The Cold War

1
The Cold War

• Its getting hot in here!!!

2
The Korean War

• Although it lacked the glory of WWII an the
  turmoil of the Vietnam War, the Korean conflict
  had important effects on the United States.
• While the attention of most Americans focused on
  Communism in Europe, events were unfolding in
  Asia that would cause the Cold War to flare up
  into a hot military confrontation.

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Temporarily Dividing Korea

• Japan had annexed the Korean peninsula during
  WWII.
• The Koreans had hoped their country would be
  restored after the defeat of Japan.
• The war ended before careful plans for an
  independent Korea could be finalized.
• The U.S. and the Soviets basically split it up
  into occupied zones.
• The Soviets occupied north of the 38th parallel
  and the U.S. occupied south of the 38th parallel.

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Google Earth Rules!
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The Korean War Begins

• The Government in the north was communist and the
  Government in the south was pro-American.
• Koreans on both sides of the 38th parallel wanted
  to unify their nation.
• The Korean War started when North Korean troops
  streamed across the 38th parallel.
• The attack took the United States by surprise.

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The U.N. Police Action

• President Truman thought the Soviet Union was
  behind the attack (he was wrong).
• He would not let this aggression stand If this
  (invasion of South Korea) was allowed to go
  unchallenged, it would mean a third world war,
  just as similar incidents brought on the second
  world war.
• Technically, the U.S. never declared war on North
  Korea, instead they were 80 of the U.N. Police
  Action to protect South Korea.

7
Douglas MacArthur is in Charge

• Douglas MacArthur was an American hero.
• He was a very successful General with one
  problem He had a bad attitude toward anyone with
  authority over him.
• MacArthur was put in charge of the U.N. police
  action to defend South Korea.
• He successfully pushed back the North Koreans
  towards the Chinese border.

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MacArthur and Truman Disagree

• Once the North Koreans had been pushed back
  towards China, the Chinese sent troops in to help
  them because they did not want a democracy close
  to their border.
• MacArthur thought it would be a good idea to ask
  the Chinese Nationalists living on the island of
  Taiwan to come back and fight the communists.
• Truman disagreed with MacArthur because he did
  not want to start World War Three.

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MacArthur Gets Fired!

• MacArthur was mad at Truman and he sent a letter
  to the Secretary of State complaining about
  Trumans decision.
• The Secretary of State made the letter public and
  Truman decided to fire MacArthur for
  insubordination.
• The two sides in the conflict fought to a
  stalemate and a truce was signed in 1953, leaving
  Korea divided almost exactly as it was at the
  beginning of the war.

10
Americans Get Angry

• The war caused enormous frustration in the United
  States.
• Why had 34,000 soldiers been killed and 103,000
  injured for such limited results?
• They wondered if the U.S. Government had the guts
  to stop communism.
• The silver lining was that the Communists were
  pushed back past the 38th parallel and were
  contained.

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Historical Significance of the Korean War

• The Korean War was the first war in which white
  Americans and African Americans served in the
  same unit.
• The United States began to accept permanent
  mobilization to be ready to fight communism
  anytime and anywhere, which led to a huge
  increase in military spending.
• This created the military-industrial complex that
  employed 3.5 million Americans by 1960.

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The Cuban Missile Crisis

• On October 16, 1962, photographs taken from an
  American spy plane revealed that the Soviets were
  building missile bases on Cuba- only 90 miles
  from the Florida coast.
• As a result, the U.S. and the Soviet Union came
  this close to a nuclear
  war.

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Soviets Flex Their Muscles

• The missiles did not actually make the U.S. any
  less safe because the Soviets had long range
  missiles that could be launched from there.
• It was instead an effort to intimidate the United
  States and their young president.
• Kennedy knew this aggression should not stand so
  he decided to respond.

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Krushchev Vs. Kennedy
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Kennedys Options

• 1) Engage in further negotiations with the
  Soviets
• This option, although peaceful, would give the
  Soviets more time to finish building the missile
  bases.
• It also might make Kennedy look like a wimp in
  the face of the bold Soviet move.

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Kennedys Options

• 2) Invade Cuba
• This would eliminate the missile threat and
  achieve the additional goal of ousting Fidel
  Castro.
• A Cuban invasion had failed before (Bay of Pigs),
  and this plan risked all-out nuclear war with the
  Soviets.

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Kennedys Options

• 3) Blockade Cuba
• This action would prevent Soviet ships from
  making further missile deliveries.
• It would force the Soviets to either back off or
  take aggressive action against U.S. warships.
• No one knew how the Soviets would react to this
  step.

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Kennedys Options

• Bomb the missile sites
• A series of air strikes could quickly knock out
  the missiles.
• Would the Soviets launch a counterstrike? If so,
  where?

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Kennedy Weighs his Options

• There were differing opinions on what Kennedy
  should do and he was under a lot of pressure!
• He got the armed forces ready for an all out
  attack on Cuba and then he weighed his options
  alone.
• This was one of the most dangerous and agonizing
  decisions any President had to make.

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Kennedy Decides

• Kennedy decided on a naval quarantine around
  Cuba to block Soviet ships.
• He did not use the word blockade because that
  would have been an act of war.
• Kennedy did not back down The path we have
  chosen for the present is full of hazardsThe
  cost of freedom is always high-and Americans have
  always paid it. And one path we shall never
  choose, and that is the path of surrender or
  submission. October 22, 1962

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The World Waits

• As a dozen Soviet cargo ships approached the
  quarantine, the world held its breath.
• To everyones great relief, the Soviet ships
  suddenly reversed direction, the Soviet leader
  Krushchev had called them back.
• In return for taking the missiles out of Cuba,
  the Soviet Union wanted the United States to lift
  the naval blockade, stay out of Cubas business,
  and remove their missiles from Turkey.

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So, so close

• The Cuban Missile crisis brought the world closer
  than ever to Nuclear war.
• Such a war would have caused unimaginable
  destruction.
• Secretary of State Dean Rusk said to Kennedy We
  have won a considerable victory. You and I are
  still alive.

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The Aftereffects

• They opened up a hot line between their two
  nations to allow the Soviet and American leaders
  to communicate quickly in the event of a future
  crisis.
• The U.S. and the Soviet Union agreed to the
  Limited Test Ban Treaty in which both countries
  agreed to not test nuclear weapons above ground.
• Testing underground still happened, but this
  limited the amount of radioactivity released into
  the atmosphere.

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If you want to explore further

• Cuban Missle Crisis Info!
• http//cruof5.com/default.aspx

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The Vietnam War

• As part of the U.S. policy of containment,
  President Dwight D. Eisenhower described what he
  called the Domino Theory.
• You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock
  over the first one, and what will happen to the
  last one is the certainty that it will go over
  very quickly.
• The fear was that if communism took over Vietnam
  than it would spread to the rest of Southeast
  Asia.

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An image of the Domino Theory
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The Geneva Accords

• Vietnam had been a French colony. They were
  eventually defeated and left.
• The Geneva Accords were the peace talks between
  various leaders including the U.S., Soviet Union,
  and Great Britain after the French had been
  driven out of Vietnam.
• Vietnam was divided into two parts The north,
  led by Ho Chi Minh, was communist and the south,
  led by Ngo Dinh Diem, was anti-communist.
• Didnt anyone learn from Korea?

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U.S. Involvement

• President Eisenhower continued the policy set
  forth by the Truman Doctrine and he pledged
  support of South Vietnam.
• He sent 675 United States military advisors to
  assist in South Vietnams struggle against the
  north.
• The United States had become involved in the
  Vietnam War

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President Johnson Commits to Containment

• The Communists desire to dominate the world is
  just like the lawyers desire to be the ultimate
  judge on the Supreme CourtYou see, the
  Communists want to rule the world, and if we
  dont stand up to them, they will do it. And
  well be slaves. Now, Im not one of those folks
  seeing Communists under every bed. But I do know
  about the principles of power, and when one side
  is weak, the other steps in.

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Johnson Didnt Want a Bad Reputation

• Johnson saw how the country blamed President
  Truman for allowing China to fall to the
  Communists.
• He was determined to not let Southeast Asia fall
  to the Communists as well.
• He was afraid he would be blamed for the
  Southeast Asian dominoes being set in motion by
  the fall of Vietnam.

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Expanding Presidential Powers

• In 1964, Johnson made a dramatic announcement
  North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked
  United States warships in the Gulf of Tonkin!
• Although the details were sketchy, and many
  thought it might not have happened at all,
  Johnson used the incident to increase American
  involvement in Vietnam.

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The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• President Johnson asked Congress for a resolution
  giving him authority to take all necessary
  measures to repel any armed attack against the
  forces of the United States and to prevent
  further aggression.
• Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and
  the President now had nearly complete control
  over what the United States did in Vietnam, even
  if Congress never declared warwhich they didnt!

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Hot Conflict Summaries

• For each Hot Conflict, write a paragraph
  summary of what happened (What started the
  conflict? How did it end? Did we contain
  communism?)
• Korean War
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• Vietnam War
• 3 paragraphs total!!!