HIstory Units 5-7

Satellite Nations

A “buffer zone” of countries under Soviet control

Berlin Airlift

A ten month program that brought relief to the capital of Germany

Jiang Jieshi

The Nationalist Party leader of China

Sputnik

The first artificial satellite launched by the soviet union

HUAC

A Congressional group set up to persecute the Communist Party

Douglas MacArthur

The leader of American forces during the Korean War

Mao Zedong

The communist party leader of China

Hollywood Ten

A group of writers, directors, and actors who refused to answer HUAC’s questions

Containment

a policy of restricting soviet expansion

Thirty eighth parallel

boundary between North and South Korea

Brinkmanship

Military strategy that rested on assured massive retaliation

Joseph McCarthy

A U.S. Senator famous for his overzealous persecution of suspected communists

Truman Doctrine

A policy that the U.S. will help countries stand up to outside forces

Dwight Eisenhower

President elected in 1952 who promised to end the Korean war

United Nations

A post-war international organization

Alger Hiss

State department employee who was accused of being a soviet spy

Marshall Plan

A program to help pay for the rebuilding of Europe

Hydrogen Bond

The result of an arms race with the soviet union that vaporized a small island

Warsaw pact

Soviet response to NATO

A twelve country military alliance

NATO

Jonas Salk

doctor who developed polio vaccine

Harry Truman

president and former commander in chief of the armed forces

Benjamin Spock

pediatrician who wrote a highly influential book on child care

Betty Friedan

Author of the Feminine Mystique

William Levitt

developer of building techniques that allowed rapid construction of suburbs

Richard Nixon

Eisenhower’s vice presidential running mate

Jack Kerouac

Author of On the ROad, considered the leader of the beat generation

Ray Kroc

Entrepreneur who built a nation-wide chain of fast food restaurants

Taft-Harley Act

A legislation that weakened labor unions

conglomerate

giant corporation that invests in a wide range of businesses that produce different goods and services

franchise

the right for a group or individual to market a company’s good and services

Rock and roll

music that grew out of rhythm and blues

baby boom

high birth rate following WWII

GI bill of rights

legislation that gave WWII veterans benefits like college tuition and low-interest loans

beatniks

group of writers and artists who promoted spontaneity

Fair deal

Truman’s program to have the government play an active roll in the economy.

Medicare

Provides hospital and low cost medical insurance to most Americans age 65 and older

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader during the Cuban missile crisis

New frontier

nickname for Kennedy’s proposals

Cuban Missile Crisis

Standoff between U.S. and the Soviet Union that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war

winner of 1960 presidential election

Kennedy

Great society

Nickname for Johnson’s series of legislation and proposals

Fidel Castro

communist leader of cuba

Alan Shepard

first American to travel to space

Miranda rule

guideline for police to inform accused persons of their legal rights

Yuri Gagarin

first human to travel to space

Lee Harvey Oswald

kennedy’s assassin according to the warren commission

Apportionment

the distribution of the seats in a legislature among electoral districts

VISTA

A program to send volunteers into poor communities in the U.S.

Berlin Wall

barrier in the capital of Germany separating the Communist and non-communist sections of the city

Lyndon B Johnson

Kennedy’s vice president

Headstart

A preschool program for children from low-income families

Medicaid

Provides low-cost health insurance coverage for poor Americans of any age

Peace corps

a program that sends U.S. volunteers abroad to help developing nations

Mandate

the public’s endorsement of proposals