Living in a Nuclear Age

1
Living in a Nuclear Age
2
Preparing For Nuclear War

• Following Hiroshima and Nagasaki many Americans
  were afraid of an attack on the United States.
• Things such as underground bomb shelters, burn
  medicine, dog tags, and radiation proof clothing
  became the norm
• Harry Truman felt the best way to protect our
  nation was by building up our nuclear arsenal.
• Numerous PSAs contributed to the hysteria of the
  nation.

3
Dwight Eisenhower is elected

• Once he took office he came up with a new policy
  to defeat communism.
• He threatened the Soviets and said that if they
  were ever to attack a country they would launch a
  nuclear attack on them and his policy became
  known as brinkmanship.
• Advantages and disadvantages of this policy-

4
Soviets Change The Course

• Negotiations opened up between the Soviets and
  Americans in 1954 that made many people hopeful
  that the Cold War was coming to end.
• The Soviet Union changed the landscape again by
  sending troops into Hungary in 1956 and by
  launching Sputnik in 1957.
• Eisenhower responded by increasing the missile
  budget by 1 Billion and creating NASA.

5
The CIA

• The CIA was created after World War II by Truman
  and was put together essentially as a network of
  spies
• In the late 40s and early 50s their main
  mission was to overthrow neutral or pro-Soviet
  governments and install friendly governments.
• The first real test of the CIA was in Iran and
  led to the CIA being a fixture forever and also
  led to many Iranians having bad feelings towards
  the United States.

6
Central and South America

• The CIA was also involved in this region because
  of all the money the United States had invested
  in this area.
• Many people in these areas resented America
  however because Americans made billions of
  dollars from this area but little money was given
  to the people that lived here.
• In Cuba Fulgencio Batista took power and was
  friendly towards the United States.
• 6 years into his reign he was overthrown by Fidel
  Castro in 1958.

7
Bay of Pigs

• Fidel Castro broke off all relations with the
  United States and Eisenhower quickly put together
  a group of people to overthrow Castro
• Castro meanwhile had set up diplomatic relations
  with the Soviet Union.
• When John F. Kennedy became President he ordered
  that 1,500 men invade Cuba and attempt to get
  Castro out of power.