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The Cold War

The Cold War. Cold War – geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle (post-WWII) between Capitalism and Communism Containment Centered around USA & USSR From 1947 – Dec. 25 th 1991. What is the Cold War?. Economic System in which the means of production are privately owned.

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The Cold War

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  1. The Cold War

  2. Cold War – geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle (post-WWII) between Capitalism and Communism • Containment • Centered around USA & USSRFrom 1947 – Dec. 25th 1991 What is the Cold War?

  3. Economic System in which the means of production are privately owned. • Capital invested in production, for profit, and a competitive free market. What is Capitalism?

  4. IDEOLOGY – seeks to est. a future classless, stateless social org. based on common ownership of means of production (no private property) What is Communism?

  5. What is Communism? • Proletariat – workers (those who SELL their labor power) • Bourgeoisie – Capitalists, owners (those who BUY labor power) • Profit = Theft • Competition = Decline in Wages = Poverty, Misery, Suffering • Conflict between Proletariat & Bourgeoisie only solvable via violent revolution • Working class dictatorship a necessary step to communism • Ends Justify the Means – Acc. to Marx, Communist Party is “vanguard of the proletariat” – free to do whatever it takes to destroy capitalism, bring in communism

  6. What is Communism? • Atheism – owners of capital use religion to keep oppressed workers thinking of future happiness in heaven (instead of present misery) • Cooperative Production – No government, perfect freedom to develop (labor alienated under Capitalism)

  7. America Post-World War II • 1946 – Post-War Inflation leads to economic struggle and strikes • 1946 – Congress passes Employment Act – promote employment, purchasing power • POTUS’ Council of Economic Advisors created • 1947 – Rep. Congress passes Taft-Hartley Act • Outlawed “closed” (all-Union) shops • Made Unions liable for damages from inter-union disputes • Required union leaders to take a noncommunist oath • 1950s – Economic Growth

  8. The Fair Deal • Truman’s plan for post-war improvement • Improved public housing – Housing Act of 1949 • Extension of old-age insurance – Social Security Act of 1950 • Civil Rights – Executive Order 9981 (desegregates Armed Forces) • Truman wins re-election 1948

  9. Yalta • Feb 1945 – Meeting of the “Big Three” (Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin) • Agree to govern Germany jointly • Free Elections in USSR-conquered territories • Stalin breaks this promise • United Nations formed • Most Controversial Decision: US needed help w/ Japan • To convince USSR to help, promised some Japanese territory, control over China’s RRs in Manchuria, special privileges in two key ports • Stalin has control over China’s (US Ally) vital industrial centers

  10. US and USSR • Each have different post-war vision • US (despite pleas) ends lend-lease to USSR 1945, continues w/ Britain • Stalin wants to guarantee safety of USSR • Determined to have friendly govs on W. border • Soviet Spheres of Influence in E & C Europe • Spheres contradict Wilsonian dream of “Open World” • Demilitarized, Decolonized, Democratized • US, USSR not used to “great power” roles, enter 40-yr standoff (aka Cold War)

  11. International Involvement • 1944 – Western Allies create International Monetary Fund (IMF) – encourage world trade, reg. currency rates • International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) – promote growth in war-ravaged, underdeveloped areas • USA takes charge • USSR declines to participate

  12. The United Nations • United Nations Conference – April 25 1945 • Reps from 50 nations make UN Charter • Security Council: United States, Great Britain, USSR, France, China (each has right to veto) • Created: • United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization • Food and Agricultural Organization • World Health Organization • Benefits: • International trade doubles in 1950s & 1960s • Increased trade boosts post-war growth in Europe, Japan • Underdeveloped countries set on path to modernization(Taiwan, Singapore, S. Korea, India, China)

  13. Clashes Between USA & USSR • Germany: • USSR spread communism in Eastern Zone (“Iron Curtain” shuts it off from capitalist West) • Marshall Plan (1947) – US provides financial assistance to post-war Europe (Soviets refuse help) • Berlin Airlift (1948-49) eventually lifts Soviet Blockade • Greece, Turkey • Truman Doctrine (1947) – to help Britain bear financial, military burden of defending Greece from communist pressure • If G. fell, T. & rest of E. Mediterranean could go too • Truman declared: US Policy to aid any country resisting communist aggression

  14. Israel • POTUS Truman officially recognized state of Israel 14th May 1948 • Post-WWII, US supported change in Palestine (Br. Mandate) • Palestine case turned over to UN • Decided on separate Jewish & Arab states • Palestinian Jews & Arabs accepted this(Surrounding states did not) • Civil War breaks out as Mandate comes to end • Palestinian Jews declare independence (Truman recognizes) • Israel wins War of Independence

  15. NATO • 1948 – European Pact “North Atlantic Treaty Organization” • To contain the Soviet Union • Provide framework to reintegrate Ger. • Pledge: An attack on one, attack on all • Huge change in American foreign policy • USSR forms similar group (Warsaw Pact) 1955

  16. America Rearms • National Security Act (1947) creates: • Department of Defense (Sec. of D. > Secs. of Navy, Army, Airforce) • Joint Chiefs of Staff formed by heads • National Security Council – advise POTUS on security • Central Intelligence Agency – coordinate gov’sforeign fact-gathering

  17. China Becomes Communist • Post-War Japan successful • 1949 – NationalistGov (Generalissimo Jiang Jieshi) flees to Formosa (Taiwan)Communists, under Mao Zedong take over(People’s Republic of China) • ¼ of World’s Population now Communist

  18. Arms Race • Sept 1949 – USSR detonates 1st Atomic Bomb (3 yrs early) • Truman order dev of H-Bomb (Hydrogen Bomb) • 1st exploded in 1952 • 1st in USSR - 1953

  19. Anti-Communist Sentiment in US • 1947 – Loyalty Review Board – investigated communist spies in the US Gov. • 1949 – 11 communists imprisoned for violating Smith Act of 1940 (1st peacetime antisedition law since 1798) • 1938 – House est. Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) (Used by R. Nixon in 1948 to hunt & convict Alger Hiss, ex-New Dealer) • 1950 – Truman vetoes McCarran Internal Security Bill – authorizes POTUS to detain suspicious people during “internal security emergency” (Congress overrides veto) • 1951 – Julius and Ethel Rosenberg become only people in US History sentenced to death for espionage

  20. Korean War • Korea divided into 2 sections at 38th Parallel • US controlled South • Soviets controlled North • June 25 1950 – N. Korea invades S. Korea • June 27 – Truman orders US forces to assist • UN condemns invasion, organizes 15-nation fighting force • China enters conflict • Cease-fire ends war by 1953

  21. Proxy War • A war instigated, but not fought by, a major power

  22. Dien Bien Phu • May 1954 – Ho Chi Minh & his communists defeat French Colonial Forces at Dien Bien Phu • July 1954 – Geneva Accords divide Vietnam @ 17th parallel • US assumes responsibility for aiding anti-communist S. Vietnam • US Sec. of State calls for “Massive Retaliation” • Full-scale nuclear attack on USSR in response to communist aggression anywhere in the world

  23. Soviet Response • 14th Feb 1956 – Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev makes a “secret speech” denouncing Stalin’s policies • Rejects Leninist idea of the inevitability of war, calls for doctrine of “peaceful coexistence” between capitalist & communist systems. • Aug 1961 – Soviets construct Berlin Wall to keep pop. drain from E. Germany to W. Germany via Berlin

  24. The U-2 Affair • 1st May 1960 – U-2 spy plane shot down over USSR • Soviets announce capture of pilot • U.S. embarrassed, but Eisenhower refuses to apologize to Khrushchev, who storms out of Paris Summit meeting • Pilot (Francis Gary Powers) sentenced to 10 years in prison (7 hard labor) until exchanged in 1962 for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

  25. Space Race • 4th Oct 1957 – Soviet Union launches Sputnik, 1st man-made satellite to orbit Earth • 1958 – US creates National Aeronautics and Space Administration • Changes to US Education system – National Defense and Education Act (NDEA) • Space Race is on

  26. Space Race Timeline

  27. Cuba • 1st Jan 1959 – Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba (overthrowing Fulgencio Batista) • Nationalizes sugar industry (cut off trade w/ US) • Signs trade agreements w/ USSR • Became military satellite • Next year, seizes US assets in Cuba • Disliked US intervention • US helped overthrow a leftist gov inGuatemala in 1954 • US Response: 1960, Congress authorizes$500 mil to stop communism spreading in Latin America

  28. Bay of Pigs • 1961 – U.S. organized invasion force of 1,400 Cuban exiles, left Guatemala via US boats & planes to overthrow Castro • Kennedy against direct intervention, US failed to provide air support • Defeated by Castro’s communist gov. after 3 day fight • Kennedy takes full responsibility • Consequences: • Castro still in power • US & JFK internationally embarrassed • Cuba further into arms of USSR

  29. Cuban Missile Crisis • Post-B.o.P., USSR install nuclear missiles in Cuba (revealed by U-2 flights) • Air Force wanted to bomb sites, JFK said no • 22nd Oct 1962 – Kennedy orders naval blockade (“quarantine”) of Cuba until missiles are gone • 28th Oct 1962 – USSR agrees to remove missilesUSA agreed to remove blockade

  30. Peaceful Coexistence? • 1963 – The Limited Test Ban Treaty signed • Prohibited trial nuclear explosions • JFK wanted US to peacefully coexist w/ USSR • June 1963 – Called on Americans to abandon negative views of USSR • 22nd Nov 1963 – Kennedy assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, VP Lyndon B. Johnson sworn in

  31. US Foreign Intervention • 1960 – African Congo gains independence from Belgium, violence breaks out. US funds UN troops to intervene. • 1954 – Laos gains independence from France, violence breaks out. US (Kennedy) proposes 1962 Geneva conference to impose peace. • Flexible Response – allows U.S. to fight limited wars (world wide) while maintaining nuclear balance of power w/ Soviets

  32. Vietnam • Aug 1964 – Gulf of Tonkin – U.S. Navy worked w/ S. Vietnam to raid N. Vietnam • 2nd & 4th Aug. U.S. ships allegedly fired upon. LBJ said: “unprovoked!” • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – Congress (virtually) gives up war-declaring powers, giving POTUS a “blank check” to continue to use force in SE Asia. • LBJ overwhelmingly wins election of 1964

  33. Vietnam • 1968 – Tet Offensive – Viet Cong guerrillas, N. Vietnamese troops launch attacks across S. Vietnam (Jan 30th) • Saigon, guerrillas fight marines @ US Embassy • March – Johnson halts US bombing of N. Vietnam, offers peace talks • Vietnam hurts Johnson, Richard Nixon elected in 1968 • 8th June 1969 – Nixon’s Vietnamization plan • Withdraw U.S. ground forces from Vietnam • Turn control of war to S. Vietnamese forces

  34. SALT • 17th Nov. 1969 – 1st Phase of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks • 26thMay 1972 – Finished agreement signed in Moscow • Limited submarine-launched AND intercontinental nuclear missiles

  35. Nixon Visits China • 21st Feb 1972 – Nixon 1st POTUS to visit China (meets Mao) • PRC & USA recognize their “essential differences,” decide “normalization of relations” = best interests • Changes balance of power with Soviets

  36. Paris Accords • 27th Jan 1973 – USA, S. Vietnam, N. Vietnam, Viet Cong sign The Paris Peace Treaty – cease fire • US allowed to continue aiding Vietnam • Saigon falls, April 1975

  37. Cambodia • Communist Khmer Rouge (led by Pol Pot) take power in Cambodia (16th April 1975) • Cambodia’s educated & urban populations forced into countryside as part of state experiment in agrarian communism • Between 1975 – 1979, 3 million+ Cambodians died

  38. Afghanistan • 25th Dec 1979 – 100,000 Soviet troops invade Afghanistan as communist BabrakKarmal takes control of gov. • US backs Muslim guerrilla fighters (Mujahideen, later al-Qaeda) in costly war vs. Soviets • Soviet troops withdraw in 1988

  39. Star Wars • 23rd March 1983 – POTUS Reagan outlines his Strategic Defense Initiative (aka “Star Wars”) • Space-based defense shield • Lasers & other ad. tech would destroy attacking missiles • Soviets call out U.S. – say it violates 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty • Have to spend heavily to match program,near economic collapse

  40. Mikhail Gorbachev • 11th March 1985 – Gorbachev comes to power in USSR, brings reform: • Perestroika – “restructuring” – economic reform • Glasnost – “openness” – greater freedom of expression, criticism of Soviet policies

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