US History since 1865

1
US History since 1865

• The Coming of the Cold War

2
The Story of the Bomb (I)

• a. the idea originated in Germany scientists
  driven away, slowing down the German research
• b. FDR was alerted of the split of the uranium
  atom from a letter by Albert Einstein in 1939
• c. Manhattan Project was created on August 13,
  1942, eventually spending over 2 billion to
  build the bombs
• d. The first chain reaction was achieved at the
  University of Chicago on December 2, 1942

3
The Story of the Bomb (II)

• e. Gigantic labs were built in Oak Ridge, TN,
  Hartofrd, WA and Los Alamos, NM
• f. A successful test was conducted on July 16,
  1945 in the NM desert.  "A few laughed a few
  cried, most remained silent, shocked at the
  energy they had released.  In the words of Robert
  Oppenheimer, "I am becoming death, the shatterer
  of worlds.  We are all S.O.B.s."
• g. It did not take too long to decide where and
  when to drop the bombs.  Two were built and both
  were used.

4
The Story of the Bomb (III)

• h. The Potsdam Declaration was issued on July 25,
  demanding Japan to surrender unconditionally or
  face utter destruction.
• i. The first one was dropped on Hiroshima on
  August 6, 1945.  The Soviet Union declared war on
  Japan the next day. The second one was dropped on
  August 9, 1945.  As many as 140,000 people in
  Hiroshima and 80,000 in Nagasaki may have died
  from the bombings by the end of 1945 j. Japan
  surrendered on August 14, 1945 when U.S. agreed
  to allow it to keep the monarchy

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The Debate on the Use of the Bomb (I)

• For the use of the bomb
• Truman, "Japs are savages, ruthless, merciless
  and fanatic."
• To destroy Japan's capacity to make war
• To shorten the war so as to save American lives
• To humiliate the enemy which had humiliated the
  U.S. in Pearl Harbor
• To intimidate Russians to be manageable in
  Eastern Europe Churchill "It was now no longer
  necessary for the Russians to come into the
  Japanese war.  The new explosive alone was
  sufficient to settle the matter."
• To justify to Congress and the people the
  expenditure of 2 billion

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The Debate on the Use of the Bomb (II)

• Against the use of the bomb
• US had no major military operations planned
  before November 1945 plenty of time to wait and
  see
• bomb was not planned for a military target
• Americans expected Russians to join the war on
  August 8 but they dropped the bomb on August 6
  and 9
• Truman inexperienced and ignorant "I hope for
  some sort of peace--but I fear that machines are
  ahead of morals by some centuries and when morals
  catch up perhaps there will be no reason for any
  of it.  I hope not.  But we are only termites on
  a planet and maybe when we bore too deeply into
  the planet there will be a reckoning--who knows?"
  
• Truman never told Stalin about the bomb except to
  say that the US had a new weapon
• US never informed Japan that it was willing not
  to dethrone the emperor
• Japanese viewed as a less superior race

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The Debate on the Use of the Bomb (III)

• Final Outcome
• Japan was punished enough and Americans were
  apologetic
• Japan was turned into a peaceful nation
• It stopped the Russian Red Army's march and
  avoided a three power occupation of Japan

8
The Poland Issue

• a. Stalin "Poland is not only a question of
  honor but of life and death for the Soviet
  Union."
• b. West It is the outpost of European
  civilization holding back the slavs and the
  Asians ready to overrun the continent.
• c. Truman v. Molotov the former yelled at the
  latter like a Missouri mule driver "Carry your
  agreements and you won't get talked like that."
• d. growing suspicion and lend-lease shipments to
  the Soviet Union suspended on V-E day
• e. Desiring to have oil concessions in Iran,
  Stalin refused to withdraw Russian troops strong
  and stern warning from Truman Russians withdrew

9
The Iron Curtain Speech (3/5/1946) 

• a. Winston Churchill, in Fulton, Missouri,
  declaring that an iron curtain was falling across
  Europe.  He wanted to lift the curtain, to
  liberate Eastern Europe, and to hold back the
  Russians.  He suggested a fraternal association
  of the English-speaking peoples
• b. Stalin responded with full fury of a wounded
  animal, accusing  Churchill of being a racist
  like Hitler
• c. Within weeks, Stalin rejected membership to
  World Bank and IMF and launched an ideological
  campaign to eradicate Western influences

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The Truman Doctrine (1947) (I)

• a. Demobilization in the U.S. army strength from
  8 million to one million navy from 3.5 million
  to less than one million
• b. Marshall no resources to give Russia or China
  hell
• c. February 21, 1947, the British ambassador
  informed the State Department that London could
  no longer provide aid to Greece and Turkey
• d. If Greece were lost, Turkey would be
  untenable one rotten apple would infect the
  whole barrel
• e. Arthur Vanderberg, Republican chair of the
  Senate Foreign Affairs Committee advised Truman
  that to push through an aid bill he had to "scare
  the hell out of the American people."

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The Truman Doctrine (1947) (II)

• f. On March 12, Truman addressed the joint
  session of Congress, declaring "I believe that it
  must be the policy of the United States to
  support free peoples who are resisting attempted
  subjugation by armed minorities or by outside
  pressures."
• g. This defined American foreign policy for the
  next generation and beyond to help all
  anti-Communist powers with economic, political
  and military assistance
• h. On May 15, Congress appropriated 400 million
  for Greece and Turkey for the first time in its
  history the U.S. had chosen to intervene during a
  period of general peace in the affairs of peoples
  outside North and South Americas

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The Marshall Plan (1947) (I)

• a. Europe was in economic reconstruction and
  needed massive aid
• b. Only with a healthy economy could Europe
  support the troops necessary to stop the Red Army
  
• c. Only with a robust economy could infiltration
  of Communism be prevented
• d. The participation of Germany was crucial
• e. Russians were nominally included but the
  conditions were such that their inclusion was an
  impossibility
• f. On June 5, 1947, Marshall gave a speech at
  Harvard and invited European nations to gather
  themselves and draw up a plan for economic aid

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The Marshall Plan (1947) (II)
g. At the end of August 16 nations submitted a
plan calling for an economic aid package of 28
billion over four years h. It was reduced to 17
billion and presented to Congress for approval
i. It was called an international WPA, a bold
socialist blueprint, a European TVA, a
meaningless waste of American money. j. It was
passed by Congress in December in the wake of the
Communist coup in Czechoslovakia
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The National Security Act (1947)

• a. creation of a defense department
• b. creation of the joint chief of staff
• c. creation of the NSC
• d. creation of the CIA--later authorized to
  engage in clandestine operations directed against
  Soviet Union and Communists elsewhere
• e. separation of the Army and the Air Force

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George Kennan and "The Source of Soviet Conduct"
(1947) (I)
a. His article published in Foreign Affairs under
the name of "X" b. He argued that Soviet were
motivated by two beliefs the innate antagonism
between capitalism and Socialism the sense of
humiliation and insecurity c. Moscow had a goal
of world conquest but it was patient and
tenacious and its political action a fluid stream
moving toward a given goal d. However, Russians
did not pose a military threat and did not want
war it was a political as well as an economic
challenge e. It should be met  with "long-term,
patient but firm and vigilant containment."
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George Kennan and "The Source of Soviet Conduct"
(1947) (II)

• The Soviet Union would eventually collapse
  because
• the lack of balance between internal security and
  the terrible cost of human life and energies
• the creeping in of disillusionment
• uneven industrial development
• instable transfer of power
• inborn disunity and instability
• the Soviet movement an afterglow still shining on
  the discontented people
• no mystical, Messianic movement ever succeeded in
  world history

17
The Berlin Blockade (1948)

• a. Merger of the three powers and the creation of
  West Germany
• b. Russians responded by blockading Berlin and on
  all water and ground traffic
• c. Talk of surrendering Berlin was dropped in the
  fear of a chain reaction
• d. Berlin airlift was launched 13,000 tons of
  goods were flown into Berlin for the next eleven
  months

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The Moscow Had the Bomb and the NSC-68
a. On September 22, 1949, the Soviet Union
exploded its first nuclear device b. Senator
Vanderberg remarked that "This is going to be a
different world." c. On January 30, 1950, Truman
authorized the State Department to make an
overall review and reassessment of American
foreign and defense policy in the light of the
loss of China, the Soviet mastery of atomic
energy and prospect of the fusion bomb d. It was
the first comprehensive statement of national
strategy in the Cold War period e. It extended
the Truman Doctrine and turned the US into a
global police. f. It was not implemented until
the war in Korea broke out.
19
The Loss of China (1949)

• a. The Nationalist and Communist struggles
• b. The Marshall Mission
• c. The retreat of the Nationalist government
• d. The White Paper blaming the loss of China on
  Chiang Kai-shek and declared that US could not
  prevent the coming to power of the Communists in
  China short of massive military intervention.

20
The Korean War (I)

• a. War broke out on June 25, 1950 when the North
  invaded the South
• b. With the Soviets boycotting the UN, decision
  was made to intervene with forces from 16 nations
  
• c. The Inchon landing routed the North Korean
  troops in September 1950
• d. Chinese gave warning that UN forces should not
  cross the 38th Parallel
• e. General MacArthur was determined to roll
  across the Parallel and unify the Korean
  peninsular

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The Korean War (II)

• f. Wake Island meeting between President Truman
  and General MacArthur
• g. Chinese volunteers intervened massively on
  October 25, 1950
• h. MacArthur called for an all out war against
  China, including dumping nuclear waste along the
  Yalu River
• i. Truman fired MacArthur in April 1951--taking
  on China would involve us in the wrong war at the
  wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong
  enemy
• j. Ceasefire was reached on June 24, 1951 but
  final truce was not signed until July 1953

22
The Korean War (III)
A map of the Korean War
23
The Second Red Scare (I)

• a. The Ameriasia Affair in 1945 with the arrest
  of Philip Jaffe and John Service
• b. Truman began the loyalty program in the
  federal government in March 1947
• c. The Alger Hiss case in 1949
• d. Nixon won national fame due to his pursuit of
  Alger Hiss and won the senate race in California
• e. The Rosenbergs were arrested in 1950,
  convicted and executed in 1953

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The Second Red Scare (II)

• f. Joseph McCarthy led the crusade against
  Communist elements in the US government (205, 81
  and 57)
• e. McCarthy "lied with wild abandon he lied
  without evident fear he lied vividly and with
  bold imagination he lied, often, with very
  little pretense of telling the truth."
• f. led to the passage of the McCarran Internal
  Security Act over Turman's veto.  This law made
  it unlawful to "combine, conspire, or agree with
  any other person to perform any act which would
  substantially contribute to the establishment of
  a totalitarian dictatorship."
• g. McCarthy was censured.

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The Second Red Scare (III)
26
The Second Red Scare (IV)

• "We won the Hiss case in the papers.  We did.  I
  had to leak stuff all over the place.  Because
  the Justice Department would not prosecute it. 
  Hoover didn't even cooperate.  It was won in the
  papers.  We have to develop a program, a program
  for leaking out information.  We're destroying
  these people in the papers."
• "I had Hiss convicted before he got to the grand
  jury....I no longer have the energy, but we
  need a son of a bitch who will work his butt off
  and do it dishonorably.  I know how to play the
  game and we're going to play it." July 1, 1971
  
• "In the Hiss case they were all against me.  We
  never got a thing a leak out of the grand jury
  until they indicted." July 2, 1971

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The Second Red Scare (IV)
28
The Game of Naming Names

• a. Witch hunt in Hollywood b. Elia Kazan c.
  Lillian Hellman "There is no Communist menace in
  this country and you know it.  You have made
  cowards in liars, an ugly business. . ."  She
  refused to name names.  "Thank God somebody
  finally had the guts to do it."