We Didn’t Start the

Fire

Table of Contents

Harry Truman ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 3-4

Red China ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 5-6

H - bomb ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 7-8

Joseph Stalin-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 9-10

Communist Bloc --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 11-12

Einstein ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 13-14

Trouble in Suez ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 15-16

U-2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 17-18

JFK --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 19-20

Birth Control --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 21-22

Richard Nixon back again -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 23-24

Watergate ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------pg. 25-26

Harry Truman

Harry Truman was the 33rd President of the United States.

He was president from 1945 to 1953. He was responsible for dropping

the atomic bomb, the Marshal plan in Europe, and bring the United States into the Korean war in his second term.

Truman was probably included in the song for his significance in

WWII.

Truman is mostly known today for his involvement in World War II and

Truman started his second term in 1949, defeating Thomas Dewey. A

famous picture shows him smiling and holding up the Chicago

Tribune newspaper with the headline "Dewey Defeats Truman".

Billy Joel chose to include the song for Harry Truman's involvement

in World War Two and The Korean War

Fun Fact: He had only been Vice President for 86 days before

becoming President.

Red China

Communists took control of China after a struggle that started

before World War II and renamed the country the People's Republic

of China. It was called Red China by the United States to indicate

they were Communists.

Red China entered the Korean War in the 1950s, when it looked like

the U.N. forces would defeat Communist North Korea.

The Red Scare took place during the 1950’s causing great fear of

china

Today china is more of a capitalistic economy more than

communist. But it still has some socialist tendencies.

Billy Joel probably included Red China in his song We didn’t start the

fire because of the Red Scare during the cold war.

The Red Scare occurred during the Cold War because of the fear of

communism in the United States.

H-Bomb

The hydrogen bomb or H-Bomb was developed under the

guidance of Dr. Edward Teller. It was many times more powerful

than an atomic bomb and in fact required an atomic bomb to

detonate. The United States exploded the first H-bomb and a few

years later the Soviet Union then exploded their version of the

bomb.

The significance of this is how the United States and Russia were in

an arms race to one up each other with the latest weapon.

Today Nuclear weapons are rarely used in fear of world destruction.

The H-bomb is also known as a thermonuclear bomb

Billy Joel probably included the H-Bomb because of the arms race

during the Cold War

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin was the dictator of the Soviet Union. He was a harsh

leader who had millions of his people executed or sent to labor

camps in Siberia. On his way to political power, he changed his

name to Stalin, which means "steel" in Russian.

Joseph Stalin was a key ruler in in World War II and the Cold War.

Today Joseph is known as one of the Worst dictators of all time

Joseph Stalin at one point wanted to make a half human half ape

hybrid for military purposes. But expectedly failed.

Billy Joel probably had him in the song because of his brutality and

his involvement in World War II and the Cold War.

Communist Bloc

USSR and their satellite countries formed what was called the

Communist bloc.

The countries that made up the Communist Bloc were East Germany, Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary,

Romania.

Today many of these countries are no longer communist.

Stalin Used the bloc for safety for Russia's capital from attack

because all previous attacks came from the eastern end.

Billy Joel probably included this in his song because of the events in

the Cold War, along with the Red Scare during the 1950’s.

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a German born physicist who developed the

Theory of Relativity in 1903 and was considered one the world's

smartest scientists.

He became a popular figure in the later years of his life.

He is also known for making the Equation E=mc^2. it suggests that

one can turn matter into energy, which lead to the creation of

atomic energy.

Today he is mainly known for being one of the most influential

physicist of his time.

He died in 1955.

Billy Joel probably put Einstein in his song because of his great

popularity and scientific achievements.

Trouble in Suez

After Britain and the USA withdrew their financial support for the

Egyptian Aswan dam project, General Nasser nationalized the

important Suez Canal.

Egypt was then invaded by British, French and Israeli forces. Under

pressure from the United States the invaders left Egypt and a UN

emergency force was sent to Egypt.

Today the Suez Canal is used for shipping across the world.

The Suez Canal is about 121 miles long

Billy Joel probably included it in his song because of the conflict it

caused and the United Nations involvement

U-2

The United States had been sending the secret U-2 high-flying spy

plane over the Soviet Union to take pictures and gather information,

when one was shot down by a Russian missile.

The pilot Francis Gary Powers was taken prisoner and later released

in an exchange for a Soviet spy who had been arrested in the U.S.

Today Russia and United States still don’t have a perfect relationship.

The U-2 was designed to fly at 70,000 feet.

Billy Joel probably included the U-2 in his song because of the

conflict between nations over the incident.

JFK

John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States in 1960.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. Kennedy was riding in an open-top automobile in a presidential motorcade when Lee Harvey Oswald shot him through the head with a sniper rifle from a sixth floor window of a nearby building. Oswald was arrested eighty minutes later after killing a Dallas police officer. He was captured hiding in a movie theatre. He claimed he was innocent of killing Kennedy and was being set up as a patsy. Later, it was found that he confessed his guilt to his brother, who visited him in jail. Today John F. Kennedy is mostly known for being assassinated in a moving car will visiting Dallas, Texas.

JFK was also the youngest man elected to be president.

Billy Joel included JFK in his song because of the significance and sock of his assassination

Birth Control

Birth Control became an issue with the advent of the birth control

pill. Later, abortion was legalized.

The significance of this is the controversies it caused.

Today Birth Control and Abortion is still legal

Billy Joel included this because of the controversy it caused

Richard Nixon back again

After losing the election for President to John F. Kennedy in 1960 and

then losing his bid to be Governor of California in 1962, former Vice

President Richard Nixon fought back to regain prominence in

national politics.

One interesting thing he did was to be a guest on the popular

television comedy show Laugh-In. Nixon repeated the show's

running gag-line, "Sock it to me" a number of times. It gave the

impression that he was not such a dour person after all.

Nixon was elected President in 1968.

Today he is most known for his involvement in the cold war.

Watergate

Supporters and staff of U.S. President Richard Nixon were accused of

breaking into the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate hotel.

Nixon tried to cover up the fact and soon he forced to resign from office because of that cover up.

Several of his staff members were sent to prison as a result of the

affair.

Today this is mainly known to be Richard Nixon's downfall.

Billy Joel probably included this because it was the reason Richard

Nixon resigned.