Truman and the Beginning of the Cold War

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Chapter 26
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Truman and the Beginning of the Cold War
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Causes of the Cold War

• Soviet domination of Eastern Europe
• Stalin had promised FDR that he would allow free
  elections in the parts of Eastern Europe occupied
  by the Soviet army once WWII ended
• Hoping to prevent a future invasion of the Soviet
  Union from the west and to balance US influence
  in Western Europe, the Soviets prevented free
  elections and banned democratic parties.

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Causes of the Cold War

• Communist victory in China
• Containment failed as Mao Zedongs communists
  defeated Chiang Kai-sheks nationalists.
• Republicans and Democrats alike criticized
  President Truman for offering only limited aid to
  the nationalists. They said he was soft on
  communism.
• In the following decades, American politicians
  had to be very tough on the communists or suffer
  politically.

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Causes of the Cold War

• Mutual suspicion between the US and Soviet Union
• Each side feared a nuclear first-strike from the
  other
• In a war between superpowers, whichever side had
  the most allies would have the upper hand, so the
  US and the Soviet Union competed for influence
  throughout the world.

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Immediate Effects of the Cold War

• Truman Doctrine
• Established the policy of containment
• First used in Greece and Turkey, both in danger
  of falling to a communist takeover
• US spent 400 million in aid in Greece and
  Turkey, greatly reducing the threat of a
  communist takeover
• Served as the basis for the Marshall Plan

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Immediate Effects of the Cold War

• The Marshall Plan
• Countries that are struggling economically are
  more likely to support communist elements
• 1947 Secretary of State George Marshall proposed
  US send massive economic aid to help rebuild
  Europe
• US spent 13 billion over 4 years and the
  Communist party lost much of its appeal to voters

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Immediate Effects of the Cold War

• East-West tensions over Berlin
• After WWII, Germany divided into 4 occupation
  zones among the Allies
• Berlin, in the heart of Soviet-controlled East
  Germany, was itself divided into East Berlin
  (Soviet) and West Berlin (US)
• When France, UK, and US consolidated their zones
  into one (West Germany), Stalin responded by
  cutting off all routes into West Berlin
• US and UK responded with the successful Berlin
  Airlift the sustain the people of West Berlin
• Berlin would remain a focal point of the Cold War
  for decades

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Immediate Effects of the Cold War

• Establishment of NATO and Warsaw Pact
• The Berlin crisis led to increasing fear in
  Western Europe of Soviet aggression
• This led to the formation of NATO in 1949
• US entered a military alliance during peacetime
  for the first time in history
• Ended any hope for a return to US isolationism
• Warsaw Pact organized in 1955 in response to West
  Germanys admission into NATO

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Immediate Effects of the Cold War

• McCarthyism
• Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) sought to
  capitalize on the anti-communist hysteria for
  political gain
• In order to draw publicity to himself and get
  reelected, he claimed that communists were taking
  over the government
• McCarthy made one unfounded accusation after
  another without providing any evidence
• Few would stand up to him for fear of being
  labeled a communist themselves
• Americans finally saw McCarthy for who he was
  during the Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954

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Long-Term Effects of the Cold War

• Arms race between superpowers
• Race for the H-bomb
• Threat of massive retaliation (brinkmanship)
• Air raid drills and fallout shelters
• Space race
• Soviets launch first man-made satellite (Sputnik)
• Soviets launch first intercontinental ballistic
  missile (ICBM)
• Soviets send first man into space (Yuri Gagarin)

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Long-Term Effects of the Cold War

• Superpower rivalry for world power
• Korean War
• US uses CIA to weaken or overthrow governments
  unfriendly to the US
• Iran CIA installs the Shah in 1953
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vpfzrHY1Lywo
• Guatemala CIA trained an army to overthrow
  communist-leaning government
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vv1IO_Q6BC-Mfeature
  related

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The Suez Canal Crisis
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• In 1956, an incident brought the Middle East to
  the attention of the world.
• Egypt, upset with Israel (established in 1948)
  and the West for their lack of support for a new
  dam on the Nile, seized the Suez Canal, which was
  located in Egypt, but owned by Britain and France.

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• Israel fought back, joined by Great Britain and
  France.
• The U.S. condemned Egypt and stated that it would
  not tolerate such attacks. At the same time,
  however, the U.S. government was urging England
  and France to withdraw from Soviet-backed Egypt
  to avoid a larger conflict.

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• Direct confrontation with the Soviet Union was
  avoided when the UN imposed a cease-fire. The
  canal reopened in April of 1957 under Egyptian
  management.

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• In January 1957, Eisenhower issued the Eisenhower
  Doctrine, which said that the U.S. would defend
  the Middle East against attack by any Communist
  country.
• Congress gave the president authority to use
  American forces, at his discretion, against armed
  aggression in the Middle East by any nation
  controlled by international communism.

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European Revolts
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• Even though Secretary of State Dulles spoke of
  liberating the people of Eastern Europe,
  Eisenhower did nothing when there were efforts at
  revolts in East Germany, Poland, and Hungary
  during the 1950s.

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• The Soviet Union was determined to hold onto
  their satellite nations.
• Soviet tanks rolled into each of these countries
  and crushed the rebellions with ease.

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The U-2 Incident
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• In May 1960, the Soviets shot down an American
  U-2 spy plane, which was taking photographs
  over Soviet territory.
• President Eisenhower at first said that the plane
  was not on a spy mission but had been a weather
  plane that had been blown off course.

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• When the Soviets showed the world the plane and
  its pilot, Gary Powers, Eisenhower was forced to
  admit the truth.
• Khrushchev tried to use the incident for Soviet
  propaganda purposes and paint the United States
  as evil.

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http//www.history.com/topics/1950s/videos1950s
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http//www.history.com/topics/1950s/videoscold-wa
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http//www.history.com/topics/1950s/videosjackie-
robinson-changes-the-face-of-america
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http//www.history.com/topics/1950s/videoscastro-
and-the-cuban-revolution
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Berlin Airlift
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NATO
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The Marshall Plan
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Civil War in China
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The Korean War
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The New Red Scare
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McCarthyism
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Eisenhower and the Cold War
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Cold War Around the World
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Yalta
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• In Feb. 1945, FDR had met with Churchill and
  Stalin at the Soviet city of Yalta on the Black
  Sea.
• At this Yalta Conference, the 3 leaders made a
  number of important decisions about the future.
• They agreed to move ahead in creating a new
  international peacekeeping body, the United
  Nations (UN), based on the principles of the
  Atlantic Charter.

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• In exchange for Japans Kuril and Sakhalin
  Islands, Stalin promised to enter the war against
  Japan after the surrender of Germany.
• He also promised free elections in Poland and
  in other Soviet-occupied Eastern European
  countries.

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United Nations
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• In April 1945, delegates from 50 nations met in
  San Francisco to draw up the Charter of the
  United Nations.

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• Additional members could be admitted by a
  two-thirds vote of the General Assembly, which
  included delegates from all member nations and
  was to meet annually in regular session to
  approve the budget, receive annual reports from
  U.N. agencies, and choose members of the Security
  Council and other bodies.

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• The Security Council, the other major charter
  agency, would remain in permanent session and
  would have primary responsibility for the
  maintenance of international peace and security.

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• Its eleven members included six elected for
  two-year terms and five permanent members the
  United States, Russia, Britain, France, and
  China.
• The Security Council might investigate any
  dispute, recommend settlement or reference to the
  International Court, and take other measures
  including a resort to military force.

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• The United States Senate ratified the U.N.
  charter by a vote of 89 to 2 after only six weeks
  of discussion.
• The permanent home of the United Nations is in
  New York City.
• The current U.N. Secretary General is Kofi Annan.

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Potsdam
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• After FDRs death, Harry Truman met with
  Churchill and Stalin at Potsdam, a suburb of
  Berlin, in June 1945.
• There the decision was made to divide Germany
  into four zones of occupation (U.S., Britain,
  France, and the Soviet Union).

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• Berlin, in the Soviet zone, was also divided into
  four zones.
• They also agreed to disarm Germany and to destroy
  the Nazi Party.

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Nuremberg Trials
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• Six months after the Germans surrendered, an
  international military tribunal convened in
  Nuremberg, Germany, to bring civil and military
  leaders of the Nazi regime to trial as war
  criminals.
• Judges and attorneys from the four nations
  occupying Germany participated in the first of a
  series of trials.

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• The crimes the defendants were charged with
  included planning a war of aggression, using
  slave labor, and exterminating the Jews.
• Twelve of the accused were sentenced to death,
  seven received prison terms, and three were
  acquitted.

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• Trials of thousands of lesser figures were
  conducted in each of the four occupation zones.
• Many Nazi leaders managed to blend into the
  general population and escape at the end of the
  war. Many concealed their identities and fled to
  Latin America. Some were eventually discovered
  and brought to trial.

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Occupation of Japan
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• As supreme commander for the Allied powers,
  General Douglas MacArthur ruled Japan after its
  surrender.
• The primary goals of the occupation were to
  demilitarize and democratize Japan.
• During the occupation, Emperor Hirohito remained
  in the imperial palace, but only as a figurehead.

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• A new constitution set up a democratic system of
  government, which extended voting rights to women
  and established separation of church and state.
• The constitution abolished the Japanese army and
  navy and prohibited Japan from ever again
  becoming a military power.
• The occupation ended in 1952.

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Tokyo Trials
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• Early in 1946, the International Military
  Tribunal for the Far East, consisting of
  representatives from eleven Allied nations,
  convened in Tokyo to try twenty-five Japanese
  civil and military leaders for planning an
  aggressive war and committing crimes against
  humanity.

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• Seven of the defendants, including former prime
  minister Hideki Tojo, were hanged the others
  received prison sentences.
• In addition, numerous Japanese army and navy
  officers were brought to trial for violating the
  rules of war. Of those accused, approximately
  6,000 were found guilty.

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• After the Potsdam meeting in the summer of 1945,
  Stalin continued to oppress most of Eastern
  Europe, forcing loyalty to the Soviet Union
  through phony trials and executions.
• The Soviet Union felt justified in staying in
  Eastern Europe because they had suffered more
  than 20 million deaths and extensive damage
  during WWII and felt vulnerable to attack.

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• The Soviet Union needed friendly neighbors
  Communist countries that they could control.
• Stalin installed or propped up Communist
  governments in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,
  Hungary, Romania, and Poland. These countries
  became known as satellite nations, countries
  dependent upon and dominated by the Soviet Union.

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• On Feb. 9, 1946, Stalin added to growing tension
  with an important speech in which he declared
  that capitalism was a danger to world peace.
  Capitalism and communism, he said, would
  eventually clash.
• Because of that danger, Stalin would protect
  Soviet security by stopping trade with the West
  and develop modern weaponry no matter how high
  the cost.

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• The United States interpreted this speech as
  virtually a declaration of war.
• Truman did not trust Stalin and was concerned
  about the danger of Soviet expansion and the
  spread of communism.

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• The European economy had been destroyed by the
  war and Truman was worried that the Communists
  might take over the governments of western
  Europe.
• Communist countries of eastern Europe kept their
  citizens from free contact with western ideas.
  They established restrictions on visitors,
  newspapers, magazines, books, and movies.

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• Speaking in Fulton, Missouri, at a time when this
  barrier was first appearing, Winston Churchill
  said that an iron curtain had fallen across
  Europe. He encouraged English-speaking people
  should join forces against the Soviet threat.
• In the future, the West, led by the US, would
  resist any Soviet attempts to expand its
  influence in the world.

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• The cold war had begun.
• The cold war would involve the United States and
  the Soviet Union in a constant struggle to gain
  power in the world by persuading other countries
  to accept their ideologies, either by propaganda
  or by force.
• During the cold war, there was no direct war
  between the superpowers.

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• President Truman officially adopted the concept
  of containment, the effort to restrict communism
  to its current borders.
• He told the American people that the U.S. would
  go to the aid of nations threatened by outside
  aggression.

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• U.S. policy was that the U.S. would have to stand
  up to the Soviet challenge at that time or
  eventually be forced to surrender in World War
  III.
• Trumans vision of how containment would work
  became known as the Truman Doctrine.

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• The Truman Doctrine was first applied to Greece
  and Turkey. Beginning in 1947, the United States
  sent over 650 million worth of help over a three
  year period.

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• Secretary of State George Marshall developed a
  plan to help the countries of Europe reestablish
  their economies which had been destroyed by the
  war.
• He proposed all European countries, including the
  Soviet Union and her satellites, make plans to
  rebuild their cities, factories, homes, etc.

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• The United States offered to pay for this
  rebuilding, but the Communist countries of
  eastern Europe refused to participate in the
  Marshall Plan.
• Western Europe gladly said yes.
• The US Congress was ready to reject the plan when
  in February 1948, the Communist Party of
  Czechoslovakia, with the help of Soviet tanks,
  took over that countrys government.

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• Congress quickly approved 5.3 billion as the
  first installment of the Marshall Plan.
• The economies of western European countries were
  able to recover and Communist parties began
  losing their appeal.

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• The Soviets did not appreciate the Marshall Plan.
  They also did not like the fact that the other
  three zones of Germany had joined together in
  1948 to form a West German Republic.
• As a result the Soviets closed off all highway,
  water, and rail traffic into the western zones of
  Berlin (which was in the Soviet zone of Germany)
  to the other countries in spite of agreements at
  Yalta.

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• No supplies could get in, so the city faced
  starvation.
• Stalin believed this threat would force the
  Western nations either to give up the idea of a
  reunified Germany or to surrender control of
  Berlin.
• In an attempt to break the blockade, American and
  British officials started the Berlin Airlift to
  fly food and supplies into West Berlin.

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• For 327 days, planes took off and landed every
  few minutes, around the clock. At its peak, more
  than 8,000 tons of supplies were flown into
  Berlin every day.
• Finally, after 11 months, the Soviets abandoned
  the blockade, and the airlift ended.

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• By the fall of 1949, the Federal Republic of
  Germany, commonly called West Germany, had been
  established, with its capital in Bonn.
• The Soviet Union turned its zone into the German
  Democratic Republic, commonly called East
  Germany, with its capital in East Berlin.

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• The Berlin blockade increased Western European
  fear of Soviet aggression.
• In response, ten Western European nations joined
  with the U.S. and Canada on April 4, 1949, to
  form a defensive military alliance called the
  North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

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• All members countries promised that an attack on
  one would be regarded as an attack on all which
  they would resist with armed force if necessary.
• Soon after the formation of NATO, the Soviet
  Union and its satellites signed the Warsaw Pact.
  It pledged mutual defense as NATO members had.

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• WWII had interrupted a civil war in China, as the
  two groups of Chinese who had been fighting each
  other joined forces to fight the Japanese.
• Mao Zedong led the Communist forces in the
  northern part of China.
• The Chinese Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek
  fought the Japanese in the south.

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• After the Japanese were defeated in 1945, the
  Communists and Nationalists went back to fighting
  each other for control of China.
• The U.S. backed the Nationalists because they
  were anti-Communist.
• But Chiang often acted like a dictator. His
  government was wasteful, ineffective, and corrupt.

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• Chiang overtaxed the Chinese people even during
  times of famine.
• He did not have the support of the people.
• Mao won the support of the Chinese peasants (over
  90 of Chinese were farmers).
• He distributed land to them and reduced rents. He
  had an experienced army with high morale.

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• President Truman refused to send American troops
  to help the Nationalists fight communism, but he
  did send aid.
• Even so, in 1949, Chiang and his forces had to
  flee to Formosa (Taiwan), an island off the coast
  of China.

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• China was now communist. Containment in China had
  failed.
• American conservatives said that the U.S. had
  lost China because not enough had been done to
  help the Chinese Nationalists.
• Trumans followers said that the Communist
  success was because Chiang could not win the
  support of the Chinese people.

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• Conservatives claimed that the United States
  government was filled with Communist agents.
• American fear of communism began to reach new
  heights.

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• Korea, a former Japanese colony, had been divided
  at the end of WWII into two parts at the 38th
  Parallel.
• The Soviets supported North Korea, while
  Americans supported South Korea.
• It was the hope of the UN that one day the two
  nations would be united after free elections were
  held.

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• But Stalin would not allow elections in North
  Korea.
• In June 1950, the North Korean Army invaded South
  Korea.
• American leaders felt that Stalin had instructed
  the invasion. They must act instead of appease.

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• The U.S. went to the UN, which condemned North
  Korea for aggression.
• The U.S. asked its member to furnish such
  assistance to the Republic of South Korea as may
  be necessary to repel the armed attack.
• The Soviet Union was absent from this meeting of
  the Security Council.

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• Troops from 16 nations most of them American
  were sent to South Korea.
• They were under the command of General Douglas
  MacArthur.
• The following is a brief chronology of the Korean
  War

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1) The North Invades

• The North Koreans had driven deep into South
  Korea, capturing Seoul, the capital of South
  Korea.
• After a month of bitter combat, the North Koreans
  had forced UN and South Korean troops into a
  small defensive zone around Pusan, in the
  southeastern corner of the peninsula.

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2) MacArthurs Counterattack

• In September 1950, MacArthur launched a
  counterattack behind enemy lines at the port of
  Inchon.
• Other troops moved north from the Pusan
  Perimeter.
• About half of the North Korean troops
  surrendered. The rest crossed the 38th Parallel
  into North Korea.

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3) Invading the North

• In October 1950, MacArthur and the UN forces go
  on the offensive and cross the 38th Parallel in
  and effort to unite Korea.
• China warned the UN forces against the invasion
  of the North and of coming too close to the
  Chinese border.

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4) Chinese Intervention

• A quarter of a million Chinese soldiers entered
  the war on the side of the North Koreans.
• The UN forces were driven back into South Korea.
• Seoul was recaptured by the Communists.

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5) Truman Fires MacArthur

• Many Americans were calling for an attack on
  China.
• MacArthur wanted to bomb supply bases in China.
  He also suggested using troops from Taiwan.
• Truman did not want to widen the war. He wanted
  to hold the line at the 38th Parallel.

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• MacArthur could not accept Trumans reluctance to
  fight. He even publicly criticized Truman.
• Truman finally removed MacArthur as commander.
• MacArthur returned to the U.S. to a heros
  welcome and gave a speech before Congress in
  which he said, Old soldiers never die, they just
  fade away.

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5) Stalemate

• Peace talks began in July 1951, but dragged on
  for months without success.
• In 1952, the first Republican president in 20
  years (Dwight D. Eisenhower) was elected.
• The troops in Korea were at the 38th Parallel.

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• Eisenhower went to Korea for an inspection of the
  troops.
• An armistice was signed in July 1953 at
  Panmunjon, South Korea, fixing the dividing line
  once again at the 38th Parallel.
• Communism had been contained without a world war
  and without the use of atomic weapons.

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• The United States, now fearful of Communist
  aggression in Asia, joined SEATO, the Southeast
  Asia Treaty Organization.
• This was a defensive alliance that promised help
  to any member that was under communist attack.

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• Many Americans felt threatened by the rise of
  Communist governments in Europe and Asia.
• Some even felt that Communists could threaten the
  U.S. government from within.

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• Several factors contributed to this growing
  suspicion.
• At the height of WWII, about 80,000 Americans
  claimed membership in the Communist Party some
  feared that these Communists first loyalty was
  to the Soviet Union.
• These fears increased when people found out about
  spies selling U.S. government secrets to the
  Soviets.

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• Republicans accused the Truman administration of
  being soft on communism.
• In response to this pressure, Truman set up a
  Loyalty Review Board.
• The Board investigated over 3 million people who
  worked for the federal government.

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• About 200 government employees were fired.
  Another 2,900 resigned because they did not want
  to be investigated or felt that the investigation
  violated their constitutional rights.
• The accused were not allowed to see the evidence
  against them or face their accusers.

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• In 1947, Congress set up the House Committee on
  Un-American Activities (HUAC). Its purpose was to
  look for Communists both inside and outside the
  government.
• HUAC concentrated on the movie industry because
  of suspected Communist influences in Hollywood.

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• Many people were brought before HUAC. Some agreed
  that there had been Communist infiltration of the
  movie industry.
• They informed on others to save themselves.

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• Ten people called before HUAC refused to testify.
  They said that the hearings were
  unconstitutional.
• The Hollywood Ten, as they were called, were sent
  to prison for their refusal.

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• In response to the HUAC hearings, Hollywood
  executives created a list of some 500 people they
  thought were Communist-influenced.
• They refused to hire the people on this
  blacklist. Many peoples careers were ruined as a
  result.

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• In 1950, Congress passed the McCarren Act. It
  outlawed the planning of any action that might
  lead to a totalitarian dictatorship in the U.S.
• Fear of communism reached new heights in America
  in 1948 following the conviction of former State
  Department official Alger Hiss.

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• Hiss was convicted of lying about documents that
  indicated that Hiss had handed over secret
  documents to communist agents.
• A young conservative Republican congressman named
  Richard Nixon gained fame for pursuing charges
  against Hiss.

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• In 1950 Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted
  of providing secret information about the atomic
  bomb which had enabled the Soviets to explode the
  bomb in 1949.
• The Rosenbergs were executed in 1953.

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• In 1950, Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy of
  Wisconsin decided to use the threat of Communism
  at home as the basic issue in his next reelection
  campaign.
• In a speech he said that he had a list of 205
  people who were known as being members of the
  Communist Party and who, nevertheless, are still
  working and shaping policy of the State
  Department.

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• No one ever saw the list and McCarthy refused to
  name anyone for quite awhile.
• In the next few months the number dropped from
  205 to 57, and then up to 81.
• McCarthy charged that the Democratic Party was
  guilty of 20 years of treason for allowing
  Communist infiltration of our government.

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• McCarthys technique became known as McCarthyism.
  When challenged on his facts, he would respond
  by making another accusation.
• However, he was always careful to do his
  name-calling only in the Senate, where he had
  legal immunity that protected him from being sued
  for slander.

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• The Republicans did little to stop McCarthys
  attacks because they believed they would win the
  1952 presidential election if the public saw them
  as purging the nation of Communist influences.
• Those that did challenge McCarthy were accused of
  being Communists themselves, so few voiced their
  objections.

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• Finally, in 1954, McCarthy made accusations
  against the U.S. Army, which resulted in a
  nationally televised Senate investigation
  (Army-McCarthy hearings).
• McCarthy was upset at the army for not giving a
  young friend of his special privileges.
• During the proceedings, McCarthy bullied war
  heroes and lost public support.

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• Most senators agreed that McCarthy had gone too
  far. The Senate condemned him for improper
  conduct that tended to bring the Senate into
  disrepute.
• Three years later, McCarthy died a broken man,
  suffering from the effects of alcoholism.

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• There was a lot of support for Communist witch
  hunts in the early 1950s.
• Many were forced to take loyalty oaths in order
  to get jobs. States passed laws making it a crime
  to speak of overthrowing the government. People
  became afraid to speak their views. Fear of
  communism made many Americans willing to give up
  their constitutional rights.

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• Americans fear of nuclear war heightened as the
  Soviet Union and the U.S. raced to develop more
  powerful nuclear weapons.
• In 1950, American scientists began to work on a
  hydrogen bomb, or H-bomb, which they said would
  be 1,000 times more powerful than the atomic
  bombs dropped on Japan.

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• The first H-bomb test in 1952 completely
  vaporized a small island in the Pacific.
• Nine months later, the Soviet Union tested its
  own H-bomb.
• J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the creators of the
  atomic bomb, was opposed to the development of
  the H-bomb.

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• The Eisenhower administration viewed nuclear arms
  and technology as central to the governments
  priority of ending Communist expansion.
• Secretary of State John Foster Dulles called for
  the liberation of all nations that had fallen
  under Soviet control since 1945.
• This policy was referred to as rollback.

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• To fulfill this aim, the U.S. would have to
  confront Communist aggression and not back down
  even if that meant going all the way to the brink
  (edge) of war.
• This policy was referred to as brinkmanship.
• The ability to get to the verge of war without
  getting into war is the necessary art. John
  Foster Dulles

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• This policy of brinksmanship (going to the edge
  of war) rested on the threat of massive
  retaliation, including the use of nuclear
  weapons.
• The arms race began in earnest when the Soviet
  Union answered this development by also producing
  huge quantities of nuclear bombs.

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• As a result, many Americans became convinced that
  Soviet weapons were aimed directly at their
  cities.
• Students practiced air-raid procedures, and some
  families built underground fallout shelters in
  their back yards.
• Fear of nuclear war became a constant in American
  life for 30 years.

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• The U.S. was in competition with the Soviet Union
  all over the world.
• President Eisenhower began to rely on the Central
  Intelligence Agency (CIA). The CIA used spies to
  get information abroad. It also carried out
  covert actions, or secret operations, to weaken
  or overthrow governments unfriendly to the U.S.

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• One CIA action involved Iran. In 1951, the CIA
  convinced the Shah, or monarch, of Iran to get
  rid of a prime minister who was not friendly to
  the West.
• In 1954, the CIA took action in Guatemala.
  Eisenhower believed Guatemala was friendly to the
  Communists. The CIA trained an army that
  overthrew Guatemalas government.

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• Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin died in 1953 and
  was eventually replaced by Nikita Khrushchev.
• In time, Khrushchev would denounce Stalin for the
  atrocities he committed against Soviet citizens
  and others.
• There was hope that the American relationship
  with the Soviet Union under Khrushchev would be
  better that it had been under Stalin.

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• The United States and the Soviet Union also
  competed in the skies.
• At first, the U.S. was sure it was ahead of in
  military technology.
• But in 1957, the Soviets developed an ICBM, or
  intercontinental ballistic missile. This was a
  rocket that could travel much farther than
  American rockets and could carry nuclear weapons.

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• On October 4, 1957, the Soviets shocked the world
  by launching Sputnik I, the first artificial
  satellite to orbit the earth.
• Americans knew it took a very powerful missile to
  launch this satellite a missile that could
  reach the United States.

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• It was obvious that the U.S. was behind in the
  arms race.
• This made Americans feel inferior to the Soviets
  in science and technology.
• Americans responded by making changes in
  education. New courses in science and mathematics
  were added to the high school and college
  curriculum.

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