Cold War Presidents

Harry Truman• Truman Doctrine• Shifted focus from diplomatic to military

emphasis to stop U.S.S.R.• Intervention in Korean War• Authorizes research in more powerful nuclear

weapons (H-Bomb)• Agrees with NSC-68’s recommendation for

open-ended defense spending

The Korean War

Dwight D. Eisenhower• Claims the center of American politics and

uses this to advocate a policy of calming reassurance

• By ending the Korean War and partially accepting U.S.S.R.’s sphere of influence, Ike oversees a long period of economic expansion at home

• Suburbia becomes both a goal of middle class and a cover up for wealth inequality in the country

Dwight D. Eisenhower• Religion is seen as a way to fight communism• The family unit begins changing from women

waiting several years to marry to marrying immediately after high school and having children

• This “idyllic” life proves to be vacant for a great deal of women

• U.S.S.R. launches Sputnik and sparks fear that American has been passed by technologically

Dwight D. Eisenhower• In his farewell address, Eisenhower warns of

the “military-industrial complex” and how it can foment aggressive military intervention in world matters

• Urges caution to the American public concerning the influence defense industries wield and their effect on the democratic process

The PGM-11 Redstone - the World's First Nuclear Missile displayed in Grand Central Station, NYC July 7, 1957

John F. Kennedy• In his inaugural address, JFK draws a red line

concerning communism’s spread by saying the U.S. will pay any price, monetary or personnel, to “assure the survival and success of liberty”

• This sets the stage for military intervention in Vietnam

• The Berlin Wall is erected and the partition of East and West Germany is sealed for the next 30+ years

Construction of the Berlin Wall, 1961

Conrad Schumand jumping from East Berlin to West Berlin, over the barbed wire that would soon become the Berlin Wall

An East German soldier ignores orders to let no one pass and helps a boy cross the newly formed Berlin Wall - 1961

Watching the construction of the Berlin Wall, West Berlin, 1962

John F. Kennedy• In response to Soviet accomplishments in the

space race, JFK announces that within the next decade, the U.S. will land on the moon

• With arms escalation increasing rapidly and victory in the space race seen as pretigious, scientific research spending increases rapidly

• The side benefit to huge civilian scientific spending (specifically NASA) is that better rockets to launch spacecraft also produce better rockets to launch nuclear weapons (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles – ICBM)

John F. Kennedy• Signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty with

U.S.S.R. that halted above ground testing of nuclear weapons (because nature)

• Orders the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba• Diffuses the Cuban Missile Crisis with

diplomacy instead of direct military engagement with Cuba and U.S.S.R.

• Gets assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald for his efforts

Aerial shot of the Soviet missile launch pads on during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962

A map of the Cuban Missile Crisis which indicates the strike range of Soviet nuclear missiles being placed in Cuba

Lyndon Johnson• Vows to continue JFK’s plans for domestic and

global political change• Though he promised during the campaign that

he wouldn’t send U.S. soldiers into Vietnam, he begins official military intervention

• The unpopular war in Vietnam distracts from Johnson’s plans for the Great Society

Lyndon Johnson• Youth counterculture, college students, and

draft aged people begin protesting the war across the country

• Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) forms and seeks to start a grass-roots movement that urged a “participatory democracy”

• Hippies, the “New Left”, anti-war activists, civil rights leaders, militant ethnic groups (e.g. Black Panthers), and “realists” (where did we hear that term used before?) demonstrate for U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam

17 year old Jan Rose Kasmir offers a flower to soldiers during the Pentagon anti-war protest in 1967

Richard Nixon• During the campaign, Nixon claimed he had a

“secret plan” to end the war in Vietnam• He didn’t have one• But faced with mounting opposition to the

war, Nixon begins drawing down troop levels in Vietnam

• The “Nixon Doctrine” begins trading arms and weapons with the South Vietnamese in exchange for U.S. troops coming home

Richard Nixon• Anti-war activists are happy with the draw downs

and expect the war to be over soon• But then the U.S. invades Cambodia after secretly

bombing communist bases there• This is seen by many to be a betrayal of the promise

to end the war• The invasion devastates Cambodia and allows the

Khmer Rouge (evil, evil, evil, evil people) to seize power and slaughter millions

• In 1973, a cease-fire is signed and the U.S. leaves Vietnam entirely

• North Vietnam eventually overruns South Vietnam

National Guardsmen surround Vietnam protesters at People's Park in Berkeley, California. May 15, 1969

Richard Nixon• Nixon goes to China to open up trade with the

communist country• Following his visit to China, Nixon meets with

U.S.S.R. and signs the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) in 1972

• SALT blocked the creation of antiballistic missile systems

• U.S., U.S.S.R., and China engage in détente• Détente: easing of tensions• Allows all sides to recognize that they have mutual

interests and that the U.S. and U.S.S.R. were equal in world affairs

Richard Nixon• Nixon is eventually tied to a burglary into the Democratic Party

headquarters in the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C.• After many months of congressional hearings looking into the

Watergate break-in, Nixon finally turns over audio recordings proved he attempted to cover up the crime

• Nixon makes an incredibly stupid, dumb, dumb, dumb mistake• Not that he committed the crime, but that he recorded himself

talking about it• Just prior to being impeached by the House (and assuredly

convicted in the Senate), Nixon resigns the Presidency• Spiro Agnew, Nixon’s Vice President had previously resigned

because he was caught bribing people and cheating on his taxes• Gerald Ford is appointed the Vice President and succeeds Nixon

as the only U.S. President to never have been elected

Gerald Ford

Homework• Watch the two videos from class

(Eisenhower’s farewell address and Kennedy’s speech on the Cuban Missile Crisis)

• Write a response (2-3 paragraphs) that:• Explains Eisenhower’s warning to the American public• How the U.S. response to the Cuban Missile Crisis may

have caused the American public to disregard Eisenhower’s warning