Cold War in Asia

1. Cold War in Asia Analyze the impact of the Cold War on national security and individual freedom, including the containment policy and the role of military alliances, the effects of the “Red Scare” and McCarthyism, the conflicts in Korea and the Middle East, the Iron Curtain and the Berlin Wall, the Cuban missile crisis, and the nuclear arms race.

2. China and Korea • China after World War II was under a democratic leader Chiang Kai-shek who was challenged by Communist Rebels led by Mao Tse-Tung. The United States sent support to Chiang and so the Soviets sent help to Mao. • Mao and the ***Communists eventually won the mainland which became communist in 1949. Chiang and his supporters fled to the island of Formosa (Taiwan) and set up a democratic government. • Red China or mainland China was clearly held by Communists.

5. The Korean War • Korea was one of the countries liberated from the Japanese during World War II • ***Since both the Soviets and United States had played a role in freeing the country it was divided at the 38th parallel. • ***North Korea was communist while South Korea was capitalist and democratic. • ***In June 1950, North Korean leaders tried to unite the country and attacked across the 38th parallel. • ***The North was quickly overrunning the south so the United Nations and the United States decided to intervene • ***The UN forces (mostly U.S.) quickly pushed the communist forces back across the 38th parallel and continued to chase the forces north. • ***The Chinese then sent troops to help the North Koreans and pushed the UN troops back south until a stalemate developed near the 38th parallel. American public opinion turned against the war. • ***After two more long years of fighting both sides signed a truce in 1953, leaving the country divided at the same point as before the war started. • ***Victory for containment at the cost of 34,000 lives • ***The United States still maintains a military presence along the DMZ in Korea.

13. New Red Scare • These threats, both real and imagined, set the stage for the Red Scare of the 1940-50’s • The tough simplistic talk of the Truman administration caused the public to see the tension between the US and Soviet Union as good against evil. • The anxiety caused by the fall of China, the Soviet acquisition of the bomb, and the Korean War made Americans look for the enemy within because surely the Soviets could not have managed all this without the help of American traitors. • Although there were some spies who aided the Soviets, the FBI uncovered none under Truman’s Federal Loyalty Program. • However, countless public servants had their reputation smeared and the program laid the groundwork for further false accusations.

14. Joseph McCarthy • The most interesting character to arise because of the national concern about communism was ***Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy. • ***McCarthy was certain communists had infiltrated the U.S. government and military to high levels. • McCarthy used the tactic of the “big lie”, repeating an untrue accusation of affiliation with communism loudly and often to smear countless diplomats, artists and statesmen. • His witch-hunt finally ended with Army-McCarthy Hearings were he was forced to defend his ideas on TV. Eventually, most people thought him paranoid or downright crazy. • ***McCarthyismbegan to collapse and the fear the “communist were everywhere” began to subside.

18. In 1955, the Soviet Union organized the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance of Eastern European nations and the USSR against NATO. • ***In 1957, the “Space Race” took off when the USSR launched Sputnik. • Congress than passed the ***National Defense Education Actto promote science and math skills and to counteract the fear that consumerism had made Americans less competitive. • US formed NASA

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