01 Bell Ringer the USA and the USSR from Stalin to Gorbachev

Name:______Date:______Class:______Bell Ringer: The USA and the USSR: From Stalin to Gorbachev

Instructions: Examine the picture. Read the background information. Answer the questions below.

Background: After WW II, when Joseph Stalin dominated Easter Europe with Communism, the USA and the USSR had a tense relationship. While Stalin was leader of the Soviet Union, the USA and the USSR entered into an arms race. This meant each side was continually building and creating nuclear weapons in an attempt to gain a military edge. The world feared that a direct military engagement between America and the Soviet Union would end in nuclear war. When Nikita Khrushchev rose to power to lead the USSR, he reduced President those tensions for a while in the 1960s. Yet, Khrushchev also experienced the Cuban Missile Crisis against JKF, which hurt the relationship of the two nations. The USSR tried to put nuclear missiles in Cuba and JFK demanded they be removed. JFK agreed to allow Cuba to remain Communist and Khrushchev agreed to not put weapons on the island. Even all the way to the 1980s, the USA and the USSR had tension and were engaged in a Cold War. In the 1980s, many viewed Mikhail Gorbachev as the first leader of the USSR that could radically reduce tension with the USA and work with America to pursue peace. Gorbachev wanted to allow more freedoms in the USSR, like the freedom of speech, and wanted to cooperate with the USA to reduce the arms race that had developed between the two nations. Pictured above, from left to right, starting from the top, you see a political cartoon of Stalin spreading Communism, a map of the Cuban Missile Crisis, another cartoon of Khrushchev and JFK struggling in the Cuban Missile Crisis, and then, there is a picture of Reagan and Gorbachev shaking hands in the 1980s on the bottom.

1. What was the arms race that developed between the USA and the USSR when Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union? Describe it. ______

2. What tense occurrence developed between JFK and Khrushchev? How was the issue resolved? ______

3. How was Mikhail Gorbachev different from Stalin and Khrushchev? ______

Answers: 1. What was the arms race that developed between the USA and the USSR when Joseph Stalin ruled the Soviet Union? Describe it. This meant each side was continually building and creating nuclear weapons in an attempt to gain a military edge. The world feared that a direct military engagement between America and the Soviet Union would end in nuclear war.

2. What tense occurrence developed between JFK and Khrushchev? How was the issue resolved? When Nikita Khrushchev rose to power to lead the USSR, he reduced those tensions for a while in the 1960s. Yet, Khrushchev also experienced the Cuban Missile Crisis against JKF, which hurt the relationship of the two nations. The USSR tried to put nuclear missiles in Cuba and JFK demanded they be removed. JFK agreed to allow Cuba to remain Communist and Khrushchev agreed to not put weapons on the island.

3. How was Mikhail Gorbachev different from Stalin and Khrushchev? In the 1980s, many viewed Mikhail Gorbachev as the first leader of the USSR that could radically reduce tension with the USA and work with America to pursue peace. Gorbachev wanted to allow more freedoms in the USSR and wanted to cooperate with the USA to reduce the arms race that had developed between the two nations.