U.S. History II
Lecture 10: Post-World War II through Korean War

World War II left Europe in tatters. Millions of people were killed or wounded; millions more simply went missing, with no account of their fates. Millions more were displaced as national boundaries shifted following Germany’s defeat.

Meanwhile, the U.S. faced the prospect of millions of Americans coming home and leaving the military. Questions ran wild regarding the economy, especially when the government cancelled $30 billion in contracts for war materials no longer needed. Within one year, the military had processed and discharged roughly 9 million troops.

Fortunately, Congress had begun planning for post-War assistance for the discharged personnel in 1944, when it passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act. Known better as the GI Bill, the Act set aside nearly $20 billion in programs for veterans. These benefits included:

• assistance with low-interest mortgages, plus $2,000 bonuses for each vet for toward a new home;
• assistance with education. The GI Bill paid for a veteran’s entire higher education degree.

Most Americans were worried about the return of the Depression, but they had no reason to fear. As the economy transferred from war to peace, people who had money to spend but only rationed goods to buy during the War were eager to buy what the War had denied them. Prices had been fixed during the War, but the price controls ended in June 1946. Prices increased, but not beyond what most people could afford.

Unions responded to the price increases with demands for higher wages. In 1946, over 5 million workers were on strike at some point during the year.

Truman bore the brunt of the blame for the labor unrest and shortages in the economy, fairly or not. The Democrats were routed in the 1946 elections. For the first time since 1928, the Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress.

Foreign Policy

The Allies had begun planning for the post-war period in a series of conferences held from 1943 to 1945.

In November-December 1943, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in Tehran for the first discussion of post-war issues. While this conference primarily involved talks regarding the defeat of the Axis powers, it was the first time anyone mentioned the post-war scenario. The leaders discussed the partition of Germany, Poland’s borders, and a multi-national body with the legitimacy to help avoid future wars. At first, Stalin wanted each Soviet republic to have a seat in the new assembly. The Americans agreed, as long as the United States received a seat for each state. The Soviets backed down.

In August-October 1944, the Americans hosted a conference at the estate of Dumbarton Oaks near Washington, D.C. Delegates from thirty-nine nations, including the major Allied powers, discussed the framework for an international organization that would be called the United Nations. Ideally, the UN would be a place where international disputes would be resolved short of war. The Security Council of the UN would consist of permanent representation by the U.S., Great Britain, France, China, and the Soviet Union, joined by rotating delegations from other nations. The UN would be formalized at the San Francisco Conference in April-June 1945. The U.S. would host the UN in New York City.

In February 1945, the 3 leaders met again at Yalta on the Crimean Peninsula in the Soviet Union. By this time, the Soviets had begun pushing the Germans back and had taken vast stretches of territory in Eastern Europe. The leaders discussed:

• A world peacekeeping organization (the United Nations);
• democracy in Europe;
• a division of Germany between the major powers;
• elections in Poland (already controlled by the Soviets); and
• German reparations for the Soviet Union.

(Source: World Book Encyclopedia, “Yalta Conference)

The Potsdam Conference, held in Potsdam, Germany in July 1945, marked the first appearance of Harry Truman on the scene as the U.S. President following the death of FDR in April 1945. Churchill was replaced by Clement Atlee in late July when Churchill lost the post of Prime Minister.

At the Potsdam Conference, the Soviets received a full one-third of Germany’s ships as reparations; they also received a great deal of Germany’s industrial equipment. The Allies agreed to try the Nazi leadership for crimes committed during the war. While he attended the conference, Truman learned about the atomic bomb that the U.S. had developed during the War. The bomb was too late to be used on Germany, so the Allies decided to use it on Japan instead in the event the Japanese refused to surrender unconditionally. (The Japanese refused, and the bombs fell.)

There were 2 major themes to these conferences. One was Soviet security. The Russians had been invaded 3 times in less than 150 years by Napoleon, Wilhelm II, and Hitler, and they had decided enough was enough. Stalin wanted secure borders and a buffer area between Western Europe — especially Germany — and Russian territory.

Americans didn’t see the European events in this light. To the Americans, it seemed as if the Communists were determined to take over Europe. In actuality, they were, for this was the second theme.

Borders were re-drawn to reflect both pre-War boundaries and the new realities of Europe. Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Romania were restored to their former borders, but with some Romanian and Czech territory going to the Soviet Union. Poland was shifted west, with land in eastern Poland going to the Soviets and receiving German land in return. East Prussia was taken from Germany and divided between Poland and the Soviet Union. As a result of these changes, nearly 12 million German-speaking Europeans were forced to move into the new Germany; nearly 3.5 million Poles moved into new territory received from Germany; and nearly 1.5 million Poles fled newly Soviet-occupied areas.

Germany in particular was in shambles. Nearly 40 percent of German homes were damaged or destroyed, and in Berlin 95% of the city was destroyed. The Russians dismantled more than half of Germany’s remaining factories and shipped them to the Soviet Union. Refugees took disease with them everywhere throughout the Continent.

After the War, Germany was divided into 4 occupation zones: Russian (the eastern section of Germany), British, American, and French. Berlin was also divided into 4 zones, with the Russians receiving East Berlin and the other 3 powers receiving West Berlin.

Serious disagreements formed during these conferences, especially at Potsdam. By this time, the Soviets controlled most of Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union had absorbed the Baltic Republics. Churchill had conceded Romania and Bulgaria to a Soviet “sphere of influence;” Poland was under Soviet occupation, as were Czechoslovakia and Hungary. In Yugoslavia, the resistance group known as the Partisans were mostly Communist. Many resistance groups in Europe during the War were led or supported by Communist parties. The U.S. insisted that free elections be held in Soviet-occupied areas. Stalin was only too happy to agree, but the Soviets rigged the elections to insure their Communist allies won power in these nations. On 5 March 1946, in a speech given in Fulton, Missouri at Westminster College, Winston Churchill declared:

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. (Source: Modern History Sourcebook, available online: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/churchill-iron.html, last accessed 28 November 2005).

Where the Communists lost, the Red Army put them in power anyway. By 1950, Communism had gripped Eastern Europe.

The U.S. responded to Soviet attempts to spread Communism with the Truman Doctrine. In 1947, President Truman announced that the U.S. would “support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” The doctrine was first tested in Greece and Turkey. When Greek Communists attempted a coup that sparked civil war, the Americans openly supported the Greek government under the Truman Doctrine. The U.S. supported the Turks in their refusal to grant military bases to the Russians during this time as well. Congress passed $400 million in aid to assist Greece and Turkey in the confrontation with the Soviets.

The U.S. responded to Europe’s plight and the spread of Communism with the Marshall Plan, named after U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall. Under the Marshall Plan, the U.S. sent $13 billion to Europe to aid in the rebuilding of the continent and the renewal of economic life. Britain received $3.2 billion; the French, $2.7 billion; and Western Germany and Italy received $1.4 billion each. The U.S. offered aid to the Soviets and the Eastern European countries, but Stalin refused aid for the USSR and ordered his satellite nations not to take aid from the U.S. for fear that releasing economic data would undermine the Communist system by revealing the weakness of the Eastern economies. Ironically, Stalin’s rejection of the Marshall Plan insured its passage by Congress. By 1948, Western Europe reached 80% of its pre-war industrial production. The Plan also hindered Communist influence in Europe by undermining Communist parties in France and Italy. American companies invested heavily in Western Europe.

The Truman Doctrine was part of the American policy called “containment” of the Communist threat. Containment’s origins can be traced to American diplomat George Kennan. Kennan was stationed in Moscow at the U.S. Embassy from 1933 to 1939 and again from 1944 to 1946. In April 1946, Kennan sent the “Long Telegram” (8,000 words long) to U.S. Secretary of State James Byrnes. Kennan’s evaluation of Soviet policy led him to warn that the Soviets were serious about spreading Communism throughout the world, by military means if necessary. According to Kennan, Stalin needed conflict to legitimize his brutal dictatorship; without military conflict, Stalin could not maintain power. Therefore, Kennan wrote in an article for Foreign Affairs in 1947,

the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies... Soviet pressure against the free institutions of the Western world is something that can be constrained by the adroit and vigilant application of counter-force at a series of constantly shifting geographical and political points, corresponding to the shifts and manoeuvres of Soviet policy. (Source: wikipedia.org)

Stalin and the Soviets were furious with the article, but there was little they could do. Containment became the American policy in dealing with the Soviets for the next half-century.

The Americans and west European nations realized that military might must accompany economic aid to confront the Soviet threat. In March 1948, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxemburg signed a defensive treaty. This organization expanded into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949 when Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Canada, and the U.S. joined. The British saw NATO as a way to “keep the Russians out, keep the Americans, in, and keep the Germans down.” West Germany — formed from the British, American, and French zones of the nation — joined NATO in 1955. West Germany’s entrance into NATO led the Soviets to form the Warsaw Pact with Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania.

For the next 45 years, NATO and Warsaw Pact armies faced each other across the Iron Curtain. Regardless of questions regarding the policy, containment prevented a major war from erupting in Europe for the rest of the century. This period was known as the “Cold War” because of the military engagement of the two sides; fortunately, no “hot war” ever occurred. Instead, the two sides adopted a policy of “peaceful coexistence” in the 1950’s and 1960’s. For most of the Cold War, both sides maintained nuclear weapons in Europe (the Soviets tested their first bomb in 1949).

The Communists in America

The Communist Party USA originated in 1919, when it split from the Socialist Party of America. Most of the original Communists were immigrants. The Party always faced trouble with the federal government; in fact, the FBI began deporting immigrants connected with the Party soon after its inception.

With the Communist threat growing overseas, the Party faced massive opposition. Truman established a Loyalty-Security Program in 1947 to conduct background checks on all civilian workers for the federal government. Congress re-tooled the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to focus on Communists rather than on Nazis, its original target. HUAC targeted the movie industry in 1947, accusing the industry of producing “flagrant communist propaganda films” during the War.

HUAC struck gold twice in the 1940’s. First, a group of Hollywood writers and directors refused to testify before the Committee. This group, known as the “Hollywood 10,” were “blacklisted” from working in the industry.

Secondly, Whittaker Chambers, a senior editor for Time magazine, claimed membership in a Communist group in Washington, D.C. that included Alger Hiss, one of FDR’s advisors for foreign affairs. Hiss denied membership in the cell; Chambers persisted. Hiss sued Chambers for libel; Chambers responded by producing numerous documents dating from the 1930’s that he claimed Hiss had stolen and passed to the Soviets. These documents, known as the “Pumpkin Papers” because Chambers hid them in a pumpkin patch, included reports written by Hiss or typed on Hiss’ typewriter. Hiss was indicted on perjury only because the statute of limitations had expired for espionage. Hiss was convicted and imprisoned.

The Hiss verdict stunned the nation. The GOP claimed they were right about Communist infiltration of the government. The Democrats were shaken to the core. No one in the bureaucracy was above suspicion.

1948 Elections

As the 1948 elections neared, the Democratic Party was in retreat. No one expected Truman to survive the election; many thought he wouldn’t run. Many Democrats tried to recruit War hero Dwight D. Eisenhower, the leader of the Normandy invasions. Unfortunately for the Democrats, Eisenhower refused. Stuck with no one else to nominate, the Democratic Party nominated Truman for another term.

The Party faced worse troubles. In December 1947, one group of Democrats broke off and formed the Progressive Citizens of America, led by former Vice-President Henry Wallace. After the convention in Philadelphia, southern Democrats abandoned the Party when the convention endorsed Truman’s civil rights initiatives. The States’ Rights (Dixiecrat) Party nominated Strom Thurmond of South Carolina as their presidential candidate. The Dixiecrat Party ran on “complete segregation of the races.”

The GOP gleefully met and nominated New York Governor Thomas Dewey for president and California Governor Earl Warren for vice-president. Everyone in the GOP was confident of victory.

Truman refused to give up. Instead, he called Congress into a special session to pass an 8-point program of civil rights, public housing, federal education aid, a higher minimum wage, and other progressive policies. The Republican-dominated Congress refused to budge, accusing Truman of a publicity stunt. Truman responded by calling the GOP a bunch of selfish politicians interested only in rich voters.

Truman also received a boost from the Berlin crisis in July 1948 in the ultimate application of the Truman Doctrine. The British and Americans merged their zones in Germany to form West Germany; in protest, the Soviets blockaded the the Allied zones in Berlin to force the Allies out. Instead, the U.S. flew supplies into West Berlin to support the 2 million citizens there. American planes delivered more than 8,000 tons of food and supplies on a daily basis, with planes landing on the average of every 3 minutes, 24 hours a day. The Soviets gave up and lifted the blockade in May 1949.

As the elections neared, pollsters predicted a GOP landslide. One newspaper, the Chicago Daily Tribune, confidently printed its front page with the headline, “Dewey Defeats Truman.” Instead, Truman won one of the closest presidential elections ever, by only 2 million votes. Truman won 303 electoral votes, while Dewey won 189 electoral votes. Strom Thurmond won 1.1 million votes and carried 4 Southern states.

Trouble in Asia; Communist China, the Korean War

Truman had little time to enjoy the thrill of victory. In 1949, the nation learned that the Soviets had exploded an atomic bomb. Evidence pointed to the fact that the Soviets had built their bomb on information gained from spying in the U.S.

Also in 1949, China’s civil war — which had raged both before and after World War II — culminated in a Communist victory. The Community Party in China, led by Mao Zedong, chased the Kuomintang to Taiwan with its leader, Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang had relied heavily on American assistance, and his loss led to a savage campaign in Washington to determine who “lost” China to the Communists.

Worse trouble came in Korea. The Korean peninsula had been split between the Soviets and Americans after World War II. An election to reunite the peninsula had been cancelled in 1948 when the Soviets refused to allow U.N. monitors in their sector. Instead, the peninsula was divided when Kim Il Sung, a Communist, took power in the Soviet sector and Syngman Rhee, an anti-Communist dictator, won elections in the American sector.

On 12 January 1950, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson delivered a speech to the National Press Club. In the speech, Acheson delineated the American defense perimeter to include the Aleutian Islands, Japan, Ryukyu, and the Philippines. Kim Il-Sung noticed the omission of South Korea and started pushing for an invasion. Stalin finally gave approval in April 1950. On 25 June 1950, North Korean forces pushed across the 38th parallel and began racing for the sea.

Truman was stuck in a quandary. He didn’t want a war in Asia, but he was committed to standing up to Communist aggression — and this case certainly fit the criteria. Furthermore, the Republicans were clamoring to prove Truman was “soft” on Communism, a charge he couldn’t afford. Therefore, Truman quickly proposed a resolution to the United Nations offering assistance to South Korea. The Soviets, who were boycotting the Security Council over the refusal to seat the Republic of China instead of Taiwan, were not present to veto the proposal. Truman sent troops to Korea without Congressional consultation a week later.

American forces under General Douglas MacArthur immediately went on the offensive. Instead of slugging it out with the North Koreans at the southern tip of the peninsula, MacArthur conducted an amphibious landing at Inchon and trapped the North Koreans. As the North Koreans began racing back north, the U.N. troops crossed the 38th parallel in pursuit.

MacArthur disagreed with Truman’s mandate to merely regain South Korea. MacArthur saw an opportunity to reunite the peninsula and stick it to the Communists while he was at it. Just as it seemed MacArthur would crush North Korea, the Chinese entered the war on 5 November with a massive attack of over 300,000 troops. The U.N. forces, including the Americans, were sent racing south as quickly as the North Koreans had raced north.

The situation stalemated at the 38th parallel. MacArthur wanted nothing short of total victory, including bombing China and invading the Chinese mainland. Truman feared that the Soviets would enter the war if the U.S. attacked China. MacArthur openly disagreed with Truman, even sending a letter to Republican Congressmen advocating total war. In return, Truman furiously fired MacArthur.

MacArthur definitely came out ahead in the PR campaign. Americans have never settled for a partial victory. Truman never recovered from the MacArthur debacle.

Joe McCarthy Appears; 1952 Elections

In February 1950, a Senator from Wisconsin delivered a speech to a Republican women’s club in Wheeling, West Virginia. At first glance, there was nothing unusual about this. This time, however, the Senator told the women, “I have here in my hand a list of 205 Communists that were made known to the secretary of state and who are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department.” The Senator was Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, and the nation was shocked to hear his accusation that people in the State Department were assisting the Communists against the United States.

McCarthy quickly gained an audience with all the major news organizations of the nation. Truman underestimated McCarthy’s power, even though he, like others, though McCarthy was merely a publicity-seeking demagogue. The Korean War didn’t help matters, especially when the Chinese entered the war.

By 1952, it was obvious that Truman would not win another term in office. He announced he would not seek another term.

The Democrats nominated Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson; the Republicans responded with the ultimate coup: Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower, a moderate, selected conservative Richard M. Nixon as his running mate. America was taken with the “I like Ike” campaign. Eisenhower, sensing the discontent over the Korean War, promised to go to Korea if elected.

Eisenhower’s victory in November 1952 was overwhelming. Ike carried the popular vote and won the electoral vote 442 to 89. Eisenhower also carried 4 Southern states. The GOP also captured Congress.