The Cold War Begins
Chapter 36
AP Notes
Objectives….
• Explain the causes and
consequences of the post-World War
II economic boom….
• Describe the postwar migration ….
• Explain changes in Am. Society and
culture brought about by the “baby
boom”…
What were American economic
concerns after WWII?
•
•
•
•
•
Remembered the depression
War orders cancelled – GNP slumped
33% inflation
4.6 million workers went on strike
Needed markets to consume $14
billion in American exports
How did the government
respond to these concerns?
• Sold factories and gov’t
installations to pvt. business
• 1946 Employment Act
• Servicemen’s Readjustment
Act – 1944
• Veterans Administration
• Taft – Hartley Act
1946 Employment Act
• “Promote maximum
employment, production, and
purchasing power”
• Council of Economic Advisors
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of
1944
• GI Bill of Rights
• 2.3 million  college
• $15 billion on education, medical
treatment, loans for homes,
businesses and farms
• Raised education levels and
stimulated construction
FDR signs the “GI Bill” in 1944…
What was the Taft-Hartley Act?
• Reaction to strikes following WWII
• Outlawed many practices legal
under Wagner Act – closed shop,
secondary boycott, and use of
union dues for politics
• 80 day cooling off period
• Union officials had to sign a
noncommunist oath
• Passed over Truman’s veto
What was the effect of these
policies?
• GNP rose 250% 1945-60
• 35% increase in per capita income
• 6% of world’s population held 40% of
the wealth
• U.S. prospered
–Industrial production rose 90%
–Capital assets increased 65%
Effects….
• Prosperity  social mobility
• M.C. - $3,000 - $10,000 – doubled
• 60% of all Am. families by mid –
50s
• By 1959 – majority owned homes,
cars – 90% owned TVs
• More women  work – service
sector up over industrial…
What is meant by the American
Century?
• Henry Luce – Time Magazine
• “most powerful and vital nation in
the world”
• Rest of the world in ruins
• U.S. in a position to establish the
principles of world order
What propelled this economic
explosion?
• WWII – economic recovery for U.S.
• Increased military spending during
Cold War….
• High technology industries….
• Scientific research and
development…..
• Cheap energy …
• Increased productivity….
What were the demographic
changes after WWII?
• Growth of the “Sunbelt”…
– 15 states
– Jobs, climate, low taxes
– Greater gov’t spending
• Broke historic grip of NE on politics….
– All presidents since 1964 from “Sunbelt”
– Congressional representation rose
w/pop.
How did the government
encourage the growth of the
suburbs?
•
•
•
•
•
FHA – home loan guarantees
VA
Tax deductions
Gov’t built highways
1960 1 in 4 Am. Lived in suburbs
What are the consequences of
suburbia?
• “White
Flight”
• Segregation
• Drained cities of tax base
• Businesses  suburban malls
How did Government policies
aggravate this situation?
• FHA – refused mortgages to
blacks
• Public housing programs –
observed a neighborhood
composition rule
What was the “Baby Boom”?
• Explosion of births – added 50
million babies by end of 1950s
• Crested in 1957
• 1973 births below sustainable
level
• Generation strained and distorted
many aspects of American life …
Objectives….
• Explain the growth of tensions between
the United States and the Soviet Union
after Germany’s defeat and Truman’s
accession to the presidency.
• Describe the early Cold War conflicts over
Germany and Eastern Europe
• Discuss American efforts to “contain”
communism through the Truman Doctrine,
the Marshall Plan, and NATO
April 12, 1945
• Death of FDR
• Harry Truman
– Vice President
– From Missouri
– Not in the inner
circle
– No – nonsense
approach with
Soviets
– Plain speaker
Remember Yalta?
• FDR, Churchill, and Roosevelt
• Berlin/Germany divided into 4
• Stalin: “right to friendly government in
Poland”
• ½ reparations  USSR
• USSR agreed to enter war against Japan
– Southern half of Sakhalin Island and Kurile
Islands
– Control of R.R. in Manchuria
What was the Cold War?
• A state of indirect conflict that
existed between the U.S. and the
Soviet Union from 1945 to 1991
–Characterized by an arms
race
What were the causes of the Cold
War?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Different world views…
U.S. involvement in the Russian C.W.
U.S. refusal to recognize S.U.
Non-aggression Pact…
Allied delay of the western front…
Atomic bomb secrets…
Dispute over governments of E. Europe Poland
What was the Bretton Woods
Agreement?
• U.S. had emerged as the economic leader
of the world
• IMF and World Bank created
– Organizations to oversee trade and finance
– Deter currency conflicts and trade wars
– Foreign currencies valued in terms of the
U.S. dollar
• GATT-General Agreement on Trade and
Tariffs
How did the Soviet Union respond?
• Saw this as a policy to destroy
communism
• Refused to join World Band or IMF
• Suspicious – thought U.S. was trying to
remake world in own capitalist image
• Cut off possibility of U.S. aid
• Isolated economically
Would the United Nations keep
world peace?
• International peace-keeping organization
• Charter developed in San Francisco –
1945
• Members seek to settle disagreements
peacefully
• Try to stop war from occurring and end
those that had broken out
• All members belong to the General
Assembly – debate issues
Where was the true power in the
U.N.?
• Security Council
– Maintenance of international peace
– 11 members
– 5 permanent members
• U.S., G.B., France, China, and S.U
• Veto power – limited U.N. ability to
take action
What was the record of the U.N.
during the Cold War?
• Failures: few negotiated settlements due to
veto power
• Successes:
– Humanitarian programs
– Relief agencies
– Protection of human rights
• Universal Doctrine of Human Rights
• Eleanor Roosevelt – U.S. delegate to UN
What was the significance of the
Nuremburg trials?
• International Court of Justice 1945-46
• International cooperation
• 24 of Hitler’s party officials, gov’t ministers,
military leaders, and industrialists
• War crimes, crimes against humanity
• 12 sentenced to death – remainder to
prison
• Individual responsibility entrenched in
international law
What were the goals of the Atlantic
Charter?
• Self –determination
• Renounce all claims to new territories as
spoils of war
• Allies agreed to:
– Limited period of occupation
– Free elections
– Relinquish control
What actually happened?
• Divided Europe into spheres of influence
• It was understood:
– U.S. wanted influence in S. America and Phil.
– S.U. would not move on issue of security on its
western border
• FDR had hoped to offer economic aid to get
Soviets to loosen grip on E. Europe
• By Potsdam Conference S. U. consolidated
influence over E. Europe
How was Germany divided after
the war?
• Divided into 4 zones
• Soviet Union wanted high reparations
and to limit German reindustrialization
• Am. Business and Churchill wanted to
rebuild Germany as a counterforce to
the Soviet Union and a market for
U.S. and British goods
How was Germany treated after
WWII?
• Germany divided into 4 zones
– U.S., British, French, and Soviet
• Berlin divided in the same way
• 1948 – U.S., G.B., and France combined
their zones in Germany and Berlin
• W. Berlin was surrounded by Soviet
occupied territory
• S.U. closed all highway and rail routes
into W. Berlin
What was the significance of the
Berlin Airlift – Operation Vittles?
• 2.1 million residents of Berlin had
enough food and fuel for 5 weeks
• America and Britain flew in food
and supplies
–2.3 million tons of food, fuel,
medicine, even Christmas
presents
–277,000 flights over 327 days
“Candy Bomber”
• May, 1949 – Soviet Union gave up
–W. Germany  Federal Republic
of Germany
–E. Germany German
Democratic Republic
What policies shaped the Cold
War?
• Truman Doctrine – ideological
basis of containment
• Marshall Plan – economic
• NATO – military enforcement
Truman as President?
• Time to stop “babying the Soviets”
• Replaced FDR’s diplomatic advisers
with hard-line team
• Goals:
–Maintain U.S. military superiority
–Prevent communism from
spreading
What was the Truman Doctrine?
“It must be the policy of the
United States to support free
peoples who are resisting
attempted subjugation by
armed minorities or by outside
pressure” - HST
What was the situation in Greece
and Turkey?
• Greece – civil war
• Turkey – insurgents coming across the
border
• Great Britain announced withdrawal of
economic and military aid to Greece
• U.S. feared Soviet involvement
• Senator Vandenberg’s advice to
Truman…
How and where was the Truman
Doctrine applied?
•
•
•
•
$400 million
Greece and Turkey
Economic and military aid
Truman warned the American people of
the serious threat to national security
posed by Soviet influence
• Committed the U.S. to the role of world
policeman
Who was George Kennan?
• U.S. diplomat in
Moscow
• Said we should
draw the line with
Moscow
• Described the
inevitability of
conflict with the
Soviet Union
What were the conditions in Europe
after WWII?
• Western Europe in chaos
• Factories were bombed and looted
• Refugee – displaced persons
camps
• Winter of 1946-7 – worst in over a
century
• “a rubble heap – a charnel house, a
breeding ground for pestilence and
hate” - Churchill
What was the Marshall Plan?
• European Recovery Program
• Secretary of State George Marshall
• $13 billion in economic aid to 17
countries 1948-1951
• Britain, France, and W. Germany
received over half
• Ratified GATT – reduced
commercial barriers among
member nations and opened trade
to U.S.
Why should the U.S. give $13
billion in aid?
• Fear of political consequences of
total disintegration of Europe’s
economy
• Aimed at turning back socialist
and communist bids for power in
northern and western Europe
How successful was the Marshall
Plan?
• Created a climate favorable to
capitalism
• Industrial production up 200%
1947-1952
• Standard of living rose
• Western Europe became a major
center of American trade and
investment
What was Stalin’s reaction?
• Stalin denounced the plan
• Said Marshall Plan was an
American scheme to rebuild
Germany and to bring it into an
anti-Soviet bloc
What was the Iron Curtain?
• Winston Churchill – Fulton, Missouri 1946
• Declared the “iron curtain”
– New battlefront of the Cold War
– Divided the capitalist West from the
communist East
• Stalin called the speech a call to war
NATO
• Berlin blockade increased W.
European fears of Soviet
aggression
• April 1949 – 12 members
pledged military support to one
another in case any member
was attacked
• U.S., Canada + 10 European
nations
• 1st peace-time military alliance
for the U.S.
• $1.3 billion in military aid and
creation of U.S. bases overseas
Objectives…
• Describe the expansion of the
Cold War to East Asia….
How was Japan treated after the
war?
• Military occupation – General Douglas
MacArthur
• Interim government reforms
– Land reform
– Creation of independent trade unions
– Abolition of contract marriages
– Women’s suffrage
– Demilitarization
– Constitutional democracy – barred
communists
General
Douglas
MacArthur
What were the consequences of
these reforms?
• Rebuilt Japanese economy - capitalist
• Integrated Japan into the anti-Soviet bloc
• 1952 – Japan received sovereignty and
agreed to house U.S. troops and weapons
• Cultivated new business leaders
• Japan could not trade with the Soviet
Union or later with Red China
What were the origins of the
conflict in China?
• Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai Shek) –
Nationalist leader
• Mao Zedong – Communist leader
• Civil war for 20 years
• Jiang supported by the U.S. but corrupt
and did not win the favor of the peasants
and city dwellers
• When WWII ended fighting resumed
between the nationalists and communists
China….
• U.S. tried to help negotiate a settlement
between the two factions
– Advised Jiang to institute reforms
– Gave $3 billion in aid to Nationalists
• Mao had the support of 85% of the
people
• Mid 1949 – majority of Jiang’s troops
surrendered
• Jiang retreated to Taiwan (Formosa)
What was the reaction to the “loss”
of China?
• Shock – dismay
• “the worst defeat the United States has
suffered in its history” John Foster
Dulles
• Republicans blamed Truman
• Truman blamed Jiang
• Conservatives who thought the future
lay in Asia blamed the State
Department – said they were “procommunist”
What was our atomic policy?
• Truman relied on our monopoly of
atomic weapons to pressure the
Soviets to cooperate
• After the war many wanted control
of atomic power by the U.N.
• An American plan was submitted
and rejected by the Soviets
• America put aside plans for
international cooperation
U.S. atomic energy policy?
• 1946 Atomic Energy Act
– Atomic Energy Commission control
of all research and development
according to strictest standards of
national security
• U.S. stockpiled weapons and
conducted tests – 50 bombs
• Believed Soviets nowhere close to
nuclear capability
Buster Dog Test, NV
Then what happened?
• August, 1949 – the Soviet Union tested
their first A-bomb
• Then we both tested hydrogen bombs
– 1000x greater than Hiroshima
• Stockpiled more bombs and put nuclear
warheads on missiles  nuclear arms
race
• “loss” of China + Russian bomb = Hysteria
Castle Bravo, Bikini Atoll – March
1956
Objective….
• Describe the growing concern
about Soviet spying and internal
communist subversion, and the
climate of fear it engendered.
“Once a government is committed to
the principle of silencing the voice of
opposition, it has only one way to go,
and that is down the path of
increasingly repressive measures,
until it becomes a source of terror to
all its citizens and creates a country
where everyone lives in fear” -- Harry
S. Truman
Why were there concerns about
American security?
• Est. CP members in U.S. 
80,000
• Many more sympathetic
• “Loss” of China
• Spy network exposed
–Atomic bomb secrets
–Military secrets
What was the National Security Act
of 1947?
• Coordinate and administrate
defense policies and to advise the
President
–Department of Defense
–National Security Council
• Gather military, political and
economic information
–CIA
What was the Federal Employee
Loyalty Program?
• Executive Order 9835
• Response to criticisms – “soft” on
communism – lax internal security
• Goal: root out subversives in
government jobs
• Barred members of CP from federal
employment
• Loyalty checks on all government
employees
How did the program work?
• FBI checked files for people
engaged in suspicious activity
• Cases  review board
• People accused found
themselves under attack – hard
to clear their names
• Accused not able to see
evidence or face their accusers
• 6.6 million investigated – 500
dismissed and 6,000 resigned
objecting to the investigation
What was the McCarran Act?
• Internal Security Act
• Truman’s Loyalty Review Board
did not go far enough
• Required communist organizations
to register with the Subversive
Activities Control Board - give
membership list and financial
statement
Truman’s reaction?
• Vetoed the bill
• “In a free country, we punish men
for the crimes they commit, but
never for the opinions they have.”
– HST
• Law was passed over Truman’s
veto
What was the House Un-American
Activities Committee?
• Started as a committee under Martin
Dies
• Chaired by J. Parnell Thomas
• Expose communist influence in Am.
Life
• Blurred the distinction between dissent
and disloyalty
• Threatened people with the loss of jobs
How did the HUAC affect American
Life?
• Unions:
– Expel communist members
– Stay away from progressive causes
championing social justice
– Strictly pay and benefits
– Leaders had to sign a loyalty oath
• Educators:
– School teachers and college professors
had to sign loyalty oaths…
HUAC
How did the HUAC affect
Hollywood?
• Probed the motion picture industry
• Films had the ability to corrupt –said that
some Hollywood figures had left-wing
inclinations
• Called witnesses to testify about
communist influence in films
• “friendly witnesses” cooperated
Result: Content of movies very light – avoid
social or controversial issues
Who was Alger Hiss?
• State Department official accused by
admitted communist, Whittaker Chambers,
of being a communist and a spy
• Denied the charges and sued Chambers
for slander
• Congressman Richard Nixon pursued the
case – found microfilm with government
documents
• Hiss found guilty of perjury
Whittaker Chambers
Alger Hiss
Richard M. Nixon examining tapes
found in a pumpkin patch
Who were Ethel and Julius
Rosenberg?
• 1950 – Klaus Fuchs arrested for passing
passing atomic secrets to the Soviets
• He implicated David Greenglass who was
a machinist at Los Alamos
• He said his brother-in-law Julius
Rosenberg had recruited him
• Rosenbergs were tried, convicted, and
executed for espionage
Truman as President?
• Goals: Wanted the government to do
more for the average American without
changing economic and social system
• Opposition within his own party:
– Liberal wing (Henry Wallace)
– Southern - Conservatives
• Republican opposition:
– Gaining strength – more aggressive
– Resented increased Presidential power
The Results of the 1946 election?
• Truman’s approval rating is down to
32%
• Republican party won control of
Congress
–“Had enough?”
–The Eightieth Congress…
• “To Err is Truman”
Truman on Civil Rights?
• WWII saw beginning of C.R. Movement
• End of war – increased racial violence
• Civil Rights Committee – 1946
– Dramatized inequalities of Jim Crow
– Called for anti-lynching and poll tax
legislation
• Victories for African Americans
– Truman barred discrimination in
federal employment
– Desegregated military
– Supreme Court – segregation on
interstate buses unconstitutional –
also restrictive housing covenants
"Our immediate task is to
remove the last remnants of
the barriers which stand
between millions of our
citizens and their birthright.
There is no justifiable reason
for discrimination because of
ancestry or religion or race or
color." - HST
Election of 1948?
• Truman didn’t expect to win
• Platform
–Recognition of Israel
–Strong of C.R. – Anti-lynching
and poll tax, fair employment
legislation and desegregation of
military
• Split in the Democratic party
–Liberal wing supported Henry
Wallace
–States’ Rights – Dixiecrats –
nominated Strom Thurmond (13
southern states supported)
Results of the 1948 Election
Electoral %
Pop Vote%
HST: 303… 57%… 49.5%
Dewey:189… 36%… 45.1%
Thurm: 39… 4%… 2.4%
Wallace: 0… 0%… .6%
How did Truman win the Election of
1948?
• Whistle stop campaign
–356 speeches over 30,000
miles
–Relaxed and homey
• “Do-Nothing 80th Congress” – called
into session and refused to pass
legislation
– Done nothing but served powerful
corporations
– Taft-Hartley enslaved labor
– Closed doors to immigrants
– Challenged to do something on C.R.
Why did Truman win?
• Wallace too liberal…
• Dewey too remote…
• Many southern Democrats couldn’t stand
to see a Republican win
• Success of the Berlin Airlift
• Restoration of New Deal coalition
– Organized labor
– African Americans
– Jews
Fair Deal Successes
• Democrats win back Congress – Truman
sees election as a mandate for liberalism
• 81st Congress
– Raise minimum wage $.40 $.75
– Extended Social Security
– Cleared slums and built low income
housing
– Allowed 400,000 displaced person into
U.S.
Fair Deal failures?
•
•
•
•
•
Civil Rights – anti-lynching and poll tax
National Health Insurance
No repeal of Taft-Hartley
No federal aid to education
No plan to keep up farm incomes – crop
subsidies
• Diverted by
– Cold War
– Prosperity
North Korea
• Post WW II Korea is
divided (N–S) at the 38th
Parallel
• USSR reconstructs NK
• Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea
• Leader: Kim II Sung
The
Division
of
Korea
North Korea
• Post WW II Korea is
divided (N–S) at the 38th
Parallel
• USSR reconstructs NK
• Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea
• Leader: Kim II Sung
South Korea
• US reconstructs south of
the 38th parallel
• Republic of Korea
• Leader: Syngman Rhee
• 1949- 500 US troops in SK
How did the Korean War begin?
• June, 1950 NK attacks SK - Unify
• NK troops push SK back to Pusan
• The UN Security Council votes to
send troops:
–16 nations
–520,000 troops (90% US)
–Leader: General Douglas Mac
Arthur
General
Douglas
MacArthur
Stage I
NK
attacks
June,
1950
How did the U.S. respond to the
war?
• Truman viewed the invasion as a
Soviet test of containment
• Did not want to “appease” the
Soviets
• “Korea is the Greece of the Far
East”
• 2/3s of Americans polled approved
of sending troops
What were the major events of the
Korean War?
• N. Korea pushed south to
Pusan
• MacArthur landed at Inchon
and moved west cutting off N.
Korean supply lines
• ½ of N. Korean troops
surrendered – the rest fled to
the north
Major events…
• MacArthur pursued them north
hoping to reunify Korea under
South Korea’s terms
• China warned the U.S. away from
the Yalu River
Stage II
US
pushed to
Pusan
Perimeter
July, 1950
Stage III
Inchon
Landing
Sept. &
Oct,
1950
Stage IV
Oct. &
Nov,1950
The
Yalu
River
Major events…
• Nov., 1950 – 300,000 Chinese troops
entered the war
• Chinese wanted N. Korea to be
communist and were threatened by the
American fleet
• Chinese drove U.N. troops south out of
N. Korea and took Seoul
• Fighting continued for 2 more years
Stage V
Winter
1951
“Fighting
in
Reverse”
1951-1952
Stalemate
What was MacArthur’s position on
China?
• Called for an extension of the
war into China
• Wanted to use nuclear
weapons on Chinese cities
and blockade China
MacArthur on Korea
• Truman rejected this – feared
would bring WWIII
• Gen. Omar Bradely - “the wrong
war, at the wrong place, at the
wrong time, and with the wrong
enemy”
Truman vs. MacArthur
• MacArthur went over Truman’s head
• Spoke to newspapers and Republican
leaders in Congress criticizing Truman
• Sent letter to Congress criticizing
Truman saying that he failed to see the
gravity of the situation in Asia
• Truman fired MacArthur for
insubordination
How did the Korean War end?
• Using conventional means – UN forces
and S. Koreans fought back and retook
Seoul reaching the 38th parallel
• S.U. suggested cease fire and truce
talks began
• Agreed: location of cease fire line and
establishment of a demilitarized zone
• Problem: exchange of prisoners
The war ended
•
•
•
•
•
•
Armistice – July, 1953
Stalemate
North Koreans pushed back
Communism contained w/o nukes
Korea still 2 countries
Cost to U.S.: $67 billion and 54,000
lives
• Was it worth it?
What was the legacy of the Korean
War?
• Extended presidential powers
–Peacetime draft
–Sent troops to Korea w/o
Congressional approval
–Said – not a war but a “police
action”
What was the significance of NSC68?
• Paper adopted by the National
Security Council
• Warned against communism as
a “new fanatical faith” that
would take over the world
• Quadrupled defense budget
More legacies of the Korean War?
• Extended containment beyond
Europe
• Enlarged the Cold War to include
Asia
• Established tradition of “unwinnable”
conflicts making many skeptical of
official policy
• Tactical stalemate  disillusionment