Escalation of the Cold War

1. Escalation of the Cold War

2. President Eisenhower (1953 –1961) threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union created a sense of high anxiety in international relations in the 1950s.  John Foster Dulles Eisenhower’s Secretary of State Firm hatred towards communism Announced that Truman’s policies of containment were passive

3. Massive retaliation • Brinkmanship - goal was to push U.S.S.R to the brink of war in order to exact concessions • H-bomb (increasingly destructive power) (500X more powerful than A-bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki) (fusion reaction, created by fission reaction) • US tests first H bomb on Enewetak Atoll (pac. Ocean) on 11/1/52 • USSR tests first H bomb on 8/12/53

4. Korea • July 27, 1953 agreement signed (armistice) • Vietnam • In 1953 USA faced with difficult decision in S.E. Asia • France was fighting to retain control of it’s colony of Vietnam • Opposing the French were the powerful nationalist, communist forces lead by Ho Chi Minh • Truman had originally supported the French, who were a very important Cold War ally • 1954 Dien Bien Phu: French forces surrounded in a disastrous siege

5. Latin America • Latin American resentment grows towards the US during the 1950s as many people began to view the expanding influence of American corporations as a form of imperialism • Cuba • Batista ruled as military dictator of Cuba • Cuba’s prosperous economy had become a fiefdom of American corporations • Fidel Castro leads popular movement against Batista beg. in 1957

6. Castro, Che and Batista

7. Cuba and Castro • At first USA reacted warmly to Castro, hoping that American economic activity would continue • Castro began implementing significant land reforms • Expropriating foreign-owned businesses and resources • As one of it’s last acts in 1961Eisenhower administration severs diplomatic relations with Cuba • American CIA begins training of Cuban expatriates for an invasion of the island to topple the new regime • Isolated by the US, Castro cemented an alliance with the Soviet Union

8. Europe and the Soviet Union • resisting communist expansion in Europe was a principle concern of the Eisenhower administration • USA arming West Germany, but hopeful • Stalin dies in 1953 • 1955 Eisenhower and other NATO reps met with Soviet premier Nicolai Bulganin… but they could find no basis for agreement on any issue • 1956 Soviet Tanks roll into Budapest, Hungary and crush a democratic revolution • Eisenhower administration refuses to intervene • Action convinced American leaders that Soviet policies had not softened

9. HUGE arms race • USSR and USA re-double their efforts to develop effective intercontinental ballistic missiles • Competition everywhere • Emphasis on mathematics and science in the classroom • Space race • Sputnik, first satellite launched by Russians in 1957 • 1969 Americans walk on the moon • Olympics

10. The U-2 Crisis • 1958 Nikita Khrushchev succeeds Bulganin as Soviet premier • First meeting goes well in the US but right before the second meeting, U.S.S.R announces that it has shot down a high altitude U-2 spy plane over Russian soil and that pilot Francis Gary Powers was in captivity • Eisenhower does not react well

11. Assessing Eisenhower Escalated tensions between USA and Soviet Union… what was once a limited confrontation, became a massive global effort to resist communism • Failed to end a costly and dangerous arms race • Placed a measure of restraint on those who urged the creation of an enormous American military • Resisted military intervention in Vietnam • Caution and moderateness in domestic and international affairs

12. President Kennedy Inaugural address http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE0iPY7XGBo&feature=related More nukes Continued development and production of atomic weapons USSR, which had slowed the growth of its nuclear stockpile, responded by building more nukes Third World Focus

13. Expanding American Influence • “Alliance for Progress” • Agency of International Development • Peace Corps

14. The Bay of Pigs • Eisenhower administration had launched the project to overthrow Castro • Kennedy had misgivings but he believed that Castro represented a threat • April 17, 1961 armed exiles land near the Bay of Pigs in Cuba • No uprising, instead well armed Castro forces easily crushed the invaders

15. The Berlin Wall June 1961 Kennedy travels to the Soviet Union in the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs August 13, 1961 USSR constructs a wall between East Berlin and West Berlin

16. Cuban Missile Crisis • October 14, 1962 US aerial reconnaissance photos • From Soviet perspective this was fair because USA had nuclear missiles in Turkey (aimed at them) • Armament of Cuba with nukes would prevent further US invasion • Kennedy determined that such weapons could not be allowed to remain

17. CMC (cont.) • October 22 Kennedy ordered a naval and air blockade around Cuba “quarantine” against all offensive weapons • USSR ships headed for Cuba turn around • But missile preparation continues in Cuba… • Tense, final moment agreement • USSR promises to take missiles out of Cuba in return for American promise not to invade Cuba • USA takes missiles out of Turkey

18. Good Consequences of Cuban Missile Crisis • USA and USSR both forced to confront the momentous consequences of war • both countries seemed ready to move toward a new accommodation

19. Bad Consequences of Cuban Missile Crisis • humiliating retreat of USSR forced Nikita Khrushchev from power a year later • replacement, Leonid Brezhnev was much more orthodox party figure • Military inferiority felt by Soviets led to dramatic arms buildup that contributed to a comparable increase by the United States in the early 1980s