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
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 multi-party system -> but then breaks his promise
Truman wants to spread democracy
Truman does not want Russia to take war reparations from Germany
U.S. wants to rebuild Eastern Europe in order to help the American economy
Stalin is worried about future invasions from the west -> communist governments are installed in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Poland (satellite countries)
Stalin says war is inevitable
U.S. view Soviets as a real threat
George K. Kennan, American diplomat in Moscow, issues a policy of containment -> prevent the extension of communist rule to other countries
Europe becomes divided into political regions -> democratic Western Europe vs. communist Eastern Europe -> “Iron Curtain”
A conflict between the U.S. and Soviet Union -> no direct fights on the battlefield
1945-1991
Financial support is given to countries to prevent the spread of communism
$400 million is given to Turkey and Greece
Western Europe had been destroyed
Millions were in refugee camps
Severe winter 1946-1947
U.S. Secretary of State, George Marshall, proposes giving aid
16 countries receive $13 billion from 1947-1952 and their economies recover
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
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
Defensive military alliance is created after the Berlin blockade
Belgium, Denmark, France, G. Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland, Norway, Portugal, U.S., Canada
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.?
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
WWII ends -> Japanese surrender to Soviets in the north and to Americans in the South
1948 - Republic of Korea (South) vs. Communist led Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North)
June 1950 United Nations votes to send troops
to help South Korea520,000 troops are sent (90%
American)
MacArthur leads UN army in many successful battles against the North Koreans
Communist China sends 300,000 troops to help North Korea
Chinese outnumber UN forces 10 to 1
Stalemate for two years
Truman rejects MacArthur’s request to use nuclear weapons on China and fires him shortly after
July 1953 the war ends
Korea remains divided
54,000 Americans die
$67 billion Fear of
communism increases in America
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?
Communist Soviet Union controls Eastern Europe
Communists take over China100,000 Americans in the
Communist Party
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
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
1. What organization does the car represent?
2. What does the cartoon imply about the methods of this organization?
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
States make it illegal to advocate the violent overthrow of the govt.
Many professions required loyalty oaths
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_DaMKUP3Og
7;37
1. How did the Loyalty Review Board pose a threat to civil liberties?
2. Why was Hollywood a target for anti-Communist 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
Decrease size of army and navy and expand air force
Produce more nuclear bombs
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – 1947
Uses spies to gather information about other countries
Conducts covert operations to overthrow governments “unfriendly to the U.S.”
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
Soviet Union fears W. Germany after joining NATO and rearming
Eisenhower’s “open skies” proposal is rejected by the Soviet Union
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
Hungarians revolt and demand a democratic government
S. Union crushes itU.S. does not follow the Truman
Doctrine in the satellites of the Soviet Union
Nikita Khrushchev leads Soviet Union when Stalin dies in 1953
Believes communism will take over the world but peacefully
Soviets launch Sputnik (1957) – the world’s first artificial satellite
Americans launch its first satellite in 1958
CIA makes secret high-altitude 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
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