Transcript Cold War, 1950s, Ear..

Cold War, 1950s,
Early 1960s
• Competition between ideologies of US and Soviet Union
Category
Soviet Union
American Democracy
Political System
One political party, the
Communists
A multi-party democracy
Organizations
All labor groups and other
associations are run by the
Communist Party
Unions and other organizations
openly negotiate with employers
Economic System
Industries and farms are owned by
the state; central planners
determine the nation’s economic
needs; limited private property;
education and health care provided
by the state
Free enterprise system; private
ownership of property; supply and
demand determine prices; people
meet their own needs with some
limited government involvement
Religion
Religion is discouraged
Free exercise of religion
Individual Rights
Secret police arrest opponents;
censorship; no free exercise of
beliefs
Freedom of the press and
expression
Roots of the Cold War
• Yalta and Potsdam
• February 1945 – Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at
Yalta
• Plan to reorganize Europe after the war
• Agree to form United Nations
• Germany divided in occupation zones
• Free elections in countries liberated from Germany
Roots of the Cold War
• Yalta and Potsdam
• Truman and Stalin met
6 months later at
Potsdam in Germany
• Serious differences
emerge between the
two leaders
Roots of the Cold War
• Soviets saw threat from capitalist governments
• Stalin greatly distrusted the West
• Create wall of satellites countries as buffer against future
invasions
• No free elections in Poland
• US refused to share secrets of atomic bomb
• Soviet troops continue to occupy Eastern Europe
• Trade and contact between east and west Europe cut off
Cold War Begins
• An Iron Curtain fell
over Eastern Europe
• Next 40 years, travel
and communication
between east and west
remained limited
• Eastern European
nations became
“satellites” of the
Soviet Union
Cold War Begins
• US developed policy of containment
• Don’t try to overturn already communist countries but stop
it from spreading any further
• Communist rebels in Greece and pressure on Turkey,
Truman sent military aid
• Was not going to appease like what happened in Munich
with Hitler
Containment
• After WWII, Europe faced famine
• Truman felt desperate people attracted to communism
• Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed massive
aid to rebuild countries
• Strong allies and trading partners
• Aid Germany and Italy instead of demanding reparations
• Extremely successful – speeded economic recovery and
western Europe and created goodwill
• 1948-1952 – European economies grew at an
unprecedented rate
Marshall Plan, 1948
• 1948 – France, Britain,
and US combined
occupation zones to West
Germany
• Berlin, capital of old
Germany, in Soviet zone
• Divided into 4 sectors,
each occupied by
different power
• Soviets announced
blockade of West Berlin
Berlin Airlift, 1948
• Western Allies began
massive airlift to feed
and supply city
• Within one year, Stalin
lifted blockade
• US and Allies showed
would not retreat when
faced by aggressive
behavior by the Soviet
Union
Berlin Airlift, 1948
• US, Canada, and 10 western European nations create
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949
• Collective security – each defend if other is attacked
• US extended nuclear protection to Western Europe
NATO and Warsaw Pact
• Soviet Union created
Warsaw Pact with
Eastern European
satellites in 1955
NATO and Warsaw Pact
• Pros
•
•
•
•
Influence international policy
Protect American interest
Protect American security
Assist other countries
• Cons
• Potential loss of American sovereignty
• Potential loss of American security
Pros and Cons of being in
international organizations and
treaties
• US never intervened in Eastern Europe
• Soviet leaders suppressed anti-Communist riot in
Hungary in 1956
• Erected Berlin Wall in 1961 to prevent East Germans
from escaping to the West
• Invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968 to overthrow Czech
reform government
Behind the Iron Curtain
• China falls to Communism – 1949
• Communists sought to overthrow Nationalists government
since 1920s
• Helped by Soviets after 1945
• Led by Mao Zedong
• Defeated Nationalists in 1949
• Nationalists fled to Taiwan
• Fall of China seen as crushing blow for US
Containment in Asia
• China falls to Communism – 1949
• Truman refused to extend diplomatic recognition to
Communist government
• US used veto power and refused to let Red China into the
United Nations
• Truman promised to protect nationalistic government on
Taiwan from Communist attacks
Containment in Asia
• Many Americans felt the US didn’t do enough to prevent
China from falling to Communism
• Korea, a former Japanese colony was split in two after
WWII
• North Korea – Communist; South Korea – noncommunist elected government
The Korean War
• 1950 – North invades South to unite under one
Communist rule
• Stalin felt Americans would not care enough to become
involved
• South Korean Army inefficient and unmotivated
• Fled South as North attacked
The Korean War
• President Truman felt like Nazi
aggression before WWII
• Decided to oppose N. Koreans
• US forces sent to South to
resist invasion
• Soviet Union had walked out
of the UN in protest so US able
to pass a resolution to send UN
troops (mostly US soldiers) to
South Korea
• First time an international
peace organization used
military force to stop
aggression
The Korean War
• General Douglas MacArthur
sent to command Korean
forces
• Landed in Inchon in the middle
• Surprised North and cut off
their main forces
• Second largest seaborne
invasion in history
• MacArthur attacked N. Korea,
advancing to border between
N. Korea and China
The Korean War
• Threat brought large Chinese army into the war, forcing
MacArthur to retreat
• MacArthur wanted to free China from communism, even
if need to use atomic weapons
• President Truman refused; MacArthur criticized Truman
to a Congressman, who reported to the media
• Truman relieved MacArthur of his command
• Needed to assert civilian control of the military
• Very unpopular at the time
The Korean War
• 1952 – Dwight Eisenhower elected President
• Armistice signed between US and N. Korea in 1953
• Demilitarized zone between N and S Korea and a transfer
of prisoners of war
• …Exactly the same division as it was before the war
The Korean War
• 1959 – Cuba come under the power of Fidel Castro
• Castro made agreements with SU and made Cuba proSoviet Communist nation
Bay of Pigs
• Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)
• Eisenhower approved plan to overthrow Castro
• Secretly trained Cuban exiles and send them to invade the
island
• Kennedy became president, let plan continue but no air
power
• Exiles landed 3 months after Kennedy took office but were
quickly defeated
• Embarrassing failure for Kennedy
Bay of Pigs
• Kennedy met Soviet Premier
Nikita Khrushchev in Vienna
• Meeting did not go well and
Berlin Wall construction started
few weeks after
• In 1961, the Soviet backed the
East German government (GDR)
began constructing a fence to halt
the flow of human resources from
the East to the West.
• The Wall was a symbol of the
division of East and West for the
remainder of the Cold War until it
was taken down in 1989.
Berlin Wall
• Bay of Pigs exiles to say acting
independently but disobeyed
orders
• Castro and Khrushchev took
steps to protect Cuba
• 1962 – US spy planes found
Cuba preparing silos for
missiles and nuclear warheads
• Soviet missiles could not hit US
from Europe or Asia
• Cuba only 90 miles from
Florida…
• How to stop without nuclear
war?
Cuban Missile Crisis
• October 1962 – Kennedy
formed committee to get out
of crisis
• Kennedy decided naval
blockade on Cuba to
prevent arrival of weapons
• One Soviet ship stopped and
boarded
• Kennedy threatened to
invade Cuba if missiles not
withdrawn
Cuban Missile Crisis
• Closest world came to
nuclear war
• After several days,
Khrushchev agreed to
withdraw missiles if US
agreed not to invade Cuba
• Kennedy also agreed to
remove missiles from Turkey
• Afterwards, special hotline
telephone set up
• Agreed to ban further
nuclear testing except for
underground
Cuban Missile Crisis
• 1945 – US sole atomic
power
• 1949 – Soviet Union
developed own bomb
• Nuclear “arms race”
begins!
• 1952 – US develops
hydrogen bomb
• Much more powerful than
atomic bomb
• Soviets get one only a year
later…
Arms and Space Race
• 1950s – nuclear weapons used for defense instead of
large military force
• Deterrent – SU as deterred from attacking US because US
could destroy it with nuclear weapons
• Cheaper than large military force
• Most situations, nuclear weapons couldn’t be used…
Arms and Space Race
• Sputnik – 1957
• Nazi scientists made great
strides in building rockets
• Each Superpower began
own missile program
• SU launched first manmade satellite into space –
Sputnik
• Size of basketball, weighed
184 pounds, orbited the Earth
once every 98 minutes with a
radio transmitter that did little
more than issue a beep to be
tracked
Arms and Space Race
• Space race is on!
• Fear SU would use
missiles to send nuclear
bombs to US
• Americans felt they were
falling behind
• Federal government
started new programs in
science and education
• Launched own first
satellite in space in 1958
Arms and Space Race
• House Un-American
Activities Committee
• Americans feared
Communist menace in US
• Truman ordered Loyalty
Review Boards
• Investigate “un-American”
activities
• Such as participating in the
American Communist Party
• Many accused with little or no
evidence
• Victims unable to defend selves
or know who accused them
• Violated constitutional rights
Cold War at Home
• House Un-American Activities
Committee
• Congress conducted loyalty
checks through special House
Un-American Activities
Committee
• Questioned actors, directors,
writers, and others about possible
Communist sympathies
• Present or former members of
Communist party “blacklisted” and
lost jobs
• Some like Alger Hiss were later
persecuted for perjury
• People who cooperated had to
inform on others
Cold War at Home
• Rosenberg Trials
• 1950 – Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg charged with selling
secrets to SU about how to make
atomic bomb
• Found guilty and executed for
spying
• Many Americans doubted guilt
• 1997 – Verona Papers showed
messages sent to Soviet Union
• Julius had spied for the SU
• Some Soviet agents had penetrated
American government, science, and
industry during Cold War
Cold War at Home
• McCarthy Hearings
• Fall of China caused fear of
internal subversion
• Senator Joseph McCarthy
shocked Americans by claiming
he knew names of hundreds of
Communists who had infiltrated
the government
• 3 years of hearings never found
any proof
• Censured (formally criticized)
by the Senate
• McCarthyism – making harsh
accusations without evidence
Cold War at Home
• Foreign policy given to
Secretary of State John
Foster Dulles, devoted
anti-Communist
• 1957 – US send troops
to any middle eastern
nation that needed help
fighting communism
• Called Eisenhower
Doctrine
Eisenhower 1953-1960
• 1950s time of recovery
and growth
• Special benefits for vets
• Low mortgage rates
• Educational grants
• Interstate Highway Act
(1956) – create system of
federal highways
• Defense spending
remained high and middle
class grew
Eisenhower 1953-1960
• Housing Boom
• Time of high birth rates –
“baby boom”
• GI Bill
• Cheaper, mass produced
homes
• Home ownership
increased 5%
• Middle class families >
suburbs; declining urban
tax base and decaying
inner cities
Eisenhower 1953-1960
o Provided federal aid to help veterans adjust to civilian life in:
o Unemployment pay (up to 52 weeks at $20/wk. – less than 20% of
funds set aside for this were used)
o Purchase of homes, farms, & businesses – zero down, low interest
(2.4 million loans 1944-1952)
o Education
o Subsidized tuition, fees, books, educational materials, &
living expenses while attending college or other training
institutions
o 7.8 of 16 million veterans used this 1944-1956
o In 1947, 49% of college admissions were for veterans of
WWII
Servicemen's
Readjustment Act of 1944
• Economic Prosperity
• Demand for consumer
goods at all-time high
• Millions of autos and tvs
sold
• Refrigerators and
appliances became
widespread
• GDP doubled between
1945-1950 and
dominated world trade
Eisenhower 1953-1960
• Conformity
• Greater emphasis
• Unusual ideas regarded
with suspicion
• Fear of Communism
led to dislike of nonconformist attitudes
Eisenhower 1953-1960
• Success of antibiotics
• 1953 – Jonas Salk
• First polio vaccine
• Streptomycin – first
antibiotic to treat
tuberculosis
• Measles vaccine
• First heart transplant
Advances in Medicine
• The Beat Generation
• Rebelled against conformity
of era
• Young writers in New York
and then San Francisco
• Care-free, often reckless,
and fresh approach to
literature
• Founders: Allen Ginsberg
and Jack Kerouac
• Howl by Ginsberg for seized
for obscenity
Music and Culture
• The Beat Generation
• Experimented with
sexuality and drugs
• “Beatnik” – Artistic
lifestyle with men in beards,
berets, and sandals and
young women in leotards
• Recited poetry and
discussed European
philosophy
• Early form of counter-culture
Music and Culture
• Rock and Roll – a form of
popular music that
evolved in the 1950's
from rhythm and blues,
characterized by the use
of electric guitars, a
strong rhythm with an
accent on the offbeat, and
youth-oriented lyrics
• Artists such as Chuck
Berry, Little Richard, and
Elvis Presley
Music and Culture