Two Nations Live on the Edge

1. Two Nations Live on the Edge

2. Brinkmanship • Nuclear arms race began during Truman’s presidency. • Soviet’s first bomb=1949. • Hydrogen bomb(H-bomb)-atoms are fused.(Force of 1 million tons of TNT, or 67 times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima). • 1952-first thermonuclear device is tested successfully(10.4 million tons of TNT.)

3. Cont… • 1953-Soviets exploded their own H-bomb. • Eisenhower becomes president in ’53. Secretary of state-John Foster Dulles, is a staunch anti-Communist who proposed a new policy baseb on threats of massive retaliation-Brinkmanship. • U.S. beefs up the Air Force and produced massive numbers of nuclear weapons. • Soviets also produce massive numbers of weapons.(air raid drills)

4. Cold War Spreads Around the World • Eisenhower administration began to rely heavily on the CIA, which used spies to gather information abroad. • CIA began to carry out covert actions to weaken or overthrow gov’ts unfriendly to the U.S. • Iran-Prime Minister allows their economy to falter and in fears he would turn to the Soviets, the CIA persuades the shah to replace him with somebody more favorable to the U.S.

5. Cont… • Guatemala-CIA replaces socialist Arbenz with Dictator Armas. • Stalin dies in 1953, and relations thaw. • 1955-West Germany rearms and joins NATO; this makes the Soviets fearful and forms its own alliance-Warsaw Pact(Eastern Euro. Satellite nations under its control)

6. Cont… • Cold War affected the mid-East as well as Europe. • 1955-U.S./Britain pull out of Aswan damn project in Egypt. • Nasser seized Canal which is owned by France and Great Britain, infuriating them. • Israel is also angered b/c of terrorist raids by the Egyptians into their country. All three invade Egypt(Soviet’s ally b/c they pick up the tab on the canal). Soviet’s threaten all three while the U.S. threatens Soviets. U.N. imposed a cease-fire, however.

7. Soviet Aggression • 1956- Nikita Khrushchev is in control of Soviets. • Hungary-freedom from Soviets in ’56, but when they tried to demand other liberties, including the right to leave the Warsaw Pact, Soviet tanks rolled into the country, killing approximately 30k protesters. • Eisenhower sent $20 million for food and medicine and allowed Hungarians to enter the U.S.

8. Eisenhower Doctrine • Said that the U.S. would defend the Middle East against attack by any Communist county. It also gave the president authority to use American forces against armed aggression in the mid-East controlled by international communism!

9. Cold War Takes to the Sky • Read about Sputnik and discuss why you think this was such a big deal to the U.S. Be sure to discuss what it was and what people thought it could be. • What happens to Francis Gary Powers? • What was the U-2 incident?