1. Cold War America

2. Hiss-Chambers Affair

3. Containing the Russian Bear
Cold War

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. A World Divided

9. 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

10. 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.”

11. 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

12. 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)

13. Marshall Plan

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. Berlin

19. Berlin

20. Election of 1948

21. 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

22. 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

23. Fall of China

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. Korean War November, 1950 – Chinese invaded North Korea
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

28. Korean War

29. 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

30. Korean War

31. 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

32. 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

33. 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

34. 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

35. 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

36. Election of 1948

37. 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

38. 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

39. 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

40. McCarthyism

41. Paranoid Style “paranoid style”
House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
“Hollywood Ten”, 1947
Hollywood, 1951
Walt Disney
Anti-communist films
Kefauver Crime Committee,

42. 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

43. 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