Unit 6: Cold War to the Present
(Part 2)
Vietnam to Iraq
Vietnam
• Vietnam is part of a former French colony
that in 1954 was divided into North and
South Vietnam. North Vietnam was run by
a communist government headed by Ho
Chi Minh. South Vietnam was run by a
noncommunist government headed by Ngo
Dinh Diem.
Vietnam
• The government of South Vietnam was
corrupt and often repressive. However, the
U.S. supported the government because it
was anti-Communist, in fear that if South
Vietnam fell to the communists, all of
Southeast Asia might follow.
Vietnam
• Throughout the early 1960s, communist-backed
guerilla forces known as Vietcong fought against
the South Vietnamese government. The U.S.
sent aid and support to the government.
• By the summer of 1964, the U.S. had begun
limited bombing of positions held by the
Vietcong and supported limited commando raids
on North Vietnam’s coast.
Vietnam
• In August, 1964, President Johnson
reported that the North Vietnamese had
attacked two American ships in the Gulf of
Tonkin. At the President’s request,
Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution, which allowed the President to
carry out a war against the Vietcong and
North Vietnam.
• Johnson quickly began bombing military
bases in North Vietnam. In February 1965,
after the Vietcong attacked an American
airbase in South Vietnam, Johnson ordered
an escalation, or military expansion, of the
war. In April 1965 he began sending U.S.
troops to fight against the Vietcong.
Vietnam
• American troops encountered difficulties in
fighting the communist rebels. Vietcong
guerrillas used hit-and-run tactics and booby
traps. They launched small-scale attacks and
then disappeared into the jungles or friendly
villages. To counter such tactics, American
troops adopted a search-and-destroy strategy.
The troops destroyed jungles and villages in an
attempt to force the Vietcong out into open
combat.
Vietnam
• The U.S. continued pouring troops into
Vietnam. During the height of the conflict,
more than 500,000 American soldiers were
serving in the country. Despite the
growing influx of U.S. troops and massive
bombing of his country, Ho Chi Minh
vowed to keep fighting, believing that his
forces would outlast the U.S. in a war.
Vietnam
• Once the U.S. had escalated the fighting,
there seemed to be no way of leaving
without damaging its international prestige.
Between 1965 and 1967, American
officials estimated that some 2,000
attempts were made to open direct
negotiations, all unsuccessful.
Vietnam
• By the end of 1967, U.S. military leaders
assured the country that the end of the war
was in sight.
Vietnam
• January 30, 1968, marked a turning point
of the war. That day, the Vietcong
launched surprise attacks on numerous
towns and bases in South Vietnam.
Occurring on Tet, the Vietnamese lunar
New Year, these attacks became known as
the Tet Offensive.
• These attacks were quickly repelled.
However, the American people were
shocked that an enemy was supposedly
near defeat could launch such a large-scale
attack. After Tet, many citizens began to
believe that the U.S. could not win the war.
Vietnam
• In March, 1968, President Johnson
announced that he would halt nearly all
bombing of North Vietnam and try to
begin negotiations. These peace
negotiations proved fruitless, however, and
the fighting continued.
Vietnam
• Gradually, as the U.S. moved deeper into
the Vietnam War, opposition grew.
Americans divided into two groups. Those
who supported the war were called
“hawks,” those who opposed the war were
called “doves.”
Vietnam
• A - Many of those who opposed the war
were students. The antiwar movement
centered on college campuses.
• B - Many students protested the draft
calling the system unfair because it offered
a deferment to college students, which
meant that a person who could not afford a
higher education was more likely to be
drafted. Many people protested the fact
that Black Americans made up a
disproportionately large number of
American soldiers fighting overseas.
Vietnam
• C - Some protests turned violent. During a
1970 protest at Kent State University in
Ohio, four students were killed when the
Ohio National Guard fired on
demonstrators. Two more students were
killed by state police at Jackson State
University in Mississippi.
Vietnam
• During this tumultuous period in the U.S.,
some young people rebelled against
established values and searched for a new
set of beliefs. These people made up what
was known as the counterculture because
their values and practices conflicted with
those of established society.
Vietnam
• On the other side, a large number of
conservative Americans were angered by
riots, protests, and a war that seemed to be
going nowhere. The deep anger these
Americans felt against the protesters soon
developed into a backlash against the antiwar movement.
Vietnam
• By 1968, American society had reached a
turning point. As a result of the Tet
Offensive and the continuing protests, polls
showed that the majority of Americans had
turned against the President’s handling of
the war.
Vietnam
• A - The Democratic party also became
split. Senators Eugene McCarthy and
Robert Kennedy, both of whom opposed
the war, announced they would challenge
Johnson for the presidential nomination.
In March 1968, Johnson stunned the nation
by announcing that he would not run for
reelection.
• Hubert Humphrey, Johnson’s VicePresident, became the administration
candidate. As the election progressed,
however, it appeared that Kennedy would
gain the Democratic nomination. Then,
Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968.
In August, the Democrats nominated
Humphrey for President.
Vietnam
• B - Meanwhile, the Republicans chose
Richard Nixon as their candidate. During
the campaign, Nixon promised to bring
order to the nation and end the war in
Vietnam. Nixon won a close victory and
thus became President.
Vietnam
• To help him handle foreign policy matters,
Nixon appointed Henry Kissinger, a
brilliant political scientist, as his national
security adviser and later his secretary of
state. Wanting to be remembered as a
peacemaker, Nixon proclaimed a policy of
détente, or relaxation of tensions between
the United States and the communist block.
Vietnam
• He also visited Moscow and began arms
limitation talks with the Soviets that led to
agreements by both sides to ban biological
warfare and limit the growth of nuclear
weapons. Nixon also worked to improve
relations with China, lifting trade and
travel restrictions, and in February 1972,
he visited the country.
Vietnam
• Despite a campaign promise to end the war
in Vietnam, Nixon moved slowly. He did
not want to withdraw U.S. troops without a
peace agreement and thus become the
nation’s first President to lose a war.
• In June 1971, the New York Times
published a secret defense department
study known as the Pentagon Papers,
which indicated that the nation’s various
administrations had misled Congress and
the public about the war in Vietnam. The
documents angered many Americans and
increased protests against the war.
Vietnam
• To quiet opposition to the war, Nixon
announced a policy of “Vietnamization.”
The policy consisted of withdrawing U.S.
troops and replacing them with South
Vietnamese soldiers. Nixon hoped that
Vietnamization, combined with saturation
bombing of North Vietnam, would allow
the U.S. to withdraw from the war “with
honor.”
Vietnam
• In January 1973, the warring sides signed a
cease-fire agreement ending the military presence
of the United States in Vietnam. The war,
however, continued. In 1975, Congress refused
President Ford’s request for funds to aid South
Vietnam in its continuing war. In January 1975,
North Vietnam launched a major offensive
against the South. In a few months, the
communists conquered South Vietnam and united
the country under communist rule.
Vietnam Myths & Facts:
– Myth: The U.S. soldiers were very young and
poorly educated.
– Fact: The average age was 23, and 79% of our
troops were high school graduates.
Vietnam Myths & Facts:
- Myth: The soldiers were mostly poor and
from minorities.
– Fact: While 30% of the 58,000 killed came
from the lowest third in income, 26% came
from the highest third; 12.5% were black.
Vietnam Myths & Facts:
- Myth: Many were jailed for draft-evasion
during the Vietnam war.
– Fact: Though 500,000 did dodge the draft,
only 9000 were convicted.
Latin America
Latin America
• Shortly after taking office, Kennedy
implemented a program of aid to Latin
America called the Alliance of Progress.
Its purpose was to develop long-term
economic growth among Latin American
nations in order to prevent communist
revolutions.
Middle East
The Middle East
• When war broke out between Israel and its
Arab neighbors, the U.S. supported Israel.
The Soviet Union backed and armed the
Arab states. Israel quickly won the ArabIsraeli War of 1967.
The Middle East
• In 1973, during the Jewish holiday of Yom
Kippur, Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a
surprise attack against Israel in an attempt to
regain land lost to Israel during a previous
conflict. The U.S. supported Israel, while the
Soviet Union aided the Arab states. The two
superpowers, however, also worked to end the
conflict. The combatants eventually agreed to a
cease-fire
The Middle East
• After the war, Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger worked with Israel and Egypt to
reduce tensions in the Middle East. He
engaged in shuttle diplomacy-flying back
and forth between the capitals of the two
nations in an attempt to produce a lasting
peace. Kissinger’s efforts resulted in
improved relations between Egypt and
Israel
The Middle East
• On the world stage, President Jimmy
Carter attempted to promote a foreign
policy based on morality and truth rather
than military or economic considerations.
(When the Soviet Union invaded
Afghanistan in 1979, Carter imposed a
grain embargo on the Soviets and kept the
United States out of the 1980 Olympic
Games in Moscow.)
The Middle East
• Carter’s greatest foreign policy triumph
and his greatest failure involved the Middle
East.
– Carter helped to broker peace between longtime enemies Egypt and Israel. The two sides
signed a peace agreement known as the Camp
David Accords in 1979
The Middle East
– The Iranian hostage crisis-Also in 1979, an
Islamic revolution toppled the monarchy in
Iran. A group of rebels, angry over U.S. ties
with the former rulers, seized the American
embassy in November 1979 and took hostage
more than 50 Americans. Throughout 1980,
Carter worked to win the hostages’ release.
Negotiations failed, however, as did a military
rescue in which eight Americans died in a
helicopter crash.
The Middle East
• Election of 1980-pitted Democrat Jimmy Carter
against Republican and former actor and
governor Ronald Reagan of California. Reagan
hammered at Carter’s lack of leadership and of
his failure to obtain release of the hostages sealed
his defeat. On Election Day, Reagan won
handily. On January 20, 1981, just after Reagan
was sworn in, Iran released the American
hostages after 444 days in captivity.
The Middle East
• Reagan adopted a “hands-off” attitude
toward the day-to-day operations of the
presidency, giving more responsibility to
his staff. This practice aided what would
become known as the Iran-Contra affair, a
damaging scandal.
• In 1986, several of Reagan’s national
security advisors arranged to sell weapons
to Iranians in exchange for American
hostages, then secretly used the profits to
support anti-Communist rebels in
Nicaragua in violation of a congressional
ban on such financing.
The Middle East
• Although investigators cleared Reagan of
responsibility for the scheme, they faulted
him for allowing aides to make policy
decisions without his knowledge.
Improved Relations with the
Soviet Union
Improved Relations with the
Soviet Union
• In 1983, President Reagan announced his
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), nicknamed
“Star Wars.” The project involved creating a
shield of new weapons designed to intercept and
destroy nuclear missiles. In addition to Star
Wars, Reagan promoted a giant military buildup
costing about $1 trillion. This increased the debt
and left less money for housing, education, and
environmental programs. Congress responded in
1985 by passing the Gramm-Rudman Act, which
put pressure on Congress and the President to
reduce the deficit and balance the budget.
Improved Relations with the
Soviet Union
• Reagan’s desire for a strong defense was
based on his belief that the Soviet Union
was still a threat to the United States.
U.S.-Soviet relations improved, however,
when Mikhail Gorbachev became the new
Soviet premier. Gorbachev opened up
Soviet society (glasnost) and instituted
democratic reforms (perestroika).
Improved Relations with the
Soviet Union
• In 1986, Gorbachev and Reagan met to
discuss reducing their nuclear arsenals.
They eventually signed a treaty calling for
the removal of all intermediate-range
nuclear weapons from Europe. The cold
war was slowly coming to an end.
Improved Relations with the
Soviet Union
• After winning the election of 1988, President
George H.W. Bush was confronted with a tidal
wave of change around the world. Gorbachev’s
new reform policies in the Soviet Union created
even greater demands for freedom and
independence in Eastern Europe. In 1989,
several Eastern European nations overthrew their
communist rulers and forced democratic
elections.
Improved Relations with the
Soviet Union
• Demands for democracy then erupted in
the Soviet Union itself. A failed coup left
the power to govern in the hands of Boris
Yeltsin, president of the Russian Republic,
and Gorbachev resigned as Soviet
president.
• By December 1991, the Soviet Union
ceased to exist. In its place was a loose
federation of self-governing nations made
up of former Soviet republics, including
Russia, known as the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS).
Improved Relations with the
Soviet Union
• All the former Soviet and communist block
states forced serious economic troubles as
they attempted to convert state-run
economies to capitalist systems.
• Shortages of essential goods such as food,
fuel, medicine, and housing created severe
hardships for large numbers of people.
Ethnic rivalries flared in the newly
independent nations, complicating their
transition to self-government.
Improved Relations with the
Soviet Union
• On January 1, 2000, Vladimir Putin was
inaugurated as the new president of Russia,
succeeding Boris Yeltsin. While Russia is
now an ally of the United States, there are
still areas of major disagreement.
• In December of 2001, U.S. President
George W. Bush announced that the
United States will withdraw from the 1972
Antiballistic Missile Treaty mid-2002 in
order to build up defensive weapons.
Russia disagrees that this is the right thing
to do.
COLD WAR IS OVER
The Persian Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War
• In August 1990, Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein’s troops seized control of Kuwait, Iraq’s
oil-rich neighbor. Following the invasion, Iraq
controlled 20 percent of the world’s oil reserves.
President Bush, with cooperation from more than
25 other nations, assembled a U.S.-led military
coalition that drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait.
Saddam Hussein, however, remained a threat to
the region’s peace and stability.
The Persian Gulf War
• Observers feared that Iraq was working to
develop chemical, biological, and nuclear
weapons. The Persian Gulf War caused
Americans to rethink the military role of
the nation. Some leaders called for scaling
down U.S. military forces, arguing that the
real source of power in the “new world
order” would be economic.
The Persian Gulf War
• Other experts warned that the U.S. must
maintain a strong military to guard against
several remaining hostile and potentially
dangerous nations. Recently, it is feared
that Iraq is involved in sponsoring
terrorism around the world, thus, some
speculate that there will be more conflict
between Iraq and the United States, among
other nations of the west.
Other ethnic conflicts
• Despite the decline of communism, wars
arising from ethnic hatreds, political
boundaries, and religion plagued nearly
every world region throughout the 1990’s.
Other Ethnic Conflicts
Other ethnic conflicts
• The first crisis to confront the administration of
President Bill Clinton was civil war in the East
African nation of Somalia. When Clinton took
office, thousands of U.S. troops already were in
Somalia protecting deliveries of food to those left
starving by the war. As the U.S. troops became
more involved in the conflict, President Clinton
pulled them out in 1995 rather than risk
American casualties.
Other ethnic conflicts
• The U.S. and its allies also confronted
violence in Europe’s Balkan region. In
1991, the multinational state of Yugoslavia
disintegrated as several of the country’s
ethnic groups broke away and claimed
independence. Ethnic hatreds and renewed
feelings of nationalism after decades of
totalitarian rule fueled the wars in the
Balkan region.
Other ethnic conflicts
– Serbia, the region’s largest republic,
fought against Slovenian, Croatian,
Bosnian, and Macedonian
Independence, and the region descended
into years of war. As reports of Serb
atrocities against various ethnic groups
mounted, Western nations took action.
• The U.S. and its NATO allies bombed Serb
military sites in the first NATO military
offensive ever. In 1995, the warring sides
agreed to a cease-fire and signed an
agreement known as the Dayton peace
accords.
Other ethnic conflicts
– In 1999, violence flared up again in the
Balkans, as Kosovo, a province of
Serbia, sought its independence. To put
down the rebellion, Serbs marched into
Kosovo, where again reports surfaced of
atrocities against ethnic Albanians.
• Serb forces rounded up and executed more
than 8,000 Muslim men and boys. After
diplomatic relations failed, NATO
launched air strikes against Serbia, which
eventually agreed to remove its forces and
permit NATO troops to restore order in
Kosovo.
Other ethnic conflicts
– Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic was
forced from power in 2000 and was deemed a
war criminal by Western leaders and the
international war crimes tribunal in The
Hague, the Netherlands. Prosecutors say
Milosevic held ultimate responsibility for at
least 900 ethnic Albanians and the eviction of
800,000 civilians from their homes.
Other ethnic conflicts
• The United States played the role of
peacemaker in Northern Ireland. For many
years, sectarian violence between the
Protestant majority and Roman Catholic
minority had torn Northern Ireland apart.
• Roman Catholics wanted to reunite with
the predominantly Catholic, Irish Republic.
Protestants insisted that Northern Ireland
remain part of Great Britain. In 1997, the
U.S. persuaded both sides to disarm and
accept a cease-fire. A year later, Catholics
and Protestants agreed to a peace plan.
Other ethnic conflicts
• The U.S. also worked to end years of
fighting between Israelis and Palestinians,
an Arab people living under Israeli rule.
Under a peace agreement reached in 1995,
Israel agreed to significant Palestinian selfrule and the removal of Israeli forces from
other Palestinian areas. Implementation of
the plan, however, went slowly.
Other ethnic conflicts
• In 1998, with Clinton’s help, both sides
signed the Wye River Memorandum,
which detailed the steps needed to
implement the peace agreement.
Unfortunately, a new round of conflict
developed in 2000 and the two sides have
never been more divided.
Conflict with China
Conflict with China
• In April of 2001, China held 24 Americans for a
short period of time after a mid-air collision
between a U.S. Air Force jet and a Chinese jet.
The Chinese jet crashed killing the pilot and the
Americans made an emergency landing on
Chinese soil. Although the Chinese blamed the
U.S. for the collision, the U.S. government has
strongly rejected responsibility for the incident.
Conflict with China
• President George W. Bush has been given
credit for decisive leadership in the quick
release of the Americans. Bush also
pledged military aid for Taiwan in the
event of aggressive force from China.
Many suggest the Cold War continues
between the U.S. and China.
Peacemaker
• As 2000 began the United Nations was directing
peacekeeping operations in 17 countries from
Africa to the Middle East to Asia, at an estimated
cost of around $900 million. Why is the United
States, more than other countries, playing the role
of peacemaker around the world? The U.S. is
widely seen as the only remaining superpower,
and as such, has the respect and authority needed
to negotiate peace agreements.
America’s War on Terror
America’s New War on Terror;
9-11-2001
• On the beautiful morning of September 11, 2001,
4 planes left 3 major airports to begin what
would be the deadliest single day in modern
American history. At 7:59 a.m., American
Airlines Flight 11 with 92 people left Boston’s
Logan Airport for Los Angeles; at 8:01 a.m.,
United Flight 93 with 45 people left Newark
Airport for San Francisco; at 8:10 a.m., American
Flight 77 with 64 people left Washington’s
Dulles Airport for Los Angeles; and, at 8:14 a.m.,
United Flight 175 with 65 people left Boston for
L.A.
• The next day, Attorney General John
Ashcroft would say the planes “were
hijacked by between three and six
individuals per plane, using knives and box
cutters, and in some cases making bomb
threats.” He also says a number of
suspected hijackers were trained as pilots
in the United States.
• January 29, 2002-In his State of the Union
address, President George W. Bush in a
vital act of world leadership declared a
declaration against the “axis of evil”
referring to 3 nations where there are
weapons of mass destruction in hostile
hands.
Iraq
• After the 1991 Persian Gulf War, dictator
Saddam Hussein was discovered to be only
months away from producing an atomic bomb
and had already done tests on a radiological
“dirty bomb.” His program was closed, but “his
pool of trained scientists remained, and he might
have a nuclear device within a few years.” When
United Nations weapons inspectors were
banished, they were convinced that Saddam had
hidden an arsenal of VX nerve gas and “a whole
range of biological agents and toxins.”
Iran
• According to the Monterey Center for
Nonproliferation Studies, Iran, under the
leadership of Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, had
an arsenal of chemical weapons and,
according to the U.S. government, had
been secretly producing biological
weapons. It is getting Russian help on
nuclear power and assistance on missiles
from Russia and China.
North Korea
• Caught in 1992 producing more plutonium than it
admitted to making, North Korean president Kim
Jong II agreed in 1994 to stop producing it in
exchange for Western nations’ help with lessdangerous nuclear technology. But it blocked
implementation of the agreement. North Korea
has large stocks of chemical weapons and a welldeveloped biological weapons program. It is also
developing a missile capable of reaching the
United States.
• The three countries don’t constitute a
cooperative “axis” as Germany, Italy, and
Japan did in World War II, but there is no
question that they are “evil.” They have a
history of menacing their own people.