eq: what events led to tension between the u.s. and soviet union during the 1950’s?

Two Nations Live on the Edge

EQ: What events led to tension between the U.S. and

Soviet Union during the 1950’s?

Brinksmanship John Foster Dulles Liberate all nations

under Soviet control

Confront the Soviets to brink of war

Threat of massive retaliation

CIA Covert Operations Iran

• 1951: oil fields nationalized• CIA overthrew Mosaddeq• Shah Reza Pahlavi to power

Guatemala• 1954: land seized by gov’t• United Fruit Company• CIA overthrew Arbenz• Installed new pro-US leader

Warsaw Pact Eastern European

communist countries

Response to NATO

“Together we are invincible”

Crisis in the Suez Diplomacy Nasser seized canal

in 1955 Attacks by Israel,

Britain, France in 1956

UN forced troops to withdraw

Hungarian Uprising 1956 – Khrushchev

denounced Stalin October – Hungarians

took over government Crushed by Soviets No American

intervention

Nuclear Anxiety

Hydrogen Bomb 1000x more

powerful than atomic bombs

1952 – test vaporized pacific island

Soviets tested own H-bomb 9 months later…

Duck and Cover

Air Raid Drills in School

Fallout Shelter

Protesting Nuclear Tests

Sputnik Launched October

1957 US behind in tech

development Fear of the skies

Reactions to Sputnik

National Defense

Education Act

U-2 Incident Francis Gary

Powers shot down over Soviet Union

U-2 spy plane captured

American denials Powers admitted

mission Thaw in Cold War

over