Mnemonic Devices
******************************Boring US History Information Alert!!!********************************************************
Tomorrow afternoon is the International Relations midterm that I have been dreading for weeks. I'm very, extremely, monumentally worried about it. I feel so lost in the class and I don't know if I can remember what I need to. In fact, I have spent over an hour unintentionally coming up with mnemonic devices to remember the US and USSR leaders during the Cold War. I know they are important, but why won't my brain stop coming up with acronym-sentences to remember them by?
First I came up with US presidents:
True, Eisenhower Keeps Jolting Nixon's Ford Car's Rear Bumper.
[Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush]
Then I came up with the Soviet Leaders:
Stale Khrispies Break Angry Cherenko's Gums.
[Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Cherenko, Gorbachev]
Then they all came together chronologically:
Staring Through Khrushchev's Eyes Keeps Brezhnev Jolting Nixon's Ford Car And Cherenko's Really Good Buddy
Stalin- Truman
Krushchev- Eisenhower/Kennedy
Brezhnev- Johnson/Nixon/Ford/Carter
Andropov/Cherenko- Reagan
Gorbachev- Bush
It won't stop!
And yet, I can never remember what the acronym SALT stands for. It stands for Strategic Arms Limitations Talks. I always think the "T" stands for Treaty. I remember the Marshall Plan because I think of a Marshall or Sherriff in the Wild West[ern Europe] trying to keep Communism out. The word "Baruch" of the Baruch Plan sounds to me like a mushroom cloud explosion. Warsaw Pact was like the opposite of NATO. Bay of Pigs: American "pigs" raid the bay of Cuba (and fail). Cuban Missile Crisis was Soviet Missiles in Cuba. According to the Brezhnev Doctrine, USSR could intervene when E. Europe strayed from Communist orthodoxy. ABM: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Solidarity was a Polish trade union that wanted free rights. OPEC: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Iran-Contra Plan: sell weapons to Iran for money to support Contras. Glasnost= free speech. Perestroika= economic reforms.
Truman Doctrine aided Greece and Turkey to fight Communism.
Eisenhower liked brinkmanship.
JFK preferred flexible response.
Johnson bad job in Vietnam- see Tonkin Gulf Resolution [total control w/o declaring war].
Ford focused on domestic affairs: economy and faith in government.
Carter emphasized human rights and converstion.
Reagan ritualistically anti-Communist, but obsessed with Nicaragua and SDI.
Bush firm grasp of detail; too cautious(?).
Tomorrow afternoon is the International Relations midterm that I have been dreading for weeks. I'm very, extremely, monumentally worried about it. I feel so lost in the class and I don't know if I can remember what I need to. In fact, I have spent over an hour unintentionally coming up with mnemonic devices to remember the US and USSR leaders during the Cold War. I know they are important, but why won't my brain stop coming up with acronym-sentences to remember them by?
First I came up with US presidents:
True, Eisenhower Keeps Jolting Nixon's Ford Car's Rear Bumper.
[Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush]
Then I came up with the Soviet Leaders:
Stale Khrispies Break Angry Cherenko's Gums.
[Stalin, Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Andropov, Cherenko, Gorbachev]
Then they all came together chronologically:
Staring Through Khrushchev's Eyes Keeps Brezhnev Jolting Nixon's Ford Car And Cherenko's Really Good Buddy
Stalin- Truman
Krushchev- Eisenhower/Kennedy
Brezhnev- Johnson/Nixon/Ford/Carter
Andropov/Cherenko- Reagan
Gorbachev- Bush
It won't stop!
And yet, I can never remember what the acronym SALT stands for. It stands for Strategic Arms Limitations Talks. I always think the "T" stands for Treaty. I remember the Marshall Plan because I think of a Marshall or Sherriff in the Wild West[ern Europe] trying to keep Communism out. The word "Baruch" of the Baruch Plan sounds to me like a mushroom cloud explosion. Warsaw Pact was like the opposite of NATO. Bay of Pigs: American "pigs" raid the bay of Cuba (and fail). Cuban Missile Crisis was Soviet Missiles in Cuba. According to the Brezhnev Doctrine, USSR could intervene when E. Europe strayed from Communist orthodoxy. ABM: Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. Solidarity was a Polish trade union that wanted free rights. OPEC: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Iran-Contra Plan: sell weapons to Iran for money to support Contras. Glasnost= free speech. Perestroika= economic reforms.
Truman Doctrine aided Greece and Turkey to fight Communism.
Eisenhower liked brinkmanship.
JFK preferred flexible response.
Johnson bad job in Vietnam- see Tonkin Gulf Resolution [total control w/o declaring war].
Ford focused on domestic affairs: economy and faith in government.
Carter emphasized human rights and converstion.
Reagan ritualistically anti-Communist, but obsessed with Nicaragua and SDI.
Bush firm grasp of detail; too cautious(?).