Download How does this evidence show that Truman was and wasn`t

“Learning to Lead our Lives”
Title Truman on Trial
Skill: Citizenship
NGfL: USA 1929 -1990
All images/ cartoons are believed to be in the public domain. Many of the images were
sourced from the internet encyclopedia wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org
The classroom will be set up as below. You all have a part to play!
•Prosecution lawyers must create speeches that show that Truman is guilty
•Defence lawyers must create speeches to prove that he is innocent!
•Witnesses must work with witness lawyers to create witness statements /
question and answer scripts to show that Truman is guilty / innocent.
Prosecution lawyers
Defendant:
Truman
Defence lawyers
Jury
Court
Clerk
Witness stand
Judge
The Marshall Plan
In March 1947, Truman made a speech
outlining his beliefs about communism
(the Truman Doctrine). His speech made
jt clear that the USA would be actively
involved in the internal affairs of other
countries in order to stop the spread of
Communism.
Inspired by this speech, and a visit to Europe
during which he saw the terrible suffering
of many in post-war Europe, George
Marshall, the Secretary of State (pictured),
designed a scheme to send Aid to
European countries. The Aid was
designed to relieve suffering in Europe so
that Europeans would be less likely to turn
to communism to solve their problems,
and more likely to work closely with
America.
Under the European Recover Program (ERP),
or Marshall Plan, $12.5 billion of Marshall
Aid was sent to 16 European countries.
U.S. postage stamp issued 1997 honoring
the 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan.
USPS holds the copyright, but it is believed that these stamps may be exhibited under
the fair use provision of United States copyright law.
Average income in these countries
improved 33% 1947-51.
Aid was offered to Eastern Europe and
Russia, but Stalin suspected (rightly)
that America was merely trying to
undermine Soviet control over Europe
with the Aid, and Stalin wouldn’t allow
any Eastern European country to
accept it. Tensions grew.
How does this evidence show that
Truman was or wasn’t responsible
for the Cold War?
The Truman Doctrine
In March 1947, Truman was worried
about the USSR’s attempts to gain
control over Greece and Turkey. He
didn’t want communism to gain control over
any more areas of the world, and so he
made a speech to Congress saying that the
US would act to stop Communism spreading.
Here are some excerpts:
A Greek
communist,
who is
intending to
overthrow the
corrupt Greek
government.
The US
supported the
Greek
government.
Wikipedia permission
granted to use under the
GNU Free Documentation
License .
“The very existence of the Greek state is today
threatened by the terrorist activities of
several thousand armed men, led by
communists … Greece must have assistance
… The US must supply this assistance …
The peoples of a number of countries have
recently had totalitarian regimes [communist
dictatorships] forced upon them against their
will … I believe that it must b the policy of the
US to support free peoples who are resisting
attempted subjugation [communist
takeovers].”
Truman’s supporters claimed that the
US needed to “get tough” on
communism to stop it spreading.
However, the Truman Doctrine
sometimes meant that the US ended
up supporting corrupt governments just
because they were against the
communists (as in Greece in 1947).
This wasn’t promoting democracy,
which the US also stood for.
There was complete silence in Congress during
the speech.
How does this evidence show that
Truman was or wasn’t responsible
for the Cold War?
NATO and the Warsaw Pact
In March 1947, Truman was worried about the
USSR’s attempts to gain control over
Greece and Turkey. He didn’t want
communism to gain control over any more
areas of the world, and so he made a
speech to Congress saying that America
would act to stop Communism spreading.
Truman’s attitude towards communism
encouraged the US to consider setting up
a military alliance to deter the USSR from
attacking any Western European nation.
In 1949, America recruited many West
European countries into NATO, an military
organisation intended to oppose any
Soviet attack into Western Europe, across
the Iron Curtain. UK, France, Canada
and, in 1954, West Germany all joined.
NATO stood for the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation, because all member
countries were situated around the North
Atlantic area.
The NATO Summit in 2002. NATO’s symbol
can be seen in the centre. Wikipedia, public domain.
Under NATO, plans were made to use
tactical nuclear weapons to destroy the
Soviet tanks if they ever poured through
the main communication routes into West
Germany.
Stalin viewed NATO as a clear threat to
him. In 1955, he set up the Communist
equivalent of NATO, the Warsaw Pact.
All Eastern European countries and
Russia joined this.
How does this evidence show that
Truman was or wasn’t responsible
for the Cold War?
The way Germany
was dealt with after
WW2 caused much
friction between the
USSR and US. At the
Yalta conference in
February 1945, when
Roosevelt was
President, it was
agreed that conquered
Germany should be
split into 4 sections, to
be controlled by the
US, France, Britain
and the USSR.
The Partition of Germany and
the Berlin Blockade
British
sector
French
sector
Berlin
Russian
sector
French
sector
British
sector
US
sector
Russian
sector
US sector
How Germany and Berlin were
divided after WW2. MCS copyright!
This encouraged the USSR to take over other areas of Eastern Europe, as well as West Berlin,
which was Allied land inside Soviet-controlled territory! In April 1948, Stalin cut all land
routes to West Berlin, trying to force the Allies to leave (the Berlin blockade). Truman ordered
that millions of tons of supplies should be flown in to help the West Berliners (the Berlin
airlift). In September 1949, Stalin finally gave in and allowed the land routes to open.
The Allies joined their sectors to form the Federal Republic of German (West Germany) and the
USSR made East Germany the German Democratic Republic. Germany was divided: Stalin
had failed to take over Germany.
.How does this evidence show that Truman was and wasn’t responsible for the Cold War?
A war of words!
In February 1946, Stalin made a speech
which claimed that capitalism made war
inevitable. US state officials were alarmed
and asked a Soviet expert called George
Kennan to report on Stalin’s foreign policy.
Kennan telegrammed back an 8,000 word
response (the “Long Telegram”), which
predicted a lengthy, life and death struggle
between democracy and communism.
Copies of the Long Telegram were
distributed all over the government.
By March 1946, the USSR had taken over
much of Eastern Europe. Winston
Churchill, the ex-PM of the UK, was
worried about this. In a famous speech in
Missouri, US, with Truman sitting next to
him, he said:
Stettin was on the North German coast,
Trieste was in West Germany. Churchill
meant that Soviet control had fallen
right across Eastern Europe, and that it
was “iron”.
Stalin was offended by the speech, and
in an interview said that Chuchill’s
speech was warmongering, a call to
arms against the Soviet Union. The war
of words had begun!
How does this evidence show
that Truman was or wasn’t
responsible for the Cold War?
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste
in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has
descended across the continent.”
Wikipedia Public domain
The atomic
age!
During the Potsdam Conference in August 1945,
Truman learned that American scientists had
developed the first atomic bomb, a project
begun many years before. He smugly
informed Stalin that America had a secret
new weapon, and left the conference quickly,
in order to go to inspect the weapon.
Truman left so quickly that he failed to
ensure that Stalin was clear about
arrangements concerning Eastern Europe.
Stalin left the Potsdam conference without a
very high impression of Truman, believing
that Truman had agreed that Eastern Europe
was in the USSR’s sphere of influence. This
encouraged Stalin to take over Eastern
Europe from 1945 – 1948.
On 6th and 9th August 1945, Truman authorised 2
atomic bombs to be dropped on Hiroshima
and Nagaskai, both towns in Japan. This
saved the lives of many American soldiers
who would have died tried to storm Japan by
force, and it also prevented Stalin from taking
over Japan.
Dropping the atomic bomb on Japan,
fairly close to Russia, was an
aggressive move on the part of Truman.
Stalin was immediately very worried by
the potential of this American super
weapon, and ordered that research into
the Russian atomic bomb should go full
steam ahead. This incident placed
relations between the US and USSR on
a poor footing. The Russians
developed their atomic bomb in 1949.
The atomic age had started.
How
does
this
evidence
show
that
Truman
was
or
wasn’t
responsible
for
the
Cold War?