HIST 17C Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: United Fruit Company, Fidel Castro, Loyalty Program
Origins of the Cold War
Yalta Conference
➔Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin divided Germany into four occupation zones
Potsdam Conference: meeting between Stalin, Churchill, and Truman to discuss postwar fate of
Germany
➔Each side took reparations from its own occupation zone
➔Divided up Germany
➔Created Council of Foreign Ministers
➔Marked the end of wartime alliance
➔Problems with the coalition
◆Delay in D-Day
◆Wartime tensions over Germany and Poland
◆The atomic bomb
Domestic pressure and tensions within the US
➔Few isolationists
◆No more “Munichs”
◆No “appeasement”
◆No more “Pearl Harbors”
The roots of containment
➔First confrontation took place in the Middle East
◆Soviet troops occupied Iran hoping to pressure the country to grant access to rich
oil fields
Long Telegram
➔American diplomat George Kennan said Soviet Union could not be dealt with as a
normal government
➔Keep USSR from expanding until it fell apart from its own weakness
◆No appeasement
➔Set the stage for the policy of containment: US committed itself to preventing expansion
of Soviet power
➔Keeping communism in its own territory through diplomatic, economic, cultural, and
military means
The iron curtain
➔Winston Churchill declared an iron curtain descended across Europe separating free
West from the communist East
Berlin Wall
➔The Federal Republic of Germany
◆West Germany
➔The German Democratic Republic
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◆East Germany
◆East Berlin = capital
◆Sealed the border between east and west
Truman Doctrine
➔Declared US had the responsibility to defend freedom as the leader of the free world
◆Created the language through which most Americans came to understand the
postwar world
➔Highlighted the ideological confrontation between US and Soviets
➔Provided aid to Greece and Turkey to prevent guerilla communist movements from
taking control
◆Did not prevent Soviet consolidation, but helped Greece and Turkey
◆Truman’s emphasis on ideology scared the money out of Congress
➔Greece and Turkey were gateway to Middle East
◆US needed to keep Middle Eastern markets open Middle East contained
important raw materials for US (oil)
The Marshall Plan
➔Aimed to combat the idea that capitalism was in decline and communism was rising
➔Defined the threat to American security as economic and political instability
◆Threat was not Soviet military power
◆Instability left a country vulnerable to communism
➔Envisioned a New Deal for Europe
◆Supposed to be a way to stabilize Europe without long-term US economic and
security commitment
➔Why?
◆Undermine the appeal of communism in Europe
◆Desire to prevent another world-wide Depression
◆Get overseas customers for US products
◆Jumpstart European economy
◆Enable US to avoid long-term military entanglement in Europe
◆fight hunger, poverty, desperation, chaos
Growth of communism
Berlin Blockade
➔Stalin prevented resources and supplies from reaching West Berlin
◆Hoped to starve the West Berliners into accepting Soviet leadership
➔Food was brought by US and UK airplanes (Berlin Airlift)
➔Impact
◆West Germany: Western zones of Germany and West Berlin united → Federal
Republic of Germany (capitalist)
◆East Germany: Soviet zone of Germany and East Berlin → German Democratic
Republic (Communist)
➔NATO
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◆a defensive peacetime military alliance in which an attack (by USSR) on one
country was an attack on all Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
◆pledged mutual defense against any future Soviet attack
The growing communist challenge
➔Truman administration refused to recognize the People’s Republic of China (communist
Mao Zedong)
◆Blocked it from occupying China’s seat at the United Nations
➔National Security Council authorized NSC-68
◆Allowed permanent military build-up
◆Initiated the dramatic increase in American military spending
Second Red Scare
1949 Soviets explode atomic bomb
1949 Mao Zedong creates People’s Republic of China
1950 McCarthy gives his speech
Hiss case (1948)
➔Whittaker Chambers testified before HUAC about communist infiltration of high
government positions prior to WWII
◆Claimed that Alger Hiss (New Dealer who worked in the state department) was a
communist, but not a spy
◆Hiss claimed he’d never seen Chambers before
◆Surprise confrontation between Hiss and Chambers set up by chief investigator
of Hiss case
● Hiss said he’d known Chambers by a different name and by his dental
work
◆Statute of limitations made it impossible to try Hiss for espionage
● Tried for perjury
➔Hiss’ conviction played into the hands of Republicans
◆Essential touch of credibility to make their allegations that the Truman
administration was soft on communism
➔Provided the answer as to why US wasn’t achieving total victory
◆Internal sabotage and traitors
The Korean War (1950-1953)
➔Korea partitioned along the 38th parallel
◆Northern zone governed by the Soviet Union
◆Southern zone controlled by the US
➔First hot war of the Cold War
➔Russians withdrew and left communist government in the North
◆the North invaded the South
➔The U.N. raised an international army led by the U.S. to stop the North
◆first use of U.N. military forces to enforce international peace
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Document Summary
Roosevelt, churchill, and stalin divided germany into four occupation zones. Potsdam conference: meeting between stalin, churchill, and truman to discuss postwar fate of. Each side took reparations from its own occupation zone. First confrontation took place in the middle east. Soviet troops occupied iran hoping to pressure the country to grant access to rich oil fields. American diplomat george kennan said soviet union could not be dealt with as a normal government. Keep ussr from expanding until it fell apart from its own weakness. Set the stage for the policy of containment: us committed itself to preventing expansion of soviet power. Keeping communism in its own territory through diplomatic, economic, cultural, and military means. Winston churchill declared an iron curtain descended across europe separating free. Sealed the border between east and west. Declared us had the responsibility to defend freedom as the leader of the free world. Created the language through which most americans came to understand the postwar world.
