The Cold War Begins

1. The Cold War Begins

2. Introduction • The American people who were 140 million strong cheered the nation’s victories in Europe and Asia at the conclusion of WWII. Many Americans were now worried about their future. Also the United States had to worry about crumbling relations with the Soviet Union, threatened a new and even more terrible international conflict.

3. Postwar Economic Anxieties • The decade of the 1930’s left deep scars and joblessness and insecurity pushed up the suicide rate and dampened the marriage rate. Homeward bound GI’s would step out in lines back into the unemployed. The Democratic administration meanwhile took some steps of its own to forestall an economic downturn. It sold war factories and other governments to private businesses at fire-sale prices. • The passage of the Employment Act of 1946 will make it government policy to promote maximum employment, production, and purchasing power. The most dramatic was the passage of the GI bill which allowed the men that came home from school to go to school. They thought that if 15 million men came home at one time there wouldn’t be enough jobs to go around. • The act also enabled 16 billion in loans for veterans to buy homes, farms, and small businesses. The GI Bill powerfully nurtured the robust and long-lived economic expansion that eventually took hold in the late 1940’s and will shape that history of the postwar era.

4. The Long Economic Boom, 1950-1970 • America’s economic performance became the envy of the world. National income nearly doubled again in the 1960’s, shooting through the trillion dollar mark in 1973. American’s at the time some 6 percent of the world’s population were enjoying 40 percent of the planets wealth. • Of all of the beneficiaries of the postwar prosperity were the women. More than ever offices and shops provided amazing jobs for female workers. Women accounted for a quarter of the American work force at the end of WWII. In the 1940’s and 1950’s popular culture glorified the traditional feminine roles of a house maker and mother. In the 1960’s the realities of employment eventually sparked a revolt. • By the end of the decade the majority of American families owned their own cars and washing machines, and nearly 90 percent owned their own television set. And almost 60 percent of American families owned their own homes by 1960, compared with less than 40 percent in the 1920’s.

5. The Roots of Postwar Prosperity • The roots of postwar prosperity were caused by WWII, while other countries were ravaged by the war. The United States used this opportunity to rebuild from the depression and began to dominate the world.   • -Agricultural backbone was still 15 percent of the labor force and at the end of WWII farmers made up a slim 2 percent of working Americans by the 21st century. • -The Family Farm became almost extinct after the war because of machinery and to rich new fertilizers. • - Gains in productivity were also enhanced by the rising educational level of the work force. • -Cheap energy also fed the economic boom. Americans doubled their consumption of inexpensive and seemingly inexhaustible oil in the quarter century after the war.

6. The Smiling Sunbelt • The striking growth of the Sunbelt of the 15 state areas stretching from Virginia through Florida and Texas to Arizona and California: The region at this time was growing in population and by the 21st century there were more than 36 million people in this area. • These people came in search for a better life, a better job and climate and lower taxes. The dramatic shifts with these countries will not only effect the population and its wealth but the nation’s political life and from 1964 to 2008 congressional representation rose as its population grew.

7. The Rush to the Suburbs • In all of the Regions of America’s modern migrants-if they were white-fled from the cities to the suburbs, while other countries struggled to rebuild their war ravaged cities, government policies in the United States. They called it the White Flight to the leafy green areas especially those in the Northeast and Midwest. The migration of African Americans made their way to the rural South into the inner cores of the northern cities. • After postwar America, there was a huge leap in the birthrate in the decade and a half after 1945 which was called the baby boom. This baby boom added more than 50 million babies into this world and by 1973 fertility rates had dropped below the point necessary to maintain those population rates. • Elementary schools climbed to 37 million in 1970, and then it began a slow decline because that group left in its wake closed schools, and unemployed teachers. The baby industry jumped and as these children were in their secondary boom the same thing happened. These members of the baby boom when its time retire, they are going to put a major dent in the Social Security system.

8. Truman: The Gutty Man from Missouri • The president who was going to be presiding over the postwar era was Harry S. Truman. He was trim, owlish, and bespectacled, with his graying hair and friendly toothy grin. He was five feet eight inches tall without a college education, he had farmed, served as an officer during WWI, and through many political events in his life he kept his hands clean. • The problems of the postwar were staggering and Truman needed to be confident in handling these situations especially when it came to dealing with these tasks. He was often small in small things and big in big things. He had a down home authenticity, few pretensions, rock-solid probity and a lot of old fashion character. One of his favorite sayings is: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

9. Yalta: Bargain or Betrayal • The Yalta Conference between the big three took place in February 1945. Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt reached momentous agreements and did so with their faith and vodka. • The plans that they made were for crushing the German lines and assigning occupant zones in Germany to their powers. Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland were to have said that they should have a representative government. They further announced a new international peacekeeping organization –The United Nations. • One of the grave decisions was Japan. Roosevelt and Churchill wanted Stalin to use his troops to pin down the Japanese troops in Manchuria and Korea, and lighten American losses, but Stalin had already an enormous amount of loss on his side.

10. Yalta: Bargain or Betrayal • Many believed at the time that Moscow’s help was not needed and that Roosevelt already secured Manchuria and gave it to Stalin. This concept of undermining Chinese control from Jiang Jieshi would later destroy his reputation and he will be eventually overthrown. Many have contended that Stalin actually could have attained more land in china if given more of a chance. • The fact is that the Big Three at Yalta were not there to draft a comprehensive peace agreement; they were setting general intentions and testing one another’s reactions. Roosevelt was once quoted as saying that the Yalta Agreement was so elastic that it stretched all the way from Yalta to Washington.

11. The United States and the Soviet Union • History had provided little hope that the United States and the Soviet Union would be able to reach an understanding because one country was communists and the other was a capitalistic country, and both were equally hostile to one another. Different visions also separated the two superpowers. Stalin aimed at securing Soviet Union, because he had been betrayed before. By protecting the USSR, a sphere of influence, in Eastern and Central Europe they could protect it and consolidate a base as the leading communist country. • To American’s it looked like a giant empire. They also doubted that they were on the defense because of the Bolshevik revolution. It also clashed with the idea of an open world that Roosevelt and Wilson had previously wanted. • Both the United States and Russia were troublesome. Both countries had been isolated from the world. America and the USSR suddenly found themselves staring at each other over the body of battered Europe, which back then had been traditional center for foreign affairs. • In a fateful progression of events that were followedby misconceptions as well as genuine interests the two states provoked a standoff that was called the Cold War. This Cold War will endure for four and a half decades. The influence of the Cold War will mold economies, societies and international order all over the world.

12. Shaping the Postwar World • Despite these obstacles the United States did manage at war’s end to support Roosevelt’s vision of a new world. At the Breton Woods Conference the Western Allies did manage the IMF- Which was the International Monetary Fund, which was to encourage worldwide trade system by regulating the exchange rates. The United States took the lead when it came to this arrangement while the Soviet Union declined to participate. • Despite Roosevelt’s death the rest of the world continued to move through a united world. The United Nations was the successor to the League of Nations and this was going to be different in many ways. One of the rules in the league was to design to prevent a Great War power and that no member of the Security Council that was dominated by the Big Five could take action unless they had consent. • They also featured a General Assembly for those smaller countries. The United States overwhelmingly approved the League 89-2 which will provide safeguards for American sovereignty and freedom of action. The United Nations will set up have it permanent setup in New York City.

13. The Problem of Germany • Hitler’s Reich posed a problem for the wartime Allies. They agreed that the cancer of Nazism had to be cut out completely, which was going to involve punishing Nazi leaders at the Nuremberg war crimes trial. Accusations included crimes against the laws of war and humanity and plotting aggressions that were contrary to treaty pledges. • Justice was harsh when I came to punishing these accused Nazis’. Most of them swung from the gallows, and seven were sentenced to long jail terms. Critics in America and elsewhere condemned these proceedings as lynchings because their crimes were not clear cut when the war began. • The problem with Germany was the fact that many people had different ideas about whether to fix Germany or dismantle it altogether. The Soviets agreed that they would use their money from Germany to rebuild, and Americans had to decide whether they were going to dismantle German factories. Americans realized that in order for Europe to be healthy again, Germany needed to be rebuilt. However the Soviets feared another attack and resisted all efforts to revitalize Germany.

14. The Problem with Germany • Along with Austria, Germany was then divided between the Big Four military zones, (USSR, America, France, and Britain). Allies refused to let Russia into their zones and Stalin was bound and determined to get the reparations that were promised at Yalta. With the compromise of uniting Germany, Russia tightened its grip on their zone. Not long after it was apparent the Germany would remain divided. East would be under the control of Russian and the west would be independent. Overnight the Eastern portion would disappear through an iron curtain of secrecy and isolation that Stalin created. • With Germany split into two there was still a problem of Berlin. Berlin was lying deep within the Soviet zone, and with their being a dispute about German currency, the Soviets abruptly choked off all rail and highway access to Berlin. They believed that the Allies would be starved out. • Berlin became a huge topic and issue for both sides. At stake was the fate of the city and to test both Moscow and Washington. Americans then organizes a huge Berlin Airlift and for nearly a year aircraft that had recently dropped bombs on Berlin, American pilots ferried thousands of supplies to grateful Berliners. The soviets lifted their blockade in May 1949, but in that same year East and West Berlin were established and the Cold War formally was established.

15. The Cold War Thickens • Stalin also probed at the West’s other sensitive points including an oil-rich Iran. Stalin used his troops that were there to protect the area and used them for a rebellion. After Truman sent a warning of protest, the Soviet dictator backed down. • Truman responses to the Soviet’s challenges took on took on a whole other meaning in 1947 called the containment doctrine. This doctrine explained that whether Russia was communist or tsarist they would be expanding. However the Kremlin was going to be very cautious and let the Soviets power flow into every nook and cranny and that they could do this by firm and vigilant containment. • Truman embraced this advice and doctrine and went before Congress on March 12, 1947 and requested support for what it will be known as the Truman Doctrine. He specifically asked for 400 million to help Greece, Turkey which Congress granted. Truman wanted to support those people who wanted to be free. Needless to say people had different opinions and will polarize the world to Pro-American and Pro-Soviet. It was Truman’s fear of a revived isolationism that led him to exaggerate the Soviet threat and to pitch his message in the charged language of a holy war against the godless communism.

16. The Cold War Thickens • President Truman then worked with George C. Marshall in wanting to work out a joint plan for their economic recovery. If they did so, then the United States would provide substantial financial assistance, which in the end will create the EC, the European Community. • The democratic nations will meet in Paris in July 1947 to give life to the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan offered the same aid to the Soviets and their allies. The Russians bailed out of the plan because they made the terms deliberately difficult for Russia to accept and they walked out calling it the Martial Plan and a capitalist trick. • The Marshall Plan called for spending 12.5 billion over four years into 16 countries. Truman’s Marshall Plan was a great success. American dollars pumped into Western European nations and within a few years most of them exceeded their prewar outputs and it was an economic miracle. Italy and France were saved from communists countries, because most of the communist party lost its footing.

17. The Cold War Thickens • What Truman would do next would be another fateful decision in 1948. The Middle Eastern oil was a crucial step in helping the recovery act in Europe. In order for America to be healthy they relied on these oil reserves. The Arab oil countries did not agree with creating Israel and many warned Truman including the State and Defense Departments and the European Allies, which were all afraid to antagonize the oil-endowed Arabs. The State of Israel was created May 14, 1948. Humanitarian aid for the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust ranked high amongst his reasons for creating this nation and by doing so will create complications in US and Arab relations in the decades ahead.

18. America Begins to Rearm • The Cold War, the struggle to contain Soviet communism was not war, yet it was not peace. The standoff with the Kremlin banished the dreams of tax-fatigued Americans that tanks could be beaten into automobiles. Congress passed in 1947 the National Security Act, which created the Department of Defense. In this department they joined the armies and navies and the uniformed heads of each service were brought together as the Joint Chiefs of Staff. • With the national security act it created the council and together with the CIA become the voice of America. Congress in that same year they re-created the military draft and provided conscription of selected men from 19-25 years old. This act shaped millions of young people’s educational, martial, and career plans in the following quarter of a century.

19. America Begins to Rearm • The Soviet threat forced the democracies of Western Europe in a degree of unity. In 1948, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg signed defensive alliance at Brussels, and they asked the United States to join them. America usually didn’t want to join in certain alliances, but this alliance could serve many purposes. The purpose would be to strengthen the policy of containing the Soviet Union. It would also provide a framework for Germany entering into the European family. It would also reassure jittery Europeans that we were not going to abandon them and remain isolationists. • The European pact was called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which was signed April 4, 1949. These countries pledged to regard an attack on one as an attack on all and promised to respond with armed force if necessary. NATO became the first cornerstone of all Cold War American policy toward Europe. With good reason those that were apart described being a part of this society was: to keep the Russians out, the Germans down, and the Americans in.

20. Reconstruction and Revolution in Asia • Reconstruction in Japan was a lot easier than it was in Germany. American General MacArthur was in the driver seat and went full speed ahead with his democratization program of Japan. • MacArthur enjoyed a lot of success and the Japanese cooperated and they saw that good behavior and the adoption of democracy would end the occupation as it did. • If Japan was the success story for democracy, it was the opposite for China were there was bitter civil war that was waging on for years. This war waged on against Nationalists versus Communists. Nationalist’s leader was Jiang Jieshi and the leader for the communists was Mao Zedong. Communists armies swept the south overwhelmingly and Jieshi was forced to flee to Taiwan.

21. Reconstruction and Revolution in Asia • The defeat of China was very depressing for America and its allies in the Cold War. Republicans at the time blamed Truman for failing because they felt that Truman withheld funds from Jiang Jieshi which caused him to fail. Truman responded by saying that no amount of money would have helped him. Truman also said that they did not lose China because he never had China to lose. Jiang had never controlled all of China. • More bad news came in September 1949 when Truman announced that the Soviets had exploded an atomic bomb 3 years early than experts had thought possible. Now that the Soviets were using atomic weapons, now two can play at this game and Truman ordered the development of the H-bomb, which was one thousand times more powerful than the atomic bomb. Experts have said that the H-bomb was so powerful that it would effect is almost one of genocide. The nuclear arms race entered into a competitive race in which each side tried to outdo the other in the scramble to build more destructive weapons.

22. Ferreting Out Alleged Communists • One of the most active Cold War fronts was on our own soil at home. Many citizens feared the communists spies were undermining the government and misdirecting foreign policy. • Individual states were also taking loyalty oaths in increasing numbers and most employees especially teachers were told to take these oaths. The biggest question was in a Cold War era could there is freedom of speech, thought and the right of political dissent. • The House of Representatives in 1938 established the House Un-American Activities Committee to investigate rebellions. Richard M Nixon led the chase after Alger Hiss. He was accused of being a communist agent in the 1930’s, and Hiss demanded the right to defend himself. Hiss denied everything but was caught in embarrassing falsehoods, convicted of perjury in 1950, and sentenced to five years in prison.

23. Ferreting Out Alleged Communists • Some Americans, including President Truman realized that the red hunt was turning into a witch hunt. Congress enacted a bill that it was to arrest and detain and suspicious people during an internal security emergency, despite Truman’s veto it still passed.   • The most famous of those who were targeted were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. They were both accused of espionage and went to the electric chair in 1953. They were both found guilty of selling atomic data to Moscow. Their sensational trial and electrocution, and sympathy for their 2 children began to sour some sober citizens on the excesses of the red-hunters.

24. Democratic Division in 1948 • The election of 1948 was against Dewey who was the Republican nominee and Truman who will run for re-election. Dewey seemed that he was going to be the next president because the Democrats were ruptured in many ways. Truman will little money and few active supporters had to rely on his personality. • On election night the Chicago Tribune ran off an early edition with the headline Dewey Defeats Truman, but it turns out that Truman has swept with 303 electoral votes versus Dewey’s 189 electoral votes. Truman’s victory rested upon farmers, workers, and blacks, all of whom were Republican wary. • Truman announced a four point plan which was to lend US money and technical aid to underdeveloped lands to help them help themselves. Truman also wanted to spend millions to keep underprivileged peoples from becoming communists rather than spending billions to shoot them after they had become communists. The program brought needed assistance to impoverished countries to Latin America, Africa, the Near East and the Far East. • Truman’s Fair Deal program was announced in 1949 to Congress. It called for improved housing, full employment, higher minimum wage, better farm price supports, new TVA’s, and an extension of Social Security.

25. The Korean Volcano Erupts • By 1949, the Soviets and Americans had both withdrawn their forces and the entire peninsula was occupied with two regimes eyeing each other suspiciously. An explosion came on June 25, 1950 when the North Korean army and Soviet army ranks rumbled across the 38th parallel line. South Korean forces were shoved back with their backs to the sea. • Truman sprang into action and recommended that the United States quadruple its defense spending. Ignored at first then NSC-68 got a new lease on life because of the Korean crisis and now Truman ordered a massive military buildup well beyond what was necessary for Korea. • Truman ordered 3.5 million men under arms and was spending 50 billion per year on the defense budget-some 13 percent of the GNP. The NCS-68 was a key document for the Cold War because it launched a major step in the militarization of American foreign policy. NCS-68 rested on the assumption that the enormous American economy could bear without strain the huge costs of this program. • Truman ordered American air and naval assistance to restore peace, without consulting Congress. He also ordered General MacArthur and Japan’s based troops into action alongside the South Koreans. So began the Korean War.

27. The Military Seesaw in Korea • September 15, 1950 within two weeks the North Koreans had scrambled back to the 38th parallel, and it restored order to the South. The South Koreans then had passed the 38th parallel and Truman ordered northward because at the time there was no intervention by the Chinese or Soviets. • But MacArthur who was misguided and was quoted as saying that he would have the boys home by Christmas, but as they were getting close to the Chinese border the Chinese decided to get involved. In November of 1950 tens of thousands of Chinese fell upon MacArthur’s lines and the fighting now took them back to the 38th parallel line. • MacArthur was humiliated and even suggested a naval blockade and nuclear force against the Chinese. But Washington refused to use such force because they had its eyes on Moscow and they refused to enlarge the already costly conflict. General MacArthur felt that he was being asked to fight with one hand tied behind its back. He hated the idea of a limited war and he began to criticize the President’s policies publically. Truman had no choice but to remove him from his command on April 11, 1951. • MacArthur was returned to a great welcome, while Truman was condemned as a pig and an appeaser of Communists Russia and China. Truce talk did begin, but the talks dragged on unproductively for nearly two years while men continued to die.