Warm Up – Let’s Discuss

• Examine the picture.

• What is happening?

• What is the U.S. doing?

• What do you think this picture means?

COLD WAR MAP ACTIVITY•Where is the United States?•Where is the Soviet Union?

Get a copy of the world map at your table.

COLD WAR MAP ACTIVITY•Where is the United States?•Where is the Soviet Union?

COLD WAR MAP ACTIVITY•Where is China?

COLD WAR MAP ACTIVITY•Where is China?

COLD WAR MAP ACTIVITY•Where is Cuba? North Korea? South Korea? Vietnam?

COLD WAR MAP ACTIVITY•Where is Cuba? North Korea? South Korea? Vietnam?

COLD WAR MAP ACTIVITY

• Glue your completed map on page #100 in your notebook.

• Glue the Korean War Guided Notes into page #101 in your notebook.

Domino Theory and the Policy of Containment

Domino Theory: the idea that if one nation falls to communism that the neighboring nations will fall one after the other

Domino Theory and the Policy of Containment

Containment: policy to prevent the spread of communism

• The Korean peninsula was ruled by Japan before WWII

• After WWII, it was split along the 38th parallel

• USSR in the North, USA in the South

• Tensions rose

• The north became communist

• Kim Il Sung gained Stalin and Mao’s support for an invasion• Why would Stalin

and Mao support this?

• 1950 – North Korea invaded South Korea

• The USSR was boycotting the UN Security Council at this time

• So, the rest of the Council voted to authorize military intervention in Korea

• America claimed its actions in Korea were not acts of war – called their actions “police actions”

SUMMER 1950

• North Korea invades South Korea• Hugely successful • Halted at Pusan

FALL 1950• MacArthur

arrives• President Truman

makes the reunification of Korea his goal• MacArthur

pushes up to China• Can you predict

what happens next?

LATE FALL-EARLY WINTER 1950-1951

•Mao Zedong sends reinforcements from China• UN forces are pushed past the 37th parallel • Escalates towards nuclear war•MacArthur fired!

1951-1953 • Stalemate is reached• How?•President Eisenhower bombs N. Korean dams•Threat of atomic weapons•Stalin dies

• Armistice is signed in 1953• Korea is still

divided today

Significance of the Korean War

1. The use of nuclear weapons was avoided

2. America went to war without permission from Congress

3. China was established as a major world power

4. Containment was considered a “success”

Truman Fires MacArthur!• Tensions mounted between President Truman and

General MacArthur: MacArthur wanted to push past the 38th parallel and even invade mainland China. Truman wanted to use diplomacy and avoid a major war with China.

• • MacArthur tried to go over Truman’s head by using the media to get public support, and Truman fired him for insubordination on April 11, 1951.

Central Historical Question

•How did Americans respond to President Truman’s

decision to fire General MacArthur?

Let’s Discuss It

• How do you predict the public will respond to Truman’s decision to fire MacArthur?

• Based on what you know about the Cold War and the 1950s, do you think the public sided with Truman (who wanted diplomacy) or with MacArthur (who wanted to invade mainland China)? Why?

•What does this chart say about how the American people felt about Truman’s decision?

•Did more people support or oppose Truman?

•Did this change over time? Why?

It’s Your Turn

• Log into Google Classroom• Find the assignment Korean War Document Analysis• Read Documents B and C• Complete the graphic organizer• Turn in the activity• Be prepared to share your answers