COLD WAR VOCABULARY

COLD WAR

• a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular.

IRON CURTAIN

• the notional barrier separating the former Soviet bloc and the West prior to
• the decline of communism that followed the political events in eastern Europe in 1989.

TRUMAN DOCTRIN

• President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any
• country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology

MARSHALL PLAN

• a United States program of economic aid for the
• reconstruction of Europe (1948-1952); named after George Marshall

BERLIN AIRLIFT

• airlift in 1948 that supplied food and fuel to citizens of west
• Berlin when the Russians closed off land access to Berlin

CONTAINMENT POLICY

• Containment was a United States policy to prevent the spread of
• communism abroad.

KOREAN WAR

• a war between North and South Korea; South Korea was aided by the
• United States and other members of the United Nations; 1950-1953

SPUTNIK

• each of a series of Soviet artificial satellites, the first of which
• (launched on October 4, 1957) was the first satellite to be placed in orbit.

ROSENBERG TRIAL

• Julius Rosenberg and Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg were United States
• citizens convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage during a time of
• war, and executed.

VENONA PAPERS

• The Venona project was a counter-intelligence program initiated by the
• United States Army Signal Intelligence Service that lasted from 1943 to 1980.

"McCARTHYISM"

• a vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the US
• US government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy
• in the period 1950–54.

HOUSE UN-AMERICA ACTIVITIES COMMITEE

• The House Committee on Un-American Activities was an investigative
• committee of the United States House of Representatives.

DOMINO THEORY

• the theory that a political event in one country will cause similar events
• in neighboring countries, like a falling domino causing an entire row of
• upended dominoes to fall.

SUBVERSIVES

• seeking or intended to subvert an established system or institution.