Unit: Early Cold War
Big Ideas:
United States policymakers engaged in a Cold War with the authoritarian Soviet Union, seeking to
limit the growth of Communist military power and ideological influence, create a free-market global
economy, and build an international security system.
Cold War policies led to continued public debates over the power of the federal government,
acceptable means for pursuing international and domestic goals, and the proper balance between
liberty and order.
Unit Description:
This unit concentrates on the history of the early Cold War period and the Truman administration.
The unit begins by examining the origins of the Cold War and the roots of containment as outlined
by George Kennan and as implemented through the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, Berlin Airlift,
and Korean War. Next, freedom and the Cold War are explored by comparing freedom with
totalitarianism. The quest for an international human rights movement begins with the United
Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document that the United States has still not
completely ratified. Truman’s domestic policy, the Fair Deal, is an attempt to continue the expansion
of government under the New Deal. Truman wished to extend rights to labor and blacks and to
create comprehensive national health insurance and housing plans. Most of Truman’s agenda was
stopped by the Republican resurgence led by Senator Taft. The Democratic Party was disrupted
with the Dixiecrat revolt and Henry Wallace’s Progressive Party, but Truman was still able to steal
the 1948 election away from the Republican Thomas Dewey. The unit concludes with the
anticommunist crusade, looking at the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
investigations, the arrest of the Rosenbergs, and the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy. The loyalty
of every American came under suspicion during the Red Scare. As such, critics such as historian
Henry Steele Commager spoke out against the blatant violations of the First Amendment .The
national security paper NSC- 68 called for massive increased military spending in the name of a
global fight for freedom. This document speaks only of the word “freedom” and what it means in
the United States. Taken together, it is clear that the word “freedom” is a strong rhetorical
weapon in the Cold War.
Key Concept(s):
 As postwar tensions dissolved the wartime alliance between Western democracies and the
Soviet Union, the United States developed a foreign policy based on collective security,
international aid, and economic institutions that bolstered non-Communist nations.
 Concerned by expansionist Communist ideology and Soviet repression, the United States
sought to contain communism through a variety of measures, including a major military
engagement in Korea.
 Americans debated policies and methods designed to root out Communists within the
United States even as both parties tended to support the broader Cold War strategy of
containing communism.
Key Terms by Historical Theme:
(WOR):Cold War, Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, United Nations, Security Council, World Bank,
Communist satellites, Occupation zones, Iron Curtain, Winston Churchill, George Kennan, Dean
Acheson, containment policy, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, Berlin Airlift, East Germany, West
Germany, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, National Security Act (1947), Nuclear arms race,
NSC-68, US-Japanese Security Treaty, Douglas MacArthur, Chinese civil war, Chiang Kai-shek,
Taiwan, Mao Zedong, People’s Republic of China, Korean War, Syngman Rhee, UN police action, 38 th
parallel, “soft of communism”
(WXT, CUL): Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, Harry Truman, Employment Act of 1946, Council of
Economic Advisers, inflation and labor unions, racial integration of military, Taft-Hartley Act,
Henry Wallace, States-Rights party, Strom Thurmond, Thomas Dewey, Fair Deal,
(POL,CUL): Loyalty Review Board, Smith Act, McCarran Internal Security Act, House Un-American
Activities Committee, Hollywood blacklists, freedom of expression in arts, Alger Hiss Whittaker
Chambers, Rosenberg case, Joseph McCarthy, McCarthyism
Unit Timeline:
1- Truman background – Big picture Cold War – Kennan – Iron Curtain – Truman Doctrine –
Marshall Plan - Japan
2- Two Germanys – NATO – Warsaw Pact – NSC 68 – China - Korea
3- Arms Race – International Links – Cultural Implications – UN/Declaration of Human Rights
4- Fail Deal– Homefront Politics -Taft Hartley – Civil Rights – Election of 1948 – Fair Deal
recharged
5- Communism @ home – McCarthyism – Rosenbergs – HUAC – Loyalty – Election of 1952
6- Overview & retrospective
Test: Feb 3 & 4, 2016