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10 The Cold War Cont
Terms from US History Since 1877
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Sputnik | In 1957, Soviets launched the first man-made satellite escalating tensions and resulting in a competition between the USSR and the USA to make more powerful rockets, advancing both weapons and exploration |
| Space Race | In 1957, the Soviets successfully launched the first satellite into space. This led to more federal spending by the U.S. government in science education. The United States was the first to land a man on the moon. |
| Arms Race | In 1949 the Soviet Union developed their own atomic weapon, this led to a race between the United States and the Soviet Union as to who could develop more powerful weapons. |
| Mutually Assured Destruction | A doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender, discouraged either side from using nuclear weapons. |
| Brinkmanship | the willingness to go to the brink of war to force an opponent to back down |
| John F. Kennedy | President of the US during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis, mixed success with Civil Rights legislation, assassinated in November of 1963 |
| New Frontier | This was the name for Kennedy's domestic and foreign program to expand social programs, end poverty and initiate the Peace Corps. |
| Fidel Castro | Communist dictator of Cuba who came into power in 1959. |
| Bay of Pigs | An unsuccessful invasion of Cuba in 1961, which was sponsored by the United States. Its purpose was to overthrow Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. |
| Berlin Wall | A wall separating East and West Berlin built by East Germany in 1961 to keep citizens from escaping to the West |
| Cuban Missile Crisis | This event is considered the high point of nuclear tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union when the Soviet Union installed nuclear missiles in a country very close to the United States. |
| Domino Theory | The belief that if one country becomes Communist it threatens the freedom of neighboring countries. |
| Vietnam War | The US supported the South Vietnamese in this conflict against the Vietcong ending with the South falling to communist North Vietnam |
| Ho Chi Minh | Communist leader of North Vietnam |
| Ngo Dinh Diem | American ally in South Vietnam from 1954 to 1963; his repressive regime caused the Communist Viet Cong to thrive in the South and required increasing American military aid to stop a Communist takeover. he was killed in a coup in 1963. |
| Lyndon B. Johnson | Assumed the presidency after the assassination of Kennedy, aggressive domestic policy agenda in the Great Society, supporter of civil rights legislation, legacy was tarnished by the escalation of the Vietnam War |
| Gulf of Tonkin Resolution | This policy allowed President Johnson to defend U.S. forces by whatever means necessary giving the executive branch freedom to escalate hostilities without Congressional approval. |
| Draft | Many young people opposed this policy by burning documents, protesting, and fleeing to Canada. |
| Anti War | Student protests on college campuses became more radical as the war escalated. Examples such as Kent State and the Weatherman Underground showed the new level of violence in some cases. |
| Roy Benavidez | This man received the Medal of Honor for his bravery under constant fire to secure the safety of fellow wounded soldiers. He had 37 wounds yet refused care until all were evacuated. |
| Credibility gap | This was the result of the inconsistency between government reports and media reports on the war. It led to suspician and distrust of government. |
| Great Society | The name for President Johnson's reform program including the Civil Rights Act, Medicare and the War on Poverty. |
| Media | This industry had a great influence on shaping public opinion on the war. For the first time, Americans saw coverage of war in real time from the comfort of this own homes, leading to much discomfort with the war. |
| Tet Offensive | In 1968 this event was a series of failed attacks by the Vietcong and resulted in turning American opinion against the war. |
| Richard Nixon | 1968 and 1972; Republican; Vietnam: advocated "Vietnamization" (replace US troops with Vietnamese), but also bombed Cambodia/Laos, Paris Peace Accords ended direct US involvement; |
| The Silent Majority | The name Nixon gave to the part of the population that worked, paid taxes and supported the government. |
| Cambodia | The invasion of this country to cut off North Vietnamese supplies and force negotiations escalated the antiwar movement at home. |
| Vietnamization | The term for President Nixon's plan to replace American troops with trained South Vietnamese forces. US forces left the war in 1973, two years before the war's end. |
| Saigon | The fall of this city to communist forces created a refugee crisis and marked the end of the Vietnam War. |
| 26th amendment | This amendment lowered the required voting age from 21 to 18 in response to protests and in support of the young people who served in Vietnam. |
| Pentagon Papers | Government documents that showed the public had been lied to about the status of the war in Vietnam, worsened the credibility gap |
| War Powers Act | This act restricted the ability of the executive branch to use force by requiring Congressional approval; a direct response to the Vietnam War and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution |
| Counterculture | a group whose values and behaviors are opposed to the social mainstream, in this case, hippies |
| SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) | organization founded in 1960 at the University of Michigan to fight racism and poverty and America's involvement in the Vietnam War |
| Beats | This cultural group/movement supported bohemianism and harsh critiques of U.S. society; strong influence on 1960s counterculture |
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LewisAndLarks
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