Collapse of Peace, The: Truman Gets Tough with Soviets Leading to Potsdam
Roosevelt is dying and leaves his successor Truman uninformed and poorly prepared. Truman berates foreign minister Molotov for Russia's not keeping its bargain at Yalta, but in reality there is little the U.S. can do to compel the Soviet Union to li...
Collapse of Peace, The: Sources of Soviet-American Tension
Even before the end of World War II, there are signs of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. Once hostilities are over tensions mount and become what is known as the Cold War, a dangerous rivalry that will cast a shadow over inter...
Crisis of Authority: Watergate Crisis, The
Watergate includes a range of illegal activities that go beyond the break in at the Democratic National Headquarters. The use of illegal election funds to punish political opponents is just one of a number of disclosures that reveal the secret power...
Crisis of Authority: Downfall of a President, The
The public stands behind President Nixon in the wake of the Watergate scandal until tape recordings reveal that the President was involved. Nixon continues to deny involvement and alludes turning the tapes over, until the Supreme Court demands the t...
Collapse of Peace, The: Containment Doctrine, The
A new American doctrine is slowly emerging. Rather than attempting to create a unified, "open" world, the United States and its allies will work to contain threat of further Soviet expansion, first by political and economic measures then later throu...
Other America, The: Eisenhower's Use of Covert Action to Accomplish U.S. Aims
The agreement ending hostilities in Korea is signed. Eisenhower feels that covert actions using the CIA is a better way to project American influence than military confrontations. The CIA overthrows the Prime Minister of Iran in 1953 because it is b...
Other America, The: Eisenhower, Dulles, and the Cold War
Only weeks after Eisenhower becomes president Stalin dies, and the two superpowers begin to edge away from direct confrontation. American policy is cautious in relation to the 1953 East German uprising as the administration initiates a sizeable food...
Fallout: HUAC Investigations and the Federal Loyalty Program
The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its probe to uncover subversive activities in 1947. Disloyalty charges are leveled against Alger Hiss, a former State Department official. Truman initiates a program to assess the "loyalty" of federa...
Right Turn: Ford Custodianship, The
As Gerald Ford is thrust into the presidency, America is a troubled nation, numbed by the Watergate scandal, the fall of Vietnam, and the nation's economic difficulties. Ford's increasing skill in foreign affairs results in his distancing himself fr...
Right Turn: Fading of the Reagan Revolution, The
Reagan's personal popularity diverts attention from a series of scandals that might have destroyed another administration. A plan arises for Israel to sell weapons to Iran, weapons that the United States would then replenish. Iran would then encoura...