1. The Cold War Conflicts AMERICAN HISTORY

2. Main Idea -During the 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union came to the brink of nuclear war. Why It Matters Now -The Cold War continued into the following decades, affecting U.S. policies in Cuba, Central America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East.

3. H-Bomb The H-Bomb, also known as the hydrogen bomb, was first used by America on the South Pacific; 1,000x more powerful than the A-bomb (Atomic Bomb). Dwight D. Eisenhower A five-star General in the US Army and the 34 th president of the US. Became President when the Soviet Union and the U.S. both had the H-bomb. John Foster Dulles Eisenhower’s secretary of state. He was strongly against communism. Brinkmanship The act of pushing a situation to the verge of war in order to threaten and encourage one’s opponent to back down.

4. CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) Eisenhower began to rely heavily on the CIA for information. The CIA used spies to gather information abroad. The CIA began to carry out covert (or secret) operations to weaken or overthrow governments unfriendly towards the United States. The Warsaw Pact In 1955, when West Germany joined the NATO, the Soviet Union grew fearful. It formed its own military alliance, known as the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact linked the Soviet Union with Seven Eastern European countries. Eisenhower Doctrine The Soviet Union gained support from Egypt. To counterbalance this development, President Eisenhower issued a warning in January 1957. The warning was known as the Eisenhower Doctrine which stated that the U.S. would defend the Middle East against an attack by any communist country. In March, Congress officially approved the doctrine.

5. Nikita Khrushchev Once Stalin died in 1953, the Soviet Union gained power by Nikita Khrushchev. He believed that communism would take over the world, but he thought it could triumph peacefully. He favored a policy of peace and coexistence in which two powers would compete economically and scientifically. Francis Gary Powers American pilot whose CIA plane was shot down during a reconnaissance mission over Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 incident.

6. U-2 Incident Occurred during the Cold War in 1960 under Eisenhower/Khrushchev when a US U2 spy plane was shot down over Soviet Union airspace. The US at first denied the plane's purpose and mission, but then was forced to admit its role as a covert surveillance aircraft when the Soviet government produced its remains and surviving pilot.