U.S. History

• The purpose of the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT) was to expand international trade by mutual reduction of tariffs.
• The United Nations (U.N.) statement of principles was based on the belief that an international peacekeeping organization could settle disputes without warfare.
• Since its foundation in 1945, the United Nations has provided a forum for

  international negotiations. 
• President Eisenhower supported the establishment of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) as an attempt to restrict communist aggression in Asian countries.
• The containment policy during the Cold War was intended to stop communist aggression.
• The Korean War was caused by the invasion of South Korea by Communist North Korean forces with Soviet approval.
• The Truman Doctrine was a formal statement of the U.S. intention to aid any country threatened by communist aggression.
• The Truman Doctrine was pledged on the part of Greece and Turkey to resist the spread of communism in the region.
• The United States approved the Marshall plan in 1947 to provide massive aid to help rebuild the war-torn economies of Europe. 
• The Soviet launching of “Sputnik” in 1957 was considered a wake up call to Americans because it was viewed as a sign that the U.S. was falling behind the Soviets in missile technology. 
• The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 is the closest the United States and the Soviet Union have come to fighting during the Cold War. 
• Senator Joseph McCarthy caused fear of communists by claiming there were communists in the State Department “I have here in my hand a list of 205 … as being members of the Communist Party”
• The McCarthy era was characterized by the fear of communists (Red Scare 2)from 1950-1954. 
• President Kennedy’s initial policy goal in Vietnam was to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam.
• Lyndon B. Johnson’s action toward Vietnam in the 1960’s was to escalate the military involvement.
• President Johnson’s appeal to Congress for more ability to protect our troops led to the 1964 passage of a Joint Resolution of Congress (AKA the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) that expanded the President’s power to send troops into armed conflict. 
• The Vietnam conflict (Presidents’ being less than honest about Vietnam) led to the passage of the 1973 War Powers Act(which limited Presidents’ power to commit troops to armed conflict without Congressional approval).
• President Reagan’s massive increase in military spending (esp. SDI) put pressure on the Soviet Union’s economy, which led to reforms and the Soviet Union dissolving in December of  1991, thus ending the Cold War.
• The tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 are two events that signaled the end of the Cold War.
• In the 20th Century, the biggest long-term problems between the United States and Mexico has been drugs, guns and immigration.