762 Chapter 28 Collision Courses, Abroad and at Home: 1946–1960
Key Terms
Berlin airlift U.S. effort to deliver supplies includ-
ing 2 million tons of food and coal by air to West
Berlin in 1948–1949 in response to the Soviet
blockade of the city, 743
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka The 1954
Supreme Court decision that held that racially seg-
regated education, which prevailed in much of the
South, was unconstitutional. The ruling over-
turned the doctrine of “separate but equal” that
had provided the legal justification for racial segre-
gation ever since the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson
Supreme Court decision, 757
Fair Deal President Harry Truman’s 1949 pro-
gram for expanded economic opportunity and
civil rights, 744
Marshall Plan A proposal, propounded in 1947
by Secretary of State George Marshall, to use
American aid to rebuild the war-torn economies
of European nations. Adopted by Congress in
1948 as the European Recovery Program, it
pumped some $13 billion into Europe during the
next five years, 741
massive retaliation The “New Look” military pol-
icy of the Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of
State John Foster Dulles relying on nuclear
weapons to inhibit communist aggression during
the 1950s, 750
military-industrial complex A term, popularized
by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in his 1961
farewell address, for the concert of interests
among the U.S. military and its chief corporate
contractors, 761
New Frontier President John F. Kennedy’s term for
a revitalized national agenda, particularly in relation
to foreign policy and space exploration, 761
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) A
military mutual-defense pact, formed in 1948, by
the United States, Canada, and ten European
nations, including Great Britain, France, and West
Germany; the Soviet Union countered with the
formation of the Warsaw Pact among communist
regimes in Eastern Europe, 744
NSC-68 A secret policy statement, proposed by
the National Security Council in 1950, calling for
a large, ongoing military commitment to contain
Soviet communism; it was accepted by President
Harry Truman after the North Korean invasion of
South Korea, 745
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC) A civil rights organization, founded in
1957 by Martin Luther King, Jr. and his followers,
that espoused Christian nonviolence but orga-
nized mass protests to challenge segregation and
discrimination; it played a major role in support of
theCivil Rights Act of 1964and the Voting
Rights Act of 1965, 758
Taft-Hartley Act A 1947 federal law that out-
lawed the closed shop and secondary boycotts and
obliged union leaders to sign affidavits declaring
that they were not communists, 739
Truman Doctrine A foreign policy, articulated by
President Harry Truman in 1947, that provided
financial aid to Greek and Turkish governments
then under threat by communists rebels, 741Review Questions
1.The late 1940s and 1950s are often characterized
as a period of complacency and consensus. Yet this
chapter holds that, in foreign and domestic affairs,
it was a period of “menacing uncertainty.” What
constituted the chief elements of menace?
2.Throughout the period from 1946 to 1960,
American presidents sought to “contain” commu-
nism. How did Eisenhower’s “massive retaliation”
differ from Truman’s worldwide “NSC-68” contain-
ment? How did Sputnik influence the Cold War?
3.Why did Truman intervene in Korea, and why did
the war end in stalemate?
4.What was the impact of the Cold War on
American society?
5.Why did the civil rights movement gain momen-
tum after 1945? On what grounds did the
Supreme Court overturn the “separate but equal”
ruling in Brown v. Board of Education(1954)?
Why did African Americans subsequently resort to
“direct action” protests?