Politics in the

1950’s

The Cold War

The Cold War FilesThe Cold War was the period of conflict,

tension, and competition between the United

States and the Soviet Union and their allies from

the mid 1940s until the early1990s. The main U.S.

allies were Western Europe, Turkey, Japan, and

Canada. The main Soviet allies were Eastern

Europe and China.

VS.

The Cold War Files• Throughout the period, the rivalry between the

two superpowers was played out in multiple

arenas: military coalitions, ideology, psychology,

and espionage; military, industrial, and

technological developments; costly defense

spending; a massive conventional and nuclear

arms race, and many proxy wars.

• A proxy war is a war where two powers use third

parties as a supplement or a substitute for

fighting each other directly.

The Cold War FilesThere never was a direct military engagement

between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, but there

was a half-century of military buildup, and

political battles for support around the world,

including significant involvement of allied and

satellite nations.

The Cold War FilesAlthough the U.S. and the Soviet Union had

been allies during WW2 against Nazi

Germany, the two sides differed on how to

reconstruct the postwar world. At the Yalta

Conference in February 1945, the Allies

attempted to define the framework for a

postwar settlement in Europe.

(World War 2 had not officially ended.)

The Cold War Files• The Yalta Conference took place in a Russian resort town in the Crimea

from February 4–11, 1945, during World War Two. At Yalta, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin made important decisions regarding the future progress of the war and the postwar world.

P.M. Winston Churchill President Roosevelt Premier Joseph Stalin

The Cold War Files :YALTA• The main points of discussion included:

– how to divide Germany and the amount of money that would be issued in order to repair the war torn country. (Germany was temporarily divided into four parts)

– Would Poland become a part of the Soviet Union or remain in charge of it’s own elections and government? (Eastern Poland was given to the USSR, Part of Germany was given to Poland)

– Who would govern those countries that had been freed from German control after the war? (USSR pledged to hold free elections in these countries)

– Would the Soviet Union help the United States with their war on Japan? (USSR promised to help within 3 months of Hitler’s defeat)

– Should the United Nations be formed and should the Soviet Union participate?(Soviets joined the U.N. and were given three votes)

– Will the United States aid their allies by offering to lend money to rebuild after the war? (No decisions were made about post war loans)

The Cold War Files• At the Potsdam Conference starting in late July

of 1945, serious differences emerged over the future development of Germany and Eastern Europe. At Potsdam, the U.S. was represented by President Harry Truman, who on April 12, succeeded to the office upon Roosevelt's death.

• Administration officials favoring cooperation with the Soviet Union and incorporation of socialist economies into a world trade system were marginalized (treated as insignificant).

Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin meeting at

the Potsdam Conference on July 18, 1945.

Harry Truman, Winston Churchill, and Joseph

Stalin met in the German city of Potsdam to

discuss the future of Europe.

Shortly after the Potsdam Conference, the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

(August 6, 1945)

Though this forced Japanese surrender, and

marked the beginning of the end of WW2, it

added to Soviet distrust of the United States.

The Cold War lasted until

1991.

The Space Race

• The Cold War also sparked the “Space Race” between the United States and the Soviet Union.

• The Space Race was an informal competition between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975. It involved the parallel efforts by each of those countries to explore outer space with artificial satellites, to send humans into space, and to land people on the Moon.

• The Space Race effectively began after the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957. The Space Race became an important part of the cultural, technological, and ideological rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War.

• The Sputnik 1 spacecraft was launched

from Baikonur Cosmodrome (the

world's oldest and largest operational

space launch facility) in Kazakhstan,

then part of the Soviet Union. The

Russian word "Sputnik" means "travel

companion."

• Sputnik 2 was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, on November 3, 1957, and the first to carry a living animal - a dog. It was a 4 meter high cone-shaped capsule with a base diameter of 2 meters. It contained several compartments for radio transmitters, a telemetry system, a programming unit, a regeneration and temperature control system for the cabin, and scientific instruments. A separate sealed cabin contained the experimental dog, Laika.

Laika

• Laika died a few hours after launch from

stress and overheating, probably due to a

malfunction in the thermal control system.

The true cause of her death was not made

public until decades after the flight. Some

former Soviet scientists have since

expressed regret that Laika was allowed to

die

• Sputnik 3 was a Soviet satellite launched on May 15, 1958.

• It was a research satellite to explore the upper atmosphere and the near space. Due to a hardware failure of its tape recorder, the satellite failed to detect the Van Allen radiation belt.

• The spacecraft remained in orbit until April 6, 1960, when the orbit degraded from drag in upper atmosphere to the point causing the satellite to enter the atmosphere. Sputnik 3

The End of WW2

• 33rd President of the United States

• Became president on April 12, 1945 when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died.

• Forced Japanese surrender during WWII, by ordering the drop of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

President Harry

Truman

United Nations

• Founded in 1945 after the end of World War 2.

• An international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, and human rights issues.

• The UN was founded after the end of WW2

by the victorious Allied Powers in the hope

that it would act to intervene in conflicts

between nations and thereby avoid war.

• The five permanent members of the UN

Council are the main victors of World War II:

People’s Republic of China, France, Russian

Federation (the Soviet Union), the United

Kingdom, and the United States.

The Korean Warhttp://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/g420000/g420926.jpg

I

On June 25, 1950, the

Communist North

Korean People's Army

under the command of

dictator Kim II Sung

invaded South Korea,

precipitating the

outbreak of the Korean

War. Poorly trained and

equipped, without tanks

or air support, the South

Korean Army was

rapidly pushed

backwards, quickly losing

the capital, Seoul.

• Upon news of the invasion, Truman

called for a naval blockade in Korea.

• Truman promptly urged the United

Nations to intervene; it did,

authorizing armed defense for the first

time in its history (the Soviet Union

was not in attendance at the Security

Council vote).

• Truman sent full military resources to

Japan.

• Following the invasion of North Korea into South Korea, General Douglas MacArthur is named Commander of all United Nations forces in Korea.

• United Nations (primarily U.S.) forces crushed the North Korean invasion in 90 days.

• MacArthur oversaw the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1951.

•MacArthur was a war hero during World War

II. He received the Medal of Honor, the

highest military award, for his leadership during

that time.

On September 15,

1950, MacArthur

lead UN forces at

the Battle of Inchon,

in which UN forces

secured Inchon and

broke out of the

Pusan (largest port

city in South Korea)

region through a

series of landings in

enemy territory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Battle_of_Inc

hon.png#file

• This victory was seen

as one of the greatest

military maneuvers in

history.

• The Battle of Inchon

ended a string of

victories by the

invading North Korean

People’s Army and

began a counterattack

by the United Nations.

US Marines storm ashore at

Incheon.

It was no secret that MacArthur and

President Truman did not see eye to eye on

how the war should be handled.

• With China’s commitment to an all-out war against the

US on the Korean peninsula, MacArthur advocates for

the same in return against China but is prohibited.

• He is outraged when military leaders in Washington restrict the war to only the Korean theater, meaning that he cannot bomb even the bridges of the Yalu river over which Chinese troops, supplies, and material are streaming across.

• He is further restricted from bombing their bases in Manchuria. MacArthur expressed his outrage later, saying that "The order not to bomb the Yalu bridges was the most indefensible and ill-conceived decision ever forced on a field commander in our nation's history."

MacArthur led United Nations forces defending

South Korea in 1950-51 against North Korea's

invasion. He was relieved of command by President

Truman in April 1951.

In closing, during his farewell address to the

United States Congress, General MacArthur

said:

“I am closing my 52 years of military service. When I joined the Army, even before the turn of

the century, it was the fulfillment of all of my boyish hopes and dreams. The world has turned

over many times since I took the oath on the plain at West Point, and the hopes and dreams

have long since vanished, but I still remember the refrain of one of the most popular barrack ballads of that day which proclaimed most

proudly that "old soldiers never die; they just fade away."

And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old

soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Good Bye.”

• The rest of the war

involved little territory

change, large scale

bombing of the north,

and lengthy peace

negotiations (which

started in Kaesong on

July 10, 1951). Even

during the peace

negotiations, combat

continued.

34th President

Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Eisenhower's campaign

was a crusade against the

Truman administration's

policies regarding “Korea,

Communism, and

Corruption." Eisenhower

promised to go to Korea

himself and end the war

and maintain both a strong

NATO abroad against

Communism and a

corruption-free frugal

administration at home.

• On November 29,

1952, Eisenhower

fulfilled his campaign

promise by going to

Korea to find out

what could be done

to end the conflict.

• A cease fire was

established on July

29, 1953.

• A demilitarized zone (DMZ) was established

around the 38th parallel.

• It is currently called the (PLZ) Peace and

Life Zone.

• It is still defended to this day by North Korean

troops on one side and South Korean and

American troops on the other.

• The Korean Demilitarized Zone (or DMZ) is a

strip of land running across the Korean

Peninsula that serves as a buffer zone between

North and South Korea. The DMZ cuts the

Korean Peninsula roughly in half, crossing the

38th Parallel on an acute angle, with the west

end of the DMZ lying south of the parallel and

the east end lying north of it. It is 248km/155

miles long and approximately 4km/2.5 miles

wide, and is the most heavily armed border in

the world.

• The site of the peace

talks, Kaesog (the

old capital of Korea)

was part of the

South before

hostilities broke out

but is currently a

special city of the

North. No peace

treaty has been

signed to date.

The Korean War has often been called “The

Forgotten War” because of it’s placement

between WWII and the Vietnam War.

The Cuban

Revolution

The purpose of the Cuban

Revolution was to overthrow

Cuban dictator and president,

FulgencioBatista, and to establish a new

Cuban government led by Fidel Castro.

• On July 26, 1953, a group of about one hundred poorly armed guerrillas attacked the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba. Among these men were Fidel Castro Ruz and his brother Raul Castro.

• Though the attack was unsuccessful on the side of the guerrillas many men were killed, this event marked the beginning

of the Cuban Revolution. Moncada barracks shortly after the attack

http://www.answers.com/topic/moncada-barracks

• After his capture and detainment in a highly political trial, Fidel Castro spoke for nearly four hours in his defense, ending with the words; "Condemn me, it does not matter. History will absolve me.“

Fidel Castro under arrest in July 1953 after the Moncada attack

http://www.answers.com/topic/history-will-absolve-me-1

• Fidel Castro was

sentenced to 15 years

in prison, but due to

intense pressure from

civil leaders, Fulgencio

Batista released

Castro and the rest of

the prisoners in 1955.

• Castro was exiled to

Mexico, where he

plotted once again to

overthrow Batista.

Fidel returned to Cuba, leading the 26th of July Movement (revolutionary organization named for the failed attack on the MoncadoBarracks), and in 1959, the revolutionaries

exceeded in driving Batista out of Cuba.

Flag of the 26th of July Movement

After Batista fled Cuba on January 1,

1959, the military commander in the

city, Colonel Rubido, ordered his

soldiers not to fight and Castro's forces

took over the city on January 2.

Castro was sworn in as Prime Minister of Cuba on February 16, 1959. He then

become President of Cuba in 1976. In February of 2008, Fidel’s brother Raul Castro took over as President of Cuba.

Castro died on 2016, he was 90 years old.

The American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968) refers to a set of events and reform movements in the United States aimed at abolishing public and private acts of racial discrimination against

African Americans.

Brown vs. the Board of Education

On May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court outlawed racial segregation of public

education facilities.

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks (later named the "mother of the Civil Rights Movement") refused to get up out of her seat on a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama, to make room for white passengers.

Parks was arrested, tried, and convicted for

disorderly conduct and violating a local

ordinance.

After word of this incident reached the black community, 50 African-American leaders gathered and organized the “Montgomery Bus Boycott” to protest the segregation of blacks and whites on public buses.

The boycott lasted for 382 days (1956 was a leap year), until the local ordinance segregating African-

Americans and whites on public buses was lifted.

Through her role in sparking the boycott, Rosa Parks played an

important part in internationalizing the

awareness of the plight of African Americans and the civil rights struggle. Rosa Parks died on October 24, 2005. She was 92.