CW - Document Analysis - Cold War Lesson

Document Analysis - Cold War

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The Cold War shaped U.S. policy for a generation after World War II. It not only affected foreign policy, but had implications on domestic policy as well. How the United States should respond to communism was debated by various leaders and groups within the United States. Some argued that the United States should aggressively attempt to roll back communist gains around the globe. Others argued that a strong response would only fuel Soviet fears and lead to more aggression. Ultimately, President Truman followed a policy of containment in which he would not attempt to remove existing communist governments by force but would seek to stop the spread of communism into additional nations.

Examine these 5 documents and answer the questions that follow. You can also download a pdf copy of the documents here. Links to an external site.

 

Document 1: Winston Churchill, speech at Westminster College: Fulton, Missouri 1946 From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on 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 the Soviet sphere and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and increasing measure of control from Moscow....Police governments are prevailing in nearly every case, and so far, except in Czechoslovakia, there is no true democracy

Accompaniment to Document 1: East German construction workers building the Berlin Wall.

Document 2: George Kennan, U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission in the USSR: author of the “Long Telegram” Soviet power...bears within itself the seeds of its own decay, and the sprouting of these seeds is well advanced...[If] anything were ever to disrupt the unity and efficacy of the Party as a political instrument, Soviet Russia might be changed overnight from one of the strongest to one of the weakest and most pitiable of national societies....This would...warrant the United States entering with reasonable confidence upon a policy of firm containment, designed to confront the Russians with unalterable counter--force at every point where they show signs of encroaching upon the interests of a peaceful and stable world.

Document 3: General Douglas MacArthur defends his Korean War conduct before Congress in 1951 Once war is forced upon us, there is no other alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. War's very object is victory----not prolonged indecision. In war, indeed, there can be no substitute for victory.

Document 4: from the Communist Control Act of 1954 The Congress hereby finds and declares that the Communist Party of the United States, although purportedly a political party, is in fact an instrumentality of a conspiracy to overthrow the Government of the United States. It constitutes an authoritarian dictatorship within a republic, demanding for itself the rights and privileges accorded to political parties, but denying to all others the liberties guaranteed by the Constitution. Unlike political parties, which evolve their policies and programs through public means, by the reconciliation of a wide variety of individual views, and submit those policies and programs to the electorate at large for approval or disapproval, the policies and programs of the Communist Party are secretly prescribed for it by the foreign leaders of the world Communist movement....Therefore the Communist Party should be outlawed.

Document 5: Henry Wallace, former Vice President and Secretary of Commerce in 1946; from a letter to President Truman How do American actions since V--J Day appear to other nations? I mean by actions the concrete things like $13 billion for the War and Navy Departments, the Bikini tests of the atomic bomb and continued production of bombs, the plan to arm Latin America with out weapons, production of B--29's and planned production of B--36's, and the effort to secure air bases spread over half the globe.... How would it look to us if Russia had the atomic bomb and we did not, if Russia had 10,000 bombers and air bases within a thousand miles of our coast lines and we did not?....Most of us are firmly convinced of the soundness of our position when we suggest the internationalization and defortification of the Danube or of the Dardanelles, but we would be horrified and angered by any Russian counter--proposal that would involve the internationalizing and disarming of Suez or Panama. We must recognize that to the Russians these seem to be identical situations.

Questions

  1. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill speaks of an "iron curtain". What does he mean by this and why is this a concern in terms of the world balance of power?
  2. Why does George Kennan feel that a policy of containment can be pursued with "reasonable confidence"?
  3. General Douglass MacArthur was relieved of his command in Korea (essentially fired) by President Truman. How do MacArthur's comments in Document 3 speak against Truman's position of containment?
  4. Traditionally, Americans have been allowed to freely form and join political parties. On what basis, then, does the Communist Control Act of 1954 outlaw the Communist Party in the United States?
  5. How did Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace view American actions since the end of World War II? How does he frame his position?

Answer the questions on your own paper or word processing document.

 

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