“It is my duty, however, to place before you certain
facts about the present position in Europe. From
Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron
curtain has descended across the Continent…
these famous cities and the populations around them
lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere,” Winston
Churchill to Westminster College (Fulton, Missouri
March 5, 1946).
How does Churchill describe post-Europe’s
condition? What is the U.S.’s role in this situation?
“Who the Hell is Harry Truman?”
Truman’s reaction to the press after hearing of FDR’s
demise, “I don’t know whether you fellows ever had a
load of hay fall on you, but when they told me yesterday
what had happened, I felt like the moon, the stars, and
all the planets had fallen on me.”
◦ Truman was only the last of FDR’s vice presidents from January
to April of 1945. Outside of Missouri, he was hardly known.
◦ Yet this former lawyer, judge and senator from Missouri was
hardly a pushover. It quickly became apparent that he promoted
a hardline against Soviet expansion abroad while attempting to
continue FDR’s New Deals at home
Soviet Ambassador Molotov stated “I have never been talked to like that in
my life,” in response to how Truman treated him when discussing the Soviet
occupation of Poland
The stage was set for another contest to begin, but this time primarily between the U.S. led by
Truman and the USSR led by Josef Stalin.
America’s Role on the Global Stage
What do these images
suggest about the
U.S.’s postwar role?
Can it afford to
maintain a isolationist
stance, why or why
not?
(Above) What lays
between the Soviet
bear and the
American eagle?
How does this
below image
distinguish the west
from the eastern
powers?
Reason for Hope – The United
Nations
Based on the Atlantic Charter, the
UN officially began in April, 1945 in
San Francisco, CA
◦ 11 Members made up the Security
Council
Britain, France, the U.S., China & USSR are
permanent members (security decisions
must be unanimous)
U.S. Senate ratifies U.S.
involvement 89 to 2 (complete
opposite outcome from Senate vote
on joining the League of Nations!)
Universal Declaration of Human Ri
ghts in 1948
◦ What type of rights does this
declaration protect? Does it sound
familiar? How are they familiar to the
founding documents of the U.S.?
Despite the creation of the
United Nations, there were
distinct ideological
differences between the
world’s two superpowers,
which led to another drawn
out conflict…
Europe’s Post-War Geo-Political Map
What are the
two main
power blocs
depicted in
this map?
What type of
political
system did
the west
support
(statesupported
capitalism)?
The East
(totalitarian
communism)?
Where did the
U.S. fit in
these power
blocs?
Containment – Appeasement is no
longer the game’s name
Following 1945, many world leaders
accepted what later critics would call
the Munich syndrome (in reference to
the 1938 Munich Agreement)
◦ Hitler was only able to succeed because the
world’s major powers appeased his
demands
U.S. ambassador George F. Kennan
(fluent in Russia, well versed in Russian
history and the 1917 Revolution) coined
the term containment in the “Long
Telegram” (1946), which focused on the
Soviet Union’s postwar position
◦ It stated that the Soviet Union was a direct
threat to liberal democracy across the globe,
but “that Soviet power…bears within it the
seeds of its own decay.”
◦ The U.S., according to Kennan simply
needed to maintain the Soviet threat
Eventually, Kennan was vindicated by the
dissolution of the USSR from 1989-1991
(Above) Later referred to
as “Article X,” the Long
Telegram played a crucial
role in shaping postwar
U.S. foreign policy
End of the Grand Alliance
The alliance amongst the
Allies and the USSR was
known as the Grand Alliance
◦ Stability of the alliance
deteriorated quickly after the end
of WW II, due to…
◦ Ideological incompatibility
(capitalist democracy vs.
totalitarian communism)
◦ & Conflict over territorial
sovereignty
E.g. (review Slide 5) All nations from
Bulgaria to Poland were independent
nations prior to WW II
◦ The U.S.’s Response was largely
influenced by Kennan’s concept
of containment
Truman Doctrine – U.S. President Harry
Truman begins promotion of the
containment policy – review the
doctrine, what was the Truman
Doctrine? Do you think this was a
successful policy, why or why not?
E.g. (Above) U.S. spends over $600
million on Turkey and Greece to
maintain their democratic systems of
government in the late 1940s
U.S. Foreign Policy cont. – The
Marshall Plan – 1948-51
Following WW II, Europe was, “a rubble
heap, a charnel house, a breeding ground
of pestilence and hate,” – Winston Churchill
◦ He was referring to both the physical destruction
of postwar Europe as well as over a million
displaced European migrants
In order to end, “hunger, poverty,
desperation and chaos,” U.S. General
George C. Marshall proposed the
Marshall Plan (he wanted to extend
postwar aid to all European nations)
◦ Provided Non-USSR European
countries with over $13 billion in aid
from the U.S.
◦ What message does this political cartoon
depict? How does it contrast the Marshall Plan
with Stalin’s Plan?
Marshall Plan (cont.)
Stalin refused aid from the Marshall Plan
◦ Why do you think he was reluctant to accept U.S.
aid?
◦ The following is an excerpt from Stalin’s response
to Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech in 1946. What
argument(s) does Stalin represent in his rebuttal?
Eventually, some recipients of the Marshall
Plan become resentful for the aid, such as
France
◦ Why would a beneficiary of the plan become
resentful? Would they have full autonomy in
distributing the aid?
The Berlin Airlift (1948-49) – “If we mean to hold
Europe against Communism, we must not budge,” –
U.S. commander in Western Berlin
Following WW II, the USSR & Allied
(British, French & U.S.) powers
divided Germany
◦ Berlin was likewise divided
On June 23, 1948, the USSR blocks
all trade to West Berlin
◦ What did the USSR hope to gain?
Obtain all of Berlin for the USSR, cause disunity
amongst the British, French & U.S. in response
to this crisis, and stop western Germany from
forming into one nation
◦ Leads to the Berlin Airlift
The Allies flew 5,000 tons of supplies into Berlin
daily amounting to 1.5 million tons from June,
1948 to May of 1949 when the USSR finally
lifted the blockade
The airlift demonstrated the use of containment,
which avoided an all out war between the
world’s 2 superpowers and their allies, but…
Formalization of the Cold War
The U.S., with 11 other nations (incl. France and Britain)
form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on April 4,
1949
NATO guaranteed military security for all of its members
◦ Truman argued that NATO would create, “a shield against
aggression and the fear of aggression-a bulwark which will
permit us to get on with the real business…of achieving a fuller
and happier life.”
After Western Germany was rearmed, the USSR formed
the Warsaw Treaty Organization in 1955, creating the
Warsaw Pact (the Soviet Union’s response to NATO)
◦ Review Slide 5 – What are the advantages/disadvantages of
these power blocs?
The Dawn of the Atomic Age
In 1949, the U.S. 4-year monopoly on the
bomb ended
◦ USSR tested their first nuclear warheads
Truman authorizes the research &
construction of hydrogen bombs
◦ The U.S. begins to rearm conventionally as a
result of the Korean War, which led to the
publication and support of
Document National Security Council-68
NSC-68 also led to a peacetime draft in the U.S. that did
not end until 1973
The following clip by Japanese artist Isao
Hashimoto reflects the frequency of nuclear
tests from 1945 to the early 1990s (while it
does start off slow, I strongly encourage you
to watch at least the first 6 minutes, you
then ought to go to the end to see the total
number of nuclear tests, it is a shocking
number)
◦ The atomic age, along with the rise of
Communist nations in eastern Europe and Asia,
led the U.S. to view any leftist movements across
the globe with extreme suspicion
(Above) Detonation of a hydrogen
bomb)
(Below) Nuclear detonation at Bikini
Atoll that demonstrated the tactical
worth of warheads on the high seas
Formalization of the Cold War (cont.)
As the 1950s progressed, it became
increasingly apparent that the U.S. and
USSR were the world’s two dominant
superpowers
◦ Former world powers, such as France, and
Britain, entered a period of decolonization
◦ Germany and Japan entered lengthy periods of
much needed reconstruction
The Cold War was by no means limited to
Europe, it quickly extended to Eastern Asia
According to the above map, which Asian nations (outside of the USSR), were
Communist nations?
Which nations were allied with the U.S.?
While the Cold War continued in Europe, in East Asia it led to a series of proxy
wars that did not end until 1979
Issues to the East
In 1949, Mao Zedong and
the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) defeated the
Nationalist Party (KMT,
which fled to Taiwan, held a
permanent UN security seat
until 1971) and created the
People’s Republic of China
(1949-Today)
◦ The Soviet Union quickly took
advantage of the situation by
recognizing the People’s
Republic of China and
establishing peaceful relations
◦ The U.S.’s reaction?
The creation of the People’s
Republic set off a wave of fear in
the U.S. demonstrated by this
Time Magazine Cover
CCP
propaganda
often misled
foreign
observers to
think China
was a land
of plenty
when in fact
Mao’s
policies led
to mass
starvation in
the 1950s
The “Lost China” Theory
The defeat of Chiang’s forces coincided
with the U.S.’s second red scare (1948-
1954)
◦ During this time, politicians like Senator
Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957) and
representative Richard Nixon (1913-1994)
whipped up public hysteria by indicating
communists had infiltrated several portions
of the U.S. government
Consequently, the suggestion of
military advisors like U.S. General
“Vinegar Joe,” that the U.S. should
work with the CCP were brushed aside
◦ Accusations started to fly that the U.S. had
“Lost China.”
◦ What that claim never seemed to consider
is was China the U.S.’s in the first place?
As we know, it was not (the benefit of hindsight
allows us to analyze this issue more clearly
though)
U.S. Cartoonist
Herblock criticized
the paranoia that
the second red
scare exhibited in
several political
cartoons,
including…
The U.S. did not
recognize the PRC, a
situation that would not
change until, ironically
the Nixon
administration. From
1950-1972, U.S.-Sino
relations were icy.
Japan “Embracing Defeat”
While Germany was divided between
4 major powers for reconstruction,
the U.S. took on the reconstruction of
Japan by itself
◦ This became an opportunity for the U.S.
to have a stronger presence in the Asian
theater
U.S. General Douglas MacArthur
effectively became Japan’s viceroy
(ruler) from 1945-49
◦ He was responsible for reconstructing
Japan physically, politically, and socially
(a huge undertaking to say the least)
U.S. supervision did result in…
◦ Rebuilding Japan’s infrastructure
◦ Creating a new constitution (which
included women’s suffrage) &
Deconstructing Japan’s military…
(Above) MacArthur enters Tokyo,
Japan on Sept. 8, 1945
(Below) Postwar Tokyo, 1945
Japan “Embracing Defeat”
(cont.) At the same time, this period of occupation
witnessed two Japan’s
◦ The U.S. GI Japan where soldiers enjoyed a wide
array of luxuries (ranging from food, housing,
prostitutes, and stability)
◦ & The Japanese Japan, which was filled with
starving street children, homeless veterans, and
emerging gangs
Example: While the GI ate well more than 2,000 calories
a day, the Japanese adult was rationed at 1,100 calories
(this figure dropped from 1946-47!)
As one could easily die from such minimal subsistence, nearly
the entire nation relied on the Black Market
Since Japan’s agricultural and fishing
industry required a full recovery,
reconstruction without U.S. involvement
would have been even more catastrophic
◦ Still, MacArthur tended to rely on the preexisting
elite, which meant Japan’s new democracy had
many of the same aristocratic leaders prior to the
war
◦ By 1949, Japan regained its political autonomy,
but still had a long way to go before becoming
the super economy it is today
(Above) Japanese children crowd for goods from
a GI, phrases like “Give me Chocolate,” became
a regular saying in postwar Japan
Street Children in
Tokyo, 1946 (a regular
sight across the
nation)
Japan “Embracing Defeat”
(cont.)
Perhaps the most telling
signs of defeat were the
games children played
regularly throughout the
occupation
In this image, a Japanese
boy plays with Japanese
girls by pretending to be a
GI picking up prostitutes.
Historian John Dower
points out the regularity of
these events was another
demonstration how Japan
was not just defeated
militarily, but culturally as
well.
The Korean War (1950-53) – The First Hot Cold War
Following WW II, the
Korean peninsula was split
into North and South Korea
Communist North Korean
Leader Kim Il Sung (1912-
1994) enjoyed martial and
logistical support from both
China and the USSR
◦ He fully utilized these
resources by invading South
Korea in 1950
The International
Response?
Korean War (cont.)
The Korean War was not only
contested between Koreans, but
between the world’s superpowers
◦ The U.S., and the UN supported South
Korea directly with military forces
The USSR boycotted the UN, which enabled
the security council to unanimously agree to
support South Korea militarily
The Japanese home islands were of the
utmost strategic importance to the UN forces,
especially since North Korea nearly overran
South Korea in the first year of the war
◦ While the USSR and China supported
North Korea
The USSR mostly sent equipment and
supplies rather than troops (they did send
pilots though), but the Chinese sent a
volunteer force of over 300,000 troops to aid
North Korea
Costs of the Korean War
(Above left & left)
Remains of the
Korean Capital Seoul
It changed hands
7 times during the
war
(Above) Similarly, large
portions of the Korean
landscape were scarred
by warfare
Total Casualties
(including all sides): est.
at 3 million, the vast
majority were civilians
Lessons of the Korean War
The Korean War demonstrated the
continuation of conventional (non-nuclear)
warfare, but also…
◦ The limits of diplomacy (fighting stabilized along the
38th parallel by late 1951, but it took an additional 2
years for all sides to come to a peace agreement)
◦ The Costs of a Cold War
While neither superpower directly fought one another, their
support for lesser powers led to a prolonged conflict
◦ The Global Aspects of the Cold War
The Cold War was not only contested in Europe, but across
the globe
Early Cold War Review
By the 1950s, the Warsaw Pact & NATO
were established
◦ Both sides had nuclear capabilities
The U.S. supported containment, but also
suffered from the “Munich Syndrome”
Both Power Blocs were willing to use
military force, but did not resort to direct
confrontation between the U.S. & USSR
The UN provided both blocs a world stage
to voice their perspectives
Paranoia in the “Land of the
Plenty”
Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (WI),
“In my opinion the State
Department…is thoroughly infested
with Communists.”
The Postwar Boom
Due to the fortuitous geographic location of the U.S.,
the U.S. endured only negligible attacks (e.g.
Japanese hot air balloon bombs) during WW II
◦ This factor combined with a vast wartime federal expenditure,
a low national unemployment rate , but with limited consumer
spending, created the perfect conditions for a postwar boom,
also known as a “Land of Plenty”
U.S. Gross National Product increased from $101
billion (1940) to $347 billion (1952)
◦ After 1945, civilian consumption, which had been limited by
rationing and war conditions, skyrockets (U.S. becomes
strongest economy in the world)
Servicemen Readjustment Act (GI Bill of Rights) of
1944 provided veterans $13 billion
◦ Provided funds for, “education, vocational training, medical
treatment, unemployment insurance,” & more
◦ This bill led to the eventual creation of thousands of
community colleges (including Montgomery College) to
service returning students
◦ The majority of teenagers did not attend high school until
1945 (the average college graduation rate was 160,000 in
1939, this increased to over 500,000 by 1950)
The U.S. educational scene was about to change drastically from
offering higher education to only the upper elite – It would go through a
“democratization” effect, which continues to this day
(Above) This image attests to
postwar U.S. prosperity by
showing the average American
family’s consumption habits in the
late 1940s
The Baby Boom Generation &
Medical Advances
From 1945-60, the
population grew by 40
million (30%) because
of…
◦ 12 million returning
Veterans
◦ & medical advances, such
as…
Penicillin (1929), actinomycin
(1940), Polio vaccine (1955),
and advancement of x-ray and
dialysis machines
Many illnesses and conditions
that were before seen as
death sentences (such as
tuberculosis) became
treatable
Gender Equality in the
1950s…
Concerning this last note, just like after WW I, women after WW II
faced significant pressure to return to the homestead
◦ Did the U.S. promote socioeconomic equality for the 5 million women who
completed war work after WW II? Note quite, for example…
“A Special issue of Life Magazine in 1956 featured the
‘ideal’ middle-class woman, a thirty two year old ‘pretty
and popular’ suburban housewife, mother of four, who
had married at age sixteen. She was described as an
excellent wife, mother, volunteer, and ‘home manager’
who made her own clothes, hosted dozens of dinner
parties each year, sang in the church choir, worked with
the school PTA, and Campfire Girls, and was devoted to
her husband. ‘In her daily round,’ Life reported, ‘she
attends club or charity meetings, drives the children to
school, does the weekly grocery shopping, makes
ceramics, and is planning to study French.’ She also
exercised on a trampoline in order ‘to keep her size 12
figure.’”
The Cold War at Home
In 1938, the House of Representatives
created the House Un-American Activities
Committee
◦ It promoted a America based on ethnic hardline
(Americans of Anglo-Saxon, French & Low
Countries descent) Democratic capitalist values
◦ However, it was considered a political backwater
until the postwar period, why?
◦ Review the next slide’s images carefully, what
does it suggest about the Committee’s role(s)?
What do they say about political freedoms in the
postwar U.S.?
The House Un-American Activities
Committee
The Alger Hiss Trials, & The
Beginning of McCarthyism
On March 21, 1947, Truman began a
mandatory loyalty program for all federal
employees (this led to the review of 3
million people’s background, 2,000
resignations and over 200 dismissals
based on largely circumstantial evidence)
◦ The Hiss Trials (1949-50) were televised that
focused on Alger Hiss’s affiliation with the
American Communist Party and trading secrets
with the Soviet Union when he held sensitive
positions in the U.S. State Department
Hiss’s guilt is undoubtable today, but one of the
leading HUAC members, Richard Nixon admitted to
making up evidence during the Watergate scandal as
he claimed the Department of Justice was not easy to
work with…
The Hiss Trials did not just lead to the rise
of Richard Nixon’s political career, but also
of Wisconsin Republican Senator Joseph
McCarthy (1908-57)
◦ McCarthyism led to a witch-hunt throughout the
country.
Herblock
thoroughly
criticized the
witch-hunt
like craze
that
McCarthyism
inspired
McCarthyism (cont.)
On Feb. 9, 1950 in Wheeling, WV, McCarthy gave a speech where he claimed
he had a list of Communists that had infiltrated the U.S. State Department – this
led to witch-hunt like proceedings throughout the U.S.
One historian noted, “McCarthy then turned, in what became his
common tactic, to other charges, other names. Whenever his
charges were refuted, he loosed a scattershot of new charges.
By his hit-and-run tactics, McCarthy planted suspicions without
proof and even more impudent. ‘He lied with wild abandon,’ one
commentator wrote: ‘he lied without evident fear…he lied vividly
and with bold imagination; he lied often, with very little pretense
of telling the truth.’”
◦ McCarthy accused hundreds of Americans of being Communists, but none of his
accusations led to a single conviction (it did ruin several people’s careers though)
◦ In 1954, McCarthy accused senior members of the U.S. Army of being communists
(including General Marshall) – this led to his downfall and his own eventual death due to
alcoholism (he died in the Bethesda MD Naval Hospital that still functions today)
◦ Despite McCarthy’s death, U.S. federal, state and local governments were fairly hostile to
any potential Communist/Socialist political movements within the U.S. (in all seriousness, if
you are thinking about getting a government position, I recommend that you do not join a
Communist or Socialist club/party as that could eliminate your application by default)
A Literary Response to the Changing
Times
Novelists like African American
Ralph Ellison and playwrights like
Arthur Miller critiqued this period of
history severely
Ellison demonstrated the
continued limitations for blacks in
both the Jim Crow South and
urban north in his work Invisible
Man (1952)
Miller compared
McCarthyism to
the absurdities of
the 1692 Salem
Witch Trials in
The Crucible, but
also focused on
the difficulties of
financial success
and dangers of
conformism in
his play Death of
a Salesman
Regardless of
one’s political
position(s), Miller
was a great
playwright and
his plays are
certainly worth
attending!
An Artistic Response
Above – Jackson Pollock’s (1912-1956) Autumn Rhythm
The destruction of WW 2, introduction o(f 1n9u5cl0e)ar technology, rise of the Cold
War, and paranoia of Communism at home caused artists like Jackson Pollock
to move in a completely different direction with a style known as abstract
expressionism – how does the above canvas differ from works by Thomas
Moran or even Picasso? Are there any solid objects? What is Pollock trying to
convey (the chaos of the world)?
Truman Hands Out A Fair Deal
Truman desired to improve upon the
New Deals by…
◦ Ensuring civil rights, and increasing the
minimum wage, spending on education,
rural electrification, the Marshall Plan, &
social security
◦ One Republican Representative
remarked, “Not even President
Roosevelt asked for so much at one
sitting.”
Truman was not only interested in
protecting U.S. interests abroad, but
also to level the U.S. socioeconomic
playing field
◦ Despite the Chicago Daily Tribune’s
claim that Republic Dewey won the
1948 election, it was in fact Truman who
carried the day, but at the loss of the
“Dixiecrats” (Southern Democrats who
wanted to maintain segregation)
Resistance in the South
Segregationists in MS, AL, LA, and
SC broke apart from the Democrat
Party and called themselves the
States’ Rights Democrats
◦ Truman’s call for a federal government
to “defend the rights and equalities of
all Americans,” was too much for J.
Strom Thurmond (SC) to accept
While this party eventually fizzled
out, it reflects upon the prevalence
of racist attitudes in postwar
America (e.g. it would be
economical beneficial to both poor
whites and blacks to end
sharecropping and increase
educational opportunities, but
racism prevailed over economic
common sense)
◦ This is a subject we will return to next
week!
Time for National Health Insurance?
How did private insurance
companies become so prominent
in the U.S.?
Truman also hoped to create a
compulsory health insurance
program (the current Affordable
Care Act is by no means a new
idea!)
◦ On November 19, 1945 – Truman
supported the Wagner-Murray-Dingell
Bill – it proposed to create a
government sponsored form of health
insurance that all Americans could join
From 1945-49, the combination of
resistance from Dixiecrats, the
AMA, Hospital, & Pharmaceutical
associations, as well as insurance
companies led to the bill’s demise
The above is an example of the American
Medical Association’s opposition to Truman’s
plan, notice how the AMA used a symbol of the
early U.S. Republic to support their position
Why was there so much opposition to
a government insurance plan?
Florida Senator Claude Pepper Democrat (supporter of the Wagner-
Murray-Dingell Bill) made the following comment on May 24, 1949
when trying to debate the merits of health insurance, ““I subscribe
to your hope that we may get away from the practice of
name-calling. Would you go so far as to say that would
prevent you folks who do not like our national health
insurance program to quit calling us the advocates of
socialized medicine?… As I said to a medical society in
Jacksonville when I spoke to them, I will not accuse
you of being selfish and acting out of pecuniary
motives if you will not accuse me of being a Socialist
and acting out of sheer political motives.”
His hopes were never realized – McCarthyism made any
government sponsored plan a suspect of socialism – by doing so, it
guaranteed the bill’s demise during a time of anticommunist paranoia
What about the doctor’s position?
Protecting the Patient-Doctor
relationship
The AMA claimed that
a government plan
would ruin the trusted
patient-doctor
relationship depicted
in this image.
Even though the AMA
successfully defeated
the health bill, even
the most dedicated
promoter of private
health insurance
today would admit
that private health
insurance companies
regularly interfere in
patient-doctor care
(e.g. try appealing a
claim)
Truman’s Legacies
Leaving office after his first elected
term, Truman’s popularity ratings had
plummeted, however…
◦ He had established a concrete foreign
policy
◦ Promoted Civil Rights
◦ Promoted more socioeconomic rights for
the everyday American
◦ & Attempted to curb the anti-Communist
hysteria (he considered this one of his
largest failures as President)
“It is Time for a Change” – Dwight D.
Eisenhower
Televised Attack Ads – Presidential politics become televised
Just as the
White House
returned to the
Republican
Party following
WW I, the
same took
place in 1952
when former
Supreme Allied
Commander
Dwight D.
Eisenhower
successfully
ran for office
The post The U.S.’s Foreign Policy in Post appeared first on My Assignment Online.