The Cold War

Beginning of Cold War

• U.S. and Soviet conflict began in 1945 over treatment of occupied Germany and the compositon of the Polish government

• Grew in 1946 over disagreements on a plan to control atomic energy

• 1947-1950: animosity between US and Soviet Union

  • US trying to reestablish democracy, USSR trying to implement communism

• Japan: US occupied, needs to be rebuilt, destroyed by atomic bomb

• Destruction everywhere (including USSR) except for US

  • US controlled everything and built everything, experienced an economic boom

  • US is only country with atomic bomb

• US’s goal: return to life as it was

  • easy to do because of no destruction

• Rest of world in ruin

  • US doesn’t know what people will do, they may turn to communism

• US knew Soviet Union wouldn’t allow free countries or governments

• USSR wasn’t looking for more land, they were looking to spread communism

US Foreign Policy: Containment

• Also known as Truman Doctrine

• Spring 1946: US gave up hopes in cooperation and turned to containment

• Threat for Greece and Turkey to turn communist since they were surrounded by communist countries

  • USSR wanted these countries as buffer zones to protect the main country

Truman Doctrine

• Britain announced that they could no longer give aid to Greece or Turkey

• Greece was in civil war, Turkey was under Soviet pressure

• If these countries turned communist, Middle East may turn communist as well

• Truman sent aid to Greece and Turkey ($400 million) to prevent them from turning communist

Marshall Plan

• 1947: Marshall called for massive program of foreign aid to help European states recover

• Goal: prevent communist influence in Western Europe to build its economy, stabalize its governments, and prevent communist expansion in Western Europe

“Iron Curtain” Speech

• 1946: Churchill spoke in Missouri and cautioned world of communist expansion

• He warned that an “iron curtain” has descended across Europe

Beginning of Cold War: Germany

• 1948-1949

• Berlin Blockade

  • Berlin in Eastern Europe, under Soviet control

  • Berlin split into west and east Berlin (west-democratic, east-communist)

  • Soviets decided to sope all traffic between west and east Berlin

• Berlin Airlift

  • US would fly goods and products into west Berlin

  • nonstop airlifts, 24 hours/day with food and supplies

  • reponse to Berlin Blockade

  • USSR would try to sabatoge airlifts

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

• April 4, 1949 → foreign ministers of US, Britain, France, and many other European countries founded NATO in Washington DC

  • purpose: provide mutual aid in case of attack against any member

Points Four Program

• 1950: Congress approved Truman’s Point Four Program

  • mandated US foreign aid and loans to new nations

• 400 million dollars for technical development programs in Latin America, Asia, and Africa

• Purpose: strengthen the economies of these new countries to prevent communist expansion

Containment in Asia

• Post WWII: Japan was an ally of US

• China was in civil war after WWII

  • communists v. nationalists → communists won

The Korean War

• Korea never had native government or colonial regime since 1910

• Divided in two groups: marxists and ultra-nationalists

• US and USSR agreed to divide Korea for administrative purposes (August 1945)

  • US and USSR couldn’t agree on a plan that would unify Korea

  • 1947: Truman pursuaded UN to assume responsibility for country, even though US military remaind in control of the South until 1948

• Kim Il-sung was strengthning control over Communist Party as well as military forces in North

• Invasion

  • 1949: Kim Il-sung pressed his case with Stalin that it was time for an invasion of the South

    • Stalin refused

  • North Korean army continued to strengthen

  • 1950: Kim asked Stalin again, this time he approved

• The Counter

  • MacAruthur began deploying soldiers all over Korea

• Negotiaions and Continued Fighting

  • North Korean army had grown to 1.2 million soldiers

  • leaders of both sides came to conclusion that peace couldn’t be imposed through military victory

  • newly elected President Eisenhower viewd continuation of Korean War as incompatible with US security interests

    • support for the war on the homefront had declined

  • March 5, 1953 → Joseph Stalin dies

  • July 27, 1953 → fighting ceased

An Ease in Tensions

• 1953-1957: Cold War tensions had relaxed somewhat, largely due to Stalin’s death

• Military organization among Soviet occupied countries was formed, named teh Warsaw Pact .. formed in 1955

Red Scare (1950s)

• Fall of China to communism, Berlin Blockade, and first Soviet atomic bomb test was a blow to US

• Feb. 9, 1950 → Senator Joseph A. McCarthy claimed to know identities of 205 State Dept. officials influenced by communism

• McCarthy used hints and intimidation to propound charges that proved groundless

• Truman said he was “the greatest asset that the Kremlin has”

• McCarthy’s behavior damaged the US and left the charge of “McCarthyism” as a defense to be used by all manner of leftists

McCarthyism

• Truman’s last years in office were filled with accusations that “reds” had infultrated the government

  • these accusations were made despite Truman’s strongly anti-communist foreign policy

• Excessive fear of communist subverison came from many different places

• Real cases of disloyalty and espionage also contributed

• McCarthy said he had list of government agents who were loyal to Soviet Union

  • no evidence of this at all

• McCarthy still enjoyed a very successful career

• His influence decreased in 1954 as a result of the nationally televised 36-day hearing on his charges of subverison by US Army officers and civilian officails

• McCarthy was largely ignored after this

The Cold War at Home

• The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was an investigative unit which looked into communist activity within US

  • created in 1938 with the purpose to investigate alleged disloyalty on the part of private citizens, public employees, and organizations suspected of having communist ties

  • 1947: committee help nine days of hearings into alleged communsit propaganda

The Alger Hiss Case

• US State Department official who was convicted of perjury concerning his dealings with Whittaker Chambers, who accused him of being in a communist espionage ring

• His case lent substance to McCarthy’s charges of communist infultration in State Dept.

• Also brought national attention to Nixon

• Convicted

Dennis v. United States

• Eugene Dennis, general secretary of Communist Party of the United States, was convicted for advocating for the violent overthrow of the government and was arrested

• Supreme Court ruling of 6-2

  • found it was constitutional to restrict freedom of speech when the speech represents a vital threat to the security of the country

Eisenhower

• Dwight D. Eisenhower was very popular war hero (Republican)

  • great personal charm

  • no political record

    • extremely hard to attack

• Running mate: Richard Nixon

• Anticommunist

• Responsible for ending Korean War

• Served two terms

• Steady economic growth under Eisenhower

  • due to everything being produced in US

• Expands government programs

  • National System of Interstate and Defense Highways

  • Social Security extended to millions who were not previously covered

National Highway System

• Improved road systems

• Gasoline tax was established for highway users

  • toll system

• Takes a long time to complete

• Over 45,000 miles connecting all major cities in the US

Economic Growth

• Middle class has more money, so they’re spending more

• Not experienced by everyone due to segregation and Jim Crow Laws

• GI Bill helps soldiers get loans and morgatges

Military Spending

• Eisenhower instituted “New Look,” which reduced army size

• Tensions were low, time of peace

• Eisenhower warned of military-industrial complex that was developing, which is profit-making through war

Eisenhower’s Second Term

• Eisenhower helped with Hungarian revolt and Isreal invasion from the Egyptians

  • handled these problems skillfully

• At this time, Republic was usually president, while Democrats controlled Congress

New Developments

• Sunbelt (the West) experienced populaiton growth

  • suburbs began to develop

• Migration left cities w/o tax base and increasing population poor residents since middle class was moving to suburbs

• Oct. 4, 1957 → Soviet Union orbited first artifical satellite

  • prompted Eisenhower to start acts to educate more in American schools

  • new arms and space race began between world powers

Cold War Arms Race

• Distrust between US and USSR

  • both sides began to arm themselves in preparation of an attack

• People believed that a conflict between these two superpowers would destroy the world

Space Race

• 1957: Soviet Union launches Sputnick

  • first satellite that orbited around the world

• US quickly established NASA

• 1958: US launched first satellite

• 1961: Soviets put first man in space

• 1969: US put first man on the moon

Socioeconomic Changes

• Housing boom, television boom, baby boom

• Rising suburbs

• Standard of living had increased

Age of Conformity

• Levittown

  • cookie cutter houses

  • middle class

  • married with kids

  • cars

• Traditional Gender Roles

  • “company man”

  • women raising kids

  • conformity in hair, fashion, games

• What to do

  • little league games

  • church

  • McDonald’s

  • Elvis Presley

  • Beatles

  • spend $$ with credit cards

John F. Kennedy

• Democrat

• Younges president

• “New Frontier”

• Created NASA

• Took government in new direction

Kennedy - Foreign and Domestic Policy

• Kennedy developed several govnt. programs

• Committed nation to goal of landing on moon

• Peace Corps

  • goal: offest growth of communism in developing countries

• Continued Truman’s policy of containment

Domino Theory

• As communism took over China, US stepped up efforts of containment

• We believed if some countries continued to fall to Communism, the rest of Southeast would fall like dominoes

Bay of Pigs Invasion

• Cuba underwent a Communist Revolution from 1953-59, communists won

• CIA wanted to invade Cuba

  • Cuban refugees left Cuba, got trained by CIA, and went back to overthrow Fidel Castro

• Kennedy approved CIA mission

• Cuba already knew, so Invasion didn’t go well

  • US was very embarassed

Cuban Missile Crisis

• Fearing another US invasion, Castro put nuclear missiles aimed at US on Cuban coast

• Oct. 1962: Soviets began to secretly install long-range offensive missiles in Cuba, and threatened to tip the balance of nuclear power

• Instead of starting war with Cuba, JFK decided to blockade and surround Cuba with naval ships

  • tensions were extremely high, on the brink of nuclear war

• Oct. 28: Soviets halted work on Cuban missile sights, and missiles would be returned to Soviet Union

• Kennedy secretly promised to withdraw nuclear-armed missiles that US had stationed in Turkey

• Fidel Castro was mad at Soviet’s retreat

• Nov. 22, 1963: JFK assassinated

Role of Government

• Containment

• LBJ’s Great Society

• Appropriate role of government in social lives (civil rights movement)

The Great Society

• Lyndon B. Johnson

• Johnson was big on war on poverty

• Created Job Corps to improve educational and job opportunities for younger citizens

• Great Society program was biggest legislative program since New Deal

Lyndon B. Johnson

• Democrat from Texas

• Known for Great Society

• VISTA Program

  • volunteers in Service to America

  • aided poor citizens in impoverished areas

• Project Head Start

  • provided education to preschoolers of low-income families

  • provided health and nutrition services

• Project Upward Bound

  • focused on low-income families trying to attend college

• Job Corps

  • vocational training for HS students

  • provided work for unemployed youth

• Johnson also focused on social programs

• Elementary and Secondary Education Act

  • provided $1 billion in aid to help low-income, integrated schools

• Medicare was set up

• Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965

  • established cabinet-level department to coordinate federal housing programs

• Got rid of immigration quotas

• Minimum wage raised

• Social Security pensions raised, coverage expanded