The Cold War

Section 23:

• Origins of the Cold War• Truman and containment• The Cold War in Asia: China, Korea, and Japan• Diplomatic strategies and policies of the

Eisenhower administration• Cold War confrontations: Asia, Latin America,

and Europe• The Red Scare and McCarthyism

Two very different ambitions for the future

Soviet Union• Communism- state

controlled all property and economic activity

• Communist party established a totalitarian gov’t with NO opposing parties.

United States• Capitalist- private citizens

controlled almost all economic activity

• Leaders (from competing political parties) were elected by the people

Creation of the United Nations

• Hopes for World Peace were high.

• 4/25/1945- representatives from 50 nations met in San Francisco to establish the United Nations

• Nations would meet and discuss new political ideas and conflict.

• **sometimes used to spread influence over others!

Truman’s policies

• Truman Doctrine: “it must be the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”

• This was used to ensure CONTAINMENT (prevent any extension of communist rule to other countries)

The Struggle of the Superpowers

• Iron Curtain speech was given by Winston Churchill describing the division of Europe between Democracy and Communism– Stalin saw this as a “call to war”

• Marshall Plan: 6/1947 Secretary of State, George Marshall proposed that the U.S. provide aid to all European nations that needed it.– Over the next four years, 16 countries received some $13

billion in aid. Democratic countries were flourishing and Communist countries were not. Communist party was losing their APPEAL

Total aid sent from 1948-1951

Berlin Airlift• At the end of WWII Germany was

divided into four zones.• Soviet Union closed all highways

and rail lines to West Berlin• This cut off food and fuel.• 2.1 million residents had only

enough food to last five weeks• Berlin airlift- America and Britain

flew food and supplies into West Berlin

• 277,000 flight= 2.3 million tons • Within a year Soviet Union lifted

blockade• West Berlin survived and American

prestige was boosted around the world!

Another War

• Only five years after the end of WW II America entered a battle to halt Communist expansion

• This time the enemy was China and North Korea

China becomes a Communist Country

• For two decades Chinese Communists had struggled against nationalist gov’t of Chiang Kai-shek.

• U.S. supported the nationalist and sent over $3 billion in aid• Americans were impressed by how the Chinese had fought

back against Japanese, but many saw Chiang as weak and his policies as corrupt (fired on his own people when they demonstrated against a tax)

• Under communism peasants were encouraged to seek education and food production was increased– *By 1945 most of Northern China was under Communist Control

CommunistsLeader: Mao Zedong

Nationalists:Leader: Chaing Kai-shek

Civil War and Communist takeover

• The Nationalists and Communists worked together to defeat the Japanese but as soon as the war was over they resumed their fighting

• From 1944-1947 America played peacekeeper but supported the Nationalist (we hated Communism!)

• In May of 1949 Communism ruled all of mainland China and the Nationalist fled to Taiwan

• **People’s Republic of China was formed• Americans panic because their policy on CONTAINMENT had

failed. • Did we not give enough aid or was the American gov’t full of

Communist agents??????

The Korean War

• World War II left Korea divided and two separate nations

• North of the 38 parallel became Soviet land and therefore Communist

• South of the 38 parallel surrendered to America and therefore were democratic

• Only 500 American soldiers were left in South Korea after the war. Soviet Union prepares to attack and to gain the whole peninsula

• June 25, 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea

• South Korea asked the United Nations for help.• Truman orders in troops.• 16 nations sent over 520,000 troops with 90%

being American• Troops were under the command of General

Douglas MacArthur

The U.S. fights in Korea• Mac Arthur launches a huge attack.

Within months, UN troops had chased the North to the Yalu River (Korea was soon to be one nation again!)

• Chinese become involved because they wanted N. Korea to be a buffer state.

• Chinese soldiers outnumbered the UN 10 to 1.

• Within 2 months all UN was pushed out of the North

• Fought for two years without either side making important advances

MacArthur V. Truman• MacArthur calls for the use of

nuclear weapons in China.• Truman knows this will start WW

III so he refuses• MacArthur continued to urge for a

war with China and even talked to Newspapers about it.

• Truman fires the general for disobeying his commander

• “Old soldiers never die, they just fade away”

• Investigation showed that Truman had done the right thing by limiting the war

Settling for a Stalemate• Soviet Union suggested a cease

fire on 6/23/1951• Outcome:-Korea was still two nations-Communism had been contained

without use of nuclear weapons-54,000 American lives were lost

and $67 billion spent-Republicans take office

(Eisenhower)-Increased fear of communist

aggression.

The War at Home• Many feared about

Communist takeover• Loyalty Review Board-

investigate gov’t employees and to dismiss anyone seen as disloyal to the U.S.

• 1947-1951- 3.2 million employees were investigated and 212 were dismissed as security risks

• 2,900 resigned because of the violation of constitutional rights

• House Un-American Activities Committee- (HUAC)-investigate Communist threat in the movie industry

• Believed they were sneaking propaganda into the movies

• “Hollywood Ten”- called to testify, but refused

• Blacklisted anyone who had a Communist background. Ruined careers.

• McCarran Internal Security Act: made any action that might lead to the establishment of a totalitarian dictatorship illegal

SPYS??

• Alger Hiss-accused by a former Communist spy, Hiss was proven guilty of spying for the Soviet Union. Prosecuted by Congressmen Richard Nixon

• Ethel and Julius Rosenberg: In 9/1949 Americans learned that the Soviet Union had created and tested an atomic bomb. Put on trial for espionage for leaking information, the Rosenberg's were sentenced to death.

• **First Americans executed for espionage June 1953

McCarthyism

• Anti- Communist Senator Joseph McCarthy launched unsupported attacks of possible Communists

• **Unfair tactic of accusing someone of disloyalty without providing evidence

• Claimed to have a list of over 205 Communists in the state department

• In 1954 McCarthy made accusations against the army. This led to a televised investigation

• Turned the public against Joseph McCarthy

The election of Eisenhower

• America was ready for a change and the election of Dwight Eisenhower brought a Republican in office after 20 years of Democratic Presidents

• President from 1953-1961• Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was staunchly

anti- Communist and proposed that the U.S. could prevent spread of Communists by promising to use all of its force (including nuclear weapons)– *Hydrogen bomb was created in 1942 and was even

more destructive than the A- Bomb

Diplomatic strategies and policies of the Eisenhower

• “Massive retaliation” described the nuclear attack the U.S. would launch if Soviets did anything too daring.

• Deterrence- Soviet fear of massive retaliation would prevent a war challenge, but created an arms race between two competing countries

• The willingness of the U.S. to go to the edge of all-out war became know as Brinkmanship– Trimmed army and navy, but expanded air force and nuclear

weapons (Soviets did the same!)• Domino Theory- if one nation fell to Communism all

others around it would then fall

Cold War tensions remain high

• Joseph Stalin dies in 1953 and the new Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev offered hope of peace

• Called for a “peaceful coexistence” among nations with different economic philosophies. He still believed Communism would take over the world

• Many saw this as weak and resisted against new Soviet Government. Khrushchev crushed uprisings.

• Summit in Geneva- 7/1955 Eisenhower met with Soviet Union. Discussed allowing flights over each others territories. Rejected the proposal, but many saw it as a step toward peace.

A U-2 is shot down!• After Eisenhower's proposal of open skies were shut down, the

CIA began making secret high-altitude flights over Soviet territory.• Plane used for the missions was the U-2• Flying at high altitudes the U-2 took detailed photos of troop

movement and missile sites• This was risky because Eisenhower hoped to negotiated again

with Khrushchev.• May 1, 1960 a Soviet plane shot down the U-2. American pilot

Francis Gary Powers was sentenced to 10 years in Soviet Prison• Khrushchev demanded a stop to the spy work and an apology• Eisenhower stopped the CIA mission, but refused to apologize• The tension between the two superpowers was as great as ever!

The Cold War spreads around the World

• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used spies to gather information abroad.

• The goal was to weaken or overthrown gov’ts unfriendly to the United States and to increase its influence abroad

• CIA coerced newspapers to report disinformation and slant the news in a way favorable to the United States

Replacing old Gov’t with pro-American Gov’ts

• 1951- Iran’s Prime Minister took oil fields owned by Britain. In protest Britain quit buying oil from Iran. We feared they would look to the Soviets for help.

• Helped the Shah (former leader) return to power. He instantly returned the oil fields to Western powers

• 1954 Guatemala- Eisenhower believed there were Communist sympathiesizers in the current gov’t. CIA trained an army who then invaded.

• President resigned and army’s leader took over.

Narrowly avert war in Asia

• American–allied Taiwan occupied two islands close to China

• Taiwan used these islands as bases for raids on the Communists

• After China bombed these islands Eisenhower declared the US would defend the islands against Communist China– Example of BRINKMANSHIP- Going to the limits, even

considered Nuclear warfare with China!• Tension remained high for years and Eisenhower

stationed American troops on the islands