2. The Cold War Definition: A time of intense hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR). These two countries were the only two super powers remaining after World War II. Causes of the Cold War:  Deep feelings among Americans against communism (which opposed capitalism and all religions). Communism forces a totalitarian government on the people, whereas a free market system (capitalism) uses a democratic government.  The division of Eastern and Western Europe, Germany and Berlin after WWII.  The belief that communism could and would spread if the United States did not stop it.  The US decision to try to keep communism from spreading.

3. Europe Divided!

4. Europe Divided Remember that after WW II the USSR came to control most of Eastern Europe, East Germany and Est Berlin. While the rest of the Allies left Western Germany, the Soviets never left and two countries emerged, West Germany (self- control) and East Germany (under Soviet control). The same thing happened in Germany’s capital, Berlin, which was divided between East and West. The Soviets also controlled other nations in eastern Europe (these were called satellite nations).

5. The Iron Curtain In march 1946, Winston Churchill proclaimed that an “iron curtain” had descended across Europe, allowing “police governments” (the USSR) to rule Eastern Europe. Nations like the US and Great Britain were now challenging the USSR’s claim to Eastern Europe. Bitterness between the East (USSR) and West (US & GB) increased.

6. The Truman Doctrine & (Containment) Truman believed that the United States must actively support those nations fighting against communist rebels (many of which were being helped by the Soviets). The Truman Doctrine was basically created to “contain” communism or to keep it from spreading: containment. “... It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures.” Then he asked Congress for money to aid Greece & Turkey to safeguard them from the Soviet threat. These ideas came from diplomat George Kennan.

7. The Marshall Plan Europe was having a hard time rebuilding after WII. In June 1947, the US Secretary of State, George Marshall, proposed giving financial and material aid to Europe. Why? To keep communism from spreading to Western Europe!

8. NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949): The first time the United States joined an alliance in a time of peace. Basically the Western European countries and the United States made a promise to protect each other if any one of them are attacked. The USSR and its “Eastern Bloc” countries (they were called satellite nations) created their own alliance called the Warsaw Pact. Both the Marshall Plan and NATO were tools to contain communism.

9. Other important events in 1949: China becomes a communists nation! People in the US freaked. Americans refer to the new nation as Red China. The silver lining to this was that the USSR and China were rivals (President Nixon used this as a way to “thaw” the Cold War in the 1970s). The USSR develops the atomic bomb. Now the next war could be a nuclear war. People really freaked!!

10. The Cold War took place in four different theaters Germany and Europe Korea Cuba Vietnam

11. The Berlin Airlift; June 1948 Remember, Berlin is in East Germany. The Soviets are getting tired of the Americans and British in Berlin. The Soviets believe they should control all of Berlin. They close off all roads to West Berlin. The US and GB fly supplies into Western Berlin day and night! A year later the roads were reopened.

12. The Korean War; June 1950 At the end of WWII, the Soviets controlled North Korea and the US controlled South Korea. When the superpowers left, these two countries remained divided. The communist North Korea tried to unify Korea as one communists country. The United States was determined to keep this from happening.

13. The United States went to the United Nations and urged the UN to stop this “invasion”. Since China and the USSR were absent from the Security Council meeting, the United Nations created a security force led by the United States to push the North Koreans out of South Korea.

14. Unfortunately, the United States pushed the North Koreans so far back that we really upset the Chinese. They were so upset they attacked and pushed US led forces back out of North Korea. When the truce was signed in 1953, North and South Korea were still divided at the 38 th parallel and they still are to this day!

15. Nikita Khrushchev In 1953, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin died. The new leader of Russia was Nikita Khrushchev. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he was a thorn in the side of the US. He made brash statements towards the United States like “We will bury you!”

16. Cuba In 1959, Fidel Castro became the leader of Cuba. At first the United States welcomed Castro as Cuba’s new leader. However, when Castro insisted on taking over all American businesses in Cuba, the US turned its back on Cuba and Castro. In response, Castro began dealing with the USSR. Communism was now on the doorstep of the United States!

17. John F. Kennedy Kennedy won the 1960 election. At his inauguration he made some very historic remarks about communism and being an American: “pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” In the same address, he also said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

18. The Bay of Pigs; April 1961 When Castro came to power many Cubans fled to the US (landing in Florida). Eisenhower detested Castro and wanted him out. Besides, communism had to be contained before it spread to other Latin American nations. The CIA had a a plan which would use exiled Cubans to attack Cuba and start a democratic rebellion. The attacking exiled Cubans would land at the Bay of Pigs. In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected. He inherited the Bay of Pigs operation from the Eisenhower administration. The CIA and military leaders made JFK believe the invasion could work. It didn’t. The Bay of Pigs was a slaughter and a black eye for America.

19. The Berlin Wall - Aug. 1961 Sensing that the American president was weakened by the Bay of Pigs fiasco, the communists build a wall separating East and West Berlin. The goal of the Berlin Wall is to keep Eastern Europeans from crossing over to West Berlin (freedom). It was also a way for the Soviets to show the United States that they can do whatever they like to their satellite nations. It becomes the symbol of oppression vs. freedom highlighting the differences between East and West.

20. Cuban Missile Crisis: Oct 1962 The US learned that the USSR was trying to place nuclear missiles in Cuba (90 miles off the coast of the United States!). The United States blockaded Cuba and used its Navy to keep Soviet ships from docking and unloading its cargo. Would the USSR back down? America was possibly on the verge of a nuclear war with the Soviet Union!

21. Kennedy and his advisors met for days. They decided not to give an inch. They played a game of “brinkmanship” with the Soviets (getting something by coming to the brink of war). In the end, the Soviets relented (“blinked”) and the missiles never reached Cuba.

22. Vietnam: 1960-1974 Once again you have one nation divided. North Vietnam is communist and South Vietnam is not. North Vietnam is trying to take over South Vietnam. At first the US just sends a few thousand military advisors. By 1968, a half million Americans are in South Vietnam trying to contain communism.

23. Young students protest against the Vietnam War at college campuses around the nation.

24. During the war, many young Americans began to protest the war in Vietnam. In 1969, the newly elected President, Richard Nixon, declared that American troops would be replaced by South Vietnamese troops. This process was called Vietnamization. By 1972, less than 50,000 Americans were in Vietnam. Unfortunately, without American help (the US withdrew altogether in 1973) South Vietnam fell to North Vietnam in April 1975. Nixon eventually was forced to resign as President following the Watergate scandal. In 1972, republican operatives working for the White House broke into the democratic headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C. Nixon tried to cover up the White House involvement. Eventually, this was discovered by two reporters at the Washington Post newspaper.

25. Many Vietnam Veterans were treated disrespectfully when they returned home.

26. It was not until the 1980s that they received the recognition they deserved.

27. The Cold War in the United States One word symbolizes the psyche (or mind set) of most Americans during the 1950s: PARANOID!! Take a look at these examples of American paranoia during the 1940s and 1950s:

28. House UnAmerican Activities Commission (HUAC) The US Congress looked into the private lives of many Americans during the late 1940s to try to stamp out all communists’ sympathizers. Writers, Actors, directors and professors were sworn to tell the names of their communists friends. If they claimed to not know any they were then accused of being a communist. Many artists were blacklisted and their careers were ruined!

29. Books and movies made Americans fearful of Communism.

30. The Rosenberg’s Accused of spying on the US. When put on trial they took the fifth, which made more Americans, as well as the judge and jury, think they were guilty. They were executed!

32. McCarthyism Senator Joseph McCarthy became famous (and infamous) for claiming to know the names of some 200 known communists. He quickly called for a special investigation and was questioning all types of Americans, accusing them of being communists. He never had any real proof. He just wanted to get reelected. He and the HUAC were basic witch hunts, trying to get people to confess by accusing them of wrongdoing. McCarthyism- the making of false accusations based on rumor or guilt by association.

33. Americans were very paranoid. They believed nuclear bombs could drop from the sky at any time. To protect themselves they held bomb drills in schools and built bomb shelters in their back yards. Many joined Civil Defense teams to help out when the bombs came.

34. The policy of “massive retaliation” made many believe that bomb shelters were a necessity. The idea of massive retaliation was simple. If you (the USSR) dropped a single bomb on the US, we will drop hundreds of bombs on you and wipe out your country. The Soviets then adopted the “massive retaliation” policy themselves. So, if nuclear war did occur, a bomb shelter was really your only means of survival.

35. Sputnik; 1957 To make Americans even more paranoid, the USSR successfully launched the first object into outer space. It was a satellite called Sputnik. This event caused the government to invest more heavily in schools for math and science and the “space race” began. Who would get to the heavens first? That’s right! NASA was a Cold War creation. Another way to fight the evil Soviet Union!

36. The End Of the Cold War Détente’ an era of openness between the USA and large communist nations took place during the Nixon Administration (1969 – 1973). Nixon went to China and to the Soviet Union. For the first time their was a “thawing” of the Cold War.

37. The End of the Cold War When did the Cold War end and what ended the Cold War? The United States and the USSR believed that they had to be ready for war incase it ever came. Thousands of nuclear ballistic missiles were produced for both sides. Both sides spent billions, even trillions of dollars on their armed forces. When Ronald Reagan was elected he increased US defense spending even though the Cold War was in decline. He went to Berlin in 1987 & said “Mr. Gorbachev, tear this wall down!”

38. In the mid1980s Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union. He instituted two very innovative reforms:  Perestroika: economic reform which allowed for some capitalism.  Glasnost: “openness” it allowed for Russians to do what they could never do before; speak their minds, to a point.

39. Eastern Europe is free, 1989 & 1990 Pushed into economic recession by trying to keep up with the US military spending, the USSR could no longer to afford to give financial aid to its satellite nations in Eastern Europe. Gorbachev basically told them they could go free if they wanted. They did. The Berlin Wall fell very quickly and Germany was reunited. By 1991 the USSR was no longer a communist nation. The Cold War was over!