Lesson 14: McCarthy and Khrushchev

Introduction

Important Icon In this lesson, we will discuss who Joseph McCarthy and Nikita Khrushchev 

were and what implications they had on the Cold War. Important Icon

Focus Questions:

What was the "red scare"?

Who was Joseph McCarthy?

Who was Nikita Khrushchev and what were his beliefs? 

McCarthy and Khrushchev

Hey, Students!

Today, we will learn about two new individuals who played a vital role in the Cold War.
 
In the early 1950s, Joseph McCarthy, a United States Senator from Wisconsin, became known for his claims that the government of the United States had been invaded by Communist spies. His goal during this period, which became also known as the “Red Scare,” was to locate hidden communists and expose them. He believed they were a threat to what he called the “American way of life.”


Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1962, often maintained a controversial position against the United States and its allies during the Cold War. As the first Soviet leader to visit the United States in 1959, Khrushchev continued his previous leaders’ policies of denying civil liberties and human rights within the Soviet Union.

  In your journal:  Print the notes page and complete it as you go through the slides. If you do not have access to a printer, another option is to draw/write your notes page in your social studies journal.

McCarthy and Khrushchev Download McCarthy and Khrushchev

View the slideshow below to learn more about McCarthy and Khrushchev.

 Interactive

In your journal: Now, we will review some of the key terms you learned today. Throughout this unit, we will learn new words while adding to the key terms we have already learned. As you learn the words, continue to add to your vocabulary table you started in lesson 2. Add the new terms below while also studying the previous terms.

Khrushchev’s radical actions ​​led to the Cuban Missile Crisis and what some consider to be the moment when the world came closest to a nuclear war. 

 

 

   

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