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Joseph Stalin
Communist Dictator of the Soviet Union between 1928-1953. Program of rapid industrialization was a success in Russia and it increased productivity and economic growth. People suffered a great deal during the Great Terror of the 1930's which Stalin killed and exiled millions of "enemies of the people." -
Harry S. Truman
Truman came to presidency following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. As Vice-President, it was his job to overtake the position and responsibilities of the President. Truman had to make pivotal decisions early in his career as he inherited a country at war. -
United Nations
The UN was created after the League of Nations failed during WWll. The purpose was to keep peace and help facilitate relationships with other countries. The UN has a General Assembly, where every nation has one vote and a security council with 11 members. -
Containment
The idea of containment is to keep communism in the territories it is already occupying by using diplomatic, economic, and military actions. This idea was made popular by George Kennan in the "Long Telegram". -
Truman Doctrine
A speech given by President Truman that commited the U.S. to the role of fighting and resisting communism throughout the world. It was created to fight the spread of communism. -
Berlin Airlift
Soviet troops cut off all road and rail traffic to West Berlin. Truman ordered the airlift and cargo planes brought over 2 million tons of supplies. The blockade was lifted on May 12 by Stalin, it became a symbol of American determination. -
N.A.T.O
The organization constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. -
Mao Zedong
Zedong was a Communist leader in China who struggled against the Nationalist government led by Chiang Kai-Shek since the 1920's. They stopped their civil war during World War ll to work together to prevent Japanese occupation but resumed it again after. To prevent a Communist revolution in China the U.S. gave $2,000,000 in aid but they squandered it and Communism rose and in 1949 Zedong formed the People's Republic of China. -
Joseph McCarthy (McCarthyism)
Served as a Republican Senator for the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion. He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. -
Korean War
To try and prevent the spread of communism the U.S. sent troops to Korea. Korea then separated into South and North Korea. General MacArthur invaded enemy lines and the Korean war began. The U.S. used the new strategy of containment. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower was instated as president after Truman with a campaign promising an anti-communist policy greater than that of Truman. Eisenhower negotiated a peace treaty with Korea, ending the Korean war, and covertly began Soviet interventions within friendly countries. -
Nikita Krushchev
Leader of Soviet Union 1956-1964. Became the leader after Stalin's death. Openly critical of Stalin's policies including purges. Had easier more peaceful relationship with the west. Cutback on Secret Service's power. Released thousands of political prisoners. Improved the economy and most people's standard of living. Due to failure in the Cuban Missile Crisis removed from power in 1964. -
Warsaw Pact
A mutual defense treaty between communist states during the Cold War. It was disbanded after the Cold War and was against N.A.T.O. -
Vietnam War
The U.S. supported South Vietnam in the fight against Communist North Vietnam in an attempt to stop the spread of Communism. The U.S. eventually pulled out of the war and North Vietnam ultimately took control of South Vietnam in 1975. -
John F. Kennedy
35th. President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his death in 1963. President Kennedy's foreign policy was dominated by American confrontations with the Soviet Union, manifested by proxy contests in the early stage of the Cold War. In 1961, Kennedy anxiously anticipated a summit with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. One of his first presidential acts, Kennedy asked Congress to create the Peace Corps. -
Berlin Wall
Nikita Krushchev wanted a way to stop Germans from going nto West Berlin from Communist Germany. He built a wall throughout Berlin to keep the soviet sector out and anyone who tried to flee from the East was shot at. It stood as a symbol of the division between the East and the West for almost thirty years after. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
After the Bay of Pigs crisis in Cuba, the soviets made the decision to place nuclear missiles in Cuba to stop more attempts from the U.S. to overthrow them. In October spy planes found and took photos of the long range missiles being built. Immediately, President Kennedy declared they would put a quarantine n the delivery of weapons to Cuba, Krushchev and Kennedy came to the agreement that the Soviets would take their weapons out of Cuba and the U.S. would not invade. -
Lyndon B. Johnson
Johnson was sworn in as President just hours after JFK was assassinated. Just as his predecessors, Johnson aimed to contain communism and took action against communism in Vietnam by sending thousands of troops to their deaths. -
Lyndon B. Johnson
Johnson was sworn in as President just hours after JFK was assassinated. Just as his predecessors, Johnson aimed to contain communism and took action against communism in Vietnam by sending thousands of troops to their deaths. -
Ronald Reagan
By the early 1980s, many people in the US perceived that the USSR military capabilities were gaining on that of the United States. Previously, the U.S. had relied on the qualitative superiority of its weapons to essentially frighten the Soviets, but the gap had been narrowed. Reagan believed that if he could persuade the Soviets to allow for more democracy and free speech, this would lead to reform and the end of Communism. Spoke at the Berlin Wall on June 12, 1987. -
Iran Contra Scandal
Reagan illegaly supported rebels in the Middle East. Oliver North sent arms to rebels in Iran. It ruined Reagan's reputation. -
George H. W. Bush
Bush was a determined president who brought the US to be a kinder and gentler nation. He won the Republican nomination in 1988, and became president. He was elected at he closing of the cold war, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the end of the Soviet Union. He sent troops to Panama to overthrow the corrupt government. During his time, Saddam Hussein became the greatest threat and test. Also, there was a faltering US economy and rising violence in the inner cities. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
In the late 80's protest was growing in the West. The East German government announced that their borders would be opened which helped for German reunification. Immediately, East Germans began gathering at the wall waiting to get out. -
Mikhail Gorbachev
Gorbachev put an end to the Cold War and to the dominance of communism both in the Soviet Union and throughout the world. He was the last leader of the Soviet Union. Introduced two tiered policy of reform. Forced to give up power after a coup. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
Eastern Europe began abandoning Communism
August 1991- Coup Established that overthrew government
Coup collapsed, so Gorbachev came back, and all of the Soviet Republics declared their independence from the Soviet Union
December 1991- Gorbachev announced the end of the Soviet Union, where most joined a federation called the “Commonwealth of the Independent States”
