Download The Cold War

VUS.13 - The Cold War
(1945-1962)
Soon after World War II ended, the Cold War began. The Cold War was an uneasy peace after
World War II, marked by a fierce rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. One might call
the Cold War a war of words between the United States and the Soviet Union, which lasted from the end of
World War II until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Cold War set the framework for global
politics for forty-five years after the end of World War II. It also influenced American domestic politics
(issues inside the U.S.), the conduct of foreign affairs, and the role of the American government in the
economy after 1945.
The Cold War was basically a competition between two very different ways of organizing
government, society, and the nation’s economy. The United States and the Soviet Union possessed very
different fundamental values. The American-led western nations believed in democracy, individual
freedom, and a free market economic system based on private ownership of property. In contrast, the Soviet
Union and its allies believed in a totalitarian government (dictatorship) ruled by the communist party and a
communist (socialist) economic system. Socialism is an economic system in which the government owns
and controls the means of production. For example, in a socialist nation the government might own the
power plants, transportation and communication companies, mines, and steel mills.
Soon after World War II, the United States adopted the anti-communist policy of containment.
Containment was the post-World War II American foreign policy that sought to check the expansion of the
Soviet Union and communism through diplomatic, economic, and military means. In short, under the
containment policy the United States tried to contain or restrict communism to those countries of the world
where it already existed.
After the Soviet Union had spread communism to the nations of Eastern Europe at the end of World
War II, President Harry S. Truman announced the Truman Doctrine. Truman set forth this policy in a 1947
speech to Congress in which he called for military and economic aid to prevent a communist takeover of
Greece and Turkey. The Truman Doctrine was President Truman’s promise that the United States would
defend free peoples from subversion (overthrow of the government) or outside pressure. Thereby, the
Truman Doctrine set precedent that the “containment of communism” would serve as the guiding principle
of American foreign policy throughout the Cold War. Under containment, the United States would not try
to roll back communism, but rather keep communism from spreading and to resist communist aggression
(attacks) into other countries.
The Truman administration followed the announcement of the Truman Doctrine with the Marshall
Plan. The Marshall Plan was a massive American financial aid program, also announced in 1947, to help
European nations recover economically from World War II. Yet, its purpose was not only to rebuild
European economies, but also to prevent the spread of communism. To place military force behind the
containment policy the United States and its allies formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,
commonly known as NATO. NATO acted as a defensive military alliance between the United States and
Western European countries to prevent a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. Since the creation of NATO
in 1949, it has served as an alliance of the United States, a group of European nations, and Canada to
provide mutual aid in the event of armed attack. In 1955 after West Germany became a member of NATO,
the Soviet Union and other communist nations in Eastern Europe formed an opposing alliance called the
Warsaw Pact. For nearly fifty years both sides, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, maintained large military
forces facing each other in Europe.
Communism spread to Asia in 1949 when Chinese communist forces under Mao Zedong overthrew
the anti-communist government of Chiang Kai-shek. Mao forced Chaing to flee China for the island of
Formosa, where Chiang set up the government of Taiwan. The communist takeover of China increased
American fears of communist domination of most of the world. In addition, before 1949 ended, the Soviet
Union exploded its first atomic bomb.
The fear of communism and the threat of nuclear war affected American life throughout the Cold
War. The trials of both Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs caused many Americans to fear that communist
spies held important positions in the federal government. Hiss was accused of passing secret documents to
the Soviets during the late 1930s. Although Hiss claimed his innocence he was convicted of perjury (lying
under oath), and many Americans believed he was guilty of treason. In 1950 the United States learned that
a spy ring had sent technical secrets to the Soviets, which had allowed them to develop an atomic bomb so
quickly. This information led to the arrest of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who had gained information about
the United States’ atomic project. In 1951, after a long and widely publicized trial, a jury found the
Rosenbergs guilty of espionage (spying). The United States government executed the Rosenbergs in 1953.
American fears of communism in the early fifties advanced the political career of Republican
Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. Senator McCarthy played on American fears of communism by
recklessly accusing many American governmental officials and citizens of being communists. He based
these charges on flimsy (very weak) evidence or no evidence at all. McCarthy’s rapid rise to power led to
the coining of the term McCarthyism, or unfairly accusing others of disloyalty, especially of pro-communist
activity, without convincing proof or even solid evidence. American culture continues to use the term
McCarthyism to refer to situations where someone has made false accusations based on rumor or guilt by
association.
In 1954 the Army-McCarthy hearings were televised. These Senate hearings investigated alleged
communist influence in the United States army. When the army’s attorney stood up to McCarthy at these
hearings, McCarthy showed himself to be a liar and bully rather than a heroic defender of American
democracy. The Senate then voted to censure Senator McCarthy or condemn his behavior, and he quickly
lost his influence. Thereby, the Army-McCarthy hearings ended the power of Senator Joseph McCarthy.
A major test for the containment policy came in 1950 when communist North Koreans invaded noncommunist South Korea. American military forces led a United Nations counterattack that drove deep into
North Korea itself. Communist Chinese forces then came into the war on the side of North Korea, and the
war threatened to widen. In 1952 former World War II hero Dwight D. Eisenhower won the presidential
election, after he had promised to go to Korea. In 1953 the Korean War ended in stalemate with South
Korea free of communist occupation. Because the United States had prevented South Korea from falling
under communist control, the nation’s confidence in the containment policy increased.
As part of containment, President Eisenhower adopted a policy of “massive retaliation” to deter
(prevent, discourage) any nuclear attack by the Soviets. Massive retaliation was the Eisenhower
administration’s threat of swift, all-out military action against a nation committing aggression (attack).
Later presidents backed away from this policy, although the United States refused to promise it would not
make a first strike nuclear attack.
At the end of the 1950s and in the early 1960s, the Cold War focused on Cuba. In 1959 Fidel Castro
led a communist revolution that took over Cuba. Many Cubans fled to Florida to escape communist rule.
President Eisenhower encouraged the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to develop a secret plan to
overthrow Castro. The CIA is a federal agency that coordinates the spy activities of the United States
government. The CIA decided to train and equip a group of anti-communist Cuban exiles, who were living
in the United States. With United States assistance this force would land at the Bay of Pigs on the Cuban
coast and lead the Cuban people in an uprising against Castro. When President John F. Kennedy entered
office in 1961, he approved the CIA’s plans to go ahead with the Bay of Pigs invasion. The Bay of Pigs
invasion proved a complete disaster. The expected popular uprising against Castro never happened. Within
two days, Castro’s army had captured or killed most of the American-supported invaders.
In 1962 an even more serious Cold War crisis occurred in Cuba, when President Kennedy learned
the Soviet Union had placed nuclear missiles there. American spy-plane photographs showed these missile
sites to President Kennedy. After six days of discussion with his advisers, President Kennedy appeared on
television to tell the American public about the Soviet missiles. He announced that the United States was
blockading Cuba. American naval vessels would stop all approaching ships and search them for weapons.
In addition, Kennedy ordered the Soviets to remove their missiles from Cuba or he would take further steps.
For several days the world was on the brink (edge) of nuclear war. Eventually the Soviets “blinked,” as
President Kennedy worked out a private agreement with Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union.
The Soviets agreed to remove their missiles from Cuba, and in exchange the United States would remove its
outdated missiles from Turkey.
Nevertheless, the Cuban Missile Crisis heightened the threat of nuclear war. In fact, the Soviet
Union matched the United States in nuclear weaponry in the 1950s. For the remainder of the Cold War the
threat of nuclear conflict that would destroy both countries was ever-present. During the 1950s and 1960s,
American schools regularly held drills to train children regarding what to do in case of a nuclear attack. The
federal government encouraged American citizens to build bomb shelters in their own basements. However,
by the mid-sixties Vietnam replaced the threat of nuclear war as the chief concern of America’s containment
policy.
QUESTIONS:
1. What are two ways the narrative describes the Cold War?
2. How did the U.S. respond to the threat of communist expansion?
3. What were the political differences between the United States and the Soviet Union?
4. What is Socialism?
5. What are the origins of the Cold War?
6. What was the United States policy on Communism?
7. What was the United States trying to achieve through the policy in #6?
8. What was the Truman Doctrine?
9. What was the Marshall Plan?
10. According to the narrative, what were the two purposes of the Marshall Plan?
11. What was the purpose of NATO?
12. Who led the communist takeover in China?
13. Why did the changes in China cause increased fears for America about Communism?
14. Name the spies and what they gave the Soviet Union. (3 spies total)
15. What was McCarthyism?
16. What happened in the Army-McCarthy hearings to McCarthy?
17. Why was Korea a test of the policy against Communism?
18. How did the Korean War end?
19. Was the containment policy achieved in the Korean War?
20. What was massive retaliation?
21. Who led the communist revolution in Cuba?
22. What was the purpose of the Bay of Pigs invasion?
23. How did the CIA plan to carry out the Bay of Pigs invasion?
24. What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?
25. What was the impact of the Cold War on Americans at home?