Whitney went today and her topic was the Nuclear Arms Race. It was a race between SU and US to see who could gain authority and power in nuclear warfare. This lead to other countries making nuclear weapons. The US came up with the hydrogen bomb and then the Soviet Union did as well. US producing a lot of bombs, made bomb shelters in the US. Massive retaliation and mutual deterrence, was if we knew if we bombed them, then they would bomb us back. So they agreed not to use the weapons against each other. Trinity was the first nuclear weapon test in New Mexico, its was ten times hotter than the surface of the sun. Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings occurred after the testing. The US chose these two towns because they were important stations for the Japanese military. The two bombings happened three days apart. The Anti-nuclear movement was to try to stop nuclear weapons from being made and to reduce and stop the use of them. The peace sign was originally made for the fight against nuclear weapons. In the 60’s there were people who wanted to stop testing above ground, underground, and in the space.
Brooke went next and her topic was Nixon’s Visit to China. In 1972 Nixon went to China, he was the first president to do so. He went to China because he wanted to make friends with them and wanted to trade again. In 1960 the PRC(peoples republic of China) split from the Soviet Union. The One-China Policy was other countries thought that the PRC should be the main government of China. The ROC in Taiwan thought they should be the sole government of China.
The Communist Party of China was the ruling political party of China of the PRC. Civil war broke out between the ROC, PRC, and another government. The ROC was still known as the main government of China until 1971, when it was replaced by the PRC. Taiwan is apart of China but they have more freedom. China said they would invade Taiwan if they ever tried to break free. The US has an alliance with Taiwan saying that if they ever got invaded we would back them up.
Josh went next and his topic was the 1970 Peace Agreement. Détente was used to ease tensions between US and SU so they wouldn’t go to nuclear war. Wanted more trade in Western Europe, made US relations with China better. Salt I helped reduce ballistic missile launchers, but submarines then had ballistic missile launchers. It was all about reducing nuclear missiles between the US and SU. Salt II was a replacement agreement with a long term treaty. It reduced weapons being made. Salt II never got passed.
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