The American
Pageant
Chapter 36
The Cold War
Begins,
1945-1952
Yalta Agreements (Feb. 1945)
► Final
plans laid for smashing German lines and setting
up occupation zones in Germany
► Stalin agrees Poland should have representative
government & redrawn boundaries
► Bulgaria and Romania were to have free elections
(broken promise)
► Stalin agrees to aid U.S. in Asia 3 months after
German surrender
► Stalin pledges support for United Nations
► U.S. & Great Britain agree to recognize Soviet control
of Eastern Europe in exchange for Stalin’s promise of
“free and unfettered elections” at a “later date”
Potsdam Agreements
► Germany
is completely disarmed and its war
industries dismantled
► Each occupying nation is allowed to take war
payments from its zone
► Western half of Germany stays under U.S.,
French, and British control
► Eastern Germany stays in Soviet hands
► Capital city of Berlin, deep in Soviet zone, is
carved up among the four powers
Potsdam Agreements
Read Between the Lines:
► $3.5 billion loan to Great Britain
►Truman Doctrine preaches containment
►$400 million to Greece and Turkey to
protect against communist revolutionaries
►Marshall Plan ($17 billion over 5 years)
Churchill and Truman,
"Iron Curtain Speech,"
March 5, 1946
Churchill (1874–1965)
delivered a speech, which he
intended for a worldwide
audience, at Westminster
College in Fulton, Missouri.
President Harry S. Truman
(right) had encouraged
Churchill (seated) to speak
on two themes: the need to
block Soviet expansion and
the need to form the AngloAmerican partnership. This
speech became one of the
landmark statements of the
Cold War. (Harry S. Truman
Library)
Marshall Plan poster of ship
The goal of the Marshall Plan
was to provide American
economic support for the
rebuilding of Europe's
economy. By the time the plan
ended, the United States had
provided over $12.5 billion
dollars to those European
nations participating in the
European Recovery Program.
This poster demonstrated that
with cooperation, Europe
would soon be moving
forward again.
(Courtesy of George C.
Marshall Foundation)
American Food for Hungry Europe
Grateful English mothers line up for orange juice sent by the United States to assist
Europeans devastated by the Second World War. (National Archives)
Berlin Air Lift--German children watching American planes bring food, 1948
German children watching an American plane in "Operation Vittles" bring food and
supplies to their beleaguered city. The airlift kept a city of 2 million people alive for
nearly a year and made West Berlin a symbol of the West's resolve to contain the
spread of Soviet communism. ((c) Bettmann/Corbis)
New West: Wing production on the Boeing B-52 assembly line, Seattle, 1950s
Symbolic of the defense spending and investment that helped the West's economy
flourish, Seattle's Boeing plant in 1951 began production of the first of the B-52
Stratofortress heavy bombers. They would continue rolling off the Boeing assembly
line until the end of the decade. (Courtesy Boeing Defense & Space Group)
Communist hysteria in the media: Red Menace poster
Although Hollywood generally avoided overtly political films, it released a few dozen explicitly
anticommunist films in the postwar era. Depicting American communists as vicious hypocrites, if not
hardened criminals, Hollywood's Cold War movies, like its blacklist, were an effort to protect its imperiled
public image after HUAC's widely publicized investigation of the movie industry. (The Michael Barson
Collection/Past Perfect)
Soldiers of 11th Airborne Division watch atomic bomb explosion, 1951 tests in Nevada
Soldiers of the 11th Airborne Division watch as an atomic explosion mushrooms into the sky
during 1951 testing maneuvers in Nevada. ((c) Bettmann/Corbis)
Girl in front of dome atomic bomb shelter
As the Cold War intensified and the Soviets became a nuclear power, the government began to
consider methods to survive a nuclear war. One "solution" was to encourage people to build
backyard bomb shelters. Pictured here is one family's atomic bomb shelter that slept six. The cost
was $1,250 in 1951. (Corbis-Bettmann)
Cold War Issues
► Capitalism
and communism were historically hostile
philosophies
► U.S. had refused to officially recognize Boslshevik
government in Moscow until 1933
► Britain & U.S. delayed opening up second front against
Germany in WWII, nourishing skepticism
► Britain and U.S. froze Soviets out of atomic weapon
project
► U.S. abruptly ended lend-lease aid to Soviets (1945)
► U.S. spurned Moscow’s request for $6 billion
reconstruction loan, but approved $3.75 billion to
Britain
► Both had a history of missionary diplomacy
Cold War Skirmishes
United Nations (1945) becomes a stage for future
Cold War conflicts
► Soviet specialist George F. Kennan promotes
containment which becomes basis of Truman Doctrine
► Marshall Plan and aid to Greece and Turkey aim to
rebuild Europe and prevent communist revolutions
► National Security Act (1947) created Department of
Defense & National Security Council (NSC) & Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA)
► Congress authorizes “Voice of America” to broadcast
behind Iron Curtain (1948)
► North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO -1948)
formed to guard against Soviet aggression in Europe
►
Cold War Skirmishes
► U.S.S.R.
detonated first atomic bomb (September
1949)
► U.S. responded with its first H-bomb (1952)
► U.S.S.R. got first H-bomb soon after (1953)
► Truman launched a Loyalty Review Board that
investigated 3 million employees (1947)
► Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) resulted
in Nixon’s outing of Alger Hiss (1948)
► McCarran Internal Security Bill passed over Truman’s
veto allowed president to detain anyone in “national
emergency” (1950)
► Julius & Ethel Rosenberg executed for espionage
(1953)