1. “Learning to Lead our Lives”
Truman on Trial: who was to blame for the Cold War?
Skill: Working with others/Citizenship
NGfL:USA
All images/ cartoons are believed to be in the public domain. Many of the images were
sourced from the internet encyclopedia wikipedia at

2. Who are these people? What do they do?

3. The defendant in the court case you are about to be involved in is Harry S. Truman, the President of the United States of America,
The crime he is accused of is: … Starting the Cold War. What was the Cold War?
Could just one man start a war? How?

4. Evidence that Truman Evidence that Truman was guilty was guilty
During this lesson, you will have to use the skills of a lawyer to prove whether Truman is innocent or guilty of starting the Cold War. Truman … is on trial! Set up some scales using a double page of your book like this:
Truman on Trial: who was to blame for the Cold War?
Skill: Presenting a case
Evidence that Truman
was guilty
Evidence that Truman
was guilty
The next slide shows you 6 reasons why the Cold War started. Guess what the reasons are from the pictures.

5. Different ideologies (ideas) of US and USSR Ideas
In 1917, Communists took power in Russia. America and Russia were very different countries with very different beliefs. Use your own knowledge or these picture clues to work out how they were different.
Ideas
Wikipedia, public domain
The Comintern: An
organisation set up in 1919 to spread communism across the globe!
How would these different ideas make a Cold War more likely to happen?
Does this evidence show that President Truman (President ) was innocent or guilty of starting the Cold War?

6. What then do these two men represent?
Vs.
How does this show blame for the Cold War?
Wikipedia, public domain

7. How does this show blame for the Cold War?
Guess the expression. How is it related to the “Cold War”?
Poland
Czech
Hun
Aus
Romania
1945
1947

8. How does this show blame for the Cold War?

9. How does this show blame for the Cold War?

10. How does this show blame for the Cold War?
Ideas
Ideas

11. Use the information sheets to add more detail to your scales.
Then prepare a speech for or against President Truman!

12. Wikipedia, public domain
The leaders: Truman
Truman had very little foreign policy experience. The President before
Truman, FDR, hadn’t given Truman much experience of dealing with
other countries. Truman lacked knowledge of other countries and how to
deal with their statesmen.
Truman and Stalin attended a conference in Potsdam in August At
the conference, Truman heard that American scientists had developed an
atomic bomb. Truman smugly informed Stalin that America had a powerful weapon. Truman ended the conference quickly so that he could inspect the bomb. Stalin left the conference with the impression that he had been given permission to permanently include Eastern Europe in Russia’s “sphere of influence”. Truman authorised the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
Truman was alarmed by the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe In February 1946, Churchill made a provocative speech in which he stated that an “iron curtain” had descended across Europe. Truman was sitting right next to Churchill when he made this speech. In March 1947, in a speech given to Congress, the President outlined the “Truman doctrine”. This doctrine stated that the US must “support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. … I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid.” Truman wanted to “contain” the USSR: to make sure that the USSR didn’t spread communism to any other countries.
The Truman Doctrine inspired the Secretary of State, George Marshall, to draw up a plan to provide aid to Western Europe in the form of $12.5 billion of money and goods. The Marshall Plan was designed to make sure that Western Europe stayed stable, and didn’t become communist.

13. The leaders: Stalin
Stalin was the dictator of Russia from 1926 to In 1941, the
German army invaded Russia. Stalin oversaw the victory of the Russian
Army over Germany. During the Second World War, the Soviet Union
worked with America to defeat the Germans. However, at least 10
million Russians died. Stalin was desperate not to let Germany invade
Russia again.
To do this, Stalin wanted to take over Eastern Europe. Germany would have to go through Eastern Europe if it wanted to invade Russia again, and so less Russians would die. After World War 2, Russian troops stayed in some Eastern European countries. Between 1946 and 1948, the governments of the rest of the Eastern European countries were forced to become Communist. By 1948, Russia controlled Eastern Europe. According to Winston Churchill, an “iron curtain” had been drawn across Europe, dividing the East From the West.
All the governments of Eastern Europe had to obey Russia. The people of Eastern Europe were denied the freedom of speech or the freedom of the press. Communist economic policies were enforced upon some countries.
Stalin was extremely suspicious of the West. He didn’t trust Truman. He believed that America wanted to control the world. West Berlin was controlled by the Americans, British and French. In 1948, Stalin ordered that all land routes to West Berlin should be cut off, so that the Western powers would leave West Berlin. Truman ordered that millions of tons of food should be flown in to West Berlin. After a year, Stalin called off the “Berlin Blockade”.