THE COLD WAR TURNS HOT Chapter 27, Section 2

Growing Interest in Asia  Events in Asia effected the U.S. in many ways  For 100 years American ship traded with China and Japan  U.S. governed the Philippines  Attack on Pearl Harbor proved U.S. could not ignore events

Growing Interest in Asia  Would communism spread to newly independent nations  Some communist rebels were fighting for independence in Vietnam and other Southeast Asian lands

People’s Republic of China  1940’s Chiang Kai-shek was the ruler of China  For years he had fought Chinese communists led by Mao Zedong  1945 Mao’s forces occupied northern China  Chiang’s armies occupied the south

People’s Republic of China  U.S. gave Chiang millions of dollars in aid  Chiang’s government was corrupt and he lost the support of his people

People’s Republic of China  1949 Communist won the battle for the Chinese mainland  Mao Zedong set up the People’s Republic of China  Chiang returned to Taiwan

People’s Republic of China  Chinese communist did not always agree with the Soviet Union  However the two nations dominated almost ¼ of the earth’s surface  Americans worries communist forces would take over all of Asia

Fighting in Korea  1910 to 1945 Korea had been a Japanese colony  After WWII Korea was divided at the 38 th parallel of latitude  North Korea was governed by communist supported in the Soviet Union  South Korea was a noncommunist government backed by the U.S.

Fighting in Korea  1950 North Korea soldiers crossed the 38 th parallel into South Korea  Truman asked the U.N. to send armed forces to stop the invasion

Setting up a UN force  Truman chose General Douglas MacArthur as general of the UN force  80% of the UN forces were American

A daring counterattack  MacArthur’s job was to push the North Koreans out of South Korea  UN forces were outnumbered  1950 North Korean communists controlled almost all of South Korea

A daring counterattack  MacArthur launched a counterattack  Landed by sea at Inchon, behind North Korean lines  Caught by surprise North Koreans were forces back across the 38 th parallel

Chinese invasion  Truman and his advisors wanted to punish North Koreans for their aggression  Also wanted to unite the two Koreans  UN approved MacArthur to cross into North Korea  When UN forces neared the Chinese border thousands of Chinese helped push UN troops back into South Korea

Ending the War  MacArthur was convinces that the UN could win in Korea only if it attacked China  Truman worried an attack on China would start another World War  Truman wanted t limit the war and restore the boundary between North and South Korea

Truman fires MacArthur  MacArthur complained publicly that politicians in Washington were holding him back  Truman fired the General  Many Americans were furious and gave MacArthur a hero’s welcome  Truman argued that constitutionally it is the President that is commander in chief and he had the power to make key decisions about war and peace

Cease-fire  1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected President  He journeyed to Korea to get peace talks moving  1953 signed a cease-fire agreement ending the war

Cease-fire  54,000 Americans lost their lives in the Korean War  2 million Koreans and Chinese were killed

Cease-fire  The Korean War changes nothing  It set the border between North and South Korea back around the 38 th parallel  UN had pushed back North Korea’s invasion  US and their allies showed that they were ready to fight communist expansion

Hunting Communists at Home  Cold War tensions fed fear of communism at home: Red Scar  US officials announced they detected radiation from a secret test of atomic weapons in the Soviet Union  US was no longer the only nation with an atomic bomb

Hunting Communists at Home  people in the US, Canada, and Britain were arrested as Soviet spies  Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed for stealing secrets about nuclear weapons

McCarthy’s reckless claim  Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin announced he has a list of 205 State Department employees who were Communist party members  His claim was never proven  Won him national attention

McCarthy’s reckless claim  During the next four years he made more accusations about communist in the government  Little evidence of communist activity was found  McCarthy’s campaign sent fear and suspicion across the nation