Showing posts with label Eisenhower. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eisenhower. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The American Dream in the 1950s

1. Baby Boom: The baby boom was a time period between the late 40's to early 60's in which the birthrate in america soared due to returning soldiers from WW2. This was the largest generation in americas history.

2. Dr. Jonas Salk: one of the many doctors who was discovering new medicines to help ward off childhood dieses. This saved thousands of lives. Dr. Salk created a vaccine for the disease poliomyelitis. This was a break through in the time.

3. Interstate Highway System:authorized the building of a nationwide highway network- 41,000 miles of expressways.Encouraged the building of sub urbs miles from the city. Helped to unify america and create easy transporation with the use of long distance trucking.

4. Franchise:a company that offers similiar products in various locations such as BK.

5. In a paragraph, describe in detail how Americans spent their leisure time in the 1950s
Americans in the 50's were enjoying more leisure time then they were having in years. 40 hour weeks and plenty of vacation time was one of the perks most employees had during the 50's. People also were very active in baseball and football teams. Even watching sports on t.v. Reading was another very popular activity. The American was interested in cooking do it yourself projects and romance novels.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

The Arms Race

1. Read Source 12. What methods do you think Dulles had in mind to 'liberate captive peoples' without a war?
Dulles methods for liberating captive peoples was most likely by using organizations like SEATO and CENTO to help "contain" the Soviet Union. These two organizations aligned key countries literally around the Soviet Union. SEATO aligned The U.S, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Pakistan, The Phillipeanes, Taiwan, and Thailand. CENTO aligned Iran,Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and Great Britain. NATO was also one of these attempts to encircle.

2. Look at Source 13. Would you agree that the Communist world was encircled? Explain your answer.
I would agree that the communist world was encircled because when looking at the Map you will notice that all countries binded by the Warsaw Pact of the USSR and allies is surrounded by all the different other agreements like SEATO and NATO. Even small countries that were part of these organzations were essential to putting pressure on the Communist world. If the Soviets didnt feel pressured that wouldnt find it necassary to create the Warsaw Pact.

3. Carefully examine the verticle timeline on page 343. Then look back at Source 12. Do you think the development of nuclear weapons was what Dulles might have had in mind?
I dont think nuclear arms was the thing Dulles was focusing on because he was focusing on a solution that didnt have fighting or war.

4. Look at Source 16. What is the Soviet cartoon saying about the U-2 plane?
The soviet cartoon is representing the U.S use of U-2 planes to spy on the Soviets by showing President Eisenhower with a U-2 teloscope spying on the USSR.

5. Read the Factfile on page 344. Explain why the USSR was so angry about the US spy flights.
The USSR was so angry about the U-2 spy flights because the U.S denied them at first and then, after admitting to the spying, proceded to refuse to apoligize to the USSR and promise to stop flying U-2 planes.

6. How would the USA justify this violation of Soviet territory?
The U.S would justify these spying missions as necassary for the protection of the U.S.

7. If the USSR had had U-2 planes, do you think it would have used them? Why?
I think the USSR would've used them for the same reasons that the U.S wouldve because they were concerned about what the U.S was up too.

8. Look at Source 17. Why do you think the USA had missiles based in Europe?
In case of an emergency, the U.S could use the European based missiles because they were short ranged and could hit the USSR in minutes.

9. Define the term 'nuclear deterrent' in not more than 20 words
A term meaning the use of nuclear weapons between countries to compete with eachother for the most weapons.