APUSH

28 Nov. – 1 Dec. 1943 – Big Three Meet –FDR, Churchill, Stalin

Strategy meeting◦ Planned for opening of second front

◦ Began planning for end of war

Yalta Conference – Feb. 1945 – FDR, Churchill and Stalin (Big Three) – planned post-WWII world◦ Stalin’s idea – punish Germany – compromised

said yes to free elections in East Europe, United Nations

Potsdam Conference – July 1945 – Truman, Churchill/Atlee, Stalin◦ No free elections in East Europe

◦ Soviets made Communist Eastern Bloc “satellites”

◦ Germany divided into 4 occupation zones

Question Capitalism Communism

Who chooses what

to produce?People Government

Who chooses who

produces it?People Government

Who chooses who

gets the products?People Government

A state of political tension and military rivalry between the Soviet Union and United States that stopped short of full scale war

Trial - 24 of worst surviving Nazis

12 sentenced to death; rest – sentenced to prison

Trials/executions of war criminals

Emperor Hirohito spared – seen as a semi-divine

Gen. Douglas MacArthur- commanded Japan’s occupation, helped turn Japan democratic

Hirohito and MacArthur

Hirohito and Reagan

Containment –1946- Truman’s policy toward communism – its expansion must be prevented

Truman Doctrine - ‘47– US will support “free peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressure”

US needed strong, stable countries in Western Europe – political allies to buy US goods

16 countries -$13 billion in aid

Communism lost much appeal in region**

Stalin blockaded West Berlin from aid – June 1948

US & Brits airlifted supplies – Soviets quit – May ‘49 ◦ May ‘49 – British, French, US Zones – West Germany

◦ Oct. ‘49 – Soviet Zone became East Germany

Berlin divided between the two countries!!

Berlin Airlift

Berlin Airlift 2

NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization – US, Canada, & Western Europe– 4/1949

Warsaw Pact – Soviets & Eastern Bloc– May 1955 –response to West Germany joining NATO

1950 1953

1945-49 – US aided Chinese Nationalists (Truman doctrine) Communists – Communists won -10/49

Korea – ex-Japanese colony – split in 2 after WWII

1948 – North & South Korea formally established

6/25/50 – Communist North Korea invaded South,

6/27/50 - Truman ordered US troops to Korea

UN troops (90% American) and South Koreans pushed North Koreans almost to Chinese border

300,000 Communist Chinese aid North Korea

Gen. MacArthur pushed for using nukes on China

Truman said “NO” – MacArthur fired

Next two years fighting over strategic positions

Korea kept divided – nuclear war avoided

Soviet control of Eastern Europe, Communist China and Korea –created fear that Communism would hit US

3/1947 –Truman ordered gov. employee loyalty program

HUAC – House Un-American Activities Committee investigated communist activity – focused on potential communist propaganda in Hollywood

September 1947 - Pentagon, Department of Defense, Central Intelligence Agency, Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Council – ALL aspects motivated by specter of Cold War conflict

Eisenhower elected- 1952 – “unmilitary general” and “unpolitical” politician

Korean armistice – summer 1953

CIA (Central Intelligence Agency –brand new)◦ gave $millions to anti-communists in Iran; overthrew

democratically-elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh (1953)

◦ Trained an army to overthrow Guatemala’s democratically elected President Jacobo Arbenz – Arbenz had given US-owned land to peasants (1954)

Both overthrew democratically-elected leaders

Both were done after the nationalization or redistribution of the properties or commodities of major American companies

Both were seen as potential locations for the spread of communism

1950-54 – McCarthy began making unfounded accusations of communism – none proven

McCarthyism - tactic of accusing someone of “disloyalty” without actual evidence

Army-McCarthy Hearings – 1954 – Senator’s downfall –censure – left office – died of alcoholism 1957

McCarran Act – Internal Security Act - 1950- made it illegal to plan the establishment of a totalitarian dictatorship in US; forced communist organizations to register with gov’t

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg – 1950-53 – convicted w/ weak evidence – nuclear secrets to Soviets - executed

Soviets – atomic bomb – 1949

*Stalin died – 1953 – enter Nikita Khrushchev

Hydrogen “H” Bomb – 67x stronger than Hiroshima◦ US H-bomb – 1952

◦ Soviet H-Bomb – 1953 (Eisenhower now president)

Nuclear Arms race took off

First Artificial satellite to orbit earth – October 1957 - Soviets

Sputnik II – Nov. 1957 – sent a dog into space

United States – Explorer I – January 1958

Created competition over space race

Brinkmanship – policy of showing willingness to go to the edge of war and total destruction◦ fear of nuclear war semi-constant for next 30 years

◦ U-2 incident- US spy plane shot down over Soviet Airspace – May 1960 - highlighted paranoia of both nations; failed Soviet-US Summit 2 weeks later in Paris

1954 – US supporting 80% of French Colonial War in Southeast Asia

Dienbienphu – Vietnamese defeat the French in Vietnam – Communists look poised to win;

Geneva Conference – 1954 –US participated – Vietnam divided at 17th parallel

Intention of communists = Communist Vietnam

Intention of US = non-communist government in the South – a government that might eventually unite Vietnam

Ngo Dinh Diem –some local legitimacy but spent a lot of time in United States – led S. Vietnam

Diem seen as legit by US but not legit enough for Vietnam; Ho Chi Minh spent 30 years fighting for Vietnamese independence led N. Vietnam

North and South Vietnam go on different paths

1956 – Hungarian Uprising – grassroots, democratic movement

Soviet Union crushed it

US turned deaf ears to the uprising◦ Nuclear option – to potentially detrimental

◦ Massive retaliation – too costly, not suitable

JFK – elected 1960 – youngest ever elected, first (and only) Catholic president

Ran on a campaign of “New Frontier”

Promised to continue fighting the cold war, beat the Soviets where it mattered, put a man on the moon by end of the 1960s

Flexible Response – JFK’s military plan –create an array of military options

Alliance for Progress – Marshall Plan for Latin America – did little

Cuba – corrupt dictatorship 1950s –Fulgencio Batista; American party land –run by Mafia

Fidel Castro – 26th of July Movement –took over Cuba – 1 January 1959

Castro – soon began talks with USSR

Cuban emigres trained in Nicaragua and then be sent to Bay of Pigs and foment rebellion against Castro – too bad Castro was popular

Arrival of US-trained Cuban émigrés angered Cubans – Cubans rallied around Castro –émigrés mostly captured and made prisoners – JFK did not send in air support for émigrés

Castro – formally declared Cuba to be communist in May 1961

US efforts to unseat Castro made Castro more attractive to USSR

Khrushchev – Cuba = strategic advantage

Oct. 15 1962 – U2 Planes see missile sights

Oct. 28 1962 – JFK publicly promised to not invade Cuba – JFK promised to remove Jupiter missiles from Turkey (secret promise)

Berlin within the Soviet zone but divided between the four powers still!!!!!

No Berlin in late 50s– relatively free movement in Berlin

Frei Universitat – American-made University –open to East Berliners

East Germans were going into West Berlin and then going on to West Germany – Berlin was becoming a sinkhole

young men and women were leaving East Germany – people who stayed behind were the older and less skilled – BRAIN DRAIN!!!

Khrushchev wanted a treaty on Berlin and to close city

off – If Berlin doesn’t get sealed off- cut off West Berlin

August 1961 – Khrushchev let East Germans build Berlin

Wall – Berlin Wall went around entire western sector

Purpose of Wall – avoid war - assert Soviet authority

“A Wall is better than a War”

Diem - incompetent and corrupt from the get go

Buddhist monks burning selves in streets to protest Diem by end of the Eisenhower era

By end of Eisenhower Presidency – 7000 US military advisers in Vietnam

By 1960s – National Liberation Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam aka Vietcong◦ formed in 1960 in North Vietnam

North Vietnamese infiltrate South Vietnam and start recruiting people in the South

- Eisenhower & JFK provided support to South

- JFK and Diem – assassinated in same month (Nov. ‘63)

- Lyndon Johnson – president - LBJ

- Tonkin Gulf Resolution – Aug. 1964 - Resolution authorizes use of US force after US patrol ship is attacked

- June 1965 – 50,000 US soldiers in Vietnam; 200,000 by end of 1965; 400,000 by end of 1966

LBJ landslide

Cold War issues huge – Barry Goldwater seen as loose cannon with nukes

Domino Theory – if one country falls to communism – there goes the neighborhood!

LBJ did not want to lose- feared blame for failure in Vietnam; compared self with JFK

LBJ – a master of domestic policy

LBJ – bought off his enemies at home – did not work in Vietnam

◦ LBJ offered Ho Chi Minh $1 Billion to build a Tennessee Valley for all of Vietnam

◦ LBJ had reflected that it was the rural electrification of the TVA that gave him light as a kid

◦ LBJ felt that “Uncle Ho” would want electricity

- 1967 – 500,000 American soldiers in Vietnam

- War stagnated

- Vietcong was willing to pay nearly any price for victory

- 1967 –anti-war protests and draft opposition took off

- Surprise Attack -showed resolve of the Viet Cong

- War considered unwinnable

- Stalemate predicted (Walter Cronkite)

- Feb. 1968 – half of Americans disapproved of the war

Spring 1968

Gene McCarthy – antiwar candidate

Robert F. Kennedy (JFK’s little brother) – pro-peace

3/31/68 – LBJ announces withdrawal from presidential contest; freezing of troop levels

6/5/68 – Bobby Kennedy assassinated

1968 –Humphrey (D) vs. Nixon (R)

Hubert Humphrey – Democratic candidate

Richard M. Nixon – Republican candidate

George Wallace – American Independent (states rights/segregation)

Everything that worked for LBJ at home failed in Vietnam

LBJ outworked everyone at home and wore people down – THIS FAILED IN VIETNAM

Every time LBJ tried to do more in Vietnam he got in deeper

Ho Chi Minh’s Communism looked more like what they needed than US capitalism

- Nixon – pledge – end Vietnam War; restore “law, order” in a

country plagued by protest and social disorder

Non-idealists – Kissinger (secretary of state) and Nixon – Vietnam not a good cause

Nixon’s policy – Vietnamize the war – make the North Vietnamese come to an agreement – Peace with Honor – Bomb the North Vietnamese and make them cry uncle

Vietnamization Policy – made North and South Vietnam come to the table and allow for US withdrawal

More deaths as a result of Vietnamization

My Lai Massacre – frustrated soldiers killed more

May 1969 – American forces show up in My Lai –American soldiers kill 300-500 Vietnamese women, children an old men at My Lai village

North Vietnam had been using Cambodia as supply chest for years

US troops, bombing campaign – Cambodia –April 1970

May 1970 – more protests as US increases bombing of Vietnam – 4 May 1970 – Kent State; Jackson State – 2 students shot - black students

Success of Kissinger – getting US out of Vietnam

30,000 more American deaths under Kissinger and Nixon; problems in Cambodia

6/24/70 – Senate repeals Gulf of Tonkin Res.

Nixon withdrew from Cambodia – 6/29/1970

Pentagon Papers – June 1971 – leaked –showed blunders of JFK and LBJ in Vietnam –provocation at Gulf of Tonkin

July 1971 – Nixon announced plan to visit China – troubling to North Vietnamese –potential rift with their ally

Troop level reductions 1972

Treaty of Paris 1973 – (January) “peace with honor” Kissinger negotiates end to conflict –last US troops leave Vietnam – Spring 1973

April 1975 – Saigon (South Vietnamese capital) falls to North Vietnam

China and Soviet Union both communist –China had denounced Soviet Communism as “less pure” – 1961 – relations never the same

Shanghai Communique – 28 Feb. 1972 -China and US agreed to normalize relations –1 China policy – recognize Peoples’ Republic of China over Republic of China

May 1972 – Nixon arrives in Moscow – Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev ◦ Soviets – scared of US’ friendlier relations with

China – wanted a piece of the good will

Détente – thawing of tensions

Agreement of USSR to buy US wheat

SALT I (strategic arms limitation treaty) talks (began in 1969) brought Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty – Aug. 1972

Draft ends – January 1973 - expiredWar Powers Act - Nov. 1973 – required a president to report to congress after committing troops – would have to end within 60 days unless congress approved it – passed over Nixon’s veto – ensure sharing power in war- making decisions

October 1973 – OPEC (organization of petroleum exporting countries) – embargo on oil exports to US - punishment for US support of Israel in Yom Kippur War

Nixon resigned – Watergate Scandal – Aug 1974; pardoned by Gerald Ford – unelected

Helsinki Accords – 1975 – recognized borders of communist world, Soviets guaranteed exchanges of people and info; protection of basic human rights◦ critics – technology exchanges – US to USSR – 1

way; continued restrictions on emigration of Soviet Jews

September 11, 1973 – Democratically-elected socialist leader of Chile, Salvador Allende, overthrown in CIA-backed coup◦ Military dictator – Augusto Pinochet – 1973-90

Support for Argentine Military Coup – 1976

Support for military overthrow in Bolivia – ‘71

Carter –dark horse candidate – 1976 -defeated Ford

Focus on human rights, diplomacy◦ Panama Treaties – Sept. 1977 - agreed to return

Canal Zone by December 31, 1999

◦ Camp David Accord – Sept. 17 1978 – Israel withdrew from Sinai, Egypt respected Israel’s borders – pledged peace

Failure of SALT II – June 1979 – a treaty to limit lethal weapons between USSR and US

Iranian Revolution – 4 Nov. 1979 – US embassy in Tehran captured by Islamic militants◦ Another oil crisis!

Dec. 27 1979 – Soviets invaded Afghanistan –this would become Russia’s Vietnam◦ Carter embargo of US grain exports to USSR

◦ Boycott of 1980 Moscow Olympics

◦ Carter requested return of draft legislation - denied

Throughout 1980 – Americans held hostage at US embassy in Tehran, Iran

Carter humiliated by inability to rescue hostages – attempt to rescue them by helicopters – helicopters crashed into each other◦ Hostages not released until inauguration of Ronald

Reagan – January 20, 1981