Chapter 27 Timeline

1945 ---Yalta Conference; Roosevelt dies; Truman becomes President; Relations between the US and the Soviet Union began to break down; Potsdam Conference


1946---American Plan for Control of Atomic energy fails;Atomic Energy Act;Iran Crisis in which US Forces USSR to leave ; Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech; Iron Curtain speech states that Europe had been divided into two separate parts;


1947--Truman Doctrine; Federal Employee Loyalty Program; House Un American Activities committee investigates movie industry


1948--Marshall Plan launched; Berlin Airlift; Berlin Blockade;Israel created by the United Nations through a partition of Palestine; Hiss-Chambers Case; Truman elected President


1949---Soviet Union tests atomic bomb; NATO established with 12 original members; George Orwell's 1984 is published;Mao Zedong wins the Civil War and Jiang Jie-shi loses and flees to Formosa;


1950---Truman authorizes development of Hydrogen bomb; Alger Hiss convicted;Joseph McCarthy's Wheeling Speech on Subversion;NSC-68; McCarren Internal Security Act


1950-1953---Korean War


1951--Japanese American Treaty


1952--Dwight D.Eisenhower was elected to president; McCarthy heads Senate Permanent investigations Sub-committee;


1953--Stalin dies; Khruschev consolidates power;East Germans stage Anti-Soviet Demonstrations;Shah of Iran returns in a CIA supported coup


1954---Fall of Dien Bien Phu ends French Control of IndoChina;Geneva Conference on Vietnam; Guatemalan Government overthrown with CIA help;Mao's forces shell Quemoy and Matsu;Army-McCarthy hearings


1956--Suez incident; Hungarian Freedom Fighters suppressed;Eisenhower reelected


1957--Russian launched Sputnik


1958---US troops sent to support Lebanese government


1959--Castro disposes Batista in CubaAtomic Energy Act resulted in a possibility for a civilian nuclear industry because it covers the law for development, disposal, and regulation of nuclear waste and facilities in the United States.


Hiss and Chambers Case convicted Hiss of being a communist and a member of the Communist Party.1984 denounced communism and socialism and the Soviet Style Totalitarian state.   Hiss was a distinguished New Dealer. Richard Nixon took up the case and got an admission out of Hiss tat he had known Chambers. Hiss sued Chambers for libel while Chambers accused Hiss of being a Soviet Spy.  Hiss indicted for lying under oath. Hiss case demonstrated to Americans that Communist threat was real and within America. SoS under Truman, Dean Acheson was resented for supporting Hiss, and Truman himself was mistrusted. Red Scare also targeted homosexuals, who were viewed as insecure and posing a security risk. 




McCarren Internal Security Act required Communist organizations to register with the US Attorney General. The Subversive Activities Board created by the Attorney General investigated all persons suspected of subversive activities to establish a totalitarian regime.


For Additional AP US Study Aides: 
Please visit:
http://wps.ablongman.com/long_nash_ap_6/9/2314/592574.cw/index.html
http://www.historyteacher.net/USQuizMainPage.htm

Hunger Games Movie Review

What makes me attracted to movies such as the Hungar Games? It must be the thrilling action packed and breath-taking adventure story. I feel that I am part of the game of survival of the fittest. I feel like I can be part of an adventure where I am able to fight back against those who want to hurt me. However, I am not part of movie. I have also dreamed of a movie technology that would make the audience join the main characters. The Hunger Games is the new "Harry Potter", but I doubt it would be as financially successful. Hunger Games has captured my attention through its creative use of the camera and the creative acting of its actors. 


When Rue was shot and Katniss attempted to protect Rue, the camera did something odd. The way the cinematographer used the camera to convey the passing of a loved one was unique because it attempted to let us feel that emotion before we see it. This is an unsual concept because we have rarely thought about how the person passing away would feel. The blurring of the trees and Rue's entire vision fading were commonly used, but the feelings that this scene evoked was different. I felt a sudden chill down my spine.


Furthermore, the acting of Jennifer Lawerence's role as Katniss was very convincing and appropriate for this film. She may not be the best actress, but she does introduces an element of uncertainty. As we watch her perform, we feel like we have to hold our breath because we don't know what will happen next. This feeling is evoked with the help of the somber mood created by the music. 


In addition, Music is one of the most important elements in a motion picture; however, it is often neglected because the audience pays too much attention to the plotline. Without music, the film would not evoke the same feelings. These feelings of fear come across my mind because the music tries to tap into our unconcious portion of the brain.


Music, cinematography, and realistic acting skills are hard to come by these days in Hollywood, but the Hunger Games pulled it off. It told us that we will be surprised when we watch the film. They told us that this film will make us laugh, cry, or cringe. I felt all of these emotions. I have good feeling about this film. Who knows? It might be the next "Harry Potter".Anyways , we need a film like the Hunger Games because we need to take our minds off work, school, and SATs. 

STAND 4 Hope Article April 14, 2012

In response to a comment

Recently I toured the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. The tour guide and the ambassador of Israel to the United States are very biased and conceited in their position towards the Palestinians. It was pure politics. A smart and analytically inclined historian would begin by analyzing the situation starting in 1945 with the partition of Palestine. We would begin by looking at the primary documents that tell us what the Palestinians did and what the Israelis did because both sides have had done something wrong.

Day 4 Washington Seminar Trip Capitol Steps

Capitol steps is a hilarious satire. This type of satire is about the politics and the bureaucratic system of the united states federal government. From the current republican candidates to the do nothing congress, they have skits for everything that happened in Washington d.c in the last few years. Capitol Steps is a must see show that only happens in the Ronald Reagan building. Across the street, you can see the Occupy movement going strong in Washington d.c, but don't get too close because they might carry disease and other nasty things.

Chapter 27 Study Guide for AP US History

Chapter 27 Study Guide

By Henggao Cai

You will be taking an exam consisting of 50 multiple-choice questions each worth two points.  You should be well versed in the following topics:

1)     Soviet concerns at the end of World War II  

a)     The Soviet Union was afraid of another Western invasion. First, Neapolitan’s France invaded Russia. Then Hitler’s Germany invaded the Soviet Union or formerly Russia.

b)     Stalin led the Soviet Union to rebuild for security; therefore, they demanded defensible borders and political stability in the regions closest to them.

2)     American fears at the end of World War II

a)     America came out of World War 2 as the world’s greatest nation and was afraid of the growing communist threat because it wanted to spread equality, liberty, and democracy. The United States viewed communism, socialism, dictatorship as threats to America’s democracy and liberty.

b)     One of America’s fears came true when Josef Stalin possessed almost absolute powers.

3)     Issues that arose between the US and Soviet Union immediately following WWII

a)     The United States and the Soviet Union relations soured when the public officials and the media pointed out that Germany and Russia had similarities. Such similarities include total control over communications and the ability to eliminate political opposition. They also pointed out that both nations used terror to silence protesters.

b)     Both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany created inhumane camps.

c)     The United States believed Capitalism, a type of ideology, would prevail over Communism. Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union, said that Communist system would prevail over Capitalism.

d)     Then Winston Churchill said that a Iron curtain has been covered all of Europe and it is the duty of English Speaking Nations to contain the Soviet Union.

4)     Poland

a)     The Soviet Union wanted Poland to be under the communist influence and system.

b)     The United States wanted Poland to have its own self-governing government.

5)     Yalta

a)     This conference decided how to deal with Germany after the war.

b)     FDR, Churchill, and Stalin attended the conference.
At this conference , FDR tries to appease Stalin by mentioning rifts between FDR and Churchill. Stalin also got what he wanted when the Red Troops went into Czechoslovakia and Poland. 

6)     Potsdam

a)     A post war conference

i)      Issued a warning to Japan to surrender unconditionally

ii)    To hold war crime trials of Nazi Leaders

(1)  Nuremburg Trials
Since two big leaders were switched out, the relationship between the Ally leaders were beginning to deteriorate. Truman also tells Stalin that he will no recognize some of the new governments that had been set up. As a result , the ideological rift began to pry open. 
7)     Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech

a)     Churchill said that Europe has been split into two ideological halves. One half is Democratic and free and the other half is heavily controlled and Communist.

b)     He said it was the duty of the English speaking peoples to stop the Communist threat.

8)     Kennan

a)     He was responsible for coining the concept of America’s containment policy toward the Soviet Union’s ideological belief known as Communism.

9)     Truman Doctrine

a)     The Truman Doctrine said that it was the United States’ goal to support free peoples resisting subjugating by armed minorities. Congress passed the Truman foreign aid bill that appropriated $400 million for military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece.

10) Containment

a)     The Truman administration adopted this policy because they want to stop the spread of the Soviet Union’s Communist ideologies. The first test of this policy was in Korea. The North Korean forces under Kim il Sung had almost took control of the entire peninsula, but the United States led the United Nations to push the North Korean army back. This was successful because it showed containment had worked.

11) The Marshall Plan

a)     This plan called for the United States to pour billions of dollars into the recovery in Europe because the United States want to prevent more countries from turning communist.

b)     Secretary of State Marshall developed this plan.

12) Berlin Airlift

a)     The Soviet Union has cut off Berlin from West Germany. Therefore, America and Great Britain decides to fly supplies in and out of Berlin because Berlin is within Soviet controlled East Germany.  
The Berlin Airlift broke down the Berlin Blockade by the Soviet Union. This allowed West Berlin to be connected to the rest of West Germany. 

13) NSC-68

a)     Explains that the Truman Administration intends on stopping the Soviet Union at all costs

b)     It also explains that the United States has the military capabilities of stopping the Soviet Union in case it invades the Western Hemisphere.

c)     It also justifies United States involvement by saying that America is the defender of the free world including its principles of freedom, liberty, and democracy.

14) Communism in China

a)     After the Second World War, the Communists and the Nationalists continued its Civil War that started in 1925. However, the Soviet Union assisted Mao Zedong and the Communists by supplying them with weapons and military expertise. The United States supplied Chiang-Kai Shek and the Nationalists with military expertise and weapons.

b)     Chiang Kai Shek lost and led the Nationalists to Taiwan where he continued to run the Republic of China. The United States continued to recognize the government under Chiang Kai Shek as the government running all of China until 1972.

15) Korean War and Truman

a)     Truman did not use a Declaration of War because the war was a ‘police action’ to enforce a UN Security Council resolution.

i)      They could only pass this resolution because the Soviet delegation temporarily boycotted the Security Council.

b)     On July 25, 1950, the North Korean Army launched a surprise attack on South Korea.

i)      However, the US led army pushed the North Korean army as far back as the Yalu River. Then the People’s Liberation army led by Mao Zedong pushed the UN troops back. They reached a near stalemate near the 38^th Parallel.

c)     Even though the Korean War stalemated, the United States was the ultimate winner because it proved that containment worked. In addition, the United States also stopped an entire communist takeover of Korea.

16) Ho Chi Minh and Vietnam during the early cold war

a)     After the Suez Canal Crisis, the United States replaced Britain and France as a major power in world affairs. President Eisenhower announced that the United States pledged to provide economic and military aid to any Middle Eastern country that was under threat from Communism.

i)      In 1958, Eisenhower pledged to help Lebanon by breaking up a conflict between Christians and Muslims.

17) Truman and Eisenhower’s administrations and dealings with the Middle east

a)     Both President Truman and Eisenhower worked hard to maintain access to petroleum resources, access to military bases, and lines communication in the Middle East. They maintained all these connections and attempted to deny the Soviet Union from these assets.  

18) American involvement in Latin America

a)     Cuba

i)      Fidel Castro confiscated all US property.

(1)  As a result, President Eisenhower cut off all exports and severed economic ties.

(a)   Because of Eisenhower’s response, Castro turned to the Soviet Union.

19) Eisenhower Doctrine

a)     President Eisenhower pledged military and economic aid to any Middle Eastern country threatened by Communism.

i)      His first test of this doctrine was in Lebanon.

(1)  There was a civil war in Lebanon.

(a)   The fighting was between Christians and Muslims.

(i)    President Eisenhower sent 14000 marines to Lebanon to prevent such a war.

1.     These 14000 marines propped up a right wing government because there is a huge vacuum in the Middle East. The United States must fill it first before the Russians do.

20) Policy of Massive Retaliation – what it was and who did it

a)     Secretary of State Dulles advocated for a greater reliance on nuclear weapons and air power and spending less on the conventional army and navy. This was a idea would save money and balance the federal budget and increase pressure on potential enemies. In 1953, the United States developed the Hydrogen bomb. Then the Soviets also developed the Hydrogen bomb. This plan was more like mutual extinction. Even though this plan prevented all-out war between two big superpowers, the plan could not prevent the small brushfires from occurring in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

21) Truman’s loyalty program

a)     On March 21, 1947, President Truman signed an executive order that set up a program to check the loyalty of Federal Employees. He wanted Federal Employees to demonstrate “Unswerving loyalty”.

i)      As a result loyalty boards were set up in every Federal department. These Loyalty boards depended on the investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigations. If there existed reasonable grounds, then the employee will be dismissed.

ii)    An employee can appeal to the Loyalties appeal board set up by the Civil Service Commission.

(1)  As a result, this quieted many criticisms from the Republican Party that Truman was too soft on the Communists.

22) HUAC – Members and accusations

a)     The House Committee on Un American Activities questioned members of the screen actors guild in Hollywood because they felt that the screen writers and directors were able to brain wash the American people easier if they had been communist spies.

23) Spies of the time

1. Soviet spies had discovered that America developed the Atom bomb, even though America tried to prevent spies. America sent spies to the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union sent more spies to the United States. The United States attempted to smoke out the Soviet Spies by questioning people in front of the House Committee on Un American Activities and a reciprocal Senate Committee led by Joseph McCarthy. 

24) Joseph McCarthy and McCarthyism

a)     The People of Wisconsin elected Joseph McCarthy to the United States Senate. In his first term of Office, McCarthy exacerbated the Red Scare by delivering a speech that told the American public about two hundred communists within the state department.

b)     He exacerbated the problem and created fear and panic. He painted a picture in the American people’s minds that communism is bad and McCarthyism is Americanism.

c)     Because of Joe McCarthy’s actions, the Americans started scrutinizing employees and workers. In New York, Subway workers were laid off because they failed to answer questions about their political leanings.

25) Second Red Scare

a)     The Second Red Scare occurred after World War 2 when the Iron Curtain separated Western Europe and Eastern Europe.

i)      This second red scare resulted in many employees laid off by employers because of the suspicion of communism.

ii)    This was a result of the Soviet Union testing its first atomic bomb and a fear of communist invasion by the Soviet Union. This fear was exacerbated when Mao Zedong and Communists won the Chinese Civil War.

26) Eisenhower interstate highway system

a)     Eisenhower wanted to create an interstate highway system that could evacuate the people from large cities in case of a nuclear attack. He got this idea from the German interstate highway system when he was serving as general of the allied forces in Europe. He saw how convenient it was for the military to travel from one side of the country to the other side of the country.

b)     Another effect that came with the Interstate highway system was the fast food industry. McDonalds spread across the country by using the Interstate highway system.

27) Vietnam and US attitudes toward it as well as involvement

a)     As a communist organizer and a revolutionary, Ho Chi Min sought to expel the Japanese invaders from Vietnam.

i)      Ho Chi Min established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam by 1945.

(1)  The French and the Vietnamese began fighting because France wanted to regain Vietnam as a colony.

(a)   This war was a larger Cold war battle because of the Democratic ideals of France and the Communist ideals of Vietnam.

(i)    However, President Truman recognized the French’s puppet government in Vietnam because he believed that Ho Chi Min was taking orders from Moscow. Therefore, the United States in 1954 was already taking more than three quarters of the cost of France’s Indochina war.

1.     July 26,1950

a.      President Truman authorizes $15 million of aid to France.

(ii)  The United States involved during the Eisenhower administration when President Eisenhower sent the CIA spies to assist the French. The United States needed the French to balance the Soviet Union in Europe.

28) Suez Canal Crisis

a)     When the United States refused to finance Egypt’s construction of the Aswan High Dam, the Egyptians turned to the Soviets. The Soviets provided the Egyptians with limited finances for construction. Then Nasser sought another place for funds by nationalizing the British and French owned Suez canal. Loss of the Suez canal threatened Western Europe’s supply line to Middle Eastern oil. In response, Israel, Britain, and France carried out a surprise attack on Egypt. Since Eisenhower had been kept out of the dark on the invasion, he condemned the attack. After the United States gave Britain and France pressure, Britain and France withdrew its troops. As a result, they never participated in another role of major powers in world affairs

29) Middle East situations

a)     The Soviet Union took over Afghanistan.

b)     The CIA overthrew the democratically elected Prime Minister Mosadeggh because the United States wanted to reap from the Iranian oil wealth and prevented Iran from aligning with the Soviet Union.

i)      The CIA replaced the prime minister with the Shah’s son because the prime minister attempted to nationalize foreign oil companies. When the shah was restored to power in 1953, he provided the West with favorable oil prices.  In 1979, the Iranian Revolution replaced the shah’s son with a dictator and established the Islamic Republic of Iran.

30) CIA coups

a)     The National Security Act of 1947 created the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA employed spies to establish coups around the world. Some of the CIA coups were in Iran and Guatemala.

31) Latin America

a)     Guatemala

i)      In Guatemala, the United Fruit Company owned a lot of land to plant the bananas.

(1)  The elected government leader nationalized the land.

(2)  The United States secretary of state Dulles sniffed Communist activities; therefore, he advised President Eisenhower to send the CIA spies to Guatamala and oust the government of the reform minded Colonel Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. They trained Guatamalans to overthrow the legitimate regime because they appropriated US property.

(a)   The right wing takeover succeeded and the United Fruit Company’s land was restored; however, the right wing government turned into a dictatorship.

(i)    Because of the coup, Anti-American sentiment was all over Latin America.

32) Know the chronological order of major events in the early cold war years

Detente is the easing of strained relations. Both the United States and the Soviet Union strived for Detente. This is one of the reasons that the Eisenhower administration had the policy of Massive Retaliation to scare the Soviets. 

When President Eisenhower took office, he slimmed down the military. He slimmed it down by cutting the number of troops, but increasing the number of powerful weapons. As a result, the United States can still compete with the Soviet Union , but still spend within our financial capabilities.

Under President Truman, the United States had the Truman doctrine that pledged money to any country in danger of a communist threat. This was largely aimed at the area known as the Middle East.