You might be confused about my title, as how can the world fall of f the edge of anything. It’s in space so that doesn’t make any sense at all. I am actually referring to when there were massive political issues. This was during the Cold War, the world was on the brink of Nuclear war. There were multiple different occasions where multiple countries were worried that WWIII was going to break out. If you don’t know what the Cold War was it was essentially a political, ideological and cultural struggle between the democratic capitalist West and communist nations in eastern Europe and Asia. This issue was held mainly between the United States and the USSR.
Like I said there were multiple different issues that happened during the Cold War that could have pushed the world over the edge. I chose to write an essay that focused on a U-2 spy plane that crashed over top of the USSR. There was a huge conflict with lying and and disagreement. Here is what I wrote:
In the early 1960s, there was major distrust between two of the major nuclear powers of the world being the US and the USSR. Both countries were getting more worried and more desperate. Both countries were waiting for the other to make a move until finally the US couldn’t handle the suspense anymore. They had to know what the Soviets were up to. Tensions were at its highest when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. The tensions were raised as the Soviets did not want anybody peaking behind the iron curtain, especially those who lie about what they were actually trying to accomplish.
At the time the two most focused on politicians in the world were Dwight Eisenhower and Nikita Khrushchev. Both politicians were bumping heads and fighting for power. Suddenly 13 days before the important Four Powers meeting between the United States and the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and and France. A plane was shot down in Soviet Air space. The soviets knew that “This aircraft was specially equipped for reconnaissance and diversionary flight over the territory of the Soviet Union.”, this was clearly stated in historical material that specifically focused on this incident and the prove was it clearly had on board “It had on board apparatus for aerial photography for detecting the Soviet radar network and other special radio-technical equipment which form part of U.S.S.R. anti-aircraft defenses.”.
The United States quickly back pedaled, they claimed it was sent from NASA and it was an off course weather plane. The USSR new that they were lying and covering up for what was actually happening. The United States finally gave in when the Soviets revealed that the plane was clearly a spy plane and that they had apprehended the American Pilot Gary Powers, as he became “first a prisoner, then an international propaganda pawn.” Stated by military historian Lann A. Malesky. Khrushchev was demanding that the U.S. admit to what they they have lied about and tell the truth about the spy plane. Khrushchev requested this during the Summit meeting, but Eisenhower would not fold, and both leaders went home getting ready for the possibility of nuclear war.
That meeting was the tipping point. It was this simple blatant lie, this moment when Eisenhower refused to tell the truth that pushed the world to the edge. The Soviets had solid evidence that made it obvious that the United States was lying. The USSR had similar technology to the Americans, similar enough to understand that this was a reconnaissance plane. The arrogance of the Americans pushed everything too far, as they were essentially saying that the soviets did not know what they were talking about and that they couldn’t be trusted even though it was almost exactly the other way around. The rest of the world looked down upon the United States after they committed espionage but they did not care as they were going to hold their ground. Neither country was going to give an inch, but neither country wanted to be the reason for Nuclear Fallout, so nobody knew who was going to be the one to strike first.
So how did the U-2 spy plane almost put the world into nuclear fallout? It instantly rose tension with the spying behind enemy lines, and the fact that the US decided to lie about it made matters worse. At this point in time, this event was just the cherry on top to what was already going on and nearly pushed the world to self-destruction. Neither country knew what was going to happen next as they were both at each other’s throats, one of them looking behind the iron curtain and the other holding a man captive. The main factor is that the Soviets were not happy with the Americans peaking behind the iron curtain and continuing to hold their ground and lie about what their true intentions were. This was one decision that blossomed into a big mistake that nearly ended everything.
Another thing that I wanted to focus on for this unit was Gay Rights. We have come a long way from the original problems with this subject. Homosexuals were essentially treated like they were not human just because of one simple preference that they had. They were essentially being called diagnosed as sick. They weren’t allowed certain jobs like working in the government and they were constantly being fired for unexplainable reasons except for the fact that they were gay. They were also basically tortured if they got aroused by another person of the same sex, a common way was electrocution.
Right before the 70’s started something changed everything and it happened at the Stonewall Inn. It was a gay bar in New York. In 1969 an all out war started out front of the Stonewall Inn. Four police were stationed outside and they raided the bar along with two policemen who were undercover. The tables were turned on the policemen as the citizens inside the bar decided to fight back, which started a riot along the street. Everything went crazy as there was now a mob stretching the length of the street. This was essentially a new beginning and was the birth of Gay Pride Parades.
This unit was one of the best units I have ever done, as it was very open ended and I got to choose what I wanted to learn about. I had very hard decisions to make as I was interested in a lot of Cold War topics. I also struggled to find my thesis as I wanted something different to challenge me and I did, and that is why I think this was successful unit for me.
