At the end of World War II, the Allies' tenuous relationship with the Soviet Union fell apart. The United States dropped the only nuclear weapons ever used in warfare, thus demonstrating its technical power. Shortly afterward, the Soviet Union demonstrated its nuclear weapons. From the 1940s until 1989, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a competition for world power and domination. Eventually, the Soviet Union fell apart and the United States became the world's lone superpower.
great links: The Cold War Museum CNN: The Cold War
Harry Truman becomes president
· April 12, 1945: Roosevelt dies at the Little White House in Warm Springs, · Georgia with his mistress
· Truman was having a drink with the Speaker of the House, when he was · summoned to the White House
· Eleanor Roosevelt informed him
May 8, 1945
· Allies drop nuclear bombs on Japan
· A blinding flash of light; a giant fireball
· "It's like a peep into hell."
· Shock wave, firestorm, cyclonic winds, radioactive rain
· Death toll: 140,000 (23 American prisoners)
· 4 square miles to total destruction
Two atomic bombs
· A Uranium 235 bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945
· A Plutonium 239 bomb was dropped on Nagasaki August 9, 1945
· August 10, 1945: Japan surrenders
Baby Boomers
· Military veterans returned home
· Babies were made
· 1930s: population growth was 9 million
· 1940s: population growth was 19 million
The United Nations
· works for international peace and security
· seeks cooperation in solving problems
· October 24, 1945, San Francisco: Delegates from 50 nations created a charter
· 150 nations eventually joined
· U.N. headquarters in New York City
How did Soviets become enemies?
· American economic imperialism forced a policy that was unnecessarily belligerent in order to create American spheres of influence
· Soviet aggression, led by a paranoid dictator, tried to dominate the globe and the U.S. had no choice but to stand firm
Containment
· 1947: Stalin says that "under the present capitalistic development of the world economy."
· George Kennan: published an article in Foreign Affairs under the byline of "X"
Explained Washington's vigorous anti-Soviet policy: "a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies"
Truman Doctrine
· March 12, 1947
· Plan of international resistance to communist expansion
· U.S. must grant moral and economic assistance to any country whose stability was threatened by communist expansion
The Marshall Plan
· Secretary of State George Marshall
· 1947: The European Recovery Program
· A five-year program to help war-torn Europe recover
· $13 billion in loans between 1948 and 1951
· 16 countries were recipients
Greece and Turkey
· Truman: "I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."
· $659 million
· Turkey achieved economic stability
· Greece defeated the communist insurrection
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
· Alliance of 12 nations
· Guarantees joint action after an attack on any member nation
· Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, U.K. and U.S.
Civil Rights
· Nazis were opposed for being racist
· National Emergency Committee Against Mob Violence graphically described incidents of torture and intimidation in the South
· Truman created a permanent civil rights commission to investigate abuses
· Army bans racial discrimination
· July 26, 1948: Truman bans racial discrimination in hiring federal employees
· July 30, 1948: Truman bans racial segregation in the armed forces
Truman thought that this was "the greatest thing that ever happened to America."
Opposition to Truman
· Liberals thought his efforts were misdirected and that his solutions were too conservative
· Conservative Democrats thought he was too radical
Thomas Dewey
· New York City prosecuting attorney
· Three terms as governor of New York
· Republican candidate in 1944
· Republican candidate in 1948
Election 1948
· Democrat: Harry Truman
· Republican: Thomas Dewey
· Dixiecrat: Strom Thurmond
· Progressive: Henry Wallace
J. Strom Thurmond
· 1947-1951: Governor of South Carolina
· 1954-2002: Senator from South Carolina
· 1948: wass unhappy with Truman's civil rights policy, walked out of Democratic Convention
· Birmingham: States' Rights Democratic ticket
Agreement between Democrats and Republicans
· higher minimum wage
· Social Security expansion
· extension of rent controls
· farm price supports
· public housing
· rural electrification
Disagreement between Democrats and Republicans
· civil rights bills
· national health insurance
· federal aid to education
· farm subsidies
Red scare
· House Un-American Activities Committee
· Sen. Joe McCarthy used forged documents and faked pictures to intimidate and harass witnesses of the committee
· A search for subversives in government
· 1947: HUAC wanted to prove that the Screen Writers Guild was dominated by communists
