The
Cold War
1945 - 1975
The Cold War
• USSR vs. USA
• United Nations
– Security Council
– General Assembly
• Potsdam
– Satellite nations
– Germany Divided
– Truman, Stalin, Atlee
Churchill
• British PM
• 1946 Iron
Curtain”speech
• “Iron Curtain” = line
of eastern European
nations under control
of the USSR after WWII
George F. Kennan
“Containment”
• U.S. diplomat
• Coined the phrase
• Basis of Truman
Doctrine
Truman Doctrine (1947)
• President Truman: U.S. will
support any nation that the
U.S. government believes is
threatened by communism
• Immediate objective: send U.S.
aid to anti-communist forces
in Greece and Turkey
Marshall Plan (1947)
Berlin Blockade & Airlift
(1948-1949)
• 11 month
operation
• Cargo planes
dropped goods
to negate
Soviet
blockade of
West Berlin
Alliances
• NATO
• Warsaw Pact
China, 1949
• Mao’s forces prevailed in Chinese
civil war
• Chiang Kai-Shek forced to Taiwan
Best Years
• The Century Part 1
The Forgotten War
Korea (1950-1953)
• June 25, 1950: N. Korea
invaded S. Korea
– U.S. troops joined UN effort
– Douglass Macarthur
– “police action”
• October 1950: China joined
the war on N. Korea’s side
• July 27, 1953: armistice
• Eisenhower
• Today: divided Korea, DMZ
After Korea
• Arms buildup
• Major increase in U.S. defense
spending
Eisenhower Doctrine
• Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a Middle
Eastern country could request American
economic assistance or aid from U.S. military
forces if it was being threatened by armed
aggression from another state
Suez Crisis
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Nasser takes over Suez Canal
British have Israel invade
USA and United Nations against Britain
Israel leaves
Egypt controls Suez Canal
Best Years
• The Century Part 2
HUAC
• Set up in 1938
• Senator McCarthy
• 1947-1949: witch
hunts
– Hollywood Ten
• 1948-1949: Nixon
– Hiss Case
The 2nd Red Scare
• Red Scare
– Fear of communism
– Fear of atomic bomb
• Bomb shelters
• Civil Defense drills
• McCarthyism & Senator McCarthy
– Accusing without facts
– HUAC
– Arthur Miller
• Wrote The Crucible
Society & the Red Scare
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Movies
Books
Television
Comic books
Schools
Public Service Announcements
“Under God” added to Pledge of Allegiance
McCarran Internal Security Act
• Truman veto over rode
• Monitored communists in U.S.
• Government workers fired
U.S. Foreign Policy
• Massive retaliation
• Brinkmanship
• Mutually assured
destruction
• Military Industrial Complex
Arms Race
•1952 USAHydrogen Bomb
•1955 USSRHydrogen Bomb
•ICBM
•Sputnik 1957
•1962 U-2 Spy
Plane
DUCK AND COVER
Best Years
• The Century Part 3
1960
• Kennedy defeats Nixon
• Space Race
– NASA
– USSR man in space
– John Glenn
– July 20, 1969
• Neil Armstrong
• Allen Sheppard
• Michael Collins
Cuba and Castro
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Revolucion! (1959)
Bay of Pigs
1962: Russians plan missile sites
October 1962: JFK establishes naval
blockade
– Russian convoy on the way
• Cuban Missile Crisis
Germany
• Kennedy
• Nikita Khrushev
• Berlin Wall Built
Vietnam (1954-1975)
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France, Japan, France controlled Indochina
Truman and Eisenhower send money to France
Ho Chi Minh- Free Vietnam, Vietminh
1954: Dien Bien Phu fell
– End of French Indochina War, French lost
• Geneva Accords
– Vietnam partitioned (17), communist north,
democratic south under Diem
• 1956: South refused to hold elections
– Ho Chi Minh would have won
• North Vietnamese invade S. Vietnam (Ho Chi
Minh Trail)
• Vietcong (VC)
• Kennedy send advisors to South Vietnam
• 1963: President Diem (South) assassinated
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
1964
• “Attacks” on U.S. destroyers
• August 5: LBJ asks Congress for
war powers authorization
• August 7: Joint Resolution
– LBJ authorized to protect US
interests in Asia
Vietnam
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U.S. troop build up begins 1965
Domino Theory
Strong support for war
Ballad of the Green Berets (JFK)
General Westmoreland
ARVN
1967- 500,000 troops
Troop Deployment
Vietnam
• VC used guerilla tactics
• War of attrition
• Keep support of the South Vietnamese,
“hearts & minds”, failing
• Napalm
• Agent Orange
• Search and destroy missions, zippo raids
Napalm
Vietnam
• U.S. Soldiers
– Morale low
– Drugs
– Fragging
– Homefront turning against war
– Living Room war, televised war
– Credibility gap
– P.O.W’s
• John McCain
Vietnam Protest
• Draft
• Rich man’s war, poor man’s fight (CCR)
• Blacks served disproportionate to whites
– 20% died only made up 10% of population
– MLK spoke out
– Black Panthers
Vietnam Protest
• The New Left- sweeping change
– Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
• Tom Hayden
• Participatory democracy
– Free Speech Movement
• Berkeley
• “machine”
• Campus Activism
– Columbia, Berkeley, Kent, dress codes, classes,
Vietnam
• Doves vs. Hawks
Vietnam Protest
• Civil Disobedience
– Go to Canada
– Burn draft cards
• Teach-Ins
• Marches
• Music
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Country Joe and Fish Fixin to Die Rag
Bob Dylan Masters of War Blowin in the Wind
Joan Baez
Peter Paul and Mary The Cruel War
CCR Fortunate Son
Barry Mc Guire Eve of Destruction
Jefferson Airplane Volunteers
Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation Tom Paxton
1968
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Tet Offensive
Walter Cronkite
Johnson doesn’t run
MLK assassinated
Robert Kennedy assassinated
Democratic National Convention in Chicago
Nixon Elected
Richard Nixon
• Vietnimization
• Henry Kissenger
• Invades Cambodia
My Lai
Kent State
Pentagon Papers (1971)
• State Department analyst Daniel
Ellsberg leaked documents to
New York Times
– revealed U.S. govt. lied about
Tonkin Gulf
“Peace with Honor”
• 1973: Nixon
negotiated
with Ho Chi
Minh to
withdraw US
troops
• POWs come home
• 1975: Saigon
fell after Ho
Chi Minh’s
continued
Vietnam Timeline Recap
• 1945-1955 (Truman)
– U.S. sends money to France
– France out of Indochina
• 1955-1961 (Eisenhower)
– Money and weapons and advisors to South Vietnam
• 1961-1964 (Kennedy)
– Advisors
• 1964-1969 (Johnson)
– Combat Troops
• 1969-1975 (Nixon)
– Vietnamization
• 1975
– Saigon collapses, Vietnam unified
Vietnam Memorial
• Maya Ying Lin
• 1982
• 58,000 names
Results of Vietnam
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PTSD
War Powers Act
Cynicism
Back lash against liberals
Cambodia will fall to Communism