THE COLD WAR BEGI

NS

Provided college for returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as GIs)

THE G.I. BILL

Millions of GIs bought homes, attended college, started business venture, or found jobs

Provided one year of unemployment compensation

THE G.I. BILL

VA Mortgages paid for nearly 5 million

new homes, by making homes

affordable with low interest rates and 30 year loans.

Between 1945 and 1954, the U.S. added 13 million new

homes to its housing stock

President Franklin Roosevelt signs the GI Bill in 1944

Truman and civil rightsOne of the major acts made

by Truman was when he made an executive order

to end segregation in the armed forces

Truman also asked Congress to pass a civil

rights bill that would make lynching a federal crime

ELECTION of 1948

Thomas Dewey

Harry S Truman Strom Thurmond

Many people didn’t think he would be re-elected

Truman angered many Southern Democrats by

supporting integration

People were so sure that Truman would lose that one headline even incorrectly said that Dewey had won

Historians view the Election of 1948 as the greatest election upset in U.S. history

THE COLD WAR

United States

Democracy

The era of confrontation and competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union when the threat of

nuclear war created constant world tension

vs.

Soviet Union

Communism

Differing Philosophies• Believed in democratic forms of

government• Believed economic stability would keep peace in the word• Believed the free enterprise system was necessary for economic growth

• Believed in a communistic forms of government • Believed in workers revolting (striking) against business owners and taking control of government• Wanted to control countries between Russia and Germany

Soviets take over Eastern Europe

Soviet troops move into Germany near the end of World War II

As World War II ended, the Soviet army occupied the countries of Eastern

Europe that Germany had conquered during the war

The Iron Curtain

“An iron curtain has descended across the Continent”

– Prime Minister Winston Churchill

Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary Bulgaria and East Germany became satellite nations of Soviet Union

Peep under the Iron curtain

March 6, 1946

• Who is “Joe”?

• What part of Europe is sealed off?

• What does the wall symbolize?

Letter from U.S. diplomat George Kennan that led to

the U.S. policy of containment of

communism.

Kennan said the Russians were concerned about invasions from the west and wanted a

buffer zone Russians wanted to spread communism

world-wideU.S. should use diplomatic, economic and

military actions to keep communism contained

Truman DoctrineU.S. foreign policy established by President Truman saying the U.S. would protect democracies throughout the world

“It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures” -- Harry Truman

It pledged that the United States would fight Communism worldwide

Truman Doctrine was an extension to the U.S. foreign policy set forth in the Monroe Doctrine (1823) and the Roosevelt Corollary (1904)

Truman Doctrine

American tanks provided by the Truman Doctrine roll through Turkey

Secretary of State George Marshall toured Western Europe; witnessed widespread homelessness and famine.

Aid for Europe

Children in a London suburb, waiting outside the wreckage of what was their home

Fearing Europeans would turn to communism as an answer to their economic problems, Marshall proposed the U.S. help to rebuild Europe, leading to…

Marshall PlanU.S. plan for rebuilding Western Europe, and repelling communism after World War II

Plan made U.S. heroes to people of Western Europe

Plan pumped billions of dollars into Western Europe for food and supplies

George C. Marshall

Marshall Plan aids Western Europe

The Marshall Plan proved to be a great success

Within 4 years, countries receiving aid saw a 41% higher industrial production

than on the eve of World War IICountries were stabilized and exports

were rising rapidly

Countries receiving aid under Marshall Plan

Eastern European countries were offered to take

part in the Marshall Plan…

… but Stalin and other East

European leaders refused financial

help from the United States

What is this cartoon trying to say?

The Potsdam Conference

The Potsdam Conference was a meeting of the Allied leaders during World War II to decide what to do with Germany

Germany Divided

Occupation zones after 1945. Berlin is the multinational area within the Soviet zone.

After World War II, Germany was divided into four zones, occupied by French, British, American, and Soviet troops.

British

French

American

Soviet

In June of 1948, the French, British and American zones were joined into the nation of West Germany after the Soviets refused to end their occupation of Germany.

East and West

Germany formed

West Germany

East Germany

West Berlin

East Berlin

In response, the Soviets cut off West Berlin from the rest of the world with a blockade. (video – 1:46)

Eventual site of the Berlin Wall

Berlin AirliftPresident Truman decided to avoid the blockade by

flying in food and other supplies to the needy people

of West Berlin

At times, over 5,000 tons of

supplies arrived daily

Berlin Airlift

The Berlin Airlift saved the people of West Berlin from falling under Soviet Union control

The airlift continued for 11 months before Stalin finally lifted the blockade

Soviet blockade of West Germany convinced many Americans that the Soviets were trying to conquer other nations

Birth of NATONorth Atlantic Treaty

Organization

Formed in 1949 to protect Western Europe from Soviet

aggression

The Warsaw Pact

The Warsaw Pact was the Soviet Union’s response to the creation of the North Atlantic

Treaty Organization

Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary Bulgaria and East Germany became satellite nations of Soviet Union

Coming Up…The Korean WarMcCarthyism

The Cold War Heats Up

Cold War spreads to Asia Communists take

over in China

Mao Zedong takes control of Chinese government from Chang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Party

Half the world now appeared to be under Communist control

The country of Korea became the next battleground in the Cold War

China Korea

The Korean WarFollowing World

War II, the Allies divided Korea at the 38th parallel

Soviets controlled North Korea; U.S. sets up a democracy in South Korea

Both governments claimed to control all of Korea

The Cold War gets HOT

The Korean War

Syngman Rhee

Kim Il-Sung

“Domino Theory”

Leader ofNorth Korea

A “Police Action” (1950-1953)

President of

South Korea

If one country falls to communism, others around it

will fall as well

The Korean WarOn June 25, 1950,

North Korea invades South Korea

Communist forces push UN forces to

brink of defeat

UN forces under Macarthur come to

the aid of South Korea

The Cold War gets HOT

UN forces push North Koreans back to border of China

The Korean WarChina enters the war

North Koreans pushed back to border with China

Chinese enter war on the side of North Koreans

Macarthur calls for an invasion of China, wants to use the atomic bomb

Macarthur criticized Truman for wanting a “limited war”

An artillery officer directs UN troops as they drop white phosphorous on a Communist-held

post in February 1951.

The Korean War War ends in a

stalemate

Korean War marked an important turning point in the Cold War

An armistice was signed ending the war in July 1953

U.S. began a major military build-up; began using military force to prevent spread of communism

Korea was divided at the 38th parallel

A New Red ScareU.S. citizens in 1950s feared

Communists wanted to take over the world. This fear was

known as the Red Scare.

Spies like Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Alger Hiss caused fear that our government was infiltrated by the Communists

House Un-American Activities Committee

A New Red ScareCommittee set up to investigate

Communist activities in the U.S.

“Are you now or have you ever been a Communist?”

HUAC searched for Soviet spies and Communist sympathizers.

House Un-American Committee meeting in 1948

The Hollywood Ten

Movie stars Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart lead a protest during height of Hollywood Blacklist controversy

People who were accused of being Communists were often “blacklisted”

A group of Hollywood actors who were blacklisted for refusing to answer HUAC questions became known as the “Hollywood Ten”

If someone was blacklisted, it meant they were denied work or ostracized from society

McCarthyismIn 1952, U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy began holding Senate hearings

McCarthy turned the hearings into witch-hunts, destroying numerous people’s reputations on rumor and weak evidence

Numerous Americans accused of having ties to the Communist Party

U-2 IncidentCol. Francis Gary

Powers’ spy plane was shot down

over Soviet airspace in 1960

Incident cools Soviet-U.S. relations

Russians launch Sputnik

The Russians have beaten America into space—they have the

technological edge!

Russians launch SputnikImpact of Sputnik

Congress establishes the National

Aeronautics and Space Agency

(NASA) to conduct research in rocket

and space technology

Congress also passed the National Defense Education Act, which provided money for education and training in science, math and foreign languages

The Space Race BeginsIn 1961, Russian cosmonaut

Yuri Gagarin blasted off into space, making the Soviet Union the first nation to

launch a human into orbit

Kennedy said he wanted U.S. to land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s

Kennedy’s challenge was met on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong

became the first human to step foot on the moon

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” –

Neil Armstrong

The Space Race Begins

Berlin Wall BuiltSoviets wanted to keep Germans from moving out of East Germany into West Berlin, where they could become free

Berlin Wall became the

symbol of Communist oppression

around the world

Ich bin ein Berliner! (1963)

President Kennedy tells Berliners that

the West is with them!

Castro embraces Communism

(1959)

Cuban dictator Fidel Castro embraces Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev

Bay of Pigs Debacle

CIA-trained Cuban exiles led an attack at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba in an attempt to overthrow Castro

Invasion was a disaster and failed; was a huge foreign policy blunder for the United States

(1961)

Cuban Missile Crisis

U.S. and Russia came extremely close to nuclear war when Russians place nuclear missiles in Cuba in November of 1962

In response to U.S. missiles in Turkey, the Russians began building missile bases in Cuba

Cuban Missile CrisisUnited States places an embargo on incoming shipments to Cuba from the Soviet Union, U.S. goes to DEFCON-3

Soviet ships reach the quarantine line, but receive radio orders

from Moscow to hold their positions

Cuban Missile Crisis

The Russians agreed to take their missiles out of Cuba if the U.S. removed theirs from Turkey

Kennedy threatens a U.S. invasion of Cuba unless Soviet missiles are removed; U.S. moves to DEFCON-2

President John F. Kennedy thinking in the Oval Office during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962

Vietnam War: 1965-1973

THE VIETNAM WAR

Key figures in the Vietnam War

Ho Chi Minh William Westmoreland

Lyndon B. Johnson American commander in South Vietnam who

told people in the media that the United

States was close to winning the war, even

though it wasn’t

President of North Vietnam who led the

efforts to defeat South Vietnam and support of the South

Vietnamese Vietcong

President of the United States who was president during much of Vietnam

War; greatly escalated the U.S. soldier

involvement in the conflict

Key figures in the Vietnam War

Robert McNamara

Richard Nixon Ngo Dinh DiemU.S. Secretary of

Defense during the Vietnam War who made the American republic

feel like we were winning the war

President of South Vietnam who whose

corruption and harsh standards led

numerous people to turn to the Vietcong

President of the United States during the latter

part of the Vietnam War

Vietnam in the ’50s

Southeast Asia (aka: French Indochina)

Following World War II, the French controlled southeast Asia (known as Indochina)

Ho Chi Minh led a revolt against the French to gain independence for Vietnam

By 1954, the French fell to the Vietminh and they withdrew from Indochina, leaving Vietnam a divided country

Domino Theory

The Domino Theory was the belief that if one country fell to communism, the other Southeast Asian nations would eventually

fall to communism as well

This map from an American magazine published 14th November 1950 shows how much they feared the spread of Communism in the Far East.

South Vietnam problems

A Buddhist monk commits suicide in protest to the harsh policies of the S. Vietnamese government

The people of South Vietnam hated South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh

Diem. He was corrupt and did not govern in the best interest of the citizens.

Diem was disliked because he discriminated against the Buddhist population

Some Buddhist monks protested Diem’s rule by setting themselves on fire

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

USS Maddox

In August of 1964, Pres. Johnson announced that North Vietnam

ships had fired on two American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin

Johnson insisted that the North Vietnamese attack was unprovoked and responded by ordering American airplanes to attack North Vietnam

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

When, in August of 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Congress handed over war powers to the president

After accusing N. Vietnam of attacking the U.S., Johnson asked Congress to give him the authorization to use force to defend American forces

The President had the power to send U.S. troops into battle without a declaration of war

Operation Rolling ThunderThe U.S. bombing campaign

conducted against the North Vietnam from 1965 until 1968

The three-year assault was intended to get North Vietnam to stop supporting South Vietnamese guerrillas

Operation became most

intense air/ground battle

waged during the Cold War

Vietcong

Guerrilla army based in South Vietnam (also

known as the NLF) that fought the U.S. and South

Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War

The Vietcong were South Vietnamese communistswho fought for Vietnamese unification on the side of the North Vietnamese

Vietcong Advantages They were familiar with

the landscape (rivers, lakes, etc.)

They could find a safe haven in Cambodia, Laos or South Vietnam

They could often count on the support of the local population

Ho Chi Minh Trail

Red line indicates Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laos and Cambodia

A look at the Ho Chi Minh Trail from road level, with camouflaged convoy truck approaching.

Path that ran from North Vietnam to South Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia system providing manpower and materiel to the Vietcong

Tet OffensiveJanuary 30 – June 8, 1968

In early 1968, the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese launched a surprise attack throughout South Vietnam

during the Tet, which is the Vietnamese New Year

Tet Offensive

The Tet Offensive in 1968 was a surprise attack by the Vietcong throughout South Vietnam

While the Vietcong suffered heavy losses, it was a major political

victory for the Vietcong

Tet was the turning point in the war and

showed that the U.S. was nowhere close to

winning the war

Credibility Gap

William Westmoreland

Robert McNamara

Opposition to the Vietnam War grew in the United States

in the late 1960s

Many Americans were suspicious of the government’s

truthfulness about the war

Many Americans believed a credibility gap had developed (people lost trust in what the

government was telling them)

My Lai MassacreMarch 16th,

1968

An American platoon had massacred more

than 200 South Vietnamese civilians

who they thought were members of the

Vietcong in a village called My Lai

Most of the victims were old men, women and childrenThe My Lai massacre increased feelings among

many Americans that the war was brutal and senseless

Election of 1968

"I shall not seek, and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your President." March 31, 1968

Johnson refuses to run for re-election

After Johnson refused to run for re-election and Bobby Kennedy

was assassinated, the Democrats ended up choosing LBJ’s vice-

president, Hubert Humphrey, as their presidential candidate

Republicans nominate former vice-president Richard Nixon,

who lost to JFK in 1960

Election of 1968Nixon becomes president!

Draft Lottery Begins

Many Americans who were against the war believed the United States had an unfair

draft systemMinorities made up a large percentage of people drafted and most soldiers were

under 21 years old

Kent State MassacreMay 4, 1970

In April of 1970, President Nixon announced that American troops had invaded Cambodia

Anti-war protestors saw this as an

escalation of the war, sparking violent

protests on college campuses

At Kent State University in Ohio, protestors became violent. The Ohio National Guard was

called in and fired upon the student demonstrators, killing four students

26th Amendment ratified

President Nixon signs the 26th Amendment guaranteeing the right to vote for people over 18.

Anger over the draft led to debates about the voting age.

Demonstrators help public rallies and marches.

The average age of a American soldier in Vietnam

was 19. Because you had to be 21 to vote, many people

called for changes in voting laws, saying that if you’re old

enough to fight in war, you should be old enough to vote.

In 1971, the 26th Amendment was ratified, lowered the legal voting age from 21 to 18

VietnamizationVietnamization called for a

gradual withdrawal of American troops as South

Vietnamese took more control

Even though the U.S. had begun cutting back its involvement in the Vietnam War, the American home front remained divided and volatile as Nixon’s war

policies stirred up new waves of protest

U.S. pulls out of Vietnam

In January of 1973, North and South Vietnamese reach a cease-fire agreement;By 1975, the United States withdraws all

of its people from Vietnam

In late1975, North Vietnam violated the ceasefire and captured the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon. The war was over and the

communists had won

War Powers Act (1973)Law was an attempt to set limits on the power of the president during wartime

Required the president to

inform Congress of any

commitment of troops with 48

hours

The Pentagon PapersIn 1971, a former Defense Department worker leaked what were known as the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times

The documents showed how various

administrations deceived Congress, the media, and the

public about how the war was going

The government had not been honest with the American people