May 2nd- 6th

Monday- I was gone, but i got my notes from Kara Rueschenberg

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- We continued talking about Cuba and Russia

  • Fidel Castro
    • US sends Cubans to kill Castro
  • Cuban missile crisis
    • Closest US has ever been to nuclear warfare
  • US Quarantined Cuba
    • Stopped sending in missiles

Wednesday-

We Finished up the cold war- Quiz tomorrow!!

  • Cold war
    • Strong anti- communist presidencey of Reagan
    • Gorbachev's wllingness for change and reform
      • Glasnost and Perestroika
      • Admitted to mistakes
      • Took blame
      • Communism failed
      • Allowed eastern europe to do what they wanted
      • Arms mistakes.
    • Social mistakes
      • Invasion of Afghanistan
    • Post Cold war
      • 90's- more peaceful
      • No major threats
      • Closed down numerous military bases
      • 9-11 caught us off guard 
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