The Cold War1945-1963

On desk: a couple of pieces of paper

And a writing utensil

Healing the Wounds of War

Dealing with Germany

• Potsdam Conference– Divided Germany into 4 zones (Britain,

France, U.S. and Soviet Union each in charge of one).

– Jointly administer the city of Berlin.– Crush Nazi party– Rebuild German economy.– Tension caused by Soviets control of Eastern

Europe.

• Nuremberg Trials– Held to punish leaders who had ordered

atrocities during the war.– Thousands of former Nazi leaders were

tried, fined, barred from public office or executed.

– A few escaped immediate prosecution by fleeing to Latin America.

Dealing with Japan

• U.S. occupied Japan until 1952.

• Ended Japanese militarism.

• Established a democratic government.

• Reformed the economic system.

Trials in Tokyo

• General McArthur set up International Military Tribunal.

• Conducted trials for suspected war criminals from war in Pacific

• Seven were executed, many other imprisoned.

The United Nations

Postwar International

Organization created to help preserve

World peace.

Founding the United Nations

• April, 1945• General assembly made up of all 50

member nations.• Security Council with 5 permanent

members and 10 rotating members.• United States, Soviet Union, France,

Great Britain, and China are permanent members.

• Headquarters established in New York, New York.

• Eleanor Roosevelt served as one of first U.S. delegates to U.N.

1st test of U.N.

• Jews and Arabs both claim small region in the Mid-east known as Palestine.

• Problem is turned over to the U.N. to solve.

• U.N. divides Palestine into 2 nations – one Jewish and one Arab.1948

• Jews rejoice, Arabs reject.

• Arabs from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon attack Israel to reclaim the land for Palestinians.

• Small Israeli army, loaded with U.S. weapons, is able to hold their own until an armistice is reached.

• Territory is re-divided but Arab nations still refuse to acknowledge Israel as a nation.

The Cold War Begins

Democratic capitalism

Versus

Communism

Roots of the Cold War

• United States Principles: democratic government, individual freedom and capitalism.

• Soviet Union: State-run economy, one-party rule, suppression of religion, and the use of force to crush opposition.

• Soviet expansionism fueled American distrust.

• Satellite nations were those under Soviet control.

• Containment (restricting the spread of Soviet communism) became the focus of U.S. foreign policy.

Deadlock over Atomic Weapons

• U.S. and U.S.S.R (Soviet Union) both begin to develop nuclear weapons the details of which they kept secret from the other.

• Fears of nuclear war led to Congress’ passage of the Atomic Energy Act in 1946 to oversee nuclear weapons and promote peacetime uses of that nuclear energy.

Containment Around the World

• Truman Doctrine “It must be the policy of the United States to support the free peoples who are resisting attempted conquest by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”

• Marshall Plan – Put forth by Secretary of State George Marshall, it called for a major U.S. effort to promote European economic recovery in order to prevent the spread of communism into Europe.

Crisis in Berlin

• U.S., Britain and France decide to join their 3 sections of Berlin and form West German government.

• Soviets oppose this action so they blockade the city of Berlin.

• Berlin Airlift – U.S and Britain fly millions of pounds of food and drop into the city to keep people from starving.

• Berlin Airlift 1948-1949– U.S and Britain fly millions of pounds

of food and drop into the city to keep people from starving.

– Soviets stop blockade.– East (Soviet-controlled0 and West

(American influence) German governments established and the split last for over 40 years.

Alliances

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) formed in 1949. U.S., Canada, Iceland, and the western European nations.

• Warsaw Pact formed in 1955. Soviet Union and the communist nations of eastern Europe.

• “Iron Curtain” now symbolically divides Europe.

The Cold War Turns Hot

Communist Victory in China

• Communist win control of mainland China in 1949.

• Chinese nationalists withdraw to the island of Taiwan.

Korean War

Begins

A Divided Korea

• Japan had ruled Korea until 1945.

• Allies split it into two zones along the 38th parallel with Soviets occupying the northern zone and America the southern one.

• United Nations condemns North Korea’s act of invading South Korea in 1950.

Bitter Fighting

• President Truman orders U.S. troops under Gen. McArthur to South Korea in response to UN effort to prevent take over.

• Korean War was mainly between U.S. and South Korea on one side and China and North Korea on the other.

• Fighting goes back and forth for the next 2 years.

Ending Korean War

• President Truman and Gen. McArthur disagree over war strategy and Truman ended up firing him.

• This makes him extremely unpopular with the public, who is tired of the war, and he decides not to run in 1952 for reelection.

• Republicans choose Dwight Eisenhower as their candidate and he wins by a huge margin.

• Eisenhower keeps his promise to end war by threatening North Korea with nuclear weapons.

• Both sides agree to end war with division between two countries at the same place it was before the war.

• 54,000 US dead and 103,000 wounded.

• More than 1.5 million Chinese and North Koreans died.

Fighting Communism Abroad

Brinkmanship

• President Eisenhower follows a foreign policy known as brinkmanship “The ability to get to the brink of war without getting into war is the necessary art.”

• He also pursues U.S. goals through covert means and diplomacy.

• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)

Eisenhower Tests His Policy

• President Eisenhower uses CIA in Iran and Guatemala.

• He uses diplomacy in Egypt and Eastern Europe.

• In late 1959, a brief thaw in the Cold War ends with the U2 Incident – a U.S. spy plane is shot down over the Soviet Union.

The Cold War at Home

Cold War Fears

• Congress creates National Security Council to advise President on strategic matters.

• House Un-American Activities Committee leads the fight against suspected communists in the U.S.

• Hollywood Ten go to jail rather than testify.

• Another Red Scare

Search for Spies

• HUAC investigated suspected spies. Many are convicted and the Rosenbergs are executed for giving nuclear secrets to the Soviets.

• Internal Security Act requires all communists to register with the federal government.

McCarthyism

• Fear of communism.

• Senator Joe McCarthy from Wisconsin begins Senate Hearings to root out the communists in America.

• After a couple of years, McCarthy is denounced as a bully and fanatic.

Nuclear Anxiety

• By 1950, both U.S. and Soviet Union have developed more powerful Hydrogen bomb.

• America’s nuclear fears turn many of them toward religion. Billy Graham

• Americans are taught civil defense strategies that are supposed to protect them in case of nuclear attack.

• “Duck and cover” plan for kids.

• Fallout shelters for families.

Space programs

• Soviet Union launches 1st satellite into space in October 1957. Sputnik

• Congress creates National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to promote U.S. space technology.

• National Defense Education Act is approved by congress to improve education in science, math and foreign languages.

Kennedy and the Cold War

• John F. Kennedy defeats Republican Richard Nixon in Presidential election of 1960.

• Kennedy used a foreign policy known as “flexible response” – having a number of options in case of an international crisis (including nuclear weapons).

• Kennedy used the Peace Corps, economic aid to poor nations in Africa and Latin America to keep them from becoming communist.

The Kennedy Crises

• Bay of Pigs

– U.S. troops invade Cuba, ruled by dictator Fidel Castro, to aid pro-democracy Cuban refugees. April 1961

– Invasion fails, Cuba draws closer to Soviet Union and U.S. is embarrassed.

• Berlin Crisis

– Soviet leader Krushchev demands total control over Berlin. June 1961

– Soviet Union builds wall between East and West Berlin to stop flow of East German refugees escaping to the West. Berlin Wall

• Missile of October– Soviets end nuclear weapons to Cuba to help

Castro defend himself against Americans.– Oct. 22, 1961 President Kennedy demands

Soviets remove nuclear missiles and blockades Cuba from all armed ships.

– Nuclear war seemed unavoidable until suddenly the Soviets turned back and removed missiles.

• Cuban Missile Crisis brought historic turning point to relations between U.S. and Soviets.

• Both sought o ease tension with the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

• A “hot line” was set up connecting the leaders of the two nations.