Download The Early Cold War

The Early Cold War
The 40s and 50s
The Big Three
• During the War, the Big Three: The war left
England, Russia and the United States (The
three unconquered allied countries) as
deciders of the world’s fate.
The Yalta Conference
• Stalin, FDR and Churchill met in Yalta in 1945
to decide post-war policies
• Re-established pre-war borders for most
European countries, divided up rule of
Germany
• Left Eastern Europe under Soviet control
– Considered highly controversial
Harry Truman
• FDR dies in office in April, 1945
• Leaves Truman in charge.
– Inexperienced political appointee
– Did not know about Manhattan Project before he
became President
– No foreign policy experience
• Initially believed Stalin to be a good man
because he had an “honest face”
The Potsdam Conference
• First strain between US and USSR beginning to
show
• Truman knew about bomb but refused to tell
Stalin to better intimidate the Russians
• Russia agreed to support US against Japan,
but entered war only after there was no doubt
about win to snatch up more territory
• US belligerent about Red Army in Europe
Potsdam Conference
Iron Curtain
• Soviets clamped down on occupied territories.
Forcibly establishing communist governments
loyal to Russia
• Churchill (now no longer P.M.) referred to this
in a speech as the closing of the Iron Curtain
Greece and Turkey
• Both countries devastated by War,
experiencing post-war depression
• Both countries see a short-lived but violent
communist revolution
• Leads to a panic in West that communism is
spreading out from Russia
The United Nations
• Built off of Atlantic Charter and League of
Nations
• Designed to prevent war between members
• Created a Security Council that can make
decisions backed by force
– Permanent members include France, Great
Britain, United States, Russia (now China)
United Nations
George Kennan and Containment
• Argued for the Domino Theory
– Countries that go communist will lead to
communism in their neighbors
• Urged in his Long Telegraph that U.S. policy
should be to use military to contain
communist expansion.
The Truman Doctrine
• Official U.S. policy by Truman. Argued that
any military expansion by the Soviet Union
anywhere would be met by military force
– Meant to be an official expression of containment
– Backed by the implicit threat of nuclear weapons
The Marshall Plan
• Secretary of State George Marshall argued
that a slow recovery in Europe, coupled with
post-war poverty would encourage
Communism
• Directed U.S. government to spend billions in
aid rebuilding Western Europe countries
• Soviet Union rejected aid for all nations it
controlled
– Created a prosperous West and poor East
The Berlin Blockade and the Airlift
• Berlin deep in Soviet Territory
• Soviets attempt to drive out Allies occupying
city by closing all land routes
• U.S. begins massive effort to fly in supplies
– Soviets back down, end blockade
– Major political loss
Taking Sides
• NATO: North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationFormed by the United States. An alliance of
the U.S. and Western European countries
opposed to the expansion of Communism
– Formed mutual defense treaty against Soviet
invasion
• Warsaw Pact: In response Soviet satellite
countries formed Warsaw Pact, mutual
defense against Western Invasion
Re-Arming
• Unlike previous wars, the United States did
not demilitarize after World War II
– Preparations made for a potential atomic war with
Russia
– U.S. began regular nuclear bomb tests in Nevada
desert
Independence around the World
• Empires across the world contract
• Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, India, Pakistan and
most of Africa gain independence within a
decade after World War II
• Increasing concern in West that these
countries could “go communist”
Losing China
Losing China
• After the War, China breaks into a nationalist
and communist faction
• The Communist faction led by Chairman Mao
overthrow the Nationalists and take control
• Truman blamed for allowing China to go
Communist without a fight
Post-War Economy
• Inflation: Un-checked military spending, along
with an influx of post-war money from
returning G.I.’s caused devaluation of the
currency and rising prices
• The G.I. Bill: As an incentive for returning vets,
the government offered a free college
education.
Republican Surge
• In the face of a poor post-war economy, the
Republicans surge into power in the mid-term
election
• General attitude is that Truman is sure to lose
the next election.
Election of 1948
• Truman running against popular Republican
Thomas Dewey
• Democratic Party splits between pro-New Deal
Democrats and conservative pro-segregation
Dixiecrats who nominate Strom Thurmond
• Truman, against all odds manages to win the
election. Takes it as a mandate to restore
New Deal Programs
The Fair Deal
• Designed to revamp New Deal Programs
– More unemployment insurance
– Major expansion of public works
– Subsidies to kill gluts and surpluses
– Major revision of tax code
– Extremely unpopular with Republicans who
wanted less government spending, blocked most
of it in Congress
The Korean War
Korea and the 38th Parallel
• Korea, like China had a post-war Communist
Revolution. Rather than let Korea fall entirely,
the country was divided into N. and S. Korea
on the 38th Parallel
• Communist North Korea promptly invades
South Korea to absorb it into a larger nation.
Invasion of South Korea
• Well armed North, supported by China pushes
deep into South Korea.
• Truman, facing political pressure to not let
another country fall to communism decides to
intervene.
U.N. Responds
• Truman, using the old allies from the war
(minus Russia) launches a counter-invasion
from the coastal city of Inchon
• Offensive led by Supreme Commander
Douglas MacArthur
U.S. Counter-Offensive
• MacArthur pushes North Koreans back out of
South Korea, and, against Truman’s judgment,
crosses the 38th Parallel to invade North
Korea.
• Growing tension with China
MacArthur’s Gambit
• MacArthur begins launching bombing attacks
across the Chinese border in order cut off N.
Korean supplies
• Believes that threat of U.S. atomic weapons
will be enough to keep China from invading.
China Invades
• China sends nearly one million troops across
the border.
• United States pushed back below 38th parallel
• War turns into a long, grinding stalemate in a
freezing cold winter
• MacArthur argues for the dropping of atomic
weapons on Chinese cities
Truman Fires MacArthur
• MacArthur publicly criticizes Truman for his
hesitation in the war
• Truman relieves MacArthur of duty and begins
seeking a peace treaty to end the war with
China.
Creation of the DMZ
• Armistice (ceasefire) is signed between North
and South Korea in 1953
• Establishes border at 38th parallel between 2
countries
• Does not officially end war
• (Do Not Write) The Korean DMZ remains the
most militarized border on Earth
The DMZ
The Second Red Scare
• First Soviet Nuclear Test: 1949 the Soviets
detonated its first nuclear bomb
• Caused a panic in the U.S., belief that the
Soviets could not have gotten the bomb that
quickly without help from spies
• Widespread belief that communist spies were
in government
First Soviet Nuclear Test
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
• Ring of spies with loose connections to the
Manhattan Project discovered in the U.S.
• Leads to active communist Julius Rosenberg
and his wife
• Both put on trial and executed as spies, with
sensationalistic live media coverage
Ethel and Julius
HUAC and the McCarran Act
• HUAC holds hearings almost weekly to
convince people of threat posed by spies.
• Leads to passage of the McCarran Act:
– Made being a member of the Communist Party
(any group advocating overthrow of U.S. system
illegal)
– Led to arrest of Party leaders
– Passed over Truman’s veto
Whittaker Chambers and Alger Hiss
• Whittaker Chambers claimed before HUAC
that State Dept. employee Alger Hiss was a
communist agent
– Claimed he had helped Hiss smuggle documents
to the Soviets
– Hiss charged and convicted of perjury for lying
under oath
– Pointed to as proof that communists had
infiltrated Truman government
Hiss and Chambers
Joe McCarthy
• Junior Senator from Wisconsin
• 1950 makes a speech in Wheeling, WV
announcing that he knows of 76 communists
in government
• Begins a series of hearings in which he bullies,
terrorizes liberals and socialists. Red Scare
becomes known as “McCarthyism”
The Army Hearings: McCarthy’s End
• McCarthy accused the army of harboring
communists, after they denied a commission
to a personal friend.
• President Eisenhower hired lawyers to
represent the Army who humiliated McCarthy
during the hearing.
• McCarthy was officially censured by the
Senate
Conclusion
• U.S. and Soviet Union would remain in a
period of Cold War:
– A conflict in which both combatants refrain from
fighting one another directly
– Next few decades would be defined by proxy wars
between U.S. and Communist USSR and China
– Fear of nuclear annihilation would have a major
affect on American culture