Chapt e r 2 3

The United States and the Cold War

Period 8: 1945-1953
Introducing the main points of the chapter: The Cold War
★ The Two Conflicting Power
★ Containment
★ Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan
★ The Korean War
★ Freedom and Totalitarianism
★ Human Rights
★ The Cultural Cold War
 Historical Causation
The Two Powers
- Opposing political views and values for the two major powers (United States and the Soviet Union) eventually led to
the Cold War. As both sides wanted to promote and influence their own political views, the conflict between the
U.S.S.R. and the United States was unavoidable.

The Roots of Containment

- Early in 1946, American diplomat, George Kennan advised the Truman administration that the Soviets should not be
dealt as a normal government because their communist ideology drove them to try to expand their power
throughout the whole world, and only the United States had the ability to stop them. His telegram laid the
foundation for what became known as the policy of “containment” which committed the United States to prevent
any further political expansion of the Soviet Union.
The Truman Doctrine
Historical Causation - Contd.
- The Truman Doctrine was announced to Congress on March 12, 1947
- asked the United States to adopt the policy of containment
- The United States was going to get involved in countries that are under the threat of turning to communism and
Soviet takeover
- Was first applied to Greece and Turkey
- The United States sent financial and military aid to Greece, who was dealing with a civil war, and financial aid to
Turkey.
- This stopped Soviet influence in the Middle East and left the Soviets to either go towards the West or East.
 Historical Causation - Contd.
The Marshall Plan
Secretary of State, George Marshall, proposes the Marshall Plan in June 1947 during a speech at Harvard University. He
argues for America to give financial aid to Europe to…
1. Rebuild the economy
2. Rebuild the currency
3. Foster Free Trade between America and Europe
4. CONTAINMENT!!!
- The Marshall Plan’s main goal was to contain the spreading of communism
by offering European countries financial aid
- Although the Marshall plan was extremely successfully in containing communism
in Europe, the Soviets spread to the Eastern countries like China and Korea.
 Historical Causation - Contd.
The Korean War
- After World War 2, Korea had been divided into Soviet and American zones with
North Korea becoming a communist government and South Korea becoming an
anticommunist government.
- In June 1950, the North Korean army invaded South Korea hoping to reunify the
country under communist control.
- Seeking this as an opportunity for containment, the Truman administration
persuaded the United Nations Security Council to authorize the use of force to
repel the invasion
- This was the first battlefield of the Cold War
- In Sep 1950, General Douglas MacArthur launched a daring counterattack at
Inchon which led North Korean forces and American forces North.
- Truman hoped to unite Korea with a pro-American government
- In Oct 1950, chinese troops intervened
- 1953, Korea’s prewar status quo restored with no formal peace treaty ending
the Korean War
 Patterns of Continuity and Change over Time
Freedom and Totalitarianism

● Totalitarianism gives the state ultimate power through dictatorship

● Such states gave no individual rights

● Widespread use of totalitarianism reinforced the danger of freedom in an overly

powerful government.

● The Cold War reshaped the understanding of freedom.

● The Soviets opposed organized religion, so to “strengthen our national resistance

to communism,” Congress in 1954 added the words “under God” to the Pledge of

Allegiance.
 Periodization
1949:
1945: - North Atlantic Treaty
- Yalta Conference - Soviet Union tests atomic bomb
1946: - People’s Republic of China established
- Philippines granted Independence 1950-1953:
1947: - Korean War
1950:
- Truman Doctrine - McCarthy charges that 205 communists work
- Federal employee loyalty program for the State Department
- House Un-American Activities - McCarran Internal Security Act
- Committee investigates Hollywood - NSC-68 issued
- Taft-Hartley Act 1951:
- Dennis v. United States
- Freedom Train exhibition
1953:
- Marshall Plan - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed for
1948-1949: spying
- The UN adopts the Universal Declaration 1945:
of Human Rights - Army-McCarthy hearings
1955:
- Warsaw Pact organized
 Comparison and Contextualization
Totalitarianism during the past years North Korea even now is totalitarian
At the end of World War II, Korea was divided into two
- Adolf Hitler's and all the terror he brought to this world regions.
was seen as the most successful dictatorships in history.

- Many successful dictators in history left their heir to no 1949 Kim started the Worker’s Party of Korea and became the
one, therefore killing the idea of their mission to live on. chairman of this communist party thus making the country a
full-fledged communist state.

Up until this point, Stalin had worked Kim like a

puppet controlling every move he made. Once he was
out of the picture, Kim had free reign to make this
nation into whatever he wanted to do. What really
kicked this off was in 1956 during what has been
deemed the “Great Purge” of North Korea.
 Historical Argumentation
The Rise of Human Rights
● The Cold War brought an emerging concept of human rights.
● Lead from the 18th century (ever since Enlightenment and the American and French Revolution the
idea of freedom flickered) -- the idea that every human individual had rights.
● Universal Declaration of Human Rights - drafted by a committee chaired by

Eleanor Roosevelt. It identified a broad range of rights to be enjoyed by people

everywhere, including freedom of speech, religious toleration, and protection

against arbitrary government, as well as social and economic entitlements like

the right to adequate standard of living and access to housing, education, and

medical care.
 Historical Argumentation
Ambiguities of Human Rights

The American and French Revolutions of the late 18th century had introduced the idea of basic rights
belonging to all persons simply because they are human. In a sense, this was the origin of the idea of
“human rights”. The antislavery movement had turned this idea into a powerful weapon against the
legitimacy of slavery.

One reason for the lack of an enforcement mechanism in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was
that both the United States and the Soviet Union refused to accept outside interference in their internal
affairs or restraints on their ability to conduct foreign policy as they desired.

After the cold war ended, the idea of human rights would play an increasingly prominent role in world
affairs. The Soviets claimed to provide all citizens with social and economic rights, but violated democratic
rights and civil liberties. Many Americans condemned the nonpolitical rights as a step toward socialism.
 Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence
❖ Although the point of view of the Cold War mainly came from the United States and
viewed the U.S.S.R as the “enemy”, Eric Foner shows that it is important to see from a
different point of view because as Foner writes, they all believed that they were fighting
for the right thing. Eric Foner writes, “As Truman’s speech to Congress suggested, the Cold
War was, in part, an ideological conflict. Both sides claimed to be promoting freedom and
social justice while defending their own security, and each offered its social system as a
model the rest of the world should follow.”
 Interpretation
The Cultural Cold War

- National security agencies encouraged hollywood to produce anti communist films.

- To influence public opinion abroad, the Soviet union sponsored tours of its world-famous ballet
companies, folk dance troupes, and symphony orchestras.
- To counteract the widespread european view of the united states as a cultural backwater, the CIA secretly
funded an array of overseas publications, conferences, publishing houses, concerts, and art exhibits.
- And to try and improve the international image of American race relations, the government sent jazz
musicians and other black performers abroad, especially africa and asia. Works produced by artists who
considered themselves thoroughly nonpolitical became weapons in the cultural cold war.
- The CIA promoted the New York school of painters, led by Jackson Pollack.
- It hoped to persuade Europeans not only that these paintings demonstrated that the US represented
artistic leadership as well as military power, but that such art embodied the free, individual expression
denied to artists in communist countries
 Synthesis // Conclusion
➢ Cold War (1947) conflicts between the Soviet Union and America engendered.
➢ The US wanted to contain any communism the Soviet Union wanted to spread.
➢ Truman Doctrine (1947)
➢ Marshall Plan
➢ Korean War
➢ Totalitarianism
➢ Cold war reshaped ideas of freedom
GPO
 Investigate the World
President Truman was able to investigate many parts of the world during the Cold War as his
main task was the containment of communism in all parts of the world. He felt that America
had a global responsibility against communism, and his decisions had an effect, short-term and
long-term, throughout the world.
 Recognize Perspectives

As previously mentioned before, Truman understood that the Cold War was
an ideological war between the political values of the U.S.S.R. and the
political values of the United States. So, Truman was able to acknowledge
and recognized the perspectives of the Soviet Union. It does not mean he
agreed with their political views, but rather that Truman acknowledges that
both sides have their own ideology that they think is right.
 Take Action
★ The CIA took action to prove that they were important as when they first emerged into
the scene during the Cold War, they weren’t expected to be of much help to the US. The
CIA funded, held meetings, and created art exhibits.
★ They gathered information to frame policies against any aggression against the US
★ CIA carried out surveillance of the Soviet Union and other pro-communist states
 Communicate Ideas

★ During 1950s, freedom became an inescapable theme of academic research, popular

journalism, mass culture, and official pronouncements.
★ It popularized mobilization, which the idea of freedom played a central role. In many
ways, the cold war established the framework for the discussion of freedom.
 Work Cited
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty 3rd Ed. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014. Print.

Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. New York, NY: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2015. Print.