museum entrance cold war 1976-1991 chernobyl salt ii falklands war press for curator

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Artifact 1: President Bush and Gorbachev

• President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared an end to the Cold War at the Malta Summit on December 3, 1989. At a joint press conference aboard the Soviet passenger liner Maxim Gorky in Marsaxlokk Harbor, President Bush speaks about his hopes for a cooperative U.S.-Soviet relationship.

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Artifact 2: President Reagan and SDI

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The 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, came up with the idea of SDI or Strategic Defensive Initiative on March 23, 1983. It was intended to help the US develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries. Also known as Star Wars because of Reagan’s far fetched ides for new weapons.

Artifact 3: President Carter

• President Jimmy Carter, born on October 1, 1924 in Plains, Georgia. He attended Georgia Southwestern College and the Georgia

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Institute of Technology. He then proceeded to graduate with a Bachelors in Science from The US Naval Academy. During his time on the Navy he rose to the rank of lieutenant and worked under Admiral Hyman Rickover in the development of the nuclear submarine program. Carter was elected president on November 2, 1976. He participated in many foreign affairs such as the Panama Canal Treaties, the SALT II Treaty with the Soviet Union, etc.

Artifact 4: Mikhail Gorbachev

• Gorbachev was born in March 1931 in Stavropol, the North Caucuses. In 1985, Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the communist party. He was responsible for dismantling Communism in the Soviet Union as well as Eastern Europe. He is credited with ending the Cold War and bringing down the Berlin Wall. Gorbachev played a major role in the break up of the Soviet Union as well.

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Artifact 5: Chernobyl

See Artifact 7 for info.

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• See Artifact 7 for info.

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• On April 25, 1986, nuclear reactor number 4 in Northern Ukraine exploded during a maintenance check, causing radiation poisoning that was 100 times worse than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To get a closer look at the destruction, watch this video http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-12982685.

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• See Artifact 7 for more info.

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Artifact 9: SALT II


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Artifact 10: SALT II


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• The primary goal of SALT II was to replace the Interim Agreement with a long-term comprehensive Treaty providing broad limits on strategic offensive weapons systems. The principal US objectives as the SALT II negotiations began were to provide for equal numbers of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles for the sides, to begin the process of reduction of these delivery vehicles, and to impose restraints on qualitative developments which could threaten future stability.

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Artifact 13: The Falklands War


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• The Falklands War, or Malvinas War according to most Argentinians, was a battle for the Falkland Islands between the UK and Argentina. Began in 1982 due to both countries believing that the islands belonged to them, when actually neither country had any rights to the islands at all. On April 2, 1982, Argentina seized control of the islands. The victory was short lived though because Argentina surrendered to Britain on June 14, 1982.

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Curator: Ethan Donovan

Ethan Donovan is the Curator for the Cold War Museum of Clear Springs High school. He graduated from Stanford with a Masters in History and he specializes in the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster in Ukraine and presidents & their achievements during the Cold War.

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museum entrance cold war 1976-1991 chernobyl salt ii falklands war press for curator

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