United Nations
Americans, p. 603; Alive!, p. 481
United Nations (UN) was the international
peacekeeping organization to promote peace
and economic development.
• 1945
• Post-Pearl Harbor
• 50 nations originally, 193
of 195-6 belong today
• UDHR: 4 Essential
Freedomsspeech & expression,
worship, from fear & want
• peacekeeping
Super Powers
Americans, p. 602-603; 607 Alive!, p. 494
• US & USSR
• democracy & capitalism
versus communism
Cold War = political hostility that
existed between the Soviet bloc
and the US-led Western
• hegemonyinfluence countries
powers from 1945 to 1990. It was
a conflict between the Soviet
• global competition:
Union and the U.S. without
weapons being fired.
space race, military
(nukes!), allied nations
• control
Iron Curtain
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•
Americans, p. 605; Alive! 496-97
barrier in Europe
communist “East” Iron curtain was a
term first used by
capitalist &
Winston Churchill to
democratic “West” describe the line that
separates communism
from democracy.
Former British
Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
Berlin Wall marks
formal division
satellite nations
Americans, p.605; Alive!, p. 505
• communism
• Eastern
Europe
• USSR (Stalin)
• Iron Curtain
• containment
Satellite Nations
Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Romania
and Poland. Stalin
took control and
forced communist
rule.
containment
Americans, p. 605;737 ; Alive!, p. 494; 497, 508, 511
• restriction of
Containment blocks
communism
other countries efforts
to spread its influence
• anti-expansion of their type of
government.
• Iron Curtain
• US Diplomat in USSR
George Kennan
• Implemented by
President Harry S.
Truman
Truman and his Doctrine
Americans, p. 606; Alive!, p. 498 & 501
•
•
•
•
•
military & economic aid
president’s policy
Turkey & Greece ($400 mil.)
containment of communism
pro-democracy
Truman Doctrine
Economic and military aid
to nations trying to avoid
the threat of the spread of
communism.
George Marshall & his Plan
Americans, p. 606; Alive!, p. 468; 499-500
• Funds to rebuild
Post-WW II Europe
• European Recovery
Act
• hope & stability
• Pro-democracy
(anti-communism)
• Secretary of State,
WW II General
Marshall Plan
Economic aid
provided by the U.S.
to help rebuild
nations after the
war & contain
communism (1947).
Provided help from
poverty, chaos, and
desperation.
Post-WW II Germany
Americans, p. 607; 677; Alive!, p. 504
• aftermath = East
(communist) split
from West (free)
• Allied occupation
zones
• Berlin Blockade
by USSR (June
1948)
• Berlin Airlift (June
1948-May 1949)
• Berlin Wall (19611989)
• Reunified into
one Germany
(1990)
Berlin Airlift Berlin divided between
Allies and the Soviets. Americans
airlifted food and supplies until Stalin
got rid of the blockade.
NATO
Americans, p. 608; 624; Alive!, p.505
• defensive alliance
• collective security
against possible Soviet
attack
• signed by 12
democratic nations
(1949)
• Ended isolationism for
US (28 members today)
• By 1955500, 000
troops, plus thousands
of planes, tanks, etc. in
Europe
• Countered by Warsaw
Pact
North Atlantic Treaty
Organization
Military support to all
members if attacked.
Started for the fear of
Soviet aggression.
Warsaw Pact
Americans, p. 624; Alive!, p. 505
• communist alliance
(1955)
• security agreement
• united against NATO
• West Germany rearmed
& joined NATO
• USSR, plus 7 Eastern Warsaw Pact-A
European countries pact between
the Soviet Union
• Dissolved in
1991collapse of the and their
satellite
Soviet Union
countries for
military
purposes
China’s Civil War
Americans, p. 609-610 ; Alive!, p. 507-508
• China experienced a
revolution
• NationalistsChiangKai Shek (center)
supported by US
• CommunistsMao
Zedong (right) & Red
Army supported by the
Soviets
• People’s Republic of
China (communists win
in 1949)
• Taiwan (Republic of
China)
democratic/capitalist
Chiang Kai-Shek was a
Nationalist ruled in
southern and eastern
China. Got aid from the
U.S. Moved to Taiwan.
Mao Zedong was the
communist leader of
Northern China. Financial
aid from the Soviets.
Peoples Republic of China.
Korean War
Americans, p. 609-615; Alive!, p. 508-509
• Communists tried General MacArthur American
troops led by MacArthur
to reunify
launched a counterattack taking
peninsula (June 25, back the 38 parallel. MacArthur
wanted a war against China and
1950)
Truman disagreed. He was fired.
• United Nations
intervenes (90%
American forces)
• stalemate results in
demilitarized zone
(to present)
• truce line (38th
parallel)
th
blacklist
Americans, p. 618; Alive!, p.521
• 500 actors, writers,
producers, & directors
• suspected
communists &
communist
sympathizers
• fear & paranoia
• Hollywood Ten
• tarnished reputations
• lost job opportunities
Blacklist It happened when 500 people in the
movie industry were suspected of being under
communist influence. They weren’t allowed to
work.
Hollywood Ten were witnesses called to testify,
but they refused to cooperate regarding
possible communist influence in the movie
industry. Those witnesses were put in prison.
HUAC & McCarthyism
Americans, p.620; Alive!, p. 522
• unsubstantiated attacks
• anti-communist
McCarthyism-People who were suspected
of being communists although there was
investigations
or no evidence to support claims.
• suspected communist little
House Un-American Activities Committee
sympathizers
(HUAC) a committee that investigated
communism in the movie industry.
• infiltration
• propaganda
• Senator Joseph McCarthy
(R-Wisconsin)
• House Un-American
Activities Committee
• Congressional hearings
• loyalty oaths
• Produced “flimsy evidence”
• unconstitutional
Brinkmanship, H-Bomb, MAD
Americans, p. 623 ; Alive!, p. 515
• push to the edge
• “all-out-war”
• powerful thermonuclear
weapons for US (1952) &
USSR (1953)
• Hydrogen bomb = 1 million
tons of TNT…67 times the
power of A-bomb dropped
on Hiroshima
• Mutually Assured
Destruction
• world destruction
threatened
• air raid drills & fallout
shelters
Brinkmanship when a country
threatens another country
with massive military
aggression. “Going to the
brink of war”
H-Bomb was more powerful
than the atomic bomb. Race
with the soviets to see who
could develop the H-bomb
first. By 1953 both had the
bomb.
By 1963 a hot line linked the
White House to the Kremlin so
that communication in a crisis
could be made easier.
CIA
Americans, p. 623-624; 626; 674 Alive!, p. 498; 511-513
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Central Intelligence Agency
Formed under Truman’s National Security
Act (1947)
international organization
covert (spy) operations
anti-USSR (pro-US interests)
overthrow unfriendly or leftist
(communist) governments
Iran, Guatemala, Dominican Republic
secret cameras, spy planes (U-2), satellite
technology
Eisenhower relied heavily on
reportsauthorized training of Cuban
exiles (1960)
Kennedy authorized Bay of Pigs invasion
(April 17, 1961)
1,300-1,500 exiles attacked in a botched
effort (ineffective airstrikes & strategies)
Cuba under Fidel Castro had 25,000
soldiers and Soviet tanks and jets
embarrassing & costly episode ($53
million ransom in food & medical supplies
for release of commandos)
Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) gathered information
about the enemies of the U.S.
CIA gave millions of dollars to
the Shah of Iran to return to his
country so that the Soviets
would not gain control of the oil
fields. The Shah returned and
gave control of fields to western
companies.
Nikita Khruschev
Americans, p.626; Alive!, p. 630;632-633
• Soviet leader
(Premier) from
1958 to 1964
• Responsible for
the partial deStalinization of
the USSR
(denounced
Stalin's dictatorial
rule & cult of
personality)
• Helped make
progress in early
Soviet space
program &
liberalized Soviet
domestic policy
Nikita Khruschev Leader of the soviet Union who believed that
communism and democracy could coexist.
Space Race
Americans, p. 626 ; Alive!, p. 629
• competition for international
prestige (USSR vs. USA)
• Sputnik (October 4, 1957) was
1st artificial satellite
• US had “flopnik” & “kaputnik”
at first
• 1st satellite success on January
31, 1958
• NASA: National Aeronautics &
Space Administration (1958Eisenhower)
• 1st cosmonaut in space (April
12, 1961) was Yuri Gagarin
• Alan Sheppard was first US
astronaut in space (May 5,
1961-Freedom 7)
• Neil Armstrong was 1st man on
the moon (July 20, 1969)
Space Race
world’s first
satellite was
sent into
space by the
Soviets. A
year later the
U.S. launched
its first
satellite.
U-2 incident
Americans, p. 627; Alive!, p. 502-502;511
• US spy plane
• Soviets shoot it down
(May 1, 1960)
• Francis Gary Powers (US
pilot) captured in Soviet
territory
• Nikita Khruschev (USSR)
demanded US apology
• Eisenhower refused
• US-USSR summit
cancelled
• great tension between
the superpowers
U-2 American
spy plane shot
down in Soviet
territory.
Caused more
tension
between
Soviet and U.S.
JFK & the Cuban Missile Crisis
Americans, p.674-676; Alive!, p. 632-633
•
•
•
•
•
•
Soviets built missile
launch sites on Cuba
(1962)
US president Kennedy
calls for quarantine
(blockade) of island
Soviet leader Nikita
Khruschev sent more
ships to Cuba
Grave nuclear danger
for “14 days” in
October 1962
JFK relied on 12 most
trusted advisors
(ExCom = Executive
Committee for
National Security)
Nikita Khruschev
“blinked” and agreed
to remove missiles (US
pledged NOT to
invade Cuba)
Cuban Missile Crisis US-Soviet confrontation of missile launch
sites discovered by the US in communist Cuba in 1962. It was the
closest the Cold War ever came to nuclear war.