Unit 2

Question 1

Arms Race

Answer 1

A military build-up where both sides increase their weapons quickly, in an effort to have more power than the other. The United States and the Soviet Union engaged in an arms race for most of the Cold War that cost both nations billions of dollars in defense spending.

Question 2

Berlin Aircraft

Answer 2

A response to the closing of supply routes to Berlin, Germany. The Soviet Union hoped to force Allied Powers out of West Berlin with this blockade. President Truman arranged for supplies to be taken to West Berlin by Allied airplanes.

Question 3

Berlin Wall

Answer 3

A large cement wall that separated the city of West Berlin from the rest of East Germany. It was built by the East German government, which was under Communist control.

Question 4

Central Intelligence Agency

Answer 4

An agency of the federal government whose purpose is to gather information about foreign governments, businesses, and individuals to help the U.S. government make foreign policy decisions.

Question 5

Cold War

Answer 5

The political conflict and military tension between the Soviet Union and the Western powers, especially the United States. It was called the “Cold War” because actual war between the two countries never broke out. It lasted from the end of World War II until the government of the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991.

Question 6

Communism

Answer 6

A system of government in which the government controls production. All property is supposed to be shared by everyone. Communism was the form of government in the Soviet Union during the Cold War and continues to be the form of government in China, Laos, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba.

Question 7

Containment

Answer 7

Part of the U.S. foreign policy intended to slow the spread of Communism from the Soviet Union. The policy called for using military force if necessary.

Question 8

Domino Theory

Answer 8

The belief that if one country in a region fell to Communism, then other nearby nations would fall to Communism as well. The Eisenhower administration and other presidents would base their foreign policy around this idea.

Question 9

Eastern Bloc

Answer 9

A military, political, and economic grouping of nations under the leadership of the Soviet Union. It included the Communist governments in Eastern Europe controlled by the Soviets along with other Soviet-friendly nations around the world.

Question 10

Fidel Castro

Answer 10

(1926 – ) The Communist leader of Cuba from 1959 until 2008, when he turned power over to his brother.

Question 11

George Kennan

Answer 11

(1904 – 2005) A diplomat and political scientist who was a leader in establishing the United States’ plans for dealing with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Question 12

Hard Power

Answer 12

The ability to use military might to influence another country’s behavior.

Question 13

Hydrogen Bomb

Answer 13

A bomb that gets enormous power from nuclear energy. It is more powerful than an atomic bomb and uses a different process to release energy in the form of an explosion.

Question 14

John F. Kennedy

Answer 14

(1917 – 1963) The 35th president of the United States. He suggested laws that would make major social changes and advances in civil rights. He was assassinated, or murdered, in November 1963.

Question 15

Korean War

Answer 15

A military conflict between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). South Korea was supported by United Nations countries, including the United States. North Korea was supported by the Communist governments of China and the Soviet Union. The war lasted from 1950 to 1953 and ended without a clear winner.

Question 16

Mao Zedong

Answer 16

(1893 – 1976) The leader of the Communist Party in China and the ruler of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976. His style of Communism is called Maoism.

Question 17

Marshall Plan

Answer 17

A U.S. program to give economic aid to the free and democratic countries of Europe following World War II.

Question 18

Molotov Plan

Answer 18

The Soviet plan for aid to Eastern Europe, created in response to the United States’ Marshall Plan.

Question 19

National Security Council

Answer 19

An agency created in 1947 for giving the president information and suggestions about foreign policy and national security.

Question 20

National Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Answer 20

Formed in 1949 by a number of European countries and the United States. Its purpose was for defense against possible military action by the Soviet Union.

Question 21

Space Race

Answer 21

A competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to explore outer space. It included putting men into space and landing on the moon.

Question 22

Sputnik

Answer 22

A satellite, or man-made object that was designed to circle the Earth. The Soviet Union sent Sputnik into space in 1957, making it the first object put into space successfully.

Question 23

Truman Doctrine

Answer 23

The U.S. policy for dealing with the Soviet Union, as stated by President Truman in a speech in 1947. That policy was to slow the Soviet Union’s spread of Communism, which Truman believed put the United States and other democracies in danger.

Question 24

Warsaw Pact

Answer 24

A treaty signed by eight Communist countries in Europe as a response to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Question 25

Western Bloc

Answer 25

A military, political, and economic grouping of nations under the leadership of the United States. It included the democratic, capitalist nations of North America and Western Europe along with other anti-Communist nations around the world.

Question 26

Blacklisting

Answer 26

The practice of not allowing certain people rights, privileges, or services for one reason or another. In the United States, this term usually refers to writers and actors who were suspected of having ties with the Communist Party in the late 1940s.

Question 27

Brown vs. Board of Education

Answer 27

The 1954 Supreme Court decision that said separate schools for blacks and whites was not constitutional.

Question 28

Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA)

Answer 28

A political party that advances the ideas of Communism, a type of society and government in which all property is owned and controlled by the state, in the name of the people.

Question 29

Earl Warren

Answer 29

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1953 until 1969. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, he was a very popular liberal governor from California.

Question 30

Fair Deal

Answer 30

The name given to the social and economic programs of President Harry Truman. It called for increased spending for jobs and health care, and set rules about pay for workers.

Question 31

Gideon vs. Wainwright

Answer 31

The 1963 Supreme Court decision that said the Sixth Amendment required courts to provide a lawyer for a person who was on trial if he or she could not pay for one.

Question 32

Hollywood Ten

Answer 32

Ten people in the movie industry who refused to answer questions from the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The questions were about their ties to the Communist Party. As a result, these people were blacklisted and not allowed to work in Hollywood again.

Question 33

HUAC

Answer 33

The House Un-American Activities Committee, formed in 1938 to look into possible Communist activities. Many people were blacklisted or charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to answer the committee’s questions. The committee often charged these people with anti-American activities, even when there was no proof.

Question 34

McCarthyism

Answer 34

The practice of charging people with not being loyal to the United States. The name comes from a time when Americans were afraid of Communism, and Senator Joseph McCarthy made these charges against people without proof.

Question 35

Miranda vs. Arizona

Answer 35

A 1966 Supreme Court decision that said police must tell a person under arrest about his or her Fifth Amendment rights. The Fifth Amendment says a person does not have to testify, or be a witness, against himself or herself.

Question 36

Richard Nixon

Answer 36

(1913 – 1994) The 37th president of the United States. He resigned, or quit, in 1974 because of the Watergate scandal. He ended U.S. involvement in Vietnam and started relations with China.

Question 37

Second Red Scare

Answer 37

The fear of Communists infiltrating American society and government following World War II. Also known as “McCarthyism” after Senator Joseph McCarthy who made many unfounded charges of Communist activity.

Question 38

Smith Act

Answer 38

A law passed in 1940 that made it illegal for any American to support the overthrow of the government or to belong to a group that worked for that goal.

Question 39

A. Philip Randolph

Answer 39

(1889 —1979) Randolph was the head of the nation’s best known black labor union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping-Car Porters. He was widely respected by white political leaders, particularly liberals.

Question 40

Congress of Racial Equality

Answer 40

A civil rights organization that was formed in 1942. It was involved in the March on Washington and the freedom rides in the early 1960s.

Question 41

Freedom Rides

Answer 41

Bus trips taken by civil rights activists to Southern states to make sure buses and bus stations were not segregated.

Question 42

George Wallace

Answer 42

(1919 – 1998) The governor of Alabama in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He is best known for his support of segregation, or separation of the races, in the South.

Question 43

“I have a dream” speech

Answer 43

A famous public speech given by Martin Luther King Jr. on August 28, 1963, in Washington, D.C. The speech called for equality between the races and an end to discrimination, or treating people of color differently.

Question 44

Integrate

Answer 44

Change from a system that kept blacks and whites apart into a system where all people were treated the same.

Question 45

Jackie Robinson

Answer 45

(1919 — 1972) The first African American major league baseball player. Robinson was a popular sports figure who focused on his playing rather than on race relations.

Question 46

March on Washington (1963)

Answer 46

A 1963 civil rights march of over 200,000 people to show support for civil rights advances. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I have a dream” speech here. The March on Washington is given credit for helping to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Question 47

Martin Luther King Jr.

Answer 47

(1929 – 1968) An African American leader during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. He helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957. His work led to the March on Washington, where he delivered his “I have a dream” speech. He was assassinated, or murdered, in 1968.

Question 48

Montgomery Bus Boycott

Answer 48

A 1955 boycott of, or refusal to use, public transportation in Montgomery, Alabama. It was started by Rosa Parks, who refused to give her seat to a white man as required by state law. Her arrest led to the boycott, which lasted more than a year and ended the segregation of Alabama buses.

Question 49

NAACP-LDF

Answer 49

The Legal Defense Fund, started by the NAACP to provide legal aid to African Americans and to civil rights workers.

Question 50

Rosa Parks

Answer 50

(1913 – 2005) An African American woman whose arrest for refusing to give her bus seat to a white person set off the Montgomery bus boycott.

Question 51

SCLC

Answer 51

Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an American civil rights organization closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr.

Question 52

Sit-in

Answer 52

A form of nonviolent protest in which people bring attention to a social or political issue by occupying an area and refusing to leave until demands are met.
Example: In the early 1960s, large groups of African American students sat at lunch counters where African Americans had been refused service. They hoped that the attention would force the owners to change their policies.

Question 53

SNCC

Answer 53

Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the major organizations in the civil rights movement of the 1960s. It played a major role in sit-ins, freedom rides, and the March on Washington.

Question 54

Thurgood Marshall

Answer 54

(1908 – 1993) The first African American to serve on the Supreme Court. As a young lawyer, he successfully argued the case Brown v. Board of Education, which opened all schools to all races.

Question 55

Baby Boom

Answer 55

A period of time when the birthrate is high. In the United States, this term usually refers to the period between 1946 and 1964, when there was a huge increase in the number of children born.

Question 56

Beat Generation

Answer 56

A group of writers and artists who developed a cultural philosophy, or way of thinking, in the 1950s. In general, this philosophy supported behavior that was against popular American values.

Question 57

G.I. Bill

Answer 57

A law passed in 1944 to provide federal financial aid to military veterans for obtaining health care, buying homes, or going to college or some other kind of training program.

Question 58

Nuclear Family

Answer 58

A household made up of a mother, father, and their children.

Question 59

Suburbanization

Answer 59

The growth of populated areas on the edges of cities.

Question 60

Sunbelt

Answer 60

The region across the southern United States that has long summers and mild, or gentle, winters. Many businesses and people moved to the Sunbelt from the 1950s through 1970s.

Question 61

White Flight

Answer 61

The movement of white people out of neighborhoods when minorities such as African Americans or Hispanics move in.