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History and the Cold War
“This Land is Your Land”
• History is what we do to the past in the present.
• History is the stories we tell about the past.
• History is the questions we ask of the past and the meanings we find in those answers.
• History is argument, argument comes from evidence, evidence comes from the sources.HistoricalThinkingMatters.org
Today . . .
• Where history of American foreign relations is moving
• Some thoughts on the Cold War• Some thoughts on teaching the
Cold War• End of the Cold War• History and memory of America’s
interactions with the world
Diplomatic History v. History of American Foreign Relations
• “diplomatic” = state to state• “International History” is too broad• American Foreign Relations: just
about right– Governments, peoples, NGO’s,
economies, cultures, international groups
Different “schools” or common interpretations
• Nationalist• Progressive• Realists• Revisionists• Post-Revisionists• Latest work
Three strands of the Cold War
• Ideological• Economic• Strategic
– Cold War Lenses
Just as important . . .
• The Cold War was also fought at home
• And domestic politics influenced how it was fought abroad
Our Five Questions1. Why did the Cold War start?
- Could it have been prevented? Can we assign “blame” for the Cold War?
2. Why did it last so long?- Were the times when leaders could have lessened tensions or ended it
earlier? 3. Why did it influence so many aspects of America’s culture and politics?
- What made the Cold War resonate with Americans? 4. Why did it end when and how it did?
- How do we explain the end of the Cold War? 5. What lessons and meanings can and should we take from the Cold War?
- Is it possible to learn and apply these lessons to today’s world?
Our Five Questions1. Why did the Cold War start?- Could it have been prevented? Can we
assign “blame” for the Cold War?
2. Why did it last so long?
3. Why did it influence so many aspects of America’s culture and politics?
4. Why did it end when and how it did?
5. What lessons and meanings can and should we take from the Cold War?
Key Areas of Early Conflict
• WWII– Remember Soviet
Perspective
• Berlin• NATO & Warsaw
Pact• China• Korea
Mobilization for the Postwar World
• Containment Policy• National Security Act
of 1947• Atomic Weapons• NSC 68• The importance of
1949
“Fall” of China
• China complicating US policy in Asia
• Consequences of Chinese Civil War– No recognition– Fueled domestic hard-liners– Renewed interest in Asia
• One more reason 1949 so important
Our Five Questions1. Why did the Cold War start?
2. Why did it last so long?- Were the times when leaders could have lessened tensions or ended it earlier?
3. Why did it influence so many aspects of America’s culture and
politics?
4. Why did it end when and how it did?
5. What lessons and meanings can and should we take from the Cold War?
McCarthyism• Sen. Joseph McCarthy
– Republican from Wisconsin
• Manifestation of public feeling
• Big Lie• Blacklists• Army-McCarthy
Hearings (1954)
Nixon and Détente• Nixon and China (1971-72)
• The Joint Communiqué
Nixon and Détente• Nixon and the U.S.S.R. (1972)
• Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and the SALT-I Agreement
Our Five Questions1. Why did the Cold War start?
2. Why did it last so long?
3. Why did it influence so many aspects of America’s culture and politics?- What made the Cold War resonate with Americans?
4. Why did it end when and how it did?
5. What lessons and meanings can and should we take from the Cold War?
Cold War
Culture
Why hysteria only in the United States?
• First, let’s look at Europe– Probably with more at stake in Cold
War than the United States – but looked inward for development and had no politicians exploit fear
B R O A D impact of Cold War in the United
States
• Touched almost all aspects of American life
• A culture of fear narrows boundaries• Was there a threat in the United
States, a threat to the United States, both, or neither?
• Impact beyond culture and politics• Efforts to create a Cold War consensus
What does Whitfield argue?
1. Was anti-Communism at home worth the cost? (what was the cost?) 4
2. Why did the Red Scare happen in the US? 9-10
3. How did the Cold War influence education? 55-58
4. How did consumerism play a part in US Cold War culture? 71-75
5. What was the relationship between religion and the Cold War? (chapter 4)
Movies
Cold War resources
• Make Mine Freedom– http://archive.org/details/MakeMine19
48
• Duck and Cover• Music
Shaping the Cold War narrative
• Civil Rights reform was in part a product of the Cold War
• Problems created by the lack of rights
• Perception of problems what motivated policymakers
• NARRATIVE: democracy made the achievement of justice possible
Sputnik
• October 1957
• NASA (1958)• Crisis of
confidence
The Vietnam War
2-minute writing
• What do you know about the Vietnam War and how did you “learn” it?– (gets to issues of history v. memory)
Our Five Questions1. Why did the Cold War start?
2. Why did it last so long?
3. Why did it influence so many aspects of America’s culture and politics?
4. Why did it end when and how it did?- How do we explain the end of the Cold War?
5. What lessons and meanings can and should we take from the Cold
War?
• We have to turn to Jesus Jones for the answer
LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z6dxQVhE8o
(Video on next slide)
A woman on the radio talked about revolution, When its already passed her by
Bob Dylan didn’t have this to sing about you, You know it feels good to be alive
I was alive and I waited, waited; I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now, There is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now, Watching the world wake up from history
I saw the decade in, when it seemed the world could change at the blink of an eye
And if anything, then there’s your sign... of the times
End of Cold War: Reagan as ultimate hero
• R:– Strong rhetoric, but practical– R. saw opportunity and seized it– R. pursued policy of strength
Flaws in argument
• Fails to see full picture of 1980s, USSR, Eastern Europe, and World
• Fails to see power of containment over the long haul
1980s
•USSR•Gorbachev•Eastern Europe•World
Power of Containment over the long haul
War and Cold War bring the U.S. to the Middle East• Overall Goal:
– Stability that allows U.S. access to oil
Our Five Questions1. Why did the Cold War start?
2. Why did it last so long?
3. Why did it influence so many aspects of America’s culture and politics?
4. Why did it end when and how it did?
5. What lessons and meanings can and should we take from the Cold War?- Is it possible to learn and apply these lessons to today’s world?
History and Memory
• HISTORY:
• History is what we do to the past in the present
• MEMORY:
• Individual v. Collective memory (“body of beliefs about the past”)
• Collective (or national) memory provides “lessons”
Our Five Questions1. Why did the Cold War start?
- Could it have been prevented? Can we assign “blame” for the Cold War?
2. Why did it last so long?- Were the times when leaders could have lessened tensions or ended it
earlier? 3. Why did it influence so many aspects of America’s culture and politics?
- What made the Cold War resonate with Americans? 4. Why did it end when and how it did?
- How do we explain the end of the Cold War? 5. What lessons and meanings can and should we take from the Cold War?
- Is it possible to learn and apply these lessons to today’s world?
Classroom Integration
• How to Read a Primary Source• Wallace document• Space Race documents• Images of the Cold War• Music
