Does Michael Ross deserve death or mercy?

Use examples from the case to make your argument. (Persuasive Paragraph)

Human Rights and the death penalty

Is the death penalty a violation of human rights on your island? Explain using examples from your bill of rights and values.. (show examples of at least two rights)

Why do Americans favor the death penalty?

Do you favor the death penalty? Why? Use two quotes from the reading today to make your case. (Persuasive Paragraph)

FBI Most Wanted:

Do any of the criminals listed on the FBI most wanted "deserve" the death penalty for their crimes? Explain in a persuasive paragraph using two quotes from the text.

Methods of Executions

Based on your reading today, which is the most humane way to do an execution? Is there any?

Write a persuasive paragraph to answer this question. Be sure to have at least two quotes from Handout 2 to support your answer.

American intervention in Latin America

Explain which intervention you think was the MOST outrageous from Handout 2. Use the persuasive paragraph format. You should have two quotes from the readings to make your argument.

Classwork for 4/27/10

1. Using this link, determine the most important five events of the Cuban Revolution:

Cuban Revolution SlideShow

Focus on the 1950's and the 1960's.

2. Read the story "50 Years Ago"

http://www.miamiherald.com/2008/12/30/v-print/832180/50-years-ago-cubas-rebels-took.html

4. Answer the question:

How was the Cuban Revolution of 1959 similar or different to the Russian Revolution of 1917? (Hint: Remember Lenin, the peasants, the Tsar, Stalin, commnuism, 5-year plans, etc.)

Bios of Latin American Leaders

Cuba
President: Raul Castro
Raul Castro, the world's longest-serving defence minister, took over as president in February 2008, succeeding his ailing brother Fidel, who had been in power for five decades.

Raul Castro
Raul Castro became acting president 18 months earlier when his brother was incapacitated by ill health, and was formally named as president by the National Assembly days after Fidel announced his retirement.
Fidel Castro, a devotee of Marxist-Leninist theory, brought revolution to Cuba and created the western hemisphere's first communist state. His bearded figure, long speeches, army fatigues and defiance of the United States earned him iconic status across the globe.
Raul, 76 at the time of this appointment, has been his brother's trusted right-hand man and was once known as an iron-fisted ideologue who executed Fidel Castro's orders - and enemies - ruthlessly.
Under his leadership, Cuba's Revolutionary Armed Forces became one of the most formidable fighting forces in the Third World with combat experience in Africa, where they defeated South Africa's army in Angola in 1987.

Fidel Castro outlasted no fewer than nine US presidents
Known as a good administrator, Raul Castro substantially cut the size of the army after the collapse of Soviet Communism threw Cuba into severe economic crisis. He introduced Western business practices to help make the armed forces self-sufficient. The military has a large stake in the most dynamic sectors of the Cuban economy, including tourism.
Raul Castro has also eased some restrictions on personal freedoms by lifting bans on mobile phones and home computers.
But his choice of first vice-president came as a shock to those hoping that a new generation might begin shaping the country's future. He picked Machado Ventura - a hardline politburo member and one of the original leaders of the revolution - as his number two.










Puerto Rico

Head of state: President George W Bush
Governor: Anibal Acevedo Vila (outgoing)
Governor-elect: Luis Fortuno
Anibal Acevedo Vila of the Popular Democratic Party became the governor of Puerto Rico at the end of 2004.

Acevedo Vila pushed for self-determination for Puerto Rico
The Popular Democratic Party was at that time in favour of maintaining Puerto Rico's commonwealth status, whereas the New Progressive Party of Mr Acevedo's rival for the governorship, Pedro Rossello, favoured full integration into the US as the 51st state.
Since then, Mr Acevedo Vila has accused the US of failing to live up to the promises it made in the 1950s - when it gave the island greater self-governing powers in return for remaining a commonwealth - and has urged it to grant Puerto Rico the right to determine its own status.
He lost a bid for a second term as governor at elections in November 2008 and is due to leave office in January 2009.
His successor is Luis Fortuno of the New Progressive Party, which also won the November 2008 elections to Puerto Rico's legislative assembly.
Puerto Ricans elect their governor for a four-year term. The constitution, modelled on that of the US, provides for a Senate and House of Representatives. However, voters in a referendum in 2005 backed the idea of replacing the bodies with a one-house legislature.
Residents of Puerto Rico cannot vote in US presidential elections. But they do elect a non-voting delegate to the US Congress.














Argentina

President: Cristina Fernandez
Cristina Fernandez swept to victory in the first round of Argentina's presidential election in October 2007 - a victory that many attributed to the popularity of her husband, President Nestor Kirchner.

Ms Fernandez is the first woman to be elected president of Argentina
She fought the election campaign largely on Mr Kirchner's record of reducing poverty and unemployment in the wake of the 2001-2002 economic crisis - one of the worst crises the country had ever experienced.
She is expected to continue her husband's domestic policies of striving for high growth rates while containing inflation.
However, she is also expected to devote more attention to foreign policy, continuing to maintain close ties with other Latin American countries such as Brazil and Venezuela while at the same time seeking to ease the at times strained ties with Washington.
The main challenge Ms Fernandez will have to face is the renewed threat of high inflation. A quarter of the Argentine population still lives in poverty, and any rise in the prices of basic commodities is likely to have a devastating impact.
She has a long track-record as a politician. As a law student in the 1970s she was active in a leftist Peronist movement, later becoming first a provincial and then a national deputy.
She supported her husband - whom she met at university in 1975 - as he rose through the Peronist ranks, and in 1995 became a senator herself.
After Mr Kirchner was elected president in 2003, she was his chief adviser, and he also plays an important role in her leadership. One of his first jobs was to help with negotiations to release hostages held by the guerrillas in the Colombian jungle.
The couple have been dubbed "the Clintons of the South", and Ms Fernandez encouraged the comparison by alluding to the similiarities between herself and Hillary Clinton during her election campaign.







Colombia

President: Alvaro Uribe
Alvaro Uribe came to power in May 2002 in a first-round election victory and secured a second, four-year term in May 2006.

President Uribe, secured a second term with a comfortable victory
Described as hard-line and right-leaning, he has taken a tough stance against left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries alike. Under his presidency, the murder rate and the incidence of kidnapping have fallen.
Although this has won him high approval ratings, guerrilla attacks on civilians have continued. Mr Uribe said he needs another term to implement his tough policies.
He has boosted spending on the military and police and has set about arming peasants in vulnerable areas. Major offensives have been launched against the guerrillas. Anti-terrorism laws have expanded the military's power to arrest and detain suspects.
In a bid to disarm the paramilitaries, his government has held formal peace talks with far-right warlords.
Mr Uribe is keen for international mediation to end the violence.
But an initiative for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to get involved in negotiations ran into trouble in late 2007 following a series of diplomatic incidents and lapses of protocol.
Relations between the two presidents became decidedly frosty, and deteriorated further in early 2008 after Mr Uribe rejected Mr Chavez's call for Colombia's left-wing rebels to be treated as insurgents instead of terrorists.
Fences began to be mended after the freeing of the Farc's most high-profile hostage, Ingrid Betancourt, in July 2008.
The Colombian president is Washington's chief ally in a left-leaning region where the Bush administration is not popular.
Born in Medellin in July 1952, Alvaro Uribe is a Harvard and Oxford University-educated lawyer. He is described as a workaholic and a disciplined scholar. He was elected mayor of Medellin in 1982 and was Antioquia governor between 1995 and 1997.
Mr Uribe is a staunch Roman Catholic and is interested in horses and yoga. He is married with two children.
His father, a wealthy landowner, was killed when Farc rebels tried to kidnap him. But Mr Uribe - who has himself survived a handful of assassination attempts - says his anger does not influence his policies.





Honduras

President: Manuel Zelaya Rosales

Manuel Zelaya: Promises to create jobs, fight crime
Manuel Zelaya, from the Liberal Party, won a hotly-contested presidential election in November 2005 with a majority of 75,000 votes.
His main rival, the National Party's Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo Sosa, conceded defeat after 10 days of uncertainty over the count, which was beset by technical problems.
Mr Zelaya, who served in the government of former president Carlos Flores, proposed to double the number of police officers and to jail murderers and rapists for life.
On taking office he appointed a former general to lead the campaign against gang violence and announced plans to rehabilitate former gang members.
He has promised to tackle corruption in government and to create hundreds of thousands of badly-needed jobs. He backs a free trade deal with the US, signed by his predecessor.
Mr Zelaya, a landowner, was born in 1952. He is known for his trademark moustache and for sporting a Stetson hat and cowboy boots. He is married and has four children.
His predecessor, the National Party's Ricardo Maduro, implemented economic reforms in return for credit from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and changed the penal code to try to stem rampant crime and gang violence.

















Peru
President: Alan Garcia

Economic turmoil dogged Alan Garcia's first government
Former centre-left president Alan Garcia celebrated a dramatic political comeback in June 2006, 16 years after he left office with rock-bottom approval ratings. Hyperinflation, food shortages and a Maoist guerrilla insurgency plagued his 1985-1990 term; the president says he has learned from his mistakes.
He won a run-off vote in presidential elections having campaigned on promises to tackle poverty and boost economic growth. His rival, the political newcomer and former military man Ollanta Humala, was backed by Venezuela's populist leftist leader Hugo Chavez.
President Garcia represents Peru's oldest political party, the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance, or Apra. On taking office he announced an austerity drive - which included a cut in his own salary - and cited Chile as an economic role model.
His government has come under fire from environmental and human rights campaigners over plans to auction off swathes of the Amazon to oil and gas companies. They say the amount of Peruvian Amazon territory now open to oil exploration has risen from 13 to 70% in two years.
In October 2008, the entire Apra-led cabinet resigned after members of the party were implicated in a corruption scandal over the allocation of oil contracts. In an effort to restore public confidence in his administration, Mr Garcia appointed Yehude Simon, a leftist regional governor from outside the ruling party, as the new prime minister.
Mr Garcia's predecessor, Alejandro Toledo, took office promising to wage "a head-on war on poverty" but struggled to improve the lot of the poor and to deliver on a pledge to create one million jobs over five years.
Mr Toledo oversaw economic growth but had to balance the need for economic prudence with calls for more spending on social programmes and public-sector wage increases.
He was beset by street protests and a string of scandals involving ministers, aides and family members.











Mexico
President: Felipe Calderon

Felipe Calderon, from the governing, conservative National Action Party, was declared the winner of the bitterly-fought July 2006 presidential election with a lead of less than a percentage point over his left-wing rival, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Felipe Calderon's victory was confirmed after weeks of wrangling
His win was confirmed after weeks of legal wrangling. He took office on 1 December; raucous scenes in Congress accompanied his inauguration. Mr Obrador, a populist former mayor of Mexico City, challenged the poll outcome in the courts and led a campaign of street protests. He refused to recognise Mr Calderon's win.
Mr Calderon says he wants to strive for unity; he has offered to include opposition politicians in government.
Soon after taking office he announced plans for an anti-poverty drive, targeting Mexico's 100 poorest towns. He also promised to cut his own salary by 10%. Both themes were central to the election campaign of his rival.
He vowed to tackle violent crime, tax evasion and corruption. To this end, he promised to raise salaries in the army - a key player in the fight against crime.
He has predicted that the fight against drug gangs will take longer than his six-year term in office. He has dispatched thousands of troops to combat feuding drug cartels.
Mr Calderon has pledged to create jobs, in an effort to stem outward migration, and to pursue major infrastructure projects, including roads, airports, bridges and dams.
Born in 1962, in Morelia in Michoacan state, he is married and has three children. A lawyer and an economist by profession, he resigned as energy minister in 2004 to pursue his presidential ambitions.
His predecessor, Vicente Fox, took office in December 2000 and was unable by law to run in the 2006 poll.










Venezuela
President: Hugo Chavez
Hugo Chavez, who has survived a coup, protests, strikes and a referendum on his rule since coming to power in 1998, is the subject of both adulation and loathing among his divided electorate.

Hugo Chavez has polarised political opinion
The president, who says he wants to create a new form of socialism, has pursued populist policies aimed at helping the poor. The programmes include free health care, subsidised food and land reform.
Critics have accused Mr Chavez of trying to emulate Cuba's communist system and of increasing state intervention in business.
Mr Chavez came to prominence when he led a failed coup in 1992. After a spell in prison he embarked on a political career that swept him to power in a landslide election victory in 1998.
The charismatic president often continued to wear his paratrooper's red beret. He delighted the poor but infuriated the rich and the powerful news media with his rambling speeches that denounced the wealthy elite.
As Mr Chavez grew more powerful, his critics said he was leading Venezuela towards a Cuban-style authoritarian government. He was criticised for courting countries which attracted US or international disapproval, namely Cuba, Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Libya.
He was forced out of office by the military in April 2002, only to be reinstated within 48 hours after a post-coup government collapsed in the face of a rebellion by loyalist troops and massive protests.
Opposition pressure intensified in 2002 and 2003, with more protests, a prolonged general strike and an unsuccessful attempt to petition for a referendum on the president's rule.
On the strength of a second petition handed in by his opponents, Mr Chavez faced a referendum on his rule on 15 August 2004 and was named as the winner. He won a third term in elections in December 2006.
In early 2007 he was granted sweeping powers to rule by decree for the next 18 months. The National Assembly, which has been boycotted by the opposition, unanimously passed the law.
Mr Chavez was expected to use his new powers to nationalise key sectors of the economy, assert more control over the oil industry and to raise taxes on the rich. His opponents say the law is an abuse of power.

Jeopardy Review

Quiz Questions

Questions for the quiz:

On the Blog, respond to TWO of the following questions in preparation for your quiz tomorrow.

1.     Who are our friends and enemies in the Middle East? Explain what our relationships are with various countries. (Short Answer)

2.     How are the Hummer and Smart Car connected to the Middle East? What is the role of oil? (Short Answer)

3.     What are the roots of 9/11? What are the causes? Who was involved? Explain. (Short Answer)

4.     Show where five friends and five enemies are on a map, show where there are conflicts, and which countries have oil. (Map)

5.     Is Democracy possible in the Middle East? Explain using examples from research. (Short Answer)

6.     What are the options in the Middle East? What is the best option for the U.S.? (Short Answer)

Middle East Options: Which option is best?

Which options is best? Explain in a persuasive paragraph.

In search of the roots of 9/11

Explain why 9/11 happened. What motivated the hijackers? What historical issues preceded the event? Who is responsible? 

Use evidence from the documents to support your claim.

Middle East Profiles: Relationships with the the U.S.

1. Read about 1 country in the Middle East. Here is the link:

Here are a few countries:

Kuwait
Iran
Iraq
Saudi Arabia
Egypt
Yemen
United Arab Emirates
Jordan
Qatar
Bahrain

2. Create a PowerPoint that answers the following questions::

1. What is this country's relationship with the U.S.? (Friend or foe)

2. What are the goals of this country's leader? What are the country's challenges?

3. How does this country earn a living? What industries are important?

4. How open is the media? Explain whether the media has freedoms to print what it wants to print.

Your PowerPoint should answer these questions and include:

• A timeline of 5-7 events in that country.
• A map of the country that shows where their main resources are(oil, metals, water)
• A response to the questions above.
• Images of the country.

Due by the end of class Thursday, April 1. E-mail you PowerPoint to Mr. Cotto.

The Communist Experiment Review Blog!

Communist Experiment: Study Guide

Review Jeopardy

Part I: Terms, Names, Events

Communism

Capitalism

Josef Stalin

John F. Kennedy

Mikhail Gorbachev

Harry Truman

Cuban Missile Crisis

Tsar Nicholas II

Vietnam War

Serf

Korean War

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Space Race

ICBM

United Nations

Part II: Concepts

Week 1

Explain the conditions in Russia before the Revolution. What was life like? (Short Answer)

Why did the Russian Revolution happen? Explain the causes of the revolution. (Short Answer)

What were the four options that the Russian people could take after the revolution? What seemed the best option for the Russian people? (Short Answer)

How did Stalin help and/hurt Russia? What were his reforms? (Short Answer) Dapo's take Dishawn's take

What is the difference between communism and capitalism? Explain how these systems work. (Short Answer)

What was the Red Scare? Why was the Sacco and Vanzetti case a good example of anti-communism in America? (Short Answer)

Week 2

How were the U.S. and Soviet Union similar or different after World War II? What were these countries major differences? (Short Answers)

How did the United States and the Soviet Union fight the cold war? Who was to blame for the cold war? (Short Answer)

Why is Animal Farm a good metaphor for the Russian Revolution? Explain using examples from the text. (Short Answer)

How did the United States try to contain the Soviet Union? What actions did the United States take to stop communism? (Short Answer) Kamari's take Kamar's take

Why did the Cold War end? Explain the main reasons that the Soviet Union collapsed. (Short Answer)

·         Part III:

Which countries were communist and which were capitalist before the end of the Cold War in 1991?

The Cold War: A Rogue's Gallery of Dictators

Should the U.S. have supported the dictators around the world during the Cold War? Why or Why not? Give specific examples from the text to support your argument.

The Cold War: Various Topics

Select one topic from the list to prepare a PowerPoint for the class.

Your PowerPoint should have

•A timeline of your topic.

•A paragraph summarizing your topic and explaining its importance in the cold war. Your paragraph should have quotes from any sources you use.

•A map showing your topic

•A list of all of your sources.

•Any other important information you find helpful.

Topic 1: President John F. Kennedy

President John Frizgerald Kennedy started his involvement in the cold war as a candidate for congress. His campaign addressed the issues involving the coldwar and took a anti-Cold War platform along with many of the other Democrats of the era. Along with this, he also "tough on communism". In 1952, while running for senator he boasted on his work that lead to the conviction of a communist union official.

Even in his campaign for the presendency, Kennedy held a "tough on the Soviets" issue which criticized Eisenhower for "falling behind the Soviets". He promised more money toward the national defense while charging Eisenhower for allowing non-existent "missile gaps" to develop between US and Soviet nuclear arsenals.

In order to make up for this missile gap, Kennedy ordered and increase on the production of nuclear arms. This then set off a nuclear arms race which then lead to the US losing it role as the top nuclear power by the end of the decade. Kennedy did, on the other hand, sign the Limited Test Ban Treaty which started the disarment of nuclear weapons, but it has been said that he signed it only for enviromental means, not for any longterm goals of eliminating nuclear weapons.

JFK tried to reduce tensions with the USSR following the Cuban Missile Crisis. But in the resuction of tention, he had no intention of pulling out of the containment set by the Truman Doctrine. It was also for these reasons that Kennedy held the line in Vietnam, increasing the number of troops from 500 to 16,000. Confronted with the suggestion of pulling out he responded "I think that would be a mistake"

Kennedy also was determined in not seeing Vietnam lost. It was he who decided that South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem needed to be removed from office because Kennedy felt he was an obstacle in winning the war. Kennedy authorized the coup that overthrew Diem by assassination on November 1, 1963. Kennedy was involved with Vietnam all the way even until the eve of his own death.

For more information on Kennedy:
Kennedy and the Cold War

Topic 2: Josef Stalin

Joseph Stalin assumed power over the Soviet Union in 1933 as Lenin's successor. He had a shrewd concept of politics and his number one goal was to make the Soviet Union into a major player on the world stage. To do this, Stalin had to start building up the Soviet's economy and in modernizing the military. He had tanks and guns made over food, housing, and consumer goods. This was his way of changing the Soviet Unions from a preindustrial society to a modern country, capable of overthrowing other nations.

In acheiving his goals, Stalin had no concern for human life if it stood in the way of progress. Adolf Hitler was his only rival when it came to mass murder. Historians believe that as many as twelve million people died from standing in the war of Stalin's ambitions. Millions died from starvation and overworking even though they had no political beliefs whatsoever.

In 1939 at around the beginning of World War II, Stalin signed a nonaggression pact with the Germans which stated that the Nazi's would not attck the Soviets and the Soviets would do the same. As a part of this deal, Poland was invaded and split up between Germany and the Soviet Union. Stalin although not liking this deal, saw that Hitler would invade the Soviet Union sometime in the future and this pact allowed him to prepare for it. Eight days after the pact was signed, Germany invaded Poland and World War II began.

Years later, Pearl Harbor was hit by Japan and the United States entered the war. President Roosevelt teamed up with Winston Churchill of Great Britain and Stalin to form the "Big Three", a group commited to destroying Hitler and the expanding Nazi empire. One reason the United States got along so well with the Soviet Union was because Roosevelt had started an effort in changing America's view of the Soviet Union. The three leaders held conferences together of which the most important one was held at Yalta. There they discussed the Soviets help in fighting the Japanese.

But as the Axis powers were being defeated, the bond between the Soviet Union and the other two nations in the "Big Three" began to fall apart. Roosevelt had died and Harry Truman had taken over the Presidency. Once the War was over, Truman demanded free election in the East European countries that were taken over during the war and now set free. Stalin opposed this idea stating, "A freely elected government in any of these East European countries would be anti-Soviet and that we cannot allow."

One of Stalin's post-war plans was to repress the millions of Soviet citizens who were living outside of the soviet border when the war ended. Some were captured by the Nazi's while other were just living abroad. Stalin demanded that these "traitors" were sent back to the Soviet Union and they were shipped off to forced-labor camps, no better than the camps that the Nazi's had in WWII. More than 50 percent who went to these camps never came out.

In 1953, Stalin died after twenty-five years of power. He had brought the government of Lenin and his revolutionary Bolsheviks back to the dictatorship. After his death, reformers led by Nikita Khrushchev argued for major innovations. This started the "de-stalinization" period of Soviet history.

Topic 3: Mikhail Gorbichev

Mikhail Gorbichev was the Soviet leader who saw the end of the Cold War through his efforts along with that of the American Presidents Ronald Reagen and George Bush. He took office as Secretary General of the Communist Party in 1985 thus making him the head of the Soviet Union.

Within his first year as secretary general, Gorbachev had already started to work on ending the Cold War. In 1986 he started to discontinue economic support from the soviet's satellites which included Cuba. That same year he called for the reform of the soviet system. In October of 1986, Gorbachev met with Reagen in Iceland to discuss and see to the removal of all intermediate range nuclear missiles in Europe.

In 1987, Reagen and Gorbachev met in Washington to sign a treaty eliminating all short and medium range nuclear missiles. In December of 1988 Gorbachev renounced the Brezhnev Doctrine, thus giving more freedom to the states of Eastern Europe. A month later he withdrew the soviet military from Afghanistan. By the end of 1988 Gorbachev renouced the use of force in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Rumania whose communist regimes had fallen, and as a result, recognizing the end of the soviet empire. By 1990 the world began to realize that the Cold War was coming to an end.

In May of 1990, Bush and Gorbachev met in Washington and sign more than a dozen treaties for reducing nuclear weapons, a ban on chemical weapons, and agreements normalizing trade. Later that year Gorbachev met with German chancelor Kohl and signed a nonagression pact. The Soviet troops were moved out of Eastern Germany. The lines between Poland and the USSR were perminantly drawn. Finally at the end of 1991, Grobichev turned over power to Boris Yeltsin who was President by means of the first free election in the history of the Soviet Union.

Topic 4: Harry Truman

After a few weeks as Vice-President under Franklin Delenor Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman took over the Presidency on April 12, 1945. Unaware of all the situations that were taking place with Japan and the Soviet Russia, Truman took the job with a load of problems.

Harry S. Truman, although born in Lamar, Missouri in 1884, grew up in Independance. He worked 12 years as a farmer until World War I, where he went to France as a Field Artillery Captain. When he returned from war, Harry Truman married Elizabeth Virginia Wallace and opened a business in Kansas City.

Truman was active in the Democratic Party and because of this, he was elected a judge of the Jackson County Court in 1922. Over the next 12 years he worked his way up the ladder to become a Senator in 1934. During World War II, Truman headed the Senate was investigating committee, looking into the waste and corruption of the military and perhaps saved close to 15 billion dollars.

Amoung the crucial decisions that a President has had to make, Truman's was the greatest. Victory in Europe had occurred and now the U.S. was fighting Japan. A plea to Japan for them to surrender was rejected and so Truman made the decision to drop two atomic bombs, one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki. The Japanese surrendered quickly. This event started the nuclear arms race between the super powers, Russia and the U.S.

In 1947 Truman asked congress to aid Turkey and Greece which were being pressured by The Soviet Union and guerrillas. The legislation that came out was known as the Truman Doctrin. The Marshall Plan, another piece of legislation that was named for Truman's Secretary of State, stimulated spectacular economic recovery in war-torn western Europe.

In June of 1950, Truman met with his advisors to discuss the situation that was happening in Korea. They decided that neither the United Nations nor the U.S. could back away from the conflict. While the U.N. held the 38th parallel, Truman kept the war a limited one, keeping China and Russia from being involved.

Truman decided not to run again and so he retired to Independence. At the age 88, Harry S. Truman died on December 26, 1972.

http://library.thinkquest.org/22059/people/

Topic 5: The Korean War

Following World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed in 1945 to divide Korea into U.S. and Soviet occupation zones, with the U.S. staying south of the thirty-eighth Parallel. Tension began to mount in early 1950 following the failure of efforts to unite the country. In 1947 the U.S. submitted the Korean question to the U.N. General Assembly for disposition, but Russia refused to go along. South Korea held elections anyway in May 1948 under U.N. supervision, while the Russians set up a puppet government in the north.

On June 25, 1950, North Korean troops crossed the thirty-eighth parallel in force. Within hours of the attack, the United States responded. It pushed a resolution through the U.N. Security Council that gave the U.N.'s approval and support for military action against North Korea. The U.S. began to support the South Koreans with air and sea units. However, the North Korean Army continued to drive the South Korean Army down the peninsula, the American bombing missions having virtually no effect on slowing the North. In response, The U.S. sent in the American troops that were stationed in Japan. Arriving just in time, they aided the South Koreans in holding the Pusan bridgehead through June and July. By August it was clear that the U.S. troops under General MacArthur would be able to hold the North Korean, and possibly even roll them back. On September 15, MacArthur outflanked the North Koreans with an amphibious landing at Inchon, far up the Korean peninsula. In a little more than a week, MacArthur's troops took the South Korean capital, Seoul, back, an action which cut off the North Korea n forces around Pusan.

Following American authorization to conduct military operations north of the thirty-eighth parallel, MacArthur crossed the parallel in an effort to invade North Korea. That same day, October 7, the U.N. approved an American resolution endorsing the action. The Chinese issued a series of warnings to the United States, saying that they would not "sit back with folded hands and let the Americans come to the border." The U.S. ignored this and continued to invade North Korea. Finally, China made a public statement on October 10 that they would become involved in the conflict if the Americans continued north. MacArthur advanced into North Korea by two separated routes, leaving his middle wide open. The Chinese poured thousands of "volunteers" into the gap, and sent the Americans reeling back. Within two weeks, the Chinese had cleared much of North Korea.

In January and February 1951, MacArthur resumed the offensive, and drove the Chinese and the North Koreans back. He reached the thirty-eighth parallel by March. Peace talks began on July 10, 1951. They broke down on July 12. For the rest of the year they were on again, off again. The lines began to stabilize around the thirty-eighth parallel. By July 1953, North Korea and America reached an armistice that restored the pre-war conditions.

For more information on the Korean War go to:
Korean War Project
50th Anniversary of the Korean War 1950-1953

---

Topic 6: Vietnam War

The Vietnam War began in 1957, and was divided into Communist ruled North Vietnam and non-Communist South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese and some of their South Vietnamese supporters fought to take over South Vietnam.

The ruler of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, became increasingly unpopular when he ended local elections and appointed his own village officials. In 1957 members in the south began to rebel against Diem. Diem called these rebels Viet Cong, meaning Vietnamese Communists. North Vietnam supported the revolt from the early stages, and began to develop a supply route to South Vietnam in 1959, which came to be known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The United States sent several hundred U.S. civilian and military advisors to assist Diem.

By 1960, discontent with the Diem government was widespread, and the Viet Cong had about 10,000 troops. They soon began to attack South Vietnamese army bases, and threatened in 1961 to overthrow Diem's government. In response, President John F. Kennedy greatly expanded economic and military aid to South Vietnam. From 1961 to 1963, he increased the number of U.S. advisors in Vietnam from 900 to over 16,000.

In May 1963, unrest broke out within the Buddhist population of South Vietnam. They were upset that Diem's government was restricting their religious practices. The government responded with mass arrests and raids on Buddhist temples after large protests were staged. A group of generals who opposed Diem's harsh treatment and policies overthrew the Diem government and murdered him. A period of political disorder followed, with new governments coming in rapid succession. North Vietnam stepped up its supply of war materials and began to send its own army units into the South. By late 1964, the Viet Cong controlled up to 75 over cent of South Vietnam's population.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson announced that the U.S. destroyers Maddox and C. Turner Joy had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of North Vietnam. Some Americans doubted that the attack had occurred, and the attack has never been confirmed. Johnson ordered immediate air strikes against North Vietnam, and received power from Congress to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." In M arch 1965, John used this power to send a group of U.S. Marines to South Vietnam. The war grew. The United States forces rose from about 60,000 in mid-1965 to a peak of over 543,000 in 1969. They joined 800,000 South Vietnamese troops and about 69,000 men from Australia, New Zealand, the Philippine, South Korea, and Thailand. The North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong had over 300,000 troops.

The American leaders hoped that superior U.S. firepower would force the enemy to stop fighting, and thus relied on bombing missions over North Vietnam, and "search and destroy" missions on the ground in the south. The Viet Cong and North Vietnamese prefer red guerilla tactics, including ambushes and hand-laid bombs. They had knowledge of the terrain and large amounts of war equipment from the Soviet Union and China. The two sides fought to a destructive draw between 1965 and 1967. The highly destructive bombing of the north did not affect the enemy's willingness or ability to keep fighting.

Opposition to the war began to mount in America. Increased casualties and taxes produced a large drop of support for the war. The Tet offensive also had a major impact. This new phase of the war began on Jan. 30, 1968 wh cities of South Vietnam. This caused Johnson to call for peace negotiations.

These peace talks failed to produce an agreement, so President Nixon, feeling he had to reduce the U.S. involvement in the war, announced a new policy known as Vietnamization. This policy called for stepped up training programs of South Vietnamese forces and a gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops in Vietnam.

In March 1972, North Vietnam began a major invasion of South Vietnam, which was stopped by the Americans just short of Saigon, South Vietnam's capital. Peace negotiations ensued, and on Jan 27, 1973 a cease fire agreement was signed, in which the U.S. agreed to withdraw its troops. It also called for internationally supervised election to decide the future of South Vietnam. The last U.S. troops left on March 29, 1973, but peace talks broke down and the war resumed. No American troops returned to the war, and the U.S. reduced its aid. The war ended on April 39, 1975 when South Vietnam surrendered.

Vietnam: Yesterday and Today

The Wars for Vietnam

---

Topic 7: The Cuban Missle Crisis

Before the Cuban Missle Crisis occurred, the Soviet Union were way ahead in the technology race. They didn't believe they needed to make ICBMs (see Technology) because of the present state of their economy, and so the Soviets started production of MRBM's (Medium Range Balistic Missle) and IRBM's (Intermediate Range Balistic Missles). With the advice of the Strategic Rocket Forces, a Soviet organization, and the backing of premier Nikita S. Khrushchev, 42 MRBM's and 24 IRBM's were shipped to Cuba, escorted by about 22,000 soldiers in the early months of 1962.

On October 22, 1962, Kennedy announced to the public that the Soviet Union had placed nuclear missles in Cuba, close to 90 miles from the American coast. For months the Soviet union had been shipping a couple thousand vehicles and around 22,000 men to Cuba in an offensive attempt to attack the US. For this Kennedy put Cuba under quarantine. He had only two other choices, a surgical air strike or doing nothing, and the these would be either too much or too little action. During that week, meetings went on inside the White House as Kennedy's administration prepared for a possible nuclear war. Finally on October 28, 1962 Khrushchev announced that the missles were placed on Cuba for offensive reasons and that now the construction of the sites had stopped. World War III had been averted.

---

Multimedia files about the Cuban Missle Crisis

  A video clip of JFK

  Sound clip of Kennedy*

  Sound clip of Gen. Maxell Taylor*

  Sound clip on the hotline*

  Sound clip about naval blockade*

*Audio files from the Executive Committee Meeting on October 18, 1962.

For more information on the Cuban Missle Crisis see:
14 days in October
The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 

---

Topic 8: Bay of Pigs

About a year before the Cuban missle crisis, an incident occurred in Cuba that raised the idea of conspiracy in the U.S. government. On April 15, 1961, bombings occurred in Cuba by what seemed like cuban planes. That Saturday morning, three Cuban Military Bases were bombed by B-26 bombers. 54 people died in this attack. After the bombings, two of the B-26's flew to Miami. A statement was released by the Cuban Revolutionary Council in New York saying that the bombings in Cuba were "carried out by 'Cubans inside Cuba' who were 'in contact with' the top command of the Revolutionary Council."

The planes landed in Miami, one at the Key West Naval Air Station and the other at Miami international, both in terrible condition with their gas tanks nearly empty. A picture of one f the pilots was shown in the New York Times, hiding behind a baseball cap and dark sunglasses. Even his name was withheld from the newspaper.

On April 17, the assault on the Bay of Pigs began. A team of frogmen set up landing lights and cleared the area for the main assault force. Between 2:30 and 3:00 AM, two battalion arrived at Playa Girón and one battalion at Playa Larga. The area at which they landed was swampy which was hard on the troops. Fidel Castro reacted quickly and sent T-33 trainer jets, two Sea Furies, and two B-26's to stop the invaders. They destroyed the supply ships, including the Houston, and the command vessel the Marsopa.With the supply and command ships lost, the invading forces' logistics of the operation soon broke down.

Castro's T-33 took out the invaders' B-26's. By Wednesday, 10 of the invader's 12 planes were shot out of the sky. After 72 hours of fighting, the invader's surrendured but 114 had already died. Another 36 died in Cuban prison cells being held as men plotting to overthrow Castro's reign. The Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations were blamed for this assault as an attempt not to lose Latin America's resources that are exported to the USA to be exploited by the Soviets.

For more information on the Bay of Pigs invasion see:
Bay of Pigs 

Topic 9: United Nations

The term United Nations was first used by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his "Declaration by United Nations," on January 1, 1942. In the declaration, representatives of 26 nations pledged to fight together against the Axis powers during the Second World War.

Following a meeting at Yalta, a resort in southern Russia, 50 countries met together at the United Nations Conference on International Organization in 1945, where they drew up the United Nations Charter, which was signed on June 26, 1945 by the 50 countries. The UN officially came into existence on October 24, 1945, the charter having been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries.

The preamble to the charter reads: 

We the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save future generations from the scourge of war which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women, and of nations large and small . . . have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims. . . . Our respective governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco . . . do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.

The United Nations consists of two main bodies: the General Assembly and the Security Council. The General Assembly included delegates from all the charter countries, and allowed new members to join, with a vote of approval from two-thirds of the General Assembly. The General Assembly was to meet annual, and its tasks included to create a budget, receive annual reports from UN agencies, and to choose the members of the Security Council and other bodies.

The Security Council is primarily responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. It functions continuously, and a representative form each of its members is present at all time at the United Nations' headquarters. The security council began with eleven members- five permanent and six elected by the General Assembly for two year terms.

For more information on the United Nations:
The United Nations Web Page

Untied Nations Charter

Topic 10: NATO

NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and was established to bind Western Europe and the United States together in a common defense alliance against the communist Soviet Union and its allies.

As Communist parties began to rise everywhere and Eastern European nations were absorbed into the Soviet sphere of influence, Western Europe and the United States began to develop a plan for assistance. A 50-year collective defense alliance, known as the Brussels Treaty, was established on March 17, 1948 by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. However, it was realized that without the assistance of the United States to treaty was not strong enough militarily. An enlarged collective defense arrangement was signed on April 4, 1949 in Washington D.C. The initial signatories were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The government of NATO is vested in the North Atlantic Council (NAC), which is made up of representative from the 16 member nations. The highest military authority in NATO is the Military Committee, which is composed of representatives of all the armed forces of member nations except for France and Iceland.

NATO has three regional commands: the European Command, led by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR); the Atlantic Command, led by the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT); and the Channel Command, led by the Allied Commander in Chief Channel (CINCHAN). An American admiral has always had the post of SACLANT, and the British have always controlled the CINCHAN command.

NATO homepage

Topic 11: Warsaw Pact

The Warsaw Pact was the Soviet Union's answer to NATO. Its full title is the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance. It began when, in 1955, the Soviet Union wanted to establish a strong alliance to defend against any military or economic threats from the West, and to strengthen its hold over its Eastern European satellites. The treaty was signed on May 14, 1955 by the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, and Romania.

Part of the treaty included the stationing of Soviet troops and weaponry in Eastern Europe, so that the Soviets could maintain strict control. The presence of these troops led to a revival of nationalism and hostility toward the Soviet Union in several countries, especially Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. In 1956, the Soviet troops quickly put down an uprising in Hungary, and in 1968 Warsaw Pact troops were sent into Czechoslovakia after that nation's government began to lift restraints on personal freedom. Soviet troops were withdrawn from Hungary, Poland, and Czechoslovakia in 1990, in accordance with Gorbachev's reform policies. The Warsaw Pact's military structure disbanded on March 31, 1991 and the political arm agreed to disband three months later.

US-China Relations

In the late 1920's and early 30's, China was a republic lead by Chiang Kai-Sheck that was opposed to communism. The students and workers were unhappy about the situation in China and saw communism as a means to fix it. Chiang was against this and in 1927 he had more than 3000 communists killed. Mao Zedong, who later became the communist party leader in China, led a march out of China. It lasted two years and although 90,000 left, only a few thousand came back but it gained support for communism.

In the late 1940's the communist party took advantage of the public's distrust in Chiang. They took rich people's land and gave it to the peasants. The communists introduced medicine, education, and raised the status of women. Soon the Communists drove Chiang out and Mao Zedong became the leader of China. Chiang went to Taiwan and continued the Republic of China while the Communists made China "The People's Republic of China".

By 1962, China started to position itself as the 'other' superpower. The US made attemts to meet with China because as the largest power in the world and the controller of the spread of communism. Nixon met with Chinese Prime Minister Mr. Chou En-lai, the communist leader that replaced Mao Zedong, in February, 1972. This broke the tensions that were building since the beginning of the Cold War. Throughout the war in Vietnam, there was fear that China might get involved by backing up the Vietcong, our enemy. This meeting gave the american people the assurance that the relations between China and the U.S. was fine.

For more information on China and the Cold War:
The Cold War isn't Over

Topic 12: "The Space Race"

The Space Age dawned on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 into orbit around the earth. Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite around earth. (Sputnik is a Russian word meaning "traveler.") Until this point, it had been assumed that the first satellite would be American, not Russian. As Sputnik ushered in the beginning of the space age, many Americans reacted with astonishment. President Eisenhower tried to downplay the situation, even though he had been warned as early as 1955 that "severe psychological shock" would result if the Soviet Union won the race to orbit.

While Americans tried to make sense of the situation, the Soviet Union followed up on its initial success with the launch of Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957. Inside Sputnik 2 was a pressurized compartment containing a dog named Laika, who was the first passenger to orbit earth.

A look back at Sputnik

In the United States, Project Vanguard was the program initiated in September of 1955 to provide a launch vehicle for artificial satellites. Despite attempts to speed it up after the launch of Sputnik, it proceeded slowly. The first real test of the system did not take place until October 23, 1957, about three weeks after Sputnik 1 reached orbit. Americans anxiously waited for and artificial satellite to call their own. Their opportunity can on December 6, 1957, which was the launch date of the first fully operational Vanguard rocket. However, soon after ignition, the booster settled back onto the launch pad, toppled over, and exploded. Two months later, a second Vanguard veered off course after a launch and broke up in the atmosphere.

Until this point, the United States military had not gotten involved because Eisenhower thought that space exploration should be a purely scientific endeavor. However, the unexpected launch of Sputnik 1 changed all this. Within a few weeks after launch, the Army got the go ahead for a satellite program. Using a modified Jupiter rocket booster, the Army worked quickly to prepare. On January 31, 1958, the Juno 1 launched America's first satellite into orbit, the Explorer 1.

To respond to the budding Soviet space program, President Eisenhower turned to a small scientific agency called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautic (NACA), which had made many contribution to aircraft design. On July 27, 1958 Eisenhower signed legislation transforming NACA into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

NASA was designed to operate separately from the Department of Defense and was also required by its 1958 charter to make its research available to the American public. Through the years, NASA developed its own rockets, spacecraft, and communications networks.

NASA homepage

Topic 13: Reaching for the Moon

Even after the United States got its first spacecraft into orbit, the lead remained with the Soviets. In 1959, the Soviet space program began its attempts to reach the moon. The Soviets launched the unmanned Luna 2 on September 12, 1959, which then struck the moon 35 hours later. Luna 3 was sent toward the moon on October 4, 1959 and returned photographs of the moon's far side three day later. The Soviet Luna series dropped of for about three years, and returned in 1963 with the goal of placing instrumented capsules onto the lunar surface. The first five attempts, and perhaps a sixth, were failures. However, the first to succeed was the Luna 9 which left earth on January 31, 1966, and dropped its round capsule on the lunar surface three days later.

The American program to reach the moon was the Apollo program. Apollo 8 was launched using the powerful Saturn 5 booster on December 21, 1968. It took three days for Apollo to reach the moon, and then orbited the moon. The Apollo 11 mission was the first lunar landing. Nearly a million people jammed Cape Kennedy roads for a view of the July 16, 1969 launch. The Eagle was the lunar landing module aboard which were Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin. On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong took the first step on the moon and said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Project Apollo

Soviet Lunar Missiona

Topic 14: ICBM Testing

InterContinental Balistic MIssles were a new range of weaponary that both the United States and The Soviet Union were developing during the Cold War. In the United States, the MX (missle experimental) program was developed in the early 70's. Before then, the U.S. Military believed that the Soviets were dramatically improving on the accuracy and number of missle systems. They thought that the Soviets could attack, even destroy, the concrete missile silos in which U.S. ICBM's were being held.

The US felt that they needed a way to deploy the missles that would be invulnerable to Soviet attack. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter began a full-scale development of the MX but could not resolve the issue of deployment. The invulnerability of the MX would not be achieved. Jimmy Carter developed a deployment plan in which 200 ICBM would be mounted on movable launchers. Those launchers would be underground in a system of tunnels that lead to 4,600 shelters. At any one time, 4,400 shelters would be empty so if attacked, the chances that a missle would be destroyed would be slim. President Reagen saw how this plan would be very expensive and so he went with a plan of placing the missles deep underground, making them invulnerable to Soviet attack.

In the end, neither of these plans would be implemented but in 1985, Congress passed a program that would deploy 50 MX missiles in fixed silos. However in 1992, the arm-reduction talks between Bush and Yeltsin resulted in the removal of all land-based missiles.

Here is some declassified newsreal of ICBM Testing

  Testing #1

  Testing #2

  Testing #3