The Cold War Foreign & Domestic

1. The Cold WarForeign & Domestic 1945- Present

3. Dwight D. Eisenhower • Foreign Policy • Expanded NATO to include West Germany (1955) • Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (1954) • Central Treaty Organization (1959) • Arms limitation • “Open Skies” proposal, 1955 • Khrushchev

4. Focus of Cold War shifted to Third WorldUse of CIA covert action around the world • Latin America • Talked of supporting democracy • Regularly supported dictatorial regimes so long as they accepted U.S. investment • Caused resentment among Latin Americans • Over throw of Arbenz in Guatemala in 1954 • Arbenz was popularly elected, then nationalized the land • United Fruit Company and the Dulles brothers • Cuba situation demonstrated anti-American sentiment • Egypt • Rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser • Call for Arab nationalism and “positive neutralism” • Nationalization of Suez Canal, 1956 • Caused U.S. rift with Britain • Loss of U.S. prestige and Power in Middle east

5. Focus of Cold War shifted to Third WorldUse of CIA covert action around the world • Middle East • Eisenhower Doctrine, 1957 • Defense of Middle Eastern countries against “international communism” • Followed up with intervention in Lebanon and Jordan • Overthrow of Mossadeq in Iran, placing Reza Shah Pahlavi • Vietnam • Drive for independence under way after World War II • French decided to withdraw in 1954 { Dien Bien Phu} • Geneva Peace Accords • Temporary division in North and South Vietnam • Eventual elections for reunification • Administration belief in “domino theory” • Provided aid to government in south Vietnam • Feared the loss of another Asian nation to communism

6. The Fight Against Discrimination • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) • School segregation violated constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law • Implied that all segregated public facilities were unconstitutional • Race could no longer be treated as simply a regional issue • South becoming more like rest of the country • Racial composition of rest of country becoming more like South • Segregationists promised “massive resistance” to Brown • Violence, vigilantism, terror became rampant • Montgomery bus boycott, 1955-56

7. The Fight Against Discrimination (cont.) • Vaulted Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. into national prominence • Spurred creation of Southern Christian Leadership Conference • Civil Rights Act of 1957 • procedure to expedite lawsuits by African Americans who claimed their voting rights had been violated • Created permanent Civil Rights Commission to hear complaints • Politics of civil rights • Southern Democrats in Congress tried to block real action on civil rights • Southern states defied Brown order on school desegregation • Eisenhower forced to act in Little Rock crisis, 1957

9. John F. KennedyForeign Policy • Dramatic Initiatives • Peace Corps • Alliance for Progress • Cuba • Bay of Pigs, April 1961 • Operation Mongoose- CIA plan to overthrow Castro in Cuba • Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962 • Berlin • Berlin Wall constructed, August 1961 • Southeast Asia • Goal to build South Vietnam into a viable non-Communist state • Test case for flexible response • Coup against Ngo Dinh Diem, November 1963

10. Kennedy in Iraq • In 1963, the Kennedy administration backed a coup against the government of Iraq headed by General Abdel Karim Kassem, who five years earlier had deposed the Western-allied Iraqi monarchy. The CIA helped the new Baath Party government led by Abdul Salam Arif in ridding the country of suspected leftists and Communists. In a Baathist bloodbath, the government used lists of suspected Communists and other leftists provided by the CIA, to systematically murder untold numbers of Iraq's educated elite — killings in which Saddam Hussein himself is said to have participated.

11. Kennedy’s Domestic Policy • General policymaking goals • Tax cuts for everyone, special cuts for corporations • Higher minimum wage and urban renewal • Crusade against organized crime (Robert Kennedy) • Civil Rights • Concerned about Southern conservatives • Initially, did nothing on civil rights front • Sit-in movement, early 1960 • Freedom rides, 1961 • Forced to send marshals to protect riders • Universities of Mississippi and Alabama • Forced to intervene to protect black students • Executive order banning segregation in public housing, November 1952

12. Kennedy’s Domestic Policy (cont.) • Moderate civil rights bill, February 1963 • Called to action by violence in Birmingham, Spring of 1963 • Support for stronger civil rights bill • March on Washington, August 1963 • Women’s issues • Presidential Commission on the Status of women • Documented discrimination in employment opportunities and wages • Equal Pay Act of 1963

14. LBJ’s Foreign Policy • Tonkin Gulf Resolution • Stemmed from confusing events in August, 1964 • Became justification for concerted U.S. involvement • Resolution in Congress • “All necessary measures to repel armed attack” • Johnson used as tantamount to congressional declaration of war • Debate over extent of American involvement within administration

15. LBJ’s Domestic Policy • Civil Rights • Civil Rights Act of 1964 • Equal Employment Opportunity Commission • Prohibited racial discrimination in public accommodations associated with interstate commerce • Mississippi Freedom Summer • Freedom Democratic Party

16. Great Society • Fulfillment of dreams of Johnson’s Democratic predecessors • Medical care for the elderly and low-income citizens (Medicare and Medicaid) • Created Department of Housing and Urban development • Voting Rights Act of 1965 • Heartened Johnson’s supporters and appalled his critics • Goal was to help people fight their own way out of economic distress

17. Evaluating the Great society • Rekindled debates about proper role of national government • Raised expectations that could not be met • Conservatives have been unrelentingly critical • Leftists lamented failure to challenge the prevailing distribution of political power and wealth in order to reduce poverty • Agreement that Great Society left its mark • First significant outlay of federal dollars for social programs since New Deal • Significantly expanded reach of welfare state

18. From Civil Rights to Black Power • Watts riots, 1965 • Malcolm X and Black Power • Initially affiliated with Nation of Islam • Integration was unworkable • Self-defense “By any means necessary” • Renewed pride in African-American heritage • Vigorous efforts at community reconstruction • Organized Organization of Afro-American Unity after breaking with Nation of Islam • Murdered in 1965 by enemies of Nation of Islam • Black Panthers • Criticized slow pace of civil rights litigation • Preached confrontation and self-defense • Civil Rights Act of 1968 • Fair housing provision watered down to protect landlords and real estate agents • Federal offense to cross state lines in order to incite a “riot” • Directly aimed at Black Panthers

20. Richard Millhouse Nixon • Nixon’s Economic Program • Two decades of economic growth came to an end during Nixon presidency • Inherited high levels of domestic spending, and expensive war in Vietnam, and the deteriorating, but still favorable balance of trade • Soaring unemployment and price inflation • What economists came to call “stagflation” • Nation ran its first trade deficit of the twentieth century in 1971 • New Economy policy • 90 day freeze on wages and prices • Subsequent government monitoring to detect excessive increases in either

21. Nixon’s Social Policy • Family Assistance Plan • Abolish other welfare programs, including AFDC • Institute a guaranteed annual income for all families • End Post-New Deal system of aid to those in particular circumstances • Provide aid to everyone • Not implemented • New federalism plan to return federal tax money to the states in the form of black grants with virtually no restrictions • Supplementary Social Security Insurance for the elderly, blind, and disabled • Gradual expansion of Medicare and Medicaid • Social Security payments indexed to inflation in 1972

22. Foreign Policy Under Nixon • Key Advisor was Henry Kissinger, national security advisor • Détente as major foreign policy goal • Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with Soviet Union • Opening toward China • Vietamization • Withdrawal of U.S. troops • Stepping up of air war and intensifying diplomatic efforts to reach settlement • Nixon Doctrine • U.s. Military assistance to anticommunist government in Asia • Nations left to provide their own military forces

23. Foreign Policy Under Nixon (cont.) • Withdraw U.S. troops but not accept compromise or defeat • Adhered to bombing halt over North • New operations in South • Incursion into neutral Cambodia • Spurred opposition at home • Kent State and Jackson State • Contributed top rise of Khmer Rouge

24. End of U.S. involvement in Vietnam • Secret war protected in Laos and Cambodia after 1970 • Peace talks in Paris proceeded as war was actually expanding • Communists within 30 miles of Saigon in the Spring of 1972 • Nixon responded with resumption of bombing and mining of harbors in North • Cease-fire announced weeks before 1972 election • After election, U.S. firepower increased dramatically • Christmas bombing • Paris Peace Accords, 1973 • Withdrawal of U.S. troops • South Vietnamese discontinued to fight • Collapsed in April 1973

25. Watergate • Caused collapse of Nixon’s presidency stemmed from Nixon’s deep mistrust for nearly everyone in Washington • Established “plumbers” unit to protect administration from “enemies” • Funded by illegal campaign contributions • Broke into Democratic Party’s headquarters during 1972 re-election campaign • Irony is that Nixon won election handily and didn’t need to resort to “dirty tricks” to win • Administration was involved but denied it and instituted cover up instead • The press, Congress, and the federal judiciary, all began searching for the truth • Eventually bits of the truth began trickling out, and Nixon was implicated in both the original break in and in the cover up

26. Watergate (cont.) • Nixon continued to deny involvement, even after discovery of a secret White House taping system that could implicate him if the tapes were surrendered to the courts • Supreme Court ruled unanimously in U.S.v. Nixon that he had to give them up • House Judiciary Committee voted three articles of impeachment • Obstruction of Justice, violation of constitutional liberties, refusal to produce evidenced requested during the impeachment process • In the end, Nixon chose to resign rather than face trial by the senate • Left office in disgrace on August 9, 1974, succeeded by Gerald Ford • Received an unconditional pardon by Ford • Public knowledge and understanding of Watergate not high today

28. Jimmy Carter • Social Activism: Women’s Issues • Old ideas of domesticity clashed with realities women found themselves in • Gender issues came to pervade civil rights and antiwar movements • Women often found traditional sexism among male leaders • “Consciousness raising” sessions during 1970s • Intertwining of political and personal power issues • Women’s movement became highly diverse • Pursued variety of goals • Utilized variety of strategies

29. Social Activism: Sexual Politics • Gender/sexuality debates divided over issues involving gays and lesbians • Stonewall Inn, 1969 • Turning point for gay rights movement • AIDS crisis • Medical and political issue’ • Early research was insignificant • Gays in the military controversy, 1992 • “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy

30. Carter’s Domestic Policy • Welfare initiatives • Requested additional cash assistance and more jobs for the needy • Failed to win congressional approval • Energy initiatives • Ambitious energy program, pursued unilaterally • Decrease reliance on foreign oil and natural gas • Expand domestic energy production • Discourage gasoline use through new taxes • Encourage energy-saving measures to foster conservatism • Promote non-Petroleum energy sources • Congress rejected • Economic initiatives • Ambitious economic agenda • Lower unemployment and inflation • Stimulate greater economic growth • Balance federal budget • Failed to accomplish any of his goals • Economic crisis affected cities and urban areas as well

31. Jimmy Carter’s Foreign Policies • Amnesty for Vietnam War draft resisters • Panama Canal treaties • Camp David peace accords’ • Concern for human rights • Best known feature of Carter’s foreign policy • Helped to trigger trend toward democratization in 1980s and 1990s • Immediate impact was ambiguous • Crisis in Iran, November 1979 • Hostage situation at U.S. Embassy in Tehran • Despite constant attention, Carter unable to resolve the situation • Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, December 1979 • Series of ineffectual, non-Military responses

33. The New Right • Neo-Conservatives and new conservative institutions • American Enterprise Institute • Heritage Foundation • Committee on the Present Danger • The New Religious Right • Fundamentalist and evangelical support • The Conservative political agenda • National Conservative Political Action committee (NCPAC) • Conservative caucus • Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress • Moral Majority • The New Religious Right and the media • Cable television reached huge,receptive audiences

34. Ronald Reagan’s Domestic Policy • Pursuing supply-side economics • Justified tax cuts for wealthy by saying they would stimulate growth • Period of non-inflationary growth, 1982-1986 • Unemployment remained high • High government spending resulted huge federal deficits • Borrowed abroad and piled up largest foreign debt in the world • Economic benefits unevenly distributed throughout society • “Underclass” especially hurt

35. Regan’s Foreign Policy • Renewed Cold War • Dramatic increased in defense spending • Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or Star Wars • International Offensive abroad • Funded various conservative groups abroad • Radio Mart to Cuba • CIA activities • Aid to anti-Communist forces in Afghanistan • Funding for contras in Nicaragua • General funding for opposition movements in countries aligned with the soviet Union • Willingness to use U.S. Military power • Lebanon, 1982 • Grenada, 1983

36. Iran-Contra Affair • U.S. aid for contras blocked by Democratic-controlled Congress in 1984- Bolland Amendment • Circumvent by having wealthy conservatives and other countries provide aid • Against backdrop of violence and kidnappings of Americans and other westerners in Middle East • Administration sold arms to Iran in exchange for help in winning release of captives • Flew in face of stated policy of not rewarding captors • Then funneled profits to contras as way of getting around congressional ban • Caused public outcry and violation of Bolland Amendment • Investigators unable to paint as serious constitutional crisis • Oliver North

37. US – Soviet Relations • Thaw in U.S. Soviet relations after 1985 • Role of Mikhail Gorbachev • “Glasnost” and “perestroika” • Loosened Moscow’s grip on Soviet Empire • Reykjavik summit, October 1986 • Reagan plan for wholesale ban on nuclear weapons • SALT II not ratified

39. George HW BushPersian Gulf War • Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, August 1990 • Operation “Desert Shield:” • UN action against Iraq • Launched military offensive in January 1991 • Stopped short of removing Saddam Hussein, something the UN had not authorized • Temporarily boosted Bush’s popularity • Administration not very successful in setting post-Cold war diplomatic goals • Mixed foreign policy legacy

40. End of Cold War • Began in Poland in 1989 • One by one, nations of Eastern Europe overthrew their Communist governments • Provinces that comprised the Soviet Union also declared independence • Global economy • Administration pushed for economic liberalization • Redefinition of “national Security” • Help to bring democracy to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala • Overthrow of Manuel Noriega in Panama, December 19989