Objective: To examine the Red Scare of the 1950’s and beyond.
Cummings of the Daily Express, 24 August 1953,
"Back to Where it all Started"
Improve your knowledge
• Truman had been horrified at the pre-war
Allied policy of appeasement and was
determined to stand upto any Soviet
intimidation.
The Truman Doctrine in March 1947
promised that the USA “would support
free peoples who are resisting
subjugation by armed minorities or by
outside pressures”. Triggered by British
inability to hold the line in Greece, it was
followed by aid to Greece and Turkey, and
also money to secure upcoming elections
in Italy and the advance of Communist
trade unions in France.
It signalled the end of “isolationst”
policies.
Rebuilding Europe
• The Marshall Plan reflected the strength of the
US economy and offered huge sums to enable the
war shattered economies of Europe to rebuild and,
by generating prosperity, to reject the appeal of
Communism, Czechoslovakia showed interest in
receiving Marshall Aid but was blocked by Russia.
The Soviet system was as much dependent upon
creating a self-contained economic bloc as it was
in maintaining a repressive political system.
Hunting Communists
at Home
· A dramatic fear of
communism and communist
spies spread across the nation.
Joseph Stalin and Kliment
Voroshilov depicted saluting
a military parade in Red
Square above the message
"Long Live the WorkerPeasant Red Army— a
Dependable Sentinel of the
Soviet Borders!"
· In 1949, the U.S. learned that the Soviet Union also
possessed atomic weapons.
Video:
Atomic
tests
(4:35)
Cold War Bunker: The Greenbrier (7:37)
Video: “Duck and Cover” (1951 - 9:15)
• 'The Road to
Worldwide October’
(revolution)
• Hoover Plan (placard)
• Crisis (paper on table)
(By Viktor Deni, 1931)
State Coat of
Arms of the
USSR
Video: The Tsar Bomba (7:37)
Following the detonation of the
"Bravo" hydrogen test in the
Pacific, Igor Kurchatov, scientific
director of the Soviet nuclear
weapons program, and three other
scientists wrote a report warning of
the dangers of nuclear weapons.
(1954)
Igor Kurchatov
“The power of one or two modern
hydrogen bombs translated into an
equivalent quantity of TNT is
comparable to the total amount of
explosives used by the fighting
sides in the last world war.”
“Aside from the destructive impact of atomic and hydrogen
bombs there is another threat for mankind involved in atomic
war--poisoning the atmosphere and the surface of the globe
with radioactive substances originating from nuclear
explosions. In the form of minuscule particles and gases, these
are lifted by the force of the blast together with dust particles
to comparatively high altitudes. Wind spreads them all over
the earth's atmosphere. Later these radioactive substances fall
onto the surface of the earth with rain, snow, and dust, thus
poisoning it.” - Igor Kurchatov
BELARUS. Maiski. 1997. Nikolai Yanchen, one of 600,000
‘liquidators’ conscripted to fight the fires and clean up the
radioactive ash and contaminated villages. He lost his right leg
to cancer. He can no longer work and lives alone in a small
village in a contaminated area near the 30km ‘hot zone’.
BELARUS. Minsk. 1997. Children’s Home No 1. This
hospital receives many of the most deformed babies soon after
birth. Nurse Alla Komarova hugs 3-year-old Yulya, whose
brain is in a membrane in the back of his head.
Code Name: Ivy Mike
The fireball was approximately 3.25 miles wide, and the mushroom
cloud rose to an altitude of 57,000 feet in less than 90 seconds. One
minute later it had reached 108,000 feet , before stabilizing at 136,000
feet with the top eventually spreading out to a diameter of 100 miles with
a stem 20 miles wide.
The blast created a crater 6,240 feet in diameter and 164 feet deep where
Elugelab had once been; the blast and water waves from the explosion
(some waves up to twenty feet high) stripped the test islands clean of
vegetation, as observed by a helicopter survey within 60 minutes after
the test, by which time the mushroom cloud and steam had been blown
away. Irradiated coral debris fell upon ships stationed 30 miles from the
blast, and the immediate area around the atoll was heavily contaminated
for some time.
Video – Ivy Mike Test (2:19)
Castle Bravo H-Bomb shot at Bikini
Atoll. Largest U.S. H-Bomb ever
exploded. The explosion was 1000
times greater than Hiroshima. 1954
“Radiation from that
blast would later
bring early death to
many of us on the
island at that time.
Some of us are still
dying of radiation
from Bravo.” - Bob
Markey, Sr., naval
officer, stationed on
the island of
Kwajalein, 150
miles from Bikini
Atoll.
Video: H-bomb testing at Bikini Atoll (1:25)
Example of American
fears of Communism:
- Americans, Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg, were accused of
stealing nuclear secrets for the
Soviets.
- The Rosenbergs were executed
for their crimes in 1953.
Testing of an Atomic Cannon (1:17 - 1953)
McCarthy’s reckless
claims:
· In 1950, Senator Joseph
McCarthy announced that he
had a list of 205 State
Department employees that
were members of the
Communist party.
Video: McCarthy Witch
Hunt Trials (5:47)
· McCarthy’s claim was
never proven, but he
helped to increase a fear
of communism in
America known as the
“Red Scare”.
· After thousands of
Americans had their lives
ruined after being
accused of being
communists, McCarthy’s
popularity lessened as the
nation learned that he had
no proof behind his
accusations.
Communists at the
State Department:
- State Department
official Alger Hiss
was imprisoned for
perjury in 1950.
- Hiss had lied under oath, denying that he was a part of a
Soviet spy ring that sent U.S. government secrets to the Soviet
Union.
The Cold War: 1945-1960
The Cold War: 1960-1991
The Cold War in Africa and Asia
· The United States and Soviet Union supported their allies
worldwide, turning small conflicts into international wars.
Examples:
- In Africa, the U.S. supported Somalia while the Soviets
supported Ethiopia.
- In Asia, Pakistan became an ally of the U.S., while India
accepted assistance from both the U.S. and the Soviets. Also,
the U.S. supported democratic forces in Indochina while the
Soviets supported the communists.
- (Note: today, Indochina consists of the nations of Laos,
Cambodia and Vietnam.)
Premier Nikita Khrushchev
About the capitalist
states, it doesn't
depend on you whether we
(Soviet Union) exist.
If you don't like us, don't
accept our invitations, and
don'tinvite us to come
to see you. Whether
you like it our not, history is
on our side. We will bury you.
De-Stalinization
Program
-- 1956
Russians With Lyrics Link (3:54)
Cold War Movies
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Red Dawn
WarGames
Blast from the Past
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