Download Unit 8 Vocabulary(2)

Unit 8 - Vocabulary
1. SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) – a series of meetings in the 1970s, in
which leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to limit their nations’
stocks of nuclear weapons.
2. Warsaw Pact - Military alliance of the Soviet Union and satellite states.
3. Satellite State - Weaker country under the control of a stronger country.
4. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) - Military alliance of the United States
and countries in Western Europe.
5. Sputnik - First Soviet satellite in space which launched the space race.
6. Iron Curtain - Winston Churchill’s term for the expansion of Communist control over
Eastern Europe.
7. Berlin Airlift - Supply of West Berlin by American and British planes during a Soviet
blockade in 1948-1949.
8. Containment - A U.S. foreign policy adopted by President Harry Truman in the late
1940s, in which the United States tried to stop the spread of communism by creating
alliances and helping weak countries to resist Soviet advances
9. Truman Doctrine - U.S. policy to assist Turkey and Greece struggling against
communist aggression.
10. Cold War – The state of diplomatic hostility between the United States and the
Soviet Union in the decades following World War II
11. Red Scare - Fear of communists, both outside and within the United States.
12. J. & E. Rosenberg - Americans convicted and executed for passing nuclear
secrets to the Soviets.
13. McCarthyism - Unproven charges of treason, charges of pro-communists activities
against government officials, movie stars, and others.
14. Joseph McCarthy - Senator who led a campaign to root out suspected Communist
from American society.
15. Korean War - United Nations effort to stop the spread of communism into South
Korea
16. Domino Theory - Belief that if one country fell to communism, neighboring
countries would likewise fall.
17. Nikita Khrushchev - Soviet premier during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
18. Bay of Pigs Invasion - Failed invasion of Cuba by a CIA-led force of Cuban exiles.
19. Limited War - War fought only to achieve a specific goal.
20. 38th parallel - Dividing line between North and South Korea
21. Tiananmen Square - A huge public space in Beijing, China; in 1989, the site of a
student uprising in support of democratic reforms.
22. Cuban Missile Crisis - Conflict between the U.S. and the Soviet Union resulting
from the Soviet installation of nuclear missiles in Cuba.
23. United Nations - An international peacekeeping organization founded in 1945 to
provide security to the nations of the world
24. Marshall Plan - A U.S. program of economic aid to European countries to help
them rebuild after World War II
Unit 8 - Vocabulary
25. Terrorism - The unlawful use of force or threats to frighten people or governments
to change their policies, usually for ideological or political reasons (i.e.Taliban, Shining
Path, Red Brigade, Al Qaeda, & Hamas).
26. Partition - A division into parts, like the 1947 division of the British colony of India
into nations of India and Pakistan.
27. Zionism – A movement founded in the 1890s to promote the establishment of a
Jewish homeland in Palestine
28. Glasnost - A Soviet policy of openness to the free flow of ideas and information,
introduced in 1985 by Mikhail Gorbachev.
29. Perestroika - A restructuring of the Soviet economy to permit more local decision
making, begun by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985.
30. Vietcong - South Vietnamese communist rebels that waged a guerrilla war
against the government of South Vietnam throughout the Vietnam War.
*U.S. History Bonus Words*
Warren Commission - Investigation of the assassination of President Kennedy.
De facto segregation - Segregation by custom or tradition
Brown v. Board of Education - Supreme Court Case that results in the ending of
segregated schools
GI Bill of Rights - A law that grants benefits to war veterans.
Silent Springs - Book written by Rachel Carson supporting environmental protection
Peace Corps - American government organization that sends volunteers to provide
technical, educational, and medical services in developing countries.
Medicaid - Federal program created to provide low-cost health insurance to poor
Americans of any age.
Miranda Decision - Supreme Court case that expanded individual rights to American
citizens
Medicare - Federal program created to provide basic hospital insurance to most
Americans over the age of sixty-five.
Interstate Highway Act - Eisenhower’s system of roads connecting cities in the U.S.
New Frontier - Kennedy’s presidential platform with goals to improve the economy,
give aid to the poor, and to breathe a new life in the space program.
Great Society - Johnson’s presidential platform whose goals were to provide aid for
public education, medical care for the elderly, and the elimination of poverty.
Levittown - Housing development in New York that started the first suburban housing
development.