The Cold WarThe Cold War

1945 -19891945 -1989

CausesCauses

• At the end of the war the United States and Soviet Union were able to work together

• But Soviets made no attempt to allow free elections in Eastern Europe and installed pro-Soviet governments

• At the Potsdam Conference (1945) Truman knew the Americans had the Atomic bomb and so he could afford to take a hard line against the Soviets

• The Allies agreed to stay united until the German military was disarmed and the means of production had been destroyed. They also agreed to allow Allied nations to seek reparations

• There were no plans to reunify Germany, thus creating the Federalist Republic of Germany and the Communist German Democratic Republic

• As the Soviets focused on developing nuclear weapons so the two superpowers joined in an arms race

• The United States perceived Soviets moves as an indication of Communist expansionism and a threat to American interests

• Consequently the United States developed a policy of containment

ContainmentContainment• At the end of the war George Keenan, a

counselor at the American Embassy in Moscow warned the State Department about dangers from the spread of Communism

• In 1947, back in Washington, Keenan wrote an article anonymously in Foreign Affairs which he advocated the policy of containment – he signed the article “X”

• The fear was that Communism would spread beyond Eastern Europe

• Russia was determined to be able to access the Mediterranean Sea - necessity for global trade

• They pressured Turkey to grant the Soviets the right to build a naval base on the Bosporus

• In 1946 a civil war in Greece between the Communists and the British-backed government

• The following year the British told the Americans that they could no longer afford to fight the war

• President Truman decided that the American government would help

Truman DoctrineTruman Doctrine• In March 1947, Truman requested $400 million

in economic aid for Greece and Turkey and for the power to send American troops to train the pro-democracy forces

• Congress approved of large scale military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey to combat communism

• Congress did not want to approve the Bill until a Communist coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948 seemed to validate American fears

• The Truman Doctrine committed American resources to fighting Communism anywhere in the world

• Post-war Europe was an economic nightmare and there were thousands of dislocated people wandering around

• Bridges had been destroyed, roads and canals ruined, and factories had to be rebuilt. Plus the harvest of 1947 had been a disaster – many people in Europe desperately needed help

• Communist Parties were gaining mass appeal in France and Italy

• The United Nations sent some aid but it was not enough to correct the problems

• Secretary of State George C. Marshall called for a massive aid program to help the Europeans

Marshall PlanMarshall Plan• The belief was that economically strong countries

would be less susceptible to communist takeover• Money was restricted to purchasing American-

made goods thus helping the American economy• The United States allocated almost $13 billion for

European development• The offer was to all nations including the Soviet

Union• In the summer of 1947 the representative from

most nations met in London to discuss the offer – the Soviets attended but were told told by Moscow to leave

Berlin BlockadeBerlin Blockade• The war had devastated the German economy

and years after the war there was little improvement

• The city of Berlin was split into zones, each controlled by a major power – Britain, France, United States, and the Soviet Union

• Gradual the French, British, and American zones merged

• In April 1948 the Soviets started to limit road and rail traffic into West Berlin

• Truman responded by organizing the Berlin airlift to keep the city supplied

• West Berlin symbolized capitalist determination to resist communism

• On May 12, 1949 the Soviets lifted their unsuccessful blockade

NATONATO• In 1949, 12 nations agreed to form the North

Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)- an attack against one member was attack against all

• Later in the year NATO agreed to the formation of Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)

• Months later the Soviets created the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)

• The Soviets organized the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance in 1949

• In 1955 the Soviets organized the Warsaw Pact

ChinaChina• In 1949 Civil War erupted in China between the

Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists led by Mao Tse-tung

• The United States supported and aided the Nationalists but the Communists with support of the peasants won the war

• The nationalists fled to Formosa (Taiwan)• The American government continued to

recognize the Nationalist government• Fear of further Communist expansion forced the

United States to recognize the French control of Vietnam

• The French-backed regime was led by Emperor Bao Dai

• The United States was soon helping Dai fight Ho Chi Minh’s guerrillas

• Also in 1949 the United States found out that the Soviets now had an atomic bomb – the world would never be the same

• Truman now sought construction of a hydrogen bomb

NSC-68NSC-68

• The National Security Council issued document NSC-68, which called for the rebuilding of the military to provide a non-nuclear option

• Americans had never had a large peace-time army but now, because of the fear of Communism, the public was willing to listen

• When the Korean War started it was easy to gain congressional approval

KoreaKorea

• During the Second World War Soviet troops went into North Korea and American troops went into South Korea

• Both sides established new governments

• The Americans proposed to divide the country at the 38th parallel, until the country could be reunited

• The Soviets help the North Koreans plan an invasion of the South which would unify the country under the Communist flag

• In June 1950 80,000 troops invaded South Korea

• Truman determined to use the United Nations to wage against the North Koreans and he waged war without asking Congress for consent

• The United Nations Security Council North Korea to no avail

• The Soviet delegate, who could have vetoed any legislation, was boycotting the Council because the United Nations would not allow Communist China to take a seat instead of the Nationalists

• On June 27 the United Nations ordered members to assist South Korea

• Truman ordered the American military into action

• Fourteen member nations sent forces to South Korea

• This was the first war authorized by the president and not Congress. It was sanctioned by the United Nations and seen by many as a “police action”

• Truman was sure the invasion of South Korea masked a plan by Stalin to invade Western Europe

• Consequently the number of American troops in Europe was greatly increased

• Just when it looked the war might end 260,000 Chinese volunteers crossed the border from China

• MacArthur’s men were forced to retreat

• MacArthur asked Congress for atomic bombs and criticized the president for not allowing him to fight the war

• As MacArthur asked for an escalation public opposition increased as many saw the potential for a new World War

• A massive United Nation’s counterattack forced the Chinese back to the 38th parallel

• When Truman offered to negotiate peace, MacArthur threatened the Chinese to make peace or face an attack

• In 1951 Truman replaced the popular MacArthur with general Ridgway

• When MacArthur returned home he was greeted by thousands of cheering people

• In June 1951 the Soviet representative at the United Nations proposed a cease fire

• Talks lasted another two years before the fighting finally stopped

• When it was all over President Eisenhower was in the White House and the line separating the two nations was almost at the 38th parallel

EisenhowerEisenhower

• In 1952 the Twenty-second Amendment prohibited a president from seeking a third term

• The Democrats nominated Adlai Stevenson• The Republicans nominated Dwight Eisenhower

a war hero, but more importantly a candidate who appealed to Democrats as well as Republicans

• He slowed the rate of government expansion at the same time as he kept many of the programs initiated by Roosevelt and Truman

• Eisenhower gave the impression he was above political squabbling, but his political weakness was his friendship with influential businessmen

• His domestic program was called “dynamic conservatism”

• He cut spending and programs including national defense

• He abolished the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and end wage and price controls. He cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy

• Once in office he was faced with the deadlock of the peace talks in Korea

• Many North Koreans did not want to return home, but Chinese negotiators insisted all prisoners be returned

• In May Eisenhower increased aerial bombing of North Korea and sent Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to China with a discrete threat of atomic warfare

• In July the president announced an end to the fighting in Korea

BrinkmanshipBrinkmanship

• Although Dulles threatened a great deal he changed little of the containment philosophy that had been espoused by Truman

• But he did add the strategy of massive retaliation – “more bang for your buck”

• In 1953 members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff designed a “New Look” military strategy that sanctioned the limited use of nuclear weapons, which would allow for a reduction or conventional forces

• Dulles utilized the approach of taking the country to the brink of war

• He argued that brinkmanship had ended the Korean War

• The next place brinkmanship would be used would be in Indochina

• In 1954 the United States sent aircraft carriers to the South China Sea to intimidate Communist China, especially from further involvement in Indochina

Indochina/VietnamIndochina/Vietnam

• The French had controlled Indochina since the days of nineteenth century

• During World War II the Japanese had taken over, but after the war nationalists forces emerged against the French

• The Viet Minh, led by the Communist Ho Chi Minh demanded independence

• In 1945 Minh proclaimed a democratic Republic of Vietnam

• The French fought back and asked for help from other countries to stop the spread of Communism

• By 1953 Americans were paying for much of the war

• In 1954 the French were badly defeated at Dien Bien Phu

• A new French government decided to pull out and leave Indochina to others

• In July 1954 the Geneva Accords agreed to divide the country at the 17th parallel – The Viet Minh would control the north while the French would have the south until 1956 when elections could be held

• America and South Vietnam refused to acknowledge the Accords causing the Soviets and China to also back away

• Dulles set about organizing the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)

• The new leader of South Vietnam was American-backed Ngo Dinh Diem

• America backed Diem under the assumption that there would be a move towards democracy, but instead Diem imposed a virtual dictatorship

• By 1960 the United States was backing a leader that was destroying his own country

The Middle EastThe Middle East• In 1958 the Communists threatened to take over

Lebanon, a pro-western state• Eisenhower, under the Eisenhower Doctrine, felt

compelled to send aid• Several thousand American troops landed in

Lebanon and helped restore order• In 1958 Eisenhower invited the Soviet leader

Nikita Khrushchev to Washington• Khrushchev spoke to the United Nations about

the possibility of complete disarmament, but he did not say how it would be done

• Any hope of cooperation disappeared in 1960 at the Paris summit

• Both sides were determined not to relent on the question of Berlin

• Just before the conference an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over Russia

• The president had no choice but to accept responsibility but any hope of achieving progress at the summit disappeared

CubaCuba• American foreign policy in Central and South

America seemed confusing, especially for some of the member nations

• In 1954 the CIA led a coup to oust the leftist dictator from Guatemala. At the same time Washington supported other dictators who claimed to be fighting Communism

• The biggest thorn in the side of Washington was Cuba

• In 1959 Fidel Castro overthrew the pro-American leader Fulgencio Batista

• Castro denounce American policies as “imperialistic” and criticized the administration while confiscating land owned by American companies

• The United States responded by stopping the import of sugar from Cuba

• Castro then turned to Moscow and made Cuba a Soviet satellite state

• Thousands of refugees left Cuba for the United States, most moving to Florida

• In 1960 diplomatic relations between the two countries ended

• In 1960 the United States helped form the Organization of American States to stop the spread of Communism in the Americas

• Eisenhower created a second version of the Marshall Plan, this one intended for Latin American nations

• The plan known as the Alliance for Progress was intended to narrow the gap between the rich and poor countries

• The results were never as good as intended and many areas turned to other options

The Election of 1960The Election of 1960• Vice President Richard Nixon was the

nomination for the Republicans• He had made a reputation as a tough politician

who was no afraid to stand up to the Soviets• In 1959 he had debated with Khrushchev in the

“kitchen debates” in Moscow• His running mate was Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. of

Massachusetts• The Democrats selected the youthful John F.

Kennedy from Massachusetts and Lyndon Baines Johnson from Texas as his running mate

• In 1961 Kennedy and Khrushchev met in Vienna

• The experienced Soviet leader felt he could bully the inexperienced American president over issue concerning Berlin, but Kennedy refused to be intimidated

• In August 1961 the Soviets began construction of the Berlin Wall, separating East and West Berlin

Foreign PolicyForeign Policy• As the old colonial powers disappeared more and

more nations gained their independence. Many of these nations were very poor and looked to the Soviets or the United States for financial help

• The United States suddenly realized that although the United Nations was trying to maintain order, it was the United States that was paying most of the cost

• The Eisenhower had sent a great deal of money to Laos to support democracy, but the country remained in a state of civil war

• Kennedy considered sending American soldiers to Laos, but realized that such a move would greatly reduce the American presence in Europe

• In 1962 a summit at Geneva negotiated a ceasefire in Laos, but no one had much confidence it would last

• Kennedy felt trapped by the policy of “massive retaliation” which had been formulated by Dulles during the Eisenhower administration

• Kennedy and his Defense Secretary John McNamara created a policy of “flexible response”

• The strategy would be to send enough troops as each situation dictated

• Kennedy shifted spending to bolster conventional forces

• The downside to “flexible response” was that it was not as intimidating as “massive retaliation” and therefore less effective as a tool of diplomacy

• Kennedy sent “advisers” to Vietnam to support the unpopular Diem, but it was soon obvious Diem would have to go

• In 1963 the administration approved of a coup to remove Diem

The Bay of PigsThe Bay of Pigs

• American foreign policy towards Latin America was based on the Monroe Doctrine

• Eisenhower had approved a CIA plan to remove Castro by using America-trained Cuban exiles

• On April 12, 1961 thousands of exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs Cuba

• Unfortunately the Cubans were waiting and the invasion was a disaster

• The invasion pushed Castro closer to his Soviet allies

The Missile CrisisThe Missile Crisis

• The Soviets began installing missiles on Cuba, which was only 90 miles from Florida

• Kennedy responded by invoking a naval blockade around the island and demanded the missiles be removed

• Both nations refused to back down and for a while the world waited in the brink of nuclear war

• In October Khrushchev agreed to remove the missile while Kennedy promised to end the blockade and never to invade the island

• The administration also agreed to remove American missiles from Turkey which were aimed at the Soviet Union

• The confrontation cost the Soviet leader his job as the Kremlin determined never to be forced to back down again

• Kennedy realized the significant of what might have happened and asked the Soviets for a nuclear test-ban, which was signed in late 1963

• Kennedy also started to mention the possibility of establishing better relations between the two countries

• This would later be known as détente

Lyndon Baines JohnsonLyndon Baines Johnson• In November 1963 Kennedy was assassinated

while visiting Dallas. Johnson was sworn in as the new president

• Johnson continued much of Kennedy’s foreign policy

• In 1965 he sent thousands of troops to the Dominican Republic to suppress a possible revolution and restore democracy

• Johnson criticized for his “gunboat diplomacy” and earned a reputation as a gun-slinger from Texas

Tonkin Gulf ResolutionTonkin Gulf Resolution

• In 1964 the American navy had been involved in cohort operations off the coast of North Vietnam

• Two American destroyers were allegedly fired upon by North Vietnamese gunboats – the actual events are still a mystery

• Johnson called it an unprovoked attack and asked Congress for the authority to use force

• The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was in effect a “blank check”

Vietnam RevisitedVietnam Revisited• Johnson inherited a mess in Vietnam. Thousands

of American troops were in the country but still it didn’t seem like there were many successes

• In 1965 the Viet Cong attacked the American base at Pleiku. Johnson ordered retaliatory air raids against North Vietnam

• By the middle of the year “Operation Rolling Thunder” was devastating large areas of North Vietnam

• By the end of 1965 over 180,000 troops were in Vietnam

• Johnson was advised that an escalation in the war would force the North Vietnamese into submission

• However any increase by the Americans was matched by an increase by the North Vietnamese

• To the annoyance of many, the South Vietnamese were simply letting the Americans fight the war

• The situation was not helped by the fact each new South Vietnamese government seemed worse than the previous one – corruption became the word of the day

• War hawks claimed that if the Americans pulled back the Communists would spread across the Southeast Asia

• Public opinion was starting to mount against the American government as the cost of the war escalated and the number of American casualties continued to rise

• Thousands of young men left the United States and moved to Canada to avoid the draft

• In 1966, Johnson announced a pause in the bombing aimed at getting the Viet Cong to the peace table

• In 1967 Johnson ordered the CIA to spy on anti-war activists

• By 1968 it was obvious to all that the war was not going well and it was increasingly doubtful if the South could win

The Election of 1968The Election of 1968

• The Republicans nominated Richard Nixon, a war hawk who called for victory in Vietnam

• The Democrats nominated Hubert Humphrey, a senator from Minnesota who had been Johnson’s Vice President

• A third party was the American Independent party led by George C. Wallace of Alabama

• Nixon won but without a mandate

• Nixon announced a policy of Vietnamization to reduce American involvement in the war

• The emphasis would now be for the South Vietnamese to take over more of the fighting and American troops could be withdrawn

• The Nixon Doctrine established that the United States would honor its existing commitments, but countries would have to fight their own wars without American soldiers

• In 1969 Nixon appealed to the “silent majority” of Americans to back his policies

• In 1970, without consulting Congress, Nixon ordered Americans troops to invade neutral Cambodia

• Despite the fact Nixon kept withdrawing troops his invasion of Cambodia cost him a great deal of public support

• By 1971 massive anti-war rallies were being held across the country

• Also in 1971 The New York Times published the Pentagon Papers, which revealed the mistakes and deceptions of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations – including the Gulf of Tonkin incident

DetDetééntente• Nixon turned his attention to the tension between

China and the Soviet Union, believing he could play one country against the other and use them to help pressure North Vietnam into peace talks

• The leading peace negotiator was national Security Advisor Dr. Henry Kissinger

• In 1971, Nixon, an overtly anti-communist, accepted an invitation to China

• The following year he went to China• In 1973 the president visited Moscow to pressure

the Soviets who were afraid the United States might become friends with China

• Nixon’s philosophy of détente led to a reduction in the arms race and eventually the anti-ballistic missile treaty

• Later these negotiations would lead to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)

• Both of these agreements were ratified in 1972• In the 1972 election, Nixon promised to end the

war and win the peace• When the North Vietnamese crossed the

demilitarized zone in 1972, Nixon responded by bombing North Vietnam, including Hanoi

• Thanks to détente neither the Soviets or the Chinese voiced opposition

Peace TalksPeace Talks

• Nixon was able to win a second term by announcing he had drastically reduced the number of American troops and by claiming peace would soon follow

• Soon after the election, fighting escalated again• Once again Nixon responded by bombing North

Vietnam trying to force the North Vietnamese back to the peace table

• On January 23, 1973, both sides agreed to a cease fire

• Nixon proclaimed peace with honor

CambodiaCambodia

• In July 1973 the country learned that Nixon had authorized bombing raids on Cambodia

• Public and political opposition demanded an end to the bombing

• Weeks later Nixon agreed to stop the bombing and to seek congressional approval for any further escalation of the war

• Ironically, the American bombing of Cambodia led to installation of the dictator, Pol Pot who murdered as many as 2 million people

• In November, Congress passed the War Powers Act (1973) over the president’s veto, which required the president to report to Congress within forty-eight hours of committing American troops to a foreign conflict

• In 1975 the North Vietnamese invaded the South

• President Ford asked Congress to send more weapons but his appeal was rejected

• The last Americans pulled out in April leaving the South Vietnamese to fight their own war

• Over 50,000 Americans had died in Vietnam and it had cost over $100 billion

The ThawThe Thaw

• President Ford, who replaced Nixon after the Watergate embarrassment, continued the policy of détente

• Ford and thirty-four other leaders met in Helsinki in 1975 and signed an agreement that finally ended the Second World War

• In the Helsinki Accords the Soviets promised to guarantee the exchange of ideas and people between the East and West. All nations agreed to protect human rights

President ReaganPresident Reagan

• Ronald Reagan was elected president on a hard-line stand against the Soviets

• When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, Reagan declared the Soviets were aiming for world conquest and referred to the Soviet Union as the “evil empire”

• Reagan believed the Soviets only respected strength, so he advocated a drastic increase in military strength

• In 1983 Reagan announced his Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) or Star Wars program

• The relations between the two countries deteriorated further in 1981 when the Soviets tried to suppress worker’s unions in Poland

• One of the big problems in trying to talk with the Soviets was the fact the Soviet leaders were mostly old. In fact between 1982 and 1985 three leaders died

• In 1983 the Soviets attacked a Korean passenger plane, which had been in Soviet airspace. Hundreds of civilians were killed

• By the end of 1983 the arms limitation talks had all been stopped

• The Cold War looked like it was going to be renewed

• In 1984 the Soviet bloc boycotted the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, because the United States had boycotted the 1980 games in Moscow

• In 1989, in his inauguration address George Herbert Walker Bush promised a “kinder, gentler America”

The End of the Cold WarThe End of the Cold War

• Almost as soon as Bush took office Communist countries all over the world turned to democracy

• In Poland the Solidarity movement forced the Communist government to collapse

• Soon after the events in Poland, Soviet control of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Romania collapsed

• In December 1989 the symbol of the Cold War – the Berlin Wall was torn down by the people of Germany – ending the Cold War