The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Cold War (A Synopsis) - Part V - Sep 27th, 2004

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[SAMWolf]

Lord,

Keep our Troops forever in Your care

Give them victory over the enemy...

Grant them a safe and swift return...

Bless those who mourn the lost.
.

FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer
for all those serving their country at this time.

...................................................................................... ...........................................

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Make Love, Not War: The Sixties

HAVES/HAVE NOTS

In 1960, John F. Kennedy -- who seemed to many the embodiment of a new age -- was elected president of the United States. Kennedy had attacked President Eisenhower's conduct of the Cold War and promised to defend the free world against communism. He increased the U.S. military budget, creating thousands more defense industry jobs.

Gov. George Wallace blocks the doorway to Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, June 11, 1963.

But while the U.S. economy was booming, the good life was not available to all Americans. In many Southern states, laws prevented blacks and whites from traveling together, eating together, or even going to the same school. Black Americans were denied jobs and the right to vote. Civil rights activists held peaceful demonstrations -- but were often beaten and jailed just the same.

Gov. George Wallace of Alabama saw the growing civil rights movement as part of a communist conspiracy -- a view shared privately by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Discrimination against blacks -- covered extensively on television -- damaged America's credibility as freedom's champion in the Cold War.

THE GREAT SOCIETY

Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. His successor, Lyndon Johnson, had a vision of the Great Society. Central to that vision was a war against poverty and the abolition of racial discrimination. Johnson was able to pass the Civil Rights Act in 1964 -- and later that year won an easy victory against his Republican opponent, Sen. Barry Goldwater, who denounced Johnson's Great Society as creeping socialism.


Lyndon Johnson's swearing-in as President

Meanwhile, dissent was flourishing on America's campuses. At the University of California at Berkeley, students borrowed the tactics of the Civil Rights Movement, organizing strikes and sit-ins.

SEX/WAR

American ideals of political freedom were now being extended into the personal realm. The availability of new birth control such as "The Pill" revolutionized many peoples' views on sexual behavior.

In 1965, Johnson began sending U.S. ground troops to Vietnam. Despite the extension of the military draft, Johnson's efforts in Vietnam enjoyed popular support.

COUNTERCULTURE

While some Americans went off to war in Vietnam, others were challenging what was termed "the Establishment." They rejected materialism -- not for communism but instead for love, peace, drugs and rock 'n' roll. All over the United States, young men of draft age were turning on, tuning in and dropping out.



A vast majority of America spurned the new counterculture. But protests against the war were growing -- with marches and draft-card burnings. Meanwhile, America's war in Vietnam dragged on. By 1967, 500,000 U.S. soldiers were there.

DISCONTENT

In America's inner cities, some black activists trained as paramilitaries in what they saw as a civil war against a racist police force. Led by Huey Newton, they called themselves the Black Panthers. By the summer of 1967, discontent boiled over into riots in several major U.S. cities. By March 1968, with a growing war in Vietnam and conflict at home, Johnson declared he would not run for a second term as president.


Martin Luther Kings Assassination

1968 also saw the killings of two prominent Americans. Civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead by a white gunman. Several weeks later, Robert Kennedy -- brother of the late president and himself a presidential candidate -- was killed while campaigning in California.

CRACKDOWN

In August 1968, Democratic Party delegates arrived in Chicago to pick their candidate for the November presidential elections. Along with the delegates came about 100,000 anti-war demonstrators. The protesters gathered in city parks in preparation for a march on the convention hall. But Chicago Mayor Richard Daley had no intention of allowing them to take over the convention . On the day the Democrats were due to nominate their presidential candidate, the demonstrators battled with police.


1968 Democratic convention besieged by protesters

The situation inside the convention hall was also combative. Supporters of anti-war candidate Eugene McCarthy were prevented from debating the war. Vice President Hubert Humphrey became the Democratic presidential candidate. With a promise to crack down on lawlessness, his Republican opponent, Richard Nixon, won the November elections by less than 1 percent of the vote. The Cold War, and the war in Vietnam, would continue.

[SAMWolf]

Red Spring: The Sixties

KHRUSHCHEV

In the early 1960s, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev believed that socialism had to be liberated from the debris of bureaucracy and the terrors of Stalinism. He wanted to liberalize the system step by step -- making the U.S.S.R. happy as well as powerful.

Nikita Khrushchev

Khrushchev was impatient to see his people living as well as Americans -- or even better. To solve the national housing shortage, prefabricated apartment blocks shot up around every Soviet city. Living conditions improved, but there was still a shortage of goods in the shops. Khrushchev tried to shift the planned economy toward light industry and consumer needs. But the Soviet establishment, set in its ways, resisted change.

CATCHING UP

To solve the Soviet food shortage, Khrushchev rushed through agricultural reforms. He launched the Virgin Lands campaign, which plowed up the natural grasslands of central Asia and planted them with wheat. Khrushchev boasted the U.S.S.R. would overtake America in production of meat, milk and grain. Volunteers poured out to the Virgin Lands, filled with patriotic and communist zeal. But the Virgin Lands program was a failure. There were not enough fertilizers, railroad cars or grain silos. Much of the harvest was wasted.

More and more Russians, meanwhile, were getting a taste of such amenities as the company picnic -- and paid vacations at resorts run by the Communist Party and trade unions. Aspects of Western lifestyle also began to filter into the Warsaw Pact. Soviet teen-agers, imitating their Western counterparts, narrowed their trousers. But those caught wearing such garb were severely punished by militia and other officials. And, despite state disapproval, new music, ideas about art and dances from the West were also entering the Soviet lifestyle.

OUSTER/UNREST

The Soviet people, officials and citizens alike, were losing patience with Khrushchev. His great plans all seemed to end up badly. They found him a clownish, irresponsible leader who had nearly blundered into a nuclear war with the United States over Cuba. The Soviet Politburo selected Leonid Brezhnev to lead an attack on Khrushchev. In October 1964, Khrushchev was deposed.

Leonid I. Brezhnev

Stability was restored in the Soviet Union, but unrest stirred elsewhere in the Warsaw Pact. By February 1968, reformers within the Czechoslovak government were taking over. Brezhnev, now Soviet leader, flew to Prague to meet with the new Czechoslovak leader, Alexander Dubcek. Brezhnev accepted that some change was inevitable. But what was taking place in Czechoslovakia was already shocking the rest of the communist world.

RED SPRING

The reformers in Czechoslovakia were confident they could modernize communism. The party would still lead -- but by consent, not force. There would be freedom to speak and write, to travel and organize. There would even be a form of market economy. Dubcek's vision was called "socialism with a human face."

Alexander Dubcek in Bratislava, 1968

One of the first changes in Czechoslovakia that year was an end to censorship. Suddenly, newspapers were filled with truth, revealing the crimes of earlier Stalinist times. Crowds gathered in the streets to debate issues. Meanwhile, Soviet dislike of Dubcek's reforms had turned to fear that the Czechoslovak Communist Party might lose power. There was also concern that Dubcek might change sides in the Cold War.

BEAR CLAW

Threats from Moscow and elsewhere in the Warsaw Pact failed to make Dubcek change from his path of reform. In July 1968, the entire Soviet Politburo arrived from Moscow with renewed demands. The Czechoslovak leaders agreed to some concessions. But it was too late. The Soviets had already decided to solve their problem in Czechoslovakia by force.

On the night of August 21, Soviet and Warsaw Pact armies invaded Czechoslovakia. Dubcek and other Czech leaders were arrested. By morning, when Soviet forces had reached the center of Prague, crowds of people took to the streets -- trying to reason with the tank crews. Clashes broke out, bringing death and destruction to the Czech capital. The Czechoslovak experiment, the most daring attempt to marry communism with democracy, had failed.

[SAMWolf]

China: 1949-1972
A NEW CHINA

In 1949, the People's Liberation Army arrived in Beijing -- celebrating a communist victory and the end of their decades-long civil war against the Nationalists. Led by Mao Tse-tung, the communists establish the People's Republic of China. The U.S. government, which had considered China among its allies in Asia, is devastated by the "loss" of China to the communists.


Mao Tse-tung

Exhausted by the long war, Mao needed external help for China's reconstruction. One of his first acts is to visit Moscow, seeking military protection and economic aid. Mao wanted to conclude a Chinese-Soviet friendship treaty with Stalin -- but the two leaders remained wary of each other. After several months of negotiation, the Chinese and the Soviets signed a mutual defense treaty -- which also guaranteed aid for China.

REFORM/WAR

China's new rulers embarked on radical land reforms. Land was taken from private owners and handed to the peasants. Former landowners were denounced and humiliated. One million people lost their lives.



In 1950 North Korea -- with Soviet and Chinese backing -- attacked South Korea. Forces under a U.S.-led United Nations command pushed the North Korean invaders back to the Chinese border. China feared an attack on its own territory -- and sent more than 1 million troops across the border into Korea. More than 500,000 Chinese were killed in the Korean conflict.

TENSIONS

Stalin's death in 1953 had a deep impact in China. Despite Mao's misgivings, he had long respected Stalin's iron authority. Nikita Khrushchev soon emerged from the Kremlin power struggle as the new Soviet leader. Khrushchev and his Politburo visited China to maintain the Beijing-Moscow alliance -- a move that made the new Eisenhower administration in Washington increasingly anxious. As part of its policy to contain communism, the United States financed a military buildup on Taiwan -- home for the Chinese Nationalists.



But Mao did not give way to the American show of strength. His forces shelled the Nationalist-held islands of Quemoy and Matsu. The rising U.S.-Chinese tensions concerned Khrushchev -- who told Beijing that war with imperialism was no longer inevitable.

SPLIT

Khrushchev's attempts to steer the U.S.S.R. away from its Stalinist past -- and his denunciation of Stalin as a criminal -- alarmed Mao, who took such actions as a threat to his own style of leadership. China, meanwhile, was chafing over Soviet attempts to control the Beijing government. In the late 1950s, Khrushchev visited China at least twice to renew Soviet support.


Khrushchev and Mao Tse-tung

But China's relations were already strained with its declared "big brother," and the Soviet leader could find no common ground with Chinese officials. Khrushchev, who had recently visited the United States, was accused by the Chinese of being an American stooge. Soon afterward, Soviet advisers were withdrawn from China. The struggle for pre-eminence in the communist world was now out in the open.

FAMINE/REVOLUTION

In 1958, Mao had thought up a new policy -- the Great Leap Forward -- a grandiose plan to transform China into a rich world power. Mao's method was a more extreme version of Stalin's brutal collectivization of the 1930s. People were told to produce steel in backyard furnaces. Crops were left to rot. Scientific knowledge and common sense were ignored. No one dared to tell the truth for fear of arrest -- or worse. Peasants' food was taken from them to make up bogus quotas. The result was one of the worst man-made disasters in history. More than 30 million people starved to death.



By 1966, haunted by the failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao was fighting to maintain his domination in China. He launched the Great Cultural Revolution. Millions of young people were recruited into Mao's Red Guards. Their idealism was exploited to create mayhem and destroy every vestige of the past. The upheaval of the Cultural Revolution coincided with escalating tensions between China and the U.S.S.R. -- including a series of military clashes along the Chinese-Soviet border.

PINGPONG DIPLOMACY

Mao, fearful of Moscow's belligerence, decided he wanted better relations with the United States. The new U.S. President, Richard Nixon, was a lifelong anti-communist. But Nixon, wanting to limit Soviet power and end the Vietnam War, drew closer to China. The first sign of a thaw in U.S.-Chinese relations came in 1971 -- when a U.S. table tennis team, playing in Japan, was suddenly invited to China.


In April 1971, the US Table Tennis Delegation that had participated in the 31st World Table Tennis Championships in Japan was invited to visit China. On April 14, Zhou Enlai met with the US delegation and took this group picture with them.

The so-called "pingpong diplomacy" led to more breakthroughs -- culminating with Nixon's historic trip to China in February 1972. The visit was mostly symbolic -- formal diplomatic relations were not restored until 1979 -- but it helped reduce tensions between the two nations and brought new pressure on a shared rival: the Soviet Union.

Additional Sources:

www.cnn.com
www.npr.org
www.archives.gov
americanhistory.si.edu
www.phillyburbs.com
www.2idiotsinaboat.com
www.amherst.edu
www.ukrainebiz.com
www.gfsnet.org
www.radio.cz
www.temple.edu
www.union.edu
www.rt66.com
homepage.tinet.ie
www.china.org.cn

[SAMWolf]

In the 1960s the United States claimed its place as the world's leading defender against communism. But by the end of the decade, the nation was convulsed by dissent, riot, assassination and an increasingly unpopular war.

In the 1960s, as dissent and protest swept through the West, nations of the Warsaw Pact were experimenting with reforms. But hopes for change were crushed by palace coups and, in the case of Czechoslovakia, outright invasion.

The emergence of the People's Republic of China signals a new and dangerous phase in the Cold War. But a split between Moscow and Beijing opens the door for a change in U.S.-Chinese relations.

[SAMWolf]

Veterans for Constitution Restoration is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and grassroots activist organization. The primary area of concern to all VetsCoR members is that our national and local educational systems fall short in teaching students and all American citizens the history and underlying principles on which our Constitutional republic-based system of self-government was founded. VetsCoR members are also very concerned that the Federal government long ago over-stepped its limited authority as clearly specified in the United States Constitution, as well as the Founding Fathers' supporting letters, essays, and other public documents.

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Actively seeking volunteers to provide this valuable service to Veterans and their families.

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UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004



The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul

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[snippy_about_it]

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Good Monday Morning Everyone.


If you would like to be added to our ping list, let us know.

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[SAMWolf]

Good Night, Snippy.

[snippy_about_it]

Good night Sam.

[MeekOneGOP]

My thanks to BulletBobCo for the concept of this
pic and to Conspiracy Guy for the captions!

[E.G.C.]

Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[The Mayor]

September 27, 2004

God's Tender Care

Read: Psalm 31:1-14

You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities. —Psalm 31:7

Bible In One Year: Isaiah 3-4; Galatians 6

---

During a time of grief, C. S. Lewis observed that his neighbors walked across the street to avoid him when they saw him approaching.

David too knew a time of grief when he said, "I am a reproach among all my enemies, but especially among my neighbors . . . . I am forgotten like a dead man" (Psalm 31:11-12).

Perhaps you've known times when friends seem to forget you in your sorrow. They fail to call, or write, or promise to pray.

But those are the times when we can sense God's tenderness most deeply. When the days are long and lonely and no one seems to care, He seeks us out and surrounds us with lovingkindness. Our sorrow, far from burdening Him, draws out His tender compassion. He knows the troubles of our soul (v.7). And He cares. Thus we can commit our spirit into His hand (v.5), as our Lord Jesus did when all forsook Him and fled.

Poet Frank Graeff asks, "Does Jesus care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth and song; as the burdens press, and the cares distress, and the way grows weary and long?" The answer? Yes! He invites us to give our burdens and cares to Him, because He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).

Trust God to care for you today. —David Roper

O yes, He cares—I know He cares!
His heart is touched with my grief;
When the days are weary, the long nights dreary,
I know my Savior cares! —Graeff

We can never get beyond the circle of God's care.

[alfa6]

Monday Morning Salutations to the denizens of the FR Foxhole

Regards

alfa6 ;>}

[manna]

Present!

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone!

[aomagrat]

Today's classic warship, USS Calamus (AOG-25)

Mettawee class gasoline tanker

Displacement. 845 t.
Lenght. 220'6"
Beam. 37'
Draft. 13'11"
Speed. 10 k.
Complement. 62
Armament. 1 3'; 2 40mm; 3 20mm

USS Calamus (AOG-25) was launched 4 May 1944 by East Coast Shipyard, Inc., Bayonne, N.J., under a Maritime Commission contract; sponsored by Mrs. A. H. Moore; transferred to the Navy 7 July 1944; and commissioned the same day, Lieutenant W. Hord, USCGR, in command.

Calamus sailed from Norfolk 13 September 1944, bound for Pearl Harbor and Ulithi, where she arrived in mid-December and began her work as station tanker, fueling ships of the fleet as they brought the war ever closer to the Japanese homeland. Calamus cleared for Eniwetok 20 January 1945, and until February, pumped her vital gasoline into the ships readying there for the assault on Iwo Jima. Following the fleet she served westward, Calamus did station duty at Saipan from 11 February until 26 April, when she anchored off Okinawa to support the 3-week old assault. The tanker provided essential fueling service through the entire period of the island's assault and occupation, enduring the violent Japanese air attacks which marked the campaign as steadfastly as did the combatant ships.

Following occupation service, Calamus returned to San Francisco 20 March 1946. She was decommissioned 15 May 1946, and transferred to the Maritime Commission 4 September 1946. Calamus was laid up in that agency's reserve fleet at Suisun Bay, California. She was sold for scrapping in March 1964.

Calamus received one battle star for service in World War II.

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-gram.

Singing stars RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany -- LeAnn Rimes performs for military members while visiting here Sept. 23. The concert was part of a promotion by the wing's 435th Services Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Jonathan Pomeroy)

Aim High size

While we talking Death From Above^tm, here's an image of part of what I did.

No leaks AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy -- Senior Airman Kelston McDonald tests the nozzle point of a hose for fuel leakage on an R-11 vehicle here Sept. 20. Airman McDonald is assigned with the 31st Logistics Readiness Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Desiree Hayden)

[snippy_about_it]

ROTFLOL.


Thanks for posting this at the Foxhole. Good job!

[MeekOneGOP]

hehe! Thanks. :^D

When I saw "Cold War" and "Chairman" Mao, I thought it would fit in.

[snippy_about_it]

This has been a facsinating series Sam. It's interesting to sit back and see how the wheels turned and continue to do so. Makes an individual feel quite small in the scheme of things and yet shows how important it is to choose the 'right' leaders.

[snippy_about_it]

Good morning EGC.