An interesting story from some history we studied...

As you may remember in the documentary "Freeze" there was the image of the last US personnel leaving the American Embassy in Saigon (South Vietnamese capital) in April 1975.  Here's an interesting story...

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_28013321/40-years-later-one-infant-from-1975-operation

check it out!

SDI and Star Wars

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), also known as Star Wars, was a program first initiated on March 23, 1983 under President Ronald Reagan. The intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union. With the tension of the Cold War looming overhead, the Strategic Defense Initiative was the United States’ response to possible nuclear attacks from afar. Because Reagan was adamantly against MAD, he was determined to establish SDI, as it was an important part of his defense policy to end MAD. Not only was SDI important to ending MAD, but (in Reagan's eyes) a strategic initiative to neutralize the Soviet military and their nuclear defenses. Although the program seemed to have no negative consequences,people criticized it for being unrealistic and unscientific, which is why it was nicknamed "Star Wars" It included some abstract and farfetched ideas, many of which included lasers. Although Reagan was determined to get Star Wars going, the idea was eventually abandoned.

Reagan and Gorbachev

With the Cold War reaching back up to a peak in tension it was safe to assume that the American and Soviet citizens were beginning to look for a way to end the war and restore peace. One thing that greatly influence the turning of the war and the beginning of the end of it was the fact that two new leaders were newly introduced to the two nations: Reagan newly elected into office in the US and Gorbachev newly coming to power in Russia. The two leaders met in the 1985 Geneva summit to discuss more limitations on nuclear arms and to talk about scrapping the newly introduced SDI idea that America had. The two seemed to get along in a civil manner, seen joking and smiling together, and seeing the way their leaders were interacting is something that I believe really helped the citizens of the US and Soviet Union to begin to realize that the Cold War needed to end.

SALT II

From 1972 to 1979 the US and Soviet Union continued the SALT talks they had previously negotiated on. SALT II sought to curtail the manufacturing of strategic weapons and was the first nuclear arms treaty that assumed real reductions in weapon count of all categories of devices on both sides. SALT II also helped the United States discourage the Soviet Union from arming their third generation of ICBMS. However, during this time the Soviets began to experiment with a new model called the SS-20. The US gave the Soviets an ultimatum regarding these SS-20's that stated they would give the Soviets three years to negotiate with the US to find a middle ground agreement on the use and allowed number of these weapons. Yet during this time the US gave the Soviets to negotiate, the US continued to try to build up their number of weapons in the hopes of closing the missile gap.

SALT II ended up being helpful for the Soviet Union because it gave them a reason to focus less money on building weapons and to instead start fixing their economy and the damage it had sustained in the arms race. The US had a less optimistic opinion on these talks with Reagan saying the talks were not passed to help close the gap but rather to just get the Soviets to like the US better. What do you think? Were the SALT II talks helpful for both nations, or just one? 

Human Rights and US–Soviet Relations

During the time of Detente, US–Soviet relations were beginning to get better. Thanks to Nixon, tension had been relieved and the possibility of a nuclear attack was fading from people's minds. However, come the era of the Carter administration, things began to take a turn for the worse. Matters regarding human rights in the Soviet Union were beginning to trickle into the media in the West and rekindling the flame of hatred that Americans felt for the Soviet Union. People in Russia were beginning to notice the restrictions that the government had put on their basic human rights and this was causing a lot of dissension in Russia. However, the government did not like this and began to arrest and imprison those who spoke out for human rights and claimed these activists were participating in treason against the government. After some time, a large group of Russian citizens who wanted better human rights policies signed and smuggled to the West a document called Charter 77. When the Soviet government found out about this Charter, the KGB was sent to find and arrest all who signed and/or helped in the creation and smuggling of Charter 77. However, the West was using this document and the information being sent by those in Russia in the media to help fuel the flame of activism that the American citizens were feeling toward Soviet human rights. Protests broke out advocating for human rights in the Soviet Union and the Helsinki Watch was started. This was America's way of looking out for violations of human rights in Russia and helping those who have been punished for speaking out against the Russian government. It may seem as though the US was sticking its nose into someone else's business, but just because they were in Detente does not mean the negativity toward communism had simply vanished in the US. These human rights issues simply gave America another reason to act out toward Russia and rekindle the tension between the two nations. My question for you all is do you think America (and Russia) handled the situation well? What could they have done differently?

Watergate

This Friday, we finished the Watergate worksheet/documentary in class. The Watergate scandal ultimately led to the downfall of President Nixon. The the thing is, was President Nixon really involved in the scandal? If he didn't have resigned, should he have been impeached? I think that, although Nixon wasn't directly involved in the scandal himself, he should have been impeached for everything he did afterwards. After the the crooks were caught after they breached the Democrat offices, Nixon began to do everything he could to keep the people involved from confessing and keeping up the cover-up. He paid people hush money which is obstruction of justice. When the government began to look more closely into the case and discovered that Nixon had something that they needed from it, the tapes, Nixon continued to refuse to hand over the tapes to Congress which is contempt of Congress. And when he did finally hand over the tapes, they had "lost" 2 and "accidentally" erased part of a 3rd tape. Everything Nixon did to keep his cover up during the investigation of the Watergate scandal seemed to be against the laws. Nixon did obstruction of justice, abuse of power, and contempt of Congress. When the bigger pictures is seen, although Nixon wasn't directly involved in the scandal, everything he did afterwards, from the lying and abuse, should have gotten him impeached. What do you guys think? Do you think Nixon should be impeached if he didn't resign?

Documentary of the Watergate Scandal

Today we took notes on the Watergate scandal and witnessed how it escalated quickly to ending the Presidency of President Nixon. From the video and notes that I have seen and taken, I believe that it was wrong for Nixon to have hidden such important evidence from the jury, such as the tapes. By hiding the tapes Nixon made himself more suspicious, causing a lot of controversy with the American people, making them believe that he was hiding something. Some suspicious things that Nixon did was firing many of his people that worked for him or letting them go for a time off, Nixon had also ordered a reporter to write a report on him, saying that President Nixon himself, had absolutely nothing to do with the Watergate scandal. As the scandal got bigger, many who were involved in the scandal would order money from the White House in order to keep quiet from saying anything, this money was know as "hush money." Before the end of Nixon's Presidency the jury ordered for Nixon to give up the tapes, and after receiving the tapes what seemed odd from the them was that two apparently did not exist, and some had a few minutes deleted from them. From the tapes they later discovered from a conversation with Nixon and his men that Nixon ordered to asked for the FBI to forget all about the Watergate Scandal in order to get away with it, Nixon would've gotten in a huge mess for lying to the FBI, except that a few days later Nixon had ended his Presidency.

Notes on: Johnson, Nixon, Detente and Vietnam

Today in class we took Notes on Johnson, Nixon, Detente and Vietnam, below are some interesting and important notes that I took:

• Continued policies largely consistent with other presidents (Containment, Truman Doctrine, Domino Theory, Regional Defense Pacts)
• Fear of “Soft on Communism”
• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on 1964
• "Rolling Thunder”
• Escalation
• Pacification: “Search and Destroy”
• Attrition: Body Counts: Favorable Kill Ratios
• “Winning Hearts and Minds” Relocation Strategy
• Limited War: Attrition

Vietnam and Nixon:

• "Peace with Honor"
• Vietnamization and with drawl of major US combat forces
• Cambodia and Laos in 1970
• Mining of Haiphong Harbor
• Intensified bombing campaign such as Christmas Bombing 1972
• Paris Accords (January 1973)

Vietnam Legacy:

• War between Vietnam and Cambodia  broke out in 1978, border skirmishes with China in 1978 through 1970
• US cost of deaths: 58,000
• KIA: 300,000 wounded
• With 150 billion in dollars

Detente:

• Nixon and China ping pong to Mao
• SALT was on 1972
• Wars by Proxy
• The Middle East: Six Day War and the Yom Kipper War 

The differences of the US and USSR

The US and USSR obviously have very different ideas and beliefs when it comes to government and basically everything else. Although they have major differences, for a while, they still seemed to be able to get along well enough to figure out some sort of agreement to get along better or detente. But eventually their differences get in the way of their agreements and begin making it hard for the US and USSR to have a better relationship. Their beliefs were just too different. For example, Americans are all about human rights and the protection of human rights. But to the Soviets, human rights are a foreign idea, they don't understand it and don't believe in it. So when the US government tried to get the USSR to sign something that involved giving citizens basic human rights, the USSR didn't really understand it and didn't want to accept it, stopping them from detente. The same idea happened with immigration. The US thought that the Soviet Union should allow people to immigrate wherever they pleased, but the Soviet Union didn't understand their viewpoint, creating tension between the 2 countries again.

Nixon's Resignation

Today in class we continued our "Detente" worksheet, we also finished watching a video which involved with President Nixon resigning from his Presidency only because he was accused of stealing something having to do with the Watergate scandal. With the Watergate scandal it cost a lot of controversy between Nixon and the country, causing Nixon to loose most of his political support, later leading to his resignation on August 9, 1974. When the Soviet Union heard about this scandal they were surprised because of the fact that stealing between the Soviets was a normal act, and finding out that just because of a minor "rumor" America had gotten rid of their President seemed kind of silly t them. After Nixon resigned, Vice President Gerald Rudolph Ford took over the office.

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Detente

Today we watched a video which discussed the topic detente. Detente means relaxation in French which is what the USSR and the US wanted to do. During this period the USSR was focusing on avoiding war and having a constructive relationship with the US. The US was focusing on Vietnamization (trying to get the Vietnamese to fight their own war) and was hoping that they could work something out with the USSR so they don't have to worry about Vietnam anymore. It was during the Moscow Summit of 1972 that laid down the foundations of detente for the US and USSR and began the SALT talks.

Ending involvement with Vietnam

Today in class we worked on the "Detente" worksheet, during this period in the United States Nixon had recently been elected for President. His reputation was very strong towards the Americans and as a communist no one viewed him as a weak President, giving the people of America hope that he would be strong enough to pull America from war in a way that they wouldn't get defeated. Instead of having a victory and a defeat, they would end war in a very peaceful way with Vietnam. While trying to end their involvement with Vietnam President Nixon gave a speech to the people who did not protest and did not cause trouble to the Gov. calling it the "Silent Majority" speech. With this speech Nixon hoped to gain support from the American people in order to end war faster.

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