BIG QUESTION: WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COLD WAR?

Q1 - Why did wartime cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union collapse in 1945–46?

Doc 1 – Source: Senator Harry S. Truman to a newspaper reporter, June 1941 If we see that Germany is winning, we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we out to help Germany and that way let them kill as many as possible.

Doc 2a – Source: Joseph Stalin, February 6, 1945 Prime Minister Churchill has said that for Great Britain the question of Poland is a question of honor. For Russia it is not a question of honor, but security … During the last 30 years, our German enemy has passed through this corridor twice.

Doc 2b - Source: The Yalta Conference, February 1945 (United States/FDR, Great Britain/Churchill, USSR/Stalin) To foster the conditions in which the liberated people may exercise these rights, the three governments will jointly assist the people in any European liberated state or former Axis state in Europe where, in their judgment conditions require, (a) to establish conditions of internal peace; (b) to carry out emergency relief measures for the relief of distressed peoples; (c) to form interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population and pledged to the earliest possible establishment through free elections of Governments responsive to the will of the people; and (d) to facilitate where necessary the holding of such elections.

Doc 2c – Source: Iron Curtain Speech, Winston Churchill, March 1946 It is my duty, however, to place before you certain facts about the present position in Europe. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow. I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines. But what we have to consider here today while time remains, is the permanent prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom and democracy as rapidly as possible in all countries.

Doc 3 –Source: David Low cartoon in London Evening Standard, March 1948

Q2 - What was "containment" and how was it applied in 1947–48?

Doc 4 - Memorandum from Clark Clifford to President Truman, “American Relations with the Soviet Union,” September 24, 1946 As long as the Soviet Government maintains its present foreign policy, based upon the theory of an ultimate struggle between Communism and Capitalism, the United States must assume that the U.S.S.R. might fight at any time for the twofold purpose of expanding the territory under communist control and weakening its potential capitalist opponents. The Soviet Union was able to flow into the political vacuum of the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the Near East, Manchuria and Korea because no other nation was both willing and able to prevent it. Soviet leaders were encouraged by easy success and they are now preparing to take over new areas in the same way.

The main deterrent to Soviet attack on the United States, or to attack on areas of the world which are vital to our security, will be the military power of this country. It must be made apparent to the Soviet Government that our strength will be sufficient to repel any attack and sufficient to defeat the U.S.S.R. decisively if a war should start.

The prospect of defeat is the only sure means of deterring the Soviet Union.... In addition to maintaining our own strength, the United States should support and assist all democratic countries which are in any way menaced or endangered by the U.S.S.R.

Doc 5–Source: Excerpts from Harry S. Truman’s “Truman Doctrine” address, which he delivered to Congress on March 12, 1947 The very existence of the Greek state is today threatened by the terrorist activities of several thousand armed men, led by Communists, who defy the Government’s authority at a number of points, particularly along the northern boundaries. Meanwhile, the Greek Government is unable to cope with the situation. The Greek Army is small and poorly equipped. It needs supplies and equipment if it is to restore the authority of the Government throughout Greek territory. Greece must have assistance if it is to become a self-supporting and self-respecting democracy.

The United States must supply that assistance. We have already extended to Greece certain types of relief and economic aid but these are inadequate. There is no other country to which democratic Greece can turn. Greece’s neighbor, Turkey, also deserves our attention. The future of Turkey as an independent and economically sound State is clearly no less important to the freedom-loving peoples of the world than the future of Greece.

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes....

I therefore ask the Congress to provide authority for assistance to Greece and Turkey in the amount of $400,000,000 for the period ending June 30, 1948. In requesting these funds, l have taken into consideration the maximum amount of relief assistance which would be furnished to Greece out of the $350,000,000 which I recently requested that the Congress authorize for the prevention of starvation and suffering in countries devastated by the war.

Doc 6a –Source: From Speech by George C. Marshall, June 15, 1947 (Marshall Plan) I need not tell you gentlemen that the world situation is very serious. That must be apparent to all intelligent people. I think one difficulty is that the problem is one of such enormous complexity that the very mass of facts presented to the public by press and radio make it exceedingly difficult for the man in the street to reach a clear appraisement of the situation. Furthermore, the people of this country are distant from the troubled areas of the earth and it is hard for them to comprehend the plight and consequent reactions of the long-suffering peoples, and the effect of those reactions on their governments in connection with our efforts to promote peace in the world.

In considering the requirements for the rehabilitation of Europe, the physical loss of life, the visible destruction of cities, factories, mines, and railroads was correctly estimated, but it has become obvious during recent months that this visible destruction was probably less serious than the dislocation of the entire fabric of European economy. For the past 10 years conditions have been highly abnormal.

The truth of the matter is that Europe's requirements for the next three or four years of foreign food and other essential products—principally from America—are so much greater than her present ability to pay that she must have substantial additional help or face economic, social, and political deterioration of a very grave character.

It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.

Doc 6b - Source: The Washington Post, January 1949

Q3 – How and why did the United States formally commit itself to the defense of Europe?

Background: In February 1948 the United States and Britain announced that they were merging their German zones and issuing a common currency for both. Stalin perceived this act as an attempt to restore Germany without Soviet consent, and he sought to retaliate. Stalin ordered the complete stoppage of all traffic between West Berlin and Western Germany. This left a civilian population of two million, as well as substantial numbers of British, French, and American troops, cut off from any source of food or fuel.

Doc 7a - Telegram, dated June 25, 1948, by Alfred M. Bingham, et al. to President Harry S. Truman RUSSIAN EFFORTS TO DRIVE WESTERN POWERS FROM BERLIN ARE A CRUCIAL CHALLENGE TO AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY. SURRENDER WOULD DELIVER TO RUSSIAN VENGEANCE TWO MILLION GERMANS WHO HAVE DEFIED COMMUNIST TOTALITARIANISM. THERE ARE DISTURBING RUMORS OF PLANS TO EVACUATE BERLIN BECAUSE OF RUSSIAN BLOCKADEAGAINST GERMAN CIVILIAN SUPPLIES. ESSENTIAL SUPPLIES FOR THE GERMAN POPULATION CAN BE DELIVERED BY AIR AND IF NECESSARY MUST BE AT WHATEVER COST. WE URGE YOU TO MAKE THIS COUNTRY’S POSITION UNMISTAKABLE BY DECLARING THAT UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES SHORT OF WAR WE WILL REMAIN IN BERLIN AND MAINTAIN SUPPLIES FOR THE CIVILIAN POPULATION. NOTHING LESS CAN ADEQUATELY REASSURE DEMOCRATIC FORCES IN GERMANY AND ELSEWHERE THAT THIS COUNTRY WILL NOT DESERT THEM.

Doc 7b - Top Secret report, dated July 28, 1948, titled "U.S. Military Courses of Action with Respect to the Situation in Berlin" Careful study of results to date, together with calculations of Berlin supply requirements and maximum air transport capabilities, indicates that minimum requirements can be met by air transport....

The daily cost of air transport supply operations is already very great and will naturally increase with augmentation of tonnage. In addition, it should be borne in mind that even augmented air lift can include little provision for clothing, maintenance material, raw material, or industrial supplies, which means that conditions in the western sectors of Berlin including unemployment, morale, and stamina of the population will steadily worsen even though food, medical, military, coal, gasoline, and Diesel supplies remain adequate for maintaining an existence level for the population.

Finally, it is always possible that the Soviets may devise and employ means, by interference in the air corridor, of vitiating or stopping air transport operations....

Document 7c

Doc 8 – North Atlantic Treaty Organization, April 4, 1949 ARTICLE 5 The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all, and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them … will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually, and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.