TRAVELLING COMPANIONS AND VIETNAM7.5 | REACTION TO THE U2, JAMES BOND STUFF, AND VIETNAM

THE THAW ENDS

Khrushchev was [understandably] upset about the U2

Frustrated with the US arming adjacent nations with nuclear arms

i.e. Turkey

Both the Americans and Soviets [better] develop fusion bombs

Fission vs. Fusion = c.1000 X more powerful

Khrushchev would like to see these within range of US as well

THE CIA AND THE KGB

CIA 1947 AND KGB 1954

COVERT OPERATIONS TO UNDERMINE ENEMIES

COUPS, ASSASSINATIONS, AND INTELLIGENCE

CIA OPERATIONS

1953 – Iran – Mossadegh (GB)

1954 – Guatemala

1958 – Indonesia (mixed results)

1961 – Cuba

Communists (Fidel Castro)

THE BAY OF PIGS

APRIL 1961 – CIA ORCHESTRATES AN INVASION OF CUBA WITH PRO-US FORCES – FAILURE

CUBA TURNS TO KHRUSHCHEV

USSR pledges support

Begins moving in nuclear weapons to target US – like Turkey

U2 planes capture movements

Kennedy tells Khrushchev to stand down, declined – nuclear brink

US blockades Cuba Oct 1962 – Soviets turn back

THE PRISONERS DILEMMACOLD WAR POLITICS

USA AND USSR WILL GO TOE TO TOE TO THE POINT OF NUCLEAR WAR

THE WALL GOES UP

FEAR OF NSC-68 AND ISSUES WITH BERLIN LEAD TO THE ERECTION OF THE WALL IN AUGUST 1961

MILITARY BUILD UP

Post economies become increasingly geared to war

US supports Israel (on and off war with Arabs)

Six-Day War – 1967

US arms Israel – Soviets arm Arabs

Arabs, Allah, and the MIG-21

Gives US a new edge [it was lagging]

THE SPACE RACE

EARTHLY COMPETITION IS NOT ENOUGH

SPACE RACE OUTLINE

1957 – Sputnik I successfully orbits Earth the travelling companion

1957 – USSR successfully puts a dog in orbit Sputnik II

1958 – Explorer I is launched

1961 – Yuri Gagarin success orbits Earth and returns

1962 – John Glenn orbits Earth

Various space ventures (multi-man orbits, space walks, etc.)

1965 – Dark side of the Moon photographed

1967 – Tortoises circumnavigate the Moon

1969 – Apollo landings on the Moon (11)

VIETNAMREAL FAST – US HISTORY WILL COVER THIS

C.1955-1975

BLAME IT ON THE FRENCH

French evacuation in the late 1950s (Indochina)

Communism popular in the north

NSC-68

Gulf of Tonkin Incident – intervention

Years later, tens of thousands dead, country socially deteriorating…

We give up and leave

Communism takes over

Our policy failed (socially) – Soviet social deterioration