Program 7 - The Cold War
By the middle of the 20th-century, a completely new kind of war emerged. It was a war whose battles did not allow for direct confrontation between the two main combatants, the United States and the Soviet Union. This was because direct confrontation with atomic weapons would have led to the total annihilation of both adversaries. In the seventh program we look at the years from 1952 to 1969. These were the principal years of the Cold War battles between America and the Soviet Union.
1952 - The Marshall Plan Wins the Battle for Western Europe
1954 - John Foster Dulles Becomes Eisenhower's Cold War Warrior
1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis
1964 - Vietnam War: Congress Passes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
1968 - Vietnam War: The Tet Offensive
Program 8 - The Police Wars
As the Vietnam War drew to a close, it became clear that the American military had experienced a devastating defeat to a communist adversary. It was the first loss in U.S. history. Ironically, at the same time the danger from the greater nemesis of global communism was on the decline. In this program we look at the years 1973 to 2004...a time when the American military would reach an all-time low only to reemerge as the world's single superpower with a new role as the world's policeman.
1973 - Vietnam War: Cease-Fire Ends War
1983 - The Grenada Conflict
1990 - The Gulf War
1991--End of the Cold War
2003 - Gulf War II