Start of the Cold War

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/churchill-iron.html

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1946stalin.html

Read these excerpts from Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech and Stalin's response. What were the issues of conflict according to these two leaders? How did the recent experience of WWII shape their rhetoric as well as the substance of their speeches? Where was President Truman's input during this exchange?

What was the Truman Doctrine:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1947TRUMAN.html Why did President Truman feel the need for the United States to take on this responsibility? How do the issues and rhetoric of this speech compare to those seen in the above speeches by Churchill and Stalin from the year before? What primary source of tension was evident in all these speeches?

Cuban Missile Crisis

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1960khrushchev-cuba1.html

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1961-kennedy-cuba1.html

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1962kennedy-cuba.html

Read these speeches from President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev. What were the substantive issues that incited the conflict over Cuba? How had the rhetoric of these leaders changed in comparison to that of their predecessors from the immediate postwar era? Based on these documents and your textbook, how had the Cold War changed, if at all, from 1945 to 1962?

End of the Cold War

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/evilemp.htm

Read this 1982 speech by President Reagan in which he calls the USSR the "Evil Empire." How does the rhetoric in this speech compare to that of the earlier Cold War speeches we have read? What, if anything, had changed in the U.S.-USSR relationship by 1982? Is this speech in any way reflective of the end of the Cold War? Why or why not?

Cold War Olympic Sports