1953 marked the US’s decision to become an ally with the Shah, the leader of Iran. The United State’s tie with the Shah involved using Iran’s oil wealth for economic development, furthermore he purchased billions of dollars worth of weapons of security from the US. In 1979 the monarchy was overthrown by radical Islams that were supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini, a Shia Muslim religious scholar. The motive of the Iranian students was to demonstrate their rebellion against the Shah, in which their demand was the return of the Shah for trial then execution, additionally they asked that the US stay out of their country’s internal affairs. Carter’s approach imposed the protection of the American hostages but also ensuring the alliance with Iran, this had a negative response that affected him being reelected.
The US then backed the Shah, who took over as an absolute monarch in Iran, using violent suppression to put down any opposition. When he was overthrown, tensions rose between Iran and the US. These tensions boiled over when President Carter allowed the Shah to enter into America in order to seek medical treatment. This greatly angered people in Iran and led to the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Protestors stormed the American Embassy and seized fifty-two American hostages.
Though this treat he was able to have his way at the Yalta conference. Truman thought of America as the World’s atomic power and was assured by Cabinet advisers; America would reign supreme in the arms race. However Joseph Stalin was also attempting to build Russia’s power in this arms race too. Truman began to get tough on Russia in 1946 when there were strong protests in the Iran against Russian Troops. The Soviets had denied sharing control of the Turkish Straits as they had claimed they would not have.
Suspicion quickly fell on al-Qaeda. Although the group's leader, Osama bin Laden, initially denied any involvement, in 2004, he claimed responsibility for the attacks. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U.S. support of Israel, the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives for the attacks. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, which had harbored al-Qaeda. Many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded law enforcement powers.
In this paper we will examine the impact of 9/11 on Americans and the U.S. economy and why the U.S. responded to the terrorism by enacting the USA Patriot act to “protect” America, which had become a big controversial issue to Americans. Another topic we will discuss is the negative effects of the Patriot Act such as violating Americans civil liberties and how the government stereotyped and secretly arrested Arab or Muslim citizens. The tragedy of 9/11 has impacted America in many ways and ever since then, America has made a lot of changes to prevent another tragedy, such as the national security which is tighter than it has ever been in recent years, especially in airports. According to Jennie Wood’s article, she mentions that the airport has way too many restrictions on what to bring in the plane for every traveler, such as, “Liquids and toiletries have to be a certain size and placed in clear, sealed bags. No food or bottled water is allowed through security.
Truman’s foreign policy may have been a major cause to start up the cold war due to his aggressive economic policy. There are many arguments that support the theory that Truman did actually contribute largely in starting up the Cold War. In the Potsdam conference, Truman had replaced Roosevelt as the new president and told Stalin that the USA had tested an atomic bomb, in order to intimidate him and try to show him the US’s superiority. Truman also had promoted the European Recovery Programme and The Marshall Plan, these two projects provided economic aid to European countries in an attempt to keep them in a capitalist government instead of having them turn to a communist government in an attempt to solve their problem, this also led to create fear in the USSR since the USA was attempting to make allies in the Eastern parts of Europe, attempting to both contain communism and to enclose Russia. The Marshall Aid plan also created worry in the USSR since it was revitalizing the German economy and it was the Germans who had twice invaded the USSR and caused great damage to it, especially Hitler’s regime, which had invaded less that five years ago and Russia was still recovering from the damage caused.
Basically, the Cold War was a rivalry between the United States as leader of the western democracies, and the Soviet Union and the nations that were controlled by the communists. Some causes of the Cold War included: Attempts by the Soviets and Chinese Communists to influence and take over areas in Asia and Europe. Containment--the policy of the United States to stop communism from spreading to other areas of the world. The Truman Doctrine--a policy of supporting anti-communist regimes with military and economic aid. The Doctrine was first used in support of democratic governments in Greece and Turkey.
John D. Rockefeller used his political and legal power, brought on by his great wealth, to increase his monopoly, buying out small companies to decrease competition, and forcing railroads to favor his corporation. As a consequence of these actions, the government sought to rein in his power by enacting the Sherman Antitrust Act, forever changing the laws by which corporations comply. Standard Oil not only encouraged more railroads being built near production factories, but the entire oil industry has had significant impact on our environment. According to the text “Standard Oil Trust and its successor companies have contributed between 4.7 and 5.2 percent of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions.” By the widespread use of high-quality kerosene brought on by Rockefeller, population’s entire lifestyles forever changed, too. People were free to enjoy activities after sundown, work into the night, and be increasingly productive.
He was very resistant to communism, and began manipulating the U.S.S.R. economy through sabotage (The Associated Press, The Collapse of the Soviet Union). Reagan was able to push the Soviet Union into debt by selling them fake military secrets like a “laser missile” (The Associated Press, The Collapse of the Soviet Union). He was also able to scare the U.S.S.R. into debt by introducing the Special Defense Initiative, or SDI, where in the Soviet’s eyes was a working missile shield (The Associated Press, The Collapse of the Soviet Union). The Soviet Union began to spend more money than they were acquiring. Competition of the United States was causing the Soviets to spend a lot of money (Miller, The U.S.S.R. in 1991).
Why Was the Berlin Blockade so Important? By early 1948 Stalin had control of most of Eastern Europe. The Americans responded to this by making the Western Europe wealthy and pro-American because they saw the Soviet Union as a threat and a weak Germany could be taken over by communism and a strong Germany could act as a buffer against communism. On the other hand Stalin thought that a strong Germany could repeat the invasions on 1914 and 1941 so he stripped them of all useful equipment and machinery. In 1947 Britain and France decided to join their zones together (Bizonia) and then a few months later France joined to make it (Trizonia).