America and the Contemporary World
1st Quarter
DBQ: The US was most responsible for the Cold War
Please put this sheet into your Notebook. Answer the questions in your notebook in complete
sentences. Remember: It is critical that you give these questions serious thought. Answering the
questions will help you understand these documents so you will do well on the paper.
Document 1:
1.
2.
3.
What is the foreign policy objective of the US according to the Soviet ambassador?
How does the "imperialistic tendencies of American monopolistic capitalism" make this
goal inevitable?
What evidence does the ambassador offer to show that the US is trying to achieve this
goal?
Document 2:
1.
2.
3.
How is Hitler’s view of German speaking people similar to Churchill’s view of English
speaking people?
How does imperialism relate to this viewpoint?
How might this viewpoint influence the way Churchill and Roosevelt shape their foreign
policies?
Document 3:
1.
2.
3.
Recalling what you know about the Truman Doctrine, why do you think the Soviets argue
that the Truman doctrine is an American attempt to "impose its will on other states"?
Recalling what you know about the Marshall Plan, why do you think that the Soviets
argue that it violates the UN Resolution from December 1946?
Moreover, why do you think the Marshall Plan renounces the rights of European
countries to plan their economy as they see fit?
Document 4:
1.
2.
3.
What actions did the U.S. take following the end of WW II?
What does it appear the US is trying to do, according to Wallace?
How do you think the USSR might feel about the US actions?
America and the Contemporary World
1st Quarter
DBQ Documents:
The US was most responsible for the Cold War
Document 1: Soviet ambassador in Washington, Nikolai Novikov, drafted this telegram in
September 1946.
…The foreign policy of the United States, which reflects the imperialist tendencies of American
monopolistic capital, is characterized in the postwar period by a striving for world supremacy.
This is the real meaning of the many statements by President Truman and other representatives of
American ruling circles; that the United States has the right to lead the world. All the forces
of American diplomacy -- the army, the air force, the navy, industry, and science -- are enlisted in
the service of this foreign policy. For this purpose broad plans for expansion have been
developed and are being implemented through diplomacy and the establishment of a system of
naval and air bases stretching far beyond the boundaries of the United States, through the arms
race, and through the creation of ever newer types of weapons….
Document 2: Joseph Stalin, Reply to Churchill, 1946
... In substance, Mr. Churchill now stands in the position of a firebrand of war. And Mr.
Churchill is not alone here. He has friends not only in England but also in the United States of
America.
In this respect, one is reminded remarkably of Hitler and his friends. Hitler began to set war loose
by announcing his racial theory, declaring that only people speaking the German language
represent a fully valuable nation. Mr. Churchill begins to set war loose, also by a racial theory,
maintaining that only nations speaking the English language are fully valuable nations, called
upon to decide the destinies of the entire world. …
Document 3: Soviet Foreign Minister, Andrey Vyshinsky’s speech to U.N. General Assembly,
1947
The so-called Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan are particularly glaring examples of the
manner in which the principles of the United Nation are violated, of the way in which the
organization is ignored. As the experience of the past few months has shown, the proclamation of
this doctrine meant that the United States government has moved towards a direct renunciation of
the principles of international collaboration and concerted action by the great powers and towards
attempts to impose its will on other independent states, while at the same time obviously using
the economic resources distributed as relief to individual needy nations as an instrument of
political pressure. This is clearly proved by the measures taken by the United States government
with regard to Greece and Turkey which ignore and bypass the United Nations as well as by the
measures proposed under the so-called Marshall Plan in Europe. This policy conflicts sharply
with the principle expressed by the General Assembly in its resolution of 11 December 1946,
which declares that relief supplies to other countries "should ... at no time be used as a political
weapon."
As is now clear, the Marshall Plan constitutes in essence merely a variant of the Truman Doctrine
adapted to the conditions of postwar Europe. In bringing forward this plan, the United States
government apparently counted on the cooperation of governments of the United Kingdom and
France to confront the European countries in need of relief with the necessity of renouncing their
inalienable right to dispose of their economic resources and to plan their national economy in
their own way. The United States also counted on making all these countries directly dependent
on the interests of American monopolies, which are striving to avert the approaching depression
by an accelerated export of commodities and capital to Europe. ...
Document 4: Former Vice President, Henry A. Wallace, “Get Tough” Policy, 1946
…How do American actions since V-J Day appear to other nations? I mean by actions the
concrete things like $13 billion for the War and Navy Departments, the Bikini tests of the atomic
bomb and continued production of bombs, the plan to arm Latin America with our weapons,
production of B-29s and planned production of B-36s, and the effort to secure air bases spread
over half the globe from which the other half of the globe from which the other half of the globe
can be bombed. I cannot but feel that these actions must make it look to the rest of the world as if
we were only paying lip service to peace at the conference table. These facts rather make it
appear either (1) that we are preparing ourselves to win the war which we regard as inevitable or
(2) that we are trying to build up a predominance of force to intimidate the rest of mankind. How
would it look to us if Russia had the atomic bomb and we did not, if Russia had then
thousand-mile bombers and air bases within a thousand miles of our coast lines and we did
not?…
America and the Contemporary World
1st Quarter
DBQ: The USSR was most responsible for the Cold War
Please put this sheet into your Notebook. Answer the questions in your notebook in complete
sentences. Remember: It is critical that you give these questions serious thought. Answering the
questions will help you understand these documents so you will do well on the paper.
Document 1:
1.
2.
3.
The "iron curtain" is a metaphor. What does it represent?
What goal is the Soviet Union trying to achieve in Eastern Europe?
What evidence does Churchill offer to show that the USSR is trying to achieve this goal?
Document 2:
1.
The Truman Doctrine rejects Stalin’s explanation of what is causing conflict in the post
war world. What does Truman say is the real cause of the conflict?
Document 3:
1.
2.
How does Kennan believe the US should respond to the USSR?
What is the objective of the containment policy?
Document 4:
1.
2.
3.
What happened to the influence of the USSR in the years after WW II?
What developments are especially alarming to McCarthy?
How do you think the US might feel about these developments?
America and the Contemporary World
1st Quarter
DBQ Documents:
The USSR was most responsible for the Cold War
Document 1: Former Prime Minister of England, Winston Churchill, March 5, 1946
Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri
…From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the
Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe.
Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous
cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are
subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases,
increasing measure of control from Moscow. Athens alone - Greece with its immortal glories - is
free to decide its future at an election under British, American and French observation. The
Russian- dominated Polish Government has been encouraged to make enormous and wrongful
inroads upon Germany, and mass expulsions of millions of Germans on a scale grievous and
undreamed-of are now taking place. The Communist parties, which were very small in all these
Eastern States of Europe, have been raised to pre-eminence and power far beyond their numbers
and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control. Police governments are prevailing in
nearly every case, and so far, except in Czechoslovakia, there is no true democracy….
Document 2: Truman Doctrine, 1947
…At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative
ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one.
One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions,
representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and
religion, and freedom from political oppression.
The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed
upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio; fixed
elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms.
I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting
attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures….
Document 3: Diplomat George Kennan, US, 1947
In the light of the above, it will be clearly seen that the Soviet pressure against the free
institutions of the Western world is something that can be contained by the adroit and vigilant
application of counter-force at a series of constantly shifting geographical and political points,
corresponding to the shifts and maneuvers of Soviet policy, but which cannot be charmed or
talked out of existence. The Russians look forward to a duel of infinite duration, and they see that
already they have scored great successes. It must be borne in mind that there was a time when the
Communist Party represented far more of a minority in the sphere of Russian national life than
Soviet power today represents in the world community. It is clear that the United States cannot
expect in the foreseeable future to enjoy political intimacy with the Soviet regime. It must
continue to expect that Soviet policies will reflect no abstract love of peace and stability, no real
faith in the possibility of a permanent happy coexistence of the Socialist and Capitalist worlds,
but rather a cautious, persistent pressure toward the disruption and weakening of all rival
influence and rival power.
Balanced against this are the facts that Russia, as opposed to the Western world in general, is still
by far the weaker party, that Soviet policy is highly flexible, and that Soviet society may well
contain deficiencies which will eventually weaken its own total potential. This would of itself
warrant the United States entering with reasonable confidence upon a policy of firm containment,
designed to confront the Russians with unalterable counter-force at every point where they show
signs of encroaching upon the interests if a peaceful and stable world….
Document 4: Senator Joseph McCarthy, 1947
Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity.
The modern champions of communism have selected this as the time. And, ladies and gentlemen,
the chips are down-they truly are down
Six years ago there was within the Soviet orbit 180,000,000 peopleToday, only six yeas
later, there are 800,000,000 people under the absolute domination of Soviet Russia-an increase of
over 400 percent This indicates the swiftness of the tempo of Communist victories and
American defeats in the cold war. As one of our outstanding historical figures once said, “When
a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be because of enemies from without, but rather
because of enemies from within.” The truth of this statement is becoming terrifyingly clear as we
see this country each day losing on every front. At wars end we were physically the strongest
nation on earth and, at least potentially, the most powerful intellectually and morally. Ours could
have been the honor of being a beacon in the desert of destruction, a shining living proof that
civilization was not yet ready to destroy itself. Unfortunately, we have failed miserably and
tragically to arise to the opportunity.
Major Arguments
Thesis
The
USA/USSR was most
responsible for the Cold War.
*Supporting Details may include either document quotes or historical events.