Alger Hiss State Department official accused in 1948 of being a communist spy; he was convicted of perjury and sent to prison

American GI Forum organization formed in 1948 in Texas by Mexican-American veterans to overcome discrimination and provide support for veterans and all Hispanics; it led the court fight to end the segregation of Hispanic children in school systems in the West and Southwest






baby boom sudden increase in the birth rate that occurred in the US after WWII and lasted until about 1961

Berlin airlift 1948 response to the Soviet blockade of West Berlin; involved tens of thousands of continuous flights by American and British planes to deliver supplies






containment US policy of checking the expansion or influence of the Soviet Union by making strategic alliances, aiding friendly nations, and supporting weaker states in areas of conflict

coup sudden overthrow of a government by a group of people, usually with military support






deterrence measures that a state takes to discourage attack by other states, often including a military buildup

Dixiecrat Party party organized in 1948 by southern delegates who refused to accept the civil rights plank of the Democratic platform; they nominated Strom Thurmond of South Carolina for president






Ethel and Julius Rosenberg arrested and tried for conspiracy to commit espionage in 1951 after being accused of passing atomic bomb information to the Soviets; executed in 1953






Fair Deal Truman’s plan for legislation on civil rights, fair employment practices, and educational appropriations

fellow-traveler individual who sympathizes with or supports the beliefs of the Communist Party without being a member






General Douglas MacArthur commander of Allied forces in the southwest Pacific during WWII, of occupation forces in Japan, and the UN forces in Korea until a dispute over strategy led Truman to dismiss him






House Un-American Activities Committee congressional committee created in 1938 that investigated suspected communists during the McCarthy era and that Richard Nixon used to advance his career

hydrogen bombs nuclear weapons of much greater destructive power than the atomic bomb






Indochina French colony in Southeast Asia, including present-day Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia; it began fighting for its independence in the mid-20th century

iron curtain military, political, and ideological barrier established between the Soviet bloc and Western Europe after WWII






Joseph McCarthy Wisconsin senator who in 1950 began a communist witch-hung that lasted until his censure by the Senate in 1954






Marshall Plan 1948 program to foster economic recovery in Western Europe in the postwar period through massive amounts of US financial aid

McCarran Internal Security Act 1950 law requiring communists to register with the US attorney general and making it a crime to conspire to establish a totalitarian government in the US

McCarthyism attacks on liberals and others often based on unsupported assertions that they were communists and carried out without regard for basic liberties

Mendez v. Westminster (1946) and Delgado v. Bastrop School Distrct (1948) two federal court cases that overturned the establishment of separate schools for Mexican-American children in California and Texas






National Security Council executive agency established in 1947 to coordinate the strategic policies and defense of the US; it includes the president, vice president, and four cabinet members

Nationalist Chinese government the government of Jiang Jieshi, who fought the communists for control of China in the 1940s; Jiang and his supporters were defeated and retreated to Taiwan in 1949, where they setup a separate government

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mutual defense alliance formed in 1949 among most of the nations of Western Europe and North America in an effort to contain communism






Organization of American States (OAS) an international organization composed of most nations of the Americas which deals with the mutual concerns of its members






Palestine region in the Mediterranean that was a British mandate after WWI; the UN partition the area in 1948 to allow for a Jewish state (Israel) and a Palestinian state, which was never established

partition to divide a country into separate, autonomous nations

perjury deliberate giving of false testimony under oath

poll tax tax imposed by many states that required a fee be paid as a prerequisite to voting and was used to exclude the poor, especially minorities, from voting






Rio Pact considered the first Cold War alliance, it joined Latin American nations, Canada, and the US in an agreement to prevent communist inroads in and to improve political, social, and economic conditions among Latin American nations; it created the Organization of American States (OAS)






Shelly v. Kraemer 1948 Supreme Court ruling that barred lower courts from enforcing restrictive agreements that prevent minorities from living in certain neighborhoods; it had little impact on actual practices

Smith Act Alien Registration Act passed in 1940, which made it a crime to advocate or to belong to an organization that advocates the overthrow of the government by force or violence






Taft-Hartley Act 1947 law banning closed shops, permitting employers to sue unions for broken contracts, and requiring unions to observe a cooling-off period before striking; passed over Truman’s veto

Thomas E. Dewey New York governor who twice ran unsuccessfully for president as the Republican candidate, the second time against Truman in 1948

tract homes one of numerous homes of similar design built on small plots of land

Truman Doctrine 1947 Truman anti-communist foreign policy that called for military and economic aid to countries whose political stability was threatened by communism, most notably Greece and Turkey