The Cold War:America
1945-1991
Do Now
How do clashes of
ideologies impact
governments and how
people live?
Fear of Communism
• Loyalty Review Board – for government employees
• The House of Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC) – investigated communist influences in the
movie industry
– Hollywood Ten
– Blacklists
• McCarran Internal Security Act - unlawful to plan any
action that might lead to totalitarian dictatorship
Spy Cases
• Alger Hiss – Accused by Whittaker Chambers of
spy for the Soviet Union – jailed for perjury
• Rosenberg's –
– Klaus Fuchs admitted to giving info about the
bomb to the Soviets
– Rosenberg’s implicated in the case denied the
charge and pleaded the Fifth but convicted of
espionage and sentenced to death
McCarthy and McCarthyism• Joseph McCarthy – Senator from
Wisconsin
• McCarthyism –
– Attack on suspected Communists in the
1950’s
– Referred to as an unfair tactic of
accusing people of disloyalty without
providing evidence
Fear of Nuclear Attack
• 1949 – Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb
– Schools begin doing bomb drills
– People build their own bomb shelters
– This fear of nuclear attack lasts for over 30 years
• Both countries race to create the H-bomb (hydrogen
bomb)
– This would be 67 times more destructive than the atomic bomb
– November 1952 – U.S. explodes a H-bomb
– August 1953 – Soviets explode a H-bomb
Policy of Brinkmanship
• 1952 – Eisenhower is president
• John Foster Dulles is Secretary of State
– Staunchly anti-communist
– Willing to use all U.S. force, including the nuclear
weapons, against any aggressor nation
– Willingness of the Eisenhower administration to go
to the edge of all-out war was known as
brinkmanship
Cold War Around the World
• Shift to a dependence on nuclear arms
• Eisenhower administration begins to rely heavily
on the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) for
information abroad to stop communism
– Action was taken in Iran
– Guatemala
Warsaw Pact
• Stalin dies in 1953 tensions begin to thaw
– Soviets recognized West Germany
– Concluded peace treaties with Austria & Japan
• 1955: West Germany was allowed to rearm and
join NATO made the Soviets fearful
• Created their own military alliance: Warsaw Pact
– East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Romania, Bulgaria, Soviet Union
The Suez War
• 1955: Britain and the U.S. agreed to help Egypt
finance a dam at Aswan on the Nile
• Gamal Abdel-Nasser (Egypt’s head of gov’t) tried to
play the Soviets and U.S. against each other in order
to get Egypt more aid
• U.S. withdrew their support Nasser responded by
nationalizing the Suez Canal (owned by France &
G.B.)
• Britain, France, and Israel sent troops UN stopped
the fighting and Egypt kept control of the canal
Eisenhower Doctrine
• Soviet presence in the Middle East
rose because of its support for Egypt
• January 1957 Eisenhower Doctrine
– Said that the United States would
defend the Middle East from attack by
any communist country
Revolt in Hungary
• 1956, Hungary revolted against the Soviet Union
• Soviet Union responded brutally and the
Hungarians were crushed
• U.S. did not step in and enforce the Truman
Doctrine this made a statement that the policy
did not extend to Soviet satellite countries
Soviets Replace Stalin
• Stalin dies in 1953 Nikita Khrushchev
eventually replaces him
• Believed communism would take over
the world but it could be done
peacefully the two powers would
compete economically and scientifically
Space Race
• Soviets took a quick lead on the space race
• October 4, 1957 launched Sputnik, first
artificial satellite
• Americans worked frantically to catch up
January 31, 1958 they launched their first
satellite
Cold War Takes to the Skies• July 1955 – Eisenhower met with
Soviet leaders Geneva
– Proposed the idea of “open skies” this
would allow flights over each other’s
territory to guard against surprise
nuclear attacks
• Soviets reject the proposal
U-2 Shot Down
• CIA was secretly flying over Soviet territory
U-2 plane took pictures of troop
movement and missile sites
• U.S. was nervous some members of the
press knew and Soviets knew since 1958
– Eisenhower wanted to stop the flights
– Dulles persuaded him to authorize one last
flight
U-2 Shot Down
• May 1st U-2 plane shot down
• U.S. tried to deny they had been spying but the
Soviets had evidence
• Khrushchev wanted an apology and promise to
stop the flights
– Eisenhower agreed to stop the flight but would not
apologize
– 1960’s began with renewed tensions between the
countries