Download The Cold War, 1945-1989

The Cold War, 1945-1989
A Bipolar Geopolitical World after
World War II
Root of the Cold War
• U.S. Point of View
– Soviet “spheres of influence” in E. Europe
• Yalta Conference: Democratic elections?
• Eastern Germany: Zones of Occupation
– United Nations
• Resistance to democracy
– “Iron Curtain”, Churchill
• Soviet expansion, Fulton, MO
• Soviet Point of View
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No western front early enough
Frozen out of the Atomic project
No lend-lease after 1945
Eastern Europe as a “buffer zone”
Map of the Postwar World
• Bretton Woods Conference and the International
Monetary Fund
– International bank for war recovery and development
– Soviets don’t participate
• United Nations
– Yalta Conference, “Big Three”
• World organization
– Dumbarton Oaks Conference, August 1944
• Basis for United Nations Charter
• San Francisco Conference, April 25, 1945
– Security Council
What About Germany?
• Nuremberg Trials
– Potsdam Conference
– “Denazifing Germany
• 22 Nazi’s tried, 12 executed
• Partition of Germany
– Division of Berlin
– Eastern Germany created by Soviets
…and Japan?
• Reconstruction and Democracy
– Douglas MacArthur
• “hero of the Philippines”
– War crimes trial
• 7 executed, 18 prison
– Becomes an economic power house
• No military allowed
– Division of Korea, 38th
George Kennan and “Containment”
• Soviet expansionism
– Eastern Europe, Germany, Middle East
• Truman Doctrine
– Greece and Turkey
– Defines foreign policy for next 20 years
– Israel, 1948
• Marshall Plan, 1947
– Western Europe
– Soviet criticism
• Organization of American States (OAS)
– Spread of communism in Latin America
US Government Reorganization
and Rearmament
• National Security Act, 1947
– Dept. of Defense
– NSC and CIA
• NSC 68
– Fall of China, large scale build up of US military
• Peacetime Draft, 1948
• Voice of America
– Behind the Iron Curtain
• Atomic Energy Commission
– Civilian control, president sole authority
The Cold War Begins!
• Berlin Blockade, 1948-1949
– Soviet blockades West Berlin
– American “airlift”
• Had the Atomic Bomb, 1945
– Lifting of blockade, 1949
• Got the Bomb in in 1949!
Truman’s Second Term and Cold
War, 1948-1952 (Secretary of State
Dean Acheson)
• NATO
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Collective security in Western Europe
Response to Berlin Blockade
CENTO, SEATO, and ANZUS
Warsaw Pact, 1955
• Fall of China, 1949
– Mao takes over and spreads communism
• Hydrogen Bomb, 1952
– Bikini Islands
– Soviets, 1953
– End of mankind?
The Korean War, 1950-1953
North Korea Invades, June 1950
• NSC-68
– Massive military build up
• UN Security Council
– Vote, Soviet Union absent!
• Douglas MacArthur
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Inchon and Pusan
Yalu River and the Chinese
“Limited War”
Cease Fire
• Repatriation
• Succeed in “containment”
Cold War At Home, A Second Red
Scare
• Truman’s First Term, 1945-1948
– Taft-Hartley, 1947
• Veto, passed by Congress
• 80 Day “cooling off”, outlawed “closed shop”
– Civil Rights
• “To Secure These Rights”
• Segregation of the Armed Forces
• Jackie Robinson
– Presidential Succession Act, 1947
• In case of nuclear war
– 22nd Amendment, 1951
• Limited president to two terms
Anti-Communist Crusade
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Smith Act, 1940
– Illegal to advocate government overthrow
– Communists sent to prison
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HUAC indicts Algier Hiss, 1947
– Richard Nixon vs. Hiss (prominent New Dealer)
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Truman’s Loyalty Program
– Loyality Review Board (Loyalty oaths)
– FBI goes after “Reds”
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McCarran Internal Security Bill, 1950
– Communists must register with Attorney General
– President detains “suspicious persons”
– Truman Veto, passed by Congress
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The Rosenbergs, 1954
McCarthyism
– Communists in the State Department and Military
– Truman should be impeached
Election of 1948 and the “Vital
Center”
• Dewey vs. Truman
– Republicans want reduction of New Deal
– Truman “Fair Deal”
• Minimum wage, new TVAs, Farm support,
extension of Social Security, Civil Rights
• Vital Center, 1948-1968
– Three major componets
• Anti-communism and containment
• Economic growth good for all
• Variety of ideas can exist in American society
American Society in the Postwar
Era
• GI Bill of Rights
– Servicemen’s Readjustment Act
• Baby Boom
– Economic, social, and political effect
• Economic Boom- “The Affluent Society”
– Income doubled
– 40% wealth, 6% population
• Sunbelt versus Frostbelt
– War industries and air conditioning