America’s HistorySeventh Edition

CHAPTER 25Cold War America,

1945-1963

Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

James A. HenrettaRebecca Edwards

Robert O. Self

I. Containment in a Divided WorldA. The Cold War in Europe, 1945-1946

1. Yalta• Big Three (Churchill, FDR, Stalin) met in Feb. 1945, decide to create a United

Nations with five nations (the three plus France and China) holding permanent seats on Security Council

• FDR and Churchill agreed that Poland should be in the Soviet “sphere of influence” because of Stalin’s desire for a buffer between Germany

• Three agreed to “free and unfettered” elections to be held in border nations• elections held in Finland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, but not Poland or

Romania (both occupied by the Russian Army)• to Americans, the failure of Stalin to hold elections in all of the border nations

was the “precipitating event of the Cold War.”

2. Truman Steps In3. Germany

I. Containment in a Divided WorldA. The Cold War in Europe, 1945-1946

2. Truman Steps In• Truman immediately wanted to stand up to Stalin• berated the Soviet foreign minister, Molotov• unwilling to negotiate at the July 1945 Potsdam

conference.3. Germany

• American politicians wanted to rebuild the German economy to give prosperity and stability to the region; Stalin wanted reparations

• American, British, and French troops occupied Germany; Stalin forced to accept the division of Germany into zones and minimal war reparations.

1. Examine this image of post-war Berlin. Imagine who these people are and what their lives were like in 1945.

2. Considering the scope of destruction wrought on Eastern Europe and parts of Asia from World War II, was the Cold War was inevitable? Why/why not?

I. Containment in a Divided WorldB. The Containment Strategy Emerges

1. Toward an Uneasy Peace• February 1946 “Long Telegram” by Amb. George F. Kennan in Moscow: called for

“containment of Russian expansive tendencies,” believed that the Soviet system would eventually collapse if the U.S. opposed at every opportunity

• Britain was in decline after the war, unable to aid their anti-communist ally Greece which was fighting a civil war

• “Truman Doctrine”: March 1947 speech, Americans need to support people “resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures”

• Truman proposed assistance for Greece and Turkey, Congress approved• aid program for western Europe established, “Marshall Plan” to help European

nations recover from the war, restrictions kept Soviets from participating and intensified the Cold War.

2. East and West in the New Europe3. Nuclear Diplomacy

I. Containment in a Divided WorldC. Containment in Asia

1. Civil War in China• Communist forces (Mao Zedong) challenged Nationalist forces

(Jiang Jieshi)• 1945-1949 U.S. gave Jiang’s army $2 billion in aid to “save” China• 1949 U.S. ended aid, Mao victorious; Mao formed alliance with

USSR• Truman’s State Department blamed for “losing” China.

2. The Korean War3. The Munich Analogy

I. Containment in a Divided WorldC. Containment in Asia

2. The Korean War• at end of World War II U.S. and USSR jointly occupied Korean, divided at the

38th parallel• Soviets supported Kim Il Sung in the North, U.S. supported Syngman Rhee in the

South• desire to reunify led to a northern military action; U.S. created a peacekeeping

force for the South• war began with a counterattack by the Chinese in response to Gen. MacArthur

sending troops across the 38th parallel• dispute with MacArthur led to his dismissal• war dragged on for two years; defense spending grew enormously• U.S. policy now global and militarized at huge expense.

3. The Munich Analogy

I. Containment in a Divided WorldC. Containment in Asia

3. The Munich Analogy• memory of Hitler’s appeasement influenced U.S. policy in

the 1950s• feared that appeasing Stalin would lead to further war• instead U.S. resisted Soviet influence in Germany, Greece,

Korea, Iran, Guatemala, and Vietnam.

1. Identify the man pictured at the center of the celebration?

2. News of China’s “fall” to communism met varying reactions in different parts of the world. How do you think Americans reacted? Soviets?

1. How is this picture of American servicemen in 1950 different from similar battlefield images of previous wars?

2. President Truman likened the use of American and United Nations’ forces in Korea to a “police action.” Why?

II. Cold War LiberalismA. Truman and the End of Reform

1. The 1948 Election• Truman had hoped for an expansion of the New Deal;

Democratic Party in disarray 1948• left wing formed Progressive Party, right wing formed

Dixiecrats, protest the party’s civil rights platform, support segregation; Republican Party nominated Gov. Thomas Dewey (R-NY); Truman won a surprise 49.6% of popular vote.

II. Cold War LiberalismA. Truman and the End of Reform

2. The Fair Deal• an effort for national health insurance, aid for education,

housing assistance, expansion of Social Security, increased minimum wage, new agricultural program

• Congress and the public were reluctant to support an enlarged welfare state

• critics called Truman’s health insurance ideas “socialized medicine”

• only major achievements were increased Social Security, minimum wage, the National Housing Act of 1949 (built 810,000 low-income units).

II. Cold War LiberalismB. Red Scare: The Hunt for Communists

1. Loyalty-Security Program• historians know today that there was significant penetration of the U.S.

government by the Soviet Union during the 1930s and early 1940s, believe most had stopped by 1947

• Truman believed he had to protect his administration against charges of espionage

• EO 9835 (1947) created the Loyalty-Security Program: permitted officials to investigate employees of the federal government for subversion

• loose interpretation led to accusations; states began their own programs and began to require loyalty oaths for employees

• labor unions were hit by charges of Communists within their ranks, as were the NAACP and Urban League.

2. HUAC3. McCarthyism

II. Cold War LiberalismB. Red Scare: The Hunt for Communists

2. HUAC• led by Martin Dies of Texas, help public hearings on possible

infiltration by Communists in the movie industry• Hollywood Ten were jailed for refusing to testify about past

associations• accused were “blacklisted”• Soviet archives tell us today that the Communist Party in U.S.

was taking money and instruction from USSR.

3. McCarthyism

II. Cold War LiberalismB. Red Scare: The Hunt for Communists

3. McCarthyism• Sen. Joseph McCarthy (D-WI), Feb. 1950 claimed to have

a list of known Communists working the State Department

• waged a smear campaign against those who were “soft” on communism

• 1954 began investigating the U.S. Army with live hearings broadcast on TV

• censured by Congress for unbecoming conduct.

1. Compare all four movie posters. Identify similarities and differences.

2. Why were movies with such themes popular in the 1950s?

3. In your opinion, what was more frightening to 1950s’ Americans: marrying a communist or a monster from outer space?

II. Cold War LiberalismC. The Politics of Cold War Liberalism

1. America under Eisenhower• Nikita Khrushchev followed Stalin as leader of the USSR

(1956), called for peaceful coexistence and denounced Stalin’s regime, but crushed Hungarian independence movement

• “New Look” policy increased production of h-bomb• Eisenhower reluctant to criticize McCarthy or to speak out

on civil rights.2. Democrats

• strong in Congress, weak in presidential elections• largely agreed with Republicans on pressures of the Cold

War and needs of the industrial economy.

III. Containment in the Postcolonial WorldA. The Cold War and Colonial Independence

1. Vietnam• Eisenhower more concerned about anti-communism than stability in foreign

governments• CIA created in 1947, utilized secret operations and coups to combat communism• Aug. 1945 Vietnam declared independence from French• Ho Chi Minh led a Communist independence movement; Eisenhower feared a

French failure to restore control (“domino theory”: communism spreading beyond Indochina)

• offered aid for French war against the Vietnamese; 1954 French defeated• Geneva Accords partitioned Vietnam at the 17th parallel with reunification and

elections to come in 1956; U.S. rejected Accords, used CIA to install a pro-U.S. government in South Vietnam (Ngo Dinh Diem); reunification did not occur; U.S. began sending Diem approx. $200 million/year in aid plus military advisers.

2. The Middle East

III. Containment in the Postcolonial WorldA. The Cold War and Colonial Independence

1. Vietnam• Geneva Accords partitioned Vietnam at the 17th parallel with

reunification and elections to come in 1956• U.S. rejected Accords, used CIA to install a pro-U.S. government in South

Vietnam (Ngo Dinh Diem)• reunification did not occur• U.S. began sending Diem approx. $200 million/year in aid plus military

advisers.

2. The Middle East

III. Containment in the Postcolonial WorldA. The Cold War and Colonial Independence

2. The Middle East• Palestine populated by Arabs, believed to be the Jewish homeland• when British mandate in region ended, Zionists declared the state of Israel, Arab

League invaded• Palestinians forced out of region and into refugee camps• President Truman recognized Israel as a new nation and won support from American

Jewish voters• Egyptian independence declared 1952, led by Nasser who wanted to be neutral in Cold

War• Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal

• Britain, France, Israel attacked Egypt and retook the canal• Eisenhower demanded they pull out of region; Nasser reclaimed the canal and used

USSR support to build the Aswan Dam on the Nile; Eisenhower Doctrine: U.S. would assist any nation in the Middle East that required aid against international communism.

III. Containment in the Postcolonial WorldA. The Cold War and Colonial Independence

2. The Middle East• Britain, France, Israel attacked Egypt and retook the canal• Eisenhower demanded they pull out of region• Nasser reclaimed the canal and used USSR support to

build the Aswan Dam on the Nile• Eisenhower Doctrine: U.S. would assist any nation in the

Middle East that required aid against international communism.

III. Containment in the Postcolonial WorldB. John F. Kennedy and the Cold War

1. Election of 1960 and the New Frontier• defeated Nixon in the campaign after four nationally

televised debates swayed voters to his youthful, attractive candidacy: 49.7% to 49.5%.2. Crises in Cuba and Berlin

• Kennedy followed through on a CIA-supported Eisenhower plan to lead an uprising against Castro in Cuba

• April 1961 invasion at the Bay of Pigs failed• June 1961 Khrushchev blockaded West Berlin, 40,000

American troops sent to western Europe• August 1961 Communist government of East Germany built

a wall to stop easterners from fleeing to West Berlin3. Kennedy and the World

III. Containment in the Postcolonial World

B. John F. Kennedy and the Cold War2. Crises in Cuba and Berlin

• October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis brought the U.S. closer to nuclear war with the Soviets than ever before. 3. Kennedy and the World

• new policies for the Cold War: Peace Corps, intended to provide the Third World with an anti-communist alternative

• space exploration, Kennedy hoped to have a man on the moon within 10 years

• creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

III. Containment in the Postcolonial WorldC. Making a Commitment in Vietnam

1. Supporting Diem• Kennedy tried U.S. Special Forces or “Green Berets” in Vietnam

where Diem’s opponents had formed the National Liberation Front (NLF) or Vietcong

• Diem’s strategic hamlet program alienated peasants by moving them into barbed-wire compounds

• persecuted Buddhists who then committed self-immolation to protest Diem’s regime

• received worldwide outrage.

2. Chaos in South Vietnam

III. Containment in the Postcolonial WorldC. Making a Commitment in Vietnam

2. Chaos in South Vietnam• November 1963 Kennedy’s administration became

increasingly frustrated with Diem, expressed support for a coup

• Diem overthrown by military generals and assassinated; South fell into chaos with a series of coups and no clear leadership; Kennedy assassinated three weeks later.