A Long Cold War : A Chronology of American Life and Culture 1945 to 1991

A Long Cold War is a two-volume cultural history of Cold War America from 1945 to 1991. This is the story of America at her peak as a world power, with the fear of nuclear war and the hyper competition with the USSR and China - a good read for the historical, nostalgic or even casual reader. Table of Contents 8 Foreword 12 Introduction: V is for Victory 14 A Note about the Cold War 15 Chapter 1. 1945: Peace at Last, the American Boys Came Home 18 Chapter 2. 1946: The Best Years of Our Lives 24 Chapter 3. 1947: The Hunger Winter 34 Chapter 4. 1948: A Year of Independence, India, Israel and Others 44 Chapter 5. 1949: The People’s Republic Won the Civil War in China and the USSR Developed the Bomb. 56 Chapter 6. 1950: Credit Cards, Korean War, McCarthyism, and Duck and Cover 64 Chapter 7. 1951: General MacArthur was Fired and the Korean Peace Negotiations Began 72 Chapter 8. 1952: More War, the Eisenhower Election and the Birth of Rock and Roll 82 Chapter 9. 1953: The Korean Conflict Ended, Americans in Vietnam, Communist Xenophobia Peaked, and Color Television 90 Chapter 10. 1954: Vietnam, Disneyland, the Disgrace of Joe McCarthy, and the Stock Market Finally Returned to the Pre-crash 1929 High. 102 Chapter 11. 1955: In God We Trust, Civil Defense, Hurricanes, Davy Crockett, Emmet Till and Rosa Parks 114 Chapter 12. 1956: School Desegregation Violence, Eisenhower Re-elected, the Hungarian Revolt, and Rock and Roll is Here to Stay. 122 Chapter 13. 1957: Sputnik I &II, the Rise of Dr. King, Desegregation Violence, Khrushchev on Television, and Ed Gein 130 Chapter 14. 1958: Natural Born Killers, the Fraud of Charles Van Doren, Castro’s Cuba and Other Latin American Problems, and Independence in Africa 142 Chapter 15. 1959: Castro’s Cuba, the Dawn of Electronics, the Day the Music Died, Barbie, Astronauts, and the Ho Chi Minh Trail 154 Chapter 16. 1960: Birth Control, US Troops in Vietnam, the founding of the Viet Cong, the US Plans to Destroy Cuba, Sit-Ins and Kennedy Elected 172 Chapter 17 1961: JFK, the Berlin Wall, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and Civil Rights and More Racial Strife 194 Chapter 18. 1962: Nuclear Testing, the Space Race, and the Cuban Missile Crisis 218 Chapter 19. 1963: The Turning Point of the Civil Rights Movement and the Kennedy Assassination 228 Chapter 20. 1964: Vietnam, the Civil Rights Act, the Beatles, Muhammad Ali, and Topless Swim Suits 236 Chapter 21. 1965. Vietnam Became America’s War 246 Chapter 22. 1966: Vietnam Escalation, Civil Rights and Riots, and the Beatles vs. Jesus 256 Chapter 23. 1967: Hippies, the Summer of Love, the Summer of Race Riots, and Vietnam Protests 266 Chapter 24. 1968: The Violent Year: The Assassinations of King and Kennedy, Riots, Nixon Committed Treason and the Tet Offensive 276 Chapter 25. 1969: Men on the Moon, Woodstock, the Mega Concerts, the Internet, Environmental and Gay Rights Movements, and Hamburger Hill 288 Chapter 26. 1970: A year of Violence, Kent State, the Weathermen, More Black Panthers, Police Brutality, Racial Unrest, and the Invasion of Cambodia 298 Chapter 27. 1971: The Dawn of the Digital Age, More Vietnamization, CO-INTELPRO Exposed, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and the Indo-Pakistani War 310 Chapter 28. 1972: Watergate, Paris Peace Talks, the Birth of Financial Derivatives and Recombinant DNA 318 Chapter 29. 1973: The End of the US Involvement in the Vietnam War, Cell Phones, More Watergate and The Energy Crisis 328 Chapter 30. 1974: Nixon Resigned, the Energy Crisis, Recession and Inflation 338 Chapter 31. 1975: The Church Committee, the Collapse of South Vietnam, and the Near Bankruptcy of NYC 344 Chapter 32. 1976: The Bicentennial, Tiananmen Square, Legionnaires Disease, and the 1976 Election 354 Chapter 33. 1977: Jimmy Carter Took Office, CIA’s Mind Control Program Revealed, and Elvis Died 364 Chapter 34. 1978: The Camp David Accords, Jonestown, Serial killers and The First Test Tube Baby 372 Chapter 35. 1979: Three Mile Island, the Hostage Crisis, the Sino-Vietnamese War and Happy Meals 382 Chapter 36. 1980: the 1980 Election, Reagan and Bush Commit Treason, and the Beginning of the Iran–Iraq War 392 Chapter 37. 1981: Assassination attempts on Reagan, Sadat and the Pope, the Space Shuttle and El Salvador 404 Chapter 38. 1982: The Time Magazine Man of the Year was a Computer, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Solidarity, Nuclear Protests and Plans for a Nuclear War 414 Chapter 39. 1983: A Close Call with Nuclear War, War in Grenada, Truck Bombs in the Mideast, and a Troubled Economy 422 Chapter 40. 1984: The Election, the Beginnings of the Iran-Contra Scandal, the Bhopal Disaster, Ethiopia Starves, and the Space Shuttles and Soyuz 430 Chapter 41. 1985: The Year of the Spy, A Record-setting Cold Winter and Windows 440 Chapter 42. 1986: The Challenger Shuttle Disaster, Chernobyl, the Iran-Contra Scandal and the Carter Center 448 Chapter 43. 1987: More Iran Contra Scandal, Trouble in the Persian Gulf, and a National March for Gay and Lesbian Rights 458 Chapter 44. 1988: the 1988 Election, the S&L Scandal, and Record Sales in Art Works 470 Chapter 45. 1989: Protests in the Eastern Bloc, Mall of America, Black Friday and the Invasion of Panama 480 Chapter 46. 1990: The Birth of the World Wide Web, the Unification of Germany and Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait 494 Chapter 47. 1991: The Gulf War, the Tailhook Scandal, the Fall of Communism and the End of the Soviet Union 504 Epilogue 514 Notes on References 516 "This is the story of America at her peak: a world power deluging the population with consumer goods and entertainment to distract from the fear of nuclear war and the hyper competition with the USSR and China. It allows the reader to understand the impacts of the Cold War on American culture, psyche and politics. A Long Cold War is cultural history covering 1945-1991. Written in an almanac or journal form, it gives the reader details about daily life and international events, from the headlines as they happened and with summaries of average salaries and prices, and the books, music, movies and television shows of the times. It is a good read for the history-minded and the casual reader as well, in its entirety or as a trip down Memory Lane for those with nostalgia for specific years." ... Provided by publisher