1. The Cold Ware and the Iron Curtain
Russia becomes the USSR and creates new Communist threat

3. US/USSR allies with different outcomes
Countries are the only two world superpowers
US escaped physical destruction of war
US had growing economy during and after the war
Returning veterans would move to suburbs creating a demand for housing resulting in new communities like Leavittown, NY where 17,000 mass produced homes became a symbol for post war prosperity

5. Later President Eisenhower supports national highway system

6. Joseph Stalin
Russia had huge losses during war…western part of country destroyed in WWII
Russian leader scared border nations to accept puppet governments rather than deal with the Russian military
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria…Soviet Block…Iron Curtain

7. United Nations to keep the Peace
April 1945
Delegates from 50 countries gather to create United Nations
Main purpose to save future generations from war
Protect self-determination (sovereignty)
Protect Human Rights
Help nations solve their problems

8. Construction of UN General Assembly…one nation, one vote
Security Council (includes US, France, Britain, China, and Soviet Union) when it began as permanent members…they have a veto

9. Truman Doctrine President Harry Truman
March, 1947 America would aid any country that asked for help resisting Communism
Kept Soviet Countries from taking the $12 Billion in the American Marshall Plan that provided money to fight against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos.

10. US involvement in Berlin
Germany was split into two sides…East and West.
Soviets blocked all entrances from the West cutting off supplies for 2 million West Berliners
American and British Cargo planes flew supplies in and airdropped 2 million tons of goods…temporary breaking the blockade.

11. NATO created North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Communist expansion resulted in western nations wanting to cooperate
1949: Great Britain, Canada, US, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway and many others with Greece and Spain eventually joining
The eastern European nations created the Warsaw Treaty in response…put soviet troops in each country and under the control of Russia.

12. Communism in China North Korea invaded the Southern part of Korea
The West began to suspect the Soviets of trying for world domination
The US sent troops and aid and by November had driven the communists deep into the North beyond the 38th Parallel

13. Korean War General Douglas MaCarthur ignored President Eisenhower’s instructions and wanted to follow the enemy into China…he was replaced and fighting continued until 1953 when the 38th was re-chosen as the separation point in a cease fire.

14. Arms/Space Race
US used atomic weapons to end WWII in Japan…thought the USSR was years away.
USSR successfully tests atomic bomb in 1949.
Both sides invest heavily…mutually assured destruction…or the arms race.
By 1957 Soviets develop ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) that could launch weapons anywhere in the world

15. Space Race
In 1957 the Soviets launch the first satellite into space (Sputnik)
America was alarmed to find themselves so behind in space technology they spent millions into building a space program
Schools began to focus on math and science
Space movies replace cowboys (Buzz vs. Woody???)

16. Sputnik

17. Soviet firsts in space Following Sputnik
1959 the Soviets landed the first craft on the moon
1961 the Soviets became the first to have a person orbit the Earth…the US would do so less than a month later

18. Red Scare Part 2
By 1950 there were over 350,000,000 democratic people represented by NATO nations….but nearly 900,000,000 by Communist Nations (including Soviet Union and China)
Americans were worried it would spread to their country.

19. House Un-American Activities Committee
Investigate the full range of radical groups in the US including communists.
Explored the Communist influence Hollywood had.
Hollywood Ten were called to Congress to answer questions.
Ten million individuals would become investigated

20. Hollywood Blacklists (Burgess Meredith)

21. Spy Cases
Former government official Alger Hiss was accused of being part of a plot to place Communists inside the government….he denied it.
Government officials found several rolls of top secret government microfilm in a hollowed out pumpkin…case known as the Pumpkin Papers.
Charged and convicted with lying under oath.

22. Rosenbergs
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted of leading a spy ring attempting to provide atomic secrets to the Soviet government. They were sentenced to death for their crime.

23. McCarthyism
Wisconsin US Senator spoke to a crowd in West Virginia to discuss the dangers of Communism.
He claimed that 205 communists were working for the US Department of State.
He would win re-election but his act got old as he started to accuse fellow Republicans and military leaders