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The Early Cold War. The Truman Doctrine. Use with Truman Doctrine and chart on early Cold War interventions. NO! Don’t do it Harry! Avoid foreign entanglements! Maintain peacetime isolationism!. Why was the Truman Doctrine a historic change in American foreign policy?.
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The Truman Doctrine Use with Truman Doctrine and chart on early Cold War interventions
NO! Don’t do it Harry! Avoid foreign entanglements! Maintain peacetime isolationism! Why was the Truman Doctrine a historic change in American foreign policy?
Events leading up to the Truman Doctrine • George Keenan’s “Long Telegram” • Soviet reluctance to leave Iran • Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech in Fulton, Missouri • Both Houses return a Republican majority in 1946 • England announces inability to provide further aid to Greece and Turkey, 1947
What immediate conditions prompted the Truman Doctrine? • What was the US response? • What did the policy promise?
Applications of the Truman Doctrine • Berlin • Creation of Israel • China (Formosa / Taiwan) • “Good Neighbor Policy” (Latin America) • Korea • Cuba • Iran • Vietnam • Afghanistan • Grenada • Literally dozens of attempted coups, assassinations, and rebellions supported by the CIA around the world.
Arms Race • Hiroshima/ Nagasaki – 1945 • Soviet Union detonates its first A-bomb – 1949 • United States detonates first H-bomb – 1952 • Soviet Union detonates its H-bomb – 1953 • ICBMs = Virtually no defense against them • New Strategy needed = MAD • Mutually Assured Destruction • Space Race • Sputnik – 1957 • Moonshot - 1969
Arms Race spurs a Space Race • Tech race opens doors of new opportunity. • Soviets win – Sputnik, 1957 • US responds with culture –wide shift • Emphasis in schools on science, math, and engineering • Boys exclusively • US launches satellite 4 months later • Soviets put first man in space – Yuri Gagarin, 1961 • US sends Alan Sheppard 3 weeks later
Space Race, part Deux • US proclaims Moon Race, 1961 • Missed chance for cooperation with Soviet Union when Kennedy assassinated. • Apollo 11 lands on Moon, 1969 We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind”
Ending the Arms Race • Series of arms limitations treaties between US and USSR • Détente – Early 70s • SALT I - 1972 • SALT II – 1979 • START I – 1991 • START II – 1993 • New START – Feb. 5, 2011 (remember?) • Was the Cold War won because of the Arms Race? • Star Wars/ Strategic Defense Initiative
Fear of Communism in America • SPIES!!! • Joseph McCarthy • HUAC • Blacklisting • Red-baiting • The Crucible • Comparison to Salem Witch Trail – 1692 • But – There WERE communists in America, and some of them WERE aiding the USSR
Where did the Red Scare go? • McCarthyism loses its appeal • Widening circle of accusations • McCarthy discredited • Supreme Court decisions (1956/7) protect liberties vs. HUAC • But anxiety re: communism stays throughout the Cold War • Ask your parents about their memories. Seriously.
Fears of Nuclear Attack Can we ever be safe?
Responding to the Tensions • What was scary? • Sense that values/ ideals were being attacked • Sense that USSR was attempting to take over the world • Knowledge that the world was increasingly “going Red” • Knowledge that USSR was leading the tech race • Knowledge that USSR had ability to destroy America • Knowledge that there were spies in America assisting the USSR How do you respond to high degrees of fear/ tension?
1950s Social response to the Early Cold War Consumption & Conformity
Lead up to US Involvement • A. French Colony since 1600s • 1. Abandoned during WWI and WWII • 2. Post WWII, independence movement led by Ho Chi Minh • - Vietnamese Declaration of Independence • B. Following WWII, US funded effort to reassert control • C. Vietnamese Autonomy • 1. Peace Treaty in 1954 • 2. Elections to be held • a. Ngo Dinh Diem installed as dictator in French controlled south • had lived in New Jersey • cancels elections • b. Ho Chi Minh (communist) elected in North • 3. Diem not popular • a. oppressive and anti-Buddhist • b. CIA participates in coup = Diem executed
II. US Military Involvement • A. Gulf of Tonkin incident • 1. N. Vietnamese patrol (fishing?) boat advances towards US military spy ship • 2. US fires on it and retreats from region • 3. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gives President authority to make war • III. Why the US cares • A. Cold War – Soviet Union helping the North • B. Domino Theory • if one small southeast Asian country falls, they all will • IV. Fighting the War - A Quagmire • A. Original intentions to offer assistance to South Vietnamese • B. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution leads to US bombardment • 1. Operation Rolling Thunder (2X total bombardments used in WWII) • C. Failure to force surrender necessitates limited ground troops • D. Ineffectiveness of ground campaign requires more troops
Fighting the War • Over there: • Escalation > defeat • War of attrition • Guerilla warfare • VietMinh/ VietCong • Napalm & Agent Orange • Impossible to quantify “winning” • - body counts • Over here: • Death count televised • Loss of support for the cause • Draft resistance • Organized resistance • Students for a Democratic Society (Port Huron Statement) • Campus protests
Ending the War • Election of 1968 • All candidates promise to end the war • Nixon wins on campaign promise of “Peace with Honor” • Vietnamization • Paris Peace Accords (1973) • Followed quickly by War Powers Act • Fall of Saigon (1975)
Long Range Effects of Vietnam War on American Society • First War America ever lost • Unsupported Draft failed to unite nation • Class and Race divide • Tarnishing of image of the Presidency • Kennedy, LBJ, and Nixon all seen as misleading the public • Questions re: Role of Media during times of war • Pentagon Papers • Morale • Increased scrutiny of all areas of government