| A | B |
|---|
| United Nations | Big 3 decided at Yalta Conference in 1945 to create an international body to replace the failed League of Nations. 50 nations came to organize. 2 parts: General Assembly rep. from every member nation and Security Council |
| Security Council | second part of U.N.; responsible for peace-keeping; 5 permanent members (US, England, France, China, Russia) – have right to veto decisions to use UN military force |
| Iron Curtain | separation (a wall based on ideas) between Democratic nations of the West and Communist nations of the East |
| containment | Truman’s policy of blocking communist expansion |
| Truman Doctrine | the financial support of free peoples to resist Communist takeovers |
| Marshall Plan | June 1947, $13 billion of aid from U.S. to Europe to rebuild cities, railroads, etc. and help regain economic prosperity |
| Berlin Airlift | 1948, Stalin ordered blockade of West Berlin trying to force out Western support. Huge cargo planes flew in food, medicine, supplies. In 1949 Soviets gave up on blockade. |
| NATO | North Atlantic Treaty Organization; a military alliance to guard against Soviet attacks. |
| Eisenhower Doctrine | 1957, a plan to help Middle East nations resist Communism; helped Lebanon and Jordon in 1958 by sending troops/arms. |
| Bay of Pigs Invasion | CIA plan under President Kennedy – got Cuban rebels to land on Cuban in hopes of getting help from the Cuban people to liberate their island. Disaster! |
| Cuban Missile Crisis | nuclear buildup in Cuba, October 1962. We blockaded missile shipments from the Soviet Union and demanded Khrushchev remove missiles from island. At the last minute he agreed and turned his ships around. |
| capitalist | one who believes an economic system of private ownership of farms, factories, businesses, etc. |
| Communism | a system in which property is owned by the society as a whole, instead of by individuals |
| superpower | a nation capable of influencing acts and policies of other nations |
| space race | the launching of the first satellite into space, Sputnik I, caused fear that the Soviets were technologically advanced and could soon launch missiles at American cities. A race ensued between Soviet Union and the U.S. to create more and better nuclear weapons and develop space technology. |
| Détente | relaxing of tensions between nations |
| Domino Theory | name of the belief held by Eisenhower and others that the fall of South Vietnam would lead to communist control of all of Southeast Asia |
| Joseph Stalin | died in 1953, dictator in Russia through World War II, killed millions of his own people through famine. |
| Harry Truman | U.S. president at the end of World War II, made the decision to use the atom bomb; an unpresuming man who was not afraid of speaking the truth. |
| Cold War | the struggle for power between Communist and non-Communist (or capitalist) nations |
| George Marshall | general who created the Marshall Plan to help Europe, was Joint Chief of Staff during World War II, an honorable man. |
| Dwight Eisenhower | reformer leader of all allies, as well as D-Day invasion; became president of U.S. after World War II. |
| Nikita Khrushchev | began ruling Soviet Union in 1953. Spoke of “peaceful co-existence” even as he acted otherwise. |
| Berlin Wall | physical wall built in 1961 around the communist sector of East Berlin, in order to keep people from escaping to West Berlin; separating families and loved ones for 40 years. |
