PRESIDENT
HARRY S.TRUMAN (D)
1945-1953
APUSH: Lecture 8C
Mrs. Kray
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FOREIGN POLICY:
THE BIRTH OF THE COLD WAR
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WHAT IS THE COLD WAR?
Soviet & Eastern
Bloc Nations
[“Iron Curtain”]
GOAL  spread world-wide
Communism
METHODOLOGIES
US & the
Western
Democracies
GOAL  “Containment” of
Communism & the eventual
collapse of the Communist
world. [George Kennan]
 Espionage [KGB vs. CIA]
 Arms Race [nuclear escalation]
 Ideological Competition for the minds and hearts of Third World
peoples [Communist govt. & command economy vs. democratic govt. &
capitalist economy] “proxy wars”
 Bi-Polarization of Europe [NATO vs. Warsaw Pact]
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TRUMAN AND WWII:
THE WARTIME CONFERENCES
 Feb. 1945: Yalta Conference
 attended by Big Three: FDR, Churchill, Stalin
 Germany would be divided into zones of occupation
 Free election held in liberated countries of Eastern Europe
 Truman expected Stalin to honor this pledge
 Soviets would enter the war against the Japanese
 UN would be created
 July 1945: Potsdam Conference
 The Big Three are gone, Stalin is the only one left
 Issued warning to Japan to surrender unconditionally or else
 Hold war-crime trials of Nazi leaders
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THE BOMBING OF HIROSHIMA AND
NAGASAKI
 Traditional View
 Bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki saved the lives of American soldiers
 Estimated that more that 1 million Americans would have died in the invasion of
Japan
 The Bombing Re-examined with a Cold War Eye
 Japan had sent out peace feelers to the Soviets
 Is it coincidence we dropped the bomb on Aug. 6th when the Soviets were set
to enter the war on Aug. 8th?
 Soviets not informed we had A-bomb, they found out when Japan found out
 Was it a message to the Soviets?
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THE BIRTH OF THE COLD WAR:
A HISTORY OF ANTAGONISMS
American Fears/Suspicions
 Non-Aggression Pact with
Germany
 Soviet failure to honor promises
made at wartime conferences
 Yalta & Potsdam
 Communist economic system not
compatible with our economic
system of capitalism
 Differing postwar vision
 Envisioned an open, decolonized,
demilitarized, and democratized postwar world
 Wanted a strong international
organization to oversee global peace
SOVIET Fears/Suspicions
 U.S. Red Scare, 1919
 U.S. didn’t recognize USSR right
away
 It was formed in 1917
 Delayed opening of a 2nd Front
 U.S. didn’t tell Soviets about the
A-bomb
 Capitalist economic system
incompatible with their
communist economic system
 Differing postwar vision
 Wanted security
 Want a sphere of influence in Europe
to act as a buffer along USSR’s
western border
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THE COLD WAR IN EUROPE:
THE IRON CURTAIN DESCENDS
 Distrust turned to hostility in 1946
 Soviet forces remained in many Central and Eastern European nations
 Soviets held elections but manipulated the results to favor Communist candidates;
Truman viewed as a violation of Yalta Agreement
 “From
Stettin in the Balkans, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended
across the Continent. Behind that line lies the ancient capitals of Central and Eastern
Europe.” -- Sir Winston Churchill, 1946
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THE COLD WAR IN EUROPE:
TRUMAN’S CONTAINMENT POLICY
WHAT IS CONTAINMENT?
 Truman’s plan to stop the spread of communism throughout
Europe and the world
 Policy first developed by George Kennan
 NSC-68, 1950
 Quadruple defense spending to 20% of GNP
 Form alliances with non-communist countries around the world
 Convince the public that arms build-up was imperative for national defense
 Revealed American mindset that our resources were unlimited
 Basis of American foreign policy for the next 20 yrs.
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CONTAINING COMMUNISM IN EUROPE
TRUMAN DOCTRINE, 1947
 “The U. S. should support free peoples throughout the
world who were resisting takeovers by armed minorities or
outside pressures…We must assist free peoples to work out
their own destinies in their own way.”
 The U.S. gave Greece & Turkey $400 million in
aid.
 Civil War in Greece and Turkey under pressure from
USSR for concessions in the Dardanelles
MARSHALL PLAN, 1947
 Europe in ruins
 discontent had led to the growth of the Communist
Party, particularly in France and Italy
 $12.5 billion of US aid to Western Europe
 Huge success but rift with USSR deepened
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MARSHALL PLAN
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CONTAINMENT IN EUROPE:
THE BERLIN CRISIS
 The Berlin Blockade, 1948
 Done to oppose reunification of Western
Germany
 Stalin will starve the Allies into submission
 Truman will not give in to Soviet
aggression – NO APPEASEMENT!!!
 Truman orders the Berlin Airlift, 1948-
1948
 Stalin finally backs down
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THE WORLD CHOOSES SIDES
 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), 1947
 Peacetime defensive military alliance
 Broke Washington’s advice from Farewell Address
 Soviet Union responds with Warsaw Pact in 1955
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NATIONAL SECURITY ACT, 1947
 Designed to modernize military capabilities
 Department of Defense created to coordinate the
operations of Army, Navy, and Air Force
 National Security Council (NSC) created to coordinate the
making of foreign policy
 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) created to gather
information of foreign governments
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THE COLD WAR IN ASIA:
THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION
 Defeated Japan was solely under the
control of the U.S.
 Different situation than the German
occupation in Europe
 Gen. Douglas MacArthur in charge
 Parliamentary Democracy created
 MacArthur Constitution
 Emperor Hirohito remained ceremonial head of
state
 Dependent on U.S. for military protection
 U.S. remained a major player in Asia
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THE COLD WAR IN ASIA:
“THE U.S. LOSES CHINA”
 Civil War in China
 Nationalists led by Jiang Jieshi vs. Communists led
by Mao Zedong
 U.S. backs Jiang’s corrupt government
 The communists win the war
 Create an communist state – “The People’s
Republic of China”
 Jiang flees and sets up a rival Chinese government
in Taiwan known as The Republic of China
 Truman and the Democrat party are
criticized for “losing China to the
Communists”
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THE COLD WAR IN ASIA:
THE KOREAN WAR, 1950-1953
 Korea divided at the 38th parallel
since WWII ended
 Communist government set up in North
Korea
 Nationalist government set up in South
Korea
 June 1950 – N. Korea invades the
South
 U.S. fears “domino effect”
 U.S. gets UN to authorize U.S. led force
to defend S. Korea
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THE KOREAN WAR:
NORTH KOREA ON THE ATTACK
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THE KOREAN WAR:
MACARTHUR TO THE RESCUE
 Gen. MacArthur launches daring counter-attack
 Pushes N. Korea back to it’s border and gets permission to try to wipe the Korean
communists out once and for all to re-unite Korea
 China warns the UN forces not to approach their border
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THE KOREAN WAR: STALEMATE
 As the UN forces approach the
Yalu River, China attacks
 MacArthur and U.S forces forced to
retreat
 MacArthur demands U.S. use
nuclear weapons against China
 Truman refuses, “wrong war,
wrong time, wrong enemy”
 Forced to fire MacArthur for
insubordination
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DOMESTIC POLICY
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WHO IS HARRY TRUMAN?
 Became president when FDR died in 1945
 Attempted to continue New Deal tradition
 Employment Act of 1946
 Water down version of what he wanted
 Increased minimum wage, created Council of Economic
Advisers
 Truman battles the “Do-Nothing Congress”
 Taft-Hartley Act of 1947
 Passed over Truman’s veto; designed to check the growing
power of unions
 Civil Rights
 Desegregated the Armed Forces;
 Southern Democrats blocked his creation of the Fair
Employment Practices Commission
“The Buck Stops
Here!”
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ELECTION OF 1948
Harry S.
Truman (D)
Thomas
Dewey (R)
Truman’s popularity at a low point
 Midterms of 1946 had given Republicans control of Congress
 Abandoned by many Democrats
 The New Progressive Party – made up of liberal Democrats who disliked Truman’s
aggressive foreign policy (Korean War)
 States’ Rights Party (Dixiecrats) -- made up of Southern Democrats who disliked
Truman’s civil rights policies
Republicans confident they would win
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ELECTION RESULTS
 Truman tours the country giving fiery “Give ‘em Hell”
speeches and railing against the “Do-Nothing Congress”
 Pulls a surprising upset.
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TRUMAN’S FAIR DEAL
 Ambitious reform program
 Universal health care
 Federal aid to education
 Civil Right legislation
 Funds for public housing
 New Farm Program
 Conservatives in Congress block
everything except an increase to
minimum wage
 Why did it fail?
 Truman’s conflicts with Congress
 The Cold War
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THE COLD WAR COMES HOME:
THE 2ND RED SCARE
 Fear of Communist spies and
conspirators in the U.S. State
Department and military
 Different from 1920s Red Scare
 Then they feared communists outsiders
coming in
 1950s scared they feared communists
already here
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THE COLD WAR COMES HOME:
THE LOYALTY REVIEW BOARD, 1947
 Created by Truman under
pressure from Republican critics
he was “soft” on Communism
 Investigated the backgrounds of
more than 3 million federal
employees
 Thousands of officials either
resigned or lost their jobs
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THE COLD WAR COMES HOME:
THE HOUSE UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE
 HUAC was originally created in
1939 to investigate Nazis
 Reactivated during the postwar years to
find Communists
 Investigated government officials
 Also looked at communist influence
in organization like the Boy Scouts
and Hollywood
 Actors, writers, & directors called to
testify before committee
 If you refused you were blacklisted
 Hollywood Ten
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THE COLD WAR COMES HOME:
THE SPY CASES
 2 actual cases of Americans spying for the
Soviets
 Lent credibility to claims of communist infiltration
in government
 Alger Hiss, 1950
 Prominent State Department Official accused of
giving secret documents to the Soviets
 Whittaker Chambers & the Pumpkin Papers
 Convicted of perjury and sent to prison
 The Rosenbergs, 1951
 Accused of selling A-bomb technology to the
Soviets
 Convicted and executed
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THE COLD WAR COMES HOME:
THE RISE OF JOSEPH MCCARTHY
 Senator from Wisconsin
 Used growing fear of communism to get re-
elected
 1950: Charged there were more than
205 communists still working for the
State Department
 Used a steady stream of unsupported
accusations about Communists in
government to keep the media focus on
himself and to discredit the Truman
administration
 Became one of the most powerful
men in America
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