the Truman Years
1945–1953
V-E Day, May 8, 1945
• Less than one month
since Roosevelt’s
death
• Germany’s military
surrender accepted
by the Allies
• Hitler had committed
suicide on April 30
Potsdam Conference
• July-Aug 1945
• Russia, US,
and Britain
Deliberating the future of Eastern
Europe
Europe After WWII
Manhattan Project
• the effort, led by the U.S. with participation
from Britain and Canada, which led to the
development of the first atomic bomb
during WWII.
It’s name
• The Army Corp of Engineers’ component
of the project was designated the
Manhattan District or Manhattan Engineer
District, but "Manhattan" gradually
superseded the official codename for the
project
Warning
• A letter written by
prominent physicists
and signed by Albert
Einstein was delivered
to President Franklin
Roosevelt in October
1939 warning that
Nazi Germany was
working on the
development of an
atomic bomb
Research and production
• began as a small research program but
eventually employed more than 130,000
people at a cost of nearly $2 billion
• took place at more than 30 sites, some
secret, including universities across the
United States, Canada, and the United
Kingdom
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
• Initial blast at Hiroshima killed 70,000 and
40,000 at Nagasaki
• Estimates of total deaths by the end of
1945 from burns, radiation and related
disease, the effects of which were
aggravated by lack of medical resources,
range from 90,000 to 166,000.[
“Little Boy”
• 43 seconds to fall from the aircraft to the
predetermined detonation height about
1,900 feet
• the aircraft traveled 11.5 miles away
before it felt the shock waves from the
blast.
Area of total destruction to the city of Hiroshima
“Fat Man” bomb, Nagasaki
From the Grand Alliance to
Containment
• The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall
Plan
• Building a National Security State
• The Cold War Begins
• Superpower Rivalry around the Globe
Marshall Plan
• General George C. Marshall, Secty of
State,
• “European Recovery Plan”, US spent $13
billion to restore the economies of 16
Western European nations [which in turn
helped the US economy];
• Soviet Union did not participate because it
objected to free enterprise
Truman Doctrine
• Truman’s claim that American security
depended on stopping any Communist
government from taking over any noncommunist government, anywhere in the
world. This approach became the
cornerstone of American foreign policy
during the Cold War.
Containment
• The foreign policy of the US to hold in
check the power and influence of the
Soviet Union and others espousing
communism.
• The strategy first articulated by
diplomat George F. Kennan in
1946-47.
• Kennan believed that Stalin
exaggerated foreign press to
maintain power in his own
country, because it was
increasingly politically and
economically unstable
• He predicted that The Soviet
Union would only retreat from
expansionist efforts “in the face
of superior force.” [containment]
Truman containment policy had sixpronged defense strategy:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Development of atomic weapons
Strengthen traditional military power
Military alliances with other nations
Military and economic aid to friendly nations
An espionage network and secret means to
subvert Soviet expansion
6. a propaganda offensive to win popular
admiration for the US around the world.
What was the Cold War?
• Cold War: the hostile and tense
relationship between the Soviet Union and
the US (and other Western nations) from
1947 until 1989
• “cold” because it stopped short of armed
conflict, warded off by the strategy of
Nuclear Deterrence
“Iron Curtain”
• Term coined by Winston Churchill in 1946
• “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the
Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended
across the Continent.”
Deterrence
• the strategy of the US that it would
maintain a nuclear arsenal so substantial
that the Soviet Union would refrain from
attacking the US and its allies out of fear
that the US would retaliate in devastating
proportions. The Soviets pursued a similar
strategy.
Superpower Rivalry Around the
Globe
• “third world” a term referring to about forty
countries which had won independence
but were not in the Western (first) world,
nor the Soviet (second) world.
• 1949, communists under Mao Zedong
took China, chasing Nationalists under
Chang Kai-shek to Tiawan
• People’s Republic of China under Mao
signed a treaty with Soviets
Rivalry, cont’
• Japan rebuilt with American dollars, sides
with US
• State of Israel established in Palestine,
endorsed by US
Election 1948
Truman and the Fair Deal at
Home
• Reconverting to a Peacetime Economy
• Blacks and Mexican Americans Push for
Their Civil Rights
• The Fair Deal Flounders
• The Domestic Chill: McCarthyism
Senator Joseph R. McCarthy
Second “Red Scare”
• “Red Scare” happens after a war
• After the collapse of the Soviet-American
alliance
• With suspicions of espionage
• “red baiting” = attempts to discredit people
by associating them with communism
The Cold War Becomes
Hot: Korea
• A Military Implementation of Containment
• First time Americans go to battle for
containment
• A militarization of American foreign policy
Korean War
Costs of the War
• Total civilians killed/wounded:
– 2.5 million
South Korea: 990,968
– 373,599 killed
– 229,625 wounded
– 387,744 abducted/missing
• North Korea: 1,550,000
• US: 36,000 killed, 100,000 wounded
Consequences of the Cold War
• Shifted priorities of the federal government
from domestic to foreign affairs
• Increased the power of the president
• Defense contracts encouraged economic
population booms in the West and Southwest
• The Nuclear Arms races consumed dollars
and resources, skewed the economy toward
dependence on military projects
• Anti-communist hysteria which stifled debate,
politically or socially