The Cold War Heats Up

 Marshall Plan  Program of American economic assistance to Western Europe  Begun in 1947  Developed by Sec of State George Marshall  Wanted to develop strong democracies rather than struggling nations that might turn to Communism  Invested $13 billion in Western Europe

 Berlin Blockade  Allies announce plans to unite Western zones in Germany  Created West Germany  Soviets respond by creating East Germany  People in east escaped through West Berlin  So Stalin closed West Berlin  Willing to let them starve if U.S. did not abandon West Berlin

 Berlin Airlift  Moving supplies into West Berlin by American and British planes during the Soviet blockade in  13,000 tons of supplied delivered daily  Soviets gave up, but Berlin remained a source of conflict

 How did Berlin’s location make it difficult to supply?  It’s about 100 miles deep in Soviet controlled East Germany  Difficult for Western Allies to get to

 What was the importance of the airlift?  Allowed West Berlin to remain free from Communist domination  Allowed President Truman to avoid military force  Show European allies that the U.S. would honor its commitments in Europe

 North Atlantic Treaty Organization  NATO  1949 alliance of nations that agreed to band together in the event of a war and to support and protect each nation involved  Led by a U.S. general  Large commitment of American troops  An attack on one was seen as an attack on all

 Collective Security  The principle of mutual military assistance among nations

 Warsaw Pact  Military alliance between the Soviet Union and the nations of Eastern Europe  Soviet response to NATO  Formed in 1955  Stalin dead by then

 Soviet Atomic Threat  Soviets successfully detonate an atomic bomb in 1949  In response, Truman wants to move ahead to develop a new weapon  Hydrogen bomb-more powerful than atomic bomb  Have one by 1952  So do the Soviets

 China Falls to Communists  1949  Communists lead by Mao Zedong take over in China  Assumed to be a failure of Containment and the Truman Doctrine  Anticommunist forces under Chiang Kai-shek have to flee to Taiwan  Claimed to be the legitimate government of China  Represented China in UN

 House Un-American Activities Committee  Established in 1938  Investigated disloyalty in the U.S.

 Hollywood 10  Group of people in the film industry who were jailed for refusing to answer Congressional questions regarding Communist influence in Hollywood

 Blacklist  List that circulated among employers  Began in 1947  Contained the names of persons who should not be hired  Usually because of a connection to Communism  Real or imagined

 McCarran-Walter Act  Passed by Congress in 1952  Reaffirmed the quota system  Discriminated against potential immigrants from Asia, Southern, and Central Europe  Vetoed by President  Overridden and passed by Congress

 What did the HUAC hearings and the McCarran-Walter Act show about American attitudes?  They demonstrated the paranoia and distrust on the part of Americans toward Communism

 Spies in the U.S.  Alger Hiss  Former state department employee  FDR advisor at Yalta  Truman administration defended Hiss for 2 years  Eventually proven to be a spy by a young lawyer named Richard Nixon

 Spies in the U.S.  Julius and Ethel Rosenberg  Members of the Communist Party  Accused of helping the Soviets obtain the atomic bomb  Executed  Both Hiss and the Rosenbergs were proven to be guilty years later