The Beginning of the
Cold War
Events From 1946-1960

Cold War

Soviet Interests
◦ Post WWII to 1990 –
time period of increasing
tensions between the US
and USSR
◦ Security – control all
countries between
Germany and the Soviet
Union
◦ Communism superior to
Capitalism
◦ Suspicious of capitalism
– saw it as the source of
conflict and a threat to
communism
Clash of Interests

US Interests
◦ Increase economic
growth around the world
– including Germany
◦ Capitalism superior to
Communism
◦ Suspicious of
communism – wanted to
promote democracy,
individual rights and
capitalism
Tensions Between Nations





USSR – Joseph
Stalin
US – Franklin
Delano Roosevelt
Great Britain –
Winston Churchill
Germany divided
into 4 zones of
occupation
Germany would pay
reparations for
causing the war
Yalta Conference
• US and GB would recognize Polish
communist government set up by
the USSR
• USSR agrees to eventually hold
free elections in Poland
Agreements • Declaration of Liberated Europe
(people had the right to choose
their own governments)
Yalta Conference
• FDR dies – Harry Truman
becomes US president
• USSR fails to follow
agreements at Yalta –
tensions increase
Yalta Conference
Potsdam
Conference
• Truman agrees that USSR could
take reparations from their section
of Germany, and industrial
equipment from other sections
• Stalin disagrees with plan –
Truman informs Stalin of
successful atomic bomb test
• Stalin agrees to plan – tensions
increase
Truman Takes Control

Other issues at Potsdam
◦ Declaration of Liberated Europe not upheld –
USSR creates satellite nations (nations which
contained Soviet-imposed communist
governments)

Communist satellite nations increase –
iron curtain (division of communist
nations of Eastern Europe and the West)
descends on Europe
Truman Takes Control
Europe divided after
WWII amongst the
Soviet Satellite States
of Eastern Europe and
the Western European
Democracies.
Iron Curtain =
Dividing line in
Europe between the
two powers
Europe after Potsdam
US Policy of
Containment
Chapter 26 Section 2
Containing Communism
USSR behavior? Why?
George Kennan (US
diplomat in Moscow)
writes the Long Telegram

Russia’s insecurity and fear
of the West – reason why it
would be impossible to
reach agreements with
Russia
Kennan proposes
containment (keeping
communism within its
present territory through
diplomatic, economic,
and military actions)
Containing Communism
Soviets Invade Iran and
the US use military action
to intimidate USSR
Truman Doctrine –
Truman requests $400
million to fight Soviet
aggression in Turkey and
Greece
Marshall Plan – US
would give aid to Europe
to rebuilt after WWII –
designed to decrease the
appeal of communism
The Berlin Crisis
US, Britain, and France
combine their zones in
Berlin and allow West
Berlin to have its own
government
In response, The Soviets
block all road and rail
traffic into East Germany,
hoping to force the
Americans to renegotiate
West Berlin’s status
Truman sends long range
bombers to Berlin with
atomic weapons.
The Berlin Crisis
Berlin Airlift – eleven
months of food, medicine,
and coal to West Berlin
US joins NATO (North
Atlantic Treaty
Organization) – military
alliance with Western
Europe
Soviets respond to NATO
with the creation of the
Warsaw Pact – Military
alliance between Soviets
and Eastern Europe
The Cold War Spreads East
Nationalist and
Communist forces
battle in a civil war for
control over China –
Communists win
creating the People’s
Republic of China
China and USSR sign
a treaty of friendship
and alliance in 1950
The Cold War Spreads East
US keeps Communist
China out of the UN,
but allows Taiwan to
stay
US sees Japan, not
China, as its ally in
defending Asia from
communism
Korean War
While disarming
Japanese troops in
Korea after WWII, the
USSR stayed in North
Korea, while the US
stayed in South Korea
Events
N. Korea
invades S.
Korea
UN pushes N.K.
troops to China
China and N.K.
push UN back
to S.K.
UN pushes
China and N.K.
to 38th parallel
Korean War
General MacArthur criticizes Truman for
not using more force and is then fired
Truman committed to limited war (war
fought to obtain a limited objective)
Major turning point in the Cold War: US
began a major military buildup to fight
communism.
The New Red Scare
CHAPTER 26 SECTION 3
A New Red Scare
 1945 – Americans fear
subversion (an effort to secretly
weaken a society and overthrow its
government)
 1947 –Loyalty Review Program
which screened federal employees
for their loyalty

Leads to more American fears of
communism
 FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
urges the House Un-American
Activities Committee (HUAC)
to hold public hearings on
Communist subversion
 1948 – Whittaker Chambers
testifies that government officials
were also Communist spies

Alger Hiss – accused, denied, and was
then convicted of perjury (lying under
oath)
A New Red Scare
 Soviets create an atomic
bomb
 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
who were charged with
heading a Soviet spy ring

Rosenberg couple were
executed in 1953 though some
believed them to be innocent
 1946 – American
cryptographers crack the
Soviet spy code under
Project Verona – becomes
public knowledge in 1995
(indicts the Rosenberg
couple with strong
evidence.)
“A Conspiracy So Immense”
 Senator Joseph R McCarthy –
205 Communists in Gov.
 McCarthy denounces the
Democratic party as corrupt
politicians and protectors of
Communists – He wins a seat
in the Senate
 1950 – McCarran Act –
illegal to “combine, conspire
or agree with any other
person to perform any act
which would substantially
contribute to the
establishment of a totalitarian
government”
“A Conspiracy So Immense”
 McCarthy accused and
searched for Communists
based on poor, little, or no
evidence and fear.
 McCarthyism: to ruined
reputations without proper
evidence
 Army-McCarthy
hearings – McCarthy
accuses army of employing
communists – McCarthy
looses popularity
Life During the Cold War Era
 Communism and the threat
of the atomic bomb
dominated life in the 1950s
 Fallout (radiation left over
from an atomic blast)
 Americans began to build
fallout shelters
 Time of contrast:


Images of the Cold War fear
filled popular culture
The country enjoyed
immense postwar prosperity
and optimism
Eisenhower’s Policies
CHAPTER 26 SECTION 4
Eisenhower’s New Look
 Dwight D. Eisenhower – WWII hero – wins the 1952 election against
Adlai Stephenson
 How to win the Cold War:

Strong military + strong economy
 More atomic weapons (conventional weapons too expensive) = “New
Look” defense policy
 Massive retaliation – threaten the use of nuclear weapons on any
Communist state who tried to take territory through force
 B-52s, ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles), and Submarines
could be used to deliver nuclear weapons
 October 4, 1957 – USSR launches 1st satellite into space known as
Sputnik.

US feels they are falling behind in missile technology
 Congress creates NASA (National Aeronautics and Space
Administration) and passes the National Defense Education Act
(NDEA)
Brinksmanship in Action
 The Korean War armistice was signed after
Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons –
stopped communism from spreading
 1954 – China threatens to take over two islands from
the Chinese Nationalists in Taiwan – Eisenhower
threatens nuclear conflict and the Chinese retreat
 Eisenhower uses the threat of nuclear power to stop
the Soviets from attacking during the Suez Canal
Crisis.
Fighting Communism
 Brinksmanship would not work against internal
Communist revolutions
 Eisenhower creates the CIA (Central Intelligence
Agency) to use covert (hidden) operations to stop
Communism
 CIA operations took place in mostly developing nations

Iran and Guatemala in the 1950s
 Nikita Khrushchev becomes prime minister after
Stalin’s death
 Eastern European countries revolt against their
communist-imposed governments
 Khrushchev uses military force to put down revolts
Continuing Tensions
 Eisenhower and Khrushchev meet at a summit in
Paris to alleviate tensions
 Summit stopped after Khrushchev finds out about a
U2 spy plane that is shot down over Russia (Francis
Gary Powers)
 Eisenhower warns of the military-industrial
complex (relationship between the military
establishment and the defense industry) in a
democracy