Transcript Post World War II America: A New Role, Irrational Fears

Early Cold War America: A
New Role, Irrational Fears,
and the Dream
1945 - 1956
President Harry S. Truman, 1945 1952
 Decisive – “The buck
stops here.”
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A-Bomb
Berlin Crisis
Civil Rights
Firing of MacArthur
 Growth of presidential
power (FDR – Nixon)
Post World War II European Politics
 Atlantic Charter (1941) and Yalta Conference (1945)
 US hoped for a “Wilsonian” peace
 End of US isolationism
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US = world leader
United Nations involvement vs. League of Nations in
1919
 Division of Europe
 Germany and Berlin  divided into 4 sectors
 East Europe = Communist (Soviet satellite states)
 West Europe = Democracies
The Division of Germany and Berlin
“An iron curtain has descended across
the Continent…” Churchill
Truman’s Foreign Policy
 Europe = #1 priority
 Containment (1947 – George F. Kennan)
 Limit the spread and influence of Communism
 No more “total victory” or “unconditional surrender”
 Truman Doctrine – March 1947
 $400 million in aid to Turkey and Greece
 US military and economic aid to nations that were
threatened by Communism
 Marshall Plan – June 1947
 Massive international aid to rebuild Europe
 Total of $13 billion
Marshall Plan
Truman’s First Major Cold War Test
 Crisis in Berlin (March
1948)
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Soviet reaction to
unification of W. Germany
 blockade W. Berlin
“We are very close to war.”
Truman’s diary
Truman’s options…
The choice…Berlin Airlift
(June 1948 – May 1949)
Berlin Airlift
4500 tons of supplies/day for 2.2 million
Berliners
1 flight every 3 minutes
“Operation Little Vittles”
Peacetime Alliances
NATO (1949)
W. Europe, US,
Canada
An attack on one = an
attack on all
Warsaw Pact (1955)
E. Europe
Post WWII Asia
 Firmly in US “sphere of influence”
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Japan
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US occupied with US written Constitution 
democracy and capitalistic
All imperial holdings lost
Philippines
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Independent in 1946
Post World War II Asia
 1949: A year of uncertainty
 Containment tested: China
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Civil war resumed after WWII
Chiang Kai-Shek – US backed Nationalists
Mao Zedong – Communists
Communists won in 1949 and Nationalists fled
to Taiwan  Truman’s commitment to
containment questioned
Formal alliance with USSR in 1950; no US
recognition for 30 years
Chinese Civil War
Mao Zedong, 1949 - 1976
Post WWII Asia – Korean War,
1950 - 1953
 The Cold War turns hot…
 Causes
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Pre WWII Japanese occupation  post WWII
divided Korea between US and USSR
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38th Parallel
North Korea – Communist – Kim Il Sung
South Korea – Democratic – Syngman Rhee
Ongoing civil war; both leaders want to unite
Korea, but under different ideals
June 1950: Stalin backs N. Korean plan to
invade S. Korea
The Korean War
The Korean War
 Legacy
 The “Forgotten War” – why?
 Active US involvement in Asia (Vietnam)
 Permanently divided Korea
 Tense US/China relations
 Fading domestic support for US military action
 Rise of UN
 Growth of presidential power
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No formal declaration of war; “police action”
Firing of MacArthur
Domestic Politics: 1948 Election
1. Civil Rights
divided the
Democratic
Party 
Dixiecrats
3. Continuation
of New Deal 
Fair Deal
2. A stunning upset: Truman over Dewey
Cold War Fears at Home
 In fighting Communism, did we undermine
democracy?
Blacklisting and the Hollywood Ten
The HUAC
Cold War Fears at Home
 Fear of Communism nothing new
 Anti-Labor Union sentiment (Haymarket Affair 1886),
Red Scare of 1920s, Liberals/Dems. = Communists
 Federal Employee Loyalty Program (1947 - 1951)
under Truman
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Background checks
Violated 6th Amendment rights
 HUAC – congressional
committee formed to
investigate suspected
Communists
Cold War Fears at Home
 HUAC Target: Hollywood
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Movies = power of public opinion/propaganda
“Naming names”  blacklisting of over 300
Hollywood Ten (1947)
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Violations of 1st and 5th Amendment rights  no
testimony
Jailed and fined for contempt of Congress
McCarthyism
Senator Joseph McCarthy – Republican from Wisconsin
Cold War Fears (Seemingly) Confirmed
Alger Hiss Case: 1948 – 50
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg:
1950 - 1953
The Election of 1952
Truman CHOSE not to run for a 3rd term
Republican Dwight D.
Eisenhower
Democrat Adlai Stevenson
(Senator from IL)
The Election of 1952
 Southern voting patterns  1st Republican wins since
Reconstruction
 Use of TV commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zB2rqaLXP4
Eisenhower’s Presidency, 1953 - 1961
 First Republican president since 1932  cut
budget deficits and spending, BUT
maintained basic New Deal programs
 Korean War armistice
 Represented traditional American values –
democracy, freedom, prosperity, family
 Stalin died in 1953; replaced by Nikita
Khrushchev
Eisenhower’s Foreign Policy
 Containment  Brinkmanship
 Containment = unnecessarily defensive and
complacent  US needs to be more assertive
 Brinkmanship (Sec. of State John Foster
Dulles)
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Take the nation to the brink of war if needed to
stop Communism
Gamble: Would the aggressor back down before
war broke out?
Nuclear weapons = the deterring threat 
heightened arms race and “mutually assured
destruction” policy  no incentive to go to war
Eisenhower’s Foreign Policy
 CIA (1947) and Covert Operations
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Battle for influence in 3rd World Nations
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Instability  appeal of Communism
Covert operations used to support anti-Comm.
governments even if they were ruthless and
undemocratic; “lesser of two evils” philosophy
Ex: Iran and the Middle East
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Eisenhower Doctrine: US will provide aid to
Middle Eastern nations to defeat Communist
rebellions
The Middle East
Iran and the Cold War – Key Points
 Motivation: OIL
 Azerbaijan Crisis: 1946-47
 Iranian Coup (1953)
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Pro-British, Pro-Western Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi
Popularly elected PM Mohammed Mossadegh nationalized Iran’s oil
industry  threatened British economy and empire
US concerned that Mossadegh would sell oil to USSR; Mossadegh
supported by Iranian Comm. Party
Joint US and British operation to overthrow Mossadegh and reinstate
the shah (US $ and arms) in August 1953
 Legacies
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Anti-US sentiment in Iran
1979 Iranian Revolution (overthrow Shah by Islamic fundamentalists)
and Iranian Hostage Crisis
US “lost” Iran as a cold war ally in the region
Iran-Iraq war (1980 – 1988)
The Space Race and U-2 Incident
 October 1957: USSR launch Sputnik 
Americans fear they are “losing” to Soviets
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Response: NASA and National Defense
Education Act (emphasize science and math)
 U-2 Incident (1960): American spy plane shot
down and pilot taken captive by Soviets