19 - The Origins of the Cold War (1945-1960)
Summary: Even before the end of World War II, strains began to develop in the wartime alliance between Great Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. At the Yalta Conference, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin had promised free elections in eastern European countries the Soviet Union liberated from Nazism; in the months after the war it became obvious that these elections would not take place. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill warned that the Soviet Union was creating an "iron curtain" between Eastern and Western Europe; the United States began to follow a policy of containment to stop the spread of communism. Through the Marshall Plan, the United States spent millions to rebuild Western Europe after the war. Stalin tested Western will by enforcing a blockade of Berlin in 1948; Western anxieties increased in 1949 when the Soviets announced that they had an atomic bomb and when communist forces led by Mao Zedong took power over mainland China. The Cold War had a major impact at home; the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) began to search for communists in the entertainment industry, State Department official Alger Hiss was accused of being a communist spy, and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed for giving atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. During the Korean War, United Nations and American forces were severely tested as they attempted to "contain Communism" in Korea. Senator Joseph McCarthy claimed knowledge of Communists in the State Department, the army, and in other branches of government. Both the United States and the Soviet Union built up their military arsenals in the 1950s; by the end of the decade, President Eisenhower warned of the spreading "military-industrial complex."
Keywords
Satellite countries: Eastern European countries that came under the control of the Soviet Union after World War II; the Soviets argued that they had liberated these countries from the Nazis and thus they had a right to continue to influence developments there.
Iron Curtain: Term coined by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in a March 1946 speech in Fulton, Missouri; Churchill forcefully proclaimed that the Soviet Union was establishing an "iron curtain" between the free countries of Western Europe and the Communist-controlled countries of Eastern Europe.
Containment Policy: policy devised by American diplomat George F. Kennan; Kennan believed that the United States needed to implement long-term military, economic, and diplomatic strategies in order to "contain" the spread of communism. Kennan's ideas became official U.S. government policy in the late 1940s.
Truman Doctrine: articulated in 1947, this policy stated that the United States would support any democratic nation that resisted communism.
Marshall Plan: American plan that spent $12 billion for the rebuilding of Western Europe after World War II; the plan produced an economic revival and helped stave off the growth of Communist influence.
Berlin Airlift: American effort that flew in supplies to West Berlin after the Soviet Union and East German government blocked the roads to that city beginning in June 1948; American airplanes flew in supplies for 15 months, causing the Soviets to call off the blockade.
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance between the United States and Western European countries that was formed in April 1949.
Warsaw Pact: a military pact formed in 1955 between the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellite countries.
HUAC: House Un-American Activities Committee; in 1947 this committee began to investigate the entertainment industry for Communist influences.
Blacklist: list created by HUAC and various private agencies indicating individuals in the entertainment industry who might be Communists or who might have been influenced by Communists in the past; many individuals named in the blacklist could not find work in the industry until the 1960s.
McCarthyism: term used to describe the accusations by Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy and his supporters in the early 1950s that certain people in government, academia, and the arts were secret communists. McCarthy's charges were largely unsubstantiated.
Domino theory: theory that if one country in a region fell under communist rule, then other countries in the region would follow; this theory would be used to justify American involvement in Vietnam.
Sputnik: the first artificial satellite, launched in 1957 by the Soviet Union; the fact that the Soviets launched a satellite before the United States shocked many in the American scientific community.
Winning the Cold War was the central goal of the United States from 1945 all the way until the fall of communism in 1990 to 1991. Almost all domestic and foreign policy decisions made in this era related in some way to American efforts to defeat the Soviet Union and their allies. A large part of the success of many sectors of the American economy in the post-World War II era was related to defense and defense-related contracts. Some politicians lost their careers in this era if they were perceived to be "soft on communism."
Exactly whose fault was the Cold War? Hundreds of books and articles have been written about that very subject. American historians assigned blame to the Soviet Union for aggressive actions on their part in the period immediately following the end of World War II. "Revisionist" American historians have claimed that the Soviets were forced into these actions by the perceived aggressiveness of the United States and its allies. What actually happened in those years immediately following World War II is the subject of this chapter.
THE FIRST CRACKS IN THE ALLIANCE: 1945
The alliance that proved victorious in World War II began to show strains even before the end of the war. Tough decisions were made at the Yalta Conference, including allowing elections in Eastern European nations. Stalin was especially reluctant to allow free elections in Poland; as Hitler demonstrated, it provided a perfect invasion route into Soviet territory.
The United States would be somewhat handicapped diplomatically by the death of Franklin Roosevelt in April 1945. Roosevelt had excellent personal relations with Winston Churchill and felt that he could at least "understand" Stalin. When Harry Truman took over the presidency, he had little experience in foreign affairs, and Roosevelt had met with him only a few times, sharing little about the appropriate way to deal with America's wartime allies.
Truman met Soviet diplomats for the first time at the initial session of the United Nations, which was held in San Francisco two weeks after he took over as president. His first face-to-face meeting with Stalin took place at the Potsdam Conference, held at the end of July in 1945. Truman, Stalin, and Clement Atlee (who had just replaced Churchill as Prime Minister) represented the United States, the Soviet Union, and Great Britain, respectively, at this meeting. Again, the future of Eastern Europe was discussed. It was also decided to hold war-crimes trials for top Nazi leaders (the most famous of these would be known as the Nuremberg Trials). At this meeting, Truman announced to Stalin the existence of the atomic bomb (ironically, Stalin had learned of it some two weeks earlier from Soviet spies in the United States).
Great philosophical differences between the two sides were apparent at this meeting. Truman expressed the view that free elections should be held in all Eastern European countries. Stalin, on the other hand, expressed the desire to have Eastern European satellite countries which would act as buffers to potential future invasions of the Soviet Union.
THE IRON CURTAIN
During 1946 and 1947, the Soviet Union tightened its hold on Eastern Europe (Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany). Promised elections in Europe did not actually take place for two years. In some cases, Communists backed by Stalin forced non-Communists who had been freely elected out of office.
In March 1946, Winston Churchill made a speech at a college in Fulton, Missouri, where he noted that the Soviet Union had established an iron curtain that divided the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites from the independent countries of Europe. This speech is often viewed as the symbolic beginning of the cold war.
Another key document from this era was written by American diplomat and expert in Soviet affairs George F. Kennan. Kennan wrote an anonymous article in Foreign Affairs magazine in July 1947 (the author was only identified as "Mr. X"), stating his opinion that Soviet policy makers were deeply committed to the destruction of America and the American way of life. The article maintained that the USSR felt threatened by the United States and felt that it had to expand for self-preservation. Kennan stated that a long-range and long-term containment policy to stop communism was needed. According to Kennan, if communism could be contained, it would eventually crumble under its own weight. The policy of containment was central to most American policy toward the Soviet Union for the next 45 years.
If President Truman was looking for an opportunity to apply the containment policy, opportunities soon presented themselves in Turkey and Greece. The Soviets desperately desired to control the Dardanelles Strait; this Turkish-controlled area would allow Soviet ships to go from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean. In addition, communists were threatening the existing government in Greece. In February 1947, the British (still suffering severe economic aftershocks from World War II) stated that they could no longer financially assist the Turkish and Greek governments, and suggested that the United States step in (some historians maintain that this symbolically ended Great Britain's great power status and demonstrated that now the United States was one of the two major players on the world stage). In March 1947, the president announced the Truman Doctrine, which stated it would become the stated duty of the United States to assist all democratic nations of the world who resisted communism. Congress authorized $400 million in aid for Greece and Turkey. The policies outlined in the Truman Doctrine and in George Kennan's article can be found embedded in American foreign policy all the way through the 1980s.
THE MARSHALL PLAN
Most Americans applauded Truman's decision to help countries resisting communism. Others wanted to see a much larger American role in Europe in the postwar era. Several observers stated that Hitler was able to rise to power because of the lack of stability in both the German government and economy in the era following World War I, and that such a situation should never be allowed to develop again.
Many felt that it was the duty of the United States to rebuild the devastated countries of Europe after World War II; it was felt that, in the long run, this would bring both political and economic benefits to the Western world.
By the terms of the Marshall Plan, the United States provided nearly $12 billion in economic aid to help rebuild Europe. This assistance was of a strictly nonmilitary nature, and was designed, in large measure, to prevent Western Europe from falling into economic collapse. Seventeen Western European nations received aid under the Marshall Plan; several of them became valuable trading partners of the United States by the early part of the 1950s. The Soviet Union was invited to apply for aid from the Marshall Plan. Stalin refused and ordered the Soviet satellite countries to do the same.
BERLIN: THE FIRST COLD WAR CRISIS
In 1948, the Americans, French, and British announced that they were to combine their areas of occupation in Germany and create the Federal Republic of Germany. West Berlin (located within the eastern zone of Germany) was supposed to join this Federal Republic. Berlin was already a "problem city" for Communist authorities. Many residents of East Berlin (and other residents of Eastern Europe) escaped communism by passing from East Berlin to West Berlin.
In June 1948, Soviet and East German military units blocked off transportation by road into West Berlin. Historians of Soviet foreign policy note that this was the first real test by Stalin of Western Cold War resolve. Truman authorized the institution of the Berlin Airlift; for nearly 15 months, American and British pilots flew in enough food and supplies for West Berlin to survive. The Americans and British achieved at least a public relations victory when Stalin ordered the lifting of the blockade in May 1949. Shortly afterward, the French, English, and American zones of occupation were joined together into "West Germany," and the Americans stationed troops there to guard against further Soviet actions.
One month earlier, the United States, Canada, and ten Western European countries had announced the formation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). The main provision of the NATO treaty was that an attack on one signatory nation would be considered an attack on all of them. The NATO treaty placed America squarely in the middle of European affairs for the foreseeable future. NATO would expand in the early 1950s, and, as a response to NATO, the Soviet Union and its satellite countries created the Warsaw Pact in 1955.
1949: A PIVOTAL YEAR IN THE COLD WAR
In 1949, two events occurred that rocked American postwar confidence. In September, the Soviets announced that they had exploded an atomic bomb. The potential threat of nuclear annihilation was an underlying fear for many Americans throughout the 1950s. Truman quickly gave authorization for American scientists to begin work on the hydrogen bomb, a bomb much more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
An equally horrifying event occurred shortly after the successful Soviet atomic test. Since 1945, the United States had been major financial backers of Nationalist China, led by Chiang Kai-shek. Communist guerilla forces under Mao Tse-tung were able to capture much of the Chinese countryside. In 1949, Mao's forces captured Peking, the capital city. The People's Republic of China was established by Mao. Nationalist forces were forced to flee to Formosa (now Taiwan). From Formosa, Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists maintained that they were the "true" government of China, and continued to receive a very sizable aid package from the United States. The question of "who lost China" would be repeatedly asked over the next 10 years in the United States, usually to attack the president, Harry Truman, and the Democratic party, who were in power when Nationalist China fell.
THE MIDDLE EAST IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THE COLD WAR
In the years immediately after World War II, the United States continued to take a back seat to the British in terms of influencing leaders and events in the Middle East. It was the 1947 decision by the British to stop assisting the Turks and Greeks (followed by the articulation of the Truman Doctrine by the president) that drastically increased the role of the United States in the region.
Since the 1920s, a major reason for the American interest in the region was oil: this certainly did not decline in the cold war era. It should be noted that in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the United States itself was not dependent on oil from the region; however, two regions that the United States was trying to rebuild, Western Europe and Japan, desperately needed Middle Eastern oil. In the late 1940s, the Truman administration cemented relations with Saudi Arabia, America's major trading partner for oil since the 1930s. Tax policies encouraged American oil companies to do business with the Saudis, and the Americans pledged to assist Saudi Arabia if it was attacked by the Soviets. The fact that the United States was establishing a seemingly close relationship with a completely undemocratic regime was largely unnoticed by American commentators at the time; observers today note that in their quest for oil, Americans have developed these same "close relationships" with countless despotic kings and other authoritarian rulers in the region.
In addition, sections of the Middle East were very close to the United States' new enemy, the Soviet Union. American planners and decision makers wanted to: (1) ensure that the region would not be vulnerable to potential attacks by the Soviets and (2) utilize the region as a staging point for potential military advances against the Soviet Union (American missiles placed in Turkey were as close to some of their targets as Soviet missiles in Cuba were to their targets in the 1962 Cuban missile crisis).
The Role of the United States in the Creation of Israel
The entire dynamic of the Middle East was changed by the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. The United States played a key role in this pivotal event. The pressure for the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine increased enormously as a result of the Holocaust in Europe. Great Britain had governed Palestine by mandate since the 1920s, but stated in 1947 that the United Nations should decide the future of the region. The U.N. announced its support for a plan that would divide Palestine into Jewish and Arab sections.
The Arab states unanimously rejected this plan, noting that countless non-Jewish residents of Palestine would be uprooted if it were implemented. The U.S. State Department opposed the partition plan, noting that it went against long-standing American support of the principle of "self-determination" in regions such as this. Nevertheless, President Truman announced his support of the plan and instructed American diplomats to "twist some arms" to get other countries to support it.
After the United Nations narrowly supported the plan, fighting began between Jews and Arabs living in Palestine. Countless Arabs were forced to flee the Jewish-controlled regions. Throughout the Arab world, the United States began to be blamed for the bloodshed in Palestine; President Truman and others in the American government were perceived as the ones who had forced this "solution" through the United Nations. In 1948, the independent state of Israel was proclaimed and was immediately recognized by the United States (some historians maintain that the main reason for this was to recognize Israel before the Soviets could). The Arab states surrounding Palestine immediately attacked the new state of Israel, but were defeated.
Conflict between Israel and its neighbors has remained a constant ever since, with Israel winning two more major wars with its neighbors. Another constant is the "special relationship" that will continue to exist between the United States and Israel. Israel's strongest backer in virtually every crisis has been the United States. Americans have given millions of dollars of military aid to the Israelis. There have been situations where virtually the entire world has condemned the Israelis for its actions against its neighbors; in almost every case, the United States has continued to back Israel. There are countless reasons why the United States and Israel have developed this special relationship. However, this relationship is also the reason for the animosity that exists in much of the Arab world toward the United States.
The United States and the Shah of Iran
When Dwight Eisenhower became president in 1953, he faced a new and potentially more volatile force in the Middle East: Arab nationalism. In an early press conference, Eisenhower stated that he favored political independence for the peoples of the region. Nevertheless, he stated, this could not be done "too quickly," as a power vacuum might develop that would allow the Soviets an opportunity to expand into the region.
In 1951, Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq of Iran announced a plan to nationalize the British oil facilities in the country. Many in Iran viewed him as a hero for opposing British imperialism in the region. The British imposed an oil embargo on Iranian oil and proposed military action against Mossadeq (which was opposed by the United States). The Shah of Iran, who was actually in charge of the government, was a favorite of American officials; Washington became increasingly concerned when Mossadeq began to quietly question the Shah's relationship with the United States.
With Eisenhower's approval, the CIA went to Iran and financed anti-Mossadeq demonstrations, which eventually led to his downfall. Mossadeq was replaced by a prime minister who was loyal to the Shah (and not opposed to American influence in the country). In the long run, the American role in the removal of Mossadeq from power would prove detrimental to the image of the United States in the region. After the events of 1953, the Shah ruled as a brutal autocrat; the perception was that the Shah's actions were sanctioned by the United States. When the American embassy in Tehran was occupied by Islamic militants in 1979, the actions by the CIA in Iran in 1953 were long-forgotten by virtually everyone in the United States; to many Iranians, the effects of American actions in Iran in 1953 were still very much alive.
Anti-American sentiment in the Middle East did not begin with the Iranian hostage crisis or with Saddam Hussein. In reality, resentment of the United States began to brew in the early years of the cold war and intensified over the years as countless American officials have been pictured smiling and shaking hands with rulers in the region who have little or no regard for the people whom they govern.
THE COLD WAR AT HOME
During 1949 and 1950, many Americans felt a sense that the tides of the cold war were somehow shifting over in favor of the Soviet Union. Many felt that the Soviet Union could never do this alone, and that they had to have a large number of spies within the United States helping them. Thus, under President Truman and later under President Eisenhower, there was a tremendous effort made to rid the United States of perceived internal "communist menace." Many idealists had dabbled in communism in the 1930s, during the Depression; this "dabbling" would now come back to haunt them.
The Truman administration began by jailing the leaders of the American Communist party under the provisions of the 1940 Smith Act. This document stated that it was illegal to advocate the overthrow by force of the American government. When some Republicans claimed that the Truman administration was "soft on communism," Truman ordered the creation of a Loyalty Review Board, which eventually had the legal jurisdiction to investigate both new and experienced federal workers. Three or four million federal workers were examined by the board; as a result of these investigations, slightly over 100 workers were removed from their jobs. Investigations revealed that some of those investigated were homosexuals, who were often hounded out of office as well.
While the Truman administration was investigating the executive branch of government, Congress decided to investigate Communists in the government and in the entertainment industry. The congressional committee overseeing these investigations was HUAC (the House Un-American Activities Committee). In 1947, HUAC began to investigate the movie industry in earnest. Committee investigators relentlessly pursued actors, directors, and writers who had attended Communist party meetings in the past. Directors of movies made during World War II that cast the Soviet Union in a favorable light (such as Mission to Moscow and North Star) were brought in for questioning. Dozens of writers, actors, and directors were called in to testify about their political orientation. The Hollywood Ten was an influential group of writers and directors who refused to answer questions posed to them by members of HUAC in an open congressional session. Members of the Hollywood Ten were all sentenced to jail time.
The effects on Hollywood were major. Some Hollywood movies of the late 1940s dealt directly with the problems of society (such as The Best Years of their Lives). As a result of pressure from HUAC, Hollywood movies became much more tame. In addition, a blacklist was made of actors, directors, and writers who were potentially communist and whom the major studios would not hire. Many Hollywood careers were ruined by the blacklist; some writers wrote under false names of had "fronts" turn in their screenplays for them. Some of those blacklisted were unable to get work until the early 1960s.
On the Senate side, Senator Pat McCarran sponsored several bills to "stop the spread of communism" in the United States. The McCarran Internal Security Act was enacted in 1950; under this bill, all Communist or Communist-front organizations had to register with the government, and members of these organizations could not work in any job related to national defense. The McCarran-Walter Act of 1952 greatly limited immigration from Asia and Eastern Europe; this would hopefully limit the "influx of communism" into the United States. President Truman vetoed both these bills, but Congress passed both of them over the president's veto.
Were There Spies in America?
The trials of Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs indicated to many Americans that there just might be Communist spies infiltrating America. In 1948, HUAC began an investigation of Hiss, a former official in the State Department and an advisor to Franklin Roosevelt at the Yalta Conference. An editor of Time magazine, Whitaker Chambers, had previously been a communist and testified to HUAC that Hiss had been a Communist too. After several trials, Hiss was finally convicted for perjury and spent four years in jail. To this day, the guilt or innocence of Alger Hiss is still debated.
In 1950, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were charged with passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. The government had much more evidence on Julius than on his wife, but they were both found guilty of espionage in 1952 and executed. Considerable debate has also taken place on the guilt of the Rosenbergs, although materials released from the Soviet archives after the fall of communism strongly implicated Ethel. Materials from these archives demonstrated that some Communists in the United States had closer ties to Moscow than was previously believed.
THE HEATING OF THE COLD WAR: KOREA
After World War II, Korea was divided into a Communist North Korea and a non-Communist and pro-American South Korea, divided along the 38th parallel. In late June 1950, North Korea invaded the south. The Security Council of the United Nations voted to send in a peacekeeping force (the Soviet Union was protesting the U.N.'s decision not to allow communist China in as a member and failed to attend the Security Council session when this was discussed). Douglas MacArthur was appointed to lead the United Nations forces, and the Korean War began.
U.N. forces under MacArthur drove northward into North Korea. In late November, forces from Communist China forced MacArthur's troops to retreat, yet by March 1951, his troops were on the offensive again. MacArthur was very critical of President Truman's handling of the war, demanding a greatly intensified bombing campaign and suggesting that Truman order the Nationalist Chinese to attack the Chinese mainland. In April 1951, Truman finally fired MacArthur for insubordination. Armistice talks to end the war dragged on for nearly two years; in the end, it was decided to divide North and South Korea along the 38th parallel (along virtually the same line that divided them before the war!). More than 57,000 Americans died in this "forgotten war."
THE RISE OF MCCARTHYISM
The seeming inability of America to decisively defeat communism both abroad and at home led to the meteoric rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. In a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, on February 9, 1950, McCarthy announced that he had a list of 205 known Communists who were working in the State Department. McCarthy's list was sometimes larger and sometimes smaller, and often also included prominent diplomats, scholars, and Defense Department and military figures. McCarthyism was the ruthless searching out for Communists in the government that took place in this period, largely without any real evidence.
For four years, McCarthy reigned supreme in Washington, with few in power or in the news media being willing to challenge him. McCarthy offered a simple reason why the United States was not conclusively winning the Cold War: because of Communists in the government. The Republican party was a semi-reluctant supporter of McCarthy in this era; a number of Republicans were skeptical of a number of McCarthy's charges, but realized that anticommunism was a "winner" for Republicans politically. McCarthy even accused Harry Truman and former Secretary of State Marshall of being "unconscious" agents of communist conspiracy.
In March 1954, McCarthy claimed in a lengthy speech that the United States Army was full of Communists as well. It was at this point that McCarthy began to run into major opposition; Republican President Eisenhower (a former general) stated privately that it was definitely time for McCarthy to be stopped. Tensions between the army and McCarthy increased when it was announced that McCarthy had asked for special privileges for an aide of his that had been drafted.
The Army-McCarthy Hearings appeared on network television, and thousands found themselves riveted to them on a daily basis. Over the course of the hearings, it was discovered that McCarthy had asked for special favors for his aide, had doctored photographs, and had used bullying tactics on a regular basis. The end was clearly in sight for McCarthy when Joseph Welch, attorney for the army, received loud applause when he asked McCarthy if he had any "sense of decency" and when reporter Edwin R. Murrow went on CBS News with a negative report about McCarthy and his tactics. In late 1954, McCarthy was formally censured by the Senate. His power gone, McCarthy died only three years later. The McCarthy era is now remembered as one in which attack by innuendo was common and where, during the investigations to "get at the truth" about communism, the civil rights of many were violated. It should be noted that several biographies have been published in the last few years exonerating McCarthy and his tactics.
THE COLD WAR POLICIES OF PRESIDENT EISENHOWER
Foreign policy decisions of the Eisenhower administration were often crafted by the Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles. Dulles felt that the policy of containment was not nearly aggressive enough; instead of merely containment, Dulles often spoke of "massive retaliation" against Communist advances anywhere in the world. Dulles also spoke of the need to use nuclear weapons if necessary. At one press conference, Dulles stated that instead of containing communism, the goal of the United States should be to "make communism retreat" whenever and wherever possible.
Eisenhower hoped that the death of Stalin in 1953 would allow a "new understanding" between the United States and the Soviet Union. In some ways, Nikita Khrushchev was different from Stalin, speaking about the possibilities of "peaceful coexistence" with the United States. However, when Hungary revolted in 1956, Khrushchev ordered this to be brutally stopped by the Soviet army.
The fate of the Hungarian leader Irme Nagy was sealed when the United States failed to assist the anti-Soviet rebellion of his government. Despite the tough talk of John Foster Dulles, who had boldly proclaimed that the United States would come to the aid of any in Eastern Europe who wanted to "liberate" themselves from communism, it was determined that U.S. forces could not be used to help the Hungarian rebels (despite the fact that the CIA operatives in Hungary had promised Nagy this aid), because this might provoke war with the Soviets. Eisenhower was also reluctant to get militarily involved in Southeast Asia, even though he believed in the domino theory, which proclaimed that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to the Communists, others would follow. In 1954, French forces in Vietnam were being overrun by nationalist forces under the control of Ho Chi Minh. The French desperately asked for aid. Despite segments of the American military who pushed for assisting the French, Eisenhower ultimately refused.
As a result, the French were finally defeated at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. After they left, an international conference took place and the Geneva Accords established a North Vietnam under the control of Ho Chi Minh and a South Vietnam under the control of the Emperor, Bao Dai. From the beginning, the United States supplied military aid to South Vietnam. By the terms of the Geneva Accords, a national election was scheduled for 1956 on the potential unification of the entire country. However, a coup in South Vietnam overthrew the emperor and sabotaged the election plans. Nevertheless, the United States continued to support South Vietnam.
The major Middle Eastern crisis during the era was the Suez Canal crisis. The United States had helped Egyptian leader Colonel Gamal Abdul Nasser build the Aswan Dam. The Egyptians wanted to purchase arms from the United States as well. When the Americans refused, the Egyptians went to the Soviets with the same request. When the United States (and Great Britain), in response, totally cut off all loans to Egypt, Nasser nationalized the British-owned Suez Canal. The British and the French attacked Egypt. In response to Soviet threats that they might join the conflict on the side of the Egyptians, the Americans got the British and the French to retreat from Egypt.
Eisenhower and Dulles desperately wanted to prevent the spread of communism in the Middle East. In January 1957, the Eisenhower Doctrine was formally unveiled, which stated that American arms would be used in the region to prevent Communist aggression. The Americans invoked the Eisenhower Doctrine when they landed troops in Beirut, Lebanon, in mid-1958 to put down a rebellion against the government.
The Americans were equally concerned with the spread of communism in Latin America, where America had numerous economic interests. A defensive alliance of most nations of the Western Hemisphere was signed as the Rio Pact in 1947. Critics would argue that the United States was never shy about throwing its weight around in the region. In 1954, the CIA helped orchestrate the overthrow of the president of Guatemala on the grounds that his administration was too friendly with the Soviet Union; during this coup, property that had been seized from American businesses was restored to American hands.
In 1959, Fidel Castro orchestrated the removal of dictator Fulgencio Batista from power. Castro soon seized American businesses located in Cuba and began trade negotiations with the Soviet Union. Thus, beginning in late 1960, the United States cut off trade with Cuba, and eventually cut off diplomatic relations with the island (a situation that still exists today).
A DANGEROUS ARMS BUILDUP
During the Eisenhower administration, both the United States and the Soviet Union built up their nuclear arsenals to dangerously high levels. By August of 1953 both countries had exploded hydrogen bombs, which made the bomb used at Hiroshima look primitive in comparison. Both countries carried out nuclear tests, although in 1958 Eisenhower and Khrushchev both agreed to suspend further atomic tests in the atmosphere.
The Soviets concentrated on building up their military capabilities in this period, causing some Americans to fear that they were falling behind, and that a "missile gap" was developing. The startling fact that the Soviets might be ahead in technology was demonstrated by their 1957 launching of Sputnik, the first man-made satellite that could orbit the earth. Americans were shocked as they could look up in the sky and see the satellite whiz by (in the next two years, many American high schools and colleges increased the number of math and science courses students had to take so that Americans could "keep up" with the Soviets). Even more troubling was the fact that American tests to create a man-made satellite had failed.
A final humiliation for the United States came in May of 1960, when the Russians shot down an American U-2 spy plane. The pilot, Francis Gary Powers, was captured and taken prisoner by Soviet forces. For several days, the Americans refused to admit that an American plane had even been shot down; Eisenhower eventually took full responsibility for the incident.
Toward the end of his term in office, Eisenhower warned of the extreme challenge to peace posed by the massive "military-industrial complex" that existed in America in the 1950s. The size of the military-industrial complex would certainly not decline in the 1960s.
CHAPTER REVIEW
To achieve the perfect 5, you should be able to explain the following:
Winning the cold war was the central goal of American policy for 45 years.
The economic impact of the cold war on American industry was enormous; many plants continued making military hardware throughout the cold war era.
The debate over who "started" the cold war has occupied the minds of historians since 1945.
Decisions made at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences ushered in cold war tensions between the World War II victors.
The concept of the "iron curtain" was first articulated by Winston Churchill in 1946.
The American strategy of containment motivated many foreign policy decisions in the cold war era.
The Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and NATO united America and Western Europe both militarily and economically against the Soviet Union and its satellites.
America's resolve to oppose communism was tested during the Berlin Crisis and the Korean War.
1949 was a critical year in the cold war, as the Soviet Union got the atomic bomb and mainland China turned Communist.
Some Americans feared that communists had infiltrated the American government and the entertainment industry; investigations by the House Un-American Activities Committee and Senator Joseph McCarthy were dedicated to "rooting out" Communists in America.
Under President Dwight Eisenhower, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles formulated an aggressive foreign policy that would not just contain communism but also attempt to roll communism back whenever possible.
During the Eisenhower administration, crises in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America further tested American resolve.
Both the Soviet Union and the United States built up their nuclear arsenals to dangerous levels in this era.
Time Line
1945: Yalta Conference / Harry Truman becomes president / Potsdam Conference
1946: Winston Churchill gives "iron curtain" speech / Article by George Kennan on containment
1947: HUAC begins to probe into movie industry / Introduction of Federal Employee Loyalty program / President Truman articulates Truman Doctrine
1948: Berlin Airlift / Implementation of Marshall Plan / Creation of nation of Israel / Alger Hiss implicated as a Communist
1949: NATO established / Soviet Union successfully tests atomic bomb / Mainland China turns Communist
1950: Joseph McCarthy gives speech on Communists in the State Department / Alger Hiss convicted of perjury / McCarran Internal Security Act enacted / Beginning of Korean War
1952: Dwight Eisenhower elected president
1953: CIA orchestrates return of Shah of Iran to power / Death of Joseph Stalin / Execution of the Rosenbergs
1954: Army-McCarthy hearings / Government in Guatemala overthrown / French defeated at Dien Bien Phu / Geneva Conference
1955: Creation of the Warsaw Pact
1956: Hungarian revolt suppressed by Soviet Union / Suez crisis
1957: Sputnik launched by Soviet Union
1959: Castro comes to power in Cuba; United States halts trade with Cuba
1960: U-2 incident / John Kennedy elected president