Ch28

The American NationThe American Nation

Chapter 28The Cold War Era, 1945–

1991

Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.

The American NationThe American Nation

Copyright © 2003 by Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved.

Section 1: The Cold War Begins

Section 2: The Korean War Period

Section 3: Regional Conflicts

Section 4: The War in Vietnam

Chapter 28: The Cold War Era, 1945–1991

Section 5: The Cold War Ends

Chapter 28, Section 1

The Cold War BeginsThe Cold War Begins

• How did the Cold War begin?• How did the United States respond to Soviet

expansion?• How did the crisis over Berlin lead to new Cold

War alliances?• What happened in 1949 to increase Cold War

tensions?


Growing distrust • The United States and Britain distrusted the Soviet Union. They disliked communist rejection of religion and private property and Soviet boasts that communism would soon destroy free enterprise systems around the world.

• The Soviets distrusted the Western powers. They feared that the United States would attack the Soviet Union and would rebuild Germany to challenge the Soviet Union, too.

How The Cold War BeganHow The Cold War Began

Even before World War II ended, tensions surfaced among the Allies. The United States and the Soviet Union plunged into a new kind of war. They did not clash directly in battle. Instead, they competed for power around the world. This intense rivalry became known as the Cold War. It lasted nearly 50 years.


How The Cold War BeganHow The Cold War Began

Broken promises • Stalin promised to hold free elections in Eastern European countries occupied by Soviet troops during the war, but he broke his promise.

• By 1948, the Soviets had established communist governments in every Eastern European nation.

• Except for Yugoslavia, these countries became satellite nations—nations that are dominated politically and economically by a more powerful nation—of the Soviet Union.

The “Iron Curtain” • As early as 1946, Winston Churchill had warned against Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe. He said, “An iron curtain has descended across the Continent.” The “iron curtain” cut off Eastern Europe from the democratic governments of the West.

• When communist parties achieved some success in other parts of Europe, Western fears of communism increased.


The United States Responds to Soviet ExpansionThe United States Responds to Soviet Expansion

President Harry S Truman was determined to keep Soviet influence contained within existing boundaries. Thus, his Cold War policy was known as containment.

The Truman Doctrine• Truman asked for large amounts of military and economic aid for Greece

and Turkey. With American aid, both countries held off communism.• His program to encourage nations to resist communist expansion became

known as the Truman Doctrine.

The Marshall Plan• When Secretary of State George Marshall saw the devastation of Europe,

he feared that such terrible conditions might encourage communist revolutions. He proposed a plan to help Europe rebuild.

• The Marshall Plan provided more than $12 billion in aid to Western European countries. It reduced the threat of communist revolutions.


The Crisis Over BerlinThe Crisis Over Berlin

• After the war, the Allies divided Germany into four zones. American, British, French, and Soviet troops each occupied a zone. Berlin, deep in the Soviet zone, was also divided among the four Allies.

• By 1948, the United States, Britain, and France wanted to reunite their zones. Stalin opposed that plan. He saw it as a threat to the Soviet Union. To show his determination to keep Western Germany from reuniting, he closed all roads, railroads, and river routes between Berlin and West Germany.

• Rather than send troops and risk war, Truman approved a huge airlift. During the Berlin Airlift, hundreds of American and British planes carried tons of supplies to West Berliners every day. The airlift lasted for almost a year. Finally, Stalin lifted the blockade. The United States, Great Britain, and France merged their zones.


The Crisis Over BerlinThe Crisis Over Berlin

• Germany and Berlin remained divided throughout the 1950s. With American aid, West Germany became a prosperous nation. The Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, a much poorer country.

• When many people fled communism by crossing over into West Berlin, the embarrassed East German government built a huge concrete wall topped with barbed wire. It sealed off East Berlin from West Berlin. The Berlin Wall cut off contact between families and friends and became a symbol of the Cold War that divided the world.


New alliances emerged during the Cold War. Many of the world’s nations established a world peacekeeping organization.

Cold War alliances

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO—In 1949, the United States and many Western European countries joined together to defend Western Europe against any Soviet threat.

• The Warsaw Pact—In 1955, the Soviet Union formed its own military alliance with Eastern European nations.

United Nations

• In October 1945, 51 nations formed the United Nations, or UN. Over time, membership has expanded.

• Under the UN charter, member nations agree to bring disputes before the body for peaceful settlement.

• Every member has a seat in the General Assembly, where problems can be discussed. A smaller Security Council also discusses conflicts that threaten peace.

• The UN has done its best work fighting hunger and disease and improving education. UN relief programs have helped victims of famine, war, and other disasters.

• Preserving peace has proved more difficult.

New Cold War AlliancesNew Cold War Alliances


New Cold War AlliancesNew Cold War Alliances


Cold War Tensions IncreasedCold War Tensions Increased

• In September 1949, the Soviet Union successfully tested the atomic bomb.

Communist forces, led by Mao Zedong, gained power in China.

• The United States had long backed the Nationalists, led by Jiang Jieshi.

• Mao set up the People’s Republic of China.• Nationalists forces retreated to the island of Taiwan.

• By the end of 1949, China and the Soviet Union controlled almost a quarter of the globe.


Section 1 AssessmentSection 1 Assessment

President Truman’s Cold War policy was toa) keep Soviet influence contained within existing boundaries.b) let Soviet influence spread to neighboring countries in Asia but not to

the United States or Western Europe.c) fight a series of small wars with the countries that surrounded the

Soviet Union.d) go to war with the Soviet Union.

Probably the greatest successes of the United Nations have been ina) preserving peace.b) fighting hunger and disease and improving education.c) defending Western Europe against Soviet threats.d) keeping the Soviet Union from dominating the Warsaw Pact nations.

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The Korean War PeriodThe Korean War Period

• Why did the United States become involved in the conflict in Korea?

• How did the fighting in Korea end?• What were the results of the hunt for Communists

at home?


The United States in the Korean ConflictThe United States in the Korean Conflict

• Korea is a peninsula in East Asia. As World War II ended, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to a temporary division of Korea at the 38th parallel. The United States backed a noncommunist government in South Korea. The Soviet Union supported a communist government in North Korea.

The North Korean invasion• In June 1950, North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel and invaded

South Korea. These forces occupied Seoul, capital of South Korea.• President Truman asked the United Nations to send a military force. • The UN agreed. General Douglas MacArthur would command UN forces. The UN landing at Inchon• At first, UN forces were outnumbered. Soon the North Koreans occupied

almost all of Korea.• MacArthur launched a counterattack by sea. He landed at Inchon, behind

North Korean lines. The North Koreans were forced back across the 38th parallel. Then, MacArthur got UN approval to cross into North Korea.


The United States in the Korean ConflictThe United States in the Korean Conflict

China enters the war• China warned the United States not to invade North

Korea or they would retaliate.• As UN forces neared the northern border of Korea,

masses of Chinese troops crossed into North Korea.• Once again, South Korean forces were pushed back.


How the Fighting in Korea EndedHow the Fighting in Korea Ended

A dispute arose between Truman and MacArthur.• The Korean War turned into a bloody deadlock. During

the deadlock, a disagreement arose between General MacArthur and President Truman. MacArthur felt that UN forces must attack China. Truman thought an attack on China could lead to a world war.

• When MacArthur complained publicly that politicians in Washington were holding him back, Truman fired him. Truman pointed out that the President is commander in chief.

How the Fighting in Korea EndedHow the Fighting in Korea EndedChapter 28, Section 2

The two sides sought an armistice in Korea.• Peace talks began in mid–1951. They dragged on with little progress.• In 1952, Dwight Eisenhower, the popular World War II general,

became President. He visited Korea.• Finally, in July 1953, the two sides signed an armistice to end the

fighting. It redrew the border between North Korea and South Korea near the 38th parallel. Along the border, it set up a demilitarized zone (DMZ), an area with no military forces. On either side of the DMZ, heavily armed troops dug in. They remain today.

Costs of the war• When the Korean War had ended, the borders had changed little.• The human costs were high—about 54,000 Americans and nearly 2

million Koreans and Chinese were killed.


The Korean WarThe Korean War


The Hunt for Communists at HomeThe Hunt for Communists at Home

• The Korean War increased worries about Communists at home. During the Great Depression, some people had turned to communism as the only solution to the nation’s economic troubles. In time, however, many recognized Joseph Stalin as a brutal dictator and left the party, but some stayed on.

• Between 1946 and 1950, several people in the United States, Canada, and Britain were arrested as Soviet spies. In the United States, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were sentenced to death for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets. They were executed in 1953.

• Americans worried that there might be Communists in high government positions. In 1950, Alger Hiss, a State Department official, was imprisoned for perjury, or lying under oath. Hiss denied he was part of a Soviet spy ring. Later evidence would suggest that, indeed, he had been a spy.

The Hunt for Communists at HomeThe Hunt for Communists at HomeChapter 28, Section 2

• In 1947, Truman ordered investigations of government workers. Thousands of government employees were questioned.

• In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin announced that he had a list of 205 State Department employees who were Communist party members. He never proved his claims, but he won attention. For four years, McCarthy spread suspicion.

• In 1954, the Senate held televised hearings to investigate a new McCarthy charge—that there were Communists in the United States Army. This time, McCarthy looked like a bully, not a hero. In 1954, the Senate passed a resolution to censure, or officially condemn, McCarthy for “conduct unbecoming a member.”



The Korean War began whena) South Korean troops invaded North Korea.b) Chinese troops poured into North Korea.c) North Korean troops invaded South Korea.d) Russian troops landed at Inchon, near the 38th parallel.

In the early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy held Senate hearings to investigate

a) whether or not government workers were working hard enough for their pay.

b) whether President Truman should have fired General MacArthur.c) the actual total costs of the Korean War.d) claims that members of the Communist party held government jobs.




Regional ConflictsRegional Conflicts

• Why did the Cold War spread to Africa and Asia?• Why did Cuba become a crisis spot during the

Cold War?• Why did the United States intervene in Latin

America during the Cold War?• How did the Cold War lead to an arms race?


The Philippines • The United States withdrew from the Philippines in 1946.• Since then, the Philippines has struggled to preserve a

democratic government. It has suffered from poverty, local uprisings, and dictatorships, including the rule of Ferdinand Marcos.

The Cold War Spread to Africa and AsiaThe Cold War Spread to Africa and Asia

After World War II, colonies of European and other powers demanded independence. Some achieved independence peacefully. Others had to fight for it. Sometimes, Communists joined people in their struggle. To keep the Soviets from expanding their influence to former colonies, American leaders faced choices.

• Should the United States provide aid to a colonial power? • Should the United States use secret aid to counter the Soviets?• Should the United States send troops to influence the affairs of another

nation?


Africa • During the 1950s and 1960s, more than 30 African nations became independent.

• Both the United States and the Soviet Union sought allies among these newly independent nations.

• Some nations have had civil wars. Others have had border wars with their neighbors. Often the United States and the Soviet Union backed opposing sides.

India and Pakistan

• In 1947, India won independence from Britain.• India was divided into two nations: India and Pakistan.• Pakistan became an ally of the United States. India accepted

both American and Soviet aid but remained neutral in the Cold War.

Indochina • French-ruled Indochina included present-day Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

• In each country, separate nationalist groups fought for independence. The wars lasted for almost 30 years.

The Cold War Spread to Africa and AsiaThe Cold War Spread to Africa and Asia


Bay of Pigs Invasion

• The Soviet Union began supplying Cuba with aid.• In 1961, President John F. Kennedy approved a plan for Cuban exiles to overthrow Castro.

Exiles are people who have been forced to leave their own country.• A force of Cuban exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on Cuba’s south coast. Castro’s forces

quickly rounded up the invaders. The Bay of Pigs invasion strengthened Castro and embarrassed the United States.

Cuban Missile Crisis

• In October 1962, President Kennedy learned that the Soviets were secretly building missile bases on Cuba.

• Kennedy announced that American warships would stop any Soviet ship carrying missiles to Cuba.

• Soviet ships steamed toward Cuba. At the last minute, they turned back, narrowly preventing a war.

• Kennedy’s strong stand led the Soviets to compromise. They agreed to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba. The United States promised not to invade Cuba.

• The Cuban missile crisis had shaken both Americans and Soviets. It was as close as the world ever came to a full-scale nuclear war.

By the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union were the world’s superpowers—nations with enough military, political, and economic strength to influence events worldwide. The rivalry led to a clash in Cuba.In 1959, Fidel Castro led a communist revolution in Cuba. Castro’s government took over private companies, including many owned by Americans. Thousands of Cubans fled to the United States.

The Crisis Over CubaThe Crisis Over Cuba


The United States Intervenes in Latin AmericaThe United States Intervenes in Latin America

• In the early 1900s, the United States had intervened in the internal affairs of Latin American nations. The Cold War led the United States to intervene again.

• Latin America had severe social and economic problems.• A huge gap existed between the wealthy few and the

majority of people.• In most countries, rural people lived in desperate

poverty.• Many poor Latin Americans saw communism as a

solution to their problems.



• Many American leaders agreed with the need for reform. They hoped that American aid would help make Latin American nations more democratic and lessen communist influence.

• In 1961, Kennedy created an aid program called the Alliance for Progress. The United States contributed aid for schools and hospitals and for improving farming and sanitation services. The Alliance brought improvements, but it did not end the causes of poverty.

• Kennedy also set up the Peace Corps. Under this program, American volunteers worked in developing countries. They lived with local people, teaching or giving technical advice.

• The United States joined with other countries in the Organization of American States, or OAS. Through the OAS, the United States invested in transportation and industry in Latin America.

• The United States gave military aid to train and arm Latin American military forces. The United States spoke up for democracy but sometimes supported military dictators because they opposed communism.



• Between 1950 and 1990, the United States returned to a policy of intervention in Latin American affairs.• The United States intervened in Guatemala, the Dominican

Republic, Panama, and Grenada.• When rebels in El Salvador and Guatemala fought to

overthrow harsh governments, the United States backed the governments because they were anticommunist.

• When a rebel group, the Sandinistas, overthrew a dictator in Nicaragua, President Reagan sided with the opponents of the Sandinistas, known as the Contras. Many members of Congress disagreed with Reagan’s policy. They banned military aid to the Contras. People on the President’s staff arranged for secret aid. When the arrangement became known, many Americans were outraged. Finally, Nicaraguans voted in new leaders.


The Cold War Leads to an Arms RaceThe Cold War Leads to an Arms Race

• By the 1950s, both the Soviet Union and the United States had large stocks of nuclear bombs and missiles.• In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the world’s

first artificial satellite. Americans were stunned.• Sputnik sparked a new round of spending on weapons

systems by both the Soviet Union and the United States.• The United States launched its own satellites. • The superpowers raced to send larger satellites farther.• The United States set up the National Aeronautics and

Space Administration, or NASA. Its mission was to direct an American space program to compete with the Soviets.



During the Cold War, the situation that brought the United States and the Soviet Union closest to a full-scale nuclear war was known as the

a) Bay of Pigs invasion.b) Ethiopia-Somalia conflict.c) Cuban missile crisis.d) Contra affair.

People who want to help developing countries by teaching or giving technical advice can volunteer for

a) the Alliance for Progress.b) the Peace Corps.c) the Organization of American States.d) NASA.




The War in VietnamThe War in Vietnam

• How did the United States get involved in the Vietnam War?

• How did the Vietnam War affect Americans at home?

• How did the Tet Offensive help lead to the war’s end?

• What impact did the Vietnam War have on the United States and Southeast Asia?


How the United States Got Involved in VietnamHow the United States Got Involved in Vietnam

• Vietnam is a narrow country that stretches along the South China Sea. Since the late 1800s, it had been a French colony.

• The United States became involved in Vietnam slowly, step by step.• During the 1940s, Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese nationalist and a

Communist, led a fight for independence. His army defeated the French in 1954.

• An international peace conference divided Vietnam into two countries—communist North Vietnam and noncommunist South Vietnam, led by Ngo Dinh Diem.

• Diem lost popular support. People said he favored wealthy landlords and was corrupt.

• Many peasants began to join the Vietcong—guerrillas who opposed Diem. Guerrillas are fighters who make hit-and-run attacks on the enemy. In time the Vietcong were supported by communist North Vietnam.



• American leaders thought that if South Vietnam fell to communism, neighboring countries would follow, like falling dominoes. This idea became known as the Domino Theory.

• During the 1950s and 1960s, Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy sent financial aid and military advisers to South Vietnam to help train the South Vietnamese army.

• In 1963, Diem was assassinated. A few weeks later, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Lyndon Johnson became President. Johnson increased aid to South Vietnam. Still, the Vietcong continued to make gains.

• In August 1964, President Johnson announced that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked an American ship patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam.



• As a result, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which allowed the President “to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack or to prevent further aggression.”

• Johnson ordered the bombing of North Vietnam and Vietcong-held areas. The role of Americans had changed from advisers to active fighters. The war in Vietnam escalated, or expanded.

• The Vietnam War differed from other wars Americans had been in. Rather than trying to gain ground, Americans were attempting to destroy enemy positions. When Americans found enemy positions, the guerrillas disappeared into the jungle. When the Americans left, the enemy returned. Worse still, American soldiers could not tell which villagers were Vietcong.


How the War Affected Americans at HomeHow the War Affected Americans at Home

• As American casualties mounted, public support for the war faded. For the first time, Americans watched a war on television. They saw villages burned, children and old people caught in battle, and soldiers wounded.

• To raise troops, the United States expanded the draft, or system of mandatory enlistment. The draft affected American youth unequally. Many middle-class men found ways to avoid the draft, while poorer men—especially African Americans and Mexican Americans—went to war.

• By the mid-1960s, the country was splitting between “hawks” and “doves.” Hawks supported the war as a battle against communism. Doves opposed the war. They saw it as a civil war that should involve the Vietnamese only.

• Protests spread. Many people wanted the huge sums being spent on the Vietnam War to be spent instead on social programs at home.


The Tet Offensive: A Turning PointThe Tet Offensive: A Turning Point

• In January 1968, the Vietcong launched surprise attacks on cities throughout South Vietnam. The attack became known as the Tet Offensive, because it took place during Tet, the Vietnamese New Year’s holiday.

• American and South Vietnamese forces pushed back the enemy, but the Vietcong had won a political victory. Their offensive showed that even with half a million American troops there, no part of South Vietnam was safe from the Vietcong.

• When Richard Nixon took office as President, he widened the war, hoping to weaken the enemy. Nixon ordered the bombing of communist bases in neighboring Cambodia. Then, American and South Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia. These moves plunged Cambodia into its own civil war.

• Finally, Nixon began to turn the war over to South Vietnam and withdraw American troops. Peace talks were held in Paris. In January 1973, the two sides reached a cease-fire agreement. In 1974, the last American troops left Vietnam, though the United States continued to send aid.

The Tet Offensive: A Turning PointThe Tet Offensive: A Turning PointChapter 28, Section 4

• In April 1975, communist forces captured Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam was united under a communist government.

• That year, the communist Khmer Rouge won the civil war in Cambodia. They imposed a brutal reign of terror on their own people. In 1979, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and set up a less harsh communist government there.


The Vietnam WarThe Vietnam War

Impact of the Vietnam WarImpact of the Vietnam WarChapter 28, Section 4

The costs of the war• More than 58,000 American soldiers lost their lives.• More than a million Vietnamese soldiers and half a million Vietnamese

civilians died.• The war shattered the Vietnamese economy.

• Hundreds of thousands of people fled Vietnam and Cambodia.• Many refugees escaped in small boats. Many of these boat people drowned

or died of hunger and thirst.• Many others made it to safety and some settled in the United States.

• The Vietnam War was a painful episode in American history.• The war produced no victory.• The war divided the nation and left Americans wondering how far the

United States should go to fight communism.



The United States became involved in Vietnam because of the domino theory, which said

a) the United States had to go to the aid of France because it was a European ally.

b) if South Vietnam fell to the Communists, the rest of the region would follow.c) the peace conference had no right to divide Vietnam into two countries.d) if American forces were attacked, the President could take steps to keep it

from happening again.

Which statement best describes how the American people reacted to United States involvement in the Vietnam War?

a) Americans were nearly a hundred percent behind the war.b) Most Americans knew little about the war and didn’t have an opinion.c) Americans were nearly a hundred percent against the war.d) American opinion became sharply divided, with some opposing the war and

some favoring it.




The Cold War EndsThe Cold War Ends

• How did President Richard Nixon change the course of American foreign policy?

• Why did new Cold War tensions emerge after 1979?

• What conditions led to the fall of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe?

• How did the Cold War affect American society?


Nixon Changes the Course of American Foreign PolicyNixon Changes the Course of American Foreign Policy

Nixon sought to improve relations with the People’s Republic of China.• Since 1949, the United States had refused to recognize the

communist government of China.• Instead, it recognized the Chinese Nationalists, now confined

to the island of Taiwan. The United States supported their claim to being the legitimate government of China.

• Nixon allowed secret talks with Chinese officials to find ways for the United States and China to have a better relationship.

• Nixon visited the People’s Republic of China in 1972. • As tensions eased, the two countries established formal

diplomatic relations in 1979.


Nixon Changes the Course of American Foreign PolicyNixon Changes the Course of American Foreign Policy

Nixon sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union.• In May 1972, Nixon became the first American President to visit

the Soviet Union since the beginning of the Cold War. • Nixon’s effort to reduce tensions between the superpowers was

known as détente. Trade and other contacts between the two countries increased.

• The new relationship led the superpowers to sign a treaty to limit the number of nuclear warheads and missiles each produced. The treaty was known as the SALT Agreement. SALT stands for Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.

• The next two Presidents, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, continued the policy of détente. Under Ford, the United States and the Soviet Union conducted a joint space mission. Carter and Soviet leader Brezhnev worked out a SALT II Treaty.


New Cold War Tensions After 1979New Cold War Tensions After 1979

Détente ended suddenly in 1979 when Soviet troops swept into Afghanistan to help a pro-Soviet government. Soviet troops remained for ten years.

• President Carter withdrew the SALT II Treaty.• The United States supplied rebel troops.• The war became so costly for the Soviets that it eventually contributed to

the downfall of the Soviet Union. • In 1989, the Soviets were forced to pull out.

Ronald Reagan took office in 1981. He firmly believed the Soviet Union was an evil empire. He also took a tough anticommunist stand on Latin America.

• Reagan persuaded Congress to increase military spending.• He called for a new weapons system that he hoped could destroy Soviet

missiles from space. The system was nicknamed Star Wars.• In December 1981, Poland’s communist government cracked down on

Solidarity, an independent labor union. Under Soviet pressure, the Polish government imposed martial law, or emergency military rule, on the country. Reagan condemned the move.


Cau

ses

• Soviet Union takes control of Eastern European nations

• Communism gains influence in Western Europe, the Middle East, and Asia

• Western powers fear Soviet expansion

Co

ld W

ar

Eff

ects

• Arms race between United States and Soviet Union results in heavy military spending

• Western powers and Soviet Union create separate military alliances

• Armed conflicts erupt in Korea and Vietnam

• United States and Soviet Union compete for influence in developing nations

Eff

ects

To

day

• United States is world’s greatest military power

• Eastern Europe and Russia are struggling to create democratic governments

• Southeast Asian countries are still recovering from wars

The Cold WarThe Cold War


The Fall of CommunismThe Fall of Communism

In the mid-1980s, cracks began to appear in the Soviet empire. Economic problems were growing, in part because the Soviets were spending so much on their military, there was little money left for producing consumer goods. People complained that it was time for reform.In 1985, new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev undertook major reforms.

• Gorbachev backed glasnost, the Russian term for speaking out openly. He hoped this new openness would lead citizens to find new solutions to pressing problems.

• Gorbachev knew he could not solve economic problems without cutting military spending. To do so, he would have to have better relations with the United States. President Reagan and Gorbachev met at several summit meetings. A summit meeting is a conference between the highest-ranking officials of different nations.

• In 1987, the two leaders signed an arms control pact—the Intermediate Nuclear Force (INF) Treaty. They agreed to get rid of stockpiles of short and medium-range missiles.



• In the late 1980s, Eastern European governments could no longer control their people’s demands for democratic and economic reforms.• The Soviet Union was too busy with its own problems to

suppress these protests, as it had before. • In 1989, Poland held its first free elections in 50 years. Polish

voters rejected communist candidates and voted for Solidarity candidates. Lech Walesa, once jailed by the Communists, became head of a new government.

• One by one, communist governments fell in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Albania. In Romania, a violent revolt toppled the communist dictator.

• In East Germany, the Communists were forced from power. By 1990, Germany was reunited under a democratic government.



• The Soviet Union was made up of 15 republics held together by a strong central government in Moscow.• By 1990, some republics were demanding self-rule. • For nearly 70 years, the Soviet Union had had only one party.

To quiet the unrest, Gorbachev allowed new political parties.• Hard-line communist officials tried to oust Gorbachev.• The revolt weakened Gorbachev. Soon, republic after republic

declared its independence from the Soviet Union.• In late 1991, Gorbachev resigned, but by then, the Soviet

Union had collapsed.• Fifteen new nations emerged from the old Soviet Union.

Russia was the largest and most powerful. These countries have tried to shift from communism to a free-market system, but the change has not been easy.


The Cold WarThe Cold War


How the Cold War Affected AmericansHow the Cold War Affected Americans

• The Cold War lasted almost 50 years. In that time, hundreds of thousands of Americans went off to war. About 112,000 did not return. Americans at home lived under the expectation of an attack.

• The Cold War was costly. From 1946 to 1990, the United States spent over $6 trillion on national defense.

• The arms race created dangers for the world. Other nations besides the superpowers tried to develop their own nuclear weapons.

• The Cold War divided Americans at times. The search for Communists in the 1950s and the Vietnam War split the American public.

• Americans had disagreed strongly about foreign policy. Yet, they could agree that their freedom was worth fighting for.



In the 1970s, President Nixon moved to ease world tensions. To create better relations with China,

a) he visited the People’s Republic of China.b) he promised to stop aiding the Nationalists on Taiwan.c) he visited the Soviet Union.d) he played ping pong with the popular Chinese team.

One reason for the collapse of the Soviet Union was thata) rebel countries of Eastern Europe sent troops into Soviet territory.b) Soviet troops lost clashes with Eastern Europeans and with their own

people.c) heavy military spending contributed to growing problems within their

economic system.d) the United States developed a new weapons system that could destroy

Soviet missiles from space.



Ch28

Education

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