The Cold War

Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) that lasted from A Cold War is a war without actual fighting, only the threat of fighting Why didn’t we want to fight? Both sides had the atomic bomb The fear was that if a war started, both sides would use the atomic bomb, thus possibly destroying the world

A meeting between Roosevelt (US), Churchill (UK), and Stalin (Soviet Union) to plan the postwar world US wanted to limit spread of communism in Europe, Soviet Union wanted to spread it widely A compromise was reached over Poland, allowing it to stay communist if Free Elections were held The Soviet Union did not uphold their agreement which led to further tension with the US Also, Germany was divided and Berlin divided into 4 zones

As tension increased between the US and the Soviet Union, Americans grew increasingly apprehensive of communism and feared its growth Containment—keeping communism within its present territory through diplomatic, economic, and military action Truman Doctrine—Pres. Truman’s policy to fight Communist aggression and aid countries in fighting Communism Marshall Plan—economic plan to aid European countries in order to keep them from turning to Communism

Germany was divided into 2 countries: West Germany was controlled by the US East Germany was controlled by the USSR Berlin was divided into 4 zones Berlin was a hot spot of Cold War action

In 1949, Communists set up the People’s Republic of China The US was able to keep communist China out of NATO When the US lost China as its main ally in Asia, it adopted policies to encourage the quick recovery of Japan’s industrial economy The US saw Japan as its key in defending Asia against Communism

At the end of WWII, the Allies divided Korea at the 38 th parallel into North and South Korea The Soviets set up a communist government in North Korea On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea In our adherence to the Truman Doctrine and our policy of containment the US sent troops to aid South Korea in remaining democratic The major threat was from communist China who began a massive attack on behalf of North Korea. China’s involvement had the potential to change a limited war into a much larger scale war Allies were eventually able to push the Chinese and N. Korean troops back across the 38 th parallel

During the 1950s, rumors and accusations of Communists in the US led to fears that Communists were attempting to take over the world In early 1947, Truman established the loyalty review program to screen all federal employees for their loyalty The House Un-American Activities Committee held public hearings to find unloyal citizens Alger Hiss—lawyer and diplomat convicted of spying Julius and Ethel Rosenberg—New York couple who were members of the Communist party and were executed for heading a Soviet spy ring in the US

U.S. senator that stated in a political speech that he had a list of 205 Communists in the State Dept. Senator McCarthy became the chairman of the subcommittee to investigate Communists His investigation turned into a witch hunt as he searched for disloyalty based on poor evidence and fear He ruined reputations without proper evidence (McCarthyism) It was not until Americans watched the Army-McCarthy hearing on television and saw how McCarthy attacked witnesses, that his popularity faded

Communism and the threat of the atomic bomb dominated American life The threat of an atomic attack against the US forced Americans to prepare for a surprise attack Although Americans tried to protect themselves, experts realized that for every person killed instantly by a nuclear blast, four more would die later from fallout. Some families built fallout shelters in their backyards and stocked them with canned food

Dwight Eisenhower was elected in 1952 and felt the US needed a “New Look” at its defense policy He wanted to prevent a war from happening in the 1 st place, so he developed a policy of massive retaliation to threaten the use of nuclear weapons on any Communist state that tried to gain territory through force This resulted in a cut in military spending and an increase in America’s nuclear arsenal

On October 4, 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. Americans felt they were falling behind in missile technology and feared Sputnik could become a nuclear missile platform The next year, Congress created NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

To help stem the spread of Communism, covert operations were conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) These operations took place in developing nations In many of these countries, leaders felt European imperialism and American capitalism were the causes of their problems Two examples of covert operations that achieved US objectives took place in Iran and Guatemala in the ‘50s However, in Hungary covert operations led to an anti- Communist push. However, Soviet tanks crushed the rebellion

Eisenhower and Soviet leader Khrushchev agreed to a summit in Paris in order to improve relations The summit was ended, however, after the Soviets shot down an American spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers In his farewell address, Eisenhower warned Americans to be on guard against the influence of a military- industrial complex in a democracy It was a new relationship between the military establishment and the defense industry