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.

dropping the atomic bomb

1. What factors have affected viewpoints on Truman's decision?

Some people say he made the wrong decision because it is immoral to stop the war by bombs and others believed that he shouldn't have used them because now they will be used in future wars. Only a minority were opposed to the bombing at the time.

2. Do you think he made the right decision? Give your reasons.

Yes in this case I think he made the right decision because he is the president of the United States and he was doing what was best for his country by saving as many Americans as possible who didn't ahve to invade Japan, it was not his job to protect Japanese. It saved AQmericans lives by endind the war as soon as possible. Also this did make it so nuclear power would be used in future wars but that would havwe happened anyway, it is not Truman's fault, he was just the one who introduced them to the world.

war in the pacific!

1. What was the importance of the Battle of Midway?
the allies were "island hopping" to Japan and had to getthe island of Midway in order to keep going.
2. What strategy did the United States adopt in fighting Japan?
kamikaze in which suicide planes would crash into enemies ships.
3. Why did the Japanese fight so hard on Iwo Jima?
The Japanese fought so hard because Iwo Jima was the last island before the U.S. reached their goal, Okinawa so they could bomb the mainland and if the japanese had defeated them then the US wouldn't be able to advance.
4. Why did the Allies believe Okinawa was a foretaste of an invasion of Japan?
The allies believed that the battle at Okinawa would be similar to that of Japan with many deaths from the Japanese defendind their land.
5. What was the Manhattan Project?
It was the best-kept secret in the war, it was the scientific research of the atomic bomb.
6. Ultimately, why did President Truman decide to drop atomic bombs on Japan?
To make the war end as quickly as possible so the japanese would surrender.

war for europe and north africa

Read the remainder of Chapter 25-2 (pages 779 onward) (War for Europe and North Africa) and post your answers to the following questions in your blog. Your answers are due at the beginning of class Tuesday. Title: War for Europe and North Africa - Part II Labels: WWII, FDR, Churchill, D-Day, Battle_of_Bulge, Germany, Hitler, Truman

6. What was D-Day?
June 6, an allied invasion, largest land-air-sea operation in army history.
7. What happened at the Battle of the Bulge?
The fight went on for a month and nothing seemed to have changed axcept that the Germans were now weakened and could do little but retreat.
8. What did Allied troops find in Germany?
The city was in panick and soldiers were shot.
9. What happened to Hitler? What happened to F.D. Roosevelt? Who became U.S. President?
Hitler shot himself, FDR had a stroke and dies and Harry Truman became president.