The Cold War

Origins of the Cold War: Sources of SovietAmerican Tension

America supported the 1941 Atlantic Charter in which foreign relations are governed by democratic processes without military alliances or spheres of influence But the Soviet Union and Britain wanted spheres of influence, Britain for empire and Russia for east-European domination

Wartime Diplomacy January 1943 Roosevelt and Churchill met at Casablanca, Morocco and decided to delay opening the second front, thus leaving Russia to fight Germany alone Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to let Russia expand westward, but did not want it to replace the Polish government-in-exile Yalta February 1945 the Big Three met at Yalta Agreements: Stalin promised again to join the war in the Pacific, and Roosevelt conceded some territory in the Pacific to him The Three agreed to a new United Nations with a General Assembly (would be officially accepted April 1945 in the United Nations charter) Disagreements: Stalin vaguely agreed to hold free elections in Poland and to include pro-Western politicians, but would not The US wanted a strong Germany, while Russia wanted a weak Germany, so they vaguely agreed to put off decisions about Germany's punishment and that the US, Britain, France, and Russia would each control one of four zones of occupation in Germany and Berlin So the meeting at Yalta mostly sidestepped issues instead of resolving them April 1945 Roosevelt died of a stroke Unlike Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman was inexperienced in international affairs and distrusted Stalin The US had limited leverage to get Russia to keep its promises because was caught up in the war in the Pacific and because Russian troops were already occupying much of central and eastern Europe Truman recognized the Russian-installed Polish government July 1945 at Potsdam, Germany, Truman, Churchill, and Stalin meet; Truman's stance confirmed that Germany would become East and West Germany The US wanted a strong, independent China But the Chinese nationalist government under Chiang Kai-shek, though friendly to the US, was weak and strongly challenged by the communist party under Mao Zedong As the nationalists and communists waged civil war, Truman continued to supply Chiang with weapons and capital, though not manpower, despite Chiang being a lost cause

The Collapse of the Peace: The Failure of Potsdam

The China Problem

 So the US looked to Japan to be the strong Western force in Asia; unoccupied Japan and encouraged its economic growth The Containment Doctrine In 1946, Stalin was trying to take control of Turkish sea routes to the Mediterranean, and communist forces were threatening to topple the pro-Western Greek government So March 1947 Truman announced the Truman Doctrine that, influenced by diplomat George F. Kennan, said that the US and its allies should work to contain the threat of further Soviet expansion (containment) With American help, Turkey was stronger and the Greek government defeated the communists The US wanted to help Western Europe reconstruct because of humanitarianism, fear of a bad European economys effects on the American economy, and containment So June 1947 Secretary of State George C. Marshall announced the Marshall Plan: Was accepted by most of Europe except for Russia and company, and that was accepted in the US after February 1948 communists gained power in Czechoslovakia Under the Plan, the Economic Cooperation Administration would oversee $12 billion of aid to Europe, with positive results 1948 Congress approved a new military draft and revived the Selective Service System The US redoubled its atomic research, overseen by the Atomic Energy Commission, established 1946, ex. 1950 began research on the hydrogen bomb 1947 the National Security Act combined the War and Navy Departments into the Department of Defense, created the National Security Council (NSC) to govern foreign and military policy, and replaced the Office of Strategic Services with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) The US, England, and France combined their zones of occupation into West Germany (the creation of West and East Germany would become official in October 1949) So July 1948 Stalin blockaded Allied West Berlin, so Truman instated a 10-month airlift of supplies and food into the city, so spring 1949 Stalin lifted the blockade Spurred by the Berlin crisis, April 1949 eleven Western European nations and the US established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in which the countries promised to help each other in case of invasion and to maintain a standing army in Europe In response, 1955 Russia and the eastern European countries formed an alliance by the Warsaw Pact 1949 the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb Late 1949 Chiangs nationalistic government collapsed, Mao and the communists gained control, and Chiang and his followers fled to Formosa (Taiwan); the US refused to recognize Maos government April 1950, at Trumans calling, the NSC issued the NSC-68 that evaluated American foreign policy and urged the US to take the initiative in resisting communism through expansion of military power

The Marshall Plan

Mobilization at Home

The Road to NATO

Reevaluating Cold War Policy

American Society and Politics after the War:

 The Problems of Reconversion

Despite worries of a return to Depression, there was no economic collapse after the war ended because increased consumer spending, tax cuts, and the 1944 Servicemens Readjustment Act (GI Bill of Rights) that provided assistance to veterans But the increased spending caused two years of serious inflation, and was worsened by Trumans veto of an extension of the authority of the Office of Price Administration (would unveto a month later) In part because of inflation, labor unrest increased, ex. the April 1946 United Mine Workers strike under John L. Lewis in which the government took over the mines and pressured the mine owners to give in to the unions demands, and ex. the railroad strike that Truman ended by threatening army takeover Women and minority workers were expelled, mostly against their will, from their wartime jobs by returning white male workers, so worked increasingly in other sectors, esp. the service sector Right after Japanese Surrender, Truman proposed the Fair Deal in which Social Security benefits would be expanded, the government would work to ensure full employment, the Fair Employment Practices Act would be made permanent, public housing and slum clearance, long-term environmental and public works planning, government promotion of scientific research, nationalization of atomic energy, and national health insurance But in the 1946 Congressional elections the Republicans (slogan was Had Enough?) won control of both houses The Republican Congress ended New Deal reforms, reduced government involvement in the economy and welfare, and rejected the Fair Deal 1947 Congress invalidated the 1935 Wagner Act by passing the Labor-Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley Act) that forbade the closed shop and allowed states to pass laws prohibiting union shops (workers must join a union after being hired); damaged unions in less organized industries and made it harder for non-union members to join unions Democrats' troubles: Truman was rather unpopular, but still ended up getting nominated for candidate Southern conservatives, angry about civil rights issues, split off and formed the States' Rights party (dixiecrats) running South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond Left wingers split off because of Truman's confrontational stance toward the Soviet Union and formed the Progressive Party running Henry A. Wallace Liberals formed the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) that tried and failed to get Dwight D. Eisenhower to contest Truman's nomination Platform supported a revival of the New Deal The Republicans nominated New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey who appeared sure to win because of his popularity But Truman ended up narrowly winning the election, and Democrats regained control of both houses of Congress The Democratic Congress raised the minimum wage, expanded the Social Security system, and 1949 passed the National Housing Act that provided for low-income housing and rent subsidies; but did not approve of national health insurance, aid to education, or civil rights legislation Truman began a federal commitment to confront racial problems, ex. 1948 in Shelley v.

The Fair Deal Rejected

The Election of 1948

The Fail Deal Revived

Kramer the Supreme Court ruled that the justice system could not be used to enforce private contracts that barred blacks from residential neighborhoods The Nuclear Age Postwar American culture was both fearful of the destructive power of nuclear weapons and dazzled by a future powered by atomic technology Late 1940s and early 1950s film noir, named for its dimly lit style, portrayed lonely individuals in an impersonal world 1950s and early 1960s TV show The Twilight Zone often dramatically portrayed the aftermath of nuclear war People prepared for possible nuclear war by building fallout shelters, stocking supplies, and holding air raid drills Nuclear power was becoming extremely popular June 1950 communist North Korea invaded pro-Western South Korea and captured its capital, Seoul The Korean War would be America's first Cold War military involvement Late 1945 the US and the Soviet Union divided Korea along the 38th parallel 1949 the Soviets and Americans left, leaving a Soviet-equipped communist government in the north and a pro-Western, non-democratic government in the south under Syngman Rhee North Korea was stronger than South Korea and wanted to reunite Korea, so invaded South Korea again; the Soviet Union supported them America through the UN called for international assistance to South Korea and sent UN troops there under General Douglas MacArthur; was the first expression of the new American foreign policy that NSC-68 outlined , but went beyond the NSC-68 in that the US wanted liberation and unification, not just containment MacArthur had the North Korean forces on the defensive and was pursuing them into North Korea; October 1950 victory seemed near But then November 1950 China sent in troops to fight the UN forces because of their proximity to its border, so the UN forces were driven back into South Korea But by March 1951 the UN forces had pushed the communists back to the 38th parallel; was a stalemate Truman wanted to negotiate a peace and avoid direct conflict with China, but popularly supported MacArthur wanted to attack China March 1951 MacArthur's letter to House Republican leader Joseph W. Martin (the Martin letter) was released in which MacArthur expressed his dissatisfaction with Truman's orders, so April 1951 Truman dismissed MacArthur, to much public outrage July 1951 negotiations with the communists began, and would continue until 1953 The Korean War made for both limited military commitment and limited economic mobilization The Office of Defense Mobilization held down prices and discouraged high union wage demands in order to fight inflation

The Korean War:

The Divided Peninsula

From Invasion to Stalemate

Limited Mobilization

 1951 in response to a railroad workers' strike, Truman had the government take over the railroads, and the workers got most of what they demanded 1952 in response to a steel workers' strike, Truman tried to have the government take over the steel mills, but the Supreme Court ruled that he had exceeded his authority, so he had to relent The war boosted the economy which otherwise could have fallen into a recession Many were angry that the US, which had just won WWII, could not win a minor border skirmish, and many suspected this was because of communist infiltration of the US The Crusade Against Subversion: The Red Scare happened in part because the US was struggling in battling communism at the time and because communist had a tangible form with Stalin and the Soviet Union The Republicans were looking for an issue to attack the Democrats with So starting 1947 the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) made highly publicized investigations to show that the Democratic government had allowed and encouraged communist subversion, esp. in Hollywood and the movie industry The Alger Hiss case: Former communist Whittaker Chambers reported to HUAC that State Department member Alger Hiss had used him to pass classified information to the Soviet Union in 1937 and produced the microfilms as evidence (the pumpkin papers) Hiss was convicted of perjury and sentenced to several years in prison (could not be tried for espionage because the statute of limitations prohibits prosecution for most crimes after 7 years) Caused suspicion of a generation of liberal Democrats and the belief that the government was really infiltrated by communists

HUAC and Alger Hiss

The Federal Loyalty In response, 1947 the Truman administration began a highly publicized program to scrutinize federal employees' loyalty; caused hundreds of dismissals and thousands of Program and the resignations Rosenberg Case The attorney general published a list of subversive organizations 1950 Congress passed the McCarran Internal Security Act that required all communist organizations to register with the government and publish their records, among other restrictions The 1949 detonation of the first Soviet nuclear weapon convinced Americans that some had been secretly passing information to the Soviet Union In the Rosenberg case, 1950 British scientist Klaus Fuchs and Ethel's brother Manhattan scientist David Greenglass testified that they had given the Soviets information about the bomb under the orchestration of communists Julius and Ethel Rosenberg; the Rosenbergs were convicted of espionage and sentenced to death By the early 1950s, fear of communism and of being suspected of communism gripped the entire country McCarthyism Undistinguished freshman Republican senator Joseph McCarthy boldly claimed to have a list of known communists in the State Department; he would become the leader of the nation's crusade against communism

 With his assistants Roy Cohn and David Schine, he held highly publicized investigations in many areas of the government; government officials would be badgered and their careers destroyed without any solid evidence McCarthy was popular because provided an issue into which many grievances could be channeled, ex. fear of communism and Republican desire for control McCarthy remained popular because few had the courage to challenge him The Republican Revival (or, The Election of 1952) The Democrats nominated Illinois Governor Adlai E. Stevenson; appealed to liberals and intellectuals, but appeared soft to Republicans The Republicans nominated military hero, NATO commander, and Columbia University president Dwight D. Eisenhower with running mate, famous for his crusade against Alger Hiss, Richard Nixon; promised to settle the Korean conflict and get rid of Democratic cowardice, appeasement, and treason The Republicans won in an electoral landslide and also gained control of both houses of Congress; was the end of two decades of Democratic government By 1954, the crusade against communism was facing significant popular opposition December 1954 after January 1954 McCarthy attacked Secretary of the Army Robert Stevens and the military in general, Congress held the televised Army-McArthur hearings in which they investigated McArthur's modus operandi and condemned him for conduct unbecoming a senator; McArthur lost most public support Because of the threat of nuclear war, the US and the Soviet Union turned away from direct confrontation and toward unstable Third World nations Secretary of State John Foster Dulles had a strong moral revulsion to communism and wanted the US to pursue a program of active liberation Early 1954 Dulles announced the policy of massive retaliation the US should rely on the threat of nuclear war instead of using conventional forces in local conflicts, so that pushing the Soviet Union to the brink of war would exact concessions (brinksmanship) Some favored atomic weapons because were more cost-effective than traditional military expenditures July 1953 at Panmunjom a ceasefire was negotiated about the 38th parallel, and further meetings led to no further agreements regarding Korea Since 1945, France had been trying to regain Vietnam, lost to the Japanese during WWII, but communist and nationalist Ho Chi Minh was determined to win independence Early 1954 French forces became surrounded at Dien Bien Phu and could only be saved by American intervention, but Eisenhower refused, so May 1954 the French defense collapsed Was the end of French involvement and the beginning of American involvement in Vietnam Israel: May 1948 the Zionists proclaimed Israel independent, and Truman recognized the new

The Decline of McCarthyism

Eisenhower, Dulles, and the Cold War: Dulles and Massive Retaliation

France, America, and Vietnam

Cold War Crises

nation, but the Arabs, esp. the Palestinians, fought to regain what they considered their land in the Arab-Israeli Wars But US petroleum companies had major investments in the Middle-East, so early 1950s when prime minister or Iran Muhammad Mossadegh resisted Western corporations' presence, the CIA engineered a coup and replaced him with absolute monarch Shah Muhammand Reza Pahlevi, who would remain friendly to the US Egypt: Early 1950s Egypt under General Gamal Abdel Nasser developed a trade relationship with the Soviet Union, so 1956 Dulles withdrew America's financial support for the building of the Aswan Dam, so Nasser seized the Suez Canal from the British So October 1956 Israeli, British, and French forces attacked Egypt Dulles and Eisenhower feared that the Suez crisis would unite the Arab states and the Soviet Union and cause another world war, so denounced the invasion and pressured the British and French to withdraw and Israel to sign a truce Latin America: In Guatemala, urged by the United Fruit Company, the CIA toppled the potentially communist government under Jacobo Arbenz Guzman Cuba: 1952 America helped dictator Fulgencio Batista come to power, and he would remain friendly to the US Cuba's economy, relatively prosperous, was heavily controlled by American corporations and organized-crime syndicates But January 1959 a resistance movement culminated with the flight of Batista and the rise of Fidel Castro Castro was hostile to foreign-owned businesses and 1960 accepted assistance from the Soviet Union, so the US cut the amount that Cuba could export sugar a low rates and early 1961 cut diplomatic relations Europe and the Soviet Union The West and the Soviet Union had difficulty reaching agreements November 1956 Hungarian dissidents launched the Hungarian Revolution to demand democratic reforms, so Soviet forces crushed the movement and restored a pro-Soviet regime; convinced Americans that Soviet policies had not softened The US refused to intervene November 1959 Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev demanded that NATO abandon West Berlin and suggested that he and Eisenhower meet personally in each other's countries But Khrushchev angrily called off these meetings after Soviets shot down an American U2 plane flying over Soviet territory (the U-2 crisis) Eisenhower did not eliminate US-Soviet tensions, and sometimes worsened them But he had restrained US military involvement and expansion, and unlike his predecessors, had urged caution in domestic and international affairs

The U-2 Crisis

Conclusion