U.S. History
EOCT test
Unit 8 Preparation

SSUSH 20

20a
Describe the creation of the
Marshall Plan, U.S. commitment to Europe, the
Truman Doctrine, and the origins and implications of the containment policy.

Cold War
• The tension between the United States and the Soviet Union that dominated both nation’s foreign policies and which many feared would lead to war.

“Iron Curtain”
• Berlin, Germany was divided after WWII into western democracies and Easter Soviet
Communist
• Former Prime Minister
Winston Churchill said of
Europe, “A shadow has fallen… an Iron curtain has descended across
the continent.”

Berlin Airlift
• In an effort to stop people from fleeing to west Berlin,
Stalin cut the city off by not allowing anyone to enter or leave.
• Truman did not want war but felt he had to deal with Stalin so he ordered supplies for the East Germans delivered by airplane to be dropped in
East Berlin

Marshall Plan
• Financial plan created by
Secretary of state George
Marshall that provided the war torn nations of Europe money and financial support to alleviate the suffering of their people.
• Since Communist revolutions often start during economic hardship the Marshall Plan was actually a weapon used as containment policy.

Truman Doctrine
• President Harry
Truman stated the
U.S. intervene and aid other nations attempting to resist
Communism.

Containment Policy
• Origins
• Recommended by George kennen, diplomat to
Soviet union.
• Implications
• U.S. should focus on containing communism where it already was (stopping communism from spreading to other countries.)
• Do not let communism spread further

20b
Explain the impact of the new communist regime in China and the outbreak of the Korean War and how these events contributed to the rise of Senator
Joseph McCarthy.

New Communist China
• China fell to
Communism when Mao
Tse-tung won control of
China forcibly removing
Chiang Kai-Shek to flee the land in 1949.
• The event left many wondering if containment was working.
Mao Tse-tung-
“Communist”
 Chiang Kai-shek
“Nationalist”
Pro-American

Korean War
• In 1950, The war began when North Korean forces crossed the 38 th parallel. The UN come to South Korea’s aid.
• The incident was never a declared war but an incident handled by UN police power.

Fear at home – Red Scare
• Citizens at home were concerned with the spread of communism possible nuclear war. The built fall out shelters, did school nuclear attack drills.
• American citizens were convinced by the fall of china, and communist forces moving into Korea were indicators that the Communist were attempting to dominate and take over the world.
• The government responded by investigating, arresting, and harassing people connected to the Communist
Party.

McCarthyism
• Joseph McCarthy was convinced that Communists had infiltrated high levels of government and the Military.
• Korean aggression and the fall of china helped
McCarthy’s ideas gain popularity
• McCarthy had to defend his views on television and by
1954 many people labeled him “Crazy” and “Paranoid”

20c

Cuban Revolution
• A revolution in the 1950s that took over the government of Cuba and placed Fidel Castro as the new communist leader of Cuba.
• Important to the U.S. because Cuba is 90 miles
South of Florida and the
U.S. is trying to Contain
Communism.

Bay of Pigs
• April 17, 1961 a failed attempt by the Kennedy administration to launch an invasion of Cuba by
CIA trained anti- Castro Cuban exiles. It embarrassed the Kennedy Administration.

Cuban Missile Crisis
• Fidel allowed Soviets to secretly put nuclear missiles in
Cuba– just 90 miles off the coast of Florida.
• U.S. Spy planes spotted the
Missiles in October 1962.
• For 13 days, the world watched as the two superpowers almost had nuclear war.
• In the end Khrushchev agreed to withdraw in exchange for a
U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba and a secret agreement that the U.S. would remove US missiles located in Turkey as
Well.

20d

Vietnam War
• Fighting erupted when
Vietnamese nationalists led by Communist Ho Chi Minh wanted independence from
France.
• The U.S. supported the
South Vietnamese leader
Ngo Kinh Diem and in the early 1960s both sides broke into war for control of
Vietnam.
• Twelve years later the war officially ended in January
1973 when all parties signed the Paris Peace Accords.

Tet Offensive
• North Vietnamese and Viet
Cong launched a major coordinated attack against the
U.S. and South Vietnamese forces.
• Heavy fighting in Saigon, the
South Vietnamese capitol.
• The U.S. and allies turned them back but the incident was televised ending in a psychological victory for the
Vietcong.
• Many people in the U.S. began to question U.S. involvement in
Vietnam and whether the U.S. should be there.

Growing opposition to the War
• College campuses become places of protest against the war.
• Students for a Democratic
Society (SDS) demanded the government take radical steps radical steps to deal with poverty, inequality, and to end the war in Vietnam.
• The organization and others helped create pressure to end the Vietnam war and get the troops home.
Kent State University
Protest gone violent---

20e
Explain the role of geography on the U.S. containment policy, the Korean War, the Bay of
Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Vietnam War.

21a
Describe the impact of competition with the USSR as evidenced by the launch of Sputnik I and President
Eisenhower’s actions.

Sputnik I
• October 4, 1957 Russian satellite launched into space to transmit messages and other information.
• Shocked the U.S. because
Soviet Union beat them in
Technological advancement in
Space.

Eisenhower’s response to Sputnik I
• Signaled a technology gap between the U.S. and the
Soviet Union
• On July 29, 1958 the
National Aeronautics
Space Act created the
Government Agency
NASA
• Its goal was to Pioneer the future of space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research.
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA)