The U.S. Enters the Vietnam War

1. Many neutral observers in Vietnam were critical of US policy. Explain why.-
There were many neutral observers in Vietnam who were critical of US policy because the United States did not allow the people there to have a vote on what form of government they wanted becauswe they were afraid that communisum was to popular with the people there. In southern Vietnam the U.S didnt let the people choose their leaders, even local ones such as mayors.


2. Explain how US politicians would have defended their policies.-
U.S politicians would have defended their policys as protecting the world from the domonino effect of Communism. The US was preventing Vietnam from becoming communist so that the rest of South East Asia would not follow behind it.

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.-


(1964 ) Assassination of JFK - Johnson becomes president- Political Involvment

(1955) Formation of South Vietnam- Political Involvment

(1964 August after JFK ) Gulf of Tonkin Incident-Military involvment, North Vietamise ships stared to open fire on US ships on the coast, which triggered more involvment

(1962) Number of 'advisers' reaches over 11,500- Military

(1964) JFK sends military advisers- military
(1965) U.S. Marines land at Da Nang- military involvment

(1954) U.S. stops elections in Vietnam- Political Involvment, stop spread of comunism

(1963) U.S. supports South Vietnam government after army overthrow Diem-

The Cuban Missile Crisis

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.-
October 24- the first missile carrying ships were accompanied by a USSR submarine, approach the 500 mile blockade zone. But whent they suddenly, in the morning, the Soviet Ships that were closest to the zone stoped. This probaly scared the US because the USSR ships were so close to the USA armed with missiles.
October 27- Khrushchev (the USSRs leader) sent another letter, making new proposals, saying that the condition for removing the missiles from Cuba is that the USA withdraw its missiles from Turket. But JFK didnt/ couldnt accept this condition. On the same day a American U-2 palne was shot down over Cuba, and the pilot was killed. JFK was advised to launh an immediate reprisal attack on Cuba. JFK delayed the attack. He also ignored the 2nd Khruschev letter, but accepts the terms suggested by Khrushchev on Oct 26. He said that if the the USSR didnt withdraw an atttack would follow.

2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?-
No I do not believe that nuclear war was ever a possibility because both superpowers saw what had happened to heroshima and nagasaki. The destruction was devastating, I dont think that either country wanted all of thoes civilan causilities on their hands.

3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.-
This source is an American Cartoon because it shows that the the USSR leader was struggling under JFK. both leaders were sitting on nucs so it symbolizes that they were fighting about the nuclear war. And JFK's finger is about to hit the button that makes the USSR's hydrogen bomb go off.

4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.-
To bargain with the USA- the USSR used the missiles to try and get the US's missiles out of Turkey.
To Test the USA- The USSR was trying to see how far they could push the USA before they reached total war.
To Trap the USA- The USSR wanted the USA to find them and be drawn into a nuclear war. He didnt try to hide them either.
To Get the Upper Hand in the Arms Race- The USSR was trying to get missiles closer to the USA because they didnt have the long range missiles that the US had.
To Defend Cuba- The USSR was trying to keep the Cuban people safe by putting the missiles there to make sure that teh USA didnt try to invade.

Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba?
To bargain with the USA-
The USSR hoped that if they put missiles in Cuba that they could bargin with the United States to get the US missiles out of turkey, which were a threat to the USSR.
To test the USA-
The USSR was trying to see if the USA was going to drop a bomb so they placed the bombs on Cuba to see how the US would respond.
To trap the USA-
The USSR wanted the US to feel surrounded the way teh USSR did becasue they knew that the US was able to attack with out sending out planes.
To get the upper hand in the arms race-
The USSR hoped that they would threaten the US into feeling like they were going to be attacked at any time.

The U.S. Attempts to Contain Cuba

1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?-
Cuba was important to the United States for a few reasons. Cuba was used as a bumper for the US between the spanish countrolled countries. American businessmen also had a lot of money invested in Cuba mostly in Sugar plantations.


2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?-
I think that the US didnt want to look like it was scared of Cuba, because if they were to attack the USSR would back up Cuba and the two Superpowers would have another mini war using smaller countries. The US used exiles because they would blend in and would be less noticed by the Cuban government, the US was probaly hoping that they would say that the US sent them.


3. Why did the invasion fail?-
This invasion failed because the exiles were poorly trained and probaly didnt know what to do. The Cuban government found out about them and captured some as prisoners, and others were killed by the military.


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 locations of missles in the two superpowers and where each country had other weapons placed in other countries as back up reserves.
Source 24- This source shows why the missles placed in Cuba were a threat to the united states. The map shows how the missles would be able to reach almost every point in the united states. It also shows that there is a USSR ship off the Florida coast which shows that it would be able to send a missle to hit the Space

The American Dream in the 1950s

1. Baby Boom-
The Baby boom was when the American soldiers came home and settled into urban life and had a family, which ended in a huge increase in the number of babies born that year. This is important because it was the largest generation in Americas history.

2. Dr. Jonas Salk-
Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vacine for poliomylitis, Polio. This is important because it saved hundreds of thousands of childrens lives.

3. Interstate Highway System-
The Interstate Highway System was important because there were so many cars that there wasnt enough roads. The Interstate was a network of highways. Allowed long haul trucking to be possible, but trains declined as well as towns not along the highway. Because of the cheap gas and interstate families were travling all over the place.

4. Franchise-
Is a company that offers similar products or services in many locations. This was important because it was the start of McDonalds and other fast food places, along with many of the businesses that we shop at today such as Mobile gas, Stop and Shop, dunkin donuts etc.

5. In a paragraph, describe in detail how Americans spent their leisure time in the 1950s
Because people only worked 40 hour weeks there was more leisure than ever. Also because of the new advances in tech each household was able to have washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, powered lawn mowers, etc, which opened up time for people to spend. In their spare time people played sports and other recreational activities, along with watching them on t.v. Besides rec activities people also began to read a lot in their spare time, book sranged from cooking and classics to comic books and magazines.

The Arms Race

1. Read Source 12. What methods do you think Dulles had in mind to 'liberate captive peoples' without a war?
I would say that he was going to do things like have "mini wars" like the Korea war where the U.S doesnt specifictly attack communism, the US would instead back anit communist peoples. Anouther thing they could do was have wars in technololgy like which superpower could have the most atomic weapons, who possesed the most deadly one, who could get a man onto the moon/into space.
2. Look at Source 13. Would you agree that the Communist world was encircled? Explain your answer.
Yes i agree that the USSR was surrounded by the allied powers that were trying to contain communism. The USSR was surrounded by SEATO, CENTO, and NATO. Because all of these packs were made by anit-communist countries the USSR had to make the warsaw pact to counter all of the other anti communist countries.
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? I believe that Dulles was talking about beating the soviets in having the best waepons stockpiled to show that they had more power and that the USSR was almost always behind on discovering new things
4. Look at Source 16. What is the Soviet cartoon saying about the U-2 plane?
The Soviet Union was saying that the U-2 planes were used by the US to spy on them. The cartoon was used to gain intelligance on the USSR. While the US used hi-tech to spy the USSR was fine with using human people to gain intelligance on the US.
5. Read the Factfile on page 344. Explain why the USSR was so angry about the US spy flights.
The USSR had everyright to be upset with the US spy flights over their territory. When Truman was president the 2 countries made an agreement that there would be no flights over each others countries to insure that there were no atomic bombs dropped without warning. But the US sent in U-2 spy planes anyways. Unlike spys these planes could gather much more information because of all the hi-tech. The USSR should have been angry because Eisnhower broke the agreement that was starting to help the relations of the 2 superpowers.
6. How would the USA justify this violation of Soviet territory?
The USA could justify this violation of USSR territory by saying that they were looking after the US citizens best intrestes making sure that there wasn't going to be any atomic bombs dropped on them when they were sleeping. The USA could also say that flying these planes was the equilevent to having spys sent into the USSR to gather info, and they could accuse the USSR of sending spys over (which they did to get Powers out of his 10 year sentence)
7. If the USSR had had U-2 planes, do you think it would have used them? Why?
I believe that if the USSR had the U-2 planes they would use them but I think that if the USA had told them that it was a violation they would have stopped and relied on the spys again to avoid another war.
8. Look at Source 17. Why do you think the USA had missiles based in Europe?
I believe that the USA had missles based in europe becasue it would be easier and quicker to drop them on the USSR if there was an emergency. If the missels were kept in the USA they would take them more time to get to the USSR which depending on the events could cost a lot of people their lives.
9. Define the term 'nuclear deterrent' in not more than 20 words.
Nuclear Deterrent- a countrys nuclear weapons arsenal, for a countrys nuclear deterrent to be successful, the country has to preserve its second strike capability.

"Deterrence Theroy- holds that the nuclear weapons are intended to deter other states from attacking with their nuclear weapons, through the promise of retaliation and mutually assured destruction(MAD) It can also bbe assigned as a response to an attack by conventional forces"-Wikipiedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_deterrent)

Eisenhower & The Cold War

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



1. The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949.
When The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949, President truman was faced with a terrible decision, wheter to develop an even more horrifying weapon or not. America was worried what teh USSR would do wiht these bombs so they decided to creat a better, stronger bomb, the Hydrogen Bomb.

2. In 1951, the Iranian prime minister placed the oil industry in Iran under the Iranian government’s control.
The United States feared that because the British were refusing to buy the oil, and the iranian economy wen tdown that they would become pro communist by turnig to the Soviets for help. So the CIA gave them several million dollars hopingthat the last leader would take charge again.

3. The Guatemalan head of government gave American-owned land in Guatemala to peasants.
Eisenhower beliueved that the Guatemalas' government had communist sympathies because it had given more than 200,000 acres of Americna owned land to the peasants. America had the CIA trained an army to invade Guatemala. The Gautamalan army refused to defend the president and he was forced to resign, the american armys leader became the new dictator of the country.

4. In 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt and occupied the Suez Canal.
Right after the Geneva summit Great Britain and rthe US helped build a dam at on the Nile River (Aswan)But the Egyptian leader was trying to use both the USSR and the US to gain double the aid for his country. When the loan was withdrawn after finding out about the dealings withthe soviets nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, which was owned by the French and the British who became outraged after hearing of this. Nasser refused to let ships pass that were headed for Israel. All the countries sent troops in and the UN was forced to step in to stop the fighting. And Nasser was left with the control of the canal.

5. Soviet tanks invaded Hungary and fired on protesters in 1956.
America should have been there to help the people. But because it was the USSR's satillite nations. The protester were armed with only bottles and pistols.

6. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.
America were shocked by being beaten by the Soviets. The US then put a lot of money into their space program. U.S scientists had to work over time to catch up with the Soviets. The first U.S attempt to send up a satillite did not go as planned. But on January 31st 1958 the US was able to get the satillite into space.

7. In 1960, the Soviet Union brought down an American U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers.
The CIA began making high altitude flights over the Soviet territory after the "Open Skies" proposal in 1955. The planes they used were called U-2. As a U-2 passed over the USSR its infrared cameras took detailed photographs of troop movement and missel sites. U.S officals wanted the missions stopped, and so didnt president Eisenhower. "If one of these aircrafts were lost when we were engaged in apparently sincere diliberations, it could... ruin my effectiveness," Powers had just gotton over enemy li nes when he was shot down by a soviet plane and was forced to parachute down to the ground, but he was forced to spend 10 years in prison. Eisenhower denied that the U-2 was spying and Khrushcev demanded an apology for the flights and a promise to halt them. eisnhower stopped the U-2 flights, but he didnt apologize. So Khrushchev called off the summit, he also withdrew his invitation to Eisenhower to visit the USSR. Now the tension between the 2 superpowers was as great as ever.

The Red Scare (1950s).

1. HUAC - House Un-American Activities Committee. An Agencie that investigated possible Communist influence, both inside and outside the U.S government. The HUAC was the most famous. In 1947, it made headlines in newspapers because it had become to investigate Communist influance in the movie industry. The HUAC believed that communists were sneaking propaganda into films.

2. Blacklist- A black list is a list of people who were condemened for having a Communist background. People who were blacklisted- approximately 500 actors, writers, producers, and dicectors- that had their careers go down because they werent allowed to work.

3. Alger Hiss- Was accused by whittaker Chambers accused him of being a spy for the USSR. Chambers made fake evidence to frame Hiss, but to many years had passed for the government prosecutors to charge him with espionage, but the jury convicted him of perjury because he "lied" about the documents. This shows that the government was accusing people for no reason, or just to have a trial.

4. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg- Were minor activists in the American Communist Party. They were implicated in the second spy case of Klaus Fuchs who gave the USSR information about the atomic bomb (he admitted that he had done so)

5. Joseph McCarthy- He was a famous anti communist activist Senator, who was also a republican from Wisconsin. Within his fisrt 3 years he became known for being ineffective legislator. He realized that he was going to have to win an issue so he could be reelected (1952.) So to insure that he won he charged that the communists were tking over the government.

6. McCarthyism- taking advantage of peoples concerns about communism, McCarthy made one unsupported accusationafter another. The attacks on suspected communists became know as McCarthyism. IT is the unfair tactic of accusing people of disloylatly without providing evidence.

7. McCarthy had to convict innocent people of Communism to insure that he was reelected into the senate in the 1952 election. he was know for losing his cases and getting nothing done. because calling people Communists didnt involve any evidence he was ablt ot win a lot of case and make himself look good. becasue of this innocent people were put into jail. Plus it showed that the system was flawed because he was able to do this without people doig amything to stop him. His fellow republicans didnt say anything because they wanted to have the most seats in the Senate so that they would win the majority of the votes.