Unit 9: Cold War Flashcards
Baby boomers
a term used to describe a person who was born between 1946 and 1964
Bay of Pigs Invasion
a failed landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro’s Cuban Revolution
Berlin Airlift
a 327-day operation in which U.S. and British planes flew food and supplies into West Berlin after the Soviets blockaded the city in 1948
Berlin Wall
a concrete wall that separated East Berlin and West
Berlin from 1961 to 1989, built by the Communist East German government to prevent its citizens from fleeing to the West
Brinkmanship
the practice of threatening an enemy with massive military retaliation for any aggression
Containment
the blocking of another nation’s attempts to spread its influence—especially the efforts of the
United States to block the spread of Soviet influence
Domino Theory
a theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control
GI Bill
law that provided financial and educational benefits for World War II veterans
Marshall Plan
the program under which the United States supplied economic aid to European nations to help them rebuild after World War II
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
developed as a military alliance to help protect the security of Western Europe
Second Red Scare
was a fear-driven phenomenon brought on by the growing power of communist countries in the wake of the Second World War, particularly the Soviet Union
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
a congressional committee that investigated Communist influence inside and outside the U.S. government in the years following World War II
McCarthyism
the attacks, often unsubstantiated, others on people suspected of being Communists
