The Cold War Begins

Chapter 15

The Iron Curtain Falls on Europe

The Main IdeaAt the end of World War II, tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States deepened, leading to an era

known as the Cold War.

Analyze the social, cultural, & economic changes at the onset of the Cold War era

Analyze the origins of the Cold War, foreign policy developments, & major events of the administrations from Truman to present

Eastern Europe

• Stalin– no intention of giving up political & economic

control of Eastern Europe– Felt justified in controlling Eastern Europe

• USSR lost 30 million in war

– Wanted to create a line of USSR-friendly nations between the USSR & its historic enemies in Western Europe

Communism Spreads

• Stalin used any means necessary to secure Eastern Europe– Outlawed political parties & newspapers– Jailed & killed opponents– Rigged elections

• Eventually every nation in Eastern Europe had a Soviet-friendly government– Yugoslavia only exception

• Communist leader Tito

Iron Curtain• 1946 former British Prime Minister Winston

Churchill– Speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri

• “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. ..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.”

• Stalin used Churchill’s speech to persuade Soviets that US & Britain were USSR’s enemies– Used as an excuse to build up USSR military strength

1938 map with original borders (in green). Adjusted borders are in black. Russian SFSR territories after 1945 are in dark red. The territories for other later annexed Soviet Socialist Republics are in light red. The territories for Soviet Satellite states are in pink.

Containment

• Policy that the US adopted in the 1940s– Created by George F. Kennan

• US diplomat & expert on the USSR

– US resist USSR attempts to expand its power & influence

– Provide economic aid to other countries in order to strengthen them against the USSR

– 1947 tested inTurkey & Greece• Communists expanding influence

George F. Keenan

Truman Doctrine• In a speech Truman argued that the U.S. should

support Greece and Turkey economically and militarily to prevent their falling under Soviet control

• generalized his hopes for Greece and Turkey into a doctrine applicable throughout the world– The US should support any free peoples who were

resisting forced control

• Congress voted to send 100s of millions of dollars to Turkey & Greece– Communism failed there

Marshall Plan

• June 1947 speech at Harvard• Secretary of State George C. Marshall• Called for a massive US program of aid to help

Europe rebuild • 1948-1951 US spent over $13 billion in 17

different countries– Bought food, farm equipment, rebuilt factories,

homes, etc.

George C. Marshall

Poster promoting the Marshall Plan

Under Marshall Plan

I. Western Europe fed its hungry & created jobs

II. Western European countries bought goods from US factories

III. US built political support in Western Europe

Germany

• Soviets kept eastern Germany zone under communist control– German Democratic Republic, or East Germany

• US, UK, & FR set up a free, democratic government– Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany

• Berlin – Within East Germany– US, UK, & FR controlled the western half

The red area of Germany (above) is the Soviet zone, which surrounds Berlin, the gray dot inside of it. The dark gray areas to the West were divided between the United States, Britain and France. The Soviets ceded the portion to the east of the Oder-Neisse line (light gray) to Poland. A portion of the isolated easternmost section of German East Prussia, was annexed directly into the USSR

Berlin Blockade

• Soviets did not like having Western-style economy & government within their zone

• June 1948 Soviets closed all road, river, & rail traffic into West Berlin– Cutting 2.1 million residents off from food, coal, &

other necessities

Berlin Blockade

• Airports remained open– Western powers could supply by air

• Western officials not sure if airlift possible• Soviets might shoot planes down

– War

– Decision was made to attempt an airlift

Berlin AirliftJune 24, 1948-May 12, 1949

• US, British, & French airplanes made deliveries to Berlin– 280,000 flights

• Average of 7,000 tons of supplies every day• More runways were built in West Berlin• 70 US & British died in plane crashes• Soviets lifted the blockade on May 12, 1949

Gail Halvorsen, one of the many Airlift pilots, decided to use his off time to fly into Berlin and make movies with his hand held camera. He arrived at Tempelhof on July 17 after hitching a ride on one of the C-54s, and walked over to a crowd of children who had gathered at the end of the runway to watch the aircraft coming in. He introduced himself and they started to ask him questions about the aircraft and their flights. As a goodwill gesture, he handed out his only two sticks of Wrigley's Doublemint Gum, and promised that if they did not fight over them, the next time he returned he would drop off more. The children quickly divided up the pieces as best they could. Before he left them, a child asked him how they would know it was him flying over, and he replied, "I'll wiggle my wings."

The very next day, on approach to Berlin, he rocked the aircraft and dropped some chocolate bars attached to a handkerchief parachute to the children waiting below. Every day after that the number of children would increase and he made several more drops. Soon there was a stack of mail in Base Ops addressed to "Uncle Wiggly Wings", "The Chocolate Uncle" and "The Chocolate Flier". His commanding officer was upset when the story appeared in the news, but when Tunner heard about it he approved of the gesture and immediately expanded it into "Operation Little Vittles". Other pilots participated, and when news reached the U.S., children all over the country sent in their own candy to help out. Soon the major candy companies joined in as well. In the end, over three tons of candy were dropped on Berlin, and the "operation" became a major propaganda success. The candy-dropping aircraft were quickly christened "raisin bombers" by the German children.

U.S. Air Force pilot Gail Halvorsen, who pioneered the idea of dropping candy bars and bubble gum with handmade miniature parachutes, which later became known as "Operation Little Vittles".

North Atlantic Treaty Organization

• 1948– Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands,

and the United Kingdom formed a system of common defense

• April 1949– NATO formed

• Original five plus the US, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, & Portugal

• An armed attack against one member would be considered an attack against all

Life In America after Life In America after World War IIWorld War II

GI Bill

June 1944 President Roosevelt signed the

Servicemen’s Readjustment Act GI Bill (GI—Government Issue)

Money for veterans to attend college Loans for vets to buy homes, farms, or businesses Helped vets find jobs Provided 1 year of unemployment

After the war

Labor unions Began seeking raises limited during war Number of strikes increased Taft-Hartley Act

Reduced the power of labor unions Racial minorities

Executive Order #9981: President Truman Ended segregation in armed forces

Felix Longoria Mexican American KIA Texas funeral home refused his body Senator Lyndon Johnson offered family Arlington

National Cemetery

Baby Boom

Dramatic rise in birthrate in the two decades following World War II

Demand for consumer goods rose

Postwar Politics

April 1945 FDR died Harry S. Truman president

Vice president less than 3 mos. No idea what FDR had been doing

1946 Elections Postwar inflation Republicans won majority in Congress

First time since 1930

Postwar Politics

1948 Presidential Election Truman appeared to be in trouble

Liberal Democrats broke from party Progressive party—Henry Wallace

Southern Democrats broke over race issues Dixiecrats—Strom Thurmond

Republican—Thomas Dewey Truman made a whirlwind campaign across

US Most experts predicted Truman would lose

Famous photograph of Truman grinning and holding up a copy of the newspaper that (erroneously) announced his defeat. Truman won reelection to the surprise of most experts.

Fair Deal

Truman’s plan for the country Federal health insurance program New funding for education

Republican Congress did not support it Few Fair Deal ideas became law

United Nations

October 1945 UN charter was ratified by representatives of

50 nations it committed its members to Save succeeding generations from war Reaffirm faith in human rights Respect treaties & to promote progress &

freedom of all people Agree to live in peace & unite to maintain

security Force only used to serve common interests of

members Use international organizations to promote

economic & social advancement

United NationsCommission on Human Rights US representative was Eleanor Roosevelt December 1948 Universal Declaration of

Human Rights All human beings are born free & equal End to slavery, torture, & inhumane

punishment Demanded a variety of civil rights Elementary education should be free to all

UN adopted the declaration & directed members to publicize it

World Bank

Aimed to help poor countries build their economies

Provided grants of money & loans to help with projects that could provide jobs & wealth

International Monetary Fund

Designed to encourage economic policies that promoted international trade

Prevent countries from following economic policies of self-interest that hurt other countries & affect trade

General Agreement on Tariffs & TradeGATT Created to promote economic

cooperation Designed to reduce barriers to trade by

reducing tariffs 1947-1994

THE SECOND RED SCARE

Growing fear of Communism US leaders worried about spread of

communism after WWII 1948 Berlin crisis made tension worse 1949

Discovered that USSR had atomic bomb China became communist

Most populous country in the world

Soviet atomic weapons

August 1949 US aircraft picked up unusual radioactivity

over USSR September 1949

Truman announced that USSR had atomic weapons

US no longer had an advantage Truman would seek to strengthen military

against possible Soviet threat

Joe One, the first Soviet atomic test

The first Soviet bomb, RDS-1

Communist China After WWII, defeated Japanese left

China Civil War broke out

Communists led by Mao Zedong took over large areas of China

Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek Supported by US to defeat communists Corruption & poor leadership

Chiang & Nationalists forced to flee to Taiwan

Communist People’s Republic of China, 1949

Mao Zedong proclaiming the establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) Formed in 1930s Original purpose to investigate all radical

groups in US Became focused only on communism

1947 most famous HUAC investigation Explore possible Communist influence in US

film industry Called in Hollywood directors & writers

thought to have communist leanings 10 refused to answer questions “Hollywood Ten”

Found guilty of contempt: 1 yr. in jail

HUAC

Many in Hollywood were alarmed Many agreed

to talk & give names

Others refused Blacklisted;

careers were damaged

The Hollywood Ten

The 1947 HUAC hearings in session. On the right, committee chairman J. Parnell Thomas administers the oath; 34-year-old congressman Richard Nixon is seated immediately to Thomas's left.

President Truman

Public fear of communism put pressure on US leaders

Congressional Republicans claimed Communists were working in federal government

Truman ordered all federal employees be investigated 3 million investigated over several years

A few thousand resigned About 200 judged disloyal

Smith Act

1940 law making it a crime to call for the overthrow of the US government or belonging to an organization that did

1949 several leaders of the Communist Party were convicted under this law

1951 Dennis v. United States Considered Communists a danger &

justified limits on free speech

McCarran Act, 1950

Required Communist organizations to register with the government

Established a special board to investigate Communist involvement

Made it illegal to plan for a creation of a totalitarian dictatorship

Prevented Communists or other radicals from entering the US

Vetoed by Truman, Congress overrode his veto

Spy cases

Alger Hiss, 1948 Accused of being a

spy by another spy

Hiss denied being a spy

Top secret microfilm found in a hollowed out pumpkin

Hiss convicted of perjury & sent to prison

Richard Nixon was part of the investigation

Spy Cases

Klaus Fuchs, 1950 Nuclear physicist,

worked on Manhattan Project

Transmitted information to USSR Detailed drawings of “Fat

Man” Served 9 years in prison

Spy Cases

Ethel & Julius Rosenberg, 1951

Convicted of passing military secrets to the Soviets

Ethyl’s brother worked on the Manhattan Project

Received the death sentence & were executed in 1953

Joseph McCarthy

Senator from Wisconsin February 9, 1950

Speech in Wheeling, West Virginian Claimed 205 known Communists in US State

Dept. Senate investigation found no evidence

McCarthy became leading spokesman against Communism & became very popular

McCarthy accused other groups in government of harboring Communists

Senator Joseph McCarthy

Joseph McCarthy

None of his charges were backed by evidence

Political cartoonist Herblock called his tactics “McCarthyism”

Joseph McCarthy

1954 McCarthy attacked the US Army Hearings were televised McCarthy came across as a bully Lost support

Censored by the US Senate Died May 2, 1957

48 years old Acute Hepatitis

Brought on by alcoholism

THE KOREAN WAR

June 25, 1950—July 27, 1953

Korea before the war

Korean Peninsula 600 miles long Between Japan & China

After 1905 Japan dominated & occupied Korea

Yalta Conference Allies agreed Korea would be free Korea temporarily divided & occupied by Allies

Divided at 38th parallel USSR north of 38th parallel US south of 38th parallel

North Korea Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Soviets tried to establish a communist government

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Prime Minister Kim II Sung Sought to reunify

North & South Korea under Communist control

South KoreaRepublic of Korea

US promoted a democratic government

Republic of Korea President Syngman

Rhee Elected leader who

had dictatorial powers

Sought to reunify North & South Korea

Korean War

Both North & South Korea wanted to reunite Different ideas on how

June 25, 1950 Over 100,000 North Koreans crossed 38th

parallel Kim II Sung had ordered the attack North Koreans armed with Soviet-made

weapons & tanks Attack came as a surprise to most US leaders

US troops had already left Korea

The Start of the Korean War

Role of the United States

South Korea was where the United States had to take a stand against Communist aggression.

Truman ordered American naval and air forces to support Korean ground troops.

Truman asked the United Nations to approve the use of force to stop the North Korean invasion.

Role of the United Nations

The UN Security Council supported the use of force in Korea.

Truman sent ground troops to Korea.

The troops sent to Korea were to be a United Nations force.

Instead of calling this a war, the whole effort was referred to as a UN police action.

The Korean War(1950-53)

The U.N. Security Council declared North Korea the aggressor and sent troops from 15 nations to restore peace. Under the command of General Douglas MacArthur U.S. 350,000; South Korean 400,000; other UN

members 50,000 The move succeeded only because the Soviet

delegate, who had veto power, was absent because he was protesting the UN’s refusal to recognize the Communist government in China.

The InchonLanding

• UN forces made an amphibious landing behind North Korean lines at the port city of Inchon.

• MacArthur’s surprise attack worked beautifully.

• The September 1950 invasion at Inchon was a key victory for UN forces.

Combat in the Korean War

• Offensives from Inchon and Pusan resulted in the destruction or surrender of huge numbers of North Korean troops.

• By October 1950 all of South Korea was back in UN hands.

North Koreaon the Run

• UN forces had begun to move into North Korea, but the when 260,000 Chinese troops joined the North Koreans the UN began to retreat.

• UN forces retreated all the way back to Seoul. It was the longest fallback in U.S. military history.

UN Forces Retreat

Map of the Korean War

General MacArthur Is Fired

MacArthur said that the UN faced a choice between defeat by the Chinese or a major war with them.

He wanted to expand the war by bombing the Chinese mainland, perhaps even with atomic weapons.

Lieutenant General Matthew Ridgway stopped the Chinese onslaught and pushed them back to the 38th parallel—without needing to expand the war or use atomic weapons.

MacArthur disagreed with President Truman about the direction of the fighting and challenged the authority of the president.

Truman fired MacArthur. Many Americans were outraged at the firing of MacArthur.

Fighting Ends in Korea

Negotiating for Peace In July 1951 peace talks

began. One major obstacle was the

location of the boundary between the Koreas.

Meanwhile battles such as Bloody Ridge and Heartbreak Ridge continued, inflicting heavy casualties on both sides.

In October 1951 peace talks stalled over prisoners of war.

Negotiators in Panmunjom continued to argue over the details of a peace agreement throughout 1952.

Events of 1953 In 1952 Dwight D. Eisenhower

—who promised to end the war—was elected president.

Fighting remained deadly—in the final two months of the war, UN forces lost 57,000 men and the Communists lost 100,000.

An armistice agreement was finally reached on July 27, 1953.

The Korean War left the map of Korea looking much as it had in 1950.

The human costs were huge.

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