Transcript File

Cuban Revolution
5) In 1959, Fidel Castro led a popular revolution that
toppled the Batista regime. Castro established a
Communist dictatorship and moved to
confiscate all U.S.-owned businesses and
properties in Cuba.
Cuban Revolution
6) Thousands of anti-Castro Cuban refugees fled the
island and set sail across ninety miles of ocean
and sought asylum in the United States.
Cuban Revolution
7) Before the U.S. could intervene, the new Soviet
Premier, Nikita Khrushchev eagerly recognized
Castro’s regime in Cuba. The U.S. government
threatened to invoke the Monroe Doctrine, but
Khrushchev declared it a dead policy and
indicated that he would shower the U.S. with
missiles if Cuba was attacked.
The Bay of Pigs (1961)
1) Shortly after taking office, Kennedy was
persuaded to back a CIA plan to use Cuban
refugees to topple the Castro regime.
The Bay of Pigs (1961)
2) Over 1200 Cuban refugees were trained
and armed by the United States and were
hastily sent to Cuba to invade the Bay of
Pigs and lead a popular uprising against
Castro in mid-April 1961
The Bay of Pigs (1961)
9) The ground invasion commenced on the early
morning of April 17th as the 1200 Cuban rebels
landed at the Bay of Pigs. Castro’s forces
responded quickly and completely surrounded
the rebels within three days.
The Bay of Pigs (1961)
11) President Kennedy assumed full responsibility
for the failure, admitted to U.S. involvement in
the invasion, and fired the head of the CIA. The
embarrassing fiasco led Kennedy to remark that,
“victory has a hundred fathers, but defeat is an
orphan.”
Berlin Wall (1961)
1) U.S. presence in West Berlin was a continual
source of frustration for the Soviet Union since
the failed blockade of 1947-48. Nikita
Khrushchev continually un-nerved U.S. leaders
by threatening to use military force to occupy
Western Berlin.
Berlin Wall (1961)
2) Hundreds of East Germans used U.S.-controlled
West Berlin as a means to escape to noncommunist countries in Western Europe. This
defiance of Soviet authority became too strong to
ignore and Khrushchev moved to restrict the drain
of refugees.
Berlin Wall (1961)
3) Obvious U.S. involvement in the failed Bay
of Pigs invasion had also severely strained
U.S.-Soviet relations in April 1961.
Berlin Wall (1961)
4) In August 1961 the Soviets began construction of
the Berlin Wall to prevent access to the western
sector of the city. A massive wall of concrete and
barbed wire was erected around the U.S. sector
and was patrolled by armed guards.
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
2) On October 16th 1962, aerial photographs taken
by American spy planes revealed that the
Soviets had secretly constructed several nuclear
weapons sites within Cuba. Only ninety miles off
the coast of Florida, the nuclear missiles could
quickly and easily strike most targets in the
continental United States.
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
5) In a televised address on October 22nd, Kennedy
announced the disturbing discovery to the
nation. He ordered a massive naval “quarantine”
of Cuba to prevent Soviet reinforcement and
demanded that Soviets immediately dismantle
the nuclear sites.
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
8) In response to the U.S. naval quarantine,
Khrushchev authorized his Soviet field
commanders in Cuba to launch their nuclear
weapons if the island was invaded by U.S.
forces. The world held its collective breath for
close to a week as a fleet to Soviet ships sailed
across the Atlantic towards Cuba.
?
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
9) Khrushchev blinked first and offered a series of
compromises to prevent further escalation of the
crisis. In exchange for the Soviet promise to
dismantle their nuclear sites in Cuba, Kennedy
agreed on October 28th to end the naval
quarantine of Cuba and pledged never to invade
the island.
The Red Scare
USSR
1) The Cold War not only made Americans fearful of
the possibility of nuclear war and the spread of
Communism abroad, but it also filled many
citizens with a hysterical sense of paranoia over
the possibility of Communist threats within the
United States itself.
The Red Scare
4) The looming threat of nuclear war now made
every American vulnerable. Feeling defenseless,
many Americans responded by constructing
their own backyard bomb shelters; school
children practiced nuclear war drills; and
average citizens became accustomed to a world
of “duck and cover.”
The Red Scare
5) This constant state of
confrontation with the Soviet
Union made Americans
extremely suspicious of any
leftist political ideology that
even remotely resembled
Communism. As a result of
this paranoia, many left-wing
and liberal political stances
were irrationally branded as
being “communist.”
The Red Scare
7) The federal government responded to the
domestic Communist threat by aggressively
investigating American citizens that were even
remotely associated with communist beliefs and
affiliations.
Cold War Spies
A) ALGER HISS
?
1) Alger Hiss was investigated and convicted
of perjury during the 1950s. He later served
5 years of prison and spent the rest of his
life trying to clear his name.
B) JULIS & ETHEL ROSENBERG
7) Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg took the
Fifth Amendment
when they were
called to testify and
they both refused to
name any of their coconspirators. This
made the jury very
unsympathetic to
their case.
B) JULIS & ETHEL ROSENBERG
8) The Rosenbergs
were convicted of
espionage and were
sentenced to death
in early 1951. They
were the only
American civilians
to be executed for
spying during the
Cold War.
McCarthyism
1) The trial and conviction
of the Rosenbergs in
1951 produced greater
public hysteria
concerning
widespread
Communist infiltration,
leading to an irrational
and fanatical antiCommunist campaign
during the early 1950s.
McCarthyism
2) The anti-Communist crusade was led by an
obscure Senator from Wisconsin named Joseph
McCarthy. McCarthy masterfully exploited
American fears of Communism in order to gain
political power in the U.S. Senate.
McCarthyism
“I have
here in my
hand---”
3) In 1950 he shocked
the American public
by claiming to have a
list of over 200
known Communists
that were currently
working in the U.S.
State Department,
however, he often
avoided requests to
give specific names
or to provide
evidence to back up
his claims.
McCarthyism
7) McCarthy used his Senate seat to conduct several
investigations and public hearings on individuals
that he accused of having Communist affiliations
and / or participating in Soviet espionage. The
mere accusation of being a Communist was
often enough to ruin a career.
McCarthyism
8) A Washington Post political
cartoonist known as
“Herblock” coined the
term “McCarthyism” in
reference to the Senator’s
Anti-Communist crusade.
The term “McCarthyism”
came to be synonymous
with the exploitation of
fear, baseless defamation,
the assumption of guilt by
association, and “witchhunting.”