Topic 16: The Cold War and the Americas (1945–1981)

The Americas were profoundly affected by the Cold War and it affected the domestic and foreign policies of all countries in this region. This unit overlaps with the Cold War Topic on Paper 2: Topic 12 The Cold War: Superpower tensions and rivalries  and the case study of Vietnam as part of the Wars Topic 11 on Paper 2: Case Study: The Vietnam War (ATL).

For extra resources on the Cold War and the Americas see: The Cold War: Extra Resources 

Specifically this unit covers the following:

  • The foreign and domestic pressures on Truman and the development of containment. The social and cultural impact of the Cold War
  • The Korean War
  • Eisenhower and his conduct of the Cold War
  • Vietnam; the involvement of the US and its impact on America. The attitude of Canada and Latin America towards the Vietnam War
  • The foreign policies of Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Carter and their impact on the region
  • The impact of the Cold War in either Canada or one Latin American country

1. Containment under Truman and Eisenhower (ATL)

Containment under Truman and EisenhowerHere are some different activities that you can do for this first part of Section 16 on the Cold War and the Americas. There is overlap here with Paper 2, Topic...

2. American policy in Vietnam (ATL)

Here are activities for this section of Topic 16. There is much overlap here with the Vietnam for Paper 2 , Topic 11 on Wars: Case Study: The Vietnam War (ATL) and Paper 3, Cold War Conflicts in Asia:...

3. US Foreign policy - Kennedy to Carter (ATL)

The ATL on the page examine the foreign policies from Kennedy to Carter and the impact of these policies on the region.Guiding Questions:What were Kennedy's foreign policy goals?What were the reasons...

4. The Cold War and the Americas: Essay frames and writing exercises

This page contains a variety of essay writing exercises and essay plans for this topic. You may also want to look at other cold war essay planning activities for Paper 2: Rivalry, mistrust and accord:...

5. The Cold War and the Americas: graded student examples

On this page you will find sample essays on this topic, written by students and graded by examiners. We have also suggested activities that can be done with these essays.To what extent was President Eisenhower's...

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