The Super Summary of World History (87 page)

The establishment of Israel and the rise of fundamentalist Islam is a formula ensuring eternal religious conflict. When Muslim nations failed militarily against Israel, the fundamentalists Muslims argued that their god (Allah) was against them and only by following his express commands with fervor could the Muslims attain “victory.” This fundamentalist thinking struck a chord with many Muslims, and a radical form of the Muslim religion was embraced. It would take a while, but the Islamic fundamentalist would eventually fly aircraft into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. This thinking spawned
terrorism
and the immoral attacks on anyone not part of the terrorists’ religious group, including other Muslims. The main target was Israel and its supporters, the United States and Britain. Hijacking cruise ships and airliners enabled the terrorists to achieve many of their goals: world recognition of their cause, release of captured comrades, and money. Since murder, bombings, kidnapping, and hijacking worked the terrorist kept using terrorism.

But in 1950, terrorism’s irrational and asymmetrical threat was down the line, many years away. Until then, the main goal of the West in the Cold War was stopping the communists from conquering the world.

Eisenhower left office in 1960, warning about the military industrial complex, but his warning went unheeded. As the new president,
John
F.
Kennedy
came into office, new programs and weapons were coming off the assembly line of the military industrial complex that kept the United States militarily ahead of the communist nations. Kennedy won a critical 1960 debate with his opponent Richard Nixon, and one point concerned where the United States should fight for freedom. Kennedy stated that every inch of “free” soil must be defended. This led Kennedy into Vietnam and later—under his successor Lyndon Johnson—a complete commitment to Vietnam. History seems to say that the better argument was made by Nixon who had stated that the United States must choose its conflicts carefully, and not every inch of free soil needed defending (see the Vietnam War for more information). Nixon was giving the world a seasoned diplomat’s view of foreign policy which focused on
vital
national
interests
and not on an ideology of defending everywhere all the time.

During the Truman and Eisenhower years the United States, Western Europe, and the Western Democracies had good economic times. After a slight recession in 1948, the advance to economic prosperity began. In the 1950’s the GDP (Gross Domestic Product—the measure of a nation’s economic vigor) doubled, and it doubled again in the 1960’s. Eisenhower established NASA (National Aeronautical and Space Administration) and the Federal Housing Administration to help people purchase new homes. The US Military was guarding Europe and Japan, and the United States was developing the first ICBMs to guard the West from Soviet intimidation. With inflation rates of 2 or 3 percent, low oil prices, and a growing economy with Europe and Japan as major trading partners, and massive spending on improving the infrastructure of the nation, the US Economy continued to expand in spite of rather large military expenditures. It was during the 1950’s that megacities began to form. The urban mass of New York, Boston, and Washington DC joined together to form one continuous city. Of course, no one joined the governments, which caused a lot of problems, but there was no doubt the phenomenon would be repeated in the US and throughout the world. As the megacities rose up so did the complexity of governing such a vast urban area that crossed jurisdictional lines. The problems created by this mass amalgamation have not yet been solved. Perhaps no solution exists.

While Eisenhower did try to reduce the size of the US government he was only partially successful. By the time Ike left office in 1960, TV was commonplace in the United States and Western European homes, the interstate highway system was being planned in the United States, and Europe itself was growing ever more economically and militarily powerful. France declared its independence from the United States and Britain by leaving NATO in 1966, developing its own atomic bomb and building up its military capabilities while struggling to maintain its old empire. Britain realized the days of empire were over and started a precipitous dismantling of its ancient empire, abandoning its control over millions of people worldwide.

The British decision to scuttle its empire was a bold one brought on by necessity. The people of England were morally opposed to the continuation of the old order and Britain was stumbling economically. Two world wars bankrupted the nation and it struggled to stay afloat. England would survive, however, it was not an easy transition from the world’s greatest empire to just the United Kingdom. England’s ability to influence world affairs was shrinking, and this required the United States of America to step in and take its place representing the Western Democracies around the world. For this to occur, America had to end its isolationist tendencies and enter into the unforgiving world of international relations where, as the leading nation, it would take endless flack for its decisions. The United States was not used to this role and the transition to a world leader was not easy for a nation wanting to being left alone.

Internally, America was going to face its own upheaval when the
civil
rights
movements got underway in the late 1950s. The majority of white Americans disliked the way the southern states treated black Americans, but the issue was ignored for decades. Finally, blacks brought attention to their plight and America responded. This crusade against the bigots of the South was going to consume a large amount of time and energy. What no one could foresee was this struggle bringing as much bad as good. Victory over the discriminatory laws of several southern states should have brought harmony within the nation and a satisfaction in the expansion of liberty to minorities; however, the opposite occurred as black America decided the United States was a worthless country and not worth supporting. Violence did not decrease as the civil rights movement went on, it increased. Even after numerous laws and court decisions supported the black cause, blacks refused to rejoice in the progress made. Rather, they obsessed over getting more, or getting even, for past wrongs.

Meanwhile, the progress of technology continued apace. New smaller electronics were reaching consumers each year and progress in new kitchen and home devices of every type was commonplace. Everywhere in the West things were getting better—at least on the home front. Women were employed in increasing numbers and industrial expansion was accelerating. Even with the growing challenge from the East, the West was feeling it was superior.

Kennedy:
Risk-Taking
Cold
Warrior

1960-November
1963

Kennedy addressed the Cold War in an aggressive way. He managed to get himself into the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion of communist Cuba by former Cuban exiles(an absolute failure), and he allowed his brother, the attorney general Robert Kennedy, to run secret wars against Castro (the Cuban dictator) as well as other communists in Latin America. There were some successes; however, Kennedy soon came to realize the American intelligence services were hollow. Without good information making good decisions regarding the Soviet Union and other challenges abroad was difficult.

The CIA missed the Soviets’ placing missiles into its client state of Cuba. The director of the CIA predicted, with no evidence, the USSR might try this gambit; however, such a move could start World War Three and no one thought the Soviets would risk it. However, the Soviets did make the move in 1962. Photos taken by a U-2 over flight and examined by a good analyst uncovered the evidence, but the missiles were already in the country by the time the CIA informed Kennedy of their presence. By careful analysis and more extremely dangerous over flights (one U-2 was shot down and its pilot lost) the United States ascertained that the missiles were armed with nuclear warheads. Messages to Moscow failed to elicit the desired response so Kennedy declared a blockade of Cuba and sent the US Navy to sea with orders to intercept Soviet ships sailing for Cuba with missiles for their Cuban arsenal.
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As one might expect, the blockade triggered an international crisis while the United States and the Soviets sparred with one another behind the scenes.

Eventually, a deal was worked out whereby the United States would agree to never invade Cuba and to remove its nuclear missiles from Turkey. In exchange, the USSR would remove its missiles from Cuba. The communists won all around. John Kennedy and his brother Robert were adamant that no details about the removal of missiles from Turkey be leaked. As presented by the press the crisis was an American victory. The truth was unknown for years. If it had leaked in 1962, Kennedy and the democrats might have lost the 1964 election.

The Cuban missile crisis was indirectly caused by the CIA’s failure to discover the movement of Soviet nuclear-tipped missiles into Cuba. The direct cause was Kennedy himself.
Khrushchev
, the leader of the Soviet Union, had met Kennedy and decided he was not tough; that is, he could be bluffed if Khrushchev remained strong. It was a close call for the world because Khrushchev misread the American president, the US military, and the American people. The US military was lobbying for war after the missiles were discovered and Kennedy and his brother Robert had a hard time holding them in check. Because the two leaders of the USSR and the United States misread one another an atomic exchange leading to worldwide devastation became a real possibility.

This was always the ultimate danger in the Cold War, that someone would make an error, or a series of errors, leading to an unintended atomic war. Some experts worried about a diplomatic error, leading one superpower to think the other planned an attack or an error by one leader making a foolish read of the other’s intentions and launching a pre-emptive atomic strike. Others worried about human error at the machines, because the missiles and aircraft armed with nuclear devices were ready to launch at a moment’s notice. Both sides, America and the Soviets, were hit by surprise attacks in World War II that severely harmed their military capabilities. Both sides were determined not to let it happen again. This put the two sides on a nuclear hair trigger, and the trigger men on both sides were nervous. It might be a miracle the world came through this long period of threat unscathed by the nukes, but a lot of people in both governments put in many sleepless nights keeping the world safe from its ultimate destruction. Either side had the ability to destroy the entire world hundreds of times over; consequently, if either side launched the world was gone. It was a lot of people never taking their eyes off the ball that kept the Cold War from becoming World War III and both sides won on that score.

President Kennedy did not finish his term of office. He was murdered riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. The man who allegedly killed President Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, was murdered in the Dallas police station on November 24, 1963, by strip club owner Jack Ruby. The Warren Commission, established by order of President Johnson (who was vice president when Kennedy was assassinated), investigated the assassination. Under the guidance of Chief Justice Earl Warren of the US Supreme Court the Commission concluded Oswald murdered the president as a lone gunman. They further concluded that Jack Ruby killed Oswald because he assassinated Kennedy.

The findings of the Commission were immediately challenged and numerous conspiracy theories continue to circulate even today (2010). Conspiracy theorists believe Oswald shot the president in the back and claim the bullet hitting President Kennedy in the head was fired from the front of the car rather than Oswald’s position behind Kennedy. The Warren Commission found that Oswald fired the fatal shots from a third floor window in the Dallas book depository building. Amateur film taken of the assassination appears to show the president’s head being pushed back and to his left (as viewed from the front of the car) when the bullet struck. The conspiracy theorists believe the government covered up the crime to protect someone or something of great importance.
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It is certain that critical evidence was lost and suffered from tampering. Photographs of the Kennedy emergency room operation and autopsy are missing as are parts of his brain that were supposed to be retained. Stranger still, the missing photographs are said to be the very ones that could prove if the killing shot came from the front or the back of the president. The missing brain matter could also prove what kind of bullet hit the president. What really happened that day in Dallas may never be conclusively known, but the Warren Commission’s investigation was sloppy and contained many unstated assumptions and flaws that caused people to conclude a government cover-up had occurred.