Consumer Goods

products and services that satisfy human wants directly
Examples of consumer goods include food, clothing, vehicles, electronics, and appliances.

Perestroika

Perestroika was an attempt during the 1980's (mainly under Gorbachev) to restructure the Communist party and economy of the USSR. Perestroika was associated with greater openness in government and limited access to an open market and (very limited) private ownership.The objective of perestroika was to improve the efficiency of socialism in the USSR and make production more responsive to consumer needs.

Glasnost

A policy of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev which called for more openness with the nations of West, and a relaxing of restraints on Soviet citizenry.

Solidarity Movement

a Polish trade union that used peaceful civil resistance for workers rights and social change against the oppressive communist government. This movement was one of the first movements in a Soviet satellite nation to challenge the communist government.

Ronald Regan

1981-1989, served as the 40th president of the United States; "Great Communicator" Republican, when dealing with the Soviet Union, Reagan first using a detente approach and later engages in an arms race with the Soviet Union.

Reagan Doctrine, the United States provided overt and covert aid to anti-communist guerrillas and resistance movements in an effort to "roll back" Soviet-backed pro-communist governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Reagan challenged Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to open the Berlin Wall.

Mikail Gorbachev

as Soviet general Secretary of the Communist Party assumed power in 1985, he introduced political and economic reforms and then found himself presiding of the breakup of the Soviet Union

Lech Walesa

A Polish politician, a former trade union and human rights activist, and also a former electrician. He co-founded Solidarity, the Soviet bloc's first independent trade union, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995.

Brinkmanship

A policy of threatening to go to war in response to any enemy aggression.

Arms Race

Cold war competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union to build up their respective armed forces and weapons

I.C.B.M. (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile)

a ballistic missile that is capable of traveling from one continent to another

MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction)

a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender

Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct. 1962)

The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict.

Nuclear Proliferation

the spread of nuclear weapons production technology and knowledge to nations without possession

nuclear nonproliferation

efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, or the materials and technology necessary for the production of nuclear weapons

Detente

A policy of reducing Cold War tensions that was adopted by the United States during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

Non-alignment

political independence from Cold War superpowers, movement led by India

Joseph Stalin

Bolshevik revolutionary, head of the Soviet Communists after 1924, and dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953. He led the Soviet Union with an iron fist, using Five-Year Plans to increase industrial production and terror to crush opposition

Nikita Khrushchev

A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also famous for denouncing Stalin and allowed criticism of Stalin within Russia.

Fidel Castro

Cuban socialist leader who overthrew Batista (dictator) in 1959 and established a Marxist socialist state in Cuba (born in 1927) Castro aligned with the Soviet Union and allowed the Soviets to place nuclear weapons in Cuba, resulting in the Cuban Missile Crisis

Kim II Sung (North Korea)

When Korea was effectively divided between a Soviet-occupied northern half and a U.S.-supported southern half at the end of World War II, Kim Il-sung helped establish a communist provisional government in North Korea; His attack on South Korea in 1950 started the Korean War. He remained in power until 1994.

Ho Chi Minh

led a long and ultimately successful campaign to make Vietnam independent. He was a communist president of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969, used guerrilla warfare to fight anti-communist