Transcript The Cold War - Wantagh Union Free School District

What was the Cold War?
•1946-1991 (45 years)
.
•Was brought about by
competition between the U.S.
& the Soviet Union for power
and influence in the world.
•* Consisted of political and
economic conflict and military
tensions throughout the globe.
The Cold War: Roots of the Conflict
Soviet
Expansion:
· The Soviet
Union
occupied
most of
Eastern
Europe by
the end of
World War
II.
WWII:
1939-1945
Communism
• (from Latin: communis = "common") is a
socioeconomic structure and political
ideology that promotes the establishment
of an classless, stateless society based on
common ownership and control of the
means of production and property in
general.
• Think Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol-Pot
Yalta Conference 1945
Yalta Conference
• FDR, Churchill &
Stalin outlined the
division of postwar
Germany into
spheres of influence
and planned for the
trials of war
criminals.
United Nations
• Plans were made at the Yalta Conference
for a United Nations Conference to be held
in San Francisco in April 1945.
• The Soviet Union, under the leadership of
Joseph Stalin, agreed to participate in
planning the new organizations which
would be known as the United Nations or
UN.
The United Nations
The United Nations: Purpose
• *It was established to help nations find
peaceful solutions to conflicts.
• Replaced the League of Nations as an
international peacekeeping organization.
• It has its own military unlike the League of
Nations, hence it can enforce its ideology
and goals.
The United Nations:
Headquarters: NYC
The United Nations: Organization
• General Assembly
– *discusses world problems
– Votes on actions
– Controls UN budget
United Nations: Organization
• Security Council:
– Investigates situations that threaten peace
– Sets UN policies
– Works for peaceful settlement of disputes
United Nations: Organization
• Secretariat:
– Coordinates work of all UN agencies
– Is headed by Secretary General
• International Court of Justice:
• helps settle legal disputes between nations
• Gives legal opinions to General Assembly
UN: Organization
• *Trusteeship Council:
– Administers territories that are not self-governing
– Helps such territories work toward independence
*Economic & Social Council:
-promotes human rights; cooperates with member
nations to improve standard of living; works for
improved economic and social conditions
UN: Declaration of Human Rights
• In 1946, President Truman appointed
former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt as a
UN delegate, the only woman in the
American delegation.
• Mrs. Roosevelt’s committee authored the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a
proclamation for human rights for all
people.
Cold War Foreign Policy for U.S.
: Containment
• American foreign policy after WWII
• The determination to prevent the spread of
communism in the world.
• Basically to confine communism to the
area in which it already existed, the Soviet
Union and the Eastern European nations.
• In 1946,
Winston
Churchill
correctly
warned that
the Soviets
were creating
an “iron
curtain” in
Eastern
Europe.
Winston Churchill giving the “Iron
Curtain” address at Westminster College on
March 5, 1946
Winston Churchill - “The Sinews of Peace”
March 5, 1946 - Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an
iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that
line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and
Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest,
Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the
populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet
sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to
Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases,
increasing measure of control from Moscow….Whatever
conclusions may be drawn from these facts - and facts they are
- this is certainly not the Liberated Europe we fought to build
up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials of permanent
peace….
Peep under the
Iron curtain
March 6, 1946
Jewish children in
the Warsaw Ghetto
in 1942
· By 1948, every Eastern European country was under
communist control.
American Response:
· Truman Doctrine – statement of President Truman that
promised military and economic support to nations threatened
by communism. Specifically:
• In 1947, the U.S. gave $400 million to Greece and Turkey
in order to help them put down communist revolts.
Aid for Europe:
· Secretary of State George Marshall toured Western Europe
and witnessed widespread homelessness and famine.
Children
in a
London
suburb,
waiting
outside the
wreckage
of what
was their
home.
September
1940.
* The U.S. gave over $12 billion in aid to European
countries between 1948 and 1952, helping to improve their
economies and lessen the chance of communist revolutions.
Satellite Nations
• A satellite nation is a nation that appears to
be sovereign, but is actually under the control
of another nation.
• Examples would be nations such as
Hungary and Poland under the USSR. On
the surface, they seemed to be
independent nations, but they were
actually under the control of Russia as part
of the USSR. (part of the “iron curtain”)
Focus on Berlin
• After World War II,
Germany was divided
into four zones,
occupied by French,
British, American, and
Soviet troops.
Occupation zones after
1945. Berlin is the
multinational area
within the Soviet zone.
Soviet blockade:
East Berlin
West
Germany
East
Germany
West Berlin
· In June of 1948, the
French, British and
American zones were
joined into the nation of
West Germany after the
Soviets refused to end
their occupation of
Germany.
· In response, the
Soviets cut off West
Berlin from the rest of
the world with a
blockade.
(Berlin Blockade)
Eventual site of the Berlin Wall
A huge airlift:
· President Truman
decided to avoid the
blockade by flying in
food and other supplies to
the needy people of West
Berlin.
· At times, over 5,000
tons of supplies arrived
daily.
Berlin Airlift Supplies
Germany remains divided:
· In May of 1949, Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union ended the
blockade.
· The Soviet
zone of
Germany,
including
East Berlin,
became
known as the
nation of East
Germany.
The Berlin Airlift
• The U.S., GB, and France would not back down.
• A year later, on May 12, 1949, the Soviets recognized
their defeat in the area and ended the blockade.
• West Germany was given full sovereignty (freedom) East
Germany remained under Russian control.
• Construction of the Berlin Wall began in August of 1961.
Point Four Program
•
• A foreign aid program
begun by President
Truman for extending
U.S. economic and
technical assistance to
less developed nations.
• FYI: Truman(1945-1953)
Presidency-Dem
North Atlantic Treaty
Organization
• NATO
• A military alliance of
the nations of
Western Europe, the
U.S. & Canada
Warsaw Pact
• A military alliance between the Soviet Union and nations
of Eastern Europe.
European Union: EU
• The economic
organization of
European nations
designed to
increase the
economic power of
Europe in the world
economy
The Euro: A form of common
currency
• Approximately:
• US Dollar(s) = 0.7227
Euro(s)
• 1 EUR = 1.3837 USD
• The euro was launched
on 1 January 1999 as an
electronic currency and
became legal tender on
1 January 2002,
The Cold War: 1945-1990
• CONTAINMENT IN ASIA
– Quick review: During WWII which Asian
country was our enemy? China was an ally.
• JAPAN (Remember Pearl Harbor & Japanese
internment camps? Korematsu vs. U.S)
After WW II: Japan becomes an ally
and China becomes the enemy!
(Mao Zedong-Communist Leader in China)
Containment in Asia
• U.S. was alarmed by China’s communist led
country
• U.S. had overseen the initial rebuilding of
postwar Japan and had helped put a new
constitutional democracy in place.
• Support for Japan was now seen as a way of
offsetting communist China’s influence in
Asia.
Containment in Asia: The Korean
War
The Korean War: 1950-1953
• During WWII Korea had been occupied by
Japan.
• At the end of the War Korea was divided
along the 38th parallel or line of latitude.
• The northern zone=Soviet Union influence
• The southern zone=U.S. influence
The Fighting Begins: The Korean
War
• North Korea invaded South Korea in
1950 in an attempt to unify the country.
• President Truman responded to this
invasion by committing American troops to
major involvement in the Korean conflict.
• Ever see M.A.S.H. the movie or tv series?
(Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) 1970’s
MacArthur in Command!
• MacArthur was in charge
of the United Nations'
fight to repel and defeat
the aggressor.
• Disagreements over the
objectives & military
strategies with Truman
.
• President recalled him
and dismissed him from
command.
The Korean War & Containment
• The policy of containment took a different course with
American involvement in the Korean conflict.
• Early containment efforts focused primarily on economic
aid programs. (Truman Doc, Marshall plan)
• With the Korean War the U.S. now showed it’s
willingness to undertake military action to contain
communism
• Experiences in Korea were a warming of future global
confrontations between democratic and communist
opponents.
The Cold War At Home
• Second Red Scare: Fear of communism
spreading in the U.S.
– When was the first Red Scare?
– Palmer Raids:
• This fear led some Americans to take
actions that violated the civil rights of
others.
• Quick review:
»
WWI : _______________v U.S.
WWII: __________________v. U.S.
Cold War At Home: HUAC
• 1938: The House Un-American Activities
Committee was created to investigate
communist activity in the U.S.
• It operated for more than 30 years.
• Its well-publicized probe of the movie industry
(Hollywood) in the 40’s and 50’s led to the
blacklisting or cutting off from employment of
many actors, writers and directors.
Civil Rights are limited in times of
war or threat!
• The Smith Act: 1940
– Overthrowing the U.S. gov’t or associating with
groups that called for such an action is illegal.
– Dennis v. U.S.: the Supreme Court upheld the Smith
Act
– Watkins v. U. S: HUAC can’t punish witnesses who
refused to cooperate with its investigations.
– Yates v. U.S. : Smith Act only applies to those that
teach or advocate the direct action to overthrow the
government.
The Loyalty Review Board:
• In 1947 Truman fueled anticommunist feelings by
ordering a board to conduct security checks on
thousands of government employees.
• Those whose loyalty was considered doubtful were
dismissed.
• Ex. Robert Oppenheimer: led research on Atomic
bombvoiced opposition to building the second more
destructive hydrogen bombgovn’t hearing about his
loyalty. clearance removedbarred from govn’t
research
The HISS Case:
• The Alger Hiss case led many Americans to believe that
there was a reason to fear that there were communists in
the gov’t.
• In 1948, Hiss, a former adviser to President
Roosevelt, was charged with having been a
Communist spy during the 1930s.
• He denied this, but a young Republican committee
member, Richard Nixon, pursed the investigation and
convicted Hiss on perjury charges.
The Rosenberg Case: 1950
• Ethel and Julius
Rosenberg were charged
with giving atomic secrets
to the Soviets during
WWII.
• Convicted of espionage.
• Sentenced to death.
• Executed in 1953
McCarthyism
• Senator Joseph
McCarthy began his
own hunt for
communists
• In 1950, McCarthy
charged he had a list of
State Department
employees known as
communists
• McCarthy made bold
accusations without
any evidence.
• This tactic is now coined
as “McCarthyism”
McCarthy’s Fall
• He televised investigations into the unfounded
charges who he thought were communist in the
government.
• Public support quickly faded and the Senate
eventually denounced him.
• The fall of McCarthy ended the red scare of the
1950’s (don’t forget about the Red Scare of the
1920’s due to the Bolshevik Revolution)