Sem2.HW5

  "How real was the threat of Communist spies within the USA?"

Alger Hiss was an American official who was accused of spying for the Soviet Union. In 1950, Hiss was convicted of perjury, but he continued to enforce his innocence. But in 1995, secret documents were made public and these documents indicated that Hiss probably had spied for the Soviet Union. 

German-born British physicist, Klaus Fuchs, spied for the Soviet Union. He was a physicist working on the Manhattan Project. The Rosenberg Trials was the result of Fuchs. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg passed the project details on to the Soviets. These two were the only two American civilians to be killed.

"Is it fair to say that the anxiety caused in the US due to Nuclear threat, was useful and 'healthy?'

Anxiety was useful because of FDCA. Citizens of the US were extremely cooperative when there may be a nuclear threat. the FDCA used Bert the Turtle to encourage people to go to fallout shelters. People looked for ways to protect themselves, rendering it healthy.

Sem2.HW4

How does the CIA's activities in Iran show that the US behaves undemocratically in its foreign policy?

The CIA trained the SAVAK, which was the shah's personal secret police. This was undemocratic because supporting shah will sort of creating a dictatorship. Shah can dictate SAVAK to do things without the people's knowledge. And one can never know if the shah will use the secret police to take over the country.

The CIA used propaganda to ruin Mossadeq, the democratically elected leader. The CIA used $150'000 to create crap about Mossadeq. Politically speaking, saying bad things about the other parties is considered bad thing and extremely undemocratic if this was done in a cheap way like propaganda.

Sem2.HW3

1) "How convincing was America's attempts to influence other parts of the world to side with them in the Cold War?"

The US was not convincing when it attempted to get Nicaragua and Haiti to side with the US. The US tried to get their support by providing funds to Nicaragua and Haiti. Instead of supporting the US, these two nations used the money to tighten their grip on power.

The US wasn't convincing when it changed Guatemala's government to a militaristic one. The US was afraid the Guatemalan government might change to a communist one. The new government went through reforms and jailed critics. This made the Guatemalans view the US as an enemy of social reform.

"How wise were America's decisions to produce advanced weapons during the Cold War's first 20 years?"

It wasn't wise when the US developed weapons during the Cold War. The production of these weapons intimidated the Soviets and added fuel to the fire. The Soviets began building their own versions of WOMD. Weapons like nuclear submarines and H-bombs.

(WOMD: weapon of mass destruction)

Sem2.HW2

The US entered the Vietnam War (1950-1975) to try to stop comunism from seeping in. The US was afraid that communism might spread even more if Vietnam was to be taken over by communist. This was not justifiable because the US ended in a great retreat.

The Korean War (1950-1953) was a successful attempt to stop the communist from running the border into South Korea. The US allied up with South Korea to fight against North Korea and the supporting Communist China.

Sem2.HW1

1)The cold war could have been avoided if Stalin hadn't made the speech that attacked the US. He gave a speech in 1946 about how there will be no peace as long as there are Capitalists in the world. (HA! textbook)

2) The cold war could have been avoided if Kennan didn't say the Soviets are an immediate threat. In the Long telegram, Kennan even said that the Soviets will extend their power when the opportunity arrives. (http://www.johndclare.net/cold_war7_Kennan.htm)

3) The Truman Doctrine angered the Soviets because the doctrine allowed the US to aid countries like Greek and Turkey to resist communism. The Soviets viewed this as the US destroying communism and bringing a security threat to Russia. (HA! textbook)

4) The cold war could have been prevented if the Soviets hadn't taken over other countries. The US wasn't happy with the fact that the Soviets took over, for example, Romania and forced the king to bow to a pro-communist government. (HA! textbook)