Good morning/afternoon ladies and gentlemen I ______ am pleased to be presenting here today at the Cold War symposium. The cold war was a defining ideological conflict of the 20th century that has left a legacy into the 21st century. A critical event in the Cold War was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. It presented a situation where both the United States and Soviet Union wielded the power of nuclear weapons, with the potential to descend the world into its first nuclear war. The Cuban Missile Crisis was initiated by the Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev, provoking U.S president John Kennedy by imprudently placing nuclear missiles in Cuba. Khrushchev’s superficial proposals of a missile exchange and intentions of preventing Cuba from …show more content…
To resolve the issue Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev authorised the construction of the Berlin wall in 1961 to officially separate the east from the west and to prevent civilians from leaving. In that same year the US made an attempt to invade Cuba .
In 1959 communist revolutionary Fidel Castro overthrew former pro-American Cuban Dictator, Fulgenico Batista. After previously living under the firm hand of American imperialism, where Cuba’s trade and economics were monopolised by the US government. Castro was determined to restore Cuba’s independence and promised to renounce their reliance on the US. President Eisenhower responded by placing an embargo on Cuba, banning the islands primary export of sugar. Also in an attempt to overthrow Castro and monopolise the government also, Eisenhower planned the ‘Bay of Pigs’ invasion of Cuba in 1960 that did not commence until 1961 when the new US President John Kennedy authorised the invasion. By this time Castro was aware of the US agenda and prepared for the invasion, and ultimately ending in a failure for the United States. Castro’s hostility towards the US grew and he severed US-Cuban relations completely. Subsequently Cuba was desperate for trade partners and feared impending US invasions. Castro pursued the Soviet Union who offered to purchase all Cuban sugar that was produced; thus creating conflict between both nations.
This new foreign relation between Cuba
In August 1961, the Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev ordered for the construction of the Berlin Wall. This was built entirely on East Berlin soil but surrounded West Berlin to stop the East Berliners from crossing (and fleeing) into West Berlin. There are other reasons why the wall was built, such as Kennedy’s refusal to back down from Khrushchev’s threats and the need to prevent a nuclear war.
Moreover, around that time President John F. Kennedy was putting his primary focus on the Cold War, which brought him in conflict with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. When Castro took power, he signed an agreement to sell sugar to the Soviet Union, then the Eisenhower administration suspended trade and diplomatic relations with Cuba (Foner, 990). As a result, in April 1961 Kennedy allowed the CIA who had been training for anti-Castro exile to launch its invasion at the Bay of Pigs. But, more than 100 were killed and were 1,100 captured of the 1,400 invaders making the invasion a failure.
In January of 1959, communist Fidel Castro became prime minister. Some people opposed Castro and in 1961, with the help of the United States, they attempted to overthrow him. This invasion was known as the Bay of Pigs, which was poorly planned and failed, which led to Castro staying in power. A year later, the Soviets started to secretly ship nuclear weapons and supplies to Cuba. The United States spy’s started to notice nuclear missile sites being built rapidly in Cuba and soon after announced a quarantine of all trade carrying weapons entering Cuban territory.
The Cold War Era that followed the end of World War II was unlike any Americans had seen before. After defeating Germany and its allies in the war, the United States faced a change on the home front: young Americans rushed into marriage and parenthood in unprecedented numbers. In Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era, Elaine Tyler May describes these changes from the end of the war through the early 1960s. The author makes a compelling range of arguments about the changes that affected Americans during this period. Mainly, May argues that the “domestic containment” that arose after World War II promoted the new dynamic of a suburban lifestyle, in part because of the increasing fright of looming communism during the Cold War Era.
When discussing WWII and The Cold War from an American perspective, the focus is likely to be centered on the wartime efforts of the country while debating strengths and shortcomings within those efforts. However, while the physical and psychological wars waged on, America’s homefront saw a continuation of fighting in the form of social movements aimed at attaining equality for all Americans. Minorities like African Americans and Mexican immigrants continued to face discrimination and racism during WWII but were shaped in different ways by the war. The Cold War era in America is a very complex subject marked by heightened tensions, fear, and paranoia among citizens. Much in the same way that WWII shaped the plight of minorities and immigrants on the homefront, the Cold War era also effected what it meant to be an American by shaping the conformist social class. Reaction to this conformity would also be shaped by the Cold War era, and Americans would eventually become critical to these effects.
The foreign policy of the United States toward Cuba over the past fifty years has caused many problems for the Cuban society and its people, and relations between the two nations have been at odds for decades due to the harsh foreign policy stance of the United States toward Cuba. The United States has considered Cuba as its enemy ever since July 1960 when Fidel Castro’s new revolutionary government changed everything. Castro seized privately owned land in Cuba, nationalized several privately owned companies (most of which were subsidiaries of U.S. businesses), and heavily taxed American products which led to U.S. exports being reduced greatly,
In 1961, Nikita Khrushchev which the soviet premier had ordered the Berlin Wall built to atop the flow of refugees from East to West Berlin (Danzer p677). The Berlin Wall was built by the Communist East German government to prevent its citizens from fleeing to the West (Danzer pR54). The Berlin Wall was built to halt large numbers of defections and to prevent East Berliners from commuting to
WWII and the Cold War were two very important wars in the history of the world. They both had a important role in the development of the world. The Cold War impacted society and politics more so than WWII by aiding countries in hopes of making them join their regime, the use of propaganda techniques to portray the other superpower as weak, the fear of annihilation due to nuclear weapons, and the war between communism and democracy.
War is the result of hate and brutality that can affect people in a negative way. The Cold War relates to the war in the Butter Battle book as it demonstrates hate, which should not be taught to kids in children 's books.
The Cold War was a direct result of the feud between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. Due to this feud both countries made alliances, Canada went with the United States as well as many other countries and together formed NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Following the influence and model of the United States’ social structure and capitalist economy, as well as the constant threat of nuclear warfare and communism, a new social structure was created within Canada. The Cold War created new identities and lifestyles for all Canadian citizens. This was done to eliminate communism, increase patriotism and as a way for Canadian citizens to work together to combat nuclear threats. Communism was a constant threat in Canada and was to be eliminated if not at least controlled at all costs. This meant that everyone had to act according to the new social structure, or risk suspicion of being a Soviet spy. This new social structure resembled harsh sexist stereotypes where the men are the breadwinners and the women are the homemakers. This type of relationship was called the nuclear family. This paper is going to look at the social roles that the Cold War created because of the threat of communism, nuclear warfare, governmental influence and social influence within Canada for men, women and children.
The Cold War started before the end of World War II. It was a conflict between two great powers, the Unites States (and their allies), and the Soviet Union (and their allies). It was a race for control over the post war world. Both countries tried to spread their ideology across the world. This rivalry lasted for about 45 years. However, it was not like every other war. Fighter planes did not fly over countries to drop bombs, there were no deployment of troops, and no ground troops. The two sides never directly engaged in a battle. It was fought at different levels and in multiple different places. Although it was not a battle like other typical war, tons of money were spent on this war, especially on nuclear weapons. Europe was split into east and west, and the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union was ridiculous which included every aspect of life. Many decisions made by Presidents, namely Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy caused an impact on United State politically, economically, and socially.
For more than 50 years following its independence, Cuba was governed by a succession of elected and authoritarian leaders, culminating with rule of Fulgencio Batista, who seized power in a bloodless coup in 1952. Batista ruled as a brutal dictator and was overthrown by resistance groups led by Fidel Castro on January 1, 1959. Castro began his more than 45 years as Cuba’s leader by promising democratic rule, but he quickly began to stifle dissent often by imprisoning or executing opponents. Relations between Castro and the U.S. deteriorated quickly in 1959 and 1960 as he courted the Soviet Union, the U.S.’s adversary in the Cold War, and began confiscating Cuban property owned by U.S. corporations and citizens.
On April 15, 1961 the Bay of Pigs invasion began to invade Cuba and remove Castro from the leadership. The unsuccessful invasion was stopped two days later. Now Castro needed the strong arm of the Soviets even more. With the Cold War arms race in effect, Castro knew that the Soviets could protect him from future invasions from the United States.
The Berlin wall was built by the Soviets in August 1961 and separated Communist East Berlin from Democratic West Berlin. It was built as a way to prevent people in East Berlin from escaping to West Berlin. People in East Berlin were experiencing their economy decreasing under Communism, whereas West Berlin was experiencing economic growth. Several year’s earlier the Soviet Union’s leader Leonid Khrushchev had wanted to sign a treaty saying no one from East Berlin could flee over to West Berlin to be free. Khrushchev used the Soviet’s nuclear bombs as threats and Kennedy told Khrushchev that any attack on West Berlin would be an attack on
Castro intended on helping Cuba’s high poverty, but Castro did not turn Cuba into a democracy like he said he would (“Cuban missile Crisis”2). In 1960 the soviet premier attempted to convince Castro to become communist, soon after this castro became communist, probably influenced by the soviet premier (“Cuban missile Crisis”3). A new american president, that could probably change the war, was coming into office around this time, President Kennedy. The new president would take on the problem of this new cuban leader (International Encyclopedia of the… 1). Before him, Eisenhower trained about 1,500 Cuban Exiles in secret to try to take over Cuba, Kennedy allowed this to go on. On april 17, the exils attempted to invade Cuba(“Cuban missile Crisis”3). Since Castro had found out about the invasion, he was ready and defeated the the incoming force easily(“Cuban missile Crisis”3-4). The failed invasion seemed to help the Cuban opinion of Castro. He was now an obvious threat and so the U.S. decided to start operation Mongoose. Operation Mongoose was a secret operation to get rid of Castro, it was an operation where the U.S. would try to sabotage Cuba, but Operation Mongoose never ended up happening. The U.S.S.R. did not want to lose Cuba so they decided to secretly send weapons into Cuba, including nuclear weapons (“Cuban missile Crisis”4). These arm shipments would lead to one of the