Truman Doctrine - the principle that the US should give support to countries or peoples threatened by Soviet forces or Communist insurrection. First expressed in 1947 by US President Truman in a speech to Congress seeking aid for Greece and Turkey, the doctrine was seen by the Communists as an open declaration of the Cold War.

Marshall Plan - an American initiative passed in 1948 for foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $12 billion in economic recovery programs to Western European economies after the end of World War II.

NATO - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 European and North American countries. The organization implements the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed on 4 April 1949 against the Soviet Union.

Berlin airlift - The Berlin Blockade was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control.

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. shores. ... Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.

Containment - United States policy using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad. A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge its communist sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam.

Communism - a political theory derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs.

arms race - a competition between nations for superiority in the development and accumulation of weapons, especially between the US and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War.

space race - an informal 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the Soviet Union and the United States, to achieve firsts in spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations following World War II.

McCarthyism - a vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the US government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy in the period 1950–54. Many of the accused were blacklisted or lost their jobs, although most did not in fact belong to the Communist Party.

Sputnik - each of a series of Soviet artificial satellites, the first of which (launched on October 4, 1957) was the first satellite to be placed in orbit.

NASA - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and space research. NASA was established in 1958.

Korean War - The war (1950-53) between the Korean People's Democratic Republic (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea), which ended in an inconclusive cease-fire: the U.S. and other United Nations member nations participated on the side of South Korea.

sovereignty - the authority of a state to govern itself or another state.

Domino Theory - the theory that a political event in one country will cause similar events in neighboring countries, like a falling domino causing an entire row of upended dominoes to fall. (Communism)

Vietnam War - The war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia between 1955 and 1975 between South Vietnam (backed by the United States and SEATO) and North Vietnam aiding the South Vietnamese communist guerilla army known as the Vietcong (supported by the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union) for the struggle for total Communist control of Vietnam as one state.

protests - a statement or action expressing disapproval of or objection to something.

Tet Offensive - an offensive by Vietcong and North Vietnamese forces against South Vietnamese and U.S. positions in South Vietnam, beginning on Jan. 31, 1968, the start of Tet.

Vietnamization - (in the Vietnam War) the US policy of withdrawing its troops and transferring the responsibility and direction of the war effort to the government of South Vietnam.

escalation - a rapid increase; a rise.

draft - Conscription is the mandatory enlistment of people in a national service, most often a military service.

26th Amendment - the right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age

credibility gap - an apparent difference between what is said or promised and what happens or is true.

pasteurization - the partial sterilization of a product, such as milk or wine, to make it safe for consumption and improve its keeping quality.

silent majority -  unspecified large group of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly.

anti-war movement - social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause.

media - the main means of mass communication (broadcasting, publishing, and the internet) regarded collectively.

Kent State - massacre, were the killings of four and wounding of nine other unarmed Kent State University students by the Ohio National Guard on May 4, 1970 in Kent, Ohio, 40 miles south of Cleveland.

demographic - a particular sector of a population. (11-18 years old, specific race, gender, religion, etc. groups)

migration - movement from one part of something to another.

expansion - the action of becoming larger or more extensive.

Rust Belt - parts of the northeastern and midwestern US that are characterized by declining industry, aging factories, and a falling population. Steel-producing cities in Pennsylvania and Ohio are at its center.

Sun Belt - the southern US from California to Florida, noted for resort areas and for the movement of businesses and population into these states from the colder northern states.

Gulf of Tonkin - complex naval event in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of Vietnam, that was presented to the U.S. Congress on August 5, 1964, as two unprovoked attacks by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on the destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy of the U.S. Seventh Fleet and that led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which allowed President Lyndon B. Johnson to greatly escalate U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War.

War Powers Act - a federal law intended to check the U.S. president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress. The resolution was adopted in the form of a United States congressional joint resolution.

amended - modify formally, as a legal document or legislative bill.

ratification - the action of signing or giving formal consent to a treaty, contract, or agreement, making it officially valid.

national ethos - a people is the creed formed from the shared values and traditions. through which the nation views its past, present and future; it is the integrating element that defines. a nation's identity and bonds it into a coherent social group.

patriotism - the quality of being patriotic; devotion to and vigorous support for one's country.

democratic process - that citizens actively participate in the decision-making of the government.

prosperity - the condition of being successful or thriving especially : economic well-being.

consumption - the using up of a resource.

GI Bill - The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 was a law that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans. The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, but the term "G.I. Bill" is still used to refer to programs created to assist U.S. military veterans.

Baby Boom - a temporary marked increase in the birth rate, especially the one following World War II.

middle class - the economic group between the upper and lower classes, including professional and business workers and their families.

suburbs - an outlying district of a city, especially a residential one.

National Security - the security and defense of a nation state, including its citizens, economy, and institutions, which is regarded as a duty of government.

domestic - existing or occurring inside a particular country; not foreign or international.

vaccines - a substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases, prepared from the causative agent of a disease, its products, or a synthetic substitute, treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease.

antibiotics - medicines that fight bacterial infections in people and animals. They work by killing the bacteria or by making it hard for the bacteria to grow and multiply.

Soviet Aggression -  between 1918 to 1920 communists defeated anti-communists in Russia. In 1922 the communists created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or the Soviet Union). European countries and the United States feared that communist expansion would threatened established governments; especially those that were democratic.  After WWII, Turkey and Greece were under Soviet expansion. 

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) - an investigative committee of the U.S. House of Representatives created in 1938 to inquire into subversive activities in the U.S. (It was abolished in 1975.) In the mid-1940s, the committee focused its investigations on searching for communists in the United States. Most famous for investigating Alger Hiss and for the “blacklisting” of many Hollywood actors. Often inaccurately associated with Joseph McCarthy, who was a Senator (not a member of the House); McCarthy chaired the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations 1953-1954. *