Cold War foreign policy, containment, and domestic anxieties from the late 1940s through the 1980s for AP US History.
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- What was the Cold War doctrine of containment?
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A strategy to prevent Soviet expansion by resisting communist influence globally, formulated by George Kennan and adopted by President Truman.- What event triggered the first major Cold War crisis in Berlin?
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The Berlin Blockade (1948-49), when the Soviet Union cut off Western access to West Berlin, leading to the U.S. airlift.- Which military alliance did the United States form in 1949 to counter Soviet influence in Europe?
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NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), committing the U.S. to collective defense against Soviet aggression.- In what year did North Korea invade South Korea, prompting U.S. military intervention?
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1950, leading to the Korean War and President Truman's decision to fight communism in Asia.- What was McCarthyism?
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A campaign of anticommunist accusations and witch hunts led by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, often without evidence.- What was the Domino Theory?
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The belief that if one country fell to communism, neighboring countries would follow like falling dominoes, justifying U.S. intervention.- What did the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 demonstrate about Soviet control?
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It revealed Soviet willingness to crush dissent militarily, as Soviet tanks suppressed the Hungarian uprising for reform.- What was the U-2 incident of 1960?
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The Soviet Union shot down an American spy plane piloted by Gary Powers over Soviet territory, embarrassing the U.S. and escalating tensions.- What was the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961?
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A failed CIA-backed attempt by Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro, which embarrassed the Kennedy administration.- What symbolic structure was built in August 1961 to divide Berlin?
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The Berlin Wall, erected by East Germany to prevent citizens from fleeing to the West.- What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?
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A 1962 standoff between the U.S. and Soviet Union over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, resolved through Kennedy-Khrushchev diplomacy.- What was the Gulf of Tonkin incident?
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An alleged attack on U.S. destroyers by North Vietnamese forces in August 1964, used to justify the escalation of the Vietnam War.- What was Operation Rolling Thunder?
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A sustained bombing campaign (1965-68) against North Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail aimed at weakening communist forces.- What was the Tet Offensive?
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A major 1968 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong attack on South Vietnamese cities and U.S. positions, turning American public opinion against the war.- What were the Pentagon Papers?
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A secret Defense Department study revealing that U.S. administrations had systematically lied to the public about the Vietnam War.
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