Cold War
During World War II, the Allies hoped to prepare a postwar peace which would
endure for generations. The cornerstone of that peace would be the United Nations.
But this peaceful world order did not come to be. Instead, hostility between the Soviet
Union and the United States erupted and threatened to bring about a third world war.
This period of hostility became known as the cold war. America claimed that the Soviet
Union started the cold war by violating the Yalta Agreement of 1945. Instead of granting
freedom to those East European nations that it liberated from the Nazis, the Soviet Union
imposed communist rule on them. In addition, the Soviet Union closed the border
between Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe and Western Europe. This border, and the
restrictions on movement and thought that it represented, became known as the "iron
curtain." Meanwhile, the Soviets blamed cold war hostility on "anti-communist" hysteria
in the U.S. and other western capitalist countries.
Cold war tension increased when the Soviet Union attempted to extend communism
through so-called "wars of national liberation." In carrying out this policy, the Soviet
Union encouraged rebellions in other nations. One such revolt was fomented in Greece
in 1946.
Under the leadership of President Truman, the U.S. responded quickly to these Soviet
actions. In 1947, the President proclaimed the Truman Doctrine. In it, the U.S. promised
to help other nations resist threats to their "free institutions and national integrity."
Acting on this promise, the U.S. sent military supplies to Greece and the communist-led
revolt failed. The U.S. also established the Marshall Plan (1948) which helped European
nations rebuild their war-torn economies. The U.S. established the Point Four program in
1950 to help the needy in other parts of the world. In addition to being humanitarian,
these programs attempted to make countries less vulnerable to communist-led
insurgencies. The N.A.T.O. alliance further strengthened European security. Under this
alliance the U.S., Canada, Iceland, and nine Western European nations pledged to help
each other if any were attacked.
Communist expansion in Asia presented a more difficult challenge to the U.S. After
World War II, Chinese communists resumed their efforts to control China. Despite the
shipment of U.S. military supplies to the non-communist government of China, the
communists won (1949). In 1950, North Korea (under a communist government)
invaded South Korea. Until then, the United Nations Security Council had been unable
to block such aggression because of Soviet Union vetoes. But in June 1950 the Soviet
Union was boycotting the Security Council. Taking advantage of this unique
opportunity, the Security Council voted to request member nations to create a United
Nations force to block further conquest of South Korea.
Meanwhile, America readjusted to peace-time life after World War II. But the
transition was not easy. Since the economy was still geared toward wartime production,
consumer products, such as automobiles, were scarce. The demand for scarce products
caused prices to rise. Workers demanded pay increases to match the rising cost of living.
When employers granted raises, the costs of production went up, causing even more
inflation -- a phenomenon called the wage-price spiral. When employers rejected wage
requests, as they increasingly did, unions often retaliated by calling strikes.
The growing labor problems and cold war concerns created an atmosphere which
helped political conservatives. Led by conservative Republicans, Congress passed the
Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 over President Truman's veto. This law weakened the power of
labor unions. One clause of the act outlawed closed-shop agreements. Another clause
allowed states to ban union-shop agreements. The conservative mood of the postwar
period also frustrated Truman's efforts at economic and civil rights reforms. The
conservative revival also contributed to the defeat of the liberal Democratic presidential
candidate, Adlai Stevenson, in 1952 and the election of the more conservative Republican
candidate, Dwight D. Eisenhower.