The Cold War 1945-1991

POSTWAR AMERICA

The Truman and Eisenhower administrations led the nation to make social, economic, and political adjustments following WWII.

Readjustment and Recover• 1944: GI Bill of Rights – paid for GIs

to get education, guaranteed a year of unemployment $ while job hunting

• Suburbs developed in response to housing shortages

• Divorce rates on the rise

The Baby Boom

• As soldiers returned, there was an unprecedented population explosion– Advances of medicine increased #s of

vaccinations– Education field boomed– Number of working mothers steadily

increased

Readjustment and Recovery

• After war, gov’t cancelled $35 billion in war contracts

• March 1946: 3 million unemployed• When war regulations ended, prices skyrocketed,

workers earned less • However – Americans had been saving

– $135 billion in savings– Wanted consumer goods!

• Cold War fears kept up defense spending

Consumerism Abounds

• Material goods = success• Planned obsolescence – manufacturers

intended that products would wear out after a certain period– people would have to buy more

• Buy now, pay later returned• Advertising became key

Mass Media on the Rise• Television booms!

– 1948: 9%– 1954: 55%– 1960: 90%

• Radio switches to news and music– Rock ‘n roll appealed to blacks and whites– Jazz paved way for minority representation in

entertainment

The Other America

• 1950s: white flight of many middle-class Whites to suburbia took economic resources

• Rural poor moving into inner cities, compounding the problem– Solution: urban renewal– Tear down rundown neighborhoods, replace with

low-income housing• 1962: 1 in 4 Americans living in poverty

The Other America

• Hundreds of thousands of Mexicans came into U.S. as hired hands– Willing work work for less $– Increased racial tensions

• Native Americans continued to face problems– 1953: Termination policy discontinued federal

economic supports to tribes– Was absolutely devastating – 1963: Termination policy abandoned

Development of the Cold War

The Cold War, lasting from

1945 to 1991, was a war

of perception. Neither

side fully understood the

intentions and ambitions

of the other. This led to

mistrust and military build-ups.

The Soviet Union• Felt they had won World War II

– had sacrificed the most, deserved the “spoils of war”

• Create greater security for itself– Feared a strong Germany

• Establish defensible borders• Encourage friendly

governments on its borders• Spread communism around the

world

The United States

• Soviet expansion would spread throughout the world

• Soviet Union was a threat to U.S. way of life – especially after the Soviet Union

gained control of Eastern Europe.

“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade,

Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but

to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.”

Excerpt from Winston Churchill’s “Iron Curtain Speech.”

Iron Curtain = Line between the “free” West and the Soviet controlled East

A Policy of Containment• Definition: Keep communism and the Soviet

power inside the USSR. Do not let it spread!– Apply diplomatic, economic, and military pressure

• A way to stop Soviet expansion without having to go to war.

The Truman Doctrine (1947)• The first time the U.S. has to enforce

containment• Communists were gaining influence and

power in Turkey and Greece – U.S. did not want them to become part of the USSR!– Sent $400 million worth of war supplies to Greece

and helped push out Communism • Truman Doctrine marked new level of

commitment to Cold War

The Truman Doctrine will be “the policy of the United

States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted

subjugation by armed minorities or by outside

pressures.”

The Marshall Plan 1947-1948

• War damage and debt in Europe invited Communist influence

• Marshall Plan created to give economic aid to all European countries – $13 billion given to western Europe (was offered to the

Soviets but they refused the help!)• Proved crucial to Western Europe’s economic

recovery

Video Clip!

Germany divided into four occupied zones controlled by the British, Russian, Americans, and French

The Russian sector was significant because it contained Berlin.

Open border between the Soviet area and the other three sections allowed many to flee to Allied controlled areas

Even though Berlin was in the Soviet Sector of divided Germany, it was also

divided into four parts

It would go on to represent the two major sides of the Cold War throughout

its duration

British, Americans, and French create a common currency

Russians threaten to blockade Berlin

June 24th, 1948 - the Blockade Starts

France merges with British and American zones

Soviets cut off all shipments from West Germany to Berlin

May 1948: food can no longer be sent into Berlin; electricity cut off

Notice the destruction from WWII The Berlin Blockade will become a tangible symbol of

the Iron Curtain

• U.S. and allies began a massive airlift of supplies that lasted almost a year (7,000 tons a day)

• May 1949: after 321 days, Stalin lifted the blockade– Couldn’t prevent the creation of West Germany– Makes East Germany communist

The Berlin Airlift!

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

• 1949: U.S. and 11 other nations sign collective security agreement• If one were attacked, others would come to their defense• Coordinated defensive/military strategies• Combated communism on a national level

• 1955: West Germany joined NATO; USSR countered by creating its own alliance system in eastern Europe– the Warsaw Pact

• Today there are 26 member nations in NATO

NATO versus the Warsaw Pact

China Becomes Communist

• Communists and nationalists fighting over control of China

• U.S. supported nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek– 1945-1949: Sent $3 billion in aid – Was not an effective leader, but he wasn’t communist

• Mao Zedong, communist leader, gaining popularity– Worked to win support of peasants

China Becomes Communist

• After defeated Japanese were forced to retreat, civil war breaks out

• Truman refused to send U.S. troops – Sent $2 billion in military equipment and supplies

• May 1949: Chiang fled to Taiwan • Mao established “People’s Republic of China”

– U.S. refused to recognize as legitimate gov’t

The Korean War (1950-1953) • Before WWII, Korea

controlled by Japan• After WWII, Korea divided

along 38th parallel– North surrendered to

Soviets, put in Communist gov’t

– South surrendered to U.S.

Build Up to War

• After WWII, U.S. cut back on armed forces in South Korea– June 1949: only 500 American troops

• Soviets felt U.S. would not fight to defend South Korea– Began arming North Korea with tanks, airplanes,

and $$

Breakout of War

• June 25, 1950: North Koreans cross 38th parallel

• South Koreans asked UN for help– When issue came before Security

Council, USSR wasn’t there to vote; could not veto action in Korea

• 16 nations would send troops (90% Americans)– Led by Douglas MacArthur

Fighting Continues• North Korean troops had been very successful; had pushed to

perimeter of Pusan• Sept 1950: UN troops push North Koreans back almost to

Chinese border• Nov 1950: Chinese send 300,000 troops and capture Seoul• 1951: MacArthur privately and publically calls for full scale

attack on China and criticizes Truman – April 11, 1951: removed from command

• July 1951: Truce talks begin• 1953: cease fire signed and border established at 38th

parallel

• 54,000 American lives• $67 billion in expenditures• Americans lose faith in

Democrats

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39

THE COLD WAR AT HOME

During late 1940s and early 1950s, fear of communism led to reckless charges against innocent citizens

Fear of Communist Influences

• March 1947: Truman creates Federal Employee Loyalty Program– Loyalty Review Board– Investigate gov’t employees and fire any found to

be disloyal– Membership in 91 “subversive” organizations was

grounds for suspicions

Fear of Communist Influences• House Un-American

Activities Committee (HUAC) investigated Communist influence in movie industry– Believed Communists

sneaking ideas/propaganda into movies

Fear of Communist Influences

• 57 witnesses called to testify– Hollywood Ten refused to

cooperate – felt hearings were unconstitutional; sent to prison

• Created a blacklist of 500 actors, producers, and writers who would no longer work

Spy Cases Stun the Nation• 1950: German nuclear

physicist implicated Ethel and Julius Rosenberg– When accused, pled the 5th

– Claimed being persecuted for being Jewish and racist

– Found guilty and sentenced to death

– June 1953: electrocuted

McCarthyism• Most famous anti-Communist

activist: Senator Joseph McCarthy

• “McCarthyism” -tactic of accusing people of disloyalty without evidence

• Claimed to have names of up to 205 Communists in State Dept.– Never actually gave names

McCarthyism

• 1954: made accusations against Army, resulted in televised Senate hearings– Bullying witnesses lost him support– Senate accused him of actions

unbecoming of a Senator• Died 3 years later

TWO NATIONS LIVE ON THE EDGEDuring the 1950s, the U.S. and USSR came to the brink of nuclear war

The Problem of the Atomic Age

• Most frightening aspect of Cold War was constant threat of nuclear war– 1949: Russia detonated its first atomic bomb –

way ahead of when the U.S. thought they would• 1952: U.S. explodes worlds first hydrogen

bomb (H-bomb)• 1953: Soviets explode H-bomb

The Nuclear Arms Race is ON

Brinkmanship

• 1953: Dwight Eisenhower becomes 34th President

• Embraces policy of brinkmanship– prevent spread of communism by promising to

use all force, including nuclear, against any aggressor

– Made navy and army smaller, increased air force to deliver bombs

– USSR does the same

Cold War in Middle East

• 1951: Iran’s prime minister nationalizes oil fields– Britain stopped buying– Iranian economy tanks

• 1953: To keep Iran from turning to USSR for help, CIA gives millions to Iranian rebels– Wanted to overthrow current gov’t– Put Shah back into power

• Plan works – Shah returns and puts oil fields back into Western control

Cold War in Guatemala

• 1954: Ike believes Guatemalan gov’t is communist sympathizers – Gov’t had given 200,000 acres of American owned

land to the peasants• CIA trained army which invaded Guatemala• Guatemalan army refused to defend their

president; army’s leader became dictator

The Cold War in the 1950s: USSR• 1953: Nikita Khrushchev takes over after Stalin’s death

– condemns Stalin’s actions• Soviet people hoping Khrushchev would change things

– Polish and Hungarian citizens called for free elections, withdrawal of Soviet troops

– 1956: Soviet tanks sent into Hungary, crush dissent

Eastern Europe remained under Soviet control.

The Space Race• October 4, 1957: USSR launched first

satellite, Sputnik, into orbit– Starts the SPACE RACE!

• Two months earlier, USSR had tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)

• Khrushchev – “We will bury you”

Awesome History Channel Clip on the Space Race

56

U-2 Incident

• Mid-1950s: CIA making secret high-altitude flights over USSR

• May 15, 1960: Eisenhower and Khrushchev summit scheduled to discuss arms race

• May 1, 1960: u2 plane shot down over USSR• With actual evidence of U.S. spying,

Khrushchev cancels summit

U-2 Spy Incident (1960)Col. Francis Gary Powers’ plane was

shot down over Soviet airspace. Powers was captured, tried, and

imprisoned!

KENNEDY AND THE COLD WAR

The Kennedy administration faced some of the most dangerous Soviet confrontation in American history.

Election of 1960

• Democratic nominee: John F. Kennedy– Many worried he was too young (43),

inexperienced, and Catholic• Republican nominee: Richard Nixon

• JFK and Nixon engaged in first every televised debate– While Nixon knew more, JFK came spoke better

and looked better

Debate Video

New Policies

• Eisenhower hadn’t done enough about USSR• Soviets gaining loyalties in third-world

countries• Flexible Response: prepare for a variety of

military strategies instead of just relying on threat of nuclear weapons– Increased defense spending– Created the Green Berets

Crises in Cuba!

• 1956-1959: Fidel Castro led a guerilla movement to topple dictator Fulgencio Batista

• U.S. suspicious but recognized new gov’t– BUT when Castro seized control of U.S. and British

owned oil refineries, relationships worsened • U.S. created trade barriers with Cuba; Cuba

began to rely more on USSR

Bay of Pigs

• March 1960: Eisenhower gave CIA permission to secretly train Cuban exiles to invade Cuba– Hoped this would trigger a mass uprising– Kennedy learns of plan only 9 days into office

• April 17, 1961: 1400ish exiles head for Cuba– Air strike didn’t knock out Cuban air force despite CIA

reports– Small advance group never reached the shores– Main group ended up facing 25,000 Cuban troops

with Soviet tanks and jets

Bay of Pigs

• Invading exiles were killed or imprisoned • JFK negotiated for release of surviving

commandos, paid ransom of $53 million in food and medical supplied

• JFK made to look like a fool, Castro welcomed even more Soviet aid

Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

Video Clip

RussiaWithdraws

1962: U2 spy plane found these missile silos in Cuba

We went eyeball-to-eyeball with the Russians, and the other man blinked!

People built bomb shelters everywhere!

End to a CRISIS!• The Soviets

removed the missiles in Cuba

• In exchange, USA pledged to not invade Cuba again and to remove missiles in Turkey

Afterward, a direct phone line was set

up between the office of the

President and the Soviet Premier to

bypass other channels.