Download Cold War Culture

Out of Many
A History of the American People
Seventh Edition Brief Sixth Edition
Chapter
26
The Cold War Begins
1945-1952
Out of Many: A History of the American People, Brief Sixth Edition
John Mack Faragher • Mari Jo Buhle • Daniel Czitrom • Susan H. Armitage
Copyright ©2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
The Cold War Begins
1945-1952
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Global Insecurities at War’s End
The Policy of Containment
Cold War Liberalism
The Cold War at Home
Cold War Culture
Stalemate for the Democrats
Conclusion
Chapter Focus Questions
• What steps did the Allies take to promote
growth in the postwar global economy?
• How did the Truman Doctrine shape U.S.
postwar foreign policy?
• How did the “Fair Deal” differ from the
“New Deal”?
• What contributed to McCarthyism?
Chapter Focus Questions (cont’d)
• What were the most important trends of
the 1950s?
• What issues were at the center of the
election in 1952?
North America and Seattle
University of Washington, Seattle:
Students and Faculty Face the Cold War
• In 1948 philosophy professor Melvin
Rader was falsely accused of being a
communist conspirator.
• During the cold war era, the federal
government was providing substantial
support for higher education through the
G.I. Bill.
University of Washington, Seattle:
Students and Faculty Face the Cold War
• The student population at the University of
Washington grew rapidly and a strong
sense of community among the students
grew, led by older, former soldiers.
• The cold war put a damper on this
community.
University of Washington, Seattle: Students
and Faculty Face the Cold War
• Wild charges of communist subversion led
several states to require state employees
to take loyalty oaths.
• In this repressed atmosphere, faculty
members were dismissed, students
dropped out of school, and the free
speech was restrained on the campuses.
Global Insecurities at War’s End
This photograph shows Stalin, Truman, and
Churchill
Global Insecurities at War’s End
• The WW II created an international
interdependence that no country could
ignore.
Global Insecurities at War’s End
(cont’d)
• The legendary African American folk
singer Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) added
a fresh lyric to an old spiritual melody:
“We’re in the same boat, brother.” Never
before, not even at the end of World War I,
had hopes been so strong for a genuine
“community of nations.”
Global Insecurities at War’s End
(cont’d)
• But, as a 1945 opinion poll indicated, most
Americans believed that prospects for
peace rested mainly on Soviet-American
harmony.
Financing the Future
• Fears of the return of depression led the
United States to take a much more active
international stance.
• In addition to aggressively promoting
foreign trade, the U.S supported the World
Bank and International Monetary Fund to
promote economic growth and capitalism.
Financing the Future (cont'd)
• The Soviet Union refused to accept World
Bank and IMF aid for fear of becoming an
economic colony of the West.
MAP 26.1 Divided Europe
The Division of Europe
• FDR’s realism allowed him to recognize
that some kinds of spheres of influence
were inevitable for the winning powers.
• At the Potsdam Conference, Truman and
new British PM Atlee found little ground for
agreement with Stalin.
• Disagreements over the future of Germany
led to competing zones of occupation.
The Division of Europe (cont'd)
• Wartime Allied cooperation had ended.
• Greek children receiving bread supplied by
the Marshall Plan
This photograph shows children lining up in
Athens to receive bread
The United Nations and Hopes for
Collective Security
• The Allies created a world organization
that would mediate disputes between
members and impede aggressors.
• The U.S., U.S.S.R, France, Britain and
China, as permanent members of the
Security, all had veto power over
proposals.
The United Nations and Hopes for
Collective Security (cont'd)
• The UN was limited in diplomatic
influence, but achieved great success with
humanitarian programs.
The Policy of Containment
This full-color comic book appeared
The Policy of Containment
• In March 1946, in a speech delivered in
Fulton, Missouri, former British PM
Winston Churchill declared that “an iron
curtain has descended across the
[European] continent.”
The Policy of Containment (cont’d)
• He called directly upon the United States,
standing “at this time at the pinnacle of
world power,” to recognize its “aweinspiring accountability to the future” and,
in alliance with Great Britain, to act
aggressively to turn back Soviet
expansion. Thus was born the policy of
containment.
The Truman Doctrine
• While FDR favored diplomacy and
compromise, Truman was committed to a
get-tough policy with the Soviets.
• When civil war threatened the
governments in Turkey and Greece, the
United States warned of a communist
coup and provided $400 million to defeat
the rebels.
The Truman Doctrine (cont'd)
• The Truman Doctrine committed the
United States to a policy of trying to
contain communism.
The Marshall Plan
• The Marshall Plan provided aid to rebuild
Europe while securing markets for
American goods.
• Although successful in Western Europe,
Stalin refused to participate in the Marshall
Plan.
The Marshall Plan (cont'd)
• The plan had the long-term impact of
revitalizing the European capitalist
economy and driving a further wedge
between the West and Soviet Union.
The Berlin Crisis and the Formation
of NATO
• Stalin saw the economic merger of the
western zones of Germany as a direct
threat.
• When the Soviets cut off access to West
Berlin, the U.S. airlifted supplies to the city.
• The United States also created an alliance
of anti-Soviet nations, NATO, and the
Soviets responded with the Warsaw Pact.
The Berlin Crisis and the Formation
of NATO (cont'd)
• U.S. support for French control of
Indochina would eventually lead to the
Vietnam War
Atomic Diplomacy
• The American policy of containing
communism rested on the ability to stop its
expansion by military means.
• After the Soviets developed nuclear
weapons, both sides amassed lethal
stockpiles. The U.S. and Soviets could not
come up with a plan to control them.
Within a few years both sides had a
stockpile of hydrogen bombs.
Atomic Diplomacy (cont'd)
• Atomic diplomacy diverted Truman from
his domestic agenda.
Cold War Liberalism
Police and strikers confront each other in
Los Angeles
Cold War Liberalism
• Truman’s aggressive, gutsy personality
suited the confrontational mood of the
Cold War. Truman set out to enlarge the
New Deal but settled on a modest
domestic agenda to promote social
welfare and an anti-isolationist, antiCommunist foreign policy, what became
known as “Cold War liberalism.”
“To Err Is Truman”
• The early years of the Truman presidency
were plagued by protests by Americans
tired of wartime sacrifices.
• An inability to bring troops home quickly or
end rationing hurt Truman’s popularity.
 Inflation and strikes
• Congress blocked proposals to revive the
New Deal.
“To Err Is Truman” (cont'd)
• In 1946, Republicans gained control of
Congress and started to undo the New
Deal.
 Over Truman’s veto, Republicans passed the
Taft-Hartley bill that curtailed the power of
labor.
The 1948 Election
• Henry Wallace (Progressive) challenged
Truman
 campaign effectively quashed by red-baiting
• Truman turned to the left by discrediting
Republicans.
• He also offered a liberal legislative
package that the “do nothing” Congress
defeated.
The 1948 Election (cont'd)
• The Democrats split again over civil rights
when segregationists ran Strom Thurmond
for president.
• Truman managed to hold on to the New
Deal coalition and won re-election.
MAP 26.2 The Election of 1948
The Fair Deal
• 1949: Truman’s Fair Deal
• Truman won some gains in public housing,
minimum wage and Social Security
increases, but little else from an
increasingly conservative Congress.
• Truman helped to define cold war
liberalism as promoting economic growth
through expanded foreign trade and
federal expenditures, chiefly defense.
The Fair Deal (cont'd)
• Anti-communism remained a key element
of foreign and domestic policy.
The Cold War at Home
This photograph shows a group of Hollywood Ten
supporters staging a protest demonstration.
The Cold War at Home
• “Communists. . .are everywhere—in
factories, offices, butcher shops, on street
corners, in private businesses, . . . plotting
to destroy the liberties of every citizen,”
Attorney General J. Howard McGrath
warned in 1949. FBI director J. Edgar
Hoover warned against “the diabolic
machinations of sinister figures engaged in
un-American activities.”
The Cold War at Home
• In reality, the CPSUA was in decline and
the threats from subversive activities of
American-bred Communists were
relatively small. Fearful Americans
nonetheless supported an anti-subversive
crusade, trading security for liberty.
The National Security Act of 1947
• A massive reordering of governmental
power
• National Security Act of 1947
 Defense Department, a huge and powerful
bureaucracy.
• Department of Defense and National
Science Foundation
 pursued scientific research, especially related
to physics.
The National Security Act of 1947
(cont'd)
• The CIA dwarfed the size of the State
Department.
• 1952: government payrolls grew to 4
million, defense expenditures accounted
for 10% of GDP.
The Loyalty-Security Program
• Truman promoted a loyalty program.
• The attorney general published a list of
potentially subversive organizations.
• Many groups disbanded and previous
membership in them destroyed individuals’
careers. A wide range of restrictions on
alleged subversives passed Congress.
The Loyalty-Security Program
(cont'd)
• New legislation stigmatized communists
and barred them—and homosexuals—
from immigrating.
The Second Red Scare
• The House Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC)
 investigations into communist influence in
Hollywood
The Second Red Scare (cont'd)
• Friendly witnesses denounced
communists
 Many people gave names of suspect former
friends so that they themselves would be
cleared and able to work again.
 A few witnesses (many blacklisted later)
attacked HUAC and a handful went to prison
for contempt of Congress.
Spy Cases
• Public anxieties were heightened when
former State Department advisor Alger Hiss
was accused of being a communist spy.
• Hiss went to jail for perjury, damaging
Truman and the Democrats.
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed
as Soviet spies in the atomic bomb program
despite worldwide protests.
McCarthyism
• Sen. Joseph McCarthy caused a sensation
when he charged that 205 communists
worked for the State Department.
• His lack of evidence did not stop him from
striking a chord with many Americans.
• McCarthyism attacked women’s
organizations and homosexuals.
McCarthyism (cont'd)
• McCarthy’s crusade was destroyed when
he went on national TV and appeared
deranged, making wild charges of
communist infiltration of the Army.
Senator Joseph McCarthy
Cold War Culture
Part Seven
Cold War Culture
• Office in a Small City, Edward Hopper,
1953
Cold War Culture
• The Cold War did not necessarily depend
on military confrontation; nor was it
defined exclusively by a quest for
economic supremacy. It was a contest of
values: Americans needed both to contain
communism as well as rededicate
themselves to their birthright values of
freedom and democracy.
An Anxious Mood
• Prosperity did not dispel American anxiety
over nuclear war and economic
depression.
• Movies and plays reflected cold war
anxieties and alienation as well as anticommunism.
An Anxious Mood (cont'd)
• From The Best Years of Our Live to film
noir to Death of a Salesman to The
Catcher in the Rye, Cold War themes
influenced popular culture.
• Even the UFO scare reflected public fears.
• How did Hollywood and other forms of
mass media help to share the Cold War
culture in the late 1940s and early 1950s?
The Hollywood Film Invasion, U.S.A
FIGURE 26.1 U.S. Birthrate, 1930–80
The Family as Bulwark
• The move to the suburbs, high levels of
consumption, and even the rush toward
marriage and parenthood illustrated these
fears.
• The baby boom and high consumer
spending changed the middle-class family.
The Family as Bulwark (cont'd)
• To sustain support of larger families and
high rates of consumer spending, a
growing number of married, middle-class
women sought employment.
TABLE 26.1
The Family as Bulwark
• Commentators bemoaned the destruction
of the traditional family that they linked to
the threat of communism.
• High-profile experts weighed in with
popular books and articles about the
dangers of women who abandoned their
housewife roles.
The Family as Bulwark (cont'd)
• The conservative trend was also evident in
declining numbers of woman college
graduates.
This young mother sits with her three small
children in a well-equipped kitchen
Military-Industrial Communities in
the West
• The Cold War impacted the West more
than other regions.
• New military-industrial communities arose,
especially in California, and older
communities also benefited from federal
spending.
Military-Industrial Communities in
the West (cont'd)
• To accommodate the burgeoning
population, new highway systems were
built that created housing sprawl, traffic
congestion, air pollution, and strains on
local water supplies.
“The American Way”
• The revitalization of patriotism during
World War II continued after the return of
peace.
• The American Way became a popular
theme of public celebrations and patriotic
messages spread through public
education.
“The American Way” (cont'd)
• Voices of protest arose but had little
impact and often faced backlash, as at the
University of Washington.
Stalemate for the Democrats
Richard M. Nixon appeared with one
of those gifts, a black-and-white
spotted cocker spaniel
Stalemate for the Democrats
• With Cold War tensions festering in Europe,
neither the United States nor the Soviet
Union would have predicted that events in
Asia would bring them to the brink of a war
that threatened to destroy the world. The
“loss” of China and Truman’s decision to
send troops to fight to a stalemate in Korea
also destroyed Democratic political
dominance and ended the era of reform.
Democratizing Japan and “Losing”
China
• The United States achieved its greatest
Asian success in Japan where a host of
reforms brought an unprecedented degree
of democracy and where they received
valuable military bases.
• In China, Mao Zedong’s communist
revolution overthrew the corrupt, proAmerican regime of Jiang Jeishi.
Democratizing Japan and “Losing”
China (cont'd)
• The Truman administration was saddled
with the blame for having “lost” China.
MAP 26.3 The Korean War
The Korean War
• North Koreans attempted a forced
reunification of the peninsula. Truman
called it an act of Soviet aggression and
felt compelled to act.
• With the Soviets boycotting the U.N., the
Security Council authorized sending in
troops.
The Korean War (cont'd)
• American forces, commanded by Douglas
MacArthur, first pushed North Koreans
back to their side of the dividing line and
then went farther north.
• Chinese troops pushed the U.N. forces
back until a costly stalemate settled in.
The Price of National Security
• Criticized for bypassing Congress, Truman
explained that his authority came from
NSC-68, a National Security Council
position paper that:
 consolidated decision making
 advocated a massive buildup of military
power
• Korea was devastated. The war expanded
containment principle far beyond Europe.
The Price of National Security
(cont'd)
• The military stalemate left many
Americans disillusioned with the promise
of easy victories.
• Estimates run as high as 6 million for the
number of civilian refugees during the
Korean War.
American soldiers heading toward battles sites
while Korean refugees move in the opposite
direction
“I Like Ike”: The Election of 1952
• The Korean War also effectively ruined
Truman’s presidency, particularly after he
fired General MacArthur.
• After Truman said he would not run for reelection, the Democratic Party turned to
Adlai Stevenson, who offered no solutions
to the key problems.
“I Like Ike”: The Election of 1952
(cont'd)
• Dwight Eisenhower was the Republican
candidate and ran a moderate campaign
short on specifics.
“I Like Ike”: The Election of 1952
• His running mate, Richard Nixon, waged a
relentless attack on Stevenson.
• Eisenhower effectively used the peace
issue, pledging to go to Korea to settle the
war.
• Republicans won control of the White
House and Congress.
Conclusion
Conclusion
• Truman left office with the shadow of the
Cold War hanging over the nation and his
presidency. While Eisenhower would do
little to reverse the tide of the Cold War,
the worst of the nightmare seemed to be
over, and Americans were prepared to
move forward, however cautiously hoping
for relative peace and prosperity in an age
of continued anxiety.
Chronology
Chronology