This document provides an overview of the onset of the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union following World War II. It discusses the key issues that divided the two superpowers, including the control of postwar Europe and the division of the continent between Western and Soviet spheres of influence. It also examines the beginnings of nuclear arms race and the development of opposing military alliances as the Cold War expanded globally throughout the late 1940s and 1950s.

1. Chapter 28
THE ONSET OF
THE COLD WAR
America Past and Present
Eighth Edition
Divine  Breen  Fredrickson  Williams  Gross  Brand
Copyright 2007, Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Longman

2. The Cold War Begins:
Issues Dividing U.S., U.S.S.R.
• Control of postwar Europe
• Economic aid
• Nuclear disarmament

3. The Division of Europe
• 1945: Russians occupied eastern
Europe, American troops occupied
western Europe
• Soviet Union sought eastern European
buffer
• U.S. demanded national self-determination
through free elections
throughout Europe
• Stalin converted eastern Europe into a
system of satellite nations

4. Europe after World War II

5. Withholding Economic Aid
• Russia devastated by World War II
• Some Americans sought to influence
Russia with Lend-Lease economic aid
• 1945: United States halted Lend-Lease
without Russian settlement
• Leverage lost in shaping Soviet policy

6. The Atomic Dilemma
• 1943: Nuclear race between U.S. and
U.S.S.R.
• 1946: Baruch Plan
– Rapid reduction of U.S. military force
– Gradual reduction favored U.S. atomic
monopoly
• Soviet Union
– Larger conventional army than U.S.
– Immediate abolition of atomic weapons

7. Containment
• 1947: George C. Marshall
appointed Secretary of State
• Dean Acheson: England's former
role as arbiter of world affairs
• George Kennan: Called for
“containment of Russia’s expansive
tendencies”

8. The Truman Doctrine
• 1947: Truman sought funds to keep
Greece, Turkey in Western sphere of
influence
• Truman Doctrine: “Support free
peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or
outside pressure”
• Doctrine an informal declaration of cold
war against the Soviet Union

9. The Marshall Plan
• 1947: George Marshall proposed aid
for rebuilding European industries
• Russia refused aid
• 1948: Marshall Plan adopted by
Congress
• Plan fostered western European
prosperity

10. Marshall Plan to Aid Europe,
1948–1952

11. The Western Military Alliance
• 1949: North Atlantic Treaty
Organization
– Military alliance included U.S., Canada,
most of western Europe
– U.S. troops stationed in Europe
• NATO intensified Russia's fear of the
West

12. The Berlin Blockade
• June, 1948: Russians blockade of
Berlin
• Truman ordered airlift to supply the city
• 1949: Russians end blockade
• U.S. political victory dramatized
division

13. The Cold War Expands
• 1947: U.S.-Russian arms race
accelerated
• Conflict expanded to Asia

14. The Military Dimension
• 1947: National Security Act
– Department of Defense unified armed
forces
– Central Intelligence Agency coordinated
intelligence-gathering
– National Security Council advised president
• Defense budget devoted to air power
• 1949: First Russian atomic bomb
exploded, U.S. began hydrogen bomb
development

15. The Cold War in Asia
• 1945: U.S. consolidates hold on Japan,
former Japanese possessions in
Pacific
• 1949: Victory of Mao Tse-tung brings
China into Soviet orbit
• Truman refused recognition of
Communist China, began building up
Japan

16. The Korean War
• June 25, 1950: Communist North
Korean forces invaded U.S.-influenced
South Korea
• Truman made South Korea’s defense
a U.N. effort, sent in U.S. troops
– U.S. routed Korean forces in South
– Attempt to unify Korea drew in China
– U.S. pushed back to South, war a
stalemate
• Result: Massive American rearmament

17. The Shifting Map of Korea
[1950-1953]

18. The Korean War, 1950–1953

19. The Cold War at Home
• New Deal economic policies
undermined
• Fears of Communist subversion
• Republicans used anticommunism to
revive their party

20. Truman's Troubles
• Obstacles to Truman’s Fair Deal
reforms
– Apathetic public
– Inflation
– Labor unrest
• 1946: Republicans won Congress

21. Truman Vindicated
• Taft-Hartley Act outlawed certain union
tactics
– Truman vetoed, Republicans overrode his veto
• 1948 election: Truman thought unelectable
– Northern liberals supported Henry Wallace’s
Progressive candidacy
– Southern Democrats supported “Dixiecrat” Strom
Thurmond
– Republican Thomas Dewey overconfident and
ran bland campaign, failed to challenge Truman
on Cold War because of the Berlin Crisis
– Roosevelt coalition reelected Truman on
domestic issues

23. The Loyalty Issue
• House Un-American Activities
Committee investigated Communist
subversion in government
• Truman responded with loyalty
program
• Alger Hiss case
• Democrats blamed for
– ”Losing" China to Communism
– Russia's development of a hydrogen
bomb

24. McCarthyism in Action
• 1950: Senator Joseph McCarthy
launched anticommunist campaign
• Innocent overwhelmed by accusations
• Attacks on privileged bureaucrats
– Supported by Midwest Republicans
– Attracted Irish, Italian, Polish workers to
Republicans

25. The Republicans in Power
• 1952: Eisenhower captures White
House for Republican Party
• July 27, 1953: stalemate accepted in
Korea
• Eisenhower dealt passively with
McCarthy
• 1954: Attack on Army discredited
McCarthy who is then censured

26. The Election of 1952

27. Eisenhower Wages
the Cold War
• Eisenhower prefers to work behind-the
scenes
• Eisenhower wanted to relax tensions
with Soviets
– Debt imposed by defense spending
– Possibility of atomic warfare
• Eisenhower “new look” policy relied on
massive retaliation to deter Soviet
attacks

28. Entanglement in Indochina
• Eisenhower refused military aid for
French retention of colonial Indochina
• Victory of Communist Ho Chi Minh
prompted intervention to prevent
election
• Vietnam divided, election postponed
• South Vietnam under U.S. puppet
regime

29. Containing China
• Tough line against China
• Drove wedge between China, Russia
• Strategy ultimately worked
• Effects not immediately apparent

30. Turmoil in the Middle East
• 1956: Nasser nationalized Suez Canal
• France, England invaded Egypt
• Eisenhower won Middle East trust by
pressuring English, French withdrawal
• 1958: Lebanon invited U.S. troops to
maintain order

31. Covert Actions
• Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used
to achieve covert objectives
• Iran: CIA restored the shah to power
• Guatemala: CIA ousts leftist
government
• Eastern Europe: Refused to help East
Germans or Hungarians

32. Waging Peace
• Nuclear test ban treaty
– U.S. and U.S.S.R. agreed to suspend
nuclear testing in the atmosphere
• October, 1957: Russians launched
Sputnik
• May, 1960: U-2 incident cancelled
plans for summit on new Berlin Crisis

33. The Continuing Cold War
• January, 1961: Eisenhower warned
against growing military-industrial
complex
• Post-war era marked by Cold War
rather than peace and tranquility