cold war
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TRANSCRIPT
●World War II veterans (GI’s) get to attend college for free
THE G.I. BILL
● Millions of GIs bought homes, attended college, started businesses, or found jobs
THE G.I. BILL
● The GI Bill made new homes very
affordable to returning soldiers
● Between 1945 and 1954, the U.S. added 13 million
new homes
President Franklin Roosevelt signs the GI Bill in 1944
Truman and civil rights● One of the major acts made
by Truman was when he made an executive order
to end segregation in the armed forces
● Truman also asked Congress to pass a civil
rights bill that would make lynching a federal crime
ELECTION of 1948
Thomas Dewey
Harry S Truman Strom Thurmond
● Many people didn’t think he would be re-elected
● Truman angered many Southern
Democrats by supporting integration
Integration – mixing of groups previously separated: equal treatment for all ethnic groups
THE COLD WAR
United States
Democracy
● The era of confrontation and competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union when the threat of
nuclear war created constant world tension
vs.
Soviet Union
Communism
The Cold War
• Believed in democratic forms of government•Believed the free enterprise system was necessary for economic growth
• Believed in a communistic forms of government • Believed in workers revolting (striking) against business owners and taking control of government
United States Russia
Soviets take over Eastern Europe
Soviet troops move into Germany near the end of World War II
● As World War II ended, the Soviet army occupied the countries of Eastern
Europe that Germany had conquered during the war
The Iron Curtain
“An iron curtain has descended across the Continent”
– Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary Bulgaria and East Germany became satellite nations of Soviet Union
Peep under the Iron curtain
March 6, 1946
Who is “Joe”?
What part of Europe is sealed off?
What does the wall symbolize?
Letter from U.S. diplomat George Kennan that led to
the U.S. policy of containment of
communism.
Kennan said the Russians were concerned about invasions from the west and wanted a
buffer zone Russians wanted to spread communism
world-wideU.S. should use diplomatic, economic and
military actions to keep communism contained
Truman Doctrine● U.S. foreign policy established by President Truman saying
the U.S. would protect democracies throughout the world
“It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures” -- Harry Truman
● It pledged that the United States would fight Communism worldwide
Truman Doctrine
American tanks provided by the Truman Doctrine roll through Turkey
● Secretary of State George Marshall toured Western Europe.
Aid for Europe
Children in a London suburb, waiting outside the wreckage of what was their home
●Marshall feared that poor Europeans would turn to Communism
Marshall Plan● U.S. plan for rebuilding Western Europe, and stopping communism after World War II
● Plan pumped billions of dollars into Western Europe for food and supplies
George C. Marshall
Marshall Plan aids Western Europe
The Marshall Plan proved to be a great success
The Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was a meeting of the Allied leaders during World War II to decide what to do with Germany
Germany Divided
● Berlin, the capital city, was divided
● After World War II, Germany was divided into four zones, occupied by French, British, American, and Soviet troops
British
French
American
Soviet
● In June of 1948, the French, British and American zones were joined into the nation of West Germany after the Soviets refused to end their occupation of Germany.
East and West
Germany formed
West Germany
East Germany
West Berlin
East Berlin
● In response, the Soviets cut off West Berlin from the rest of the world with a blockade.
Eventual site of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Airlift● President Truman
decided to avoid the blockade by
flying in food and other supplies to the needy people
of West Berlin
Berlin Airlift
● The Berlin Airlift saved the people of West Berlin from falling under Soviet Union control
Birth of NATONorth Atlantic Treaty
Organization
● Formed in 1949 to protect Western
Europe from Soviet
aggression
The Warsaw Pact
● The Warsaw Pact was the Soviet Union’s
response to the creation of the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization
Cold War spreads to Asia ● Communists
take over in China
● The country of Korea became the next battleground in the Cold War
China Korea
The Korean War
● Following World War II, the Allies divided Korea at the 38th parallel
● Soviets controlled North Korea; U.S. sets up a democracy in South Korea
The Cold War gets HOT
The Korean War
●“Domino Theory”
A “Police Action” (1950-1953)
If one country falls to communism, others around it
will fall as well
The Korean War● On June 25, 1950, North Korea invades
South Korea
● Communist forces push UN forces to
brink of defeat, but UN forces push back
● UN forces under Macarthur come to
the aid of South Korea
The Cold War gets HOT
The Korean War● North Koreans pushed back to border with China
● Chinese enter war on the side of North Koreans
● Macarthur calls for an invasion of China, wants to use the atomic bomb
An artillery officer directs UN troops as they drop white phosphorous on a Communist-held
post in February 1951.
The Korean War● War ends in
a stalemate● Korean War ended July 1953
● U.S. began a major military build-up; began using military force to prevent spread of communism
● Korea was divided at the 38th parallel
Red Scare● U.S. citizens in 1950s feared
Communists wanted to take over the world. This fear was known as
the Red Scare.
Red Scare
Movie stars Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart lead a protest during height of Hollywood Blacklist controversy
● People who were accused of being Communists were often “blacklisted”
● If someone was blacklisted, it meant they were denied work or ostracized from society
McCarthyism● In 1952, U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy began holding Senate hearings
● McCarthy turned the hearings into witch-hunts, destroying people’s reputations
Russians launch Sputnik
The Russians have beaten America into space—they have the
technological edge!
The Space Race Begins● In 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri
Gagarin blasted off into space, making the Soviet Union the first
nation to launch a human into space
● Kennedy said he wanted U.S. to land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s
● on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong became the first human to step
foot on the moon
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” –
Neil Armstrong
The Space Race Begins
Berlin Wall Built● Soviets wanted to keep Germans from moving out of East Germany into West Berlin
Castro embraces Communism
(1959)
Cuban dictator Fidel Castro embraces Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev
Bay of Pigs Debacle
● CIA-trained Cuban exiles led an attack at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba in an
attempt to overthrow Castro
● Invasion was a disaster and failed;
(1961)
Cuban Missile Crisis
● U.S. and Russia came extremely close to nuclear war when Russians place nuclear missiles in Cuba in November of 1962
Cuban Missile Crisis● United States places an embargo on incoming shipments to Cuba from the Soviet Union
Cuban Missile Crisis
● The Russians agreed to take their missiles out of Cuba if the U.S. removed theirs from Turkey
● Kennedy threatens a U.S. invasion of Cuba unless Soviet missiles are removed
President John F. Kennedy thinking in the Oval Office during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962
