the U.S. Enters the Vietnam War

In your Cold War file folder in your Google Docs account, read pages 353 to 355 of Vietnam War.

The answers are due on Friday prior to class.
1. Many neutral observers in Vietnam were critical of US policy. Explain why.
Becuase observers were against the French and they thought the French and them were similar.
2. Explain how US politicians would have defended their policies.
they would have said that they want Vietnam to be independent and not cause the domino effect in Asia.
3. The following events are not listed in correct date order. Place them in the correct chronological order. (Write the year inside the parenthesis, i.e. (1965). Then note the reason for each U.S. action, and how it brought the U.S. into deeper involvement in Vietnam.The reasons you can choose from are: No direct involvement; financial support; political involvement; military involvement. Also, note what events triggered the increased involvement.

( 1963) Assassination of JFK - Johnson becomes president---no direct involvement
( 1955) Formation of South Vietnam ----no direct involvement
( 1964) Gulf of Tonkin Incident----no direct involvement
( 1962) Number of 'advisers' reaches over 11,5000----political involvement
( 1962) JFK sends military advisers---military involvement
( 1965) U.S. Marines land at Da Nang------military involvement
( 1954) U.S. stops elections in Vietnam----political involvement
( 1963) U.S. supports South Vietnam government after army overthrow Diem----political involvement
( 1964) Viet Cong attacks on U.S. and South Vietnam bases---military involvement
(1960 ) Viet Cong formed ----no direct involvement
4. Choose two events that you think were critical in getting the U.S. involved in a war in Vietnam. Explainyour choice.
I think that the U.S. stopping elections in Vietnam was the starting point becuase the Vietnamese felt controlled and wanted to have a freedom of speech. they had been controlled by the french before so it was worse being controleld again. The vietnamese got mad making the u.s. have to deal with it and get involved becuase they started the problem. The formation of the Viet COng also made it so the Americans had to get involved because the Viet Cong group supported commusism and the U.s. was really against communism and had to stop the group before they made Vietnam communism and the domino effect would start over Asia with communism.

the cuban missile crisis

In your Cold War file folder in your Google Docs account, read pages 350 to 351 of Cuban Missile Crisis.


The answers are due on Wednesday prior to class.


1. Kennedy described Wednesday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 27 as the darkest days of the crisis. Use the information on page 350 to explain why.
Because on the 24th the missile ships got close to the bloackade and put them in danger and then on the 27th kennedy learns that the Soviets will not take away their missiles on Cuba and now he knows he has to attack.

2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?
Yes I think that if the US wasn't careful and about their decisions and invaded Cuba then the Soviets would have fired the missiles and then the US would have fired back and the war would have started.

3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.
This is an American cartoon becuase Kenedy isn't sweating but Khrushchev which means that he is getting tired but Kennedy is not.

4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.
To bargain and to get the upper hand make the most sense because khrushchev didn't want a nuclear war per se, he didn't care about testing kennedy and he had no reason to defend Cuba. He wanted missiles there to threaten the US and scare the US so they would take their missiles in Turkey away and/or match them in the arms race.

Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba?
To bargain with the USA

To test the USA

To trap the USA

To get the upper hand in the arms race

To defend Cuba

5. Choose the explanation(s) that you think best fit what you have found out about the crisis. Explain your choice.

I think that the Soviets had the missiles on Cuba to try to bargain with the US. If they had them on Cuba then the US would be scared and they would want them off. So Soviets would be able to ask them to take away the US's in Turkey and they would take away theirs in Cuba. Though since the US refused to take their's away in Turkey the Soviets withdrew theirs becuase they did not want the Americans to start an actual nuclear war and invade Cuba.

the U.S. attempts to contain Cuba

1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?
Becuase Americans owned most of the business on the island and had a large naval base there, Guantanomo.
2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?
So they would be disquised, Cubans would notice Americans but would mistake Cubans as their own.
3. Why did the invasion fail?
Because the beach was armed with 20,000 Cuban troops that captured or killed all of the 1400 exiles.
4. Compare Source 17 on page 345 (in the Arms Race.pdf reading) with Source 24 on page 348. Describe how the Soviet Union missiles on Cuba changed the Cold War balance of power.
Source 17 shows the location of the US misilles and surce 24 shows the USSR's misile locations. Since the USSr now had them on Cuba they had closer bases and could release the misiles sooner whereas the US had a longer distance, it shifted the balance in favor of the USSR

the american dream in the 1950s

1. Baby Boom- Many babies were born from the 40s-60s in reslut from soldiers coming home from war, largest generation in nation's history.
2. Dr. Jonas Salk- Invented a vaccine for polio which was one of the most feared diseases in the 1950s.
3. Interstate Highway System-41,000 miles of expressways were passed for all the new cars on the road which helped more suburbs be created.
4. Franchise- businesses that offer similar products in many locations.

5.In a paragraph, describe in detail how Americans spent their leisure time in the 1950s
In the 1950s people did a lot in their leisure time since they had more leisure time than they had before. They went to drive-thrus and drive-ins. The bought many recreational items such as televisions and tape recorders which they could use more because they had bought many labor saving machines like dish washers and washing machines. They became apart of fishing, boating, bowling and hunting. They also attended more sports and watched more on television. They also became avid readers and many magazines became popular.

the arms race

1. Read Source 12. What methods do you think Dulles had in mind to 'liberate captive peoples' without a war?
Dulles wanted to surround the communists and without war get counries all around them to be against communism.
2. Look at Source 13. Would you agree that the Communist world was encircled? Explain your answer.
Yes i do because all the countries around the USSR had alliances that were anti-communist.
3. Carefully examine the verticle timeline on page 343. Then look back at Source 12. Do you think the development of nuclear weapons was what Dulles might have had in mind?
Yes because if war came to be hen it would have been very costly of American lives and dangerous becuase the Soviets and Americans werre in an arms race.
4. Look at Source 16. What is the Soviet cartoon saying about the U-2 plane?
The cartoon says that it was obvious that the US was spying because they didn't do it secretly.
5. Read the Factfile on page 344. Explain why the USSR was so angry about the US spy flights.
The USSR were so angry because Truman did not apologise for spying or say that there wouldn't be any more fights but he had confessed to them.
6. How would the USA justify this violation of Soviet territory?
That the USSr had their own spies on US land and that they did it for protection.
7. If the USSR had had U-2 planes, do you think it would have used them? Why?
Yes because the US didn't have th emisiles to shoot them down and the USSR spied too.
8. Look at Source 17. Why do you think the USA had missiles based in Europe?
Because it would take less time for a short range misile to hit USSR since europe is closer to the USSR than the US is.
9. Define the term 'nuclear deterrent' in not more than 20 words.
Nuclear dererrent is that since a country had nuclear wepons they wont use them because they know the other will retaliate and MAD.

eisenhower & the cold war

Read Chapter 26, section 4, Two Nations Live on Edge, (pages 828-833).



How did the United States react to the following 7 events, and why?



1. Soviet Union exploded their first atomic bomb in 1949.

Truman debated whether the US should create an even more powerful bomb and the two superpowers, the US and the Soviet Union, started on an arms race.



2. In 1951, the Iranian prime minister placed the oil industry in Iran under the Iranian government’s control.

The US was afraid that since the Iranian economy had faltered that the would go the Soviets for help, so the US gave them millions and got Shah to return to power successfully.



3. The Guatemalan head of government gave American-owned land in Guatemala to peasants.

The CIA trained an army and they invaded Guatemala and then Guatemalans wouldn't fight back so the leader of the army became president.

4. In 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt and occupied the Suez Canal.

Teh UN stepped in to stop the fighting and the Egyptians got control of the canal.


5. Soviet tanks invaded Hungary and fired on protesters in 1956.

The Truman Doctrine didnot let the US help Hungary because they were a satelitte nation so they did nothing and Hugarians were saddened.

6. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.

The US was shocked and started using their own money in attempt to match and beat the Soviets in the space race but their first attempt was a fail.

7. In 1960, the Soviet Union brought down an American U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers.

At first Truman denied it and then siad he would stop with u-2 flights but he did not apologize and that made the super powers very angry with eachother.

The Red Scare (1950s).

1. HUAC investigated agencies with suspected Communist influence outside and inside the U.S. government.
2. Blacklist was a list of people who were suspected or had communistic backrounds and wince they were on the blacklist their carreers were ruined.
3. Alger Hiss was accused by Chambers to be associated with the Soviet Union. Chambers forged documents that got Hiss sent to jail even though he was innocent.
4. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, minor activists of the communist party, were implicated in the Fuchs case and therefore sentenced to death.
5. Joseph McCarthy, an anti communist Republican, wanting to be reelected went looking for an issue, that Communism was taking over the government.
6. McCarthyism was unsupported attacks on suspected communists. McCarthy made attacks on after the other.
7. In a paragraph, describe the motivations and actions of Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s. What prompted his actions? What did he do? What happened as a result of his actions?

Joseph McCarthy was a very popular anti-communist Republican. After 3 years in the Senate his reputation became known as an "ineffective legislator". Wanting to be reelected he went looking for an issue to so he could win. He decided that communism was taking over the government. he made many unsupported accusations towards people or groups that he suspected were communist which became known as McCarthyism. His motivations were not that he was against communism he mainly wanted to be known so he could be reelected. He accused things like the State Department, democratic party, and lastly the US army. When he accused the US army he lost public support and the Senate condemned him for improper conduct. Three years later he died from too much drinking a "broken man."

Korean War Lessons

Prompt:It is 1952. A new president, Eisenhower, has been elected in the US. Your task is to write a report for him on what lessons the United States can learn from the war. Your report should advise the President on:
the US aims in Korea
how the support of the UN helped
how far the US achieved its aims
whether MacArthur should have been allowed to invade North Korea
why MacArthur was removed
the military and civilian cost of war For each point you will need to use the sources and text on pages 338-41 to compile your answer.Finally, make up your own mind as to whether, on balance, the policy of containment succeeded and then write up your ideas as a balanced report.

Mr. President Eisenhower, I am here to advise you and report the mistakes the U.S. has made during the Cold War and also tell about how the policy of containment was a success for the most part. When MacArthur was appointed UN commander he explained his loyalty to the role as "absolute devotion" I will defend that he was too devoted and his actions in Korea were mistakes. The US aim in Korea was to help out their ally South Korea who were being invaded and taken over by communists. Though soldiers from all over the UN helped the majority were American and with MacArthur as leader and most of the soldiers were American the mistake was ever more costly for the US. MacArthur should not have been allowed to invade North Korea, even more so after China declared they would intervene if the US did. When MacArthur proceeded after the Chinese warning, they claimed a huge portion of North Korea and then the Chinese joined the enemy's forces. With aid from the Chinese they were able to push the UN and South Korean forces backwards to where they started. So nothing had changed from the original 38th parallel border except many UN and especially US lives were taken along the way. If MacArthur had thought more logically and just did what he went there to do there wouldn't have been the unnecessary deaths. After all of that mistake MacArthur went against the UN and openly threatened the Chinese, which the UN had told him not to do, which is why Truman removed him. During your presidency do not trust a man to have a important role who is in it for the cause, trust a man who is in the fight for our country. Unless mistakes will be made that will have unnecssary effects. Though on balance the policy of containment was mostly successful for our fear that the whole world would be communist did not happen, we kept our allies as our allies and you Mr. President will ahve learned from these mistakes and hopefully lead our country proud.