THE ONSET OF THE COLD WAR

America: Past and Present

The Cold War Begins:Issues Dividing U.S., U.S.S.R.

• Control of postwar Europe• Economic aid• Nuclear disarmament

The Division of Europe

• 1945--Russians occupy eastern Europe, American troops occupy western Europe

• Soviet Union seeks eastern European buffer

• U.S. demands national self-determination through free elections throughout Europe

• Stalin converts eastern Europe into a system of satellite nations

Europe after World War II

Withholding Economic Aid

• Russia devastated by World War II • Some Americans seek to influence

Russia with Lend-Lease economic aid• 1945--United States halts Lend-Lease

without Russian settlement• Leverage lost in shaping Soviet policy

The Atomic Dilemma

• 1943--nuclear race between U.S., U.S.S.R.

• 1946--Baruch Plan – rapid reduction of U.S. military force– gradual reduction favors U.S. atomic

monopoly• Soviet Union

– larger conventional army than U.S.– immediate abolition of atomic weapons

Containment

• 1947--George C. Marshall appointed Secretary of State

• Dean Acheson seeks for U.S. England's former role as arbiter of world affairs

• George Kennan calls for “containment of Russia’s expansive tendencies”

The Truman Doctrine

• 1947--Truman seeks funds to keep Greece, Turkey in western sphere of influence

• Truman Doctrine: “support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressure”

• Doctrine an informal declaration of cold war against the Soviet Union

The Marshall Plan

• 1947--George Marshall proposes aid for rebuilding European industries

• Russia refuses aid • 1948--Marshall Plan adopted by

Congress• Plan fosters western European

prosperity

Marshall Plan to Aid Europe, 1948-1952

The Western Military Alliance

• 1949--North Atlantic Treaty Organization– military alliance includes U.S., Canada,

most of western Europe– U.S. troops stationed in Europe

• NATO intensifies Russia's fear of the West

The Berlin Blockade

• June, 1948--Russians blockade Berlin• Truman orders airlift to supply the city• 1949--Russians end blockade• U.S. political victory dramatizes

division

The Cold War Expands

• 1947--U.S.-Russian arms race accelerates

• Conflict expands to Asia

The Military Dimension

• 1947--National Security Act – Department of Defense unifies armed forces– Central Intelligence Agency coordinates

intelligence-gathering– National Security Council advises president

• Defense budget devoted to air power• 1949--first Russian atomic bomb

explodes, U.S. begins hydrogen bomb development

The Cold War in Asia

• 1945--U.S. consolidates hold on Japan, former Japanese possessions in Pacific

• 1949--victory of Mao Tse-tung brings China into Soviet orbit

• Truman refuses recognition of Communist China, begins building up Japan

The Korean War

• June25, 1950--Communist North Korean forces invade U.S.-influenced South Korea

• Truman makes South Korea’s defense a U.N. effort, sends in U.S. troops– U.S. routs Korean forces in South– Attempt to unify Korea draws in China– U.S. pushed back to South, war a

stalemate• Result--massive American rearmament

The Korean War, 1950-1953

The Cold War at Home

• New Deal economic policies undermined

• Fears of Communist subversion• Republicans use anticommunism to

revive their party

Truman's Troubles

• Obstacles to Truman’s Fair Deal reforms– apathetic public– inflation– labor unrest

• 1946--Republicans win Congress

Truman Vindicated

• 1948--Thomas Dewey versus Truman– Truman thought unelectable– Southern Democrats, Northern liberals

desert– Roosevelt coalition reelects Truman on

domestic issues

• Republicans respond by challenging Truman’s handling of the Cold War

The Loyalty Issue

• Fear of Communist subversion• Truman administration conducts

campaign against “subversives”• Democrats blamed for

– "losing" China to Communism – Russia's development of a hydrogen

bomb

McCarthyism in Action

• 1950--Senator Joseph McCarthy launches anticommunist campaign

• Innocent overwhelmed by accusations • Attacks on privileged bureaucrats

– supported by Midwest Republicans – attract Irish, Italian, Polish workers to

Republicans

The Republicans in Power

• 1952--Eisenhower captures White House for Republican Party

• July 27, 1953--stalemate accepted in Korea

• Eisenhower deals passively with McCarthy

• 1954--attack on Army discredits McCarthy who is then censured

Eisenhower Wages the Cold War

• Eisenhower relaxes tensions with Russia

• Eisenhower’s fears– debt imposed by defense spending – possibility of atomic warfare

Entanglement in Indochina

• Eisenhower refuses military aid for French retention of colonial Indochina

• Victory of Communist Ho Chi Minh prompts intervention to prevent election

• Vietnam divided• South Vietnam under U.S. puppet

regime

Containing China

• Tough line against China• Drive wedge between China, Russia• Strategy ultimately works• Effects not immediately apparent

Turmoil in the Middle East

• 1956--Nasser nationalizes Suez Canal• France, England invade Egypt• Eisenhower wins Middle East trust by

pressuring English, French withdrawal• 1958--Lebanon invites U.S. troops to

maintain order

Covert Actions

• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used to achieve covert objectives

• Iran--CIA restores the shah to power• Guatemala--CIA ousts leftist

government• Eastern Europe--refused to help East

Germans or Hungarians

Waging Peace

• October, 1957--Russians launch Sputnik

• October--U.S., U.S.S.R. agree to suspend nuclear testing in the atmosphere

• November--Berlin blockade threatened• May, 1960--U-2 incident

The Continuing Cold War

• January, 1961--Eisenhower warns against growing military-industrial complex

• Post-war era marked by Cold War rather than peace and tranquility