The Cold War Abroad and at Home
1945-1952




The onset of the Cold War
Its impact on American life at home
Impact on American foreign policy
“state of mutual hostility short of direct
armed confrontation”
 Developed as the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. struggled to
shape the postwar world in a way that “served its
own national interests”



1.) How did President Truman’s and Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin’s policies contribute to
the Cold War?
2.) What was the containment policy, and
how did the U.S. govt. implement it between
1947 and 1952?
3.) Why did New Deal liberalism weaken after
WWII, and what effects did its decline have on
Truman’s administration?



4.) What caused the red scare following
WWII, and why did Americans become so
frightened of Communism?
5.) What impact did the Cold War have on
civil rights for African-Americans?
6.) What were the effects of the GI Bill of
Rights on the postwar economy and society?

Demobilization and Reconversion
 The Truman administration rapidly demobilized the armed
forces
▪ Dropped from 12 million men in 1945 to 1.5 million by 1948
 Many veterans had trouble readjusting to civilian life
▪
▪
▪
▪
severe housing shortages
disappearing defense plant jobs
reestablishing family bonds
Over a million marriages made during the War ended in divorce by
1950


Women lost their wartime industrial jobs
Told by society that they should find
fulfillment in marriage and motherhood
 Many followed that idea
 Others took new lower-paying jobs as office
workers and saleswomen

By 1950--more women were in the paid labor
force than had been during WWII





Passed by Congress in 1944
Also called the Servicemen’s Readjustment
Act
Reward men and women who fought for the
U.S.A. in WWII
Help them adjust to civilian life
Veterans Affairs Dept. history of GI Bill

Provided returning GI’s with low-interest
govt.-backed loans
 Start their own business
 Buy homes or farms
▪ About 4 million veterans bought homes with
their GI loans
▪ Greatly stimulated the postwar construction industry,
economy, and suburbanization

The govt. also offered to pay tuition and
expenses for 4 years of college or professional
training
 8 million veterans accepted this offer
 By 1947--1/2 of the nation’s college students were
GI Bill veterans
 Enrollment soared
 Many new 2 and 4 year colleges were founded to
meet the demand

A generation of working class Americans rose
to the middle class




By 1946, the U.S. economy was booming
Money the govt. gave veterans for education,
loans, and businesses under the GI Bill
stimulated growth
U.S. was the strongest industrial nation in the
world
International Monetary Fund and World Bank
 The U.S. mainly controlled and funded
 Stabilized exchange rates
 Help to rebuild Asia and Europe

Wartime advances in science and technology
made possible the development of new
industries
 Electronics
 Synthetic materials

Consumes spent their war savings
 About $135 billion
 Bought homes, cars, electric appliances,
televisions

Employment Act of 1946
 A program to ensure economic growth and
employment

Inflation soared
 Office of Price Administration was cut
▪ no longer were their price controls


Prices escalated
Strikes increased
 Workers demanded higher wages to keep up with
the cost of living

Truman wavered between getting tough with
strikers and giving in to their demands

Shortages of housing and consumer goods
continued
 Industries struggled to catch up with consumer
purchases


Americans blamed Truman for inflation,
strikes, and shortages
1946--elected Republicans as the majorities in
Congress
 1st time since 1928

Public uneasiness about the atomic arms race
that was starting

Polarization and Cold War
 After WWI, U.S. and U.S.S.R. began to argue over
Eastern Europe
▪ Especially Poland
 Stalin insisted that friendly communist govts. must
be installed on the Soviet borders
▪ Secure Soviet Union from future attacks
 Stalin did not allow free election there
 Communist regimes came to power in Poland,
Bulgaria, and Romania

Pres. Truman would not accept Soviet
domination of Eastern Europe
 It violated the principles of national self-
determination

Truman believed that the spread of
communism threatened American
economic interests in Eastern Europe
and elsewhere



Stalin tightened his grip on Eastern Europe
Truman=“get tough with the Russians”
George F. Kennan
 State Department expert on U.S.S.R.
 Advised the U.S. should apply “long-term, patient,
but firm vigilant containment of Russian expansive
tendencies”

Winston Churchill
 Iron Curtain speech
 1946
 Condemned Stalin’s behavior
 Called for an anticommunist alliance of the
English-speaking peoples
 History Channel video
 Iron Curtain speech transcript



Truman threatened to use U.S. naval and land
forces if Stalin did not withdraw his troops
from Iran and offered a nuclear arms control
plan that Russia rejected
U.S. objected to a Soviet counter plan
Both countries developed and stockpiled
more and more nuclear weapons

Cold War
 U.S. and U.S.S.R. both would use economic
pressure, nuclear threats, propaganda, and
subversion against each other
 They would not engage in direct military
combat

March 1947
 Truman asked Congress for millions of dollars
 Help the Greek and Turkish govts. fight communist rebel
movements
 May 1947--Congress appropriated the $$$

Truman Doctrine
 U.S. commitment to support peoples all over the world
who were threatened by Soviet aggression and/or internal
communist uprisings
 Truman Doctrine speech

Marshall Plan
 Developed by Sec. of State George Marshall
 U.S. assistance to rebuild European economies
 $17 billion
 Attempt to prevent the spread of Communism
 By 1952, it had revived the Western European
economically
 Communist popularity waned
 American business boomed with increased sales in Europe
1947-1948=Stalin took over Hungary and
Czechoslovakia
 U.S.A., G.B., and France united their zones of
occupation in Germany into West Germany

 Include Western occupied parts of Berlin

Berlin blockade
 Soviet reaction to unification
 Prevented all ground movement of goods and people
between West Germany and West Berlin
 Stalin hoped to halt the establishment of West Germany
 June 1948 to May 1949
 History Channel video--Berlin Blockade

Berlin Airlift
 Truman’s reaction to the blockade
 Truman told Stalin that if the Soviets shot down any supply
planes, the U.S. would retaliate with atomic bombs
 History Channel video--Berlin Airlift
May 1949--Stalin ended the unsuccessful Berlin
blockade
 West German Federal Republic was formed

 Include West Berlin

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
 NATO
 Formed in April 1949
 10 European nations, Canada, and the United
States
 Anticommunist military alliance

The Soviets responded by:
 1.) establishing the Germany Democratic Republic (East Germany)
 2.) developed their own atomic bomb
 3.) Warsaw Pact
▪ Military alliance of the Soviet Union and its satellite nations

The 2 superpowers divided Europe into rival
armed camps.
Both superpowers wanted economic and military
influence in Asia
 The U.S.:

 helped rebuild Japan
▪ Structurally and economically
 Occupied much of Japan’s former Pacific island empire
 Crushed a communist movement in the Philippines
 Aided the French in their attempt to hold on to their
empire in Indochina

In China though, the
United States did not
prevent the Nationalist
govt. from overthrow
 U.S. sent military and
economic aid
 Helped Jiang Jieshi
 Mao Zedong overthrew
Jieshi in 1949
 Communist nation
Hysteria started in the United States
Began a search for disloyal elements in the U.S.A.
Republicans blamed Truman for losing China
United States built the hydrogen bomb and
increased military spending
 Soviets built hydrogen bombs also
 Thermonuclear terror increased




In 1945--U.S.S.R. and the United States liberated
Korea from Japanese rule
 The Soviets set up a communist-governed nation

 People’s Democratic Republic of Korea
 North of the 38th parallel

United States helped to create a pro-Western nation
 Republic of Korea
 South of the 38th parallel



Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea wanted
to reunited Koreans
under its rule
Invaded South Korea in
1950
Truman sent U.S. forces
under General Douglas
MacArthur to South
Korea to repel the
invasion
 Did so without consent
from Congress



The United Nations sent a token army to fight
under MacArthur
U.S., U.N., and South Korean troops soon
pushed the North Koreans back to the 38th
parallel
Truman and MacArthur decided to conquer
the North and put it under the control of the
South Korean govt.




MacArthur’s armies neared the Yalu River
Mao Zedong warned that he would not
“stand idly by”
MacArthur ignored the threat
He was caught off guard by the 33 Chinese
divisions that forced his troops deep into
South Korea
1951—MacArthur’s forces reached the 38th parallel
Truman then ordered them to hold that position
until a peace settlement was reached
 MacArthur protested


 He wanted total victory by using atomic bombs against
China
 Truman removed MacArthur--April 1951
▪ MacArthur was put in charge of civilian control over the military
 History Channel speech--Truman
 History Channel speech--MacArthur








Truce came in 1953
Border between the 2 Koreas was nearly the same as
in 1950
U.S. lost 54,000 lives
Cost $54 billion
In 1953, the defense spending was 2/3 of the federal
budget
In 1950 it was 1/3
The U.S. also began aiding France against an
independence revolt in Indochina
SEATO was created in 1954
 U.S., Australia, New Zealand, and other countries

The Eightieth Congress, 1947-1948
 Republican controlled
 Began to undo the New Deal
 Passed the Taft-Hartley Act
▪ Less favorable to unions than the Wagner Act
▪ Truman had vetoed it but Congress overrode the veto
 Truman courted liberal, labor, and Jewish votes for the next
election by:
▪ condemned the reactionary Congress
▪ Recognized the new state of Israel






President’s Committee on Civil Rights
1946
Set up by Truman
Investigate racism
Suggest ways to protect minorities
Congress should pass:
 Antilynching bill
 Anti-poll tax bill
 Other civil-rights bills



Southern Democrats resisted these possible
changes
Truman did not make any specific proposals
1948 Democratic National Convention
 Liberals and urban politicians forced the party to
adopt a strong civil-rights platform
 This allowed Truman to press for the measures
recommended by his civil-rights committee

Southern Democrats founded the Dixiecrat
Party
 Nominated Strom Thurmond for President
▪ Segregationist from SC





1948 election had 4 candidates:
Democrats--Truman
Republicans--Thomas Dewey
Dixiecrats--Thurmond
New Progressive Party--Henry Wallace
 Made up of left-wing Democrats

Many believed Dewey would win easily

Truman secured the northern African-American
vote:
 Issued executive orders against discrimination in govt.
employment and segregation in the armed forces

Truman received the support of northern AfricanAmericans and the Roosevelt New Deal coalition
 Gave Truman a close victory
 Wallace and Thurmond did not take enough of the
Democratic vote to make a difference

Truman’s social and economic reforms





Increase in the minimum wage
Increase in social-security benefits
Public-housing construction
Removal of slums
Conservation Southern Democrats and
Republicans blocked all civil-rights and most
Fail Deal measures

Loyalty and Security
 Federal Employee Loyalty Program
▪ Established March 1947
▪ Truman formed after Republican accusations that he was not
protecting internal security
▪ Provided for checks on all govt. workers
▪ Remove out any disloyal personnel
 Between 1947-1951:
▪ more than 500 people were fired
▪ Thousands resigned
▪ Most because they espoused unpopular beliefs, not because they had
committed unlawful acts
The loyalty program stimulated more fear of
subversion
 Magazines published stories about the “red”
menace
 39 states passed laws requiring their employees to
take loyalty oaths
 Teachers, union leaders, and public officials
hesitated to advocate reform

 Fear of being suspected of being procommunist

House Un-American Activities Committee
 HUAC
 1947
 Began hearings on communist influence
 Witnesses who refused to testify about their own and
other people’s past political activities and views were cited
for contempt of Congress
▪ They lost their jobs

Hollywood studios and radio networks blacklisted
employees they considered left-wing

The Truman administration prosecuted the
leaders of the Communist Party
 Conspiracy to preach the overthrow of the govt.
 The Supreme Court upheld the convictions
▪ The First Amendment freedoms may be restricted to
protect national security


There were only 30,000 American Communist
Any danger from them was minimal
Hiss worked in the
State Department
 1950
 Accused of giving
classified documents
to the Soviets
 Convicted of perjury
for lying

Ethel and Julius
Part of a spy ring that
had stolen atomic
secrets for the Soviets
 Found guilty of
conspiracy to commit
espionage
 Rosenbergs insisted
they were innocent
 sentenced to death



Republicans claimed
that the Hiss and
Rosenbergs cases
proved that the
Democratic
administration had
been made up of
communist traitors


Rep. Senator from WI
Without supporting
evidence McCarthy
accused many public
officials of communist
activities or being
agents
 Democratic senators,
members of Truman
administration, and
other public officials
He won a following among insecure and/or
discontented groups
 He frightened political leaders into rigid
anticommunist stances on complex issues
 McCarran Internal Security Act

 1950
 Subversive Controls Act
 Communist had to register with the Attorney General

McCarran-Walter Immigration and Nationality Act
 1952
 Quota system



Democrats--Adlai Stevenson
Republicans--Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower and the Republicans won easily
won the White House and Congress
 McCarthyist labeling of the Democrats as the party
of treason
 Stalemate in Korea
 Eisenhower’s pledge to go to Korea to end the war




WWII was followed by a period of economic
boom
GI Bill of Rights contributed to that prosperity
Rose a generation of working-class veterans
into the middle class
Millions of GI’s attended college, started
businesses, bought homes

The U.S.A. tried to contain communism
 Aid to Greece and Turkey
 Marshall Plan
 Berlin airlift
 Help create West Germany
 Organized NATO
 Fought the Korean War

Truman’s anticommunist rhetoric and govt. loyalty
program contributed to a red scare
 Silenced dissenters
 Weakened Democratic liberalism
Republicans could not undo popular New Deal
programs, but they did block most Fair Deal
initiatives
 The election of 1952 ended the 1st phase of the
postwar era and 20 years of Democratic control of
the presidency
