Download Chapter 36 - Aurora City School

Who started the Cold War?
Explain the point of view of the cartoon
Chapter 36:
The Cold War Begins
(the “grim struggle for world
power between the U.S.A. and
the U.S.S.R. in the post World
War II world”)
How did the United States and
the Soviet Union become Cold
War adversaries?
Roots of the Cold War
• Philosophical Differences
– USSR: communism, totalitarian dictatorship, the
state makes the economic decisions so the proletariat
(working class) can share society’s wealth (equality of
condition)
• The U.S. was determined to destroy Communism
• A nuclear monopoly was all about American strength
– United States: free-enterprise capitalism, republic,
democracy, business owners decide what to produce
and consumers decide what to buy (equality of
opportunity)
• Communist takeovers were brutal attempts to crush
democracy
• A nuclear monopoly ensured world peace
Roots of the Cold War
• WWII Impacts Decision Making
– Allies during the war, but not truly friends
– Soviets wanted British and Americans to open a
second European front earlier in the war.
– U.S. atomic bomb plans worried Soviet Union.
– 20,000,000 Soviet citizens died (soldiers and civilians)
• Starvation, German prisoner camps, Soviet cities were
demolished
– 290,000 American citizens died
– Civilian casualties only at Pearl Harbor (also the only
attack on American soil)
1945: A Key Year in World History
• Yalta (February)
– Stalin, Churchill and FDR meet
– Agree to divide Germany into
4 zones of occupation
– Agree to support selfgovernment and free elections in
Eastern Europe
• FDR was hopeful the wartime
allies would maintain friendly
relations (FDR will die in April)
1945: A Key Year in World History
• Potsdam (July): Stalin, Attlee and TRUMAN meet
– It is agreed to also divide Berlin
1945: A Key Year in World History
• Potsdam (July)
– Truman learns of the first successful test of our atomic
bomb
– He let Stalin know it because Stalin’s Soviet troops
remained in Eastern Europe
– Wherever/Whenever “free” elections were held,
Communists always won
• Stalin wanted Eastern Europe to be a buffer zone
offering protection from attack to the USSR
– These would come to be called “satellite nations”
• Truman believed in a free Eastern Europe
(allow self-determination)
• The USA stops aid to the USSR
Shaping The Postwar World
• Only the two superpowers remained after two
devastating wars in 30 years
• Their size, economic strength and military ability
allows them to dominate global affairs
• Nations of the world were left to align themselves
with one or the other
• Truman and Congress pass the National Security Act
– Creates the National Security Council (NSC) to advise the
president
– Creates the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to gather
information and analyze foreign intelligence
The United Nations
• Discussed as part of the
Atlantic Charter
• The most important function
of the United Nations – maintain
international peace and security
• Made up of the General Assembly
and the Security Council
– Comprising all 192 members,
it provides a unique forum for
multilateral discussion of the
full spectrum of international
issues
The United Nations Security Council
• The Council is composed of five permanent
members — China, France, the Russian
Federation (USSR then), the United Kingdom and
the United States
• And ten non-permanent members (2 year terms)
• 9 votes to approve an action BUT the five
permanent members have veto power
1946
• Stalin delivers a speech that indicates that capitalism
always leads to war and conflict over scarce
resources
• Seemingly suggests that communism should replace
capitalism
• George Kennan (Amer. diplomat/Soviet expert)
– Enunciates a policy of containment in
his “Long Telegram”
– The US must combat Russian
“expansive tendencies”
• USSR refuses to remove troops
from Iran until pressured by the
US (proof of “expansive tendencies”?)
An “Iron Curtain” Divided Europe
• 1946: Winston Churchill
describes the division of
Europe caused by the USSR
• Hegemony = a dominating
influence of one country
over another
• From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic
an iron curtain has descended across the
Continent.
The Truman Doctrine
• Truman stressed the duty
of the United States to
combat totalitarian
regimes worldwide.
• His March 12, 1947
speech specifically called
for $400 million in aid to
be delivered to Greece
and Turkey.
• The Doctrine
demonstrated the new
American foreign policy as
a policy of containment
of Soviet expansion.
• Historians often use it to
mark the starting date of
the Cold War.
The Marshall Plan
(European Recovery Program)
• The Marshall Plan was proposed to help Europe begin its
ascent from the ashes of World War II ($13.3 billion by
1952 and the end of the program)
• On April 3rd, 1948, Truman signed the first appropriation
bill authorizing
$5,300,000,000 for
the first year
• Secretary of State
George Marshall
offered the same aid
to the USSR and its
allies, but they did not accept it.
• The hope was to oppose
Communism, spread
democracy, boost the
American economy and win
allies
• The Soviets respond with
the Molotov Plan to
rebuild Eastern Europe
and foster their mutual
assistance with the USSR
• In 1953, George C.
Marshall received the
Nobel Prize for
spearheading the
European Recovery Plan.
• The postwar years were
the first time that
Western European
countries had worked as
closely for mutual gain.
• The international
cooperation demanded by
the Marshall Plan laid the
groundwork for the
formation of the
European Union (EU).
The Berlin Airlift (6/1948 – 5/1949)
• Remember: Post war Germany and
Berlin were divided into 4 sections
• The USSR attempted to control all
Berlin by cutting surface traffic to
and from W. Berlin.
– Starving out the population & cutting off
business was their preferred method
• What could the USA do?
– The only way in was through the air
• What would Stalin do?
– He will lose one of the opening “battles” of the Cold War
when the U.S.A. and the R.A.F. delivered 2,326,406 tons of
food and supplies on planes arriving every 1-3 minutes
• The Berlin Airlift remembered
NATO Treaty and Warsaw Pact
This map shows the division of Europe
between the NATO Treaty (green) and
the Warsaw Pact (orange). The United
States and Canada are also part of
NATO.
• The North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) was
established as an
international organization
for defense collaboration
established in 1949 which
attempted to align nations
opposed to Soviet
expansion.
• Similarly, the Warsaw Pact
was signed by eastern
European nations in an
effort to combat western
alliances.
• Both of these are based on
the idea of collective
security
NSC-68
• Argued that one of the
most pressing threats
confronting the U.S. was
the "hostile design" of
the Soviet Union
• The Soviet threat would
soon be greatly
augmented by the
addition of more
weapons, including
nuclear weapons.
• The best course of action
was to respond in kind
with a massive build-up
of the U.S. military and its
weaponry (defense
spending increases 350%)
Postwar Politics: Readjustments and
Challenges in the U.S.A.
• Once WWII ended, Truman has to lead the
country through the economic transition to
peacetime (remember what happened postWWI?)
• His “Fair Deal”
– Increase minimum wage, increase aid to education
and agriculture and enact a program for national
health insurance
• Billions of dollars of war contracts were
cancelled
• Defense workers lost their jobs
• Inflation soared
• In 1946, 5 million workers walked off the job
Truman Battles the Republicans in Congress
• 1946: “Had enough?”
– Republicans gain control of both houses of Congress
• 22nd Amendment: two term limit for the president
– A popular president could be “for life”
• 1947: The Taft-Hartley Act
– Limited the power of unions by outlawing the closed
shop and banning “sympathy” strikes
– Mandated an 80 day “cooling off” period before a
strike
– Vetoed by Truman but overridden
• Truman desegregates the armed forces by
executive order when Congress refuses to act on a
civil rights bill to outlaw segregation and
discrimination
Post-War Economic Prosperity
(no repeat of WWI…no isolationism either)
• The G.I. Bill (what about the 15 million veterans?)
– Remember the dissatisfied “Bonus Army”?
– Send them to technical and vocational schools, colleges
and universities
– Raise education levels, job training, transform colleges,
stimulate construction
• The suffering of the 1930’s and 1940’s was over
• The size of the middle class doubled from the 1920’s
• Women were entering the workforce at the same
time popular culture was glorifying the role of wife
and homemaker
The Baby Boom
It seems to me that every other young housewife I see is
pregnant.
-- British visitor to America, 1958
1957  1
baby born
every 7
seconds
Living the American Dream in the
Suburbs and…
• Levittown, Long Island then Pennsylvania
• Bill Levitt was able to build 150 houses per week
• $7,999.00
in 1949
• “White flight”
to the suburbs
while blacks
filled the urban
neighborhoods
whites left
behind
…Living the American Dream in the
Sunbelt
An Upset Victory in 1948
• Truman looked weak because of his losses to the
Republicans in Congress
• The Democratic Party splits
– There’s Truman, of course
– And the left-wing (liberal) Democrats form a
“Progressive Party” behind candidate Henry Wallace
• Even more liberal than Truman on social issues
• Wanted friendlier relations with the USSR
– And the segregationist Southern Democrats became
known as “Dixiecrats”
• Strom Thurmond runs on a segregationist platform
• The Republican candidate is Thomas Dewey
• And the results were…
The Cold War in Asia
• The Chinese Civil War
– Mao Zedong (Communist)
vs.
Jiang Jieshi (Nationalist)
who were allies during
WWII against Japan
– The United States aided the
Nationalists with massive economic loans but no
military support fearing Jiang’s ability to lead
– Battles raged not only for territories but also for the
allegiance of cross sections of the population.
– Communists field commanders defeated Nationalist
forces in the late 1940s and established the People’s
Republic of China (Red China) in October 1949
(the same year the USSR gets the bomb)
– The Nationalists flee to Taiwan
…So at this point, who is
winning the Cold War?? Who
“lost” China? And who should
bear the blame for the Cold
War even beginning??
Korean War (1950-1953)
• After WWII, Korea divided at 38th parallel
– North was communist, South was not
• 1950: North Korea (supported by Soviet
resources) invaded South Korea (supported by
the UN and the US)
• Soviets boycotting UN for U.S. refusal to allow
"Red China" into UN Security Council
• Forces led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur to push
back communists
• China sends hundreds of thousands of troops to
push back UN
• Result: 54,000 American killed, cease-fire and
border at 38th parallel restored; still in existence
• When Douglas MacArthur
wanted to expand the war
into China and publicly
questioned the president,
he was fired by Truman
• During the Cold War, many conflicts broke out
around the world (the “1st” / “2nd” / “3rd” worlds)
– Much of the “3rd” world were former colonies looking for
financial, military or humanitarian aid
• Some were guerrilla wars and others were between
rival factions in a country.
• Almost all of them, were tied directly or indirectly to
the global struggle between the East and the West.