Strategic Inventions of the Cold War [1 ed.] 9781502610232, 9781502610225

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Tech In the Trenches

Strategic Inventions of the Revolutionary War Strategic Inventions of the Vietnam War Strategic Inventions of World War I Strategic Inventions of World War II

Strategic Inventions of the Cold War

Strategic Inventions of the Cold War

Bougie

Strategic Inventions of the Civil War

Tech In the Trenches

Strategic Inventions of the Cold War

JOCK Ewing

Matt Bougie

Tech In the Trenches

Strategic Inventions of the Cold War Matt Bougie

Published in 2016 by Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC 243 5th Avenue, Suite 136, New York, NY 10016 Copyright © 2016 by Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC First Edition No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Request for permission should be addressed to Permissions, Cavendish Square Publishing, 243 5th Avenue, Suite 136, New York, NY 10016. Tel (877) 980-4450; fax (877) 980-4454. Website: cavendishsq.com This publication represents the opinions and views of the author based on his or her personal experience, knowledge, and research. The information in this book serves as a general guide only. The author and publisher have used their best efforts in preparing this book and disclaim liability rising directly or indirectly from the use and application of this book. CPSIA Compliance Information: Batch #CW16CSQ

All websites were available and accurate when this book was sent to press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bougie, Matt. Strategic inventions of the Cold War / Matt Bougie. pages cm. — (Tech in the trenches) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-5026-1022-5 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-5026-1023-2 (ebook) 1. Cold War—Juvenile literature. 2. Technological innovations—United States—Social aspects— Juvenile literature. 3. Nuclear weapons—Social aspects—United States. 4. Nuclear warfare—Social aspects—Juvenile literature. 5. Military art and science—History—20th century—Juvenile literature. 6. United States—History—20th century—Juvenile literature. I. Title. D843.B635 2016 303.48'3097309045—dc23 2015026866 Editorial Director: David McNamara Editor: Kristen Susienka Copy Editor: Nathan Heidelberger Art Director: Jeffrey Talbot Designer: Alan Sliwinski/Amy Greenan Senior Production Manager: Jennifer Ryder-Talbot Production Editor: Renni Johnson Photo Research: J8 Media The photographs in this book are used by permission and through the courtesy of: Maciej Noskowski/ iStockphoto.com, cover; Underwood Archives/Getty Images, 4; AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, 8; Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images, 12; Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images, 19; Rex/Newscom, 22; Jüschke/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images, 25; Jimmy Sime/Central Press/Getty Images), 28; Douglas Miller/Keystone/Getty Images, 32; Time Life Pictures/National Archives/The LIFE Picture Collection/ Getty Images, 36-37; Purestock/Alamy, 40; Pictorial Parade/Getty Images, 44; Encyclopaedia Britannica/ UIG Via Getty Images, 49; SSPL/Getty Images, 50, 57; Topical Press Agency/Getty Images, 54; Time & Life Pictures/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images, 58; Designua/Shutterstock.com, 61; Barry Iverson/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images, 64; US Marine Corps/USMC-091121-M-9613D-014. jpg/Wikimedia Commons, 66; US Army/Getty Images, 68; Stocktrek Images/Getty Images, 73; Hank Walker/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images, 76; Public Domain/RedChannelsCover.jpg/ Wikimedia Commons, 79; Ed Clark/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images, 80; Don Cravens/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images, 88; Sovfoto/UIG via Getty Images, 90; Jochen Blume/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images, 93; Shone/Gamma/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images, 95; AFP/Getty Images, 99. Printed in the United States of America

Contents Introduction 5 Setting the Scene One 13 A New Kind of War Two 29 Troubles Rising Three 45 Introducing Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles Four 55 The Advent of Television Five 65 Meet the Abrams Tank Six 77 The Effects of the War on Everyday Americans Seven 91 Into a New Era Glossary 102 Bibliography 106 Further Information

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Index 109 About the Author

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American schoolchildren practice taking cover from the feared Soviet missile strike. Students around the world would practice these “Duck and Cover” drills.

Introduction

Setting the Scene

T

hroughout human history, there have been many conflicts that have changed the world. Sometimes this change was

very slight, while other times it helped advance society into what it is today. These confrontations often happen between opposing groups. Some of the most life-changing events have occurred because one group wished to dominate the other. In United States history, wars such as the American Revolutionary War, World War I, and World War II advanced society in many ways, including through warfare technology. By improving existing technology or creating entirely new and sinister weaponry, warring countries eventually set the stage for the enhancement and introduction of other, deadlier technologies in future eras of history. One of the most interesting conflicts, and one that saw many new and improved inventions

Setting the Scene

5

appear in society, was the Cold War. This conflict challenged perceptions of the very definition of warfare and put the United States, as well as much of the rest of the world, on edge. The years immediately following the close of World War II brought forward new wounds and reactions toward previously allied nations. Seen as an outlier with a questionable governmental philosophy and seeming intentions to control previously occupied countries, Russia (then called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the USSR, or Soviet Union) was a new threat, particularly to the burgeoning United States superpower. The Soviet government followed socialism and communism, two ideological practices that were markedly different from the United States’ capitalism. This, alongside the threat of the Soviet Union producing nuclear weapons that could rival those of the United States, struck fear and paranoia into many American citizens. The two countries spent decades stockpiling weapons and deploying them in allied countries, pushing the world to the brink of another terrible war that could destroy humanity. This lasted for nearly forty years, until the 1980s and 1990s, when the condition of the Soviet Union began to deteriorate and previous satellite countries gained their independence. The Cold War is “cold” for several reasons. “Cold” not only refers to the chilly nature of the relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States during this time, but it also defines the nature of the war. It was cold in that the two main belligerents never actually engaged each other in open warfare. While there were

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numerous engagements and proxy wars during this nearly fortyyear conflict, the Cold War was mostly an era of political posturing and threats of hostile action. From this era, however, also came economic growth and investment in science and technology—for the Soviet Union and the United States in particular. Key Inventions of the Era Three key inventions that typify the Cold War era—the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the television (TV), and the M1 Abrams tank—didn’t necessarily come about as direct responses to specific events, but all three were developed or matured during the Cold War era. Whether they directly influenced military strategy or enchanted the population that would simultaneously support and oppose hostilities, all three inventions altered the course of the conflict and forever changed the way war could be waged. During the Cold War, all defense policy started with a discussion of the threat of a nuclear strike. The reality that nuclear war was possible—and perhaps imminent—was ever-present in the minds of people during this time. Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and other dangerous technologies were aweinspiring and deadly weapons that had the potential to eliminate all life on Earth, and people knew it. Every twitch in military movements or any hiccup in negotiations could spell doom for not only a country but the entire planet. Other technologies brought the severity of the situation into the minds and homes of the American population. For the first time, Americans could hear information about small changes in

Setting the Scene

7

Tearing down the Berlin Wall was a cathartic, symbolic moment for the world. After years of escalating tensions, it seemed that the Cold War would finally end.

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foreign policy and watch rising tensions between leaders unfold thanks to a new invention: the television. While it’s true that television was not actually invented during the Cold War—in fact, it had been invented a few decades earlier, in 1927—it was during this period that access to television sets became easier and more affordable for citizens throughout the United States and abroad. As a medium, the TV excelled in delivering news and entertainment to the masses. Television was also profoundly affected by the politics of the Cold War. For example, it played an instrumental role in encouraging fear and suspicion of communists and communist sympathizers in the minds of much of the American population. This paranoia escalated when Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin sought to bring to trial anyone suspected of being a communist or sympathizing with communists. This level of mistrust permeated throughout the nation and targeted many public workers—teachers, shift workers, and politicians especially. Anyone who was an activist for leftist or socialist reforms was viewed with suspicion and ran the risk of being subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee. This period is known colloquially as “the Red Scare”—“Red” being a term used to define communism—and serves as an example of the extreme actions that can accompany the blind fear of an enemy. Ironically, it was also on television that Senator Joseph McCarthy was taken to task for his wild accusations which had brought such terror and strife on many American citizens.

Setting the Scene

9

In the 1980s, the Soviet Union began to crumble due to a stagnating economy, outside political pressure, a long war in Afghanistan, and internal unrest. While the Soviet Union would not dissolve quickly, the slow bleed caused internal political instability. With power structures shifting abroad, the United States continued to develop fresh technologies. One such technology was a new conventional tank. The M1 Abrams tank debuted in 1980. This tank’s development was a direct response to a Soviet military that kept growing despite economic troubles. It would change the way ground warfare was fought. Just as the Cold War shaped foreign policy in the years after the Soviet Union fell, the need for a battle tank that countered Soviet technology would lead to the design of the Abrams tank, even though the conflicts the tank would engage in would never be the frontal assault that the Cold War promised to be. A Lasting LegacY Examining the technology and how the introduction of this technology shaped the conflict—and in turn the culture—can help explain not only how the war was won by the United States but why the Cold War had such a lasting effect on the world. These new technologies did more than change the outcome of a few battles and skirmishes; they left their marks on the culture and the psyche of contemporary and future Americans. While this book will briefly discuss aspects of Soviet culture and government, it will primarily focus on how the Cold War affected American citizens.

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The world still feels the reverberations of this long war even though hostilities ended more than twenty-five years ago. Former Soviet states split off to become independent nations, often looking to join other organizations for the security and economic advantages that they offer. The United States became a world power—a superpower—wielding a degree of influence it had not yet known. With this influence came a shift in foreign policy and responsibility. As a unilateral power, much of the international policing fell to the United States military. In their own way, the inventions and historical events covered in this book continue to shape the world today. From tanks to televisions, the Cold War and its technology had effects that will last well into the future.

Setting the Scene

11

(From left to right) Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin gather at the Yalta Conference in 1945 to debate German surrender conditions and negotiate borders.

Chapter

One

A New Kind of War

I

n the 1940s, a new kind of war was taking shape. It would be known as the Cold War, and it would challenge perceptions of

warfare. The Cold War was fought not on a common battlefield but in a non-traditional way. It would last decades, and would only come to an end following much negotiation and struggle. After World War II ended in 1945, the alliances between many of the Western European countries and the Eastern countries began to erode. While Germany, the common enemy, had united them during wartime, the political and economic differences between the West and the East took center stage in World War II’s aftermath. Differences could no longer be set aside in the interest of pursuing a common goal. Instead, countries sized each other up, eyeing resources and focusing on differences rather

A New Kind of War

13

than commonalities. They started stockpiling both conventional and nuclear weaponry. Since there were never any direct military conflicts between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (the USSR or the Soviet Union), the exact start of the Cold War is debated. Some scholars argue it was set in motion even before World War II had ended. Tension as Wartime Allies It may seem strange that allies in a conflict turned against each other so quickly after victory. To understand this, one must examine the attitude toward the USSR prior to its decision to enter World War II. To Western countries, the USSR was an enigma. The imperial Russian government that had supported the Allied powers in World War I had been deposed and replaced with a communist government led by the dictator Joseph Stalin, who brought new ideas and practices to the country. Prior to 1941, the Allies feared a strong Soviet Union due to their differences and had resisted pairing with Stalin, even in the face of large-scale warfare. Once the Soviet Union joined the fight, Western Allies still were hesitant to include Soviet leaders in much of the planning. The Western Allies, although united with the USSR, seemed to treat the Soviet Union as a junior partner. This was particularly visible regarding bigger decisions. For example, when developing the atomic bomb, President Franklin Roosevelt decided not to inform the Soviet Union of the United States’ progress. After Roosevelt’s death in 1945, President Truman informed Joseph Stalin of the existence of a very powerful bomb but did not provide specific

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The Formation of the Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the USSR, was formed in 1922 after a successful revolution against the Russian imperial government. The unpopularity of Czar Nicholas II and imperialism led to a pair of uprisings in 1917, together called the Russian Revolution. During the revolution, the Bolshevik group succeeded not only in taking power from the czar but also in keeping power away from other socialist revolutionary groups. With all opposition destroyed or cowed, the Russian Empire was split into four separate states: the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1922, these four states joined together to form the USSR and established a centralized and highly organized government. While Vladimir Lenin was the first leader of the USSR due to his role as leader of the revolution, his failing health forced him to withdraw from political life just two years after establishing the USSR. While in power, he introduced orthodox Marxism as the basis for the Soviet economy. This ensured that the workers—the common class— were represented within the government. Lenin was succeeded by Alexei Rykov, but another individual, Joseph Stalin, was gaining favor and consolidating power within the Communist Party. After internal struggles and arrests, Stalin became the premier, or head, of the Soviet Union. Stalin shifted the economic system established by Lenin into a more authoritarian state-run economy. Deviating from orthodox Marxism, Stalin established a dictatorship with the guise of a proletariat-run country. Stalin’s Soviet government became one of the most intimidating and powerful organizations in the world. It would emerge from World War II as a true superpower.

A New Kind of War

15

details. Keeping the USSR out of the loop helped maintain the developing rift between the Eastern Allies and the Western Allies. After achieving victory in Europe, America focused on finishing the war in the Pacific. The Soviet Union was gearing up its own forces to start pressuring Japan as well. In the end, the United States’ tactics and use of the atomic bomb had a lasting effect on Japan and the world. It was made clear to the Soviet Union and the rest of the world that the United States had a powerful advantage and a dangerous new weapon. The Formation of NATO Many people remember the Cold War as a conflict between the United States of America and Russia, but it was actually a clash between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the USSR. After the end of World War II, the USSR and the United States became the two dominant world superpowers. They began collecting allies in an attempt to wield the most power. As each took larger roles in international diplomacy, their conflicting ideologies would clash again and again. Looking for security against future acts of aggression, the United States, Canada, and several Western European countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty in April 1949. NATO was formed as a military alliance that pledged mutual defense among the signing members. This meant that in times of conflict or aggression, all members of NATO would assist the nation needing help. Today NATO functions as an alliance against all attackers, but it was initially created as a response to growing Soviet power and suspected

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Strategic Inventions of the Cold War

development of Soviet nuclear weaponry. Indeed, the Soviet Union was developing nuclear weapons and conducted its first test in 1949. Years of war had taken a toll on Europe. The North Atlantic Treaty was written as a defensive pact that bound many of these countries together as a single wartime entity—an attack on one member was an attack on all members. If provoked, each nation would respond with “such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic Area.” While there was a conventional warfare aspect to establishing NATO, it was primarily a nuclear deterrence force. The Warsaw Pact After Germany was defeated in World War II, the victorious nations negotiated new borders. Germany was split into a western region and an eastern region. The western region would be occupied by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. The Soviet Union and Poland would occupy the eastern part. The city of Berlin was also split in two by the Berlin Wall. In 1955, West Germany joined NATO, which allowed the country to be remilitarized. As a direct response to this new threat, the Soviet Union signed the Warsaw Pact and incorporated East Germany into the defensive pact. The Warsaw Pact functioned much in the way that the North Atlantic Treaty did. The Warsaw Pact bound the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania in a military alliance. Through this alliance, the members of the pact were called to come to the defense of any member nation that was attacked by

A New Kind of War

17

an outside threat. The Warsaw Pact was also invoked to suppress anti-communist uprisings within the member nations. The Arms Race The overall characterization of the Cold War is a prevailing sense of fear and looming destruction. Popular media fueled this paranoia throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and even into the 1970s and 1980s. Over four decades, both NATO and the USSR—primarily the United States and Russia—built up their caches of nuclear weapons in a time now referred to as the arms race. With neither side willing to concede to the other, military spending increased. More money was spent on weapons and training procedures. At first, there was some American opposition to building an ever-expanding military; however, much of the population and the elected leadership favored this strong approach to international relations. In building these expanding militaries, each side became more willing to engage in outside conflicts. For example, the Soviet Union used forces to suppress anti-Soviet revolts in Hungary in 1956 and to halt the liberalization of Czechoslovakia in 1968. The United States used its growing military to help establish and maintain an anti-communist South Korea and to resist a procommunist Ho Chi Minh from taking power in Vietnam. Proxy Wars One of the defining characteristics of the “Cold” War is that the USSR and the United States never actually engaged in combat.

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Strategic Inventions of the Cold War

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that splits North and South Korea is a strip of land with barbed wire fences and land mines.

A New Kind of War

19

That does not mean that the Cold War mentality didn’t produce actual battles, though. The Korean War and the Vietnam War were both fought during this time. Each conflict saw the United States go to war in order to prevent expansion of Soviet influence, while the Soviet Union supplied North Korea and North Vietnam with weaponry, medical supplies, and training to oppose Western advances. Likewise, when the Soviet Union entered into Afghanistan to support the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan in 1979, the United States supported the opposing Sunni mujahideen. So while there was never any direct confrontation between American troops and Soviet Union forces, both sides were angling for a superior military advantage.

The Korean War After Korea was liberated from Japanese rule at the end of World War II, the country was split at a line called the 38th parallel. A pro-Soviet government was established in the north and a proWestern government in the south. Both governments claimed to be the legitimate government of the entire nation, sparking deep unrest on both fronts. Following South Korea’s declaration of independence from North Korea in 1950, North Korean forces, supported by China and the Soviet Union, crossed the border to suppress the uprising. Though the Soviet Union never officially entered the conflict, it did occupy North Korea and supply North Korean and Chinese forces with equipment. The United Nations (UN) deemed this an act of aggression and authorized the use of force. The United States committed the

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vast majority of UN forces to helping the South Korean military. General Douglas MacArthur took command of the American divisions. After three years of fighting and several instances of the South Korean capital, Seoul, changing hands, an armistice was signed between the North Korean and South Korean forces. The armistice stipulated that the 38th parallel would be reestablished and that all hostilities would cease until a peaceful resolution was created. While the two countries are still technically at war, the ceasefire has been in effect since 1953 and all prisoners of war involved in the conflict have been returned to their home countries. After establishing that the Korean Peninsula would not be a unified communist state, preventing the spread of communism became the primary goal of the United States’ foreign policy. The threat of communism spreading to other countries terrified not only elected leaders but the everyday citizens as well.

The Vietnam War After France withdrew from Vietnam (then called French Indochina) in 1954 and gave up all claim of power over Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos, the country temporarily split into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. As the French military exited, the West grew nervous that Ho Chi Minh, the country’s prominent nationalist leader, would establish a communist government in place of the government of French-Indochina. Due to the threat of growing Soviet power and the prevailing anti-communist attitude among the United States’ leaders, the United States felt the need to intervene. Citing the domino

A New Kind of War

21

A mujahideen solider aims a Stinger missile launcher. These weapons were one way that the United States aided the resistance against the Soviet-backed Afghan government.

theory—that if one country in East Asia were to fall to communism the rest would soon follow—President John F. Kennedy, and later President Lyndon B. Johnson, escalated US involvement in Vietnam to all-out war. This involved many men, some of whom were not voluntarily part of the military but instead were part of the country’s draft policy. Many people opposed and protested American involvement in Vietnam, and some openly defied draft laws in dissent. Eventually, the war in Vietnam grew unpopular enough in America that

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in 1969 President Richard Nixon began to withdraw combat troops while transferring major combat operations to the South Vietnamese army. As American troops withdrew from Vietnam, the pro-communist forces continued fighting and eventually reunified the country. The withdrawal from Vietnam and the dissent back in the United States marked a significant turning point in the Cold War. No longer was the spread of communism of paramount concern for the American people. With public support waning for anti-communists, America entered the mid1970s willing to start negotiations with the Soviet Union. Post-Vietnam and the 1980s After the Vietnam conflict, there was a period of non-hostility between the Soviet Union and the United States. This was a time of much political posturing as well as talks of scaling back each country’s military and reducing the amount of nuclear weapons each country had stockpiled. However, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 to aid a pro-Soviet regime, anti-communist rhetoric intensified in America and nuclear disarmament talks ceased. Soviet intervention in Afghanistan introduced a new fervor to anti-communist rhetoric in the early 1980s. For instance, President Jimmy Carter announced that the United States would boycott the 1980 Olympic Games to protest Soviet action in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, America supported the Sunni mujahideen by supplying weapons—particularly Stinger missile launchers—to anti-communist forces. These personal and portable surface-to-air

A New Kind of War

23

missile launchers helped the ground forces in Afghanistan even the playing field against a much more advanced Soviet air force. Eventually, after ten years of occupation and fighting a losing war to a guerilla force, the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989. Throughout the 1980s, the Soviet Union began losing power and influence around the world. Though the military was still recognized as formidable and dangerous, a decade-long war had sapped the USSR’s economy. In an attempt to kick-start the floundering economy and introduce a new, democratized version of the Soviet Union, newly elected president Mikhail Gorbachev instituted policies of perestroika and glasnost, meaning “restructuring” and “openness.” The new openness and restructuring policies that Gorbachev established were intended to bring the USSR into the modern age by eliminating such hallmarks of the Stalin regime as secret trials and the silencing of political dissidents. The USSR also looked to redistribute some of the power held by the central government to the more localized level. While these new policies made the Soviet Union a much more open and transparent state, such radical reforms would not help the staggering economy. The Fall of the Soviet Union Gorbachev’s new policies did not necessarily cause the downfall of the Soviet Union, but the instability that large-scale reform brought upon the USSR certainly did not help the Communist Party keep control. With Gorbachev’s glasnost policies in place, media presenters became freer to speak critically against the Soviet

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government without fear of being forcibly silenced by the state. With this new sense of empowerment, massacres and other human rights atrocities that had occurred under the various governments of the USSR were exposed to the general public. Government control and censorship of literature was reduced as well, and citizens were able to access once-banned books in the libraries. After instituting new policies of openness, Mikhail Gorbachev saw the Soviet Union lose much of its power.

Travel restrictions likewise were eased and communication with

the West was reopened. In 1989, Gorbachev relaxed the border in Berlin, Germany. Berlin, long divided into sections, had been walled off since 1945. By allowing open travel between East Berlin and West Berlin, Gorbachev reunited a nation and signaled the end of an era. Tourists and citizens in Berlin began chipping away at sections of the wall in jubilation. This paved the way for German reunification and the reestablishment of a singular German government.

A New Kind of War

25

A Defense of Gorbachev While it seems easy to paint Mikhail Gorbachev as a person who lost control of an empire, it may be more useful to view him as a president who enacted large-scale reforms and instituted human rights policies in a state that had a long history of suppressing opposition, murdering intellectuals, and seizing private property. Indeed, Gorbachev’s policies helped cause the collapse of the Soviet Union, but his sweeping reform of the Soviet Union removed the aura of fear that the state had cultivated throughout years of oppression and persecution. In recognition of his efforts, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990. Rather than blaming Gorbachev for the downfall of the Soviet Union, it may be more accurate to credit him for modernizing the government and eliminating the remaining traces of Stalin’s dictatorship.

While it was surely not Gorbachev’s intention for the central Soviet government to crumble, he did want to allow greater autonomy at the local level. However, there were unintended effects. Since the strong centralized government regulated the economy, there was mass disorganization at the local level. Wanting to create a stronger economy by improving relations with outside nations, Gorbachev let the local governments conduct their own trade.

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Strategic Inventions of the Cold War

Gorbachev also reduced military involvement as a whole. Besides withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, Gorbachev ceased military support for Soviet Union states when combating uprisings. A series of revolutions in the outlying Soviet states occurred, some more peaceful than others. This resulted in many countries gaining independence. By December 1991, all countries once making up the USSR had seceded, Ukraine being the last. On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigned from the office of the presidency, and the next day the Soviet Union officially dissolved. With the United States the lone remaining superpower, the Cold War had ended. Russia took over for the USSR in the United Nations and as the nuclear successor to the Soviet Union. While there still were political tensions between the United States and Russia and economic cooperation was limited, most of the hostilities were over. Today, Russia still wields a great deal of power and possesses a capable and formidable military presence despite no longer being considered a superpower. Throughout the decades of conflict that made up the Cold War, there were numerous technological advances that made the war an important part of human history. These advances carried the world into a new era. Among these technologies were the intercontinental ballistic missile, the television, and the Abrams tank.

A New Kind of War

27

Missiles such as the Corporal (pictured here) can be fitted with a nuclear warhead. Different missiles have different ranges and payloads, so they must be deployed strategically.

Chapter

Two

Trouble Rising

W

hile there are certain inventions that emerge as a direct response to a problem—the crossbow

was invented to give archers a ranged weapon they could use proficiently in much less time than it took to learn to use a long bow; trebuchets and catapults were invented to aid in breaching defensive walls—most inventions covered in this book were the result of an era, rather than the result of a need. However, that does not mean people didn’t use these inventions to solve problems or further their own agendas. Fear Looming During the Cold War, the general climate of the American population was filled with paranoia and fear. With the advent of

Trouble Rising

29

nuclear weapons and a populace that understood the devastation they could bring, the fact that an enemy also possessed the means to enact such destruction was indeed terrifying. However, it wasn’t just nuclear weapons that people feared—it was the very idea of communism and once-allied countries falling under Soviet influence. In America, most politicians advocated for preventing Soviet expansion at all costs, calling for tough stances in foreign policy. Even if a politician thought that making concessions or simple negotiation would be the best course of action, the threat of being labeled a communist sympathizer or of not being reelected was enough to keep such thoughts quiet. Politicians during the Cold War didn’t want to appear “weak,” making negotiation or compromise difficult to achieve. In the United States, any politician or public figure could be accused of being aligned with communists if he or she protested America’s defense policy. Simply having a different opinion on Soviet foreign policy was enough to rouse suspicion. Being accused of communist activity could ruin a career and cause an individual to be cast out as a pariah. Accusations spread quickly and efficiently due to the emergence of the television as the popular medium of the era. The inventors of television certainly did not intend for it to become a tool for persecution, but the people who mastered the medium wielded great influence. In 1961, over 90 percent of American households had at least one TV set. Now that they had the opportunity to form a personal connection with citizens, leaders worried about the messages being

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Strategic Inventions of the Cold War

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was established in 1938 to hunt out domestic fascist and communist groups. Throughout the Cold War, HUAC subpoenaed citizens to come to Congress to testify about their actions or the actions of their friends, family members, and coworkers. During hearings, witnesses were compelled to “name names,” leading the committee to find and prosecute supposed communist sympathizers. If a person testifying refused to answer the questions or name names, that person could be indicted for contempt of Congress and imprisoned. If the individual invoked their constitutional right to not incriminate themselves, they were presumed guilty. Being accused of communist leanings had ramifications in social and professional circles. The blacklisting of uncooperative individuals was common—particularly in the TV and movie industries. Anyone could be accused and subpoenaed, forcing people to either abandon their ideologies or face imprisonment. The way the hearings were conducted led to many “false positives” and innocent people had their lives ruined. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin used the committee’s power to grill prominent military personnel and government workers about possible communist involvement to the point of absurdity. Eventually, McCarthy was censured, the trials ended, and HUAC’s influence and relevance faded away. In 1969, the House Un-American Activities Committee was renamed the House Internal Security Committee, and it was abolished altogether in 1975.

Trouble Rising

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Electric televisions were once large, bulky pieces of furniture with small screens and dials. Televisions quickly became a necessity in the American home.

broadcast directly into homes. This is why publications and news channels took action on uncovering communist sympathizers. When considering the Cold War, it’s important to understand the levels of fear and paranoia that echoed across the United States. Many schools participated in bomb drills. People stored food,

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Strategic Inventions of the Cold War

clothing, and water in underground bunkers. The situation wasn’t necessarily something that everyone thought about every day; however, the threat of nuclear attack and all-out war with the Soviet Union loomed overhead and at times seemed inevitable. Today we may look back on this type of fear as a joke or an overreaction to a threat that never materialized, but during the Cold War, it informed just about every aspect of life. Fear and opposition of communism was woven into the very fabric of citizenship. Developing Thermonuclear Weapons When the United States bombed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, it was the greatest singleweapon strike ever committed. The world was in shock, seeing firsthand the complete annihilation and human devastation those areas experienced. Considering such damage and heartache, it may seem surprising that scientists worked to create even larger bombs with more devastating capabilities, but that is exactly what happened. Before long, the USSR had developed its own atomic bomb—the hydrogen bomb—and matched the United States’ capability in nuclear potential.

A Policy of Mutually Assured Destruction and Deterrence The period of stockpiling weapons capable of obliterating all life from Earth but not using them was built on the policy known as mutually assured destruction. As nations raced to arm themselves for a seemingly inevitable conflict, each country

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developed more warheads, tanks, guns, and other weaponry that they could access in any actual combat. Yet they did not intend to use these armaments. Why not? The weapons buildup became more about deterring hostilities rather than initiating them. The thought was that if both sides were equally matched in terms of capabilities then neither side would make a move against the other in fear that both sides, as well as the rest of humanity, would become extinct. However, because of the paranoia that permeated both the NATO nations and the Soviet Union, neither side trusted the other not to attack. As a result, each side amassed conventional and nuclear weapons, preparing for the day they would be forced to use them. Because the warheads were primarily developed to be a deterrent, most countries focused on creating “second-strike capabilities”—meaning that any act of war could be met with nuclear retaliation. To have a viable second-strike capability, warheads must be available for launch from many different locations and through different means to prevent a single nuclear strike from destroying all nuclear weapons. In addition to constructing new silos to store warheads or launch pads from which to launch them, countries that invested in their nuclear arsenal built newer and more reliable launching mechanisms— aircraft bombers that were more effective at delivering the payload, or bomb, from a longer distance; land-based vehicles capable of maneuvering into an advantageous position; or nuclear submarines that would patrol the waters, ready to strike at a

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moment’s notice. The United States, Russia, United Kingdom, and France are known to still have these submarines in circulation. The Rise of Television Upon the advent of the TV in the American home, many different perspectives arose. Some, including 1948 humorist Fred Allen, dismissed the television as “nothing more than agitated decalcomania rampant on the tavern wall and in the family living room.” Others saw the television as a way to get entertainment and news quickly and effectively. Because the television was part of the home, it had no barrier for entry. No one had to purchase a ticket or leave to go to the theater; the entire household, adults and children alike, were able to view programming throughout most of the day, for free. During the Cold War, television helped spread fear of communism and the mistrust of nearly everyone in the minds of American citizens. Public service announcements and newscasts were filled with the grim updates of Soviet expansion and continued militarization. During the Korean War, television delivered updates and analysis from anchors and correspondents directly to the masses. In this way, the civilian population got a real, vivid look at the realities of war. The level of contact provided by the television alarmed those who feared that Soviet spies may be infiltrating TV production. Firm in their belief that communist sympathizers should not have that sort of direct connection with the American people, small interest groups came to prominence and distributed literature

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The mushroom cloud quickly became the visual symbol for nuclear weaponry. People would learn to associate the cloud with the devastation such an explosion could bring.

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The Cuban Missile Crisis Regarded by many as the conflict that nearly led to all-out nuclear warfare, the Cuban missile crisis occurred over the course of thirteen days in October 1962. On October 16, President John F. Kennedy was presented with spy plane photos taken on October 14. The photos showed Soviet soldiers constructing nuclear missile facilities in Cuba, an ally of Russia. Although Kennedy had acquiesced to Premier Nikita Khrushchev installing defensive weaponry in response to the United States’ nuclear buildup, posting nuclear missiles 90 miles (144 kilometers) from American soil was too close for comfort. After the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, in which pro-American Cuban expats tried unsuccessfully to invade Cuba on behalf of the American government, the Soviet Union recognized the importance of strengthening its ties with Fidel Castro and Cuba’s Soviet-friendly government. Establishing a presence in the Atlantic so close to America would have many benefits—particularly in warning the United States of its capabilities. The United States sent the US Navy to blockade the waters around Cuba, making it nearly impossible for ships delivering missiles to get through. The United States demanded that all missiles bound for Cuba turn back and that any existing missiles be dismantled and returned to the USSR. In return, the Soviet Union demanded that the United States pledge not to invade Cuba and to remove secret nuclear missiles stationed in Turkey. On October 26, after a tense few days, Kennedy and Khrushchev agreed to a compromise. The Soviet Union would dismantle all nuclear weapons in Cuba and refrain from deploying them there, while the United States agreed not to invade Cuba and to remove the missiles in Turkey. Both leaders spun the announcement as a victory and the world avoided nuclear war.

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warning of the political leanings of some of the most prominent shows. This place of fear is what sparked the blacklisting of actors and other television crewmembers during the 1950s and 1960s. Besides news and entertainment, the TV was used by the US government to display strength and to reassure any American watching that the United States had the advantage. In 1951, an atomic test was secretly shown for the first time on local Los Angeles television, surprising early-morning viewers. On April 22, 1952, another atomic bomb explosion was set to broadcast coast to coast, though the video was a failure—the blast knocked out the relay camera. A year later, the Atomic Energy Commission tried to again broadcast a demonstration of an atomic blast. This time, the test and the broadcast were both successful and viewers at home around the country could witness the spectacle and begin to understand the consequences of nuclear war. After the first broadcasts of atomic tests, it didn’t take long for the Civil Defense Corps to take footage of the tests and create public service announcements out of test footage. These videos warned of the devastation of a nuclear attack and showed the aftermath of an atomic blast. Without subtlety, the announcements presented dire warnings about being caught unprepared. While not necessarily stating it, these broadcasts were implying that the Soviets posed a nuclear threat, further igniting fear and suspicion into the minds of Americans. All of this fear and preparation came to a head in October 1962, during a standoff now known as the Cuban missile crisis.

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This M60 Patton tank would be replaced by the newer, better-equipped Abrams. These tanks debuted in 1960 and are still used by some countries today.

The American people were primed to fear nuclear installments in Cuba. The displays of atomic testing at home and abroad, coupled with news stories about local devastation associated with nuclear strikes, made for a very tense American population. When the

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press broke that the Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev, had been shipping nuclear missiles to Cuba as a defense against the United States, the world waited to see what would happen next. The general consensus of the event was that the missiles were being placed there as a deterrent against any future action by the United States. The problem in question was the city of Berlin in what was then East Germany. It was well known that Khrushchev saw the western part of the city—the part controlled by the United States and its allies—as a major security risk. If the Soviet Union had a reliable strike at the United States through Cuban nuclear missiles, they would be able to revisit attempts to take West Berlin while still maintaining strong pressure on the continental United States. For thirteen days the nation watched as Khrushchev and Kennedy negotiated about the missiles in Cuba. Every night newscasts would deliver the latest information available as American citizens wondered if this would finally trigger all-out war. The thirteen days that the United States and the Soviet Union negotiated the removal of the missiles were some of the most tense and terrifying of the entire decades-long conflict. A New Tank for a New Era Though the M60 Patton tank had served the US Army well through most conflicts and proxy wars of the Cold War era, in the late 1970s, the US Army decided to design a new battle tank. Tank technology gets outdated quickly, so manufacturers need to constantly try to upgrade existing models and test out new models

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in order to adapt to the changing landscape. In evaluating the performance of the M60, it was deemed insufficient against the new armor that the Soviets had been rolling out, and so the US Army began working on a new tank. The new vehicle was classified as the M1 Abrams battle tank. It debuted in 1980. The tank was designed specifically keeping in mind technological advancements and other events taking place throughout the Cold War period. Largely, the design for this new tank was influenced by the Soviet Union’s introduction of a swift and mobile tank called the T-72. For example, in response to the T-72 tank, Abrams tank designers equipped their model with much heavier armor, particularly on the sides and in the rear. Further, the armor on the lightweight T-72 was stronger than previous models, thus requiring the Abrams team to redesign the main tank gun to fire with more force. Interestingly, there were some in the military and in leadership that thought tank warfare would become antiquated and outdated—that tactical nuclear weapons would eliminate the need for a strong tank battalion. While it’s true that the tank shifted more into a supporting role, it still finds use in military engagements today. The Abrams tank was a response to a direct problem; however, the other two inventions discussed in this book were responses to the era. Thermonuclear weapons were developed to exert more pressure on the Soviet Union and to maintain nuclear superiority. The television was originally invented not as a war machine but for

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entertainment and the edification of the greater population, as well as to deliver information and reassure a population nervous about total annihilation during wartime. An Era of Ingenuity The Cold War era is marked as one filled with ingenuity and hard work. Having survived the hardships of the Great Depression and the effects of World War II, people were ready to get back to manufacturing goods, creating things, and living lives for themselves. They went about their business as such for a time, but soon they could no longer ignore the fear and paranoia that would come to define the 1950s through the late 1980s.

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Bomb shelters became more and more common as fear of nuclear attacks increased. This example of a shelter went beyond the basics of food and water and contained a television and exercise bike.

Chapter

Three

Introducing Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles

A

s mentioned, the Cold War era in the United States was dominated by an overwhelming feeling of fear and

paranoia. This was a time of bomb shelters and public service .

announcements that promoted “duck and cover” action in nuclear attack drills. Apocalypse seemed inevitable. People planned how best to avoid being caught in the nuclear fallout and much of foreign policy focused on what the Soviets were doing and why they might be doing it. To understand these sentiments, we must become familiar with the hallmark weapon of the Cold War: the ICBM. The Basics of Rocketry At the end of World War II, America dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These bombs were the first of their kind.

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Further bomb development produced intercontinental ballistic missiles, including thermonuclear warheads capable of causing far more damage than the atomic bomb. While eventually technology would allow these missiles to be affixed to submarines or land-based mobile launchers, they started life as large, bulky fixtures. By definition, for a missile to be considered an intercontinental ballistic missile, it must have a minimum range of 3,400 miles (5,500 km). This is roughly the distance between Washington, DC, and London, England. In the early days of the Cold War, this distance was vital because once a rocket was installed, its launch location became permanent. After technology advanced, though, missiles were able to be installed in submarines, giving the countries that deployed these submarines a global striking range. Rockets operate on Sir Isaac Newton’s three laws of motion, the first of which states: “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” For rocketry, this means that the force exerted toward the ground will result in lift. To lift a heavy load, such as an entire assembled rocket and its bomb, off the ground, a large amount of force needs to be exerted. So if that force is exerted toward the ground, the reaction will be the rocket lifting upward, toward space. In terms of a nuclear missile, the warhead is attached and the rocket carrying it is launched. The boost phase lasts for only a few minutes, after which the missile carrying the warhead cruises through space in an elliptical path, reentering the atmosphere above the target. Much like the different payloads missiles and rockets carry, the technology of rockets and missiles advanced throughout the Cold

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Father of the H-Bomb: Edward Teller Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1908, Edward Teller spent his young life in Hungary under a distressing political climate. He earned his PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1930. As Hitler rose to power, Teller emigrated from Germany to the United States, where he was eventually recruited to work on the Manhattan Project. While there, he tried pushing the group to work on a hydrogen bomb. Though his designs didn’t make it into the atomic bombs that were used at the end of World War II, during the Cold War Teller urged the US government to push forward with the “super bomb.” He thought that if Russia produced the H-bomb before the United States, America would be doomed. In 1950, President Truman created a hydrogen bomb program that Teller would spearhead. When his designs for the project did not work, he blamed his colleagues. Eventually, he and a mathematician named Stanislaw Ulam drafted a successful H-bomb design, but Teller did not head the project. Teller had a prickly personality and alienated other researchers with his single-minded push toward the hydrogen bomb. He further alienated himself from the scientific community in 1954 by testifying against J. Robert Oppenheimer at his security clearance hearings, claiming that Oppenheimer may harbor communist sympathies and should not necessarily be trusted with access to the country’s nuclear secrets. Teller spent the majority of the rest of his life advocating for stronger thermonuclear warheads. He died in 2003 at the age of ninety-five.

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War. The first rockets capable of lifting a thermonuclear weapon were of the Atlas line, operational from 1959 to 1966, until the Atlas program was replaced by the more powerful Saturn rockets. Atlas rockets allowed for long-range targeting as well as decoys to resist countermeasures. The Nuclear Triad Initial nuclear delivery devices focused on silo and land-based launchers. These were at first effective, but soon both the United States and the Soviet Union strove to create more mobile and diverse launch vehicles. Seeking the ability to deliver warheads by three different methods—or achieving the “nuclear triad”—was the prime objective of the later Cold War years. The three different delivery mechanisms for nuclear warheads were silo and land-based missiles, which were susceptible to first strikes; nuclear submarines, which were able to surface and deliver a payload anywhere in the world; and aircraft, which were more flexible in their deployment. Atomic Bombs versus Thermonuclear Bombs While they often get lumped together, atomic bombs are not the same as thermonuclear bombs. Atomic bombs explode solely using a nuclear fission reaction, whereas thermonuclear weapons utilize a fission reaction to spur a more powerful nuclear fusion reaction. In simple terms, fission reactions are atoms breaking apart at a rapid rate and giving off lots of energy as they split, creating a sort of chain reaction. Fusion reactions, however, occur when atoms are pushed together to form a new atom, releasing energy in the process.

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This cutaway shows the inside of a nuclear warhead.

It might seem as though these reactions can only happen under extreme laboratory constraints, but these reactions are happening throughout the universe. The sun, for instance, is a sustained fusion reaction in which the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium are forced together, producing helium and a large amount of energy. Thermonuclear weapons rely on the same principle, using the fission reaction of the atomic bomb to provide the enormous amount of heat needed to fuse the hydrogen isotopes. Because they use isotopes of hydrogen, thermonuclear weapons are often referred to as “H-bombs” or “hydrogen bombs.”

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This is a replica of the “Little Boy” atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Thermonuclear weapons offer an efficient way to deliver a large amount of destructive force quickly. The first thermonuclear bombs were tested in 1951—just six years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These tests had nine times the yield of the first atomic tests. In six years, researchers were able to create

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a weapon that could cause nine times the damage that destroyed two Japanese cities. As development persisted, the magnitude of these weapons also increased. In 1954, the United States tested the Castle Bravo, a device more than one thousand times the power of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs. In 1961, the USSR tested Tsar Bomba which had three times the yield of the Castle Bravo test. This new type of weapon had the potential to unleash unheard-of destruction, and both the USSR and the United States were working toward developing more powerful weapons in greater numbers. This buildup caused much of the underlying tension of the Cold War. While neither side wanted to engage the other in a conventional war, the thought of the possible escalation to nuclear war truly terrified everyone involved. Arms Limitations Through the 1950s and much of the 1960s, both the United States and the Soviet Union built and tested nuclear weapons without any restrictions. In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson and Premier Alexei Kosygin announced that they were both willing to begin negotiations that would start placing limits on

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nuclear weaponry. While these talks didn’t materialize until 1969, this acknowledgement was an important step in recognizing the implications of a huge nuclear stockpile. The two sides had approached nuclear war a few years earlier and desperately wanted to avoid a similar situation arising again. The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks agreement, or the SALT I treaty, set up an agreement between the United States and the USSR that the current number of strategic ballistic missile launchers would become static. This agreement did not prohibit either state from creating new weaponry, but it did require that an older model be dismantled if a newer model was built. The agreement was signed on May 26, 1972, in Moscow by President Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet general secretary. After the treaty was ratified, the USSR and the United States continued to discuss nuclear limitation and disarmament. Called the SALT II talks, these discussions continued from 1972 to 1979, and unlike the SALT I talks, they focused on actual reductions in nuclear weaponry. While there were concessions from both sides, the treaty outlined a limit of 2,400 total nuclear delivery vehicles per side. Though President Jimmy Carter and General Secretary Brezhnev both signed the agreement, the United States Senate never ratified the agreement due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. Nevertheless, both sides followed the limitations that the treaty outlined. START Disarmament Treaties Going further than the SALT treaties, the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) yielded a treaty that was signed in 1991 by President

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George H. W. Bush and President Mikhail Gorbachev and was enacted in 1994. This treaty limited the amount of actual warheads rather than simply limiting the delivery devices. Because the ways that the United States and the Soviet Union pursued their nuclear defense program varied so drastically, the terms of the treaty are hard to compare. At a glance, though, the USSR agreed to reduce its warhead stockpile by about two-thirds while the United States agreed to reduce theirs by about half. While the treaty was decidedly in favor of the United States, eventually it was ratified and the fifteenyear disarmament program went into effect. After the START I treaty expired in 2009, President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and President Barack Obama began talks on the New START treaty, which further decreased the number of nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles each country possessed. As of 2015, the New START treaty remains in effect. It limits the United States and Russia to 700 deployed missiles and bombers (with an additional 100 non-deployed launchers), and 1,550 deployed warheads. While these weapons are still capable of unleashing the same sort of destruction the country feared throughout the Cold War, it is a far cry from the ten thousand warheads that each side possessed before the first START treaty was ratified. The new number may be symbolic, but that symbol is one of rivals working together and recognizing the grim possibilities these weapons possessed.

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John Logie Baird with the mechanical television. These machines were the precursor to the electronic television.

Chapter

Four

The Advent of Television

T

he very first televisions were mechanical and almost unrecognizable as televisions—they were spinning disks

with small holes that scanned moving images and then projected a flickering image onto a screen. While they were fascinating machines, the disks inside could never spin fast enough to mimic fluid motion, and the displays only worked with high-contrast subjects, such as mannequins. Through the years, the television changed the way people interacted with one another as well as the rest of the world, and it brought issues of the era inside people’s minds and homes.

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The Television Era Television as we recognize it today debuted in 1927. Philo Taylor Farnsworth is usually recognized as the “father of television,” although many other people also contributed to its development and demonstrated working models. Farnsworth is usually given credit because he was able to publically demonstrate the first allelectronic television and was subsequently awarded the patent. Others before him, however, helped pave the way for his eventual successfully working television. For example, in 1897, German physicist Ferdinand Braun created the first version of a cathode ray tube. In 1907, Russian scientist Boris Rosing was able to project shapes onto a phosphor-coated screen. In the early 1910s, Russian engineer Vladimir Zworykin helped Rosing improve the mechanical television design. In effect, it was a group effort of many scientists and inventors working separately to bring television to the public. In the decades that followed its introduction, the television evolved quickly. In 1939, the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) held its first broadcast for the general public at the World’s Fair in New York City. The 1940s saw the advent of World War II, which halted the large-scale development of the television, as much of the country’s manufacturing and labor were supplied to the war effort. After the war, a general sense of prosperity represented the burgeoning American economy. With expendable income and a skilled working population, television suddenly became a viable purchase for a middle-class family. In a few short

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years, the television would go from being a wealthy individual’s luxury to middle-class entertainment to a necessary utility to stay an informed citizen. Today, televisions are everywhere and relatively inexpensive. The technology that stemmed from the old black-and-white sets exists in cell phones and computer monitors. While you may be much more familiar with the television as a flat-panel display or a projection onto a screen, an electronic television originally was a bulky unit—a piece of furniture with a large cabinet surrounding a very small screen.

The Baird Televisor required a large spinning disk to display a picture. The mechanical television never caught on with the public because the picture quality was far too low.

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The Father of TV: Philo Farnsworth

While many people would claim to be the inventor of the television, Philo Farnsworth remains the patent holder and the first to publically display a working television system.

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Philo Taylor Farnsworth is usually credited as the inventor of the modern television. Born in Beaver, Utah, in 1906, Farnsworth was the eldest of five children. Interestingly, he didn’t live in a house with electricity until he was twelve, but as a young boy he proved he had a knack for mechanical engineering and innovation. In school, he taught himself to fix electrical generators and even invented a magnetic car lock. He enrolled as a special student at Brigham Young University in 1923, but in 1924 he had to drop out due to his father’s death. Soon after, in 1926, Farnsworth and his wife, Pem, moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue work. Farnsworth demonstrated his television in 1927. He was the first to successfully transmit an image—a dollar sign—onto an electronic screen. Also that year he filed patents for the television, which were granted in 1930. However, trouble soon arose. Record giant RCA saw the advantage of Farnsworth’s invention and tried to buy him out. Farnsworth was not interested. Secretly, RCA added parts of Farnsworth’s invention into their own patent, which had been filed in 1923. They then brought a lawsuit against Farnsworth, trying to force him into either selling his patents or handing them over in court. The suit eventually proved unsuccessful. However, RCA continually filed suits against him, trying to drain resources and eventually force him to sell or settle. Farnsworth sold his company to International Telephone and Telegraph in 1951 and moved on to different pursuits. Later in life, he invented and patented a small nuclear fusion device called a fusor. Farnsworth died in 1971 of pneumonia, but he will be forever remembered as the father of TV.

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How the Electronic Television Works In simplified terms, electronic televisions work by having a camera take a rapid series of still photographs. These images are translated into a signal that is then transmitted to sets via radio waves, cables, or satellites. The signal is then decoded by the receiver in the television set and presented as images and sounds on a screen and through a loudspeaker. The signal that is sent over the air is a set of instructions that tells the television how to fire an electron beam in a pattern that will mimic the images that the camera captured. This entire complicated process happens thirty times each second. While the television screen seems to portray fluid motion and full images, it’s actually illuminating a series of very small individual panels called pixels. The brain then compiles all of these individual pixels into one whole image and perceives the rapid flickering of the still images as a cohesive, moving whole. In the same way that images can appear to move through a flipbook, so can a series of still images be presented quickly enough that the brain interprets the still images as movement. In order to obtain the speed and precision required to render video, the electronic television utilizes the cathode ray tube to display the images. A cathode ray tube is a vacuum tube heated with a filament, which pushes electrons into the vacuum. An anode—which is positively charged—focuses the stream of electrons into a beam, which is then accelerated and aimed at the screen of the tube. By running electrical current through a series of copper coils, the electron beam can be aimed anywhere on the

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The cathode ray tube allowed for electrons to be fired with precision. By altering how the electrons are fired, different images can be projected onto a TV screen.

screen. It rapidly runs in a scanning pattern to hit each pixel on the screen. The screen is coated with phosphor, which illuminates when hit by the beam of electrons. In this way, the screen is illuminated with black and white images. By varying the intensity of the electron beam, different shades of gray are created. The entire screen is scanned and illuminated thirty times per second, which is why the screen appears to be one moving whole rather than a series of individual pixels. Color televisions operate in a similar way. In order to render different colors, different phosphors are used on the screen, lighting up in red, green, or blue light. These phosphors are arranged in dots or stripes. There are also three different electron beams, each one calibrated to activate one of the different phosphors. Electron beams can excite the phosphors for varying amounts of time, yielding the different colors that you see on the

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screen. To produce a white image, all three electron beams are fired at the pixel. To create a black image, all three electron beams “skip” that spot and the pixel remains black. The Role of Televisions in the Home Televisions saturated the American market in a remarkably short time. In 1950, only 9 percent of American households had a television set. After only ten years, that rate jumped to 87 percent. In 2011, that number had grown to 96 percent. There’s no denying that television has become a pervasive— and persuasive—medium. While some American television is funded through taxes, grants, and charitable donations, from the 1950s on, advertising has been the lifeblood of the television industry. This was a way for companies to creatively market their products to broad audiences. In the early days, television programs had one sponsor. Hosts and characters would use and pitch the products of the company that funded the show. These products were integrated into the show’s storyline, eliminating the need to break away from the action. Today, a half-hour television program is, in reality, only twentytwo minutes long. The additional eight minutes is filled with thirty- to sixty-second advertisements that interrupt the show. Commercials are a separate entity from the program, and the structure of the show reflects this. Sponsored programs, however, have some disadvantages. If a single advertiser is funding the program, for instance, doing

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something to upset that advertiser could spell disaster for the many individuals working on that show. Besides actors, there are set crew, lighting crew, editors, assistants, and other employees who rely on that program. In this way, the sponsor has a lot of power. If the show does something that the sponsor doesn’t like, the entire program can lose funding and be cancelled. By contrast, in the commercial break form common today, sponsors don’t hold as much power on an individual basis. After all, it’s much easier to replace a single thirty-second spot than to replace the benefactor for an entire program. During the Cold War, the TV helped promote and popularize fear of the USSR and communism. Sometimes, products or employees were perceived as being associated with communism, resulting in several people being fired and replaced from the shows they were working on. The TV became an important tool in informing American people about events, such as various conflicts taking place around the world and within the United States. As it gained more popularity, it became a necessity for people to connect with the outside world. There is no doubt that television continues to have benefits. It has helped create a cohesive sense of culture throughout the country. Due to the immediate nature of broadcasting and the wide audience reach, news and entertainment spread quickly and efficiently throughout the United States as well as the rest of the world. The TV is a symbol of modernization and the ability to achieve the seemingly impossible.

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The Abrams tank is the current main battle tank of the United States Army. It features heavy armor, sophisticated weaponry, and an advanced communication system.

Chapter

Five

Meet the Abrams Tank

T

he M1 Abrams Tank is a heavily armed and armored battle tank that entered service in 1980 and first saw wartime

deployment in 1990 during the Gulf War. While the Abrams tank did not see real combat during the Cold War, the tank was originally developed in response to the perceived Soviet threat. When the M60 Patton tanks were deemed obsolete in the 1960s, the United States and West Germany began researching and designing a new main battle tank that would serve both militaries. While that collaboration never fully materialized, the research conducted eventually helped to create the M1 Abrams tank. There are three primary Abrams tanks—the M1, the M1A1, and the M1A2. These are similar tanks, produced in different years and with different upgrades. The M1A1 and the M1A2 have an upgraded

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65

The M1A1 Abrams (pictured here) has a top road speed of 45 miles per hour (72 kilometers per hour) and an off-road speed of 30 miles per hour (48 kmph).

main gun from the original M1. The M1 was produced from 1979 to 1985 by Chrysler; the M1A1 was produced from 1985 to 1992; and the M1A2 began production in 1992 and continues today.

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The History of the Abrams Tank In the 1960s, the US Army decided to begin searching for a replacement for the M60 Patton tank. The M60 had been the primary battle tank throughout the Cold War and had been deployed in several conflicts— including the Vietnam War. Because it takes a very long time to design, develop, test, and manufacture heavy armor, researchers are constantly searching for ways to improve tank technology. In 1963, the United States and West Germany made an agreement to begin collaboration “from the ground up” on a new main battle tank. This idea made sense—two different countries would combine years of expertise and technology to create something new and powerful. Codenamed the MBT-70 (the main battle tank for the 1970s), the new tank saw a prototype built in 1967 and the entire program cancelled three years later. Rising costs and slipping deadlines were cited as the reasons to end the collaboration.

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67

General Creighton Abrams

General Creighton Abrams distinguished himself as a brilliant tank strategist in World War II and eventually became a key decision-maker in military strategy.

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The namesake of the M1 Abrams line, Creighton Williams Abrams, Jr., was born September 15, 1914, in Springfield, Massachusetts, and died on September 4, 1974. In 1936, he graduated from West Point and served with the First Cavalry from 1936 to 1940. During World War II, Abrams served with the Fourth Armored Division, eventually earning the command of the Thirty-Seventh Tank Battalion. As battalion commander, he earned a reputation of being a very aggressive strategist “by consistently exploiting the relatively small advantages of speed and reliability of his vehicles.” After World War II, Abrams served on the Army general staff and commanded the Sixty-Third Tank Battalion in Europe, stationed there due to the concern of Soviet invasion. He graduated from the Army War College in 1953 and served in the Korean War as chief of staff of the I, X, and IX Corps. He was responsible for military operations in Vietnam from 1968 to 1972. Following the election of Richard Nixon as president in 1968, Abrams was selected to oversee the process of the gradual withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam and the transfer of major combat operations to the South Vietnamese Army. He demobilized the standing military from 535,000 in 1968 to 30,000 combat troops in 1972. At the time of his death, he was serving as the chief of staff of the United States Army and working to transition the US Army into an all-volunteer organization. Abrams is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. Due to his proficiency as a tank commander, the US Army named the Abrams battle tank line after him.

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In 1971, the two countries decided to again attempt a collaboration on a new tank, but instead of building the same tank, they decided that they would merely work toward making two tanks that would “harmonize” together—that is, tanks that could exchange components. This did not completely materialize mainly due to the fact that West Germany wanted a speedier, lighter tank while the United States wanted a tank with very heavy armor. Due to these differences, the two countries could not agree on a design that met the needs of both militaries and the collaboration was disbanded. Nevertheless, West Germany did develop a 120-millimeter machine gun that served as a primary weapon on the M1A1 Abrams and the M1A2 Abrams, making their collaboration mutually beneficial, though not to the level that they may have originally hoped. Tank Specifications In order to adapt to the changing nature of war, the Abrams tank had to change throughout the years. Newer versions of the tank have trended toward being heavier and offering greater survivability of the vehicle and protection of the crew. With this movement toward heavier armor, the tank sacrifices mobility and range. While manufacturers develop more efficient engines and lighter armor that still offers sufficient protection, there is only so much that these new efficiencies can do. In the end, it still takes a lot of energy to move a 60-plus-ton (54-plus-metric ton) vehicle. The military is currently developing the next iteration of the Abrams tank—the M1A3—and plans to put it into production

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in 2020. This new version will focus on making the tank several tons lighter while maintaining the high level of protection that the current version of the tank offers. Though the Abrams tank never saw action against a Soviet force, it was still developed with Soviet armor in mind. The tank needed to be heavy to stand up to the firepower of the newly developed Soviet T-72. Soviet manufacturers sold many of these tanks worldwide, making it likely that an enemy combatant would have access to these new tanks. Even if the United States did not confront the Soviet Union directly, it became more and more probable that their enemies would have Soviet tanks. While there have been modifications to the Abrams tank as the new iterations were developed and deployed, there are a few aspects of the tank that have remained consistent. For example, the Abrams tanks have always been about 32 feet (9.8 m) long, 12 feet (3.7 m) wide, and around 8 feet (2.4 m) tall. Likewise, they have always been manned by four people. Crew Makeup and Responsibilities An Abrams tank crew consists of a commander, a driver, a gunner, and a loader. Each person has specific roles prior to a mission and during a mission.

Tank Commander As commander of the vehicle, this individual is responsible for facilitating overall communication within the tank as well as communication with the platoon leader. The commander helps

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integrate the individual tank with the rest of the squad while maintaining clear communication within the tank itself. Further, the tank commander is also responsible for target identification and selection. Because there is so much responsibility tied up in the command position, the tank commander is given three different periscopes to help him or her maintain visual awareness of the surroundings. Based on the situation, the tank commander will give movement orders to the driver and deliver targeting information to the gunner and to the loader.

Gunner Prior to the mission, the gunner ensures that the weapons systems are in good working order and that the communications systems are functioning correctly. During mission time, the gunner’s primary task is target surveillance. As the individual responsible for directly engaging enemies, the gunner constantly communicates with the commander to ensure proper target selection. If a target is located, the gunner is responsible for communicating to the loader the type of shell that should be loaded into the gun.

Loader Like all other crew members, the loader is responsible for stowing ammunition before the mission and performing routine checks of his or her station. While the tank is in motion and the other crew members are performing their mission duties, the loader performs the same tasks as the gunner—namely searching for potential targets and communicating with the tank commander

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With all four crew members working together, the Abrams tank is capable of covering ground and firing at enemies quickly and efficiently.

about possible hostile units. During engagements, the loader is responsible for loading ammunition correctly and efficiently.

Driver The driver of the tank is the person responsible for the movement of the tank. This responsibility not only includes the actual physical act of driving the tank but also extends to the pre-combat phase of tank operation. The driver is responsible for refueling the tank and is usually considered the day-to-day mechanic for the tank. While engaged in combat, the driver receives orders from the tank commander and coordinates with all crew members to put the tank in a favorable position. For example, the armor on

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the front of the tank tends to be the heaviest and therefore is the strongest point of the tank. The driver will work to ensure that the front of the tank is facing the biggest threat while still maneuvering into a suitable firing position. Primary and Secondary Armaments The Abrams tank has had two different primary weapons. The original M1 Abrams utilized the same primary gun as the M60 Patton—the M68. The M68 is the American-licensed version of the British-developed L7 tank gun. The L7 tank gun was a 19-foot (5.8 m), 105-millimeter-caliber rifled gun capable of firing ten rounds per minute. After firing, the gun recoils and automatically ejects the empty cartridge out of the breech. When designing the M1A1 Abrams, the developers decided that a new primary weapon was needed. During the collaboration with West Germany, a 120-millimeter tank gun was developed and manufactured by the German company Rheinmetall. Classified for Abrams tanks as the M256A1 smoothbore gun, this version of the 120-millimeter gun uses a spring recoil system instead of the hydraulic system utilized by other tanks. In addition to the main tank gun, the Abrams tank boasts two different types of machine guns. One is a .50-caliber heavy machine gun suitable for penetrating lighter vehicles or enemies taking cover. There are also two general-purpose machine guns suitable for providing suppressing fire and for targeting enemy infantry.

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The Abrams Tank Today The M1A2 Abrams tank is still the main battle tank of the United States Army, and Abrams tanks have been sold to various countries looking to implement the battle tank into their own armaments. Though the Abrams tank debuted more than thirty-five years ago, many upgrade kits have been implemented to help the tank adapt to new styles of conflict. Most combat operations today happen in smaller-scale engagements in crowded cities. The Abrams tank was originally designed to fight in larger-scale conflicts, so in 2005 the US Army began implementing Tank Urban Survivability Kits (TUSKs). These kits include additional protection for the rear of the tank, especially against rocket-propelled grenades. The new additions to the tank armor make the vehicle better suited for the more surgical support role that tanks play in modern conflicts. Based on its past successes, the Abrams tank will continue to be manufactured and deployed for the foreseeable future.

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Senator Joseph McCarthy became a television fixture with his inquiries into internal communism. He would eventually be censured by the Senate and stripped of his committee duties.

Chapter

Six

The Effects of the War on Everyday Americans

O

f the three inventions discussed in this book, the television and ICBMs truly characterize the spirit of the

Cold War era. The Abrams tank, while an indication of a response to the Soviet threat, did not have an immediate impact on society during the Cold War itself. However, all three helped society evolve into what it is today. ICBMs

The 1950s and early 1960s were a period of the Cold War that, perhaps more so than any other decade, was characterized by an underlying fear of total destruction. US citizens had witnessed the effects of two nuclear bombs at the end of World War II and were very aware that such desolation and terror could materialize

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in their own country, especially after the USSR also showed the capability of producing nuclear weapons. Eventually, this threat would be internalized and find its way into nearly every aspect of American life. As discussed, the advent of thermonuclear warheads led to a calculated stockpiling of weapons on both continents. The production of these weapons sparked fear into many US citizens. Likewise, it caused many people to become suspicious of their neighbors and friends, even their own relatives. At the back of people’s minds, there was a looming question: Do you support the Soviets? No one could be certain. ICBMs brought this fear ever deeper into American society. If a person was in league with the Soviet cause, could they access these missiles and destroy the world? Many people thought steps should be taken to eliminate these threats. This was further promoted by a wider use of the television. Television The threat of nuclear warfare and the reality of living in fear of a Soviet attack made people constantly turn to television as a means to connect to the outside world. The television allowed for public scrutiny of people—most notably Senator Joseph McCarthy—and for the examination of people’s own fears and responses to the threats of communism. Broadcasts sometimes further encouraged anxiety against communism and communists. The public nature of television forced personal politics to merge with a politician’s need to maintain a public image. While today it may seem commonplace for people to

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Red Channels provided an easy outlet to start blacklisting media members. Merely being named in this publication was enough to make one an outcast.

evaluate an actor or an actress by the things that he or she says on social media or in the tabloids, during the Cold War era, public figures had more control over the revelations of their private lives. Nevertheless, many men and women in the spotlight were ridiculed for their alleged involvement in communist activities or displays of communist sympathies. Eventually, fears escalated with a senator named Joseph McCarthy and the House Un-American Activities Committee. Senator McCarthy, a Republican from Wisconsin, was an anticommunist who would strike fear into the hearts and minds of many Americans, both accused and not accused. For years he had been staunchly against communism and the spread of it

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Dagmar Wilson

Dagmar Wilson used her social connections to mobilize protests across the nation.

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Dagmar Wilson was one of the first organizers of large-scale American protests against the proliferation of nuclear weapons. According to the Los Angeles Times, she created the “largest national women’s peace protest of the twentieth century.” Wilson was born in 1916 in New York City and moved to Washington, DC, in 1937. During the 1960s, Wilson not only established a protest group but also illustrated many children’s books. In 1961, British philosopher Bertrand Russell was arrested for demonstrating against nuclear weaponry, and Wilson became irate. She began calling her friends and contemporaries to organize their own protest group dubbed Women Strike for Peace. With an agenda to end nuclear weapons testing and development, tens of thousands of women mobilized across sixty cities, culminating in a 1,500-member-strong protest at the Washington Monument. By writing letters and collecting petition signatures, the group would eventually help persuade President John F. Kennedy to sign a bilateral treaty that partially banned the testing of nuclear weaponry in the United States and the Soviet Union. Wilson’s protests eventually drew suspicion from the House Un-American Activities Committee, and she was subpoenaed in 1962. After being convicted of contempt of Congress because she refused to testify unless the hearing was open to the public, she won her appeal a year later. In the appeal, she remained resolute but also upbeat, resisting attempts by the committee to smear her. As the Women Strike for Peace movement and others like it moved toward protesting against the United States’ involvement in Vietnam, Wilson withdrew from the public eye. She remained active in local peace groups and eventually died of natural causes in 2011 at the age of ninety-four.

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throughout the world. Then, while attending a conference in West Virginia in 1950, he made his name known. McCarthy claimed he knew of 205 members of the Communist Party working within the United States’ very own State Department. This soon sparked a series of trials in which numerous people were brought to court over allegations of supporting the Communist Party or showing communist tendencies. These televised Army-McCarthy hearings showed McCarthy’s bullying tactics for six weeks. He then fell out of favor with the American public. A Clarification on McCarthyism McCarthyism often conjures up the image of a smear campaign aimed at an individual who may or may not be an active or a sympathetic communist. When strictly speaking about Senator Joseph McCarthy, however, we need to understand that McCarthy focused on exposing communists within the United States government—focusing particularly on the US military. While it is true that McCarthy conducted hearings and investigations into many different people, these investigations are distinct from the hearings held by the House Un-American Activities Committee and the media blacklist. The HUAC subpoenaed Hollywood members and exerted pressure on civilian organizations, and the media blacklist was largely self-imposed and self-enforced. While all of these movements had their basis in a fear of communism, Senator McCarthy was driven to expose all communists and communist sympathizers holding power within the government.

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Blacklists Blacklists are nothing new, nor were they invented during the Cold War. Simply put, when a person is placed on a blacklist, the companies that are adhering to that blacklist will not hire anyone on it, or may even terminate employment of a person on that list. Being placed on a blacklist threatens not only the reputation of the individual but his or her livelihood as well. In June 1950, Red Channels, a publication produced by the anti-communist newsletter Counterattack, accused 151 members of the media of communism and subverting the US government. This publication rocked the industry. Many well-known actors, musicians, writers, journalists, directors, and producers were named as conspirators against the country. Whether or not these individuals were innocent of communism was irrelevant. Merely by being listed in Red Channels made them suspicious and “too controversial” for employment. The first television personality to be fired for being named in Red Channels was the actress Jean Muir, who played Alice Aldrich on NBC’s The Aldrich Family. After she was named in the publication, General Foods, the show’s corporate sponsor, urged NBC to part ways with her. They did not want a controversial personality to play any part in representing their company or brand. Muir loudly and repeatedly denied the claims that she was a communist, declaring that she had been “undeservedly attacked” and that she regarded communism as “one of the most vicious influences in the world today.” Nevertheless, her contract was

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bought out and she was replaced on The Aldrich Family by Nancy Carroll. Even though she was never formally charged, she was no longer considered fit for the screen. Muir’s firing was highly publicized and drew many letters and phone calls to network executives, but the damage had been done. She would not return to the screen until the late 1950s. Some other public figures were able to weather accusations due to a combination of luck, fame, and savvy. Lucille Ball, star of the sitcom I Love Lucy, was brought to the House Un-American Activities Committee in September 1953. Ball was the biggest female star in the country, and the most well-known television personality at the time. Being accused of communism threatened to undo a multi-million-dollar empire and drive one of the most beloved characters in America out of the spotlight. As it happened, Lucille Ball actually had registered to vote as a communist in 1936, but due to her ability to spin it as a misguided and youthful error, she was able to stave off blacklisting and save her career. While the persecution of film and television industry employees is well known and well documented, these judgments occurred in other professions too, professions that didn’t have the exposure of television. For example, many college professors and other teachers were viewed with suspicion and lost their jobs. J. Robert Oppenheimer, a prominent scientist and leader of the Manhattan Project, was grilled about his leftist leanings and lost his security clearance due to perceived communist sympathies. In the 1950s and 1960s, having a dissenting opinion became controversial and could lead to personal and professional ruin.

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McCarthy’s Crusade Senator McCarthy never served on the House Un-American Activities Committee, though he would take his lead from their example. There are debates as to how accurate McCarthy’s claims were. Some say that his number of “205 communists in the State Department” had some merit, and that some of the people on his list had already been dismissed for having ties to communists. Others point out that the 57 names he eventually provided to Congress had already been investigated. McCarthy continued making accusations through the early 1950s, eventually angering the Eisenhower administration by claiming that the president was not doing enough to help ferret out communists. While he had many enemies, McCarthy also had many supporters who believed he was one of the few people taking the internal communist threat seriously. McCarthy began holding televised hearings where those accused had the chance to show remorse and answer questions— though they were routinely denied the ability to speak freely. In what would be his downfall from power, McCarthy eventually launched an investigation into the Army Signal Corps. This hearing lasted from April 22 to June 17, 1954. ABC covered the entire hearing live, feeding a constant daytime broadcast over their eastern stations. Other networks opted to run recaps at the end of the day. Whether the nation tuned in for the event live or simply heard the recaps, everyone was watching.

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During the hearing, McCarthy led the questioning, trying to prove a string of corruption and communism within the United States Army. Viewers were able to see him and hear him without editing and could judge his tactics. On June 9, 1954, McCarthy pressed the testimony of a young lawyer named Fred Fischer. Joseph Welch—the lead counsel for the United States Army who worked with Fischer at his law firm—was incensed. Uttering what would be simultaneously a catchphrase and a leveled attack against McCarthy and all he stood for, Welch said, “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?” This phrase, coupled with the bullying tactics the nation watched McCarthy use for weeks, would be the undoing of him. While McCarthy continued to lead investigations, he had lost much of his public support. Eventually, he completely isolated himself from his fellow senators and Republican Party leadership through investigating Irving Peress, a major in the US Military. Peress had been accused of supporting communists after he was promoted to the rank of major through a draft law that allowed doctors to receive automatic promotions. Determining that the quickest way to remove him from authority was to offer an honorable discharge, the army was ready to resolve the issue in-house. McCarthy subpoenaed Peress to testify before Congress. After Peress invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer congressional questions, McCarthy demanded that Peress be court-martialed. However, the army declined, finding that Peress’s

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refusal to answer McCarthy’s questions was not worthy of a courtmartial. McCarthy then subpoenaed Brigadier General Ralph Zwicker. Zwicker arrived to testify, but refused to answer specific questions about the honorable discharge. In frustration, McCarthy questioned the intellect of the general, saying that he was “unfit to wear the uniform.” While the charges that eventually stuck with McCarthy were not from directly belittling General Zwicker, this event was the final straw for most of McCarthy’s allies. The Senate officially brought censure charges against him, and he was stripped of all committee duties. While he was not expelled from the Senate, he found himself cut off from any real responsibility, giving speeches to empty rooms or to senators conspicuously ignoring him, and generally dealing with disdain from the other senators. While he was always a chronic drinker, McCarthy drank even more than he once did. McCarthy died in 1957 of hepatitis, a direct effect from drinking. His death occurred just four years after the conclusion of the Army-McCarthy hearings. The End of the Red Scare The rise and fall of McCarthy can also be used to describe how the public viewed communism within the United States. While there may have been a fervor stoked by a series of high-profile events, after a few years it all sputtered out. McCarthy went from being one of the most influential people in US politics to only a shadow of what he once was. In a similar way, while communism was still to be feared and prevented, the focus shifted much more toward

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As public sentiment turned away from paranoia and blind fear of communism, antiwar movements became more and more common.

communism in other countries. In film and television, many of those who were once blacklisted were given roles again. Jean Muir— whose loud and public blacklisting had signaled the start of the Red Scare—returned to television in 1958. Lasting Effects The fear of home-grown communism escalated to a fever pitch during McCarthy’s tenure as senator, but it did not completely dissipate after he died. While the public became more focused on foreign affairs rather than rooting out fellow Americans, the federal government also got more outwardly focused and concentrated on preventing the spread of communism to other countries. In

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1959, Fidel Castro led a successful revolution in Cuba and began nationalizing large parts of Cuban industry. Kennedy attempted what is known as the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, which ended in complete failure. In order to protect their ally and to exert pressure on the United States, the Soviet Union increased their military presence in Cuba, eventually stationing missiles on the island nation. With a very real and threatening communist presence so close to American soil, the threat of communists outside the United States finally outweighed the threat of those already within its borders. As years passed and the probability of total annihilation dimmed slightly, the United States began planning for more conventional wars with other nations. The Cuban missile crisis had indicated that both sides were hesitant to engage in nuclear war, so contingency plans were developed. New weapons were created, and older ones were improved upon. During the 1960s, the United States and West German militaries began collaborating to build a new battle tank to counter the advancements in Soviet armor. This shift in military policy—the recognition that the United States and Soviet Union could continue to collect allies and engage in local conflict without resorting to using thermonuclear weapons— created a new climate. Instead of directly confronting each other, the Soviet Union and the United States would engage in proxy wars to gain worldwide influence. Still, the fear of the 1950s and 1960s did not disappear in the midst of these other conflicts. Rather, they perpetuated and instilled in many US citizens a desire to rid the world of communism at all costs.

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A Soviet victory parade in 1985 commemorates the forty-year anniversary of the end of World War II. These surface-to-air missiles reflect the changing nature of warfare during the forty-year span of the Cold War.

Chapter

Seven

Into a New Era

W

hile the Cold War produced many useful technologies, it also signaled the dawn of a new

era of weaponry, requiring stronger regulations of arsenals and firmer repercussions for any country that chose to use such weapons frivolously in future conflicts. Great measures are now taken to keep many of these weapons from falling into the hands of rogue states or insurgent forces. The effects of advancements during the Cold War era still linger on in the United States, and indeed the world, today. The USSR dissolved not in a spectacular, bloody revolution, but instead it crumbled due to a struggling economy and a population ready for change. Because the dissolution of the Soviet Union happened gradually, measures were in place to help ease the

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transition. When a superpower like the Soviet Union disbands, there is the propensity for an internal struggle and a grab for power. This was not really what happened in the case of the Soviet Union. The individual revolutions staged by the former members of the USSR and those countries heavily influenced by the Soviets, such as Romania, were not completely peaceful—the Romanian revolution saw one thousand killed in the transfer of power and leaders of the pro-Soviet government executed, and other uprisings saw protestors beaten and bloodied. Overall, the uprisings were relatively peaceful, however, especially considering the power vacuum left by the Soviet Union. Russia succeeded the USSR as a nuclear state, taking over the USSR’s responsibilities on the UN Security Council, and the newly established Russian government continued the reforms that Gorbachev put in place. As the nuclear warheads moved into Russia from the other former Soviet republics, some worried about the security of these weapons. America’s Reaction With the chief rival to the United States’ influence and power dispatched, the United States was at a crossroads. Fear of the Soviet Union had been a rallying cry for nearly all US citizens for decades. Foreign and economic policies hinged on a strong Soviet state to stay relevant. Some of the laws enacted during the Cold War started to make less sense. America still had an embargo with Cuba stemming from its alliance with the Soviet Union. Was this embargo still relevant? How would America establish diplomacy with once-Soviet states?

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Fidel Castro once represented a direct threat to the United States government.

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Nuclear Power Nuclear power plants are one example of how the science and research behind nuclear weaponry have been adapted for peaceful purposes. While nuclear power plants are still fairly controversial, many countries use nuclear reactors to help defray costs and pollution in generating electricity from fossil fuels. Nuclear power plants utilize a controlled fission reaction to heat a supply of water pressurized into steam. That steam then moves a turbine that generates electricity. In theory, nuclear reactors could help decrease reliance on coal and other fossil fuels, in turn reducing the amount of greenhouse gasses pumped into Earth’s atmosphere. The reality of the situation is much more complicated than that, though. While there are environmental and monetary benefits to using nuclear power plants, there are also significant drawbacks. In the case of accidents, the results can be devastating. In 1986, the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine experienced a meltdown and sent a significant amount of nuclear waste and radiation into the atmosphere. As pollutants spread throughout Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, several people died. For those who survived, cases of cancer developed in many instances. The long-term effects are still being researched. There are problems with nuclear reactors, too. Opponents of nuclear power plants point out the massive infrastructure costs—both in terms of money spent and resources used. Others note that the waste produced from nuclear power plants is dangerous and difficult to dispose of safely. Despite this, many countries have created power plants. France made a huge push for nuclear energy in the 1970s, and China has recently brought twenty-six reactors online with twentyfour more under construction.

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The devastation of the Chernobyl disaster keeps many from embracing nuclear technology. It is estimated that the area will not be fit for human occupancy for another twenty thousand years.

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The post–Cold War years started out with a mix of celebration and confusion, truly being recognized when the US military came to the aid of Kuwait in 1990. The United States used battleships to launch cruise missiles and utilized a superior air force, inflicting great casualties on the Iraqi people while sustaining relatively few casualties of their own. This display indicated that the United States military stood alone in strength and technology. With the once strong Soviet military only a shadow of its former self, no singular entity could stand against the United States. Instead, the threat came from smaller, more nimble enemies. The conclusion of the Cold War conflict saw the United States become the leader in maintaining peace through military force. It also became a target for organizations looking to redistribute world power. This is why the United States maintains military bases and has regular patrols worldwide. Today, one of the most looming threats is not communism but terrorism. The United States, along with other allies, is doing all it can to protect its people and interests around the world. A New Role for the Abrams Tank With the strongest remaining military and a large and present navy, the United States took over some global policing duties, lending peacekeeping forces to countries experiencing uprisings and using an advanced navy to help patrol the seas and protect commerce. These peacekeeping forces were often met with opposition both in the countries to which they were deployed and within the United

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States. To help support these soldiers, the US Army introduced massive changes to the M1 Abrams tank. Because the Abrams was originally designed to have heavy frontal armor and powerful weapons to counter Soviet tanks, it was particularly vulnerable to smaller, more focused attacks. M1A2 tanks were fitted with armor that would help deflect rocket-propelled grenades and other personal explosive devices. Rather than envisioning the Abrams as a rolling offensive weapon, manufacturers instead focused on making it a defensive support vehicle. In these modifications, the Abrams tank remains relevant in combat operations today. Changes in Nuclear Weaponry While we’ve already discussed the various treaties that limited arms buildup and reduced the number of active weapons that both the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia possessed, simply reducing the amount of nuclear weaponry did not reflect the changes in nuclear policy. In recent years, without a direct and hostile rival, the threat of nuclear warfare has stagnated. The public fears conventional terrorist attacks much more than a nuclear strike because it’s incredibly unlikely for a small cell of extremists to procure the necessary materials to construct and deploy a warhead. After all, the main reason the United States lived with the paranoia of a nuclear strike for all those years was because the Soviet Union represented a direct enemy. The United Kingdom produced their first nuclear weapon in 1952 and France tested their first in 1960. Because they were allies of the United States, there wasn’t much made of these developments. Today, all of the

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nuclear states exist more or less in harmony, or at least without any visible war plans. The exception to this is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea—commonly known as North Korea. In 2009, North Korea successfully launched a missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, and in 2013 the country claimed that they had successfully tested a nuclear weapon. International security members worry about North Korea creating viable nuclear weapons because of the perceived instability of the region. The country is very secretive about the conditions of its population and many have long suspected that there is an internal power struggle happening. Because of these actions, the United Nations has placed sanctions on North Korea, but that has not yet deterred the country from pursuing its weapons program. If North Korea remains in a state of political flux, the perceived threat and underlying fear of nuclear warfare may come about again. The Proliferation and Saturation of Television Television has had the most noticeable change since the Cold War era. The technology itself underwent drastic change, moving from black-and-white displays to color to high-definition to 3-D. While the underlying technology of the television is interesting to consider, it is also good to note how programming changed throughout the years. During the Army-McCarthy hearings and through the broadcasted nuclear tests, consumers had limited options for viewing. Now, there are thousands of television

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Where there was once almost no choice in programming, there are now thousands of television channels catering to every interest and viewpoint.

stations that run twenty-four hours a day, broadcasting just about everything. The rise of the twenty-four-hour news cycle created a culture of entertainment news. To fill airtime, news anchors look for benign stories and saturate the airwaves with commentary. There are channels that cater to more conservative viewers and others that cater to more liberal viewers. As a result, citizens have access to more information than ever. Television has also become very segmented, leading to the reduction of a universally watched television show. Where significant percentages of the country tuned in to watch I Love Lucy, few television shows become so universally watched that they become a cultural touchstone. With the advent of Internet streaming services, this divide is becoming greater and greater.

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A person has many choices while watching television today. There are channels that cater to every interest—from fishing enthusiasts to fashion connoisseurs—and because of this, people are better able to find what they like and stick to it. There are entire channels that broadcast House and Senate subcommittee meetings, letting any citizen with a satellite dish or an Internet connection watch lawmakers debate and vote on bills and resolutions. While not many people pay attention to these broadcasts, they are still made publically available and citizens are able to see and hear what their representatives are doing. The number of channels offering similar news updates has also changed. During the Army-McCarthy hearings only ABC carried all of the hearings. CBS and NBC found it “too expensive” to do so and instead hosted recaps. Today, many news channels offer the same news stories, although often worded differently. On the other hand, a person can avoid politics and news altogether by watching a specialty channel that caters to their interests. Entering a New Era Something that was as heated and lasted as long as the Cold War will always leave its mark on civilization. The world is still feeling the effects of the conflict more than twenty-five years after Gorbachev signed the documents that formally dissolved the USSR. While Russia is the successor to the Soviet Union, the military and political power that the Soviet Union wielded has yet to be matched. Eastern countries and other countries formerly under Soviet control had to find a new place for themselves on the

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global stage. The United States found itself pushed into a position of unilateral power, possessing a military built to fight a large enemy and suddenly no longer having one to fight. The 1990s and the 2000s saw cooperation between the United States and Russia. While there were still political and ideological differences, the two nations maintained a positive relationship and worked together to dismantle nuclear weapons on an international level. Together they urged restraint from countries seeking nuclear weaponry and acted in joint ventures to keep peace in unstable nations. In recent years, though, diplomacy between the two nations has begun to chill again. On the international level, the United States and Russia have butted heads on human rights policies, environmental issues, and border issues. The Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 remains the lowest point in RussianAmerican relations since the fall of the Soviet Union. However, it is still a far cry from the hostile relations of the Cold War. The generations that grew up and lived through the Cold War still remember where they were when the Berlin Wall fell, and can still picture the Soviet flag being lowered over the Kremlin, never to be lifted again. They recall looking up and waiting to see mushroom clouds during the Cuban missile crisis and feeling relief when Kennedy and Khrushchev negotiated a tenuous peace. These people shape foreign policy and vote in elections, mindful of the fear and paranoia they grew up knowing. The crumbling of one of the most powerful empires in history left reverberations that will continue to be felt for a very long time indeed.

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Glossary Allies (Allied powers) A collection of nations opposing the Central powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey) in World War I and opposing the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, and Japan) in World War II. While there were many affiliated nations, the main belligerents in World War II were the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France, and China. belligerent A combatant nation in a war. Berlin Wall The wall in the city of Berlin that split West Berlin from East Berlin. It’s important to note that the city was entirely in East Germany, so the wall did not serve as the West German/ East German border. bilateral Affecting both sides. In bilateral disarmament treaties, the two sides are negotiating disarmament for both parties. blacklist Either a physical or a mental list of individuals who will not be hired by a particular industry or company. People can be blacklisted for any number of reasons. During the Cold War, actors were usually blacklisted for either real or perceived connections to the Communist Party. Bolshevik A Russian revolutionary group. Led by Vladimir Lenin, this group seized power from the czars in 1917. caliber The internal diameter of a gun barrel. Determines the size of the usable projectile.

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capitalism An economic and political system where private enterprise is valued and companies exist to make profits for the stakeholders. communism A form of socialism that adheres to the theories of Karl Marx. In Soviet communism, the state runs the economy and the means of production. disarmament The process of dismantling and decommissioning nuclear weaponry. electron A negatively charged particle, much, much smaller than either protons or neutrons. imperial Ruled by an emperor. Power is centralized in a royal family without a representative democracy. intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) A guided rocket projectile that can strike—with accuracy—at a range of about 3,418 miles (5,501 kilometers). mutually assured destruction A defense policy that attempts to preserve peace through strength of arms. In short, if a nation decides to attack a country with nuclear weapons, the attacked country has enough nuclear weaponry to not only survive the attack but to launch a full-scale counterattack that would prove devastating to the initial aggressor. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) A collection of countries bound together in a defense pact. Most recently, there are twentyeight member countries, including Belguim, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States (founding members). Later, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Spain, the Czech

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Republic, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, and Croatia joined. nuclear fission The process of splitting atoms apart to release heat and energy. nuclear fusion The process of two nuclei being forced together to form a new nucleus, releasing energy. perestroika and glasnost “Reform” and “openness” movements instituted by Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid to late 1980s. Allowed for the gradual movement toward democratization of the Soviet Union. phosphor A substance that illuminates when exposed to radiation. proletariat A term given to describe working-class people. Red Scare A period of time lasting from about 1950 to 1954 when the public was fervently seeking to out communists in government and in show business. While communism would remain unpopular, the hysteria surrounding the search would wear down after the Army– McCarthy Hearings. remilitarize Creating a military force after being forcibly disarmed by losing a war. rifle Grooves in a gun barrel that cause a projectile to spin, increasing accuracy. The M1 tank had a rifled gun while the M1A1 and the M1A2 tanks have smoothbore guns. satellite In the context of the Cold War, a nation on the outskirts of Soviet control. These countries did not belong to the USSR, but the USSR exerted a strong influence over their governments. socialism An economic and political system that introduces elements of cooperation between private enterprise and government.

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subpoena An official order to appear in court. Failing to appear after being summoned by a subpoena can result in arrest. thermonuclear weapon A bomb that utilizes a nuclear fission reaction to kick off a more powerful fusion reaction. These reactions can be chained together to yield very powerful explosions. 38th parallel The popular name for the border that divides North Korea from South Korea. While it falls roughly along latitude 38º north, the term is not completely accurate. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR, Soviet Union) A collection of countries bound together in a cooperative and military pact. After dissolution, fifteen independent states formed. These states are: Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Latvia, and Estonia. United Nations (UN) An organization formed by many nations after World War II to promote peace and diplomacy. warhead The “payload” or bomb attached to the missile. Warsaw Pact The military pact that bound the Soviet Union to its Eastern European satellite states, including Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.

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Bibliography Brain, Marshall. “How Television Works.” How Stuff Works, November 26, 2006. Retrieved June 1, 2015. electronics.howstuffworks.com/tv.htm. Doherty, Thomas. Cold War, Cool Medium. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. Harris, William, Craig Freudenrich, and John Fuller. “How Nuclear Bombs Work.” How Stuff Works, October 5, 2000. Retrieved June 22, 2015. science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-bomb.htm. History.com staff. “Perestroika and Glasnost.” 2010. Retrieved May 29, 2015. http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/perestroika-andglasnost. May, Ernest R. “John F Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.” BBC, November 18. 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2015. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ history/worldwars/coldwar/kennedy_cuban_missile_01.shtml. McNaugher, Thomas L. Collaborative Development of Main Battle Tanks: Lessons from the U.S.-German Experience, 1963–1978. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 1981. NASA. “How Rockets Work.” 2011. Retrieved June 2, 2015. https:// www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/ listbytype/How_Rockets_Work.html#.VZ7TzuvVkRl. North Atlatnic Treaty Organization. The North Atlantic Treaty, April 4, 1949. Retrieved May 25, 2015. http://www.nato.int/cps/ en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm.

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Patterson, Michael Robert. “Creighton Williams Abrams, Jr.” Arlington National Cemetery. Retrieved June 18, 2015. www.arlingtoncemetery.net/abrams.htm PBS. “Edward Teller.” Retrieved June 9, 2015. www.pbs.org/wgbh/ amex/bomb/peopleevents/pandeAMEX73.html. Peltz, Eric, Lisa Colabella, Brian Williams, and Patricia M. Boren. The Effects of Equipment Age on Mission-Critical Failure Rates: A Study of M1 Tanks. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2004. United States Defense Nuclear Agency as Executive Agency for the Department of Defense. Operation Greenhouse: United States Atmospheric Nuclear Weapons Tests Nuclear Test Personnel Review. Washington, DC: GPO, 1951. United States Department of Defense. Army Equipment Program in Support of President’s Budget 2015. Washington, DC: GPO, 2014. Woo, Elaine. “Dagmar Wilson Dies at 94; Organizer of Women’s Disarmament Protesters.” Los Angeles Times, January 30, 2011. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/30/local/la-me-dagmarwilson-20110130. World Nuclear Association. “Nuclear Power in China.” Last modified June 2015. Retrieved June 10, 2015. www.world-nuclear.org/info/ Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/China--Nuclear-Power.

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Further Information Websites Cold War Archives www.jfklibrary.org The JFK Library’s Cold War Archives provides many scanned documents and other resources that were produced during the Cold War. Ducksters: The Cold War Arms Race www.ducksters.com/history/cold_war/arms_race.php This website gives details about the arms race during the Cold War.

Videos Crash Course: USA vs USSR Fight! www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9HjvHZfCUI This video gives a brief explanation of the struggle between the United States and USSR that led to the Cold War. Cuban Missile Crisis www.youtube.com/watch?v=--100jBOLgg This video thoroughly examines the causes and effects of the Cuban Missile Crisis. How Nuclear Bombs Work (Part 1) www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVhQOhxb1Mc This video looks at nuclear bombs and their impact on society.

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Index Page numbers in boldface are

Baird, John Logie, 54, 57

illustrations. Entries in boldface

Ball, Lucille, 84

are glossary terms.

Bay of Pigs invasion, 38, 89 belligerent, 6

Abrams, Creighton Williams, Jr., 68, 69 Abrams tank invention of, 7, 10, 27, 41–42, 65, 67, 70, 89

Berlin Wall, 8, 17, 25, 101 bilateral, 81 blacklist, 31, 39, 79, 82–84, 88 Bolshevik, 15 Braun, Ferdinand, 56

models, 65–66, 70–71, 74–75, 97

caliber, 74

operation of, 71–74, 73

capitalism, 6

precursors to, 40, 41–42, 65,

Castro, Fidel, 38, 88–89, 93

67 technical specifications, 42, 64, 66, 70–71, 74, 97 use today, 64, 70–71, 75, 96–97 Afghanistan, 10, 20, 22, 23–24, 27, 52 Allies (Allied powers), 14, 16

Chernobyl, 94, 95 communism, 6, 9, 14–15, 18, 21–24, 30–33, 35, 47, 63, 76, 78–79, 82–89, 88, 96 Congress (US), 31, 52, 76, 81, 85–87, 100 Cuban missile crisis, 38–41, 89, 101

atomic bomb, 14, 16, 33, 45, 47–51, 50

disarmament, 23, 52–53 “Duck and Cover,” 4, 32, 45

Index

109

electron, 60–62, 61

Manhattan Project, 47, 84 McCarthy, Joseph, 9, 31, 76,

Farnsworth, Philo, 56, 58, 59

78–79, 82, 85–88, 98, 100 Minh, Ho Chi, 18, 21

glasnost, 24 Gorbachev, Mikhail, 24–27, 25, 53, 92, 100

Muir, Jean, 83–84, 88 mujahideen, 20, 22, 23 mutually assured destruction,

Gulf War, 65, 96

33–35

House Un-American Activities

NATO, 16–18, 34

Committee, 9, 31, 79, 81–82,

Nixon, Richard, 23, 52, 69

84–85

North Korea, 19, 20–21, 98

hydrogen bomb. See

nuclear fission, 48–49, 94

thermonuclear weapons

nuclear fusion, 48–49, 59 nuclear power plants, 94, 95

imperial, 14–15 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) arms control and, 52–53,

Oppenheimer, J. Robert, 47, 84 Peress, Irving, 86–87

97–98

perestroika, 24

invention of, 7, 27, 46

phosphor, 56, 61

models of, 28, 46, 48

proletariat, 15

range of, 46 threat of, 7, 45, 51, 53, 78, 98

Red Channels, 79, 83

workings of, 46

Red Scare, 9, 30–32, 35, 39, 79, 82–88

Kennedy, John F., 22, 38, 41, 81, 89, 101

110

remilitarize, 17 rifle, 74

Khrushchev, Nikita, 38, 41, 101

Roosevelt, Franklin, 12, 14

Korean War, 18, 20–21, 35, 69

Rosing, Boris, 56

Strategic Inventions of the Cold War

Russian Revolution, 15

United Nations, 20–21, 27, 92, 98 USSR

SALT treaties, 52 satellite states, 6, 92 socialism, 6, 9, 15 Stalin, Joseph, 12, 14–15, 24, 26 START treaties, 52–53 subpoena, 9, 31, 81–82, 86–87 television accessibility of, 8–9, 30, 32, 35, 56–57, 62 advertising and, 62–63, 83 Cold War politics and, 9, 30, 35, 39, 63, 78–79, 82, 85, 100 invention of, 7, 9, 27, 30, 42–43, 54, 55–56, 57, 58, 59

dissolution of, 6, 10–11, 24–27, 25, 91–92, 100–101 government, 6, 14–15, 23–25, 41, 52–53, 81 influence of, 17–18, 20, 22, 24, 27, 30, 89, 100 military, 16, 18, 20, 23–24, 27, 38, 69, 89, 90, 96–97 science and technology in, 7, 10, 17–18, 33–34, 42, 47–48, 51, 71, 77–78, 89, 90, 94 Western perception of, 14, 30, 33, 35, 39, 45, 63, 65, 78, 92 Vietnam War, 18, 20–23, 67, 69, 81

nuclear test broadcasts, 39–40, 98 use today, 57, 62, 98–100, 99 workings of, 60–62, 61

warhead, 28, 34, 46–48, 49, 53, 78, 92, 97–98 Warsaw Pact, 17–18

Teller, Edward, 47

Wilson, Dagmar, 80, 81

thermonuclear weapon, 6, 14,

World War II, 5–6, 12, 13–17, 20, 33,

17–18, 23, 28, 30, 33–34,

43, 45, 47, 56, 68, 69, 77, 90

36–37, 38, 41–42, 46–53, 49, 78, 81, 89, 92, 94, 97–98, 101 38th parallel, 20–21

Index Glossary

Zwicker, Ralph, 87 Zworykin, Vladimir, 56

111

About The Author Matt Bougie lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he works in marketing. He holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Norbert College and has taught several sections of college English and worked as a tutor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Additionally, he is a freelance editor. In his free time, Matt loves to read and research— especially about history and mythology. He also is very fond of dogs and is an avid sports fan.

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