Unit 8: The Cold War 1950-1975 Did the USA manage to contain the spread of Communism?

Focus: Read don’t write The USA was strongly opposed to Communism. By 1949, it seemed to the American government that Communism might spread all around the world unless the USA did something to stop it. From the 1950s to the 1970s, American foreign policy was therefore directed to trying to contain or stop the spread of Communism In this unit: You will explore the different methods of containment used by the United States during the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War You will consider how each of these Cold War crises and the the nuclear arms race affected relations between the superpowers You will make up your own mind as to how successful the Americans were in containing the spread of Communism

Read don’t write

The USA was strongly opposed to Communism. By 1949, it seemed to the American government that Communism might spread all around the world unless the USA did something to stop it. From the 1950s to the 1970s, American foreign policy was therefore directed to trying to contain or stop the spread of Communism

In this unit:

You will explore the different methods of containment used by the United States during the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Vietnam War

You will consider how each of these Cold War crises and the the nuclear arms race affected relations between the superpowers

You will make up your own mind as to how successful the Americans were in containing the spread of Communism

The Cold War Read, don’t write The timeline that follows summarizes some of the aspects of the Cold War that we’ll be studying in this unit. In this unit you will investigate what the USA was doing during the Cold War period, as well as examine what the USSR was doing. As the two subjects overlap in time, you will need to keep a clear overview of the period, so you will be asked to refer to this timeline at a number of stages as you proceed.

Read, don’t write

The timeline that follows summarizes some of the aspects of the Cold War that we’ll be studying in this unit. In this unit you will investigate what the USA was doing during the Cold War period, as well as examine what the USSR was doing. As the two subjects overlap in time, you will need to keep a clear overview of the period, so you will be asked to refer to this timeline at a number of stages as you proceed.

1960 1970 1980 Truman Eisenhower Stalin Khrushchev Kennedy Johnson Brezhnev Nixon Ford Carter An dro pov Cher nen ko Gorbachev Reagan Bush Sr. 1950-1953 The Korean War Oct 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis 1964 – 1973 American Military Involvement In Vietnam 1956 Hungarian Uprising 1961 Berlin Wall Built 1968 Prague Spring: Czecho- slovakia 1980-81 Solidarity In Poland 1989 Collapse of Communism In Eastern Europe 1991 Collapse of Soviet Union

Throughout the Cold War the superpowers … … regularly argued with each other in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, where each side openly criticized the actions of the other … sometimes criticized each other through their television programs, newspapers, art & film Boris Badenov, Natasha Fatale & Fearless Leader (Recurring villains on Rocky & Bullwinkle) … sometimes threatened military confrontation with each other, although it never came to war … commonly sent troops or advisors to help other states or groups to disrupt the aims and plans of their opponents

… regularly argued with each other in the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, where each side openly criticized the actions of the other

… sometimes criticized each other through their television programs, newspapers, art & film

… sometimes threatened military confrontation with each other, although it never came to war

… commonly sent troops or advisors to help other states or groups to disrupt the aims and plans of their opponents

1950-1953 Korean War 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis 1979-1990s War in Afghanistan: The Afghan gov’t supported by Soviet Forces in fight against US-backed guerrilla fighters 1965-1973 Vietnam War 1960s-1980s In Central & South America the USA supported anti-Communist regimes (e.g. General Pinochet in Chile). The USSR supported Communist rebels 1967-1980s: Israel supported by the US gov’t in Middle East conflict w/ Arabs. The USSR supported the Palestinians & Arab states

Anti-Communism in the USA US always anti-Communist Cold War intensified feeling Senator Joseph McCarthy exploited fears Alleged USSR has spies throughout gov’t Claimed 57 Commies in State Dept alone 1950-54: led ‘witch hunt’ to find Commies Many in gov’t & Congress were suspicious of McCarthy but didn’t want to appear ‘soft’ on Communism McCarthy ran rough-shod over people’s civil liberties for four years

US always anti-Communist

Cold War intensified feeling

Senator Joseph McCarthy exploited fears

Alleged USSR has spies throughout gov’t

Claimed 57 Commies in State Dept alone

1950-54: led ‘witch hunt’ to find Commies

Many in gov’t & Congress were suspicious of McCarthy but didn’t want to appear ‘soft’ on Communism

McCarthy ran rough-shod over people’s civil liberties for four years

Fin