Cold War Confrontations: Asia, and Europe and Beginning Dtente

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Cold War Confrontations Asia, and Europe and
Beginning Détente
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Advice from Eisenhower

• In a speech given 3 days before the end of
  Eisenhower's term, he warns of the dangers of the
  growing military-industrial complex.
• Eisenhower is clearly referring to the U.S.S.R,
  and communism in general, but he does not
  actually name them.
• He warns his successor, JFK, of the perceived
  challenges these foes to Western freedom would
  likely bring.

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From the Military-Industrial Complex Speech
(1961)
we yet realize that America's leadership and
prestige depend, not merely upon our unmatched
material progress, riches and military strength,
but on how we use our power in the interests of
world peace and human betterment.... We face a
hostile ideology -- global in scope, atheistic in
character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in
method. Crises there will continue to be. In
meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great
or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel
that some spectacular and costly action could
become the miraculous solution In the councils
of government, we must guard against the
acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether
sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial
complex. We must never let the weight of this
combination endanger our liberties or democratic
processes.
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The Berlin Crisis

• The crisis over Berlin was building when JFK
  became President in 1961.
• The conflict pitted East Germany's Walter
  Ulbricht and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev
  against West Germany's Konrad Adenaur and
  Kennedy.
• Thousands of laborers defected from East Berlin
  to West Berlin, which had enjoyed political and
  economic assistance from the US since WW II.
• The defections caused major strain on East
  Germany's crippled economy.

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The Berlin Crisis
Khrushchev and Kennedy in Vienna

• The U.S.S.R wanted Western interests out of West
  Berlin in order to deter the migration and
  strengthen the Communist bloc.
• At Vienna Summit of June 1961, Kennedy and
  Khrushchev were odds over the proposed plan.
• The President addressed the U.S. on the Berlin
  Crisis on July 25, 1961. His speech was
  optimistic, yet firm. Khrushchev responded with
  a defiant speech of his own.

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The Berlin Crisis The Wall

• With dangerously mounting tensions, Khrushchev
  and Ulbricht ultimately conceived of a plan which
  would avoid a costly conflict with the West.
• The erection of a barrier would separate East and
  West Berlin in order to stem the influx of
  migration.
• The building of the wall began on August 13,
  1961, with the U.S. opting not to act out in
  aggression against the U.S.S.R.

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Vietnam The Kennedy Administration

• The perceived threat of communism had an
  unmatched influence on American foreign policy in
  the 1960's.
• President John F. Kennedy was determined to
  enforce the American policy of the containment of
  communism.
• In doing so, Kennedy pledged American support of
  South Vietnam.
• What began as financial assistance soon escalated
  into military conflict involving American troops.
  

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Vietnam The Johnson Administration
LBJ and McNamara

• The assassination of Kennedy ushered in the
  presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson.
• Strong in his convictions, Johnson relied heavily
  on the word of Kennedy's advisors, particularly
  the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.
• In March 1964, McNamara issued a statement
  concerning Vietnam in which he pushed for more
  military involvement and a continuation of
  Kennedy's policies.

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Vietnam The Gulf of Tonkin Incident

• Despite the optimism of U.S. policy makers,
  disaster occurred in early August of 1964.
• Two American destroyers were attacked by North
  Vietnamese gunboats the attack caught the U.S.
  by surprise.
• In an address to Congress, Johnson requested and
  was subsequently granted a large investment of
  money and troops to fight against North
  Vietnamese communism.
• The events in the Gulf of Tonkin on the day of
  the incident are the subject of controversy and
  dispute to this day.
• The years following the Gulf of Tonkin incident
  saw a huge increase in American casualties in
  Vietnam.

LBJ signing the Tonkin Gulf Resolution
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Shock and Disillusionment in the Wake of the Tet
Offensive

• As 1968 began, President Johnson and the military
  offered optimistic appraisals of the situation in
  Vietnam.
• January 30th, North Vietnamese and Vietcong
  troops launched a massive, unexpected offensive
  on the lunar New Year holiday of Tet.
• U.S. forces repelled enemy forces, but public
  support for the war plummeted as Americans
  recognized the inevitability of stalemate.

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Walter Cronkites We are Mired in Stalemate
Broadcast (February 27, 1968)
To say that we are closer to victory today is to
believe, in the face of the evidence, the
optimists who have been wrong in the past. To
suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield
to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are
mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet
unsatisfactory, conclusion. On the off chance
that military and political analysts are right,
in the next few months we must test the enemy's
intentions, in case this is indeed his last big
gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly
clear to this reporter that the only rational way
out then will be to negotiate, not as victors,
but as an honorable people who lived up to their
pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they
could.
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The Sino-Soviet Split

• By the 1960s, China and the U.S.S.R. felt mutual
  distaste for the others' interpretations of
  communist doctrine.
• The Soviets accused the Chinese of desiring a
  split, which would weaken communism.
• China was dissatisfied with what it considered to
  be concessions made by the Soviets to Western
  imperialists, namely the U.S.
• China was unhappy with the Soviet treatment of
  the Berlin crisis and the Cuban Missile crisis,
  believing the U.S.S.R to be to compliant with the
  U.S.
• In 1964, China severed its relationship with the
  U.S.S.R.

"Arise, all people of the world, to topple
Imperialist America! To topple Soviet
revisionism! To topple the reactionary parties of
all nations!" Chinese Propaganda, 1969
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The Sino-Soviet Split Border Clashes

• Border clashes between the U.S.S.R. and China
  ensued.
• The clashes were seen as a major threat to the
  stability of communism.
• The conflict raised the specter of a major-power
  war.
• Diplomacy was resumed between the Soviets and the
  Chinese, and an end to the border clashes was
  suggested by the Chinese Premier to Chairman of
  the Soviet Council of Ministers in 1969.
• The Sino-Soviet split served to usher in the era
  of détente.
• The Soviets began to recognize the advantages to
  good relations with the West, particularly in the
  realm of armaments.

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Beginning Detente
Outer Space Treaty green signed and ratified,
yellow signed only

• Detente, or a relaxing of Cold War tensions,
  began to be realized in the late 1960's under
  Richard Nixon.
• Early detente began with the signing of two
  monumental treaties between the West and the
  Soviet Union.
• The first treaty in 1967 barred the use of outer
  space for military purposes, admonishing the
  placement of weapons in space and declaring
  celestial bodies for peaceful use.

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Beginning Detente

• The second treaty was the Treaty on the
  Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons signed on
  July 1, 1968 and put into effect on March 5,
  1970.
• This treaty served not only as an arms control
  between the West and the Soviets, it also
  admonished the free trade of nuclear secrets.
• The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was viewed
  as both hopeful and advantageous to both the
  United States and the Soviet Union.

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Beginning Detente

• The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I)
  lasted from November of 1969 to May of 1972.
• The talks, which involved diplomats from the U.S.
  and the U.S.S.R were groundbreaking in the level
  of cooperation between the two powers.
• This photo shows Henry Kissinger, the National
  Security Advisor under Nixon and Anatoly
  Dobrynin, the Soviet Ambassador to the U.S.
• Relations between Dobrynin and past
  administrations were strained, but the
  relationship between Kissinger and Dobrynin was
  amicable.

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Citations Slide 2 http//images.usatoday.com/lif
e/_photos/2006/01/20/inside-eisenhower-fight.jpg S
lide 3 http//www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/preside
n/speeches/eisenhower001.htm Slide 4
http//www.redruth.cornwall.sch.uk/content/departm
ents/history/coldwar-rev/coldwar.htm Slide 5
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na_main.jpg Slide 6 http//www.cs.utah.edu/hatc
h/berlin_wall.html Slide 7 http//www.britannica
.com/eb/art/print?id61022articleTypeId0 Slide
8 http//www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.
hom/oralhistory.hom/images/mcnamarar_oh.jpg Slide
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tors/LBJ/tonkin_wq/task.php Slide 10
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ide 11 http//faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-Viet
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ange-Viet2.html Slide 13 http//faculty.smu.edu/
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b/1/1b/325px-Ac.maoposter.jpg Slide 15
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potlight/poster.gif Slide 16 http//en.wikipedia
.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty Slide 17
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gning.jpg Slide 18 http//history.sandiego.edu/g
en/20th/RN/Page001.htm.