Unit 6: Early Cold War and the 1950s

At the end of WWII, the U.S. and the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers. While these two countries worked together in WWII, opposing viewpoints and suspicion turned them against one another and into a decades-long war of ideas - the Cold War. The U.S.'s fear of the spread of communism, the ambitions of Josef Stalin, and the possibility of Soviet spies within the US led to a second Red Scare, a war in Korea, and rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy, a[n] [in]famous figure who disregarded Constitutional rights in the name of finding communists. In the mean time, Americans enjoyed post-war prosperity, but also had to deal with the difficult reality of returning soldiers trying to readjust to society. While we tend to idealize the 1950s with visions of happy suburban moms and dads with pleasant jobs, many Americans were dissatisfied with their new realities and looked for a way out.

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Links/review guide:

Edward R. Murrow homework

Fall of McCarthy STUDENT NOTES

Invasion of the Body Snatchers MOVIE

 

Extra resources:

Are We Entering a New Cold War?
Foreign Policy (2/17/16)

Rethinking the Cold War ... And the New One
Foreign Policy Journal (8/20/16)

The Berlin Wall Crisis: The View from Below
History in Focus, 2006

Cold War documents
Yale Law School, 2008

Stalin and the Communist Party in the 1920
History Today (8/8/92)

Articles from 2012 on the relationship between North and South Korea (relating to the Korean War):

North Korea Declares 1953 Armistice Invalid

South Korea Flirts with Nuclear Ideas as North Blusters

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