The Cold War Heats Up

Atomic age After US dropped the atomic bombs in Japan the Soviet Union wanted to acquire similar weapons

Marshall Plan Peacemakers did not want to repeat the mistakes of post WWI era 21 million people were homeless after WWII 20% of Poland's population died 25% of houses in France and Belgium were destroyed or damaged Industries and transportation were in ruins Agriculture suffered from the loss of livestock Ex France's damage equaled three times the nation’s income

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan- called for nations of Europe to draw up a program for economic recovery from the war United States would support the program with financial aid America was concerned because communist parties were growing Feared that the Soviet Union would intervene U.S. believed that it would promote democracy and open new markets Soviets were invited to participate in the Marshall Plan Refused the help and pressured satellite nations to do the same

Congress approves In 1948 Congress approves the Marshall Plan Became known as the European Recovery Program Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and West Germany In 4 years the U.S. gave $13 billion in grants and loans Economies restored U.S. gained strong trading partners

Shipments financed by the Marshall Plan, 1948-1951 Total Value (in millions of dollars) Food, feed, fertilizer 3,209.5 Fuel 1,552.4 Cotton 1,397.8 Other raw materials 2,327.6 Machinery and vehicles 1,428.1 Other 88.9 Total 10,004.3

The Berlin Airlift By 1949 Germany was completely divided The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) German Democratic Republic (East Germany) Berlin (Germany’s Capital) was located in East Germany and was also divided Many citizens in communist areas would go to East Berlin and then make their way to West Berlin. From there they would go to U.S., Canada or Western Europe Stalin did not like this and saw it as a threat

Stalin blocked all shipments to West Berlin from the allies Threatened shortages of food and supplies needed for the 2.5 million citizens Truman did not want to start a war because of this so he moved supplies into West Berlin by plane For 15 months more than 200,000 flights were made to deliver food, fuel, and other supplies At the height 13,000 tons of goods arrived daily Soviets gave up the blockade in May 1949 and the airlift ended

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization The UN was used to deal with most postwar problems But the Soviets were often using their veto power Western Europe felt they needed to look beyond the UN “association of democratic peace-loving states” U.S., Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal Agreed that an armed attack against one of them would be considered an attack against all of them. Soviets responded by creating the Warsaw Pact- military alliance with satellite nations of Eastern Europe

Communist advances Soviets tested an atomic bomb 1949 1950 Truman approved development of Hydrogen bomb- and was tested in 1952 Federal Civil Defense Administration- made plans to protect against nuclear attack

The Cold War at Home Many Americans joined the communist party during the depression After war most left the party Growth of communism in the world led to fear of an overthrow of the government Anyone who was communist or had communist ties were persecuted Federal loyalty program 1947- all federal government employees were to be investigated and brought before a Loyalty Review Board The program examined several million employees but only a few hundred were removed from their positions Regardless it added suspicion to the country

HUAC House Un-American Activities Committee Established in 1938 to investigate disloyalty Believed that movies had the power to influence the public Charged Hollywood figures had communist leanings in their filmmaking They were put on trial in Sept and Oct 1947 “are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” Hollywood Ten- refused to answer whether or not they were communist. Cited for contempt of Congress and served jail time Blacklists were created to not hire the Hollywood Ten and others who were subversive or opposed the idea of the blacklist

The McCarran-Walter Act Senator Pat McCarran felt that all disloyal Americans were from Communist nations The law set a quota system for each country that was established in 1924 Discriminated against immigrants from Asia and Southern and Central Europe This bill was vetoed by Truman because he said it was one of the most “un-American” acts

Spy Cases Alger Hiss was charged for being a communist in the 1930’s and a Soviet spy. Went to jail for 4 years Julius and Ethel Rosenberg- members of the communist party were accused of passing atomic secrets to the soviets during WWII. Convicted of espionage and executed in 1953 Both convictions have been debated for years and caused a people to fear that there were spies in the U.S.

McCarthy Era Senator Joseph McCarthy stated that he had a list of 205 people who were known communists and working for the government. Sparked an anti-communist hysteria and national search for subversives- Second Red Scare Anyone who opposed him was considered to be a communist McCarthy even accused people in the Army as being communist This led to the Army to charge McCarthy with seeking special treatment for his aide. The Army-McCarthy hearing began in 1954 The hearing was televised McCarthy lost most of his followers by the end because he was seen as a bully

Arms Race The United States and Soviet Union were in a constant struggle for world leadership Each nation wanted to have weapon superiority Deterrence- policy of making the military power of the United States and its allies so strong that no enemy would dare attack for the fear of retaliation Between 1954 and 1958- the U.S. conducted 19 Hydrogen bomb tests in the Pacific Ex one explosion was 750 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. A Japanese fisherman 90 miles away suffered radiation burns

Brinkmanship

Cold War in the Skies In order to attack the Soviet Union the United States had to use planes to transport the bombs The Soviets focused on ICBM’s- Intercontinental ballistic missiles- long range rockets In 1957 the Soviets used their rockets to launch Sputnik Scared American’s because the rocket could also carry hydrogen bombs U-2 incident Soviet used missiles to shoot down an American U2 spy plane over Soviet territory Americans thought they could not be hit because they were 15 miles high. This hurt American confidence