1. COLD WAR AMERICA
ANDREW POSTON

2. THE ORIGINS
Harry Truman asks the USSR to allow DEMOCRACY in Poland, but they refuse to allow that.
The United Nations is founded in 1945, and would be used by both nations to try and ADVANCE THEIR CAUSE against each other.
The biggest driving force behind the tension between the US and the USSR is that the USSR wanted the world to be COMMUNIST and the US wanted it to be DEMOCRATIC.
Stalin and Truman are quickly growing to dislike each other, mainly because the United States kept it’s development of NUCLEAR WEAPON a secret from the USSR.
The Soviets take over Eastern Europe, including one half of GERMANY. They then begin to seek control in Asia.
UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared that an “IRON-CURTAIN” existed that helped divide Europe in half. From then on, that phrase came to stand for the division of Eastern and Western Europe.
• The United States, under Truman, in 1946, the United States adopted a policy of CONTAINMENT, which aimed to stop Communism from spreading to other nations.
• This Conflict became known as “THE COLD WAR;” and ran from 1945 to 1992.

3. PRE-KOREA
In 1947, the National Security Act develops the CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, or the CIA. They investigate suspected Communists.
In March of 1947, Truman asks Congress for 400 Million dollars for Greek and Turkish aid. He states that the US would support those who actively fight Communism out of their own government. This became known as THE TRUMAN ACT.Congress agrees, and it works.
In June of 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall proposes that the United States give aid to ALL European nations that need it. This becomes known as “THE MARSHALL PLAN,” and it greatly reduced Communism in Western Europe.
The USSR and USA struggle over GERMANY, and eventually divide it in half, including half of the city of BERLIN.
In 1949, 12 nations, including the UNITED STATES sign an alliance called THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION or NATO for short. The members promised to back each other militarily.

4. KOREA AN MCCARTHYISM
The biggest battlefield for the fight between Communism and Democracy is ASIA.
In 1949, MAO ZEDONG takes over the government in China, and he is a Communist.
The United States gets embroiled in a conflict that would take three years, and cost thousands of American lives in KOREA.
After WWII, the Japanese troops above the 38TH PARALLEL surrendered to the USSR, and became NORTH KOREA, while those living below it surrendered to the United States, and became SOUTH KOREA.
NORTH KOREA was Communist; SOUTH KOREA was Democratic.
North Korea attacked South Korea, and the USA attacks back TO HELP SOUTH KOREA.
When the USA counterattacked, China comes in to defend North Korea.
After three years, the two sides cannot gain ground against the other, and they stop fighting and go back to being two separate nations, they are divided by something called the DEMILITARIZED ZONE or the DMZ, where people cannot go into.
MCCARTHYISM
People get scared of the Communists, and the SECOND RED SCARE begins.
Senator JOSEPH MCCARTHY fans the flames of fear, and this action becomes known as MCCARTHYISM.
The US House founds HUAC, or the HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE, to investigate people suspected of Communist ties.
The government tries two famous cases. They try ALGER HISS, and Richard Nixon charges him with Perjury, where he is convicted and sent to jail.
The ROSENBERGS are tried for giving the USSR secrets to build a nuclear bomb. They are found guilty of ESPIONAGE, and sentenced to death.

5. RACING
There are numerous “races” occurring. There is a race for the H-BOMB, the ARMS race, the SPACE race, and the race to the MOON.
The USSR and USA continue to develop nukes, and are trying to develop a bomb that was deadlier than the atomic bombs. Both nations develop a Hydrogen Bomb, but the USA wins the race when they explode their H-Bomb first in 1952.
The United States and USSR continue to fight the to develop their weapons, and the Soviets continue to threaten the US. Eisenhower says that the USA will go to the brink of all-out war if the USSR launches a nuclear attack. This willingness to go to war is known as BRINKSMANSHIP.
To counter NATO, the Soviets develop the WARSAW PACT, which is a military alliance between the USSR, and seven other European Nations.
Egypt goes to war in 1948, when they refuse to let ships go into Israel, and the United States vows to defend the Middle East against Communist nations, and this becomes known as THE EISENHOWER DOCTRINE.
The US and the USSR decided they wanted to go to space. They work toward developing ROCKETS.
In 1960, Francis Gary Powers is shot down over Soviet territory, angering the Soviets. This became known as the “U-2 INCIDENT.”

6. THE 1960S
In 1959, FIDEL CASTRO comes to power in Cuba. He takes over, and turns Cuba into a Communist nation.
Kennedy launches an attack in Cuba, known as the BAY OF PIGS, where the US invades,
Kennedy does this because Eisenhower had a plan that allowed the CIA to train Cuban exiles to INVADE Cuba.
Cuba allowed Russia to set up missiles in Cuba, which KENNEDY found out about, and threatened to go to war with the USSR.
For 13 days, Soviet ships move toward Cuba, the missiles are put on standby, and the world comes within one angry phone call of ending.
Meanwhile, the Soviets put a satellite into space, winning the SPACE RACE.
After the world almost ended, the US and USSR establish a phone line that connects from the White House to the Kremlin, and they sign a LIMITED ARMS TESTING TREATY. This treaty banned nuclear testing IN THE ATMOSPHERE.
Furthermore, 60 nations sign the NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY or NFT, which meant that nations could not sell nukes to other nations.
There was one last race to win, and that was the race to the MOON, which the USA won on July 20, 1969, when NEIL ARMSTRONG and BUZZ ALDRIN walked on the MOON.