1. America Moves to the Right
Cold War Intensifies

2. Creation of the State of Israel 1948

3. United Nations partition plan 1947
Recognized by both super-powers, the US and the Soviet Union
President Truman recognized the state of Israel, going against most of his advisors

5. Six Day War, 1967 (during Johnson presidency)
Egypt put troops along Israel’s border and Israel launched a pre-emptive strike;
Jordan and Syria joined Egypt

6. A stunning victory for Israel, seizing territory amounting to twice its original size.
Israel took control of the Sinai Peninsula,
Gaza Strip (from Egypt);
the Golan Heights (from Syria);
and the West Bank (from Jordan);

7. Yom Kippur War, 1973 Egypt and Syria attack Israel;
Nixon Administration sided with Israel,
Arab nations retaliated with an oil embargo that caused serious shortages in US.

8. What are the Disputes?
Palestinians displaced when Israel was created in the 1940s
Arab countries refusal to admit Israel’s right to exist;
Israel settling territories it gained in the Six Day War

9. Camp David Accords
President Jimmy Carter negotiates peace in Middle East
calls Egyptian leader Anwar Sadat and Israeli leader Menachim Begin to Camp David in Maryland
Thirteen-day negotiations

10. “Camp David Accords”
Signed at the White House in 1979, brokered by Carter
Israel agreed to gradual withdrawal from Sinai Peninsula.
Egypt first Arab nation to recognize Israel.

11. Iran
In the 1950s, the CIA had helped overthrow Iranian government, and the Shah of Iran was installed;
In 1979, a revolution against the westernized and dictatorial shah resulted in a Shiite Islamic fundamentalist government (Ayatollah Khomeini)

12. Shiite Islamic fundamentalist government (Ayatollah Khomeini)
Extremely anti-American

13. 1. According to this billboard, why should Americans drive the speed limit?
(Answer: Driving the speed limit would hurt the Iranians by depriving them of money for their oil. It pitches driving the speed limit as an act of protest rather than as an act motivated by environmental reasons or concerns over personal finances.)
2. What does the billboard reveal about larger issues in American politics?
(Answer: Domestic politics and foreign policy were both tied to Middle Eastern oil. The Iran hostage crisis and gasoline shortage led to increasing anti-Middle Eastern sentiment among many Americans. Politicians and advertisers alike manipulated this feeling. The Iran hostage crisis itself had little to do with oil, but it made for a simple scapegoat for much more complex dissatisfaction.)

14. Sequence of events in 1979
Carter admitted the Shah to the US for medical treatment
It was demanded that the Shah be returned to Iran.
Carter froze Iranian assets in US banks and placed an embargo on Iranian oil.

15. Iran Hostage Crisis
November 1979, the US Embassy in Iran was broken into and sixty Americans were seized.

16. Failed hostage rescue attempt
In April Carter sent a small military operation into Iran, but the rescue mission failed and hostages remained prisoners until January 1981.
the wreckage

17. Hostages’ release too late for Carter
Carter loses election in 1980, he believed because of the hostage crisis
Reagan presidential campaign fears an “October Surprise” or release of hostages before the election
Credible sources that Reagan’s advisors secretly negotiated the release to occur on his inauguration day.

18. Anti-communism and Reagan’s foreign policy

19. Reagan adopted a more aggressive attitude toward the Soviet Union, even referring to it as an ‘Evil Empire.’

20. Defense Spending
Dramatic increase from $158 billion during the Carter administration to $216 billion per year. This is higher than during the Vietnam War.
Bombers
Missiles
Nuclear weapons in Europe
Larger Navy
A rapid deployment force

21. Reactions to Reagan’s policies
Rally of 700,000 people in NYC in 1982
Hundreds of thousands of Europeans protest deployment of new US missiles in NATO countries
An Iranian-sponsored terrorist group exploded a car bomb near a Marine barracks in Lebanon killing 241 Americans

22. After Lebanon
Army Colonel Colin Powell approved decision to withdraw from Lebanon, believing that “America [was]sticking its hand into a thousand-year-old hornet’s nest.”

23. Reagan advocates SDI Strategic Defense Initiative
So-called “Star Wars”
SDI violated 1972 SALT anti-ballistic missile treaty
Reagan’s ideas on SDI overly optimistic

24. Non-state organizations
Most countries, including the Soviets, could not afford to compete with the money the US invested in weaponry
Non-state organizations or “terrorist groups” responded with guerilla tactics, bombings, and attacks.

25. What accounts for the “thaw” in the Cold War?
A new Soviet leader in Mikail Gorbachev who introduced some elements of free enterprise
“glasnost” or greater freedom of expression
Huge expenditures on defense spending were a motivation for arms reductions talks

26. Gorbachev
Arrives at agreement with Reagan to eliminate all short and medium range missiles from Europe
Announced a gradual withdrawal from Afghanistan

27. Central America

28. US Policy in El Salvador and Nicaragua Early 1980s
Prop up brutal Salvadoran government against leftists
Dismantle leftist government in Nicaragua by supporting the “contras” or opposition to the Sandinistas

29. Nicaragua
US Congress repeatedly and clearly instructed the President to stop aid to the Contras in Nicaragua.
The majority of Nicaraguans supported their government

30. Reagan Administration’s Colonel Oliver North
Supported the Contras through legal and illegal means to dismantle the government in Nicaragua

31. Iran-Contra Scandal Why? To secure release of hostages
Senior US officials agreed to facilitate the sale of arms to Iran despite our embargo
Why?
To secure release of hostages
To fund contras in Nicaragua

32. The United States supplied arms to Iran, including the following:
August 20, TOW anti-tank missiles
September 14, more TOWs
November 24, Hawk anti-aircraft missiles
February 17, TOWs
February 27, TOWs
May 24, TOWs, 240 Hawk spare parts
August 4, More Hawk spares
October 28, TOWs
According to the New York Times

33. Not you? Then who? Not me - Couldn't be.

34. Arms-for-Hostages scheme
plan eventually deteriorated into an arms-for-hostages scheme, in which members of the executive branch (Reagan White House including VP George H.W. Bush) sold weapons to Iran in exchange for the release of the American hostages
Both the sale of weapons to Iran, and the funding of the Contras, attempted to circumvent not only stated administration policy, but also acts of Congress (Boland Amendment)

35. How did it turn out?
Oliver North was convicted, but conviction overturned on a technicality
Independent Prosecutor determined that both President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush knew about the diverted funds
As President, Bush pardoned six other officials in 1992
The head of the Nicaraguan government lost power in part because US involvement ruined that country’s economy.

36. Fight against Communism around the world
Aided Afghan rebels against the Soviet-backed government in Afghanistan
In the African nation of Angola, the US armed rebel forces against the government supported by the Soviets and Cuba
Sided with South African government which was brutally suppressing black protest against apartheid.

37. Congress
US Congress went against Reagan’s policy in So Africa, imposing sanctions against that government
US Congress would not approve aid for the Nicaraguan “contras”
US Congress approved $4 billion during the 1980s sent to El Salvador’s brutal military

38. Fight Against Communism, Caribbean and Latin America
Reagan Administration invades Grenada
Propped up the brutal government of El Salvador because it was anti-communist
Supported the “contras” in Nicaragua, those opposing the Socialist but elected government