1. The Cold War (1946-52) From Containment to the Korean War

2. What is a cold war?
A cold war is an intense economic, political, military, and ideological rivalry between nations that stops short of military conflict.

3. How are cold wars fought?

4. Incompatible Economic Systems
USA - Capitalism
Private ownership of resources and businesses.
The majority of economic decisions are made by consumers and businesses.
USSR – Communism
Public ownership of resources.
Businesses are controlled by the government.
All economic decisions are made by the government.

5. Incompatible Political Systems
USA – Democracy (Liberty)
Individual rights are protected and celebrated.
Citizens elect their governing leaders from multiple political parties.
Systems built into governing documents to protect citizens’ rights.
Ultimate source of governing power = people.
USSR – Communism (Equality)
One party rule.
The Communist Party elects its leaders.
The government decides what’s best for the people, nominally in pursuit of equality and fairness.
The government does not allow individual rights like free speech and free press.
Ultimate source of governing power = state/government.

6. Incompatible Ideological Systems
CAPITALISM
COMMUNISM
People need freedom
When people compete against one another, they achieve greater things
Some people have more than others because they make better use of their abilities
Governments should not interfere with the rights of individuals to make their own living
The government should interfere in the economy as little as possible
People need one another
When people work together as equals, they achieve greater things
No-one should have more than anyone else - everybody's needs are equally important
Governments should make sure that everyone's needs are being met
There is central control of the economy

7. Who does communism appeal to?
historically poor
working class who feel exploited
masses that live under oppressive colonial rule
those who might be desperate, hopeless

8. Origins of the Cold War
Ideological incompatibility (Communism vs. Capitalism)
Treatment of leftists in the US
US intervention during the Russian Civil War
Failure to recognize the USSR
Soviet Non-Aggression Pact with Hitler
Strained ties during WWII – esp over opening a 2nd front
US A-Bomb intimidation
Soviet occupation of E. Europe
Reconstruction of West Germany
Soviet test A-Bomb in 1949
Stalin remembers…..

9. The situation after World War II
Large parts of Europe are destroyed.
Many European countries are facing economic collapse.
People are desperate and frustrated.
European empires are crumbling – esp. British & French.
The Soviet Red Army occupies Eastern Europe.

10. The Soviet Occupation of Eastern Europe

11. “An iron curtain has descended across Europe…”
Soviets allow elections to be held in the occupied Eastern European Nations. These so-called “free elections” bring to power communist leaders under the control of the USSR
1946 Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech

12. George Kennan’s Long Telegram
George F. Kennan:
U.S. Diplomat to the USSR (Soviet Expert)
In 1946 he sent the “Long Telegram” to Washington, in which he presented his theory on how to address communism:
Russians have a traditional insecurity about foreign threats
Soviet foreign policy is driven by Stalin, who uses a threat like capitalist encirclement to justify his brutal regime
Kennan recommended that if the USSR was contained, and communism prevented from spreading, it would collapse.
George F. Kennan

13. Truman & the Cold War *Important to remember that Truman faced intense
political pressure after
WWII from Republicans to
get tough on Communism &
reign in taxes.
The Cold War was to be fought
on the cheap.

14. Truman & US Cold War Policy
The Truman Doctrine:
Influenced by Kennan and Sec. of State George Marshall, Truman announces the Truman Doctrine, which declared the US policy to “help the free peoples of Europe to resist communist aggression” by providing them with military and economic aid.

15. Truman & US Cold War Policy
Marshall Plan: Truman-Marshall-Kennan initially sought to use US soft power to counter communism in post-war Western Europe. The best example of this was the 1948 Marshall Plan, which was a massive effort to prop-up international capitalism via a massive recovery of Western Europe. *This was also coupled with a concentrated effort to rebuild West Germany, which was created in 1949.

16. Truman & US Cold War Policy
The Cold War Heats Up:
1948 Western Allies plan to create West Germany
1948 The Soviets blockade Berlin (Berlin Airlift)
1949 The Soviets test an atomic bomb
1949 Communists in China declare the People’s Republic of China (Red China)
1950 NSC-68 report issued
1950 Korean War begins

17. The 1947 National Security Act
This act was a major restructuring of the United States government's military and intelligence agencies following World War II. This act created:
The Department of Defense
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
The National Security Council
The US Air Force
*Strengthened the executive branch’s control of foreign policy.

18. Truman & US Cold War Policy
NSC-68 changes US policy:
Truman-Acheson-Nitze radically change US
policy toward the USSR. Favoring military
over diplomatic action, NSC-68 recommended
a policy of “calculated and gradual coercion”
to address Soviet communism.
significant increase in peace-time military spending ($13 billion $46.5 billion)
expansion of conventional & nuclear forces
military aid to allies
expand world-wide covert operations
*NSC-68 ultimate goal = US hegemony, US
dominant in the world
**Charges of being soft on communism and the beginning of the Korean War forced Truman to make NSC-68 official policy.

19. The Korean War