What is the Cold War???
• growing mistrust between the 2 Superpowers: Soviet Union &
the U.S.
– Iron Curtain (symbolic boundary dividing Europe into 2)
• lasted from the 1920’s – 1990’s
• Western Europe & the U.S. vs. Eastern Europe, China, & the
Soviet Union
• no actual fighting battles, but lots of tension, rivalry, & political
battles (Domino Theory – one incident led to another)
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Soviet blockade of Berlin
Berlin Wall
Bay of Pigs
Cuban Missile Crisis
Truman Doctrine
Korean War
Space Race
Nuclear Arms Race
Capitalism & Democracy (U.S.) VS. Communism (Soviet Union)
President Truman
• wanted to prevent the further
expansion of communism in Europe
• Truman Doctrine – U.S. would
dedicate economic aid to help
foreign countries fight communism
• COMMUNISM – favoring equal
distribution of wealth & the end of
all private property
• Marshall Plan – gave financial aid to
European allies to rebuild their
countries after WWII
– $13 billion between 1948 – 1952
– offered Soviet Union, but they
refused
• the Fair Deal – reform programs after
WWII
"I'M SICK OF
BABYING THE
SOVIETS."
PRESIDENT TRUMAN WROTE THIS ON JAN. 5, 1946 TO
SECRETARY OF STATE JAMES BYRNES. HE WAS UPSET
THAT THE USSR WAS TAKING OVER EASTERN EUROPEAN
NATIONS AND IMPOSING COMMUNIST GOVERNMENTS.
Churchill giving
his “iron
curtain” speech
in March of 1946
at Fulton
Missouri
"A shadow has fallen
upon the scenes so
lately lighted by the
Allied victories. . . .
From Stettin in the
Baltic to Trieste in
the Adriatic, an iron
curtain has
descended across the
continent.”
Churchill’s main points were that there should be a US/UK
agreement within the framework of the U.N. to resist and
deter any disturbances to world peace and that Stalin
wants "not war but the fruits of war”, and if the allies stay
strong and united they can counter any Soviet threat
EASTERN EUROPEAN NATIONS TAKEN OVER BY THE USSR
AFTER WW II
YUGOSLAVIA, WHILE COMMUNIST, REMAINED INDEPENDENT
GERMAN CITY OF
HAMBURG IN 1947
BEFORE THE
MARSHALL PLAN
EFFECTS OF
THE
MARSHALL
PLAN
HAMBURG, 1952,
AFTER THE
MARSHALL PLAN
The Fair Deal
• it was intended to bring full employment & a higher
minimum wage for Americans
• it called for more affordable housing, expanded Social
Security benefits, & aid for farmers
• it also dealt with civil rights – calling for an end to
lynching & discrimination & for voter protection laws
• it funded domestic improvements
– building highways
– GI bill $$$
Korean War
•2 Koreas (Northern – communists & Southern – controlled by the
U.N.)
•North Korea (trained by Soviets) invaded South Korea in order to
spread communism
•Chinese (communists) helped N. Korea vs. U.S. (democracy)
helped S. Korea
•Election of 1952 – Republican President, Eisenhower (former
WWII general) won!  war changes
NORTH KOREA
38TH PARALLEL DIVIDING
LINE BETWEEN NORTH AND
SOUTH KOREA
SOUTH KOREA
FORMER GENERAL
DWIGHT D.
EISENHOWER WAS
ELECTED PRESIDENT
IN NOVEMBER 1952
WITH A PLEDGE TO
GO TO KOREA AND
END THE WAR.
On July 27th 1953,
after three years of
fighting, an
armistice was
signed ending the
Korean war. Korea
remained divided at
the 38th parallel.
IKE (Eisenhower)
• Eisenhower Doctrine Threatened the use of atomic
weapons in Korea  2 sides
signed a peace treaty soon
after
• To this day… 2 sides (North &
South)… tensions still exist… U.S.
forces still there
• “New Look” in U.S. foreign
policy  massive retaliation
– the use of nuclear weapons
to fight communist attack
What is Communism?
• a type of socialism; establishes a
classless nation based upon common
ownership of the means of
production
• Karl Marx – German ideologist; the
Communist Manifesto (1848)
– the “Father of Communism” –
thought capitalism would end
– working class should revolt
against middle class
– years later the Marxist
Bolsheviks took over Russia &
started the Communist Party of
the Soviet Union (leader –
Vladimir Lenin)
The Red Scare
•fear of communism (the Communist party exists in the U.S.
& its spreading all over eastern Europe & Asia)
•HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) , govt.
agency, investigates American people’s involvement in
communism
•blacklisting – refusing to hire because a person may be
communist
•Hollywood investigated & up in arms
•Internal Security Act – required organizations thought to
be communist to register with the govt. & allowed govt. the
right to arrest people suspected of communism
McCarthy
• a Senator who began a campaign to expose
Communists in the U.S.
• he accused people of being communists without
adequate proof & exploited the fear of communism 
McCarthyism
• people scared of proving him wrong, for fear that he
would have called them a communist
• he then went after communism in the military… that
pushed it too far
• McCarthy then voted out of office by Congress
Nuclear Arms Race
• who would have the most WMD’s???
– SALT – Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
• from atomic bomb to hydrogen bomb (more powerful)
• U.S. not the only one with this technology (Soviet
Union has it too)
• Families built underground bomb shelters to escape
radiation
• children practiced “duck & cover”
drills at schools
In 1957 a new word entered the world’s vocabulary: ICBM,
short for intercontinental ballistic missiles. These were
nuclear bomb carrying missiles with ranges of over five
thousand miles. No place on earth was safe from nuclear
destruction.
FIRST US ATLAS
ICBM
USSR WAS THE
FIRST TO
SUCCESSFULLY
LAUNCH AN ICBM
ATMOSPHERIC NUCLEAR
BOMB TESTS WERE
POISONING THE
ATMOSPHERE WITH DEADLY
RADIOACTIVITY THAT WAS
SHOWING UP IN MILK AND
OTHER FOODS. IN MARCH OF
1958 RUSSIA SUSPENDED
ATMOSPHERIC TESTING
FOLLOWED BY THE US AND
BRITAIN IN OCTOBER.
Space Race
•Sputnik – Soviet satellite sent into space; Americans
worried that the Soviets were beating the U.S.
technologically in the Cold War
•in response, the U.S. created NASA (National Aeronautics
& Space Administration) & funded/pushed more math,
science, & foreign language in education
•Eisenhower created it, JF Kennedy made it what it is today
OCTOBER 4TH 1957 THE SPACE AGE BEGINS AS
RUSSIA LAUNCHES SPUTNIK, THE FIRST
ARTIFICIAL SATELLITE TO ORBIT THE EARTH.
AMERICANS WERE SHOCKED THAT THE SOVIETS
WERE THE FIRST INTO SPACE
The U.S. did not get an
object into orbit until
January of 1958 after
several embarrassing
failures. The space race
was on.
FIDEL CASTRO
ON JANUARY 1, 1959 REVOLUTION IN CUBA
SUCCESSFULLY OVERTHREW THE GOVERNMENT.
ON JANUARY 6TH FIDEL CASTRO BECAME PREMIER
AND LATER COMMUNIST DICTATOR OF CUBA.
MANY CUBANS FLEE TO THE U.S.
CASTRO DECLARED HIMSELF A
COMMUNIST AND ALLIED CUBA WITH
THE SOVIET UNION
CASTRO AND
KHRUSHCHEV
the Bay of Pigs
• 1959, Fidel Castro, Cuba vs.
Kennedy, U.S.
• Castro established a communist
dictatorship in Cuba & an alliance
with the Soviet Union
• Cuba very close to U.S.  scared
Americans
• Kennedy/Ike’s plan – CIA trained
Cuban exiles to invade island on
the Bay of Pigs
• Castro attacked back, invasion
turned into a disaster
• FAILED!!!
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis
• Soviets installing nuclear missiles in Cuba (could
hit U.S.)
• U.S. navy then surrounded Cuba to prevent
Soviet ships from bringing in more missiles
• Soviet ships then approached the U.S. blockade… time
stood still… Soviet ships turned back
• Compromise: Soviets removed missiles, U.S. not invade
Cuba, & create a “hotline” (the red phone between 2
superpowers)
– Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty – created by
Kennedy & Soviet leader, Khrushchev, ended
testing of nuclear weapons above ground
The Berlin Wall
• after WWII, the Allies
divided Berlin in 2 (West –
U.S. & East Berlin – Soviet
Union)
• East Berliners began
crossing into West Berlin…
this alarmed the
Communists  Berlin Wall
(built by Soviets) attempt to
stop border crossing
– stood for decades as a symbol
of the Cold War
Vietnam Conflict
• war fought between communist Democratic
Republic of Vietnam (N. Vietnam) & Republic of
Vietnam (S. Vietnam)
• U.S. sided with S. Vietnam
• Communist allies sided with
N. Vietnam
• N. Vietnam wanted
independence from French
colonialism
War Powers Act 1973
• Because of Korea & Vietnam, this fed. law is
created
• President cannot send troops (unless under
attack) to war; only Congress has that power