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Soviet communism – state controls all
property and economic activity -> Communist
Party is the only political party
Vs.
Capitalist America- private citizens control
most economic activity -> people elect a pres.
and Congress from various political parties
Stalin had been an ally of Hitler
U.S. kept atomic bomb secret
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Representatives from 50 nations meet in San
Francisco to create world peace organization
-> United Nations (UN) is created on June 26,
1945
Final wartime
conference July 1945
 Stalin agrees to allow
free elections in E.
Europe – vote by
secret ballot in multiparty system -> but
then breaks his
promise
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Truman wants to spread democracy
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Truman does not want Russia to
take war reparations from Germany
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U.S. wants to rebuild Eastern
Europe in order to help the
American economy
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Stalin is worried about future
invasions from the west ->
communist governments are
installed in Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania,
Poland (satellite countries)
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Stalin says war is inevitable
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U.S. view Soviets as a real
threat
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George K. Kennan, American
diplomat in Moscow, issues a
policy of containment ->
prevent the extension of
communist rule to other
countries
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Europe becomes divided into
political regions -> democratic
Western Europe vs.
communist Eastern Europe ->
“Iron Curtain”
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A conflict between the U.S. and Soviet Union
-> no direct fights on the battlefield
1945-1991
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Financial support is given to countries to
prevent the spread of communism
$400 million is given to Turkey and Greece
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Western Europe had been
destroyed
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Millions were in refugee
camps
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Severe winter 1946-1947
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U.S. Secretary of State,
George Marshall, proposes
giving aid
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16 countries receive $13
billion from 1947-1952 and
their economies recover
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Germany had been divided into four zones
(U.S., G. Britain, France, Soviet Union)
Berlin (East Germany) is divided into two
parts (West + East)
Stalin decides to take all of Berlin and closes
all roads into Western Berlin
2.1 million people only had enough food for 5
weeks
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U.S. and G. Britain fly
food and supplies into
West Berlin
Planes landed for 327
days
Prestige of the U.S. grow
Soviet Union ends the
blockade
West Germany and East
Germany are created
Berlin is controlled by
West and East
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Defensive military alliance
is created after the Berlin
blockade
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Belgium, Denmark,
France, G. Britain, Iceland,
Italy, Luxembourg,
Holland, Norway, Portugal,
U.S., Canada
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500,000 troops provide the
military support for the
alliance
Nationalists led by
Chiang Kai-shek ->
corrupt
 Communists led by
Mao Zedong helped
the peasants -> gain
control in the north
 Which leader is
supported by the U.S.?
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Nationalists vs.
Communists
U.S. sends $2 billion worth
of military equipment
Nationalists lose -> flee to
Taiwan
Communists take over
China
Republicans and
Democrats criticized Pres.
Truman for not doing
enough
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WWII ends -> Japanese
surrender to Soviets in
the north and to
Americans in the South
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1948 - Republic of
Korea (South) vs.
Communist led
Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea
(North)
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June 1950
United Nations votes to send troops to help
South Korea
520,000 troops are sent (90% American)
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MacArthur leads
UN army in many
successful battles against the North Koreans
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Communist China sends 300,000 troops to help North Korea
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Chinese outnumber UN forces 10 to 1
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Stalemate for two years
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Truman rejects MacArthur’s request to use nuclear weapons
on China and fires him shortly after
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July 1953 the war ends
Korea remains divided
54,000 Americans die
$67 billion
Fear of communism
increases in America
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Have you ever been put in a situation in which
your guilt, rather than your innocence, is
presumed and you have to try to prove you
are innocent? Is it difficult to prove the truth
once a lie has been told?
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Communist Soviet Union controls Eastern
Europe
Communists take over China
100,000 Americans in the Communist Party
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Truman is pressured to set up the Loyalty
Review Board
To investigate govt. employees and fire the
disloyal ones
212 of 3.2 million investigated were fired
They were not allowed to see evidence
Investigates communist influence
in the movie industry
 Hollywood Ten – ten witness
from the movie industry went to
jail after refusing to testify
 Hollywood executives created a
blacklist – 500 actors with a
communist background lost their
jobs
 1950 – Congress passes the
McCarran Internal Security Act ->
any action that could lead to a
totalitarian dictatorship in the
U.S. was illegal
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Alger Hiss – State
Department (foreign
policy) official
1949 - Soviets explode
atomic bomb 3-5 years
ahead of schedule
 Ethel and Julius
Rosenberg – Jewish
and members of
Communist Party –
were found guilty of
espionage and
sentenced to death
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1. What organization
does the car represent?
 2. What does the
cartoon imply about
the methods of this
organization?
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Joseph McCarthy – ineffective senator from
Wisconsin who says Communists are taking
over the U.S. govt.
Tells Senate he knows of thousands of
Communists in the State Dept.
McCarthyism – accusing people of disloyalty
without providing evidence
Not reelected after he makes false
accusations against the Army
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States make it illegal to advocate the violent
overthrow of the govt.
Many professions required loyalty oaths
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_DaMK
UP3Og
7;37
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1. How did the Loyalty Review Board pose a
threat to civil liberties?
2. Why was Hollywood a target for antiCommunist investigations by Congress?
3. Why did the cases of Alger Hiss and the
Rosenbergs increase the anti-communist
mood of Americans?
4. After watching the cartoon, how would you
compare capitalism to communism?
Soviets develop atomic bomb 1949
Pres. Truman authorizes development of hydrogen
bomb (H-bomb)
 U.S. has H-bomb in 1952 and Soviets follow less
than a year later
 Pres. Eisenhower is influenced by Sec. of State John
Foster Dulles (anti-communist)
 U.S. should go to the edge of an all out war ->
contain the spread of communism by promising to
use all of its force
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Decrease size of army
and navy and expand
air force
 Produce more nuclear
bombs
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Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) – 1947
 Uses spies to gather
information about
other countries
 Conducts covert
operations to
overthrow
governments
“unfriendly to the U.S.”
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1953 – CIA overthrows
Iranian government
after fearing that the
Iranians would ally
themselves with the
Soviets
 1954 – CIA helps train
an army to overthrown
the Pres. of Guatemala
for being a Communist
sympathizer
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Soviet Union fears W.
Germany after joining
NATO and rearming
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Eisenhower’s “open skies” proposal is
rejected by the Soviet Union
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U.S. agrees to help Egypt
build a dam on the Nile but
withdraws their loan after
learning the Soviets also have
a deal
Egypt nationalizes Suez
Canal
G. Britain, France, Israel send
troops
Soviet Union supports Egypt
Eisenhower Doctrine – 1957 –
U.S. would defend the M.
East against an attack by any
communist country
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Hungarians revolt and demand a democratic
government
S. Union crushes it
U.S. does not follow the Truman Doctrine in
the satellites of the Soviet Union
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Nikita Khrushchev leads Soviet Union when
Stalin dies in 1953
Believes communism will take over the world
but peacefully
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Soviets launch Sputnik (1957) – the world’s
first artificial satellite
Americans launch its first satellite in 1958
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CIA makes secret highaltitude flights over Soviet
Union to take photos of
missile sites
Francis Gary Powers, U-2,
pilot is brought down by a
Soviet plane
Eisenhower stops secret
flights but no apology
Khrushchev calls off
meeting with Eisenhower