American History Unit 9
The Cold War
Soviet Economy
• Communism
– An economic system where the ownership of
factories and businesses is shared comunally and
controlled centrally by the government.
– The idea is to eliminate the rich and poor classes
to make all equal
– It generally starts in extremely poor countries with
many farmers
U.S. Economy
• Capitalism
– An economic system where the ownership of factories and
businesses is private.
– Profit is possible
• GI Bill
– Allowed more people to attend college
• Rising middle class
– More college graduates lead to an expansion of the middle class
• Suburban sprawl
– More people could afford homes and new houses were built
outside of cities
• The U.S. bragged about its economic success during the
Cold War
Nuclear Obsession
• People were fascinated with the Atomic Bomb
• Hydrogen Bomb
– The U.S. tested even more powerful nuclear weapons
on an island called the bikini Atoll
• Both the U.S. and the Soviets ammased many
nuclear weapons
– Both sides said theirs were for defense
– but each side saw the other’s as a threatening
offensive build up
Roots of the Cold War
• U.S. opposed the Russian revolution in 1919
• U.S. was “slow” to open the Western Front
during WW II
• U.S. boasted of powerful weapons at the
Potsdam conference
• Europe was divided into spheres
– Stalin viewed it as a defensive “Buffer zone”
– U.S. viewed it as aggressive expansion
1940s
• Iron Curtain speech
– Delivered by Winston Churchill
– March 5, 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton, MO
– "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has
descended across the Continent."
– Considered first “blow” of the cold war
• Truman
– Re-elected in 1948
– First cold war president
• Truman doctrine
– March 12, 1947
– idea that the United States would provide political, military and
economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from
external or internal authoritarian forces
1940s
• Containment 1947
– U.S. policy of preventing the spread of
communism to other countries
– Intervened in revolutions to prevent expansion
– Idea George F. Kennan
– Officially U.S. policy because of NSC 68 in 1950
1940s
• Marshall plan 1948
– the United States gave $13 billion (approximately $160
billion in current dollar value) in economic support to help
rebuild European economies after the end of World War II.
– Idea was to prevent poverty to prevent fertile communist
conditions
– Also maintained sound economies to provide markets for
U.S. goods
• NATO
– Founded in 1949
– Alliance of non-communist countries formed to combat
the spread of communism and defend against a possible
communist attack
1940s
• East/West Germany
– After WW II, Germany was divided by the allied
countries
– France, Britain and the U.S. split West Germany
– Soviets controlled East Germany and they became
communist
• Berlin
– Located inside of East Germany
– Divided among the three powers as well
• Stalin
– Wanted Germany weak and divided
– Decided to close off west berlin from the rest of
East Germany
– Used a blockade (not a wall yet)
– Blockade April1948 -May 1949 (eventually reopened)
– U.S. Airlifted supplies into west Germany to get
around the blockades
1940s
• Mao Tse-Tung (Zedong)
– Leader of Communist forces in China
– Wins revolution and drives U.S. backed forces out
of China (Chiang Kai Shek)
• Taiwan
– Non-communist Chinese fled to the island of
Formosa
– Now known as Taiwan
1940s
• Red scare
– Initially fear of soviet espionage
– Grew into a panic of all things “left”
• HUAC
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–
–
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Committee in the House of Representatives
House unamerican Activities Committee
Investigate suspected subversives
Investigated the Movie industry in 1947
• Hollywood Ten
– Beginning of the “witch hunt” aspect of the red scare
– Hearings with hollywood actors and directors
– Ten were blacklisted and not allowed to work in Hollywood
• Alger Hiss
– State Department Official
– Accused by Whittaker Chambers in 1948 of being
a Communist (not a spy)
– HUAC investigated
– Richard Nixon headed the investigation
– Began paranoia of government based subversives
1950s
• Korean War
– 1950-1953
– Communist North, Kim Il Sung
– Non-Communist South, Syngman Rhee
– North invaded South
– United Nations intervened on behalf of the South
– Ended up in a stalemate with Korea seperated
along the 38th parallel
1950s
• Eisenhower
– Elected in 1952 and 1956
– Former allied leader in Europe
– Built nuclear arsenal as a defense against the
Soviets
– Coined the Domino Theory
• If one country fell to communism that others would
follow
• We must intervene to prevent spreading
1950s
• Warsaw Pact
– Formed by Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev in 1955
– Defense treaty among 8 communist states in central
and eastern Europe
– Counterbalance to NATO
• Vietnam War
– French colony that revolted for its independence
– Dien Bien Phu - the decisive battle for independence
– Vietnam was divided into North and South with Ho
Chi Minh leading the Communist North
1950s
• Rosenberg trial 1951
– 1946 Congress mandated death for convicted Atomic spies
– Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted and executed for giving
secrets to the Soviets
• Joe McCarthy
– Republican Senator from Wisconsin from 1947-1957
– Served on SISS
– He claimed that large numbers of communists and soviet spies were
working in the U.S. government
– He was the most visible face of the “witch hunts” of the Red Scare
– He gained widespread fame and credibility until he attacked the army
as full of spies
– He was censured by the Senate in 1954
1960s
• U2 incident 1960
– An American Spy Plane (U2) was shot down over Soviet Air
Space
– The plane was flown by a CIA pilot
– The U.S. tried to voer up the planes purpose but was
forced to admit its attempts at espionage by the Soviets
– This lead to further deterioration of U.S.-Soviet relations
• John F. Kennedy
– Democrat elected president in 1960
– Delivered a speech in Berlin after the Wall was erected in
1961
– Took a tough stance against Khrushchev and the Soviets
1960s
• Fidel Castro
– Communist leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008
• Bay of Pigs Invasion
– Failed CIA invasion of Cuba to overthrow Castro in 1961
– The failed invasion strengthened the position of Castro's dictatorship
and strengthened ties with the USSR.
– This led eventually Cuban Missile Crisis
• Cuban Missile Crisis
– Soviets placed Nuclear Missiles in Cuba in response to U.S. missiles
being in Turkey and Italy
– This lead to a tense standoff between the U.S. and the Soviets with
many worrying that full scale war would erupt
– Eventually both sides backed down and the missiles were removed
from Cuba
1960s
• Tet Offensive
– Vietnam War continued
– 1968 North Vietnam launched massive attacks on
the U.S. forces and the South Vietnamese
• SALT I
– Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty
– Signed between the U.S. and soviets in 1969
– Reduced number of Nuclear weapons that each
had
1970s
• Nixon
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Republican President elected in 1968
First U.S. president to visit Red China
First U.S. president to visit the Soviet Union
Ended the Vietnam War under his presidency
• Détente
– General term for the “thawing out” period of the cold
war
– Generally associated with Presidents Nixon and Ford
1980s
• Ronald Reagan
– Republican President elected in 1980 and 1984
– Planned the Strategic Defense Initiative (Star
Wars)
• Defensive satelite system to prevent Nuclear Attack
1980s
• 1980 Moscow Olympics
– Boycotted by President Carter
• 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
– Boycotted by Soviet union and Communist Bloc
Countries
• Mikhail Gorbachev
– Soviet Leader from 1985 to 1991
– Brought a new ways of thinking to Soviet leadership
– Institutes perestroika and glasnost
1980s
• Fall of the berlin wall
– Revolutions swept through Eastern Bloc countries
as communism began to fall
– the East German government announced on 9
November 1989 that movement between nations
would be allowed
– Many people rushed to visit west Germany and
began to break down the wall
1990s
• START I
– Signed by George H.W. Bush and Mikhail
Gorbachev
– 31 July 1991 and entered into force on 5
December 1994
– Greatly reduced Nuclear weapons
– Essentially the end to cold war
• Soviet Union Broke up in 1991