The Cold War
Origins of the Cold War
• THE KEY ISSUE: the future of Eastern
Europe
– Soviets occupied Eastern European states
that they freed from Nazi rule
– After WWll ended, Stalin installed proSoviet governments throughout Eastern
Europe
• How do you think the United States felt
about this?
Tensions increase…
• The United States suspected the Soviet
Union of trying to dominate world
affairs
• The Soviet Union suspected the United
States of trying to dominate world
affairs
AHH! A COLD WAR!
• The Cold War set the United States
and Soviet Union against each other
• The two nations never met in battle
– There was still the threat of deadly
conflict
The Berlin Airlift
• The Cold War almost turned hot in Germany
– Why do you think so?
• The Allies agreed to temporarily divide
Germany into four zones controlled by:
– Soviet Union, U.S., Great Britain, and France
• Western powers wanted to unite their zones
into West Germany
– Stalin was not happy about this and decided to
take action
– He feared a united Germany would threaten the
Soviet Union
Dividing Berlin/The Berlin Airlift
• Germany’s former capital city (Berlin) was in
the boundaries of East Germany
– The city was divided into four zones so each of the
four nations controlled one
• 1948- Stalin blocked access to Berlin
– During the blockade, Truman ordered food, fuel, and
supplies to be airlifted
• In nearly one year, 270,000 U.S. and British flights carried
supplies in
• 1949-Stalin gave up blockade
• Germany was divided into East Germany
(communist) and West Germany (democratic)
Berlin, 1945
Containment
• Definition: policy to stop the spread of
communism through military and non-military
ways
• The Truman Doctrine- promised aid to people
fighting to maintain democracy
• Marshall Plan- one of Truman’s actions that
would prevent communism through the revival
of economies in Europe that were damaged
during WWII
– The plan offered $13 billion in aid and helped
western and southern European countries rebuild
The Cold War on the Homefront
• How did the fear of communism affect
people in the U.S.?
– Many people feared it would spread in the
U.S.
• Americans suspected of communism
were put on trial
– Alger Hiss: former State Department
official was accused of passing military
information to the Soviet Union
• He was jailed in 1950 for lying under oath
The Cold War on the Homefront
• Americans on trial
– Ethel and Julius
Rosenberg:
members of the
American
Communist Party
• Were accused of
passing atomic
secrets to the
Russians
• They were
executed in 1953
Un-American Activities
• Truman ordered 4 million government
workers to undergo loyalty checks
– They would go before a board that decided
whether or not they could remain in their
current position
• Many were forced to resign
• House Un-American Activities
Committee (HUAC)
– Targeted people in the movie industry
– Blacklisted people: unofficial lists of
suspected Communists
McCarthyism
• Joseph McCarthy- member of the
Republican Party
– When he began speaking out and crusading
against communism, fellow party members
began speaking out against HIM.
• In 1950, McCarthy said he had a list of
205 State Department officials who
were members of the Communist Party
Army-McCarthy Hearings (1954)
• Senate held nationally
televised hearings
• McCarthy accused the
U.S. Army of “coddling
Communists”
• The Senate
condemned McCarthy
for his actions and
eventually he faded
from the public eye
The Cold War Around the World
• Like President Truman, President
Eisenhower continued the Cold War, but
had a more aggressive stand against
communism.
• Policy known as “brinkmanship”
– Going to the brink of war to combat
communism
Arms Race
• 1945 – The United States developed and
dropped the first atomic bombs on Japan
• 1949- Americans learned the Soviet Union
had produced an atomic bomb
– used information stolen by Soviet spies
• Arms race- competition between the United
States and the Soviet Union to develop
weapons with more destructive power
• 1952- the U.S. built an H-Bomb
• 1955- the Soviets tested their first H-Bomb
• Fear from both sides led to the stockpiling of
nuclear weapons
What does this cartoon mean?
Space Race
• 1957- the two superpowers began a
space race
• Soviet Union launched Sputnik
– The world’s first space satellite
– American scientists were scrambling to
catch up
• The U.S. Congress set aside billions of dollars
for space research
• Sputnik being
launched into
space
The U-2 Incident
• Eisenhower suggested easing the Cold War
tensions by face-to-face talks with the Soviet
Union
• Two weeks before a scheduled meeting with
Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev, the Soviets
shot down an American U-2 spy plane
• Eisenhower denied that the plane was spying,
until he learned that the pilot had been
captured.
– Krushchev demanded an apology, and Eisenhower
refused. The talks collapsed.
Cold War and Kennedy
• Bay of Pigs Invasion April 1961
– Responding to perceived communist
threats, JFK ordered the invasion
– An army of Cuban exiles, trained by the
U.S. invaded Cuba
• They planned to overthrow Fidel Castro, Cuba’s
Communist leader
• Cuban troops easily crushed the U.S. invasion
Cuban Missile Crisis
• October 1962
• Fidel Castro and Nikita Krushchev believed
the U.S. was planning another attack on Cuba
• The U.S. learned that the Soviets were
attempting to land nuclear missiles in Cuba
– The missiles could reach U.S. cities within minutes
• The Soviets agreed to remove the missiles
and the U.S. promised not to invade Cuba
Cold War leads into Vietnam
• With the fear and suspicion that came
with the Cold War, the U.S. made
greater efforts to contain communism in
Asia
– This was done by sending more money and
military advisers into Vietnam
The American Dream
• During the 1950s the American
population grew by almost 30 million
people – the babyboomers!