Cold Warriors: Truman, Ike, Kennedy

“Communists are like seeds and the people are like the soil. Were ever we go we must unite with the people and take root, and blossom among them.”

Mao

“What the communists, the N. Koreans were doing was nothing new… Hitler and Mussolini and the Japanese were

doing the exact same thing in the 1930’s and nobody stood up to them. And that is what lead to the Second World War. The strong got away with attacking the weak, and I wasn’t going to allow this attack on

the Republic of Korea go forward.”Harry Truman

How would Korea be an example of a Cold War turned hot?

• June 25, 1950 N. Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel & invaded S. Korea

• Domino Theory freaks out the US• June 27, the US and the UN vow

to help S. Korea fight N. Korea

• UN troops from 19 nations lead by US General Douglas Macarthur

• Macarthur & the UN almost pushed off Korea by August 1950

“The ability to get to the verge without getting into war is the necessary art. If you cannot

master it , you will inevitably go to war… We walked to the

brink and we looked it in the face.

J.F. Dulles

How did the Korean war end?

How did the Korean war end?

• Eisenhower elected President• Ike threatens to use nukes• Armistice signed July 1953• N. & S. divided at the 38th

• Demilitarized zone separates the two

What was the Eisenhower Doctrine?

• Discovery of oil before WWII makes the Middle East valuable

• US & USSR compete for influence

• Ike warns that the US will defend the Mid-east from Soviet attack

How did that whole Cuban, Bay of Pigs thing start with Ike?

How did that whole Cuban, Bay of Pigs thing start with Ike?

• 1959 Castro takes over Cuba

• Castro nationalizes US businesses

• Ike stops Cuban sugar imports

• 1960 Cuba turns Communist

• Ike gets CIA to train Cuban refugees for invasion

• Kennedy elected 1960, and continues invasion plan

• April 1961, refugees invade all are captured or killed

• Castro joins the Warsaw Pact

What was with Berlin 1961?

• Soviets unhappy with US soldiers in W. Berlin

• Soviets unhappy with E. Berliners fleeing to W. Berlin

• Soviets build Berlin wall

• Militarize E. German border

Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We

will bury you.”

Nikita Khrushchev

“I said once we will bury you, and I got into trouble with it. Of

course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own

working class will bury you.

Nikita Krushchev

What was that Cuban Missile Crisis thing all about?

• 1962, CIA detects Soviet missile bases in Cuba

• Kennedy “quarantines” Cuba Oct. 22, 1962

• Demands removal of missile bases from Cuba

• Oct. 25, Soviets send cargo ships to Cuba with missiles

• US stops ships, both sides wait

• Khrushchev agrees to remove missiles if the US promises not to invade his little buddy Fidel

What good things came out of the Cuban Missile Crisis?

• Both sides chilled a little

• US/Soviet Hotline installed

• Nuclear test ban treaty in 1963

• US sells surplus wheat to the USSR