1. Warm Up – May 7 1. How was Vietnam split following the Geneva Accords?
Answer the following questions on a post it:
1. How was Vietnam split following the Geneva Accords?
2. What reasons are provided for why the United States sent military support to aid the South Vietnamese?
3. Who were the Vietcong?
4. What was the Tet Offensive? What did it show about the Vietcong?
5. What impact did the Vietnam War have on the strategy of containment? What impact did the war have in regards to how people viewed the American government?

2. Communism in Cuba
1959 – Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro led the rebellion to overthrow Cuban dictator – promised to rid Cuba of poverty and inequality
US suspicious but recognized new gov’t
Castro declared Cuba communist and welcomed aid from USSR
Land was nationalized (put under gov’t control)  US instituted economic trade sanctions

3. The Bay of Pigs
Early 1960 – CIA trained Cuban exiles for a Cuban invasion to overthrow Castro
April 17, 1961 – 1,500 Cuban exiles with support of US military invaded the Bay of Pigs  nothing went as planned
Air strike failed to knock out Cuban air force, CIA reported otherwise
Some troops never reached shore, those that did faced 25,000 Cuban troops and Soviet tanks/jets
Most exiles were killed or imprisoned
JFK looked incompetent, US embarrassed

4. Cuban Missile Crisis
Represents the closest the Cold War came to all out nuclear war
“For a moment, the world had stood still and now it was going around again.” – Robert Kennedy
JFK criticized for practicing brinksmanship, Cuban exiles claimed the Democrats had “lost Cuba” and switched to the GOP
Castro banned all flights to and from the US

5. Berlin Wall
1961 – Too many East Berliners were fleeing to West Berlin  Soviets contemplated blockading West Berlin, but decided to build the Berlin Wall made of concrete topped with barbed wire
Berlin Wall contained communism from West Germany, but served as a symbol of communist oppression

6. Attempting to Ease Tensions
JFK and Khrushchev became aware of the gravity of split-second decisions that separated Cold War peace from nuclear disaster
both leaders searched for ways to decrease tensions
the establishment of a hot line between the White House and the Kremlin - enabled the leaders to communicate at once should a crisis arise
US and USSR agreed to a Limited Test Ban Treaty – prohibited the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in outer space, or underwater

7. General Failures of Communism
Economic failures
By late 1970s = communist economies showed no signs of catching up to more advanced capitalist countries
Soviet economy = stagnant
People had to wait in long lines for consumer goods, which were poor in quality and declining in availability
Citizens waiting in line for goods in the Soviet Union
Photo = circa the late-1980s

8. General Failures of Communism
Moral Failures
Many incidents invalidated communist claims to moral superiority over capitalism
Simultaneously = overall global political culture was more widely embracing democracy and human rights as the intended legacy of humankind
The site of one of Cambodia’s “killing fields”

9. Jimmy Carter – Democrat (1976- 1980)

10. Jimmy Carter (D) –
Jimmy Carter (D) 1979 – Soviets invade Afghanistan
1980 – U.S. supports freedom fighters with weapons – no troops
Jimmy Carter (D) 1980 – U.S. boycotts Moscow Summer Olympics in protest
 Jimmy Carter (D) 1980 – “Miracle on Ice” occurs during Winter Olympics
U.S. defeats Soviet Union in Semifinal Hockey match – Soviets were heavy favorites to win

11. Ronald Reagan - Republican (1981-1989)

12. RONALD REAGAN (R) –
1983 – Strategic Defense Initiative or Star Wars initiated by President Reagan
1985 – Mikael Gorbachev comes to power and introduces democratic (Glasnost) and Capitalism (Perestroika) reforms
 1988 – Soviets leave Afghanistan (beaten & frustrated)
1989 – Berlin Wall falls; S.U. loses its satellite nations
1989 – Tiananmen Square Massacre in China
Student led Demonstrations – Democratic protests against the government of China
troops with assault rifles and tanks killed at least several hundred demonstrators trying to block the military's advance towards Tiananmen Square.

15. George HW Bush – Republican – 1989-1993

16. GEORGE BUSH (R) –
George Bush Sr. (R) 1991 – Soviet Union collapses
1991 – Russia elects Boris Yeltsin to lead new democracy
No more Soviet Union means no more Cold War. Capitalism wins and Communism loses

17. TOD: May 7 Answer the following questions on a post it:
1. How was JFK’s policy during the Cold War different than Truman and Eisenhower’s?
2. What kind of government took over Cuba? Who was their leader?
3. What was the purpose of the Bay of Pigs? How did it make JFK look incompetent?
4. What event was the closest the U.S. and Soviet Union ever came to nuclear war?
5. How did the Soviet economic policies of glasnost and perestroika signal the Cold War was coming to an end?