IB History: COLD WAR US Presidents (Foreign Policy)

Guess the Prez

100

Name the Cold War era US presidents (in order) and their term in office (in years).

Harry Truman (1945-1953, 2 terms); Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961, 2 terms); John F. Kennedy (1961-1963, 0.5 term); Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969, completed JFK's term & 1 complete term); Richard Nixon (1969-1974, 1.25 terms after resignation following reelection)

200

Although he promised that he would slowly pull troops from Vietnam, he instead pulled in two more Southeast Asian countries by bombing them. (Extra Credit: State the name of the bombing campaign and the reason for which it was created)

President Nixon (Extra Credit: Vietnamization; to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail)

300

He officially declared the beginning of the Cold War. (Extra Credit: Name and describe his foreign policy)

Truman (Extra Credit: Truman Doctrine - US needed to provide economic and military assistance to protect nations facing communist aggression from the USSR)

400

He is arguably the biggest failure of US presidents during the Cold War, based on his extremely low public disapproval and how he pulled America into a war. (Extra Credit: State the war, and how he pulled America into it)

Johnson (Extra Credit: Vietnam War, through the Gulf of Tonkin Incident where apparently North VN torpedoes supposedly attacked a US surveillance ship)

500

1. Name the president who came into power just as there was a significant change in Russian leadership. (State the name of the president, his policy, the name of the new Russian leader, and the result of this change in power in both countries.) 2. Name the other president who succeeded the one described above. His policy was less rigid than his predecessor's. (State the name of the president and his policy)

1. Eisenhower; Brinkmanship (allow situation to go to the 'brink' with nuclear weapons to negotiate); Khrushchev; Thaw 2. Kennedy; Flexible Response (use of more than 1 type of warfare, including guns and negotiation, in addition to just nukes)

Prez's Policy

100

1. Name and describe Truman's Policy. 2. Name the document that influenced Truman's policy and the US's stance on the USSR for the rest of the Cold War.

1. Truman Doctrine (interventionist policy against communism; CONTAINMENT policy 2. George Keenan's Long Telegram (Idea that USSR would continue being aggressive/expansionist; only way to stop USSR would be US resistance)

200

1. Name and describe Eisenhower's policy. 2. Name Eisenhower's Russian counterpart at the time, and what that period was called.

1. New Look/Brinkmanship (New Look policy centered around 'brinkmanship' - push situation to dangerous point to negotiate; US built up missile supply) 2. Khrushchev; Thaw (temporary ease of tension)

300

Name Kennedy's policy.

Flexible Response (mixture of many tactics, not just nuclear - enlarging nuclear and conventional arsenal, continuing with CIA, continuing negotiations); MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) (fear that both US and USSR would be destroyed if they used weapons against each other --> leads to more proxy wars)

400

This resolution was adopted in Congress due to the USS Maddox being fired upon.  He released "Operation Rolling Thunder."  Who was the President, what was the resolution, and what war?

1. LBJ 2. Tonkin Gulf Resolution was not a declaration of war, but it gave him military powers in Vietnam. A North Vietnamese patrol boat fired a torpedo at an American Destroyer, the USS Maddox, which was patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin off the North Vietnamese coast. The torpedo missed, but the Maddox returned fire and inflicted heavy damage. 3. Vietnam War 

500

Describe Nixon's policy, course, and consequences of the Vietnam War

Asia: Vietnamization (secretly ordered bombings on supply routes in North Vietnam and neighboring countries of Cambodia and Laos, which held several Viet Cong sanctuaries, while a gradual withdrawal of US troops allowed the South Vietnamese to take on a more active combat role )

Latin America

100

He had a minimal presence in Latin America, only overlooking two agreements where Latin American nations promised to take joint action if one Latin American nation experienced communist aggression. State the president, and the two agreements.

Truman; Act of Chapultapec (1945) and Rio Treaty (1947)

200

His legislation program was called the Great Society. During his presidency, Congress signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957.  What were the names of two of his programs to "help unlock the door to the Great Society"

Economic Opportunity Act ( EOA; approving nearly $ 1 billion for youth programs), Job Corps, a youth training program, VISTA( Volunteers in Service to America), Project Head Start, an education program for underprivileged preschoolers, and Community Action Program (encouraged poor people to participate in public works programs)

300

He created a humanitarian program in Latin America. He also oversaw two major events in Cuba, one that the US created and another that the USSR instigated. Name the president, the humanitarian program, and the two events.

Kennedy; Alliance for Progress ($20 billion aid to Latin American nations for modernization); Bay of Pigs (failed US invasion to overthrow Castro) and Cuban Missile Crisis (13 day standoff between Khrushchev and Eisenhower about missiles in Cuba aimed at US and Turkey missiles)

400

He authorized the CIA to participate in an event that would turn the country from a democracy to a 20-year dictatorship. Name the president, the event, and one influence for why he had an anti-Latin-American bias.

Nixon; Chilean Coup; his experience as Vice President under Eisenhower, when he visited South America and got things thrown at him

500

He was the first to use the CIA in this new way. Thus, he authorized covert aggressive action in a Latin American country, resulting in a decades long civil war. He also came up with the idea for covert action in another Latin American action and left his successor to act on it. Name the president, the event where the CIA used covert aggressive action, and the shift of the CIA's role.

Eisenhower; Guatemala Coup (1954); CIA had been used only for intelligence collection but now was tasked with covert action in foreign countries in the form of propaganda and military action

Asia

100

He was the only Cold War era president with no involvement in Vietnam affairs.

Truman

200

This is the president who committed US troops to Korea as "UN police action." The Korean War was the US's first proxy war.

Truman

300

This is the president who pulled US troops out of Korea. In 3 years (1950-1953), 3 million lives had been lost.

Eisenhower

400

Describe Nixon's policy with China and new advances in their relationship. Also, name this period of international relations.

As a part of DETENTE, Ping Pong Diplomacy (Chinese and Americans play ping pong together) Results: 1. US lifts its 20-year trade embargo with China 2. Nixon visits China (First time ever)

500

Describe the role of each Cold War president in Vietnam. Include Gerald Ford (president who succeeded Nixon).

Truman: Nothing; Eisenhower: Military advisors; Kennedy: Military advisors (increased number); Johnson: Troops in VN (due to Gulf of Tonkin Incident); Nixon: Vietnamization (bombings of Cambodia and Laos); Ford: Pulled troops from VN in 1975

US-USSR

100

This president was a part of negotiations for which the US and USSR promised to reduce their arms inventory together. Name the president and the negotiation. Describe and evaluate the success of the negotiation. (Extra Credit: Name this president's Russian counterpart)

Nixon, SALT (Strategic Arms Limitations Talk) (Extra Credit: Brezhnev); Description: US and USSR promised to halt production of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) and other missiles; Evaluation: It failed. More countries continued and actually INCREASED arms production.

200

In response to the Bay of Pigs fiasco, this Russian president took this opportunity to deliver an ultimatum that the US, Britain, and France vacate West Berlin. The West did not remove their troops. Surprising everyone, the USSR built a wall. Name the event, the Russian president, and the two corresponding US presidents (one for ultimatum, another for wall.

Second Berlin Crisis (1958) with Eisenhower and Berlin Wall (1961) with Kennedy; Khrushchev

300

Name the USSR president who took power during Johnson's time. State the reason he was instated.

Brezhnev replaced Khrushchev after the Cuban Missile Crisis (not strong enough stance) and the Berlin Wall (created the idea that communists needed to trap people inside)

400

This is the president who: 1. Participated in the conference at the end of WW2 (Name the conference) 2. Began aid to Europe to prevent communism after WW2 (Name the program) 3. Military alliance between Western countries (Name the alliance and its effect on USSR) 4. USSR blockaded travel between Berlin and West Germany. During that year, the US delivered supplies from planes (including milk)

Truman 1. Potsdam 2. Marshall Plan 3. NATO 4. First Berlin Crisis (1948), Berlin Airlift

500

This is the president who: 1. Delivered a proposal to the USSR in a conference, detailing that the countries could fly planes over the other to survey arms supplies. The USSR would reject that proposal but the US would go ahead and do it anyway, resulting in heightened tensions with an incident (Name the proposal, the conference in which he made the proposal, the reason for its rejection, and the incident) 2. The West was focused on the Suez Crisis, so the Russian leader, going against his promise to not be like Stalin, suppressed this group of people (Name the event and the Russian leader) 3. The space race began with this major USSR advancement (Name the event) 4. Important US-USSR visit (Name who visited and where he wanted to visit)

Eisenhower 1. Open Skies Proposal, Geneva Summit/Spirit of Geneva (USSR already knew US's arms but the US did not know so for the USSR and the USSR was deeply suspicious, the U2 Incident - U2 spyplane shot down in Russian airspace); 2. Hungarian Revolt (students and workers tried to gain rights after anti-Stalin promise); Khrushchev; 3. Sputnik (1957) - first satellite, made by the USSR, increasing public's fears of USSR's technological dominance and possible ability to launch attack from space 4. Khrushchev visited the US (First time ever), Disneyland