History final Flashcards
Question: The 3rd president of the US who led the US through the end of World War 2 and the beginning of the Cold War?
Answer: Harry S. Truman
Question: A country that is dominated politically and economically by another nation?
Answer: Satellite nation
Question: A phrase used by Winston Churchill in 1946 to describe an imaginary line that separated communist countries in the Soviet bloc of Eastern Europe from countries in Western Europe?
Answer: Iron Curtain
Question: The state of hostility without direct military conflict that developed between the US and the Soviet Union after World War 2?
Answer: Cold War
Question: The blocking of another nation’s attempts to spread its influence, especially the effort of the US to block the spread of Soviet influence during the late 1940s and early 1950s?
Answer: Containment
Question: US agency created to gather secret information about foreign governments?
Answer: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Question: A U.S. policy announced by President Harry S. Truman in 1947 of providing economic and military aid to free nations threatened by internal or external opponents?
Answer: Truman Doctrine
Question: The program proposed by Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947 under which the US supplied economic aid to European nations to help them rebuild after World War 2?
Answer: Marshall Plan
Question: A 327-day operation in which the US and British planes flew food and supplies into West Berlin after the Soviets blockaded the city in 1948?
Answer: Berlin Airlift
Question: A defensive military alliance formed in 1949 by Western European countries, the US, and Canada?
Answer: North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Question: Leader of the Chinese Nationalist government and a strong US ally; his government was defeated by the communists in 1949?
Answer: Chiang Kai-shek
Question: Leader of the Chinese communists; he led a successful revolution, established a communist government in China in 1949?
Answer: Mao Zedong
Question: The island about 100 miles from the Chinese mainland where the US helped set up a national government in 1949?
Answer: Taiwan
Question: The line of latitude that divides North and South Korea?
Answer: 38th parallel
Question: A conflict between North Korea and South Korea lasting from 1950 to 1953, in which the US, along with other UN countries, fought on the side of the South Koreans, and China fought on the side of the North Koreans?
Answer: Korean War
Question: A congressional committee created in 1938 that investigated communist influence inside and outside the US government in the years following World War 2?
Answer: House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
Question: 10 witnesses from the film industry who refused to cooperate with HUAC’s investigation of communist influence in Hollywood?
Answer: Hollywood Ten
Question: A list of 500 actors, writers, producers, and directors who were not allowed to work on Hollywood films because of their alleged communist connections?
Answer: Blacklist
Question: Former U.S. government official accused in 1948 of participating in a communist spy ring; he denied the charges but was convicted of perjury in 1950?
Answer: Alger Hiss
Question: American couple executed for conspiracy to commit espionage; members of the Communist Party, they were accused of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union?
Answer: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
Question: US senator from Wisconsin who gained national fame in the late 1940s and early 1950s by aggressively charging that communists were working in the US government; he lost support in 1954 after making baseless attacks on U.S. Army officials?
Answer: Joseph McCarthy
Question: The attacks, often unsubstantiated, by Senator Joseph McCarthy and others on people suspected of being communists in the early 1950s?
Answer: McCarthyism
Question: The hydrogen bomb, a thermonuclear weapon much more powerful than the atomic bomb?
Answer: H-bomb
Question: Competition between nations to gain an advantage in weapons?
Answer: Arms race
Question: 34th president of the US; he faced challenges in many parts of the world during the Cold War?
Answer: Dwight D. Eisenhower
Question: A Cold War military strategy intended to discourage an actual attack by committing to launch a devastating counterattack to any attack?
Answer: Massive retaliation
Question: A Cold War policy to respond to any attack with nuclear force resulting in the total destruction of both parties?
Answer: Mutually assured destruction
Question: Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower; he favored building up the American nuclear arsenal as part of an effort to decrease Soviet influence around the world?
Answer: John Foster Dulles
Question: The practice of threatening an enemy with massive military retaliation for any aggression?
Answer: Brinkmanship
Question: A military alliance formed in 1955 by the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites?
Answer: Warsaw Pact
Question: A US commitment to defend the Middle East against attack by any communist country, announced by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1957?
Answer: Eisenhower Doctrine
Question: Leader of the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin who thought communism could peacefully take over the world; he came into conflict with President Eisenhower during the U-2 incident?
Answer: Nikita Khrushchev
Question: American pilot; his U-2 plane was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1960, causing an international incident?
Answer: Francis Gary Powers
Question: The downing of a US spy plane and capture of its pilot by the Soviet Union in 1960?
Answer: U-2 incident
Question: A group of World War One veterans and their families who marched in Washington D.C. in 1932 to demand the immediate payments of a bonus they had been promised for military service?
Answer: Bonus Army
Question: An agency established in 1932 to provide emergency financing to banks, life insurance companies, railroads, and other large businesses?
Answer: Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Question: A law enacted in 1931 that lowered home mortgage rates and allowed farmers to refinance their loans and avoid foreclosure?
Answer: Federal Home Loan Bank Act
Question: A dam on the Colorado River, now called Hoover Dam, that was built during the Great Depression as part of a public works program intended to stimulate business and provide jobs?
Answer: Boulder Dam
Question: 31st president of the U.S.; as president, he failed to deal effectively with the Great Depression?
Answer: Herbert Hoover
Question: The giving of money and food by the government directly to needy people?
Answer: Direct relief
Question: The region, including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico, that was made worthless for farming by drought and dust storms during the 1930s?
Answer: Dust Bowl
Question: A line of people waiting for free food?
Answer: Bread line
Question: A place where free or low-cost food is served to the needy?
Answer: Soup kitchen
Question: A neighborhood in which people live in makeshift shacks?
Answer: Shantytown
Question: A law enacted in 1930 that established the highest protective tariff in U.S. history, worsening the depression in America and abroad?
Answer: Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act
Question: Lasting from 1929 to 1940, a period in which the U.S. economy was in severe decline and millions of Americans were unemployed?
Answer: Great Depression
Question: The name given to October 29th, 1929, when stock prices fell sharply?
Answer: Black Tuesday
Question: The purchasing of stocks by paying only a small percentage of the price and borrowing the rest?
Answer: Buying on margin
Question: An investment in risky business transactions in an effort to make a quick or large profit?
Answer: Speculation
Question: A measure based on the prices of the stock of 30 large companies, widely used as a barometer of the stock market’s health?
Answer: Dow Jones Industrial Average
Question: American politician who ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 1928 as the Democratic candidate?
Answer: Alfred E. Smith
Question: An arrangement in which a buyer pays later for a purchase, often on an installment plan with interest charges?
Answer: Credit
Question: The maintenance of a price at a certain level through government intervention?
Answer: Price support
Question: A decrease in the general price level of goods and services?
Answer: Deflation
Question: Totalitarian dictator of the Soviet Union who led the Soviet Union through World War II and created a powerful Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe after the war?
Answer: Joseph Stalin
Question: Characteristics of a political system in which the government exercises complete control over its citizens’ lives?
Answer: Totalitarian
Question: Italian fascist leader who ruled as Italy’s dictator for more than 20 years beginning in 1922 and made Italy a totalitarian state?
Answer: Benito Mussolini
Question: A political philosophy that advocates a strong, centralized, nationalistic government headed by a powerful dictator?
Answer: Fascism
Question: Totalitarian dictator of Germany whose invasion of European countries led to World War II. He believed in the supremacy of the German Aryan race and was responsible for the mass murder of millions of Jews and others in the Holocaust?
Answer: Adolf Hitler
Question: The political philosophy based on extreme nationalism, racism, and militaristic expansion that Adolf Hitler put into practice in Germany from 1933 to 1945?
Answer: Nazism
Question: Japanese nationalist and general who took control of Japan during World War II?
Answer: Hideki Tojo
Question: The British Prime Minister at the beginning of World War II who supported the policy of appeasement, allowing Hitler to gain land and power in the 1930s?
Answer: Neville Chamberlain
Question: British Prime Minister during World War II who opposed the policy of appeasement and led Great Britain through World War II?
Answer: Winston Churchill
Question: The granting of concessions to a hostile power in order to keep the peace?
Answer: Appeasement
Question: An agreement in which two nations promised not to go to war with each other?
Answer: Non-aggression pact
Question: From the German word meaning “lightning war,” a sudden mass attack with combined air and ground forces intended to achieve a quick victory?
Answer: Blitzkrieg
Question: The systematic murder or genocide of Jews and other groups in Europe by the Nazis before and during World War II?
Answer: Holocaust
Question: Night of broken glass, a name given to the night of November 9th, 1938, when gangs of Nazi stormtroopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues in Germany?
Answer: Kristallnacht
Question: The deliberate and systematic extermination of a particular racial, nationality, or religious group?
Answer: Genocide
Question: A city section where a certain minority group is pressured or forced to live?
Answer: Ghetto
Question: A prison camp operated by Nazi Germany where Jews and other groups considered to be enemies of Adolf Hitler were starved, while doing slave labor, and were murdered?
Answer: Concentration camp
Question: A series of laws enacted in the 1930s to prevent US arms sales and loans to nations at war?
Answer: Neutrality Acts
Question: The group of nations, including Germany, Italy, and Japan, that opposed the Allies in World War II?
Answer: Axis Powers
Question: A U.S. law passed in 1940 that enacted the nation’s first peacetime military draft?
Answer: Selective Training and Service Act
Question: A law passed in 1941 that allowed the US to ship arms and other supplies, without immediate payment, to nations fighting the Axis powers?
Answer: Lend-Lease Act
Question: In 1941, declaration of principles in which the US and Great Britain set forth their goals in opposing the Axis powers?
Answer: Atlantic Charter
Question: The group of nations, including Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the US, that opposed the Axis powers?
Answer: Allies
Question: American general and politician; he led US mobilization for World War II and helped plan the nation’s war strategy?
Answer: George Marshall
Question: U.S. Army unit created during World War II to enable women to serve in non-combat positions?
Answer: Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC)
Question: An agency established by Congress to control inflation during World War II?
Answer: Office of Price Administration (OPA)
Question: An agency established during World War II to coordinate the production of military supplies by US industries?
Answer: War Production Board (WPB)
Question: A restriction of people’s rights to buy unlimited amounts of particular foods and other goods, often implemented during wartime to ensure adequate supplies for the military?
Answer: Rationing
Question: The US program to develop an atomic bomb for use in World War II?
Answer: Manhattan Project
Question: African American union and civil rights leader; his protest in World War II led President Roosevelt to ban discrimination in government and defense jobs?
Answer: A. Philip Randolph
Question: American civil rights leader and founder of the Congress of Racial Equality; he sought to confront urban segregation in the North?
Answer: James Farmer
Question: An interracial group founded in 1942 by James Farmer to work against segregation in Northern cities?
Answer: Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
Question: Confinement or a restriction in movement, especially under wartime conditions?
Answer: Internment
Question: An organization that pushed the US government to compensate Japanese Americans for property they had lost when interned during World War II?
Answer: Japanese American Citizens League (JACL)
