Chapter 13(A) America in the
Cold War
“Who the hell is Harry Truman?”
• (You need to start reading
Ferrell’s book on Truman)
• Had been shaped
politically by the K.C.
Democratic machine
• Had not gone to college
• Was an artillery officer in
World War I
• Was a failed businessman
after World War I
The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of
1944
• Also, known as the G.I. Bill
• Provided educational
benefits for Veterans
• Provided housing loans
for veterans
• Provided treatment for
veterans
• & helped prevent a
postwar depression
1946 Congressional Elections
• In 1946, both parties held
Truman responsible for
labor problems
• Republican slogan “to err is
Truman”
• Republicans won majorities
in both houses, 1st time
since 1928
• “The New Deal is kaput”
• Taft-Hartley Labor Act of
1947
National Security Act of 1947
Established:
• Congress & Truman did
agree on foreign policy
• The Central Intelligence
Agency
• The Air Force
• The National Security
Council
• And a permanent Joint
Chiefs of Staff
Martin Dempsey
Building the United Nations
• In 1945, 50 Allied nations
met in San Francisco to
draw the Charter for the UN
• U.S. Senate ratified the UN
Charter 98 to 2
• Permanent home was to be
New York
• The UN Security Council had
11 members with five
permanent members (US,
USSR, UK, France, & China)
The Trying of War Criminals
• Of the 21 German
offenders who faced an
international military
tribunal 3 were acquitted,
11 were sentenced to
death, 3 got life, & 3 got
shorter terms
• Of the Japanese on trial 7
were sentenced to death,
16 got life, & 2 got shorter
terms
Germans on Trial in Nuremberg, Germany
The Cold War:
Differences with the Soviets
• Stalin didn’t live up to the
Yalta Conf. pledges of
democratic elections in
Eastern Europe
• Churchill tells Truman that
an “iron curtain” has fallen
on Eastern Europe
• George Kennan, counselor
at the Moscow embassy,
says the U.S. should
contain Soviet
expansionism
George F. Kennan
The Truman Doctrine &
The Marshall Plan
• Truman took Kennan’s idea
to Congress and made it
even bigger
• B/c of the Truman Doctrine
Greece & Turkey were
made less vulnerable to
communism
• George Marshall now Sec.
of State, called for massive
aid to recue Europe from
disaster
Uncle Sam’s Money Driving Off the Reds
Dividing Germany &
The Berlin Airlift
• In 1948 the UK, US, &
France united their zones
to make W. Germany
• This upset the USSR so
they blockaded West Berlin
• Truman’s response was to
launch a massive airlift of
supplies into West Berlin
• W. Germany received full
sovereignty in 1955 &
joined the UN & NATO
Building Alliances and NATO
• After WWII the American
people seemed to understand
that isolationism could no
longer be the U.S. policy
• In 1949 the U.S. signed the
North Atlantic Treaty which
was a formal military alliance
between 12 nations and
would grow
• And in 1948 the U.S. became
the first nation to recognize
Israel
The 1948 Election
• The Republicans nominated
Thomas E. Dewey—NY
governor
• The Democratic Party
fragmented—When the
Democrats nominated
Truman the Southern States
walked out and named
Strom Thurmond as the
Dixiecrat nomine and the
left wing of the party
nominated Henry A. Wallace
as their candidate
Truman
Dewey
Wallace
Thurmond
Truman’s Fair Deal
• black civil rights, national
health care, a higher
minimum wage, federal
aid to education, help to
farmers & unions
• The Fair Deal were
thwarted by the Southern
Conservative Democrats
and Republicans
The Cold War Heats Up
• The US experienced a
shock in 1949 when the
Communists took over
China
• Another shock in 1949
was that the Soviets
had developed the
atomic bomb
• This lead Truman to
order the development
of the hydrogen bomb
War In Korea
• Much like Germany
Korea had been
partitioned after WWII
• In June of 1950 80,000
North Korean soldiers
swept into the South
• After losing China
Truman was not going
to stand by and do
nothing
The Second Red Scare
• The Hiss-Chambers
Case
• Congressman Nixon
• Senator Joseph
McCarthy
• The McCarran Internal
Security Act
Senator Joseph McCarthy
Red Scare (part 2)
• Even though we might
think there was much
over reaction in the
1950s
• It is important to
understand the Soviets
did have spy networks
here in the U.S.
• Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg helped the
USSR develop the bomb
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Time for a Change,
The Election of 1952
• The Democrats had
held the White House
for 20 years
• The appeal of
Eisenhower
• Truman & the 22nd
Amendment
• Governor Adlai
Stevenson of Illinois
Stevenson
Eisenhower
“Dynamic Conservatism”
Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway
The U. S. Interstate Highway System
• Ike was determined to
cut taxes and
government spending
• Ike retained most of the
New Deal programs &
even expanded some
• Ike’s major
achievements were the
St. Lawrence Seaway &
the Interstate Highway
System
Peace In Korea
• Ike had run for
president on the
promise that he would
take care of the Korea
Conflict
• To that end Eisenhower
threatened the
Communists with
atomic weapons to
bring about as armistice
in July of 1953
• The situation went back
to two Koreas
Concluding A Witch Hunt
• The end of the war in
Korea helped to end the
meteoric career of
Senator Joseph McCarthy
• McCarthy’s power began
to unravel when he made
charges about
Communist influence in
the U.S. Army
• His charges and arrogant
behavior were televised
Secretary of State
John Foster Dulles
• Very religious & saw the
world as an arena of
good & evil
• Dulles’s policy of
“Brinksmanship"
involved: averting war
through the threat of
nuclear force
Building More Alliances
• Southeast Asia Treaty
Organization (SEATO)
members being:
Philippines, Thailand,
Pakistan, UK, France,
Australia, New Zealand,
& the US
• By 1961, the US had to
defend 43 Nations
The Election of 1956
• As the election approached
the only concern for Ike was
his health
• Governor Stevenson was
again the Democratic
nominee
• Ike’s victory was an
apparent voter approval of
his “modern Republicanism”
Sputnik
• October 4, 1957 the
USSR launched the first
man made satellite
• It caused great fear in
Americans
• It caused a renewed
interest in math and
science education
• It influenced the
creation of NASA
Festering Problems Abroad
• Crisis in the
Middle East
• Crisis in East Asia
• Crisis in Berlin
• The U – 2 Summit
Looking Back on Ike
• His rep is improving over
time
• Ending Korea
• Muzzling McCarthy
• Sustaining much of the
New Deal
• Ike even warned about
the power of the militaryindustrial complex
• However, Ike would not
speak out for Civil Rights
1961, JFK & Ike