Chapter 28THE ONSET OF THE COLD WAR

America Past and Present

The Cold War Begins:Issues Dividing US & USSR

• Control of Postwar Europe– Fundamental disagreement

• Economic Aid– Soviet economy devastated

• Nuclear Disarmament– Overshadowed all else

p.810

The Division of Europe• 1945 ~ Russians occupied eastern Europe,

American troops occupied western Europe ~ Germany was the key

• Soviet Union sought eastern European buffer • US demanded national self-determination

through free elections throughout Europe• Stalin converted eastern Europe into a system

of satellite nations– Lowered the “Iron Curtain” from the Baltic to the

Adriatic ~ Churchill’s term– One by one, communist regimes replaced coalition

govts in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgariap.810-811

Europe after World War II

p.811

Germany 1945

NIB

Withholding Economic Aid• Soviets devastated by World War II

– 15 to 20M lives lost– 30k factories destroyed– 40k mi of railroad track destroyed

• Wartime ambassador, Averell Harriman, “Economic aid is one of our most effective weapons”

• 1945 ~ United States halted Lend-Lease shipments to the Soviets

• Soviets moved factories from captured territories

p.811-812

The Atomic Dilemma• 1943 ~ Nuclear race between US & USSR• 1946 ~ Bernard Baruch Plan

– Rapid reduction of US military force– Baruch Plan presented to the UN

favored US atomic monopoly– Would have preserved the status quo

• Soviet Union– Larger conventional army than US– Ambassador Andrei Gromyko

presented plan to abolish atomic weapons• Favored the Soviets

• No agreements = Cold Warp.812-813

Containment• 1947 ~ George C. Marshall

appointed Secretary of State– Appointed talented subordinates

• Undersecretary Dean Acheson– Experienced Wash lawyer– Wanted to see US take over as

supreme arbiter of world affairs• George Kennan headed newly

created Policy Planning Staff– Soviet expert– Fluent in Russian

• They set the course for containmentp.813

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

p.813-814

The Marshall Plan• If US could not solve Western

Europe’s economic problems, it was feared that it would drift into the communist orbit

• 1947 ~ George Marshall proposed aid for rebuilding European industries

– A massive infusion of American capital to finance the economic recovery of Europe (Soviets included)

• USSR refused aid ~ Didn’t want to lose control of Eastern Europe

• 1948 ~ Marshall Plan adopted by Congress• Plan fostered western European prosperity

p.814-815

Marshall Plan to Aid Europe, 1948–1952

p.815Massive infusion of US capital

Marshall Plan to Aid Europe, 1948–1952

p.815Massive infusion of US capital

Marshall Plan to Aid Europe, 1948–1952

p.815Massive infusion of US capital

The Western Military Alliance

• 1949 ~ North Atlantic Treaty Organization– Military alliance included US, Canada,

most of western Europe– US troops stationed in Europe– Represented a departure from traditional

American isolationism

• NATO intensified USSR's fear of the West

p.815-816

The Berlin Blockade• June 1948 ~ The main Soviet

response to the US containment strategy was the blockade of Berlin– Cut off all rail & highway traffic

• Truman ordered airlift to supply the city– 10k troops & 2M civilians in Berlin– Soviets could have shot down cargo

planes– Sent 60 atomic capable B-29s in England

• 1949 ~ Russians end blockade• Tremendous US political victory

p.816-817

The Cold War Expands• 1947 ~ US vs. Soviet arms

race accelerated• The Superpowers sought

to expand their influence in the Far East

p.817

The Military Dimension• 1947 ~ National Security Act

– Department of Defense established

• Army – Navy – Air Force (new)– Central Intelligence Agency

coordinated intelligence-gathering– National Security Council advised

president

• Defense budget devoted to air power• 1949 ~ First Russian atomic bomb

exploded, US began hydrogen bomb development (1000x) p.817-818

The Cold War in Asia

• 1945 ~ US consolidates hold on Japan, & former Japanese possessions in Pacific

• 1949 ~ Victory of Mao Tse-tung’s Communists over Chaing Kai-shek’s Nationals brings China into Soviet orbit

• Truman refused recognition of Communist China & began building up Japan p.818-819

The Korean War

• June 1950 ~ Communist North Korean forces, following Kim il-Sung (backed by China backed by the Soviets), invaded US-influenced South Korea

• Truman made South Korea’s defense a UN effort & sent in US troops

– US routed Korean forces in South– Attempt to unify Korea drew in China– With help from China, US pushed back to

South & war became a stalemate• Most significant result ~ Massive American

rearmament– US Army expanded to 3.5M p.819-821

Kim Jong-il

The Korean War, 1950–1953

p.820

•Most significant result ~ Massive American rearmament

The Cold War at Home

• Truman tried to carry on the New Deal reform tradition he had inherited from FDR, but American people more concerned about events abroad

• Fears of Communist subversion• Republicans used anticommunism to

revive their party

p.824

Truman's Troubles• Prices rose quickly following WWII when

Congress ended wartime controls – Workers lost pay due to loss of overtime

• Labor unrest swept the country culminating in critical strikes– Truman asked Congress for power to draft

striking railway workers into the Army• Businesses raised wages, but passed the

cost on to consumers • 1946 ~ Republicans won majority in both

houses of Congress– “To err is Truman” & “Had enough?”

p.824

Truman Vindicated• 1948 election ~ Truman thought

unelectable– Northern liberals supported Henry

Wallace’s Progressive candidacy– Southern Democrats supported “Dixiecrat”

Strom Thurmond (anti-civil rights, racist)– Republican Thomas Dewey was

overconfident & ran bland campaign, failed to challenge Truman on Cold War because of the Berlin Crisis

– Roosevelt coalition reelected Truman on domestic issues

p.824-825

p.825

100

The Loyalty Issue• Growing paranoia over communist spies

– Canadians uncovered Soviet spy ring in 1946– US House Un-American Activities Committee held

hearings regarding agents in the Depts of Agriculture & Treasury

• Truman was compelled to take action & initiated a loyalty program

– Required security checks; 1000s of govt workers lost their jobs on suspicion

• Most famous disclosure in US govt came when Whittaker Chambers (a repentant communist) accused Alger Hiss, a former State Dept official, of having been a Soviet spy during the 1930s

p.825-826

The Loyalty Issue• Chambers led investigators to a hollowed-

out pumpkin on his Maryland farm in which were found microfilms of govt documents

– Chambers claimed Hiss had passed them to him in the late 1930s

• Statute of limitations had passed, so Hiss escaped treason charges, but was convicted of perjury in 1950 & sentenced to a 5 yr prison sentence

p.825-826

’53-’56

Klaus Fuchs Julius & Ethel Rosenberg

• Soviets tested their first atomic bomb in Sep 1949

– Soviet espionage was very real• In early 1950, Klaus Fuchs (fled

Germany in the ’30s), a British scientist who had worked on the Manhattan Project admitted passing A-bomb information to the Soviets

– Sentenced to 14 yrs• 1951 ~ Jury found Julius & Ethel

Rosenberg guilty of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets

– Electrocuted in 1953p.827

McCarthyism in Action• 1950s ~ Senator Joseph McCarthy

launched a 4½ yr anticommunist campaign ~ the Red Scare

– Accused 100s of govt officials of being communists

– Kept up a continuous onslaught, truth was lost among the latest blasts

– He failed to unearth a single confirmed communist in govt

• He exploited the press/media w/ great skill• His accusations contributed heavily to the

Republican victory in 1952

p.826-828

The Republicans in Power• 1952 ~ Eisenhower captures White House for

Republican Party • July 1953 ~ Stalemate accepted in Korea• Eisenhower dealt passively with McCarthy

– Refused to directly attack him– “I refuse to get into a p***ing contest with a

skunk” • 1954 ~ Attack on Army discredited

McCarthy who is then censured– Career ruined– “Have you no decency, sir?”

p.828-830

The Election of 1952

p.829

Had promised to bring the Korean War to an early & honorable end

Eisenhower Wages the Cold War

• Eisenhower prefers to work behind-the scenes • Eisenhower wanted to relax tensions with

Soviets– Concerned about defense budget (went

>$50B under Truman)– Cut back Army & Navy & relied on Air Force

nuclear striking power, brought budget <$40B

• Eisenhower’s “new look” policy relied on massive retaliation to deter Soviet attacks

p.830-831

Entanglement in Indochina• Since 1950, US had been providing military

& economic aid to the French in their war w/ communist guerrillas led by Ho Chi Minh

– French were surrounded at Dien Bien Phu– Ike did not provide assistance, French defeated

• Viet Nam divided between North & South at an international convention in Geneva

– Ho would control the North & the French the South• US gradually took over from the French &

established a puppet govt– Concerned about spread of

communism, but didn’t want to fight them in the jungle

p.831-832

Containing China

• Believing the communist govt in Peking posed a serious threat, Ike took a strong stance against against China– The object was to drive a wedge between

China & the USSR• Chinese threaten to invade Formosa, an

island group off their coast where Chaing Kai-shek’s Nationalists had settled– US spted these “Nationalists,” & China

backed down when Soviets would not help

p.832

Turmoil in the Middle East• 1956 ~ Egyptian leader Gamal Nasser

seized the Suez Canal– Problem: Owned by English & French citizens

• France & England invaded Egypt– Ike was opposed, wanted a diplomatic soln– Soviets announced they would spt Egypt

• Ike’s most serious foreign policy crisis– Gained Middle East trust by pressuring English &

French withdrawal• 1958 ~ Lebanon asked for US help to maintain

order ~ Another “Cold War” arena– Political problems between Christians & Muslims– Peace maintained p.832-833

Covert Actions• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

used to achieve covert objectives • Iran ~ CIA restored the Shah to power

– American oil companies rewarded w/ lucrative concessions

– A country on Soviet border• Guatemala ~ CIA ousts leftist govt• Eastern Europe ~ Refused to help 1953 East

German protesters or 1956 Hungarian freedom fighters

• Ike used a mixture of techniques (diplomacy, threats, covert). He seemed to believe that the ends justify the means

p.833

Waging Peace• Nuclear test ban treaty

– US & USSR agreed to suspend nuclear testing in the atmosphere

– Ike wanted “Open skies” ~ Nikita Khrushchev (followed Stalin) did not agree

• October 1957 ~ Russians launched Sputnik• May 1960, U-2 Crisis ~ Soviets shot down

spy plane ~ Peace talks cancelled

p.833-835

“We will bury you”

The Continuing Cold War

• Jan 1961 ~ Eisenhower warned against growing military-industrial complex

• Post-war era marked by Cold War rather than peace & tranquility

p.835

Chapter 28THE ONSET OF THE COLD WAR

America Past and Present

End