American Stories A History of the United States

American Stories: A History of the United States Second Edition Chapter 28 The Onset of the Cold War 1945– 1960 American Stories: A History of the United States , Second Edition Brands • Breen • Williams • Gross

Churchill, Truman, and Stalin during the Potsdam Conference in July 1945.

The Onset of the Cold War 1945– 1960 • • The Cold War Begins Containment The Cold War Expands The Cold War at Home

The Potsdam Summit • Truman, Churchill and Stalin meet in 1945: Reparations crucial issue • Potsdam marks end of wartime alliance • For next decade, Russia and U. S. vie to control postwar Europe

The Cold War Begins

The Cold War Begins • Control of postwar Europe • Economic aid • Nuclear disarmament

The Division of Europe • 1945: Russians occupied eastern Europe, American troops occupied western Europe • Soviet Union sought eastern European buffer

The Division of Europe (cont’d) • U. S. demanded national selfdetermination through free elections throughout Europe • Stalin converted eastern Europe into a system of satellite nations

Map 28. 1 Europe after World War II The heavy red line splitting Germany shows in graphic form the division of Europe between the Western and Soviet spheres of influence. “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, ” said Winston Churchill in a speech at Fulton, Missouri, in 1946, “an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. ”

The Atomic Dilemma • 1943: Nuclear race between U. S. and U. S. S. R. • 1946: Baruch Plan § Rapid reduction of U. S. military force § Gradual reduction favored U. S. atomic monopoly • Soviet Union § Larger conventional army than U. S. § Immediate abolition of atomic weapons

Containment

Containment • 1947: George C. Marshall appointed Secretary of State • Dean Acheson: England’s former role as arbiter of world affairs • George Kennan: Called for “containment of Russia’s expansive tendencies”

The Truman Doctrine • 1947: Truman sought funds to keep Greece, Turkey in western sphere of influence • Truman Doctrine: “Support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressure” • Doctrine an informal declaration of cold war against the Soviet Union

The Marshall Plan • 1947: George Marshall proposed aid for rebuilding European industries • Russia refused aid • 1948: Marshall Plan adopted by Congress • Plan fostered western European prosperity

The Western Military Alliance • 1949: North Atlantic Treaty Organization § Military alliance included U. S. , Canada, most of western Europe § U. S. troops stationed in Europe • NATO intensified Russia’s fear of the West

The Berlin Blockade • • June, 1948: Russians blockade of Berlin Truman ordered airlift to supply the city 1949: Russians end blockade U. S. political victory dramatized division

The Berlin airlift of 1948– 1949 broke the Soviet blockade. Called Operation Vittles, it provided food and fuel for West Berliners. Here, children atop a pile of rubble wave to an American cargo plane flying overhead.

The Cold War Expands

The Cold War Expands • 1947: U. S. -Russian arms race accelerated • Conflict expanded to Asia

The Military Dimension • 1947: National Security Act § Department of Defense unified armed forces § Central Intelligence Agency coordinated intelligence-gathering § National Security Council advised president

The Military Dimension (cont’d) • Defense budget devoted to air power • 1949: First Russian atomic bomb exploded, U. S. began hydrogen bomb development

The explosion of a U. S. test bomb over an uninhabited island in the Pacific on November 1, 1952, demonstrated to the world the fearsome power of the hydrogen bomb. This early H-bomb could destroy a city the size of Washington, D. C.

The Cold War in Asia • 1945: U. S. consolidates hold on Japan, former Japanese possessions in Pacific • 1949: Victory of Mao Tse-tung brings China into Soviet orbit • Truman refused recognition of Communist China, began building up Japan

The Korean War • June 25, 1950: Communist North Korean forces invaded U. S. -influenced South Korea • Truman made South Korea’s defense a U. N. effort, sent in U. S. troops § U. S. routed Korean forces in South § Attempt to unify Korea drew in China § U. S. pushed back to South, war a stalemate • Result: Massive American rearmament

Map 28. 2 The Korean War, 1950– 1953 After a year of rapid movement up and down the Korean peninsula, the fighting stalled just north of the 38 th parallel.

The Cold War at Home

The Cold War at Home • New Deal economic policies undermined • Fears of Communist subversion • Republicans used anticommunism to revive their party

Truman’s Troubles • Obstacles to Truman’s Fair Deal reforms § Apathetic public § Inflation § Labor unrest • 1946: Republicans won Congress

Truman Vindicated • Taft-Hartley Act outlawed certain union tactics § Truman vetoed, Republicans overrode his veto

Truman Vindicated (cont’d) • 1948 election: Truman thought unelectable § Northern liberals supported Henry Wallace’s Progressive candidacy § Southern Democrats supported “Dixiecrat” Strom Thurmond

Truman Vindicated (cont’d) • 1948 election: Truman thought unelectable (cont’d) § Republican Thomas Dewey overconfident and ran bland campaign, failed to challenge Truman on Cold War because of the Berlin Crisis § Roosevelt coalition reelected Truman on domestic issues

Map 28. 3

The Loyalty Issue • House Un-American Activities Committee investigated Communist subversion in government • Truman responded with loyalty program • Alger Hiss case • Democrats blamed for § “Losing” China to Communism § Russia’s development of a hydrogen bomb

Mc. Carthyism in Action • 1950: Senator Joseph Mc. Carthy launched anticommunist campaign • Innocent overwhelmed by accusations • Attacks on privileged bureaucrats § Supported by Midwest Republicans § Attracted Irish, Italian, Polish workers to Republicans

Senator Joseph Mc. Carthy maintained a stream of unsubstantiated charges, always ready to make new accusations of communist infiltration before the preceding ones could be proven untrue.

The Republicans in Power • 1952: Eisenhower captures White House for Republican Party • July 27, 1953: stalemate accepted in Korea • Eisenhower dealt passively with Mc. Carthy • 1954: Attack on Army discredited Mc. Carthy who is then censured

Eisenhower’s landslide victories in 1952 and 1956 seemed to prove his slogan that Americans did, indeed, “like Ike, ” as expressed on this campaign pennant.

Eisenhower’s landslide victories in 1952 and 1956 seemed to prove his slogan that Americans did, indeed, “like Ike, ” as expressed on this campaign pennant.

TABLE 28. 1 The Election of 1952

Conclusion: The Continuing Cold War

Conclusion: The Continuing Cold War • January, 1961: Eisenhower warned against growing military-industrial complex • Post-war era marked by Cold War rather than peace and tranquility

Timeline