The Cold War Heats Up

1. The Cold War Heats Up Mr. Dodson

2. The Cold War Heats Up • How did the Marshall Plan, the Berlin airlift, and NATO help to achieve American goals in postwar Europe? • How did Communist advances affect American foreign policy? • How did the Cold War affect American life at home?

3. The Marshall Plan • The United States wanted to help European nations recover from the war and become economically strong democracies. It also wanted to prevent Communists from continuing to gain power in Europe. • The Marshall Plan was created in 1947 by U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall as a means to achieve these goals. According to the Marshall Plan, participating nations would design recovery programs and would receive financial aid from the United States. • Seventeen Western European nations joined the plan, receiving a total of $13 billion in aid.

4. The Berlin Airlift • As part of the postwar division of Germany, the city of Berlin, located in Communist East Germany, was divided into West Berlin (capitalist) and East Berlin (Communist). • In June 1948, Stalin banned all shipments to West Berlin through East Germany, creating a blockade which threatened to cut off supplies to the city. • In response, Allied nations began the Berlin airlift, which delivered thousands of tons of food and other supplies to West Berlin via air. • Although the Soviet blockade ended in May 1949, Berlin remained a focal point of Cold War conflict.

5. NATO Why create a treaty organization? • Soviet vetoes prevented the United Nations from resolving a number of postwar problems. • The United States sought to avoid the problems of post–World War I isolationism. • The United States did not want to be the only nation in the Western Hemisphere committed to fighting communism. A Canadian role in the treaty organization would be vital.

6. NATO What was NATO? • The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed in April 1949. • In joining NATO, the United States, Canada, and ten Western European nations pledged to support one another against attack, a principle known as collective security. • In response, the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance between the Soviet Union and its satellite nations.

7. Communist Advances The Soviet Atomic Threat • In September 1949, Truman announced that the Soviet Union had successfully tested an atomic bomb. • In response, the United States began developing the even more powerful hydrogen bomb, reestablishing itself as the world’s leading nuclear power. • The newly formed Federal Civil Defense Administration distributed information on how to survive a nuclear attack; this information was ridiculed by experts.

8. Communist Advances China Falls to the Communists • During World War II, competing factions in China had cooperated, but fighting between them resumed towards the end of the war. • At first, the United States supported Nationalist leader Jiang Jieshi against Communist Mao Zedong. However, the United States later decided to focus on Western Europe instead. • Many Americans viewed Mao Zedong’s creation of a Communist state in China as a failure of Truman’s policies.

9. The Cold War at Home • During the late 1940s, fear of Communist spies created a climate of suspicion in the United States. • Truman established a federal employee loyalty program in 1947, checking the backgrounds of all new and existing federal employees. • The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began investigating Hollywood personalities who the committee claimed, had Communist leanings. When one group, known as the Hollywood Ten, refused to answer HUAC’s questions, they were cited for contempt of Congress and imprisoned. • Hollywood studios compiled a blacklist, a list circulated to employers naming persons who should not be hired. Blacklisted individuals came from all sections of the industry and included anyone who seemed subversive.

10. The Cold War at Home • During the late 1940s, fear of Communist spies created a climate of suspicion in the United States. • Truman established a federal employee loyalty program in 1947, checking the backgrounds of all new and existing federal employees. • The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began investigating Hollywood personalities who the committee claimed, had Communist leanings. When one group, known as the Hollywood Ten, refused to answer HUAC’s questions, they were cited for contempt of Congress and imprisoned. • Hollywood studios compiled a blacklist, a list circulated to employers naming persons who should not be hired. Blacklisted individuals came from all sections of the industry and included anyone who seemed subversive.

11. The Cold War at Home • Fueled by fears of disloyal immigrants from Communist countries, the 1952 McCarran-Walter Act reestablished the immigration quota system from 1924. This act discriminated against potential immigrants from Asia and Southern and Central Europe.

12. The Cold War at Home • Two famous spy cases reinforced fears that Soviet spies in the United States were sharing American secrets with foreign Communists. These were the cases of Alger Hiss and of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.