Chapter 26
The Cold War Abroad and at
Home
1945-1952
Introduction
• How did President Truman’s and Soviet leader Joseph
Stalin’s policies contribute to the Cold War?
• What was the containment policy and how did the US
government implement it during the period 1947-1952?
• Why did New Deal liberalism weaken after WWII and
what effects did its decline have on the Truman
administration?
• What caused the red scare following WWII and why did
Americans become so frightened over Communism?
• What impact did the Cold War have on Civil Rights for
African Americans?
Demobilization and Reconversion
• Armed Forces drop from 12 million in 1945
to 1.5 million in 1948.
• Housing shortages, disappearing jobs
• 1 million marriages end in divorce
• Women lost their wartime employment and
were to ld to find their fulfillment in
marriage and motherhood.
• Many took lower paying jobs as office
workers and saleswomen
The GI Bill of Rights
• Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (1944)low interest loans for housing and or
businesses, tuition payments, 1.5 million
American veterans accepted the offer
• Middle Class
The Economic Boom Begins
• 1946 US Economy soaring
• US enjoyed favorable balance of trade
because of the destruction of WWII in
other parts of the world
• US is at an advantage in world banking
• Scientific and Technological advances
lead to new industries
• US consumers go on a spending spree
Truman’s Domestic Program
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Little support for return to New Deal
Employment Act of 1946
Unions on strike
Truman blamed for inflation, strikes and
housing shortages
• Republican Congress
• Atomic Race
Polarization and the Cold War
• US vs USSR over Poland
• Stalin breaks promise to hold free
elections
• Communist Governments in Poland,
Bulgaria and Romania
• Truman opposed the further expansion of
communism fearing it would threaten our
economic interests in Europe
The Iron Curtain Descends
• George F. Kennan- containment policy
• Winston Churchill- Iron Curtain speech, called
for an anti-communist alliance
• Truman threatened force if Stalin did not leave
Iran
• Proposed Nuclear limitation proposal was
rejected
• Arms Race begins
• Economic pressure, nuclear threats,
propaganda and subversion
Containing
Communism
• Truman Doctrine- Greece and Turkey
1947
• George C. Marshall- $17 billion Marshall
Plan to assist rebuilding of Western
European economies
• American businesses benefitted from
economic expansion in Western Europe
Confrontation in
Germany
• 1947-1948 Communist governments take over Hungary and
Czechoslovakia
• US, Britain and France announce they are uniting their portion of
West Germany and West Berlin, Stalin rejects the unification of
Berlin and blockades the city.
• Truman begins the Berlin airlift.
• May 1949 Stalin calls off the blockade, West German Federal
Republic is established
• NATO is formed as an anti-communist military alliance
• Stalin responds by establishing the German Democratic Republic
(East Germany), developing their own atomic bomb and creating the
Warsaw Pact- communist military alliance
Cold War in Asia
• US rebuild Japan
• Jiang Jieshi overthrown by Mao Zedong in
China despite US assistance
• US builds Hydrogen Bomb. USSR build
Hydrogen Bomb
• Thermonuclear threat expands
The Korean War 19501953
• 1945 US liberates Korea from Japanese control
• USSR support North Korean government, US supports South
Korean government
• North invades South in 1950 to reunify the country
• Truman sends troops under the leadership of Douglas MacArthur to
repel the invasion
• UN also sends troops to help US
• When US troops reach China, Mao Zedong sends in troops to force
MacArthur back. Truman orders MacArthur to the 38th Parallel and to
hold the position while peace negotiations are being held. MacArthur
wants to bomb China and take over North Korea, Truman eventually
replaces MacArthur
• Korean war costs US $54 Billion and 54,000 American lives
• US aid France in Indochina and create an alliance with New
Zealand and Australia
The Eightieth Congress
• Taft-Hartley Act- passed over Truman’s
veto less favorable to Unions
• Republican Congress tries to dismantle
New Deal
The Politics of Civil Rights and the
Election of 1948
• 1946 Truman creates the President’s
Committee on Civil Rights
• Committee recommends anti-lynching, anti
poll tax and other civil rights bills
• 1948 Democratic National Convention
adopts measures presented by the
committee on civil rights
• Southern Democrats form the Dixiecrats and
nominated Strom Thurmond from South
Carolina
• Truman runs as the Democrat and Thomas
Dewey runs as the Republican
• Truman issues executive order integrating
the military
• Truman wins is a surprise
The Fair Deal
• Social and Economic Reforms
• Minimum wage, social security benefits,
public housing
• Conservative Democrats and Republicans
blocked the New Deal and Truman turned
his attention to Korea
Loyalty and Security
• Federal Employee Loyalty Program 1947
was established to root out possible
communist in government positions
• 1947-1950 more than 500 people fired
The Anticommunist
Campaign
• Loyalty program stimulated more fear
• 39 states passed laws requiring
employees to take loyalty oaths
• House on Un American Activities
Committee (HUAC) began hearings to
find communist influence- Hollywood 10,
black listing
• Truman and Supreme Court backed the
actions
Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs
• Alger Hiss 1952 convicted of perjury for
lying about giving government documents
to the USSR
• Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were found
guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage
for giving atomic secrets to USSR
• Death sentence imposed
McCarthyism
• Senator McCarthy accused Democrats
and members of the Truman
administration of being Communists
• McCarran Internal Security Act and
McCarran-Walter Immigration and
Nationality Act
The Election of 1952
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Dwight D. Eisenhower- Republican
Adlai Stevenson- Democrat
Korea, Communist scare, military hero
Republicans take White House and
Congress