Transcript ColdWar_Leaders.ppsx - Goreville Community Unit School District 1

• On July 16, 1945 the United States successfully tested the
world’s first atomic bomb and then used it in August on
Japan.
• The use of the bomb dramatically increased the
consequences of armed conflict between the U.S. and the
Soviet Union. This threat forced the two sides to consider
carefully the use of their nuclear weapons around the world.
• The two sides struggled for the years to come, to become
more powerful than the other. The two sides soon became
so powerful that they could destroy the whole world. This
became known as MUTUAL ASSURED DESTRUCTION
Harry Truman
U.S. President
from 1945-1952
Truman was elected as the 33rd
president of the United States.
Truman had a very strong belief in
containing Communism. The theory of
Containment was the hallmark of the
Truman administration. Illustrated by
the U.S. involvement in the Berlin
Airlift, becoming a member of NATO,
enacted the Marshall Plan, and the
establishment of the Truman Doctrine.
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin was
leader of the Soviet
Union from 1929
until 1953.
A ruthless dictator, he was the
first Cold War Soviet Premier.
Stalin played a key role in the
beginning of the Cold War by his
actions at the Yalta Conference.
He promoted a sense of distrust
and competition between East
and West. His aggressive
attempts to spread the Soviet
Empire elevated tensions
between East and West escalating
the Cold War.
Dwight Eisenhower
• Dwight D. Eisenhower obtained a
truce in Korea and while trying to
ease the tensions of the Cold War, he
definitely upped the ante by issuing
his Eisenhower Doctrine.
• "America is today the strongest,
most influential, and most
productive nation in the world."
U.S. President from
1952 -1960
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy played a key role in the
Cold War. He started aggressive American
involvement in Vietnam, as well as being
involved with the Cuban Missile Crisis,
and the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, and
President during the creation of the Berlin
U.S. President from Wall.
1960-1963
Nikita
Khrushchev
leader of the Soviet Union
from 1953 till 1964
Khrushchev elevated Cold War
tensions by ordering the building
of the Berlin Wall as well as
providing funds and materials
to communist North Vietnam
during the war. He presided
over the Cuban Missile Crisis in
part as response to the Bay of
Pigs. He was Kennedy’s main
adversary throughout his
presidency.
President from
1963 - 1968
Lyndon B. Johnson became President
hours after the assassination of John F.
Kennedy. The 36thpresident of the
United States. During his campaign for
re-election, Johnson promised to
withdraw troops from Vietnam.
However, Johnson violated his
campaign promises and steadily
increased U.S. involvement in Vietnam,
for fear he would be the first President
to lose a war. His popularity plummeted
and he did not run for re-election.
President from 1968 - 1974
Richard Nixon carried out
Vietnamization ending the
war and removed
American troops from
Vietnam. Nixon also
negotiated and signed the
SALT treaty.
Ronald Regan
• Ronald Reagan is synonymous
with America in the 1980s,
Reagan attacked the Soviet Union
head on, referring to them as the
“Evil Empire”. He increased
defense spending, and challenged
President from the Soviets to elevate the Arms
1980 - 1988
Race knowing they could not
compete with American
productivity, paving the way for
Cold War victory.
Gerald Ford
In foreign affairs Ford acted vigorously to
maintain U. S. power and prestige after the
collapse of Cambodia and South Viet Nam.
Preventing a new war in the Middle East
remained a major objective; by providing aid
to both Israel and Egypt, the Ford
Administration helped persuade the two
countries to accept an interim truce
agreement. Detente with the Soviet Union
continued. President Ford and Soviet leader
Leonid I. Brezhnev set new limitations upon
nuclear weapons.
Jimmy Carter
In foreign affairs, Carter set his own style. His
championing of human rights was coldly
received by the Soviet Union and some other
nations. Building upon the work of
predecessors, he established full diplomatic
relations with the People's Republic of China
and completed negotiation of the SALT II
nuclear limitation treaty with the Soviet Union.
There were serious setbacks, however. The
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the
suspension of plans for ratification of the SALT
II pact, and the boycott of the 1980 Olympic
Games.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Soviet Leader from
1985 - 1990
Gorbachev rose to the top party spot in
March 1985. Almost from the start, he
strove for significant reforms, Hence the
two key phrases of the Gorbachev era:
"glasnost" (openness) and "perestroika"
(reform). Gorbachev realizing the Soviet
Union could not compete began to argue
in favor of an end to the arms race with the
West. The agreements while in the Soviet
interest caused tension for him in the
Soviet Union. For his efforts he was
named the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner
for helping to end the Cold War.
Served as leader of the
Soviet Union from 1953
till 1964. Khrushchev
played a key role in the
building of the Berlin
Wall and also the Bay of
Pigs, and the Cuban
Missile Crisis. He was
Kennedy’s main
adversary throughout
his presidency.
Leonid Brezhnev
Under Brezhnev, The Soviet decision in 1968 to
invade Czechoslovakia was an early indicator of
Brezhnev's world view. In a speech justifying the
move, he spelled out what came to be called the
"Brezhnev Doctrine," asserting Moscow's right to
intervene in the affairs of other socialist states. He
supported U.S. antagonists throughout the world;
Vietnam, the Middle East and the Third World. A new
era of peace was heralded in 1972, when Brezhnev
and President Nixon signed the SALT treaty, but the
new era was short-lived. By 1979, it was only a
memory, as Brezhnev and his comrades approved
the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Years of heavy
spending on the defense and aerospace industries,
at the expense of agriculture and other sectors of
the economy, had taken a toll, and economic
productivity and the Soviet standard of living fell
into a slow but steady decline under Brezhnev.
Yuri Andropov
Andropov became the Communist Party's
general secretary. In the 15 months he ruled
before his death, Andropov tried to improve
the efficiency of the Soviet economy. His
foreign policy stance reflected the Soviet
status quo. During Andropov's tenure, the
U.S.S.R. remained in the war in
Afghanistan. He also tried to persuade the
Europeans not to allow U.S. President
Ronald Reagan to station Pershing missiles
in Germany. It was also during Andropov's
time as Soviet leader that Soviet forces shot
down a civilian, South Korean airliner, killing
all 269 people on board. Scholars still
debate whether Andropov would have
proved to be a real reformer had he lived.
Konstantin Chernyenko
Leader of Soviet Union February 1984 till his
death a year later. In many ways prepared the
ground for his protegé Mikhail Gorbachev.
Promoted turn to production of consumer
goods and loosening of Andropov's strict
political control.
• On October 4, 1957
the Soviet Union
launched Sputnik a
communications
satellite, the first
man-made object
ever sent into
space. This would
kick off the space
race and elevated
Cold War tensions
BERLIN AIRLIFT
At the end of World War II. Each of the
Allies controlled a zone in Germany,
and Berlin, which was surrounded by
the Soviet zone. When cooperation
broke down in 1947 and early 1948.
The three Western powers decided to
create a separate West German
government in their zones. The
Soviets tried to dissuade them by
gradually escalating harassment of
Western traffic to and from the city,
which culminated in the Berlin
blockade. This led to the allies flying
in supplies to Berlin, known as the
Berlin Airlift.
* During the 1950’s a steady outflow of refugees from East
Germany( Soviet controlled) moved into West Germany(
Allies controlled), primarily working age individuals. The
rate was around 10,000 to 20,000 per year from 1950-1961.
* In November 1958, Soviet Premier Khrushchev issued an
ultimatum giving the Western powers six months to agree to
withdraw from Berlin and make it a free, demilitarized city.
* The sides could not reach an agreement, so in the spring and
early summer months of 1961 the East German regime
stockpiled building materials for the erection of the Berlin
Wall.
THE KOREAN CONFLICT
North Korea and South Korea were divided along the 38th
parallel following WWII. The War began with North Korea invading
South Korea. North Korea and its leader Kim Il Sung were
communist and supported by the Soviet Union, and China. South
Korea and its leader Syngman Rhee were supported by the United
States. The UN authorized sending troops into the region under the
command of U.S. general Douglas MacArthur. At the beginning of
the war, the South Koreans were pushed all the way back to the tip
of Korea creating the Pusan Perimeter. Following a large
amphibious assault, MacArthur’s troops pushed out of Pusan all the
way to the Yalu River. MacArthur made plans for a Christmas
celebration and the Chinese sent 1 million volunteers across the Yalu
River. MacArthur’s troops were pushed back into South Korea and
even past the capital city of Seoul. The war continued for several
years with little progress and ended in a stalemate in June of 1953.
VIETNAM
The Vietnam War, grew out of a conflict between France and
Vietnam. In July 1954, after one hundred years of colonial rule,
France was forced to leave Vietnam. The country was divided along
the 17th parallel. When Johnson became President, he followed
Eisenhower’s pledge that we would not allow any nation to fall to
Communism, and had a goal of stopping the spread of communism
in Southeast Asia. The U.S. supported President Ngo Dinh Diem.
Meanwhile the Soviets, and Chinese quietly backed Ho Chi Minh.
The first combat troops arrived in 1965. US troop strength
Continued to increase and by years end, was close to 200,000. Also in
February 1965, the US began regular bombing raids of North
Vietnam, “Rolling Thunder”. The United States though was fighting
an uphill battle, the South Vietnamese leadership was weak and
unstable, and the desires of the native people seemed to favor
communism. The war would continue until Nixon’s
“Vietnamization” and the cease-fire that followed in January 1973.
BAY OF PIGS
• The Bay of Pigs was an unsuccessful attempt in 1961 to
overthrow Fidel Castro’s regime.
• Several days before the invasion, the CIA destroyed
parts of Cuba’s air force. The plan was to land at the
Bay of Pigs with support from anti-Castro forces and
overthrow the Cuban government without anyone
knowing that the U.S. was involved.
• On April 17, 1961 about 1500 exiles with U.S. weapons
landed at the Bay of Pigs. They intended to cross the
island to Havana, but were quickly meet by Fidel’s
army. By the time the fighting ended on April 19, 100
people were dead. It was a huge embarrassment for the
Kennedy administration.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the
Soviet Union and the United States. It occurred in 1962.
The conflict was over Soviet supplied missile installations
in Cuba. The Cuban Missile Crisis was regarded as the
World’s Closest approach to Nuclear War. It first started
when the United States discovered that Cuba had installed
Soviet missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The
United States responded by imposing a naval blockade of
Cuba and demanded that the missiles be removed from
Cuba. After several tension filled days, and negotiations
the situation settled and the missile were removed
FALL OF BERLIN WALL
On the 9th of November, 1989, the Border separating Western from Eastern Germany
was effectively opened. In the days that followed large groups of individuals with their
hands and with machinery, started physically tearing down the wall. The Fall of the
Berlin Wall AFTER STANDING FOR ALMOST 30 YEARS, will always be used as a symbol
for the end of the Cold War.