cold war truman eisenhower
TRANSCRIPT
THE ONSET OF THE COLD WAR
America: Past and Present
The Cold War Begins:Issues Dividing U.S., U.S.S.R.
• Control of postwar Europe• Economic aid• Nuclear disarmament
The Division of Europe
• 1945--Russians occupy eastern Europe, American troops occupy western Europe
• Soviet Union seeks eastern European buffer
• U.S. demands national self-determination through free elections throughout Europe
• Stalin converts eastern Europe into a system of satellite nations
Europe after World War II
Withholding Economic Aid
• Russia devastated by World War II • Some Americans seek to influence
Russia with Lend-Lease economic aid• 1945--United States halts Lend-Lease
without Russian settlement• Leverage lost in shaping Soviet policy
The Atomic Dilemma
• 1943--nuclear race between U.S., U.S.S.R.
• 1946--Baruch Plan – rapid reduction of U.S. military force– gradual reduction favors U.S. atomic
monopoly• Soviet Union
– larger conventional army than U.S.– immediate abolition of atomic weapons
Containment
• 1947--George C. Marshall appointed Secretary of State
• Dean Acheson seeks for U.S. England's former role as arbiter of world affairs
• George Kennan calls for “containment of Russia’s expansive tendencies”
The Truman Doctrine
• 1947--Truman seeks funds to keep Greece, Turkey in western sphere of influence
• Truman Doctrine: “support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressure”
• Doctrine an informal declaration of cold war against the Soviet Union
The Marshall Plan
• 1947--George Marshall proposes aid for rebuilding European industries
• Russia refuses aid • 1948--Marshall Plan adopted by
Congress• Plan fosters western European
prosperity
Marshall Plan to Aid Europe, 1948-1952
The Western Military Alliance
• 1949--North Atlantic Treaty Organization– military alliance includes U.S., Canada,
most of western Europe– U.S. troops stationed in Europe
• NATO intensifies Russia's fear of the West
The Berlin Blockade
• June, 1948--Russians blockade Berlin• Truman orders airlift to supply the city• 1949--Russians end blockade• U.S. political victory dramatizes
division
The Cold War Expands
• 1947--U.S.-Russian arms race accelerates
• Conflict expands to Asia
The Military Dimension
• 1947--National Security Act – Department of Defense unifies armed forces– Central Intelligence Agency coordinates
intelligence-gathering– National Security Council advises president
• Defense budget devoted to air power• 1949--first Russian atomic bomb
explodes, U.S. begins hydrogen bomb development
The Cold War in Asia
• 1945--U.S. consolidates hold on Japan, former Japanese possessions in Pacific
• 1949--victory of Mao Tse-tung brings China into Soviet orbit
• Truman refuses recognition of Communist China, begins building up Japan
The Korean War
• June25, 1950--Communist North Korean forces invade U.S.-influenced South Korea
• Truman makes South Korea’s defense a U.N. effort, sends in U.S. troops– U.S. routs Korean forces in South– Attempt to unify Korea draws in China– U.S. pushed back to South, war a
stalemate• Result--massive American rearmament
The Korean War, 1950-1953
The Cold War at Home
• New Deal economic policies undermined
• Fears of Communist subversion• Republicans use anticommunism to
revive their party
Truman's Troubles
• Obstacles to Truman’s Fair Deal reforms– apathetic public– inflation– labor unrest
• 1946--Republicans win Congress
Truman Vindicated
• 1948--Thomas Dewey versus Truman– Truman thought unelectable– Southern Democrats, Northern liberals
desert– Roosevelt coalition reelects Truman on
domestic issues
• Republicans respond by challenging Truman’s handling of the Cold War
The Loyalty Issue
• Fear of Communist subversion• Truman administration conducts
campaign against “subversives”• Democrats blamed for
– "losing" China to Communism – Russia's development of a hydrogen
bomb
McCarthyism in Action
• 1950--Senator Joseph McCarthy launches anticommunist campaign
• Innocent overwhelmed by accusations • Attacks on privileged bureaucrats
– supported by Midwest Republicans – attract Irish, Italian, Polish workers to
Republicans
The Republicans in Power
• 1952--Eisenhower captures White House for Republican Party
• July 27, 1953--stalemate accepted in Korea
• Eisenhower deals passively with McCarthy
• 1954--attack on Army discredits McCarthy who is then censured
Eisenhower Wages the Cold War
• Eisenhower relaxes tensions with Russia
• Eisenhower’s fears– debt imposed by defense spending – possibility of atomic warfare
Entanglement in Indochina
• Eisenhower refuses military aid for French retention of colonial Indochina
• Victory of Communist Ho Chi Minh prompts intervention to prevent election
• Vietnam divided• South Vietnam under U.S. puppet
regime
Containing China
• Tough line against China• Drive wedge between China, Russia• Strategy ultimately works• Effects not immediately apparent
Turmoil in the Middle East
• 1956--Nasser nationalizes Suez Canal• France, England invade Egypt• Eisenhower wins Middle East trust by
pressuring English, French withdrawal• 1958--Lebanon invites U.S. troops to
maintain order
Covert Actions
• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used to achieve covert objectives
• Iran--CIA restores the shah to power• Guatemala--CIA ousts leftist
government• Eastern Europe--refused to help East
Germans or Hungarians
Waging Peace
• October, 1957--Russians launch Sputnik
• October--U.S., U.S.S.R. agree to suspend nuclear testing in the atmosphere
• November--Berlin blockade threatened• May, 1960--U-2 incident
The Continuing Cold War
• January, 1961--Eisenhower warns against growing military-industrial complex
• Post-war era marked by Cold War rather than peace and tranquility