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Title: Unit 7: Cold War to the Present


1
Unit 7 Cold War to the Present
  • (Beginning of Cold War Berlin Wall)

2
The Start of the Cold War
  • East-West Suspicions

3
East-West Suspicions
  • The United States and the Soviet Union emerged
    from World War II as the two most powerful
    nations. While the two governments had
    cooperated to defeat the Axis Powers, their
    relationship deteriorated after the war.

4
East-West Suspicions
  • Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe heightened
    American fears of communism, a system in which,
    instead of private individuals running
    businesses, the Communist party, representing
    society as a whole, controls property and the
    means of production. The Soviets had promised
    free elections in Eastern European nations at the
    end of the war. Instead, they imposed Communist
    rule by holding elections only under the
    supervision of Soviet troops.

5
East-West Suspicions
  • In 1946, former Prime Minister Winston Churchill
    declared that the Soviets had in a sense trapped
    the nations of Eastern Europe behind an iron
    curtain. The phrase iron curtain would be
    used to describe Soviet policy in Europe from
    1945 to 1989.

6
East-West Suspicions
  • The Strength of Communism
  • The Communists promised to abolish poverty,
    privilege, and private property. They also
    guaranteed work, shelter, education, health care,
    and a classless society.
  • Communist leaders sought to spread their form of
    government by inciting revolts in other nations
    where poor and oppressed populations were
    attracted to their ideas.

7
East-West Suspicions
  • President Harry S. Truman responded with a policy
    of containment-preventing the spread of
    communism-rather than liberating satellite
    nations. This policy was based on the belief
    that the Soviets were interested in conquering
    other nations, not simply securing their own
    borders. The policy of containment led to what
    was known as the cold war-a state of intense
    hostility between the United States and Soviet
    Union, but without any actual warfare. This
    policy would be continued by the presidents who
    followed Truman.

8
Aid to Europe
  • In 1947, U.S. diplomats warned that Greece and
    Turkey were in danger of falling to communists
    guerillas. The U.S. and other Western nations
    wished to stop communism from spreading because
    they saw it as an oppressive form of rule that
    quashed individual economic and personal
    freedoms. In response, Truman proposed a plan to
    provide military and economic aid to Greece and
    Turkey to resist a communist takeover. The plan,
    which Congress approved, became known as the
    Truman Doctrine and committed the United States
    to a more active role in world affairs.

9
Aid to Europe
  • The United States turned its attention to helping
    the rest of Europe to recover from the
    devastation of the war. U.S. officials feared
    that economic crises in European countries might
    lead to the election of communists
    governments.The United States implemented the
    Marshall Plan-named after Secretary of State
    George Marshall. It provided massive amounts of
    financial aid to provide food, fuel, and raw
    materials to help the nations of Europe rebuild
    their economies, industries, and transportation
    systems. The U.S. offered the Marshall Plan to
    all nations in Europe, including the Soviet
    Union. The Soviets refused. Why? In trying to
    promote communism, the Soviets did not want to
    appear to need help from a Western capitalist
    country.

10
Aid to Europe
  • The Berlin Airlift-After the war, the United
    States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet
    Union each controlled a zone of Germany. In
    1948, the Western powers announced that they were
    combining their three sections of Germany to form
    an independent nation-West Germany. The Soviets
    responded by closing off all traffic from West
    Germany to Berlin, the capital city, in the
    eastern part of Germany. Truman ordered a
    massive airlift to supply Berlins 2 million
    people with food and other goods. In May 1949,
    the Soviets finally lifted their blockade of the
    city.

11
Aid to Europe
  • NATO-In 1949, with East-West tensions rising, the
    United States joined other Western nations to
    form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a
    military alliance against the Soviets. In
    response, the Soviet Union formed the Warsaw
    Pact, a military alliance of the
    Soviet-controlled countries.The nations of NATO
    considered an attack on one country as an attack
    on all of them. The advantage of such a policy
    It provides a number of separate nations with
    greater security. The disadvantage It
    increases the risk of small conflicts becoming
    large wars involving many nations.

12
The Occupation of Japan
  • After World War II, there were 3 aims of the
    United States in Asia
  • To restore peace
  • To help Asians resist foreign rule
  • To restore Asian trade with the world.

13
The Occupation of Japan
  • In 1946, the U.S. granted independence to the
    Philippines, giving money to repair war damage
    and making tariff concessions in American
    markets. The U.S. also occupied Japan and sought
    to help the nation rebuild and become more
    democratic. Under the leadership of General
    Douglas MacArthur, Japans military was
    dismantled. Under American direction, a new
    constitution provided for elected representative
    government and woman suffrage. U.S. leaders also
    encouraged economic opportunity and provided
    Japan with financial aid. U.S. officials in
    Japan made sure to leave many aspects of Japanese
    culture intact. Why? They did not want to have
    the Japanese resent their presence, which would
    make their work there more difficult. In 1951,
    with Japan on its way to a remarkable recovery,
    the country was granted its independence.

14
Communist Triumph in China
  • Since the early 1930s, a civil war between the
    Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek and the
    Communists, led by Mao Zedong, had ravaged China.
    The fighting ebbed during World War II as both
    sides resisted the Japanese invaders, but the
    conflict flared after the war ended. On the
    advice of George Marshall, the U.S. focused its
    efforts on containing communism in Western Europe
    rather than committing itself to the corrupt and
    inefficient Nationalist Chinese.

15
Communist Triumph in China
  • By the end of 1949, Maos victorious forces had
    forced the Nationalists to flee to the island of
    Taiwan. Many Americans criticized the Truman
    administration for not paying enough attention to
    China and losing the country to the Communists.

16
The Korean Conflict
  • In 1950, North Korea, which was ruled by a
    Soviet-installed Communist government, invaded
    South Korea. UN troops, led by the United
    States, came to the aid of South Korea to help
    push the North Koreans back. When UN forces
    invaded North Korea, Chinese troops entered the
    conflict to help the Communists. The Chinese
    forces pushed the UN troops back into South
    Korea, and the war bogged down into a bloody
    stalemate.

17
The Korean Conflict
  • General MacArthur, who commanded UN forces in
    Korea, wanted to bomb China. Truman refused,
    fearing a much larger war. When MacArthur openly
    criticized Truman, the President fired him.
    Trumans dismissal of the popular general caused
    a firestorm of protest around the country. The
    Chicago Tribune even called on Congress to
    impeach and convict the President for his action.

18
The Korean Conflict
  • The Election of 1952-When Truman announced he
    would not run again, Republican and World War II
    hero Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike) faced Democrat
    Adlai Stevenson, governor of Illinois.
    Eisenhower promised to end the war in Korea and
    won the election decisively.

19
The Korean Conflict
  • The fighting in Korea continued until 1953, when
    both sides agreed on a cease-fire that left the
    country divided in the same way it had been
    before the war began. Neither side claimed
    victory. The struggle cost the U.S. more than
    54,000 soldiers, but the U.S. resolve in Korea
    caused many neutral nations to draw closer to the
    United States.

20
The Red Scare
  • During the cold war period, Americans fears of a
    communist conspiracy heightened. Many began to
    think that some of their fellow citizens were
    communist sympathizers or spies. The Red Scare
    swept the nation.

21
The Red Scare
  • Fear of communist influence led to the rise of
    Democratic Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin,
    who charged that he knew of numerous communist
    sympathizers within the U.S. government, but he
    never produced evidence for this claim.
    Accusations and rumors promoted by McCarthy and
    other officials ruined the lives and reputations
    of many Americans. The Senate eventually
    determined that McCarthys accusations were
    groundless. In 1954, McCarthys underhanded
    tactics were exposed in televised hearings. The
    use of indiscriminate, unfounded political
    accusations to destroy someones character became
    known as McCarthyism.

22
Thaws in the Cold War
  • During the Eisenhower administration, a slight
    thaw in the cold war occurred. After Stalins
    death in 1953, the Soviet Unions new leader,
    Nikita Khrushchev, allowed people a little more
    freedom. In July 1955, Eisenhower met with
    Soviet leaders to discuss nuclear disarmament.
    The summit accomplished little, however, and in
    1958, tensions between the two nations escalated
    again.

23
Thaws in the Cold War
  • In May, 1960, an American U-2 surveillance plane
    was shot down over the Soviet Union while on a
    spying mission. Khrushchev denounced the U.S.
    mission, and relations between the two nations
    worsened.

24
Thaws in the Cold War
  • In his farewell address, the grandfatherly
    president warned against the influence of the
    military-industrial complex, the defense industry
    that promoted the production of weapons of
    destruction.

25
Cuba
  • The U.S. largely ignored Latin America, where
    great poverty had created a breeding ground for
    political instability. In 1959, rebel forces
    overthrew Cubas corrupt regime. The new rebel
    government, led by Fidel Castro, soon aligned
    with the Communists. As a result, the U.S. broke
    off relations with the nation. This was
    troubling to the U.S. since Cuba is only 90 miles
    off the coast of the U.S. communism was brought
    to the nations doorstep.

26
Cuba
  • President John Kennedys basic foreign policy
    goal was similar to that of Truman and
    Eisenhower-containment of communism. The United
    States began training Cuban exiles to overthrow
    the rebel government under Castro.

27
Cuba
  • In April, 1961, Cuban exiles invaded the island
    at the Bay of Pigs. The mission collapsed and
    the invaders surrendered. The failed invasion
    hurt the prestige of the Kennedy administration
    and strengthened Castros power in the world. In
    1962, Cuba convicted more than 1,000 Bay of Pigs
    invaders of treason and sentenced them to 30
    years in prison. Soon, however, Cuban officials
    released the prisoners in return for more than
    50,000,000 in food and medical supplies from a
    U.S. committee of private citizens.

28
Cuba
  • In October, 1962, U.S. officials learned that the
    Soviet Union had placed nuclear weapons in Cuba.
    Kennedy ordered the Soviet Union to remove the
    weapons. After tense negotiations, the Cuban
    Missile Crisis ended when Soviet leaders agreed
    to remove the weapons.

29
The Peace Corps
  • In 1961, President Kennedy created the Peace
    Corps to help developing nations fight poverty
    and disease. The Peace Corps was organized to
    help prevent the spread of communism by improving
    the quality of life. By late 1963, there were
    11,000 Peace Corps volunteers serving in 40
    countries teaching practical skills or working to
    build housing and medical facilities.

30
The Berlin Wall
  • East-West tensions rose when the Soviets built a
    wall dividing the city of Berlin, blocking free
    movement between the communist section of Berlin
    and the rest of the city. The structure became
    known as the Berlin Wall. The wall prevented the
    flight of refugees seeking to escape the
    oppression of East Germany. The Berlin Wall
    became a symbol of cold war divisions between
    East and West. Throughout the early 1960s, the
    U.S. and the Soviet Union worked to negotiate
    treaties limiting the testing of nuclear weapons.
    In August, 1963, they reached an agreement that
    banned nuclear testing in the atmosphere and
    underwater, but not underground.
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