World War II (1940s)
When the Depression hit the US, it also hit the rest of the world. Depression, combined with political turmoil and bitterness over the Treaty of Versailles ending WWI, led to the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Hitler's plans remained hidden from the world for a time and he was even named Time Magazine's "Man of the Year." It wasn't long before he unleashed a resurgent German war machine on Europe and began building a new Reich. Europe was unable to stop Hitler without US assistance but the assistance was long in coming. WWI had left a bad taste in the mouth of the US and we had entered a period of isolationism. It wasn't until the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 that the US entered the war. Between the major powers of the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States, Germany and her allies Italy and Japan were pushed back and eventually defeated. The war changed a great many things in the world. The US emerged as one of the two superpowers in the world, facing off against the Soviet Union. It stimulated the economy enough to finally end the Great Depression. One of the most enduring impacts it had was that the atomic age was begun when the US dropped two Atomic bombs on Japan to avoid a costly and bloody invasion of the Japanese home islands.

The Rise of Communism and the Cold War (1950s)
The alliance of the Soviet Union and United States during the Second World War was one of necessity. Neither nation trusted the other. Josef Stalin harbored bitterness over the delay of Britain and the US opening a western front in the war.  In the last days of World War II, there was a race between the the western allies and the Soviets.  All of the territory the Soviets liberated from German control inevitably fell under Communist regimes closely associated with Moscow.  Germany itself was divided into eastern and western zones of occupation.  Berlin, the German capital which fell in the eastern zone which was controlled by the Soviets, was also divided between east and west.  Britain and the US occupied west Berlin and the Soviets occupied east Berlin.  As more and more easterners attempted escaping to the western zone, the Soviets constructed the Berlin Wall.  The "Iron Curtain" had fallen over Europe.

Soviet doctrine called for the spread of communism to other nations.  It was in this climate that the two new "superpowers" of the world, the US and USSR faced off in the cold war.  Each side opposing the other as best as they could without direct engagement.  The threat of nuclear warfare between the two was a deterrent to frontal military conflict.  Instead, the cold war would be waged through competition in space, boycotts in the UN, and wars fought in smaller nations such as Vietnam and Korea.  The most tense point of the cold war was the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s.  Snubbed by the US, Fidel Castro saw a valuable ally in the USSR.  Soviet leaders saw benefits in supporting Castro's fledgling regime in Cuba.  The existence of a communist nation so close to the United States would be a threat and an insult to the US.  Cuba also offered a strategic site for Soviet nuclear warheads.  The situation came to a head when spy photos conclusively showed preparations for Cuba to accept Soviet missiles.  President John F. Kennedy issued a warning to the Soviets that the US would not accept the presence of Soviet warheads in this hemisphere.  US warships were deployed to establish a blockade of Cuba and it seemed for a time that the world was on the verge of nuclear warfare.  Finally, the Soviets relented and withdrew.

The Korean and Vietnam Wars (1950s-60s)

Southern Asia would become one of the fiercest battlegrounds for the cold war.  During the 1950s North Korea, under a communist government, invaded the south.  US forces were sent to turn back the tide.  US policy was dominated by containment and the domino theory.  The domino theory was the fear that once a nation fell to communism, neighboring states would fall like dominos.  Based on this position the US took a containment policy to stop the spread of communism.  This policy would be a frustrating one because it would be one of limited engagement.  There existed the possibility that if the US through its full force behind efforts in Korea, and later Vietnam, that the Soviets would get involved which could escalate to nuclear war.  Because of this, the goal was not to defeat the communists, but keep them where they were.  We couldn't invade North Korea and establish democratic government there without bringing the Soviet Union into the picture so we had to settle with pushing them back to their original borders.

Vietnam had been a French possession.  Increasingly, after WWII, Vietnamese nationalism aroused anti-French sentiments.  In the northern reaches of Vietnam a communist guerilla group was gaining widespread support.  US forces were sent in increasing numbers to help the French maintain their position.  The French finally pulled out of Vietnam but the US remained.  While troops were sent as advisors who were not to play a role in combat between the South Vietnamese forces and Ho Chi Minh's communist forces from the north.  The role of US troops increased in combat as we struggled to maintain the unpopular government in the South.  Adding to the woes of the US, Minh's troops were getting support from Red China, a formidable enemy in herself.  The Vietcong were an elusive enemy and though US troops were won battle after battle, killing thousands upon thousands of enemy troops, they kept coming.  Nothing we did seemed to stem the tide until President Nixon eventually began pulling troops out and the Vietnamese Peninsula remained divided.

Vietnam had been the first televised war in history.  For the first time, daily images of battle, violence, and the aftermath of war were sent into US homes.  Images of a soldier shooting a Vietnamese boy point blank in the head were burned into the American psyche.  News of a US massacre of an entire Vietnamese village at My Lai (pronounced me lie) raised outcries and the scars of the conflict still remain for many who fought and many who protested.

The Turmoil of the 1960s

Turmoil would be a good word to describe the 1960s.  Protests against involvement in Vietnam, experimentation with drugs and free love in the counterculture, assassinations, and the Civil Rights Movement all contributed to a tense society.  Peace protests by the younger generation who were threatened with the draft and compulsory service in Vietnam protested a war they did not see a point in.  There was no direct threat to the US if Vietnam fell to communism.  The protests grew as more and more bodies were sent home.  At Kent State University a protest by students led to violence when national guard units opened fire.  (A little popular culture here:  the Kent State incident prompted Neil Young to write the song "Ohio" "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We're finally on our own, This summer I hear the drumming, Four dead in Ohio")

The 1960s saw the struggle of African Americans for Civil Rights come to a head.  Led largely by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., progress was being made.  In November, 1963, the Civil Rights Movement lost an ally in John F. Kennedy.  Kennedy had gone to Dallas to get a head start on his reelection campaign.  While the presidential motorcade traveled through Dealey Plaza shots rang out.  Kennedy was killed and Texas Governor John Connolly was wounded.  A manhunt followed which led to the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald.  Oswald had been in the US military and had defected to the Soviet Union for a period of time.  He returned to the US and spent time in New Orleans before moving to Texas with his Russian wife.  Oswald would never be tried for the assassination, nor would any details of his involvement in it be given by him.  Before he could be tried he was assassinated by Jack Ruby, a nightclub owner with ties to the Mafia.  An investigation by a federal commission led by Chief Justice Earl Warren yielded the Warren Report which named Oswald the lone assassin and found no evidence of a conspiracy to kill Kennedy.  The Warren Report came under attack because several witnesses who offered testimony that would contradict the lone assassin theory were ignored.  It was discovered that the shots fired that day in Dallas were fired too quickly for even the best US military marksmen to fire and reload three times.  These factors have led to several conspiracy theories that lay the blame for Kennedy's death anywhere from the government itself, to the Mafia, to Castro and Cuba, to the Soviets.

1968 saw more tragedy struck the Civil Rights Movement.  In that year both King and Robert Kennedy, brother of the former president, were shot down and killed.  King was assassinated while standing on a hotel balcony in Tennessee.  James Earl Ray was arrested for King's assassination.  Ray confessed to the assassination and was sentenced to life in prison.  In later years Ray would claim he was innocent and efforts were made by the King family to reopen the investigation.  Robert Kennedy was running for president in 1968.  While campaigning in California he was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan.  Some conspiracy theories attempt to link the assassinations of King and both Kennedy brothers.

Watergate

Part of the reason the Warren Report was accepted by the public was because there was a great deal of trust in the federal government.  There was little reason to doubt its integrity.  This confidence in the truthfulness of federal officials was shattered largely by Richard Nixon.  Nixon had won the presidency in 1968.  During reelection campaign in 1972 there was a break-in at the national headquarters of the Democratic Party.  There was little connection between the White House and the burglars at first.  However, as investigations continued to probe deeper into the break-in, the truth came to light.  Nixon was unsure of his chances at reelection.  The Watergate break-in (named after the Watergate Office Building where the Democrat headquarters was) was orchestrated to improve his chances.  The deeper investigators went, the more fingers started pointing back to Nixon.  Despite his repeated professions that he was "not a crook," Nixon's boat was sinking fast.  Nixon had installed an elaborate tape recording system in the White House and secretly taped countless meetings, conversations, and phone calls.  When word of this leaked out, investigators demanded the tapes be turned over.  Oddly enough the pertinent tapes had "accidentally" been erased by Nixon's secretary.  Nixon's actions shattered the trust the American public had in the government and he became the only president to resign the presidency.  More controversy was stirred up by President Gerald Ford.  Nixon's original vice president, Spirow Agnew, had resigned his position as the investigation came nearer to the White House.  Agnew was replaced by Ford.  When Nixon resigned well into his second term (he had won reelection easily without using anything that may have been found by the Watergate burglars) to avoid a sure impeachment and guilty verdict, Ford pardoned him.