Unit 7: Cold War to the Present

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Unit 7 Cold War to the Present

• (Beginning of Cold War Berlin Wall)

2
The Start of the Cold War

• East-West Suspicions

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East-West Suspicions

• The United States and the Soviet Union emerged
  from World War II as the two most powerful
  nations. While the two governments had
  cooperated to defeat the Axis Powers, their
  relationship deteriorated after the war.

4
East-West Suspicions

• Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe heightened
  American fears of communism, a system in which,
  instead of private individuals running
  businesses, the Communist party, representing
  society as a whole, controls property and the
  means of production. The Soviets had promised
  free elections in Eastern European nations at the
  end of the war. Instead, they imposed Communist
  rule by holding elections only under the
  supervision of Soviet troops.

5
East-West Suspicions

• In 1946, former Prime Minister Winston Churchill
  declared that the Soviets had in a sense trapped
  the nations of Eastern Europe behind an iron
  curtain. The phrase iron curtain would be
  used to describe Soviet policy in Europe from
  1945 to 1989.

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East-West Suspicions

• The Strength of Communism
• The Communists promised to abolish poverty,
  privilege, and private property. They also
  guaranteed work, shelter, education, health care,
  and a classless society.
• Communist leaders sought to spread their form of
  government by inciting revolts in other nations
  where poor and oppressed populations were
  attracted to their ideas.

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East-West Suspicions

• President Harry S. Truman responded with a policy
  of containment-preventing the spread of
  communism-rather than liberating satellite
  nations. This policy was based on the belief
  that the Soviets were interested in conquering
  other nations, not simply securing their own
  borders. The policy of containment led to what
  was known as the cold war-a state of intense
  hostility between the United States and Soviet
  Union, but without any actual warfare. This
  policy would be continued by the presidents who
  followed Truman.

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Aid to Europe

• In 1947, U.S. diplomats warned that Greece and
  Turkey were in danger of falling to communists
  guerillas. The U.S. and other Western nations
  wished to stop communism from spreading because
  they saw it as an oppressive form of rule that
  quashed individual economic and personal
  freedoms. In response, Truman proposed a plan to
  provide military and economic aid to Greece and
  Turkey to resist a communist takeover. The plan,
  which Congress approved, became known as the
  Truman Doctrine and committed the United States
  to a more active role in world affairs.

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Aid to Europe

• The United States turned its attention to helping
  the rest of Europe to recover from the
  devastation of the war. U.S. officials feared
  that economic crises in European countries might
  lead to the election of communists
  governments.The United States implemented the
  Marshall Plan-named after Secretary of State
  George Marshall. It provided massive amounts of
  financial aid to provide food, fuel, and raw
  materials to help the nations of Europe rebuild
  their economies, industries, and transportation
  systems. The U.S. offered the Marshall Plan to
  all nations in Europe, including the Soviet
  Union. The Soviets refused. Why? In trying to
  promote communism, the Soviets did not want to
  appear to need help from a Western capitalist
  country.

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Aid to Europe

• The Berlin Airlift-After the war, the United
  States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet
  Union each controlled a zone of Germany. In
  1948, the Western powers announced that they were
  combining their three sections of Germany to form
  an independent nation-West Germany. The Soviets
  responded by closing off all traffic from West
  Germany to Berlin, the capital city, in the
  eastern part of Germany. Truman ordered a
  massive airlift to supply Berlins 2 million
  people with food and other goods. In May 1949,
  the Soviets finally lifted their blockade of the
  city.

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Aid to Europe

• NATO-In 1949, with East-West tensions rising, the
  United States joined other Western nations to
  form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a
  military alliance against the Soviets. In
  response, the Soviet Union formed the Warsaw
  Pact, a military alliance of the
  Soviet-controlled countries.The nations of NATO
  considered an attack on one country as an attack
  on all of them. The advantage of such a policy
  It provides a number of separate nations with
  greater security. The disadvantage It
  increases the risk of small conflicts becoming
  large wars involving many nations.

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The Occupation of Japan

• After World War II, there were 3 aims of the
  United States in Asia
• To restore peace
• To help Asians resist foreign rule
• To restore Asian trade with the world.

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The Occupation of Japan

• In 1946, the U.S. granted independence to the
  Philippines, giving money to repair war damage
  and making tariff concessions in American
  markets. The U.S. also occupied Japan and sought
  to help the nation rebuild and become more
  democratic. Under the leadership of General
  Douglas MacArthur, Japans military was
  dismantled. Under American direction, a new
  constitution provided for elected representative
  government and woman suffrage. U.S. leaders also
  encouraged economic opportunity and provided
  Japan with financial aid. U.S. officials in
  Japan made sure to leave many aspects of Japanese
  culture intact. Why? They did not want to have
  the Japanese resent their presence, which would
  make their work there more difficult. In 1951,
  with Japan on its way to a remarkable recovery,
  the country was granted its independence.

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Communist Triumph in China

• Since the early 1930s, a civil war between the
  Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek and the
  Communists, led by Mao Zedong, had ravaged China.
  The fighting ebbed during World War II as both
  sides resisted the Japanese invaders, but the
  conflict flared after the war ended. On the
  advice of George Marshall, the U.S. focused its
  efforts on containing communism in Western Europe
  rather than committing itself to the corrupt and
  inefficient Nationalist Chinese.

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Communist Triumph in China

• By the end of 1949, Maos victorious forces had
  forced the Nationalists to flee to the island of
  Taiwan. Many Americans criticized the Truman
  administration for not paying enough attention to
  China and losing the country to the Communists.

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The Korean Conflict

• In 1950, North Korea, which was ruled by a
  Soviet-installed Communist government, invaded
  South Korea. UN troops, led by the United
  States, came to the aid of South Korea to help
  push the North Koreans back. When UN forces
  invaded North Korea, Chinese troops entered the
  conflict to help the Communists. The Chinese
  forces pushed the UN troops back into South
  Korea, and the war bogged down into a bloody
  stalemate.

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The Korean Conflict

• General MacArthur, who commanded UN forces in
  Korea, wanted to bomb China. Truman refused,
  fearing a much larger war. When MacArthur openly
  criticized Truman, the President fired him.
  Trumans dismissal of the popular general caused
  a firestorm of protest around the country. The
  Chicago Tribune even called on Congress to
  impeach and convict the President for his action.

18
The Korean Conflict

• The Election of 1952-When Truman announced he
  would not run again, Republican and World War II
  hero Dwight D. Eisenhower (Ike) faced Democrat
  Adlai Stevenson, governor of Illinois.
  Eisenhower promised to end the war in Korea and
  won the election decisively.

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The Korean Conflict

• The fighting in Korea continued until 1953, when
  both sides agreed on a cease-fire that left the
  country divided in the same way it had been
  before the war began. Neither side claimed
  victory. The struggle cost the U.S. more than
  54,000 soldiers, but the U.S. resolve in Korea
  caused many neutral nations to draw closer to the
  United States.

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The Red Scare

• During the cold war period, Americans fears of a
  communist conspiracy heightened. Many began to
  think that some of their fellow citizens were
  communist sympathizers or spies. The Red Scare
  swept the nation.

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The Red Scare

• Fear of communist influence led to the rise of
  Democratic Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin,
  who charged that he knew of numerous communist
  sympathizers within the U.S. government, but he
  never produced evidence for this claim.
  Accusations and rumors promoted by McCarthy and
  other officials ruined the lives and reputations
  of many Americans. The Senate eventually
  determined that McCarthys accusations were
  groundless. In 1954, McCarthys underhanded
  tactics were exposed in televised hearings. The
  use of indiscriminate, unfounded political
  accusations to destroy someones character became
  known as McCarthyism.

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Thaws in the Cold War

• During the Eisenhower administration, a slight
  thaw in the cold war occurred. After Stalins
  death in 1953, the Soviet Unions new leader,
  Nikita Khrushchev, allowed people a little more
  freedom. In July 1955, Eisenhower met with
  Soviet leaders to discuss nuclear disarmament.
  The summit accomplished little, however, and in
  1958, tensions between the two nations escalated
  again.

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Thaws in the Cold War

• In May, 1960, an American U-2 surveillance plane
  was shot down over the Soviet Union while on a
  spying mission. Khrushchev denounced the U.S.
  mission, and relations between the two nations
  worsened.

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Thaws in the Cold War

• In his farewell address, the grandfatherly
  president warned against the influence of the
  military-industrial complex, the defense industry
  that promoted the production of weapons of
  destruction.

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Cuba

• The U.S. largely ignored Latin America, where
  great poverty had created a breeding ground for
  political instability. In 1959, rebel forces
  overthrew Cubas corrupt regime. The new rebel
  government, led by Fidel Castro, soon aligned
  with the Communists. As a result, the U.S. broke
  off relations with the nation. This was
  troubling to the U.S. since Cuba is only 90 miles
  off the coast of the U.S. communism was brought
  to the nations doorstep.

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Cuba

• President John Kennedys basic foreign policy
  goal was similar to that of Truman and
  Eisenhower-containment of communism. The United
  States began training Cuban exiles to overthrow
  the rebel government under Castro.

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Cuba

• In April, 1961, Cuban exiles invaded the island
  at the Bay of Pigs. The mission collapsed and
  the invaders surrendered. The failed invasion
  hurt the prestige of the Kennedy administration
  and strengthened Castros power in the world. In
  1962, Cuba convicted more than 1,000 Bay of Pigs
  invaders of treason and sentenced them to 30
  years in prison. Soon, however, Cuban officials
  released the prisoners in return for more than
  50,000,000 in food and medical supplies from a
  U.S. committee of private citizens.

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Cuba

• In October, 1962, U.S. officials learned that the
  Soviet Union had placed nuclear weapons in Cuba.
  Kennedy ordered the Soviet Union to remove the
  weapons. After tense negotiations, the Cuban
  Missile Crisis ended when Soviet leaders agreed
  to remove the weapons.

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The Peace Corps

• In 1961, President Kennedy created the Peace
  Corps to help developing nations fight poverty
  and disease. The Peace Corps was organized to
  help prevent the spread of communism by improving
  the quality of life. By late 1963, there were
  11,000 Peace Corps volunteers serving in 40
  countries teaching practical skills or working to
  build housing and medical facilities.

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The Berlin Wall

• East-West tensions rose when the Soviets built a
  wall dividing the city of Berlin, blocking free
  movement between the communist section of Berlin
  and the rest of the city. The structure became
  known as the Berlin Wall. The wall prevented the
  flight of refugees seeking to escape the
  oppression of East Germany. The Berlin Wall
  became a symbol of cold war divisions between
  East and West. Throughout the early 1960s, the
  U.S. and the Soviet Union worked to negotiate
  treaties limiting the testing of nuclear weapons.
  In August, 1963, they reached an agreement that
  banned nuclear testing in the atmosphere and
  underwater, but not underground.