APUSH CH 36 Lecture Name: Hour: Chapter 36: The Cold War Begins, 1945-1952 I. Post-World War II Era A. Post-war Economy 1. Cutbacks in the production of war supplies caused layoffs and high unemployment a. Result: period of economic readjustment 2. Inflation became a problem (exceeded 18% in 1946) B. Labor: Taft-Hartley Act 1. This bill prohibited the closed shop a workplace where membership in a particular union was a prerequisite for being hired a. It also required union leaders to take a noncommunist oath i. Approved by (Republican) Congress over Truman s veto 2. By 1946 we once again saw the unpopularity of labor unions a. Many Americans blamed these unions for strikes which restricted the output of consumer goods and led to inflated prices C. The GI Bill of Rights (Servicemen s Readjustment Act of 1944) 1. Gave Veterans money to attend college and gave low-interest loans to veterans to buy homes a. 8 million went to college/vocational schools/or received other training D. Americans on the Move: The Sunbelt (Florida, Virginia, Texas, Arizona, California, etc) 1. Population spread to this area at a fast rate a. People relocated for work as well as the favorable climate b. Area became a political hot spot for all future presidential candidates E. From Cities to Suburbs 1. People had savings to spend and suddenly there were new cars and houses for people to buy 2. Cheap housing loans were one cause of this move to the suburbs 3. The government built highways that led to the movement outside the city 4. The suburbanization of society led to white flight and inner cities filled with minorities 5. The first Levittown appeared in Long Island, NY: a series of identical houses that sought to satisfy the demand for suburban housing F. The Baby Boom Era 1. The baby boom occurred after WWII: 50 million babies were born by the end of the 1950s G. Civil Rights 1. Truman established the Committee on Civil Rights in 1946 2. In 1948 he ordered the end of racial discrimination throughout the federal government as well as the armed forces II. Post-war Organizations: Bretton Woods, IMF, World Bank, and UN A. Bretton Woods Conference (July 1944) 1. This conference took place in New Hampshire to once again discuss the post-war world 2. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was created in 1944 to loan money to countries in financial crisis and to regulate exchange rates 3. The World Bank was also created to give long-term low-interest loans to developing (or third world) nations 1
B. UN (First meeting: April 25, 1945) 1. Successor to the League of Nations a. The UN charter was quickly approved by the U.S. Senate 2. The UN focuses on peace and human dignity a. It tries to prevent war by solving issues that may lead to war b. Does many things today: deals with poverty and hunger, human rights, environmental issues, disaster relief, peacekeeping efforts, etc. 3. Permanent seats on the Security Council were given to United States, Great Britain, France, China, and the USSR 4. One of the first things the UN did was create Israel (carved out of Palestine) a. Truman recognized Israel in 1948 when Arab states opposed the creation of Israel III. The Cold War (1945-1991) A. The Yalta Conference (The Big Three: Stalin, FDR, and Churchill) 1. Yalta would be the last time that relations between the U.S. and Soviets were good 2. At Yalta (February 1945 before the end of the war in Europe), the Soviet Union had agreed to attack Japan three months after the fall of Germany B. Germany is Divided 1. After the war, Germany was divided into 4 occupation zones: France, Britain, the U.S., and the Soviet Union each had a zone a. The Western Allies combined their zones and thus West Germany was created (1949) b. East Germany would be dominated by the Soviets and communism c. At this time the concept of the iron curtain developed in Europe i. Churchill used this phrase to describe the division between communism and democracy ii. The phrase held true as the Soviets would come to dominate Eastern Europe and countries fell to communism C. Superpowers after the War: The U.S. and the Soviets 1. Tensions remained high between these powers a. One reason: the U.S. and Britain had agreed not to open a second front during World War II that the Soviets claimed was necessary b. Another reason: the U.S. had left the Soviets out when it came to the atomic bomb i. Truman s use of the atomic bomb on Japan also heightened tensions between the two nations c. Both nations had different views when it came to what a post-war Europe would look like (democracy vs. communism) D. Cold War Policies and Actions 1. The Cold War was marked by a U.S. policy of containment when it came to the Soviet Union (this policy was crafted by George Kennan) 2. Truman Doctrine was issued in March 1947 a. Stated that the U.S. would aid any country fighting communist aggression (aimed at Europe and the Middle East) b. $400 million was given to help Greece and Turkey to prevent them from falling to the Communists 3. In Western Europe, France, Italy, and Germany were still in terrible shape a. This led President Truman (with the help of Secretary of State George Marshall) to implement the Marshall Plan: a plan for European economic recovery 2
i. $12.5 billion over four years went to 16 cooperating nations to aid in economic recovery ii. Again, the focus was containing communism and preventing weak countries from falling to communism iii. The Soviets were not seen as team players and were not committed to helping Europe recover they had their sights set on the spread of communism 4. Berlin Airlift a. June 1948: Soviets cut off all land access to the city of Berlin b. In response, Truman authorized planes to fly in supplies to West Berlin i. This blockade of Berlin lasted 11 months and led to the creation of two Germanies: East and West E. The U.S. Begins to Rearm 1. In 1947 the National Security Act created the Department of Defense a. The National Security Act also formed the National Security Council (NSC) to advise the president on security matters and the CIA 2. In 1948, the U.S. joined Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg to form NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) a. An attack on one member country was an attack on all members b. NATO meant we were committed to helping Europe and that U.S. foreign policy would not return to isolationism i. In response, the Soviets formed the Warsaw Pact, its own alliance system F. Japan 1. General Douglas MacArthur headed the reconstruction of Japan a. He dictated a constitution that was adopted in 1946 and democratized Japan G. China 1. In China, the communist forces, led by Mao Zedong, defeated the Nationalist forces, led by Chiang Kaishek (who then fled to the Taiwan in 1949) a. With this defeat, 500,000 people were under the Communist flag 2. Under FDR and Truman support was given to claimed the Nationalists 3. The creation of the People s Republic of China was a huge blow to the U.S. H. The Soviets Explode a Bomb of their Own 1. In September of 1949, Truman announced that the Soviets had exploded their first atomic bomb eliminating the U.S. monopoly on nuclear weapons 2. The U.S. exploded the hydrogen bomb in 1952 (more powerful than the atomic bombs previously exploded) a. The Soviets did the same a year later b. This led to the beginning of the dangerous arms race that characterized the Cold War IV. The 1948 Presidential Election A. Truman vs. Dewey 1. By 1948 the Republicans were rather confident that they were going to win back the White House a. They nominated Thomas Dewey of New York for president 2. Henry Wallace, who had been fired by Truman in 1946 for criticizing U.S. foreign policy, ran on the Progressive Party ticket 3
3. The Dixiecrats (States Rights Democratic Party) nominated J. Strom Thurmond for President 4. Truman was nominated by the Democratic Party 5. Truman wins (303 electoral votes) a. Many argue that Truman won because the nation was at peace and that he had maintained FDR s legacy b. As president, Truman proposed a Fair Deal (civil rights, extension of Social Security, funds for public housing) for all Americans (although little of it went into effect due to a conservative dominated Congress) V. The Red Scare A. Round Two 1. Truman created the Loyalty Review Board in 1947 to investigate people within the government and see if anyone was working for the Soviets 2. HUAC: established in 1938 (the House of Representatives established the Committee on Un- American Activities) a. Investigated any activities that were deemed un-american including suspected communists b. Richard Nixon and Joseph McCarthy were prominent members of HUAC i. Nixon investigated Alger Hiss, a federal employee 3. Hiss: a former State Department official, went on trial for perjury (1949) a. It was believed that he had passed classified documents to an American Communist spy i. He was convicted (case lasted 2 years; sentenced to 5 years) 4. HUAC also investigated the Rosenbergs: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were Americans accused of spying for the Soviet Union and providing information on nuclear secrets a. They were arrested, tried, and executed in 1953 5. All of this created a mass hysteria over communism a. Truman tried to reign it in and vetoed a bill that would have granted him the ability to deny people their civil rights (McCarran Internal Security Bill) 6. McCarthyism: the term was used throughout the 1950s to describe both the accusations and investigations of suspected communist activities in the U.S. a. In February 1950 claimed that there were communists in the U.S. State Department i. He couldn t prove it but many Americans began to fear that this red scare was going too far (and led to many people to be blacklisted as communists) b. In 1954 he accused the army of harboring communists i. These Army-McCarthy hearings were televised and drew a lot of attention ii. Later McCarthy was censured for his actions as he had made wild and exaggerated accusations (Note: that this was during the Eisenhower administration and not Truman) 4
VI. Korea A. Roots of the Korean War 1. Korea had been a Japanese colony 2. When Japan surrendered to the U.S., the U.S. and Soviet Union shared control of the Korean Peninsula a. Korea was divided at the 38 th parallel 3. The U.S. and Soviets withdrew their forces in 1949 a. In June 1950, the North Korean army invaded South Korea B. The U.S. Response 1. The U.S. did not want communism to spread and therefore pressed with its containment policy 2. Truman used NSC-68 to prepare the U.S. for a massive military build-up 3. Truman also condemned North Korea s actions in the UN Security Council (while the Soviets were absent) C. General Douglas MacArthur 1. Made commander of the UN forces sent to Korea a. The goal: push the North Koreans back across the 38 th parallel not to conquer the entire peninsula b. MacArthur took things further and headed to the China-Korea border, which aggravated the Chinese i. China responded by crossing the border and attacked MacArthur s troops who were forced back to the 38 th parallel 2. As a result of his actions, MacArthur was dismissed by President Truman in 1951 a. Truman was not looking to expand the conflict and knew he lacked the forces to fight the Chinese (The Korean War would end under Eisenhower as an armistice was signed in 1953 more in the next lecture) 5