Week of May 2-May 6:US History

Monday

The Cold War (continued)

  • The Second Red Scare
    • 1947-1957
    • Causes:
      • 1. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Trial
        • Found guilty of spying for the Soviets- executed in 1953
      • 2. The Iron Curtain surrounding Eastern Europe
        • 1945
      • 3. The USSR detonating their atomic bomb
        • 1949
      • 4. China becoming communist in 1949
      • 5. The Korean War starting in 1950
        • Domino Effect
      • 6. Stalin's actions in Germany- Berlin Blockade 
  • Alger Hiss Trial
    • 1950
    • In 1948, Alger Hiss was accused of being a member of a Communist group whose purpose had been to infiltrate the US government
    • Hiss maintained innocence throughout trials 
    • In 1949, the trial ended with a hung jury (8-4 in favor of conviction)
    • The second trial began later in 1949 and found Hiss guilty
    • Hiss's conviction was later upheld by the Court of Appeals and the US Supreme Court
    • In 1992, a former Soviet intelligence officer said that Hiss was not a Soviet spy, but rather a victim of Cold War hysteria
  • East and West Germany
    • 1949-1990
    • Germany was split into four zones (US, British, and French controlled West Germany) (USSR controlled East Germany)
    • Berlin was also split into four zones 
  • Chiang Kai Shek v. Mao Zedong 
    • Mao created a civil war to try to overtake the government 
    • China invaded by Japan, Japan was defeated
    • China went back to civil war, Mao wins
    • Chiang Kai Shek and his people flee to Taiwan
    • Taiwan is officially part of China, but has special circumstances 
  • Alien Registration Act of 1940 (Smith Act)
    • Made it illegal to advocate the overthrow of the US government
    • Required all non-citizen adult residents to register with the government
    • Approximately 215 people were indicted under the legislation, including alleged communists, Anarchists, and fascists
    • Prosecutions under the Smith Act continued until the Supreme Court decision declared the law unconstitutional in 1957
  • McCarthy and McCarthyism 
    • Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) was a Republican Senator from Wisconsin
    • In 1950, he gave a speech where he claimed to have a list of 205 Communists in the State Department (205 people in the government are communists)
    • No one in the press actually saw the names on the list, but McCarthy's announcement made national news and caused panic throughout the country
    • McCarthy became one of the most powerful people in the US
    • Supporters of McCarthy
      • 1. Republicans
      • 2. Catholics
      • 3. Conservative Protestants
      • 4. Blue-collar workers
      • 5. Joseph Kennedy and his family 
    • McCarthy's Downfall
      • McCarthy's downfall finally began in October 1953, when he started to investigate "communist infiltration into the military"
      • This was the final straw for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who realized that McCarthy's movement needed to be stopped
      • In late 1954, the Senate voted to censure him for his conduct and to strip him of his privileges
      • McCarthy died three years later from alcoholism
    • McCarthyism
      • The practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence
  • House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
    • 1945-1975
    • This organization went after directors and actors in Hollywood
    • The committee believed that films were spreading communist propaganda
    • They set up hearings to investigate the movie industry
    • Hollywood Ten
      • Ten biggest people who ran the movie industry 
      • Each man was found guilty and sentenced to spend a year in prison and pay a $1,000 fine
      • Charlie Chaplain was blacklisted due to this 
  • US Test Hydrogen Bomb
    • 1952
    • 1,000 times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb
    • Set off on Bikini Island in the Marshall Islands
  • USSR Launches Sputnik
    • 1957
    • Russian satellite, first satellite in space 
  • Yuri Gagarin
    • 1961
    • Russian
    • First person in space
    • This and the Sputnik caused the US to panic because the USSR was ahead of us
  • Francis Gary Powers Shot Down in USSR
    • 1960
    • USSR shoots down a US weather plane (or so Eisenhower said)
  • Eisenhower Embarrassment
    • Khrushchev:
    • "I must tell you a secret. When I made my first report I deliberately did not say that the pilot was alive and well...and now just look how many silly things [the Americans]" have said 
    • Francis Gary Powers was actually a spy for the US and his plane was shot down
    • This was an embarrassment for Eisenhower because he was caught in a lie 
  • Berlin Wall
    • 1961
    • Why was the wall built?
      • People were literally running to West Berlin to escape Communism 
      • The wall was built to keep people in Eastern Europe 
  • Brandenberg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie
    • The only place to legally go from East to West Berlin
    • Had to go through government officials
    • Was a long process

Tuesday-

The Cold War (continued)

  • Fidel Castro Overthrows Batista
    • Overthrew the Cuban government
    • Aligned his views with Russia
    • Cuba was now in the Cold War
  • Bay of Pigs 
    • An invasion of Cuba by anti-Castro Cubans (Cubans that left Cuba after Castro came to power and were trained by the CIA in Mexico) to try to overthrow Castro and his government 
    • CIA promised these Cubans that the US would provide air cover and air support
    • Eisenhower came up with the idea, but Kennedy carried it out 
    • The invasion happened, but Kennedy decided to not give them air cover because he didn't want people to know that it was a US invasion
    • All the Cubans are captured and killed
    • We exchanged things with Cuba in exchange for these Cubans
    • It was found out that the US was behind it
    • It humiliated Kennedy because it failed miserably 
  • Cuban Missile Crisis
    • October 1962
    • Because of the failed invasion, Cuba was afraid we were going to attack them
    • The USSR sent Cuba missiles because of this 
    • The US had pictures of Cuba's missiles
    • US started to quarantine/blockade Cuba to prevent Cuba from getting more missiles
    • Now the buildup of missiles had stopped, but there were still missiles in Cuba
    • We were going to launch airplanes and go after their bomb sites
    • The Compromise
      • The Soviets would remove their missiles from Cuba
      • The US would promise never to invade Cuba
      • The US would secretly remove our nuclear missiles from Turkey within six months 
  • Leonid Brezhnev
    • Came to power after Khrushchev
    • 1964-1982
  • Détente
    • 1970's
    • Nixon Visits China
    • Nixon Visits Moscow
    • Peace lasted throughout much of the 70's
  • Soviets Invade Afghanistan
    • 1979
    • The groups that fought against the USSR are now Al Qaeda and the Taliban
    • The US helped these groups to try to stop the spread of communism
  • Ronald Reagan Becomes President
    • 1981
    • Ran on a very strong anti-communist platform
    • Soviets had just invaded Afghanistan 
  • Yuri Andropov
    • USSR Leader
    • 1982
  • Konstanin Chernenko Takes Over
    • 1985
  • Mikhail Gorbachev Comes to Power in USSR
    • 1985
  • Perestroika and Glasnost
    • 1985
    • Perestroika- restructuring of the Soviet economy and political system
      • More democracy
      • Free elections
    • Glasnost- more openness of the Soviet government and for it's people
      • Free speech and press
  • Berlin Wall Comes Down
    • November 9, 1989
    • People flocked to the wall, climbing on it, and breaking it
    • Communism is Eastern Europe started to break apart 
  • Boris Yeltsin
    • President of Russia
    • 1991-1999
  • Why did the US win the Cold War? Why did the USSR lose the Cold War?
    • 1. We had close ties with out Allies and the USSR didn't
    • 2. China started siding with us after 1972
    • The Soviet economy was in shambles whereas the US's was flourishing
      • huge deficit
      • high inflation
      • corruption
      • social problems
      • shortage of basic needs (food, housing)
    • 4. The strong anti-communist presidency of Reagan
    • 5. Gorbachev's willingness for change and reform
      • glasnost and perestroika
      • admitted Soviet mistakes
      • took blame for the Cold War
      • communist system had failed
      • allowed Eastern Europe to do what they wanted
    • 6. Arms Reduction Talks
      • SALT, INF, Reagan-Gorbachev meetings
    • 7. Soviet Mistakes
      • invasion of Afghanistan
      • ignoring social concerns
      • spent everything on military 

Wednesday-

The Cold War (continued)

  • Post-Cold War
    • In the 1990's, the world seemed to be a much more peaceful place
    • We didn't have any major threat to worry about
    • President Clinton closed down numerous military bases around the country, reducing the size of the US military
    • 9/11 caught the US off guard 
  • 1999
    • Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary join NATO
  • Putin
    • New leader in Russia 
    • 1999-2008
    • 2012-?
  • Russia v. Ukraine
    • 2014-2015
    • Ukraine wanted to join the European Union but leader did not want to as he was Pro-Russia
    • Ukrainian leader is forced out
    • Russia moves troops in the Crimean Peninsula and annexes it after Crimean voters vote to approve annexation
    • The United Nations declares this act by Russia as illegal
    • Russia invades Ukraine to protect pro-Russians in Ukraine
    • Cease-fire (Minsk 2) was signed in February, 2015

Thursday- Cold War Quiz

Friday- workday on decades project 

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