The%20Cold%20War

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The%20Cold%20War

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Title: The%20Cold%20War

1
The Cold War

1945 -1989

2
Causes

At the end of the war the United States and
Soviet Union were able to work together
But Soviets made no attempt to allow free
elections in Eastern Europe and installed
pro-Soviet governments
At the Potsdam Conference (1945) Truman knew the
Americans had the Atomic bomb and so he could
afford to take a hard line against the Soviets

The Allies agreed to stay united until the German
military was disarmed and the means of production
had been destroyed. They also agreed to allow
Allied nations to seek reparations
There were no plans to reunify Germany, thus
creating the Federalist Republic of Germany and
the Communist German Democratic Republic
As the Soviets focused on developing nuclear
weapons so the two superpowers joined in an arms
race
The United States perceived Soviets moves as an
indication of Communist expansionism and a threat
to American interests
Consequently the United States developed a policy
of containment

4
Containment

At the end of the war George Keenan, a counselor
at the American Embassy in Moscow warned the
State Department about dangers from the spread of
Communism
In 1947, back in Washington, Keenan wrote an
article anonymously in Foreign Affairs which he
advocated the policy of containment he signed
the article X
The fear was that Communism would spread beyond
Eastern Europe

Russia was determined to be able to access the
Mediterranean Sea - necessity for global trade
They pressured Turkey to grant the Soviets the
right to build a naval base on the Bosporus
In 1946 a civil war in Greece between the
Communists and the British-backed government
The following year the British told the Americans
that they could no longer afford to fight the war
President Truman decided that the American
government would help

6
Truman Doctrine

In March 1947, Truman requested 400 million in
economic aid for Greece and Turkey and for the
power to send American troops to train the
pro-democracy forces
Congress approved of large scale military and
economic aid for Greece and Turkey to combat
communism
Congress did not want to approve the Bill until a
Communist coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948 seemed
to validate American fears
The Truman Doctrine committed American resources
to fighting Communism anywhere in the world

Post-war Europe was an economic nightmare and
there were thousands of dislocated people
wandering around
Bridges had been destroyed, roads and canals
ruined, and factories had to be rebuilt. Plus
the harvest of 1947 had been a disaster many
people in Europe desperately needed help
Communist Parties were gaining mass appeal in
France and Italy
The United Nations sent some aid but it was not
enough to correct the problems
Secretary of State George C. Marshall called for
a massive aid program to help the Europeans

8
Marshall Plan

The belief was that economically strong countries
would be less susceptible to communist takeover
Money was restricted to purchasing American-made
goods thus helping the American economy
The United States allocated almost 13 billion
for European development
The offer was to all nations including the Soviet
Union
In the summer of 1947 the representative from
most nations met in London to discuss the offer
the Soviets attended but were told told by Moscow
to leave

9
Berlin Blockade

The war had devastated the German economy and
years after the war there was little improvement
The city of Berlin was split into zones, each
controlled by a major power Britain, France,
United States, and the Soviet Union
Gradual the French, British, and American zones
merged
In April 1948 the Soviets started to limit road
and rail traffic into West Berlin

Truman responded by organizing the Berlin airlift
to keep the city supplied
West Berlin symbolized capitalist determination
to resist communism
On May 12, 1949 the Soviets lifted their
unsuccessful blockade

11
NATO

In 1949, 12 nations agreed to form the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)- an attack
against one member was attack against all
Later in the year NATO agreed to the formation of
Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
Months later the Soviets created the German
Democratic Republic (East Germany)
The Soviets organized the Council for Mutual
Economic Assistance in 1949
In 1955 the Soviets organized the Warsaw Pact

12
China

In 1949 Civil War erupted in China between the
Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek and the
Communists led by Mao Tse-tung
The United States supported and aided the
Nationalists but the Communists with support of
the peasants won the war
The nationalists fled to Formosa (Taiwan)
The American government continued to recognize
the Nationalist government
Fear of further Communist expansion forced the
United States to recognize the French control of
Vietnam

The French-backed regime was led by Emperor Bao
Dai
The United States was soon helping Dai fight Ho
Chi Minhs guerrillas
Also in 1949 the United States found out that the
Soviets now had an atomic bomb the world would
never be the same
Truman now sought construction of a hydrogen bomb

14
NSC-68

The National Security Council issued document
NSC-68, which called for the rebuilding of the
military to provide a non-nuclear option
Americans had never had a large peace-time army
but now, because of the fear of Communism, the
public was willing to listen
When the Korean War started it was easy to gain
congressional approval

15
Korea

During the Second World War Soviet troops went
into North Korea and American troops went into
South Korea
Both sides established new governments
The Americans proposed to divide the country at
the 38th parallel, until the country could be
reunited
The Soviets help the North Koreans plan an
invasion of the South which would unify the
country under the Communist flag

In June 1950 80,000 troops invaded South Korea
Truman determined to use the United Nations to
wage against the North Koreans and he waged war
without asking Congress for consent
The United Nations Security Council North Korea
to no avail
The Soviet delegate, who could have vetoed any
legislation, was boycotting the Council because
the United Nations would not allow Communist
China to take a seat instead of the Nationalists
On June 27 the United Nations ordered members to
assist South Korea

Truman ordered the American military into action
Fourteen member nations sent forces to South
Korea
This was the first war authorized by the
president and not Congress. It was sanctioned by
the United Nations and seen by many as a police
action
Truman was sure the invasion of South Korea
masked a plan by Stalin to invade Western Europe
Consequently the number of American troops in
Europe was greatly increased

Just when it looked the war might end 260,000
Chinese volunteers crossed the border from China
MacArthurs men were forced to retreat
MacArthur asked Congress for atomic bombs and
criticized the president for not allowing him to
fight the war
As MacArthur asked for an escalation public
opposition increased as many saw the potential
for a new World War
A massive United Nations counterattack forced
the Chinese back to the 38th parallel

When Truman offered to negotiate peace, MacArthur
threatened the Chinese to make peace or face an
attack
In 1951 Truman replaced the popular MacArthur
with general Ridgway
When MacArthur returned home he was greeted by
thousands of cheering people
In June 1951 the Soviet representative at the
United Nations proposed a cease fire
Talks lasted another two years before the
fighting finally stopped
When it was all over President Eisenhower was in
the White House and the line separating the two
nations was almost at the 38th parallel

20
Eisenhower

In 1952 the Twenty-second Amendment prohibited a
president from seeking a third term
The Democrats nominated Adlai Stevenson
The Republicans nominated Dwight Eisenhower a war
hero, but more importantly a candidate who
appealed to Democrats as well as Republicans
He slowed the rate of government expansion at the
same time as he kept many of the programs
initiated by Roosevelt and Truman

Eisenhower gave the impression he was above
political squabbling, but his political weakness
was his friendship with influential businessmen
His domestic program was called dynamic
conservatism
He cut spending and programs including national
defense
He abolished the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation and end wage and price controls. He
cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy
Once in office he was faced with the deadlock of
the peace talks in Korea

Many North Koreans did not want to return home,
but Chinese negotiators insisted all prisoners be
returned
In May Eisenhower increased aerial bombing of
North Korea and sent Secretary of State John
Foster Dulles to China with a discrete threat of
atomic warfare
In July the president announced an end to the
fighting in Korea

23
Brinkmanship

Although Dulles threatened a great deal he
changed little of the containment philosophy that
had been espoused by Truman
But he did add the strategy of massive
retaliation more bang for your buck
In 1953 members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
designed a New Look military strategy that
sanctioned the limited use of nuclear weapons,
which would allow for a reduction or conventional
forces

Dulles utilized the approach of taking the
country to the brink of war
He argued that brinkmanship had ended the Korean
War
The next place brinkmanship would be used would
be in Indochina
In 1954 the United States sent aircraft carriers
to the South China Sea to intimidate Communist
China, especially from further involvement in
Indochina

25
Indochina/Vietnam

The French had controlled Indochina since the
days of nineteenth century
During World War II the Japanese had taken over,
but after the war nationalists forces emerged
against the French
The Viet Minh, led by the Communist Ho Chi Minh
demanded independence
In 1945 Minh proclaimed a democratic Republic of
Vietnam

The French fought back and asked for help from
other countries to stop the spread of Communism
By 1953 Americans were paying for much of the war
In 1954 the French were badly defeated at Dien
Bien Phu
A new French government decided to pull out and
leave Indochina to others
In July 1954 the Geneva Accords agreed to divide
the country at the 17th parallel The Viet Minh
would control the north while the French would
have the south until 1956 when elections could be
held

America and South Vietnam refused to acknowledge
the Accords causing the Soviets and China to also
back away
Dulles set about organizing the Southeast Asia
Treaty Organization (SEATO)
The new leader of South Vietnam was
American-backed Ngo Dinh Diem
America backed Diem under the assumption that
there would be a move towards democracy, but
instead Diem imposed a virtual dictatorship
By 1960 the United States was backing a leader
that was destroying his own country

28
The Middle East

In 1958 the Communists threatened to take over
Lebanon, a pro-western state
Eisenhower, under the Eisenhower Doctrine, felt
compelled to send aid
Several thousand American troops landed in
Lebanon and helped restore order
In 1958 Eisenhower invited the Soviet leader
Nikita Khrushchev to Washington
Khrushchev spoke to the United Nations about the
possibility of complete disarmament, but he did
not say how it would be done

Any hope of cooperation disappeared in 1960 at
the Paris summit
Both sides were determined not to relent on the
question of Berlin
Just before the conference an American U-2 spy
plane was shot down over Russia
The president had no choice but to accept
responsibility but any hope of achieving progress
at the summit disappeared

30
Cuba

American foreign policy in Central and South
America seemed confusing, especially for some of
the member nations
In 1954 the CIA led a coup to oust the leftist
dictator from Guatemala. At the same time
Washington supported other dictators who claimed
to be fighting Communism
The biggest thorn in the side of Washington was
Cuba
In 1959 Fidel Castro overthrew the pro-American
leader Fulgencio Batista

Castro denounce American policies as
imperialistic and criticized the administration
while confiscating land owned by American
companies
The United States responded by stopping the
import of sugar from Cuba
Castro then turned to Moscow and made Cuba a
Soviet satellite state
Thousands of refugees left Cuba for the United
States, most moving to Florida
In 1960 diplomatic relations between the two
countries ended

In 1960 the United States helped form the
Organization of American States to stop the
spread of Communism in the Americas
Eisenhower created a second version of the
Marshall Plan, this one intended for Latin
American nations
The plan known as the Alliance for Progress was
intended to narrow the gap between the rich and
poor countries
The results were never as good as intended and
many areas turned to other options

33
The Election of 1960

Vice President Richard Nixon was the nomination
for the Republicans
He had made a reputation as a tough politician
who was no afraid to stand up to the Soviets
In 1959 he had debated with Khrushchev in the
kitchen debates in Moscow
His running mate was Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. of
Massachusetts
The Democrats selected the youthful John F.
Kennedy from Massachusetts and Lyndon Baines
Johnson from Texas as his running mate

In 1961 Kennedy and Khrushchev met in Vienna
The experienced Soviet leader felt he could bully
the inexperienced American president over issue
concerning Berlin, but Kennedy refused to be
intimidated
In August 1961 the Soviets began construction of
the Berlin Wall, separating East and West Berlin

35
Foreign Policy

As the old colonial powers disappeared more and
more nations gained their independence. Many of
these nations were very poor and looked to the
Soviets or the United States for financial help
The United States suddenly realized that although
the United Nations was trying to maintain order,
it was the United States that was paying most of
the cost
The Eisenhower had sent a great deal of money to
Laos to support democracy, but the country
remained in a state of civil war

Kennedy considered sending American soldiers to
Laos, but realized that such a move would greatly
reduce the American presence in Europe
In 1962 a summit at Geneva negotiated a ceasefire
in Laos, but no one had much confidence it would
last
Kennedy felt trapped by the policy of massive
retaliation which had been formulated by Dulles
during the Eisenhower administration
Kennedy and his Defense Secretary John McNamara
created a policy of flexible response

The strategy would be to send enough troops as
each situation dictated
Kennedy shifted spending to bolster conventional
forces
The downside to flexible response was that it
was not as intimidating as massive retaliation
and therefore less effective as a tool of
diplomacy
Kennedy sent advisers to Vietnam to support the
unpopular Diem, but it was soon obvious Diem
would have to go
In 1963 the administration approved of a coup to
remove Diem

38
The Bay of Pigs

American foreign policy towards Latin America was
based on the Monroe Doctrine
Eisenhower had approved a CIA plan to remove
Castro by using America-trained Cuban exiles
On April 12, 1961 thousands of exiles landed at
the Bay of Pigs Cuba
Unfortunately the Cubans were waiting and the
invasion was a disaster
The invasion pushed Castro closer to his Soviet
allies

39
The Missile Crisis

The Soviets began installing missiles on Cuba,
which was only 90 miles from Florida
Kennedy responded by invoking a naval blockade
around the island and demanded the missiles be
removed
Both nations refused to back down and for a while
the world waited in the brink of nuclear war
In October Khrushchev agreed to remove the
missile while Kennedy promised to end the
blockade and never to invade the island

The administration also agreed to remove American
missiles from Turkey which were aimed at the
Soviet Union
The confrontation cost the Soviet leader his job
as the Kremlin determined never to be forced to
back down again
Kennedy realized the significant of what might
have happened and asked the Soviets for a nuclear
test-ban, which was signed in late 1963
Kennedy also started to mention the possibility
of establishing better relations between the two
countries
This would later be known as détente

41
Lyndon Baines Johnson

In November 1963 Kennedy was assassinated while
visiting Dallas. Johnson was sworn in as the new
president
Johnson continued much of Kennedys foreign
policy
In 1965 he sent thousands of troops to the
Dominican Republic to suppress a possible
revolution and restore democracy
Johnson criticized for his gunboat diplomacy
and earned a reputation as a gun-slinger from
Texas

42
Tonkin Gulf Resolution

In 1964 the American navy had been involved in
cohort operations off the coast of North Vietnam
Two American destroyers were allegedly fired upon
by North Vietnamese gunboats the actual events
are still a mystery
Johnson called it an unprovoked attack and asked
Congress for the authority to use force
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was in effect a blank
check

43
Vietnam Revisited

Johnson inherited a mess in Vietnam. Thousands
of American troops were in the country but still
it didnt seem like there were many successes
In 1965 the Viet Cong attacked the American base
at Pleiku. Johnson ordered retaliatory air raids
against North Vietnam
By the middle of the year Operation Rolling
Thunder was devastating large areas of North
Vietnam
By the end of 1965 over 180,000 troops were in
Vietnam

Johnson was advised that an escalation in the war
would force the North Vietnamese into submission
However any increase by the Americans was matched
by an increase by the North Vietnamese
To the annoyance of many, the South Vietnamese
were simply letting the Americans fight the war
The situation was not helped by the fact each new
South Vietnamese government seemed worse than the
previous one corruption became the word of the
day
War hawks claimed that if the Americans pulled
back the Communists would spread across the
Southeast Asia

Public opinion was starting to mount against the
American government as the cost of the war
escalated and the number of American casualties
continued to rise
Thousands of young men left the United States and
moved to Canada to avoid the draft
In 1966, Johnson announced a pause in the bombing
aimed at getting the Viet Cong to the peace table
In 1967 Johnson ordered the CIA to spy on
anti-war activists
By 1968 it was obvious to all that the war was
not going well and it was increasingly doubtful
if the South could win

46
The Election of 1968

The Republicans nominated Richard Nixon, a war
hawk who called for victory in Vietnam
The Democrats nominated Hubert Humphrey, a
senator from Minnesota who had been Johnsons
Vice President
A third party was the American Independent party
led by George C. Wallace of Alabama
Nixon won but without a mandate

Nixon announced a policy of Vietnamization to
reduce American involvement in the war
The emphasis would now be for the South
Vietnamese to take over more of the fighting and
American troops could be withdrawn
The Nixon Doctrine established that the United
States would honor its existing commitments, but
countries would have to fight their own wars
without American soldiers
In 1969 Nixon appealed to the silent majority
of Americans to back his policies
In 1970, without consulting Congress, Nixon
ordered Americans troops to invade neutral
Cambodia

Despite the fact Nixon kept withdrawing troops
his invasion of Cambodia cost him a great deal of
public support
By 1971 massive anti-war rallies were being held
across the country
Also in 1971 The New York Times published the
Pentagon Papers, which revealed the mistakes and
deceptions of the Kennedy and Johnson
administrations including the Gulf of Tonkin
incident

49
Deténte

Nixon turned his attention to the tension between
China and the Soviet Union, believing he could
play one country against the other and use them
to help pressure North Vietnam into peace talks
The leading peace negotiator was national
Security Advisor Dr. Henry Kissinger
In 1971, Nixon, an overtly anti-communist,
accepted an invitation to China
The following year he went to China
In 1973 the president visited Moscow to pressure
the Soviets who were afraid the United States
might become friends with China

Nixons philosophy of détente led to a reduction
in the arms race and eventually the
anti-ballistic missile treaty
Later these negotiations would lead to the
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)
Both of these agreements were ratified in 1972
In the 1972 election, Nixon promised to end the
war and win the peace
When the North Vietnamese crossed the
demilitarized zone in 1972, Nixon responded by
bombing North Vietnam, including Hanoi
Thanks to détente neither the Soviets or the
Chinese voiced opposition

51
Peace Talks

Nixon was able to win a second term by announcing
he had drastically reduced the number of American
troops and by claiming peace would soon follow
Soon after the election, fighting escalated again
Once again Nixon responded by bombing North
Vietnam trying to force the North Vietnamese back
to the peace table
On January 23, 1973, both sides agreed to a cease
fire
Nixon proclaimed peace with honor

52
Cambodia

In July 1973 the country learned that Nixon had
authorized bombing raids on Cambodia
Public and political opposition demanded an end
to the bombing
Weeks later Nixon agreed to stop the bombing and
to seek congressional approval for any further
escalation of the war
Ironically, the American bombing of Cambodia led
to installation of the dictator, Pol Pot who
murdered as many as 2 million people

In November, Congress passed the War Powers Act
(1973) over the presidents veto, which required
the president to report to Congress within
forty-eight hours of committing American troops
to a foreign conflict
In 1975 the North Vietnamese invaded the South
President Ford asked Congress to send more
weapons but his appeal was rejected
The last Americans pulled out in April leaving
the South Vietnamese to fight their own war
Over 50,000 Americans had died in Vietnam and it
had cost over 100 billion

54
The Thaw

President Ford, who replaced Nixon after the
Watergate embarrassment, continued the policy of
détente
Ford and thirty-four other leaders met in
Helsinki in 1975 and signed an agreement that
finally ended the Second World War
In the Helsinki Accords the Soviets promised to
guarantee the exchange of ideas and people
between the East and West. All nations agreed to
protect human rights

55
President Reagan

Ronald Reagan was elected president on a
hard-line stand against the Soviets
When the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, Reagan
declared the Soviets were aiming for world
conquest and referred to the Soviet Union as the
evil empire
Reagan believed the Soviets only respected
strength, so he advocated a drastic increase in
military strength
In 1983 Reagan announced his Strategic Defense
Initiative (SDI) or Star Wars program

The relations between the two countries
deteriorated further in 1981 when the Soviets
tried to suppress workers unions in Poland
One of the big problems in trying to talk with
the Soviets was the fact the Soviet leaders were
mostly old. In fact between 1982 and 1985 three
leaders died
In 1983 the Soviets attacked a Korean passenger
plane, which had been in Soviet airspace.
Hundreds of civilians were killed
By the end of 1983 the arms limitation talks had
all been stopped

The Cold War looked like it was going to be
renewed
In 1984 the Soviet bloc boycotted the Olympic
Games in Los Angeles, because the United States
had boycotted the 1980 games in Moscow
In 1989, in his inauguration address George
Herbert Walker Bush promised a kinder, gentler
America

58
The End of the Cold War

Almost as soon as Bush took office Communist
countries all over the world turned to democracy
In Poland the Solidarity movement forced the
Communist government to collapse
Soon after the events in Poland, Soviet control
of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and
Romania collapsed
In December 1989 the symbol of the Cold War the
Berlin Wall was torn down by the people of
Germany ending the Cold War