Sources of Sino-American tension
fundamental difference in the ways the great powers envisioned the post war world:
- America, FDR: world in which nations abandoned traditional beliefs in military alliances and spheres of influence and governed their relations with one another through democratic processes, with an international organization serving as the aribtor of disputes and protector of every nation’s right of self-determination (inspired by Wilson)
- Soviet Union/Great Britain: world in which great powers would control areas of strategic interest to them, in which something vaguely similar to the traditional European balance of power would reemerge
Poland issue
- Roosevelt and Churchill let Stalin annex some Polish territory into Soviet Union
- Roosevelt and Churchill wanted to keep the Polish government in tact, but Stalin wanted to implement a pro communist gov’t
- issue was left unresolved
Big Three
Churchill, FDR, Stalin
Yalta Conference
- in 1945
- last meeting of the Big Three
- Stalin agreed to free elections in Europe
- Promised elections in Poland, but never came true
- USSR would join the United Nations
- US, Britain, France and USSR would control its own zone in Germany
- Berlin divided into four zones for each nation to occupy
- basically: conference was less a settlement of postwar issues than a set of loose principles that sidestepped most difficult questions
- Soviet interpretation differed from the Anglo-American interpretation, and Stalin started violating “agreements” briefly after the conference by putting pro-communist gov’ts in Poland
- After this conference, Roosevelt has stroke and dies
Potsdam Conference
- in 1945
- Truman, FDR, and Churchill meet
- Truman reluctantly accepts adjustments of Stalin’s demands for Polish-German border
- Truman refuses to permit Russians to claim reparations from American, French, and British zones of Germany. This confirmed that Germany would remain divided with the western zones under one nation (friendly to US) and the Russian zone as another communist nation (friendly to Russia)
Chinese civil war
- US wanted help from China, strong power, to help work towards the goal of an open, peaceful world, but they faced the obstacle of the Chinese civil war
- Chiang Kai-shek was leader of nationalist China (which US supported) but his gov’t was corrupt and had feeble popular support
- Mao Zedong led communist armies that had been rivaling since 1927
- Truman continued to support Chiang by sending weapons, money, but US never fully involved selves in war
US begins to look at Japan instead as a pro-western force to help the American sphere of influence
containment
- Atlantic Charter ideals (destruction of communism) was in shambles; instead - “containment”
- rather than attempting to create a unified, open world, the US and allies would work to “contain” the threat of further Soviet expansion
George F. Kennan
- US diplomat who had warned not long after the war that the only appropriate diplomatic approach to dealing with the Soviet Union was “long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies”
Truman Doctrine
- drew from Kennan’s ideas
- March 1947 - Truman appears before Congress and states what would be known as Truman Doctrine
states that it must be policy of US to support free peoples who are subjugated by outside pressures
requests $400 million to help armed and economic forces of Greeks to resist communist forces that were threatening the pro-western gov’t; Congress agreed and communists were defeated in Greece - importance: basis of US policy that would survive for more than 40 years
Marshall Plan
- in 1947
- motives for plan: humanitarian concern, desire for strong Europe market for US goods, most importantly: strengthen W European governments so they don’t fall under control of communist parties
- June 1947 - Secretary of State George C. Marshall announced plan to provide economic assistance to all European nations (Soviet Union rejected it, but 16 other nations eagerly agreed)
- channeled $12 billion of US aid into Europe
- results: by end of 1950, European industrial production rose 64%, communist strength declined in those nations, and opportunities for trade had revived
Atomic Energy Comm.
- 1946 - established to become supervisory charged with overseeing all nuclear research
- began development of hydrogen bomb
- importance: continuation of containment policy, part of series of measures designed to maintain US military power at near wartime levels
Nat’l Security Act of 1947
- reshaped the nation’s major diplomatic and military institutions
- created Department of Defense:
National Security Council (NSC) oversee foreign/military policy
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) collecting info through various methods - importance: gave president expanded powers with which to pursue nation’s international goals
Berlin crisis of 1948-49
Soviet union cuts off all roads/railroads with Berlin
Truman flies in goods, food to citizens in Berlin
helps lead to the formation of NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Org. (NATO)
April 1949 - 12 nations signed agreement declaring that armed attack against one member would be an attack against all
spurred Soviet Union to create alliance of own with communist countries in Eastern Europe
importance: first peacetime alliance in US history
shocks of 1949
Soviet Union successfully exploded its first atomic weapon shocked Americans
collapse of Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalist gov’t, all of China coming under communist control
led to the NSC-68 and US increased attention on Japan acting as buffer against Asian communism
NSC-68
1950 - in atmosphere of escalating crisis, Truman called for thorough review of foreign policy, which resulted in a National Security Council report issued
doc argued that US could no longer rely on other nations to take initiative on resisting communism
also called for expansion of US military power, with defense budget almost 4x projected amount
GI Bill of Rights of 1944
aka Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, provided economic and educational assistance to veterans, increasing spending even further
reflected one of the reasons why there was no general economic collapse in 1946 following the war, like many had predicted would happen
Economy/Labor post WWII
Why was economy better Post WWII than post WWI?
many predicted that peace would bring return of Depression unemployment as war production ceased and returning soldiers flooded to labor market, but there was no economic collapse of 1946 b.c of…
increased consumer demand (consumer goods were largely unavailable during war, so many pounced at opportunity for consumer goods)
tax cut pumped additional money into circulation
GI Bill
postwar labor unrest - John L. Lewis leads miners out on strike in 1946
reconversion pushed out women, blacks, Hispanics, Chinese, others out of jobs to make room for white males
post-war inflation, pressure to meet the rising expectations of a high-consumption society, the growing divorce rate, which left many women responsible for their own economic well-being, all combined among women to create a high demand for paid employment
“Fair Deal”
Fair Deal: days after Japanese surrender, Truman submitted to Congress a 21 point domestic program. he was declaring end to wartime moratorium on liberal reform
(examples of some) expansion of Social Security benefits, raising of minimum wage, public housing and slum clearance, long-range environmental and public works planning, gov’t promotion of scientific research, and national health insurance - dream of welfare state liberals for decades
Republican, conservatives came to dominate Congress, rejected Fair Deal and quickly moved to reduce government spending and chip away at New Deal reforms
Fair Deal program fell victim to same conservatism that crippled last years of the New Deal
later, after Democrats win majority in congress after 1948 election, more Fair Deal reforms will pass
Taft-Hartley Act of 1947
most notable action of the new Congress was its assault on the Wagner Act of 1935
denounced as a “slave labor” bill
aka Labor-Management Relations Act of 1947, made illegal the so-called closed shop (a workplace in which no one can be hired without first being a member of a union)
conservatives had always resented legislation granted to unions
result: damaged the weaker unions and made more difficult the organizing of workers who had never been union members at all, esp. women, minorities
States’ Rights Party (Dixiecrats)
formed during the Democratic Convention before the election of 1948
reflected the deep divisions within the Democratic party prior to the election
election of 1948: Truman wins over Dewey by extremely slight margin and Democrats regain power in Congress
Ideas about nuclear power
dark image of nuclear war that many Americans feared would be result of rivalry with Soviet Union
film noir suggested looming possibility of war
The Twilight Zone featured dramatic portrayals of aftermath of war and comic books depicted superheroes saving world from destruction
conflicted with bright image of dazzling technological future that atomic power might help to produce
nuclear power plants spring up, welcoming source of cheap and unlimited electricity
postwar division of Korea
before end of WWII, both US and Soviet sent troops into Korea in order to weaken Japanese occupation
once Japanese left, the US supported the pro-West government (led by Syngman Rhee) in the south and Soviet Union supported communist North
by this separate support, they divided the nation along 38th parallel. North was stronger and the South was weaker.
Korean War origins
North Korean gov’t had strong incentive to unite the country - therefore invaded the South
1950 - Truman appealed to the UN to provide international assistance to the Rhee gov’t (Soviet Union at the time was boycotting the UN, so they were obviously not involved in the agreement)
intervention in Korea was the first expression of the newly expansive foreign policy outlined in NSC-68, but it also went beyond, deciding the war would not only aim at containment but at “liberation” - create a unified, democratic Korea instead of two separate entities
