The Cold War
1947-1991
Post War to Cold War
GI Bill – Congress passed this to allow soldiers
returning home access to low interest loans and
free education
 Baby Boom – the population jumped in the
years following WWII (Baby Boomers are
those born 1945 – 1960)
 Consumerism – WWII had ended the Great
Depression & people had jobs and were
spending money
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Levittown
1950’s Pop culture
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Norman Rockwell – idealistic pictures of life in
America
Dr. Jonas Salk – created vaccine for polio, wrote
books on child rearing
Mass Media – TV could reach large #’s of people
Little Richard brings in Rock-n-Roll – then Chuck
Berry & Elvis Presley
Teenagers became an all new market
Beat Movement – nonconformist of the time
Jackie Robinson – integrated MLB in 1947
Norman Rockwell Paintings
Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley
Jackie Robinson and Little Richard
James Dean and Marilyn Monroe
The British Invasion
Definition:
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The Cold War (1947–1991) was the
continuing power struggle
-existing after World War II (1939–1945)
between the Communist World
-primarily the Soviet Union and its allies,
and the powers of the Western world,
primarily the United States and its allies.
Causes of the Cold War
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WWII – USSR lost 20 million people and were
determined to gain #’s through Satellite Nations
– those nations under Soviet control
Post-War differences of opinions – Yalta
Conference and control of Germany and Poland
USSR’s creation of the “Iron Curtain” – symbolic
of communist domination and oppression
Stalin pledged to spread communism
Post War Europe
Events of the Cold War Under Truman
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Truman Doctrine – promised assistance to countries
trying to resist communist oppression
Marshall Plan – promised financial aid to rebuild post
WWII Europe
Germany, including it’s capital of Berlin was divided
into four occupation zones each controlled by and
Allied country.
West Germany under control from the US, British,
and French prospered while East Germany under
Soviet control did not.
Berlin Airlift
Berlin was in East Germany and Stalin
closed all transportation routes into West
Berlin cutting of supplies to millions of
residents.
 Trying to avoid war, Truman began the
Berlin Airlift – British and US planes
delivered supplies by air for 15 months to
West Berlin
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In 1949, China fell to Communism
making Americans fear the spread of
communism throughout Asia.
 Also in 1949, the Soviets explode an
atomic bomb.
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Germany
divided
after
WWII
The Berlin blockade increased the fear of
communist aggression in Western Europe.
 As a result NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organization) was formed as a defensive
alliance.
 Then, the USSR formed the Warsaw PactSoviet alliance.
 Policy of Containment – efforts to prevent
the spread of communism
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Cold War and Korea
After WWII, the 38th Parallel divided North Korea
(supported by the Soviets) and South Korea
(supported by the US).
 In 1950, Communist N. Korea attacked
S. Korea and the UN sent troops in led by Gen.
MacArthur.
- China joined N. Korea and it led to a stalemate.
- In 1953, both sides signed an armistice and Korea
remained divided.
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Korean War
The Cold War AT Home
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The fear of Communism spread in the US
beginning an Anti-communist crusade
that violated the civil rights of many
Americans.
Fear of Communism EXAMPLES: 1. HUAC (House Un-American
Activities Committees) – check for
communist infiltration in US
2. Truman’s Loyalty Program – investigate
govt. workers
3. McCarthyism (Sen. Joseph McCarthy) lead
a “witch hunt” in the US for communists
Spy Cases – The Rosenbergs & Alger Hiss
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McCarthyism
Cold War Under Eisenhower
The US and the USSR
raced to develop the Hbomb (US won in 1952, but
Soviets had one in 1953)
 Policy of Brinkmanship –
willingness of the US to
threaten war against Soviet
aggression
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 Eisenhower
created the CIA to gather
information abroad and use covert
operations to weaken government
against the US.
 Eisenhower Doctrine – promised to
defend the Middle East against
communist attack.
 Israel had been formed in 1948
John F. Kennedy- elected in 1960
Cold War Under Kennedy
Communist Fidel Castro takes over
Cuba
 Bay of Pigs (1961) – A U.S. supported
invasion of Cuba- It failed terribly and
embarrassed Kennedy making him look
incompetent.
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Cuban Missile Crisis – Soviet nuclear
missiles in Cuba pointed at the US. It was a
test for Kennedy and he passed forcing the
Soviets to back down.
Cuban Missile Crisis- 1962
Missile Range
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Berlin Wall – The Soviets erected the wall stopping
the flow between East and West Berlin and
increasing tensions in the Cold War.
http://www.mauer.jp/htmls/gallery_e.html
Soviets build the Berlin Wall
JFK in the Oval Office
JFK and Khrushchev
JFK and Krushev
Cuban Missile Crisis
Space Race and
Kennedy’s New Frontier
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The Soviets launched Sputnik, the world’s first
artificial satellite (1957)
U-2 Incident – US spy plane was shot down over
the Soviet Union ** Showed the US that the
USSR had developed long range missiles.
April 12, 1961 – Yuri Gagarin (Soviet) was the
first man in Space
May 5, 1961 – Alan Shepard became the 1st
American in Space.
July 20, 1969 – Neil Armstrong became the 1st
man on the moon.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Johnson’s Great Society
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Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President when
Kennedy is assassinated in 1963
LBJ’s program, (Great Society), declared war
on poverty and promoted equal opportunities
for all. Ex:
1) funded ed.
2) Medicare and Medicaid
3) opened immigration
4) triggered the environmental movement
LBJ- Lyndon Baines Johnson
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http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/resources/
nonverbal/lbj.htm
LBJ runs for re-election 1964
The Warren Court 1953-1959
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Under Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Supreme Court
led a wave of liberal reform going along with the
“Great Society”.
- Brown v. Board – ended school segregation
- cases requiring the fair districting of legislative
districts
- Mapp v. Ohio – concerned illegally seized evidence
- Gideon v. Wainwright – free council must be
provided
- Miranda v. Arizona – rights must be read to the
accused
- Escobedo v. Illinois – accused has the right to have
a lawyer present during police questioning
Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam
The “Burning Monk”
Vietnam terms page 232 - 236
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Ho Chi Minh –
Ngo Kinh Diem –
Viet Cong –
Ho Chi Minh Trail –
Agent Orange –
Napalm –
My Lai Massacre –
Kent State University –
Pentagon Papers –
The Cold War and Vietnam
Extension of the “Red Scare” – Vietnam
became the showdown for the US against
communism
Domino Theory – the belief that countries
neighboring Communism would fall to
Communist oppression if not aided
Eisenhower & Kennedy sent in military
advisors, but L. Johnson escalated the
war.
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The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – In
response to alleged North Vietnamese firing
on an American ship, Congress approved
Johnson’s request for military powers to
protect the US from further aggression.
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The Tet Offensive – North Vietnamese
planned and executed a surprise attack on
US and South Vietnamese forces in South
Vietnam * Proved to Americans that the
War was not nearing an end as told *
Nixon and Vietnam
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R. Nixon began Vietnamization and brought
and end to the then very unpopular war.
Paris Peace Accords – officially ended US
involvement in Vietnam
Saigon fell and all of Vietnam was
Communist – Very chaotic – US troops
forced to airlift @1,000 US personnel and
6,000 S. Vietnamese citizens to aircraft
carriers.
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nation remained very divided
over the war with the youth in
American becoming more
outspoken against the war and
protests becoming more violent. Counterculture
Vietnam Protest
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Kent State University shootings
Vietnam Protests
Woodstock August 1969
Civil Rights Movement
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1954 – Brown vs. Board of Education
1955 – Death of Emmett Till
1955 – Montgomery Bus Boycott – Rosa Parks –
Martin Luther King Jr. became the leader of the
SCLC and the Civil Rights Movement
King pushed nonviolent protest and civil
Disobedience – purposeful breaking of a law to
change it.
1957 – Little Rock Crisis – 9 black students
testing the court’s decision to integrate schools
Civil Rights Organizations and terms
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SCLCCORESNCCBlack PanthersBlack Power MovementCivil DisobedienceAffirmative Action-
Civil Rights Movement
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1961 – Freedom Rides – tested the courts decision
banning segregation
1962 – Ole Miss Riots – riots over James Meredith’s
registration
1963 – Violence in Birmingham – most segregated
city in the US where nonviolent protesters were
violently attacked (televised, shocking Americans)
1963 – Wallace “Stands in the schoolhouse door” –
Alabama’s Gov. prevented black students from
enrolling
That same night, NAACP leader, Medgar Evers
was killed
1963 – Freedom Summer – voting rights in
Mississippi
Civil Rights Movement
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1963 – March on Washington – Martin Luther King Jr.
gave his “I Have A Dream” speech pushing for
legislation
1963 – Birmingham Church Bombing
Civil Rights Act of 1964 –LBJ
1965 – Malcom X was assassinated
1965 – Selma March
Voting Rights Act of 1965
1965 – Watts Race Riots – 34 killed
1967 – Detroit Race Riots – worst of 75 race riots was
killing 43
April 4, 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated
by James Earl Ray
Emmett Till
Rosa Parks
Little Rock High School integration
Sit-Ins – Civil Disobedience
Civil Rights Movement
Wallace Stands in the Schoolhouse
Doors
Medgar Evers
Freedom Summer
Freedom Summer
MLK and Malcolm X
Birmingham Church Bombing
Selma March – voting rights
King’s Assassination