Cold War Climate
Allies Set Postwar Goals
Yalta Conference Feb 1945
• Roosevelt, Stalin, and
Churchill
• Agreed Poland, Bulgaria, &
Romania would hold free
elections (Stalin would
renege on this promise)
• Red Army already occupied
much of Eastern Europecouldn’t press Stalin
"Yalta Conference." Image. Library of Congress. American History. ABC-CLIO, 2011.
Web. 8 Dec. 2011.
Potsdam Conference
Truman, Stalin, Clement Atlee (UK Prime Minister)
Decide to divide Germany into four zones of occupation:
Soviet, American, British, and French.
New borders and free elections for Poland
Recognized Soviet’s right to
reparations
Soviet Union would enter war
against Japan
Truman believed USSR is a threat.
"Potsdam Conference." Image. Harry S. Truman Library. American History. ABC-CLIO,
2011. Web. 8 Dec. 2011.
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of
East‐West competition, tension,
and conflict short of full‐
scale war
http://multimedialearningllc.wordpress.com/2010/05/02/kennedy-versuskhrushchev-cold-war-political-cartoon/
There were real wars, sometimes called "proxy wars" because
they were fought by Soviet allies rather than the USSR itself
‐‐along with competition for influence in the Third World, and a
major superpower arms race.
The Cold War
• Began in 1945, with disagreements over the future of postWWII Europe.
-Yalta Conference and Potsdam
• Ended in 1991, with the collapse
of the Soviet Union.
"Berlin Wall." Image. AP/Wide World Photos. World History: The Modern Era. ABCCLIO, 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.
US v. Soviet Union
United States and Allies
• Capitalist, market-based
economy
• Democratic republic
• Open society
USSR and Allies
• Communist, state
controlled economy
• Dictatorship
• Closed society
The Soviets Split from the Allies
Stalin wanted conquered land to protect
the Soviet Union from future invasion.
Allies insisted on free elections in
Soviet-occupied Poland, Latvia,
Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, & Hungary
Stalin refused and by 1948 all of these
states had communist governments
(Latvia, Lithuania, & Estonia became part
of the Soviet Union itself)
The Iron Curtain
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in
the Adriatic an "iron curtain" has
descended across the Continent.
Behind that line lie all the capitals of
the ancient states of Central and
Eastern Europe … and all are subject, in
one form or another, not only to Soviet
influence but to a very high and in
some cases increasing measure of
control from Moscow.” - Winston
Churchill, 1946
Term “iron curtain” was meant to
describe the ideological division that
had risen between Communist Eastern
Europe and Democratic Western
Europe
http://apus-06-07.wikispaces.com/pw+foreign+political+cartoons
"Eastern Europe after World War II." Map. World History: The Modern Era. ABCCLIO, 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.
The Cold War in Europe
Berlin Airlift (1948-1949)
• Soviet Union prohibited
ground access to West
Berlin.
• UK and US provided
essential supplies into Germany
"Berlin airlift." Image. U.S. Air Force. World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO,
2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2011.
• A new plane touched down every 3 minutes, was unloaded
in 17, and then took off to receive another load.
• Airlift was successful that the Soviet Union lifted the
blockade.
Crisis in Berlin
Berlin was a key focus of Cold War
tensions.
The city was split into democratic West
Berlin and communist East Berlin.
East Germany built the Berlin wall in
1961 that sealed off West Berlin.
The wall fell in 1989.
Germany approved reunification
in 1990.
"Berlin Wall." Image. AP/Wide World Photos. World History: The Modern Era. ABCCLIO, 2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2011.
Containment Policy
US had little choice but to accept
communism in Eastern Europe or
enter into an unpopular war with
the Soviets
US instead focused on preventing
communism from spreading into
new areas and pledged to
“contain” communism to the
areas where it already existed
First Test of Containment was in
Greece and Turkey
The Truman Doctrine
Mar. 12, 1947: Truman declared
that US foreign policy would be
to “support free peoples who
are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed
minorities or by outside
pressures”
Truman essentially declared
war on the spread of
communism
After Truman’s speech,
Congress approved $400 million
in economic aid to Greece and
Turkey, enough to defeat the
communist threat in that region
"Truman Doctrine." Image. Library of Congress. World History: The Modern Era. ABCCLIO, 2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.
The Marshall Plan
A plan to provide US financial aid
to war-torn Europe, to help with
rebuilding both physically and
economically
The economic prosperity in
Western Europe that followed
minimized the potential for any
further spread of communism in
that region
Stalin Blocks Marshall
Plan
Stalin would not allow any
communist state to accept US
assistance.
"Marshall Plan." Image. National Archives. World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO,
2011. Web. 15 Dec. 2011.
NATO
• Formed as a defense alliance against the Soviet Union
• If one member is attacked, all the others are expected to
respond.
• The Soviet Union responded with the Warsaw Pact
• Additional countries were added to NATO in 1952, 1955, 1982
https://sites.google.com/site/gmsebbe/NATO_vs_Warsaw_1949-1990.png
Arms Race
An arms race began right after WWII.
By 1949, the Soviet Union developed nuclear weapons.
By 1953, both US and USSR had hydrogen bombs = more
destructive than atomic bombs.
Both sides engaged in a race to match each other’s new
weapons.
MAD- Mutually Assured Destruction- each side knew that
the other side would itself be destroyed if it launched its
weapons
Eisenhower Introduces New Policies
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles- introduces idea of
“Massive Retaliation”- the policy that the US would respond
to communist threats to its allies by threatening to use
crushing, overwhelming force, perhaps even nuclear
weapons.
• Focused stockpiling nuclear weapons, planes, missiles, and
submarines
• Conservatives thought it was downgrading conventional
forces-weakening American defense
• Liberals feared nuclear war
Brinkmanship- “You have to take some chances for peace,
just as you must take chances in war.”
Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the new head of the Soviet Union
when Stalin died in 1953.
Khrushchev was not as suspicious or as cruel as Stalin.
He condemned the excesses of the Stalin regime and inched
towards more peaceful relations with the democratic West.
-move towards “peaceful co-existence” of the two powers
-But the Hungarian Revolution showed otherwise
Eisenhower Doctrine
US would use force to help any Middle East nation threatened
by Communism.
Use doctrine in 1958- sent troops to Lebanon to put down a
revolt against its pro-American government.
How did the Cold War culture create conflicts
over what it meant to be a “true American”?
Red Scare: the fear that communists both
outside and inside America were working
to destroy American life and capitalism.
(Communist) “are everywhere- in factories,
offices, butcher stores, on street corners, and
private businesses. And each carries in himself
the death of our society.”
-Attorney General J. Howard McGrath
Smith Act- unlawful to teach or advocate overthrow of the US
government
House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)- investigate
possible subversive activities
-conducted highly publicized hearings on communist activities
-Movie Industry (1947)- HUAC uncovered the Hollywood Ten
( a group of left-wing writers, directors, and producers). They
refused to answer questions, asserting the 5th Amendment
rights against self-incrimination.
- Watkins v. United States (1957)- witnesses before HUAC
couldn’t be forced to name radicals they knew.
-The HUAC had a powerful impact on filmmaking- avoided
sensitive social issues-feared being put on a Hollywood
Blacklist.
McCarthyism
Joseph R. McCarthy, senator from
Wisconsin
McCarthyism- extreme, reckless
charges
By making irresponsible allegations,
McCarthy did more to discredit
legitimate concerns about domestic
communism than any other American.
McCarthy vs. Welch
Merely being accused by McCarthy
destroyed reputations and jobs.
Alger Hiss-found guilty and sentence to five
years in prison
-raised serious concerns when
someone as influential as Hiss
(government official) was a
communist agent
http://www.pauldavisoncrime.
com/2013/01/a-look-back-atalger-hiss-espionage-case.html
Julius and Ethel Rosenbergcharged with passing secret
information about nuclear science
to Soviet agents. Sentenced to
death.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews/8894256/Infamo
us-spies-in-history.html?image=5
Space Race
Sputnik-(57) The Soviet Union launched
the first man-made satellite, into
Space, some Americans feared that
the Soviet Union had more advanced
technology.
This launched the idea that the US
need to catch up to Soviet
achievement.
President Eisenhower would increase
Weapons spending, sponsor NASA,
and create National Defense Education
Act.
"Apollo 11 launch." Image. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
World History: The Modern Era. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2011.
Duck and Cover 1951
Duck and Cover
1. Why do you think that “Duck and Cover” was developed
by the Federal Government?
2. How did the film attempt to calm the fears of young
Americans about the atomic bomb?
3. Do you think that the film would have been successful in
teaching about ways of protecting students against the
dangers of an atomic bomb?
4. Would a similar film be successful in today’s schools in
teaching about terrorist activities? Explain why or why not.
Suburbia: 1950s
Baby Boom
Increase in births between 1945 – 1964 after the end of WWII
Is the image of the happy
1950s housewife accurate?