Cold War Diplomacy

Clash of the Superpowers

1945-1991

Causes of the Cold War• Ideological: Despite the WW II alliance,

U.S. and Soviet ideologies presumed the eventual collapse of the other system

• American Illusions: FDR assumed that post-war U.S.-Soviet cooperation & international organizations (the United Nations) would preserve peace and security

• Soviet Motives: Stalin sought greater security through control of Eastern Europe, but also sought to justify repression at home by maintaining an external threat (capitalism instead of fascism)

• Breakdown of the Yalta Agreement: Stalin failed to keep his pledge to FDR and Churchill in February 1945 to respect Eastern European sovereignty (e.g., Poland) and to work with the allies to restore Germany as a sovereign nation; FDR has been accused of going “soft” on communism by conservative critics

The Birth of Containment• Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech (“Sinews of

Peace”, March 1946) awoke Americans to the new reality of the “iron curtain” and to America’s new role as unchallenged leader of the “free world”

• Continued Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe, support for communist rebels in Greece, and Soviet diplomatic-military pressure on Turkey and Iran convinced Western leaders that Stalin could not be trusted

• George Kennan’s “X” article (“The Sources of Soviet Conduct”, 1947) convinced many of the need for a long-term strategy of containment to deal with Soviet expansion; Kennan predicted that the Soviet system could not maintain itself in the face of consistent, extended pressure and would collapse quickly when the pressure became too great (1989-91 proved him right)

Views of the “Iron Curtain”

Pillars of Containment• The Truman Administration (1945-53)

established the basic framework of U.S. Cold War policy in the face of intense domestic criticism (both from Republican isolationists and McCarthyites)

• Political: the Truman Doctrine (1947) pledged U.S. assistance to nations fighting against communist movements (e.g., Greece & Turkey)

• Economic: Marshall Plan (1947) offered over $13 billion in aid to Western European nations to rebuild the region and prevent Communist Party victories

• Military: NATO (1949) created as a response to the Berlin Crisis; NSC-68 (1950) proposed increased defense spending, increase of the nuclear arsenal, and development of the H-bomb (1952)

National Security Act of 1947• Based on calls for reform after WW II and the

needs of an expanded federal bureaucracy, Congress authorized the creation of a new national security structure:

• Department of Defense united the old War and Navy departments and added the Department of the Air Force; Joint Chiefs of Staff united the four major services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines) at the senior-most level of the military

• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) succeeded the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) as the nation’s intelligence gathering and special operations arm

• National Security Council (NSC) created to advise the President on national security matters (4 members – POTUS, VP, SecState, and SecDef); advised by the Director of Central Intelligence (now the DNI), JCS Chairman, and the National Security Advisor (since 1961)

The Cold War in East Asia• Chinese Communist Revolution (1949)

brought Mao to power and changed the Cold War dynamic; Truman accused of “losing” China by political opponents

• North Korea’s invasion of South Korea (1950) prompted UN intervention and eventually led to Communist Chinese involvement in the Korean War

• U.S. faced with a “limited war” for the first time; General MacArthur argued for expansion of the conflict and use of Taiwan and atomic weapons; Truman wisely fired him but at great political cost

• Cease fire agreed to in 1953 after Stalin died and Eisenhower threatened to nuke

Eisenhower & Brinkmanship• The Eisenhower Administration (1953-61) sought

to reduce defense spending while maintaining containment policy “on the cheap”

• Relied heavily on nuclear deterrence – embraced concept of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) and willingness to “go to the brink” in any confrontation with the Soviets; almost happened in the 1956 Suez Crisis (U.S. & USSR policy instead converged against Britain, France, and Israel)

• Used CIA covert operations to overthrow anti-U.S. regimes (ex: Iran – 1953, Guatemala – 1954) and spy on the USSR (U-2 spy planes)

• Sputnik (1957) provoked concerns that the U.S. was losing the “space race” – led to National Defense Education Act (NDEA) and creation of NASA (both in 1958)

• Eisenhower Doctrine (1958) broadened U.S. support specifically to the Middle East; matched with U.S. intervention in Lebanon

Containment Failures: Cuba & Vietnam• John F. Kennedy elected president in 1960; promised a more “hawkish”

approach to defense spending and dealing with the USSR • Bay of Pigs operation (1961) failed to overthrow Castro and set the stage for

the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), in which the U.S. secured removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba in exchange for a pledge to never again intervene in Cuba against Castro; U.S. also removed missiles from Turkey

• U.S involvement in Vietnam and Laos escalated through the 1960s; JFK ordered overthrow of President Diem in 1963; Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave President Johnson authority to send in U.S. combat troops to support the South Vietnamese against the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese

• By 1968, the U.S. had committed more than 500,000 troops to Southeast Asia with no clear results; Tet Offensive proved that the U.S. was neither winning nor losing in the Vietnam War (1965-73)

Nixon, Kissinger, & DétenteThe Nixon Administration (1969-74) took a

new approach to containment, sought “peace with honor”:

1. Nixon Doctrine – increased reliance on regional allies, such as South Vietnam and Iran, designed to avoid committing U.S. troops overseas

2. Détente – opening to China in 1972 led to “triangular diplomacy” with the two major communist powers

3. Escalation of the Vietnam War, including the invasion of Cambodia (1970) and increased bombing campaigns designed to force the North Vietnamese to negotiate a ceasefire; achieved by January 1973

Triangular Diplomacy

Soviet Union China

United States

Détente

U.S.-China opening in 1972 led to normalization of relations with Beijing; played the “China card”;U.S. sacrificed formal relations with Taiwan

U.S.-Soviet relations thawed after China move; led to major arms controlagreements, including SALT I and the ABM Treaty (1972)

Soviet-Chinese relationstemporarily thawed after ideological differences and two brief border conflicts

Détente’s Shortcomings• Withdrawal from Southeast Asia paved the

way for the collapse of South Vietnam and Cambodia (1975) – Cambodians suffered terribly under Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge

• The Soviets took advantage of détente to broaden their influence in Afghanistan, Africa (Ethiopia, Angola, & Mozambique) and Central America (Nicaragua)

• While the U.S. and other Western powers pressed for human rights (examples: 1975 Helsinki Accords and President Carter’s policies, 1977-81), not much real progress was made in the Eastern bloc

• The Iranian Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979) forced Carter to adopt a more “hawkish” policy and effectively scrapped SALT II

Reagan & the “Evil Empire”• Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980

signaled a shift in American attitudes towards the USSR – greater distrust and a desire to rebuild the American military

• Military build-up aimed at achieving conventional and nuclear parity and forcing the Soviets into a costly arms race; Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) led to astronomical cost projections

• Reagan Doctrine (1983) – expanded on the Truman version by offering support to rebel movements trying to overthrow Marxist governments (ex: Contras in Nicaragua, Mujahideen in Afghanistan)

• Invasion of Grenada (1983) was the first successful use of American forces in combat overseas since 1973

The Reagan View of the Cold War:Good Guys vs. Bad Guys

The End of the Cold War• Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet

Secretary-General in 1985 after a succession of old-line leaders died

• Gorbachev introduced glasnost (political openness) and perestroika (economic restructuring) to reform Soviet society

• Gorbachev-Reagan summits produced a thaw in U.S.-Soviet relations and a series of significant arms control agreements, including the INF Treaty (1987) and the START process

• Increasing pressures on the Eastern bloc led to Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan (1988), collapse of East European communist governments (1989), and collapse of the USSR itself (1991)