...History Leaving Cert American Essay Notes By James Esses Mocks.ie History Leaving Cert Revision Notes James Esses Page 1 Contents 1.0 Essay 1: Changes in the US Economy from 1945-1989 ..................................................................... 3 1.1 Boom (1945-1968) .................................................................................................................. 3 1.2 Bust (1968-1989)..................................................................................................................... 4 2.0 Essay 2 Consumer Society post 1945 ................................................................................................ 6 3.0 Essay 3 Foreign Policy 1945-1972 ..................................................................................................... 8 3.1 Berlin ....................................................................................................................................... 8 3.2 Korea ....................................................................................................................................... 9 3.3 Berlin Wall ............................................................................................................................. 10 3.4 Cuba ...................................................................................................................................... 10 4.0 Essay 4: How did the US become involved in Vietnam and why did it escalate in...
Words: 5670 - Pages: 23
...The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy POL 300 January 31, 2012 The key problem for his presidency clearly would be the Vietnam War. It had driven his predecessor from office, and if it were not resolved in a way that could be turned to political advantage, it would drive him from office as well. Two months after Nixon assumed the presidency, American combat deaths exceeded thirty-six hundred, and there seemed no end in sight. Nixon was in a dilemma, for during the campaign he had said that he had a "secret plan" to end the war but could not divulge it because it might upset the Paris peace negotiations. If his plan involved escalation, Democrats could charge that he was abandoning attempts to reach a peaceful solution and could point to mounting American casualties and prisoners of war. If he negotiated a solution that led to the fall of the government in Saigon, Democrats could charge he had abandoned an ally. Nixon had to find a way to cut American commitments while preserving the non-Communist government in South Vietnam—at least for a "decent interval" so that the overthrow of the regime could not be blamed on the United States (Morgan 2002). Nixon, his national security adviser Henry Kissinger, and Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird settled on an approach with several elements. First, the Laird policy for "Vietnamization" was adopted. Responsibility for fighting would be turned over to the Vietnamese, in order to reduce American casualties. Gradually...
Words: 1576 - Pages: 7
...The Nixon Doctrine of 1969 Kerri Richards POL 300 November 11, 2012 Revision made 12/9/12 The Nixon Doctrine was an American foreign policy set forth by President Nixon in 1969. It was also known as the Guam Doctrine for the country in which it was announced. The strategy of the Nixon Doctrine allowed Nixon to devise a way for the United States to exit that very unpopular conflict, the Vietnam War. It also stated that the United States would provide aid to its allies in times of need. A reassessment of American foreign policy, and a move to the era of negotiation was a must. Nixon needed to first extricate the country’s forces from Vietnam. Secondly, the country needed to ease the overall tension in Berlin and the Middle East. Thirdly, according to domestic ideological demands, and due to the increasingly threatening possibility of a surprise attack, nuclear arms controls had to be carried out. Removing these problems would remedy the damage done in such a period. The problem was to figure out how. The existent schools of diplomacy did not suggest a favorable method. Nixon’s foreign policy advisors decided not to stick on preceding principles or theories, but adhere to only one basic priority, National Interest. This doctrine tried to adjust the degree of U.S. intervention in various regions by adopting three criteria in its diplomatic decision: - The United States would keep its treaty commitments - The United States would "provide a shield if a nuclear power...
Words: 2362 - Pages: 10
...spend on different key themes * Ideas for incorporating and developing the assessment skills related to each unit. Suggested teaching time This is based on a two year teaching course of five and a half terms with one and a half hours of history teaching each week. This would be a seventy week course with total teaching time of approximately 100 hours. The schemes suggest the following timescale for the different sections: * Paper 1: 20 hours for each of the two topics: Total 40 hours. * Paper 2 Section A: 20 hours for the topic: Total 20 hours. * Paper 2 Section B: 25 hours for the topic since it covers a longer period in time. Total 25 hours. * Revision: 15 hours. Possible options for those with less teaching time * 20 hours for Section Paper 2 Section B * 10 hours for revision. Other course planning support You will find other support for planning the course in the Teacher’s Guide. This is a free downloadable resource that you can access at www.edexcel.com/certificate. Edexcel Subject Advisors Edexcel has a team of specialist subject advisors available to help you with implementation of this specification. You can contact them by email...
Words: 19278 - Pages: 78
...One Million Dead for Naught The involvement of U.S. military forces in the Vietnam Conflict was neither justifiable nor demonstrative of sound judgment by the American government. Many books, magazines, and other forms of commentary on the Vietnam War have surfaced in the half century since the war’s end. Historian and author Stanley Karnow suggests that such publications generally attempt to make sense of the horrific “war that nobody won” (Karnow 9). It is a subject that will continue endlessly to divide historians and others as they attempt to draw lessons from the conflict that might then be used to justify, condemn, or promote America’s involvement in modern day Vietnams. Because of the magnitude of complexities surrounding the war, some may find it difficult to formulate an unwavering opinion about the war’s causes and effects. According to Robert McNamara, who served as Secretary of Defense for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, mankind has often struggled to find solutions to even simple problems related to the unification of values and ideologies spanning diverse cultures (McNamara 323). In order to fairly judge why the American government put our troops in the jungles, swamps, and fields of Vietnam, one might first closely examine why our government claims to have committed our troops to Vietnam. One of the reasons most adamantly advanced by our government to justify a full scale assault on the Vietcong of North Vietnam was an incident that is said to have occurred...
Words: 3484 - Pages: 14
...The Cold War received its name because it was a non-combat war between the US and Russia. The USSR sought to spread communism worldwide through force and other extreme measures. The war had a very major impact in change and creation of foreign policies. Two things that came out of this war was The Truman Doctrine and the separation of North and South Korea. The Truman Doctrine was the beginning of change in United States foreign policy. The bill was signed May 22, 1947. The United States agreed to provide military and economic assistance to countries who declined communism. It stated that the US would support Greece in Turkey. The countries received 400 million dollars for economic assistance and restoration. The Truman Doctrine was America’s first connection into the Vietnam War. The communist were striving for world supremacy and had to be stopped. The US would basically do anything in their power to protect other countries from being forced into communism. At one time Korea was one county. One reason the separation occurred is because South Korea did not want to be involved with a communist government. At this time America and the USSR were also in a cold war. The U.S influenced South Korea to stray from North Korea in attempt to stop the spread of communism. The Korean War began on June 25, 1950 not too long after WWII ended. North Korea hoped it could reunify the two countries with force. Both the US and the Soviet were very influential and showed power when they persuaded...
Words: 453 - Pages: 2
...Assignment The Cold War By: Deborah Rodriguez While doing these interviews, I was very amazed at the amount of information I received. I interviewed my friend who was in the marines for about 6 years. He knew many things also, since he just studied about the Cold War in school. It helped him to elaborate more on his answers. I next interviewed my father which was very interesting. My father is very into the military and that is all he watches. The first question I asked him turned into an eleven minute conversation. Lastly, I interviewed my sister who is not fond about that era at all. In fact, she refused to give me the interview, but I made her. Before I get into the interviews, I want to give a brief look at the history of the Cold War. The atomic bombing of Japan by the United States ended World War II, but it marked the beginning of an intense rivalry between the two new superpowers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union. So began the Cold War, an ideological and political conflict lasting nearly 50 years. The competition spawned great developments in among other things, military technology, civil defense, and space exploration. The Apollo II landing marked a major political and scientific victory for the United States in the Cold War. The U.S. and Soviet Union continued having various conflicts until the Soviet Union’s breakup in 1991 ending the Cold War. My friend I interviewed said that the words that came to his mind when he thought of the Cold War was Soviet...
Words: 1204 - Pages: 5
...World War II through the 1970s Miguel A. Jarquin HIS 105 Professor Simmons August 25, 2013 World War II through the 1970s Major historical turning points World War II one of the most devastating event in human history. It cost the lives of millions of people. During World War II through the 1970s, there were many major historical turning points. (Ganzel, 2010) “October 24, 1945 the United Nations was established. It was the second multipurpose international organization created in the 20th century. The United States, United Kingdom and the Soviet Union took direction in designing, structure and decision making of the new organization”(P.1). With a worldwide membership and scope, the purpose of the United Nations was to maintain security and peace among countries, as well as working on developing friendly relations. According to the United Nations Charter, it aims: “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.” Another turning point was the creation of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization also known as NATO was established by military alliance on April 4, 1949. Its quest was to develop a counterweight to Soviet armies. (Ganzel, 2010) “Original NATO members were Belgium...
Words: 1327 - Pages: 6
...The Vietnam War Vietnam is a small country in the Southeast Asia. It has a population of 80,000,000 people. The official language of Vietnam is Vietnamese. The capital city is Hanoi. Although the country has many strong points, it also has a bloody history that includes wars. One of the greatest wars that the country has been through is the Vietnam War-the War against the US. The war started in 1954 and ended in 1975. The Vietnam War was a great failure to the US on both warfare and domestic issues. The history dates back to the 1940s when Vietnam was fighting for its freedom from the colonial French. The not giving in policies of French triggered the anger in Vietnamese. In the beginning of the twentieth century many has joined numbers of movements to gain back freedom. Later Vietnamese from all over the country would gather under the leader of Ho Chi Minh, (Neu, 2005, p.2). The man who led the revolutionary army of Vietnam to fight for freedom was Ho Chi Minh. He had so much influence to the country and to the world. As Charles E. Neu said of Ho around the time he was a leader “Ho became one of the great revolutionary leaders of the twentieth century”, (Neu, 2005, p.3). He was the man behind all the actions. In 1941, the Viet Minh or the Independent of Vietnam were formed under the lead of Ho Chi Minh, (Neu, 2005, p.3). Through many battles and hundreds of thousands of lives has been taken, Vietnam finally emancipated from France. On May 7, 1954 the end of the battle of...
Words: 1656 - Pages: 7
...Berlin Wall Construction of the Wall Early in the morning of Sunday August 13 1961 the GDR began under the leadership of Erich Honecker to block off East Berlin and the GDR from West Berlin by means of barbed wire and antitank obstacles. Streets were torn up, and barricades of paving stones were erected. Tanks gathered at crucial places. The subway and local railway services between East and West Berlin were interrupted. Inhabitants of East Berlin and the GDR were no longer allowed to enter West Berlin, amongst them 60,000 commuters who had worked in West Berlin so far. In the following days, construction brigades began replacing the provisional barriers by a solid wall. The reaction of the western allies was moderate, since the three essentials of the American policy regarding Berlin were not affected: presence of allied troops, free access to Berlin and the right of self-determination of the West Berliners. After 1961-08-23, citizens of West Berlin were no longer allowed to enter East Berlin. On 1961-09-20, the forced evacuation of houses situated immediately at the border to West Berlin began. On 1962-08-17, Peter Fechter, an eighteen years old citizen of East Berlin, bled to death after he was shot down by East Berlin border patrol in an attempt to escape over the wall. On 1963-06-21, the Minister of National Defense of the GDR gave orders concerning the installation of a border area at the frontier between the GDR and West Berlin. Afterwards inhabitants of East...
Words: 283 - Pages: 2
...the Manhattan Project were disturbed about it. The incendiary bombs reduced much morale from the Japanese army and crippled the will power. However this small cripple made Japan even angrier because these incendiary bombs were used on innocent civilians and not the Japanese army. Many think that it was necessary to use the Atomic Bombs because Japan attacked America first and not the other way around. It is a fact that when Hitler attacked Russia he expected Japan to attack from the East while Hitler attacked from the West and so Hitler might have won the battle of Stalingrad and captured Russia. Although this is not how it went. Japan respected the fighting force of Russia but however Fuehrer Franklin maneuvered them because he needed a war to maintain his presidency. Although even this statement is in deep controversy...
Words: 2649 - Pages: 11
...Introduction I decided to write about the Cuban missile crisis, because it was a very important event in mankind history. There was a higher risk or probability of nuclear war than ever before. It could cost millions of lives and change the progress of the people. Everything depended on the solutions of the two countries, or simplified, on the solutions of two men – president of the United States of America, John F. Kennedy and president of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev. I will try to focus on the particular question, which is – why did the Soviet Union decide to place nuclear missiles in Cuba. I have chosen this question because it is the principle of the crisis. Looking on it from different points of view will secure the objectivity of the conclusions. First, I will analyze it with using the theory of Constructivism, then I will use the Game theory. Realism In realism, states are the principal actors in the international system, which is anarchic. States look on their own interests and they are rational unitary actors. Placing of the missiles in Cuba was in conflict of the Soviets behavior and their statements: The Soviets gave every indication of sensitivity both to American strategic interests and to the president's political needs. In their September 4 meeting, Ambassador Dobrynin called on Robert Kennedy to relay a confidential promise from Chairman Khrushchev that the Soviet Union would not create any trouble for the United States during the election...
Words: 1028 - Pages: 5
...Which forces, structures or actors have been identified by historians as most decisive in the crystallisation of Cold War tensions in the years 1945-51? * Define what the cold war tensions were/overview of why they came about after ww2 – wartime alliance had broken down due to ideological clashes of how the post-war world would look, an inherent distrust on both sides of the others true intentions and territorial clashes The Cold War – Edited by Klaus Larres and Ann Lane (short loan D843 C6) Oxford 2001 * Conservative strand of historians which sought to condemn the roosevet and Truman aministrations, the former for yielding too readily to Soviet demands at yalta, the latter for hesitancy and inexperience. The liberals ustified American foreign policy as a bold and imaginative effort to deal at oe and the same time with soviet expansionism and residual American isolationism which reached its pinn * Revisionism – emphasis on economic causes of cold war which came about in the 1950s/60. The US had tried dirstly to demand ipen acces to eastern Europe and ipon being rebuffed, had then sought to reconstruct western Europe and particularly the western zones of Germany in the liberal democratic mould. This extended into the thrd world as decolonization opened up these regions to economic penetration. The creation of multilateral organisation, such as the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund, in which the US had the largest share of votes because it provided...
Words: 698 - Pages: 3
...JKF assassination. After military force service as the leader of the speed Torpedo Boats during the Second World War in the south pacific, John Kennedy stood for Massachusetts eleventh congressional district in the United States House of the legislature from 1947 to 1953 as a democrat. Later, he served in the United States council from 1953 to 1960. John Kennedy crushed the deputy President and Republican aspirant Richard in the 1960 United States presidential voting. At forty three years, he was the most young to have been nominated to the presidential office, the second-youngest President following Theodore Roosevelt, and the foremost person born in the 20th century to become the president. As a Roman catholic, John Kennedy was the only non-protestant president, and was the only president who won a Pulitzer award. Events all through his presidency incorporated the Cuban missile emergency, Bay of Pigs attack, the construction of the Berlin wall, the African American national rights group, the space race, and early phases of the Vietnam warfare. Therein, John Kennedy added the number of military force advisers, helicopters and the special operation services in an attempt to curb the increase of Marxism in South East of Asia. Kennedy’s administration approved the policy of the tactical hamlet program which was executed by the South Vietnamese administration. The policy involved certain compulsory relocation, segregation and village internment of country South Vietnamese from...
Words: 1543 - Pages: 7
...Joseph Stalin became the most important figure in the political direction of one-third of the people of the world. He was one of a group of hard revolutionaries that established the first important Marxist state and, as its dictator, he carried forward its socialization and industrialization with vigour and ruthlessness. During the second World War, Stalin personally led his country's vast armed forces to victory. When Germany was defeated, he pushed his country's frontiers to their greatest extent and fostered the creation of a buffer belt of Marxist-oriented satellite states from Korea to the Baltic Sea. Probably no other man ever exercised so much influence over so wide a region. In the late Nineteen Forties, when a world, predominantly non-Communist, saw no end to the rapid advance of the Soviet Union, there was a frightened grouping of forces to form a battle line against the Marxist advance. Stalin stood tall, grand and bold, completely alone. Opposed to him stood the United States, keystone in the arch of non-Marxist states. Stalin took and kept the power in his country through a mixture of character, intelligence and bravery. He outlasted his country's intellectuals, if indeed, he did not contrive to have them shot. He could exercise great charm when he wanted to. President Harry Truman once said in an unguarded moment: "I like old Joe. Joe is a decent fellow, but he is a prisoner of the Politburo." But the Stalin that the world knew best was hard, mysterious...
Words: 457 - Pages: 2
