Cold War ends: Ronald Reagan

Watch a bio on Ronald Reagan bio.

There was an assassination attempt while Reagan was in office.

In November 1984, Ronald Reagan was reelected in a landslide. Reagan carried 49 of the 50 U.S. states in the election, and received 525 of 538 electoral votes—the largest number ever won by an American presidential candidate. 

During his second term, Reagan also forged a diplomatic relationship with the reform-minded Mikhail Gorbachev, chairman of the Soviet Union. In 1987, the Americans and Soviets signed a historic agreement to eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. 

That same year, Reagan spoke at Germany's Berlin Wall, a symbol of communism, and famously challenged Gorbachev to tear it down. More than two years later, Gorbachev allowed the people of Berlin to dismantle the wall, ending Soviet domination of East Germany. After leaving the White House, 

Reagan returned to Germany in September 1990—just weeks before the country was officially reunified—and, with a hammer, took several symbolic swings at a remaining chunk of the wall. 

Interesting Facts:

• American hostages held in Iran for more than a year were finally released on the day of Reagan’s inauguration. They were on a plane out of Iran just minutes after he was inaugurated.

• In 1980, not only did Reagan win the election but the Republicans took the majority in the Senate for the first time since 1952.

• There was an attempted assassination on Reagan in 1981. He was shot in the chest, but he fully recovered. In 1985 Reagan experienced another life-threatening battle, this time with colon cancer. He recovered rapidly again.

• His first job was as a lifeguard. He used money from that job and a partial scholarship to put himself through college. After college, he worked as a sports announcer. After that, he was a famous actor!

• Both of Reagan’s presidential election victories were landslides.

Famous Firsts:
• Ronald Reagan was the first former film star to become president. He appeared in more than fifty feature films and several television shows.

• Reagan was the oldest man elected president.He was 69 at the time.

• He was the first to appoint a woman, Sandra Day O’Connor, to the Supreme Court.

• In 1994, he became the first former president to publicly announce a personal battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

Complete the worksheet on Ronald Reagan.

Comment on the blog: 
What fact about Ronald Reagan did you find the most interesting? 

Collapse of the Soviet Union

The collapse of the Soviet Union started in the late 1980's and was complete when the country broke up into 15 independent states on December 25, 1991. 

Smaller Soviet countries regained their independence in 1991
and now this is what the map of Europe looks like today. 

This signaled the end of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Look at these photos! 

Easy explanation of the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

Ten crazy facts about the Soviet Union.

Watch this video and comment on the Blog: 

What did you find interesting? 

Vietnam War 2

Vietnam 2

The jungles of Vietnam proved a tough place to fight a war. It was very difficult to find the enemy in the jungles and also difficult to determine who was the enemy. The troops had to deal with booby traps and constant ambushes from people they thought they were fighting for. 

When Richard Nixon became president he decided to end US involvement in the war. He first began removing troops from Vietnam in July of 1969.  In April of 1975 South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam. Soon the country became officially unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam was now a communist country. The US had lost the Vietnam War and also taken a major blow in the Cold War.

The United States lost the Vietnam War. It lasted for twenty years, something the US never expected when it joined in the fight. Not only did the US lose the war and the country of Vietnam to the communists, the US lost prestige in the eyes of the world. 

Have you ever heard about the Ho Chi Min Trail? 

Watch this video to learn about the booby traps used by the Vietnamese against Americans. 

Vietnam War

Vietnam War
Dates: November 1, 1955 - April 30, 1975

During the Cold War the United States and it's Allies were adamantly opposed to even ONE more country of the world falling into communism.

The Vietnam War was fought between communist North Vietnam and the government of Southern Vietnam. The North was supported by communist countries such as China and the Soviet Union. The South was supported by anti-communist countries, primarily the United States. 

President Lyndon Johnson had the plan to help the Southern Vietnamese get strong enough to fight the North rather than having the US win the war for them. 

Check out this video about the "road to war." 

The U.S. military sprayed millions of gallons of Agent Orange and other herbicides on trees and vegetation during the Vietnam War . See the side effects of this yucky stuff in these two videos.

Comment on the blog: what do you find interesting (or crazy) about these videos?

Cold War: Bay of Pigs

The Cold War

Bay of Pigs

 
Bay of Pigs in Cuba

In 1961 the United States sent trained Cuban exiles to Cuba to try and overthrow Fidel Castro's government. They failed miserably. The invasion is considered part of the Cold War because the United States was trying to prevent communism from taking hold in the Americas. 

Before the Invasion 

Fidel Castro helped to lead the Cuban Revolution in overthrowing the existing government of Cuba in 1959. He was an ardent communist and was allied with the Soviet Union. This deeply concerned the United States as this gave communism and the Soviet Union a foothold in the Americas. 

The CIA, or Central Intelligence Agency, was tasked with overthrowing Fidel Castro's government in Cuba. There were many people from Cuba, called exiles, who had fled the country when Fidel Castro had become leader. The CIA began to train these exiles in guerrilla warfare. The idea was that they would sneak back into Cuba and begin a guerrilla war against Castro. They would gather others and eventually overthrow Castro. 

The plan changed, however. The new plan was help the exiles to invade the island. The hope was that locals would join forces with them and they would quickly take over. 

Planning the Invasion 

The invasion was originally planned to occur at the city of Trinidad, but President Kennedy thought that they needed a more secluded place. The Bay of Pigs was chosen instead. The idea was that planes would fly in first and destroy the air force. Then the invasion force of 1500 soldiers would land. They hoped that the Cuban people would join them in rebelling against Castro. 

The CIA tried to plan the invasion in secret, however, too many people knew and word got out. The Cubans knew the invasion was coming. 

Watch this 3 minute video on The Bay of Pigs. 

The Invasion 

The invasion occurred on April 17, 1961. It did not go well. Although the Cuban air force was damaged by early air strikes, there were still planes left to attack the invaders. Once the invasion started, it took too long for the troops and ammunition to get off the ships. Before the ammunition could be unloaded, Cuban planes sunk the invader's ships. 

Many of the paratroopers, who were supposed to slow down Castro's forces on the ground, landed at the wrong place or in the swamps. Soon the invaders were surrounded by a much larger force and were running out of ammunition. They tried to retreat, but most were eventually captured and put into prison. 

Results 

The results were disastrous for the United States. The government looked weak and the CIA inept. It also seemed to strengthen Castro's government within Cuba and caused him to look to the Soviet Union as a military ally. 
Interesting Facts About the Bay of Pigs

• The Cuban exiles were trained by the CIA in the country of Guatemala.
• Jose Miro Cardona was set to become president of Cuba once Castro was overthrown.
• The invasion force was known as Brigade 2506.
• The invaders would have had a much better chance to escape into the hills if they had used the original landing site of Trinidad. However, they were surrounded by swamp at the Bay of Pigs and had nowhere to run.
• It is thought that some of the timing of the invasion got messed up due to people getting the time zones confused.

Watch this 3 minute video on the Bay of Pigs. 

Comment: What do you think the President should have done differently in this situation so that the invasion might have been successful? 

Cold War: Cuban Missile Crisis

At 8:45 AM on October 16, 1962, the National Security Advisor  alerted President Kennedy that a major international crisis was at hand. 

Spend 3 minutes to watch his speech. 

Two days earlier a United States military surveillance aircraft had taken hundreds of aerial photographs of Cuba. CIA analysts, working around the clock, had deciphered in the pictures conclusive evidence that a Soviet missile base was under construction near San Cristobal, Cuba; just 90 miles from the coast of Florida. 

The most dangerous encounter in the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union had begun.

After President Kennedy and  national defense officials were briefed on the U-2 spy plane findings, discussions began on how to respond to the challenge. Two principal courses were offered: an air strike and invasion, or a naval quarantine with the threat of further military action. 

To avoid arousing public concern, the president maintained his official schedule, meeting periodically with advisors to discuss the status of events in Cuba and possible strategies.

After many long and difficult meetings, Kennedy decided to place a naval blockade, or a ring of ships, around Cuba. The aim of this “quarantine,” as he called it, was to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies. He demanded the removal
of the missiles already there and the destruction of the sites. 
On October 22, President Kennedy spoke to the nation about the crisis in a televised address. No one was sure how Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev would respond to the naval blockade and U.S. demands. But the leaders of both superpowers recognized the

devastating possibility of a nuclear war and publicly agreed to a deal in which the Soviets would dismantle the weapon sites in exchange for a pledge from the United States not to invade Cuba. 

In a separate deal, which remained secret for more than twenty-five years, the United States also agreed to remove its nuclear missiles from Turkey. Although the Soviets removed their missiles from Cuba, they escalated the building of their military arsenal; the missile crisis was over, the arms race was not.

Watch this trailer for a movie called "Thirteen Days" which depicted this historical era. 

Watch this 3 minute video about the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

If you are interested in "Ten Fascinating Facts about Cuba." 

Comment: Research on the Internet and share one interesting thing that you discovered about the Cold War "Arms Race." 

Cold War: Space Race

The Military Origins of the Space Race are reflected in the rivalry to build rockets powerful enough to send nuclear warheads across the ocean, lift satellites into Earth orbit, or carry humans to the Moon. 

The space race started with the launch of Sputnik in 1957 was at its height during the 1960’s until the American landing on the moon in July 1969. 

During this time, secret eyes in space were constantly spying to determine potential targets and any warnings of attack. 

However, the launch of Sputnik came as a surprise. The Russians were ahead in the Space Race from 1957 through the early 1960’s largely due to the United States concentrating on bombs rather than rocket technology. The space race was part of a larger competition involving not only the arms race, but also a competition between communism and democracy

Watch this video on the Space Race

and this one on Sputnik

Cold War Spies

The Cold War

McCarthyism 

Watch the following video on Senator Joseph McCarthy ( this is a 6 minute video but I want you to drag it to minute 4:00 to start it)

Another short video on the Red Scare

Joseph McCarthy  was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin.  Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period of intense anti-communist suspicion inspired by the tensions of the Cold War.

He made claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies  inside the federal government and even in Hollywood. The term "McCarthyism," came to be used as someone who made false claims to incriminate others.

Spies and spying became part of the Cold War game. Both sides in the Cold War used spies as a way of acquiring knowledge of what the other was doing or to spread false knowledge of what one side was doing. Spies could become double agents and the whole story has developed a rather romantic image as a result of Western film portrayals of spies. However, for all of them spying was far from romantic – it was a highly dangerous job and many worked knowing that there was barely any chance of being rescued if caught. A few were exchanged for other spies – but prison or execution were the more usual punishments for being caught – either by betrayal or making errors.

Watch this 1-minute long video on Ethel and Julius Rosenburg who gave the Soviet Union important information on a top secret atomic bomb being built in the U.S. They were discovered and sentenced to death for treason.

Check out this spy plane

EXTRA FUN STUFF

The Cold War: The Cold War was not a traditional war where armies march and shots are fired. It was a tense and competitive rivalry that used to exist between the United States and the Soviet Union (which is now Russia). It was a very long war, lasting from 1945 to 1991.

The CIA: The United States agency that was in charge of information-gathering was the CIA, which stands for the Central Intelligence Agency.

The KGB: The Soviet Union’s agency was called the KGB. That stands for Komitet Gosudarstvenoy Bezopasnosti, and translates to the Committee for State Security.

During the Cold War, the CIA had spies in Russia, and the KGB had spies over here. Both sides were trying to find out the other side’s secrets. To complicate matters, there were people called doubleagents. These were spies who were pretending to be on one side, but were really on another. 

The Equipment: 
During this time, spies from both sides used ingenious gadgets to get information about their enemies and pass it along without blowing their cover. Here are a few of them: (Some of
these may sound unsophisticated, but remember, this was before the age of the microprocessor!)


1) Cigarette Case Weapon: This was a small case that held a pack of fake cigarettes. The spy could shoot bullets filled with poison through the cigarettes!

2) Keychain Guns: These were only 1 inch wide and 3 inches long, and fired poison gas cylinders or bullets!

3) Thumb Knives: Imagine you’re captured by the enemy. Tied up! About to be taken away and killed for being an enemy spy! But in your pocket you have a coin that’s really a knife.
You struggle, you fumble, but at last you reach the coin. You thumb open the hinged blade,
cut through your ropes, and escape!

4) Lipstick Guns: The lipstick gun could be fired by clicking a ridged ring a quarter of a turn. It was a very small weapon so it was only useful at very close range.

Poison Pellet Weapons: These were weapons that shot pellets of a deadly poison. It only took a few hundred micrograms of certain poisons to kill someone! (Real espionage (spying) is not a game. It could get you killed!) 

Here are a few types of Poison Pellet Weapons:

1) The Assassination Pen: This was the size and shape of a fountain pen, but could deliver poison pellets or liquid poison

2) The Poison-Pellet Umbrella: There’s a famous story about a Bulgarian man named Georgi Markov who was jabbed with an umbrella at a bus stop in London. “Pardon me.
Sorry. Accident,” the man with the umbrella said. But he’d just injected Georgi Markov with poison which killed him soon after!

3) The Blind Man’s Cane: This was one of those heavy black canes with the curved handle and rubber cap on the end, and white tape wrapped up it in a spiral to indicate that the
person carrying it was blind. What the white tape really did was hide the trigger which would activate poison gas coming out of an opening in the handle!

Hidden Cameras: Nolan’s got this one down pat! But during the Cold War, there were no digital cameras,
so secret agents had to use film cameras. Sometimes they hid them under their clothes, or in their briefcases or purses. 

Here are some examples:
1) The Necktie Camera: This camera was strapped around the chest under clothing and could take pictures through a “tie pin”. It was activated by a remote control hidden in the
secret agent’s pocket.

2) The Book Camera: This one could take pictures through a finger tab like you see in some dictionaries or bibles. It was activated by putting pressure on the book’s cover.

3) The Wristwatch Camera: This looked like a wristwatch and used a circular piece of film that could take up to six shots. Pictures were taken while the secret agent was pretending to
check the time.

4) The Cigarette Lighter Camera: All the spy had to do to take a picture was aim the small metal cased “lighter” in the right direction and flip up the top, pretending to light a cigarette.

Listening Devices: Remember, the microprocessor has changed things a lot in the past fifty years. During the Cold war, they used microphones that linked to a transmitter or a tape recorder.

1) The Belt Buckle Microphone: A little microphone was hidden in the back of a belt buckle, and picked up sounds through a small hole in the buckle.

2) Book Spine Devices: If you open a hardcover book and look at the spine, you’ll see that a little tunnel is created as the spine flexes open. Secret agents used to hide a long, narrow
microphone/transmitter device into this opening, and when the book was closed it was invisible.Then the spy could put the book on a shelf in a room and listen in on secret conversations!

3) “The Thing”: This was a listening device invented by the Soviets. It worked using radio beams and had no batteries or electrical circuits. One of these devices was discovered in
the American embassy in Moscow, Russia. It had been hidden behind the Great Seal of the United States, which hung on the wall over the American ambassador’s desk!

IF you want to see some pictures of spy tools here is a slideshow!

Comment: If YOU were a spy which gadget would be your favorite and WHY?

America and its allies had won the Cold War.
http://www.coldwar.me/coldwarforkids.html

Korean War

The Cold War

Korean War

US Battleship during Korean War

 The Korean War was fought between South Korea and communist North Korea. It was the first major conflict of the Cold War as the Soviet Union supported North Korea and the United States supported South Korea. The war ended with little resolution. The countries are still divided today and North Korea is still ruled by a communist regime. 

Dates: June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953 

Leaders:  The leader and Prime Minister of North Korea was Kim Il-sung. North Korea's chief commander was Choi Yong-kun. 

The President of South Korea was Syngman Rhee. The South Korean Army was led by Chung II-kwon. The United States Army and United Nations forces were lead by General Douglas MacArthur. The US President at the start of the war was Harry Truman. Dwight D. Eisenhower was president by the end of the war. 

Countries Involved 

Supporting North Korea was the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. Supporting South Korea was the United States, Great Britain, and the United Nations. 

Before the War 
Before World War II the Korean Peninsula had been a part of Japan. After the war it needed to be divided up. The Northern half went under the control of the Soviet Union and the Southern half under the control of the United States. The two sides were divided at the 38th parallel. 

Eventually two separate states formed with North Korea forming a communist government with Kim Il-sung as leader and South Korea forming a capitalist government under the rule of Syngman Rhee.

The two sides did not get along and there were constant skirmishes and battles along the border at the 38th parallel. Attempts were being made to negotiate a unified country, but they were going nowhere. 

North Korea Attacks 

On June 25, 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea. The South Korean Army fled and forces from the United Nations came to help out. The United States provided the majority of the United Nations forces. Soon the South Korea government only occupied a small part of Korea on the southern tip. 

The War 
At first the United Nations was only trying to defend South Korea, however, after the first summer of fighting, President Truman decided to go on the offensive. He said the war was now about liberating North Korea from communism. 

Battle of Inchon 
General George MacArthur led the UN forces on an attack at the Battle of Inchon. The Battle was a success and MacArthur was able to move in and route much of the North Korean army. He soon had retaken control of the city of Seoul as well as South Korea back up to the 38th parallel. 

China Enters the War 
MacArthur continued to be aggressive and pushed the North Koreans all the way to the northern border. However, the Chinese were not happy with this and sent their army to enter the war. At this point President Truman replaced MacArthur with General Matthew Ridgway. 

Back to the 38th Parallel 
Ridgway fortified the border just north of the 38th Parallel. Here the two sides would battle for the rest of the war. North Korea would attack the south at various points and the UN army would retaliate trying to prevent more attacks. 

End of the War 
Negotiations continued for much of the war, but President Truman did not want to appear weak. When Eisenhower became president, he was much more willing to offer concessions to end the war. 

On July 17, 1953 a treaty was signed that ended the war. Few things had changed as a result of the war. Both countries would remain independent and the border would remain at the 38th parallel. However, between the two countries a 2 mile demilitarized zone was placed to act as a buffer in hopes to prevent future wars. 

Facts About the Korean War

Although Korea was not strategic to the US, they entered the war because they did not want to appear soft on communism. They also wanted to protect Japan, which they did consider strategic.

• The TV show M*A*S*H was set during the Korean War.
• The situation today in Korea is similar to what it was 50+ years ago after the war. Little has changed.
• It is estimated that around 2.5 million people were killed or wounded during the war. Around 40,000 US soldiers died in the war. The civilian casualties were especially high with estimates of around 2 million civilians killed.
• It is thought that President Truman strongly considered using nuclear weapons during the war.

Domino Theory: The US Government was afraid that communism would spread like “dominoes” falling.

Watch this 5 minute video about the Korean War and this 4 minutes video on the history of Korea 

This 3 minute video shows how different life today is in North Korea compared to the United States

Comment on the blog:
One thing you learned about the Korean War and another about life in Korea. 

Cold War

How many World Wars have there been? This seems like an easy question. There were two: the first was WWI between 1914 and 1918, and the second was WWII between 1939 and 1945.

However, historians have suggested that there was a Third World War, which started in 1945 and ended in 1991 with the fall of the Soviet Union. 

Although the USA and the Soviet Union had been allies during the Second World War, their political differences soon caused problems once the war was over. The Soviet Union was communist. The USA was capitalist. Both sides wanted the nations of the world to accept their political system. The opposition between them was termed as the Cold War.

At the end of World War II, America and the Soviet Union were the strongest countries left standing. There were major differences between them. The Soviet Union was a communist country, where the government controlled the economy, and was ruled by a brutal dictatorship. The United States was a democratic country with a free economy. But at first, they remained friends.

 Once the war was over, many of the countries occupied by the Soviet Union soon had communist governments. The USA watched this spread of communism with growing concern, fearing a communist takeover of Europe. President Truman decided to send aid to European countries that were suffering badly after the war, to help keep them non-communist. He called this the Marshall Plan.

The Marshall Plan  gave millions of dollars in aid to European countries. It provided everything from money, to food, to the railway cars needed to transport that food. The Soviet Union saw this as an attempt to ‘bribe’ these countries into staying capitalist. Cold War fears (communism might spread!!!) drove much US policy, at home and abroad, for many years. People were especially fearful of possible nuclear war, and the USA was desperate to keep the secret of making atomic bombs out of Soviet hands.

Communism is a type of government and philosophy. Its goal is to form a society where everything is shared equally. 

All people are treated equally and there is little private ownership. 

In a communist government, the government owns and controls most everything including property, means of production, education, transportation, and agriculture. 

Summary taken from:

http://www.coldwar.me/coldwarforkids.html

Watch this video  get comfy as it is 7 minutes long. 

Do this animation to learn about the origin of 

              Communism, it’s founder 

Karl  Marx, and how it traveled across Europe.

Forget the Crossword puzzle guys because it is just NOT right!!! 

Comment on the Blog: What did you learn from either the video or the animation that you did not know before?