The Cold War

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The Cold War
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The Cold Wara struggle between two different
economic systemscold war no or little actual
fighting

• Capitalism
• Economic decisions made by private parties
• Standard of living generally somewhat higher
• Gap between richer and poorer segments greater
• Profits benefit the few

• Communism
• Economic decisions made by central authority
• Tends to lessen problems of poverty and
  inequality
• Lack of incentive to succeed
• Needs of the many more important than of the one

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The Cold War

• Capitalism communism can work (or fail) with
  any type of government
• Postwar world, communism typically was under
  totalitarian government or republic with single
  party elections
• Capitalism often worked within republic structure
  with many parties
• Communism offered more equality capitalism
  encouraged inequality

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Causes of the Cold War

• Allies during WW II become distrustful after war
• Different political and economic systems
• Different national security goals
• Large Russian casualties of WW II
• FDR promises at Yalta vs. Truman at Postdam
  (Truman more critical communism distrustful
  Stalin)
• Atom bomb begins arms race

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Yalta conference Churchill, FDR, Stalin Feb
1945 Held in USSR
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Ha! Ha! We have the bomb!
Ha! Ha! I already knew about the bomb!
Potsdam Conference Held in Germany July
1945 Clement Atlee (Br) Harry Truman (US) Josef
Stalin (USSR)
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Spring 1945 Russians capture Berlin with very
heavy casualties Then divide German capital city
with other Allied nations for occupation Germans
unhappy with situationtension!
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Postwar Divided Berlin
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• March 1946
• Winston Churchill
• Fulton, MO
• Says that an iron curtain has descended across
  Eastern Europe from north to south

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Early Cold War Timeline

• June 1945 United Nations formed
• March 1946 Iron Curtain Speech
• March 1947 US becomes involved Greek Civil War
• Truman Doctrine announced
• June 1947 Marshall Plan
• 1947 US policy defined as containment
• February 1948 Czechoslovakia falls to Soviets,
  US does not support
• 24 June 1948 Berlin Blockade begins

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Berlin Blockade

• The Berlin Blockade was an attempt to starve the
  city into submission
• Allied airlift showed the Wests determination
  to defend Berlin.
• May 12, 1949 Stalin concedes and ends blockade

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Timeline, continued

• May 1949 Blockade ended
• July 1949 NATO begun
• September 1949 Mao Zedong, a Communist, takes
  control of China
• September 1949 Soviets explode their own atom
  bomb
• June 1950 Korean War begins

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Korean Conflict

• 1950-1953
• Korea invaded by Japan 1910 Japanese until
  after WW II
• Korea divided after WW II with Soviets occupying
  north US occupying south
• A communist govt was established in north
  right-wing, anti-communist govt in south
• 1949, US USSR pulled out
• North overran the south starting in June 1950
  UN, with US taking lead, entered war to defend
  South Korea

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Korean War

• Douglas MacArthur led UN forces by Oct. 1950
  line pushed back into N. Korea
• China entered war in October believing that the
  US would continue and attack China
• Soviets never gave ground supportsome very
  limited air support only
• By July 1951, war at stalemate
• Eisenhower elected president US 1952
• July 1953 ceasefire signed no treaty

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Korean War
Over 2 million Deaths Both sides
First armed conflict of cold war
Peninsula still Divided, still Problem area
US Military deaths Around 50,000
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The Cold War at Home

• From 1945-1960, US economy grew steadily
• Unprecedented period prosperity
• Auto industry led the way
• Millions cars produced Interstate Highway System
  begun (Cold War effort)

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Cold War

• Both Truman and Eisenhower were Cold Warriors,
  although in different parties
• Eisenhower saw Communism as a overreaching world
  force bent on domination through subversive
  activity
• Americans distrusted Soviets dramatically
• Red Scare

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Trumans Loyalty Program

• Truman, worried about the influence of communism
  within the borders of the U.S., created the
  Employee Loyalty Program in 1947
• Although only dismissing several hundred
  employees overall, Trumans program set a
  precedent for government review of who could be
  considered a threat due to a belief system

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Joe McCarthy

• The key anti-Communist Senator of the
  1950sspeech 1950, Wheeling, WV
• Virtually unknown beforehand, he make a
  reputation uncovering Communist plots and
  targeting anyone outside his narrow version of
  American
• General public alarm over the evils of Communism
  allowed McCarthy the latitude to destroy many
  reputations needlessly
• Black lists in Hollywood House Committee on
  Un-American Affairs investigated suspected
  communists in the PTA!

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Red Scare

• America gripped with fear
• China falls to Communists
• Soviets detonate atomic bomb
• Alger Hiss and other spies arrested

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Cold War Timeline

• 1953 IranCIA MI6 work together to oust
  nationalist leader of Iran and put Shah on throne
  over oil
• Shah ruled as a dictator propped up by US
  Britain for 26 years of repression and torture
• 1953-64 Nikita Khrushchev leader of USSR not as
  hard-line as Stalin
• 1959 toured US as part of plan of peaceful
  coexistence
• 1955 Warsaw Pact formed East answer to
  NATOformed in Warsaw, Poland
• October 1957 Sputnik launched
• Touched off panic and fear in US

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Sputnik
How to Build a Bomb Shelter
Late 1950s era model of a stocked bomb shelter
for a family of four
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Gary Larsons The Far Side interprets nuclear
threat!
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The End!(for now..)