The U.S. Enters the Vietnam War

1. Many neutral observers in Vietnam were critical of US policy. Explain why.
Many neutral observers in Vietnam were critical of the US policy because the Americans were not reducing their fear in Communism. The US was in a costly war in Vietnam which put a massive question mark over the policy of containment. The US was sending a good amount of money as well as many soldiers into Vietnam without any real reason. They were bombing helpless people and that it another reason why many neutral observers in Vietnam were critical of the US policy.


2. Explain how US politicians would have defended their policies.
The US politicians would have defended their policies because they believed if Vietnam fell into Communism, than so would alot of Asia. Americans saw what was happening with communism as the "Domino Theory". If Vietnam fell into communism the US feared that alot of other Asian countries would too like, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Burma and maybe even India might fall for communism also. America wanted to do anything that could to prevent communism from spreading. The troops invading Vietnam showed their ignorance tho of the region of Vietnam, and the people.


3. The following events are not listed in correct date order. Place them in the correct chronological order. (Write the year inside the parenthesis, i.e. (1965). Then note the reason for each U.S. action, and how it brought the U.S. into deeper involvement in Vietnam.
The reasons you can choose from are: No direct involvement; financial support; political involvement; military involvement. Also, note what events triggered the increased involvement.


(1954) U.S. stops elections in Vietnam-the US stopped elections in Vietnam because they feared the spread of communism. They feared that the domino theory would come into play and the US was scared of what would happen if it kept growing. The US was getting involved with the viet gov by stopping elections
(1955) Formation of South Vietnam- the Americans helped Ngo Ding Diem to set up the Republic of South Vietnam. They supported him because he was bitterly anti-communists and he was prepared to imprison or exile communists. He refused to hold elections, even for local councils. North and South were slip into two countries because of the constant fighting and disagreement between communists and anti communists. The US split them so it would stop communism from spreading and making sure that more contries stayed nationalized.
(1960) Viet Cong attacks on U.S. and South Vietnam bases- the viet cong attacked American air force and supply bases as well as the south Vietnamese gov buildings, forces and officials. The involvement was triggered by the formation of the viet cong and their ideas of communism.
(1960) Viet Cong formed-started a guerrilla war against the South Vietnamese government. These fighters attacked South Vietnamese government forces, officials and buildings, gradually making the country side unsafe for government forces. They attacked American air force and supply bases.
(1962) Number of 'advisers' reaches over 11,500-president Kennedy was sending military personnel, "advisers" to fight the Viet Cong. The tension between north and south vietnam increased and so did American involvement. However, Kennedy was determined that the US would not "blunder into war, unclear about aims or how to get out again"
(1962) JFK sends military advisers-JFK sent military personnel or "advisers" to Vietnam to fight the Viet Cong. It was a sign that viet cong was strong and and US assistance was in need.
(1963) Assassination of JFK - Johnson becomes president-His successor, Lyndon Johnson, was more prepared than Kennedy to commit the USA to a full-scale conflict in Vietnam to prevent the spread of Communism. President Kennedy was not as prepared as Johnson and was more hesitant that Johnson also.
(1963) U.S. supports South Vietnam government after army overthrow Diem- the US supported south Vietnam government because they were anti communist. Although they didn't have the best leaders they had no one better. His decisions were not working and he was soon kicked out.
(1964) Gulf of Tonkin Incident-North Vietnamese patrol boats opened fire on US ships in the Guld of Tonkin. The US congress passed the TOnkin Guld Resolution. The resolution gave Lyndon Johnson the power to "take all necessary measure to prevent further aggression and achieve peace and security". that meant that he could take the US into a full scale war if necessary, and it soon was the case. America was not at war in Vietnam.
(1965) U.S. Marines land at Da Nang-US marines, combat troops rather than advisers, came ashore at Da Nang. America was at war in vietnam. North Viet patrol boats opened fire on US ships.


4. Choose two events that you think were critical in getting the U.S. involved in a war in Vietnam. Explain
your choice.
The Gulf of Tonkin incident- This was critical in getting the US involved in war because Northern Vietnamese people and ships were fighting against the US. Lives were now being worried about and at risk but also being threatened. Johnson had to do something and congress agrees to take desperate measures to conserve peace. They went to war and this was a big step for why US got involved in the war in Vietnam.
JFK sending troops into Vietnam also was another big step in why the US got involved with war in Vietnam. JFK sending the army into Vietnam to fight the Viet Cong just sends "war". The fighting became more and more because people were dying and there was more fighting. A war eventually happened because of it.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

1. Kennedy described Wednesday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 27 as the darkest days of the crisis. Use the information on page 350 to explain why.
October 24 was a very dark day of the crisis because the blockade began and the soviet unionsubmarines approach the 500 mile blockade zone. The soviet ships which are closest to the sone stop or turn around. October 27 was a very dark day because removing the missles from cuba is that the usa withdrew its missles from turkey.The president advised to launch an immediate reprisal attack on cuva. But kennedy decides to delay an attack.


2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?
yes i do because iron ass was part of the crisis on the american side. His strategy was to bomb instead of invade and that would have caused problems if the soviets decided to bomb the united states.


3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.
Source 26 is a american cartoon because president kennedy and the soviets are having a arm wrestling contest and it is up to president kennedy who will drop the bomb. I know it is presidentkennedy who makes the decision because he is the one with the control and he is the one who will decide to press the button. No bombs will be dropped unless president kennedy says is it okay to do so.


4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.
Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba?

To bargain with the USA- Khrushchev wanted the missiles as a bargaining counter. If he had missiles on cuva, he could agree to remove them in return for some american concessions.


To test the USA-In the strained atmosphere of cold war politcs the missiles were designed to see how strong the american really were-whether they would back off or face up. The soviet union wanted to test out kennedy.


To trap the USA-The missiles were a tray, Khrushchev wanted the americans to find them and be drawn into a nucklear war. He did not even try to hide them.


To get the upper hand in the arms race-Khrushchev was so concerned about the missile gap between the URRS and the USA that would seize any opportunity he could to close it. With missiles on Cuba it was less likeely that the usa would ever launch a first strike against the ussr.


To defend Cuba-The missiles were genuinely meant to defend cuba.


5. Choose the explanation(s) that you think best fit what you have found out about the crisis. Explain your choice
I think "To test the USA" is a good explanation about what i tihnk best fits what i have found out about the crisis because the missiles were planted in cuba to see how much the united states would do. It was a test to see how strong the usa was and if they would fight the soviet union or if they would back off. The soviet union wanted to test out kennedy and to see how or what the united states would do about the missiles.

the u.s. attempts to contain cuba

1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?
Cuba was so important to the united states because Cuba, being a large island, had also been a American ally. Americans owned most of the businesses on the island and they had a huge naval bas also. The island now belonged to Castro and the soviet union. Castro now took over all the American businesses which caused the united states alto of money.

2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?I think that the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves because they thought that the Cuban exiles would know their land more than the Americans. because America knew that if they were to make a direct attack with their men against Castro, the Cubans may attack them, also they might include the soviet union. Having Cuban exiles invade they were in a way of hiding and it put them behind the scenes.

3. Why did the invasion fail?
the invasion failed because the Americans had trained 1400 Cuban exiles, while the soviet union had 200 soldiers fighting for them. Cuban exiles didn't have much air support from the u.s either, so the invasion failed or might have failed because of this.


4. Compare Source 17 on page 345 (in the Arms Race.pdf reading) with Source 24 on page 348. Describe how the Soviet Union missiles on Cuba changed the Cold War balance of power
Source 17 on page 345 is conveying that the united states had more of a advantage then the soviet union because they had mussels that could hit them in seconds. It was showing that the united states had more power over the soviet union in the cold war. But source 24 on page 348 tells a different story. Its saying that the soviet union started depositing missiles. The power had changed from u.s having alot to now soviets having alot The soviet unions can now easily hit almost any city in the u.s in less then 20 minutes. Now the united states had a disadvantage because the soviet Union could bomb any city in the united sates and it now would take more time for the united states to fire back.

The American Dream in the 1950's

For each term or name, write a concise sentence or two explaining its significance.

1. Baby Boom
The baby boom was during the late 1940's and through the early 1960s. The baby boom was the birth rate in the United States and how it soares out of control. At the height of the baby boom in 1957 one american infant was born every second seconds- a totaly of 4308000 that year. the result was the largest generation in the nation's history.

2. Dr. Jonas Salk
Dr. Jonas Salk came up with a vacine for the crippling disease polimomyelitis-polio. Many parents were scared of the childhood diseases.

3. Interstate Highway System
The interstate highway system helped for many things like saving time because they were highspeed, long haul trucking, and this helped decline in the commercial use of railroads. The system of highways also helped unify and homogenize the nation. The use of railroads helped save time from getting to say brooklyn to los angeles without a change of diet, scenery, or culture. You could also get gas off the highways which made things very easy.

4. Franchise
A franchise is a company that offers similar products or services in many locations. A Franchise is sold to any individual to do business using the parent companys name and the system that the parent company developed.

5. In a paragraph, describe in detail how Americans spent their leisure time in the 1950s
In the 1950s Americans spent their leisure time doing many different things. Since they had so much time they could do more things. Employees worked a 40 hour shift and could get several weeks vacation per week. Many people owned more labor saving devices, such as washing machines, clothes dryers, dishwashers, and power lawn mowers which allowed more time fr leisure activites. Many people participated in such sports as fishing, bowling, hunting, boating and gold. More fans than ever attended basball, basketball, and football games and others watched professional games on tv. Many americans also spend the leisure of their time reading. They read about cooking and religion and do it yourself projects, also homeworking.

The Arms Race

1. Read Source 12. What methods do you think Dulles had in mind to 'liberate captive peoples' without a war?
Dulles thought that in order to liberate captive peoples without a war that they should make policies short of war. He wanted a policy which only aims at containing Russia as an unsound policy. Dulles set up a network of anti communist alliances around the world like the South East Asia treat Organization, and Central treaty organization.

2. Look at Source 13. Would you agree that the Communist world was encircled? Explain your answer.
I do not agree that the communists world was encircled. The USSR was feeling threatened by the new policys and alliances and they wanted to do something about it quick because the ussr and the usa were having a arms race. They saw them as having more of a agressive purpose and they didnt see it before with the policy of containment. The USSR had accused the USA of trying to encircle communist world.

3. Carefully examine the verticle timeline on page 343. Then look back at Source 12. Do you think the development of nuclear weapons was what Dulles might have had in mind?
The timeline on page 343 shows that the USA and the USSR were growing rapidly with there weapons. I do not think that Dulles had the development of nuclear weapons in mind because Dulles did not believe in war and he wanted to try doing other things then war because he didnt believe it was the answer to solving problems. He believed in taking a different approach like making different policies. The nuclear weapons could have led to violence and in source 12 Dulles stated that he didnt believed was was the answer to liverating the captive people or getting rid of communism.

4. Look at Source 16. What is the Soviet cartoon saying about the U-2 plane?
Souce 16 shows Eisenhower looking through a telescope/U-2 place over CCCP. The CCCP is also the USSR. This Soviet cartoon is saying that the U-2 place was a way for americans to spy on the USSR. Eisenhower is holding th telescope but also wearing glasses. this portrays that the soviets thought the us was being sneaky and spuying on the ussr using the u2 planes.

5. Read the Factfile on page 344. Explain why the USSR was so angry about the US spy flights.
The USSR was so angry about the US spy flights becuase the plane that they had been using had sophisticated listening devices and such powerful cameras that it could read a newspaper on the ground from 23000 meters. The U2 spying flights kept the americans fully informed about societ weapon technology through the 1950's. All these things angered the USSR because the US was still being nosy and trying to figure out the USSR's buissness. Also, since the US and the USSR were having a arms race the US was trying to do better with weapons while spying on the USSR.


6. How would the USA justify this violation of Soviet territory?
The USA justified this violation of the soviet territory by making a point that the Soviet union had also had spies. Both the USA and the USSR had spies and were going behind eachothers backs and not telling the truth. they were obtaining information for themselves and both were at fault.

7. If the USSR had had U-2 planes, do you think it would have used them? Why?
I believe this could go both ways because if the USSR had had u-2 planes they would have been able to spy better but the usa would have got rid of their u2 planes very quickly. Also, i think they wouldnt have used them because the us had short range missiles and would hit them quick and also the ussr liked human spies.

8. Look at Source 17. Why do you think the USA had missiles based in Europe?
The USA had missiles based in Europe because the theory was that such weapons made them secure. Both the USA and the USSR had missles based and the enemy would not dare to attack first because if it did the other would strike back before its bombs had even landed and it would be destoryed and would be suicidal. This policy became known as MAD.

9. Define the term 'nuclear deterrent' in not more than 20 words.
Nuclear Deterrent is nuclear weapons owned by a country with the idea that if they used the nuclear weapon is would discourage the enemies attack.

Eisenhower & The Cold War

How did the United States react to the following 7 events, and why?

1. The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949.
The United States had to make a very hard decision when the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949. The United States made the decision that they needed to create a even more destructive thermonclear weapon- they hydrogen bomb. They made the bomb and they did win the deadly race against the soviets. The american advantage lasted less than a year.

2. In 1951, the Iranian prime minister placed the oil industry in Iran under the Iranian government’s control.
The British first stopped buying Iranian oil and the Iranian economy faltered. the united states feared that the Mossadegh might turn to the soviets for help so the CIA gave money to anti-Mossadgh supporters. The US wanted the pro american shah or iran to come back to power and he did. So the Iranian oil fields reurned to western companies.

3. The Guatemalan head of government gave American-owned land in Guatemala to peasants.
When the US heard that the head of Guatemalan gave american owned land in guatemala to peasants the US in responce had its CIA train and arm, and it would invade Guatemala.

4. In 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt and occupied the Suez Canal.
The United states quickly stepped in after seeing fighting growing in egypt and it persuaded gb, france and israel.


5. Soviet tanks invaded Hungary and fired on protesters in 1956.
Imre Nagy was a new communist leader in hungary and he demanded that all soviet troops leave hungary. the soviets responded and killed approximately 30 000 Hungarians. The Soviets over threw the Nagy government and replaced it with pro soviet leaders. Although the truman doctrine had promised to support free people who resisted communism, the US did nothing to help Hungary break free of Soviet control. The american policy of containment did not extend to driving the soviet union out of its satellites.

6. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.
The united states was shocked to hear that the soviets had beat them and promptly poured money into their own space program so the US scientists worked to catch up to the soviets by successfully creating a satellite. their first try was a failure but their second try was successful,


7. In 1960, the Soviet Union brought down an American U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers.
The Unites States at first did not know what to do so they denied that the U2 had been spying. The societs had ecidence so Eisenhower admitted to the spying so in respoinde Eisenhower agreed to stop the U2 flights. The U2 caused more tension between the societs and america.

The Red Scare (1950s)

For each term or name, write a concise sentence or two explaining its significance.

1. HUAC
The HUAC was a committee that believed that communists were sneaking propaganda into films. The committee pointed to the pro soviet films made during wwii when the soviet union had been a united states ally.


2. Blacklist
This meant that they were named as unfit to hire.

3. Alger Hiss
was accused of spying for the soviet union. He was accused of having microfilm on his typewriter. He was not pressed with charges.


4. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
were minor activists in the american communist party. They hgad been asked if that had been communists but they denied it. they pleaded the firth amendment and that choose to not incriminate themselves. they had claijmed that they were being persecuted both for being jewissh and for holding radical beliefes. they were both sentences to death.

5. Joseph McCarthy was a famous anti-communist activist and a republican from Wisconsin. For his first couple years in senate his reputation had been ineffective legislateor. he wanted to be reelected in 1952 so he had a issue that communists were taking over the government.


6. McCarthyism-these were attacks on suspected communists in the early 1950's. Since this time, it has referred to the unfair tactics of accusing p-eo-ple of disloyalty without providing evidence.


7. In a paragraph, describe the motivations and actions of Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s. What prompted his actions? What did he do? What happened as a result of his actions?

In the 1950's Joseph McCarthy was a famous anti-communist. He was a republican from wisconsin and his reputation in congress started going down as legislator. He realized that he was going to need a ewinning issue in order to become reelected in 1952 so he thought of the idea of saying that communism was taking over the government. As a result of his actions there was now known the McCarthyism. This was made because McCarthy was taking advantage of peoples concers about communis. and he was attacking the communism and suspecting that they were communists. He was very unfair. He charged the Democratic Party and the republican party did little to stop it. Dinally McCarthy made accusations aginst the US army which resulted in a nationally televised Senate investigation. His wrong decisions cost him his public support. Later on his life he had died from alcoholism.

Korean War Lessons

It is 1952. A new president, Eisenhower, has been elected in the US. Your task is to write a report for him on what lessons the United States can learn from the war. Your report should advise the President on:


The United States can learn from the Korean War that communism is spreading and that the United States is not ready for a war with the soviet union and their allies. China, after being taken over by the Soviets, had become involved with communism. Since communism was spreading, the US initiated a war that they were not ready to undertake. We must learn that we can not under estimate other countries. We under estimated the Chinese and they then joined the Korean War.

The US did have aims in Korea. The US wanted to remove North Korean troops from South Korea and this was able to happen thanks to the UN. The US kept pushing and then later on got pushed back because of their ambition. Even though we got pushed back, the UN helped the US achieve the first goal which was remove the North Koreans from South Korea.
The person who allowed the US to invade North Korea, and the one who underestimated the Chinese, was General MacArthur. He had made these decisions on his own and should have listened to Truman but had decided otherwise. He pushed too far past the boarder and should have stopped when he successfully removed the North Koreans from South Korea. Since he was not listening and made very dangerous decisions, he was removed from the role of Commander.

In the North Korean war there was a total of 1.4 billion casualties. Most of the casualties were on North Korea and Chinas side. The UN and the US had the least amount of casualties with 34500 deaths.

The US did successfully remove North Korean troops from south korea but the US has many other things to worry about. We need to make sure we do not underestimate other countries and make sure we are prepared. We were not prepared for the North Korean war. We need to make sure we understand that communism is spreading and they have many allies that make them strong.