The documents discuss several key events and agreements around the beginning of the Cold War, including the Atlantic Charter in 1941, the Yalta Conference in 1945, and the Potsdam Conference in 1945. It also provides timelines of major Cold War events from the 1940s through the 1980s, including the Berlin Blockade, formation of NATO, Soviet acquisition of nuclear weapons, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War, and collapse of Soviet control in Eastern Europe in 1989.

2.  Atlantic Charter in 1941
– No territorial changes without consent of the people concerned
– Restoration of sovereign rights and self-government
– Access to raw materials for all nations
– World economic cooperation
– Freedom from fear and want
– Disarmament of aggressors.
 Yalta Conference in February 4-11, 1945
• Allow the liberated leaders of Europe to form independent, democratically-elected governments
• Stalin agrees to enter the war against Japan in exchange for Soviet annexation of the Kurile Islands, half of Sahkilin Islands,
and portions of Korea.
• United States and Britain will recognize the independence of Outer Mongolia from China, and allow Soviet annexation of
Poland.
• Stalin demands $20 billion in reparations from Germany.
 Potsdam Conference in July 26, 1945
• Proclamation by the U.S., Great Britain and China, the three main powers then fighting Japan
• "Potsdam Declaration" described Japan's present perilous condition, gave the terms for her surrender and stated the Allies'
intentions concerning her postwar status.
• It ended with an ultimatum: Japan must immediately agree to unconditionally surrender, or face "prompt and utter
destruction.
• The United Nations charter drafted at a conference of fifty nations beginning April 25, 1945, in San Francisco.

3. • Potsdam Conference, July-August 1945
• Group photograph of the "Big Three"
heads of government at Potsdam,
Germany, circa 28 July -- 1 August 1945
• .Those present are (from left to right):
• British Prime Minister Clement Atlee;
• U.S. President Harry S. Truman;
• Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin.

4. Timeline of the Cold War
 1940s
 1945: February 4-11-- Yalta Conference Cold War Begins
 1945: August 6 -- United States first used atomic bomb in war
 1945: August 8 -- Russia enters war against Japan
 1945: August 14 -- Japanese surrender End of World War II
 1946: March -- Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" Speech
 1947: March -- Truman declares active role in Greek Civil War
 1947: June -- Marshall Plan is announced
 1948: February -- Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia
 1948: June 24 -- Berlin Blockade begins
 1949: July -- NATO ratified
 1949: May 12 -- Berlin Blockade ends
 1949: September -- Mao Zedong, a Communist, takes control of China
 1949: September -- Soviets explode first atomic bomb

5. Timeline- cont.
• 1950s
• 1950: February -- Joe McCarthy begins Communist witch hunt
• 1950: June --Korean War begins
• 1951: January 12 -- Federal Civil Defense Administration established
• 1953: June 19 -- Rosenberg executions
• 1953: July -- Korean War ends
• 1954: March -- KGB established1954 -- CIA helps overthrow unfriendly regimes in
Iran and Guatemala
• 1954: July -- Vietnam split at 17th parallel
• 1955: May -- Warsaw Pact formed
• 1956: October - November -- Rebellion put down in Communist Hungary. Egypt
took control of Suez Canal; U.S. refused to help take it back
• 1957: October 4 -- Sputnik launched into orbit
• 1958: November -- Khrushchev demands withdrawal of troops from Berlin
• 1959: January -- Cuba taken over by Fidel Castro
• 1959: September -- Khrushchev visits United States; denied access to Disneyland

6. Timeline- cont.
• 1960s
• 1960: May -- Soviet Union reveals that U.S. spy plane was shot down over Soviet territory
• 1960: November -- John F. Kennedy elected President
• 1961: April -- Bay of Pigs invasion
• 1961: July -- Kennedy requests 25% spending increase for military
• 1961: August 13 -- Berlin border closed
• 1961: August 17 -- Construction of Berlin Wall begins1962: -- U.S. involvement in Vietnam
increased1962: October -- Cuban Missile Crisis1963: July -- Nuclear Test Ban
• Treaty ratified
• 1963: November -- President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas, Texas
• 1964: August -- Gulf of Tonkin inciden
• t1965: April -- U.S. Marines sent to Dominican Republic to fight Communism
• 1965: July -- Announcement of dispatching of 150,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam
• 1968: January -- North Korea captured U.S.S. Pueblo
• 1968: August -- Soviet troops crush Czechoslovakian revolt
• 1969: July 20 -- Apollo 11 lands on the moon

7. Timeline- cont.
• 1970s
• 1970: April -- President Nixon extends Vietnam War to Cambodia
• 1972: July -- SALT I signed
• 1973: January -- Cease fire in Vietnam between North Vietnam and
United States
• 1973: September -- United States helps overthrow Chile government
• 1973: October -- Egypt and Syria attack Israel; Egypt requests Soviet
aid
• 1974: August -- President Nixon resigns
• 1975: April 17 -- North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam
• 1979: July -- SALT II signed
• 1979: November -- Shah of Iran overthrown; Iranian Hostage Crisis

8. • 1980s
• 1983: --President Reagan proposes Strategic Defense Initiative
• 1983: October -- U.S. troops overthrow regime in Grenada
• 1985: -- Iran-Contra Affair (arms sold to Iran, profits used to support contras in Nicaragua)
• 1985: -- Mikhail Gorbachev ascends to power in Soviet Union
• 1986: -- Gorbachev ends economic aid to Soviet satellites
• 1986: October -- Reagan and Gorbachev resolve to remove all intermediate nuclear missiles
from Europe
• 1986: November -- Iran-Contra Affair revealed to public
• 1987: October -- Reagan and Gorbachev agree to remove all medium and short-range nuclear
missiles by signing treaty
• 1989: January -- Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan
• 1989: June -- China puts down protests for democracy; Poland becomes independent
• 1989: September -- Hungary becomes independent1989: November -- Berlin Wall falls
• 1989: December -- Communist governments fall in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Rumania;
Soviet empire ends

10. • in a speech in Fulton, Missouri,
in 1946, Winston Churchill
stated that an Iron Curtain had
been spread across Europe
separating the democratic from
the authoritarian communist
states.

11. • The Containment Doctrine
 Created by George F. Kennan, a member of the State
Department, he felt that the best way to keep Communism
out of Europe was to confront the Russians wherever they
tried to spread their power.
• Truman Doctrine
 Stated that the U.S would support any nation threatened by
Communism
• Marshall Plan
 Introduced by Secretary if State George G. Marshall in
1947, he proposed massive and systematic American
economic aid to Europe to revitalize the European
economies after WWII and help prevent the spread of
Communism.

12.  After the United States, France, and England
announced plans to create a West German
Republic out of their German zones, the
Soviet Union in June 1948 blocked surface
access to Berlin.
 U.S.A in response instituted an airlift to
transport supplies to the city until the Soviets
lifted their blockade in May 1949.

13. • Truman agreed with England and France to merge the
three western zones of occupation into a new West
German Republic (including the American, British, and
French sectors of Berlin.
• On June 24, 1948, Stalin responded by imposing a tight
blockade around the western sectors of Berlin.
• In October 1949, the division of Germany into two nations,
the Federal Republic in the west and the Democratic
Republic in the east became official.
• On April 4, 1949, twelve nations signed an agreement
establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
and declaring that an armed attacked against one member
would be considered an attack against all.

14. • In September 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its
first atomic weapon.
• The entire Chinese mainland came under control
of a communist government, which Americans
believed to be an extension of the Soviet Union.
• Truman wanted to review American foreign
policy, which resulted in the National Security
Council report in 1950.
• In April 1950, the document argued that the U.S.
could no longer rely on other nations to take the
initiative in resisting communism.

15. • The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war earlier,
resulting the nation into reconversion.
• There was no general economic collapse-government spending
dropped: $35 billion of war contracts were canceled within weeks
of Japanese surrender.
• Increased consumer demand compensated.
• $6 billion tax cut that caused additional currency into general
speculation.
• Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944: provided economic and
educational assistance to veterans, increasing spending.
• President Truman vetoed an extension of authority of wartime
Office of Price Administration, eliminating price controls.

16. • After Japanese surrendered, Truman submitted to
Congress a twenty-one point domestic program called
the “Fair Deal.”
• The Fair deal called for expansion of Social Security
benefits, the raising of the legal minimum wage from
40 to 65 cents to an hour, a program ensure full
employment through aggressive use of federal
spending and investment, a permanent Fair
Employment Practices Act, public housing and slum
clearance, long-range environment and public works
planning, and government promotion of scientific
research.

17. • Congress became more hospitable towards Truman’s
new deal.
• Congress raised the legal minimum wage from 40 cents
to 75 cents an hour.
• Congress also approved an expansion of the Social
Security system, increasing benefits by 75 percent.
• Congress also passed the National Housing Act of 1949,
which provided for the construction of 810,000 units of
low-income housing.
• Truman failed to persuade Congress to accept the civil
rights legislation and failed to make progress in health
insurance or aid to education.

18. • Truman’s personal unpopularity was due to
the belief among much of the electorate that
he and his administration were weak and
inept.
• Southern conservatives were angered by
Truman’s proposed civil rights, therefore
creating States’ Rights Party.
• Republicans nominated Governor Thomas E.
Dewey of New York.

19. • Many Americans believed that the Nuclear
War would be as the result of the rivalry of the
Soviet Union.
• Radio Stations regularly tested the emergency
broadcast systems.
• Nuclear power plants began to spring up in
many areas of the country.

20.  The Korean War 1950-1953
• June 25, 1950: communist North Korean armies
invaded the 38th parallel into South Korea
• Seoul was taken over by North Korea three days later.
• President Truman appealed to the United Nations to
intervene and was able to win their agreement for
assistance to the Rhee government.
• The Soviet Union was boycotting the Security Council
at the time and was unable to veto the decision.
• June 30: U.S. ordered ground forces into Korea under
the command General Douglas MacArthur.

22. • October 19: North Korean capital (Pyongyang) fell to UN
forces – the attack alarmed China (a new communist
government)
• China intervened due to the fear of American movement
toward its border (near Yalu River).
• November 4: eight divisions of the Chinese army entered
the war
• Throughout December: American forces lost battle against
the Chinese divisions and retreated at almost every
juncture
• Seoul was continuously regained by UN forces or captured
by communist forces – led to a prolonged stalemate.

24. • Truman feared the war might lead to
a new world war and began to seek
peace negotiations.
• MacArthur publicly opposed his
peace efforts. He favored a blockade
of the Chinese coast and
bombardment of Chinese bases.
• April 11, 1951: Truman relieved
MacArthur of his command and
caused a public outrage.
• The Korean stalemate continued and
negotiations began in July 1951 but
didn’t it didn’t end until 1953.

25. • The war produced limited American commitment abroad and created only
limited mobilization at home.
• Office of Defense Mobilization: created to fight inflation by holding down
prices and discouraging high union wage demands.
• When it failed, Truman ordered the government to seize control and
became commander in chief during a nation-wide steel strike in 1952.
• The war boosted economic growth due to increased government spending
(believed to have saved the country from a near recession).
• Truman ordered racial desegregation of the armed forces. The Korean War
marked the first time American forces had fought in integrated units.
•

26. • HUAC and Alger Hiss
•
• House Un-American Activities Committee: created to
hold publicized investigations that, under Democratic
rule, the government had tolerated communist
subversion.
• Republicans attacked the Democrats using the issue of
communism (Republicans temporarily controlled
Congress).
• Alger Hiss was accused of being a communist and his
civil liberties were violated during the investigation.
• Hiss was convicted of perjury and served years in prison
by the efforts of Richard M. Nixon.

27. • Truman created a program to review the loyalty of federal
employees.
• McCarran Internal Security Act 1950: required all
communist organizations to register with the government.
Truman vetoed, but Congress easily overrode it.
• After the Soviet Union launched a successful atomic bomb,
many became suspicious of conspiracy of American atomic
secrets being passed on to the Russians.
 Rosenberg Case: a New York couple (Julius and Ethel
Rosenberg), who were part of the Communist Party, claimed to
be the masterminds of the conspiracy. They were convicted and
sentenced to death.

29. o Joseph McCarthy- a Republican senator who
gained famed by publicly listing and accusing
205 known communists working in the
American State Department without solid
evidence. He intimidated all but a few people
from opposing him.
o Factors that contribute to the rise of
McCarthyism:
o Fears raised by the “fall” of China to Communism
o Fears of the Soviet Union’s development of an
atomic bomb
o Fears raised by Truman’s foreign policy to contain
Soviet expansion
o Fears raised by suspicious that Soviet spies had
infiltrated the government

30. • Truman’s popularity diminished and he withdrew from being
reelected.
• Democratic nominee: Governor Adlai E. Stevenson, a beloved figure
among liberals and intellectuals yet lacked the strength or will to
fight back communism
• Republican nominee: General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a military
hero, commander of NATO, and president of Columbia University.
His running mate was Richard M. Nixon.
– Eisenhower attracted support through his pledges to settle the Korean
conflict.
– Nixon effectively exploited the issue of domestic subversion.
• Republicans won by a landslide and gained control on both houses
of Congress – ended Democratic rule.