages from CIA and state dept
- Also takes HUAC members to pumpkin field and shows them hollowed
out pumpkin containing microfilm that Hiss supposedly gave Whittaker 10
years prior
- HUAC was able to match typewriter in an old closet to papers written by the
spy…typewriter was Hiss’
- Hiss was beyond 10 year statute of limitations for espionage, but they get him on
perjury

37
Q

Who were The Rosenbergs?

A

Tensions are high after govt employee was discovered to be a spy
- US found that scientist had given nuclear secrets to soviets
- Scientist claims his friends were going to be murdered
- Scientist claimed he gave secrets to David Greenglass
- David Greenglass denies it was him, says it was his sister (Ethel Greenglass
Rosenberg)
- Ethel and her husband are US citizens and also members of communist party
- Charged with espionage
- Called trial of the century
- Public opinion was split 50/50
- Grand jury finds them guilty of treason
- Rosenbergs are executed (electrocution)
- After fall, US obtained info confirming Rosenberg’s guilt

38
Q

Who were the candidates in the election of 1952?

A
  • Truman is out

- D. Adlai Stevenson vs R. Dwight Eisenhower

39
Q

Eisenhower pledged __

A

to keep US out of Korea and clean up mess from democrats

40
Q

Who was Eisenhower’s VP, and what did he do?

A
  • Nixon was VP; was brains behind politics
41
Q

How did Nixon brand the democrats during Eisenhower’s campaign?

A

KC2: “Korea, Communism, Corruption”

42
Q

Eisenhower’s plan

A

Roll back what FDR and Truman were doing

  • Get govt out of business
  • Roll back regulations
43
Q

Details of and fallout from the Tidewater Oil Lands?

A
  • Oil deposits out in the pacific ocean
  • Dispute over who owns is (Texas claims to own waters 10 miles out from coast;
    govts says no)
  • Truman had claimed ownership for govt and even got Supreme Court to support
    decision
  • Eisenhower had decision overturned, gave ownership back to states
  • Oil production goes up due to fewer regulations
44
Q

Brown v. Board of Education 1954

A
  • 13 parents sue school board of education over where kids are going to school
  • Oliver Brown (has daughter in 3rd grade) lives in mostly white neighborhood, but wasn’t
    allowed to attend local school with other blacks
  • Case goes to Kansas Supreme Court, which says they can’t do anything
  • Cite that everything about two schools is equal, but they can’t overturn Supreme
    Court decision
  • 9-0 decision rules that Plessy v Ferguson (separate but equal) was wrong and
    violates 14th amendment
  • Seen as start of civil rights battle in America
45
Q

How did Joseph McCarthy get his start?

A
  • Senator McCarthy capitalized on hysteria
  • Investigated communist activities by Americans
  • Prior to this, hadn’t really done much
  • Had defended Pepsi in some case; subsequently nicknamed “Pepsi Kid”, which
    he hated
  • To get out from Pepsi association, needed new schtick
46
Q

What did McCarth do to divert attention from Pepsi Kid moniker?

A 
Held a press conference and claimed he had a list of 205 names of communists working
for the state dept
- Gets re-elected
- Gets media attention
- Gets power to hold hearings
47
Q

How did McCarthy’s interrogations go?

A

Interrogates one after another, but nothing happens

  • People start sending him names and money to find commies
  • Still no luck
  • Appointed to Government Operations Committee
  • Starts calling govt employees, which creates fear that govt is full of communists
48
Q

Who was David Skeen?

A

McCarthy’s friend who was drafted and didn’t want to go; asked McCarthy to help
him out
- McCarthy send letter to Army and says he needs Skeen
- Army rejects it and claims Skeen is theirs to draft
- McCarthy calls Army to hearings
- Eisenhower comes in and gives McCarthy televised hearings, knowing it would
make him look dumb
- Public sees that McCarthy is insane

49
Q

What was the Montgomery Bus Boycott?

A

Still segregation in bussing system in Montgomery, AL
- System: whites started at front and worked their way back, blacks did the
opposite. Once the two groups in the middle met, blacks would have to move to
the back and give up seats to whites
- Claudette Colvin was the first woman to say it was BS and refuse to move to the
back of the bus
- Why doesn’t she have the recognition? Was 15, pregnant; not good PR
for the movement
- Montgomery Improvement Association
- Heard about Claudette, realized she wasn’t the right face for the
movement
- Asked Rosa Parks to do it; planned the whole event
- Rosa Parks wanted to do this on James Blake’s bus after he had snubbed
her 10 years prior
- Parks was arrested
- Supreme Court ruled in favor of Parks

50
Q

What was the Civil Rights Act of 1957?

A

Mandated inspection of voting records every 2 years to make sure there’s no intimidation
or interference
- Made it illegal for people to intimidate voters
- Created civil rights commission
- Investigates race relations, how it works in politics
- Dwight D Eisenhower thought segregation was archaic and something enemies of US
would do

51
Q

What was the National Defense Education Act, 1958?

A
  • Provides federal money to increase student activities in math and science
  • Prompted by Russian’s winning first round of space race
  • Sputnik was beach ball-sized

US History II (2 decks)

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