The Cold War

QUICKWRITE

• How is being “cold” to someone different than fighting them?

Cold War

• 1946-1990

• Era of confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States

Events that led to the Cold War

Disagreement over Germany

Soviets’ refusal to honor Declaration of Liberated Europe (Yalta

Conference)

Soviet actions in Poland: no intention of holding free elections

Potsdam Conference: Soviets reluctant to accept US demands; felt bullied by successful a-bomb testing

Communist victory in China

Differences & tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union

The Iron Curtain

Soviet Views vs. American Views

SECURITY1. Concerned about

being invaded twice in less than 30 years by the Germans = keep Germany weak and create buffer states (satellite nations)

2. Communist

ECONOMIC1. Capitalist 2. Concerned about

economic problems 3. Promote Democracy

+ free enterprise = promote economic growth by increasing world trade

SOVIET VIEW AMERICAN VIEW

Containment

• To keep something from spreading

• Containment of communist expansion was a central principle of United States' foreign policy from 1947 to the 1975

Efforts at Containment

Containment

Gave basis for providing military and economic support to nations threatened by communism

Used in Greece and Turkey

Provided aid in terms of money, supplies, and machinery to Western European countries trying to rebuild their economy and resist communism

TRUMAN DOCTRINE MARSHALL PLAN

Strategies for Containing

Communism

Strong Economy

Nuclear weapons

for massive

retaliation

brinkmanship Covert operations

Economy

• The US had to show the world that free enterprise could produce a better more prosperous society than communism

• Economic prosperity would prevent communism from gaining support

Massive Retaliation

• Threaten to use nuclear weapons if Communists tried to seize a territory by force

• Required new technology to deliver nuclear weapons

Success of Massive Retaliation

• Military spending was cut from $50 billion to $34 billion.

• Cut army personnel

• Increased America’s nuclear arsenal

Brinkmanship• The willingness to go to the brink of nuclear

war to force the other side to back down – Korean War: hinted to China = armistice

– Taiwan Crisis: any attempts by China to invade Taiwan would be resisted by the US… HINT, HINT… we have nuclear weapons!

– The Suez Crisis: the Egyptians seized the Suez Canal causing the British and French to retaliate = Soviet threat to attacks on Britain and France... US responds… you use yours, we will use ours… pressure causes Britain and France to back down = diplomatic victory for SU as Arab nations begin accepting their aid

Covert Action

• Hidden operations conducted by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) – Developing nations to

overthrow anti-American leaders and replace them with pro-American leaders

The Cold War on the Homefront

The New Red Scare

- Feared Communists would take over the world

Causes of the New Red Scare

The Hydrogen Bomb – 1953: Soviets test bigger bomb: the H-bomb– Now, Americans afraid of nuclear war

Effect

1. Schools set aside areas as bomb shelters• “duck-and-cover drills”- bomb drills where kids

hid under desks, covering head with hands

2. Fallout shelters: built in backyards, under homes

• Stocked with canned foods, water, batteries, etc.

The Red Scare Spreads

• Joseph R. McCarthy begins witch-hunt for suspected Communists

• McCarthyism: buzz word for damaging reputations with unfounded charges, based on flimsy evidence & irrational fears

McCarthyism

• Public accusation that more than two hundred “card-carrying” communists had infiltrated the United States government.

• The House Un-American Activities Committee had been formed in 1938 as an anti-Communist organ.

• The paranoid hunt for infiltrators was notoriously difficult on writers and entertainers, many of whom were labeled communist sympathizers and were unable to continue working.

• The trials often destroy a career with a single unsubstantiated accusation.

• In all, three hundred and twenty artists were blacklisted including, Arthur Miller, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and Charlie Chaplin.

Effect

• The McCarran Internal Security Act– Now illegal to do anything that would “substantially

contribute to establishment of a totalitarian government

• Communist organizations must register with US attorney general & publish their records

• Restricted Communist Party members• Allowed arrest, detention of Communists &

sympathizers... Truman vetoed bill, but Congress overrides in 1950

• Later, Supreme Court rulings made sure McCarran Act was not effective

Cause and Effect of the Cold War

1. Soviet Union controls Eastern Europe after World War II

2. Chinese Communists win control of mainland China

3. US and Soviet Union explode atomic bombs

1. Marshall Plan provides aid to W. Europe and Japan

2. W. nations form NATO; Communist nations = Warsaw Pact

3. Korean War erupts 4. American and Soviet

arms race 5. Red Scare leads to

hunt for Communists in the US

CAUSES

EFFECTS