Week of May 2-6

[1Haley]

Monday- Presented on Cold War ppt.

Tuesday- Continued Cold War ppt.

Wednesday- Continued presenting.

Thursday- Quiz day

Friday- Work day

 

Berlin Blockade/Airlift

• June 1948-May 1949 
• Division of Germany and Berlin
• In 1948, 3 western controlled zones of Germany were united, and grew in prosperity due to the Marshal Plan
• The West wanted the East to rejoin, but Stalin feared it would hurt Soviet security
• In June 1948, Stalin decided to try to gain control of West Berlin which was deep inside the eastern sector
• Stalin cut road, rail and canal links with West Berlin
• Airplanes dropping supplies 24/7
• Stalin started blockading the city

-Red Scare/McCarthyism

• Red Scare Causes:
  • Julius Ethel Rosenberg Trial
    • Found guilty of spying for the Soviets-executed in 1953
  • The Iron Curtain surrounding Eastern Europe- 1945
  • The USSR detonating their atomic bomb- 1949
  • China becoming communist in 1949
  • The Korean War starting in 1950- Domino Effect
  • Stalin's actions in Germany- Berlin Blockade
• McCarthy and McCarthyism
  • Senator in Wisconsin
  • Became one of the most popular men in America
  • Stop the spread of communism in our country by going after communists
  • Make himself popular and then try to run for president
  • Never ran for president
  • People realized what he was doing
  • Republican
  • In 1950 he gave a speech where he claimed to have a list of 205 communists in the State Department
  • 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'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 3 year later from alcoholism 
  • McCarthyism
    • The practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence

Alien Registration Act of 1940 (Smith Act) 

• Made it illegal to advocate the overthrow of the U.S. government
• Required all non-citizen adult residents to register with the government
• Approx. 215 people were indicted under the legislation, including alleged communists, Anarchists, and fascists
• Prosecutions under the Smith Act continued until the Supreme Court decisions declared law unconstitutional in 1957

House Un-American Activities Committee- HUAC- 1945-1975 

• The 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
  • Each man was found guilty and sentenced to spend a year in prison and pay a $1,000 fine

US Test Hydrogen Bomb - 1952 

• In  a period of an arm's race with the Soviet Union
• 1000 times more powerful than the atomic bomb 

Yuri Gagarin- 1961 

• Caused US to panic 
• JFK's Moonshot speech

Ronald Reagan Becomes President 

• Ran on a very strong anti-communist platform 
• Soviets had just invaded Afghanistan

-Bay of Pigs 

• A bay located in Cuba
• Concerned to have a Soviet Ally that close
• Wanted to take over the country
• Bay of Pigs invasion
• US wanted to take out Castro
• President Kennedy didn't want it to look like the US was doing this- thought it would look bad
• Kennedy wanted to train Cubans down in Mexico
• Wanted to make it look like the Cubans were doing it by themselves
• Kennedy promised the anti-Castro Cubans air support
• Results
  • Not successful in taken down Castro
  • Known as "Bay of Pigs fiasco"
  • Everything went wrong
  • Did not provide the Cubans air cover that Kennedy promised 
  • Fidel Castro found out about the invasion so they stop it
  • Every Cuban was either killed or captured
  • Traded baby food to get the Cubans back 
• Embarrassment to President Kennedy
• Kennedy gave up on the Cubans after promising them air support
• Failed at taking down Castro

-Cuban Missile Crisis

• October, 1962
• Soviet Union decided to send nuclear missiles to Cuba
• This caused us to go to a thirteen day crisis
• Closest we have ever been to a nuclear war
• Found out they were stocking missiles 
  • Huge concern for the U.S.
  • Couldn't allow the Soviet Union to have nuclear missiles in Cuba
  • Kennedy didn't want to invade because he figured WWIII would happen
  • Kennedy starts a blockade around Cuba but doesn't call it a blockade because that is an act of war (Called it a quarantine)
  • At the last minute the Soviet Union turned around and went back 
• 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

-Berlin Wall - 1961

• Built to keep people in 
• There was a fence/small wall there before this wall was built 
• Soviet Union did not want to build this wall
• Made the Soviet Union look desperate
• People from East Berlin were fleeing to West Berlin
• By building this wall they kind of 'admitted' they were lost
• People from East Berlin who got to West Berlin were free
• Once this wall was built the only way you could legally cross was by going through Brandenburg Gate or Checkpoint Charlie
• Later a second wall was built further into East Berlin 
• The area between the two walls was known as "the death strip"

-Korean War

-Vietnam War

-China

-The end of the Cold War

Why did the US win the Cold War?Why did the USSR lose the Cold War? 

• 1. We had close ties with our allies and the USSR didn't 
• 2. China started siding with us after 1972
• 3. 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
• Gorbachev's willingness for change and reform
  • a. Glasnost and perestroika
  • b. admitted Soviet mistakes
  • c. took blame for the Cold War
  • d. communist system had failed
  • e. allowed Eastern Europe to do what they wanted
• 6. Arms Reduction Talks
  • a. SALT, INF, Reagan-Gorbachev meetings
• Soviet Mistakes
  • invasion of Afghanistan
  • ignoring social concerns
  • spent everything on military

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