What is the Cold War?

When was it?

the global, political and economic contest/confrontation b/w the US and USSR during the last half of the 20th century.  There wasn't much fighting; it was more of disagreement of beliefs. 

communism v. capitalism=USSR v. US 

(capitalism v. socialsim; democracy v. totalitarianism; freedomv. equality; individual society v. collective society)

*it was 1946-1989

figuratively separate free and communist Europe.

*after Stalin made a speech that communism would triumph over capitalism Churchill retaliated with a speech that an iron curtain was set up between Erope and the USSR so that the USSR could not take over any more countries

primarily (mainly) communism is trying to spread but also....

1.  Americans feared the spread of communism

2.  Russia feared America's atomic bomb

     -US wouldn't share their secret

3.  Campitalism and Communism weren't compatible

4.  Russia expanded communism into Eastern Europe (satellite

     countries) 

5.  The feeling of suspicion lead to mutual distrust and this did a great deal to deepen the Cold War

Big Effects on the US

*Hot wars, rearmament, presidents, red scare, goals of equality

1.  defense spending and massive rearmament (rearming, boost defense) help stimulate 25 years of economic growth

2.  US presidents acted as international policmen in the name of democratic values

3.  Communism became a fear in peoples lives (amers. vented their frustrations by blaming international setbacks on internal spies and by trying to root out suspected "reds")

4.  nudged the nation to live up to its ideas (people reevaluated the hypocrisy of fighting for freedom abroad but limiting immigration and racial segregation at home

*immediately after WWII, Americans feared a relapse into the GD (poverty and unemployment):  rising prices (inflation) à labor-management strife à shortages (food, houses, consumer goods)

*the US Gov’t created an economic policies to ward of a feared relapse

also...

-most women left their jobs and went home after the war >(opened jobs for returning men)

-people start spending money in savings and from war bonds

-employment rose overall

-labor  unrest rose >many strikes

Taft-Harly Act

aka "slave labor bill"

Set up the Veterans Administration

Definition:  eased the return of veterans into society by providing educational and employment benefits

• loans to buy a house/farm or start a business
• $ to attend college (crowded women out of the classroom) 

But by 1947-8, an economic prosperity began and lasted for a quarter century. 

it was prompted by: a massive military buildup and huge demand for consumer goods

total employment went up after WWII, there was a huge demand for workers to fill

Babyboom:  wedding a marriage rates skyrocketed.  couples decided to catch up after postponing having children during the war

root: need for quickly constructed, affordable homes after WWII

*nearly identical homes/subdivisions

problems of the suburbs: 1.  women and kids were isolated from the city.  2.  older neighborhoods were redlined meaning people couldn't get a loan to buy the house or get insurance for the house if they moved in  3.  AA's were discriminated against. they were left to live in deteriorating, overcrowded cities. AA's that tried to move into the suburbs were met with violence

*by 1951, there were more than 17,000 families in suburbs

Lead by a new generation of black leaders and whites who felt hypocritical about promoting freedom abroad when the US didn't promote it at home

President Truman responded by creating Committee of Civil Rights (a 2 decade agenda for racial justice).  *integrated the armed forces

*worked to integrate prosports -jackie robinson=first AA pro-athlete

Truman *D

Dewey *R

Wallace *Progressive

• fighting communism abroad became the #1 concern
• party members at the Democratic National Convention ended up walking out of the convention when their own candidates called for civil rights for AA's
• Truman won

• helped Truman win
• get on train, travel acrosss America and give speeches from the train
• Truman appealed to the common man.  He was very energetic.  He labeled the Repubilcans as being very arrogant and complacent

*Harry toured the nation by railroad

• gave energetic and intelligent speeches
• appealed to the common man with his "no nonsense" personality
• labeled the Reps as complacent and arrogant 

Goal: to expand the New Deal to ensure economic opporunities for the people

*wanted to keep the gains of the New Deal, but not experiment with anything new

*Truman tried to appeal to dems and reps by being tough on communism whil still promoting equality and domestic reforms at home

• Housing Act of 1949: goal of affordable, decent housing for all
• Congress approved to revitalize Social Security (make it better)

*Congress blocked all other Fair Deal proposals

this showed that people had liked the New Deal, but were hesitant about new/more initiatives in case they didn't help a lot like FDR's New Deal

WWII

Post WWII

Cold War Beginings

*WWII:  US and USSR were Allies, united against Germany

*post-WWII:  US and USSR competed for economic, political, and military influence around the globe. Both sides spent vast sums on military forces and atomic weapons

•   US:  wanted to link itself w/ Japan and Western Europe economically for economic power
• USSR: wanted to control E. Europe as a buffer zone against Germany b/c they were scared Germany would attack them again

Discussed:

 What to do with Germany? -germany get divided into 4 sections (Britain, US, France, SU)

west germany= GB, France, US

east germany= SU

Germany should be...-disarmed, -nazi party outlawed, -pay reparations to Stalin (SU), -Stalin (SU) wanted to prevent Germany from attacking them again ever

USSR wanted Poland to be their buffer zone between them and Germany.  Soviets took control of Poland and encouraged communist to take control of the Poland government

-2 governments of Poland were now competing (Polish and Soviets)

US and Britain thought Poland should be free to choose

*Truman argues for free election in eastern Europe

Stalin's broken promises

At Yalta, Stalin seemed to agree to free elections in eastern Euro then he forced Romania, Bulgaria, and Poland to become communist

• refused to  support the United Nations regulation/inspection for atomic energy (this was the US's plan)

International Monetary Fund

(IMF)

strategy to not stamp out communism, but to keep it from spreading

USSR sent a "long telegram" saying they would always probe for weakness in the capitalist world

response: Winston Churchill gave the "Iron Curtain" Speech the West Minister College of Fulton, MO.  Reffering to his idea of communism and how it won't spread b/c the USSR had dropped an iron curtain across the middle of europe

US stated it would use force to assist other nations facing external pressure or internal revolution

* US aid would be primarily through economic/financial aid, but military aid possible too if needed

we fear that an unhappy or poverty stricken nation will easily abide to, or join, communis or a communist revolution

makes the truman docterine (US would use force to assist countries faceing external pressure or internal revlution)

makes the marshall plan (committed the US to help build post-WWII Euro)

makes Japan an economic power in Asia (becomes magnet for other asian countries)

MacArthur acted as Japan's dictator

*tried to change both of our old war-prone values (clashing values) through social reform, democratization, and demilitarization

Becuase Soviet Union took eastern europe as satellite countries and established communist governments in all of them GB, France, and US had plans to merge their 3 occupation zones in West Germany into one democratic nation.  This was threatening to the USSR so,

Soviet Union's Reaction...

Soviet Troops blockade Berlin!

--US responded with the Berlin Airlift:  didn’t want to abandon Berlin but didn’t want to start a war w/ USSR

--US saw Berlin/Germany as vital to the economic recovery of all of Europe

--western nations respond with an airlift to get supplies into the city

--Stalin didn't intercept the flights.  after 11 months, Stalin called of the blockade

Rearmament:

draft- reinstated military drafts

defense spending- increase defense spending by 30% (helped economy)

*created the CIA: gather and evaluate military and economic info in other nations

*created the National Security Council (NSC):  assembled top diplomatic and military advisors in one committee

*created Department of Defense: oversaw army, navy, and airforce

*created NATO (north atlantic treaty organization): mutual defense pact among 12 democratic nations (if one nation is attacked, the others will help. was made because the US suspected that Stalin wanted to conquer the world. Then Stalin wanted his own club so he made WARSAW: military alliance of the countries of eastern europe)

      1. committed US to European safety for the first time in history

       2. created to control communism(oversee it's containment)

*created ANZUS Pact: a military alliance with democracies in the Pacific 

The Nuclear Shadow

1949-1952

1953

atomic bomb

hydrogen bomb

enviromental destruction

*1949:  USSR successfully developed the atomic bomb

*Truman immediately authorized the construction of a stronger bomb, the H-bomb

        --successfully tested it in the ocean (1952)

        --100x stronger than the Atomic-bomb

*USSR had successfully developed the Hydrogen-bomb by 1953—9 mos after the US

environmental destruction:

              --South Pacific islander forced to abandon contaminiated homes b/c of radioactivity

              --contaminated lands in western US

             --higher cancer rates of western americans

*this ends up being a long arms race between the two nations

Chines Communist Revolution

Chinese Become Communist

*China has a communist revolution.  They overthrow an already corrupt nationalist gov. led by Jian Jieshi

*In 1949, Mao Zedong's communist defeated Jiang Jieshi's nationalist.  Mao Zedong takes over

*The US had given tons of monetary aid to the nationalist, but the corrupt administration misused and wated it

*Truman blamed for not helping enough

*The fall of China to communist led people to fear the spread of communism

*a document that said the world is divided between slavery and freedom*

described the USSR as an actively aggresive nation

*called for the US and allies to use as much force as needed to contain communist expansion

After WWII Soviet and US troops occupied Korea

*Noth Korea is under the power of Kim Sung (communist)

-SU kind of in charge of NK

*South Korea is under the power of Syngman Rhee (democratic)

-US kind of in charge of SK

*They are divided at the 38th Parallel

*Korea has a very crucial geographic location* it is near China, Japan, and SV, so through/o their whole history they have been struggling for independance

*both N. and S. leaders wanted to unite Korea under their own government*

Stalin (SU) and Mao Zedong (China) were willing to exploit the civil war to spread communism, so they gave NK training and equipment (china-training, SU-equipment).

*When NK invaded SK, US saw this and went in because they wanted to contain communism

• we are worried that the attack was initiated by Stalin to try and suck us into the war
• Truman sends troops to SK

*Our Generals:

MacArthur

Ridgeway

Clark 

Truman-MacArthur contoversy: truman was willing to accept a divided Korea, but MacArthur wanted to keep fighting until even China accepted defeat

• MacArthur publicly attacked Truman's policy as weak
• Truman fired MacArthur for being insubordinate
• Mac returned home as a war hero

*Nobody wins the Korean War; however, Us was able to keep communism from spreading, so we kind of see it as a partial victory

Reflections of the Korean War

results (short and long term)

significance

*one of the greatest failures of intelligence and strategic leadership in military history*

results:

    (short-term)-NK and SK remained divided at the 38 parallel

    -a lot of civilians were killed b/c US was trying to find snipers

    (long-term)-the US showed that it's willing to prop up an undemocratic regime to resist communism (like in Vietnam a few decades later!!!)

significance:

     -helped legitimize the UN

    -legitimized the NSC 68: said world is divided between slavery and free. called US to contain communist expansion around the globe

     *expanded the cold war into asia and this tested the containment policy of the US. very unpopular war, too many lives were lost and too little victories were won.  AKA "The Forgotten War"