Cold War Origins and Post War 50s Boom

Gi Bill

• The Servicemen's act of 1944 was a law that provided a range of benefits for WW2 veterans. The benefit was designed to help servicemembers and eligible veterans to cover the costs with education and training

Baby Boom

• The baby boom was a period of time, 1946 - 1964, where the birthrate massively increased. The reason why the birthrate increased was because WW2 ended and many husbands came back from the war. Adding to that, the advancements in medicine allowed people to live longer and have more controlled pregnancies.

White collar

• White Collar jobs were jobs that included professional, managerial, or administrative work. These jobs are usually described as desk jobs nowadays. After WW2, many people were able to get White Collar Jobs and with that they were able to contribute to the 1950s Boom.

Conformity

• Conformity was a sense of uniformity in American Society at the time of the war. For example, men and women were forced into new roles during the war. But after the war, traditional roles were reaffirmed.
• Conformity was associated with being similar to each other in looks

Rock and Roll

• Rock and Roll was a popular new form of music that had roots in African American Rhythm and Blues. It was associated with social rebels like greasers who liked to listen to this music and wear more modern clothes.

Cold War

• The Cold war was a period of time where the US and USSR were in an arms race. The US wanted to prevent the spread of communism while the USSR wanted to spread Communism. The US created the Truman Doctrine to prevent communism while Russia created the Warsaw Pact to promote communism.

Iron Curtain

• The Iron Curtain was a metaphorical divide between communist countries and anti-communist countries. This metaphorical divide was created due to the tensions of the Cold War.

Containment

• Containment was the policy a US policy that used numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism. The US created this policy to ensure that no more european nations would adopt communism in their government.

Marshall Plan

• The Marshall Plan was an american initiative which aided Western Europe by giving them over $12 billion to rebuild economies after WW2. The goal of this plan was to restore the post war economies and rebuild them to their pre-war prosperity.

Korean War

• The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea. North Korea was a country which was influenced and under the control of the USSR. They kept attacking South Korea and pushing the boundaries lower towards South Korea. The US joined in and helped South Korea to push back the boundaries and eventually put the final boundary as the 38th Parallel. North Korea and South Korea are still divided to this day by this boundary.

NASA

• NASA was a civilian agency that controlled and coordinated America's activities in Space. This agency was especially important in the Space Race when Russia sent their first satellite up into space to develop an inter-ballistic bomb and show their advancements in technology to the US

Capitalism

• Capitalism is an economic system where people can own their own business and own their own home. This economic system differed from the system in Russia, communism, which allowed the government to take control of everything.

Communism

• Communism is a political and economic system where property and resources are controlled by private businesses, a classless society is created and all power is in the hands of one leading figure.

U-2 Affair

• The U-2 Affair was an embarrassing event where America was caught spying on the USSR when one of our spy planes was shot down over the USSR. The Americans thought that they could lie about it and say that it wasn't theirs, but the pilot survived and told the story.

Truman's Fair Deal

• Truman's Fair Deal declared that all Americans should have health insurance, minimum wage should be increased and all Americans be guaranteed equal rights. These set of proposals were a step into transitioning into a peacetime economy.

Truman Doctrine

• The Truman Doctrine was the policy of containment. Containment was the policy of restricting communist expansion by diplomatic, military and economic actions. The Truman Doctrine said that it was the duty of the United States to prevent communist aggression in Turkey and Greece.

Fallout Shelter

• A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designed to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many fallout shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War. Americans wanted to protect themselves in case Russia dropped a nuke on them.

House of Unamerican Activities (HUAC)

• The HUAC was a committee that investigated allegations of communist activity in the U.S. during the early years of the Cold War (1945-91). They were infamous for suspecting that many Hollywood stars were communist inspired.

2nd Red Scare

• The 2nd Red Scare was a communist scare during the Cold War Era. The 2nd Red Scare refers to the fear of communism that affected American politics, culture, and society from the late 1940s through the 1950s, during the opening phases of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

Sputnik

• The Sputnik was the first satellite ever to be launched into Space. This satellite was launched by the USSR to demonstrate their advancements in technology and test their ideas on inter-ballistic bombs

General Agreements for Tariffs and Trade

• The GATT was formed in 1948 after World War II. This agreement was intended to boost economic recovery after the war. The main goal of the GATT was to expand international trade by eliminating or reducing quotas, tariffs, and subsidies while preserving significant and certain regulations.

Taft Hartley Act

• The Taft-Hartley Act is a 1947 federal law that prohibits certain union practices and requires disclosure of certain financial and political activities by unions. This act guaranteed employers, employees, and unions free speech.

NATO

• The NATO was an alliance of 28 countries bordering the North Atlantic Ocean. It included the United States, most of the European Union members, Canada, and Turkey. NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This organization's goals were to prevent communism from spreading to other European countries

Warsaw Pact

• The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance of communist nations in eastern Europe. This alliance was organized in 1955 as a response to the NATO. The Warsaw Pact included Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union.

Federal Highway Act

• The Federal Highway Act was a law that authorized the construction of a 41,000-mile network of interstate highways that would span the nation. These highways were created to allow for easy transport of weapons and missiles.

SEATO

• The SEATO was an organization where the United States, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan which had a main purpose only to prevent communism from gaining ground in the region.