Origins of the Cold War: Rivals, Power, and Containment

1. Chapter 23 Norton Media Library Give Me Liberty! An American History Second EditionVolume 2 by Eric Foner

2. I. Origins of the Cold War • Rival postwar powers • United States • Measures of power • Half of the world’s manufacturing capacity; atomic bomb • Global agenda: determined to avoid isolationism • Soviet Union • Measures of power: militarily occupied much of eastern Europe • Global agenda: determined to establish sphere of influence • Roots of “containment” • Projection of Soviet dominance in eastern Europe • Iran • Poland, Romania, Bulgaria (the Latin America of Europe) • George Kennan’s Long Telegram (February 1946) • USSR was “not rational” • Only US could “contain them” • Winston Churchill’s “iron curtain” speech (March 1946)

3. I. Origins of the Cold War (cont’d) • Truman Doctrine (March 1947) • Background • President Truman’s perspective on world • Lack of experience • Black-and-white outlook • Greece and Turkey questions • Disengagement of Britain • Greece: threatened by communist rebellion • Turkey: USSR wanted control of straits linking Black and Mediterranean Seas • Internal conflicts • Strategic significance: gateway to SE Europe and Middle East • Unveiling by Truman: in “defense of freedom”

4. I. Origins of the Cold War (cont’d) • Truman Doctrine • Themes and significance • Presidential embrace of containment policy • Division of the globe between “free” and “communist” • America’s ongoing mission to lead, defend “free world” • Impact on popular conception of postwar world • Broad bipartisan support • Implementation • Aid to anticommunist regimes • Forging of global military alliances • Founding of new national security bodies: immune from democratic oversight • Atomic Energy Commission • National Security Council (NSC) • Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) • “Are we to shoulder responsibility of 19th c. British imperialism?”

5. I. Origins of the Cold War (cont’d) • [George] Marshall Plan: finance European economic recovery • Provisions: • Underlying motivations and vision • Containment • Pro-Capitalism • New Deal for Europe • Achievements: Europe on its feet by 1950 • Japanese reconstruction: Douglas MacArthur • Berlin Crisis • Emerging East-West conflict over Berlin • New “western currency” • Soviets prohibit western access to Berlin • Western airlift • Lifting of blockade (May 1949) • Escalation of Cold War • Division of Germany into East Germany and West Germany • Soviet acquisition of atomic bomb (1949)

6. Map 91

7. I. Origins of the Cold War (cont’d) • Escalation of Cold War • Establishment of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949) • Avowed mission: mutual defense pledge against Soviet aggression • Belgium, UK, France, Canada, Portugal, Italy • Establishment of Warsaw Pact (1955): Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary • Communist revolution in China (1949) • Mao Zedong • Political repercussions in United States: negative impact on Truman administration • American response: blocked Zedong’s government from UN • NSC-68 • Defined cold war as struggle between “the idea of freedom” and the “idea of slavery under the grim oligarchy of the Kremlin” • Establishment of permanent military complex

8. I. Origins of the Cold War (cont’d) • Korean War • Postwar division of Korea (similar to Berlin) • Communist North; anticommunist South • North Korean invasion of south (June 1950) • Mobilization of U.S. military response • Perception of Cold War test • Obtainment of United Nations authorization • Initial American military progress • MacArthur at Inchon (September 1950) • Intervention by China (October 1950) • Removal of General Douglas MacArthur • Wanted to invade (w/ nuclear weapons) China • Truman refused; MacArthur publicly criticized; Truman fired him • Protracted stalemate @ 38th parallel (original boundary) • 33,000 US deaths; 1 million Korean soldiers; 2 million civilians • Armistice and aftermath

9. Map 92

10. I. Origins of the Cold War (cont’d) • Concerns raised by the Cold War • Simplistic East-West dichotomies • Inability to see foreign developments on case-by-case basis • Continual intervention abroad • Walter Lippman • Tendency to side with undemocratic regimes • Aversion to colonial independence • Philippine independence (1946) • Retraction of support of colonial independence movements • Double-standard of language of freedom

11. II. Ideological mobilization for Cold War • Cultural Cold War • Depictions of U.S. history • Historical Americanism: pluralism, tolerance, and equality • Ethnic and racial strife? • The arts • Areas • Film: The Red Menace and removal of negative aspects of American history from scripts • Painting: Jackson Pollock’s creation-based action paintings • Music: John Cage’s liberal compositions • Dance: George Balanchine’s “graceful freedom” choreography • Secret involvement of national security agencies • CIA and Defense Department funded the arts • Political discourse

12. II. Ideological mobilization for Cold War (cont’d) • Themes • America as land of pluralism, tolerance, equality, free expression, individual liberty • Communist regimes as ‘totalitarian” • Aggressive states seeking to subdue all of civil society • “Socialized” resources (medicine, housing) as communistic and a negation of freedom • American Medical Associations campaign against “socialized medicine,” a.k.a. Truman’s national health insurance plan • Rise of “human rights” • Background • Historical origins of concept: Enlightenment, AR, FR • Impact of World War II: “Four Freedoms,” Atlantic Charter, and Nuremberg

13. II. Ideological mobilization for Cold War (cont’d) • Rise of “human rights” • Drafting of UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) • Eleanor Roosevelt • Range of rights identified • Civil and political liberties: speech, religion, arbitrary rule • Social and economic entitlements • Affirmation of global accountability of nations • Cold War contest over • U.S. emphasis on political rights • Soviet emphasis on social, economic rights • Compromise: two separate “covenants” • Civil and political • Economic, social, and cultural • Congress ratified 1st in 1992; has yet to ratify 2nd

14. III. Truman presidency • Postwar domestic situation • Rapid demobilization; return of soldiers to civilian life • Abolition of wartime regulatory agencies • Fair Deal • Aims • Revive momentum of New Deal • Improve social safety net and living standards • Program called on Congress to: • Increase minimum wage • Enact program of national health insurance • Expand public housing, Social Security, and aid to education

15. III. Truman presidency (cont’d) • Strike Wave of 1946 • Contributing factors • Scope and Magnitude • Range of industries affected: steel, auto, coal, etc. • Operation Dixie: Unionize the South • Textile, steel, and agricultural industries • Truman response • Concern over economic effect • Threat to draft striking railroad workers • Court order against striking miners • Outcomes • Presidential “fact-finding” boards

16. III. Truman presidency (cont’d) • Republican congressional gains of 1946 • Causes • Middle-class alarm over strike wave • Labor disappointment over Truman • Failure of Operation Dixie: conservative coalition of Republicans and southern Democrats • Consequences • Rejection of Fair Deal program • Tax cuts for wealthy • Taft-Hartley Act • Provisions: reversed many labor gains

17. III. Truman presidency (cont’d) • Steps towards civil rights • Anti-discrimination measures, state and local • Fair employment practices commissions • Vitality of civil rights coalition • Labor, religious groups, and black organizations • Growing response to lynching: zero lynchings in 1952 • Integration of major league baseball: Jackie Robinson • Commission on Civil Right’s To Secure These Rights (Oct. 1947) • Called on government to end segregation across the board • Truman’s civil rights initiatives • Program presented to Congress • Content: permanent civil rights commission, federal anti-lynching and poll tax laws, and equal access to education and employment • Defeated by Congress • Executive order desegregating of armed forces

18. III. Truman presidency (cont’d) • Steps towards civil rights • Truman’s civil rights initiatives • Underlying considerations • Personal sentiments • Cold War implications • Political strategy • Election of 1948 • Truman and the Democrats • Drive to revive and broaden New Deal coalition • Progressive program • Hubert Humphrey: “walk out of the shadow of states’ rights and into the sunlight of human rights.” • Strom Thurmond and the States’ Rights (“Dixiecrat”) party • Break from Democratic party • Call for segregation, “states’ rights” • The issue was “individual liberty and freedom”

19. III. Truman presidency (cont’d) • Election of 1948 • Henry A. Wallace and Progressive party • Program • Expansion of welfare • Desegregation • De-escalation of Cold War • Support from communists; abandonment by liberals • Thomas A. Dewey and the Republicans • Colorlessness of candidate • Complacency and vagueness of campaign • Truman’s upset victory

20. Map 93

21. IV. Anticommunist crusade • Wide-ranging impact of Cold War on American life • Permanent military-industrial establishment • Federal projects • Weapons development • Military bases • Higher education • Interstate highway system • Culture of secrecy, dishonesty: chemical, biological, and nuclear testing on unwitting soldiers and civilians • Revised immigration policy: Communist-region refugees • Dismantling of segregation • Assault on right to dissent

22. IV. Anticommunist crusade (cont’d) • Emergence of anticommunist crusade • Truman’s loyalty review system (1947) • House Un-American Activities Committee hearings on Hollywood (1947) • Pressure to testify about beliefs, “name names” • Cooperation and resistance • Walt Disney, Gary Cooper, Ronald Reagan • Arrest and blacklisting of Hollywood Ten • Legal cases • Trial, conviction, and imprisonment of Alger Hiss • Whittaker Chambers & Richard Nixon (prosecutor) • Trial, conviction, and imprisonment of Communist Party leaders • Trial, conviction, and death of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

23. IV. Anticommunist crusade (cont’d) • McCarthyism • Joseph R. McCarthy • Background: fictional war record • Emergence with sensational Wheeling speech • McCarthy’s Senate committee hearings • Wild allegations regarding disloyalty, communist presence • Growing Republican ambivalence • McCarthy’s downfall • Army-McCarthy hearings • Television exposure • Scolding by Joseph Welch: “Have you no sense of decency” • Senate censure • Genesis of term “McCarthyism”

24. IV. Anticommunist crusade (cont’d) • Breadth of anticommunist crusade around country • Initiatives of government (national, state, and local) • Investigative committees • Police department “red squads” • Laws to ban, monitor communist presence • Loyalty oaths • Initiatives of private organizations: American Legion, DAR • Ideological “cleansing” of public libraries, universities: Robin Hood • Acquiescence of judiciary: Dennis v. United States • Upheld jailing of Communist leaders (beliefs, not actions) • Acquiescence of liberals • Cost to the persecuted

25. IV. Anticommunist crusade (cont’d) • Anticommunism as popular mass movement • Strength among those of eastern European descent • Strength among Catholics • Multiple uses of anticommunism • Bureaucratic self-promotion • Political self-preservation • Discrediting of political, social targets • New Deal legacy • Economic regulation • Organized labor • Civil rights • Feminism • Homosexuality

26. IV. Anticommunist crusade (cont’d) • Anticommunist politics • Republican use of anticommunism to block Truman program • McCarran Internal Security Act (1950) • Barred “totalitarians” from entering US • McCarran-Walter Act (1952) • Act used to exclude prominent individuals from entry into US • Authorized deportation of communist-Americans • Operation Wetback (1954) • Confinement of social welfare benefits to unionized workers • Ideological taming of organized labor • CIO expulsion of left-wing leaders and unions • Labor’s support for Cold War foreign policy

27. IV. Anticommunist crusade (cont’d) • Response of civil rights movement to anticommunist crusade • Outspoken opposition (Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois) • Shifting approach of mainstream groups (NAACP, NUL) • Initial resistance • Growing accommodation • Purges of Communist members • Silence about political persecution • Embrace of Cold War rhetoric • Use of Cold War rhetoric to promote civil rights • Demise of left-leaning organizations (Southern Conference for Human Welfare)

28. IV. Anticommunist crusade (cont’d) • Lull in momentum for civil rights • Dampening effect of Cold War • Diminishing of efforts from Truman administration, Democrats • Legacy for black postwar prospects