Stalin

Khrushchev

Brezhnev

Gorbachev

Key policy
ideas
Self-sufficient Soviet economy
Rapid industrialization
Crush internal enemies
Traditional values for women
Remove church presence
Peaceful Coexistence:
communism and capitalism can
exist side-by-side
Destalinization: criticizes Stalinism
and gives a degree of toleration
Brezhnev Doctrine: justifies
intervention in socialist countries
Dtente: worked with Nixon to a
degree, but viewed dtente as
business-like
New Thinking: modernize USSR
Glasnot: openness in USSR
Perostroika: economic
restructuring to fix stagnation
Nuclear deterrence
How put in
to practice/
events
during
leadership
Collectivization: individual
farms would be merged into
state farms; state-controlled
Five Year Plan: rapidly increased
USSRs industrial output
Cult of Personality and Purges
The Great Retreat: women have
role in economy; family values
Orthodox Church is persecuted
Destalinization speech made to
Communist Party members
Cuban Missile Crisis: Khrushchev
was able to get the US to
withdraw missiles aimed at the
USSR through diplomatic
negotiations
Better relations with Castro
following Bay of Pigs invasion
Period of dtente under
leadership; characterized by
warming of relations between US
and USSR through arms deals,
trade and diplomacy
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
gives Americans a reason to state
that the USSR never truly wanted
peace but was expansionistic
Signed sweeping arms reduction
agreements with Reagan
Opened Soviet market to Western
products to a greater degree
Overturned the Brezhnev doctrine
to give greater freedom to
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe revolutions: Berlin
Wall falls, Velvet Revolution, etc.
Successes
Political success of purges
Modernization of Soviet heavy
industry and agriculture
Opened up a period of thawing
and less oppression
Better relations with West
Encouraged advancement of
space race/technology
Oil boom in the 1970s
Sweeping nuclear arms reduction
talks with Reagan
Gorbymania; international name
Failures
Economic failures of
collectivization
Repression and loss of life; poor
living conditions for public
Worse Sino-Soviet relations
Destalinization threatens stability
CBM ultimately hurt Khrushchevs
reputation (backing off)
USSR economy was stagnant due
to foundational issues
Criticized internationally for
Afghanistan; end of detente
USSR ultimately fell apart under
Gorbachevs leadership
Criticized today by pro-USSR
people for loss of Crimea
Legacy/
impact on
development
of CW
Stalins regime sets the
repressive atmosphere for his
successors. His policies also
spur focus on heavy industry
and arms development.
Through rapid industrialization,
a larger proletariat class was
created. He also incorporated
women into the expansion of
CW industry more. Stalin is
known for his underhanded
tactics in the development of
the CW, created with issues
such as expansion of
communism through puppet
states and the Berlin Blockade.
Khrushchev and his associates
are, in the long-term, known for
shifting the atmosphere of radical
Stalinism to a more moderate
version of communism through
the thaw. Khrushchev
encouraged the development of
the nuclear arms race and the
technological race; he also helped
to modernize the economy
somewhat. With the CBM,
Khrushchev and Kennedy showed
the importance of diplomacy in
adverting nuclear disaster. He
played some role in the space
race.
Brezhnev is known for his actions
concerning dtente, the warming
of relations between the US and
the USSR. This policy shifted the
powers away from the nuclear
arms race and encouraging the
reduction of restrictions for a
more predictable version of the
Cold War. However, dtente also
came to an end under his
leadership through the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan, and the
actions of dtente were reversed
through pressure from the
conservatives in Western Europe
and America under Reagan.
Gorbachev was the only Soviet
leader with college education and
extensive experience with the
need for peace and the brutality
of repression. He helped
massively reform and modernize
the USSR economy and society,
but at the expense of East
European nationalism and outside
forces that allowed the USSR to
disintegrate. Gorbachev is
internationally revered for his role
in ending the CW and in his
advancement of human rights in
the regime, but was unpopular
domestically.


Truman

Eisenhower

Kennedy

Johnson

Key policy
ideas/
advisors
Containment: keep communism
from expanding outside USSR
(Outlined in Kennans Article X
and implied in Long Telegram)
Massive Retaliation: avoid conflict
with USSR through mutual fear
Anti-Communist: campaigned on
roll-back and used containment
Flexible Response: retaliation
through both conventional forces
and nuclear action
MAD: Mutual Assured Destruction
Domestic: provide welfare services
Continue Kennedys policy of
combatting Communism in
developing countries
How put in
to practice/
major events
during
leadership
NSC-68: dramatically increased
funding for arms and military to
combat communist advances
Marshall Plan in Western Europe
Formation of NATO alliance
Revolutions in Eastern Europe
NATO alliance established
Truman Doctrine states principles

Korean War: The first hot war
during the Cold War; shows
expansion of Cold War to Asia
Defense cuts made through the
New Look policy
U-2 spy plane incident:
undermines the bettering of
diplomatic relations between US
and USSR.
Cuban Missile Crisis: the closest
the US and the USSR have come to
war; was able to work with
Khrushchev to avert disaster
Space Race and NASA/Apollo
Escalation of Vietnam War
through implementation of more
effective and suitable guerrilla
warfare.
War on Poverty and Great Society
established
Domestic involvement in the
advancement of civil rights and
civil liberties
Escalation of Vietnam War
through the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution
Financial spending on both fronts
Successes
Marshall Plan protects Western
Europe; rebuilding after WWII
Berlin Blockade by Stalin fails due
to Berlin Airlift
Able to cut spending costs on
military-nuclear front
Strong military leadership
Some civil rights legislation; anti-
McCarthyism
Kennedys handling of CBM
Used Keynesian economics
Vamped nuclear-space spending
Some civil rights legislation
Rallied US nationalism
Initially had support for the
Vietnam War
Passed civil rights legislation
Carried through Kennedys policies
in the New Frontier
Failures
Susceptible to McCarthyism; many
under the Truman administration
were pushed to taking stronger
stances, worsening USSR relations
US falls behind USSR in race
Poor economic handling
U-2 spy plane incident
Planned Bay of Pigs Invasion
Failed Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba
Idealistic goals
Issues with Congress agreement
Overreaction to Soviet threats
Escalation of Vietnam War and
media exposure led to lack of
public support (Tet Offensive)
Financial crisis from overspending
Legacy/
impact on
development
of CW
Trumans administration set the
ideological background for the
expansion of the Cold War into
other continents through the
policy of containment. Through
NSC-68, the military gains much
more power and influence on
foreign policy. In addition,
Trumans nuclear card encourages
the nuclear arms race between
the US and USSR. He also took a
harder stance against Stalin which
consequently encouraged the
worsening of relations.
Eisenhower influenced the arms
race through his attempts to deter
nuclear destruction and build up
from occurring. He warned of the
military-industrial complex. Under
his administration, CIA activities
increased. In Asia, the Korean War
and the peace armistice/division
would lay the outline for future
wars in Asia and Southeast Asia
Eisenhower also articulated the
domino theory. Under his
leadership, the Cold War
expanded dramatically.
Kennedy is most well-known for
his actions in Cuba. He was able to
successfully keep missile out of
continental range in Cuba,
showing that it was possible to
diplomatically negotiate crucial
matters with the Soviet Union.
However, he also expanded the
size of the Cold War to include
Latin America and encouraged the
worsening of relations through the
failed Bay of Pigs relations. He
revamped the space race to make
up for Eisenhowers inequality.
Johnson is most well-known for his
role in escalating the Vietnam War
through his Gulf of Tonkin
resolution, one of the longest wars
in Cold War and general history.
Vietnam was, in fact, referred to
as Johnsons War. However, his
actions in attempting to balance
his welfare state and massive war
spending resulted in financial crisis
and unpopularity, especially with
the anti-war movement of the
1960s. He left the conservatives
able to take power in CW course.


Nixon Ford Carter Reagan Bush
Key policy
ideas/
advisors

How put in to
practice/
major events
during
leadership

Successes

Failures

Legacy/
impact on
development
of CW