The Cold War: 1950s-1960s

The Cold War: 1950s-1960s

Overview

In June 1950 communist North Korea invaded South Korea. The United States came to the aid of South Korea at the head of a United Nations force composed of more than a dozen countries. Communist China joined North Korea in the war in November 1950, unleashing a massive Chinese ground attack against American forces. The Soviet Union also covertly supported North Korea. After three years of fighting, the war ended in a stalemate with the border between North and South Korea near where it had been at the war’s beginning. This was the first hot war of the Cold War, and in it the United States demonstrated its continued commitment to containment (the idea that the US would ultimately defeat communism by containing its spread).

A Country Divided

When Korea was liberated from Japanese control at the end of the Second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed temporarily to divide Korea at the 38th parallel of latitude north of the equator. This division resulted in the formation of two countries: communist North Korea (supported by the Soviets) and South Korea (supported by the United States).

A Divide Leads To War

Five years after the country’s partition, the communist leader of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, decided to attempt to reunify Korea under his control. On June 25, 1950, Kim launched a surprise invasion of South Korea

Containment Begins

Believing that the Soviet Union had backed the invasion, United States President Harry Truman and his advisers followed through on their policy of containment, refusing to allow communism to spread anywhere in the world. Within two days of the invasion, the United States had rallied the United Nations Security Council to declare support for South Korea. An American-led UN coalition deployed to South Korea

End of The War

In 1953, an armistice established a status quo antebellum border near the border that had originally divided North and South Korea

**Status quo antebellum is a Latin phrase that means that a war's outcome resulted in the return of "the existing state of affairs before the war." In the case of the Korean War, after the conflict the border between North and South Korea was maintained at the 38th parallel.

Korean War Summary Cold War Context

In Korea, the United States demonstrated its continuing commitment to key elements of its Cold War strategy. It demonstrated its global leadership by committing its resources and soldiers in the fight against the spread of communism. The United States also confirmed its commitment to a foreign policy based on collective security by mobilizing other countries to support its position both politically and militarily. In Korea, the United States demonstrated the ideals expressed in the Truman Doctrine, which promised support for the "free peoples of the world" who wished to keep communist aggression at bay. Although the war ended where it began, the United States and its allies did succeed in preventing communism from overtaking South Korea.

Multiple Choice

The Korean War was between 1950-

• 1952

• 1953

• 1956

• 1955

Multiple Choice

North and South Korea was divided at the what parallel?

• 39th

• 40th

• 38th

• 26th

Multiple Choice

Truman sent American troops to South Korea in an act of

• Containment

• Concealment

• Contentment

Atomic Fears and The Arms Race

During WWII, America dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; two Japanese islands. This led American and USSR scientist into what was known as the "Arms Race."

The Arms Race was to see who could build the biggest and most impressive nuclear weapons. This also led many Americans to live in fear.

The Doomsday Clock and the H-bomb

Shortly after the US dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, the scientists who had developed the bomb formed the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, an organization dedicated to alerting the world to the dangers of nuclear weaponry. Early contributors included J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Manhattan Project, and Albert Einstein. In 1947, they printed their first magazine, placing its cover what would become an iconic symbol of the nuclear age: the Doomsday Clock. The clock purported to show how close humanity was to nuclear annihilation or "midnight." When the clock first appeared, the scientists predicted that humankind was a mere seven minutes to midnight.

H-Bomb

But by 1953, the scientists had revised their estimate to just two minutes to midnight. Their reason for this panicked prognosis was the United States' decision to develop and test a hydrogen bomb, or H-bomb, a nuclear weapon one thousand times more powerful than the atomic bomb that had leveled Hiroshima at the end of World War II. The development of the H-bomb committed the United States to an arms race with the Soviet Union. Despite the specter of nuclear holocaust, both the United States and the Soviet Union vied to build ever more powerful nuclear weapons.

Atomic Fears

With both the United States and Soviet Union stockpiling nuclear weapons, fears of nuclear warfare pervaded American society and culture in the 1950s. Schools began issuing dog tags to students so that their families could identify their bodies in the event of an attack. The US government provided instructions for building and equipping bomb shelters in basements or backyards. Some cities constructed municipal shelters. Nuclear bomb drills became a routine part of disaster preparedness.

Open Ended

Do you think that films like Duck and Cover traumatize or comfort American children, why or why not? Note: Keep in mind there was films on the threats of atomic bombs.

National Defense Education Act (NDEA)

This act believed that education was a key component of national security.

Fears of nuclear warfare escalated, and U.S. officials were forced to rethink their entire doctrine on war. As movies, television shows like the Twilight Zone, and government-sponsored propaganda reflected and exacerbated fears of nuclear disaster. The U.S. defense planners began to question the assumptions underlying the doctrine of massive retaliation.

Key Terms

Propaganda--the act of providing advertisement that focused on one side (bias ads)

Massive Retaliation-- rely on stockpile of nuclear weapons to deter aggression from foes

Space Race

To see which country made it to space first. More will be discussed during the 1960s-1970s.