Descriptions of Early Cold War EventsLate 1940’s to Early 1970’s

Marshall Plan

The Division of Germany and Berlin Airlift

Formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact

The Rise of Communist China

The Second Red Scare and McCarthyism

The Korean War

The Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis

The Vietnam War

The Marshall Plan

By 1948, Europeans were still suffering from the enormous devastation of World War II. President Truman of the US feared that economic hardship in Europe (and Japan) might make Europeans more vulnerable and open to Communism. He wanted to help Europeans avoid the turmoil that had resulted from economic problems that resulted from WWI and build­up Germany as a US ally to help protect against Russia. Truman’s Secretary of State, General George Marshall, proposed that economic aid be given to the countries of war­torn Europe to help them rebuild their economies. In March 1948, Congress appropriated $12 billion ($120 billion in today’s money) for Marshall’s proposal, which became known as the Marshall Plan. Supporters of the plan believed that economic aid would create strong European allies and trading partners for the US. They also believed that by fighting poverty

in Europe (and Japan), they would make Europeans more resistant to the attractions of Communism. The Marshall Plan was extremely successful. It speeded the economic recovery of Western Europe (Eastern Europe and Russia “politely declined” Marshall Plan aid after Stalin heavily “advised” them not to take it, then denounced the plan) and built up good will towards the US. Sixteen countries accepted the aid under conditions that the US would be one of their major trading partners and that they would hold democratic elections.

The Division of Germany and The Berlin Airlift

In May 1948, the French, British, and Americans decided to merge their zones of occupation in Germany into a single state, the Federal Republic of Germany, also known as “West Germany”. Berlin, the old capital of Germany, was located deep in the Russian occupation zone. Because of Berlin’s importance, the city had been divided into four sectors, each one occupied by one of the four allied powers from WWII – the Soviet Union, the United States, Great Britain, and France. The Soviets reacted to the merging of the western zones of Germany by announcing a blockade of West Berlin (the sectors of the city occupied by the three Western allies). The Soviets closed all highway and railroad links to the city from West Germany to western Berlin. In response to the Soviet blockade, the Western allies began a massive airlift to feed and supply the city that only had two months

of food left. There was a total of 277,804 flights done, which came out to about 760 flights a day; one aircraft landed a minute in Berlin on average for a year straight. The Berlin Airlift successfully defied Stalin as he was unwilling to shoot­down any allied aircraft. Within a year, the Berlin blockade was lifted. The Soviets then turned their occupation zone in Germany into an independent nation: the German Democratic Republic, also known as “East Germany”.

Formation of NATO and the Warsaw Pact

In response to the tensions of the Cold War, especially the Soviet testing of their first atomic bomb in the late 1940’s, the United States, Canada, and ten Western European countries formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949. Each member of NATO pledged to defend every other member if attacked. Through NATO, the United States extended its umbrella of nuclear deterrence/defense to the countries of Western Europe. When West Germany joined NATO in 1955, the Soviet Union

responded by creating the Warsaw Pact with seven its Eastern European “satellite” countries out of fear of a unified Europe and potentially the resurgence of a stronger Germany. The Warsaw Pact was actually used by the Soviet Union to justify its interference in the affairs of Eastern Europe. The US never directly interfered in this region where Soviet power was so firmly established. The US admitted refugees from Eastern Europe as immigrants and loudly condemned Soviet acts of force, but it did not intervene when the Soviet Union sent troops to suppress an anti­Communist revolution in Hungary in 1956 or an independent government in Czechoslovakia in 1968. Even after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, NATO has still maintained itself in Europe and heavily supported by the United States.

The Rise of Communist China

Just when American statesmen believed they had succeeded in checking the spread of Communism in Europe, it looked as if the Communists were going to take over China in 1949, the world’s most populous nation. Since 1927, the Communist Chinese had been attempting to overthrow the Nationalist Chinese government. In 1937, when Japan invaded China, the Nationalists and Communists agreed to a temporary truce while they fought the Japanese. After the defeat of Japan, fighting immediately resumed between the nationalists and Communists. The Communists, led by Mao Zedong, received supplies and support from the Soviet Union. The US sent economic aid to the Nationalist

government, led by General Chiang Kai­Shek, but the Chinese Nationalists were already greatly weakened by the war against Japan. Mao had adapted Communist ideas to appeal to China’s peasants, who made up the vast majority of the population, and had generally won their support. In 1949, the Communists succeeded in defeating the Nationalists, and Chiang retreated to the island of Taiwan. He hoped one day to return to mainland China to defeat the Communists. Meanwhile, Mao turned mainland China into the world’s most populous Communist state. President Truman refused to extend diplomatic recognition to Mao’s Communist government. The US continued to treat Chiang’s government on Taiwan as the official government of China. Because of its influence on the U.N. General Assembly, the US was also able to keep Chiang’s representatives in the U.N. and to keep out Mao’s “Red China”. In the end, it was seen that the US lost China because of their unwillingness to get involved militarily.

The Second Red Scare and McCarthyismAs Communism spread in the post­WWII years, a majority of Americans became suspicious of those holding Communist beliefs at home. Fearing a possible communist threat at home, President Truman and Congress created Loyalty Review Boards to conduct investigations of govt. employees suspected of “un­American” activities. In addition to that, Congress also conducted its own investigations in the House Committee on Un­American Activities where actors, directors, writers, govt. employees, union leaders, and many others were interrogated about their political beliefs. The most famous group questioned became known as the “Hollywood Ten”. This group of actors, writers, and directors famously “Pleaded the 5th [Amendment]” in court. The “Hollywood Ten”, and thousands of others, were “blacklisted” (fired) from their jobs on unfounded charges and were unable to find work for over the next ten years. Many politicians did not want

to look “weak on Communism” and became Communist “witch” hunters; the book The Crucible is based on this time period in US History. The two most notable Communist hunters were future President Richard Nixon and Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy, whom would go on to fuel the flames of anti­Communist hysteria within the US. Sen. McCarthy gained national attention by announcing that he had an actual list of spies that had infiltrated the U.S. State Department. For the next several years McCarthy, backed by Republicans because they did not want to look weak on Communism since China had been lost a few years earlier, continued to hold hearings where he continually bullied witnesses, disregarded their rights, exaggerated or falsified evidence, and destroyed peoples’ careers. McCarthy would eventually meet his match when he accused the US Army of sheltering Communists. People saw first­hand on national television McCarthy’s bullying tactics and quickly began to turn against his “crusade”. The Army went on the attack by pushing McCarthy for his actual “evidence”, but he was never able to produce any and this led to his very quick downfall. McCarthy would die in the next few years from alcohol poisoning and the climate of fear and repression linked to the Red Scare finally began to ease by the late 1950s.

The Korean War

The Korean War (1950­1953), a.k.a. “The Forgotten War”, was among the largest conflicts in recent American history where over 5.7 million American men helped S. Korea defend itself from a Communist invasion from the Chinese and Soviet backed N. Korea. After the Japanese withdrew from Korea after WWII the Soviet Union occupied the peninsula north of the 38th parallel while the Americans occupied the south. When the USA and the USSR withdrew in 1949, they left behind two countries, communist N. Korea and pro­Western South Korea. Both North and South claimed to want

reunification, but only on their own terms. On June 25, 1950, weary of negotiations, the N. Koreans crossed the 38th parallel, invading S. Korea. Within weeks president Truman ordered American troops to S. Korea to help repel the invasion because he did not want a repeat of what happened in China during their Civil War. By late 1950, the US had successfully repulsed the N. Korean invasion and crossed the 38th parallel into N. Korea. Mao Zedong in communist China became very worried and thought China would be next, sent 500,000 soldiers to repel the American advance. This was a serious blow to any gains made by the US and its allies as it pushed the Americans all of the way back to the 38th parallel. The war would drag on for two more years, but would eventually end where the war started (at the 38th parallel) at a cost of 33,686 American lives and $320 billion. The cease­fire that was signed in

1953 between the two sides is still in effect today as a peace treaty was never signed. Technically, both sides are still at war, while thousands of American troops have remained in S. Korea over the past 50 years.

Bay of Pigs Invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis

In 1959, Fidel Castro and his guerilla fighters overthrew US­backed dictator Fulgencio Batista of Cuba. Castro promised the US he would establish a democracy, but he set up a Communist dictatorship instead. President Eisenhower became infuriated by this immediately cut off trade and diplomatic relations with Cuba. Eisenhower also gave approval for a secret plot to train and support Cuban exiles, who hoped to topple Castro, in the Florida Keys, Everglades, and Guatemala. When Eisenhower left office, Democrat John F. Kennedy was elected president and decided to go through with this plan. In April 1961, the invasion of 1,400 CIA trained Cuban exiles was launched at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba. The invasion was an immediate failure as JFK withdrew all US support (especially air

support) for the invasion out of fears of escalating tensions with Russia. The Bay of Pigs invasion led Castro to strengthen ties to the USSR and by October 1962, US spy planes had found that the Cubans were secretly building bases for Soviet nuclear missiles… 90 miles off the coast of Florida. The nuclear missiles could reach Washington, D.C. in only 13 minutes. Kennedy authorized a naval blockade of Cuba (nothing in or out) and the largest US troop mobilization since WWII in case the US needed to bomb and invade Cuba. For the next 13 days Russia and the US were on the brink of nuclear war (the closest the world would ever be to nuclear war) as both sides tried to negotiate a truce. On October 28th the two sides came to an agreement that would end the Cuban Missile Crisis. The US agreed to privately withdraw its nuclear missiles from Turkey, which is a country that bordered the Soviet Union, and agreed to not invade Cuba. In return, the Soviet Union promised to permanently take their nuclear missiles out of Cuba. In the aftermath of the event, the two sides signed a partial “test ban” on nuclear bomb testing except on underground testing. Plus, the US and the USSR set­up a “hotline” which was a special telephone connection between D.C. and Moscow to be used in the event of a crisis.

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War (1956­1975) cost the lives of 58,000 soldiers, cost about $2 trillion, and is arguably regarded as the first war “lost” by the USA. The roots of the war date back to Vietnam’s colonial occupation by France and after WWII the Vietnamese began fighting the French for their independence. The French left Vietnam in 1954 and immediately the country split in two with communist leader Ho Chi Minh taking power in the North, while the weak government based in the city of Saigon controlled the South; many wanted a united Vietnam and regarded Ho Chi Minh as a hero. The US found itself obligated to help the South Vietnam because of the Truman Doctrine and Eisenhower’s “Domino Theory”, where it was believed that if the US let one country in SE Asia fall to communism, the

others around it would quickly fall to communism too. The US would send over 9 million men to defend South Vietnam and would come to drop more bombs on Vietnam than on all of the Axis powers combined during WWII. In the end, the war failed. Where the US saw the war as a clash between communism and capitalism, the Vietnamese saw the war as another struggle for national liberation and independence. The fighting during the war was extremely brutal and was not anything the Americans were prepared for (the US thought it was going to be very quick) as the war was fought unconventionally by the North Vietnamese and their Viet Cong guerilla forces in South Vietnam. Jungle fighting, horrific booby­traps, hit­and­run style fighting, thousands of miles of tunnels, and a will to never give­up to the Americans was the North Vietnamese strategy and took a major toll on Americans at home. Amid gigantic protests at home against the war and the draft because this became the first war televised nightly on American TV’s, President Richard Nixon began a

gradual troop withdrawal in 1969 and the last American combat troops left in 1973. The war ended in 1975 when the North fully took over South Vietnam. The “Domino Theory” the Americans were so worried about… never happened.