The Cold War is the closest the world has ever come to complete destruction. In this period of time, two world super powers were in a stalemate economically and militarily and were constantly competing to be the superior. The Cold War started as result of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union had some differences on their perspectives of the world. United States being the richest country in the world promoted democracy and capitalism in the world. The newly formed Soviet Union thought that communism was a better political system because it transformed their economy and status in the world from nothing but a declining empire to a super power once again.
The Cold War was a long series of events in which the communist tried to spread their ideas of government and socialist economy, known as expansionism, and the United States and some of the other Western powers such as Great Britain tried to contain it. Containment, a term introduced by George F. Kennan, was the foreign policy the United States practiced from 1946 to 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. The United States saw the Soviet Union to be a direct threat to the free world. During president Truman and Eisenhower’s administration the policy of containment evolved so drastically that American presidents would put anything on the line, including world peace.
It started with the Truman Doctrine (1947) that stated the United States would help any country financially and militarily that was interested in keeping the world free for democracy. The Truman Doctrine came about as direct result of communist guerillas in Greece trying to take over the government. American advisers believed that the guerillas were taking orders from the Soviets after they launched a civil war against the government. The United States decided to assist the standing government in Greece because they believed it would have a large impact on Europe and most importantly Turkey that was having its own problems with communism and was strategically located next to large oil reserves of Iran. Congress approved $300 million to aid Greece and $100 million in food and military expenses to aid Turkey.
The second large step in containment was the Marshall Plan. Proposed by Secretary of State George Marshall, it would provide economic relief to rebuilding Western European nations such as Great Britain, France, Belgium and even Germany. By boosting European economies the United States would insure that communism does not rise in any of these countries from a weak economy. It also was in American interest to rebuild European economies to market American goods in Europe and to receive the money Britain and France borrowed during the war. Congress wasn’t in favor of the proposed plan at first but following a coup by communist in Czechoslovakia, they approved it.
With the Marshall plan helping to rebuild European industries and cities, Britain and France started to concentrate on reforming the currency of West Berlin. Trying to forestall that development Soviet Union imposed a blockade on all railroads, highways and rivers leading to West Berlin. Without thinking twice president Truman airlifted 2.5 million tons, one ton per person, of food and fuel over the blockade which later persuaded Stalin, the Soviets party leader to take the blockade down.
After the coup of Czechoslovakia, U. S. thought that they were in need of an official alliance with the counties opposing communism. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was founded in April 1949. They agreed that they would stand by each other, as one and any attack on a member of the alliance is an attack on all constituents. In 1949 in response to NATO the Soviet Union formed the COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) as a result of the Warsaw Pact, in 1955 that included Eastern European nations such as Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia and Soviet Union.
To stay on top of the game Truman turned tot the National Security Council (NSC). The NSC delivered their report known as the NSC-68, to the president that was an exaggerated assessment of Soviet capabilities that proposed the development of a more powerful bomb then the atom bomb known as the hydrogen bomb. It also called for an increase in income taxes to support “ a bold and a massive program of rebuilding the West’s defensive potential to surpass that of the Soviet world.”
In Asia containment took a new turn, U. S. was promoting a non-communist government in China, it invested time and money to see no results from a corrupt and self oriented Chinese ruler. When the U. S. realized that there was no use in helping the Chinese dynasty, they pulled out leaving Mao Zedong a pro communist leader to establish a communist state known as the People Republic of China.
On June 25, 1950 North Koreans launched a surprise attack across the 38th parallel. Kim Il Sung of North Korea intended to unite North and South Korea; Stalin supported the effort. Truman immediately asked the United Nations Security Council to authorize a “police action” against the invaders. Since the Soviet Union was absent because they were protesting the exclusion of China from UN they could not veto the request. The UN sent general Douglass McArthur to head the UN forces in Korea. The UN forces landed in Inchon surrounding the North Korean forces form both sides and with the help of American forces in Pusan pushed them back to the Yalu River where Korea borders China. The Chinese were not happy with Americans being right across the river from them so they helped North Korean forces to push American forces back to the 38th Parallel. McArthur was demanding that the U. S. used an atomic bomb on China. He was unhappy about the stalemate on the 38th parallel and was convinced that America has to win. However he was soon relieved of command by the president shortly. Peace talks began in 1951 and the armistice was sighed in 1953, it left Korea divided on the 38th parallel as it was done originally.
The Strategy of containment was practiced on the home front also. In 1938 the House Committee on Un-American Activities was established to investigate all alleged fascist and communist influence in labor unions and New Deal agencies. In 1946 they discovered a Soviet spy ring operating in Canada. In 1947 HUAC launched the Great Fear, started by senator Joseph R. McCarthy, holding widely publicized hearings on alleged Communist infiltration in the film industry. That same year Harry Truman issued an executive order initiating an investigation into the loyalty of federal employees. Following Truman’s lead many states and local governments conducted the same investigations. The Great Fear infiltrated the country. Many people were sent to prisons where they perished just because they were labeled a communist with no evidence of guilt, except maybe guilt by association, and sometimes even lacking that. Two of the most controversial trials were of Alger Hiss and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Alger Hiss was former New Dealer that went with President Roosevelt to Yalta during the Peace conference. He was accused by a convicted communist Whittaker Chambers, to be operating a communist cell inside the government. He denied the allegations or knowing Chambers, he was later found guilty of perjury when it was discovered that he did know Chambers and had affiliations with him. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. They were found to be guilty and executed in
1953. Both Hiss’ and Rosenberg’s guilt is still being debated.
The arms race was another important stage in the Cold War. It started when Dwight D Eisenhower took office. He decided that United States defense policy needed a “New Look.” Stalin died in 1953 and Nikita Khrushchev called for “peaceful coexistence.” However this peaceful coexistence did not last long, when nationalist revolted in Hungary and wanted to take the country out of the Warsaw Pact. Khrushchev without hesitation sent Soviet tanks into Budapest. This action showed the American policy makers that the only way to restrain Soviet Union in Eastern Europe was to go to war with them. Eisenhower hoped that the cold war wasn’t the only thing on his agenda and he didn’t want to spend a lot on defense but he wanted to be well prepared in case he needed to be that’s why he and John Foster Dulles his secretary of state decided to support the development of a hydrogen bomb and a massive nuclear arsenal.
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Containment of Communism
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