After 1945, one big problem disturbed most Americans: the threat of nuclear holocaust and war with the Soviet Union

1. This fear would reinforce the inward, private mentality of the American people that emerged during the 1950s and also pressured them to accept a social and political philosophy that suspended all criticism of the status quo After 1945, one big problem disturbed most Americans: the threat of nuclear holocaust and war with the Soviet Union The emergence of the Cold War not only increased global insecurity and threatened the very existence of humanity. It also had a profound impact on politics and attitudes within the U.S. itself

2. UNITED NATIONS • Few Americans expected the U.S. to withdraw from world affairs once the war was over • That was the mistake we had made at end of WWI and no one wanted to repeat it • American willingness to take an active role in international affairs illustrated by our strong participation in the San Francisco conference (April 1945) which led to the creation of the United Nations • International organization formed to peacefully resolve disputes between nations

3. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES • Conferences between Great Britain, U.S., and Soviet Union were held at end of war with the goal of settling issues of post-war boundaries, spheres of influence, and relations between U.S. and Soviet Union • Yalta—February 1945 • Potsdam—July 1945 • Though some headway was made, issues remained largely unresolved when the war ended and old tensions between the Allies resurfaced

4. COLD WAR • “Cold War” became common label for this increasingly chronic rivalry between the U.S. and Soviet Union • Would ultimately become a global struggle waged by diplomacy, propaganda, economic pressure, and military intimidation • Would occasionally involve physical combat • Although direct nuclear war never occurred

5. CAUSES OF COLD WAR • Causes were complex and both sides contributed to them • Both actively pursued their own interests • Both saw these interests through the distorting lens of ideology • Both were convinced that they alone were on the side of truth and justice • Cold War was basically caused by the attempt of both the U.S. and Soviet Union to ensure their security in a new and dramatically transformed international environment

6. NEW INTERNATIONAL SITUATION • Balance of power after 1945 was very different from earlier • Western Europe had emerged from the war profoundly weakened • France was demoralized and unstable • Germany and Italy totally shattered • England was bankrupt and incapable of exerting the stabilizing international influence that it had before • Decline of Western Europe created power vacuum in Africa and Asia • In Asia, Japanese military successes had destroyed myth of European superiority and awakened long dormant nationalist feelings • In the Middle East, Arab nationalism, formerly held in check by England and France, surfaced with considerable strength • In Africa, western-educated native intellectuals began to strongly demand an end to Western colonial rule

7. BIG QUESTIONS • These changes presented both opportunities and dangers for U.S. and Soviet Union • Who would be beneficiary of transformations? • Would new nations in Africa, Middle East, and Asia be capitalist or communist? • Neither country could afford to ignore these questions • Both were the only great powers left in world otherwise made up of has-beens and would-bes • Moreover, neither country was equipped by its history to handle this situation well

8. SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY • Soviet foreign policy was motivated by the same goals that had always informed Russian foreign policy for centuries • Acquisition of a warm water port on the Mediterranean • Establishment of a secure western border through domination of Eastern Europe • To achieve these goals, the Soviet Union took over Eastern Europe at the end of the war; endorsed and subsidized “wars of liberation” in the Third World; and backed revolutionary groups in Western nations • Covered this all with the excuse it was advancing the cause of world communism

9. AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY • U.S. foreign policy had aimed at isolating the Soviet Union • Gradually resumed this policy after 1945 • In its goals to protect capitalism and isolated Soviet Union, it often supported conservative and dictatorial regimes in Third World • Americans did not see themselves as conservative in international affairs • Instead saw themselves as defending freedom against tyranny and communism • But, viewed objectively, most American policies were reactionary and that was how most of the rest of the world saw it

10. CHINA • Biggest trouble spot in post-war Asia was China • During WWII, U.S. and England had supported the KMT in struggle against Japan • Government headed by Chaing Kai’shek • Extraordinarily corrupt and fundamentally incompetent regime that never won support and loyalty of Chinese peasants

11. CHINESE CIVIL WAR • Most Chinese peasants preferred the Communists • Led by Mao Zedong • Controlled parts of northern China during war and had given people free land and honest administration • Much more effective in fighting the Japanese than KMT • U.S. hoped to bring KMT and Communists together in a coalition government after the war • But attempt failed and China was plunged into an ugly civil war

12. PROBLEMS IN EUROPE • Millions of displaced persons wandered the continent hungry, homeless, and despondent • Excellent targets for Soviet propaganda • Soviets had taken over Eastern Europe despite promise at Yalta to hold free elections in the region • Soviet agents disrupted internal affairs of Italy and France • Soviet took over their German occupation zone in violation of earlier promises

13. DIVIDED GERMANY • Germany was divided into 4 occupation zones • One administered by the U.S., one by GB, one by France, one by the Soviet Union • All occupiers were supposed to clean out all ex-Nazis, rebuild the economy, and re-educate the people in their zone • Once this was done, the four zones were to be reunited • But Soviets refused to cooperate • They did punish ex-Nazis but economically raped their zone and imposed a communist regime on it • Also refused to reunite with the other zones in 1949 • Reunited zones=West Germany • Former Soviet Zone=East Germany

14. GLOBAL DOMINATION? • Soviet Union also pressured Turkey to give up territory along their common border • Also supported Communist rebels in civil war in Greece • All Soviet Union was trying to do was achieve it traditional foreign policy goals of a secure western border and getting a Mediterranean port • But U.S. policy-makers saw these actions as an attempt to achieve global communist domination and made up their minds that U.S. security demanded that the Soviet Union be stopped

15. TRUMAN DOCTRINE • In February 1947, GB informed the U.S. that could no longer afford to play traditional role of policeman in the Eastern Mediterranean • If the U.S. wanted to stop the Soviet Union, it would have to do it itself • In response, Truman asked Congress for $400 million in military aid for Turkey and Greece • March 1947 • At the same time, he announced his plan to stop the spread of communism outside of the region where it already existed • Truman Doctrine • Also known as “containment” • Communist threat eliminated in Turkey and Greece as a result

16. MARSHALL PLAN • Secretary of State George Marshall proposed a massive economic aid program for Europe in order to “restore the confidence of the European people in the economic futures of their own countries and of Europe as a whole” and thus make them less susceptible to Communist propaganda • Response of Europe was enthusiastic • U.S. would give $12.5 billion to Europe • Spectacular results: agricultural and industrial output in 1950 was 25% higher than it had been before the war • And as poverty receded, so did the attractions of communism

17. BERLIN AIRLIFT • Soviet Union took over Czechoslovakia in February 1948 • In June 1948, it imposed an economic blockade on the western sector of Berlin • Located in Soviet zone but which had been divided into zones of occupation • Purpose was drive Western powers out of city • U.S. sent vital supplies to the city by airplane • Berlin Airlift • Lasted 15 months until the Russians finally lifted blockade

18. NATO • Berlin crisis and Czechoslovakia takeover convinced U.S. that it needed to create a permanent military force in Europe to guard against future hostile Soviet actions • Created North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in April 1949 • Military alliance between US and most Western European countries • Designed to stop any future Soviet aggression, by force if need be

19. ARMS RACE • Cold War had potential of escalating into nuclear war at any time • U.S. had atomic bomb first • But Russians developed their own by September 1949 • Relied on captured German scientists and espionage to do so • U.S. then developed more destructive H-bomb in November 1952 • Soviets had their own H-bomb just ten months later

20. DELIVERY SYSTEMS • U.S. created Strategic Air Command in early 1950s • Kept continual patrol of B-29 bombers in the air • Each carrying a load of H-bombs • Soviets concentrated on developing guided missiles (ICBMs) to deliver their bombs • U.S. developed DEW line (Distant Early Warning) to detect incoming Soviet missiles • Also worked furiously to develop their own ICBM system to supplement SAC • Success came in late 1958 with the Atlas missile

21. INCREASED MILITARY SPENDING • American defense budget skyrocketed from $11.8 billion in 1947 (33% of the federal budget), to $45 billion in 1960 (50% of the federal budget) to $350 billion in 1985 (60% of federal budget) • Some Americans criticized this spending, arguing that it diverted resources from domestic programs • But most supported this spending because they believed we had to stop the Soviet Union from taking over the world

22. BIRTH OF RED CHINIA • Despite massive American aid, Chaing Kai-shek was defeated by Mao Zedong’s communists and forced to flee to offshore island of Taiwan • Many Americans viewed this as a horrible defeat for the “free world” and increased their fear of an international communist conspiracy to take over the world • This attitude would determine the American response to a crisis that erupted in the tiny country of Korea

23. KOREA: BACKGROUND • After defeat of Japan, Korea was divided into two occupation zones • Northern zone administered by Soviet Union and southern zone administered by U.S. • Talks to united the zones in the late 1940s failed • Korea appeared to be permanently divided between a communist north and a more-or-less democratic south

24. NORTH KOREA ATTACKS • North Korea decided to unite country by force and invaded South Korea with 95,000 troops in 1950 • U.S. convinced UN to intervene and a “peace keeping” force (made up mainly of U.S. troops) arrived in South Korea in July 1950 • Under command of General Douglas MacArthur • Concentrated in a small pocket around port of Pulsan • MacArthur counter-attacked and, by October 1950, he pushed North Koreans back to 38th parallel

25. THE CHINESE ATTACK • MacArthur should have stopped then and opened negotiations • He instead continued to advance northward, reaching the Yalu River (the border with China) in November • This provoked the Chinese to attack him and they drove him back to 38th parallel • Both sides then dug in for a brutal trench war that would last for two more years

26. MACARTHUR FIRED • Many Americans demanded drastic action to end frustrating stalemate • MacArthur wanted to bomb China • Truman wanted to negotiate a peace settlement • Warned MacArthur on several occasions to stop making provocative statements that hindered the peace process • MacArthur ignored him and even tried to sabotage Truman’s efforts to get peace talks started • When Truman learned of this, he relieved MacArthur of his command

27. END OF THE WAR • Even though conservatives condemned Truman, the president’s action did clear the way for negotiations • Began in July 1951 • Dragged on until June 1953 when the two sides agreed to a truce that ended the fighting and left Korea divided at the 38th Parallel • Cost: 33,000 Americans dead, 100,000 wounded, and $54 billion down the drain • South Koreans lost one million men and North Korea/China lost 1 ½ million men

28. JULIUS AND ETHEL ROSENBERG • Fear of Soviet spies was rampant in U.S. • In 1950, two scientists who had worked on the Manhattan Project were accused of giving American atomic secrets to Russians • Many thought they were innocent and were only being persecuted for their left-wing beliefs and the fact that they were Jewish • But they were found guilty and executed

29. ALGER HISS • Was a former high official in State Department, former delegate to UN, and prominent New Dealer • In 1948, Whittaker Chambers claimed that he and Hiss had spied for the Russians in the 1930s • Led by Richard Nixon, the House Committee on Un-American activities interrogated Hiss but he denied everything • And because statute of limitations had lapsed, he could not be tried for espionage • But Hiss sued Chambers for libel and in the ensuing trial, Hiss was found guilty of perjury and sentence to prison for five years

30. JOSEPH MCCARTHY • Hiss case created fearful atmosphere in the U.S. • And Joseph R. McCarthy appeared to exploit it • Junior senator from Wisconsin • Gregarious and friendly but also a chronic liar, a crude opportunist, and an insensitive boor • Had been swept into office during Republican Congressional landslide of 1946 but his chances for re-election in 1952 looked slim

31. MCCARTHY ON THE RAMPAGE • McCarthy needed good press exposure to survive and, to get it, he assumed role of public protector of Americans against Communist threat • Opened campaign by charging that he had a list of 205 State Department employees who were communists • A naked lie but the press jumped on it and the country was soon in a rabid mood • Congress asked McCarthy to prove his charges but he couldn’t • So to cover himself, he announced that Owen Lattimore, a professor and advisor on China policy, was a top Soviet spy • Couldn’t prove this either

32. MCCARTHYISM • McCarthy’s popularity skyrocketed after the Lattimore episode • Conservative Republicans now used him as a weapon against liberals and Democrats • And wherever McCarthy led, weasels like Nixon followed • McCarthyism became a national attitude that penetrated all levels of American life with tragic consequences • Committees from both the House and Senate now investigated alleged communist infiltration of universities, churches, private industry, and the broadcasting and entertainment industry

33. HYSTERIA • Many of the people called in to testify “took the 5th Amendment and refused to answer questions that might incriminate them • They escaped prosecution but had their careers and reputations ruined • In Hollywood, unofficial blacklists were drawn up of suspect actors, directors, and writers and studios refused to hire them • Many were turned in by former colleagues and friends • Ronald Reagan turned in many people who he had worked with and thought he was their friend • Some state universities made faculty sign “loyalty oaths” and some state governments even made typists, clerks, and road workers sign them

34. BAD TO WORSE • Dark shadow cast over tradition American right of free speech • Meanwhile, McCarthy went his merry way • In late 1950, he used a doctored photo to charge that Senator Millary Tydings was a communist • Tydings lost re-election bid as a result • McCarthy, on the other had, was re-elected in 1952

35. END OF THE ROAD • McCarthy charged that Irving Peress, an army dentist, had been promoted because communists who had infiltrated the Army were rewarding his spying activities • Senate held televised hearings on charges • McCarthy came across as a mean, cruel, and rather stupid bully • His popularity plummeted, his fellow senators censored him, and the media began to ignore him • Died in 1957 from chronic alcoholism before the end of his second term