The Cold War Ch 18

Communism v. capitalism

Under Soviet communism, the state controlled all property and economic activity, while in the capitalistic American system, private citizens controlled almost all economic activity. In the American system, voting by the people elected a president and a co

Mutual suspicions

In some ways, the Americans and Soviets became more suspicious of each other during the war. Stalin resented the Western Allies' delay in attacking the Germans in Europe. Such an attack, he thought, would draw part of the German army away from the Soviet

Broken Yalta pledges

At Yalta, Stalin had promised Roosevelt that he would allow free elections� that is, a vote by secret ballot in a multiparty system�in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe that the Soviets occupied at the end of the war.

United Nations

the repre- sentatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco to establish this new peacekeeping body. After two months of debate, on June 26, 1945, the delegates signed the charter establishing the UN.Ironically, even though the UN was intended to promote pea

Harry S. Truman

ey figure in the early years of conflict with the Soviets was President Harry S. Truman. On April 12, 1945, Truman had suddenly become president when Franklin Roosevelt died. This former Missouri senator had been picked as Roosevelt's running mate in 1944

Potsdam Conference

the Big Three�the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union�met at the final wartime conference at Potsdam near Berlin. The countries that partici- pated were the same ones that had been present at Yalta in February 1945. Stalin still represented

Soviet sphere of influence

� Encourage communism in other countries as part of the worldwide struggle between workers and the wealthy
� Rebuild its war-ravaged economy using Eastern Europe's industrial equipment and raw materials
� Control Eastern Europe to balance U.S. influence i

Satellite nations

Stalin installed communist governments in Albania,Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland. These countries became known as satellite nations, countries dominated by the Soviet Union.

Inevitability of war" speech

In early 1946, Stalin gave a speech announcing that communism and capitalism were incom- patible�and that another war was inevitable.

Containment

George F. Kennan, an American diplo- mat in Moscow, proposed a policy of containment. By containment he meant taking measures to prevent any extension of communist rule to other countries.This policy began to guide the Truman administration's foreign poli

Iron Curtain Speech

Winston Churchill traveled to the United States and gave a speech that described the situation in Europe.The phrase "iron curtain" came to stand for the division of Europe. When Stalin heard about the speech, he declared in no uncertain terms that Churchi

Truman Doctrine

Truman asked Congress for $400 million in economic and military aid for Greece and Turkey. In a statement that became known as the Truman Doctrine, he declared that "it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting atte

Marshall Plan

Secretary of State George Marshall proposed that the United States provide aid to all European nations that needed it, say- ing that this move was directed "not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos."
The Mars

Berlin Crisis & Airlift

Although the three nations had intended to unify their zones, they had no written agreement with the Soviets guaranteeing free access to Berlin by road or rail. Stalin saw this loophole as an opportunity. If he moved quickly, he might be able to take over

NATO Alliance

The Berlin blockade increased Western European fear of Soviet aggression. As a result, ten Western European nations� Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal�joined with the United States a

China

The policy of containment had led the United States into bat- tle to halt communist expansion. In this conflict, however, the enemy was not the Soviet Union, but North Korea and China.The United States supported Chiang. Between 1945 and 1949, the American

Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi)

Chinese Communists had struggled against the nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek. Many Americans were impressed by Chiang Kai-shek and admired the courage and determination that the Chinese Nationalists showed in resisting the Japanese during the wa

Grain tax

the Nationalists collected a grain tax from farmers even during the famine of 1944. When city dwellers demonstrated against a 10,000 percent increase in the price of rice, Chiang's secret police opened fire on them.

Nationalists vs. Communists

Nationalists Leader: Chiang Kai-shek
� Ruled in southern and eastern China � Relied heavily on aid from United States � Struggled with inflation and a failing economy � Suffered from weak leadership and poor morale
Communists Leader: Mao Zedong
� Ruled in

Peasants

The US aid to china wasn't enough to save the Nationalists, whose weak military leader- ship and corrupt, abusive practices drove the peasants to the Communist side.

Civil War

s soon as the defeated Japanese left China at the end of World War II, cooperation between the Nationalists and the Communists ceased. Civil war erupted again between the two groups. In spite of the problems in the Nationalist regime, American policy favo

US refusal to send troops

the United States played peacemaker between the two groups while still supporting the Nationalists. However, U.S. officials repeatedly failed to negotiate peace. Truman refused to commit American soldiers to back up the Nationalists, although the United S

Taiwan (Formosa)

In May 1949, Chiang and the remnants of his demoralized government fled to the island of Taiwan, which Westerners called Formosa. After more than 20 years of struggle, the Communists ruled all of mainland China. They established a new government, the Peop

Loss of China

The American public was stunned that China had become Communist. Containment had failed! In Congress, conser- vative Republicans and Democrats attacked the Truman administration for supplying only limited aid to Chiang.The State Department replied by sayi

Red Scare

A period during the Cold War where the American public was terrified of Communists and the spread of Communism.

Korean War

Japanese troops north of the 38th parallel (38o North latitude) surrendered to the Soviets. Japanese troops south of the parallel surrendered to the Americans. As in Germany, two nations developed, one communist and one democratic.In 1948, the Republic of

38th parallel

On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces swept across the 38th parallel in a surprise attack on South Korea. The conflict that followed became known as the Korean War.

UN Security Council boycott backfired

Within a few days, North Korean troops had penetrated deep into South Korea. South Korea called on the United Nations to stop the North Korean inva- sion. When the matter came to a vote in the UN Security Council, the Soviet Union was not there. The Sovie

Douglas MacArthur

combined forces were placed under the command of General Douglas MacArthur, former World War II hero in the Pacific.MacArthur launched a counterattack with tanks, heavy artillery, and fresh troops from the United States. On September 15, 1950, his troops

Yalu River

Communist China's foreign minister, Zhou En-lai, warned that his country would not stand idly by and "let the Americans come to the border"�meaning the Yalu River.

MacArthur's "China Policy

MacArthur called for an extension of the war into China. Convinced that Korea was the place "where the Communist conspirators have elected to make their play for global conquest," MacArthur called for the use of nuclear weapons against Chinese cities.

Insubordination

Disobedience to authority
Truman rejected MacArthur's request. The Soviet Union had a mutual-assistance pact with China. Attacking China could set off World War III.MacArthur tried to go over the presi- dent's head. He spoke and wrote privately to newspap

Armistice

A temporary peace agreement to end fighting.
MacArthur contro- versy died down, the Soviet Union unexpectedly suggested a cease-fire on June 23, 1951. Truce talks began in July 1951. The opposing sides reached agreement on two points: the location of the

DMZ

the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.

Impact of 2 Wars on '52 presidential election

home front, the war had affected the lives of ordinary Americans in many ways. It had cost 54,000 American lives and $67 billion in expenditures. The high cost of this unsuccessful war
was one of many factors lead- ing Americans to reject the Democratic P

Loyalty Review Boards

President Truman issued an executive order setting up the Federal Employee Loyalty Program, which included the Loyalty Review Board. Its purpose was to investigate government employees and to dismiss those who were found to be disloyal to the U.S. governm

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)

Other agencies investigated possible Communist influence, both inside and outside the U.S. government. The most famous of these was the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). HUAC first made headlines in 1947, when it began to investigate Communis

Hollywood Ten

Ten "unfriendly" witnesses were called to testify but refused. These men, known as the Hollywood Ten, decided not to cooperate because they believed that the hearings were unconstitutional. Because the Hollywood Ten refused to answer questions, they were

Blacklist

In response to the hearings, Hollywood executives instituted a blacklist, a list of people whom they condemned for having a Communist background. People who were blacklisted�approximately 500 actors, writers, producers, and directors�had their careers rui

McCarran Act

As Hollywood tried to rid itself of Communists, Congress decided that Truman's Loyalty Review Board did not go far enough. In 1950, Congress passed the McCarran Internal Security Act. This made it unlawful to plan any action that might lead to the establi

Alger Hiss Case

Two spy cases added to fear that was spreading like an epidemic across the coun- try. One case involved a former State Department official named Alger Hiss.a former Communist spy named Whittaker Chambers accused Alger Hiss of spying for the Soviet Union.

Ethel & Julius Rosenberg

Americans learned that the Soviet Union had exploded an atomic bomb. Most American experts had predicted that it would take the Soviets three to five more years to make the bomb. People began to wonder if Communist supporters in the United States had leak

Espionage

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg died in the electric chair in June 1953, leaving behind two sons. They became the first U.S. civilians executed for espionage.
Spying

Joseph McCarthy

most famous anti-Communist activist was Senator Joseph McCarthy, a Republican from Wisconsin. During his first three years in the Senate, he had acquired a reputation for being an ineffective legislator. By January 1950, he real- ized that he was going to

McCarthyism

aking advantage of people's concerns about commu- nism, McCarthy made one unsupported accusation after another. These attacks on suspected Communists in the early 1950s became known as McCarthyism. Since that time, McCarthyism has referred to the unfair t

Paul Robeson

African American concert singer whose passport was revoked and was blacklisted from the stage, screen, radio and television under the McCarran Act of the red scare of the 1950s due to his public criticism of American racist tendencies.

H-bomb

The scientists who developed the atomic bomb had suspected since 1942 that it was possible to create an even more destructive thermo- nuclear weapon�the hydrogen bomb, or H-bomb. They estimated that such a bomb would have the force of 1 million tons of TN

Dwight D. Eisenhower

By the time both countries had the H-bomb, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president.

Air-raid drill

Practiced reactions to a nuclear attack, involved "duck and cover"
The threat of nuclear attack was unlike any the American people had ever faced. Even if only a few bombs reached their targets, millions of civilians would die. Schoolchildren like Annie D

John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State

Eisenhower secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, was staunchly anti-Communist.For Dulles, the Cold War was a moral crusade against communism. Dulles proposed that the United States could prevent the spread of communism by promising to use all of its for

Massive retaliation

Eisenhower's policy; it advocated the full use of American nuclear weapons to counteract even a Soviet ground attack in Europe

Brinkmanship

The willingness of the United States, under President Eisenhower, to go to the edge of all-out war became known as brinkmanship. Under this policy, the United States trimmed its army and navy and expanded its air force (which would deliver the bombs) and

CIA

As the nation shifted to a dependence on nuclear arms, the Eisenhower adminis- tration began to rely heavily on the recently formed Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for information. The CIA used spies to gather information abroad.

Covert actions

The CIA also began to carry out covert, or secret, operations to weaken or over- throw governments unfriendly to the United States.

Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh

ne of the CIA's first covert actions took place in the Middle East. In 1951, Iran's prime min- ister, Mohammed Mossadegh, nationalized Iran's oil fields;that is, he placed the formerly private industries (owned mostly by Great Britain) under Iranian contr

Shah returns

The CIA wanted the pro-American Shah of Iran, who had recently been forced to flee, to return to power. The plan worked. The Shah returned to power and turned over control of Iranian oil fields to Western companies.

Warsaw Pact 1955

when West Germany was allowed to rearm and join NATO, the Soviet Union grew fearful. It formed its own military alliance, known as the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact linked the Soviet Union with seven Eastern European countries.

Geneva Summit 1955

Eisenhower traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, to meet with Soviet leaders. There Eisenhower put forth an "open skies" proposal. The United States and the Soviet Union would allow flights over each other's territory to guard against surprise nuclear attacks.

Suez War 1956

Great Britain and the United States agreed to help Egypt finance construction of a dam at Aswan on the Nile River. However, Gamal Abdel-Nasser, Egypt's head of government, tried to play the Soviets and the Americans against each other, by improving relati

Eisenhower Doctrine

The Soviet Union's pres- tige in the Middle East rose because of its support for Egypt. To counterbalance this development, President Eisenhower issued a warning in January 1957. This warning, known as the Eisenhower Doctrine, said that the United States

Hungarian Uprising 1956

Even as fighting was raging in the Middle East, a revolt began in Hungary. Dominated by the Soviet Union since the end of World War II, the Hungarian people rose in revolt in 1956. They called for a democratic government.
The Soviet response was swift and

Imre Nagy

Imre Nagy, the most popular and liberal Hungarian Communist leader, formed a new government. He promised free elections, denounced the Warsaw Pact, and demanded that all Soviet troops leave Hungary.

Limits of the Truman Doctrine

Although the Truman Doctrine had promised to support free peoples who resisted communism, the United States did nothing to help Hungary break free of Soviet control. ManyHungarians were bitterly disappointed. The American policy of containment did not ext

Nikita Khrushchev

After Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet Union had no well-defined way for one leader to succeed another. For the first few years, a group of leaders shared power. As time went by, how- ever, one man did gain power. That man was Nikita Khrushchev (krMshPc

Space War

In the competition for inter- national prestige, the Soviets leaped to an early lead in what came to be known as the space race. Americans were shocked at being beaten and promptly poured money into their own space pro- gram. U.S. scientists worked franti

Sputnik

On October 4, 1957, they launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. Sputnik traveled around the earth at 18,000 miles per hour, circling the globe every 96 minutes. Its launch was a tri- umph of Soviet technology.

U-2 Incident

CIA began making secret high-altitude flights over Soviet territory. The plane used for these missions was the U-2, which could fly at high altitudes without detection. As a U-2 passed over the Soviet Union, its infrared cameras took detailed photographs

Francis Gary Powers

a U-2 pilot That flight took place on May 1, and the pilot was Francis Gary Powers. Four hours after Powers entered Soviet airspace, a Soviet pilot shot down his plane, and Powers was forced to parachute into Soviet-controlled territory. The Soviets sente