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THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
CREATING A NATION AND A SOCIETY
NASH  JEFFREY
HOWE  FREDERICK  DAVIS  WINKLER  MIRES  PESTANA
7th Edition
Chapter 27: Chills and Fever During
the Cold War, 1945-1960
Pearson Education, Inc, publishing as Longman © 2006
ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR

The Cold War developed by degrees and
stemmed from divergent views about the
shape of the post-World War II world
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U.S. was intent on spreading its vision of freedom
and free trade around the world to maintain its
economic hegemony
The Soviet Union, concerned about security,
demanded politically sympathetic neighbors on its
borders to preserve its own autonomy
THE AMERICAN STANCE

The United States emerged from World War II more
powerful than any other nation and it sought to use
that power in the creation of a world order that could
sustain American aims
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Wanted to spread liberty, democracy and equality
Assumed they could furnish stability the post-war world
needed
Failed to recognize that what they assumed were universal
values were actually rooted in the circumstances of their own
country
Sought world where economic enterprise could thrive
SOVIET AIMS

Soviet aims included rebuilding after the
ravages of war, and a restructuring of her
borders to prevent a repeat German invasion
EARLY COLD WAR LEADERSHIP

Both Truman and Eisenhower subscribed to traditional American
attitudes about self-determination and the superiority of
American political institutions
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Both were determined to stand firm in the face of the Soviet threat
and to take whatever steps were necessary
As WWII came to an end, Truman grew increasingly hostile toward
Soviet Actions
Eisenhower saw Communism as an overreaching world force bent
on domination through subversive activity but was more willing than
Truman to practice accommodation when it served his ends
Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Leader, possessed almost unlimited
power and answered to no one
When Stalin died in 1953, there was a struggle for power that
Nikita Khrushchev had clearly won by 1958
DISILLUSIONMENT WITH THE
USSR

American trust of the Soviet Union quickly
evaporated as American polls showed a drop
from 54 percent of Americans believing the
Soviets would cooperate with the US in
September 1945 to only 35 percent in
February 1946
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Began to equate Nazi and Soviet systems
Lingering fear that US had not acted quickly
enough against totalitarianism in the 1930s,
heightened American fears
THE TROUBLESOME POLISH
QUESTION

Soviet demands for a Polish government
willing to accept Russian influence conflicted
with American hopes for a more
representative structure
–
Truman insisted on a democratic government in
Poland
ECONOMIC PRESSURE ON THE
USSR

Six days after V-E Day, Truman cut off LendLease aid to the Allies, hurting the Soviets the
most
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In January 1945, the Soviets had requested a $6
billion loan to help them rebuild but FDR hedged,
hoping to gains concessions in return
Four months after FDR’s death the Soviets tried
asking for only $1 billion which Truman said he
would consider, in March 1946, but only if Russia
pledged “nondiscrimination in world commerce”
Stalin refused and launched his own five year plan
DECLARING THE COLD WAR

As relations deteriorated, both sides stepped
up rhetorical attacks
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–
1946: Stalin declared communism and capitalism
were on a collision course, that capitalism would
be torn apart and communism would triumph
Churchill responded to this by declaring an iron
curtain had fallen across Europe during a speech
in Fulton, Missouri in 1946 and urging containment
of the Soviets
CONTAINING THE SOVIET UNION


Containment formed the basis of postwar
American policy.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union
acted unilaterally, and with the aid of allies, in
pursuit of their own ends
–
Within the U.S., both Republicans and Democrats
were determined to check Soviet expansion
CONTAINMENT DEFINED

George F. Kennan was primarily responsible for
defining the new policy of containment which he did in
a “long telegram” in February 1946
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Argued Soviet hostility stemmed from the Kremlin’s neurotic
view of world affairs that was a result of Soviet insecurity
Soviet stance result of efforts to maintain control at home and
therefore all US could do was oppose Soviet expansion since
soft American attitudes would have no effect on what Soviets
did
Kennan expanded on the idea in an article that urged
containment of the Soviets
Containment justified U.S. hardline stance and U.S.
assistance, military and economic, to countries
around the world
THE FIRST STEP: THE TRUMAN
DOCTRINE

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Truman Doctrine was the first major application of containment
policy
Soviet Union was pressuring Turkey for joint control of the
Dardanelles even as a civil war pitted communist insurgents
against an English-backed right wing monarchy in Greece
February 1947, Britain announced it could no longer provide aid to
Greece and Turkey
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Truman wanted to step into the void but needed to convince a
Congress who wanted to cut expenses
Decided to scare them into cooperation
On March 12, 1947, Truman told Congress: “I believe that it must
be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are
resisting subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”
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Failure of the U.S. to act could threaten the free world therefore
Congress needed to provide $400 million in aid for Turkey and Greece
Congress agreed
THE NEXT STEPS: THE MARSHALL
PLAN, NATO AND NSC-68

Europe was devastated and unstable at the end of the war and this seemed
an opportunity for the large European communist parties in countries such as
France and Italy to rise to power
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U.S. also wanted to bolster the European economy to provide a market for U.S.
goods
June 1947, George Marshall announced massive economic aid to all European
countries interested in participating in what came to be called the Marshall Plan
1948: Congress committed $13 billion over 4 years
At the same time there was an effort to integrate a rebuilt Germany into a
reviving Europe
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Original division of Germany was supposed to be a temporary measure until a
permanent peace treaty signed by the division, especially between the Soviet zone
and the three western zones, hardened
1946: US and Britain combined their zones and by mid-1947 were rebuilding
German industry even as Berlin increasingly became two cities
When the western zones tried to introduce a new currency in 1948, Soviets
blockaded western Berlin leading to a yearlong airlift to resupply the city
Airlift was a public relations disaster for the Soviets who lifted the blockade
Two separate German states: the Federal Republic of German (West Germany) and
the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) now existed
THE NEXT STEPS: THE MARSHALL
PLAN, NATO AND NSC-68

After the Soviets tightened their control of Hungary and
Czechoslovakia, the U.S. took the lead, 1n 1949, in establishing
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a twelve-member
alliance that vowed that an attack on one nation-member would
be an attack on all, to be met by appropriate armed force
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Senate approved agreement
In1949 the communists won in China and the U.S. lost its
nuclear monopoly when the Soviets tested their own bomb in
September despite scientific estimates that it would take them
more than a decade to accomplish such a feat
The National Security Council, organized in 1947, produced
NSC-68 which assumed conflict between East and West was
unavoidable as amoral Soviet objectives ran counter to those of
U.S.
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Negotiation was useless and the only answer was to meet the
Soviets with force, requiring a massive increase in defense
spending
Cold
War
Empire
in 1950
CONTAINMENT IN THE 1950s

The Central Intelligence Agency (established in 1947) conducted
espionage in foreign lands
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By 1957, 80 percent of the CIA’s budget went toward covert
activities
Eisenhower increased his pressure on the CIA to undermine foreign
governments, subsidize friendly newspapers in distant lands, and
assist those who supported the United States
U.S. civil rights movement affected policy abroad
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles sought to move behind
containment and counter communism with a crusade to promote
democracy and free countries under Soviet domination
–
Yet U.S. maintained its distance in 1953 when East Germans
mounted anti-Soviet demonstrations and did nothing to assist
rebelling Hungarians in 1956 when Soviet troops moved in to crush
them
CONTAINMENT IN ASIA, THE MIDDLE
EAST, AND LATIN AMERICA


United States extended the policy of
containment around the glob
As colonial empires disintegrated, the new
countries were caught in the midst of the
superpower struggle
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In Third World, communist ideology had great
appeal
THE SHOCK OF THE CHINESE
REVOLUTION

During WWII, China had fought both the Chinese and
an internal civil war pitting the communists under Mao
Zedong and the Nationalists under Jiang Jieshi
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Mao’s struggles against the Japanese had won peasant
loyalty and by 1949, the communists drove the nationalists
from the mainland to the island of Formosa
1 October 1949 Mao proclaimed the People’s Republic of
China
Despite a White Paper that said the U.S. could have done
little to alter the results, anti-communists blamed Truman for
“losing” China
China’s alliance with the Soviet Union only further convinced
Americans that the Chinese were merely Soviet puppets
Tension with China increased during the Korean War and in
1954 during a dispute over Quemoy and Matsu
STALEMATE IN KOREA

Allied temporarily divided Korea, which had been under
Japanese control, at the 38th parallel with the Soviets controlling
the North and the U.S. controlling the South but the line
hardened after 1945
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Both sides set up governments in their part of the country and each
side wanted to reunify the country
25 June 1950 North Korean forces crossed the demarcation line
using Soviet tanks and with Soviet acquiescence but under their
own initiative
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Truman was sure the Soviets were behind the attack and ordered
American troops to prepare and ordered Gen. MacArthur to send aid
to South Korea
With the USSR absent from the Security Council to protest refusal to
seat the People’s Republic, U.S. secured a unanimous resolution
branding North Korea an aggressor and a second resolution calling
on members to assist South Korea
US and South Korea provided more than 90 percent of the troops
though 15 other nations did participate
STALEMATE IN KOREA

After an amphibious assault behind enemy lines, UN troops pushed the North
Koreans back toward the Chinese border
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Cost of war was high with 33,000 Americans killed and an additional 142,000
casualties
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The Chinese warned that troops were coming too close but MacArthur ignored them
leading to a full-fledge Chinese counter assault in November that pushed UN troops
back to the dividing line
MacArthur called for retaliatory strikes and questioned Truman’s capabilities as a
leader, causing Truman to fire the general
The war dragged on into Eisenhower’s presidency and Eisenhower threatened to use
nuclear weapons when peace talks bogged down in 1953
June 27, 1953, an armistice was signed
Other 15 countries lost 17,000 casualties while Koreans lost as many as 2 million dead
and many more wounded and maimed
American forces fought in integrated units whose success led to acceptance of
integration
Military expenditures soared, troops were dispersed around the world and at
home an increasingly powerful military establishment became closely tied to
corporate and scientific communities
September 1951, U.S. signed a peace treaty with Japan and came to rely on the
Japanese to maintain the balance of power in the Pacific
VIETNAM: THE ROOTS OF THE
CONFLICT

Indochina had been a French colony since the mid-nineteenth century
though an independence movement led by Ho Chi Minh, a communist,
had struggled against both the French and Japanese occupiers during
WWII
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Ho established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 using word that
echoed the American Declaration of Independence
US refused to recognize it and provided increasing assistance to the French in
the ensuing struggle mainly because the US needed French support in Europe
and because Ho was viewed as a communist puppet
Eisenhower continued American support but refused to intervene directly to
prevent the fall of the French fortress at Dien Bien Phu in 1954
The Geneva Conference divided Vietnam along the seventeenth parallel
with elections promised in 1956 to unify the country and determine its
political fate
Two separate states emerged with Ho holding power in the north and Ngo
Dinh Diem, with U.S. help, rising to power in the south
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By the time Eisenhower left office, US military aid had grown and 675 American
advisors were in Vietnam
THE CREATION OF ISRAEL AND
ITS IMPACT ON THE MIDDLE EAST

In 1948, the UN sought to partition Palestine into an Arab state and a
Jewish state but the Arab forces from surrounding countries attacked
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US was sympathetic to Israel but tried to maintain stability in the rest of
the region
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1953, CIA helped overthrow the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in
Iran after he nationalized British oil wells
US tried to maintain the friendship of oil-rich Arab states or prevent them
from falling into the Soviet orbit
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The Israelis defeated them and added new territory to the state of Israel
General Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt planned a dam on the Nile River
which the US promised to finance until it discovered Nasser was also talking
to the Soviets
After the US pulled funding, Nasser seized the Suez Canal, nationalized it
and closed it to Israeli ships
In the fall of 1956, Israeli, British and French forces invaded Egypt while the
US sponsored a UN resolution condemning the attack and Dulles forced the
Europeans to withdraw
1957 Eisenhower Doctrine: “the existing vacuum in the Middle East
must be filled by the United States before it is filled by Russia.”
The Middle East in 1940
RESTRICTING REVOLT IN LATIN
AMERICA

1954 Eisenhower ordered CIA support of a
coup which ousted Jacobo Arbenz Guzman
as president of Guatemala
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Resulted in a military dictatorship and feeding antiAmerican sentiment throughout the region
In 1959, Fidel Castro overthrew the
dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in Cuba
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When Castro confiscated American property, the
US cut off exports and severed ties causing the
Cubans to turn to the Soviets for support
ATOMIC WEAPONS AND THE
COLD WAR

When both the US and the
USSR developed the
hydrogen bomb, they
ushered in an age of
overkill
SHARING THE SECRET OF THE
BOMB
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Soviet spies knew about the American and British
built atomic bomb and had started their own program
even before the war ended
U.S. contemplated sharing the bomb or establishing a
system of international arms control but neither ever
progressed
Truman endorsed the Atomic Energy Act in 1946
which established the Atomic Energy Commission to
supervise atomic energy development and to
authorize all nuclear activity in the nation under the
tightest security
NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION

Initially, the atomic bomb generated cultural excitement with
dancers and songs named after it
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Excitement turned to anxiety once the Soviets also possessed a bomb
In 1950, Truman authorized the development of a hydrogen bomb
which both powers had by 1953
In 1957, the Soviets successfully tested their first Intercontinental
Ballistic Missile (ICMB) and launched the first earth orbiting
satellite, Sputnik
Radioactive fallout became publicly known after tests in 1954
contaminated a Japanese fishing boat
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Both the scientific and popular press focused attention on the dangers
of radiation
In 1959, Consumer Reports reported that milk was contaminated with
strontium-90
The public began to build bomb shelters
THE NUCLEAR WEST

New nuclear weapons sparked an enormous
increase in defense spending and created a
huge nuclear industry primarily in the West
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In 1951, the US opened the Nevada Test Site to try
out nuclear weapons and conducted about 100
above ground tests there
Defense spending promoted a variety of other
development as well
“MASSIVE RETALIATION”

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Truman authorized the development of a
nuclear arsenal but stressed conventional
forms of defense
Concerned with controlling the budget and
cutting taxes, Eisenhower shifted to an
emphasis on atomic weapons and “massive
retaliation”
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Left no middle course though it reflected John
Foster Dulles’ willingness to threaten direct
retaliation
ATOMIC PROTEST

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In 1956 Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson called
for an end to nuclear testing
In 1957, activists organized SANE, the National
Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy
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Several years later, 50,000 women marched in 60
communities to protest nuclear testing
Superpowers began a voluntary moratorium on
testing in the fall of 1958 and lasted until the Soviets
resumed testing in September 1961 and the U.S.
began again in March 1962
THE COLD WAR AT HOME

Cold War’s effects on domestic affairs led to
the creation of an internal loyalty program that
violated civil liberties.
TRUMAN’S LOYALTY PROGRAM

Truman, worried about the influence of communism within the
borders of the U.S., created the Temporary Commission on
Employee Loyalty in 1946 and, on the basis of the commission’s
report, established a new Federal Employee Loyalty Program in
1947
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Ordered the FBI to check its files for evidence of subversive activity
and to bring suspects before a new Civil Service Commission
Loyalty Review Board
As the review board assumed more power, it ignored individual
rights
Although only dismissing several hundred employees overall,
Truman’s program set a precedent for government review of who
could be considered a threat due to a belief system
THE CONGRESSIONAL LOYALTY
PROGRAM

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Smith Act of 1940 made it a crime to advocate or teach the forcible overthrow of the
U.S. government
The McCarran Internal Security Act of 1950, passed over Truman’s veto, declared it
was illegal to conspire to act in a way that would “substantially contribute” to
establishing a totalitarian dictatorship in America and requiring members of
Communist organizations to register with the Attorney General
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House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) probed the motion picture industry
in 1947 and cited 10 Hollywood figures for contempt when they refused to testify, sent
them to prison for terms up to one year, and were blacklisted for years afterward
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Hollywood gave into HUAC and blacklisted anyone with an even marginally questionable past
Former Communist Whitaker Chambers charged that Alger Hiss, assistant secretary
of state under FDR, had been a communist, which Hiss denied
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Membership in the American Communist Party fell from 80,000 to 25,000 by 1954
When Richard Nixon became involved, matters escalated until Hiss was put on trial for perjury
after denying charges he had been a communist spy
He was convicted in a second trial in 1950, fined and sent to prison for 5 years
Case proved to many Americans that communists posed a threat to national security
Helped Nixon’s political career
Led to unrelenting attacks on Dean Acheson
Congress also charged homosexuals posed a security risk
SENATOR JOE McCARTHY

The key anti-Communist Senator of the 1950s was Joseph McCarthy
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Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were arrested in 1950 and charged with
transmitting atomic secrets to the Russians
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Virtually unknown beforehand, he made a reputation by claiming to have a list of
known communists within the State Department
Early reactions to McArthur were mixed and even dismissive though as Republicans
realized his partisan value they egged him on
McCarthy’s targets varied and he gained visibility through extensive press and
television coverage
General public alarm over the evils of Communism allowed McCarthy the latitude to
destroy many reputations needlessly
Convicted in 1951, the Rosenbergs were executed in the electric chair
With the Republican Senatorial victory in 1952, McCarthy’s power grew and he
became chairman of the Government Operations Committee and head of the
Senate Permanent Investigations Subcommittee
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The growing list of suspects made Eisenhower and a number of American allies
uneasy
In April 1954, the Army-McCarthy hearings were televised and resulted in
McCarthy’s loss of power and led the Senate to censure him
THE CASUALTIES OF FEAR


Anti-communist campaign kindled pervasive
suspicion in American society and made
dissent appear unsafe
Paranoia affected American life in many ways
and on many levels
DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY
ONLINE
Cold War
http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/coldwar/default.htm
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/

The Marshall Plan
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/marshall/

NATO
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/nato/

The Truman Doctrine
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/doctrine
/large/index.php

Korean War
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/korea/index.html
http://www.koreanwar.org/

DISCOVERING U.S. HISTORY
ONLINE
Vietnam War
http://vietnam.vassar.edu/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/vietnam/

Atomic Weapons
http://www.atomicarchive.com/index.shtml

Nuclear Age Peace Fund
http://www.nuclearfiles.org/

Oak Ridge National Laboratory
http://www.ornl.gov/info/timeline/index.shtml

Alger Hiss
http://homepages.nyu.edu/~th15/

Senator Joe McCarthy
http://www.webcorp.com/mccarthy/mccarthypage.htm
