An Overview of the Cold War and Cold War-Related American Culture

by Professor Richard A. Schwartz

Department of English

Florida International University

Miami, Florida 33199

(Richard.Schwartz@fiu.edu)

 

SECTION I: HISTORY

1. Brief overview of first phase of the Cold War: 1945- 1964

            World War II concludes (1945)

            At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt meets with the leaders of the other so-called Big Three nations, Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the Soviet Union’s Premier Joseph Stalin.  They plan the political structure of the postwar world after the anticipated defeat of Germany.  They agree to divide Germany into zones of American, British, French, and Soviet occupation; to allow broad, democratic representation in a new Polish government; to found the United Nations and, along with the Big Three, to include China and France in the Security Council; and for the Soviet Union to join the war against Japan within three months after Germany’s surrender, in return for territorial acquisitions in China.

            On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt suddenly dies and Vice President Harry S. Truman assumes the presidency.  Germany surrenders unconditionally on May 7, and Truman meets with Stalin and Churchill (and subsequently with Churchill’s successor Clement Atlee) in late July and early August at the Potsdam Conference in Germany.  The conference establishes the terms of the postwar occupation of Germany and calls for fostering democratic ideals and representative governments in Europe and transfers some German territory to Polish and Soviet administrations.  The Big Three also issue an ultimatum to Japan to surrender or risk total destruction.  While attending the conference, Truman learns that the atomic bomb has been successfully tested.  Soviet failure to honor all of the terms of the Yalta and Potsdam agreements leads to a widespread belief in the United States throughout much of the Cold War, especially on the political right wing, that the Soviets cannot be trusted to honor any treaties.

            The United States drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6 and a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9.  Japan announces its unconditional surrender on August 14 and is subsequently governed by a U.S. occupying administration headed by General Douglas MacArthur. 

            The Cold War Begins

            a. On March 5, 1946, Churchill warns in a speech in Fulton, Missouri that an Iron Curtain of communist domination is descending upon Eastern Europe.

            b. Between 1946-1949 the Eastern European nations (Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria) fall under Soviet domination.  Communist efforts to seize control in France, Italy, and Greece eventually fail, in part due to U.S. economic intervention

            c. The Truman administration formulates a “containment” policy that essentially accepts existing communist gains but is dedicated to preventing further ones.  The policy is formally articulated in the Truman Doctrine (March 12, 1947), which results in Marshall Plan for European economic recovery (1947); Four Point Program to provide economic and technical assistance in Asia, Africa, and Latin America (1948); and formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO,1949).

            d. Truman signs the National Security Act in July 1947.  This replaces the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and establishes the National Security Council (NSC) to advise on and coordinate defense and foreign policies.

            e. In September 1947, partly in response to the Truman Doctrine, the Soviet Union and the communist parties of the Eastern European nations align within the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform), which replaces the Communist International Bureau (Comintern).  Some historians argue that the formation of Cominform was Stalin’s declaration of ideological war against the West.

            f. In June 1948, the Soviets blockade West Berlin in an effort to gain full control of the city, which is located within the Soviet zone of occupation in eastern Germany.  As an alternative to capitulation and to military confrontation, the United States and its allies begin the Berlin Airlift.  By spring 1949, the round-the-clock flights supply an average of 8,000 tons of food and fuel daily.  The Soviets lift the blockade in May 1949.

            g. In summer 1948, Yugoslavia is expelled from Cominform after its leader, Marshal Tito, defies Stalin and removes Stalinists from Yugoslavia’s communist party.  Although it does not ally with the West, Yugoslavia subsequently accepts military and economic assistance from the United States.  Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union repair their relationship in 1955, and Cominform is dissolved as a gesture to appease Yugoslavia.

            h. On November 3, 1948, Truman is elected president is his own right, defeating his heavily favored Republican challenger, Thomas Dewey, in an upset victory.

            I. In May 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) is declared, with Bonn as its capital.  The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) declares its existence in October, but the United States refuses to recognize it until 1974.

            j. In September 1949, the Soviet Union explodes its first atomic bomb.

            k. Communist forces loyal to Mao Zedong prevail in their civil war against the U.S.-backed Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek and declare the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on October 1, 1949.  In December, Chiang establishes a Nationalist Chinese government on the island of Taiwan (Formosa).  The communist victory leads right-wing critics to accuse the Truman State Department of “losing China.”  Great Britain recognizes the PRC soon after its formation, but the United States recognizes Chiang’s government and does not establish full diplomatic relations with the PRC until 1979. 

            The Cold War Settles In

            a. On June 25, 1950, Soviet-backed North Korea launches a surprise attack on U.S.-backed South Korea, thereby inaugurating the Korean War.  After suffering initial defeats, the U.S. and its allies drive the communists back into North Korea.  But when the allied forces approach the Chinese border at the Yalu River in November 1950, China enters the war and pushes the allies back into South Korea.  Fearing the outbreak of World War III, Truman rejects General MacArthur’s call to expand the war into China, and he declines to authorize use of atomic weapons.  The war settles into a stalemate, until an armistice is signed in July 1953.  The armistice divides Korea at the 38^th parallel–roughly the same as when the fighting began.  Altogether, some 2 million people die in the war, including 33,629 Americans.  To date (February 2005) no final peace settlement has been concluded and a technical state of war remains.

            b. In October 1952, the United States explodes its first hydrogen bomb (H-bomb).  The Soviets explode their first H-bomb in August 1953.

            c. On November 5, 1952, Republican candidate Dwight Eisenhower, a World War II war hero, defeats his Democratic rival Adlai Stevenson in the U.S. presidential election.

            d. Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin dies on March 5, 1953.  Following a power struggle with Georgi Malenkov, who assumes the post of premier, Nikita Khrushchev assumes the most powerful position as Party Secretary in September.  Khrushchev purges Malenkov in 1955 and appoints Nikolai Bulganin as premier (Khrushchev purges Bulganin in 1958, when he becomes premier as well as Party Secretary).  Khrushchev s denounces the personality cult of Stalin in February 1956 and introduces domestic reforms that allow somewhat greater freedoms to Soviet citizens.  His domestic policies vacillate between bellicose confrontation and efforts for reconciliation with the United States.  He also initiates the Soviet space program and a program to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

            e. On May 31, 1953, U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles articulates the “domino theory” that warns that if communist insurrections succeed in driving the French from Indochina, all of Southeast Asia may fall under communist domination.  The domino theory later becomes the rationale for U.S. military involvement in Vietnam.

            f. Anti-Soviet uprisings in June and July, 1953, nearly topple East Germany’s communist government, but these are squelched by force and the introduction of martial law.

            g. In August 1953, the Soviets explode their first hydrogen bomb.

            h. On January 11, 1954, Dulles articulates a new U.S. policy of immediate, “massive retaliation” against any aggressor.  The threat of nuclear force is implied.  The policy also threatens to retaliate directly against the Soviet Union in response to any communist aggression anywhere in the world.  During his presidency, Eisenhower favors building a comparatively less expensive nuclear arsenal instead of sustaining large, costly conventional forces, thereby giving Americans what was sometimes called a “bigger bang for the buck.”

            I. In March 1954, East Germany asserts itself as a sovereign nation.  Soviet recognition signals that the USSR has given up on creating a unified Germany that would fall under Soviet dominance.  The U.S. does not recognize East Germany until 1974, although it is admitted into the United Nations in 1973.  West Germany becomes a sovereign nation in May 1955 and is recognized by both the United States and Soviet Union.  Shortly afterward, West Germany is remilitarized and joins NATO.  In response, the Soviet Union and its Eastern European “satellite” states form the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance to oppose NATO (May 1955).

            j. In May 1954, communist-led Vietminh forces defeat the French army at Dienbienphu, leading to the French withdrawal from Southeast Asia.  A Geneva peace agreement signed in July calls for the temporary creation of North and South Vietnam, which are to be unified within two years through national elections.  But the United States and South Vietnam refuse to sign the accords and the elections are never held.

            k. In June 1954, the CIA secretly assists a military coup in Guatemala that overthrows leftist president Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán, who had expropriated large land holdings of the United Fruit Company.

            l. In January 1955, Congress passes the Formosa Doctrine, granting Eisenhower emergency powers to protect Taiwan against a seemingly imminent communist invasion.

            m. In October 1956, a popular uprising in Hungary calling for expanded personal and political freedoms temporarily overthrows the Soviet-backed regime.  But the uprising is squelched by Soviet forces.  The United States and its Western allies decline to intervene on behalf of the Hungarian rebels, despite their appeals.

            n.  Concurrent with the Hungarian uprising, a joint attack on October 29, 1956 by British, French, Israeli troops forestalls an anticipated Egyptian attack against Israel and attempts to reclaim the French and British-owned Suez Canal, which Egypt’s President Gamal Nasser nationalized in July 1956.  Although Eisenhower opposed the action, he threatens nuclear retaliation against the USSR if it carries out threatened attacks against France and Britain.  Nonetheless, the expedition undermines the U.S.-British alliance and contributes to a growing rift between the United States and France.

            o. On November 6, 1956, Eisenhower easily wins reelection by again defeating Adlai Stevenson.  But Democrats win a majority in both houses of Congress.

            p. In March 1957, Congress approves the Eisenhower Doctrine, which asserts U.S. willingness to aid any Middle Eastern nation seeking assistance against communism.  In June, the United States joins the Baghdad Pact to oppose communist expansion in the Middle East, and in July 1958, Eisenhower sends U.S. Marines to support a friendly government in Lebanon threatened by a communist-backed uprising.

            q. In August 1957, the Soviets explode their first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), for the first time rendering all of America vulnerable to a Soviet nuclear attack.  This leads to claims that America is suffering from a “missile gap.”  The United States explodes its first ICBM in 1958, the same year it supplies Britain with intermediate range missiles capable of striking the Soviet Union.

            r. On October 4, 1957, the Soviets launch Sputnik, the first human-made satellite to orbit the earth.  This contributes to a growing concern that the United States has fallen behind the Soviet Union in terms of technology and leads to calls for more support for education in science and mathematics.  The United States launches its first satellite in 1958.

            s. Fall 1958, Eisenhower threatens war with China over its shelling of Nationalist Chinese islands of Quemoy and Matsu. 

            t. Cold War tensions abate on November 4, 1958, when the United States, Soviet Union, and Great Britain agree to a voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing. 

            u. On November 27, 1958, Khrushchev initiates the Second Berlin Crisis when he demands that Western troops evacuate West Berlin and leave it as a demilitarized city.  NATO rejects the demand in December.

            v. On January 1, 1959, Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba.  He declares himself a communist in 1960 and renews diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union.  In October 1960, the United States imposes a trade embargo in response to Cuba’s nationalization of U.S.-owned properties.

            w. In September 1959, Khrushchev receives a warm welcome when he visits several U.S. cities and meets with Eisenhower.

             x. On May 5, 1960, the Soviets shoot down a U.S. spy plane and capture the pilot, Francis Gary Powers.  This scuttles a planned Paris summit meeting scheduled for later in the month to resolve the ongoing Berlin crisis.

            y. On November 9, 1960, Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy defeats Vice President Richard M. Nixon to win the U.S. presidency.

            z.  On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to enter outer space.  On May 5, Alan Shepard becomes the first American to be launched into space.

            aa.  The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba by U.S.-backed Cuban exiles is launched on April 17, 1961.  Kennedy cancels U.S. air support after he concludes that the mission cannot succeed, and Castro declares total victory on April 20.  Some 1,500 exiles are killed or captured.  In December 1962, Castro releases over 1,100 of the prisoners in exchange for food and medical supplies raised by private donations within the United States.

            bb. On June 3, 1961, Khrushchev meets with Kennedy and delivers an ultimatum that the Western allies must evacuate Berlin within six months or risk nuclear war.  The crisis intensifies during the summary and early fall, culminating on August 17-18 with the erection of the Berlin Wall, built to stem the flow of emigration from East to West Berlin, and with the subsequent face-off on October 17 between U.S. and Soviet tanks across Checkpoint Charlie, the crossing point in the wall.  By the end of the year, however, the crisis abates as Khrushchev eases off from his ultimatum without actually renouncing his demands.  During the height of the crisis the Soviets also end their voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing, exploding a 60-megaton devoice on August 31, the largest ever tested to that date.  The United States resumes testing in spring 1962.

            cc. In June 1962, Defense Secretary Robert McNamara replaces Eisenhower’s policy of massive retaliation with one of “flexible response” that allows a more calibrated response to Soviet aggression.  The U.S. also develops “second-strike” capabilities that will assure that the United States will be able to launch nuclear missiles against the Soviet Union in response to any Soviet attack on the U.S. mainland.  This becomes the basis for the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)

            dd. The high point of the Cold War takes place from October 14-28, 1962, as the United States and Soviet Union nearly go to nuclear war during Cuban Missile Crisis.  The crisis peaks on October 24, after Kennedy imposes a naval quarantine on Cuba and U.S. warships turn back Soviet ships en route to the island.   It is resolved on October 28 when the Soviets agree to remove the intermediate range nuclear missiles they had placed in Cuba, in return for a U.S. agreement not to invade Cuba.  It is tacitly understood that the United States will also agree to remove medium-range missiles in Turkey targeted at the Soviet Union.

            ee. On August 5, 1963, Kennedy and Khrushchev sign the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty prohibiting above-ground nuclear testing. 

            ff. Kennedy is assassinated on November 22, 1963, and Lyndon Johnson becomes president.  Johnson is elected in his own right on November 3, 1964, when he defeats Republican challenger Barry Goldwater.

            gg. In October 1964, Khrushchev is deposed in a bloodless coup and Leonid Brezhnev, a hardliner opposed to Khrushchev’s reforms, comes to power in the Soviet Union. 

3.  Post-Cuban Missile Crisis: 1964-1979

   a. Cold War by proxy: The United States and Soviet Union and their allies support opposite sides of various internal conflicts in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.  The most significant of these for the United States is the Vietnam War, in which U.S. combat troops participate between 1965 and 1973.  The war bitterly divides supporters and opponents within the United States, and has major impacts on both domestic and international policies and events.  Following the U.S. military withdrawal in 1973, North Vietnam resumes fighting in 1974 and defeats South Vietnam in 1975, reuniting the nation under a communist government based in Hanoi.

   b. Détente and lessening of communist totalitarian control

            1. The so-called Prague Spring brings greater freedoms to Czechoslovakia in April 1968, but is suppressed by Soviet military forces later that summer.

            2. Social Democratic Party leader Willy Brandt becomes chancellor of West Germany in September 1969 and introduces his Ostpolitik (Eastern policy), which calls for improved relations between West Germany and Eastern Europe.  This is the beginning of détente.  In 1970, Brandt negotiates nonaggression pacts with the Soviet Union and Poland–the first de facto recognition by the West of the Soviet territorial gains that followed World War II.

            3. Following secret contacts in 1971 between National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger and China’s foreign minister Zhou En-lai, a thaw in relations between China and the United States ensues.  The first step is a table-tennis tournament in China in April 1971 between U.S. and Chinese teams.

            4. Richard Nixon, who defeated Johnson’s vice president Hubert Humphrey on November 5, 1968, and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger formulate U.S. détente policy of “peaceful coexistence” with nuclear-armed foes.  The United States accedes to the admission of communist China to the United Nations as the sole representative of China (replacing the Taiwan government of Chiang Kai-shek).  Nixon meets with Mao Zedong in China in February 1972 and the United States and China become trading partners.  This puts new pressure on the Soviet Union, whose alliance with China has been deteriorating since the late 1950s.

            5. Nixon travels to the Soviet Union in May 1972 to meet with Brezhnev, and they sign the  Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) on May 26.  Shortly after, negotiations begin on a SALT II treaty, which President Jimmy Carter signs in June 1979, but withdraws from Congressional consideration after Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979.  The SALT II treaty is never ratified. 

            Nixon is reelected on November 7, 1972, when he easily defeats Democratic challenger George McGovern, an anti-Vietnam War candidate.

            6. A U.S.-backed military coup in September 1973 overthrows President Salvador Allende of Chile, who, in 1970, had become the first democratically elected Marxist president in the Western hemisphere.

            7. On July 30, the House Judiciary Committee votes to recommend the impeachment of Nixon after investigating his role in the Watergate scandal.  Nixon resigns from office on August 9 and is succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford.

            8. The United States officially recognizes East Germany on September 4, 1974.

            9. On July 17, 1975, U.S. and Soviet astronauts link in outer space in the first joint space venture between the two superpowers.

            10. On July 30, 1975, the United States, Soviet Union, and all the nations of Eastern and Western Europe sign Helsinki accords repudiating use of force in Europe and respecting territorial integrity of all European states, greater cooperation between East and West, commitment to respect human rights, broader access to information and ideas.  The agreement satisfies one of the Soviets’ main Cold War objectives by giving de facto recognition to its territorial acquisitions following World War II.  It furthers Western objectives by promoting greater trade opportunities and cultural exchange, and by creating a framework for insisting upon greater respect for human rights.  The latter helps make possible the activities of Poland’s Solidarity Trade Union in the 1980s, which in turn helps end communist rule in that country at the end of the decade.

            11. On September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong dies.  He is eventually replaced by Deng Xiaoping.

            12. On November 2, 1976, Democrat Jimmy Carter defeats Ford in the U.S. presidential election.

            13. In spring 1977, the United States and Cuba hold their first formal talks since Castro took power in 1959.  They sign a fishing rights agreement in April.

            14. A popular uprising forces the U.S.-backed shah from Iran in January 1979.  Three weeks later Islamic fundamentalist Ayatollah Khomeini assumes power and elections in March make Iran a Muslim theocracy hostile to the United States.  In November, Iranian students seize the U.S. embassy, taking 66 members of its delegation, staff, and Marine guard hostage.  They remain hostages for 444 days, crippling the Carter presidency.

            15. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan on December 25, 1979 ends détente. By the end of January 1980, the Soviet Army controls most of the country and a Soviet-backed regime is in place.  In response, Carter withdraws the SALT II treaty from Congressional consideration, boycotts the 1980 summer Olympics held in Moscow, and cancels U.S. grain sales to the Soviet Union.  Assistance to Afghani “freedom fighters” opposed to the Soviet occupation becomes a significant part of President Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy in the 1980s. 

3. Winnable Nuclear War, The Evil Empire, and the Collapse of Communism (1980-1990)

            1. On November 4, 1980, Ronald Reagan defeats Carter and is elected president.  During his first term, Reagan takes an especially hard line against Soviet Union, increasing military spending in his first years in office, deciding in November 1982 to deploy the controversial MX missile in Europe, giving a speech denouncing the Soviet Union as an “Evil Empire on March 8, 1983, proposing the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI–popularly known as the Star Wars missile defense system) on March 23, 1983, and abandoning of policies of Mutually Assured Destruction in favor of winnable nuclear war.

            2. Nicaragua: Leftist Sandinistas depose Anastasio Somoza and come to power in July 1979.  Reagan actively opposes them throughout his presidency.  In December 1981, Reagan directs CIA to arm Contras, Nicaraguan exiles opposed to the Sandinistas.  In January 1984, the CIA commits an act of war by secretly mining Nicaraguan harbors.  When this becomes known, Congress passes a series of Boland amendments prohibiting direct or indirect military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua (1984-1986).  The Reagan administration–primarily through the CIA and National Security Council--then engages in efforts to by-pass these amendments by selling weapons to Iran (then fighting its Gulf War with Iraq, 1980-1988) and employing private channels to use the profits from the sales to arm the Contras.  This activity leads to the Iran-Contra scandal of 1986, which does serious damage to Reagan’s presidency in his final year in office.  The Sandinistas lose power in February 1990 in democratic elections.

            3. A right-wing military coup seizes power in El Salvador in October 1979, and civil war breaks out between the new, military government and leftist rebels.  Carter initially supports the government but temporarily withdraws aid due to severe human rights violations.  Reagan and Bush support the government throughout their presidencies.  A peace agreement ends the civil war in December 1991.

            4. Throughout much of the 1980s, international terrorism related to the Middle East becomes a worldwide problem, especially after expulsion of the PLO from Lebanon in 1982. 

            5. Soviet jets down Korean civilian passenger jet, KAL 007, on September 1, 1983.  Reagan denounces the act as barbaric, and Cold War tensions reach their highest levels since the Cuban Missile Crisis (“Problem number one for the world is to avoid nuclear war”--Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko.)

            6. Stationed in Beirut, Lebanon as peacekeepers in accordance with the Reagan Doctrine, 241 U.S. Marines are killed when a car bomb explodes in their barracks on October 23, 1983.

            7. U.S. forces invade the Caribbean island of Grenada on October 25, 1983, deposing the Marxist government there.

            8. Secret correspondence between the United States and Britain in conjunction with the Grenada invasion lead the Soviet KGB (its intelligence agency) to conclude that NATO war games in early November 1983 (Able Archer 83) may be a precursor to an actual invasion.  During the exercise the KGB intelligence inaccurately notifies its stations that American military bases have been placed on alert, suggesting preparation for attack.  But neither side launched an attack.

            8. Scientists at the World After Nuclear War Conference warn on October 31, 1983, that a nuclear winter might follow a large-scale nuclear war.

            9.  Reagan easily defeats Democratic challenger, former Vice President Walter Mondale and is reelected on November 6, 1984.

            10. Following the death of Brezhnev in November 1982, and his successors Yuri Andropov (November 1982- February 1984) and Konstantin Chernenko (February 1984-March 1985), Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Soviet premier in March 1985.  Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a conservative, meets with him shortly before he assumes power and tells Reagan “I like Mr. Gorbachev.  We can do business together.”  Her pronouncement greatly influences Reagan and signals a major thaw in the Cold War.  Soon after taking power, Gorbachev as promotes policies perestroika and glasnost to permit economic and human rights reform within the Soviet Union. 

            Gorbachev meets with Reagan from November 19-21,1985, in the first of five summit meetings, and they agree in principle to a 50 percent reduction on intermediate range nuclear forces (INF).  They also declare that nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.  Although they remain divided over SDI, which Reagan insists upon retaining over Gorbachev’s objections, Reagan maintains that the summit represents a “fresh start” in superpower relations.  During their summit in Reykjavik, Iceland (October 11-12, 1986) Soviets surprise U.S. negotiators by offering widespread proposals to reduce strategic weapons by 50 percent and eliminate INFs.  After Gorbachev drops his demand that the United States eliminate SDI, the two sides sign the INF treaty on December 8, 1987.  This is the first Cold War treaty that actually reduces nuclear arsenals instead of merely reducing their rate of growth.

            On February 8, 1988, Gorbachev orders the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, beginning May 15 and concluding by February 15, 1989.  On December 7, 1988, he unilaterally reduces Soviet military strength by 500,000 troops and cuts Soviet conventional arms.  During the summer of 1989, he announces that the Soviet Union will not intervene militarily to preserve the communist governments of Eastern Europe.  Subsequently, all of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe fall from power between 1989 and 1991.  The Berlin Wall is taken down on November 10, 1989, and Germany is reunited on October 3,1990.  That, along with the Soviet decision in 1990 to withdraw its troops from Eastern Europe and permit democratic governments there, fulfill the major U.S. Cold War objectives.

            11. On November 8, 1988, Vice President George Bush defeats Democratic candidate Michael Dukakis to win the presidency.

            12. Iraq invades Kuwait on August 2, 1990 (local time).  A U.S.-led coalition drives Iraq from Kuwait in February 1991.  This is the first major, U.S. military action since World War II to take place outside the context of the Cold War.

            13. November 21, 1990 leaders of all the European states, the United, Canada and the Soviet Union sign the Charter of Paris on November 21, 1990, and President George H.W. Bush declares that “the Cold War is over.”

            14. The United States and Soviet Union sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in 1991 that Reagan and Gorbachev had initiated earlier.

             15. The Soviet Union dissolves itself on December 31, 1991.  

 

SECTION II: REPRESENTATIVE COLD WAR-RELATED LITERATURE & FILM

A. Nuclear Apocalypse

   1. Non-fiction Literature (representative and/or influential works)

            a. John Hersey, Hiroshima (1946)–first-hand accounts of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, first published as articles in the New Yorker.

            b. Robert Jay Lifton, Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima (1968)–study of the long-term effects of the atomic bombing on the survivors

            c. Edward Teller and Albert Latter, Our Nuclear Future (1958)–describes how atomic energy works, assesses danger from radioactive fallout from nuclear testing and concludes that the danger falls within an acceptable range, and argues for continued nuclear testing.  An atomic scientist who helped create the first atomic bomb, Teller was the top scientists in charge of the development of the H-bomb and was sometimes called the “father of the hydrogen bomb.”

            d. Linus Pauling, No More War! (1958)–describes the biological effects of radiation and other hazards of radioactive fallout and calls for international agreements to end nuclear testing and reduce the possibilities of nuclear war.  Pauling was a Nobel Prize-winning scientist.

            e. Herman Kahn, On Thermonuclear War (1960)–the first academically informed book written for popular audiences that attempted to calculate the actual damage a nuclear war might create.  Kahn uses statistics, mathematics, and other scientific processes to conclude that the United States could survive a major nuclear war, but that 20 million-40 million Americans would probably die and all major cities would be destroyed.  Along with Werner von Braun, the German rocket scientist who was brought to the United States after World War II to head the U.S. space program, Kahn was considered to be one of the models for the fictional character Dr. Strangelove in Stanley Kubrick’s film of the same name.

            f. Jonathan Schell, The Fate of the Earth (1982)–projects the impact on the environment of a nuclear war, taking into account the technical and strategic properties of the next generation of nuclear weapons.  Schell, who first published the study as a series of articles in the New Yorker, maintains that a full-scale nuclear war would reduce the Earth to a waste land and introduce a nuclear winter by creating massive clouds that would block out the sun.

            g. Robert Sheer, With Enough Shovels (1982)–documents how the Reagan administration was abandoning the principle of Mutually Assured Destruction in favor of plans for winnable nuclear war. 

   2. Fiction Dealing with Nuclear War and Its Immediate Aftermath

            a. F.H. Rose, The Maniac’s Dream (1946)–the author claimed this was the first novel about the atomic bomb.  It is about a mad scientist who maintains that “Mankind harnessing to his own uses the power of Atomic Energy will prove, once and for all, that there is no other God but Man, and that he himself is God.”

            b. Judith Merril, Shadow on the Hearth (1950)–the first novel about atomic war published by a woman.  Shadow on the Hearth imagines a suburban housewife and her two children surviving an atomic attack and its aftermath in the absence of her husband.  The book argues that women, too, must become familiar with nuclear war and civil defense and imagines the post-attack scenario from the point of view of a mother contending with her children, as well as with looters and predatory civil defense officials.

            c. Philip Wylie, Tomorrow! (1954)–a vivid account of a nuclear attack on an American city that has not made adequate civil defense preparations.  In addition to being a major proponent of “Momism,” which maintained that overbearing, emasculating mothers were creating a generation of weak men who lack the requisite toughness to stand up to a pernicious enemy (see Wylie’s Generation of Vipers, 1942), Wylie also advocated stronger civil defense measures to prepare for a nuclear attack.

            d. William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954)–about British school boys who create their own society while marooned on an island during a nuclear war.

            e. Nevil Shute, On the Beach (1957)–imagines the extinction of human life after an all-out nuclear war.  Published the year Sputnik was launched, On the Beach was the basis for the popular 1959 film of the same title.  It rejects the then-current hypothesis that people in the southern hemisphere would be spared the radioactive effects of a war in the northern hemisphere.

            f. Peter George (a.k.a.: Peter George Bryant, a.k.a.: Bryan Peters), Red Alert (1957)–about a crazy air force general who launches an unauthorized nuclear attack.  Although serious in its tone and not absurdist, Red Alert is the basis for Stanley Kubrick’s film Dr. Strangelove (1964).

            g. Pat Frank, Alas, Babylon! (1959)–a widely read account of a nuclear attack and its aftermath in central Florida.  The book presents an interesting mix of liberal and traditional that, on the one hand, promotes feminism and rejects racism (during a high point of the civil rights movement), and, on the other hand, calls for a return to small town values, self-sufficiency, and religious worship.

            h. Helen Clarkson, The Last Day (1959)–presents a woman’s account of the aftermath of a nuclear war that eventually destroys all human life.  Like Shadow of the Hearth, it is unique among early Cold War fiction in that it presents the experience from a woman’s perspective.  But unlike Shadow of the Hearth, it is written during the era of hydrogen bombs, not atomic bombs, and is much more pessimistic.  The book has a pacifist agenda and specifically takes issue with an editorial in Life magazine that declared that “the only people who wanted to end nuclear testing were ‘scared mothers, fuzzy liberals and weary taxpayers.’  In other words: mothers are a lunatic fringe, a minority group.”

            I. Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, Fail-Safe (1962)–about an unintended nuclear attack that results from mechanical failure.  The basis of the 1964 film by the same title.

            j. Dean Ing, Pulling Through (1983)–one of the best examples of “survivalist” literature of the 1980s in which a pragmatic bounty-hunter relies on his resourcefulness, intelligence, and ability to discard liberal “nonsense” to survive the aftermath of a nuclear attack.

            k. Arthur Kopit, End of the World (1984)–a black humor play that parodies the film noir style in its effort to comprehend the realities and bleak implications of Mutually Assured Destruction. 

   3. Fiction Dealing with Long-term Post-Apocalyptic Civilization

            a. George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)–imagines a Stalinist-type totalitarian society dominated by technology and thought control in the aftermath of an atomic war.

            b. Leigh Brackett, The Long Tomorrow (1955)–imagines a return to a brutal, feudal society in aftermath of nuclear war.

            c. Walter M. Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959)–imagines the long-term progress of post-apocalyptic human civilization as it moves through a new, anti-scientific Dark Age, a new Renaissance, and a new, technologically informed modern era.

            d. Suzy McKee Charnas, Walk to the End of the World (1979)–presents a brutal, fascistic post-apocalyptic world in which women become slaves who work underground and are turned into food when the die.

            e. Russell Hoban, Ridley Walker (1980)–presents the evolution of post-apocalyptic human society over 2000 years.  The book experiments with language and highlights the importance of myth-making and storytelling.

            f. Ursula Le Guin, Always Coming Home (1985)–features two alternative human societies in the aftermath of nuclear war: one aggressive, hi-tech, and patriarchal, the other nurturing, respectful of nature, and matriarchal.           

   3. Apocalyptic Films (and other films relating to nuclear weaponry)

            a. Stanley Kramer, On the Beach (1959)–based on the novel by Nevil Shute and starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins.  The drama follows the lives of Americans and Australians awaiting the inevitable arrival of a lethal radioactive cloud that threatens to destroy all of humanity.  Appearing during the Second Berlin Crisis, the film premiered in 18 cities in all seven continents.

            b. Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove (1964)–famous black humor comedy about a crazy U.S. Air Force general who launches a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union, thereby triggering a Soviet “Doomsday machine” that destroys most of humanity.  Peter Sellers stars in 3 different roles.

            c. Sidney Lumet, Fail Safe (1964)–drama about a well-intended U.S. president (played by Henry Fonda) who must respond to a mechanical malfunction that launches a nuclear strike against the Soviet Union.  Based on the 1962 novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, Fail Safe presents the then-current debate between right-wing “hawks” and liberal “doves” over the viability of policies of Mutually Assured Destruction.

            d. John Frankenheimer, Seven Days in May (1964)–drama about an attempted military coup in the United States that follows the signing of a nuclear disarmament treaty.  Starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, and Frederic March, the film addresses the question of whether the Constitutional process is too slow to be effective in the nuclear era.  Based on the best-selling 1962 novel by Fletcher Knebel and Charles Waldo Bailey II.

            e. James B. Harris, The Bedford Incident (1965)–drama about a nuclear-armed U.S. naval vessel chasing a Soviet submarine that has strayed into NATO-protected waters.  Starring Sidney Poitier and Richard Widmark, this film also deals with the danger of an unintended nuclear attack.  Coming out at the height of the civil rights movement, it is also the first time in a Hollywood film that a black actor (Poitier) played a major role that did not specifically require a black person to fill the role (a magazine journalist).

            f. Peter Watkins, The War Game (1966)–a British-made pseudo-documentary that imagines the effects of a nuclear strike against an English town.  Intended for broadcast on television, the BBC declined to air it because it was fatalistic, bitter, hopeless, cruel, and “too horrifying.”  This film anticipates The Day After.

            g. George Miller, Mad Max (1979)–an Australian-made drama that imagines the total breakdown of law and order in the aftermath of a nuclear war.  This film brought Mel Gibson to fame.  Its sequels are The Road Warrior (1982) and Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome (1985), which co-stars Tina Turner.

            h. Nicholas Meyer, The Day After (1983)–made-for-television movie starring Jason Robards, Jr. that dramatizes the impact of a nuclear attack on a Midwestern American city (Lawrence, Kansas).  Aired on ABC, it was accused by conservatives of presenting a liberal, pacifist message at a time when the Reagan administration was taking an especially hard line against the Soviet Union.

            I. John Badham, WarGames (1983)–a drama starring Matthew Broderick about a narrowly averted nuclear disaster that ensues when a teenage computer hacker breaks into a Defense Department computer system and believes he has discovered an exciting computer game.

            j. John Milius, Red Dawn (1984)–depicts the heroics of young American freedom fighters contending against Soviet occupiers after an invasion by a Soviet-Cuban-Nicaraguan alliance successfully invades the United States from the south.  The film, which starred Patrick Swayze, appeared at a time when Reagan was publically pointing out that communist forces in Nicaragua were only a day’s drive away from Texas.

            k. David Wrye, producer, Amerika (1987)–a 14.5 hour mini-series aired on ABC from February 15-22, 1987.  Amerika imagines the United States occupied by the Soviet Union after it surrenders rather than risk nuclear war.  Liberals called it a “hate film that evokes fear and hostility toward the Soviets” and charged that ABC was pandering to right-wing critics who condemned the anti-nuclear message of The Day After.  Conservatives, on the other hand, maintained that the depiction of life under Soviet rule was too mild.

            l. Jack Sholder, By Dawn’s Early Light (1990)–a drama that follows the course of events that begin with a nuclear missile from an unknown source in the Middle East explodes in the Soviet Union and conclude with an all-out nuclear war.  Starring James Earl Jones and Martin Landau, the film appeared during the final months of the Cold War, when such a scenario was unlikely. 

B. Berlin

            Leon Uris, Armageddon (1964), Berlin Airlift

            Alfred Hitchcock, dir. Torn Curtain (1966)–Stars Paul Newman as an American scientist who pretends to defect to East Germany

            William F. Buckley, Jr., The Story of Henry Tod (1984, 2^nd Berlin Crisis, space )

            _____. Marco Polo, If You Can (1982, U-2 spy plane incident)

            John le Carré, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1963, film 1964)

            _____. The Quest for Karla (trilogy, 1982)–about spy master George Smiley

            Fletcher Knebel, Crossing in Berlin (1981)–efforts by American businessman to enable an East German scientist to defect so she can reveal suppressed research on greenhouse effect. 

 

V. Hungarian Uprising

            James Michener, The Bridge at Andau (1957)

            William F. Buckley, Jr., Who’s On First (1980)

 

III. Proxy Wars

            Graham Green, The Quiet American (1955)–1958 film adaptation directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, stars Michael Redgrave and Audie Murphy.

            _____. The Human Factor (1978)

            William Lederer and Eugene Burdick, The Ugly American (1958); 1963 film directed by George Englund and starring Marlon Brando

 

VI. Latin America

   CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS AND BAY OF PIGS

            Robert Kennedy, Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1969)

            Anthony Page, dir. The Missiles of October (1974) docudrama starring William Devane and Martin Sheen.

            Leon Uris, Topaz (1967)

            E. Howard Hunt, Give Us This Day (1973)–nonfiction account of Bay of Pigs

                        Other Views of Cuba:

            Woody Allen, Bananas (1971)

            Terrence McNally, Cuba, Si! (1968 play about a female Castro supporter who initially seems fun loving but kills for her cause)

            James Michener, Six Days in Havana (1989)–describes contemporary Cuba

   OTHER LATIN AMERICAN FILM AND LITERATURE

            Constantin Costa-Gavras, director. Missing (1982)

            Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Seven Days in Nicaragua Libre (1984)

            Alex Cox, director. Walker (1987)

 

VII: Detente

            John Barth, Giles Goat-Boy (1966)–an ornate, black-humor, Cold War allegory in which the world is represented as a university, with warring but interdependent east and west campuses.

            John Ehrlichman, The China Card (1986)

            E. Howard Hunt, The Berlin Ending (1973)–depicts Willy Brandt and other advocates of detente as Soviet agents,

            _____. The Kremlin Conspiracy (1985) story of how European “peaceniks” pressure Nobel committee to give the peace prize to a secret Soviet agent, who then uses the money to force NATO to withdraw its missiles from Europe.