Early Cold War
THE TRUMAN YEARS 1945-1952
Harry S. Truman
 Seen as “accidental” president
 Not always respected as a
politician
 Self-assured Missourian
The Buck Stops Here!
In this corner…
There are now two great nations in the world,
which starting from different points, seem to be
advancing toward the same goal: the Russians
and the Anglo-Americans. . . . Each seems called
by some secret design of Providence one day to
hold in its hands the destinies of half the world.
-Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
(1835)
 Philosophical & actual “reasons” to conflict
 Only 2 superpowers
still in tact
War Conferences
Yalta
Potsdam
George F. Kenan
 Long Telegram
Iron Curtain
 From Stettin in the Baltic to
Trieste in the Adriatic an iron
curtain has descended across
the Continent. Behind that line
lie all the capitals of the ancient
states of Central and Eastern
Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague,
Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade,
Bucharest and Sofia; all these
famous cities and the
populations around them lie in
what I must call the Soviet
sphere, and all are subject, in
one form or another, not only to
Soviet influence but to a very
high and in some cases
increasing measure of control
from Moscow.
Truman Doctrine
 Containment
 Greece & Turkey
The Marshall Plan (1947)
Japan
 Douglas MacArthur
 Japanese Constitution
 Article 9
 War Crimes Trials
Two Germanys
 Post war goals
 Berlin Airlift
German Federal Republic
German Democratic Republic
 National Security Act (1947)
 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Soviet Responses
National Security Council
 NSC-68
 US role in post war world
 Budget implications
China
 Nationalists vs Communists
 Marshall’s report
 Taiwan
 Mao
Korean War
 MacArthur
 Bradley
 DMZ
 “the Forgotten War”
Arms Race
 Hydrogen bombs
 MAD
 Nuclear reality
International Links
 Bretton Woods
 IMF
 World Bank
Cultural Implications
 State sponsored promotion
 Funding
 Patriotism
The United Nations & Human Rights
 General Assembly
 Security Council
 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
“Fair Deal”
 21 pt program
 Social Security
 minimum wage
 full employment
 Fair Employment Practices Act
 Slum clearing
 Public works and environmental planning
 Scientific research
 Nat’l health insurance
Homefront Politics
 Econ. Transition
 Labor unrest
 United Mine Workers
 Fair Deal opposition
 Taft-Hartley Act
 GI Bill of Rights (Servicemen’s Readjustment Act)
Postwar Civil Rights
 fair employmnt practices commissions
 NAACP voter regis. drive
 1947 Jackie Robinson
 1952 1st time on record no lynchings in US
 To Secure These Rights
Election of 1948
 Party divisions @ convention



States Rights/“Dixiecrat” Party – Strom Thurmond
Progressive Party- George Wallace
Another liberal grp. unwillng to leave party but formed
Americans for Democratic Action – wanted Eisenhower
to run
 Repubs. run Dewey again – huge lead in pre-
election polls
“Dewey Defeats Truman”
 Truman 49.5% Dewey 45.1%

Dems regain control of both houses
Fair Deal Recharged
 New Congress no more receptive to reforms than
previous one
 minimum wage to $.75/hr
 Extended Social Security
 National Housing Act of 1949
 No movement on civil rights, health care,
education
 Shelley v Kraemer
The Communist Hunt At Home
 Americans were freaked:must be enemies
among us
 House Un-American Activities Committee
(HUAC) – (Richard Nixon)


Hollywood Ten
Alger Hiss (Whittaker Chambers & “pumpkin papers”
The Rosenbergs
 How could the SU have developed bomb so quickly – had
to have “help”
 Klaus Fuchs
 Ethel & Julius Rosenberg
McCarthyism
 Joseph McCarthy
 Sen. (Wisc) – begins “hunt”
 Witness badgered
 Mere accusation was damaging enough
Loyalty?
Federal “loyalty” program –Truman supported
Loyalty Review Board
Thousands resigned or were dismissed
McCarran Internal Security Act
“to determine whether there is reasonable ground to believe that such
detainee probably will engage in, or conspire with others to engage in,
espionage or sabotage ”
FBI investigations
J. Edgar Hoover
Election of 1952
 Adalai Steveson/John Sparkman
 Dwight Eisenhower/Richard Nixon (Repub)

“Checkers speech”
 Ike 55% Stevenson 41%
 ended twenty years of Democratic control of
the White House
Truman’s Legacy
Was he a successful president?
What were his triumphs?
What went wrong on “his watch?”