Key Historical Terms: Depression, WWII, and Cold War

Posted on Apr 22, 2026 in History

Great Depression and the New Deal

  • Hoovervilles: Homeless shantytowns during the Depression.
  • Soup Kitchens: Free food for the poor and unemployed.
  • Bonus Army: WWI veterans demanding bonus payments.
  • Volunteerism: Hoover’s belief that private groups should solve the crisis.
  • Fireside Chats: FDR radio talks to calm and inform the public.
  • Bank Holiday: Temporary bank shutdown to stop panic.
  • NRA: National Recovery Administration.
  • AAA: Agricultural Adjustment Administration.
  • Court Packing Plan: FDR’s attempt to add Supreme Court justices.
  • “Switch in Time”: The Court began supporting New Deal laws.
  • Huey Long: “Share the Wealth” critic of FDR.
  • Francis Townsend: Old-age pension advocate.
  • Wagner Act: Protected unions and collective bargaining.
  • WPA: Works Progress Administration jobs program.
  • Redlining: Discriminatory housing and lending policy.
  • Jim Crow: Legalized racial discrimination in the South.

Rise of Fascism and Pre-WWII

  • Weimar Republic: Germany before Hitler.
  • Hyperinflation: Extreme inflation in Germany.
  • Fascism: Authoritarian ultranationalist ideology.
  • SA: Nazi Brownshirts.
  • SS: Elite Nazi force tied to terror and genocide.
  • Enabling Act (1933): Gave Hitler dictatorial power.
  • Propaganda Ministry: Controlled Nazi messaging.
  • Book Burnings: Destruction of “un-German” ideas.

World War II

  • Four Freedoms: Speech, worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
  • Appeasement: Giving Hitler concessions to avoid war.
  • Mukden Incident: False flag used by Japan to invade Manchuria.
  • Neutrality Acts: US laws trying to stay out of war.
  • Anschluss: Nazi annexation of Austria.
  • Munich Agreement: Gave Hitler the Sudetenland.
  • Lebensraum: Nazi idea of expansion for “living space.”
  • Nazi-Soviet Pact: Temporary Hitler-Stalin nonaggression deal.
  • Blitzkrieg: Fast “lightning war” tactics.
  • Maginot Line: French defensive fortifications.
  • Dunkirk: Evacuation of Allied troops from France.
  • Battle of Britain: German air campaign against Britain.
  • Operation Barbarossa: German invasion of the USSR.
  • Einsatzgruppen: Nazi mobile killing squads.
  • Lend-Lease: US aid to Allies before entering the war.
  • Pearl Harbor: Japanese attack that brought the US into the war.
  • Executive Order 9066: Japanese American internment.
  • Arsenal of Democracy: US industrial war production.
  • Zoot Suit Riots: Racist attacks on Mexican American youth.
  • Island Hopping: US Pacific strategy.
  • Midway: Key US naval victory in the Pacific.
  • Stalingrad: Major turning point against Germany.
  • Holocaust: Nazi genocide.
  • Manhattan Project: US atomic bomb project.
  • D-Day: Allied invasion of Normandy.
  • Yalta / Potsdam: Allied meetings on postwar plans.
  • VE Day: Victory in Europe.
  • VJ Day: Victory over Japan.

Cold War and the Korean Conflict

  • Nuremberg Trials: Prosecution of Nazi leaders.
  • United Nations: Postwar international organization.
  • Genocide Convention: Made genocide an international crime.
  • Operation Paperclip: US brought German scientists to America.
  • Iron Curtain: Division between East and West Europe.
  • Long Telegram: Kennan’s case for containment.
  • Truman Doctrine: Aid to stop the spread of communism.
  • Containment: US policy to limit communism.
  • Marshall Plan: US aid to rebuild Europe.
  • Berlin Airlift: Air supply of West Berlin.
  • NATO: Anti-Soviet military alliance.
  • Bretton Woods: Dollar-centered postwar economic system.
  • NSC-68: Blueprint for Cold War militarization.
  • 38th Parallel: Line dividing Korea.
  • USAMGIK: US military government in South Korea.
  • Kim Il-sung: North Korean leader.
  • Syngman Rhee: South Korean leader.
  • Jeju Uprising/Massacre: Violent suppression in South Korea.
  • Bodo League Massacre: Mass killing in South Korea during the war.
  • HUAC: House Un-American Activities Committee.
  • McCarthyism: Anti-communist accusations and fear.
  • Alger Hiss: Famous Cold War espionage case.
  • Sputnik: First Soviet satellite.

1960s: Civil Rights, JFK, and LBJ

  • Brown v. Board: Ended school segregation.
  • Civil Rights Act (1957): Early civil rights law.
  • Desegregation: Ending legal segregation.
  • George Wallace: Segregationist politician.
  • Election of 1960: JFK vs. Nixon.
  • Televised Debates: Image became crucial in politics.
  • Peace Corps: US volunteer service abroad.
  • Bay of Pigs: Failed US-backed Cuba invasion.
  • Evian Accords: Ended the Algerian War.
  • Cuban Missile Crisis: Closest Cold War nuclear standoff.
  • MAD: Mutually Assured Destruction.
  • Vasili Arkhipov: Soviet officer linked to avoiding nuclear war.
  • JFK Assassination: Nov. 22, 1963, in Dallas.
  • LBJ: Became president after JFK.
  • Great Society: LBJ reform program.
  • War on Poverty: LBJ anti-poverty effort.
  • Medicare: Health insurance for the elderly.
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964: Banned segregation and discrimination.
  • Election of 1964: LBJ landslide win.
  • MLK Jr.: Leader of the nonviolent civil rights movement.
  • Malcolm X: Black nationalist civil rights leader.
  • Fred Hampton / Black Panthers: Radical Black liberation activism.