Cold War at Home & Abroad - University of Florida
Cold War at Home & Abroad
1. US Foreign Policy
Collective Security
Containment
Korea
3. Anti-Communism at home
McCarthyism
The US & WW2
Economic Prosperity & Growth
Need to secure postwar markets
World Bank & International Monetary Fund, 1944
Collective Security
United Nations, 1945
Organization of American States, 1948
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1949
The Russian “Problem”
Wartime allies to peacetime foes
Yalta & Potsdam Conferences, 1945
Tacitly recognise “spheres of influence”
Tensions:
US fear of spread of Communism; democratic creeed
need for open markets
Soviet security interests
ideology vs realpolitik
Atomic Diplomacy
US A-Bomb, 1945
US H-Bomb, 1952
“Arrogance of Power”
Soviet A-Bomb, 1949
Soviet H-Bomb, 1953
Nuclear Arms Race
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)
Dr. Strangelove
(dir: Stanley Kubrick, 1963)
The Birth of “Containment”
The Truman Doctrine, 1947
Greek civil war
Containment: US pledges to confront the spread of communism by all necessary economic, diplomatic and military means…
National Security Act, 1947
CIA & Nat. Sec. Council
NSC-68, 1950
Containment extended: “foster seeds of destruction” in USSR
Cold War in Asia
The “fall” of China, 1949
Triumph of Mao Zedong’s communists
Sino-Soviet Pact, 1950
increased fears of international communist conspiracy
“Loss” of China = huge psychological blow to US
intensifies search for communist infiltration in US
increases pressure on Truman to adopt hardline approach to communist “expansion” (NSC-68)
Also helps explain commitment of troops in Korean War…
Korea, 1950-3
Domino Theory
US supports Syngman Rhee in S. Korea.
USSR & China support Kim Il Sung in N. Korea, who wants a unified Korea.
June 1950 invasion of S. Korea. Repelled by US/UN troops
From Containment to Rollback
Gen. MacArthur invades N. Korea; China joins to protect N. Korea. Stalemate…
US govt. debates using nuclear weapons…idea rejected
The Domestic Cold War, 1
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
Truman’s Executive Order 9835, 1947 (Fed. Employees Loyalty & Security Program)
Internal Security Act, 1950
(McCarran Act)
The Spy Cases
Alger Hiss
Robert Oppenheimer
Klaus Fuchs
Ethel & Julius Rosenberg
executed, July 1953
The Domestic Cold War, 2
Targets of McCarthy’s Red-baiting:
State Dept. Democrats
(Millard Tydings)
civil rights groups (NAACP)
unions (CIO)
liberals (Henry Wallace)
Hollywood (“Hollywood Ten” )
educators (Johns Cttee, Fl)
gays (Johns Cttee, too: ironic: J. Edgar Hoover)
army (seeds of McC’s downfall in 1954; Eisenhower objects)
Chilling effect on all dissent, protest & non-conformity
Talking John Birch Blues, Bob Dylan, 1963, 1
….The Communists was a-coming round, They was in the air, they was in the ground. They was all over.
So I run down most hurriedly, & joined the John Birch Society (Ultra-Conservative anti-communist group).
I was looking every place for those God-darned Reds…Looked up my chimney hole, even deep down inside my toilet bowl. They got away.....
I heard some footsteps by the front porch door. So I grabbed my shotgun from the floor. Snuck around the house with a huff and a hiss, Saying “Hands up you Communist!” It was the mailman...He punched me out.
…I quit my job, so I could work alone. Got a magnifying glass like Sherlock Holmes. Found some clues in my detective bag I discovered...Red stripes in the American flag! Betsy Ross!
Talking John Birch Blues, Bob Dylan, 1963, 2
Now Eisenhower, he’s a Russian spy,
Lincoln and Jefferson and that Roosevelt guy.
To my knowledge there’s just one man
That’s really and truly an American guy,
And that’s George Lincoln Rockwell (US Nazi Leader) .
I know for a fact that he hates the Commies
Because he picketed the movie Exodus.
I finally started thinking straight
When I ran out of things to investigate.
Couldn’t imagine nothing else,
So now I’m home alone investigating myself.
Hope I don’t find out too much…
Conclusions
1. US recognized the need for formal alliances &
collective action in the post-WW2 era to secure its
economic & security goals.
2. US saw itself as the guardian of the free democratic
world against communist oppression, aggression, subversion &
resolved to “contain” that threat wherever it appeared
(though refrained from nuclear option).
3. Frustration at inability to make the world conform to its
democratic & capitalist ideals despite power led to a search for
scapegoats – notably domestic anti-communism.
4. Anti-communist paranoia ruined & ended lives, stifled
creativity & suppressed meaningful debate on important
domestic issues & foreign policy for decades.
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