Chapter 37 – The Cold War Heats Up
Post WWII America saw
migration to the suburbs, and an
economic boom. The US and
SU would enter into a “cold war”
focused on an ideological conflict
between democracy and
communism leading to a “police
action” in Korea.
The Effects of WWII
•Economic boom (following a short recession
1946-47)
•US is world leader
•Baby boom
•Increased welfare state
•Focus on minority rights
•Faith in government (Democrats rule)
•Standard of Living doubled
•Menace of the Soviet Union* (Only 2 countries
left economic strong US & SU)
The Immediate Effects of WWII
•1945 Civilians Production Administration – convert from war to peace. Military
decreased from 12 million to 3 million.
•People feared the Depression would return (anti-union feelings)
•Republicans won control of Congress – 1942 election
•Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 – Outlawed closed shops, swear non-communist
oath, 60 day notice to strike.
•Slowed membership
•Operation Dixie – tried to union textile, steel and service workers. Failure
due to intended racial integration
•Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 (GI Bill)
•Paid for school (college or trade) 8 million GI’s
•Loans totaling $16 billion for homes, farms, business
•Sell off of war surplus (spur investment)
•Employment Act of 1946 – Gov’t will promote full employment, production, and
keep inflation in line
Dealing with the President
•1947 Presidential Succession Act – VP,
Speaker of House, President Pro-tempore of
Senate, Sec of State, cabinet.
•22nd Amendment – The Roosevelt Amendment
•10 years or 2 terms.
6% of World Population = 40% of WEALTH
•Effects of Wealth
•Social mobility
•Civil Rights
•Welfare
•Leadership
•Middle Class
Reasons for Economic Growth
•War (WWII & Korea)
•Research and Development
•Cheap energy (Middle East Oil)
•Increased Productivity & Education
•Fulbright Act 1946
•Giant Farming Corporations
We’re on the move….
•From the “rustbelt” to the “sunbelt”
•From the cities to the suburbs (“White Flight)
•FHA and VA loans
•Levittown
•Cities become synonymous with “minority” and
“poor”
Levittown, Long Island, NY – “tract homes” $7,990 / $60 month
The Baby Boomers (1945-1960)
“To err is Truman….” “The Bucks Stops
Here!”
•Farmer and WWI Vet
•Clean, short-tempered, “average”
•Issues
•Atomic Bomb (didn’t know about Manhattan Project)
•Presidential Committee on Civil Rights (1946)
•Cold War
•Korean “conflict”
The Cold War Begins with “Yalta” (Feb 4-11, 1945)
•What to do with Germany, Eastern Europe and Asia?
•Stalin, Churchill and FDR design the “post war” world
•Divide Germany (and Berlin) into 4 occupied zones.
•SU = ½ of Poland – Free elections (Did not happen – Stalin had
treated the Poles very badly during the war and feared retribution)
•Creation of UN
•SU promised to fight Japan IF:
•Get Southern ½ of Sakhalin Island
•Kurile Islands
•Control of RR in Manchuria
•Seaport privileges in Dairen and Port Arthur
Criticisms of the “Yalta Conference”
•Didn’t need Russia in Japan (barely helped)
•Sell out to Poland and E. Europe (“Sphere of
Influence”
•Chiang Kai Shek will be overthrown in China
•Stalin did not keep his promise in Poland
History sets the stage for the Cold War
•An ideological battle “Communism V Capitalism”
•Reasons for suspicion and doubt
•It took US 16 years to acknowledge USSR
•Didn’t open the “Second Front” early enough (18
months)
•Didn’t include USSR in Atomic bomb research
(stole the plans to build their own)
•Ended the “Lend-Lease Act” (retaliation for Poland)
•Denied loans after the war (retaliation again)
•USSR needed Eastern Europe as “Sphere of
Influence” to protect against invasion.
Roosevelt’s Views and $$$$!
•“Open World” – no colonies, small militaries,
democratic
•Bretton Woods Conference (N. Hampshire 1944)
•IMF (International Monetary Fund) to regulate
currency rates and make trade easier.
•World Bank – to encourage investment and growth in
war-ravaged areas. USSR did not join!
The United Nations – 4-25-1945 (San Francisco)
•50 nations met early to take advantage of cooperation
•Security Council of 5 nations – each with veto power
•General Assembly controlled by smaller countries
•New League of Nations
•Helped with Israel, Middle East, and humanitarian aid
The Colossal Failure of the United Nations
The Baruch Plan proposed to;
• extend between all nations the exchange of basic scientific information
for peaceful ends;
• implement control of nuclear power to the extent necessary to ensure its
use only for peaceful purposes;
• eliminate from national armaments atomic weapons and all other major
weapons adaptable to mass destruction; and
• establish effective safeguards by way of inspection and other means to
protect complying States against the hazards of violations and
evasions
• The Baruch Plan suggested that neither of the permanent members of the
United Nations Security Council would be able to veto a decision to
punish culprits. US said Yes, USSR said no; UN was dominated by US
and it was a TRICK!
The Plans for Germany
•The Nuremberg Trials – Nazi leaders
& war crimes
•US Citizens wanted Germany
stripped of all industrial
manufacturing, USSR wanted
reparations (Needed $ and we said no)
•World leaders knew we needed
Germany
•Divide Germany & Berlin
•Development of the “Iron
Curtain” (Churchill, 1946)
The Berlin Airlift (June 1948 – May 12, 1949
•Berlin – deep in USSR zone – cut off all supplies to
Berliners to “starve the allies out.”
•US begins Berlin Airlift to city of Berlin
•USSR admits failure and ends the blockade
Policy of “Containment” & The Truman
Doctrine
•1946 Stalin controlled N. Iran – US & BR were receiving
cheap oil and Stalin wanted the same.
•He was supposed to remove his troops – used them to
aide a rebel coup.
•Truman is mad – US citizens are fearful.
•George Kennan – a Soviet scholar stated that SU had no
plans of being peaceful and communists by nature were
expansionary, but cautious; we could contain them by
being “firm.”
•Threatening Turkey, Iraq & China
The Truman Doctrine
•March 12, 1947 – BR could no longer afford to
support & protect Greece from Communist threat. If
Greece fell, Truman feared that Turkey would also
fall and the SU would control the Mediterranean.
Asked congress for $400 million.
•Criticisms – any nation could ask for money
claiming communist aggression, made SU look
like a military threat, divides the world between
Pro-Soviet and Pro-US.
•Supporters – the exaggerated claims by Truman
kept the US from being isolationists once again.
Led to a religious movement “Children of
darkness” V “Children of light”
The Marshall Plan (European Recovery
Program) June 1947
•Sec of State – George Marshall
•FR, IT, Ger were economic weak and vulnerable to
to communist coup from within. Plan was for
economic recovery.
•US offered aid in Paris 1947. SU walked out and
refused help.
•$12.5 billion in 16 countries in 7 years
•$2 billion in humanitarian aid through UN
•April 1948 Communist take over in Czech –
Congress approves money.
•1951 Mutual Security Act
The Creation of Israel – May 14,
1948
•Britain controls “Palestine”
•World argues against Nation of Israel –
offends the Arabs and we need cheap oil.
•Israel was officially recognized by US –
WHY?
•Holocaust
•Wanted to keep the SU out
•Truman wanted to win the Jewish vote
in US
America arms for a “different kind of war”
•National Security Act – 1947
•Department of Defense – Sec of Defense (Cabinet-level)
•National Security Council
•Central Intelligence Agency
•Selective Service (Draft) – men from 19-25
•NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) 1948
•Britain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg, US.
•Significance of…
•End of US as isolationist
•European unification
•Stepped up militarization
•Motto – “Keep Russia out, Germany down, and America in!”
The USSR responds to NATO
•The Warsaw Pact – a pact of mutual defense. USSR, Poland,
East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria
(1955).
Rebuilding Japan – America Acts Alone
•Led by MacArthur, Japanese quickly accepted terms
•Constitution adopted, 1946
•Renounce militarism
•Women’s equality
•Democratic government
The Communists Conquer China
•US supports the Chinese Nationalist – Chiang Kai-shek
•USSR supports Mao Tse-tung. 1949 the US cut off financial
support of Nationalists. 1949 Chiang Kai-shek flees to Taiwan.
The Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs
•Atomic Energy Commission (1946)
•September 1949 – SU tested Atomic Bomb – knew about
our atomic bomb before Truman
•Truman ordered the development of the Hydrogen Bomb
(1000x more powerful)
•Oppenheimer led the movement AGAINST the use of
nuclear weapons = GENOCIDE
First US test, Bikini
Atoll, 1954 (Marshall
Islands) Test site for
12 years.
Oppenheimer
*Truman & Stalin never
wanted the bombs to be
used.
T
Americans begin to fear Communism;
we build fallout shelters and look within
for Communist sympathizers
H
E
R
E
D
S
C
•House Un-American Activities
Committee (1938) – Nixon leads
investigation against Alger Hiss
•Loyalty Review Board (1947) –
investigate 90 organizations, 3000
people
•Smith Act (Alien Registration Act)
A
R
E
1947-1954
•Cannot teach evolution, aliens had
to register.
T
H
E
•McCarran Internal Security Bill
•President has authority to arrest and detain
suspicious people during “internal security
emergency”
R
•Communists were denied passports and could
not work in defense industry
E
•Vetoed by Truman – Congressional override
D
•McCarran-Walter Act (1952)
S
C
•Kept immigration restrictions, lifted ban on
Asians. Attorney General has the right to deport
“undesirables.”
A
•Julius and Ethel Rosenberg – convicted
R
in 1951 or espionage, electrocuted in 1953. (Leaked
atomic bomb secrets to SU) *First civilians executed
E
for espionage
The Election of 1948
•Republicans – Thomas Dewey (NY Gov)
•Democrats – Truman (South did not like his Civil Rights
views)
•State’s Rights Party – Strom Thurmond (S.Car Gov)
•Progressive Party – Henry Wallace (FDR VP)
•Truman’s Platform – Anti-Taft-Hartley, “Do-Nothing
Congress,” Civil Rights reform, national health care. 300
“Give ‘em hell” speeches. Won support from South,
Midwest, and West.
•21 point program to develop nations, increase minimum
wage, social security, full employment, farm supports,
scientific research.
Oops!
Dewey was the
predicted winner,
Chicago Daily
Tribune printed the
headline before
election results
were final.
Truman won 49.5%
of popular vote
22nd Amendment – The Roosevelt Amendment – 10
years, or 2 term limit for President. (March 21, 1947)