APUSH Chapter 36 Key Terms and People

Jiang Jieshi

Leader of Chinese Nationalists, also known as Chang kai-shek. He was defeated by Mao Zedong’s communist revolutionaries in 1949 and was forced to flee to the isalnd of Tawiwan, where, with the support of the United States, he became president of the Republic of China

George Kennan

American diplomat who authored the "containment doctrine" in 1947, arguing that the Soviet Union was inherently expansionist and had to be stopped, via political and military force, from spreading throughoug the world

George Marshall

Former World War II general who became secretary of state under President Truman. He was the originator of the concept of the Marshall Plan to provide aid to reconstruct Western Europe in 1947

Reinhold Niebuhr

a liberal Protestant theologian whose teachings and writings aimed to relate Christian faith to the realities of modern politics. A socialist and pacifist as a young man, he came out of World War II committed to the doctrine of the "just war" and the necessity of resisting dark forces of evil like Hitler and Stalin, while remaining outspoke in defense of progressive social causes

Benjamin Spock

Pediatrician and author of "The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care," which instrumented parents on modern child-rearing, replacing traditional means of passing along such knowledge. He is often said to have the bible of the baby boomer generation

Joseph Stalin

Soviet dictator from Lenin’s death in 1922 until his own death in 1953. He led the Soveit Union through World War II and shaped Soviet policies in the early years of the Cold War and secured protectice "satellite states" in Eastern Europe at Yalta Conference while pushing Soviet scientists to develop atomic weapons, escalating an arms race with the United States

Taft-Hartley Act (1948)

Republican-promoted, anti-union legislation passed over President Truman’s veto that weakened many of labor’s New Deal gains by banning the closed shop and other strategies that helped unions organize; it also required union leaders to take a noncommunist oath, which purged the union movement of many of its most committed and active organizers

Operation Dixie (1948)

failed effort by CIO after World War II to unionize southern workers, especially in textile factories

Employment Act of 1946

legislation declaring that the government’s economic policy should aim to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power, as well as to keep inflation low. A general commitment that was much shorter on specific targets and rules than its liberal creators had wished, it created the Council of Economic Advisers to provide the President with data and recommendations to make economic policy

GI Bill (1944)

offically known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, this law helped returning World War II soldiers reintegrate into civilian life by securing loans to buy homes and farms and set up small businesses and by making tuition and stipends available for them to attend college and job training programs; it was also intended to cushion the blow of 15 million returning servicemen on the employment market and to nurture the postwar economy

Sunbelt

fifteen-state crescent through the American South and Southwest that experience terrific population and productivity expansion after World War II and particularly in the decades after the war, eclipsing the old industrial Northeast

Levittown (1950s)

suburban communities with mass-produced tract houses built in the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas by William Levitt and Sons. Typically inhabited by white middle-class people who fled the cities in search of homes to buy for their growing families

baby boom (1946-1964)

demographic explosion from births to returning soldiers and others who had put off starting families during the war; this large generation of new Americans forced the expansion of many institutions such as schools and universities

Yalta Conference (1945)

meeting of FDR, Churchill, and Stalin where the Big Three leaders laid the foundations for the postwar division of power in Europe, including a divide Germany and territorial concessions to the Soviet Union

Cold War (1946-1991)

45 year diplomatic tension between the United States and the Soviet Union that divided much of the world into polarized camps, capitalist against communist. Most of the international conflicts during this perioud, particularly in the developing world, can be traced to the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union

Bretton Woods Conference (1944)

Meeting of Western allies to establish a postwar international economic order to avoid crises like the one that spawned World War II. Led to the creation of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, designed to regulate currency levels and provide aid to underdeveloped countries

United Nations

international body formed to bring nations into dialogue in hopes of preventing further world wars; much like the former League of Nations in ambition, it was more realistic in recognizing the authority of the Big Five Powers in keeping peace in the world, thus guaranting veto power to all permant members of its Security Council (Britian, China, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States)

Nuremberg war crimes trial (1946)

highly publicized proceedings against former Nazi leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity as part of the Allies denazification program in postwar Germany; led to several executions and long prison sentances

Berlin airlift (1948)

Year-long mission of flying food and supplies to blockaded West Berliners, whom the Soviet Union cut off from access to the West in the first major crisis of the Cold War

containment doctrine

America’s strategy against the Soviet Union basedf on the ideas of George Kennan; it declared that the Soviet Union and communism were inherently expansionist and had to be stopped from spreading through both military and political pressure and, as a result, guided American foreign policy throughout most of the Cold War

Truman Doctrine (1947)

President Truman’s universal pledge of support for any people fighting any communist or communist-inspired threat; presented to Congress in support of his request for $400 million to defend Greece and Turkey against Soviet-backed insurgencies

Marshall Plan (1948)

massive transfer of aid money to help rebuild postwar Western Europe, intended to bolster capitalist and democratic governments and prevent domestic communist groups from riding poverty and misery to power; was first announced by Secretary of State George Marshall in 1947

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (est. 1949)

military alliance of Western European powers and the United States and Canada established to defend against the common threat from the Soviet Union, marking a giant stride forward for European unity and American internationalism

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) (est. 1938)

investigatory body established to root out "subversion." Sought to expose communist influence in American government and society, in particular through the trial of Alger Hiss

Fair Deal (introduced 1949)

President Truman’s extensive social program introduced in his 1949 message to Congress. Republicans and Southern Democrats kept much of his vision from being enacted, except for raising minimum wage, providing more public housing, and extended old-age insureance to many more beneficiaries under the Social Security Act

National Security Council Memorandum Number 68 (NSC-68) (1950)

National Security Council recommendation to quadruple defense spending and rapidly expand peace-time armed forces to address Cold War tensions; it reflected a new militarization of American foreign policy but the huge costs of rearmament were not expected to interfere with what seemed like the limitless possibilities of postwar prosperity

Korean War (1950-1953)

first "hot war" of the Cold War. It began when the Soviet-backed North Koreans invaded South Korea before meeting a counter-offensive by UN Forces, dominated by the United States, and it ended in a stalemate.