cold war to modern america

mao zedong

• founding member of CCP for earned victory in china’s civil war + established an oppressive totalitarian regimes

dwight eisenhower

• 5-star general who became president in the 1950s, who promoted dynamic conservatism and oversaw an era of great change

douglas macarthur

• 5-star general who led military forces in Korea before being fired for criticizing president truman + his handling of the war

john f. kennedy

• US president in early 1960s who sought to improve the lives of poor Americans + the US relations with Latin America

fidel castro

• revolutionary leader who seized power in Cuba + the CIA attempted unsuccessfully to kill him numerous times

lyndon b. johnson

• US president who split his time between the vietnam war and promoting a slate of programs designed to improve life in america

dr martin luther king, jr

• leader who organized through southern churches to deliver a non-violent approach to achieve much need civil rights reforms in america

malcolm x

• leader who believed (before his pilgrimage to mecca) that separate and equal racial segregation was preferable to integration

cesar chavez

• latino leader who organized his activism around securing economic reforms that would benefit his people as workers + consumers

jimmy carter

• US president who tried to deal with the stagflation of the 1970s while also trying to improve US relations w/ Latin America

mohandas gandhi

• leader who organized boycotts + marches to end British imperialism in india

• his non-violent approach worked

jawaharlal nehru

• first PM (prime minister) of India whose popularity allowed him to achieve democracy, unity + economic modernization

nelson mandela

• first black president of South Africa: a nation that had been purposely kept divided by an oppressive system of racial segregation

yasser arafat

• first chairman of the palestinian liberation organization (PLO), which sought to promote the arabs’ reacquisition of the holy land

osama bin laden

• leader of mujahideen in Afghanistan who successfully prevented the soviets from maintaining control of their nation

mikhail gorbachev

• soviet leader who worked closely with his cold war rival (Reagan) to help his nation transition into a more westernized economy & government

zhou enlai

• long-time Chinese premier who felt that the way to end china’s self-defeating isolationism was to engage w/ western nations

pablo escobar

• drug lord whose ruthless efficiency resulted in staggering profitability

• also created a massive narcotics problem in the US during the 1980s

rodney king

• a police brutality incident involving him

• ended up causing a new conversation on race + policing in the US

bill clinton

• US president whose term was known for both dealing w/ an oppositional congress + high-profile impeachment trial

the position of the USSR in the Cold War

• based on gaining geographic security

• wanted to surround the USSR w/ communist satellite nations

• their system would work best if all nations were communist

the position of the US in the Cold War

• free trade & democracy were the surest ways to promote peace & stability

• the rise of communism threatened capitalism + representative government

• the US and UN must oppose the spread of communism around the world

mao zedong’s first moves as leader of china

• china became imperially + military aggressive

• ‘temporary’ gun restrictions were put in place (which then became permanent)

• peasants were moved to labor on collective farms seized from the wealthy

the Chinese ‘red guards’

• mao Zedong encouraged their organization + methods

• they used strong arm tactics to revive traditional socialist ideals

• targeted intellectuals & encouraged mindless labor + obedience

senator Joseph mccarthy’s pursuit of communists

• his pursuits were often seen as witch hunts built up on flimsy evidence

• his televised show trials ruined numerous innocent people’s careers

• the Army hearings turned the public against the senator & he lost support

the lavender scare

• moral panic about the dangers of homosexuals working in the gov’t

• homosexuals were said to be a national security risks & communist sympathizers

• it was based on a belief that homosexuals are easily influenced

what the leaders of Iran & Guatemala in the 1950s had in common

• they both wanted to eject foreign industrial occupation (western companies controlling the resources)

• they were both democratically elected leaders, who were removed from power by western intelligence agencies