Chapter 27

1. Chapter 27 The Age of Containment 1946-1954 Web

2. Creating a National Security State, 1945-49 • Onset of the Cold War • Various interpretations • Traditional • Focus on Soviet Expansionism • Revisionist • Focus on Soviet vulnerability • Others • Focus on historical Soviet-American rivalries • Truman administration took a hard line • Atomic Bomb • Baruch Plan • Financial • Suspended Lend-Lease • Political • Tied economic aid to pullbacks in Easter Europe • After 1847, the administration focused on “national security”

3. Containment Abroad: The Truman Doctrine • Background • Civil war in Greece • Traditional sphere of influence • By Spring 1947, British could no longer afford to stay in Greece • Truman decision to step in • Way to protect free world • Had to resist Communist aggression • Overcame domestic opposition • Idea of Containment • George Kennan article in Foreign Affairs (1947) • Catchphrase for global, anticommunist national security policy • Linked all leftist movements to Moscow

4. Truman’s Loyalty Program • Loyalty review boards to ensure that government employees were not “Security risks” • Attorney General’s List of subversive organizations • Based on premise that Soviets were widely conducting espionage in the United States • Verona files

5. The National Security Act, 1947 • Created several new bureaucracies • Steps toward creation of Department of Defense • National Security Council • Central Intelligence Agency • Most flexible arm of national security bureaucracy

6. The Marshall Plan • Linked economic policies in Western Europe to containment • U.S. Financial assistance to prevent spread of communism • Opened markets and investment opportunities for U.S. Stunning success

7. The Berlin Crisis • German recovery central to recovery of Western Europe • British, American, French zones would merge currency, June,1948 • First step toward merger • Soviets responded by cutting West Berlin off from outside world • Americans responded with airlift • Soviets abandoned ineffectual blockade in May,1949

8. The Election of 1948 • Truman won after major political comeback • Some Democrats backed Progressive Party • Nominated Henry a. Wallace • Considered containment too militant • Some Democrats backed States’ Right Party (Dixiecrats) • Nominated Strom Thurmond • Opposed federal action in area of civil rights • Republicans nominated Thomas Dewey • Lackluster campaigner • Truman waged aggressive, energetic campaign • Eked out victory • Strong national security record probably helped in election

9. ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license. Presidential Election, 1948

10. The Era of the Korean war, 1949-1952 • NATO • Pledged to collective defense against Soviet aggression • China • U.S. supported non-Communist government in civil war with Communists • Nationalist Chinese defeated late 1949 • China lobby blamed administration for failing to support enough aid • The Bomb • Soviets exploded device in September 1949 • Ended U.S. nuclear monopoly

11. ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license. Divided Germany and the NATO Alliance

12. NSC-68 • Major administration review of nation’s foreign policy • Urged full-scale offensive to enlarge U..S. Power • Covert action • Economic pressure • More vigorous propaganda • Massive military buildup • Label efforts “defensive” to guarantee public support

13. The Korean War • Communist North Korea attacked non-Communist South, June 1950 • Truman administration saw Soviets as instigators • Review of background • Japanese Occupation, 1905-1945 • Postwar division at 38th parallel • Fighting enlarged into international conflict • U.S. goals unclear • Push invasion force back above 38th parallel? • Total defeat of Communists and reunification under non-Communist leadership? • Course of war up and down for U.S.- led UN forces • Resulted in dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur • War had reached original line of demarcation by end of Truman’s term

14. ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license. Korean War

15. Korea and Containment • War justified recommendations of NSC-68 • Administration took many steps to pursue the nation’s interests abroad • Increase in military budgets and bureaucracies • Nation came to oppose any political movement that was left-leaning • Containment framed in defensive terms • Nation staked out global interests after 1947

16. Containment at Home • Anticommunism and the Labor Movement • Labor Management Relations Act (Taft-Hartley), 1949 • Limited gains unions had made during 1930s • Forced union leaders to eschew ties to communism • Truman vetoed, but Congress overrode • Communists in Unions became national security issue • House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) • Hearings into film industry initiated in 1947 • Hollywood Ten • Studios drew up blacklist of so-called subversives • AlGER Hiss case

17. Containment at Home (cont.) • Truman’s loyalty program in action • List of subversives to be detained in event of national security emergency • FBI dossiers on wide range of artists and intellectuals • McCarran-Walter Act, 1952 • Homosexuals as targets of investigations • Justifiable basis for denying people government employment

18. The “Great Fear” • The Rosenberg case • Cold War Melodrama • Remains subject for debate even today • Broad governmental powers to pursue suspected Communists • Dennis v. U.S. (1951) • McCarran Internal Security Act (1950) • Special detention camps for suspected subversives • Subversive Activities Control Board • Vetoed by Truman, but overridden • McCarthyism • Charged that Communists were at work in the State Department • Attacked those who criticized him, initially with great success • Supported by influential people in and out of government

19. Employment Act of 1946 • Originally called for government intervention to ensure “full” employment • Eventually scaled back to provide “maximum” employment • “Full” sounded too much like socialism • Created Council of Economic Advisers • Focus on economic advice rather than formal planning • Assumption that prosperity was inevitable

20. Truman’s Fair Deal • Extension and expansion of New Deal • Some programs very popular • G.I. Bill (Serviceman”s Readjustment Act), 1944 • Social Security • Others opposed vigorously • National health care opposed by medical community • Housing industry opposed publicly financed housing projects • Focused on programs for specific groups, such as veterans or the elderly, rather than more extensive programs for all • Civil Rights • Truman endorsed civil rights agenda in 1948 campaign • Supported school and housing desegregation efforts

21. Social Change and Containment • Jackie Robinson and the baseball “color line” • Robinson integrated major league baseball in 1947 • By 1960, every major league team fielded black players • Postwar suburbs • Government encouraged suburban home ownership • Federal Housing Authority • Epitomized optimism about the future for residents • Avoid contact with minorities • The suburban family and gender issues

22. Social Change and Containment (cont.) • Life revolved around the automobile • Daily life fell into sex-segregated spheres • Changing roles for women • Not all women remained at home • Many married women, and even mothers, entered the workforce • Faced limited employment opportunities • Effect o f Baby Boom

23. ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license. The Baby Boom

24. From Truman to Eisenhower • The Election of 1952 • Democrats on the Defensive • Adlai Stevenson took anti-Communist stance, but it was not enough to win • Republicans ran Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon • Won significant victory • Eisenhower in office • Advocated “moderate Republicanism” • Ended war in Korea • Wrested control of anti-Communist issue from McCarthy • Considered skilled leader who increased executive branch power

25. ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license. Presidential Election, 1952 Web