Chapter 23

1. Chapter 23 Norton Media Library Chapter 23 The United States and the Cold War, 1945–1953 Eric Foner

2. I. The Freedom Train

3. II. Origins of the Cold War • The Two Powers • The United States emerged from World War II as by far the world’s greatest power • The only power that in any way could rival the United States was the Soviet Union

4. II. Origins of the Cold War (con’t) • The Roots of Containment • It seems all but inevitable that the two major powers to emerge from the war would come into conflict • Many Americans became convinced that Stalin was violating the promise of free election in Poland agreed to at the Yalta conference of 1945 • The Long Telegram advised the Truman administration that the Soviets could not be dealt with as a normal government • “Containment” • Iron Curtain speech

5. II. Origins of the Cold War (con’t) • The Truman Doctrine • Truman soon determined to put the policy of containment into effect • To rally popular backing for Greece and Turkey, Truman rolled out the heaviest weapon in his rhetorical arsenal—the defense of freedom • The Truman Doctrine created the language through which most Americans came to understand the postwar world • Truman’s rhetoric suggested that the United States had assumed a permanent global responsibility

6. II. Origins of the Cold War (con’t) • The Marshall Plan • George Marshall pledged the United States to contribute billions of dollars to finance the economic recovery of Europe • The Marshall Plan offered a positive vision to go along with containment • The Marshall Plan envisioned a New Deal for Europe • The Marshall Plan proved to be one of the most successful foreign aid programs in history

7. II. Origins of the Cold War (con’t) • The Berlin Blockade and NATO • In 1945 the Soviets cut off road and rail traffic from the American, British, and French zones of occupied Germany to Berlin • An eleven-month allied airlift followed • In 1949 the Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb • The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pledged mutual defense against any future Soviet attack • Warsaw Pact • Communists won the civil war in China in 1949 • In the wake of these events, the National Security Council approved a call for a permanent military buildup to enable the United States to pursue a global crusade against communism • NSC 68

8. II. Origins of the Cold War (con’t) • The Korean War • In June 1950, the North Korean army invaded the South, hoping to reunify the country under Communist control • American troops did the bulk of the fighting on this first battlefield of the Cold War • General Douglas MacArthur • Korea made it clear that the Cold War, which began in Europe, had become a global conflict • Taken together, the events of 1947–53 showed that the world had been divided in two

9. II. Origins of the Cold War (con’t) • Cold War Critics • Casting the Cold War in terms of a worldwide battle between freedom and slavery had unfortunate consequences • Walter Lippmann objected to turning foreign policy into an “ideological crusade” • The Free World • Although America granted independence to the Philippines in 1946, much of Europe intended to keep their empire • Economics and geopolitical interests motivated American foreign policy, but the language of freedom was used to justify its actions

10. III. The Cold War and the Idea of Freedom • The Cultural Cold War • One of the more unusual Cold War battlefields involved American history and culture • Hollywood • The Central Intelligence Agency and Defense Department emerged as unlikely patrons of the arts

11. III. The Cold War and the Idea of Freedom (con’t) • Freedom and Totalitarianism • Works produced by artists who considered themselves thoroughly nonpolitical became weapons in the cultural Cold War • Jackson Pollock • The New York School • Along with freedom, the Cold War’s other great mobilizing concept was “totalitarianism”

12. III. The Cold War and the Idea of Freedom (con’t) • Totalitarianism left no room for individual rights or alternative values and therefore could never change from within • McCarran Internal Security Act • Just as the conflict over slavery redefined American freedom in the nineteenth century, and the confrontation with the Nazis shaped understandings of freedom during World War II, the Cold War reshaped them once again

13. III. The Cold War and the Idea of Freedom (con’t) • The Rise of Human Rights • The idea that rights exist applicable to all members of the human family originated during the eighteenth century in the Enlightenment and the American and French Revolutions • In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights • After the Cold War ended, the idea of human rights would play an increasingly prominent role in world affairs • Freedom House

14. IV. The Truman Presidency • The Fair Deal • Truman’s first domestic task was to preside over the transition from a wartime to a peacetime economy • Truman moved to revive the stalled momentum of the New Deal • The Postwar Strike Wave • The AFL and CIO launched Operation Dixie, a campaign to bring unionization to the South • In 1946, nearly 5 million workers went on strike • President Truman feared the strikes would seriously disrupt the economy

15. IV. The Truman Presidency (con’t) • The Republican Resurgence • Republicans swept to control both houses of Congress in 1946 • Congress turned aside Truman’s Fair Deal program • Taft-Harley Act • Postwar Civil Rights • Immediately after the war, the status of black Americans enjoyed a prominence in national affairs unmatched since Reconstruction • The Brooklyn Dodgers added Jackie Robinson to their team in 1947

16. IV. The Truman Presidency (con’t) • To Secure These Rights • A Commission on Civil Rights appointed by the president issued To Secure These Rights • It called on the federal government to abolish segregation and discrimination • In 1948, Truman presented an ambitious civil rights program to Congress • Truman desegregated the armed forces • The Democratic platform of 1948 was the most progressive in the party’s history

17. IV. The Truman Presidency (con’t) • The Dixiecrat and Wallace Revolts • Dixiecrats formed the States’ Rights Party • Strom Thurmond • A group of left-wing critics of Truman’s foreign policy formed the Progressive Party • Henry Wallace • The 1948 Campaign • Truman’s main opponent was the colorless Republican Thomas A. Dewey • Truman’s success represented one of the greatest upsets in American political history

18. V. The Anticommunist Crusade • The Cold War encouraged a culture of secrecy and dishonesty • At precisely the moment when the United States celebrated freedom as the foundation of American life, the right to dissent came under attack • Loyalty and Disloyalty • Those who could be linked to communism were enemies of freedom • HUAC hearings against Hollywood began in 1947

19. V. The Anticommunist Crusade (con’t) • The Spy Trials • HUAC investigation against Alger Hiss • The Rosenbergs were convicted for spying and executed in 1953 • McCarthy and McCarthyism • Senator Joseph McCarthy announced in 1950 that he had a list of 205 Communists working for the State Department • McCarthy’s downfall came with nationally televised Army-McCarthy hearings in 1954

20. V. The Anticommunist Crusade (con’t) • An Atmosphere of Fear • Anticommunism was as much a local as a national phenomenon • “Red squads” • Private organizations • Local anticommunist groups forced public libraries to remove “un-American” books from their shelves • The courts did nothing to halt the political repression • Dennis v. United States

21. V. The Anticommunist Crusade (con’t) • The Uses of Anticommunism • Anticommunism had many faces and purposes • Anticommunism also served as a weapon wielded by individuals and groups in battles unrelated to defending the United States against subversion • The anticommunist crusade promoted a new definition of loyalty—conformity • Henry Steele Commager • Anticommunist Politics • The McCarran Internal Security Bill of 1950 • The McCarran-Walter Act of 1952

22. V. The Anticommunist Crusade (con’t) • Cold War Civil Rights • Every political and social organization had to cooperate with the anticommunist crusade or face destruction • Organized labor rid itself of its left-wing officials and emerged as a major supporter of the foreign policy of the Cold War • The civil rights movement also underwent a transformation • The NAACP purged Communists from local branches

23. V. The Anticommunist Crusade (con’t) • The Cold War caused a shift in thinking and tactics among civil rights groups • Dean Acheson’s speech to the Delta Council was filled with irony • After 1948, little came of the Truman administration’s civil rights flurry, but time would reveal that the waning of the civil rights impulse was only temporary

24. Cold War Europe, 1956 • pg. 902 Cold War Europe, 1956

25. The Korean War, 1950–1953 • pg. 904 The Korean War, 1950–1953

26. The Presidential Election of 1948 The Presidential Election of 1948 • pg. 916

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38. End chap. 23 This concludes the Norton Media Library Slide Set for Chapter 23 Give Me Liberty! An American History by Eric Foner W. W. Norton & CompanyIndependent and Employee-Owned