"Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings."
"If we have to stand alone, we will stand by ourselves, whatever happens, and we propose to face all consquences... We do not agree with the communist teachings, we do not agree with anti-communist teachings, because they are both based on wrong principles" - Jawaharal Nehru (1956)
Kennedy, Khrushchev, and the Berlin Wall (1953-1963)
NAM Nations
- Formed in 1961 in Yugoslavia
- 115 states
- Mostly old colonies of European powers in the 'developing world'
- Idea was to sit on the fence, but align if pressure became too great
- Sino-Soviet split saw China join NAM
Marshal Tito
Leader of Yugoslavia
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)
Stages of Flexible Response
John F. Kennedy
JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis
Direct defense - use of conventional weapons and tactics such as counter-insurgency
Deliberate escalation - use of small scale nuclear arsenal such as nuclear artillery
General Nuclear Response - Full use f nuclear arsenal - resulting in MAD
- Nations that rejected alliances with either superpower
- Sought neutrality in Cold War relations and peaceful resolution to conflict
- Referred to as the 'Third World'
- First World = NATO nations
- Second World = Eastern bloc & allies
- Third World = NAM nations
- Founding nations: Yugoslavia, Egypt, India, Indonesia, and Ghana
Khrushchev orders Ulbricht to build the Wall
- August 13-22 E. Germany tears up streets and lays down barbed wire fencing around the entirety of W. Berlin
- Wall extends 28.5 miles from N to S
- Germans leaving the E. Berlin drop dramatically
- E. German troops instructed to shoot on sight
Berlin Wall (1961-1990)
Kennedy and the Cold War
- "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate"
- Wanted to be tough without USSR resorting to MAD
- Less rigid view of the divide between good/evil in the world
- Pragmatist - Response based on context
- Mixed bag of success and failure
- Failures
- Bay of Pigs invasion
- "Domino theory" and Vietnam
- Successes
- Space Race
- The Peace Corps
- Cuban Missile Crisis
- Test ban treaty
JFK's Assassination
- 35th US President from 1961-1963
- Youngest president of the United States ever (elected at 43) and first Catholic
- Youth, vigor, and charm made him a political celebrity
- Championed social causes such as civil rights and poverty alongside MLK
- His speeches, rather than legislation became his legacy
- Believed in a 'flexible' military response to the Soviet Union
The Wall Falls
Effects of the Berlin Wall
- Families divided, jobs lost, people killed (approx 100 1961-1989)
- Some E. Germans tunneled under the wall over the course of weeks - 29 escaped
- Kennedy orders U.S. troops not to tear down the wall to prevent going to war
- Wall consistently reinforced over the decades to provide greater security
- With funds running short, and policies of Glasnost and Perestroika, little will remained to enforce the wall
- Summer 1989, Hungary begins allowing loopholes to Austria and E. Germans flee in 1000s
- Gorbachev instructs E. German leader to allow reforms
- Orders troops to fire on defectors, but soldiers refuse
- Thousands of E. & W. Germans march on the wall and begin tearing it down, brick by brick.
- In 1990, communists are defeated in elections and the reunification of Germany is complete!
- Fall, 1963 - Kennedy prepares to run for his second term, delivering speeches in various states
- Nov 22, 12:30PM While in his motorcade in Dallas, TX, Kennedy is shot in the head and neck from a great distance
- Within 70 minutes Lee Harvey Oswald is arrested after firing upon and killing a police officer attempting an arrest
- Oswald maintained his innocence but was publicly shot to death by Jack Ruby before he ever went to trial!
- Warren commission concludes there was no conspiracy.
- Lack of prosperity in the East vs. West
- Average 250,000 East Germans flee to W. Berlin per year (1000 per day)
- Soviets demand Allies recognize the East as it's own state and refuse refugees,
- Summit at Vienna in 1961
- Khrushchev to Kennedy
- Remove military from West Germany within 6 months
- Kennedy says NO!
Nikita Khrushchev and the 'Thaw'
Hungarian Revolt - 56
A World-Class Whodunnit?
- Soviet dominated since 1945
- Poor social and economic situation in 1956
- October, 1956 - Students and workers flood the streets demanding personal freedoms, more food, and removal of KGB, end of Russian control
- Khrushchev allows multiple parties as a concession
- Hungary wants to leave Warsaw Pact
- Khrushchev orders Soviet army to re-establish order
- 30,000 dead & 200,000 flee to the West
- Soviet power re-established
- Olympic water polo turns water RED
- No one knows for sure
- Ruby dies shortly after due to an "embolism"
- Everyone from the Hoover in the FBI, the mafia, LBJ, to Fidel Castro has been suspected
- Many think there was a second shooter on the "grassy knoll," but never proven
- Evidence tampering, witness intimidation, and confiscated film and photographs leave many questions
- Over 1000 books have been written on the subject
- 70% of Americans believe the shooting was part of a larger plot - CONSPIRACY!
Two Takes on the Wall
What do you think is the symbolic significance of the Berlin Wall?
Question time!
West and Allies
- Symbol of Soviet oppression
- Why would an ideal state need to confine people?
- Soviet attempt to contain
East Germany and USSR
- Necessary to protect people from capitalist & fascist influences
- Prevention of the brain drain
- Best way to give communism a real shot in the world
What was the significance of Jack Kennedy in the Cold War?
Honecker, Brezhnev, & the fraternal kiss
- Leader of Soviet Union 1953-1964
- Started the process of de-Stalinization
- Return to Leninism
- Peaceful coexistence
- Millions of political prisoners released from Gulags
- Hungary & Poland see this as the chance for change
Question Time!
Why the different outcomes?
Polish October
- Death of First Secretary Bierut in 1956 leaves a leadership gap in communist Poland
- Stalinist factions begin to disappear
- Wyadaslaw Gomulka takes power and seeks a new 'Polish' form of socialism outside of direct Soviet control
- Khrushchev sends in military and flies to Warsaw
- Gomulka says he has no intention to remove Poland from Warsaw Pact
- Khrushchev backs down and pulls out troops
- First time USSR had compromised with a satellite state
De-Stalinization
- Began with Khrushchev's Secret Speech
- End of the cult of personality
- Return to collective governance
- Release of political prisoners
- Re-naming of places (Stalingrad = Volgograd)
- Removal of Stalin statues from EVERYWHERE!
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