The Cold War1940’s -1990’s

• term used to describe the post-World War II struggle between the United States and its allies and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and its allies.

During the Cold War period, which lasted from the mid-1940s until the end of the 1980s, international politics were

heavily shaped by the intense rivalry between these two great blocs of

power and the political ideologies they represented: democracy and capitalism in the case of the United States and its allies, and Communism in the case of

the Soviet bloc.

Policies• Containment: A U.S. policy providing

aid to other countries to stop the expansion of U.S.S.R. (Russia)

• Collective Security: A group of nations agree not to attack one another and to defend one another in the event of an attack. (ex. The United Nations)

Policies Continued

• Brinkmanship: pushing a dangerous situation or confrontation to the limit of safety to force an outcome

• Détente: Policy of increased diplomacy between nations to reduce tensions

• Massive Retaliation: A policy of the U.S that used the threat of an all out war to deter war itself.

Marshall PlanA plan passed by congress to

provide economic assistance to other countries that were struggling

after WWII

Berlin AirliftA daily airlift of much needed goods

that were deliver to Soviet controlled Berlin, Germany.

Iron Curtain• To the east of the Iron Curtain

were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the former Soviet Union

• Countries to west of the Iron Curtain had democratic governments

Truman Doctrine

• United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat by external or internal authoritarian regimes.

Truman Sends Troops to Korea

• Korea is spilt between the U.S. and Soviet Union

• Soviet backed in the North

• U.S. backed in the South

• The North invades the south and Pres. Truman sends troops in 1950, without the approval of congress.

Gen. Macarthur Dismissed by Truman

• China called for a seat on the United Nations, and a conference to determine the fate of Taiwan and Korea

• Truman did not want communist China to have seat on the U.N. and Truman prompted them to censure China

Gen. Macarthur Dismissed by Truman (Continued)

• MacArthur had given China an ultimatum to withdraw their troops. He vowed to bring China to its knees if they did not comply.

• Truman felt that MacArthur was influencing foreign policy without approval.

• Truman fired MacArthur on April 11, 1951

U-2 Incident

• On May 7, 1960 Khrushchev announced that they had captured the U2 spy plane and its pilot. He disparaged the United States for spying, stating that, "the militarists in the Pentagon...seem unable to call a halt to their war effort".

Space Race 1957-1969

• Both countries wanted to win the space race—to prove their scientific superiority and to show their military strength.

• The U.S. won by landing people on the moon in 1969.

Bay of Pigs Invasion

• On Apr. 17, 1961, an armed force of about 1,500 Cuban exiles landed in the Bahía de Cochinos (Bay of Pigs) on the south coast of Cuba.

• The Cuban exiles were trained by the CIA

• The exiles were captured and released in exchange for 53 million dollars.

McCarthyism 1950’s-1960’s

• Joe McCarthy became the leader of anti-communist crusade the lasted years and ruined the lives and reputations of thousands of Americans.

• His warnings resulted in the Red Scare.

• many government employees, teachers, professors and others were required to take loyalty oaths or fear losing their jobs.

GI Bill

• Created by Roosevelt after WWII

• Provided money for Higher Education

• Provided money for housing and reduced taxes.

Cuban Missile Crisis

• October 22, 1962 • 90 miles off the shore of Florida

lay nuclear missals targeted at the U.S.

• The standoff lasted 7 days until Khrushchev conceded to Kennedy’s demands

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

• A resolution passed by congress in 1964 after North Vietnamese torpedoed U.S. battleships off the coast of Asia.

• Passed by President Nixon and Johnson

NY Times v. United States

• The ruling made it possible for the New York Times and Washington Post newspapers to publish the then-classified Pentagon Papers without risk of government censure.

26th Amendment

• Congress included a provision lowering the age qualification to vote in all elections, federal, state, and local, to 18

War Powers Act• A resolution passed by congress

in 1973 placing strict limits on U.S. presidents use of the armed forces with out the approval of congress.

Ping-Pong Diplomacy

• April 6, 1971, when the American Ping-Pong team, in Japan for the 31st World Table Tennis Championship, received a surprise invitation from their Chinese colleagues for an all-expense paid visit to the People's Republic.

Arms Control

• Nuclear Test Ban Treaty: After the Cuban missile crisis, Kennedy and Khrushchev established a telephone hot line, and in 1963 they signed the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that banned nuclear tests in the air and in the water.

• ABM Treaty: The United States is prohibited from defending its homeland against ballistic missile attack.  We are also prohibited from cooperating in developing missile defenses against long-range threats with our friends and allies.

Arms Control

Arms Control

• SALT I and SALT II. Negotiations started in 1969 and focused on limiting the number of nuclear weapons. The treaty placed specific caps on the number of nuclear weapons that the USSR and U.S. could have.

Reaction to Communism

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

• Created in 1938 to investigate people and organizations to determine if they were aligned with communism.

The Smith Act

Smith Act

• Passed by Congress in the 1940’s

• People may be prosecuted for conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government

Loyalty Review Board

• Created by President Truman following WWII

• Purpose: Investigate people in municipal jobs (Teachers, Government Officials,

City Employees)

Spying on the U.S.

Spying on the U.S.

• 1950 Alger Hiss is found guilty of being a communist spy.

• Sentenced to 5 years in prison.

• Spends the rest of his life trying to clear his name

Spying on the U.S.• The Rosenbergs:In 1950, the FBI

arrested Julius Rosenberg, an electrical engineer who had worked for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and his wife Ethel on charges of conspiracy to transmit classified military information to Russia.

• Handed over top-secret a-bomb data which was then passed on to the Soviet Union.

McCarthyism