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The Arms Race

The Arms Race. Florida's last Civil War veteran, Bill Lundy, poses with a jet fighter, 1955. Origins of the Cold War. With U.S.S.R. obtaining the hydrogen bomb, t he Arms Race is on

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The Arms Race

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  1. The Arms Race

  2. Florida's last Civil War veteran, Bill Lundy, poses with a jet fighter, 1955

  3. Origins of the Cold War • With U.S.S.R. obtaining the hydrogen bomb, the Arms Race is on • Defense and scientificresearchspending skyrockets for the next 40 years as each side attempts to demonstrate their capabilities • This evolves into a policy of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) which states that should one side fire on the other with nuclear weapons, the other would launch a full scale attack in response

  4. What is the message behind this cartoon?

  5. Origins of the Cold War • The possibility of a nuclear war weighs heavily on the American public • Bomb shelters are built at a rapidly increasing pace • Drills in schools have students hide under desks if they see a blinding flash of light from a nuclear explosion (Why would they suggest this? How effective would it be in reality?)

  6. Children practice the Duck and Cover drill, to protect themselves against the effects of a nuclear explosion, 1950s

  7. Origins of the Cold War • Some in Hollywood capitalize on this fear (The Manchurian Candidate, Fail-Safe, The War Game) • What motivation drove these kinds of movies? • Others make pointed commentaries on the absurdity of nuclear war (Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb) • What kind of motivation drove these kinds of movies? • A tide of unease pours over America • On one hand, they thought nuclear war could happen at any time • On the other, they thought who in their right mind would be the one to launch first?

  8. Origins of the Cold War • National Security Council Paper 68 (NSC-68) described the world being pulled by 2 forces: • Slavery • Freedom • It assumed that the U.S.S.R. was motivated by greed (Surprise, surprise) for territory and a “fanatical faith” inCommunism. • It advocated that the U.S. use as much force as needed, wherever and whenever Communism needed to be blunted

  9. Origins of the Cold War • Truman and hisadvisors hoped to contain the Soviets through diplomacy and economicisolation • Faced with a nuclear capable U.S.S.R., Truman ceded his desires and calledfor increased military spending • Specifically, NSC-68 called for open-ended increases in the defense budget (How is this still applicable today?)

  10. Escalation of Global Communism • September, 1949: Truman announces Soviets have tested an atomic bomb • October, 1949: Mao Tse-tung(Zedong) seizes power in Chinaand installs communist government • Summer, 1950: Civil war in Korea between South Korea and Communist North Korea supported by China breaks out • The U.S., following the Truman Doctrine, begin intervention in Korean War

  11. Escalation of Global Communism • In 1950, Truman authorizes research of a “super” bomb – the hydrogen bomb • November, 1952: U.S. tests first hydrogen bomb in South Pacific and proves to be 100 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima (What was the name of that bomb?) • 1952: Great Britain obtains nuclear weapons • August, 1953: U.S.S.R. tests hydrogen bomb

  12. Little Boy – First nuclear weapon used in warfare

  13. Ivy Mike – Largest pure fission H-Bomb tested by U.S.

  14. Homework Write a short response of 2-3 paragraphs (sensing a theme yet?) that explains the Cold War arms race that details why each side sought greater destructive power through nuclear weaponry, and offer an opinion as to whether or not it was justifiable in the end. Remember that hindsight is 20/20 and that in the heat of the moment, people react to perceived threats differently than they would looking back after the fact. Feel free to make connections to literature and movies to back your argument, but don’t simply re-state what the creators did.

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