Chapter 28THE ONSET OF THE COLD WARAmerica Past and PresentEighth EditionDivine Breen Fredrickson Williams Gross Brand

Copyright 2007, Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman

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 occupied eastern

Europe, American troops occupied western Europe

• Soviet Union sought eastern European buffer

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

• Stalin converted eastern Europe into a system of satellite nations

Europe after World War II

Withholding Economic Aid

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

Russia with Lend-Lease economic aid• 1945: United States halted Lend-Lease

without Russian settlement• Leverage lost in shaping Soviet policy

The Atomic Dilemma

• 1943: Nuclear race between U.S. and U.S.S.R.

• 1946: Baruch Plan – Rapid reduction of U.S. military force– Gradual reduction favored 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: England's former role as arbiter of world affairs

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

The Truman Doctrine

• 1947: Truman sought 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 proposed aid for rebuilding European industries

• Russia refused aid • 1948: Marshall Plan adopted by

Congress• Plan fostered western European

prosperity

Marshall Plan to Aid Europe, 1948–1952

The Western Military Alliance

• 1949: North Atlantic Treaty Organization– Military alliance included U.S., Canada,

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

• NATO intensified Russia's fear of the West

The Berlin Blockade

• June, 1948: Russians blockade of Berlin

• Truman ordered airlift to supply the city• 1949: Russians end blockade• U.S. political victory dramatized

division

The Cold War Expands

• 1947: U.S.-Russian arms race accelerated

• Conflict expanded to Asia

The Military Dimension

• 1947: National Security Act – Department of Defense unified armed

forces– Central Intelligence Agency coordinated

intelligence-gathering– National Security Council advised president

• Defense budget devoted to air power• 1949: First Russian atomic bomb

exploded, U.S. began 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 refused recognition of Communist China, began building up Japan

The Korean War

• June 25, 1950: Communist North Korean forces invaded U.S.-influenced South Korea

• Truman made South Korea’s defense a U.N. effort, sent in U.S. troops– U.S. routed Korean forces in South– Attempt to unify Korea drew 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 used anticommunism to

revive their party

Truman's Troubles

• Obstacles to Truman’s Fair Deal reforms– Apathetic public– Inflation– Labor unrest

• 1946: Republicans won Congress

Truman Vindicated

• Taft-Hartley Act outlawed certain union tactics

– Truman vetoed, Republicans overrode his veto• 1948 election: Truman thought unelectable

– Northern liberals supported Henry Wallace’s Progressive candidacy

– Southern Democrats supported “Dixiecrat” Strom Thurmond

– Republican Thomas Dewey overconfident and ran bland campaign, failed to challenge Truman on Cold War because of the Berlin Crisis

– Roosevelt coalition reelected Truman on domestic issues

The Loyalty Issue

• House Un-American Activities Committee investigated Communist subversion in government

• Truman responded with loyalty program

• Alger Hiss case• Democrats blamed for

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

bomb

McCarthyism in Action

• 1950: Senator Joseph McCarthy launched anticommunist campaign

• Innocent overwhelmed by accusations • Attacks on privileged bureaucrats

– Supported by Midwest Republicans – Attracted 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 dealt passively with McCarthy

• 1954: Attack on Army discredited McCarthy who is then censured

The Election of 1952

Eisenhower Wages the Cold War

• Eisenhower prefers to work behind-the scenes

• Eisenhower wanted to relax tensions with Soviets– Debt imposed by defense spending – Possibility of atomic warfare

• Eisenhower “new look” policy relied on massive retaliation to deter Soviet attacks

Entanglement in Indochina

• Eisenhower refused military aid for French retention of colonial Indochina

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

• Vietnam divided, election postponed• South Vietnam under U.S. puppet

regime

Containing China

• Tough line against China• Drove wedge between China, Russia• Strategy ultimately worked• Effects not immediately apparent

Turmoil in the Middle East

• 1956: Nasser nationalized Suez Canal• France, England invaded Egypt• Eisenhower won Middle East trust by

pressuring English, French withdrawal• 1958: Lebanon invited U.S. troops to

maintain order

Covert Actions

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

• Iran: CIA restored the shah to power• Guatemala: CIA ousts leftist

government• Eastern Europe: Refused to help East

Germans or Hungarians

Waging Peace

• Nuclear test ban treaty– U.S. and U.S.S.R. agreed to suspend

nuclear testing in the atmosphere

• October, 1957: Russians launched Sputnik

• May, 1960: U-2 incident cancelled plans for summit on new Berlin Crisis

The Continuing Cold War

• January, 1961: Eisenhower warned against growing military-industrial complex

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