America, Russia and the Cold War

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America, Russia and the Cold War

• How we got the world we live in today.

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End of World War II

• 12 Million Gis return home for jobs, homes,
  family
• The alliance with Russia ends and the Cold War
  begins
• The Baby Boom
• The New Prosperity
• The impact of Television

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Impact of Lend Lease
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Russia and Its Security
Russia had suffered highest losses of the war
20 million deaths and much of its industry
destroyed. But it had the largest army in Europe.
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Russias Eastern Bloc
Poland
Czech.
Hungary
Romania
Yugo.
Bulgaria
The Russian armies controlled much of eastern
Europe as the war ended.
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Unity with Tanks
Russian tanks crush uprising in Hungary, 1956
The Soviet Union kept its hold over Eastern
Europe with military force, using armed force to
suppress independence movements in Hungary in
1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968.
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Meeting at Potsdam
In July 1945, President Truman met with Churchill
and Stalin at Potsdam. Churchill was replaced as
Prime Minister of Britain before the conference
ended. Stalin promised he would hold free
elections in Poland and the other countries
Russia occupied he lied.
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Dividing and Occupying
The US, Britain, Russia, and France, occupied
Germany, dividing the country (and the capitol)
into 4 zones. Cooperation soon became difficult.
Russia literally looted its zone of anything of
value.
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Iron Curtain
In response to the Russian domination of Poland,
Truman cut off aid to Russia and invited
Churchill to the U.S. in 1946, to warn Americans
that an iron curtain was falling over eastern
Europe. The Cold War was on.
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Truman Doctrine
Angry over Stalins failure to keep his Potsdam
promises, Truman stopped Lend Lease aid to
Russia. In 1947, he also promised extensive aid
to Greece to prevent its government from falling
to communist insurgents. This Truman Doctrine
was a key step in the U.S.-Soviet rivalry for
influence in Europe.
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Europe in Shambles
Secretary of State George Marshal warned Truman
and Congress that, without substantial American
help, the economy of Europe would not recover
from the war. Another world-wide depression
could result in war and a communist victory.
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Marshall Plan
A much more extensive aid program was the
Marshall Plan, inaugurated in 1947-48, it granted
extensive aid toward restoring the economy of
western Europe. Because the Soviet Union would
not permit American agents to inspect economic
conditions in the eastern nations his armies
occupied, no aid went to those countries.
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National Security
In 1947, the U.S. Congress passed the National
Security Act, which merged the armed services
under the Department of Defense, created the CIA
and the National Security, and set a goal of
coordinating national defense with the policy of
containment of Soviet influence.
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Berlin Airlift
In 1948-49, the Soviet Union tried to drive the
U.S. and Britain out of Germany with the the
blockade of Berlin. The U.S. used aircraft to
fly supplies to west Berlin.
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The Red Menace
In addition to the natural antagonism that
existed between a capitalist and a communist
system, American groups were further convinced
that the USSR intended to use any means to spread
its influence across the globe.
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NATO
In 1949, the U.S. led in the organization of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an
alliance that pledged the U.S. to bring military
aid to any NATO member attacked by aggressors
the first U.S. military peacetime alliance
commitment in its history.
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Containment
Because another major war would involve atomic
bombs, the U.S. sought another strategy for
dealing with Russia. George Kennan (right) a
senior State Department analyst, suggested
containment use American financial (and
military) power to keep Russian influence out of
other countries.
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The War for Hearts and Minds
Containment would dominate the Cold Wars
struggle within the Third World -- the poorer
nations in Africa, Asia and South America that
could opt for communism or capitalism as their
guide for economic growth.Critics charged that
this meant creating either a slave world or
consumer world.
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The United Nations
One element of the Cold war strategy was for the
United States to make use of the United Nations
when this would help deter communist influence.
Arthur Vandenberg (left), a former isolationist,
pushed a resolution calling on the US to support
the UN goals for peace, collective security and
world prosperity.
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Balance of Terror
Russia detonates an atomic bomb in August 1949.
U.S. responds by developing the H-bomb, NATO,
giving atomic secrets to Britain Russia tests
hydrogen bombs in August 1953. U.S. concludes
spies have stolen atomic secrets.
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War in Korea
In June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea.
Because the U.S. feared an all-out war would mean
use of atomic bombs, it met the crisis by using a
United Nations force to fight a 3-year police
action, until North Korea accepted a cease fire.
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Red Scare

• Evidence suggested that spies had given the
  Soviet Union information on the construction of
  an atomic bomb.
• In 1948-49, the government of China had been
  driven out by the communist guerillas on Mao
  Zedong, and Red China subsequently aided North
  Korea with several hundred thousand volunteers
• Dis-satisfaction over the Korean War enabled many
  to charge that parts of the U.S. government and
  society were soft on communism.
• In 1950, Wisconsin Joseph McCarthy charged that
  U.S. government offices harbored many Soviet
  agents.

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McCarthyism
Joe McCarthys fame as Americas number one
commie hunter was made by newspapers in 1954,
he was ruined by television by his boorish
behavior.
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Prosperity at Home, Cold War Abroad

• The U.S. had tremendous prosperity in the 1950s
  with an increase in national income each year.
• But to counter the spread of Soviet influence,
  the U.S. also maintained a peacetime draft
  (Universal Military Training), and a large
  peacetime army, navy, and air force.
• Military expenditure was large part of the
  American economy.
• The U.S. also kept a well- funded Central
  Intelligence Agency, (CIA, created from the
  wartime OSS) to conduct secret wars against
  Soviet power.

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European Economics
In 1957, several western European nations formed
a common market by allowing free trade across
their borders. While this aided economic growth,
Britains refusal to join prevented Europe from
fully competing with American trade for another
decade.
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New Industries
Part of European recovery was based on advanced
technology like smaller, less expensive cars
that would appeal to even American families in
the 1960s.
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Electronics
Japan forged its economic recovery with a much
updated steel and auto industry (using robotic
arms invented in the US) and with electronics
transistor radios, and smaller, less expensive
TVs that had remote controls. All of this would
cut deeply into American markets in the 1960s.
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Highways for Military Transport
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Overturning Governments
One CIA operation was in 1953, when Arbenz, the
President of Guatemala, was overthrown for
accepting Soviet aid and for nationalizing land
owned by the United Fruit Company. Guatemalas
new head was a military dictator who was provided
with U.S. military aid.
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A Pro-American Hemisphere
Throughout the Cold war, the U.S. acted to
prevent any strong pro-Soviet state from emerging
south of the border except Cuba.
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Utilizing a Nuclear Threat
Both the U.S. and the Soviet Union maintained
large numbers of nuclear weapons. They were
cheaper than standing armies (more bang for a
buck) and could produce peace by a no-winner
formula Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD).
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Sputnik
When the Russians placed a satellite in earth
orbit in 1957, it triggered a concern that their
missiles were better than those of the US. This
led to an intense drive to develop better
American missiles and a push for better science
education.
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Missile Race
Building better, bigger, more accurate missiles
consumed billions of dollars competition in
arms technology would eventually drive the Soviet
Union into economic ruin.
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Southeast Asia and the Domino Theory
The collapse of Frances empire in southeast Asia
prompted the US to establish SEATO (the Pacific
version of NATO) in 1954 and extend aid to
several new nations otherwise they would fall
like dominos to communism.
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JFK The Cold Warrior
In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected as
President. Young, seemingly vigorous, he
committed the US to pay any price, bear any
burden, meet any hardship, support any friend,
oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival
and the success of liberty.
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Cuban Missile Crisis
In 1962, Kennedy ordered the blockade of Castros
Cuba after learning that Soviet missiles had been
placed on the island. A Third World War seemed
likely for two weeks in this classic
brinkmanship confrontation, before Russia
blinked and withdrew the missiles.
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Going into Vietnam
In 1963, concerned that the corrupt government
was driving more Vietnamese into the arms of the
communists, the CIA helped the Vietnamese army
overthrow President Diem. The US military warned
Lyndon Johnson in 1964 that American ground
troops would soon be needed in South Vietnam.
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Tonkin Gulf Incident
After US ships reported being attacked by North
Vietnamese boats in the Tonkin Gulf, Defense Sec.
McNamara persuaded Johnson to begin bombing sites
in North Vietnam.
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Escalation of Vietnam
The American troop commitment grew and grew,
until some 550.000 were in the country by
1968-70. As the fighting in Vietnam dragged on,
President Johnsons popularity fell. An antiwar
movement in America divided the country. For the
first time since the early 1950s, substantial
numbers of people began to have doubts about the
anti-communist emphasis of American foreign
policy.
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Disaffection over Anti-communism.
The Cold War also affected US ties in rest of the
world. France withdrew from NATO in the 1960s.
Britain refrained from supporting the war in
Vietnam, while Canada granted safe haven to draft
resistors. India began to accept more aid from
Russia and other Asian countries condemned the
American presence in Southeast Asia.
Anti-war protestors, being arrested in 1968.
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The Great Society
Lyndon Johnson had committed the Federal
government to an ambitious domestic program the
Great Society, with huge investments in
education, elimination of poverty, and support of
cultural development. But as the cost of Vietnam
grew, funding for the Great Society program
declined.
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Civil Rights

• The nation also divided in the 1960s over the
  Civil Rights movement. Most citizens accepted
  Federal laws to protect minority voting rights
  and guarantee assistance for education and
  economic development. But many resisted
  proposals to integrate neighborhoods and increase
  taxes for minority job training.
• Urban riots, in such cities as Los Angeles,
  Detroit, and Newark, also worried white voters,
  as did the decline in US trade once Europe and
  Asia had rebuilt their own industry.
• Protests against the war, and the assassinations
  of Malcolm X in 1965 and Martin Luther King in
  1968 marked a turning point middle-class
  American began worrying more about law and order
  than civil rights.

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Mending Fences in Asia
As the American commitment to Vietnam faltered,
Richard Nixon, elected president in 1968, sought
to reach an understanding with the Peoples
Republic of China. His trip to China in 1971,
greatly altered foreign policy.
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Détente
The new foreign policy was détente (a French
word that literally means to let up on a drawn
bow string). Nixon met with Soviet leaders to
discuss disarmament, increased American-Russian
trade.
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Defeat
The impeachment Nixon in 1974 and the fall of
South Vietnam in 1975 were the most embarrassing
American moments since before World War II.
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Limiting the Bomb
Détente continued under President Jimmy Carter,
who reached an agreement with the Soviets over
arms reductions in a SALT (strategic arms
limitations) treaty in the late 1970s.
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Terrorism
One reason that the US and Russia agreed to
Nuclear non-proliferation (checking the spread
of nuclear arms) was the increasing activities of
terrorists. Most Americans ignored terrorism
until 1972, when terrorists killed Israeli
athletes at the Munich Olympics.
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Economic Woes
The 1970s were a time of reduced American
exports, rising prices, uncertain employment, and
concerns about the increasing Federal and
national debts. The failure Presidents Ford and
Carter to solve these problems gave a boost to
conservative candidates.
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Iran Hostages
Carters already-shaky presidency was wrecked in
1979-80, when Iranian militants (with the new of
the new Shiite-dominated Iranian government) held
over 100 Americans hostage in Tehran. People
began to realize that the Middle East contained
issues beyond the Cold War.
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The Middle East
The Middle East Question was a complex mix of
Americas commitment to Israel, American need for
oil, a number of young nations (formerly colonies
of France and Britain) that contained numerous
ethnic and religious rivalries, historic Russian
ambitions, and sheer ignorance about the cultures
of this part of the world.
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Israel-Palestine
At the heart of the Middle east puzzle (at least
for most Americans) was oil and the fact that the
nation of Israel was created in the late 1940s on
lands claimed by the ethnic Moslems of Palestine.
Palestinian refugees made up the cadres of many
early terrorist groups in the region.
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Middle East Accords

• In efforts to reduce Arab-Israeli tensions (and
  wars), and check the growth of terrorism in the
  region, the US has tried repeatedly to broker
  Middle East Accords various agreements have
  been negotiated but few have succeeded for long.
• In the late 1970s, Egypt and Israel reached an
  understanding (with American help), that has
  kept Egypt out of the most of the Middle East
  violence.
• In 1993, the Oslo Accord paved the way for a
  Palestinian state, which was proclaimed in 2000.
  But great tensions between Israel and Palestine
  since 2000 has led to growing violence once again.

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Reagan Era
The election of Ronald Reagan as president in
1980 marked a shift in foreign policy away from
détente to the older, more confrontational Cold
Wear stance. Many conservatives believed that
the US had yielded too much military advantage in
the disarmament talks, and now sought to reassert
American leadership in the world.
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Reagan Doctrine
Reagans pledge to role back communism in the
world, and assist any anti-communist
insurgents, became known as the Reagan doctrine.
When CIA and military officers, with White House
knowledge, sold arms to Iraq and used the money
gained to give arms to freedom fighters in
Central America, Congress investigated
Republicans and Democrats could no longer agree
on a foreign policy consensus.
Congressional hearings on the Iran-Contra
affair exposed major party differences on foreign
policy.
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Russias Vietnam
In 1979, Soviet troops went into Afghanistan to
support a group of Moslem traditionalists against
a pro-American government. This triggered a long
guerilla war, with heavy Russian loses and
eventually defeat. US aid to the anti-Russian
guerillas (including a group led by Osama Bin
Laden) was part of a Cold war victory but also
the seeds of a long-term problem with terrorism.
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Glasnost
Severe economic difficulties (partly from
military costs), and growing numbers of
disaffected Russians, forced Soviet premier
Gorbachev to proclaim a policy of glasnost
(openness) in Russia. People now could openly
talk about the Soviet systems defects.
Gorbachev discovered he could control Glasnost
or close the Pandoras Box it opened.
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Perestroika

• In an effort to salvage the Russian economy,
  Gorbachev also decreed perestroika- allowing an
  open-market economy to flourish in small
  businesses.
• Perestroika and Glasnost divided the Communist
  Party and Soviet leadership. Hard-liners warned
  Gorbachev that these policies would destroy party
  control of the USSR. When he ignored their
  warnings they began to plan a coup.
• Several of the Soviet republics (noting that more
  and more Russian soldiers were in Afghanistan)
  agitated for independence.
• Even as the USSR withdrew from Afghanistan, the
  nation was in danger of falling into a civil war.

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The Eastern Bloc Collapses
As Soviet power declined (as a Russian soldiers
rebelled for not receiving any pay) the Warsaw
Pact nations asserted their own independence.
Germans tore down the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the
country was reunited. One by one, the eastern
nations overthrew their Communist leaders. The
USSR took no action to stop this.
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Soviet Collapse
In 1991, Soviet hard-liners attempted to reassert
Communist authority by detaining Gorbachev and
sending troops to Moscow to shut down the
rebellious Russian parliament. Russian
Federation President Yeltsin led a band of
citizens in defying the troops, who refused to
fire on the crowd. The Soviet Union had
collapsed.
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The New Europe
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Neo-Isolationism?

• In the 1990s, American foreign policy generally
  focused on realignment in light of the end of
  the Cold War.
• After the Gulf War of 1991, the American military
  budget was reduced, and dropped slowly for the
  remainder of the decade.
• US military actions were undertaken as part of UN
  mandates (in Bosnia and Somalia).
• Foreign aid costs were also reduced.

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Fighting Terrorism
Following 9/11, the US committed itself to a
long-term battle against terrorism, beginning
with a military action in Afghanistan.
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Bush Doctrine
The Bush Doctrine against terrorism has led to
an increase in American influence in the world,
but also a resentment against the United States.
Beyond the question of who is a terrorist,
rests another uncertainty how long will
Americans be willing to carry out this new
crusade?