From Hot War to Cold War

The Bushido Code “Fight till the death” “There is honor in dying in

battle”

The US isn’t sure that Japan will ever surrender even if they destroy the entire country.

Truman had just taken over from Roosevelt.

His advisor told him that the war would easily last another decade. Invading Japan would mean the most brutal war America ever fought.

In July 1945, he attends a meeting with Churchill and Stalin in Potsdam Germany. They’re discussing how to end the war in the Pacific.

The Atomic Bomb Potsdam Conference – Summer 1945

Stalin asked Churchill and Truman if the Russians could permanently weaken Germany by taking everything they own that has value.

Churchill and Truman say no, but Stalin ultimately goes ahead with it anyway.

There is an agreement that they will only accept an unconditional surrender from Japan.

The only way is to compel the emperor to surrender. During the meeting, Truman receives word that scientists

successfully detonated a nuclear bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico. (36:30) When Truman says he has a way to end the war, Stalin______

Manhattan Project Started when a German refugee called Albert Einstein came to the

US claiming that Germany were researching an atomic bomb. Italian people were saying the same thing.

The United States then instruct the top professors to create a weapon more powerful than the one the Germans are making.

The government hired two people to lead the project: Gen. Leslie Groves Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer

They set up a city-like place in Los Alamos. And the plan is TOP SECRET. Not even the Vice President knows this.

What do we do with the bomb?

Bombing Japan

• America sends the citizens leaflets.

• Aug. 6 – Hiroshima (70,000 killed instantly)

• Emperor Hirohito refuses to surrender

• August 8 – Russians declare war on Japan and invade Manchuria

• Aug. 9 – Nagasaki bombed• Instantly killing another 35,000 people.

• The United States said that they would drop another bomb on Tokyo if the Emperor wouldn’t surrender.

• August 14, 1945 – V-J Day• The end of World War II.

• The beginning of the Cold War.

• The atomic bomb made America the most powerful military in the world.

• Some people claim that the second bomb was used to intimidate Stalin.

Consequences of WWII Deaths:

322,000 Americans 9-14 million Russians 4.2 million Germans 2 million Japanese 6 million Jews killed in

the Holocaust

U.S. Joined United Nations

U.S. maintained a military presence in Japan until 1952

Two Powers Emerge: U.S. and Soviet Union

American Hegemony

Led to the Cold War

Welcome to the Cold War! Ideological Conflict

West vs. East

Capitalism vs. Communism

Democracy vs. Totalitarianism

Good vs. Evil?

The Long Telegram and the Truman Doctrine

George KennanPresident Harry S.

Truman

Containment

Walter Lippmann – The Cold War: A Study of U.S. Foreign Policy

“Mr. X” – “Sources of Soviet Conduct” in

Foreign Affairs

Berlin Airlift (June1948 - May1949) & NATO

“Who Lost China?” - Sec. of State Dean AchesonCommunists – Mao Zedong

Nationalists – Chiang Kai-Shek

NSC-68 (1950)

The Korean War, 1950-1953North Korea and South Korea Divided at 38th Parallel

America’s Commitment to Containment

Korean War*North Korea:

Communists – Kim Il Sung

*South Korea:

Anti-Communists - Syngman Rhee

The Red Scare at Home“Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?”