1

Background

• After WWII, U.S. and USSR emerge as rival superpowers

• Truman didn’t trust Stalin• Stalin finds out U.S. tried to keep atomic bomb

development secret

• United Nations established in June, 19452

Potsdam ConferenceJuly 1945

• Final conference• Big Three

– England = Attlee– USA = Truman– USSR = Stalin

• Stalin promised to allow free elections in Eastern Europe at Yalta Conference

3

Satellite Nations…• Countries dominated by the

Soviet Union

• Stalin never allowed truly free elections in Poland

• Instead, communist governments installed in Eastern European nations.

WHY?– Protect USSR from invasion

from the West

4

Containment Policy• George Kennan, career

Foreign Service Officer

• Formulated the policy of “containment”:–US would “contain”

communism where it already existed, not allow it to spread.

5

The Iron Curtain• Winston Churchill

coined this term.• Famous speech on

March 5, 1946 at Westminster College, in Fulton, Missouri.

• Stalin declared Churchill’s words as a “call to war”

• Announces beginning of Cold War http://www.c-span.org/video/?191439-6/iron-curtain-speech

7

What is the Cold War?• Conflict between U.S.

and Soviet Union in which neither nation directly confronts each other on the battlefield.

• Dominates global affairs and U.S. foreign policy for next 60 years.

8

Truman Doctrine – March 12, 1947• Greece & Turkey struggling economically• Support by Britain until they ran out of money• U.S. takes over as support

• Truman ask Congress for $400 million in economic and military aid for countries to reduce communist influence• “policy of the U.S. to support free peoples who

are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure”

• June, 1947• MARSHALL PLAN-provide aid to all European countries that

need it9

Division of Germany

• The Allies decided to divide Germany into 4 zones after the war.

• Also, the capital of Berlin was divided into 4 sectors.

10

11

Problem with Berlin?

• Berlin was in the Soviet Sector.

• Stalin didn’t want a “small piece” of democracy in Eastern Europe.– What did he do?

12

Berlin Blockade

• June 1948, Stalin attempts to starve West Berliners into submission.

• All rail and street access was blocked.

13

Berlin Airlift

• Allied planes flew food and supplies into Berlin for 327 days.

• Operation Little Vittles – dropped candy to children

• Stalin lifted the Blockade by May 1949.

14

15

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

• NATO was established by a treaty in 1949• This organization established a system of collective defense

where its members pledged military support in case any member was attacked.

• Original members were:– United States, the United Kingdom, Canada,

France, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

– Greece (1952), West Germany (1955)

16

The Warsaw Pact• Communist Response to NATO.

– Signed on May 1, 1955 in Warsaw, Poland

• Military treaty, which bound its signatories to come to the aid of the others, should any one of them be the victim of foreign aggression.

• Original Members:– Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Poland,

Rumania, the USSR, and the Czechoslovak Republic.

17

18

19Cold War in Asia

Struggle for China• Mao Zedong • communist state• Peasant support– Read, improve

work

• Chiang Kai Shek• Nationalist

government• fought to stop the

communists• backed by U.S.• corrupt 20

CIVIL WARU.S. tried to mediateMay, 1949 – Chiang flee to Taiwan (Formosa)

•U.S. refuses to recognize new government under Mao – People’s Republic of China

Korean War • June 25, 1950– North Korea crosses the 38th Parallel• Korean War begins

• June 27– Truman ordered troops stationed in Japan to support

South Korea– United Nations - 16 nations sent 520,000 troops / aid• 90% - American troops

– General Douglas MacArthur = commander of all forces

21

U.S. Fights

• North Korea = Unstoppable at first– Driving deep into South Korea

• MacArthur launched a surprise counterattack– Surrounded troops– Pushed North Korean troops across line and deep into

North Korea

22

23

China Fights Back

• China’s foreign minister warned– “his country would not stand idly by and let the Americans

come to the border”

• November 1950– 300,000 Chinese troops joined the war

• Wanted North Korea as a communist buffer state

• Main opponents of war changed– China v. U.S.

24

Continued

• Chinese outnumbered UN forces– 10 to 1

• UN and South Korean troops pushed out of North Korea– Lost control of South Korean Capital • Seoul

25

26

MacArthur

• 1951– MacArthur wants to attack China• Nuclear weapons = Chinese cities

– Truman rejected idea• Soviet Union = mutual-assistance pact with China

– Did not want to start WWIII

“Wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy”

27

MacArthur Verses Truman

• MacArthur continued to urge full scale war against China– Tried to go over presidents head– Spoke / wrote privately to newspapers / magazines– Refused warnings to follow orders

• April 11, 1951– Truman fired MacArthur

28

Stalemate• June 23, 1951– Soviet Union suggested

cease-fire = truce

• Reached an agreement– Cease fire line = 38th

parallel– demilitarized zone

• Spent another year arguing over POW’s

• July 1953– Signed an armistice

• Ending the War

29

Continued

• Agreement = Stalemate– Communism had been contained

• No use of atomic weapons

– Korea = 2 nations• 54,000 American causalities• Cost = $67 Billion

• Increased fear of Communism in United States

30

31

Loyalty Review Board

• Set up by President Truman in March 1947.

• Purpose?– Investigate Federal

government employees and dismiss those disloyal to US

• 212 dismissed

32

House on Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

• 1947= House of Representatives

• Investigate Communist influence in the movie industry

33

‘Hollywood Ten’• 10 Hollywood

screenwriters and directors who refused to testify before HUAC.

• Charged with contempt of Congress.

• Claimed 1st Amendment right of free speech

34

Spy Cases Shock the US

• During the late 1940s and early 1950s, America was rocked by sensational stories of Americans spying for the Soviet Union.

35

Alger Hiss• Hiss worked for the US

State Department.• Accused of being a spy for

the USSR.• Found guilty of perjury.• Later (1990s) Hiss was

proven to be a spy for the USSR.

36

The Rosenbergs

• American Communists who were found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage in relation to passing information on the American nuclear bomb to the Soviet Union.

• The couple were executed at sundown in the electric chair at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, on June 19, 1953.

37

McCarthyism

• Senator Joe McCarthy became the most famous anti-Communist activist.

• Used the issue to help win re-election in 1950.

38

McCarthy’s Tactics

• Made one unsupported accusation after another.

• He would bully witnesses.

• McCarthyism - unfair tactic of accusing people of disloyalty without providing evidence

39

Change in Leaders

• The early 1950s saw a change in leaders in both the US and USSR.

• USA = Dwight Eisenhower wins the election of 1952

• USSR = Nikita Khruschev takes over when Stalin dies in 1953.

40

Hydrogen Bomb

• US exploded the 1st

• H-bomb on November 1, 1952 in South Pacific. – That bomb completely

destroyed one island and left a crater 175 feet deep.

• Russians exploded on in August of 1953.

41

42

Brinkmanship

• Defined as willingness to push nation to the “brink” of nuclear war to keep peace

• Policy advocated by John Foster Dulles; Secretary of State.

43

Central Intelligence Agency

• Used spies to gather information abroad

• Began to carry out covert operations to weaken or overthrow governments unfriendly to the United States.

44

Suez War -1956

• Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal and would not allow ships headed for Israel to pass through – all nations were supposed to have access.

• French, English, Israeli force attacked Egypt.

• After discussion, the canal opened.

45

Hungarian Uprising 1956

• The Hungarian people, tired of Soviet domination in their country, rose in revolt and called for a democratic government.

• The Soviet response was swift and brutal:

46

USSR Crushes Rebellion

• Soviet tanks rolled into Hungary and killed 30,000 Hungarians and executed the resistance leader – Imre Nagy.

• US and UN did nothing to help.

47

Space Race

• On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I.

• The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball.

• Orbited the earth in 98 minutes.

48

Race to control space was on!

U-2 Incident• U-2 high altitude reconnaissance plane.• CIA -- spy on USSR

– shot down on May 1, 1960– DENIED BY EISENHOWER

49

Francis Gary Powers

• Recruited by CIA to fly spy missions.

• Pilot shot down in U2 over USSR and convicted of espionage.

• Exchanged for a KGB colonel the US had captured.

50