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General Douglas MacArthur
Douglas MacArthur was an American general best known for his command of Allied forces in the Pacific Theater during World War II. -
Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh first emerged as an outspoken voice for Vietnamese independence while living as a young man in France during World War I Inspired by the Bolshevik Revolution, he joined the Communist Party and traveled to the Soviet Union. -
Nikita Khrushchev
1894-1971 led the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, serving as premier from 1958 to 1964. -
Fidel Castro
Marxist Cuban political leader Fidel Castro helped lead the Cuban Revolution. -
Glasnost
Mikhail S. Gorbachev became general of in 1931 secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in March 1985, he launched his nation on a dramatic new course. His dual program of perestroika restructuring and glasnost openness introduced profound changes in economic practice, internal affairs and international relations. Within five years, Gorbachev’s revolutionary program swept communist governments throughout Eastern Europe from power and brought an end to the Cold War 1945-1991. -
Draft
the draft, has been employed by the federal government on three occasions. The third incarnation of the draft came into being in 1940 through the Selective Training and Service Act. -
United Nations
he United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization established 24 October 1945, to promote international co-operation. A replacement for the ineffective League of Nations, the organization was created following the Second World War to prevent another such conflict. -
The Marshall Plan
The European Recovery Program, channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. -
the Korean War
on June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. -
landing at Inchon
The Battle of Inchon (Korean: 인천 상륙 작전, Incheon Sangnyuk Jakjeon) was an amphibious invasion and battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations. -
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, a married couple convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage in 1951, are put to death in the electric chair. The execution marked the dramatic finale of the most controversial espionage case of the Cold War. -
Truman Doctrine
With the Truman Doctrine, President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. -
The Vietnam war begins
protracted conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong, against the government of South Vietnam. -
Detente
The easing of hostility or strained relations, especially between countries. -
The Warsaw Pact
formally, the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, sometimes, informally WarPac, akin in format to NATO was a collective defense treaty among eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. -
Superpower
superpower is a state with a dominant position in international relations and is characterised by its unparalleled ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. -
Bay of Pigs invasion
a young Cuban nationalist named Fidel Castro (1926-) drove his guerilla army into Havana and overthrew General Fulgencio Batista (1901-1973), the nation’s American-backed president. -
NASA
Nasa stands for Aeronautics and Space Administration. -
38th Parallel
popular name given to latitude 38° N that in East Asia roughlydemarcates North Korea and South Korea. -
demilitarized zone
an area in which treaties or agreements between nations, military powers or contending groups forbid military installations, activities or personnel. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. -
gulf of tonkin resolution
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (August 7, 1964) gave broad congressional approval for expansion of the Vietnam War. -
Saly agreement
During the late 1960s, the United States learned that the Soviet Union had embarked upon a massive Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) buildup designed to reach parity with the United States. In January 1967, President Lyndon Johnson announced that the Soviet Union had begun to construct a limited Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) defense system around Moscow. -
The Tet Offensive
some 70,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet Offensive (named for the lunar new year holiday called Tet), a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam. General Vo Nguyen Giap, leader of the Communist People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN), planned the offensive in an attempt both to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its support of the Saigon regime. -
Viet Cong
Vietnamese Communists, the guerrilla force that, with the support of the North Vietnamese Army, fought against South Vietnam in 1950s–1975. -
Ronald reagan
became the 40th President of the United States serving from 1981-1989. His term saw a restoration of prosperity at home, with the goal of achieving 'peace through strength' abroad. -
Star Wars
On March 23, 1983, President Reagan proposed the creation of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), an ambitious project that would construct a space-based anti-missile system. This program was immediately dubbed "Star Wars." -
Mikhail Gorbachev
oviet official, the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1985 to 1991 and president of the Soviet Union in 1990–91. -
Commission collapses
November 9, 1989, thousands of jubilant Germans brought down the most visible symbol of division at the heart of Europe—the Berlin Wall. For two generations, the Wall was the physical representation of the Iron Curtain, and East German border guards had standing shoot-to-kill orders against those who tried to escape.
