Monday, May 9
Started the Korean War
- Origins
- Korea was invaded and ruled by Japan until 1945
- After WWII, Korea was split into two (North and South)
- an election was going to be held to eventually unify Korea
- election never happened
- in 1950, we pull troops out of South Korea
- North Korea sees this as an opportunity to invade
- Kim Il Sung (leader of NK) wanted to get permission from USSR and China
- eventually are backed with supplies/money
- North Korea invades and pushes South Korea back
- UN votes to send troops to help South Korea
- invade two cities, invasion goes very well for UN
- MacArthur escalates conflict by going against orders and wants to invade China
- China preempts the attack and invades NK
- for the next two years, fighting takes place along the 30th Parallel Line
- United States Police Action
- UN Security Council voted to send troops to help South Korea
- US, Great Britain, France, China, and the USSR were permanent members that could veto the "police action"
- USSR/China don't veto this because China was Taiwan at the time, and Taiwan didn't want to veto
- USSR doesn't veto because they boycotted meetings
- MacArthur Removal
- Removed from command by Truman on April 11, 1951
- MacArthur wanted to take out China using nuclear weapons
- would've led to WWIII with China and USSR
- Truman didn't want this, and told MacArthur to stop talking about it
- MacArthur doesn't listen to orders
- End of War
- rest of the war involved little territory change and lengthy peace organizations
- even during peace negotiations, combat continues
- Eisenhower becomes president and ends the war
- no peace treaty has ever been signed
- Results
- first armed confrontation of the Cold War
- created the idea of a limited war without nuclear weapons
- expanded the Cold War
- 2 million deaths
- US - 54,000 deaths
- nobody wins
Tuesday, May 10
Work day
Wednesday, May 11
50s Presentation
Thursday, May 12
50s Presentation
Friday, May 13
Government Scandals
McCarthyism
Accusing people of communism without proper evidence
Checker Scandal
Nixon accused of taking donated money and using it for personal use
Denied taking and using the money, but kept one gift, his dog Checkers
Quiz Show Scandal
Popular TV quiz shows would help contestants to change the outcome of the show
- Did this for financial gain
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