Russia

//**Communism**//
America was afraid of the idea of communism spreading. We knew that the Soviet Union could have the potential to be more powerful than us, and that is why we were so fearful. We were killing innocent Americans because we thought of them as spies from Russia. The fear of the communism was taking over America resulting in another kind of Red Scare, lead by Joseph McCarthy. In 1946, President Truman asked Winston Churchill to speak at a college in Fulton, Missouri. Churchill wanted to talk about communism. People were confused at the thought that the Russians were the ones who fought the hardest against the Nazi's and the ones who sacrificed the most. Churchill's speech was a way to inform America on the dangers of communism. The Iron Curtain was the barrier between peace and freedom. The nations that laid behind the Iron Curtain were the victims of Russia. This wasn't a real wall but a imaginary one to help show the separation between America and Great Britain's democracy and Russia's communism. After World War II, the Allied Powers were supposed to help free the European Countries that had been taken over by Hitler. The Russians however wouldn't go to help out all the Countries; instead they stayed in control of Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and many more countries. The Cold War was started for two reasons. During this time period, Russia and the US we becoming two of the worlds leaders. They were growing not only in their beliefs, but in government, people and economics. The Cold War started during the time when Truman became president. Communist was growing in popularity, so Truman came up with the plan of the Truman Doctrine. This stated that America would help any of the countries that needed money to help the fight against communist. Greece and Italy, were the first two countries that the US helped under the Truman Doctrine. This was one way that the Cold War was sparked. This started the arms races. The arms race was where Russia and the US were under the impression that to be the best they needed to be the first ones to invent and start some of the new technology. This was the second reason the Cold War was started. The Cold War wasn't actually a war, hence the title "Cold War", because it wasn't a long time war. There were battle that were called heated battles. These didn't last long compared to WWI and WWII. They were quickly resolved.

//Vietnam War-//
The war in Vietnam costed billions of dollars a year. We had to choose between spending our money on war and spending our money in helping programs for America. Johnson was the president at the time and believed we could have money to spend on both. The Vietnam war was a civil war that we made our war. It was a mistake to get into because we didn't learn enough about Southeast Asia before entering the war. We were supporting corrupt leaders in Vietnam. We feared that if Vietnam became communist then all of South Asia would follow. We were suppose to stand up and fight against communism before it spread throughout the world. North Vietnam's leader was Ho Chi Minh. An American ship was on a secret mission. It was in the Gulf of Tonkin. The sailors thought they saw torpedoes being shot at the boat when really it was untrue. President Johnson got congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which allowed him to enter the war in high gear. America began bombing Vietnam, and the war was worse than ever.

//Korean War-//
Korea was divided by the 38th Parallel into North and South Korea. It had just become an independent country from France even though the French didn't like that. Communism controlled North Korea and their leader was Kim II Sung. He intended to make all of Korean Communist. The Southern leader was educated in America, his name was Syngman Rhee. His army was poorly trained and badly equipped. North Korea entered South Korea. This tested America's Policy of Containment that kept communism from spreading. General Douglas MacArthur was our general who would do anything. Soon, when we started to invade North Korea, communist China came into play. Eisenhower became president and wanted to end the Korean War. The Korean war did end and nobody won. It was a war we didn't belong in, and we just made it worse. Many soldiers had died, and it wasn't worth it because there were no results. It was still divided by the 38th parallel and the north was communist and the south remained democratic. But, the United Nations proved that they would stand up and fight against communism.

//**Cuban Missile Crisis-**//
Fidel Castro took over Cuba in 1959 but people didn't realize that he was communist. It wasn't good news to America that only 90 miles off the coast of the United States there was a communist nation who had good relations with Russia. John F. Kennedy soon learned that the CIA was training Cubans to fight for an invasion against Castro that was taking place on the coast of Cuba called the Bay of Pigs. The invasion at the Bay of Pigs was a failure and the U.S just made a fool of themselves. Russia's leader Nikita Khrushchev put nuclear missiles in Cuba and aimed them at our major cities. JFK threatened to send soldiers into Cuba if they did not take down the missiles. Nikita Khrushchev was in a tough spot because Fidel Castro wanted him to shoot the missiles, but Nikita Khrushchev disagreed and said that they would only shoot them off if there was another invasion. JFK took his missiles out of Turkey based on a deal with Khrushchev. No one did anything for 13 days. Soon enough the crisis was over and Russian ships had started to turn around and go home. America got Russia to sign a test-ban treaty which stopped all bomb testing. What could have been a World War III just ended up adding tension between America and the communist Soviet Union .