CHAPTER 26

COLD WAR CONFLICTS

What was the Cold War?

• Conflict between the superpowers of the U.S. and USSR.

• Democracy v. Communism

• From 1945-1989 After World War II to Fall of Berlin Wall)

• Examples: Berlin, Cuba, Korean War and Vietnam War

What was the United Nations?

• 1945- new organization created to keep the peace.

• 50 nations were involved.

• Eleanor Roosevelt was active in its beginnings.

What was the Potsdam Conference?

• Meeting of Churchill, Stalin, and Truman outside of Berlin in July 1945.

• Stalin made clear his ideas for the spread of Communism into Eastern Europe.

• Truman was sure the next conflict would be with the Soviets.

What were satellite nations?

• Communist governments on Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland.

• Controlled by Soviet Union.

What was the U.S. policy of containment?

• Policy of George F. Kennan that many Presidents will follow.

• Prevent the spread of communism throughout the world.

• Examples: Berlin, Cuba, Korea, Vietnam

What was the Iron Curtain?

• Statement by Winston Churchill

• Stood for the division of Western European democracies and Eastern European communist nations.

• Berlin Wall will be built in the 1960’s.

What was the Truman Doctrine (1947)?

• Truman declared that the policy of the U.S. was to support free people against communism.

• Gave $400 million to Greece and Turkey to prevent communism

What was the Marshall Plan (1947)?

• 16 Western European countries received $13 billion in aid from the U.S. (Secretary of State George C. Marshall)

• Provided basic needs like food and clothing

• Showed America was generous and promoted democracy.

What was the crisis in Berlin (1948-49)?

• Stalin blockaded all goods from entering the Allied section of Berlin.

• Truman responded with the Berlin Airlift for 327 days until Stalin lifted the blockade.

• Giving supplies to those in West Berlin

• Close to war.

What was NATO (1949)?

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization created as a military alliance of democratic nations.

• Kept a standing military force of 500,000 troops.

What was the Warsaw Pact (1949)?

• Alliance of Communist nation in opposition to NATO led by the Soviet Union.

What was happening in China?

• The U.S. supported government of Chiang Kai Shek is overthrown by the Communists Mao Zedong in 1949.

• Chiang Kai Shek flees to Taiwan.

• U.S. does not recognize Communist China.

What was the Korean War?• North Korea (Communist

nation supported by China) invades South Korea (Democracy supported by U.S.)

• United Nations supported war (led mostly by Americans) fights N. Koreans from 1950-53.

• Stalemate at 38th parallel.

• Korea still divided today!

• Over 50,000 Americans die in the Forgotten War.

Why was Douglas MacArthur fired?

• Disagreed openly with Truman.

• MacArthur wanted to expand Korean War into China and use nuclear weapons.

• Truman wanted to stick to the policy of containment.

What was the House of Un-American Committee (HUAC)?

• Set up to investigate suspected Communists in America.(Started 1947)

• Fear that America would be taken over by Communist spies.

• Investigated all people including those in Hollywood.

• Hollywood Ten- refused to answer government?’s

• Blacklist- not allowed to work.

Who were the spies?

• Alger Hiss- accused of spying for Soviet Union.

• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg- accused of passing atomic secrets to Soviets. Sentenced to death.

What was McCarthyism?

• Led by Senator Joseph McCarthy as a witch hunt for communists in America.

• “Are you or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”

• Naming names of friends• Late 1940’s-1950’s• Inspiration for Arthur

Miller’s The Crucible

What was the H bomb?

• 67 times more powerful than the bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• U.S. developed first one in 1952 and a few months later Soviets develop weapon.

• Fear that Soviets will attack America with nuclear weapons.

What was the policy of brinkmanship?

• Willingness to go to the edge of nuclear war and then backing down.

• Policy of John Foster Dulles

• Used by President Eisenhower

What was the CIA?

• Central Intelligence Agency

• Used spies to gather information and carry out secret covert actions to overthrow governments.

What was the Eisenhower Doctrine?

• U.S. would defend the Middle East against attack by any communist country.

Who was Nikita Khruschev?

• Leader of Soviet Unionafter Stalin’s death from 1953- thru the 1960’s.

• Sputnik- Soviet’s launch first artificial satellite.

• America responded by investing more in science and math education.

What was the U-2 Incident?

• U.S. spy plane flown by Francis Gary Powers was shot down.

• Increased Cold War tensions

What was the GI Bill of Rights?

• Guaranteed WW II veterans education, low cost mortgages, and unemployment benefits.

• Created a new middle class with great opportunities.

Where were WW II veterans living?

• Suburbs- residential communities outside of major cities.

• Levittown- standardized homes built with the assembly line method.

What was the economy like in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s?• Boom in Consumer

goods• Largest economic

expansion in U.S. history

• Home ownership is part of the American Dream

What were the issues of domestic policy in Harry S. Truman’s

presidency?• Supported Civil Rights

with the integration of the federal government and the military.

• Fair Deal• “The Buck Stops Here”• Faces strikes• Faced opposition from the

Dixiecrats- opposed to Truman’s integration policies.

• Barely wins 1948 election.

Who was Jackie Robinson?

• 1947- First African American to play in the Major Leagues

• Faced discrimination and death threats daily.

• Became a successful businessman also.

What were conglomerates?

• Major corporation that includes a number of smaller companies in unrelated industries.

• Examples are Xerox and General Electric

What is a franchise?

• Company that offers similar products and service in many locations.

• The birth of fast food- McDonalds

What was the baby boom?

• From the late 1940’s to late 1950’s- 40 million Americans were born.

• Lived in suburbs and are affecting us today with the Social Security crisis.

What were the advances in medicine and child care?

• Dr. Jonas Salk- polio vaccine

• Dr. Benjamin Spock- Books on child care

• Schools were being built at a very high rate to keep up with baby boomers.

What was life like for women?

• Homemaker was shown in magazines, films, and TV.

• More than 20% of women were dissatisfied with their lives.

• 97% of women were married.

• Only female jobs available: teaching, nursing, secretarial work.

What did people do in the leisure time?

• Owned more products like washing machines and dishwashers.

• Sports• TV• Reading magazines

and books

How was the automobile important in the 1950’s?

• Inexpensive gas• Cars symbolized

people’s personality.• Interstate Highway

System- Eisenhower• Leads to traffic and

overcrowding.• Drive In culture

What is consumerism?

• Buying material goods to show success.

• New technology- household products, record players, swimming pools, and cars.

• Buying on credit

• Keeping Up With the Jones’

What is planned obsolescence?

• Products are designed to go out of date in a short period of time.

• Keeps customers buying new products.

What forms of entertainment were important?

• TV (I Love Lucy, Ozzie and Harriet, Gunsmoke, Howdy Doody)

• Everything was for a family audience.

• Movies: Actors like James Dean and Marilyn Monroe

What was the beat movement?

• Rejected the materialism and consumerism of the 1950’s.

• Forerunners of hippie movement

• Jack Kerouac On the Road

• Alan Ginsberg Howl

Who were the leaders of early rock n’ roll?

• Started in African American community and considered the “devil’s music”

• Chuck Berry• Elvis Presley• Billy Haley and the

Comets• Jerry Lee Lewis