1. Americans and the Cold War, 1945-1962
Our Cold War State
Significance of the Cold War
Evolving Attitudes toward the Soviet Union,
Evolution of the Policy of Containment,
George Kennan and the “Long Telegram,” 1946
Truman Doctrine, 1947
Marshall Plan,
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1949-
Communist Successes (Atomic Bomb, China)
NSC-68 (National Security Council Paper #68)
War in Korea,
How Much War is Enough? Too Much? Too Little?
• The Complicated Costs of Winning the Cold War

2. Boeing B-52 with Mount Adams in background
Boeing B-52 with Mount Adams in background. The Boeing Company expanded greatly in support of U.S. mobilization during World War Two. Then it expanded again in large part due to Cold War demand for military aircraft and space vehicles, becoming one of the state’s largest employers. The company used gains from defense contracts to develop jets for civilian markets as well.

3. Impact of The Boeing Company in Washington
Peak Employment during WW2: c. 50,000
Contraction, : c. 9,000 employed
1947: Boeing Employed 20% of King Co. Manufacturing Labor
1957: Boeing Employed 50% of King Co. Manufacturing Labor
Cold War Boom Years: ,000
,000
,000
,000
,000
,000

4. Boeing Bust Billboard, c. 1971
Boeing Bust Billboard, c The collapse of employment at Boeing between 1967 and 1971—from 101,000 to 38,000—led many to
conclude that the state depended too heavily on a single employer.

5. The Century 21 Exposition
Seattle 1962
The Seattle World’s Fair of 1962
in many ways was shaped by U.S.
agendas during the Cold War.
Congress allocated $10 million to
the fairgrounds because it wanted
to convey a particular message
about space and science to the
American people and to the rest
of the world. The Space Needle
was a monument to the nation’s
commitment to win the “Space
Race” as another means of demonstrating American superiority over the Soviet Union.

6. United States Science Exhibit (later, the Pacific Science Center)

7. The sexist logo of the 1962 world’s fair (“Man in Space”) reiterated the nation’s Cold-War commitment to the Space Race and its goal of putting a man on the moon before the Communist Russians did.

8. The Tri-Cities Area and the location of the Hanford Engineering Works—site of plutonium production for nuclear weapons, , and of massive clean-up efforts since The site got its start during World War Two, but expanded enormously during American mobilization for the Cold War. Eventually, 60% of all U.S. plutonium for nuclear weapons was produced at Hanford, the great majority of it during the Cold War peak of production between 1947 and 1971.

9. Face of Hanford’s B Reactor during World War Two
Hanford’s B Reactor was the world’s first full-scale production reactor. It was built in , and manufactured plutonium from 1944 to It is now a National Historic Landmark and an important feature of the new Manhattan District National Historic Park at Hanford (the park has units at Los Alamos, NM and Oak Ridge, TN).

10. D Reactor and the Columbia River, c. 1950
Hanford grew prodigiously during the Cold War. The U.S. Army built three reactors there during World War Two; by 1955 five additional, and much larger reactors, had been added. A ninth reactor was added during the early 1960s.

11. From the start, the Columbia
River was part of the plutonium
factory. This reminds us that
production of fuels for nuclear
weapons during the Cold War left
behind extensive pollution. The
Hanford Site is often referred to
as the most polluted spot in the
western hemisphere. Chemical
and radioactive wastes went into
the river, the air, the ground, and
the water table. Many agree that
the Hanford Site helped to win
the Cold War, yet many also point
to the extensive pollution and its
effects on people’s health as the
very high costs of plutonium
production during the Cold War.

12. Barrels of waste being buried on Hanford Site during mid-1980s

13. Tri-City Population Increases since 1940
Pasco ,200 14,500 13,920 17,900
Kennewick ,100 14,200 15,212 34,397
Richland ,809 23,548 26,290 33,578
The Tri-Cities area consists of three major towns—Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland. These towns have distinctive histories and demographics and politics, but they have shared a common, Cold-War economic base. In the early 1960s the Hanford plant accounted for roughly 80% of all jobs in the metropolitan area.
After an economic downturn during the mid-1980s, the Tri-City economy boomed again due to increased federal spending on clean-up. The three major towns of the Tri-Cities had a combined population of roughly 86,000 in By 2010 their combined population reached 193,600, and the population of the Tri-Cities metropolitan area surpassed 250,000—fourth largest in Washington state.

14. The Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies (JSIS) grew out of many UW initiatives over the 20th century to engage the nations and cultures of the world. During the first decades of the Cold War, the precursor of JSIS was called the Far Eastern and Russian Institute. It received funding and developed expertise in large part because U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War demanded sophisticated knowledge of Asia, Russia, and Eastern Europe. The UW became (and in many regards remains) a national leader in studying those parts of the world. Cold-War funding made such prominence possible.
This bust is of Henry M. Jackson, a longtime Senator from the state of Washington who was well known for his very firm Cold-War positions and his strong support of defense spending—especially if it supported Hanford, Boeing, Fort Lewis, Bremerton Naval Shipyard, Bangor Sub Base, McChord and Fairchild AFB’s, and so on. The bust is located outside of Thomson Hall, the home of the Jackson School.

15. The diversity of the modern state of Washington has resulted in part from an influx of immigrants, refugees, and war brides that was generated by America’s Cold War alliances and conflicts. Above is a map of Korean-language speakers in the state; at right is the logo of a Vietnamese community group.

16. U.S. in the World, 1939 vs. 1969
1939
U.S. Army had 185,000 men with an annual budget of $500 million
U.S. had no military alliances
U.S. had no troops stationed in foreign countries
U.S. had no nuclear weapons
American people and politicians were generally isolationist
1969
U.S. had a standing Army of more than 1 million men, with a Navy and an Air Force almost as large
Defense Department Budget was $100 billion (not including AEC, NASA, and other military-related spending)
U.S. had military alliances with 48 nations
U.S. had 1.5 million soldiers, sailors, and airmen stationed in 119 countries
U.S. was the only nation to have used atomic bombs in conflict, and its nuclear weapons had the power to destroy the world many times over
Since 1945, U.S. had fought ways in Korea and Vietnam, intervened militarily in Lebanon & Dominican Rep., intervened clandestinely in Iran and Cuba, and distributed arms to “allies” all over the world
U.S. committed to worldwide policy of containing Communism

17. The U. S. landed astronauts on the moon in 1969
The U.S. landed astronauts on the moon in This was one endpoint in the “space race” between the Soviet Union and the United States. Each side in this competition hoped that its accomplishments in space would prove the superiority of its economic, political, and social systems.

18. Senator Joseph McCarthy, (R – Wisc)
McCarthy became the face of the Second Red Scare in the U.S., which peaked in the years Supporters of McCarthyism claimed to be identifying internal threats to the U.S. and its Cold-War campaign against global communism. They “exposed” as dangers to the U.S. diplomats, academics, actors and writers, teachers, and other public figures who had been associated with communism or radicalism, or who refused to testify about the politics of acquaintances. However, the Second Red Scare quickly became politicized, i.e. a tool used against partisan enemies. Many of the tactics used by McCarthyites were dishonest or unreliable, and many were needlessly harmed.

19. The Washington State Legislature Joint Fact-Finding Committee (also known as the Canwell Committee after its chair, Albert Canwell, in center), was formed in 1947 after the Republican Party retook power in Olympia after the 1946 election. The committee toured the state trying to expose the leftist ideas and politics of union leaders, academics, artists, writers, teachers, and others. The committee destroyed some lives by getting people fired or through false accusations. The state had been relatively receptive to communism and socialism during the 1930s, so the Canwell Committee had plenty of targets.

20. In Seattle the Canwell Committee held hearings at the National Guard Armory (today’s Seattle Center House). The committee was met with protests by citizens who argued that the committee had gone too far. The Seattle Times also resisted the committee through investigative reporting that exposed dishonest testimony against UW philosophy professor Melvin Rader.

21. The 1945 summit at Yalta brought together British Prime Minister Churchill, American President Roosevelt, and Soviet Union Premier Stalin. The allies met to establish the terms on which they hoped to end World War II.

22. Loss of Life during World War II
70 million soldiers around the world fought in the war
25 million military deaths, 24 million civilian deaths
Civilians were targeted by both sides in bombings; the “civilian deaths” also include the 6 million Jews exterminated by Nazi policies and programs and the hundreds of thousands of homosexuals, intellectuals, communists, gypsies, and disabled peoples killed in the Holocaust.
U.S.S.R.: 13 million military deaths, 7 million civilian deaths
The Soviet Union justified its post-war actions in large part on the basis of the disproportionate number of casualties during World War II. Roughly 40% of all deceased were from the USSR.
United Kingdom: 400,000 deaths
United States: 292,000 military deaths, 114,000 other deaths

23. At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union asserted dominance in eastern Europe. Meanwhile, the United States toiled to rebuild western Europe and keep it aligned with the U.S.

24. George Kennan’s “Long Telegram” of —less than a year after the end of hostilities in Europe—spelled out the logic of “containment” policy. The USSR would be hemmed in “by the adroit and vigilant application of counter-force at a series of constantly shifting geographical and political points” around the world. Those points became…Greece, Korea, Berlin, Cuba, Vietnam, Chile, and so on—America’s Cold-War itinerary.

25. President Harry S Truman announcing the “Truman Doctrine,” 1947

27. Soviet Expansion and U.S. Containment

29. War in Korea,

30. Using an executive order, President Truman had de-segregated the U. S
Using an executive order, President Truman had de-segregated the U.S. military beginning in meaning Blacks and whites now served together. The Korean War was the first in which American units were integrated. (Photo,1950)

31. The Century 21 Exposition,
Seattle 1962
This was a world’s fair hosted by the city of Seattle. After the Soviet Union launched its satellite Sputnik I in 1957, the United States government decided to make the Seattle fair a showcase of American achievement in science, space, and technology. These themes of the fair contributed to the kind of iconic structures left behind after the fair ended—the Space Needle and the Pacific Science Center.

32. United States Science Exhibit (later, Pacific Science Center)

33. Official Logo for Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair
Official Logo for Seattle’s 1962 World’s Fair. The Motto: “Man in Space”

34. Friendship 7 – John Glenn’s Mercury Space Capsule, the
first American vessel to orbit the earth – went on display
at Century 21 in August of 1962.