Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Unit 7: The Cold War
The Long Peace and the costs of great power conflict
• What is the long peace? • Why have the last 70 years been
different from most of the rest of human history?
• What priority should we place on avoiding great power wars?
The Cold War, 1945-1991
"Now the trumpet summons us again, not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are – but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle…"
John F. Kennedy, 1961
Conflict between the US and the Soviet Union over ideology communism - v. democracy/capitalism
Both powers had nuclear weapons - so the stakes were high
No direct fighting between the Superpowers - wars fought by proxies
The Cold War shaped American Life at home and policy abroad for 46 years
The great paradox of the Cold War, was that, despite the world being on the precipice of disaster and the fact that many lives were lost and ruined as a result, the Cold war coincided with the longest period of great power peace since Roman times.
The Division of Europe
Divided Europe
After 1945 Europe became divided into an Eastern (communist) block and a Western (democratic) block.
This division was called the Iron Curtain after it was referred to as such in a speech by Winston Churchill in 1946
Germany was divided into West and East Germany
Its capital, Berlin, which was in East Germany, was also divided
This led to the formation of two opposed military alliancesNATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization - US, Canada, Western Europe) and the Warsaw Pact (USSR and E. Europe. NATO’s goal was containment.
Other military alliances whose goal was to stop the Spread of communism included the South East Asian Treaty Organization or SEATO
The “Cold War Mindset”
Characteristics of the Cold War mindset:
All issues (especially in foreign policy) are understood in the context of the competition between the US and the USSR
This competition is viewed in absolute terms (our way of life and existence is at stake)
Ethical questions are subordinated to “winning” the Cold War
Winning the Cold War meant containing communism
Containment
US Policy during the Cold War was containment.Containment was the policy of preventing the spread of communism. This was based on the domino theory - that if one country fell to communism, others would also fall
Berlin AirliftIn 1948, Stalin closed the roads to West BerlinThe US and Britain responded by flying food and supplies into Berlin for almost a year until the Soviets gave inThis is another example of containment
The Truman Doctrine
Harry Truman - President of the US from 1945-1953
Truman Doctrine - The US policy of supporting any country that resisted the spread of communism
Examples include the US support of Greece and Turkey in 1947 and 1950
Institutions of the Post War order: the United Nations
Institutions of the post war order: Political, Economic and MilitaryKey - The US sought to create international institutions that would shape the post war world in its image with an emphasis on democratic self governance, and free market capitalism
The UN - A second attempt at creating a world body that would work both on humanitarian needs and to solve conflicts between nations without war.
Notably, the US Senate approved our entrance into the UN with only 2 dissenting votes.
The Bretton woods conferenceThe International Monetary FundThe World BankThe Marshall PlanNATO
Accessed on 4.26.17 at http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/structure/pdfs/UN_System_Chart_30June2015.pdf http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/structure/pdfs/UN_System_Chart_30June2015.pdf
Structure Security council - Permanent seats for the US, Britain, France, China and Russia, all of whom had a veto + 10 non-permanent seats that are elected regionally and serve two year terms.
General Assembly - All member nations have a seat.
The International Monetary fund and the world bank
In July 1944, 44 Allied nations met in Bretton Woods New Hampshire to created the Postwar world economic framework. Again, the goal of the US was to shape world policies in its own image.
Two main institutions emerge from this conference:
1. The IMF was an effort to stabilize national currencies to a=void a repeat of the financial crisis that hit Germany after WWI and contributing to the Great Depression.2. The World Bank drew on resources from member states, primarily the US, to make development loans to governments for the purposes of economic modernization
(such as big infrastructure projects).
Largest contributors to World Bank, 2012
Accessed on 4.26.17 at https://finances.worldbank.org/Trust-Funds-and-FIFs/world-bank-contributors/ckqa-728h/data
Key point - By being the primary funder of the World Bank, the US insured that it would have the greatest influence over world economic development.
The Marshall Plan
It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples
who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or outside
pressures . . . I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid,
which is essential to economic stability
orderly political processes.”
- President Harry Truman, 1946
The Marshall Plan - 1947 - US policy of giving money (13.5 billion over 5 years) to rebuild Western Europe as a way of preventing the spread of communism and ensuring US influence in post war Europe.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
What is NATONATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization - US, Canada, Western Europe) NATO’s goal was containment.
Other military alliances whose goal was to stop the Spread of communism included the South East Asian Treaty Organization or SEATO
NSC - 68Read the document and complete the following with your group:
• How does this document help to create the cold war mindset? Identify a passage from the document that supports each element of the Cold War mindset. Be prepared to explain.
• Is there anything in the document that warns against possible dangers of the cold war mindset? Identify and explain one passage.
• Based on this document, write a one paragraph recommendation to the President of the United States recommending what US policy should be in the years that follow. Your recommendation must have three specific components that are supported by both explanation and references to the document. One paragraph per group. This will be scored based on content.
In 1949 the US suffered two setbacks in the Cold War.
1. The Chinese Communist revolution made it seem that the US containment policy was failing,2.The USSR successful tested their first atomic bomb on August 29, 1949
In 1950, the US State Department released NSC-68 as the outlines of a national strategy for confronting the USSR in the Cold War. This paper was instrumental in establishing the main themes of the Cold War mindset, and was easy the most influential policy document of the Cold War period.
This page from the State Department’s office of the Historian provides a very useful synopsis of NSC - 68 and its significance. The full text of NSC - 68 is here.
Living in the Shadow of Annihilation:Nuclear Weapons and the Cold War
First US A-Bomb detonated - 1945First Soviet A-Bomb detonated - 1949First US H-Bomb detonated - 1950First Soviet H-Bomb detonated - 1953
Nuclear Proliferation: The Arms Race
US
1985
23,368 nuclear
warheads
USSR
1985
38,582 nuclear
warheads
As the Cold War escalated, both side completed to improve nuclear arsenals to make sure they were not vulnerable to a first strike.
This resulted in an arms race.
The arms race reached it peak in the 1980s when both sides had a combined arsenal of over 60,000 warheads
Information accessed on 4.19.16 at http://bos.sagepub.com/content/69/5/75.full.pdf+html
The Doctrine of Massive Retaliation . . .
. . . leads to the reality of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)
Nuclear Strategy
An American B52 Bomber capable of hitting targets within the USSR - First deployed in 1955.
Strategic bombers meant that targets in the US and USSR could be struck within hours of aircraft launch.
• 25 minutes
Sputnik - 1957
The strategic balance shifted in 1957 when Sputnik was launched. Sputnik was the first satellite to be launched into Earth orbit. From a Cold War perspective, Sputnik represented a new threat. The rocket that launched it could be used to carry nuclear warheads to any location on Earth.
By the 1960s both sides had inter-continental ballistic missiles capable of striking targets in the opposing country in 25 minutes.
The Distant Early Warning System - 1957Ballistic Missile Early Warning System - 1958
To counter this new threat, The US developed the distant early warning system - the DEW line to detect a bomber based attack from the north and the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System to detect a missile based attack. The BMEWS provided between 15-25 minutes of warning from detection to impact.
The Nuclear
Triad
ICBMs
Submarine Launched Nuclear Missiles
Strategic Bombers
The logic of Cold War Nuclear arsenals was based on the idea of mutually assured destruction.
But this logic only worked to prevent an attack if both sides were confident that there nuclear forces could not be destroyed in a first strike.
This led to the development of the nuclear triad, which was an effort to diversify the arsenals of both nations and make the likelihood of a successful first strike less likely.
Thus if only one Trident submarine survived a first strike, it would still destroy 288 city sized targets.The US currently has 14 Trident submarines
1 Trident Submarine is capable of carrying 24 missiles (range 7,500 miles) each of which is capable of carrying 12 independently targetable nuclear warheads that are larger than the weapon that struck Hiroshima. 10 minutes
Since submarine launched weapons could be positioned closer to their targets, the time between detection and impact is reduced to approximately 10 minutes
What would happen in a nuclear war?
Accessed on 4.21.16 at http://fas.org/blogs/security/2009/11/locations/
US Nuclear targets during the Cold War
A recently declassified document detailing US missile targets in Russia in 1959 describes targets that included:
• Bomber and missile bases• Command centers• Industrial infrastructure
While neither side officially targeted civilian population centers for the sake of killing civilians, most of the above assets were located in and around major cities.
For example, in this report, Moscow contained 180 targets.
Source accessed on 4.19.16 at http://www.nikemissile.org/nuclear_target_map_of_the.shtml
Effects of a Nuclear Explosion
Effects of an atomic bomb map activity
This activity simulates the effect of detonating a 1 megaton atomic bomb in room A 211 of Tracy High School.
Nuclear weapons cause damage in 3 ways:
1. Heat
2. Shockwave
3. Radiation
This activity will discuss the effects of all three factors.
Sources for this activity include pbs.org - Race for the SuperbombAccessed on 4.21.16 at www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bomb/sfeature/1mtblast.html
and
Alex Wellerstein’s NUKEMAP accessed on 4.21.16 at http://www.nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/
Preparation
• Use the note card and the scale on the bottom of your map to make a 10 km ruler.
• Label the ruler in 1 km increments
• On your map, locate and label your house, West High School and Kimball High School and Sutter Hospital
Ground Zero
Label ground zero.
At the center lies a crater 200 feet deep and 1000 feet in diameter. The rim of this crater is 1,000 feet wide and is composed of highly radioactive soil and debris.
1.26 kmMeasure and draw the 1.26 km radius on your map.
This is the maximum radius of the fireball. At its center the fireball is 60-100 million degrees C, which is some 10,000 times hotter than the surface of the sun
Nothing recognizable remains within about 3,200 feet (1.26 km) from the center, except, perhaps, the remains of some buildings' foundations. 100% likely killed.
Video accessed on 5.4.17 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQp1ox-SdRI
Temperature data accessed on 5.4.17 at http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Nwfaq/Nfaq5.html
2.18 kmMeasure and draw the 2.18 km radius on your map.
At 2.18 km, only some of the strongest buildings -- those made of reinforced, poured concrete -- are still standing. Ninety-eight percent of the population in this area die immediately.
Those that survive receive a 500 rem dose of radiation. This will cause 50%-90% mortality. Death takes several hours to several weeks.
4.58 km
Measure and draw the 4.58 km radius on your map.
Virtually everything is destroyed between the 2.18 and 4.58 km from ground zero. The walls of typical multi-story buildings, including apartment buildings, have been completely blown out. The bare, structural skeletons of more and more buildings rise above the debris as you approach the 4.3 km from ground zero. Single-family residences within this this area have been completely blown away -- only their foundations remain.
Fifty percent of the population between the 2.18 and 4.58 km from ground zero are dead. This that remain are seriously injured.
7.5 km
Measure and draw the 7.5 km radius on your map.
Any single-family residences that have not been completely destroyed are heavily damaged. The windows of office buildings have been blown away, as have some of their walls. The contents of these buildings' upper floors, including the people who were working there, are scattered on the street. A substantial amount of debris clutters the entire area. Five percent of the population between the 4.3 and 7.5 km of ground zero are dead.
Of those that survive, all but the most sheltered receive third degree burns. Many of these people will die without prompt medical attention.
this ring actually extends to 107 Km according to http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Nwfaq/Nfaq5.html
5%
50%
98%
100%
Wellerstein NUKE MAP Tracy 1 MT surface detonation.
Nuclear Fallout
One of the effects of nuclear weapons detonated on or near the earth's surface is the resulting radioactive fallout. Immediately after the detonation, a great deal of earth and debris, made radioactive by the blast, is carried high into the atmosphere, forming a mushroom cloud. The material drifts downwind and gradually falls back to earth, contaminating thousands of square miles.
0-30 miles down windUnsheltered exposure results in much more than a lethal dose of radiation. Death can occur within hours of exposure.
• Unsheltered exposure results in much more than a lethal dose of radiation. Death can occur within hours of exposure. • About 10 years will need to pass before levels of radioactivity in this area drop low enough to be considered safe, by U.S. peacetime standards.
30-90 miles down windUnsheltered exposure results in a lethal dose of radiation. Death occurs from two to fourteen days.
Unsheltered exposure results in a lethal dose of radiation. Death occurs from two to fourteen days.
90-160 miles down windUnsheltered exposure results in extensive internal damage, including harm to nerve cells and the cells that line the digestive tract, and results in a loss of white blood cells. Temporary hair loss is another result.
Unsheltered exposure results in extensive internal damage, including harm to nerve cells and the cells that line the digestive tract, and results in a loss of white blood cells. Temporary hair loss is another result.
Effects of a Large scale nuclear attack on the United States during the Height of
the Cold War
In 1979 the US office of technology assessment conducted a study of the likely result of a full scale nuclear war with the Soviet Union.
Accessed on 5.4.17 at http://ota.fas.org/reports/7906.pdf
Findings• Between 100 and 165 millions Americans would die within the first 30 days of the
attack. The population of the US in 1979 was 225 million. Deaths due to radiation, injury, civil disorder and inadequate medical care would likely add tens of millions more to this total.
• The 30 largest cities and many smaller cites would be almost completely destroyed.
• Emergency services, government will largely be destroyed, leaving survivors to fend for themselves.
“Rescuing and treating the injured will have to be done against near insurmountable odds. Fire and rescue vehicles and equipment not destroyed wilI find it impossible to move about in any direction. Fires wilI be raging, water mains will be flooding, power lines will be down, bridges will be gone, freeway overpasses will be collapsed, and debris will be everywhere. People will be buried under heavy debris and structures, and without proper equipment capable of lifting such loads, the injured can- not be reached and will not survive. The fortunate ones that rescuers can reach will then be faced with the unavailability of treatment facilities. Hospitals and clinics in downtown areas would likely have been destroyed along with most of their stocks of medical supplies. Doctors, nurses, and technicians needed to man makeshift treatment centers are likely to have been among the casualties.”
• Radiation exposure would lead to cancer deaths numbering into the millions in subsequent years. Virtually none of the modern treatments that were available prior to the war would be available.
• Similar effects would be seen in any targeted area. This would likely include Europe, much of Asia (especially Japan, China and India) and some regions outside the Northern hemisphere.
Nuclear Winter
Scientists in the 1980s began to study the impact of a nuclear war on Global climate. They concluded that smoke and dust from nuclear explosions would block much of the sun’s energy from reaching the earth. This resulting “nuclear winter” would lower world wide temperatures (to below freezing in most parts of the US), reduce growing seasons and have a calamitous effect of world agriculture. Reduced temperatures could continue for decades.
The initial predictions were later challenged in terms of their severity. Scientists began to moderate their predictions, claiming that the effect would be more aptly described as a nuclear “fall”
Video Accessed on 5.4.17 at https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000004306826/nuclear-winter.html
Reflection• Would you have survived if you were at
home?
• Imagine that you did survive. What challenges would you and the other survivors face? Describe at least three in detail.
• In a nuclear war, Tracy would not be the only target. Based on what we learned about targeting, list ten likely targets within 50 miles of Tracy.
• How would/does the threat of nuclear war have changed your experience of life?
Nuclear testing
In order to develop and produce the arsenal used in the Cold War, the United States conducted “The United States conducted 1,032 nuclear tests between 1945 and 1992: at the Nevada Test Site, at sites in the Pacific Ocean, in Amchitka Island of the Alaska Peninsula, Colorado, Mississippi, and New Mexico.” (Accessed on 4.26.16 at http://www.ctbto.org/nuclear-testing/the-effects-of-nuclear-testing/the-united-states-nuclear-testing-programme/)
A time lapse video of all human initiated nuclear explosions
Locations of World Nuclear Explosions
Accessed on 4.26.16 at http://www.ctbto.org/map/
Nevada Testing and its Impacts
Accessed on 4.26.16 at http://www.ctbto.org/nuclear-testing/the-effects-of-nuclear-testing/the-united-states-nuclear-testing-programme/
“Between 1951 and 1958, around 100 nuclear weapons tests were conducted in the atmosphere at the Nevada Test Site (NTS).”
Image of the Sedan test 7.6.62
“Detonated on 6 July 1962, Sedan released roughly 880,000 curies of Iodine 131 into the atmosphere. Detected radioactivity was especially high in parts of Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Illinois, exposing millions of people to radioactive fallout. It also created the largest man-made crater in the United States, displacing over 12 million tons of earth.”
Downwinders article and questions.
2016 World Nuclear arsenals
Accessed on 4.26.16 at http://fas.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/inventories2016.jpg
“The fact is that we are still living with the nuclear-strike doctrine of the Cold War, which dictated three strategic options: first strike, launch on warning and post-attack retaliation. There is no reason to believe that Russia and the United States have discarded these options, as long as the architecture of “mutually assured destruction” remains intact.
For either side, the decision to launch on warning — in an attempt to fire one’s nuclear missiles before they are destroyed — would be made on the basis of information from early-warning satellites and ground radar. Given the 15- to 30-minute flight times of strategic missiles, a decision to launch after an alert of an apparent attack must be made in minutes.”
“In periods of heightened tensions and reduced decision times, the likelihood of human and technical error in control systems increases. Launch-on-warning is a relic of Cold War strategy whose risk today far exceeds its value. Our leaders urgently need to talk and, we hope, agree to scrap this obsolete protocol before a devastating error occurs.”
Accessed on 4.26.16 at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/20/opinion/how-to-avert-a-nuclear-war.html?_r=0
This excerpt comes from an editorial that appeared in the New York Times last year. It is written by James Cartwright and Vladimir Dvorkin.
“James E. Cartwright, a former Marine Corps general, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commander of the United States Strategic Command, is the chairman of the Global Zero Commission on Nuclear Risk Reduction, of which Vladimir Dvorkin, a retired major general who headed the research institute of Russia’s Strategic Rocket Forces, is a member.”
accessed 4.26.16 at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/20/opinion/how-to-avert-a-nuclear-war.html
Turn worry into action . . . President Barack Obama (US)
https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
President Vladimir Putin (RF) http://en.letters.kremlin.ru
Representative Mac Thornberry Chair of the House Armed Services Committee
http://thornberry.house.gov/contact/
Senator John McCain Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee
https://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form
1. Read the NYT article on reducing the risks of nuclear war.2. Write a letter to one or more of the above individuals urging them to adopt the recommendations made by the article3. Copy the letter to [email protected]
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Background
The Spanish American War, 1898
In 1898 Cuba was “freed” from Spain by the US in the Spanish American War. From this point forward the US essentially exercised “veto power” over the Cuban government (Platte Amendment)
Fulgencio Batista
In 1940 Fulgencio Batista came to power (with the support of the US) and would dominate Cuban politics until 1959 (as elected president from 1940-1944 and as the result of an armed rebellion from 1952-1959.)
This latter period corresponds to the period described in Atomic Cafe - Emphasize the climate of fear and the idea that the world was a big competition between the communist world and the US
Batista and the US
Friendly to US economic interests -He allowed American corporations to own much of the farmable land in Cuba and allowed American oil companies a free hand in oil exploration in Cuba.By 1959 US companies owned 40% of Cuban land, almost all of the cattle ranches, 90% of the mines and 80% of the utilities
Close Relations with US organized crime -He had warm relations with the US mafia which controlled the drug, gambling and prostitution businesses in Havana.
Cuba was a playground for the American rich and famous -Cuba was a major vacation destination for wealthy Americans.
Batista was also a committed anti-communist - Batista’s military was largely equipped by US provided weapons
• 15-20% unemployment
• Only 1/3 of Cuban homes had running water
• Those who opposed Batista were ruthlessly suppressed. 20,000 Cubans killed by the regime in the 1950s alone
What was life like for ordinary Cubans during Batista’s rule?
“The corruption of the Government, the brutality of the police, the regime's indifference to the needs of the people for education, medical care, housing, for social justice and economic justice ... is an open invitation to revolution.”
--Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in the 1950s
Batista
US President
Eisenhower
Batista violently suppressed those who opposed him, killing as many as 20,000 Cubans in the 1950s.
The weapons used by his military and police were mostly provided by the US
"Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years ... and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state—destroying every individual liberty. Yet our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror. Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista—hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend—at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections." -- Senator John F. Kennedy, 1960
=
Murder,Theft,
Corruption,Poverty
From the perspective of many Cubans
Ask students again why the US supported Batista given his record in office.
Revolution!
In 1959 after a armed insurgency that lasted six years, Fidel Castro and his rebel army succeeded in toppling the government of Fulgencio Batista
Policies of the new Castro Government
• Land redistribution
• Nationalization of key industries including confiscation of foreign assets
• The United States?
• Brutal suppression of all opposition
Castro was a marxist sought to redistribute farmland in the country from the wealthy elite (many of who were American companies) to the peasantry. This angered the United States.Then came the Cuban Revolution and everything changed.
By 1960, Castro's government had seized private land, nationalized hundreds of private companies — including several local subsidiaries of U.S. corporations — and taxed American products so heavily that U.S. exports were halved in just two years.
It took multiple years and a few attempts but on Jan. 1, 1959 Fidel Castro and his band of guerillas successfully overthrew the government of President General Fulgencio Batista. The United States — which supported Castro by imposing a 1958 arms embargo against Batista's government — immediately recognized the new regime, although it expressed some misgivings over the revolutionaries' execution of over 500 pro-Batista supporters and Castro's increasingly obvious communist tendencies. Castro visited the U.S. just three months after coming to power, touring Washington monuments and meeting with Vice President Richard Nixon (Eisenhower refused to meet with him). (Acessed on 5.4.16 at http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1891359,00.html)
Including the execution of over 500 pro Batista supporters
The US response to
Castro
• Eisenhower refuses to meet him
• US boycott/embargo
• The Bay of Pigs
• Assassination attempts
In 1960, the United States cut off diplomatic relations with Cuba and established an economic boycott (that is still in effect today).
The Eisenhower administration developed several plans to remove Castro from power. One of these was the Bay of Pigs invasion where the US assisted Cuban exiles in an invasion of the Island. The invasion, in April 1961, ended in failure. Subsequent plans were developed by the CIA to kill Castro - this was called operation mongoose. Plans included efforts to poison his cigars!
This leads Castro to ally
with the Soviet Union
Worried about another attack, Castro asked for additional military assistance from the Soviet Union
The Soviets sent a variety of weapons to Cuba as defensive measure against another attack
At this point it is useful to recall several passages from NSC - 68
We should take dynamic steps to reduce the power and influence of the Kremlin inside the Soviet Union and other areas under its control. The
objective would be the establishment of friendly regimes not under Kremlin domination. Such action is essential to engage the Kremlin's
attention, keep it off balance, and force an increased expenditure of Soviet resources in counteraction.
The fundamental purpose of the United States . . . to assure the integrity and vitality of our free society, which is founded upon the dignity
and worth of the individual.
The free society attempts to create and maintain an environment in which every individual has the opportunity to realize his creative powers. It
also explains why the free society tolerates those within it who would use their freedom to destroy it.
The free society does not fear, it welcomes, diversity. It derives its strength from its hospitality even to antipathetic ideas.
If we do not in the application of force demonstrate the nature of our objectives we will, in fact, have compromised from the outset our fundamental purpose.
October, 1962October 1962
2. October, 1962
October 14A routine U2 spy plane flight reveals evidence of medium range missile ballistic sites under construction in Cuba.
This represented a significant threat because the missile could reach Washington and New York in a matter of minutes.
The photo analysts conclude that the missile were not yet ready to deploy and that nuclear warheads were not yet present at the site.
1. A surgical bombing strike on the missile bases- An attack on the missile bases and other cuban facilities
2. A comprehensive attack on Cuba including an invasion
3. A blockade of Cuba to prevent soviet ships bringing missile and warheads from reaching the island.
4. Diplomacy only 5. Do nothing
Kennedy’s Options
All of these actions would be considered an act of war.
President KennedyTelevised speech to the nation
October 22, 1962
October 22 - president Kennedy addresses the nation regrading the Cuban situation and the threat that it poses.
(Play speech) Kennedy announces his plan for a naval blockade of Cuba. At the same time US forces world wide move to DEFCOM 3 (ICBM Missile crews are alerted and nuclear submarines in Port are dispatched to pre-assigned stations at sea). Late that evening at a meeting of foreign ambassadors in Washington, secretary of State Dean Rusk calls the situation the most “grave crisis mankind has been in.”
October 23 - Soviet Submarines are detected moving unexpectedly into the Caribbean and coded messages are detected being sent to the Soviet Ships that are crossing the Atlantic (presumably with Missile and warheads). A gallup poll released that day show 1 in 5 Americans believe that the blockade will result in World War III.
October 24 - President Kennedy receives information that a Soviet Attack submarine has taken up position with the two Soviet Ships closest to the Quarantine line. These attack submarines were armed with nuclear torpedoes and the Ships captain was authorized to use them. The US ships in the areas prepare anti-submarine tactics, including the use of explosive depth chargesThe Soviet Ships en route to Cuba capable of carrying military cargoes slow down, change course or turn around. National Security advisor McGeorge Bundy remarks to Kennedy “We’re eyeball to eyeball and I think the other fellow just blinked.” Other ships continue forward
Later that day, the US diplomats let the Soviets know that the US would consider removing Missiles in Turkey as a means of relieving the current cuban situation.Soviet Premier Kruschev announces that the blockade is an “act of aggression” and that he will not instruct the Soviet Ships to observe the Quarantine. US forces move to DEFCOM two for the first time in history.October 25 - the CIA reports that some of the missiles in Cuba are now operationalOctober 25 - Duluth intruder alertOcober 26 - U2 incident over Siberia
What would you do if you were the President?
1.What are the possible responses that Kennedy could have made? (list and briefly explain each)
2.Which of the responses would you recommend and why? (explain in a paragraph of at least 50 words.
The Vietnam
War
Historical Background
Vietnam had been an independent nation (with only very brief interruptions of Chinese rule) since 938 CE.
The battle standard shown above is from the Tran dynasty that repeatedly repelled Mongol invasions of Vietnam in the 13th century CE
Between 1859-1885 Vietnam was invaded colonized and conquered by FranceFrance imposed significant economic, religious (from Buddhist to Roman Catholic) and political change on VietnamVietnam was transformed from a self sufficient nation to a plantation economy that grew crops for export while importing food.
France ignored calls for independence and this gave rise to a nationalist movement at the turn of the century.
In 1919 a Young Vietnamese nationalist and communist named Ho Chi Minh petitioned the European representatives at the Paris Peace conference to make good on Wilson’s call for “self determination of peoples” and allow Vietnamese independence. He was ignored.
In 1940 Vietnam was conquered by Japan and ruthlessly exploited for resources during World War II
Declaration of September 2, 1945All men are created equal; they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights; among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.This immortal statement was made in the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America in 1776. In a broader sense, this means: All the peoples on the earth are equal from birth, all the peoples have a right to live, to be happy and free. . . .Nevertheless, for more than eighty years, the French imperialists, abusing the standard of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, have violated our Fatherland and oppressed our fellow citizens. They have acted contrary to the ideals of humanity and justice.In the field of politics, they have deprived our people of every democratic liberty.They have enforced inhuman laws; they have set up three distinct political regimes in the North, the Center, and the South of Viet-Nam in order to wreck our national unity and prevent our people from being united . . .For these reasons, we, members of the Provisional Government of the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, solemnly declare to the world that:Viet-Nam has the right to be a free and independent country—and in fact it is so already. The entire Vietnamese people are determined to mobilize all their physical and mental strength, to sacrifice their lives and property in order to safeguard their independence and liberty.
in 1945 Ho Cho Minh proclaimed Vietnamese independence by paraphrasing the US declaration of independence:
But Ho and the Viet Minh were communists . . So the US supported Frances’ effort to recolonize Vietnam. Between 1947 and 1954 the US paid 3/4 of the cost of the French war against the Vietnamese nationalists.
The defeat of the French and the Division of Vietnam
The Viet Minh defeated the French at the battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954.Vietnam was divided into a non communist South and a communist North.
The treaty that ended the war called for elections to unify Vietnam in 1956, but the US, knowing the communists would likely win these elections, pressed successfully for their cancellation
Ngo Dinh Diem
The US supported No Dinh Diem to become the President of South Vietnam.
Diem was a Catholic in a majority Buddhist country
His family had close ties with the French colonial government.
He maintained control of the cities through the army and a Vietnamese elite that had collaborated with the French, but many in the countryside supported the communists in the North.
Kennedy and Vietnam,
1960-1963
Kennedy and Vietnam (1961-1963)
Kennedy saw Diem as the Key to the containment policy in Asia
To fight against the communist insurgency being supplied by the North, Kennedy set 16,000 “advisors” to South Vietnam and supplied South Vietnam with millions of dollars worth of weapons and military hardware
Despite this, Diem remained extremely unpopular in the SouthIn November of 1963, Diem was toppled by a CIA led coup and replaced with a pro US military junta
By JFK’s assassination, South Vietnam was less stable than ever
Lyndon Johnson and escalation of US involvement
in Vietnam
The Tonkin Gulf incident and Resolution, - August 1964
Operation Rolling Thunder - March 1965
Escalation of US Role in Vietnam:
1963 - 16,000
1966 - 275,000
1968 - 543,000
Mekong River
0
0 100 200 Kilometers
100 200 Miles
C H I N A
N O R T HV I E T N A M
SOUTHVIETNAMC A M B O D I A
BURMA
T H A I L A N D
L A O S U.S. Seventh Fleetoperations during the war
GULF OFTONKIN
SOUTHCHINASEA
GULFOF
THAILAND
TonleSap
Prey Veng
Battambang KompongCham
Angkor Wat
Dien Bien PhuHaiphongHanoi
Lao CaiThan Uyen
Yen Bai
Da Lat
My Lai
Vinh Linh
Dong Hoi
Vinh
Hue
Pak Seng
Luang PrabangBan Ban
Vang Vang
Vientiane
Bangkok
PhnomPenh Saigon
Maddoxincident, 1964
Quang TriProvinceUdon Thani
NakhonPhanom
Tahkli
Don MuangNakhonRatchasima
Sattahip
FriendshipHighway Ubon
Ratchathani
Communist-KhmerRouge victory,
1975
Vietcong-NorthVietnamese victoryand U.S.withdrawal, 1975
Harbormined,1972
Ca Mau
Bu Dop
Bien HoaLong Binh
Tan SonNhut
Can ThoVinh Long
Chau Duc
Cholon
Vung Tau
Phan RangCamRanhBay
Nha Trang
Tuy Hoa
Ban Me Thuot
Pleiku
AnkheQuinhon
KontumDak To
Quang Ngai
Kham Duc
Khe Sanh
Quang Tri
DanangChu Lai
DemilitarizedZone
Communist-Pathet Laovictory, 1975
MekongDelta
HAINAN
Ia DrangValley
Ca Mau Peninsula
Red River
Mekong Rive
r
Mekong River
Chao P
raya
U.S. basesMajor battles of the TetOffensive, January 1968U.S. and South Vietnameseinvasion of CambodiaHo Chi Minh Trail
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
T102
Map 29-1 The War in Vietnam
In August 1964 two US destroyers that were eavesdropping on North Vietnamese Radio signals reported being attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats.
In response, Congress gave Johnson the authority to take “all necessary measures” to protect US forces and respond to further aggression. This was called the Tonkin Gulf Resolution and essentially allowed Johnson to wage undeclared war against North Vietnam. This resolution led Johnson to escalate the US presence in Vietnam
Operation Rolling Thunder (March 1965)A bombing campaign directed at North Vietnam. This marked a turning point in the war. Previously the US had supported South Vietnam, but had not taken a leading role. But increasingly, the South Vietnamese government could not control the communist insurgency in the countryside. The Bombing of the North was designed to force the North to stop supporting the insurgency.
The bombers required bases, which required protection, which meant more US troops on the ground in South Vietnam.
Lyndon Johnson - Why we are in
Vietnam July 28,
1965
1. List the reasons Johnson says we are in Vietnam. 2.How do these reasons reflect the Cold War mindset? What quote from the speech best demonstrates the Cold War mindset?
3.What important factors regarding the situation in Vietnam is Johnson leaving out? 4.What arguments might someone who was opposed to US involvement in Vietnam make in response to Johnson’s speech? As you answer this question keep in mind what we have learned about the background to the Vietnam conflict.
President Lyndon Johnson, Press Conference, July 28, 1964 (0:00 - 6:03)
Listen to the speech and highlight the reason Johnson says we are in Vietnam
Accessed at http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/detail/5910 on 5.4.13
My fellow Americans:Not long ago I received a letter from a woman in the Midwest. She wrote:"Dear Mr. President:"In my humble way I am writing 'to you about the crisis in Viet-Nam. I have a son who is now in Viet-Nam. My husband served in World War II. Our country was at war, but now, this time, it is just something that I don't understand. Why?"Well, I have tried to answer that question dozens of times and more in practically every State in this Union. I have discussed it fully in Baltimore in April, in Washington in May, in San Francisco in June. Let me again, now, discuss it here in the East Room of the White House.Why must young Americans, born into a land exultant with hope and with golden promise, toil and suffer and sometimes die in such a remote and distant place?The answer, like the war itself, is not an easy one, but it echoes clearly from the painful lessons of half a century. Three times in my lifetime, in two World Wars and in Korea, Americans have gone to far lands to fight for freedom. We have learned at a terrible and a brutal cost that retreat does not bring safety and weakness does not bring peaceIt is this lesson that has brought us to Viet-Nam. This is a different kind of war. There are no marching armies or solemn declarations. Some citizens of South Viet-Nam at times, with understandable grievances, have joined in the attack on their own government.But we must not let this mask the central fact that this is really war. It is guided by North Viet-Nam and it is spurred by Communist China. Its goal is to conquer the South,
The challenge of
fighting in Vietnam
The challenge
of fighting in Vietnam
Search and destroy. The US relied on sophisticated electronic intelligence to determine where the Viet Cong (the communist guerrilla fighters in the South) were operating.
The US would then call in airstrikes, artillery and ground troop reinforcements to be brought in by helicopter.
This strategy worked well when fighting against the North Vietnamese army, but poorly when directed against the Vietcong, who would melt away into the countryside and villages. American soldiers had a difficulty determining who the enemy was.
This resulted in pacification campaigns where entire villages would be emptied and destroyed.This strategy killed thousands of Vietnamese civilians and made millions refugees. This only served to make the US (and the South Vietnamese government it supported) less popular amongst the rural South Vietnamese population)
This led to incredible stress on American soldiers and horrendous civilian casualties (such as occurred the Mai Lai Massacre in 1968)
From history.com:In one of the most horrific incidents of violence against civilians during the Vietnam War, a company of American soldiers brutally killed the majority of the population of the South Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai in March 1968. Though exact numbers remain unconfirmed, it is believed that as many as 500 people including women, children and the elderly were killed in the My Lai Massacre.. Higher-ranking U.S. Army officers managed to cover up the events of that day for a year before revelations by a soldier who had heard of the massacre sparked a wave of international outrage and led to a special investigation into the matter. In 1970, a U.S. Army board charged 14 officers of crimes related to the events at My Lai; only one was convicted. The brutality of the My Lai killings and the extent of the cover-up exacerbated growing antiwar sentiment on the home front in the United States and further divided the nation over the continuing American presence in Vietnam.(Accessed on 5.16.16 at http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/my-lai-massacre)
1967-68
"I am absolutely certain that whereas in 1965 the enemy was winning, today he is certainly losing." General William Westmoreland, Commander of military operations in Vietnam, November 21, 1967
In 1967 the military claimed that we were winning the war and that the enemy was defeated
The Tet offensive -
February 1968
Mekong River
0
0 100 200 Kilometers
100 200 Miles
C H I N A
N O R T HV I E T N A M
SOUTHVIETNAMC A M B O D I A
BURMA
T H A I L A N D
L A O S U.S. Seventh Fleetoperations during the war
GULF OFTONKIN
SOUTHCHINASEA
GULFOF
THAILAND
TonleSap
Prey Veng
Battambang KompongCham
Angkor Wat
Dien Bien PhuHaiphongHanoi
Lao CaiThan Uyen
Yen Bai
Da Lat
My Lai
Vinh Linh
Dong Hoi
Vinh
Hue
Pak Seng
Luang PrabangBan Ban
Vang Vang
Vientiane
Bangkok
PhnomPenh Saigon
Maddoxincident, 1964
Quang TriProvinceUdon Thani
NakhonPhanom
Tahkli
Don MuangNakhonRatchasima
Sattahip
FriendshipHighway Ubon
Ratchathani
Communist-KhmerRouge victory,
1975
Vietcong-NorthVietnamese victoryand U.S.withdrawal, 1975
Harbormined,1972
Ca Mau
Bu Dop
Bien HoaLong Binh
Tan SonNhut
Can ThoVinh Long
Chau Duc
Cholon
Vung Tau
Phan RangCamRanhBay
Nha Trang
Tuy Hoa
Ban Me Thuot
Pleiku
AnkheQuinhon
KontumDak To
Quang Ngai
Kham Duc
Khe Sanh
Quang Tri
DanangChu Lai
DemilitarizedZone
Communist-Pathet Laovictory, 1975
MekongDelta
HAINAN
Ia DrangValley
Ca Mau Peninsula
Red River
Mekong Rive
r
Mekong River
Chao P
raya
U.S. basesMajor battles of the TetOffensive, January 1968U.S. and South Vietnameseinvasion of CambodiaHo Chi Minh Trail
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
T102
Map 29-1 The War in Vietnam
Three months after Westmoreland’s assessment, the Tet offensive demonstrated that the enemy was not defeated
In February 1968 when the VietCong attacked 36 of 44 provincial capitols and the national capitol in Saigon.
While the attacks were quickly suppressed, it demonstrated that the US was nowhere near victory and that the South Vietnamese government was not in control.
“We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. . . .For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.” Walter Chgronkite - February 27, 1968
Tet turned many more people against the war including the influential CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite.
Tonight, back in more familiar surroundings in New York, we'd like to sum up our findings in Vietnam, an analysis that must be speculative, personal, subjective. Who won and who lost in the great Tet offensive against the cities? I'm not sure. The Vietcong did not win by a knockout, but neither did we. The referees of history may make it a draw. Another standoff may be coming in the big battles expected south of the Demilitarized Zone. Khesanh could well fall, with a terrible loss in American lives, prestige and morale, and this is a tragedy of our stubbornness there; but the bastion no longer is a key to the rest of the northern regions, and it is doubtful that the American forces can be defeated across the breadth of the DMZ with any substantial loss of ground. Another standoff. On the political front, past performance gives no confidence that the Vietnamese government can cope with its problems, now compounded by the attack on the cities. It may not fall, it may hold on, but it probably won't show the dynamic qualities demanded of this young nation. Another standoff.We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find in the darkest clouds. They may be right, that Hanoi's winter-spring offensive has been forced by the Communist realization that they could not win the longer war of attrition, and that the Communists hope that any success in the offensive will improve their position for eventual negotiations. It would improve their position, and it would also require our realization, that we should have had all along, that any negotiations must be that -- negotiations, not the dictation of peace terms. For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. This summer's almost certain standoff will either end in real give-and-take negotiations or terrible escalation; and for every means we have to escalate, the enemy can match us, and that applies to invasion of the North, the use of nuclear weapons, or the mere commitment of one hundred, or two hundred, or three hundred thousand more American troops to the battle. And with each escalation, the world comes closer to the brink of cosmic disaster.To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an
“If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost America.”
-Lyndon Johnson, February, 1968
This leads to LBJs decision not to seek re-election in 1968. 1968 also saw increasing anti-war protest in Vietnam as the military’s death toll in Vietnam topped 14,000.
Cronkite quote - accessed on 5.16.16 at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/walter-cronkite-about-walter-cronkite/561/
Nixon and Vietnam, 1969-1973
Richard Nixon was elected President in 1968. He claimed during the war that he had a “secret plan” to end the war, but no such plan existed.
In 1969 Nixon announced his “Vietnamization” plan. This plan would turn over operations to the South Vietnamese as rapidly as possible.
In 1969-70 Nixon carried out an invasion and bombing campaign against Cambodia (South Vietnam’s neighbor and a country that was a supply route for the VietCong). Nixon also continued to bomb the North Vietnamese capitol of Hanoi, where more than 1500 civilians were killed in 6 days
In 1969-70 Nixon carried out an invasion and bombing campaign against Cambodia (South Vietnam’s neighbor and a country that was a supply route for the VietCong). Nixon also continued to bomb the North Vietnamese capitol of Hanoi, where more than 1500 civilians were killed in 6 days
Protests at Home
Increasing protests. Across the nation, protests increased in 1970 against the war. This led to conflicts with the police and national guard in several places. At Kent State University in Ohio National guard soldiers fired on a protest killing four students, while at the university of Jackson in Mississippi 2 students were killed in a similar protest.
In 1970, Congress repealed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution.
The end of the Vietnam War
In 1970, Congress repealed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution.
By 1972 only 90,000 US ground troops remained in Vietnam.
The last US combat troops left Vietnam in 1973. In 1975, North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam. The South Vietnamese government quickly collapsed and Vietnam was unified under communist rule.
The US lost 58K men in Vietnam. Vietnam lost between 1.6-5.5 million people.
