The Cold War

The opening of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 brought a joyous end to one of the most chilling chapters in history. What started in the late 19th century as conflicting ideologies regarding the opening of business markets in Russia, escalated after Lenin's Revolution in 1917, to open hostility between two great powers. After World War II, both the United States and Soviet Union stockpiled thousands of atomic weapons. Unknown to both sides, nuclear waste was polluting the environment and killing thousands of people. The summit meeting of the late 1980s, between Reagan and Gorbachev, exposed Russian weaknesses in technology. Gorbachev called for radical reform and his policies of economic restructuring and encouraging individual initiative opened a new era in U.S./U.S.S.R. friendship and understanding. This primary source portfolio presents documents and essays, maps, and photographs that vividly show how prevailing thought almost brought these two powers to nuclear war, and how the citizens of both countries came to look at each other as mortal enemies. This portfolio includes a Study Guide with reproducible student activities. A timeline covering events from 1945 to 1994 organizes the important details of the cold war. 5 Illustrated Broadsheet Essays: * Beginning of the Cold War * The Cold War in America * The Cold War Turns Hot * Diplomacy of the Cold War * End of the Cold War 13 Primary Source Documents: * Winston Churchill's "The Sinews of Peace" speech, March 5, 1946 * Photos: House Un-American Activities Committee vs. Hollywood, 1947 * Communist Party membership card, 1947 * "100 Things You Should Know About Communism..." questions and answers from HUAC booklet * Washington, D.C. defense map, 375 mile radius, 1952 * Philadelphia Inquirer front page: "Rosenbergs Die...," June 1953 * Joseph McCarthy's Telegram to President Truman and Truman's response, 1950 * "Atomic Weapons Handbook" front page, 1959 * Poster: JFK and the Cuban missile crisis, 1962 * Photographs: Missiles of the Cold War * Fallout/bomb shelter plans * Civil defense preparations, 1950 to 1967 * U.S. and Soviet postwar summits chart, 1955 to 1988