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Cold War Conflicts
Origins of the Cold War
 The US and Soviet Union had vastly different views of how the future should go
 The US was a capitalist nation wanting to push democratic ideologies in the world
 The Soviet Union was a Communist state wand wanted to push for a Communist
future for the nations around the world
 The United States was also still furious that Stalin of the Soviet Union at 1 time was
an ally of Hitler and the Nazi’s until Hitler invaded the Soviet Union
 Stalin resented the US delay in attacking the Nazi’s in the Western parts of Europe
while he fought them in the East
 He also resented that the US had kept it’s development of the Atom bomb a secret
throughout the war even though they were allies
 The United Nations was a forum that was supposed to promote peace throughout
the world and it did give hope to the nations post war
 The US and Soviets though used the UN as a forum to promote their agendas over
the other nations
 Truman was put into the fore front of the Cold War tension after FDR died and he
was promoted to President
 Truman was tested initially at the Potsdam conference with a meeting between he,
Clement Attlee (Great Britain), and Stalin
 Stalin went back on his original promises to FDR at Yalta Conference and did not
allow free elections nor did he allow democratic type political parties
 Stalin’s refusal to allow free elections in Poland and other Soviet lands convinced
Truman that the US and Soviets would be at odds on many philosophies
 Truman was big on the idea of spreading democratic free market because it would
help American business and the economy to open up those markets world wide
 Stalin installed Communist governments throughout in order to gain protection
from Western invasions
 He installed it into Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and
Poland these nations became known as satellite nations or also as the Soviet
Eastern Bloc countries
 Stalin spoke in 1946 and stated that Communism and Capitalism were incompatible
and that another war was inevitable
 The United States put in a policy of containment which meant that the US would by
any measure prevent the spread of Communism to other nations not currently
under Communist rule
 This divided Europe into 2 groups The Democratic Western European Countries
supported by the USA and the Communist Eastern European countries supported
by the Soviet Union
 The Cold War began due to the different goals between the U.S. and Soviet Union in
Eastern Europe and political ideology moving forward
 The Cold War lasted from 1945 – 1991 until the Soviet Union dissolved
 In 1947 President Truman passed the Truman Doctrine which stated that the US
would give aid in any means possible to free countries who are resisting outside
pressures of Communism. This was a bill that totaled over $400 million.
 In June 1947 US Secretary of State George Marshall proposed a plan to assist any
war torn European nations with financial aid for rebuilding their lands. Over the
next 4 years 16 countries received more than $13 billion in aid.
 All of these Western European nations that accepted this began to flourish by the
1950’s
 The Soviets and the other 3 allies had conflicts over control of Germany and the
areas that the French, American, and British controlled was surrounded by Soviet
controlled areas.
 Stalin saw this as an opportunity and refused to let any non Soviet vehicles pass
through their lands to the area of Berlin controlled by the other allies
 This would have cost the citizens in the non soviet controlled Berlin area to starve
and run out of all supplies so the Americans setup the Berlin Airlift.
 For 327 days the British and Americans flew supplies into Western Berlin.
 The airlift was a huge success and the Soviets lifted the ban on travel into Berlin by
May 1949.
 In May 1949 Western Germany that was controlled by the US, Great Britain, and
France was officially allowed to become their own country Federal Republic of
Germany or (West Germany).
 A few months later the Soviets created the German Democratic Republic or (East
Germany)
 Berlin was split in half and West Berlin was in West Germany and East Berlin was in
East Germany
 After the Berlin Blockade the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was
formed and the 12 nations that joined it pledged to support each other in any way
possible in the event of future issues with the Soviets.
The Cold War Heats Up
 The Chinese Government struggled for 2 decades vs the Nationalist Government
of Chaing Kai-shek. The United States supported Chaing by sending him nearly $3
billion in aid
 The Communists part of China were led by Mao Zedong and his movement gained
support throughout China by gaining the support of the Peasants and farmers.
 By 1945, more and more peasants joined the Red Army (Communist) by 1945 much
of Northern China was under Communist control
 Following the war there was a struggle between the Nationalists (Capitalists) and
the Communists.
 In May 1949 Chaing and his remaining supporters fled to the island of Taiwan as
China came under control of Zedong and the Communists
 Japan had gained control of Korea in 1910 after they surrendered in 1945 the
Japanese troops north of the 38th parallel surrendered to the Soviets the troops
south of it surrendered to the American troops.
 1948 The Republic of Korea (South Korea) was formed headed by Syngman Rhee
 The Communists formed the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea)
 June 25, 1950 North Korea attacked South Korea which began the Korean War
 The UN voted to support the South Koreans and Truman sent troops stationed in
Japan over to assist the South Koreans
 There were over 520,000 troops sent to support the South Koreans and 90% of them
were American.
 North Korea for the 1st month was winning the war convincingly
 Gen MacArthur launched a counter attack and brought many fresh troops and
trapped the North Korean troops over half their troops surrendered and the others
fled back to above the 38th parallel
 It appeared as if Korea would become 1 country again under Capitalist control.
The Chinese though joined the North Koreans in order to keep the Americans from
reaching the Yalu river and be close to the Chinese border.
 300,000 Chinese joined in to help the North Korea in order to keep North Korea
remain a buffer between the US and China
 MacArthur wanted to end the stalemate by moving towards going into China.
 He requested that America use Nuclear weapons on Chinese cities.
 Truman rejected this request realizing that the Soviets had a mutual protection plan
in place with the Chinese and that by attacking China would have set off World War
III.
 They fought for 2 years but ended in a standoff with the 38th parallel remaining the
border between the 2 as it was before
 MacArthur wanted badly to continue to pursue North Korea and China and went
against Truman and tried to go over his head to get it done
 After tiring of MacArthur’s repeated attempts to undermine his policies Truman
fired MacArthur on April 11, 1951.
 MacArthur’s firing came as a shock to Americans. He was a WWII war hero and
69% of Americans supported him according to polls taken at the time
 New York City honored him with a parade, he spoke to Congress and Truman let
this happen until his fame began to fade then he made his case for his decision
 After Truman laid out the facts to what MacArthur had done and wanted to do
public opinion swung in favor of Truman and his decision
 On June 23, 1951 the Soviet Union suggested a cease fire and the Korean War
ended just as it had began.
 This war cost 54,000 American lives and $67 billion
 The high cost and unproductiveness of the war led Americans to reject the
democratic party and elect Dwight D. Eisenhower as President in 1952.
The Cold War at Home
 In the early years of the Cold War Americans feared that communism would spread
world wide after the Soviets quickly spread communism to Eastern Europe and
China.
 People were very paranoid of other people as to whether they were Communist or
Capitalist loyalists within the US
 Truman setup Federal Employee Loyalty Program in March 1947 which was setup in
order to investigate government employees and dismiss those who were found not
to be loyal to the US
 From 1947 – 1951 the boards investigated 3.2 million people and dismissed 212 as
potential security risks
 There were other agencies that investigated Americans for possible ties to
communism
 House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) made headlines when in 1947 it
began investigating the movie Communist influence in the movie industry
 This committee believed that Hollywood communist were sneaking Communist
propaganda into movies.
 Most were friendly and cooperated with the investigations but there were 10 me
known as the “Hollywood 10” who refused to cooperate because they felt these
investigations infringed on their Constitutional rights and they were sent to prison
 Hollywood executives put into play a blacklist of people due to these hearings and
ruined the careers of some Hollywood actors
 The McCarran Act was put into play after Truman vetoed it stating that it was illegal
to plan any action that might lead to a totalitarian style government.
 There was 2 spy cases that shocked the nation
 Alger Hiss was accused by a former Communist spy named Whittaker Chambers of
spying for the Soviet Union.
 He was not charged with espionage due to the amount of time passed on the
documents Chambers accused him of typing up documents for the Soviets to use
against the US but they dis charge him with perjury for lying about passing these
documents on.
 Richard Nixon was the young lawyer who gained fame by going after Hiss and this
later led to him becoming Vice President of US and the eventually President.
 On September 3, 1949 many Americans learned that the Soviets had exploded an
atomic bomb.
 German physicist Klaus Fuchs admitted giving the Soviet Union information about the
Atom bomb in 1950.
 The Government implicated Ethel and Julius Rosenberg in this case in being
responsible for giving the information to the Soviets because they were activists in the
American Communist party and they lied about that in court.
 They were sentenced to death for their role in this case as the Judge stated that “they
performed an act worse than murder”
 Many people around the world objected and appealed for their release stating there
was not enough evidence but the courts refused to overturn the conviction and they
died in the electric chair in June 1953
 They claimed they were being persecuted because they were Jewish
 They were the 1st Americans executed for espionage
 Joseph McCarthy was the most famous of the anti-communist activists he was a
Republican from Wisconsin and actively sought out people to execute in court on
suspicion of Communism.
 McCarthy made 1 unsupported charge after another on government official and
this eventually became known as McCarthyism or accusing people of disloyalty
with no proof to back it up.
 He made claims he had many names of Communists in the Government but never
produced the list of names he claimed to have.
 His downfall came in a televised court case where he bullied a witness and he lost
the support of the American public
 He died 3 years later a broken man and an alcoholic
Two Nations Live on the Edge
 After the Soviets developed an Atomic bomb for their country Truman pushed to
create an even more destructive bomb the Hydrogen (H-Bomb)
 The H Bomb was estimated to be able to have the force of 1 million tons of TNT (67
times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
 On November 1, 1952 the US tested the 1st H-Bomb but a year later the Soviets
tested their on version of a similar bomb
 The arms race between the Soviets and the US was in full swing
 By the time both countries had developed H-Bombs Eisenhower was now in office
and his Secretary of State John Foster Dulles saw the Cold War as a moral crusade
against the Communists
 Dulles wanted the US to be an aggressor and keep the Soviets on their heels
 Eisenhower’s willingness to go to the brink of war at all times was known as
brinkmanship and it made tensions very high during the Cold War era.
 This feeling of uneasiness about a possible nuclear war remained for the next 30
years.
 As the nuclear arms race went on Eisenhower leaned heavily on his newly formed
organization in the government the Central Intelligence Agency for information
against the Soviets and their advancements in technology
 The Warsaw Pact was a military union of nations formed with 7 Eastern European to
counter the actions of NATO and more specifically West Germany joining NATO
 The Geneva Summit took place in 1955 when Eisenhower met with the Soviets and
nothing really got done but people saw this as a step towards peace
 Following the crisis in Egypt Eisenhower put into place the Eisenhower Doctrine
that said the United States would defend the Middle East against any attack by a
Communist country
 Following Joseph Stalin's death in 1953 Nikita Khrushchev eventually took over
power in 1955
 Khrushchev believed that Communism would eventually take over the world and
they could do it peacefully economically and scientifically
 The space race was one example as the Soviets launched the 1st artificial satellite in
1957 it was named Sputnik
 January 1958 the Americans launched their first satellite
 A major incident that took place was when an American U-2 plane was shot down
over Soviet lands and the pilot Francis Gary Powers parachuted out and was
captured and sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Soviets for spying
 Khrushchev wanted an apology from Eisenhower for spying he refused to but did
cancel all other U-2 flights over Soviet land
 The U-2 incident reopened up tensions between the 2 super powers as the Cold
War grew