Chapter 27: Truman and Cold War America, 1945-1952

1. The Cold War Begins
   1. Truman and the Soviets
      1. Truman and other American leaders identified two overlapping paths to peace: international cooperation and deterrence based on military strength.
         1. Not all nations accepted the American vision for peace and stability.
         2. The Soviets advanced opposing goals in Eastern Europe and were unwilling to allow an open political and economic system.
         3. Truman confronted the Soviets for not fulfilling its Yalta promises and was less compromising with the Soviets than Roosevelt had been.
         4. By early 1946, Truman was "tired of babying the Soviets."
      2. The United States adopted the containment policy to meet the Soviet threat head-on.
         1. The fear of Soviet expansion quickly became a bipartisan issue.
         2. Churchill warned of the Soviet threat in his "iron curtain" speech in 1946.
         3. Ideology and geography determined postwar credits and loans to Europe.
   2. The Division of Europe
      1. Events in Europe assumed first priority for the United States as Communist forces pressured Greece and Turkey.
         1. The Truman Doctrine offered help to those nations opposing Communism.
         2. The Marshall Plan expanded the Truman Doctrine to all of Europe.
         3. The Soviets were unwilling to participate and tightened their control over Eastern Europe.
      2. The Soviets engineered a coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and installed a Communist government.
      3. The Berlin Blockade of June 1948 heightened Cold War tensions between the United States and the USSR.
         1. The Soviet goal was to force Western abandonment of West Germany or face losing Berlin.
         2. The Berlin Airlift, which flew in supplies to support West Berlin, was a tremendous victory for the United States over the Soviets.
         3. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created in May 1949 to defend Western Europe from Communist forces.
   3. A Global Presence
      1. The United States expanded its economic and political interests in Latin America.
         1. The U.S. government encouraged private firms to develop the region through business and trade.
         2. The Rio Pact of 1947 encouraged Latin Americans toward "collective security."
         3. Adding to this feeling was the establishment of the Organization of American States (OAS).
      2. U.S. fear of future oil shortages promoted expansion of its interests in the Middle East.
         1. The United States also became a powerful supporter of a new Jewish state, Israel, as a representative voice of its interests in the region.
      3. Asia, however, provided severe disappointments to U.S. foreign policy.
         1. In China, a civil war led to Communist rule by 1949.
         2. The Nationalist government fled to Formosa (Taiwan).
         3. Many Americans complained that the Truman administration was "too soft" on Communism.
      4. The Soviet Union detonated its own atomic bomb in August 1949.
         1. NSC 68 called for global containment and a massive military buildup so that the United States could adequately defend itself against the growing Soviet threat.
         2. Truman hesitated to implement the report’s recommendations, but North Korea’s invasion of South Korea helped change his mind on the issue.
2. The Korean War
   1. The UN Responds to Communist Aggression
      1. Although U.S. public opinion supported intervention in Korea, there was no World War II - like rush to arms.
         1. By 1950, North Korean forces occupied most of South Korea.
   2. Seeking to Liberate North Korea
      1. According to Truman and MacArthur, restoring prevailing conditions prior to the invasion was no longer enough for the United States
         1. They now wanted to unify the peninsula under South Korea, and an invasion seemed safe.
         2. An overconfident MacArthur, however, violated his commander-in-chief’s orders.
         3. MacArthur moved forces to within a few miles of Yalu.
         4. Within three weeks, the Communists had shoved UN forces back to the thirty-eighth parallel dividing North and South Korea.
      2. Truman abandoned his goal of a unified Korea and sought a negotiated settlement that would leave two Koreas.
         1. Truman’s decision was not popular with the American public because they wanted victory.
         2. Truman replaced MacArthur with General Ridgway in April 1951.
      3. The Korean conflict had far-reaching military and diplomatic results for the United States.
         1. It resulted in the expansion of U.S. military spending and the rearming of West Germany and Italy.
         2. The United States made its presence in Asia and the Pacific permanent, including the ANZUS Treaty (1951), which promised protection to Australia and New Zealand.
         3. George F. Kennan’s containment theory was formally and financially incorporated throughout the world.
3. Homecomings and Adjustments
   1. Adjusting to Peace at Home
      1. Demobilization began as soon as World War II ended.
         1. The military and the State Department protested the rapidness of demobilization.
         2. By November 1945, 1.25 million GIs were returning home each month.
         3. As a result, the nation faced a massive housing shortage, and developers like William Levitt supplied mass-produced housing in the suburbs.
         4. As more whites moved to the suburbs, the Supreme Court in Shelly v. Kraemerin 1948 ruled that the courts could not enforce restrictive housing convenants written to exclude minorities but the decision had little impact on ending discrimination.
         5. Veterans also expected jobs and expected female workers to relinquish theirs.
      2. Many, but not all, women accepted the role of contented wife and homemaker.
         1. The divorce rate jumped dramatically as a result of postwar tension and hasty wartime marriages.
         2. Marriage, however, was still more popular than ever, with two-thirds of the population married by 1950 and having children.
      3. Like women, nonwhites found that "fair employment" vanished after World War II.
         1. Nonwhite Americans still lived in a distinctly segregated world.
         2. Having risked their lives and fought for democracy, minorities were determined not to return to their old ways.
   2. Truman and Liberalism
      1. Emphasizing his roots, Truman expanded some New Deal programs.
         1. He continued governmental controls over the economy.
         2. Truman also renewed the Fair Practices Employment Commission (FPEC).
         3. This expanded New Deal, however, never fully developed.
         4. Republicans, conservative Democrats, business leaders, and other conservatives were determined to prevent it.
      2. Critics warned that Truman’s program involved too much government.
         1. They believed it threatened to destroy private enterprise.
         2. Some critics thought Truman’s program endangered existing class and social relations.
      3. As prices rose, most workers’ incomes fell.
         1. "Right-to-work" laws banned compulsory union membership.
         2. In some cases, legal and police protection was provided for "scabs."
         3. Other laws restricted boycotts and sympathy strikes.
         4. Some laws promoted the "open shop" and company-organized groups.
         5. Even Truman squared off against railroad and coal miners’ unions.
         6. Strikes, soaring inflation rates, and divisions within the Democratic ranks resulted in Republican party victories in Congress in 1946.
      4. The Taft-Hartley Act (June 1947) was passed over Truman’s veto and became a clear victory for management over labor.
         1. It banned the "closed shop" and prevented industry-wide collective bargaining.
         2. In addition, it legalized state-sponsored "right-to-work" laws.
      5. Truman’s position on civil rights was cautious but generally supportive.
         1. The To Secure These Rights(1947) report stressed racial inequalities in American society and called upon government to take steps to correct the imbalance.
   3. The 1948 Election
      1. Republicans had high expectations in this election as a result of 1946 congressional victories and Truman’s low approval rating.
         1. They nominated New York governor Thomas E. Dewey.
      2. The Dixiecrats were southern Democrats who were unhappy with their party but unwilling to support a Republican.
         1. They nominated South Carolina’s governor J. Strom Thurmond.
         2. The Progressive party nominated liberal and foreign policy critic Henry A. Wallace.
      3. Confounding pollsters, Truman defeated Dewey.
         1. With Congress again Democratic, Truman launched the Fair Deal.
         2. He called for increases in Social Security, public housing, and the minimum wage.
         3. In addition, he proposed the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act and proposed the institution of a national health program.
         4. Truman gave civil rights and federal aid to education a place on the national agenda.
         5. He rewarded farmers by promoting the Brannan Plan.
4. Cold War Politics
   1. Congress
      1. Congress responded favorably to well-established New Deal continuation programs.
         1. It did not, however, support new proposals going beyond the scope of the New Deal.
      2. The Federal Employee Loyalty Program was established in March 1947.
         1. After a hearing, a federal employee could be fired if "reasonable grounds" existed for believing he or she was disloyal.
         2. In almost every case, the rights of the accused were restricted and he or she had no right to confront accusers or to refute evidence.
         3. Few of those forced to leave government service were Communists.
   2. The Second Red Scare
      1. Joseph McCarthy headed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).
         1. He announced his intention to root out Communism within government and society and worked with FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.
         2. He targeted State Department officials, New Dealers, labor activists, entertainers, writers, educators, and those with known liberal philosophies.
         3. McCarthy made his first Cold War splash with his investigation of Hollywood.
      2. Anti-Communism was in vogue and proved to be a weapon for a variety of causes.
         1. Alger Hiss was the perfect target for HUAC but he was found guilty only of perjury and sentenced to five years in prison.
         2. Communist victory in China and the Soviet explosion of an atomic bomb only heightened American fears, since some thought only American traitors could have made these events possible.
         3. The McCarran Internal Security Act, passed over Truman’s veto, required all Communists to register with the attorney general.
         4. This act made it a crime to conspire to establish a totalitarian government in the United States.
   3. Joseph McCarthy and the Politics of Loyalty
      1. Feeding on fear of the enemy within, McCarthy emerged at the forefront of the anti-Communist movement.
         1. The outbreak of the Korean War and the reversals at the hands of the Chinese only increased the senator’s popularity.