Final Flashcards
Yalta Conference
Feb. 1945.-the big three, Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin; laid groundwork for United Nations; four nations plan to divide Germany & Berlin based on occupation between US, Britain, France, and Russia
Truman
Takes over after FDR has a stroke and dies; gets ‘tough’; doesn’t like Soviets and Stalin
United Nations
1945; Soviet Union, Britain, France, US, China; act as a security council; made of 50 nations
Potsdam Conference
Agree to division of Germany
Eastern Europe
Soviet troops have occupied after war time; “iron curtain”; people trapped in East Berlin
Iron Curtain
Winston Churchill said an Iron Curtain divided Europe
Truman Doctrine
policy-”to support free peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures;” U.S. afraid of the spread of communism; want to help Greece and Turkey
Marshall Plan
U.S. Sec. of State George Marshall-plan for economic recovery offered to all of Europe; completely heals Western Europe; Societs and Eastern Europe rejects this
The Containment Theory
theory about containing communism; glass over a spider
Expansion of Selective Service
to maintain near wartime levels.
Divided Germany
Germany was divided into four zones, as was Berlin, but the U.S., French, and British eventually combined their zones; East and West Germany
Federal Republic of West Germany
The good half
German Democratic Republic
neither a democracy or a republic; Soviet Union owned
Berlin Airlift
Soviet Union cuts off supplies to West Berlin; Truman starts sending supplies by plane; Soviets let up; big power move
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Twelve nations signed including the U.S., Canada, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Italy, and Portugal; if Soviets become militarily aggressive, this kicks in
Japan
Douglas MacArthur looks over Japan during occupation
China
ready to go to war; US supported Chiang Kai-Shek vs Mao Zedong; Mao wins, communist
Mao Zedong
The communist in China
Chiang Kai-Shek
US supported guy in China
1949
Soviets tested their first atomic bomb, nuclear arms race begins, China became Communist.
Peoples Republic of China
Communist China; not in league with Soviets
NSC
National Security Council Report issued in 1950.
Korean War
N. Korea invades S. Korea; US seeks UN approval for military action; UN agrees, action led by the US; North Korea is communist and wants all Korea communist
Lin Shan Invasion
cuts off North Korean armies; drive the armies back up, originally wanted to maintain border but MacArthur wants to take whole country; China comes in and says lol no
Truman-MacArthur Controversy
MacArthur wants to drop bombs and is denied; he starts bad mouthing Truman, insults him publically, President tells him to quit; fires him when he does not quit.
GI Bill
Allows soldiers to get a college education and integrate into the workforce
Truman’s “Fair Deal”
wants to increase social security, raise minimum wage, national health insurance, and try to get civil rights; fails
Election 1948
More Truman
Election of 1952
Eisenhower wins; wins again 1956
AFL-CIO
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations merged back together in Dec. 1955 after a 20 year disagreement. George Meany
Vaccines
flu, polio, yellow fever, influenza; provided free to the public in 1955, by 1960 it was issued in a sugar cube.
DDT
used to protect crops and people from disease carrying insects, it was widely used in WWII, only later were its dangerous long-term effects discovered
UNIVAC
the first universal automatic computer, 1950s, to take census information
Television
by 1957 over 40 million sets in use, almost as many as there were families