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