Period 8 Flashcards
Longtime dictator of the Soviet Union. After Lenin’s 1924 death, consolidated power and eliminated rivals, ruling with an iron fist until his own death on March 5, 1953. Favored centralization and collectivization. Purged millions through man-made famine, imprisonment in gulags, and executions. After his death, Nikita Khrushchev denounced his actions and cult of personality, and he undertook steps to reform the Soviet system.
Joseph Stalin
A metaphor for the dividing line between the West and the Soviet Union. Coined by Winston Churchill in a March 1946 speech delivered in Fulton, Missouri.
Iron curtain
Thirty-third President. Served 1945–1953. Desegregated the U.S. military. Help found the United Nations and pushed for the Marshall Plan. Reformed U.S. foreign policy toward internationalism, with a focus on containment of communism. Oversaw early Cold War conflicts, like the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War. Ordered the use of atomic weapons on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Narrowly won reelection in a 1952 upset.
Harry S. Truman
Former Army Chief of Staff (1939–1945). Secretary of State (1947–1949) and Secretary of Defense (1950–1951) under Truman. A five-star general, he is credited with the Marshall Plan, a foreign aid package that helped Western Europe rebuild after World War II.
George Marshall
A program proposed by George Marshall in 1947. Supplied $13 billion to Western Europe, enabling its postwar economic boom and ending the threat of mass starvation.
Marshall Plan
A major crisis in the early Cold War. From June 1948 to May 1949, the Soviet Union blockaded the West’s land access to Berlin. President Truman responded by airlifting in supplies around the clock, putting the onus for starting WWIII on the Soviets.
Berlin Airlift
A military alliance formed by the Western Allies of World War II to deter Soviet aggression. It guarantees collective defense under the rule that an attack on one member is an attack on all members.
NATO
A landmark 1947 act that restructured the U.S. government’s military and national security agencies. Established the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and an independent U.S. Air Force.
National Security Act
Formerly known as the War Department, it was reorganized by the National Security Act of 1947. A cabinet-level office. Military officers are forbidden from serving as the Secretary of Defense until seven years after their retirement, barring a waiver from Congress, in order to ensure civilian control over the military.
Department of Defense
It coordinates national security and foreign policy among multiple agencies and departments. It also advises the President. Its membership includes the Secretaries of Defense, Energy, and State; the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and other advisors.
National Security Council
Foreign intelligence service founded in 1947. It is the successor of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). In the mid 1970s, the Church Committee investigated the it for a string of abuses; as a result, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence was formed to oversee it.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Chinese communist revolutionary. Founding father of the People’s Republic of China, which he ruled until his death in 1976. Defeated the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War. His rapid industrialization program, the Great Leap Forward, killed millions from famine. From 1966 to 1976, the Cultural Revolution, which sought to reimpose his ideology on China and purge dissident thought, killed between five and ten million people, causing major social disruption in the process.
Mao Tse-Tung
Nicknamed “the Forgotten War.” De facto ran from June 1950 to July 1953, but the lack of a formal peace treaty means it is still technically ongoing. Principally a war fought between North and South Korea, with the North backed by the People’s Republic of China and the South backed by a U.N. coalition. Despite wild swings in fortune by both sides throughout the war, it ultimately ended in a stalemate. Borders were fixed at the prewar status quo.
Korean War
An American five-star general. He played a major role in the Pacific front of World War II. Oversaw the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951. Led the United Nation forces in the Korean War, most famously at the Inchon Landing.
Douglas MacArthur
Lasted from 1947 to 1956. A period of social anxiety and paranoia concerned with communist infiltration throughout society. Driven by events such as the Rosenbergs’ trial, the Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe, and the victory of Mao’s Communists in the Chinese Civil War.
Second Red Scare
A House committee founded in 1938 to root out alleged subversives. Associated with the Hollywood blacklist of the Second Red Scare, as well as Alger Hiss. Disbanded in 1975; its duties are handled by the House Judiciary Committee.
House Un-American Activities Committee
Thirty-seventh President. Served 1969–1974. Vice President under Eisenhower. A noted anticommunist, he narrowly lost the 1960 election to JFK. Domestically, he accepted the Great Society programs. Internationally, he pursued a policy of détente and realpolitik, most famously establishing relations with the People’s Republic of China in order to counterbalance the Soviet Union. He also escalated the Vietnam War, secretly bombed Cambodia, and sponsored a coup in Chile. Only U.S. president to resign, doing so over the Watergate scandal.
Richard M. Nixon
A couple executed for espionage. Their 1951 trial was a press spectacle. Declassified Soviet archives later proved the couple had, in fact, been spies.
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Senator from Wisconsin (1947–1957). The face of the Second Red Scare, his baseless accusations and dramatic flare attracted major media attention. After the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings exposed him doctoring evidence, public opinion swung against him.
Joseph McCarthy
Thirty-fourth President. Served 1953–1961. A former five-star general, he acted as Supreme Commander of the Western Allies in Europe. He oversaw the invasion of North Africa and the Normandy landings. A moderate conservative, preserved the New Deal programs and established NASA. His signature achievement is the Interstate Highway System. In terms of foreign policy, he ended the Korean War, began American involvement in Vietnam, and directed the overthrow of democratic governments in Iran and Guatemala.
Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower
The practice of achieving a goal by escalating events to one step shy of open conflict in order to force a rival party to knuckle under for fear of catastrophe. A common tactic in the Cold War period.
Brinksmanship
A defense strategy pursued by President Eisenhower for budgetary reasons, due to the financial burden of maintaining conventional forces alongside nuclear arms. Rather than fight a conventional war, the U.S. pledged to use nuclear weapons against any nation that attacked it. Criticized as too aggressive. Abandoned by the Kennedy administration for the policy of flexible response, which resumed investment in conventional forces.
Massive retaliation
A waterway linking the Mediterranean and Red Seas. A vital economic and military choke point. The British Empire gained control of it in 1882. Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized it in 1956. In retaliation, Britain, France, and Israel invaded. However, Eisenhower did not support them, so the alliance was forced to return the canal to Egypt.
Suez Canal
Leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964. Domestically, his tenure was marked by an easing of Stalin era political and cultural restrictions. Internationally, his efforts at warming relations with the West often ran afoul of his own flare for drama and a tendency to gamble on long odds. Following his loss of face in the Cuban Missile Crisis, he was removed by conservative elements in the Kremlin and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev.
Nikita Khrushchev
