1945 - 1960

US recognized USSR in 1933

During WWII the United States and the Soviet Union were Allies…

Yalta – February 1945

*Meeting in the Crimean Peninsula

– Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin WORK OUT FUTURE OF GERMANY AND

POLAND

1. Division of Germany into 4 zones (British, French, American, and Soviet) EVENTUALLY East and West Berlin develops & East and West Germany develops

2. Stalin wanted Germany to pay $10 billion in war damages – REJECTED

3. US wanted USSR help with Japan (still at war with Japan)4. Poland was to be allowed to choose own type of

government

UNITED NATIONSNew international peacekeeping organization

April 1945

50 nationsSan Francisco, CaliforniaUN General Assembly - all nations

Security Council – US, USSR, GB, France, China – PERMANENT SEATS

FDR died April 12, 1945

Harry S. Truman became President (was VP for only 83 day)

Potsdam Conference (Suburb of Berlin)

July 1945 Truman, Churchill, and Stalin

1. Continued to discuss future of Germany and Poland (Truman wantedfree elections in Poland)2. Truman told Stalin about the atomic bomb

USSR After the War1. Interfered in Polish elections (angered Truman)2. Wanted satellite nations – countries subject to Soviet domination on the Western borders of the USSR3. Supported totalitarian Communist Governments in Eastern Europe4. Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia

and Romania became dominated by the USSR

IRON CURTAINMarch 5, 1946 – Winston Churchill asked the United States for help in keeping Stalin from closing the iron curtain of domination and oppression

Cold War – political, economic, and military tensions between the ….

Containment Policy

Developed by George Kennen –

US ambassador to the Soviet Union1946

Recognized that Eastern Europe was already lost to Communism

Called for US to resist Soviet attempts elsewhere

Truman Doctrine (1947)

Marshall Plan

Germany1948 – American, French, and British merged 3 zones to become Federal Republic of Germany (WEST GERMANY) CAPITALIST

1949 – EAST GERMANY – controlled by the Soviet UnionCommunist

Berlin is inside East Germany Berlin is divided into East and West

June 1948 – Stalin decided to block West Berlin from outside aide

Berlin Airlift

Berlin airlift was initiated by Truman – moved supplies to West Berlin by air

Over 200,000 flights13,000 tons of goods daily

Soviets gave up May 1949

West Berlin was owned and operated by US, GB, and France (but was inside Soviet held East Germany)

NATO – US, Canada, Belgium, GB, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal

Warsaw Pact – USSR and Satellite Nations

CollectiveSecurity –Mutual MilitaryAssistance

Cold War at Home…

Federal Civil Defense was created. It flooded the nation with posters on how to survive an attack (bomb shelters)

Click the turtle advertisement for a Civil Defense Video

Cold War at Home Continued…

House Un-American Activities Committee

Began in 1938 to probe Communist infiltration in Hollywood

Click on witch advertisement for a 1 minute 51 second videoAbout HUAC.

writers, directors, actors, and

producers were called before the committee

Hollywood Ten – Ten were cited for contempt ofCourt and served 6 months to a year in jail for Pleading the 5th… they were blacklisted…

McCarran Walter Act of 1952

Felt that most disloyal Communists were immigrants

Quota system for each country (especially Asian, Southern & Central Europe

Truman vetoed itCongress overrode the veto

Truman said it was “oneof the most Un – Americanacts I have ever witnessedin my public career.”

Alger Hiss Case1948 – HUAC accused Alger Hiss (high ranking state department official)

of being a communist in the 1930s and being a spy)

Found guilty of perjury and went to prison for 4 years

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

Radical, married couple accused of passing atomic secrets to Soviets in WW2

1953 – convicted of espionage and executed

The COLD WAR expands…

1.Japan withdrew from Korea after World War II.2.1945 – USSR occupied the north and the US

occupied the South3.Both withdrew during 1948 and 1949.

KOREAN WAR

June 1950 – broke out when North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel

Army intended to reunite Korea by force!

United Nations called on all members to support S. Korea.USSR had boycotted UN over treatment of Communist China.USSR and China absent.

Douglas MacArthur

WWI and WWII veteranAnti-Communist

Truman’s choice to lead UN forces in Korea

Korean War….MacArthur suspected the North Korean supply lines were stretched thin, so he attacked at Inchon to cut the supplies.He pushed the North Korean forces across the 38th parallel.

MacArthur continued to push into the North for a united

Korea with the South in control.

THIS SCARED CHINA!!

On November 24, 1950, MacArthur began his “Home By Christmas” offensive.Chinese troops poured across the Yalu River to push the UN forces out!

A STALEMATE DEVELOPED!

MacArthur wanted Taiwan to attack Mainland China.

Taiwan claimed to be the true Chinese government since the Mainland China had become Communist.

Truman said NO!MacArthur wrote a letter to the House Minority Leader in March 1951.The letter attacked the President.

Truman FIRED MacArthur for insubordination!CLICK ON FINAL PICTURE FOR A QUICK VIDEO!

MacArthur returned to a heroes welcome!

MacArthur spoke to a joint session of Congress on April 19. 1951.

Click picture for speech. Click picture for Roy Acuff song tribute.

Korean War Continued….The war drug on for 2 more years….

1950-1953

Truce in 1953

Korea was divided at almost the exact place…

55,000 soldiers killed113,000 wounded

The McCarthy EraRepublican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin

Made a speech and held a paper he claimed contained a list of

205 knownCommunists in the State Department….

However, the list dwindled to actually 57 accused of disloyalty.

Click the picture for an interview.

McCarthy’s Fall - 1954

Charged that the army was full of Communists!

Finally leaders decided he had to be stopped!!April 1954 – Army –McCarthy HearingsDemocrats wanted it televised to make him look bad!

McCarthy bullied and had baseless allegations…Finally, the Senate turned on him.

He died three years later CLICK PICTURE

Dwight D. Eisenhower1953-1961

John Foster Dulles – Secretary of State

Did not like Truman’s containment policy!

Eisenhower wanted to avoid war with theUSSR at all costs. So, the containmentpolicy remained intact.

Joseph Stalin died in 1953. Nikita Khrushchev began leading the USSR

Vietnam Issue… Vietnam was a French colony in Southeast Asia.

Ho Chi Minh, who was the leader of the Vietnamese Communist Party declaredthe Colony’s independence…

France said NO!

WAR DEVELOPED IN VIETNAM.

May 1954 – France withdrew forces Vietnam divided into Communist North and Anti-Communist South

DOMINO THEORY – if one country fell to communism, its neighbors would follow

Middle East Issue…

1948 – Israel – homeland state for Jews

Arab nations were angry!

US pledged support to Israel.

Iran – US placed a pro-US Shah of Iran

Eisenhower Doctrine

US would use force to safeguard the independence of any country or group of countries in the Middle East requesting aid against communism.

Latin American Issues…

Concern with spread of communism in Latin America

Cuba – Fidel Castro – overthrew the corrupt Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959.

Seized American property in Cuba

Eisenhower cut economic ties with CubaCastro turned to help from the USSR…

TO BE CONTINUED…

ARMS RACE

1954-1958 - US tested 19 hydrogen bombs at Bikini IslandIn the Pacific

Japanese fishermen90 miles awaysuffered radiation burns.

Residents of islands 200 miles awayevacuated.

Brinkmanship

Dulles said US was prepared to risk war to protect its nationalinterests

VERGE of War

US – Used Air Force to carry hydrogen bombs

USSR – used long range rockets ICBMS (intercontinental ballistic missiles)

US – LAGGED BEHIND IN MISSILE DEVELOPMENT

Sputnik

1957 – USSR launched Sputnik –

1st artificial satellite to orbit the earth

U2 Incident

US spy plane over USSR was shot down at 15 miles high