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| U.S.-supported invasion of Cuba in April 1961; intended to overthrow Communist dictator Fidel Castro, the operation proved a fiasco. Castro's forces killed 114 of the invaders and took nearly 1200 prisoners. The disaster shook the confidence of the Kennedy administration and encouraged the Soviet Union to become more active in the Americas. |
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| Camp David Accords (1979) |
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| agreement reached between the leaders of Israel and Egypt after protracted negotiations brokered by President Carter; Israel surrendered land seized in earlier wars and Egypt recognized Israel as a nation. Despite high hopes, it did not lead to a permanent peace in region, however. |
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| ineffective and corrupt leader of China in 1930s and 1940s; he was a wartime ally of the United States, but was unable to stop Communists from seizing power in 1949. Chiang's exile to Taiwan was a major American setback in the early days of the Cold War. |
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| a confrontation between the United States and the USSR resulting from a Soviet attempt to place long-range nuclear missiles in Cuba (October 1962); Kennedy forced the Soviets to remove them with a blockade and the threat of force. The crisis enhanced Kennedy's standing but led to a Soviet arms buildup. |
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| French fortress in northern Vietnam that surrendered in 1954 to the Viet Minh; the defeat caused the French to abandon Indochina and set the stage for the Geneva Conference, which divided the region and led to American involvement in South Vietnam. |
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| WWII hero who led United Nations forces during the Korean War; his outspoken opposition to President Truman's decisions to limit the war cost him his command. He wanted to bomb China, and Truman rejected the idea as too reckless. |
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| WWII hero and president, 1953-1961; his internationalist foreign policy continued Truman's policy of containment but put greater emphasis on military cost-cutting, the threat of nuclear weapons to deter Communist aggression, and Central Intelligence Agency activities to halt communism. |
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| Communist leader of Cuba who led a rebellion against the U.S.-backed dictator and took power in 1959; President Kennedy tried to overthrow him with the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 but failed. Castro became closely allied with the Soviet Union, making the Kennedy Administration increasingly concerned about Soviet influence in the Western Hemisphere. |
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| State Department official who was architect of the containment concept; in his article "The Source of Soviet Conduct" he said the USSR was historically and ideologically driven to expand and that the United States must practice "vigilant containment" to stop this expansion. |
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| Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964) |
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| an authorization by congress empowering President Johnson "to take all necessary measures" to protect U.S. Forces in Vietnam; it was issued following reported attacks on U.S. Destroyers off the Vietnam Coast. Congress later regretted this action as the Vietnam War escalated, and questions emerged about the legitimacy of the attacks. |
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| advisor to Presidents Nixon and Ford; he was architect of the Vietnam settlement, the diplomatic opening to China, and detente with the Soviet Union. |
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| Communist leader of North Vietnam; he and his Viet Minh/Viet Cong allies fought French and American forces to a standstill in Vietnam, 1946-1973. Considered a nationalist by many, others viewed him as an agent of the Soviet Union and China. |
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| Iran-Contra Affair (1986-1987) |
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Definition
| scandal that erupted after the Reagan administration sold weapons to Iran in hopes of freeing American hostages in Lebanon; money from the arms sales was used to aid the Contras (anti-Communist insurgents) in Nicaragua, even though Congress had prohibited this assistance. Talk of Reagan's impeachment ended when presidential aides took the blame for the illegal activity. |
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| Iran Hostage Crisis (1979-1981) |
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Definition
| incident in which Iranian radicals, with government support, seized 52 Americans from the U.S. Embassy and held them for 444 days; ostensibly demanding the return of the deposed Shah to stand trial, the fundamentalist clerics behind the seizure also hoped to punish the United states for other perceived past wrongs. |
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| president, 1977-1981; he aimed for a foreign policy "as good and great as the American people." His highlight was the Camp David Accords; his low point, the Iran Hostage Crisis. Defeated for reelection after one term, he became very successful as an ex-president. |
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| Eisenhower's secretary of state, 1953-1959; moralistic in his belief that Communism was evil and must be confronted with "brinkmanship" (the readiness and willingness to go to war) and "massive retaliation" (the threat of using nuclear weapons). |
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| ruthless leader of Soviet Union from 1925 to 1953; he industrialized the nation and led it in WWII and the early stages of the Cold War. |
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| president, 1963-1969; his escalation of the Vietnam War cost him political support and destroyed his presidency. He increased the number of U.S. Troops in Vietnam from 16,000 in 1963 to 540,000 in 1968. After the Tet Offensive, he decided to not seek reelection. |
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| Communist Chinese leader who won control of China in 1949; a wary ally of the Soviet Union, Mao was an implacable foe of the United States until the 1970s. |
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| Marshall Plan (1947-1954) |
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Definition
| Secretary of State George Marshall's economic aid program to rebuild war-torn Western Europe; it amounted to an enlarged version of the Truman Doctrine, with billions of dollars going to revive European economies and contain Communism. |
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| idea that United States should depend on nuclear weapons to stop Communist aggression; prompted by the frustration of the Korean war stalemate and the desire to save money on military budgets, the concept reduced reliance on conventional forces. |
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| 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. |
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| Soviet leader, 1954-1964; he was an aggressive revolutionary who hoped to spread Communism into Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Blame for the Cuban Missile Crisis eventually cost him his leadership position in the USSR. |
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| North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (1949) |
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| military alliance of the United States, ten Western European countries, and Canada; it was considered a deterrent to Soviet aggression in Europe, with an attack on one NATO nation to be considered as an attack on all members. |
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| Peaceful coexistence (1955-1960) |
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Definition
| period in Soviet-American relations marked by less tension and by personal diplomacy between Khrushchev and Eisenhower; the two leaders recognized that, in a nuclear age, competition between their nations must be peaceful. This thaw in the Cold War was ended by the U-2 spy plane incident over the Soviet Union in 1960. |
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| president, 1969-1974; he extracted the United States from Vietnam slowly, recognized Communist China, and improved relations with the Soviet Union. His foreign policy achievements were overshadowed by the Watergate scandal. |
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| Tet Offensive (January 1968) |
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| a series of Communist attacks on 44 South Vietnamese cities; although the Viet Cong suffered a major defeat, the attacks ended the American view that the war was winnable and destroyed the nation's will to escalate the war further. |
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| the announced policy of President Truman to provide aid to free nations who faced internal or external threats of a Communist takeover; announced in conjunction with a $400 million economic aid package to Greece and Turkey, it was successful in helping those countries put down Communist guerrilla movements and is considered to be the first U.S. Action of the Cold War. |
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| Yalta Conference (February 1945) |
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Definition
| meeting of Roosevelt, Stalin, and Winston Churchill to discuss postwar plans and Soviet entry into the war against Japan near the end of WWII; disagreements over the future of Poland surfaced. During the Red Scare of the 1950s, some Americans considered the meeting to have been a sellout to the Soviets. |
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