Monday- Discussed forum posts. Continued Cold War discussion
The Second Red Scare- 1947-1957
- Causes:
- Julius and 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
- Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Trial
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
- 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 law unconstitutional in 1957
Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism
- Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) was a Republican Senator from Wisconsin
- In 1950, have 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 became one of the most powerful people in the US
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 form alcoholism
House Un-American Activities Committee- HUAC
- 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
- Each man was found guilty and sentenced to spend a year in prison and pay a $1,000 fine
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
- Fist rocket in outer space
- For the first time in the Cold War, we fell behind the Soviet Union
- Yuri Gagarin-1961
- Caused US to panic
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
Berlin Wall- 1961
- People were fleeing from the East to the West
- The Soviets didn't want to do this because it would make them look like they were forcing their form of government down people's throats
- Eventually Brandenberg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie were created. This was the only way to legally pass from East to West
Tuesday- Continued cold war discussion
Fidel Castro Overthrows Batista
- Bay of Pigs Invasion
- Invasion by anti- Castro Cubans that invaded Cuba to try to overthrow Fidel Castro. They were trained by the CIA and the military to go in and take over his government
- Everybody was killed or captured. Failed invasion.
- Embarrassed Kennedy
Cuban Missile Crisis-
- Because of the failed invasion, Cuba was concerned that we were going to invade. Soviet Union sent missiles to Cuba.
- At first we thought they had median range missiles, then we found out they had intermediate range missiles that could hit all of the United States
- The first option was to send out our planes and destroy all of the missiles Cuba had. But if we did this, we weren't sure we could get all of the missiles
- Second option was to blockade Cuba so we could make sure the Soviet Union could not get any more missiles to Cuba
- 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
Why did we win the Cold War?
- We had close ties with our Allies and the USSR didn't
- 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)
Wednesday- Continued Cold War discussion
Why did we win the Cold War?
- The strong anti-communist presidency of Reagan
- 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
- Arms Reduction Talks
- 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 threats to worry about
- President Clinton closed down numerous military bases around the country reducging the size of the US military
- 9-11 caught the US off guard
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