The Cold War

Explain how the Eisenhower administration used the CIA to fight the spread of communism in various countries.

The CIA helped with toppling unfriendly governments in Latin America and the Middle East; it saw internal civil wars in terms of the cold war conflict between the superpowers and tended to view nationalist uprisings in terms of soviet aggression and communist expansion. The Eisenhower administration took this course of action out of sight of congress and the public, making the CIA an important arm of foreign policy in the 1950s. Guatemala wanted to help poor people by nationalizing land owned but not cultivated by the United Fruit Company, a US corporation whose annual profits were twice the size of the Guatemalan government's budget. United Fruits refused the offer to compensate. Then, in response to the nationalization program, the CIA organized and supported an opposition army that overthrew the elected government and installed a military dictatorship in 1954. Trained exiled Cuban for an invasion Intervened in the Middle East For a variety of reasons, Eisenhower authorized CIA agents to instigate a coup against the nationalist head of Iran , Mohammed Mossadegh, by bribing army officials and paying Iranians to demonstrate against the government.

What long term impact did the result of the Korean War have on the United States' foreign policy and military policy.

The Korean War had long-lasting consequences for the entire region. Though it failed to unify the country, the United States achieved its larger goals, including preserving and promoting NATO interests and defending Japan. The war also resulted in a divided Korea and complicated any possibility for accommodation between the United States and China. The Korean War served to encourage the U.S. Cold War policies of containment and militarization, setting the stage for the further enlargement of the U.S. defense perimeter in Asia. These Cold War policies would eventually lead the United States to regional actions that included its attempts at preventing the fall of Vietnam to communism.

Summarize the effects of the Marshall Plan on the United States and Western Europe.

The Marshall Plan generated a resurgence of European industrialization and brought extensive investment into the region. It was also a stimulant to the U.S. economy by establishing markets for American goods. Increasingly, the economic revival of Western Europe, especially West Germany, was viewed suspiciously in Moscow. The Marshall Plan also institutionalized and legitimized the concept of U.S. foreign aid programs, which have become a integral part of U.S. foreign policy.

Venona Papers

The name given to an American government effort from 1943-1980 to decrypt coded messages by intelligence forces of the Soviet Union. These were Russian coded papers that were in a format or code that Americans broke and it revealed that their were Russian spies inside the US and its government in the 1950s.

McCarthyism

The term associated with Senator Joseph McCarthy who led the search for communists in America during the early 1950s through his leadership in the House Un-American Activities Committee. It was an anti-communist crusade that fed on the fears of individuals that and grew because of revelations about soviet espionage. It resulted in untold economic and psychological harm to innocent individuals innocent and violated the fundamental constitutional rights of freedom of speech and association, stifled expression of dissenting ideas and removed unpopoular causes from public contemplation.

Explain the logic behind John Foster Dulles' concept of brinkmanship.

The term came from the political Hungarian theory of pushing the military to the brink of war in order to convince another nation to follow your demands. Dulles defined his policy of brinkmanship as "The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art." It was Dulles' policy that the United States should curb Soviet expansion with the threat of massive atomic retaliation. His critics blamed Dulles for hurting relations with communist countries, thereby deepening the Cold War's effects. Dulles recognized the dangers of brinkmanship, but argued that it was still safer than appeasement.

John Foster Dulles

U.S. Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure in the early Cold War era, advocating an aggressive stance against communism throughout the world. He drafted the "policy of boldness" designed to confront Soviet agression with the threat of "massive retaliation" via thermonuclear weapons. "Good" vs. "Evil."

Douglas MacArthur

U.S. general. Commander of U.S. (later Allied) forces in the southwestern Pacific during World War II, he accepted Japan's surrender in 1945 and administered the ensuing Allied occupation. He was in charge of UN forces in Korea 1950-51, before being forced to relinquish command by President Truman.

Contrast the opinions of President Truman and General MacArthur regarding U.S. military action in Korea after China became involved. Truman

"Communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war." Truman's statement suggests that he believed the attack by North Korea had been part of a larger plan by communist China and, by extension, the Soviet Union. The President believed that the Korean situation was similar to that of Greece in 1947. He informed his advisors that he believed the invasion was "very obviously inspired by the Soviet Union." This gave America a moral imperative to act. "If we don't put up a fight now," Truman observed to his staff, there was "no telling what they'll do." His concern over the future of anticommunist governments in Asia showed in his public statement. Truman pledged to defend Formosa (Taiwan) from attack and to support French forces in Indochina, a conflict that would eventually escalate into the Vietnam War. Yet Truman had no wish to provoke a full-scale war with the Soviets. Truman's statement also reflected a new military order. Although the United States took the lead in the Korean action, it did so under the rubric of the United Nations.

Describe George Kennan's argument in favor of containment.

"The main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies." To that end, he called for countering "Soviet pressure against the free institutions of the Western world" through the "adroit and vigilant application of counter-force at a series of constantly shifting geographical and political points, corresponding to the shifts and maneuvers of Soviet policy." Such a policy, he predicted, would "promote tendencies which must eventually find their outlet in either the break-up or the gradual mellowing of Soviet power."

Mao Zedong

(1893-1976) Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew Jiang Jieshi and the Nationalists. Established China as the People's Republic of China and ruled from 1949 until 1976.

Cold War

(1945-1991) The period after the Second World War marked by rivalry and tension between the two nuclear superpowers, the United States and the communist government of the Soviet Union. The Cold War ended when the Soviet government collapsed in 1991. A "war of words and threats" between the US and USSR; it was a political and economic stuggle between these nations that was never realized on the battlefield.

Truman Doctrine

1947, President Truman's policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology that mainly helped Greece and Turkey. It was Truman's Cold War strategy of containment versus the Soviet Union and the expansion of communism.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

1949 military alliance between the U.S., Canada, France, Great Britain, Italy, and the Netherlands against possible aggression by the Soviet Union.

SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty Organization)

1955 US and allies (Britain, France, Australia, and New Zealand) formed this alliance with Asian countries like Pakistan, Thailand and the Philippines. Like NATO, these countries in Asia also wanted to stop the spread of communism.

Brinkmanship

A 1956 term used by Secretary of State John Dulles to describe a policy of risking war in order to protect national interests.

Nikita Khrushchev

A Soviet leader during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also famous for denouncing Stalin and allowed criticism of Stalin within Russia.

Alger Hiss

A U.S. State Department official involved in the establishment of the United Nations. He was accused of being a Soviet spy in 1948 by Whittaker Chambers and prosecuted by Richard Nixon. He was convicted of perjury in connection with this charge in 1950.

Containment

A U.S. foreign policy adopted by President Harry Truman in the late 1940s, in which the United States tried to stop the spread of communism by creating alliances and helping weak countries to resist Soviet advances.

Joseph R. McCarthy

A clever politician who began to play upon fear of Americans; charged that the State Department was infested with communists, although he never provided any proof. He used his position as chairman of the Committee on Government Operations and its Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations to launch investigations designed to document charges of Communists in government.

Mutually assured destruction

A doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender.

Hollywood 10

A famous case by HUAC where many of the top Hollywood writers, directors, and actors, were called to court to testify as being aligned with the Communist Party and its beliefs or not. These celebrities had, commonly, little resources to defend themselves with, and the cases commonly ended with the famous quote, "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?"

Blacklist

A list of about 500 actors, writers, producers, and directors who were not allowed to work on Hollywood films because of their alleged Communist connections.

Warsaw Pact

A military alliance, formed in 1955, consisting of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellite nations. It was the communist response to NATO.

Satellite State

A political term that refers to a country which is formally independent, but under heavy influence or control by another country, both economically and politically.

Marshall Plan

A program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe that the US developed to revive war-torn economies of Europe. This plan offered $13 billion in aid to western and Southern Europe between 1948 and 1952.

Red Scare

A social/political movement designed to prevent a socialist/communist/radical movement in this country by finding "radicals," incarcerating them, deporting them, and subverting their activities.

Iron Curtain

A term popularized by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to describe the Soviet Union's policy of isolation during the Cold War. The political barrier that isolated Eastern Europe from the rest of the world.

Contrast the opinions of President Truman and General MacArthur regarding U.S. military action in Korea after China became involved. MacArthur

After China surprised him by sending 200,000 troops to attack U.S., South Korean and NATO forces, MacArthur wanted a complete blockade of the Communist Chinese coastline. Truman sent him a peace proposal, which he rejected. He wanted to bomb industrial sites and other strategic targets within China. He wanted to bring Nationalist Chinese troops from Formosa to fight in Korea. Finally, he wanted the Nationalists to invade weak positions on the Communist Chinese mainland. Appalled that MacArthur's plan could launch World War III, Truman and the top military leaders in Washington quickly rejected it. But MacArthur continued to publicly argue for his plan. He also criticized the "politicians in Washington" for refusing to allow him to bomb Chinese bases north of the Yalu River. MacArthur taunted the Chinese for failing to conquer South Korea. He then went on to threaten to attack China unless the Chinese gave up the fight. He even said he would meet the enemy military commander to arrange how to end the war. He did all this in spite of an order from his superiors in Washington not to make any public statements on foreign or military policy without first getting approval from the Department of State or Defense. MacArthur was on a collision course with his commander in chief.

George F. Kennan

An American advisor, diplomat, political scientist, and historian (an expert on the Soviet union), best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War. He later wrote standard histories on the relations between Russia and the Western powers.

HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee)

Committee created to investigate the full range of radical groups in the united states. It was originally formed to identify Nazis in the US during the war, but then became a committee to identify communists in the government and in Hollywood during the Cold War.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

Communists who received international attention when they were executed having been found guilty of conspiracy to commit espionage in relation to passing information on the American atomic bomb to the Soviet Union.

Suez Canal

Egyptian waterway connecting the Mediterranean and Red Seas; built in 1869 by Franco-Egyptian company; in 1875 Britain bought Egypt's share in the canal. On October 29, 1956, Israeli armed forces pushed into Egypt toward the Suez Canal after Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-70) nationalized the canal in July of that same year, initiating the Suez Crisis. The Israelis soon were joined by French and British forces, which nearly brought the Soviet Union into the conflict, and damaged their relationships with the United States. In the end, the British, French and Israeli governments withdrew their troops in late 1956 and early 1957. In the aftermath of the Suez Crisis, Britain and France found their influence as world powers weakened.

Eisenhower Doctrine

Eisenhower proposed and obtained a joint resolution from Congress authorizing the use of U.S. military forces to intervene in any country that appeared likely to fall to communism, especially in the Middle East.

Describe the factors that led to the creation of the Truman Doctrine.

In 1946, four setbacks, in particular, had served to effectively torpedo any chance of achieving a durable post-war rapprochement with the Soviet Union: the Soviets' failure to withdraw their troops from northern Iran in early 1946 (as per the terms of the Tehran Declaration of 1943); Soviet attempts to pressure the Iranian Government into granting them oil concessions while supposedly fomenting irredentism (a political or popular movement intended to reclaim and reoccupy a lost homeland) by Azerbaijani separatists in northern Iran; Soviet efforts to force the Turkish Government into granting them base and transit rights through the Turkish Straits; and, the Soviet Government's rejection of the Baruch plan for international control over nuclear energy and weapons in June 1946. The immediate cause for the speech was a recent announcement by the British Government that, as of March 31, 1947, it would no longer provide military and economic assistance to the Greek Government in its civil war against the Greek Communist Party.

Explain the purpose of HUAC

It was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having Nazi ties, but quickly expanded to Communists and Communist sympathizers. Through its power to subpoena witness and hold people in contempt of Congress, HUAC often pressured witnesses to surrender names and other information that could lead to the apprehension of Communists and Communist sympathizers. Committee members often branded witnesses as "red" if they refused to comply or hesitated in answering committee questions. The questioning style and examination techniques employed by HUAC served as the model upon which Senator Joseph McCarthy would conduct his investigative hearings in the early 1950s.

38th Parallel

Line that divided Korea - Soviet Union occupied the north and United States occupied the south, during the Cold War.

Why did the televising of the Senate hearings help end McCarthyism?

On April 22, the hearings were opened to the public, and the ABC and DuMont networks began their 36-day coverage. It was the first ever nationally televised congressional inquiry. On television, McCarthy came across as bullying, ill-mannered and deceitful. In a famous exchange, McCarthy mentioned that Fred Fisher, a member of Army attorney Joseph Welch's law firm, was a suspected communist. Welch responded, "Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" His two months on national television had damaged his reputation beyond repair. Sen. Stuart Symington of Missouri summed up the consequences for McCarthy, telling him, "the American people have had a look at you for six weeks. You are not fooling anyone."

Smith Act

Required fingerprinting and registering of all aliens in the U.S. and made it a crime to teach or advocate the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. Passed in 1940, it was the first peacetime anti-sedition law since 1798. It was created because of an anti-red movement in the US against communists. In 1949 11 communists were brought before a New York jury for violating this law. They were convicted of advocating the overthrow of the American government by force. Their convictions were upheld in Dennis v. United States.

Berlin Airlift

Successful effort by the United States and Britain to ship by air 2.3 million tons of supplies to the residents of the Western-controlled sectors of Berlin from June 1948 to May 1949, in response to a Soviet blockade of all land and canal routes to the divided city.

Massive Retaliation

The "new look" defense policy of the Eisenhower administration of the 1950's was to threaten "massive retaliation" with nuclear weapons in response to any act of aggression by a potential enemy.