Saddam Hussein: Rise and Fall of a Dictator

Saddam Hussein was the President of Iraq for 24 year, beginning in 1979, and is well-known for his dictatorial rule and subsequent capture and execution. He proved himself a ruthless politician and rose to power as part of a coup, and as the nation's leader, he did much to improve Iraq's economy, education, health-care, and industry, particular in the area of oil. However, he was largely condemned in the Western Hemisphere for his brutality, and is thought to have caused over 250,000 deaths.

He was born in the town of Al-Awja on April 28, 1937, to a family of shepherds. He lived under the guidance of his uncle in his early years after fleeing from his harsh stepfather. He studied at an Iraqi law school but dropped out at the age of 20 to join a revolutionary political party. As a member of this Ba'ath party, he helped overthrow the country's ruler in a military coup. Eventually, the Ba'ath party came to control the government, and Saddam gained power steadily, first as the deputy chairman of the council, then as the party's clear moving force. He became the president of Iraq on July 17, 1979.

Saddam solidified his power through various means. Iraq had always been split into countless factions, which was a major cause of tension between groups like the Sunni and Shi'ite. He moved up the government ranks by working on ways to strengthen the unity of his party and expand its influence, while addressing the country's major domestic problems. In addition, he not only improved living standards, but also actively repressed rising factions. He dominated the oil industry, but also diversified the Iraqi economy through a campaign that helped the nation's energy industries and brought electricity to most of the country's cities.

However, he also showed a ruthless side. During an assembly meeting shortly after he became president, 68 names were read off of a list. These people were promptly arrested, tried, and found guilty of treason, with many of them being sentenced to death. By August of 1979, hundreds more of Saddam Hussein's political enemies had been executed. He also caused thousands of deaths by invading oil-rich regions of Iran and later Kuwait. This is what prompted a UN coalition to confront the Iraqi forces and drive them back in a crushing defeat.

Much like previous authoritarian dictators before him, Saddam Hussein developed a cult of personality that was constantly present throughout society. There were thousands of portraits and statues of him, and he was often shown in a positive light, portrayed wearing either Western suits or as a devout Muslim. He conducted two show elections, in which he received exactly 100% of the people's votes.

Saddam Hussein's fall began when the Bush administration began to suspect his ties to al Qaeda, headed by Osama bin Laden, and named Iraq a part of the "Axis of Evil." There were claims that the country was developing weapons of mass destruction, even though inspections by the UN gave little or no evidence. US forces toppled the Iraqi government regardless, and after an extensive search, Saddam Hussein was caught, tried for crimes against humanity, and sentenced to death. However, his legacy and influence lives on, in the form of both benefits and harm to his country.

Reaganomics: a two sided coin

Reaganomics: a two sided coin

The 1977-1981 presidency under Jimmy Carter was, as many historians say, one of the most misfortunate presidencies through American History. From oil crisis’ to massive increases in poverty, this era was unsuccessful in achieving any of the goals set by President Carter. By the end of this era there was consistent “stagflation”, or high poverty and high inflation coupled with little to no economic progress. At the end of his presidency his popularity had eroded so much that his running mate, President Ronald Reagan managed to win 44/50 states.

Coming into this setting, President Reagan found himself in a precarious position. Luckily for him, congress was willing to try anything new to try and stop the rising inflation and unemployment. The main policies that Reagan preached were less government spending, a 30% tax cut, as well as decreased spending on social welfare programs. This policy of tax breaks became known as Reaganomics.

At first this massive tax cut increased inflation and sparked a heavy recession in 1881. However, after this initial cut, the nation’s economy seemed to be growing. Rather than stagflation, there was steadily increasing productivity. Many historians credit Reagan with saving America in a time of heavy deposits, but what many do not take into consideration is the massive changes he made in the class system. Under Reagan, the upper middle class and the rich were given a 25% tax cut. This was put into action with the thought that allowing the upper class to have a tax break would allow for increased spending by this class, which would put money back into the system. This would allow for some movement in the consumer economy, but the immediate effects were felt not by the upper classes, but rather by the lower class as a massive recession hit the country. While the economy was able to stabilize by 1883, the unemployment rate had already risen to 10%. Reagan was also a heavy advocate for less government welfare programs. He believed that they took up too much of government spending which could be used for the military or to count against the massive debt he had stockpiled in his years in office. Overall, which Reagan’s policies were able to kickstart the American economy back to a place where it could compete on the global scale as a world power, his policies were merely supportive of the rich, and we can attribute at least some of modern day’s socio economic gap to these policies.

The Manhattan Project

Background:

The Manhattan Project also known as the making of the Atomic Bomb started when President Roosevelt received the Einstein–Szilárd letter on August 2, 1939. The letter encouraged United States to make use of Nuclear Weapons in the war before Nazi Germany was hit by this idea. After receiving this letter, Roosevelt authorized the National Defense Research Committee to explore and research further about Nuclear Weapons and how they are built and all  other things including the costs etc. Then the NDRC formed the S-1 Uranium Committee under the guidance of Lyman Briggs. Since Britain was busy in the war, the Americans increased their speed of the nuclear research.

The Making:

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the S-1 committee held its first meeting on December 18, 1941. In this meeting they discussed the several techniques and designs for the project. The funding was authorized by Roosevelt in June 1942. The project was re-designated the "Manhattan District" on August 13. During the summer of 1942, the project was led by Colonel James Marshall. He explored sites for facilities, but was unable to secure the needed priority by the US Army. Bush then replaced Marshall in September with Brigadier General Leslie Groves. 

Weapon Design:

As production ensued elsewhere, Oppenheimer and the team at Los Alamos worked on designing the atomic bomb. Early work focused "gun-type" designs which fired one piece of uranium into another to create a nuclear chain reaction. While this approach proved promising for uranium-based bombs, it was less so for those utilizing plutonium. As a result, the scientists at Los Alamos began developing an implosion design for a plutonium-based bomb as this material was relatively more plentiful. By July 1944, the bulk of the research was focused on the plutonium designs and the uranium gun-type bomb was less of a priority.

The Trinity Test:

Oppenheimer felt that a test of the weapon was needed before it could be moved into production. Though plutonium was relatively scarce at the time, Groves authorized the test and assigned planning for it to Kenneth Bainbridge in March 1944. Bainbridge pushed forward and selected the Alamogordo Bombing Range as the detonation site. Though he originally planned to use a containment vessel to recover the fissile material, Oppenheimer later elected abandon it as plutonium had become more available. A pre-test explosion was conducted on May 7, 1945. This was followed by the construction of a 100-ft. tower at the site. The implosion test device, nicknamed "The Gadget," was hoisted to the top to simulate a bomb falling from an aircraft. At 5:30 AM on July 16, with all the key Manhattan Project members present, the device was successfully detonated with energy equivalent of around 20 kilotons of TNT. Alerting President Harry S. Truman, then at the Potsdam Conference, the team began moving to build atomic bombs using the test's results.

Little Boy and Fat Man:

Little Boy fell for fifty-seven seconds, before detonating at the predetermined height of 1,900 feet with a blast equivalent to about 13-15 kilotons of TNT. Creating an area of complete devastation approximately two miles in diameter, the bomb, with its resulting shock wave and fire storm, effectively destroyed around 4.7 square miles of the city, killing 70,000-80,000 and injuring another 70,000. Its use was quickly followed three days later when "Fat Man," an implosion plutonium bomb, fell on Nagasaki. Generating a blast equivalent of 21 kilotons of TNT, it killed 35,000 and wounded 60,000. With the use of the two bombs, Japan quickly sued for peace.

Aftermath:

Costing nearly $2 billion and employing approximately 130,000 people, the Manhattan Project was one of the US' largest endeavors during World War II. Its success ushered in the nuclear age which saw nuclear power harnessed for both military and peaceful purposes. Work on nuclear weapons continued under the Manhattan Project's jurisdiction and saw further testing in 1946 at Bikini Atoll. Control of nuclear research passed to the United States Atomic Energy Commission on January 1, 1947 following the passage of the Atomic Energy Act of 1946. Though a highly secret program, the Manhattan Project was penetrated by Soviet spies, including Fuchs, during the war. As a result of his work, and that of others such as Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the US' atomic hegemony ended in 1949 when the Soviets detonated their first nuclear weapon.

Sources:

• Class notes/powerpoints
• Homework Readings
• Documentaries on WWII focusing on nuclear weapons
• http://www.ushistory.org/us/51f.asp
• http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/mp/
• http://www.britannica.com/event/Manhattan-Project

Watergate and Nixon

On the morning of June 17th 1972, in the Watergate hotel in Washington, the Democratic party's national committee offices were broken into. However the burglars were arrested inside the office because the security guard at the time was good at his job. Before President Richard Nixon's reelections, the United States was deeply internally divided because of the Vietnam war. Nixon and his advisors believed that in the country's political state a forceful campaign was necessary for reelection. Members of the committee to reelect President Nixon broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters to tap phones, and steal top secret documents. However as we usually see in movies the bad guys were bad at their job, and had to break in a second time on June 17th, because they did the wire the phones correctly the first time. The security guard saw that the locks had been taped and called the police who caught the burglars. The burglars could not be clearly connected to the president, until the police found the phone number to the reelection committee in their bag. Two months later Nixon gave a speech promising the public none of his staff were involved, and surprisingly the public believed him, and elected him again. While he made this promise, it was discovered that he paid the burglars hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep them quiet, as well as used the CIA to interfere and cease the FBI's investigation into the break in. In try to cover up the true, Nixon abused his presidential power, obstructed justice, and did way worse things than the actual break in. 7 conspirators were on charges related to the break in, but 5 were convinced by Nixon's aides to plea guilty and avoided trial, but the other two were convicted in 1973. This is when the public began to suspect a conspiracy, and the pressure was too much for some close to Nixon who testified against him, and revealed that every conversation in the oval office was on tape. Some of the tapes had evidence to prove Nixon's guilt, and he and the courts went back and fourth demanding and refusing the presentation of the tapes. By early 1947, 7 of Nixon's aides were on charges related to the Watergate scandal. In July of that year the Supreme Court order Nixon to turn over the tapes, and while he stalled as long he could, the House of Representatives used obstruction of justice, abuse of power, criminal over up, and constitutional violations as grounds for impeachment. Before he ever released the raw tapes, he released edited transcripts to the public of the tapes. The public was horrified by what they read, and on August 5th Nixon released the raw tapes under supreme court order. 3 days later Nixon resigned as president, as impeachment was imminent. While Nixon did many things wrong and should have spent much time in prison, Gerald Ford, the successor to Nixon pardoned him for his crimes while in office. Nixon's aides were convicted and sent to federal prison. After all the evidence was released, and Nixon was clearly guilty, he never admitted to any criminal wrongdoing, but blamed the whole situation of poor judgement. The scandal brought down an already dismayed country after the outcomes of the Vietnam war, and the previous years. The public became cynical, and mistrusting. 

http://watergate.info/burglary

http://www.history.com/topics/watergate

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/watergate/

President Harry Truman

Harry Truman was the 33rd president of the United States until 1953, after President Franklin Roosevelt. He did many memorable things like rebuild postwar Europe, contain communism, drop the atomic bomb on Japan, and lead the US into the Korean war. Born on May 8th 1884, in Lamar, Missouri on a farm, Harry was a smart student, yet was financially unable to attend college after he graduated high school in 1901. He had many small jobs while he helped his father on the farm, and served in the Missouri National Guard. In 1917 when WW1 began he reenlisted and was sent to France where he was promoted to captain. After the war a Kansas political boss helped him get elected as the district judge in Jackson county, where he handled finance, and public projects. In 1926 he became the presiding judge and was reelected 4 years later because of his integrity and efficiency. 4 years after that he became a senator on the US senate, and highly supported Roosevelt's new deal programs which were trying to help America out of the Great Depression. While in the senate he saved taxpayers millions, and was admired for his assembly of the "Truman committee," which worked to reduce military spending. During Roosevelt's 4th term, he chose Truman as his running mate, and 3 months after he was elected Roosevelt suddenly died due to health reasons at age 63, leaving Harry Truman as the President of the United States. Truman was first at a loss as he had only spoke with Roosevelt a couple times before his death, and had no idea about the atomic bomb being constructed. After the Potsdamn Conference, Truman approved the atomic bomb attack on Japan to try and end the war in the Pacific, and prevent an invasion from Japan. In 1945 on August 14th the Japanese surrendered, however his approval of the use of the atomic bomb is still thought to be one of the most controversial decisions made by any US president. At the start of the cold war, Truman began a containment policy toward soviet expansion and communism. He also introduced the Truman Doctrine to protect Greece and Turkey from communist aggression, as well as the Marshall plan which donated billions to help rebuild the European nations. He airlifted food and supplies to Berlin in 1948 which was being blockaded by the Soviet Union. His popularity was decreasing as the American economy was deteriorating, however in the next election, he travelled by railroad around the country giving speeches, and surprisingly was reelected as President. His second term began 1949, and his inauguration speech was the first ever to be televised. He immediently began a social reform plan, known as the Fair Deal, that had national medical insurance, federal housing, higher min wage, farmer assistance, repeal of the Taft-Hartley labor act, more social security, and civil rights reforms. While Congress prevented most of this he did introduce the housing act of 1949, issued desegregation in the armed forces, and prevented federal job discrimination. He supported NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), and appointed Dwight Eisenhower as the first commander of the 12 country military alliance. In 1950 Truman sent planes to help South Korea after the North Korean invasion, and while it preserved South Koreas independence, Truman was disliked for this. After his second term ended Truman left the Presidency to Eisenhower in 1953.

http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/harry-truman
https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/harrystruman
http://millercenter.org/president/truman
http://millercenter.org/president/biography/truman-life-in-brief

Between Brezhnev and Gorbachev

There were many things about the American political system that the Soviets failed to understand. If the fact that Watergate was able to depose Richard Nixon was puzzling for the Politboro, then the fact that the leader of the Western world had to voluntarily give up power every four to eight years must have been even more so. When Leonid Brezhnev died, he had spent the better half of his 16-year term as the Soviet leader with a multitude of health problems. Perhaps ironically, his two successors served barely three years each before their own respective deaths. So why did the Soviets choose two ailing old men to lead their country?

Yuri Andropov, for his part, had a hard and far-reaching reputation of suppressing dissent as head of the KGB. He ordered the crackdown on the 1968 Prague Spring, and presided over the persecution of would-be emigres and exiles. It came as no surprise to the West when he continued Brezhnev's aggressive foreign policy upon appointment as General Secretary in 1982 by continuing the War in Afghanistan, and breaking off arms controls negotiations with the US in 1983. More surprising to the West was Andropov's domestic policy, as he sought to institute systemic reforms that would later be reflected in the programs of Mikhail Gorbachev, his protege. His crusade against corruption, prevalent in the Brezhnev regime, actually scared many officials into committing suicide before they could be investigated.
Asides from Andropov's obvious qualifications as the longest-serving chief in the history of the KGB, his succession of Brezhnev also helped to prevent the power struggle that seemed to be characteristic of Soviet changes in power. At the time of Brezhnev's death, Andropov's primary rival seemed to be Konstantin Chernenko, who would later actually succeed him. Chernenko actually endorsed his rival, thus leaving Andropov as the winner by default. In some ways, Andropov was the closest thing to a consensus candidate that a single-party system could have. Furthermore, his health problems were not immediately clear, so it may have been difficult to anticipate the brevity of his leadership. Andropov died in February 1984 after suffering a kidney failure the year before.

Konstantin Chernenko, after being passed over in favor of Andropov, was not the obvious choice to succeed Andropov. Andropov had in fact chosen Gorbachev as his successor, but his deteriorating health allowed Chernenko to regain his influence in the politburo. After his appointment to chairmanship of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, his subsequent ascendance to power was almost guaranteed. Gorbachev remained the likely successor to Chernenko instead. However, Chernenko's poor health prevented him from having a substantial change in policy, although in his brief time as general secretary he stemmed the tide of Andropov's reforms and returned to Brezhnev's hardline policies.

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/11/06/books/the-emergence-of-yuri-andropov.html?pagewanted=all
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Yuri_Andropov
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fr4yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Be8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1471%2C872073
http://countrystudies.us/russia/15.htm
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40395598

The Origins of Ronald Reagan

On February 6, 1911, Ronald Reagan was born to Nelle and John Reagan in Tampico, Illinois. The Reagan family had a very modest lifestyle; they lived in an apartment that lacked plumbing and running water. Ronald Reagan went to Dixon High and later attended Eureka College where he studied economics and sociology. After graduating from college, he found work as a radio sports announcer in Iowa. Reagan was in his mid-20s when World War II started, but was disqualified from combat duty due to his poor eyesight. Because he couldn’t fight, Reagan spent much of his time in the army making training films. 

In 1937, Reagan won a contract with Warner Brothers movie studio while covering a Cub’s spring training session. He made his acting debut in the film “Love is in the air” where he ironically played a radio news reporter. Reagan would later appear in more than 50 movies and acted in films like “Knute Rockne All American” and Kings Row. He wasn’t quite a movie star but was able to remain relevant in the film industry. In 1940, Reagan married actress Jane Wyman and had two children together. The couple would later divorce and Reagan married again, this time to actress Nancy Davis, who he also had two children with. It is interesting to note that in the history of presidents, Reagan is the only one to have been divorced. 

From 1954 to 1962, Reagan hosted a television drama series called “The General Electric Theater.” In the show, Reagan traveled around the US as a public relations for General Electric and gave pro-business talks in which he criticized the government for having too much power and spending wastefully. These topics would later show up in political career. 

Reagan arrived on the political stage in 1964 when he gave a well-liked speech for the Republican presidential candidate. In his younger years, Reagan started as a democrat but as he became more conservative, he transitioned into a Republican. In 1966, Reagan was elected governor of California in a landslide victory winning by almost 1 million votes. He was reelected later in 1970. Reagan made unsuccessful presidential bids in 1968 and 1976, but won the republican presidential nomination in 1980 with his running mate George Bush. In the 1980 election, he faced President Jimmy Carter and won by an electoral margin of 489 to 49 and 51 percent popular vote. He was 69 at the time of the election, the oldest person to be elected as President. As president, Reagan utilized communicating techniques learned from the film industry. He would often time open speeches with a joke and his ability to connect with the audience earned him the nickname, “The Great Communicator.”

Impeachment

The charge of impeachment is a serious offense, one that permanently stains the reputation of a government official. However, impeachment is a fundamental part in the system of checks and balances within the federal government. The process starts with the House of Representatives voting to charge an official with articles of impeachment. Then, a committee of representatives act as prosecutors before the Senate. The Senate becomes both the jury and the judge, with the exception of presidential impeachment trials, where the chief justice of the Supreme Court presides. The articles of impeachment need to have a two-thirds majority vote, and the penalty for an accused officer is removal from office. According to the Constitution, only the most serious of offenses should warrant the impeachment of a president, offenses including, "treason, bribery, or other high crimes or misdemeanors". In the history of the United States, there have only been two presidents who have been impeached: Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) and Bill Clinton (1969-1974). However, Richard Nixon(1969-1974) resigned before he had the chance to be impeached, and remains the only President to resign the office.

The impeachment of Andrew Johnson was a result of the political conflict that came after the Civil War. Before Lincoln was assassinated, he had formulated a plan of allowing the southern states to rejoin the Union. His plan called for amnesty to be granted to states who pledged an oath of loyalty to the United States and agreed to follow federal laws for slavery. Additionally, if a tenth of the voters in a particular state agreed to an oath of loyalty, that state could start sending representatives to Congress. However, some Republicans wanted to set up more stringent terms for the admission of southern states. A political conflict erupted, and only grew when Johnson removed Edwin Stanton, his Secretary of War and stalwart supporter of Congressional Reconstruction, from office. This breached the Tenure of Office Act, which stated that a President could not dismiss appointed officials without the consent of Congress. It was Stanton who called for the impeachment of Johnson. The Senate voted on Johnson's impeachment, and acquitted him by one vote.

In 1972, a security guard caught a group of burglars trying to break into the DNC office and wiretap phones and steal secret documents. It turned out that those burglars were from Nixon's Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP). However, Nixon tried to cover up the incident by offering hush money to the burglars and working with the CIA to prevent the FBI from looking further into the case. This was a blatant abuse of power and a deliberate obstruction of justice. Further investigations brought Nixon's involvement in the scandals to light. Nixon was ordered to release the tapes containing recordings of his conversations in the Oval Office, but he refused to do so, claiming executive privilege. The House of Representatives passed the first article of impeachment against Nixon for obstruction of justice before Nixon finally released the incriminating tapes. 3 days later, he resigned, becoming the first and only President to resign.

Bill Clinton's presidency is considered to be the most investigated presidency ever. For example, Travelgate happened when long-term employees of the White House travel office were fired and replaced with friends of the Clintons from Arkansas. However, the most notorious crisis that Clinton was ever involved with was the Lewinsky Scandal, or Monicagate. Clinton had engaged in an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. After the story leaked, Clinton openly lied to the Senate. The House of Representatives approved the three articles of impeachment on the grounds of perjury, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering, and abuse of power. The Senate, however, voted to acquit Clinton of all charges, and he was able to keep his presidency.

Sources:
http://www.nps.gov/anjo/learn/historyculture/impeachment.htm
http://www.andrewjohnson.com/11BiographiesKeyIndividuals/EdwinMStanton.htm
http://www.history.com/topics/watergate
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nixon-charged-with-first-of-three-articles-of-impeachment
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-clinton-impeached
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/impeachments/clinton.htm

Guatemala Civil War

US and Guatemala relations:

Guatemala is a country located in Central-South America. Throughout its recent history, it has been controlled by a series of military dictators, all beginning with the coup d’etat in 1954 that brought Carlos Castillo Armas into power. This coup d’etat that brought a seemingly democratic ruler into power was, in fact, backed by the United States.

Throughout this time period, the United States was responsible for backing many coups in various governments. One of the larger instances of this policy was in South Vietnam, where they backed Diem’s government. However, what they failed to realize was that while Diem was in fact an ally of democracy, he was not an ally of his people. This inability to chose the correct leader for the people of that region was a prevalent trait of the American system. This same incident was seen when the United States backed the leadership of Castillo. One of the many ways that he disassembled the balance of power in Guatemala and created a dictatorial society was through the illegalization of illiterate voting. This got rid of half of the vote in the country, and he soon found ways to control the rest the voting population. The irony in this is the fact that the United States, mainly the CIA had backed this operation because of his seemingly heavily democratic influence and appreciation, and yet he quickly turned Guatemala into a dictatorial state. Moreover, he created a law that illegalized any leftism in the government, and passed the Preventative Penal Law Against Communism, which “heavily” increased punishment against any communist movements, such as labor unions or actually giving peasants land to work. This created a huge amount of poverty in Guatemala, but was actually also backed by the CIA.

Nowadays there is still tension in Guatemala - Us relations, and it obvious why. The lack of attention to the treatment of citizens in favor of a seemingly US loving satellite was the risk that the United States took with many countries. Sadly, in almost all of them this led to destruction of government and increased poverty and unemployment.

Gorbachev

Gorbachev:

Mikhail Gorbachev was the successor of Russian Soviet leader Brezhnev, and was the eighth and last leader of this massive communist nation. While many leaders of this nation were known for their strict control of the media and their distrust and dislike of the US, Gorbachev brought a new era in the Soviet Union.

The first prominent change that Gorbachev implemented was his two policies of perestroika, or reconstruction, and “glasnost”, free speech. These two policies were major impacts on the soviet mentality and economy. Compared to the world war two era soviet Russia, as well as the soviet empire under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, these policies were a complete shock to the starving soviets. Prior to Gorbachev’s rule, soviet workers were run by strict quotas, and much of the populus, especially in the cities, were living at below subsistence levels. Moreover, de-Stalinization was derailed and control of the media was increased under Brezhnev. Even after the Helsinki accords were signed in 1977, there was still repression of any media criticising the government.

Under Gorbachev, the media started to flourish. More and more Western culture was permitted to be shown on the television, and computers were made available to the general public. Rather than Western hate, there was the new idea of acceptance of this culture, and while Russia could not be called capitalist or democratic, it was starting to understand the American system and more intellectuals and youth were being influenced by Western movements. One of the more prevalent among the youth was the incorporation of rock and roll into the music scene.

In terms of reconstruction, one of the most prevalent ways he implemented a major change was the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Before this, he was able to help the economy and bring about less unemployment and place more money into government service industries. However, through the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev was able to establish the Independent Democratic Party of Russia. He was also the one to push for the SALT talks with the United States, and without his pushing for peace amongst the two nations, no one can know how far tensions would have risen and nuclear power would have increased in both nations.

Overall, Gorbachev was a very accomplished ruler. He was able to heavily influence the end of the Cold War, and the reconstruction of Russia. His efforts were awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, and his accomplishments in regard to peace between the United States and Russia are still felt today.

SALT 1

After the Cuban missile crisis, many concerned Americans and soviets hoped for some de-escalation of the tense atmosphere. In fact, many historians nowadays would state that after such a heart stopping moment, those in control of the government and war machine would have opted for some amount of what we would come to call the detente.

However, it wasn’t until 1967 that Johnson called upon the Soviets to discuss some limitation to the arms being developed in both countries. Even then, this was only in response to the ABM system being built around Soviet Russia. The main point of the cold war, and the most assured way to keep both sides from detonating nuclear missiles on enemy soil was the concept of MAD, or mutual assured destruction. With the development of ABM’s, otherwise known as anti-ballistic missiles, there was a defensive system being set up around Russia. This would cause a kink in the idea of MAD, because if they had a defense system then America no longer had a way of retaliating against them in the event of nuclear war. Moreover, there was rumor of the Soviets building a missile with a range long enough to have first strike capabilities on the United States.

As such, the first strategic arms limitation talk, known as SALT 1 discusses the disassembly and limitation of the ABM’s set up around each country. While many might state that this is exactly the opposite of what the United States might want because we would not be able to have any reliable defensive structure around our nation, they would not fully understand the concept of MAD. If there was defense, then mutual destruction was no longer assured. The constant tension between the two countries and the fear was what kept each sure that the other would not detonate on enemy soil. As such, this talk, while not truly creating any lasting solution by any means, was able to continue on the relative safety of each country.