The Cold War

Origins of the Cold War

• THE KEY ISSUE: the future of Eastern Europe – Soviets occupied Eastern European

states that they freed from Nazi rule– After WWll ended, Stalin installed pro-

Soviet governments throughout Eastern Europe

• How do you think the United States felt about this?

Tensions increase…

• The United States suspected the Soviet Union of trying to dominate world affairs

• The Soviet Union suspected the United States of trying to dominate world affairs

AHH! A COLD WAR!

• The Cold War set the United States and Soviet Union against each other

• The two nations never met in battle– There was still the threat of deadly

conflict

The Berlin Airlift

• The Cold War almost turned hot in Germany– Why do you think so?

• The Allies agreed to temporarily divide Germany into four zones controlled by:– Soviet Union, U.S., Great Britain, and France

• Western powers wanted to unite their zones into West Germany– Stalin was not happy about this and decided to

take action– He feared a united Germany would threaten the

Soviet Union

Dividing Berlin/The Berlin Airlift• Germany’s former capital city (Berlin) was in

the boundaries of East Germany– The city was divided into four zones so each of the

four nations controlled one

• 1948- Stalin blocked access to Berlin– During the blockade, Truman ordered food, fuel,

and supplies to be airlifted• In nearly one year, 270,000 U.S. and British flights

carried supplies in

• 1949-Stalin gave up blockade• Germany was divided into East Germany

(communist) and West Germany (democratic)

Berlin, 1945

Containment• Definition: policy to stop the spread of

communism through military and non-military ways

• The Truman Doctrine- promised aid to people fighting to maintain democracy

• Marshall Plan- one of Truman’s actions that would prevent communism through the revival of economies in Europe that were damaged during WWII– The plan offered $13 billion in aid and helped

western and southern European countries rebuild

The Cold War on the Homefront

• How did the fear of communism affect people in the U.S.?– Many people feared it would spread in

the U.S.• Americans suspected of communism

were put on trial– Alger Hiss: former State Department

official was accused of passing military information to the Soviet Union• He was jailed in 1950 for lying under oath

The Cold War on the Homefront

• Americans on trial– Ethel and Julius

Rosenberg: members of the American Communist Party• Were accused of

passing atomic secrets to the Russians

• They were executed in 1953

Un-American Activities• Truman ordered 4 million government

workers to undergo loyalty checks– They would go before a board that

decided whether or not they could remain in their current position• Many were forced to resign

• House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)– Targeted people in the movie industry– Blacklisted people: unofficial lists of

suspected Communists

McCarthyism

• Joseph McCarthy- member of the Republican Party– When he began speaking out and

crusading against communism, fellow party members began speaking out against HIM.

• In 1950, McCarthy said he had a list of 205 State Department officials who were members of the Communist Party

Army-McCarthy Hearings (1954)

• Senate held nationally televised hearings

• McCarthy accused the U.S. Army of “coddling Communists”

• The Senate condemned McCarthy for his actions and eventually he faded from the public eye

The Cold War Around the World

• Like President Truman, President Eisenhower continued the Cold War, but had a more aggressive stand against communism.

• Policy known as “brinkmanship”– Going to the brink of war to combat

communism

Arms Race

• 1945 – The United States developed and dropped the first atomic bombs on Japan

• 1949- Americans learned the Soviet Union had produced an atomic bomb– used information stolen by Soviet spies

• Arms race- competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop weapons with more destructive power

• 1952- the U.S. built an H-Bomb• 1955- the Soviets tested their first H-Bomb• Fear from both sides led to the stockpiling

of nuclear weapons

What does this cartoon mean?

Space Race

• 1957- the two superpowers began a space race

• Soviet Union launched Sputnik – The world’s first space satellite– American scientists were scrambling to

catch up• The U.S. Congress set aside billions of

dollars for space research

• Sputnik being launched into space

The U-2 Incident

• Eisenhower suggested easing the Cold War tensions by face-to-face talks with the Soviet Union

• Two weeks before a scheduled meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev, the Soviets shot down an American U-2 spy plane

• Eisenhower denied that the plane was spying, until he learned that the pilot had been captured.– Krushchev demanded an apology, and

Eisenhower refused. The talks collapsed.

Cold War and Kennedy

• Bay of Pigs Invasion April 1961– Responding to perceived communist

threats, JFK ordered the invasion– An army of Cuban exiles, trained by the

U.S. invaded Cuba• They planned to overthrow Fidel Castro,

Cuba’s Communist leader• Cuban troops easily crushed the U.S.

invasion

Cuban Missile Crisis

• October 1962• Fidel Castro and Nikita Krushchev believed

the U.S. was planning another attack on Cuba

• The U.S. learned that the Soviets were attempting to land nuclear missiles in Cuba– The missiles could reach U.S. cities within

minutes• The Soviets agreed to remove the missiles

and the U.S. promised not to invade Cuba

Cold War leads into Vietnam

• With the fear and suspicion that came with the Cold War, the U.S. made greater efforts to contain communism in Asia– This was done by sending more money

and military advisers into Vietnam

The American Dream

• During the 1950s the American population grew by almost 30 million people – the babyboomers!