Instruction
Week 7: Discussion Threads
Discussion 1: The Cold War and America
How did the Cold War affect the social and political climate in the United States during the 1950s? In particular, how do you explain McCarthyism and the Red Scare? Can you think of any modern parallels to these events, when fear and paranoia threatened basic American liberties? Elaborate.
I must admit, the Cold War holds a special fascination for me, having been born at the end of it. Many of you may not be old enough to remember the USSR and the threat (if faint by the late 1980s) of nuclear confrontation. Some of you may remember the tensions of the 1950s and 1960s and the numerous crises sparked by the mutual distrust of the "Free" world and the "Communist" one. However, tracing the origins of this distrust is the task of our first discussion question of the week, so I would like us to use Chapter 24's "Origins of the Cold War" to begin.
My question is: According to what you've read, who "started" the Cold War? The US or the USSR? Why do you think so?Remember, both sides considered the other the aggressor. Try to stretch your imagination to connect with the USSR's point of view. To cement these differences, the following pictures might be helpful. Both of them refer to perceptions of the US' "Marshall Plan," designed to assist with European economy recovery after the war:
Source A: The United States' View
Source B: The USSR's View
Discussion #2: Terrorism in the 21st Century
Discuss how you see the "war on terrorism" as of this date. Do you think the United States should be engaged in such a war? Give reasons for or against this war and whether or not we are giving up our own principles to wage it.
• We are going to focus on a discussion of terrorism and its roots in recent history of America in this discussion forum. All of us have felt the impact that 9/11 made on our nation and many of us have seen massive changes in American society because of it. Some of us may have been called upon to go overseas and serve in harm's way because of the policies stemming from terrorism's impacts on the United States and its foreign policy.
However, I'd like to bring our discussion to the events prior to 9/11, the Gulf War of 1990. I would argue that many of the seeds of our future problems, and many lessons to be learned, can be viewed from George H.W. Bush's short invasion of this problematic "rogue" state.
Page 881 in Chapter 29 of our text describes this first American attempt at "nation building" in the Middle East. My question for us to begin with is: How does the "Gulf War" differ from what we know about the Iraq War? Were we justified in this first instance? Why or why not? How did the effects of the war in 1990 lead to 9/11 and the second invasion of Iraq in 2003?