COLD WAR HOTSPOTSCOLD WAR HOTSPOTSTHE UNITED STATES AND JAPAN

Communist activities in Asia increased after World War II. The influence of the U.S.S.R. in China caused the U.S. to help rebuild Japan much faster than originally planned.

The U.S. aided China against Japan during World War II. After the war, the U.S. wanted to help China rebuild into the major power of East Asia. A civil war had been raging between the Nationalist government and communist rebels

since the 1930’s. The U.S. supported the Nationalist government led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek against Mao Zedong’s communists. Even with U.S. mediation, the two sides could not settle their differences. Secretary of State Dean Acheson told President Truman the situation could not be resolved. U.S. leaders turned their attention toward Japan.

Rebuilding Japan seemed to be a better idea. Japan had been stripped of its wartime territorial gains and its military power. The new democratic constitution allowed only a defensive military. The U.S. provided protection on a large scale. A defense agreement in 1949 cut down the size of the U.S. occupation forces. However, U.S. military bases remained on Japanese soil.

This meant that Japan did not need to spend a great deal on defense. It could devote its resources to peacetime production. U.S. aid increased, and the government convinced American businesses to invest in Japanese growth. As a result, the United States created a strong capitalist economy with trade links to the American market. As economic recovery progressed, the reformed Japanese government gradually took control from U.S. occupation officials.

THE UNITED STATES AND CHINAIn the late 1940’s, Chiang’s Nationalist forces in China lost

their final battles against the communists. The communists completed their takeover in China. The struggle between Chiang’s government and Mao’s rebels had been going on all during the years of Japanese occupation.

Between 1945 and 1949, the U.S. sent over $2 billion in aid to Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist forces. The Nationalists mismanaged these funds. Money and supplies for Chiang’s armies had been traded off by his own officers. After World

War II, the U.S. tried to end the Chinese civil war through negotiation. Truman sent retired Secretary of State General George Marshall to work out problems with the two sides in the civil war, but Marshall failed to find a solution.

During the long struggle, Chiang’s Nationalists became linked with the aristocratic class. The communists helped the peasants. Chiang had lost the peoples’ support. In the end, the Nationalists defeated themselves. They retreated to the island of Taiwan. Mao proclaimed victory. He set up the new People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949.

The United States broke diplomatic relations with Mao’s China. The silence lasted for nearly twenty-five years.“HOT WAR” IN ASIA: THE KOREAN CONFLICT

On the morning of 25 June 1950, Soviet-backed North Korea attacked U.S.-backed South Korea. The Cold War turned “hot.”

After Japan’s surrender in 1945, the Allies divided Korea into two occupation zones. The country was to be reunited, but as in Germany, the tension between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. prevented it. The United Nations was asked to help in 1947. In the South, the U.S. set up a democratic constitution. The U.S. supervised elections, and the Republic of Korea came into being in 1948. The U.S. withdrew its occupation forces, but continued to send military aid.

The U.S.S.R. quickly set up the People’s Republic of Korea in the northern half of the peninsula. Skirmishes began between the two countries across the 38th parallel border. When North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950, the U.S. asked the United Nations Security

Council to take action. Soviet delegates were absent from the Security Council meeting and were not able to veto the American request. The Security Council voted to help South Korea.

Truman acted quickly. He ordered U.S. forces from Japan to join the U.N. force in Korea. Americans made up about half of the entire U.N. force.

Truman placed General Douglas MacArthur in command. The speed of North Korea’s attack nearly pushed the U.N. and South Korean troops off the peninsula.

In September, MacArthur ordered a surprise attack behind the North Koreans at Inchon. This forced the North Korean invaders back to the original border on the 38h parallel.

Then Truman took an unexpected step. He allowed MacArthur to push North Korea (provided the Soviets or Chinese didn’t enter the war). China grew nervous about U.N. and U.S. forces near its border. Chinese troops invaded North Korea in November 1950. They pushed the U.N. force back to the 38th parallel.

MacArthur wanted to counterattack the Chinese. Truman did not want to start another major war and held MacArthur back. Once again, MacArthur criticized Truman. The President fired General MacArthur. In 1951, a cease-fire was declared and negotiations to end the fighting began. It was two years before a formal armistice was signed (27 July 1953). The war ended in a draw. United Nations and U.S. troops patrol the border on the 38th parallel to this day.

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCYWith the threat of the powerful communist Soviet Union and the Cold War looming,

President Truman soon recognized the need for a centralized intelligence system, even in peacetime, the president and other national leaders wanted an agency that would be independent of any of the policymaking branches of government.

Truman listened to advice from Donovan and Admiral William D. Leahy, who helped hammer out details of the new agency. Accommodating the views of the military services, the State Department, and the FBI, Truman established the Central Intelligence Group (CIG) in January 1946.

The CIG was formed to fulfill two missions: to provide strategic warning and to conduct important clandestine activities. The CIG had access to all-source intelligence. The CIG also functioned under the direction of a National Intelligence Authority, composed of a presidential representative and the secretaries of State, War, and the Navy.

Rear Admiral Sidney W. Souers, USNR (United States Navy Reserve), who was the first Deputy Chief of Naval Intelligence, was appointed the first Director of Central Intelligence. Twenty months later, the National Intelligence Authority and the CIG were disbanded. Under the provisions of the National Security Act of 1947, the National Security Council (NSC) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were created. The Act charged the CIA with coordinating the nation’s intelligence activities and correlating, evaluating, and disseminating intelligence that affects national security. The Agency also was tasked to perform other duties and functions related to intelligence that the NSC might direct.

The Act created a Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) as head of the Intelligence Community, head of the CIA, and principal intelligence adviser to the president, with the additional responsibility of safeguarding intelligence sources and methods.

The 1947 Act also prohibited the CIA from engaging in law enforcement activity and restricted its internal security functions. The CIA carries out its responsibilities subject to various directives and controls by the president and the NSC.

THE BAY OF PIGS INVASIONJohn F. Kennedy, a young, enthusiastic, energetic senator from Massachusetts, was elected President in 1960. He was a candidate that represented the new generation of young Americans. However, when he first came to the White House in 1961 he was immediately met with one of the most important decisions of his career.

The United States had a long history of being involved in the affairs of Cuba. Millions of American dollars were invested in Cuban mines and plantations. However, that all changed in 1959 when Cuba became a Communist nation with Fidel Castro as its leader and a government backed by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev of the USSR. American officials feared a country only 90 miles from America making close ties with the Soviet Union. The CIA (Central

Intelligence Agency) had been working on a plan to solve this problem for a few years.

The plan called for an invasion of Cuba by a force of 1200 Cuban exiles, or people forced to leave Cuba when Castro came to power. These exiles had been trained by American forces for some time, and were sure that once they invaded Cuba thousands of other Cuban citizens and even people in the Cuban military would join them and help to overthrow Castro. All that was left was the approval of the new president, John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy had actually complained, during his presidential campaign, that Republicans were not doing enough to stop Castro.

Kennedy approved the plan and on April 17, 1961 about 1300 exiles, armed with U.S. weapons, landed at the Bay of Pigs on the southern coast of Cuba. It was obvious, however, from the first hours of fighting, that the exiles were likely to lose. President Kennedy had the option of using the U.S. Air Force against the Cubans but decided against it. The invasion was stopped by Castro's army. By the time the fighting ended on April 19, ninety exiles had been killed and the rest had been taken as prisoners. Castro ransomed the exiles for $60 million in food and medicine. Worst of all, Khrushchev saw the US involvement in Cuba as an attack on the USSR and warned the US not to become involved in Cuba. THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS

The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. The United States armed forces were at their highest state of readiness ever and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were prepared to use battlefield nuclear weapons to defend the island if it was invaded. Luckily, thanks to the bravery of two men, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, war was averted.

In 1962, the Soviet Union was desperately behind the United States in the arms race. Soviet missiles were only powerful enough to be launched against Europe but U.S. missiles were capable of striking the entire Soviet Union. In May 1962, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev conceived the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba. A deployment in Cuba would double the Soviet strategic arsenal and provide a real deterrent to a potential U.S. attack against the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, Fidel Castro was looking for a way to defend his island nation from an attack from the U.S. Ever since the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, Castro felt a second attack was inevitable. Consequently, he approved of Khrushchev’s plan to place missiles on the island. In the summer of 1962, the Soviet Union worked quickly and secretly to build its missile installations in Cuba.

For the United States, the crisis began on 15 October 1962 when reconnaissance photographs revealed Soviet missiles under construction in Cuba. Early the next day, President John Kennedy was informed of the missile installations. Kennedy immediately organized the EX-COMM, a group of his twelve most important advisors to handle the crisis. After seven days of guarded and intense debate within the upper echelons of government, Kennedy concluded to impose a naval quarantine around Cuba. He wished to prevent the arrival of more Soviet offensive weapons on the island. On October 22, Kennedy announced the discovery of the missile installations to the public and his decision to quarantine the island. He also proclaimed that any nuclear missile launched from Cuba would be regarded as an attack on the United States by the Soviet Union and demanded that the Soviets remove all of their offensive weapons from Cuba.

During the public phase of the Crisis, tensions began to build on both sides. Kennedy eventually ordered low-level reconnaissance missions once every two hours.

On the 25th, Kennedy pulled the quarantine line back and raised military readiness to DEFCON 2. Then on the 26th, EX-COMM heard from Khrushchev in an impassioned letter. He proposed removing Soviet missile and personnel if the U.S. would guarantee not to invade Cuba. October 27th was the worst day of the crisis. A U-2 was shot down over Cuba and EX-COMM received a second letter from Khrushchev demanding the removal of U.S. missiles in Turkey in exchange for Soviet missiles in Cuba. Attorney General Robert Kennedy suggested ignoring the second letter and contacted Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin to tell him of the U.S. agreement with the first.

Tensions finally began to ease on October 28th when Khrushchev announced that he would dismantle the installations and return the missiles to the Soviet Union, expressing his trust that the United States would not invade Cuba. Further negotiations were held to implement the October 28th agreement, including a United States demand that Soviet light bombers be removed from Cuba, and specifying the exact form and conditions of the United States assurances not to invade Cuba. The U.S. also secretly agreed to remove its nuclear arsenal from Turkey within 90 days. The leaders agreed, and the crisis ended.

“For a moment, the world had stood still,” Robert Kennedy wrote years later, “and now it was going around again.”