1. The second Red Scare refers to the period of anti-communist hysteria that occurred in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Two government groups created to look for communists were the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
2. The government investigated Hollywood in 1947 due to suspicions of communist influence in the film industry. The "Hollywood Ten" were a group of filmmakers who were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions about their alleged involvement with the Communist Party.
3. McCarthyism refers to the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. It is named after Senator Joseph McCarthy, who led a campaign to expose alleged communists in the U.S. government during the 1950s.
4. Richard Nixon became famous in the United States for investigating Alger Hiss, a former State Department official accused of being a Soviet spy.
5. The Rosenbergs were executed in 1953 for allegedly passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, heightening fears of espionage and nuclear proliferation.
6. "Massive retaliation" was a military doctrine adopted by the United States during the Cold War, emphasizing the use of nuclear weapons in response to any aggression by an enemy. Brinksmanship is the practice of pushing a dangerous situation to the brink of disaster in order to achieve the most advantageous outcome. The two are related as both strategies aimed to deter Soviet aggression during the Cold War.
7. In response to the Soviet Union launching the first man-made satellite, Sputnik, into space, the United States created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 to lead the nation's space exploration efforts.
8. The event in 1962 that brought the United States and the Soviet Union very close to nuclear war was the Cuban Missile Crisis. This crisis occurred when the U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, leading to a tense standoff that was resolved through negotiations to remove the missiles.
