The Cold War Early Years 1945-1963

1. The Cold WarEarly Years 1945-1963 Review By: Michael Crews

2. Planning the Post-war World • Yalta Conference • Established free elections in postwar Europe • Established the United Nations • Every country in the world could have a seat in the general assembly • Real power lies with the UN Security Council • U.S., Great Britain, France, Soviet Union (Russia), and China all have permanent seats • Outlined plans for an occupied Germany • Germany would be split into 4 sections each controlled by one of the four major Allied Powers • Berlin would also be split this way • Determined the fate of a liberated Poland • Potsdam Conference • Truman met with Soviets and accused them of breaking the agreements of the Yalta Conference • Germany and Europe now slipped into deep seated rivalry between democracy and communism • Germany splits into East and West Germany, so does the city of Berlin

3. The Cold War Begins • Truman was reluctant to deal with Stalin • Relations between the U.S. and Soviets cooled off considerably • U.S. took an increasingly anti-communist position • Stalin cut off western access to and from Berlin • Truman ordered the Air Force to drop thousands of pounds of food and supplies to West Berlin (Berlin Airlift) • U.S. shifts to a policy of containment • U.S. believed that if communism was kept inside the current Soviet Borders it would eventually die out • Truman Doctrine = financial aid and military advisement to countries trying to resist communism in their borders • Marshall Plan = financial aid to rebuild the economies of Western Europe after WWII • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) = alliance that would support each other in the event of a Soviet invasion • Canada, U.S., France, Great Britain, and Germany among the countries involved • U.S. recognized Israel as a country in 1948

4. Korean War • Korea divided @ 38th parallel after WWII • Soviet backed North Korea invaded the American supported south • MacArthur’s forces pushed the communists back all the way to the Yalu river • The Yalu river forms the border between China and North Korea • Chinese troops swarmed across the border and pushed U.S. forces back south of the 38th parallel • U.S. then regained territory to the 38th parallel • MacArthur wanted to invade China • Truman fired him

5. The Cold War at Home • Truman’s Fair Deal • Stronger civil rights laws, including a ban on discrimination in hiring federal employees • Higher minimum wage and extension of Social Security benefits • Funding of low-income housing projects • Second Red Scare • Americans became increasingly fearful that communists had infiltrated American institutions • Americans were growing more afraid of communism for the following reasons • China became communist under Mao Zedong • Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of providing the Soviets information regarding the atomic bomb • The Soviets now had nuclear weapons • Communist forces had nearly overwhelmed the U.S. in Korea • State Department official Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury • Related to his espionage trial • Joseph McCarthy = McCarthyism • He accused anyone who disagreed with him of being communist • He accused the Army of harboring communists

6. Eisenhower and Prosperity • Funded projects like St. Lawrence Seaway and Interstate Highway system • Gross National Product more than doubled from 1945-1960 • ‘Baby Boom’ also fostered a need form more consumerism • Cheap fuel, good roads, and affordable housing allowed for the growth of suburbs • Advertising and ‘white-collar’ jobs increased in volume as heavy industry declined • Consumer economics became the driving factor of the economy • People began to buy on credit • A dramatic shift in thinking from pre-war spending thrift

7. Cold War of the 50’s and 60’s • This time period was marked by an escalating arms race • ICMB’s, fall-out shelters, atomic bomb drills • Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) or Massive Retaliation • The U.S. and Soviets would virtually destroy each other if attacked by the other one • Space race • Soviets launch ‘Sputnik’ • U.S. forms NASA and vows to be the first to put a man on the moon • Eisenhower warns of being influenced by the military-industrial complex • Kennedy takes office • Extends liberalism • Forced states to realign electoral districts to match population • Provide legal counsel to accused criminals who can’t afford it • Require law-enforcement to read suspected criminals their rights • Worked to limit religion in schools • Vows to approach the Cold War differently • Forms the Peace Corps

8. Moves away from Massive Retaliation to a more ‘flexible response’ • The Bay of Pigs was an attempt by the U.S. to counter a communist regime in Cuba • It failed and became an international embarrassment ruining relations between U.S. and Cuba • Cuban Missile Crisis • The closest the world has ever come to nuclear warfare • U.S. blockaded Cuba • Soviets agreed to remove missiles from Cuba if the U.S. would not invade Cuba • Led to the signing of arms control measures beginning with Nuclear Test Ban Treaty • JFK gets assassinated • Lee Harvey Oswald • Many conspiracies abound

9. Cold War Continues • Elements of the Cold War continue up through the 1990’s • It ends with the fall of the Berlin Wall and collapse of the Soviet Union