PowerPoint for Topic.15

1. United States History
The Cold War
and the America that dealt with it
Mr. Michael Meechin
Celebration High School
Social Science Dept.

3. Origins of the Cold War
If you had asked most Americans in 1945 how they felt about
Russia, they would have responded with warm and fuzzy
statements about our brave ally against the horror of Hitler;
Ask them in 1950, or 1955, or 1960, however, and you would
have likely received a very different answer…

4. Starting a Cold War
Just who was to blame for the Cold War depends on how you look
at it;
From the Soviet perspective, America hadn’t suffered nearly as
much during WWII;
It was the only country with the atomic bomb [at least until
1949];
Both of these factors made the US too powerful to be trusted…

5. Starting a Cold War
According to the Soviets, America was being too nice to the losing
countries of Germany and Japan;
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR] was determined
to surround itself with countries that would not be a threat to it
in future wars…

6. Starting a Cold War
At the end of WWII, large parts of Europe sat in wait;
It was up to the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet
Union to decide upon Europe’s future…
Conflict between the US and USSR developed quickly;
What to do about Eastern Europe?

8. The Age of the Atom
Nuclear weapons were another “hot button” issue;
In 1946, the USSR rejected a US proposal to have an
international agency that regulated nuclear energy and
production…
The USSR believed that the US was trying to establish a monopoly
on nuclear weapons;
The United States began to prepare its citizens for nuclear
attack possibilities…

10. The Formation of the United Nations
After WWI, the US voted not to join the League of Nations;
After WWII, the Senate voted 89-2 to join the United Nations…
The UN consisted of two main bodies, one being the General
Assembly;
The GA is where every member has a seat;
The other was the Security Council, which has five permanent
members – US, Great Britain, USSR, France, and China – and six
seats that rotated among other countries;
Each of the permanent members could veto any council
action…

11. “Truman Doctrine”
It became the goal of the United States in the 1950s, to prevent the
spread of Communism;
It began in the Mediterranean, where Communist-backed
rebels were attacking the Greek and Turkish gov’ts…
Speaking before Congress, Truman asked for $400 million to
back these gov’ts;
Do you believe that the United States should send taxpayer
dollars to aid foreign countries?

12. Truman’s “Doctrine”
The Truman Doctrine was part of an overall strategy of containment
of communism;
The idea was to make countries prosperous enough that they
would not be tempted by communism…
1. The Marshall Plan
2. The Point Four Program
3. NATO

13. Containing Communism
The Marshall Plan
The plan provided $12 billion in US aid to 16 countries in
Western Europe to help them recover from WWII;
The Plan was a rousing success…

14. Containing Communism
The Point Four Program
This was sort of a junior Marshall Plan;
Provided $400 million to underdeveloped countries in
Asia, Latin America, and Africa, for developing industry and
communications…

15. Containing Communism
NATO; in 1949, the US and 11 Western nations formed the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization;
The countries agreed to come to the aid of any member nation
that was attacked and to develop an international security
force…

16. The Berlin Airlift
The Soviet Union became upset with all of the “containment” in
1948;
The Soviets blockaded the city of Berlin, hoping to drive out the
Western countries;
Instead of leaving, the Western countries mounted a huge airlift;
Shipping food and other supplies over the blockade and into the
city;
The USSR lifted the blockade in 1949…

17. Revolution in China
Mao-Tse-Tung led a Communist revolution in China;
In 1939, Tung’s party declared the birth of the People’s Republic
of China;
Chiang Kai-Shek and his Nationalist gov’t had to flee to the
island of Formosa [modern Taiwan]: this brought China under
Communist control…

18. Soviet Nukes
In September 1949, President Truman announced that the Soviet
Union had successfully detonated an atomic bomb;
Truman at this point permits the US to go ahead with the
development of the hydrogen bomb;
The successful Soviet test led Americans to believe that the Soviets
had been spying on the United States…

19. The Korean [Policing Action] War
On June 25, 1950, Communist North Korean forces invaded South
Korea, beginning a three year war between the two countries;
President Truman ordered the US to “give the Korean
government troops, cover, and support”;
The “troops, cover, and support” cost 54,000 US soldiers their
lives; over 103,000 were wounded in combat…

20. Iraq War 3,200
Gulf War 293
Vietnam War 58168
Korean War 33651
World War II 407316
World War I 116708
Spanish-American War 2446
Civil War (Combined) 558052
Mexican War 13283
War of 1812 2260
Revolutionary War 4435
0 100000 200000 300000 400000 500000 600000

21. The Korean [Policing Action] War
The Koreas had been divided in 1945; the communist North and
free South;
This separation tore over 10 million families apart;
The plan was for the United States forces to restore the 38th
Parallel, the prewar border;
However, the South wanted to counter; in September the
pushed into the North, followed by US & UN forces;
The United States Marines thought they could end the war in no
more than five months;
The Chinese, fearing major conflict in their region, threatened
troop deployment into Korea, MacArthur thought they were
bluffing…

23. The Korean [Policing Action] War
In mid-October, 300,000 Chinese soldiers poured into Korea;
MacArthur pleaded for air and naval support to engage the
Chinese;
The Commander of the Joint Chiefs responded to MacArthur’s
request;
“A clash with China would be the wrong war, in the wrong
place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy”;
By March 1951, Seoul was back under the control of the
South…

24. The Korean [Policing Action] War
Gen. Douglas MacArthur was later removed from his
command, after he defied President Truman and ordered the
bombing of Chinese military bases;
MacArthur was informed that a peace agreement would be
sought;
The lessons from Korea:
The US thought they
The US was It was difficult to
could control the
committed to ending achieve victory, even It is difficult to fight a
South Koreans, in
Communism under the best limited war
reality it was the
worldwide circumstances
other way around

25. Bay of Pigs Invasion
In 1959, Fidel Castro toppled the Batista government in Cuba;
According to Castro, he had no intentions of building a
Communist gov’t in Cuba;
Castro informed the United States that any US property taken
would be paid for…

26. Bay of Pigs Invasion
The following year the Soviet Union provided the Cuban gov’t with
$100 million in credit – for sugar;
President Eisenhower vowed that US would not allow a Communist
gov’t in the Western Hemisphere;
Havana nationalized all banks and commercial property;
The United States imposed a trade embargo in response…

27. Bay of Pigs Invasion
April 1961, the United States launched an invasion of Cuba, known
as the Bay of Pigs Invasion;
The CIA trained anti-Castro forces in Florida and Louisiana;
The US-backed forces were defeated in three days;
December 1952, the US traded $53 million in medical supplies
for over 1,000 invaders…

28. Cuban Missile Crisis
October 1962, the United States and the Soviet Union went eyeball
to eyeball: we were at the brink of nuclear war;
U2 surveillance photos revealed that Soviet intermediate range
ballistic missiles had been installed in Cuba;
From the time of the photos, it would take ten days to make
the missiles operational;
Once fired it would take a missile only five minutes to reach
Washington, DC…

33. Cuban Missile Crisis
President Kennedy decided to impose a naval blockade on Cuba;
The situation was tense, Soviet ships were steaming toward
Cuba;
Kennedy knew that if the ships were boarded and cargo seized
that the USSR may consider this an act of war…

34. Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev was willing to negotiate;
In return for removing the missiles from Cuba, the United
States agreed not to invade Cuba;
* The US also had to remove missiles from Turkey…

35. Cuban Missile Crisis
Following the Cuban Missile Crisis, Cold War tensions began to ease
up;
In 1963, the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union
agreed not to test nuclear weapons in our atmosphere, in space, or
underwater;
The United States also set-up a crisis hotline between
Washington, DC and the Kremlin in Moscow…