The Cold War Begins 1945-1952
Chapter 36
Return to a Peacetime Economy
After WWII was over people continued to spend money, preventing inflation
GI Bill was created to help veterans buy homes, go to college, and establish businesses
The cost of living rose and workers went on strike for better pay
Truman’s Domestic Program
Truman fought against a Republican Congress to: Expand Social Security Benefits Raise minimum wage from 40¢
to 75¢ an hour Clear public housing and slums Plan a system of national health
insurance Protect African Americans’ right
to vote Abolish poll taxes Make lynching a federal crime
Most of his efforts were unsuccessful, until after the 1948 election and even then the civil rights legislation and health insurance would not pass
The Long Telegram
Because of increased tension with the USSR, George Kennan sent a telegram of 5540 words explaining Soviet goals as he saw them from the US Embassy in Moscow
He claimed that Communists believed they were in a long-term struggle against capitalism and weren’t going to budge
Kennan proposed containing Communism, rather than fighting it, and this is the position the Truman administration accepted
The Truman Doctrine
The Soviets attempted to push into Greece and Turkey to have a direct line to the Mediterranean
Communist groups launched a guerilla was in Greece and Britain helped fight back, but couldn’t stay long
Truman asked Congress for $400 million to help fight Communist aggression in Greece and Turkey
He outlined a policy of aiding “free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures” later known as the Truman Doctrine
The Marshall Plan Postwar Western Europe was
facing terrible problems Economies in ruin, people near
starvation, political chaos Secretary of State George C.
Marshall proposed the European Recovery Program (known as the Marshall Plan) to give money to rebuild the economies of Western Europe
The Soviet Union rejected the offer for help, but Western Europe accepted and it was successful, making communism much less appealing
West Germany is Founded
By 1948 the US concluded the Soviets were deliberately trying to undermine the German economy
We decided to merge our portion of Germany with France and Britain to create the Federal Republic of Germany (aka West Germany) and allow it to be independent to prevent it from joining the Soviet Union
The Berlin Airlift
In 1948 Soviet troops cut all road and rail traffic to West Berlin
Truman ordered long-range bombers with atomic weapons to bases in Britain and warned the Soviets of what might happen
Truman then ordered cargo planes to drop food, medicine, and coal to the people of Berlin to show our support for them
NATO The Berlin blockade
convinced many Americans to back military alliance with Western Europe and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created
NATO members agreed to come to the aid of any member who was attacked
6 years later NATO allowed West Germany to rearm and join NATO, which alarmed the Soviets who responded by organizing the Warsaw Pact (basically a NATO for Eastern Europe)
The Cold War Spreads to East Asia
China became Communist after WWII and signed a treaty of friendship and alliance with the Soviet Union
We had new interest in helping Japan to recover from WWII to prevent Communism from spreading in Asia
President Truman announced in 1949 that there had been an explosion in the USSR, shocking Americans
Plans went ahead for the development of a hydrogen bomb (thermonuclear) to reestablish the U.S. as the world’s leading nuclear power
Election of 1948 Most people thought Truman
would surely lose the election because of how charismatic his opponent, Thomas Dewey, was
Truman traveled more than 20,000 miles and made more than 350 speeches
Truman called Congress the “Do Nothing” congress because of their failure to pass his legislative agenda The idea stuck, and not only did
Truman win, but Congress regained a Democratic majority after the election
HUAC and the Hollywood Ten
All new federal employees were investigated and the FBI looked into current employees who might be disloyal
The HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee) was formed to investigate disloyalty during WWII
Claiming that movies had tremendous influence over the public, many Hollywood figures were accused of being members of the Communist party
The celebrities had to face a committee with little chance to defend themselves
Ten refused to answer the committee’s questions and were cited for contempt of Congress and served jail terms
Hollywood would now focus on pure entertainment because people were afraid of being blacklisted
The Red Scare Congress passed the
McCarran-Walter Act to reaffirm the quota system established in 1924 and discriminate against immigrants from Asia and Southern and Central Europe
President Truman vetoed the bill calling it “one of the most un-American acts I have ever witnessed in my public career,” but Congress passed it over the veto
Spy Cases Inflame the Nation
Alger Hiss was accused by Whittaker Chambers, a former communist and Time magazine editor, of having been a communist
Hiss sued his accuser for slander and Chambers then accused him of being a spy
Hiss was not tried for espionage because of the statute of limitations, but was tried for lying to a federal grand jury investigating him for espionage and was convicted
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were members of the Communist Party and were accused of passing atomic secrets to the Soviets during WWII
They were convicted and executed for espionage
After examining once-classified U.S. and Soviet records, it appears that both Alger Hiss and Julius Rosenberg were guilty, though Ethel Rosenberg herself may only have had knowledge of her husband’s espionage
Dividing Korea After WWII American and
Soviet forces entered Korea to disarm the Japanese troops stationed there and divided Korea at the 38th parallel North Korea became Soviet
controlled South Korea became US
controlled The North Koreans had a well
equipped army and invaded the South to claim control
Troops were taken from Japan to fight back
China then entered the war on the side of North Korea
UN Police Action The United States had
blocked Communist China’s admission into the UN and the Soviet delegation walked out in protest
Because of this, President Truman was able to bring the issue of North Korean aggression to the UN and the USSR was not there to exercise its veto power to approve resolutions to brand North Korea an aggressor and have member countries help defend South Korea
Waging the War MacArthur (in charge of the Korean
War) asked Truman for a blockade of Chinese ports and the use of atomic weapons on Chinese cities as a part of his “Home by Christmas” offensive
Truman refused and MacArthur sent a letter to House Minority Leader Joseph Martin, which was later made public In the letter, MacArthur attacked the
President’s policies Truman fired MacArthur for
insubordination, but MacArthur was still popular with the people
The Communist forces were eventually pushed back into North Korea and an armistice signed in 1953
The Effects of the Korean War
Americans questioned the war and whether the government was serious about stopping communism because of the limited success of the war
The Korean War was the first war in which white and black Americans served in the same units
Led to huge military spending, almost half the federal budget by 1960
Further stressed relations with Communist China