The Homefront

1) During the 1950s and 60s America was obsessed with communism

2) The American public and gov’t was hysterical over the threat of communism

3) The threat of nuclear war was always

present during the Cold War

The Homefront

4) Public schools would even have nuclear war drills

The Homefront

5) The U.S. government even encouraged citizens to build bomb shelters in their own basements

The RED SCARE 1) Many Americans became convinced that

there was a communist threat within the U.S.

2) The Red Scare = public hysteria about the threat and presence of communists in the U.S

3) As a result of the Red Scare communists were persecuted for their beliefs in the U.S.

THE HUAC

1) HUAC = The House Un-American Affairs Committee

2) This government organization convicted people for being communists

THE HUAC

3) Many people were interrogated because of “guilt by association”

(If your friends were communists, you must be too)

THE HUAC

4) The HUAC specifically targeted Hollywood actors and writers

5) If you were accused of being a Communist you would usually loose your job

Sen. Joseph McCarthy

1) Leader of the fanatical anti-communist campaign in the ‘50s

Sen. Joseph McCarthy

2) He claimed that he had the names of 200 Communists that were working for the U.S. Government

a. McCarthy played on American fears of communism to eliminate his political enemies

Sen. Joseph McCarthy

b. McCarthy had little to no evidence to support his accusations

3) The term “McCarthyism” = became known as making false accusations based on rumors or guilt by association

Cold War Spies

1) Alger Hiss

Alger Hiss

1) He worked for the U.S. State Department

2) He was accused of being a Russian spy

3) Many Americans thought he was innocent

4) Sentenced to four years in prison

2) Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

1) Both were Russian spies who stole secrets about the atomic bomb and sent them to the USSR

2) Both were executed for espionage

Cold War Spies

3) Both of these court trials were highly publicized and they increased public fears of communists within the U.S.

Virginia and the Cold War

1) The heavy military expenses throughout the Cold War benefited Virginia’s economy more than any other state

Virginia and the Cold War

The Hampton Roads area is home to several large naval and air bases

Virginia and the Cold War

Northern Virginia is home to the Pentagon (U.S. military headquarters) and numerous private companies that contract with the U.S. military

Election of 1960

A) Eisenhower’s Vice President, Richard Nixon (Rep.) ran against John F. Kennedy (Dem.)

VS.

1) This election had the first televised debates in history and it played a major role in the election

Election of 1960

Election of 1960

B) Kennedy won the election

(Lyndon B. Johnson was his Vice Pres.)

President Vice President

&

Pres. Kennedy and the Cold War

C) Kennedy became president in 1961

Pres. Kennedy and the Cold War

2) In his inaugural address as President, Kennedy pledged that the U.S. would “pay any price, bear any burden , meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty”

Pres. Kennedy and the Cold War

3) At the end of the same speech Kennedy also said, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”

The Berlin Wall

1) Germany had been divided into east and west since the end of WWII

The Berlin Wall

2) The city of Berlin (In East Germany) had also been divided between the Allies

The Berlin Wall

3) The citizens of East Berlin began to move to into Allied controlled West Berlin to escape communist oppression

4) To prevent this migration the USSR erected a huge concrete wall to divide the city in 1961

The Berlin Wall (1961)

KENNEDY AND CUBA

Cuban Revolution

1) Fidel Castro led a communist revolution that took over Cuba in the late 1950s

Cuban Revolution

2) The Soviet Union quickly recognized the new communist state

3) Many Cuban rebels fled to Florida to escape Cuba

The Bay of Pigs invasion (1961)

1) Kennedy supported a CIA plan to overthrow Fidel Castro

2) The CIA armed 1200 Cuban rebels to attack Cuba to lead a popular uprising against Castro

The Bay of Pigs invasion (1961)

3) The U.S. promised to give the Cuban rebels air support for their invasion

The Bay of Pigs invasion (1961)

4) The rebels invaded at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba and the U.S. did not provide air support

5) The invasion did not start an uprising and was a horrible failure

The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

1) In 1962, the USSR put nuclear missiles in Cuba and pointed them at the U.S.

2) Kennedy demanded that the USSR remove the missiles

The Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

3) For 13 days, the world was on the brink of nuclear war

4) The USSR conceded to remove the missiles if the U.S. agreed not to invade Cuba

JFK assassinated (1963)

1) President Kennedy (a WWII veteran) was assassinated in 1963

JFK assassinated (1963)

2) There have been numerous theories about who was behind the Kennedy assassination

3) There is now sufficient public evidence to suggest that there was a government cover-up from their investigation

JFK assassinated (1963)

4) This event shook the nation’s confidence and began a period of serious internal strife and division (1960s & 70s) within the American public that had not existed since the Civil War

JFK assassinated (1963)

5) This division of the American public was especially spurred by U.S. involvement in Vietnam

(An extremely divided American public)

6) Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson became President in 1963 (Democrat)