CHAPTERS 27 AND 28
COLD WAR AMERICA

Cold War – post-1945 struggle between the United States and its allies, and the group of nations led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).  Direct military conflict did not occur between the superpowers, but intense economic and diplomatic struggles ensued over the course of forty-five years.  Listed below are some of the better-known events between the two superpowers.  Over the next few weeks, we will encounter them.

(1948-1949)       Berlin Airlift
(1950)                 Korean Conflict
(1954)		   Vietnam
(1954)		   Guatemala
(1956)		   Aswan Dam
(1957)	               space program
(1958)                Berlin Crisis
(1960)                U-2 Incident over Soviet Union
(1961)                Berlin Wall
(1961)                Checkpoint Charlie
(Oct. 1962)         Cuban Missile Crisis
(1979)                 Afghanistan

Foreign policy and theories of spread of communism  (Cold War dominated all aspects.)

containment – The U.S. must apply counterforce at every point where the Soviets show signs of encroaching upon the interest of a peaceful and stable world.

Marshall Plan – U.S. to provide economic aid to rebuild Europe after World War II.  This plan was designed to eliminate conditions that produced the discontent that weakened people’s resolve, thereby making them vulnerable to communist influence.

McMahon Act – Created the Atomic Energy Commission in 1946.  This organization established civilian control over nuclear development and gave the president sole authority over the use of atomic weapons in warfare.

brinkmanship – President Eisenhower’s secretary of state John Foster Dulles description of American relations with the Soviet Union, meaning the U.S. would go right up to “the brink” of war without actually engaging in combat.  This became a highly volatile period of U.S.-S.U. relations.

domino theory – President John F. Kennedy’s fear that if one Asian country fell to communism, then other Southeast Asian nations would fall like dominoes, as well.  Korea and Vietnam became examples.
Eisenhower Doctrine – This allowed the president in times of crisis to preempt Congress’s power to declare war.

CHAPTER 28

American consensus – commonly accepted feelings of
1.	essential democratic values
2.	desire to reap the material benefits of prosperity (the American dream)
3.	communism and the attempt to stop its spread abroad

Dwight D. Eisenhower’s role as president – domestic accomplishments
1.	extended Social Security in 1954 and 1956 to an additional 10 million Americans
2.	raised the minimum wage from .75 to $1.00 per hour
3.	financed export of farm surpluses in exchange for foreign currencies
4.	obtained congressional approval in 1954 for joint Canadian-U.S. construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway, giving ocean-going vessels access to the Great Lakes.
5.	Interstate highway system
6.	appointed Earl Warren as chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1953, thus ushering in a
	liberal court