The Cold War

1
The Cold War

• Origins of the Cold War

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1945- A Critical Year

• US and Soviet Union were Allies as a temporary
  arrangement during WWII.
• US did not recognize the legal existence of
  Soviet government until 1933
• At the Yalta Conference- Roosevelt, Churchill,
  and Stalin met to discuss the arrangements of
  Germany and Poland. Soviet gained East Germany
  while US, France, and British gained West Germany
• Churchill and FDR rejected Stalins demand that
  Germany pay 10 billion in war damages
• Disputes over Poland caused stress on US and
  Soviet relations

3
The United Nations

• The United Nations was a new international
  peacekeeping organization.
• League of Nations failed because the United
  States refused to join
• UN stated they were going to try and stop wars
  from starting, end the ones that broke out, and
  settle differences peacefully
• Members included US, SU, GB, China, and France

4
Truman takes Command

• FDR passed away in April 1945, VP Harry Truman
  took over as president
• Truman met with Stalin at the Potsdam Conference-
  Stalin insisted on German war payments and Truman
  insisted on Polish elections. Truman also
  mentioned the new Atom Bomb that had just been
  tested in New Mexico, which instilled fear in
  Stalin.

5
Postwar Goals

• US fought to bring democracy and economic
  opportunity to the conquered nations of Europe
• Soviet Union wanted to rebuild after loosing a
  tremendous amount of people.
• Satellite Nations- countries subject to Soviet
  domination on their borders.

6
Soviets Tighten Hold

• Soviets took over Albania, Bulgaria,
  Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and East
  Germany.
• Stalin installed communist governments in all
  nations while he slowly took power.

7
IRON CURTAIN

• Winston Churchill gave an Iron Curtain Speech.
• An Iron Curtain laid across the continent
  dividing communism from capitalism and if nothing
  was done communism would take over all of Europe.
  American was called on to help
• Stalins speech and Churchills speech set tone
  for the COLD WAR

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COLD WAR

• Cold War- competition that developed between the
  United States and the Soviet Union for world
  power.
• Lasted for over forty years until1991 the
  collapse of the Soviet Union.
• Rivalry stopped just short of a hot war between
  the two nations.

9
Containment

• American policy for resisting further expansion
  of communism around the world (George Keenan,
  American Diplomat)

10
The Truman Doctrine

• A declaration by president Truman that the United
  States would support nations that were being
  threatened by communism.
• The Truman doctrine is a policy of containment
  which gave the US power and dominance

11
Marshall Plan

• Secretary of state George Marshall created this
  plan which called for all European nations to
  draw up a program of economic recovery from the
  war and the US would then support the program
  with financial aid.
• The plan would help European economic recovery
  and create strong democracies while opening new
  markets for American goods.
• Soviet Union refused to participate
• Marshall Plan was the turning point in the war!!!
• Marshall Plan European Recovery Program

12
Molotov Plan

• 1949 Soviet Union plan of economic aide to
  Eastern Europe. Established a new organization
  COMECON- Council for Mutual Economics Assistance
• Named after Soviet Union foreign Minister
  Vyacheslav Molotov

13
Berlin Blockade and Berlin Airlift

• Stalin was not going to allow the reunification
  of West Germany, so western allies prepared to
  merge
• Soviets created East Germany
• Westcapitalists East Communist
• Stalin cut off supplies with a BLOCKADE which
  created severe shortages of food and supplies for
  2.5 million people
• Berlin Airlift- Truman moved supplies into West
  Berlin for 15 months by plane and soviets finally
  gave up blockade

14
NATO

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  (NATO)-association of the democratic peace-loving
  states and an armed attack against one or more
  of the nations, shall be considered an attack
  against them all.
• Canadian Foreign Minister St. Louis St. Laurent
• Countries include United States, Canada,
  Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Iceland,
  Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and
  Portugal
• Collective security- principal of mutual military
  assistance

15
Warsaw Pact

• Soviet Union responded to NATO and created the
  Warsaw Pact- a military alliance with satellite
  nations in Eastern Europe

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Communist Advances

• Truman announced that we have evidence that
  within recent weeks an atomic explosion occurred
  in the USSR.
• This was scary for the American people they could
  not imagine the thought of Hiroshima or Nagasaki
  on American soil.
• Americans started to make advances in nuclear
  weapons (hydrogen bomb) which was many times more
  destructible than the atomic bomb
• 1952 hydrogen bomb tested and declared US the
  worlds leading nuclear power
• People were planning how to survive a nuclear
  attack! (bomb shelters)

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Bomb Shelter
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The struggle in China

• China fell to communism under leadership of Mao
  Zedong
• Chiang Kai-shek- Leader of Chinese government and
  the Nationalists
• Mao Zedong- Communist leader in China who
  overthrew their government
• 1949- US did not aid and Chinas capital,
  Beijing, fell to communist.
• Chiang and followers withdrew to a small island
  of Chinas mainland, Taiwan and continued
  practicing democracy as the Republic of China.
• (There was a fear of China and the SU becoming
  allies)

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The Cold War at Home

• A new Red Scare- many people had joined the
  communist party but with increasing distrust in
  Stalin many people quit
• People who had been remotely involved in a
  communist party were swept up in the wave of
  persecution
• Loyalty Program- Truman headed this program so
  that all employees hired by the federal
  government were to be investigated with suspicion
  of overthrowing the government

20
HUAC

• House Un-American Activities Committee-
  investigate disloyalty of Communist infiltration
  of government agencies and the Hollywood movie
  industry b/c movies had strong influence of the
  public
• Hollywood ten- actors, writers, directors, and
  producers cited for contempt of congress and were
  blacklisted where other employers would not hire
  them.

21
McCarran-Walter Act

• Congress passed 1952 McCarran-Walter Act- which
  discriminated against potential immigrants from
  Asia, Southern and central Europe.
• The President vetoed the bill- stated one of the
  most Un- American acts he had ever witnessed

22
Spies

• A real communist threat in the United States
• Alger Hiss- high ranking government official
  convicted of perjury for lying in slander case.
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg - (a married couple)
  were members of the communist party were accused
  of passing atomic secrets to the soviets. They
  were convicted of espionage and executed in 1953.

23
Korean War

• South Korea- had a pro-American government formed
  (US occupied)
• North Korea- had a Communist regime (USSR
  occupied)
• In June 1950 the Korean War broke out when North
  Korean troops streamed across the 38th parallel-
  latitude line dividing the two nations
• North Korea was aiming at unification by force

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Douglas MacArthur

• Anti-communist general chosen to lead UN forces
  in Korea by Truman
• MacArthur helped establish Japans new democratic
  constitution
• Successful in implementing democracy in South
  Korea
• Disliked by politicians but loved by the public
  and military!

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The Cold War 1950s

• 1953 Eisenhower became president succeeding
  Truman
• Eisenhower had kept his promise to bring the
  Korean War to an end and the sudden death of
  Stalin helped the war come to an end in March of
  1953.
• In Southeast Asia a conflict developed in Vietnam
  (French Colony in SouthEast Asia that had fallen
  to Japan during WWII)
• Ho Chi Minh, head of Vietnamese Communist Party
  declared Vietnams Independence after Japan fell
  in 1945.
• France rejected Vietnams independence and an
  ugly war began to unfold

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Domino theory

• Domino Theory is a belief by Eisenhower which
  held that if any one country fell to communists,
  its neighbors soon would follow (like a row of
  dominos).
• By 1954 US was providing aid to help with the war!

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Vietnam Divided

• Just like Korea, Vietnam was divided into
  communist North and Anti Communist south.
• The US provided aid to South Vietnam but resisted
  any greater involvement

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The Middle East

• 1930s anti-Semitism in Germany and Eastern
  Europe forced Jews to seek safety in Palestine.
• Arab and Jewish conflict turned to the United
  nations for the creation for a Jewish state
  called Israel (1948).

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The Middle East Continued

• The Suez crisis- Egypt ruler, Nasser, sought
  soviet support, US and Britain cut off their aid.
• Nasser seized the British owned Suez canal, a
  vital waterway for oil to reach Europe
• Eisenhower Doctrine- the US would use force to
  safeguard the independence of any country or
  group of countries in the Middle East requesting
  aid against Communist-inspired aggression

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Latin America

• US exercised power in Central and Latin America
• After WWII US feared spread of Communism to Latin
  American Countries
• Rio Pact- regional defense alliance between 18
  countries in Latin America
• OAS- Organization of American States which
  increased cooperation with states in the Western
  Hemisphere
• Crisis began when Fidel Castro overthrew the
  Cuban Dictator in 1958. US did not support
  Castro because his movement was infiltrated by
  Communism
• Castro seized Cuba (American property), US cut
  off all aid and supplies, and Castro turned to
  the Soviet Union for aid.

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The Arms Race

• Arms Race- The struggle to gain weapon
  superiority
• Whenever one side would seem to be gaining the
  upper hand in the cold war the other would
  respond with new programs and policies
• The growth of Nuclear Arsenals was increasing in
  US and Soviet Union.
• 1953 US exploded their first thermonuclear device
  and at the same time the Soviet Union
  successfully tested a hydrogen device of its own.
• Between 1954 and 1958 US conducted 19 hydrogen
  bomb tests at Bikini Island in the Pacific
• This explosion was 750 times more explosive than
  the atomic bomb

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Brinkmanship

• Brinkmanship- is the policy of risking war to
  protect the nations interests (Russian roulette
  with the life of our nation)
• MAD- Mutual Assured Destruction- combination of
  deterrence and willingness to use nuclear
  weapons, may have helped prevent the cold war
  from turning hot.
• Soviet Union used ICBMs (Intercontinental
  Ballistic missiles)- long range rockets as their
  delivery system
• US lagged behind soviet Union in Missile
  development

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Sputnik

• First artificial satellite to orbit Earth
  launched by the Soviets.
• This scared Americans
• US tried to launch a satellite and it came
  tumbling down
• U-2 incident- shooting down of American Spy plane
  by the soviets with a guided missile