Chapter 24: The Cold War Dawns 1945 - 1963

Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945)

meeting w/ Pres. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin

• FDR wanted Soviet Union to hold Democracy

  • Stalin refused

• Replaced the League of Nations w/ United Nations

United Nations (April, 1945)

• Have a General Assembly + Security Council (China, US, Britain, France, and Soviet Union)

Potsdam Conference (July, 1945)

• Stalin accepted German amends on their side, East

in exchange for…

• US recognizing the Polish border that they drew

Containment (late 1940s)

US wanted to contain communism in its existing boundaries

ex:

• Iran was pressed by the Soviet Union to give them oil

• Turkey was pressed for the access of the Mediterranean

Truman Doctrine (March 12)

speech included…

it was American responsibility to help those that are being pressured by armed or outside pressures

Marshall Plan (1948)

Aid program to help European economies recover from WWII

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO - 1949)

Military alliance among 12 West nations (US, Canada) to counter Soviet threat

Warsaw Pact (1955)

Military alliance for Eastern Europe to counter NATO

NSC-68 (April 1950)

Top-secret gov. report that insisted on a massive military buildup

• US created hydrogen bombs

  • 1000x worse than the atomic bombs on Japan

Cold War liberalism

• preserved the New Deal welfare state

• developed containment policy

• fought rebels at home

Taft-Hartley Act (1947)

restrictions on organized labor

• made it more difficult for unions to organize workers

Fair Deal (1949)

policy agenda → civil rights, health care, public housing, and education funding

• Congress rejected most

Loyalty-Security Program (1947)

permitted officials to investigate employee of the gederal gov. for “subversive” (rebel) activities

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC - 1938)

Congressional committee investigated Americans who might be disloyal to the gov. or have associated w/ communists

• Hollywood: actors, directors, and writers were highly affected

New Look

Defense policy of Eisenhower administration

• more production of hydrogen bomb

• developed long-range bombing capabilities

Domino theory

the fall of a non-Communist gov. (France) to communism in Southeast Asia would trigger the spread of communism

Eisenhower Doctrine (1957)

Declaration that US would combat communism in the Middle East

Bay of Pigs (April 17, 1961)

1,400 CIA members were crushed by Fidel Castro’s troops

Cuban missle crisis (Oct. 1962)

nuclear standoff between the Soviet Union and US when Soviets attempted to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba

Peace Corps (1961)

Program which young American volunteers helped with eduction, health, and other projects in developing countries

Important People

• Joseph Stalin

• George F. Kennan

• Nikita Khrushchev

• Joseph McCarthy

• Ho Chi Minh

• John F. Kennedy

• Fidel Castro