Cold WarAmerica1945-1954

Hiss-Chambers Affair

Containing the Russian Bear

Origins of the Cold War• Unsettled questions over the future of Poland and Germany

• Britain and France had entered war to aid Poland; Soviet Union had invaded Poland

• Stalin was forced to join Grand Alliance in 1941• Soviets defeated Germany alone on Eastern Front and

occupied all of Eastern Europe at war’s end• Truman insisted on free and democratic elections in Poland• Stalin refused to give up Poland or any other Eastern

European nation; Russia’s security• Truman threatened to cut off American economic aid;

Stalin accepted the loss of American money and strained relationship with the United States

A World Divided• At the end of World War II, both the U.S.A. and Soviet

Union occupied large areas of land– U.S. occupation depended on its economy and

military position– Soviet occupation depended on a physical presence

• Truman refused to accept Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe; believed in free trade, national self-determination, and democracy

• “While the British and the Americans held firmly … the whole position in Africa and the Mediterranean … and the whole of Western Germany … they undertook by negotiation and diplomatic pressure to reduce Russia’s position in Eastern Europe.” Walter Lippmann

A World Divided• Germany was literally divided by Truman and Stalin;

East Germany became a Soviet satellite and West Germany fell under the American, British, and French spheres of influence

• Control over atomic weapons divided the U.S. and U.S.S.R.– “A single demand of you, comrades: provide us with atomic

weapons in the shortest possible time … the equilibrium has been destroyed. Provide the bomb. It will remove a great danger from us.” Joseph Stalin

• The result: an atomic arms race instead, not international cooperation

A World Divided• 1946, Stalin warned Soviets that communism could not

coexist with capitalism; “tantamount” declaration of World War III

• 1946, Churchill announced that “from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent.” Winston Churchill

• “God has willed” the atomic bomb to America

A World Divided

Tough Talk• Emotionally charged rhetoric and the emergence of

Cold War myths turned American public opinion against Soviet Union

• By 1947, Britain could no longer stand as the leader of Western democracies in Europe – shattered economy– Could not economically support Greece and Turkey

in their fight against communist rebels– Republicans (conservatives) controlled Congress

and rapid demobilization following World War II limited effectiveness of American military forces

• 12 March 1947 – Truman Doctrine

Truman Doctrine“At the present moment in world history nearly every

nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one.

One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression.

The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio; fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms.

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”

Truman Doctrine• Republican Congress supported Truman

– Allocated $400 million for Greece and Turkey

– Established precedent of providing economic aid and military aid to countries fighting communism; even supporting dictators

– “anticommunists” and “free peoples” became synonymous

Marshall Plan• Western European economies were devastated from

World War II• Winters of 1946 and 1947 were especially harsh• Communist parties made gains in Western Europe due

to hard times• Marshall Plan, 1948 – Congress appropriated $17

billion for the European Recovery Program (ERP)– Rebuilt infrastructure of Western Europe and

restored economic prosperity; also created stable markets for American goods in Europe

– Led to economic integration of Europe; EPU (1950), ECSA (1951), EEC (1958)

Marshall Plan

Containment Policy• “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” by Mr. X proposed

policy of containment, July 1947– Mr. X was George Kennan– Soviet communism was driven by the need for

repressive dictatorship at home and belief that that it could not coexist with capitalism

– Stalin was more interested in security than expansion; Russia would only expand when allowed to by American weakness

– “containment” by a politically, economically, and militarily active United States

– Soviet Union would self-implode eventually

Containment Policy• The Cold War: A Study in U.S. Foreign Policy (1947)

by Walter Lippmann– Containment allowed the Soviet Union to decide

when and where battles against America would take place

– Would tie America to small, unstable countries; political, economic, and military drain

– Could lead to a land war in Asia; would cost billions of dollars and thousands of Americans dying in foreign lands

Containment Policy• Containment was a defensive policy; prolonged

conflict

• Emphasize limited wars with limited goals

• Would breed frustration and anxiety in the American public and influence domestic, as well as foreign policy

Berlin• June 1948, Stalin stopped all road and rail

traffic between West Germany and West Berlin• Truman responded with the Berlin Airlift

– For one year, American and British planes kept West Berlin alive and democratic with massive supply drops

– 277,264 flights– 2,343,315 tons of food, fuel, medicine and

clothing• 12 May 1949, Stalin lifted the blockade

Berlin

Berlin

Election of 1948

Troubling Times• 1949 - North Atlantic Treaty Organization

(NATO)• August 1949 – Soviet Union tested first atomic

bomb; full decade before Americans expected it• Between 1945 and 1949, the bomb had been the

teeth of American foreign policy with the USSR– James F. Byrnes vs. V. M. Molotov

• Race for the Hydrogen bomb– U.S., 1952– Soviet Union, 1953

Fall of China• Chinese Civil War

– Communists Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai vs. Nationalist Chiang Kai-shek

– United States provided Kai-shek with more than $3 billion in aid between 1945 and 1949

• May 1949, Kai-shek and Nationalists fled to Taiwan, established Republic of China

• Communists established People’s Republic of China on the mainland

Fall of China

Fall of China• Sec State Dean Acheson released white paper

that explained how Mao won the civil war– Corruption in Nationalist government– Truman was still blamed for the fall of China

to Communism; Chinese were the “good Asians”

• China Lobby, Henry Luce and Time and Life• Truman refused to recognized the PROC and

insisted that Taiwan (ROC) was the legitimate government of China; not reversed until 1979

NSC-68• National Security Council Paper Number 68

– Communism was a monolithic movement directed by Soviet Union

– Advocated “an immediate and large-scale build-up in our military and general strength of our allies”

– Extended the Truman Doctrine and called for America to protect the world against communism

– 300 percent increase in military appropriations

Korean War• Korea was divided after World War II; Japanese

surrendered North Korea to Soviets, South Korea to U.S. – 38th parallel– North Korea, Kim Il Sung– South Korea, Syngman Rhee– 1950, Acheson speech – National Press Club

• 25 June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea• Issue was referred to Security Council of United

Nations; voted unanimously (Soviet Union was absent) to condemn attack and demanded cease-fire

• UN Police Action; primarily American troops

Korean War• September 1950, North Koreans controlled all of

peninsula except Pusan• Douglas MacArthur led counterattack, two invasions in

September 1950; advanced to Chinese border by November 1950– Liberation, not containment

– Chinese officials warned Americans to stop the advance

• November, 1950 – Chinese invaded North Korea– MacArthur wanted to drop atomic bomb on China,

Truman disagreed

– After publicly criticizing Truman, MacArthur was fired in April 1951

Korean War

Korean War• Negotiations began in July 1951• Cease-fire declared on July 26, 1953

– War ended as it began with the 38th parallel dividing North and South Korea

– 34,000 Americans died and 103,000 were wounded

– Victory for containment, but left many Americans frustrated

Korean War

Adjusting to Peace• At the end of World War II, Truman was

worried about the return of the Depression– Wanted to continue OPA price controls, increase

the minimum wage to 65 cents an hour, nationalize housing industry, and pass stronger fair employment practices legislation

• Employment Act of 1946– Created Council of Economic Advisors

• Republicans and conservative Democrats did not want a return to “New Dealism”; destroyed the OPA – resulted in immediate inflation

Adjusting to Peace• America did not tumble into another depression

because the economy was sound

• Wartime employment and wartime savings left people with a lot of money and desire for consumer goods

• Consumer supplies rose to meet demand and prices leveled off

Demands of Labor• End of OPA led to demands for higher wages

by labor unions

• Virtually no production time was lost to strikes during the war; “no strike” pledges

• During 1946, more than 4.5 million workers went on strike

• Truman was angry; threatened to draft workers– Compared labor unions to Japanese at Pearl

Harbor

Demands of Labor• Labor was angry; John L. Lewis led United

Mine Workers on strike as winter approached– Truman threatened to seize the mines; then

appealed directly to workers• Republicans won control of Congress in 1946

midterm elections; Robert Taft• Taft-Hartley Act of 1947

– Outlawed the closed shop– Gave president power to delay strikes– Limited political and economic power of unions

Demands of Labor• Labor was angry; John L. Lewis led United

Mine Workers on strike as winter approached– Truman threatened to seize the mines; then

appealed directly to workers• Republicans won control of Congress in 1946

midterm elections; Robert Taft• Taft-Hartley Act of 1947

– Outlawed the closed shop– Gave president power to delay strikes– Limited political and economic power of unions

Election of 1948

Fair Deal• In 1949, Truman introduced a legislative packet that

included an expansion of Social Security, federal aid to education, higher minimum wage, federal funding for public housing projects, national medical insurance, civil rights legislation, and other social and economic justice measures

• Believed that government-controlled economic expansion blunted extremism from the right and left and ensured economic prosperity

• Congress only extended Social Security and raised minimum wage to 75 cents an hour

• Truman was unable to work with Congress on domestic issues; by 1949, foreign policy dominated president’s attention and federal budget

Cold War at Home• Rhetoric encouraged Americans to view Cold

War in simplistic terms– “defender of free people” vs. “atheistic enslaver

of millions”

• Igor Gouzenko, 1945

• Dr. Alan Munn and Dr. Klaus Fuchs

• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

• Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, and Donald Maclean

Cold War at Home• Rise of Richard Nixon; Republicans accused

Democrats and Truman of being “soft” on communists– “Fall” of China– Atomic bomb in Soviet Union– Alger Hiss

• Executive Order 9835• “Freedom Train”• Execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg in

1953

McCarthyism

Paranoid Style• “paranoid style”

• House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) 1938-1975

• “Hollywood Ten”, 1947

• Hollywood, 1951– Walt Disney

– Anti-communist films

• Kefauver Crime Committee, 1950-1951

What’s Wrong with our Kids?• The Wild One (1954)

• Blackboard Jungle (1955)• Rebel Without a Cause (1955)• J. Edgar Hoover, FBI• Frederic Wertham, Seduction of

Innocents (1954)• City College of New York

basketball team, 1951• West Point football team, 1951• American soldiers in Korea

Thaw in the Cold War• Stalin died on March 5, 1953

– Soviet leaders shifted to position of co-existence with United States

• Korean War ended in summer 1953• Fall of McCarthy in 1954• By 1954, both United States and Soviet Union had become

more comfortable in their positions as world powers; both had carved out spheres of influence– Soviet Union and “ally” China: Eastern Europe and

Asian mainland– U.S. and allies: Western Europe, Americas, most of

Pacific, Africa, Middle East, and SE Asia• Truman Doctrine and Containment policy governed foreign

policy; raised economic and political questions